[ Video ]

[fun_thementalist]

[ Gen is lounging in the library, looking a little wistful, putting some book down before the camera can see the title ]

So! I have a hypothetical question, everyone! If anyone could indulge me a little.

Let's play a game.

[ He leaned into the camera's frame with a bright smile ]

Pick three fellow passengers on this train - and tell me, who would you Hug, who would you Marry, and who would you Yeet into the void, if given the ability?


[ Claps his hands together ]

Please, it's all in good fun, of course! Share with me your thoughts!

Comments

[irrationally]

[ She's giving him a bit of A Look here.

It's hard to decypher though, since Alice often has that look. Generally unimpressed. It could just be that she's regularly staring and her face just happens to look like that, or maybe she really is judging him for even having to ask that. ]

I have never been hugged by a man in my life before I ended up in this place.

[ Is that enough of an answer for you, Dyme? ]

.. Aside from my father, anyway. [ But he doesn't count! And that was well over ten years ago! ]

[swansongs]

[He was still genuinely confused about how upset she was or wasn't, but he decided to err on the side of caution. He didn't really want to make someone upset or uncomfortable.]

Oh. Um. I'm sorry. If I was being rude, I mean.

[Man, he couldn't even remember the last time his own father had hugged him. It had been, at the very least, thirteen years ago. Probably longer than that.]

Hugging people's really common, where I'm from, so I guess I just kind of assumed.

[irrationally]

... [ Alice is quiet for one awkward moment, before she does speak up again. ]

It's alright.

[ She sounds a bit calmed down now, like she's finally realising what kind of effect her angry-flustered reaction could have - or is only now realising what it must look like to anyone else.

So the girl shakes her head, trying to shake off that part of the topic, so she can instead more calmly ask: ]

Did you get hugged that often?

[swansongs]

[He shrugged.]

Usually, yeah. Back home, definitely. Here, not so much, but I chalk that up to still working on becoming friends with people?

[Like, he wasn't just going to fling himself at someone he'd only spoken to a few times, even if he tended to do that verbally sometimes.]

[irrationally]

[ Ugh. Ugh! This is so hard! This is not the kind of conversation Alice usually has with people. Why is this dumb friendship thing so hard to figure out when other people make it look so easy.

She clears her throat, but somehow still manages to sound awkward when she speaks up. ]

Dyme. Where are you. Right now.

[ This isn't something she can say where other people can hear it!! ]

[swansongs]

[For a second he froze like a deer in headlights, wondering if he was somehow in more trouble.]

The standard car?

we're actioning this up!!!

[irrationally]

[ There is no answer. The feed just cuts out on Alice's end. Omniously.

Or maybe it's just that she doesn't have enough social experience to properly say 'bye' or 'see you in a second'.. Instead she's just already moving over to the standard car, arriving very shortly afterwards. ]

Dyme. [ Again with the name! She's stepping right towards him, only stopping once she's directly in front of him. ] You have to promise to never let anyone else find out about these upcoming words.

[swansongs]

[Dyme had a single worry, and that worry was that Alice was still mad at him. Had she been mad in the first place? He still wasn't entirely sure. For someone who navigated social waters easily, he was sometimes as dense as a sack of bricks.

It really didn't help the way she kept saying his name, either.]

Uh. Okay? I promise.

[irrationally]

[ For a moment she stares into his eyes, as if she's trying to see there whether or not he means those words.

Apparently she doesn't dislike what she finds there, since she sucks in a deep breath and actually speaks up. ]

I.. also consider us friends. [ She says it as if it's incredibly hard to say.. Despite the words themselves being fairly simple. But Alice really looks like she's struggling, somehow. (It's the social awkwardness, really.) ] So if you-- if you ever need a hug to.. prove that, or anything like it.. I suppose I could give you one.

[ Nope. Apparently she's not mad. Just awkward. ]

[swansongs]

[For a long moment he was confused, expecting the other shoe to drop. But that was all, that was what it was. The tension eased out of his shoulders, and he smiled softly.]

You don't have to prove anything to me. I mean, I don't want you to do something because you feel like you have to or should or something.

[Just knowing that she considered him a friend was good enough for him.]

[irrationally]

I don't...

[ 'Feel like I have to', she wants to say, but it doesn't quite feel right. It'd be a lie, if not at least partially. ]

I just don't want you to think I don't care, just since I'm not as good at expressing that as most people are.

[swansongs]

Some people slather on affection, some people are awkward turtles, others just aren't good with words.

It's like, one of my band mates usually shows he cares by being annoyed with us. [And sometimes Dyme couldn't blame him; they could be pretty irritating.]

My point is, I get it. And I know you care.

[irrationally]

[ There's another quiet, awkward moment, but then she slowly nods. ]

Alright.

[ Alice is choosing to trust his words. It's hard, but Dyme has seemed trustworthy enough so far. If he's playing the long game, then it's a very, very long game.

Then there's another second, but it's more because she's curious, wondering: ] .. But.. are you saying you also know at least one turtle?

[ She sounds so genuine too. Like this is just a honest to god question. ]

[swansongs]

[Yet again, he didn't know if she was actually serious or making some kind of joke. But, all things considered, it could be entirely possible that she'd never heard of the phrase 'awkward turtle'.]

It's...it's a phrase, I don't know any turtles. Also I have no idea where the phrase came from or why turtles are considered awkward, but apparently they are.

[irrationally]

Ah.

[ Somehow there seems to be a certain kind of disappointment in her answer.. ]

Well, the one I know is quite awkward, so I would say that the person who started the phrase may have known a turtle or two, if the Mock Turtle was anything to go by.

[swansongs]

Wait, you literally know a turtle?

[Give him a moment to wrap his head around that.]

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised about that, but still. That's...cool?

[irrationally]

Yes. Though I suppose he's not an actual turtle, considering he's more related to soup than reptiles, but most people would refer to him as a turtle if they saw him, I'm sure.

[ Though they may be slightly distracted by his captain uniform first... ]

I really knew very few humans before I ended up here on the train.

[swansongs]

Related to...soup...?

[Had he...had he heard that right? How was anything related to soup?]

How does that even work?

[He'd met or known a lot of non-human people himself, so he couldn't even judge that part, but he was still hung up on other things.]

[irrationally]

Since he's a Mock Turtle, of course! That's what they make mock turtle soup out of.

[ Mock turtle soup certainly isn't made out of anything even remotely related to turtles, but that assumption that Alice made as a child is exactly what lead her to think up a mock turtle imaginary friend in her own imaginary world.. ]

[swansongs]

I have literally never heard of that before, so I'm just gonna take your word for it.

[He didn't know anything about mock turtles, or soup, for that matter, so for all he knew this was something that was perfectly logical where Alice was from.]