(july intro log) WELCOME TO THE CONTAINMENT ZONE! (for real this time.)

[vestigemods]

JULY INTRO LOG

► PROMPT 1 ► WAKING UP

Whenever you're from or wherever you were, you awaken now with the mildest of headaches in-... oh, this is new. For some people, you wake in a cabin - in a bed, on the floor, amidst boxes in the basement - and for others, you wake up somewhere else entirely. Off in the woods. Between aisles in a run-down gas station. Lying on a branch ten feet up a local tree. Perhaps even on a leaky boat out on the middle of a lake. It's mid-morning, and across the nine square miles of containment zone, a little under two-dozen people are waking up just as you are. I'm sure you'll run into some of them soon enough.

This might be your first time waking up where you don't expect to be. If it is, consider yourself lucky to have missed what came before. For those have been through a Loop or three (or five or twelve), you'll find that waking this time feels different. It's as though you've woken from a dream - and that's what those memories feel like, trapped in the semi-tangible realm between dream and reality, though if pressed you can probably discern that they were undeniably real. (Or perhaps you can't - or perhaps some of the memories are missing altogether. This is hardly a precise science.)

Somewhere in your vicinity (in your hand, in your pocket, on your chest) is a smartphone, if you're able to recognize it as such. The models tend to vary, but they all share the capacity to connect to what seems to be an overarching network, able to connect to others with similar devices via text, voice calls, or even video messages.

But the phone is likely the least of your concerns, at least for now. More pressing is where exactly it is that you've awoken and whether or not you've woken up alone.

PROMPT 2 ► THE CABINS + LAKE

As many as a dozen cabins sit in the general vicinity of the lake, some along the shore and some a bit farther back in the woods. Perhaps you awoke in one, or perhaps you're stumbling into one after dragging yourself out of the lake or through a couple of miles of woods. Either way, you're in perhaps the best place you might have ended up. The cabin's amenities are sketchy but functional, and the kitchen is stocked with food...

And let's not forget about the pamphlets.

On at least a couple of nearby tables or countertops sit a handful of them, fanned for display. They're vividly colored, depicting what you might recognize as the landscape outside, and the title reads: THE CONTAINMENT ZONE AND YOU! Within these pamphlets, a conversationally cavalier voice explains a bit about the Containment Zone, which (as it turns out) you're stuck in right at this very moment.


"THE CONTAINMENT ZONE AND YOU", summarized


• Where am I?
  Earth. Well - an Earth. Definitely not your Earth. if that creates more questions than it answers, glance to your left and right and ask any follow-up questions to whomsoever seems least confused.


• Why am I here?
  To feed the elder gods with your death and/or suffering in order to prevent any more of an apocalypse than we already had.


• Can I leave?
  Voluntarily? No. Involuntarily? Probably not.


• What do you mean, 'death'??
  Oh, calm down. You'll come back.


• I have very important shit to be doing/people to be saving/weed to be smoking back home!
  Lucky for you: If you go back, we'll put you back right where and when you left off. You won't miss a thing.


• Isn't that how you break time!? I'm pretty sure that's how you break time.
  Only if you remember this place and/or what you've learned here when you get back. Which you won't.


• Supplies?
  Cabins and gas station.


• Cabins?
  Yours. Pick one.


• Lake?
  Safe. (For now.)


• Moon?
  Haunted.


• Who even are you?
  Call us the Technicians. Individual identities don't matter. We may give you sweets and toys but we're not your friends.


• Do you at least negotiate?
  We'll consider it. Depends on what you're asking for. And, of course, on what you have to offer.


• Wait! I'm (insert emotions) and have more questions!
  How unfortunate. Expect your next pamphlet in 4-6 weeks.




Well, that certainly is... something. Lots to discuss, lots to consider. If you're the get-right-to-business sort, that could easily occupy you for a good long while.

Alternatively: It's a hot day, and you've just ever-so-conveniently learned that the lake is 'safe (for now)'. Why not go for a dip to clear your head? The water is actually impressively clear, offering visual reassurance of the lack of abject horrors lurking below.

