npc contact.2

[adsum]

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As the game progresses, different npc faculty and students will become available for threading. To request a thread, please comment below with the name of the npc and the ic date in the subject header. Threads may be cut short due to mod availability, so please have a reason in mind for the interaction.

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[adsum]

Do you think so?

[ Since he brought it up, then yeah, probably. But the counselor...

Either way, he waits for Shiraishi to pick up a corn nut for inspection before picking one out for himself, holding it at the very tip of his fingers so he doesn't get the seasoning everywhere, and pops it in his mouth, watching Shiraishi closely.

Unsettled or comforted, that doesn't matter. The offer always invokes curiosity, and people's reactions are always curious. ]

Statistically speaking, those students who visit my office are difficult to unsettle.

[outvalue]

Are they? If so, then maybe I should have said put off.

[ The firm counter-argument seems something he can take in stride too, and besides, he's got the corn nut to deal with for now. He presses it easily past his lips, and the counselor may have chosen to keep his hand clean from the start but Shiraishi's the type who's just gonna lick the tips of his fingers to get said seasoning off, regardless of manners. It's fine.

He chews it without protest though, with no trace of his thoughts through the process, then hums when he's done. ]

Yup, it really is an outlier. When people come to an office like this, the trend wold be to expect some manner of normalcy, such as... let's see, maybe candy? Chocolate? A pretzel or cracker... But you're breaking them away from that norm, and in the process, from the illusion of safety provided by conforming to a standard.

[ Although don't ask him, personally he finds unsettling people a lot more satisfying than keeping them in their comfort zone in the first place. ]

[adsum]

[ The counselor laughs, because yes. It's not why he offers food, but it's a pleasant side effect of it that is endlessly informative, and at the very least is a good way to break the ice with students new to counseling. A little small talk like this, getting to know one another with no stakes on the table, eating snacks... ]

And the chairs?

[ psychoanalyze his chairs ]

[outvalue]

Are those on the menu, too?

[ He has to be difficult first... or to joke. God knows which it is, because he doesn't laugh and only turns, sticking his hands into the pockets of his coat.

i hope they are tho, the real secret to getting an appointment is you have to be willing to bite a chair ]

There are several types and no patterns to them at first glance, and unlike the snacks, you didn't suggest one for me. So in other words, they're for the other party to choose on their own... which makes it likely you're using them to glean something about their character.

[ Is that why Shiraishi himself didn't sit on one? Who knows, but from his manner of speaking, it's more like he's analyzing this mathematically from a pool of probabilities, and less like he's putting any personal weight behind it. ]

[adsum]

They can be on the menu.

[ Like... Shiraishi can bite them, if he wants to. This tells the counselor more about his character than which chair they go for and how they sit on it, actually. ]

[outvalue]

[ WHAT DOES BITING A CHAIR TELL HIM please i'm dying to know ]

Is that so? Which one's your favorite?

[adsum]

[ THAT HE'S INSANE AND WILLING TO BITE A CHAIR?? ]

Grissini.

[ His favorite menu item, I guess. Like a cracker or a pretzel but fancy, or something. ]

[outvalue]

[ STOP JUDGING WHAT PPL ARE INTO??? ]

...

[ Shiraishi's lips just move emptily for a second, his mouth formed into that earlier 'o' shape again but this time's a little... it's just a little thrown off, don't worry about it. Because you know, sometimes you ask someone "what's your favorite chair to eat" to be difficult, but they answer you with their real food prefs. He was gonna say something before he actually knew what, but now that the moment passed it just turns into... ]

You're a surprisingly earnest type.

[adsum]

[ STOP BITING CHAIRS AND MAYBE HE WON'T JUDGE

Anyways... This is a reaction that gets another laugh out of the counselor, because words are just as good as corn nuts in throwing people off, but a lot more fun. ]

Now, what opinion did you have of me to be surprised by it? Earnestness is a charm point of mine.

[ Look at him, exuding earnestness all the time ]

[outvalue]

[ Well... there are different types of being earnest, and telling people what they want to hear isn't necessarily always it either. Either way, Shiraishi has no intention of giving out how he took that, mostly because... he's found something that sounds even more fun for the moment.

That idle smile reappears and he flops into a seat at last -- it's just the chair closest to the corn nuts, sorry, because he picks a few more from the bowl. ...And actually, is the cat still on the seat across the desk? He wants to sit at the desk with the cat, thank you. ]

I wonder. What kind of things did I look like I was thinking?

[ It's the counselor's turn. ]

[adsum]

[ Yeah, the cat is still sitting at the desk chair, staring up at them but making no motion to run away if Shiraishi sits on top of the desk with the counselor. Hyde did this too... He best Hyde would bite a chair. ]

Hm... Something like... "Wow, what a handsome and charming man. The next time I come to visit, I should bring him rye chips."

[ How is that? Did he get it right? ]

[outvalue]

[ Did he get it right? Maybe Shiraishi's a mind reader and knew the counselor was thinking about rye chips even as he said grissini, it's true. ...Hyde would have absolutely bitten a chair though, miss you king. ]

Is that so? And if I did?

[ Basically, what's in it for him? Though he laughs it off lightly and seems more interested in the cat, for which he pulls the tie from around his neck, loosening it with an expert gesture only to lift it and dangle the end of it over the desk. It swishes lightly through the air in front of the cat... ]