Week 1 Mingle;

[omnivoracious]

❤ Week 1 Mingle

Welcome to a new week, lovebirds! Monday dawns gray and misty, and it's actually not long before a thunderstorm rolls in! You can, of course, kiss dramatically in the yard in the rain and risk getting struck by lightning-- or you can stay inside, cuddle in the conversation pit, USE THE GODDAMN BOOM BOOM ROOM or do anything else until the storm blows over by the evening! Don't worry, the rest of the week will be bright and sunny and beautiful!

There's also a new section of the house, weirdly enough! There's a bright turquoise door located near the bedroom and opening it leads to... a massive indoor pool. The water is a pleasant temperature, there's a hot tub, there's an assortment of flotation devices for those of you who might have trouble swimming (tubes, life vests, boogie boards, pool noodles that can also be used to wage Deadly Combat if you are Sara and Kasque or Jeritza or anyone else ready for Violence). And if you somehow didn't pack a swimsuit because why on earth would your canon let you have one--

Worry not!! There's a rack of swimsuits in every size you lot could need! The catch (or not): they're all sexy. Like. Barely there sexy. Impossibly adhering to you sexy. Shoelaces would maybe cover more sexy. Absolutely great to play Chicken Fight in sexy. You get the idea.

Anything having to do with being able to write is still also Not Present.

Enjoy!!!

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[souperb]

[ NOOOOOOO ]

... The gods truly are shameless.

[ as an ex? one?, she feels this deeply.

and it's a miracle of life that milla's even walking up to the rack to peruse the selections on her own. maybe it gives her an excuse just to not look at kasque.

oh, these truly are all terrible. ]

There has to be something in here that isn't just string.

[dankgod]

Hey, give me a little more credit. My shamelessness is all me, babes.

[ This is a normal form of address.

Kasque glances at the rack over Milla's shoulder. ]

Pretty sure there doesn't, actually... I bet there are a lot of people hoping to see you show off your assets.

[souperb]

[ babes........

what's worse, that or this very unsafe bathing suit that she's stopped on from being baffled by "babes". kasque has the tales of old man vocabulary. ]

It's Milla.

[ first!!! ]

And they can keep hoping. I wouldn't wear one of these even if this was the big wish-granting task.

[ m... maybe.

but, uh, next swimsuit. next. ]

[dankgod]

...Mm. Milla.

[ Kasque has to take a moment again after saying her name. But it's fine. She's probably just staring at the swimsuit. ]

...I'm guessing you're more interested in the wish thing than unwinding and having some fun, then.

[ She guessed that anyway. But she's trying not to base anything she says on "her" Milla. ]

[souperb]

[ yeah. definitely staring at the swimsuit. she won't put a spotlight on that pause at least, focusing on the question asked. ]

You're right. I only came here for that wish.

[ no mention on how kasque had guessed that, or anything about what her milla would have done. even if the thought does pop up in her mind — a bitter reflex — but she's been insensitive enough. ]

... There's someone I'd like to give it to, that's all.

[ likely the most honest and sincere she's been since landing on horny island. ]

[dankgod]

Haaa, seriously? You're going through all this and you're not even going to use the wish for yourself?

[ Kasque isn't nearly as surprised by that as she makes herself sound. ]

[souperb]

It's not any less believable than a god participating, is it? I wouldn't subject myself to this for my own problems. I can get rid of those by myself.

[ ... unless those problems include these swimsuits, which she's given up on. she's pushing the two she was looking at away with a mildly dramatic gesture. ]

Ugh. All string.

[ an aside. ]

[dankgod]

[ Without the excuse of watching Milla browse, Kasque withdraws a bit. ]

Huh, is it that unbelievable? Being a god involves a lot of serious duty things. Why wouldn't I take the chance to just kick back for a while?

[souperb]

Maybe I meant it more generally. I'm more used to those with the godly, "serious duty things" focusing on them completely. [ like her, maybe, when she had one. the other milla. her muzet. kasque's milla? ] You... Like you said, that shamelessness is all yours.