Those who do swim find that the lake is, as promised, mostly innocuous. 'Mostly' being the key phrase, as anyone who swims out close to the center will find it getting more and more difficult to stay on the surface. As if you're getting heavier and heavier, or your limbs are getting weaker and weaker. It isn't enough to drown you (probably), but you certainly might find yourself considering how peaceful it might be if you let yourself sink.

These thoughts are simple enough to push away in much the same way you might push through the heaviness of your limbs. One could consider it more a warning than anything: Even that which is 'safe' should be treated with proper caution. (Quick and senseless deaths are junk food to the elder gods - tasty but unsatisfying.)

PROMPT 3 ► THE GAS STATION

At the south end of the containment zone sits an old gas station, run-down and overgrown at first sight. It sits alongside a cracked asphalt road, one which (as you might discover) bisects the containment zone from the east wall to the west without a single other building in sight.

You may have woken up here, or perhaps you found it at the pamphlet's behest. Either way, it's a discovery that you'll thank yourself for many a time as throughout the next few months here, for reasons that become apparent the moment you step inside.

In sharp contrast with the outside, the inside of the gas station looks... well, like a functional gas station should. Floors and surfaces seem recently-wiped, shelves seem stocked and organized... It's enough that if you're familiar with gas stations as a concept, you might find yourself reflexively glancing around for an attendant.

But no attendant seems to be present. Just shelves and shelves of goods - perishables and nonperishables, first aid supplies and whatever else one might expect to find at such an out-of-the-way pit stop, all ready for the taking. You might even find an extra surprise. Oh, and let's not forget a nice array of THE CONTAINMENT ZONE AND YOU! pamphlets on the check-out counter, in case you missed them back at the cabins.

Maybe you encounter someone here - are they friend, or foe? Maybe they're as lost and confused as you are. Maybe they're reaching for that last fucking can of Spaghetti-Os and you're serious about your fucking Spaghetti-Os. At least one person is definitely waking up in a gas station fridge... Maybe you're lucky(?) individual who spots them and has to decide whether or not you've discovered a corpse where the soda should be. The world (or, at least, the gas station) is your oyster.

PROMPT 4 ► THE WOODS + BARRIER

The vast majority of the containment zone is covered in evergreen forest, populated with wildlife that look and act disarmingly normal. It may, in fact, be a nice quiet place to stroll in order to clear your head. While large swathes of the woods are moderately dense, there are a number of paths to make your way along should you choose to. Birds sing overhead, deer occasionally bound across the path ahead... If you didn't know any better, you might be able to forget that this isn't a normal stretch of woods somewhere not far from home.

But nothing in the containment zone is truly harmless. The blackberry bushes that line many a cabin (you remember, the ones that make your mouth and tongue go numb?) are out in force in the woods, and out here they're even more of an infernal menace: While the cabin variety only cause havoc when ingested, so much as a scratch from the woods variety's thorns will induce a tingling numb in the affected area that lasts for the better part of an hour.

And let's not forget the lovely field of "wildflowers" that definitely aren't not infested with poison ivy. It's a shame, really. The flowers themselves are quite pretty, an array of pastel blues and pinks and oranges. It's almost like a painting, if touching that painting happened to make you itch, burn, and blister for one-to-two weeks.

But why are we talking about flowers? What you're truly interested in is the containment zone barrier, aren't you? That's fine, you're bound to encounter it out there somewhere. It's invisible until you touch it, at which point a honeycomb pattern ripples out from the point of contact. As a general rule, the barrier gives back what it gets: Place your palm on it and you'll receive a faint uncomfortable buzz. Run headlong into it, and it will ricochet you multiple yards back into the woods.

The barrier stretches all the way around the containment zone without a single break or point of yielding. No further buildings can be seen beyond the barrier, nor any real sign of civilization at all save for the gas station's road stretching past the barriers and out of sight. The only thing of passable interest is the somewhat concerning tree sitting at the far end of the field across the street from saud gas station, at least two-hundred yards past the barrier. At this distance, it's a bit tricky to make out what flocks in the tree's branches. Those have to be birds... right?

