video | un: warden (this post is about romance novels)

[megatheorem]

[Good day, Trench, and welcome to... whatever this is going to be. Here is one Palamedes, sitting at his desk in what may be broadly recognizable as his office in the Sanctuary, whether or not one has been in it before (it has, these days, a distressing worm-on-a-string curtain in place of a door). Palamedes shuffles through some papers, tsks, and gets up to simply walk off screen, although this is not an accidental post, for he does call back:]

Damn my filing system! Hold on, don't look away.

[So now: the sounds of shuffling, and also, footsteps on a ladder? Then the eventual soft thump as he hops back down, and finally his several layered cardigans masquerading as a torso coming back into view, before he sits back down in the chair with a hearty squeak of rusty metal.

He has even more papers now. A small pile of notebooks, actually, which he folds his hands atop before properly regarding the camera.]

So! I wrote a book. Are any of you in the publishing business? Here, locally, or otherwise? My wheelhouse is firmly the academic, and literature— while a passion project— is a field I know far less about. As such: publishing. Any tips welcome.

I am also in the market for some cover art, I think. My artistic talents leave a lot to be desired, but I've produced some helpful mock-ups, somewhere around here...

[Just kidding they're right here ready and waiting, and so he holds them up side by side:



...So, yes. His handwriting is, of course, perfectly legible.]

Like I said: I'm an academic, not an artist. I'll pay you in whatever you like, blood or stone or- [and he leans briefly off camera again, to mutter, then he's back] -or scones! Good ones, for people into that kind of thing.

[Yahoo... Draw him a horny squidmance cover page... This is ordinary.]

Obviously, children need not apply.

Oh, and the working title is Ceasefire of the Senses: A Treatise on the Juxtaposition of Passion and Reason, unless you happen to be my cruelest critic and dearest spouse, love of my life, in which case "that title is ridiculous" and it's actually called "that story in your fifty notebooks." Regardless.

[He pats the pile of notebooks, like, his title is good actually? This might be a thinly veiled opinion poll about the title.]

And as it's the season, again, if anyone needs a professional hand with their lockjoint, come down to the Lumenarium- or Sanctuary- and ask for Palamedes. I'll take care of it with a silk touch; you get to keep the stones. Drawings of squids entirely voluntary for that one.

Comments

[megatheorem]

[thanks buddy]

No, of course not. [A beat.] Probably not; I don't see what the point would be. In any case, it's visual shorthand— the features squids would use to differentiate amongst themselves for something like mating wouldn't make automatic sense to our humanoid brains. So: glasses. Now you can tell them apart.

And thanks.

[wannasmash]

[ Oppai lives on in infamy in his mind now. ]

Oh! Like comics! I didn't know how realistic you were wanting to be.

[ This is an honest observation. He's not an art critic. Palamedes has seen that their art skills are... about the same level. ]

About the title... It's a little long...

[megatheorem]

[Well, there's no oppai in this book, but maybe next time.]

Well, I'd have to judge various art styles, if enough people are interested in drawing something for me... So far I've gotten tentative curiosity, which I think is a good sign.

It's descriptive. The title. What would you suggest?

[wannasmash]

[ Midoriya is probably not the target audience for this novel, so he may never truly know for sure if oppai will surface... ]

M-Me? I title my school essays and my own notes like... that. But this isn't an essay, right?

[ Just making sure!! ]

[megatheorem]

Broadly, it's both an essay and a novel. It's experimental.

[Or: he thinks academic papers are super sexy, or both things are true!! Sorry, Midoriya.]

[wannasmash]

[ Midoriya has the same thought, but he does not share the same taste. Sorry Palamedes! ]

So this is one of the projects you've been busy with... I'm glad to see you're doing well.

[ He just assumes Palamedes has multiple projects at all times. ]

I don't know about publishing, but I did visit a printer once to get some lost pet posters made. [ For someone else, because that's the kind of guy he is. ] They were pretty quick. I can get you the name later.

[megatheorem]

Sure, for a while now. It's been on and off like anything else in this place.

[What is time for hobbies when sometimes you just spend a whole month lying on the floor in darkblood pain? Who knows. He's taking it in stride, at least, so "doing well" is perfectly apt.]

Thanks, though; I'll keep them in my back pocket. Maybe just for a single printing, for me. [nobody likes his squid romance concept and he genuinely didn't predict that happening,] Did you find the pet?

[wannasmash]

[ Midoriya has, surprisingly, kept himself out of the hospital for a good stretch of months. But it's like an earthquake: never know when it'll happen again, but it likely will.

Surely there is a niche market in Trench of all places for squid romance. ]

The duck is alive and well.

[ There's assurance in his voice in the wake of a job well done. He was not told the duck was Ahiru, someone who could secretly transform to and from human form. ]

[megatheorem]

[A duck........]

That's good to hear. And you, you've been alright? I mean, overall. It's been a while.

[wannasmash]

[ Right. It was Viktor who checked in with Midoriya after Palamedes understandably abandoned the ill-fated boat-to-beach journey. Midoriya knows they've been fine, but he hasn't offered anything about himself other than his continued presence around town and on the network.

A lot has happened since then. He resists his compulsive urge to say he's fine. ]

Well... recently... a friend left, [ he says in a small voice. ]

Someone I knew well. So... I try to sound like I'm doing all right...

[ But he's not. ]

[megatheorem]

Ah.