[ and that's, like, half-tired, half... not fond, or endeared, but something. ]

It isn't a bad thing, but I doubt whether it's an insult or not matters much to you.

[dankgod]

Nah. I know I'm kinda half-assing the God thing.

[ There's another slightly-too-long pause. ]

...The alternative sounds awful to me. Focusing only on responsibility and duty, completely putting aside your own happiness, forever...? C'mon, that's obviously gonna suck.

[souperb]

[ that... makes milla glance at kasque. she notices the swimsuit again. immediately turns away. ]

It almost sounds like you're asking for my approval.

[ maybe? it always seems to come back to duty when it involves milla maxwell, but at this point she's come to terms with it. ]

I'm the wrong one to ask for that. [ for various reasons. or maybe she is the milla to ask, for some other reasons. ] There's choices we have to make, and alternatives that are worse. Sometimes you'll be happy making them, and sometimes you won't be. That's all it is.

[ ... ]

... Does that suck? I don't know. I just think I prefer having the ability to choose.

[dankgod]

I'm not asking you for anything.

[ Kasque's voice gets a little harder there for a moment before she turns it lighthearted again. ]

...I'm just saying, there are a lot worse things than putting on a swimsuit and playing in the pool, or whatever. No one should have to be all serious and responsible all the time. Even if it's stupid and inappropriate and embarrassing and pointless... that's all part of making choices and living your life, right?

Well, I'm not recommending going out there with a string up your ass and across your tits. Just... mmmmm...

[ another pause ]

More generally. Maybe you should "subject yourself to this" a little. For yourself.

[souperb]

I didn't expect you to be the type to give life advice.

[ sarcastic, but distracted. as if she's really considering what she's been told.

mm. ]

There may have been a time where I would've liked to hear that. [ when everyone was telling her what the other milla would have done. when she felt selfish for hesitating and putting her own desires above what was necessary. ] Now, I get to hear it in the context of embarrassing swimsuits and a... pointless dating game. It's funny.

[ no comment on whether she really will or not. after a sigh, she turns again and

okay, she can keep eye contact with kasque now. ]

... Kasque. I hate that I want to ask this. [ ... ] Is that what you wanted to tell your Milla?

[dankgod]

...Mmmmmm...

[ Kasque is the one to avoid eye contact now. ]

I'd say it's closer to what she told me. But the girl sucks at taking her own advice.

[souperb]

[ ah. ]

What a surprise. Being duty-driven and inspirational is a pattern.

[ she's... really trying to be painfully neutral here. but there's a mix of emotions.

but, actually. hearing that reminds her of something else. ]

... Which makes me wonder. It's none of my business, and I hardly know the specifics of whatever ceremony or process is involved, but you said your Milla never showed up to whatever made you a God. It seems she followed her own advice just fine, in that case.

[ that sounds like running from responsibility to her? surely prime milla would've leapt up at becoming god, and right now she just imagines kasque's milla as prime milla. ]

[dankgod]

...Nah, it wasn't like that. There's no way she would have no-showed on her own.

[ Now Kasque can't conceal sounding slightly pained. ]

Are you seriously sure you wanna hear about this? You were pretty clear about not being interested in the Milla I knew, before.

[souperb]

[ yeah. complicated. ]

I'm not.

[ there's no hesitation behind that response.

when she continues, it's significantly less steadfast. in a place full of Feelings, can she pretend that there's no reason she's seeing the same situation twice? ]

... But I'll listen to it anyway. I've started to think that maybe I can't run from it, after all.

[ as much as she hates it. ]

[dankgod]

[ This time Kasque is silent for long enough that it's unclear if she's going to respond at all. Is she debating whether to tell Milla? What to tell her? Gathering her thoughts to be able to talk about it at all?

(It's all of the above) ]

...It was always going to be one of us, you know? We were the only two candidates who survived. That's what we were raised for. Which means it was always going to be Milla. I mean, obviously, right? She was the one who was all focused and dedicated and everything. Me, as God? Ha.