► MOD NOTES ►

• This log takes place from July 4th onward, arguably through whenever the event goes up - though you're welcome to toss up your own logs in the meantime. I'm gonna troubleshoot the HTML to leave a space for IC dates, but I didn't want to waste any more time on that right now.
  
• Vestige is now open for business! You're welcome to post logs + network posts of your own, post memes on vestigechat, whatever you want.
  
• This log is functionally intended to be a tour of the containment zone for new characters and players, with dashes of mild horror or discomfort along the way. Don't worry: The actual horror is rolling in later this month. (I'm tagging this under 'event' anyway, just to keep track of it.)
  
• You can literally have your character wake up wherever you want within the containment zone, even if I didn't list it. Go nuts.
  
• It's worth noting: None of the cabins are recognizable as the precise one from the TDM loop, nor is the forest fog still present. The forest is recognizably the same flora/fauna, but that's about it.
  
• You're welcome to include a network post with your top-level (or to put it up on vestigenet as per usual) - but don't forget to consult the NETWORK: USERNAMES ARE FUCKY drop-down of July's Infopost before you do!
  
• Direct any and all questions at Trace on plurk/discord or (for slightly slower answers) this top-level.
  
• My deepest most heartfelt apologies for the lateness, I failed to factor in my own godforsaken attention span.
  

Comments

Jiang Cheng

[legbreakings]

mostly innocuous my ass - the lake

[ After ever so many loops, Jiang Cheng is used to awakening to the lumpy bed and stale air of the log cabin.

Now, he awakens to fresh air and the soft swaying of the soft surface he is curled up on in some uncomfortable crouching position. He also awakens to the uncomfortable feeling of his clothes getting progressively soaked and a small black object tucked in his hand. Oh yes, and a pamphlet stuck to his face, let's not forget that.

He opens his eyes to a whole lot of water and not a single lotus flower in sight, stuck on a dingy boat... which must have a leak somewhere because it is filling with water. Another glance confirms there are no oars. He is in the near the middle of the lake, and drifting quickly farther away from shore, as if something is pulling him though the lake seems perfectly still.

There is cursing. There is some punching of said boat - there goes another hole. And then there is some more screaming as the boat is suddenly sucked down by something as if he were dealing with a waterborne abyss all over again, and Jiang Cheng doesn't even have any breath left to curse since he is fighting for his life against being sucked down along with the boat. It is only due to being a lifelong swimmer that he manages to escape at all.

By the time he makes it to the shore, he is going to be thoroughly pissed off, thoroughly exhausted and short one phone, as well as one boat. ]

I hate this place! [ he yells, kicking at a large stone. ] I hate it!


this is fine - the gas station

[ A while after that lovely lake adventure but still sodding wet and with some seaweed tangled up in his fancy silver hairpiece - not that he is aware of this fact - Jiang Cheng can be seen stomping up the path to the gas station.

Where he will proceed to open various packages of food right there on the spot while trying to find something which looks appetizing to him, yet he is in a far too sour mood to find anything appealing. ]


wildcard

or hit me up for an individual starter

[soups]

❰ yanli has some fuzzy memories of the loops she went through, but they're like photo-negatives slightly exposed to the light. distorted, dream-like, bits and pieces. when she wakes up in a soft patch of grass outside, the first thing she realizes is that this particular ground cover doesn't smell like home. the truth of matter becomes more and more clear as she gets up, wanders around, takes everything in. this place could be anywhere, but it's no where she's ever seen.

and she's alone. after a few shouts for her brothers, or even just anyone after they don't respond, she quiets down, warily moving through her surroundings.

the trashing in the water gets her attention, and it isn't animalistic. from a distance she can see the arms flail through across the surface, indicating this is indeed a human -- friend or foe is left to be determined.

as she steps down the hill at this particular edge of the lake, the person becomes more and more recognizable, until it's so obvious she almost trips over herself as she runs to him. ❱

A-Cheng! ❰ he's wet, angry, but hopefully not as lost as she is. even if he's just as clueless, though, it doesn't change how happy she is to see him, along with her worry that he's just emerged from a body of water and kicking a rock. ❱ A-Cheng, are you alright?

