001 POINTS | video | joint post with fineprinted

[accurately]

[ The video post flickers on to show two people, both looking rather different in demeanor. The taller of the two looks to have a scowl on his face, and eyes and hair a matching deep green. He’s not happy to be here, he doesn’t even feel comfortable leaving the apartment. Which is why he’s here with the shorter of the two boys.

It would’ve been hard to tell that the scruffy, blue-haired boy is the older of the two, but that’s probably part of his charm and it shows in how he addresses the network with a bright smile and a wave of his hand, as if he were a natural at this. ]

--Oh, I think we’re on! Hello, Lunatia! We’d like to introduce ourselves first of all: My name is Aoba Tsumugi, and this kind lad over here is my roommate! Ah, you should say hello too, Midorima-kun!

[ He gestures at the screen as smoothly as he could.

Midorima’s brows furrow before he’s even finished talking, looking mildly annoyed. What he’s annoyed about becomes apparent within only a few seconds as he doesn’t say hello and instead focuses in on correcting what he thinks was wrong with that sentence. ]

Who’s a “kind lad”? Focus on the task at hand.

[ Apparently, that’s all the greeting he’s bothering with. Tsumugi can only sigh a little before facing the screen again, smile still intact. ]

This is Midorima Shintarou, by the way. Seriously, kids these days… Um, but before I go off track, the reason why we’ve put this up is because we have one thing in common, and that is horoscopes. Luck, in general. Do you know there are apps here that tells you your daily fortune and what lucky item to bring around with you to ward off bad luck? Technology’s so amazing! Even though we’re from different worlds, it’s nice to know that there are other people who believe in them -- and that is why we are here today.

[ Midorima’s worried that Tsumugi’s going to go on for too long, so he chimes in with a much more direct demand of their audience over the network. ]

Respond with your astrological sign or birthday if you aren’t sure. We’re also looking to know what items are considered lucky in other worlds that may be incorporated into an apartment.

Y-You can just ask nicely them, you know! People wouldn’t know how to respond if you’re being demanding like that... [ why are tsunderes the way they are, man ] Anyway, it’d be very helpful for us to know everyone’s signs and birthdays to balance out of luck if it ever goes bad for a day so that we can stick with those people for a while… I’m a Leo and he’s a Cancer, if that helps.

Also! If anyone knows other forms of divination such as palmistry and tarot, that’d be greatly appreciated as well… I’m honestly more comfortable consulting with someone privately about my fortunes rather than rely on technology all the time, so let me know if it’s all right to approach you for regular sessions! I’ll pay with Chroma if I have to.

[ Midorima just decides to move on and end the video. He’s not going to give Tsumugi the chance to say goodbye. ]

We’re done.

[ And the video cuts out. ]

Comments

text;

[timemachine]

you don't really believe in that astrology bull, do you? it's just some occultist make-believe stuff that makes you think you're compatible with a person because of your birthday or the moon's position or something equally absurd, lol.

text;

[accurately]

Those who disparage the belief of another when it causes them no harm are worthless.

[ He's probably not going to respond again. He doesn't want to hear it. ]

text;

[timemachine]

i'm just stating there's no scientific merit behind it. to say that some celestial bodies are why i am the way i am and why i might have a horrible relationship with someone is unsound.

what am i supposed to say, "i'm an aries, please be my friend?"

[This is why she has no friends... She's also not an aries, she's just being a dumbass.]

text;

[accurately]

[ He almost doesn't respond but there's one key thing he's just. He can't resist. He has things he could say about the rest, but he narrows in one this one thing. ]

We were mass-kidnapped to another world where people sprout animal appendages when their aligned moons are in the sky and you want to say that celestial bodies have no effect on our lives.

[timemachine]

ur comparing apples to oranges at this point. for all we know this could be some mass VR stuff going on and what we're experiencing are just images our brains are creating through some code in this program's data. it wouldn't be too off point to suggest that when we were kidnapped we were given some sort of anesthetic with an amnesiac in it so we didn't remember the moments before this happened.

after all, our memory is legit just data, so it's not too far-fetched to think that.

