#he just wants to see his buddy chuji

[summershouto]

new rarepair just dropped

[semimedieval]

the beach part 2: heteroerotic pearl diving

jenny's playing elden ring and keeps getting murdered by a guy with the sun for his head :( and me, i'm going to read the quartz and rim pearl diving scene. which is like elden ring to me.

Rim shot Through the water like a fish. Breathing wasn't a problem, and if it had been, he could hold his breath for three minutes, swimming full power. He suddenly noticed an oyster, several of them in fact. After a few minutes of diligent searching he found a pearl. (Not the pearl of course) The pearl was suddenly thrust out of the water, and fell on Quartz's head. "Ow!" she exclaimed, taking it out of the water where it had fallen. "What is this?"

Your honor, this is cute. I'm sorry, Quark for life, but this is cute. How do you flirt again? You throw precious items at a girl and then invite her to illuminate underwater darknesses with you. 10/10 no notes. He was right.

"It's a pearl. Duh." said Obsidian.

buddy you are not in that scene your ass was supposed to be racing chuji in the water. This ain't about you. Anyway, Rim comes back, and we hear his date proposition.

Rim bobbed to the surface. "Wanna help me find pearls?" He asked. "It's a bit dark down there, even with my water vision" "Uh...okay." she said, rather nervously. Rim grinned. "Thanks! And don't worry about air or swimming even if you'ld like!" She nodded and dove under.

Quartz trusts him very fast and has no follow-up questions about issues of air or swimming, which creates a delightful sort of retroactive implication that she was nervous about the implication that she's being asked on a sort of date, rather than the question of breathing underwater. Which Rim has covered.

A bubble of air appeared around her head, connected to the world above by a thin tube of air. He picked through the oyster, guided by her light, pick up some which would make good eating, and occasionally, picked up a pearl. She looked around herself, impressed. Underwater, it was unusually calm and quiet.

This is pretty much as atmospheric as we get but it's a really touching and lovely kind of atmospheric and exactly the sort of Extranei Juice that I'm hoping to emphasize in 3.0 – the sort of magic that creates new sight, new ways of seeing, new places to see. Rim and Quartz on the edge of a world that they by all rights should not be present in. I think there's enough vivid possibility in that image that it's almost helping me imagine a rich and interesting middle ground for the pendant stuff that happens later – I think the two should find an underwater cave, insist on backup for exploring it, bring Leander and Mina, and then find that for whatever reason one person (Quartz) must wait outside while the others explore. So we still get the sense of her waiting, helpless, and she does not get a pendant, but she is less comically removed from the action and the horror than she is in 2.0. And of course we get to recreate that image – Wryn trapped and in danger, Quartz waiting outside – at the end of the story. Just a rough sketch – obviously this will all make more sense in the outline. But I want to emphasize Sea Horror more and Sea Wonder too.

I do miss good old Moopy when I reread these roleplays. Wherever they are, I hope they're well.

They don't talk much down here in the roleplay, a feature that I changed in 2.0 – here, I use that moment to heighten emotional intimacy in a fairly utilitarian way. I just have Quartz ask Rim about his past and learn some things about it that she needs to know. I think it can be done better, and I think the way I write their friendship in 2.0 is dominated by my dedication to writing what was interesting to me at the time – a lesbian who figures out she's a lesbian and stays that way with no further divergences or doubts – and moments of intimacy between Quartz and Rim are undercut constantly by her narration going "Wow! That heterosexuality sure is compulsory!!"

Which is not the kind of narrative I find particularly compelling anymore, especially as it reflects a problem in which Quartz, as our only POV character, really only builds lasting moments/arcs of emotional intimacy with Obsidian, Rim, and Spark. She has moments of connection with Ky and Lupus (using the old names is killing me) but only by accident really. And Chuji, even as her future sister-in-law and one of her oldest friends, is criminally ignored by the narrative, all because of stupid beef with Augustine.