[legbreakings]

[ Honestly, Jiang Cheng is working himself into a right a mood between being miserable in his very heavy soaked robes and kicking the stone and all of that...

...and then there's a familiar voice which makes him stop right before he can work himself up into a proper aimless fury. His heart stutters a little at the sheer painful familiarity and the knowledge of losing it forever that follows right on its heels.

He turns around and there Jiang Yanli is, whole and hale and unbloodied, running towards him and calling for him and she is so alive.

Jiang Cheng just stares at her in wide-eyed wonder, making nothing but little choking noises while his eyes fill with tears and he reaches for her but can't quite bring himself to touch because what if it turns out she is just an illusion? He isn't ready yet for it to end. ]

[soups]

❰ to see such pain in her brother's eyes is too much for yanli, who too was worried about being all alone in this world just a few minutes before, and just after they had begun to put themselves back on track. his eyes water and she runs to clasp onto him before he can be too concerned about whether or not he should himself.

it's hard to keep the emotion out of her voice. she has no care or concern for getting wet as his robes moisten hers, embracing him tightly. ❱

It's okay, A-Cheng. Whatever this is, it will all be okay.

[legbreakings]

It won't [ he chokes out, clinging to her for dear life, not even caring that he may be holding her too tightly for her comfort, but he needs to hold on the best he can - it feels as if he lets go, Jiejie might slip through his fingers again. ] Nothing can fix it. But... [ Another choked sob that he buries against her shoulder, crying bitter tears as if he were a child again. He feels like one, too, right now, like a child that had been lost and alone and finally has been found. ] But you're here now. Somehow you're here now.

[ He doesn't know how, he doesn't understand it but she is here. So many unbelievable, even impossible things have happened in this place already, what is one more? And so he laughs through the tears and clings to the sister who had died in his arms just a few days ago. ]

I just don't want to lose you again.

[soups]

❰ it's alright. she clings to him just as tight, rubbing his back up and down, feeling the shake of his body and the pain of his feelings, even if she doesn't completely understand them. they were separated for a short while here -- she didn't wake up and know where she was or if jiang cheng was even there somewhere with her. maybe it's the bubbling stress that has consumed a-cheng ever since being burdened with the weight of clan leadership. ❱

A-Cheng, you won't. I'm here right now. ❰ yanli speaks softly, optimistically sure of this fact. she couldn't think of ever leaving him, of not being together. one day it might be inevitable, but that's the furthest thing from her mind. ❱ And we can be together as we should be.

[legbreakings]

[ He nods through the pathetic little hiccups that keep bubbling up in him and keeps clinging to his sister, holding on to her exactly like the desperate child he is feeling like now. ]

I'm not going to leave you. I won't let you out of my eyes again. You won't... [ He cuts himself off. Yanli doesn't seem to remember her death, or else she would be far more distressed. He's seen it before during the Sunshot Campaign and night hunts both, people who experienced terrible things will sometimes block their memories to spare themselves the suffering. Yanli is happy now, he can't ruin that for her. He sniffles again and presses a teary kiss to her cheek. ] I'm not going to let any harm come to you, alright? I promise.

[soups]

❰ the pressure has certainly gotten to jiang cheng, but he has always been sensitive and emotive, if only incapable of portraying it in a productive way -- in any way at times. even if she doesn't fully understand where this sudden emotional outburst has come from, but it still hits her heart all the same.

she pulls away from him slightly after the kiss, letting go to hold his face in one of her hands. ❱ Thank you, A-Cheng. All I've ever wanted was for us to be together with A-Xian. But for now, it's okay to breathe.

Let's get away from the water...you're dripping wet.