[There's a silence on Palamedes' end, nothing but the smallest shuffling of his myriad papers. He doesn't know all of Midoriya's friends; he doesn't know who it could have been who left, but they all know that feeling of loss, don't they?

He defaults, then, to the simplest offer of undemanding company he knows, that seems to appeal to the most people:]

Are you hungry? At least let me give you a "snack pack" from our cook at Sanctuary, if you're too busy to linger. I'm told they're a hit.

[wannasmash]

That's very kind of you...

[ He didn't expect it. His voice is thick. ]

Have those been a thing? It's been a while since I helped out inside. I was just on patrols.

[megatheorem]

Our cook-- Abigail-- has been trying her hand at all sorts of trickery to get me to eat more for months. It's semi-new? Someone tipped her off about "portable foods."

[Don't. Bother to unpack this. It's just silly.]

Do you know where my office is? I'll go and grab you a snack pack.

voice --> action

[wannasmash]

"I remember where. Ah--you could have asked me about bento... I pack my lunch all the time for patrol so I can still keep watch while I eat on a roof. Thank goodness for Abigail-san."

Palamedes is rail-thin and juggles a lot of projects, so he's not surprised Abigail is trying to make him eat more. Midoriya himself isn't even currently hungry, but he recognizes what Palamedes is trying to do.

The nice thing about having superpowers is that travel to the nearest lamp location is extremely fast. In the time it takes him to put on a puffy jacket and red snow boots and get out the door, he's already arrived, barely winded. (The downside of fast travel is that his eyes are still slightly bloodshot. He looks tired in general, skin paper-like.)

"Palamedes-san?"

[megatheorem]

Palamedes likes to finish the arduous process of eating food as hastily as possible, most times, so Abigail is very caring, but also his number one nemesis. Still, she's pleased enough to give him a "snack pack" to squirrel away in his office, so he's just walked it back by the time Midoriya arrives.

"Oh, there you are." Looking... less than ideal, but he can be delicate when the situation calls for it. He gestures at the two big, squishy armchairs that fill most of the space in front of his office desk. "Make yourself comfortable; let me unwrap this snack thing."

It's in a neat little box and everything, not unlike a proper bento, if a proper bento were made solely out of, it looks like, bite-sized finger foods? The box is small but the selection still ranges from a few fresh fruits, crackers, and sweets - things to be carried around that won't spoil too suddenly, if someone happens to forgo eating for A While during the day.

This he sets on the office desk, which he leans back against in lieu of sitting in the creaky desk chair. So.

"So, your friend. Do you want to tell me about them?"

[wannasmash]

When he's upset, Midoriya forgets to eat or do things he normally finds enjoyable. His appetite is one of the first things to go when he starts to get Corrupted. He shucks his jacket off revealing a hoodie that says "shirt" in katakana and sits when bade to. He is polite to a fault and will never refuse food and a seat when offered by a host, however informal this is. These offered things already clue him in that Palamedes intends for Midoriya to stay for at least a little bit.

His lips buckle. He didn't expect to be questioned like a teacher would, in the middle of going through a tough time, right in front of his salad snack pack. The fingers clutching a cracker forget to move towards his mouth.

"A classmate of mine from home. One of my best friends." His voice quavers, but he ultimately lets emotions out to be processed rather than keeping them in. "Iida-kun was always looking out for me... I think it's what people describe when they talk about brothers. There was a time when I was lost--not literally--and he took my hand and refused to let go. That's the kind of friend he is."

[megatheorem]

Fortunately (or maybe not), Palamedes has no hangups about just getting to the point about these things. Midoriya is upset; there's really no sense in tiptoeing around the thing he already knows to be true. Better, then, to just ask, and to get it all out in the open so that at least some catharsis can begin.

He nods, understanding and a touch solemn, to hear about Iida. He knows full well the way it feels to lose a best friend in this place, even if it's only to return home; Camilla has been gone for how long, now? Nearly a year? And Midoriya is so young, so naturally he would feel it even more keenly...

"I don't have any brothers, either, but I know what you mean," he says, gesturing for Midoriya to eat the cracker, ahem. "And you're well within your rights to be upset that he's left."

He holds up a hand, because, "Not that I'm saying you're telling yourself otherwise, but I know it's not an uncommon feeling around here. 'Why would I want my friend to be in a place like this?' I've been there, myself. Just feel what you have to feel; this won't be you forever."

And then he claps his hands lightly, like, that's the motivating speech, hurrah. "Does that make sense?"

[wannasmash]

Midoriya is less prickly than the average teenager; he doesn't clam up or take offense at the prying. Iida was among the first friends Midoriya made after years of not having them. It would be weird if Midoriya wasn't upset. He's not old enough to have the detachment of age, to look back with nostalgia on friendships made and lost over many years.

He half jumps when he remembers his cracker and economically crams it into his mouth. He has the unfortunate predicament of both wearing his heart on his sleeve and not wanting to burden others. Even if they're meant to talk about his problem, his eyes can't help telegraphing his sympathy for Palamedes also having lost someone. He half jumps (again) when Palamedes brings his hands together. That was rather quick, but he's not the sort to criticize the timing of someone trying to comfort him. He blinks owlishly at him.

"If you've been there yourself... I see. It won't be forever... but it feels like there's no end. I feel lost even when I'm not. This is my home now, but... I once told Paul-kun I feel like a ghost. Missing everyone on the other side and never being at rest."