The point is Quartz should be so full of love it's killing her, and a little in love with everyone, and certainly a little (more than a little) in love with Rim. Or Wryn, as the case may be.

Here and now, these young and silly proto-versions of them who are still allowed to be a little in love but just as embarrassed about it as all of the gay people around them (much to consider) wrap up their pearl diving trip.

Rim passed her the rest of the pearls. He picked up a few more oysters. "Come on, we should head up again." He said. She nodded and swam upward, surfacing.

Rim announces that oysters are ready to eat. By implication, he lets Quartz keep the pearls.

[semimedieval]

the chuji and obsidian date, part 1: The Grocery Store

I WISH with my entire heart that scratch still showed dates so that I was able to determine whether it was already the time of the Epic Katia/Augustine Sleepover at which the chuji/obsidian date takes place.

regardless, quartz is wingmanning hard for her brother.

Chuji frowned "We're out of food." "Maybe you could go shopping, Chuji?" asked Quartz. Then, an idea formed in her mind. "Yeah, I can. I've got money." "And Ob's got nothing better to do. He can come too!" Quartz found it hard to contain the glee in her voice. "Okay..." chuji said creeped out. "Um, do you want anything?" "Nope, I'm fine."

Chuji would have more of a leg to stand on about opposing quartz's machinations here if she and obsidian had ever hung out together of their own volition.

Augustine makes a silly little injoke about an exchange with Chuji and Obsidian from his master plan to make them share a room by the sea, and Jack, just to really hammer it in, posts,

"Cool! We all share rooms!" Spark exclaimed, seeing Chuji and Ky. "so that's what the four beds were for!"

silly. <3

"Hi, Chuji." he said, even as she was too far away for him to see. (Lol Obsidian can recognize Chuji the way I can do with my crush) "Hey duder. Her highness Quartz requested us to go shopping for food together."

"Duder" is an insane thing to call your boyfriend. Also, Augustine replies to me saying "gtg" with "(see you soon)", so I assume The Sleepover is about to happen. While Spark relaxes, Quartz basks in having successfully tricked her brother and his girlfriend into hanging out without weeping, and Ky and Lupus do who-knows-what, Rim comes out as a gamer (inciting a a brief protest from me)

Rim sat on his own bed and pulled a laptop out of his bag. He began typing on it. He had some stuff he needed to work out with interpol. And once he was done their we're always games…

Obsidian completely fails to beat the "sucks at having a girlfriend" allegations by reacting to "hey, Quartz sent us to do a task together because we are dating and presumably like spending time together" with

"W-what?" Obsidian asked. "Not that I mind but ugh, I'm going to kill Quartz when this is all over. Or at least make a shadow frog and put it into her bed." Chuji looked at him as if he had sprouted another arm, "Okaaaaay, let's go." Obsidian started to follow her. "Sorry, but it annoys me when Quartz gets into my love life," he explained apologetically. "It's okay, buddy." she said Obsidian smiled for the first time that day.

aw, they're cute! <3 to be fair in prologue material from that time (in fact, from that very day) quartz IS pretty invasive and nosy about obsidian's love life. however in this case she is being pretty normal. also obsidian dude you really need all the help you can get. as if to underscore the fact that obsidian needs all the help he can get, chuji pops the question and gets the most unreasonable response possible.

"Obsidian... I was wondering if we should go on like you know.... A date?" chuji shrugged Now it was Obsidian who looked at her like she'd sprouted another arm, and antlers to boot. "A..date?" he asked, the word feeling strange on his tongue. "yeah, you know. It's nothing but a sit down meal." He laughed in spite of himself. "Uh, okay. As long as I don't have to wear a tie." Chuji laughed "Don't wear torn jeans." they got to the store "Alright." he said, pushing open the door.

