Thirty-First PSI

[a_gentle_boy]

[voice, private to Rin Kagamine, Shiraasan, Tavros, and Nanashi]
I  . . . I'm not sure what came over me.  I guess it must have been the town playing tricks again, but I was feeling really strange last week.  I'm really sorry.  Especially to you, Tavros.  We only just met and, um.  You're not even a girl I don't think.  I-I promise I don't actually like any of you, so please don't worry about that kind of thing. 

I mean! Wait!   I do like you, all of you, a lot!  Just  Not.  Um.   You know.  Ah.  Not like...... N-Not ............... I'm just going to apologize and hang up now.

[action]
1.  [It is early Saturday morning and Lucas is walking a dog down the street.  This is standard fare for Lucas's weekends, but Lucas appears significantly more animated than usual as he talks aloud, seemingly to himself.  But actually . . . It's pretty clear he seems to think he's holding a conversation with someone.  The dog is, of course, welcome to tag as well.]

2. [It is early Monday morning on the way to school and there are a few birds sitting on top of Lucas's head and shoulders, tweeting merrily away.  Once again, he appears engrossed in a conversation.]

3. [I'm just going to outright say it.  If you are an animal or own an animal, Lucas wants to talk to you/it.]

4. [In the Mayfield Library, Lucas has a table all to himself and is frowning a little as he concentrates on the task before him.  There are photographs and hand-drawn pictures of people scattered all across -- much more of the latter.  There are at least 30 different drawings, each of probably unfamiliar people.  A blond man with a scarf and a cigarette and a dark-haired young woman feature prominently among them.  ....What Lucas appears to be doing is fitting these pictures into an elegant notebook of some sort.]

Comments

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Just making sure. I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot because of that. Maybe we should start over . . .

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Um, okay, if that is what you want!

I'm, uh, Tavros.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . Um.

[That wasn't exactly what he had meant. But Lucas can play along.]

I'm Lucas. . . . It's nice to .... -- W-Wait, hold on. I sort of meant we could try to forget what happened when we started acting funny.

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Oh, um, heh. Sorry, I, uh.


Uuh, yeah, okay, that sounds like a good idea. I think that, in general, I would pretty much like to forget all of that stuff happened anyway, so I will forget what happened with, uh, us, too.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

I'm glad.

. . . Do you mind if I ask you something, Tavros?

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Uh, no, I don't mind.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Were you . . . something else before you came to Mayfield?

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was, or, uh, am again, a Troll! And you probably have no heard of that, umm, at all, but it is definitely the thing that I am. Though I guess having my horns back makes it, um, more difficult to get these weird human clothes over my head.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

I . . . haven't. Trolls have horns? And do they not have legs, usually?

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Well, yes and, um, no. That is, uh, yes to the first one, and no to the second one, most of the time. We all have, um, horns, and everyone definitely has legs, it is just that mine were, uh, kind of useless.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

So . . . in Mayfield, you. Oh. Oh. Ah, I'm sorry for mentioning it. It was just something you'd said before . . .

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

It's, um, okay, you didn't really know, and also I have legs now so, uh, my situation is, um, extremely improved.

And, uh, I have been avoiding the, um, person who did it, in the first place, pretty well so I think I will continue to do that, to protect them.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Your legs weren't always like that? And the person who did it is here, too?!

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Uuuuuuuh, no, it was an accident. Or, uh, rather, she did it on purpose, but it was an accident, for me.

Her name is, uh, Vriska, so if you see her, can you please be, uuum, careful? She promised that she would not hurt the humans, but she tends to, uh, say one thing, and then do completely the opposite, just because she, uh, wants to.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Vriska . . . Thanks. But don't worry about me, Tavros. I can take care of myself pretty well.

Why would she do something like that on purpose?

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Oh, well, if you say so, but please be really careful, uh, anyway? I know I am kind of weak and, um, useless, but she is definitely really powerful. Or was, because she is just a human now.

As for, uh, why, I guess I don't really know. She kind of, um, confuses me, in general.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

. . . If I ever meet her, I'll ask. But you shouldn't think of yourself as useless.

[pause.]

And the only reason you might be weak is because of what she did.

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Um, yes, I think that it has something to do with that, because, uh, I definitely feel more confident with, um, legs. Even if it is just fake confidence, that is not real, but that is better than before, when, uh, there was none, at all.

Though I am pretty useless, and it is kind of silly to argue that I am anything but, um, useless, most of the time.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Tavros . . . I don't know you very well, but . . . no one should think they're useless. Maybe there are some things you don't do very well, or maybe you know people who are better than you at anything you can think of, but . . .

You're still not useless. That's not true of anyone, and it's definitely not true for someone who seems as nice as you.

[1/2]

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

[You can't see him, but he's kind of sitting there mouthing like a goldfish.

SO MANY FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS]

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

[And it's only after about four or five whole minutes of that he can actually respond.]

Uuuuuh, woah, that is extremely nice of you to say, especially about, um, someone like me.

. . . Thanks, again. You are really nice too, so, even if everyone thinks this town is pretty awful, even though I'm not sure I really agree, because it does not seem that bad, at least I am glad I, uh, got to talk to you.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[Lucas ventures a 'hello?' and shakes the phone a bit in those five minutes and wonders briefly if he is scaring people away with his personality.

I'm glad to talk to you, too.

. . . A-Ah. Um. Not to change the subject, but be careful about thinking the town is OK. It can be bad.

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Not to argue, or sound like I am disagreeing in any way, but it is actually kind of nice so far? I mean, uh, apart from the human brain destroying diseases.

It gave me legs, and the hive is, um, kind of nice too.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[Lucas is learning to auto translate some of the strange things Tavros says by now, and he nods a little in response.]

Yes. It can be nice . . . For people without families or friends, or in bad situations at home. But every now and then . . . they do unforgivable things.

[bullsit.livejournal.com]

Oh.

No one has really taken the time, not that they need to or anything, to really explain what it is that is so bad, apart from the, um, extremely awful dairy products.