[legbreakings]

[ A-Xian. Of course they don't even get a moment to enjoy their reunion before Wei Wuxian is mentioned. Hurt bubbles up in him but he presses his lips together, not trusting himself not to say something he would regret, and just nods dutifully when Yanli soothes him.

He does take deep breaths, or tries to anyway, it's difficult through the tears that are still choking him. ] Alright. Alright. We'll find somewhere else. And I shouldn't get you wet. You'll get sick again. I can't have you getting sick.

[ And isn't that a terrifying thought that strikes him suddenly. He could be losing Jiejie again. He could get her back only to lose her again and that would be simply unbearable. All he can do is cling tightly to her and bury his face against her shoulder again. ]

You can't leave. Promise me you won't leave!

[soups]

❰ the insistence becomes not just saddening, but concerning. there's something so forceful and broken in how hurt jiang cheng seems, going beyond just the need for sibling connection. ❱

A-Cheng. I won't be married anytime soon. I'll be by your side my whole life at this rate. ❰ which on one hand is something that she feels nothing but positivity towards. would she like to be married some day? sure -- if only she could have her cake and eat it too. in the meantime, there is nothing in the world more meaningful to her than being with her brothers -- both of them, for as much as that might not be what jiang cheng wants, unbeknownst to her. ❱ Have more faith in your jiejie's health, alright? I'll be fine -- you're the one I'm worried about right now.

[legbreakings]

Married? [ he echoes numbly. Her health? She thinks...?

His heart stutters and he stares at her as if she has grown a second head, and before he knows it there is a laugh bubbling up in him. He tries to keep it from being bitter or hysterical though he only succeeds halfway, and so he focuses on wiping angrily at his teary eyes. ]

Men would have to be fools not to line up to marry you. [ There, that is... That is the best he can do, without knowing how much she remembers. Because yes, she clearly doesn't remember her wedding or the birth of her child or her death - and he is reminded of meeting Wei Wuxian in the forest and his confusion why Jiang Cheng was so angry with him. ] But I know your health will be fine. I won't let any harm come to you [ again. Not again. ]

gas station, because fuck it

[mannerless]

( wei wuxian, meanwhile, has been sitting behind the register with one hand full of a pyramid of what he has colloquially dubbed 'food tubes' for lack of of a proper name, the other hand funneling said food tubes into his mouth about as quickly as he can chew. huaisang gave up long ago, but there are still many left and wei wuxian ain't no quitter.

it's the sounds of ripping and tearing that draw his attention, and he hoists himself up to peer warily over the counter. nothing down the immediate aisle, but... aha. a terribly familiar pointy silver headdress peeks up over the shelving, and a sly sort of grin spreads across his face just by reflex. he's slipping up over the counter already by the time he remembers how they parted ways - him on the ground, jiang cheng sprinting off into a gap in the fog - but that's not enough to stop him now, nor give him any more pause than it takes to draw a slightly bracing breath.

and then he strolls around the corner and into a-cheng's aisle (gods, what a mess he's made of the foods here, wei ying watches his step) to offer out a couple of hot food tubes (flautas, wei wuxian, they're called flautas) and say, ) Try these.

[legbreakings]

[ Funny-smelling thing. Disgusting-looking thing. He's not really impressed with the selection of microwave meals he is ransacking, which might have a thing or two to do with the fact that he hasn't figured out yet that these meals are to be reheated before eating.

Whatever his harsh jugdement may be, the food is forgotten anyway as soon as he hears a very familiar voice. He looks up from the bowl of microwave mac 'n' cheese he had been sniffing at, looks at Wei Wuxian who should be dead and just...

As if something had been triggered within him, his memories of the meeting in the forest return - and then the utter devastation he had felt for the rest of that loop and the ones to follow when he had been unable to find Wei Wuxian again, until he decided his appearance was another cruel trick of his captors just like Yanli's voice that had never once led him to her.

Turns it, it's not. He had actually been there until he was not.