First of all, Obsidian is the world's most dipshit boyfriend and it's incredible that Lupus gets dumped and he doesn't within the text of the roleplay. "A ... DATE?" dude shut up shut up for real. Also, love this continual confirmation that Obsidian dresses like shit. It is maybe like the second or third thing we learn about him from when in the very first pages of the roleplay we catch quartz going "at least someone understands that worn-out jeans and baggy t-shirts are not the height of fashion" when spark compliments her outfit after obsidian makes fun of her for it. we hate this guy <3 (we don't really)

at length, Chuji and Obsidian shop for fruit. It's pretty sweet, and there's a reference to Oranges by Gary Soto, which is a wonderful poem and I appreciate my sixth grade self being deeply moved by it enough to incorporate it into a character's lore.

Chuji eyed the display of peaches and walked over She picked up one and after examination she dropped it in the basket "Piersic?" Obsidian asked, remembering this morning. Chuji smiled, "yeah. You want some oranges." "Sure. You know, it's funny, but they've always reminded me of fire."

I do think that despite the goofiness of the Obsidian and oranges lore, there are the beginnings of an evolving understanding of how to write grief in that little recurring image of Silva that Obsidian finds in something fairly mundane and small. I wonder where I got the idea. I also can tell this is sleepover-era without outside context clues - Silva's on my mind, because I just wrote the original Quartz and Obsidian prologue.

A brief flex as I paste in the 3.0 outline's take on oranges.

As a final treat, Spark brings out two oranges for them to split. Quartz cries out “You spoil us!” She and Obsidian split most of one, and Quartz remembers Silva. Obsidian’s head too is awash with memory. Spark notices, asks if he’s okay. “Of course,” Obsidian smiles. “You know how memory works. The strangest things can make you happy or sad, send you back in time.” Spark nods solemnly. “This time of year, I can’t smell mulled wine without thinking of my parents.” “Blackberries,” Tozi contributes. “Ripe blackberries in June.” It is one of the only straightforward pieces of biographical insight that he has ever given them. “Crows on cold autumn mornings, when you’ve just stepped outside,” says Chuji. “The way the fields around Goatville’s smelled in August,” said Quartz. “Like heat and burned honey.”

But then all traces of fruit-based memory with genuinely sad and evocative associations are wiped away as the CLASSICALLY goofy scene happens.

His eyes then darkened as they passed a display of watermelons. Although he loved Chuji, Silva was his best friend and would always have a place in his heart. Chuji stared at obsidian confused. "What's wrong?" "Eh. Bad experience that involves Monoceros, a tree, a big watermelon, and my best friend. Not pretty, believe me." Chuji looked at her feet, wondering if he were talking about silvia. They got to the veggies Obsidian flourished a carrot. "MWAHAHA! I am Lord Monoceros!" he said, but quietly so people won't stare. She picked up a bundle of carrots and suddenly frowned "Obsidian, you scare me when your mad."

Sylva's completely unserious looney-tunes death aside, as well as the fact that grocery stores as we know them should not actually exist in this world (but do, because its Semi Medieval), something about the setting of this scene is so compellingly evocative for me. Talking about things too serious for the place they're in, the intercut facets of grocery store fluorescents and deeply serious conversation about your dead friends, evokes something almost painfully real-world-adjacent in this very unreal relationship and unreal world.

Jack logs on, leading to a further neuroticism about rooms (the famous "Ky can't go in the boys' room! Smelly sock and all!" scene) and Quartz and Spark to go on a sushi date. Chuji and Obsidian continue their not-quite-argument. It's lost to time whether it was a deliberate aesthetic choice but all of Augustine's post that just consist of Chuji wandering through produce aisles and picking things up emphasize the strange liminal emptiness of grocery stores at night slightly too well. Stop making me like this scene you guys

"What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely confused. "When was the last time I was mad?" She walked on to the dairy Obsidian ran to get some bread then caught up with her. "You were saying?" She picked up a quart of milk and put it in the basket "You seemed angry at that watermelon back there." she shrugged "Do we want yogurt?" Obsidian questioned. "I mean, I don't really know. I guess I was upset, sort of." She grabbed the yogurt quietly Obsidian looked outside. The light was getting dim. They moved onto the meat "Huh, we better get home soon. Obsidian you choose the meat I'll get some bread."

