sakuraba neku (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
noisecontrol) wrote2013-11-03 06:09 pm
noisecontrol) wrote2013-11-03 06:09 pm
(no subject)
Neku versus Cry Wolf.
(I wrote this up in advance.)
Canonically, Neku hates lying. It’s something that really grinds his gears, so putting him in a game where he had to lie was difficult. Plus, the fact that no one knew him actually made it harder for him, because he had to rely on his really unfortunate personality and the fact that talking to people made him frustrated. Part of why he snapped at Katniss is because he hasn’t had the easiest time talking about his life. Part of it is that he doesn’t want it to make its way back to Joshua, and part of it is because the subject matter is heavy and he doesn’t trust anyone yet. There are other reasons, but I’ll get to them later! Putting him in the game and making him have to lie was hard. When the warning kerfluffle happened, Neku gave up then. (This isn’t something I minded terribly much, but he was frustrated because cry wolf is categorically a terrible game for someone who doesn’t understand people.) He kept going, but only because he was worried that his activity wouldn’t be enough to pull off a win.
Right now, Neku really wants to win. Canonically, when it comes to having to play games and get tasks done, he’ll do stuff, but he only got the major nudge in that direction a few games into Aather, and now he’ll do anything. A big part of it is that he knows Shiki’s in danger. He doesn’t know how he came to care about her or anything like that, but he knows that she’s in trouble and his partner is someone who made a terrible first impression on him (that being Joshua). So, he understands that she might be saved now, but he just doesn’t know. And if she’s still in limbo waiting to be saved, he has to get out of Aather ASAP to do that. He might not like her (or understand why he likes her, which is the better approach), but the fact that she’s in trouble is enough to motivate him.
There are a lot of factors here when it comes to the game!
1. Neku has only told Dio that Shiki’s in danger, but he hasn’t said anything else to his team.
2. He framed Amethyst, but honestly felt pretty terrible about it. Luna was really nice to him in her way, but in order to win the game, they had to frame the team that would be most frameable. By time that kerfluffle happened, there wasn’t much he could do except continue down that path.
3. He really liked Dick. He couldn’t bring himself to do the same thing to Dick that he was doing to Amethyst.
4. He actually likes Katniss, too. But he’s willing to do what’s necessary to win a game, and her going on about that came at a really terrible time for him, what with realizing that all of his efforts to win were in vain.
5. Neku will play to win, but he won’t do it in actually bad games. He does have that moment in canon, but he’s already mentally past that.
Neku’s entire strategy was to try to be consistent. Even if it made them obvious as mice, they couldn’t falter in their convictions. He’s not a really wishy-washy character in general, so he knew he had to go about it that way. But he was tired. He didn’t like talking to people. Playing the game didn’t make him understand people more (at least immediately …). It made him realize that having to deal with people in Aather was probably just going to lead to frustrations. At least consciously!
Unconsciously, there’s a part of Neku that wants to expand his world to all the different thoughts and ideas of other people. Playing the game will be a huge boost in his Imagination, but right now, he’s having a lot of mental “rrrrgh screw this game” thoughts. They’re easier and they’re usually what he falls back on.
The game really challenged him, and has been one of the hardest things he’s faced in Aather so far. It involved understanding people, and Neku is … really not in that position yet. He helps Citrine from time to time, but honestly, he hasn’t mentally reached that point yet. He’s a way’s off. Most (all …) of his misunderstandings with people were genuine, and not just twisted to frame Amethyst. It just worked out that way as the two things aligned with one another. His mistake with Peridot was really him not getting what they were saying, and so forth.
Yet at the same time, he can say “I don’t like this” and “I don’t like dealing with this,” but he won’t put it on display. He did genuinely get frustrated with the persecution thing for Carnelian, both in the ousting round and afterward, because he isn’t, as I said, talking about his problems. He can say he isn’t good at people, but he doesn’t want to make a thing of it. It’s just another problem on the list of problems.
He worked hard because he knew there were other things that had to do with winning, so he didn’t give up. But he never had fun. Whenever people said that Citrine looked suspicious for being around, he got frustrated, but he never jumped in. He didn’t want to talk about working hard to win because he’s worried about someone, so he didn’t bother justifying himself. When Locke asked that trick question, the trick is that he’d probably play it the exact same way. He’d have even gunned for Amethyst, only out of not knowing better, rather than being a mouse. The fact that he did the same thing is more of an unknowing show of self-awareness (but his arguments undoubtedly would’ve been way different).
All this has taught him is that lying is stupid, still, and a waste of time. Playing a game based on socializing and having to lie while socializing was going to be a recipe for disaster, but he did his best. And now he wants to avoid people for a month.
As a note, since I pre-wrote a lot of this beforehand, Neku gave up partly because he didn’t want to bother. If it got to an official ousting, he would’ve just told people to do what they want. He gave that last bit giant explanation as a last try, because he didn’t want to do anymore. He’d done too much, gone too far, Linkin Park, etc.
