⚡ ML INBOX

[evocation]

@kyna.medina | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

Comments

@ian.fowler

[wittingly]

let's hear it
lay out your suffering
what's fucking with you the most

[evocation]

i thought engineers weren't supposed to be all snuggly

[wittingly]

I primarily build carebears

[evocation]

aww cute
do i get one?

[She is absolutely stalling.]

[wittingly]

the bears come after the cares

[evocation]

that sounds messy

[wittingly]

messy in a manner similar to or different than how you feel right now & elaborate on that answer

[evocation]

oh my god
idk
i can barely do anything in here and it sucks
how am i supposed to elaborate on that?

[wittingly]

what do you want to do that you can't?
what obstacles are preventing you from it?

[evocation]

i'd like to fry whatever server judas is on
but you know
i'm trapped here
and no cool zapping powers

[wittingly]

so you're feeling helpless to control your situation, frustrated by your inability to manipulate your environment

is there anything you can do proactively, maybe in a less direct way in order to take back even a little bit of that while you're in there?

[evocation]

oh god
you're psychoanalyzing
how am i supposed to do that?

[wittingly]

what can I say, i'm an endless well of curiosity and I like to inflate my own ego

one way might be to find a cause to align yourself with. I know there are people actively working a few strategies in there. getting on board might make you feel like you're taking the reins on your own situation to some degree

alternatively, have you been doing anything to manage your stress or have you just been stewing in it?

[evocation]

i tried that with one of the supply runs
it didn't work
it's like i told ren
i'm not a planner

[Also, she doesn't know how to manage her stress.]

[wittingly]

I'm not a planner either
guarantee there's more shit going on than just 1 effort
you could also take the humanitarian route, if you see a need among your peers that you can fulfill to positively influence the group as a whole. butterfly effect, you know, that kind of shit

guessing that's a no on the stress management

[evocation]

i'm not good at positive influence either
i suck at talking people through shit like this
look, i get that you're trying to help
but all of my skillsets are worthless here
in general, not just in this stupid sim

[wittingly]

let's break this down a little sister
you don't have to talk or even be a people person, your contributions can be physical. getting people shit they need, helping people who are starving, maybe running triage for the wounded or any other identified need
if you can't identify one, you can definitely just flat out ask someone in a position of delegation

I don't believe for a second your skillset is worthless
first of all we've established you have fantastic insight
second of all you can probably make a dick out of any material you've got and that's definitely one need some people want satisfied

just kidding

what would you say your talents are, ignoring this place and the sim altogether

[evocation]

most of them are magic based
i can break curses or banish spirits or identify nasty monsters
i dug into electrical engineering and electromagnetism but i'm not
you know
trained
and nothing in here is actually happening to us physically

[wittingly]

I can teach you more about both of those things if you want, when you're out
those are both incredibly useful, and even minimal skill can be beneficial

it's incredibly easy to choose your most obvious, most passionate talent and make that your identity, but being a human you're complex, you have more than just 1 identifier

what other hobbies, interests, or habits did you have aside from magic

[evocation]

[She actually... really does want to learn more about that, but she's also stubborn.]

are you making me your project right now?

[wittingly]

I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a fair accusation

but I promise it's just sort of an annoying aspect of my personality rather than a reflection on whether or not you actually need anything from anyone

I self-analyze just as hard, but I do less about it because I'm a hypocrit

also I'm pretty sure normal people sometimes call this "friendship" but they also probably don't get as overly enthusiastic about it as I do

I'm not great without something to focus on, I just start going out on like 50 trains of thought at once

^ obviously

[evocation]

[Kyna doesn't even know how to respond to this at first, because he's hitting a sort of middle ground between sincerity and alleviating her worries that she doesn't even know how to deal with. She's too flabbergasted to be scared off.]

okay dr. phil
so now you're focusing on me because you're
bored?

[wittingly]

I'm pretty sure that one's just an oversimplification, so
no

[evocation]

[Okay, he's annoyingly persistent.]

i know some first aid and i've been helping out at the clinic
does that count?

[wittingly]

It counts
Does it make you feel any better while you're doing it?