Chuji, wait, he already got bread! Anyway, the painful loneliness and deeply buried unspoken things that linger in the grocery store scene are disbanded as we move on into the next step of the Katia and Augustine Chujisidian Date Agenda, which is a little intermission for dusklight robbery.

Obsidian dropped some sausages into the cart. He knew Quartz liked them, though he wasn't that fond of meat in general. (wth?! Quartz likes sausages?)

You know it's real when you give give him your texture sensitivities <3 also, there is a joke to be made about my disbelief that quartz likes sausages, but the good news is that fifteen-year-old katia and jack already made it for us.

She went around the corner only to be grabbed by a stranger. Her screamed was muffeled Obsidian looked at the meat half-heartedly. Maybe he should go ask Chuji to switch? "Hey girlie, have any cash for me?" Obsidian headed toward the bread section, then his eyes nearly turned to watermelons. Chuji wasn't there. Chuji kicked the man who cursed loudly Obsidian sent shadows to check the other departments, but nobody was there. No need for panic attacks! he told himself. She's probably just waiting outside! She wanted to use fire when something sharp was on her back The man had a knife, "Don't move." he growled

Oh, sudden muggings, crowning the list of Top Ten Dumbest Ways To Get Your RP Romance A Rescue Moment. Chuji and Obsidian you guys are the OGs and I love you but this silly little scene has nothing on Holt and Coran fighting the Lichy Lich of Lichiness together or even Fornax and Annue rotating the Tortured By Vergl Angst baton back and forth for 3,000 pages. We still love Chuji and Obsidian, though.

Speaking of Coran and Holt, we're about to come up on one of the most blatant examples of internal monologue I will later crib entirely for another, very similar character/couple. Observe, Exhibit A:

Running outside he saw Chuji with the man and instinctively adjusted the shadows. Normal Obsidian thought: OHMYGOSH, I can't let her die! Practical Obsidian said: Hm, maybe I could use the shadows to my advantage? Selfish Obsidian said: Oh no. If Chuji dies, Tozi's gonna kill me! But whichever was right, they were all in agreement: he had to save Chuji.

And Exhibit B:

"I'm not trying to be a hero, Holt, but the thing is that if I leave you to die then a) you'll have a hundred percent chance of dying and b) I'll feel guilty about it for the rest of my life and c) Choopa would end it soon anyway! So I might as well say that you're my friend and I, um, don't want you to die! Shocking!"

As ever, for all of the ways Extranei had more heart and more of a unified compelling story (and more of a story, period) than Ildaan, the characterization is the product of slightly older and wiser middle schoolers. There's only a few months' gap between the two, but Coran's silly dialogue is marginally less silly and more sympathetic than this weird quasi-comic relief moment from Obsidian.

However, he stops being fucking goofy and saves the day, while Jack comes back online, Lupus and Ky go on a romantic walk together, and Spark and Quartz go on a "totally" "platonic" sushi date.

Obsidian ran at the man, still concealed by the shadows. At the last moment, he knocked him over. Chuji was free and she stumbled away into obsidians arms He embraced her, happy that she couldn't read his thoughts before he attacked the man. She smiled and hid her face in his chest "Still up for that date?" asked Obsidian.

Obsidian.... that might be the first romantically charming thing you've said in the whole fucking roleplay. Also, hooray! They get to hug without somebody weeping. The Quartz Agenda is working out swimmingly and I have no notes for her

The Katia and Augustine sleepover moves into later hours of the night, Quartz and Spark reach their sushi place, Lupus and Ky walk through a butterfly garden, and Chujji and Obsidian head home to drop off groceries and change. I'm sure that, whatever they choose to do for their date, it will be super functional and they will not be harassed by waitstaff.