crescentview | 🍇 the fall is colder, but its warm all the same 🍇

[ a much younger version of herself would have wanted to live and die by the kind of luxury that they find themselves here on this island, but the current uta isn't as impressed. as you get older there are different things that you want in life or something like that. maybe.

of course, this doesn't mean she isn't going to make the most of what's offered to her (them) and not take advantage of basically everything here. she had said that she would make things fun for them, right!? now whether that was a success or a failure is yet to be seen, but one thing is clear, there's no way that uta would have allowed that to comment to go. ]

"Him"?

[ she'll take a seat on an armchair nearby. ]

Someone from your world, I take?

Oh, hey there.

[A warm smile breaks over his face, chasing the pensiveness away like sunbeams on a cloudy day. The date had been going pretty well- the lady was interesting enough, and he eases his own thoughts, pretending, as he always does.]

Yeah. He's not someone I like thinking about. It's alright.

[ is it really alright? uta's not sure that she believes him when he says that, especially when he smiles. she's not one to judge on these sort of things but it's not as though she has seen him without much else than a smile their entire time so far. ]

I see.

[ her eyes will wander around the room for a moment before she speaks up again. there's a gentle evenness to her voice that is very clearly waiting to see the outcome of the question she's about to ask. ]

Is there something around here that reminds you of them in particular?

...

[He seems to consider the answer for a moment - perhaps ready to give a flippant one - but he sees her look and gives a shrug, allowing himself a little leeway.]

I guess its how luxurious this place is. He was the type to waste money on the smallest things.

[ hmm.

uta won't say anything for a moment and instead rest a hand on her chin as she thinks for a moment. her hair loops will stick straight up as an idea comes to her. ]

Shall we do some remodeling then?

[ a snap of her fingers and a small neon and cartoonish hammer appears right in front of them. it's hardly a solid object and more of a projection but she's using it to make a point. ]

It won't change how luxurious the place is but at least we can change how it looks.

Oh-!

[He blinks with surprise at the sudden appearance of the hammer, glancing between it and her, before putting two and two together.]

Wow. You did that? How cool. [And a hum - he seems to be considering it.] Yeah, why not? I think it could be fun. Might as well switch things up, right?

It's just a little something that I can do. I'm limited in what I can manage to do here.

[ a statement that she throws out in favor for what's important to her—his approval. uta smiles brightly and shoots up from where she had been sitting with her hands clasped together in front of her. ]

Where should we start with?

The curtains? Maybe some of the wall décor? [ as she continues to ask questions, uta will casually lift up the frame to one of the larger paintings(?) in the room and start to pull it off of the wall. ] I've never been the kind of person who liked having so much on the walls. How about you?

[Wow, she's really just going for it. Steinbeck stares for a moment - there's something here where part of him wants to naturally resist, to act polite, because that what he's always done, even to the face of people he loathes, but...]

[Well. Isn't he tired of being nice? Doesn't he want to go apeshit?]

[He moves to pull off another wall decoration, tossing it casually over a shoulder.]

Never much cared for it. Also a lot of stuff they put on walls like this is just tacky as hell.

[ there are two wolves inside of uta and most of the time, she listens to the one that prevents her from doing things like this. however, at the same time, she won't deny that her father is a notorious pirate. needless to say, she'll laugh when she watches him get involved and tosses the painting across the room taking something else out on its way. ]

I think so, too.

[ she'll approach a mirror that clearly had a purpose being here other than for viewing oneself in. given the whole vibe of the place, uta could put two and two together... ]

I've also never understood why you'd need so many mirrors. Isn't just having one in the bathroom enough?

[ cue her tugging on one of the corners just enough that it becomes unstable and crashes to the ground once she steps away from it. ]

Exactly right.

[The mirror crashes, shards scattering. He again pauses - back home, under the thumb of a certain rich man, he'd probably be punished eight ways to Sunday.]

[But Fitzgerald isn't here. He hasn't been "here" for a while. Like a bothersome ghost he wants to shake off, he moves ahead, finding the curtains. All of this, worthless. All of this, wasteful.]

[He rips it down with a grin, curtain rings clanging on the ground.]

It's as if people don't know what taste is.

[ there we go! uta has no idea what she has unleashed but this was healthy, right? sometimes you just need to go ape shit and destroy a few (a lot) of things as a cathartic release. that said, uta will take a moment to look down at one of the mirror fragments before stomping on it. ]

They probably don't. Or, at least, the kind of taste that normal people would find comforting.

[ she'll pick up the basket filled with all sorts of goodies and examine it for a moment. before uta tears the basket apart and rips out all of the delicate details, she'll carefully set the food onto the table. there is no wasting of food here. ]

Seeing all of this and then having to think back to what you have back at home—isn't it cruel?

[Steinbeck sees the setting aside of fruit and...that is getting a Sims ++ in his mind. Hell yeah. NO wasting of food around him.]

[His grin goes wider at the way she stomps down on the mirror shard, too - emboldened, he sidesteps with hands in his pockets before he full on kicks down a little podium with some abstract ceramic sculpture, letting it crash into a ton of pieces on the already damaged floor.]

Of course it is. The world is real cruel, where I come from. People waste money on things like this, and then others go hungry right under their noses.

[And now, he's stomping on those ceramic pieces, one by one.]

And the people up top? They. Just don't. Care.

My world is also full of cruelty where people are hurting all of the time.

