Catch All II

[cryptsleeper]

Comments

[soulsteal]

i see...

i'm glad, then. if there's a place where you belong.

[cryptsleeper]

It'll change in due course. Nothing lasts forever.

[soulsteal]

when it does, will you find somewhere else to go?

[cryptsleeper]

Possibly.

I've taken breaks before. Spent centuries traveling when too many dead Belmonts became impossible for my heart to bear. Maybe wherever this ends is what demands a reset. Maybe it won't be.

[soulsteal]

[ ... ]

i say this without condescension, but you're an easy man to worry about, alucard.

[cryptsleeper]

Hardly the first time I've heard the comment.

But you should focus on yourself. You've only a lifetime, so far as we know. I have who knows how many left.

[soulsteal]

try spending more time in japan lol

well i'm only being half serious

maybe you have to grow up here to get it but

idk i grew up internalizing enough poetry and shit about the transient beauty of passing seasons that i kinda just accept when shit happens

some kind of buddhist-shintoist acceptance of separation and departure

actual fun fact from nocturne on this one

[cryptsleeper]

I'll have you know I was here during the Edo period.

But yes, cultural perspective being what it is. Why you'd worry about me when six centuries prove I'm going to be fine though...

the poetry got better okay

[soulsteal]

you don't really come off as fine to me idk

but i'm a sensitive and caring guy in general, obviously

[cryptsleeper]

With knowledge I may regret asking this: how DO I come off?

[soulsteal]

tortured.

[cryptsleeper]

I mean, obviously.

[soulsteal]

as long as you're aware

but yeah

i dunno, maybe i shouldn't say

ultimately i've only known you for so long and all

and i'm just some kid

i guess if i had to describe it

you feel really... half-in, half-out on a lot of things

sort of here, and sort of stuck in the past, too

but from your perspective maybe you feel like you put too much of yourself in everything you do

that sort of feels like it's true too

i think you probably need to put less of yourself in things

but what do i know, you know

[cryptsleeper]

I invited the critique, so I can handle it.

But it is interesting to know that you have more awareness than most that I have one foot in the present and one in the past, if only due to my age and work.

Unfortunately for your comment about putting too much of myself into things, I come from a line of extremely dramatic, over the top people who put all of themselves into their actions. I cannot break with my nature.

[soulsteal]

[ let it be known that soma starts a message with the words "see, this is why i'm different," realizes he is also a dramatic and over-the-top person who puts all of himself into what he does, and then deletes the whole sentence. ]

take a vacation at some point within the next 20 years

pretty sure julius and i can handle whatever world-ending emergency would have your attention otherwise

give it another 40 and it'll be me and whatever magic baby he has with yoko instead

[cryptsleeper]

[And that's only partially due to dear ol' dad being in there buddy.]

Oh God, that sounds like reason to do that sooner rather than later. Those babies are nightmares in the first few months, you don't even know.

How long is my required vacation?

[soulsteal]

i don't know man, you're on a different timescale from the rest of us

two months sounds great to me so let's say two years for you minimum

[cryptsleeper]

One. I've been everywhere now, the novelty of exploration that could stretch the matter into two years has long since passed.

[soulsteal]

you see what i mean?

i get it, buddy, but it's not really about exploring new places

it's just about having different experiences

thinking about stuff besides demons and the fate of the world

you're a person too

[cryptsleeper]

I take your point, but you also don't know what I do in my free time. It may surprise you to learn, but I actually don't only think about demons, vampires, the night world, and the fate of humanity.

[soulsteal]

what do you do in your free time?

[cryptsleeper]

Art, actually.

I learned architecture from my father, and have entertained myself since then. I'm also a capable book binder, although that is more for practical reasons.

[soulsteal]

oh. that's why you kept telling me i'd be shit at bookbinding

lmao

[ ... ]

well why don't you show me then

how it's done

i'll tell you something i'm not gonna be as shit at it as you think i'll be

[cryptsleeper]

It's a very, very fiddly thing. Do you enjoy sewing?

I'm all ears.

[soulsteal]

i'm actually pretty good at most things that i can do with my hands

painting, calligraphy, origami, sewing, cooking, cleaning... a ton of other softboy things

it's why i'm always fucking with knives and stuff

found out i can shoot guns in the castle too, that was alright

i'm shit at sports though cuz i hate other people