I know it's not fun to just have oustings without any effort, but it kind of hit the point where it was OOCly moot as well as ICly moot. I checked with Celi before I did anything. I hope that's okay!
(I wrote this up in advance.)
Canonically, Neku hates lying. It’s something that really grinds his gears, so putting him in a game where he had to lie was difficult. Plus, the fact that no one knew him actually made it harder for him, because he had to rely on his really unfortunate personality and the fact that talking to people made him frustrated. Part of why he snapped at Katniss is because he hasn’t had the easiest time talking about his life. Part of it is that he doesn’t want it to make its way back to Joshua, and part of it is because the subject matter is heavy and he doesn’t trust anyone yet. There are other reasons, but I’ll get to them later! Putting him in the game and making him have to lie was hard. When the warning kerfluffle happened, Neku gave up then. (This isn’t something I minded terribly much, but he was frustrated because cry wolf is categorically a terrible game for someone who doesn’t understand people.) He kept going, but only because he was worried that his activity wouldn’t be enough to pull off a win.
Right now, Neku really wants to win. Canonically, when it comes to having to play games and get tasks done, he’ll do stuff, but he only got the major nudge in that direction a few games into Aather, and now he’ll do anything. A big part of it is that he knows Shiki’s in danger. He doesn’t know how he came to care about her or anything like that, but he knows that she’s in trouble and his partner is someone who made a terrible first impression on him (that being Joshua). So, he understands that she might be saved now, but he just doesn’t know. And if she’s still in limbo waiting to be saved, he has to get out of Aather ASAP to do that. He might not like her (or understand why he likes her, which is the better approach), but the fact that she’s in trouble is enough to motivate him.
There are a lot of factors here when it comes to the game!
1. Neku has only told Dio that Shiki’s in danger, but he hasn’t said anything else to his team.
2. He framed Amethyst, but honestly felt pretty terrible about it. Luna was really nice to him in her way, but in order to win the game, they had to frame the team that would be most frameable. By time that kerfluffle happened, there wasn’t much he could do except continue down that path.
3. He really liked Dick. He couldn’t bring himself to do the same thing to Dick that he was doing to Amethyst.
4. He actually likes Katniss, too. But he’s willing to do what’s necessary to win a game, and her going on about that came at a really terrible time for him, what with realizing that all of his efforts to win were in vain.
5. Neku will play to win, but he won’t do it in actually bad games. He does have that moment in canon, but he’s already mentally past that.
Neku’s entire strategy was to try to be consistent. Even if it made them obvious as mice, they couldn’t falter in their convictions. He’s not a really wishy-washy character in general, so he knew he had to go about it that way. But he was tired. He didn’t like talking to people. Playing the game didn’t make him understand people more (at least immediately …). It made him realize that having to deal with people in Aather was probably just going to lead to frustrations. At least consciously!
Unconsciously, there’s a part of Neku that wants to expand his world to all the different thoughts and ideas of other people. Playing the game will be a huge boost in his Imagination, but right now, he’s having a lot of mental “rrrrgh screw this game” thoughts. They’re easier and they’re usually what he falls back on.
The game really challenged him, and has been one of the hardest things he’s faced in Aather so far. It involved understanding people, and Neku is … really not in that position yet. He helps Citrine from time to time, but honestly, he hasn’t mentally reached that point yet. He’s a way’s off. Most (all …) of his misunderstandings with people were genuine, and not just twisted to frame Amethyst. It just worked out that way as the two things aligned with one another. His mistake with Peridot was really him not getting what they were saying, and so forth.
Yet at the same time, he can say “I don’t like this” and “I don’t like dealing with this,” but he won’t put it on display. He did genuinely get frustrated with the persecution thing for Carnelian, both in the ousting round and afterward, because he isn’t, as I said, talking about his problems. He can say he isn’t good at people, but he doesn’t want to make a thing of it. It’s just another problem on the list of problems.
He worked hard because he knew there were other things that had to do with winning, so he didn’t give up. But he never had fun. Whenever people said that Citrine looked suspicious for being around, he got frustrated, but he never jumped in. He didn’t want to talk about working hard to win because he’s worried about someone, so he didn’t bother justifying himself. When Locke asked that trick question, the trick is that he’d probably play it the exact same way. He’d have even gunned for Amethyst, only out of not knowing better, rather than being a mouse. The fact that he did the same thing is more of an unknowing show of self-awareness (but his arguments undoubtedly would’ve been way different).
All this has taught him is that lying is stupid, still, and a waste of time. Playing a game based on socializing and having to lie while socializing was going to be a recipe for disaster, but he did his best. And now he wants to avoid people for a month.
As a note, since I pre-wrote a lot of this beforehand, Neku gave up partly because he didn’t want to bother. If it got to an official ousting, he would’ve just told people to do what they want. He gave that last bit giant explanation as a last try, because he didn’t want to do anymore. He’d done too much, gone too far, Linkin Park, etc.
I know it's not fun to just have oustings without any effort, but it kind of hit the point where it was OOCly moot as well as ICly moot. I checked with Celi before I did anything. I hope that's okay!