text / anonymous (before the last day of the party)

[heartstopping]

[Rolo's not generally bothered by what anyone thinks, but somehow this feels like an extremely embarrassing thing to have to ask, so he sticks with posting anonymously like he has been so far.]

How does one go about "forming bonds" with people on purpose?

[ don't laugh please he has literally only ever stumbled into this by accident ]

Comments

[heartstopping]

[He makes a face at his tablet, probably because he feels a little called out here.]

I just don't like going into situations unprepared.

[fieldtrip]

[ people can't be jobs, rolo !! ]

Yeahhh.... [ Toph trails off in incredulity at that statement before she recovers. ]

Okay, well, you can't prepare for making friends with someone. Not real friends. It just kinda happens and then you're stuck helping pack up camp even though you definitely didn't sign up for that.

[heartstopping]

[Well. He can't really deny that given his own experience. But it doesn't really help him much.]

Then it seems like a pretty unfair task to give someone.

[fieldtrip]

Someone tasked you with making friends? Oh... is this for sentencing?

[ She's still new enough that she's not totally clear on how sentencing works, and hasn't been subjected to it herself. ]

[heartstopping]

Yes, unfortunately.

[fieldtrip]

What else'd they say? Just 'go make friends' and that's it?

[heartstopping]

There was a bit more to it. "Choosing to remain aloof to the suffering of others is a weakness", and that if I succeed I'll be a step closer to getting home.

[Which is pretty bullshit since he doesn't have anything to return to.]

[fieldtrip]

Huh. Interesting.

[ This is the first time she's heard actual sentencing language, and it's actually more pointed than she'd expected. Toph was wondering if it'd be something impossible or basically tantamount to trolling, but it doesn't sound like it. ]

Doesn't sound like you need to necessarily make friends, or not close friends, anyway. More like you need to show some empathy.

[heartstopping]

That wasn't the whole thing, just an example. They specifically said I had to "form bonds that do not rely on the people I have come to depend on".

[fieldtrip]

So... get out there, meet new people, be nice to them?

Gonna have to say again that being a nobody on the network isn't gonna cut it.

[heartstopping]

This wasn't supposed to be the actual attempt. It's just planning. But some people did ask me to spend time with them, so it worked well enough anyway, right?

[fieldtrip]

Huh. Anybody you're interested in being friends with?

[ Toph is rude and a bully but she's also genuinely a nice person who is very good at making friends, so she doesn't mind nudging this person along the task a little if she can. ]

[heartstopping]

I don't really have the time to be picky right now.

[fieldtrip]

[ omg he's so hopeless ]

Okay, I can't read the Council's mind in what they're intending you to do, but can I give you a suggestion?

[heartstopping]

[ ???? sounds sus ]

Alright.

[fieldtrip]

Be picky.

Go have your little friendship outings or whatever and see if you actually like any of them. It's not about how many people you know or spend time with, it's about how many people you really care about.

[ It's not too often someone pulls Toph's social intelligence side out of her, primarily because it involves talking about mushy feelings, but she's forced to reduce this down to basic elements for whoever this is.

No wonder they got this as their sentencing task. Sheesh. Maybe she should be revising her opinion of the Council's overall ability to determine effective punishments. ]

[heartstopping]

[His response takes a while. He has to really digest that, because it certainly doesn't make things any easier, but he doesn't know a way to ask "how do I make myself care" without it sounding terrible, even to him.

It's not like he's totally incapable of it. But caring about just any random person clashes hard against how he was raised to function. Even caring about Lelouch had happened pretty much by accident and against his will, and he's since leaned so hard into it that it's hard to imagine feeling the same way about anyone else. Surely it'd be too much.

But that one connection is what's being threatened if he doesn't manage this, and that's not something he's willing to risk.]

I'll try.

[fieldtrip]

[ This response is more of a concession than she'd expected, including the time it took to reply, which Toph can infer means they were thinking about what she'd said. Toph doesn't need people to agree with her so much as listen to her, and feeling like she's been listened to, she's satisfied. ]

That's all you can do, I guess. I can tell you have some personality in there, so you're not a totally hopeless case. You're a little feisty.

[ Which she likes, if that wasn't clear from the faintly amused and approving tone. ]

[heartstopping]

Thanks, I guess?

[He's been called a lot of things in his life, but never "feisty".]

[fieldtrip]

Lean into that a little. If you make it too easy, no one will respect you.