@467Doggo Well, Seam says that the crystals hold the power of "lost dreams" or something like that at the start of chapter 5, so the visions are probably affected by what Kris think is the worst outcome
"what are your hobbies:
-UNGODLY PATTERN RECOGNITION
-AGGRESSIVE ACTIVE QUESTIONING
-SILENT OBSERVATION
-REAL TIME THEORY BUILDING
-BEHAVORIAL ANALYSIS
-MICRO EXPRESSION DECODING
-POST CONVERSATION AUTOPSY"
I stared at your message for a second and felt that familiar little twist in the stomach, the one that isn’t anger exactly, just a quiet “oh.”
Three weeks.
Not because you owe me constant access to you, but because time does this thing where it stacks, and suddenly you’re replying to a version of me that was in a different mood, a different week, a different weather. It’s like getting a letter delivered late with the edges already softened.
“Debilitated by the mundane cruelty of this world” is funny in the way a bruise is funny. Dramatic on paper, accurate in the body. Because it really is mundane, that’s the part that gets you. Not the movie-villain cruelty. The ordinary kind. The kind that comes as a thousand small frictions that don’t feel worth crying about, but somehow add up until you’re walking around with your jaw clenched and your patience shaved down to nothing.
The email you didn’t ask for. The bill that jumped. The customer service loop. The parking ticket. The way people talk to each other like everyone is a burden. The little humiliations of needing things. The constant sense that you have to perform “fine” while the world keeps poking you with tiny needles.
Then you look up and three weeks are gone.
And now you’re here with that soft little pivot: “I’m good how are you.”
That line always hits me because it’s the most human lie we tell to keep the conversation from becoming a confessional. It’s you saying: I want connection, but I also don’t want to bleed all over you. I want to be seen, but not in a way that makes the room heavy. I want to reach out, but I’m scared you’ll be mad, so I’m wrapping it in humor and a quick check-in.
If I were answering you like a real friend, not like a court clerk, it would sound like this:
I’m here. I’m not mad. I missed you. The world’s been ugly and I get it. I’m okay. A little tired. Tell me what kind of “cruelty” you mean - the life-admin kind, the people kind, or the inside-your-head kind.
Because those are different beasts.
Sometimes “cruelty” means you’ve been handling too much alone and your brain started treating every message like another demand. Sometimes it means you got hit with one specific thing that made you go quiet. Sometimes it means depression dressed up as sarcasm so it can leave the house without being questioned.
I’m not going to punish you for being human.
I’m doing alright. I had a couple days where I felt weirdly hollow and a couple days where coffee tasted like something again. Nothing dramatic. Just… here. Still here.
How are you, actually.
Not the “I’m good” version. The one underneath it.
@PKontwt The person that made this shitpost also made an incredible kill la kill one that was fully animated but now its deleted and cant find it anywhere else :(