Jiang Cheng looks down at the bowl of cheesy pasta he is wielding - and throws it right at Wei Wuxian's face. ]

[mannerless]

( he was expecting a number of possible things - acceptance of the food, rejection of wei ying via yelling, an insistence on jiang cheng's ability to fend for himself - but projectiles? not so much. he ducks to the side with a vague yelp in his throat, the pasta just barely missing, a packet of yellow powder exploding against a nearby shelf.

a wounded sort of scowl is leveled on jiang cheng, because - ) A year, Jiang Cheng, a damn year since we've seen each other, and I thought we might be over this by now, but no - I offer you food, hot delicious food, and you throw things at my face. Can we not move past this?

[legbreakings]

[ He just stares at him, too baffled even to reach for more instant food ammunition, and also too baffled to really deal with the fact that Wei Wuxian thinks that offering him a hot meal is a sufficient way to make up for killing their sister. This entire encounter is so bizarre he can't even work up any proper anger.

A year? It hasn't even been a week since Wei Wuxian dramatically threw himself off that cliff! ]

I didn't even throw any soup at you yet, how did you hit your head, idiot?!

[mannerless]

( okay, maybe it hasn't been a whole year, but the better part of one for certain - so why does jiang cheng look so bewildered?

'i didn't even throw any soup at you yet -' there's soup?? he glances at the shelf, scanning momentarily for said soup, but then his eyes are back on jiang cheng and his bold assumption that wei ying has somehow hit his head.

but wait. wait, he recalls nearly asking that very same question before softening it, when shijie said that the last she recalled was cloud recesses. his indignation fades to something caught between wariness, puzzlement, and concern, and his words come a bit more slowly now. ) I think - perhaps this place tampers with our memories. The first time I found Shijie, in that cabin before, she thought we were still supposed to be at the Cloud Recesses lectures. She remembers more now, but not everything.

( now to figure out which way to take this speculation - whether jiang cheng remembers less than him, or more - and it's safer to go with the latter, if only to perhaps keep the man from getting defensive. )

You brought her to Yiling to see me. We had soup together, the three of us. You remember that, don't you? That was something like eight or nine months ago, for me. ( and now, the fateful question: ) Is there more after that? ( something he's missing? both now and their encounter in the fog, jiang cheng has been especially volatile toward him. )

[legbreakings]

[ He steps towards Wei Wuxian, his eyes wide with desperate eagerness at the mention of their sister, his fury forgotten - and the explanation about different people remembering different things noted but still not as important as Jiang Yanli. ]

You met her before already, in the cabin? I only met her here! Before, I heard her in the forest but I could never find her. But when I got out of the lake, she was there waiting for me. [ Well, she had come running, or stumbled across him by accident, but same difference. ] And she isn't a fierce corpse or even a puppet, she is fully alive and unharmed! [ He sounds so eager at that, his eyes full of wonder all over again at this miraculous reunion. It is enough even to momentarily soften his ire.

But then he thinks of what Wei Wuxian said he remembers, and how he doesn't remember the most important moments of their life, and his mood sours again. ] I remember all you remember but you have conveniently forgotten to mention the rest!

[mannerless]

( a fierce corpse or a puppet? is that what jiang cheng expected her to be?? he can only guess at what could possibly have gone wrong after his most recent memory - xue yang and his wicked corpse powder come to mind at once, and the recollection of jiang cheng in the fog in these very woods demanding to know 'what is all that power good for if you can't ever protect anyone!?' comes screaming to the forefront of his mind.

does something happen to shijie? something that not even wei wuxian and all of his cultivational prowess can protect her from?

there's a moment in which he stares at jiang cheng almost helplessly, the question on the tip of his tongue, but then he drops his gaze off to the side and huffs out a subtly shaky breath. the words that come instead are quieter, more measured. ) If I've done something, something you can't forgive... ( the next words are 'i'm sorry' but even if they meant anything here and now, they fall horrifically short of how he actually feels if sometime in the future he does fail to stand between shijie and harm.

instead, he tidies some of the emotion out of his tone and says, ) I can leave you be. Not... around Shijie, because I'm not going to put her through us fighting, but the rest of the time. If you want.