The mages were all too cowardly to say that to our faces, though. They decided to "defer to our opinions on it."

So of course Milla gave me this whole somber speech about it. How that duty was more important to her than anything else. And how she wanted me to be free to live the life I wanted, even if that meant half-assing my way through it.

[souperb]

[ there's a lot about this that's questionable, but she'll focus on the important bits. the things she wants to hear least, about a milla that isn't her and one she'll never know.

but she'd sat in the silence with kasque, so it seems ridiculous to turn away now. ]

... Is hearing that what made you change the way things were supposed to be? Or did you always intend to do that?

[ she assumes it was her.

it doesn't sound like anyone around her was opposed to the natural outcome, and millas were ever so good at Not Dying, which she can imagine is the only thing that would stop prime milla... excuse me, kasque milla from being infuriatingly duty-driven. ]

[dankgod]

I dunno about always. But I'd definitely decided it before then.

[ It's a little easier to talk now that she's started. And now that Milla is making some (correct) assumptions. Kasque leans against the swimsuit rack with deliberate nonchalance. ]

I just... I knew her better than anyone, y'know? And I thought about it a lot. God is immortal. There's no going back from that. Or, I mean, even if there was... Milla wouldn't ever waver in her duty, no matter how exhausting or painful it got. Her suffering under that pressure, alone, unyielding, forever...? Yeah, I could imagine that. Easy.

So... I couldn't let her do it. I had to free her from it.

[souperb]

[ a tiny stretch of silence. ]

... You're surprisingly selfless, aren't you.

[ despite the whole too aloof to care thing kasque has going on. she seems to care a lot, enough to make a sacrifice she's not sure a lot of informed people would make.

what is it about these other millas that make them gather this many simps... ]

[dankgod]

Haaa, that's seriously how you're going to take that? As me being selfless?

[ Kasque sounds both frustrated and unsurprised. ]

Just 'cause I thought about what it would mean for Milla herself, and her happiness? Someone had to do it. The mages certainly weren't, and obviously she wasn't. Anyway, this way seemed just seemed like the right choice.

[souperb]

[ unflinching: ]

If you weren't taking your own circumstances into consideration, that's literally what it was.

[ it just is. she doesn't regard it with some form of amazement. she's just surprised kasque would care that much, and she's not sure how to feel about it— ]

... If you'd rather I call it selfish, because you couldn't handle someone you care about suffering, I could view it that way as well. Though, again. I suppose what I think about it doesn't really matter.

[ —or if she should feel anything about it at all, because it isn't her. ]

Either way, your right choice... What you did doesn't change. You stole your Milla's duty... How did she take that?

[dankgod]

Don't get it twisted. It's not like I decided I'd be suffering instead, and that was all. I'll happily fuck off from my duties whenever they get to be too much. So it's different. I'm not that noble, babes.

[ She sighs again. ]

And I didn't see her reaction. I lied to her face, said tch, yeah, of course you're gonna do it! Can you imagine if it was me? Everyone like, ugh, have you seen how she dresses, there's no way I'm worshipping her!

[ Kasque slides her finger under the edge of her swimsuit and snaps it, not meeting Milla's eyes again. ]

Then I just told her the wrong place for the ritual. By the time she got suspicious and found my letter it was too late.

[souperb]

[ ah. there's babes. ]

Not babes. Milla.

[ first of all. again. she refuses to be named that, and she's stubborn enough about the most tedious of things to remain steadfast about that. it gives her time to think about the mess that kasque just served her, the snap of the swimsuit hardly startling her. ]

I do think I'd be able to stand you less if you were that noble, to be honest.

[ which, again, she doesn't think really matters.

but she isn't judging kasque's motivations, nor is she in any position to critique how she handles her duties... though she does wonder for a moment how a world with such a... relaxed god looks like? such a human god?

and she wonders, too, what kasque considers "too much." ]

... So. Was that letter the last time you interacted with her, then?