[ now here's a conversation that feels a lot more honest and true to some of the feelings that they both hold deep down inside. uta's touched on these with others. but never in such a refreshing way like this. ]

And where there are people who call themselves "gods", but they are some of the cruelest and most despised people. [ carefully she'll pull out one of the bedsheets and feel it between her fingers. then without much further pretext, she'll start pulling on it so that it'll start to fray and tear. ] Freedom, equality, a world without pain—

[ and uta will allow the extremely satisfying sound of the sheets being ripped right in half to fill the space between her statements. she makes sure to rip it completely where there are two pieces that she walks past to stomp on a stray piece of the ceramic. ]

Words that they find disgusting.

Ha. Of course. Anything they can't control, they want to subdue, and if they can't do that, they'll tear it apart. All because it benefits them.

[He doesn't know the last time he's been open about things like this. John Steinbeck is a carefully made paper-mache man, made to survive and bow his head and not look twice - to tear it apart, even for a moment, to reveal the churning feelings underneath....]

[Well, its like a breath of fresh air.]

[He grabs a lamp off of a nightstand, hefting it in his hand.]

Don't you just wish you could topple "false gods" like that?

[He throws it down at the area where she threw down the sheets, watching it fracture with a loud crash.]

Give them a taste of their own medicine.

[ funny that he should say that... ]

I have; just for a little while.

[ uta's voice will sound distant for a moment as she casually knocks over a vase and watches it crash to the ground. there's a song that's bubbling under the surface but she holds back. once she starts singing, there's only really one result, and it seems like there's plenty left to "remodel". she'll give her head a shake before she walks some way to the closet and pulls open the door.

her eyes spot a neat row of glass vials that she immediately picks up. ]

There are people who get so scared when you show no fear to those kind of "false gods", but they need to learn that there's nothing to fear. [ a crash as she throws one of the vials at the wall. the sweet fragrance faintly filling the air. ] They only have power because they've given it to them.

[ did anyone expect that this would be the result of a "date"? probably not, but here they are. bonding?? ]

Have you?

[Even though his attention has been kept to the destruction happening around them, he turns to her with that, walking closer to stand directly behind her with a lowered, pleased tone.]

I congratulate you. That's a real feat. I'm working on taking one down on my own. [He turns away at the crash of the vials instinctively, nose tickling with the perfume, before he reaches over her shoulder to yank out a few of the pieces of clothing hanging there, uncaring if they're ripped. The sound of it is pleasing to his ears.] What a world it would be, if everyone understood that they can have power, too, and that the ones on top have been cheating them this entire time.

[There's a chocolate box on one of the shelves - he takes it, glancing it over, before opening it, starting to drop one by one on the floor to smash under an unforgiving foot.]

[ even as he comes behind her, she doesn't flinch and instead just looks up at him in a bit of wonder. no one had congratulated her for what she managed to accomplish, but she hadn't been looking for approval to begin with. she watches him destroy the robes and hurls another vial against the wall. ]

...and how is your progress towards that? I'm sure there are people who aren't supportive of that kind of action.

[ yet another glass vial shatters against the wall as uta watches steinbeck while thinking over his words. ]

I'm not sure if it'd be a perfect world, but there would be plenty of people who would be happier to be treated as the people they are and not property or objects. Families wouldn't have to be split up...

[ and to punctuate that statement, she'll throw her last vial particularly hard against the wall leaving an extremely satisfying stain on the wall from the oils and shattering noise with very few large fragments left behind. though after an extended exhale, uta chuckles to herself. ]

I might have failed in what I wanted to achieve, but I've left my dream in the hands of someone I trust.

Ha. Slow going, but I'm using what he left behind. The people he abandoned.

[And he, he was abandoned too, wasn't he...?]

[But he chooses not to focus on that thought. The vial shatters, and he watches the stain dripping down the wall, as if it could be blood. He's seen his fair share of that.]

Families...that's right. None of that. [He reaches into his pocket, pulling out...a knife, which he flicks open with a well-practiced air.] Honestly, I just want a world where families don't have to worry about going hungry, just because some sharks thought they'd have their fair share over others.

[And he drops the chocolate box to turn on his heel, slice down the nearest wall. He glances over his shoulder, his expression almost boyish, his gaze certainly not.]

Have you? I'm sorry to hear you failed, but...that's good. You think your dream will be realized?

[ abandoned...

uta know a thing or two about being abandoned; the pain and the betrayal of it. a feeling of resentment and anger that bubbled deep within her and something she only recently was able to quell. it's kind of unfair how there's much that she can relate to. ]

I'd say that sharks are better than those kind of people. At least they'll try to completely devour whatever they sink their teeth into.

[ she almost wants to suggest to call them monsters but...even some monsters know a thing or two about finishing what is started. maybe it's why she's not too unnerved by steinbeck's actions or his expression when she meets it. ]

You don't have to apologize. Unlike you, I probably moved too fast, but I think so. If there was any person who could realize my dream, then it would be him.

[ her voice is a little fond. bittersweet. ]

That's true. Nature is understandable. Meanwhile, man's just the cruelest animal.

[What other animal on this earth would lie, steal, cheat, create a system like this where only a select few get to reap the rewards? Even if in nature its about survival of the fittest, all of this feels infinitely worse. Purposeful.]

Aw. [He can tell how much she cares, just by that statement alone.] I hope he does. What's he like?

🍇 the fall is colder, but its warm all the same 🍇

2!! maybe slightly date auction flavored bc i'm a failure?!

you are never a failure and i love u

;w;

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