[legbreakings]

[ He rears back, surprised by how strangely compliant Wei Wuxian is and yet... that very same agreeableness only hurts all over again, just like when Wei Wuxian had been so very agreeable to cut ties with Yunmeng Jiang. He doesn't even care, does he? After everything that happened, everything he did and they suffered because of him, he still doesn't care, he just doesn't want to have to deal with any of it.

Why does it even still hurt? He should have learned to expect nothing better from the great Yiling Laozu.

Jiang Cheng steps away from him again, half turning his back to him, only glaring at him out of the corner of his eyes with a sneer firmly affixed to his face. ]

I should have known you would make such a generous offer, [ he spits, hands tightening into fists at his sides. ] You have always been so eager to not burden anyone with your presence. Or not burden yourself with facing the consequences of your actions, more like it!

[mannerless]

( of course jiang cheng finds a way to be mad about this too. finds a way to take wei ying giving him exactly what he wanted and twist it into something ugly, and then into something else altogether. but then, how would he know if wei wuxian is facing consequences for his actions? how would he know anything at all, after so many months apart?

unless he means consequences for that which wei wuxian has yet to do, in which case... )

If you decide to demand an account for that which I've yet to do, you can have that too. ( the words sound tired, if only because it's simpler than sounding anything else right now. ) You'll know where to find me.

( and he sets the two hot food tubes he's brought on the shelf beside him, because those are for jiang cheng regardless of whether or not wei wuxian's presence is welcome. ) You should eat something. ( and he turns, heading for the door and not looking back. )

[legbreakings]

[ Jiang Cheng remains behind, helplessly looking after him, then simply staring down at his own feet.

He will know where to find him? He forces his mournful face back into a scowl. As if. He doesn't need Wei Wuxian. He doesn't need him messing up his life again or even more and he needs nothing else from him except to be left alone by him.

This reunion is no gift, it is just one more blow. ]

( gas station )

[enflame]

❰ even in the more blessed country of sweden, emil's rarely been in a store so filled with food, and of so many varieties. it's tempting to sample whatever wares are there to partake in, but he has home training -- he'll take them home, then complain if the aren't suited to him. it's all free, after all. or, at least...there's no obvious cashier that has shown up in the 30 minutes he's been here.

this other guy, however, emil raises an eyebrow at from his place on the chips aisle. just opening things right there in the store. some nerve to just do that with no regard for others. ❱

They'll spoil if you just open and leave them there. And no one else can have them. ❰ says emil, the most selfless and considerate person to walk the earth. ❱

[legbreakings]

[ Jiang Cheng shoots the nosy stranger an irritated glower and goes right back to ripping open the plastic wrapping of the deep-frozen pizza Hawaii that has become his latest victim. He pokes at it and wrinkles his nose. ]

That's none of your business. I'm trying to figure out why anyone would want to eat this. [ He gets that you need to let it thaw but even then... This frozen food doesn't look very appetizing and he can't imagine how that would change when it is thawed. ]

[enflame]

❰ they have some solidarity when it comes to not being wholly familiar with all the food here, but even he can see the problem with the picture in front of him. ❱

I don't think most people want to eat a big, frozen...bread thing. ❰ though he has no idea how you'd go about making it not a big, frozen bread thing. an oven, he assumes, but emil certainly isn't a cook by any means. he doesn't even know what a microwave is. ❱ You're better off not looking through a freezer if that's the case.

[legbreakings]

I don't think the problem is that it's frozen, the problem is that it looks disgusting! [ Most of the frozen meals just look very foreign and nothing like anything he's ever had before, that's the problem. And some of it looks plain weird. Even the glossy pictures on the wrappings don't convince him, though they look nicer than the food inside (lesson learned: in this place, both the food pictures and the pamphlets are a lie.) He has never been a particularly adventurous eater outside of being goaded by Wei Wuxian. ]

I'm not sure if the other food is any better. [ There may, strictly speaking, be nothing wrong with it - but he's in a mood now. ]