[accurately]

You have no more evidence of that theory than I do of my beliefs, both of which we believe based on anecdotal experiences in our life.

So if you're going to be a brat, be a brat elsewhere.

[ This is his brat zone, only he can be a brat. ]

[timemachine]

[she misses getting in fights with people on the occult board back on the knockoff version of 2chan.]

resorting to name-calling now? i'm not being a brat, i'm merely disputing your beliefs that the day i was born predetermines what friends i can and can't make as well as my daily luck.

i'd like to believe what happens to me and the such is more based on how i react to events. sure there are things out of our control, but i'm not going to say "well my horoscope said i had shitty luck today, so i guess that's that" if something bad happens. same if something good happens.

[accurately]

You don't have to believe it.
Respect that someone else does or keep your mouth shut.

[timemachine]

then you'd better say that because i'm a leo, blood type a, metal monkey on the chinese zodiac that we'll never get along and thus we never have to speak again.

capiche?

i'll take that as an answer.

[accurately]

I don't need to know any of your information to know I don't want to speak to you again. Bye.

[timemachine]

baibai! (。･∀･)ﾉ゛

[fineprinted]

Do you really believe that this is all an elaborate VR system? My underclassman from back home has made something like that as well, but I don't think technology has the capacity to be able to keep up with such an elaborate ruse.

Or maybe I just choose not to believe that, if it were true. I don't want all the memories I've made with the people I met in this world to be fake. That'd be too sad to think about.

[timemachine]

would you rather have me say this is the afterlife or a totally different world?

anyway, it's possible. i know because i work in advance laboratories and study memory and brain quantum mechanics. you'd be amazed what universities have researched and discovered but not put out to the public yet. i'm sure your friend is smart, but it's likely nothing on the level i've created.

that said, i'm not saying any of this memory data is fake. it's all very real.

[fineprinted]

If I have to choose, I'd rather have the latter. I'm not even sure if I want to find out how I died if this really were the afterlife.

That's amazing, though. My friend is more of a fortuneteller-slash-idol, so this is going to be beyond his expertise... That said, I'd rather believe that we're really in an alien planet than finding out that we're being experimented on while unconscious this entire time. I mean, why take me in particular?

[timemachine]

maybe there's something about you that interests people. or it could be random. the sample of people here appear to be rather diverse so they could just be taking a variety of people.

a control group and an experimental group.

makes sense to me.

but i guess we'll see what's going on someday.

maybe this is where people go when their worlds move to a timeline where you died, but don't remember.

except that's so far-fetched, don't really dwell on that.

[fineprinted]

Eh? Now I'm really going to dwell on it! I don't remember signing up for something like that?! Or even how I died, for that matter! I don't know what to believe anymore!!!

[ this is exactly why he'd rather believe in horoscopes, man! they're harmless at the very least!! ]

[timemachine]

I don’t think anyone here knows what to believe. All we have are theories that could be based on personal experience. I don’t know how I died either.

[fineprinted]

You... died already? But you're here, aren't you?

[timemachine]

it’s just theoretical. i’m saying if i died, i don’t know how i did.

[Except she sort of is dead but oh well.]

[fineprinted]

Oh, sorry. I jumped to conclusions yet again...

Either way, your theory about this being a simulation shouldn't be written off, but for the sake of my own sanity I'd rather believe that we are whisked away into another world, much like most light novels nowadays. I think it's more fun that way.

[timemachine]

if only this were some isekai novel. but even i have a hard time believing we're now stuck in some light novel or anime...

[....this is an isekai light novel, kurisu. embrace it.]

[fineprinted]

I couldn't believe it myself either! This is more proof that we are all main protagonists of our own lives.

[ ...what was the topic at hand again ]

[timemachine]

isn't that a motivational quote? be the main character in your own story, or something like that.

[fineprinted]

You might be right. It's just that some people forget sometimes... either that or they let someone write their story for them.