THE CROSSING - IC Contact

[callsignhornet]

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[blindluck]

[When Shepard next passes Nagito at the oasis, he will attach a sticker to her clothes. It's a cartoon Makoto face with a speech bubble saying "Be Nice, Be Useful".]

[callsignhornet]

[The sticker gets a small chuckle, part amusement and part mild confusion. So she waits a bit, and sure enough, she catches sight of Nagito again - waving him over. Still she's curious about what he's up to.]

This is of your friend that's here?

[blindluck]

[Nagito smiles, pleased to be reminded of his stickers.] Yes! I asked Ferryman-san for them.

[callsignhornet]

I guess we all need a little whimsy. [Entertained by the answer, she continues - giving him a quick once over.] How are you holding up? Nervous about the Crossing?

[blindluck]

If you just base it on which memories we'll be giving up alone, then it seems like this one should be easier. Of course, there's always the possibility that it will turn out a positive memory makes the Crossing even worse. Or that something could go horribly wrong! [But Nagito smiles so cheerfully as he explains all of this that he doesn't exactly look nervous.]

[callsignhornet]

[She gives him an unimpressed look before mastering herself, her professional bearing slightly giving way to her actual thoughts.]

You sound a little too excited for the potential of impending catastrophe.

[blindluck]

It's important to keep a positive attitude. [Just like his motivational stickers encourage.] Struggling through despair leads to greater hope, after all.

[callsignhornet]

[It's only through a decade and a half of training that Allynbee manages to simply blink at that statement. There's a faint alarm bell in the back of her mind (was he raised in a cult?), and Nagito jumps up several ticks on her priority list for threat assessment.]

I mean they do say 'Hope springs eternal' but I suspect that's not quite what you mean.

[blindluck]

It isn't not what I mean. [Though it's true things are more complicated than that.] Hope can only be created from fighting against a painful, upsetting situation. So it is inevitable, but people who can create hope have to work for it nonetheless.

[callsignhornet]

So what about the people who give up? [Which way is this particular thought process going...] Are they just supposed to be steamrolled as some kind of 'acceptable loss'?

[blindluck]

They weren't capable of creating hope. Which is most people, really! The despair caused by seeing them upset, injured, or killed motivates those few people who can create hope. It's not as if their lives are wasted, you see.

[callsignhornet]

[Ah. Shepard makes a noise of acknowledgement, rolling the thought around in her mind.]

So what does it look like when someone is really good at generating hope? Like what's the perfect specimen like?

[blindluck]

[Nagito holds up another sticker of Makoto. This one says TOP NOTCH!] Naegi-sama, of course! He's the Super High School Level Hope.

[callsignhornet]

[She makes a mental note to Naegi and definitely doesn't miss the "-sama" epithet. Uh-oh.] Is that the ranking system where you come from?

[blindluck]

Yes. [It's kind of a relief, having someone catch onto that immediately.] Of course, technically, Naegi-sama would be the former SHSL Hope, since he's no longer in high school, but it isn't as if he lost his talent. It means that he's the most talented in regards to hope in the world.

[callsignhornet]

When you say 'talented in regards to hope,' what do you mean? Is he good at inspiring people? [Devil is in the details, but she wants as full a picture as she can get before speaking with Naegi.] Why is it important to quantify that kind of thing?

[blindluck]

Why wouldn't you want to know who's the most capable at whatever they do? [That's always seemed self-evident.] Naegi-sama is the best at inspiring people, yes. And the best at defeating despair as well. His saving the world from despair is how everyone realized his talent. Anyone with a SHSL-level talent is capable of doing things nobody else can in their field of expertise.

[callsignhornet]

Fair point. [Oh, this had to be some sort of cult.] What do you mean by 'defeating despair'? How do you defeat an emotion?

[blindluck]

Much like Naegi-sama is the Super High School Level Hope, there was a girl who was Super High School Level Despair who caused The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History. Naegi-sama defeated her. [Maybe he really should write something up about all this. It would be faster. For all of Nagito's general cheer, he can't quite stop the loathing from sneaking into his voice when he talks about SHSL Despair.]

[callsignhornet]

You're awfully transparent about all this.[ The change in his tone at the mention of this Despair girl strikes Shepard.] So what's your involvement here? Did you work with Naegi?

[blindluck]

It's not as if anyone from my world could not notice the Tragedy. It's hardly a secret. [He sighs.] Unfortunately, I was one of the ones he rescued. It would have been wonderful to have been a stepping stone for Naegi-sama himself, but I could only watch on television.

[callsignhornet]

[She sorely missed Chakwas. Or Chambers. Or anyone who could do more than ask questions. Komaeda needed some serious help.]

For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to go through that.

[Okay, so he was a survivor of a large-scale traumatic event with a dash of a relationship that likely started parasocially and escalated - wait.]

Had you not met Naegi before arriving here?

[blindluck]

Oh, we went to the same high school! He was my underclassman. We didn't interact too much, but I did know him. [He wishes he'd spoken to Makoto more back then.] And I got to meet him again briefly after everything started to calm down. But this is the most I've ever gotten to talk to him one-on-one!

[This does, of course, mean Nagito must be a SHSL something too, but he'd much rather discuss Makoto.]

[callsignhornet]

Sounds like it was lonely before you met him.

[She might have to press, but Allynbee wants to get a better shape of what Nagito's deal is. Was he dodging being involved with this whole ranking system? ]

[blindluck]

[There's a little flicker of something in his eyes--is it because you’re also someone who isn’t accepted by anyone?--but it vanishes immediately. He smiles.]

Oh, no, it was an honor for someone as inadequate as me to be able to see so many talented people in person!