[Things aren't great. They're decidedly bad, honestly. The party was fun, at least, and it was wonderful to get closer to all of his wonderful friends, but...
Well. Mettaton isn't the type of person to ask for advice. Stars burn; they don't have time for weakness. So, sometimes you just need to get creative.]
Gigi, darling, you wouldn't happen to have a second, would you? I'm writing a script and I'm positively stumped!!
[Giorno's thoughts are moving slowly today. Tomorrow is a big day, which he plans to thoroughly ignore. Even so, attention from Mettaton is--well, pretty much the epitome of attention. So, although his thought process can be roughly described as ? upon receiving this text, because has Mettaton ever asked for anything from him ever, no . . . he still responds with some amount of promptness.]
Oh, it's nothing serious. It's just this SUBPLOT. You see, I'm writing a taut, sexy thriller about a charming entertainer and their downward spiral into the darkened depths of show-business. Think Showgirls, but with less breasts or terrible writing.
But this SUBPLOT... The lead discovers that, once on the top, they can enthrall men with their power. And they do! They entrance a certain man into being head over heels for them, even if they know they'll never feel the same. This is fine; it's a show of the character's need for attention and despicable ways of getting it, but. The longer I wrote it, the more it started to seem like the main character DID like this man back. I've already put so much effort into their characterization that it'd feel like a waste to cut it, but it completely clashes with the original tone.
But isn't that SOOOO passé? Believe me, sweetheart, I love a good romance more than anything. It's the dramatic seasoning on the juicy meat-pie of my repertoire. But this is a story about the DARKNESS of fame! About learning to love oneself first and foremost! Is there really room for another love story in that?
I mean! YES, there's CHEMISTRY. I'm a terrific writer. But in the midst of the rest of the drama, it's merely a formula for a horrible, messy break-up. It'd take too much attention away from what I need to convey.
i'm confused as to why you're so convinced it'll be an all-or-nothing thing. why do you think a character can only love themselves OR someone else? or that light and darkness can't coexist in some way. i don't get it.
I know it's hard to understand, not being a writer, but. Bending away from your original vision hurts. There's so much time and work put into every project that seeing it get away from you is like losing a child or... something physically painful, I wouldn't know.
It isn't that I think these characters are incapable of change or finding each other, just. Not in this story.
i watched all of them, i wanted to see the things you like
in that case i suppose it depends what's most important to you, the story you've got in your mind or being true to the characters you've created. sometimes characters take on a life of their own, i think.
[There's some delay here. He's thinking very carefully; he wants to give the best, most thorough response he can. It's obviously important.]
i think perhaps the truest tragedy is that sometimes what you think will make you happy won't, in the end
so perhaps something like: the main character chooses not to pursue this other person and realizes too late that he really wanted to he achieves all of his goals with respect to his dreams and is still not entirely happy maybe he doesn't even understand why
if you're that married to a depressing ending. if not
i don't know the end of a story isn't really the end of a story just because something romantic works out doesn't mean you can't end on a note of ambiguity or uncertainty life goes on after the script ends
[Well, that's certainly a lesson he learned before, isn't it? Things don't always make you happy, no matter how much you wanted them. No matter how much you worked for them. You can work yourself to death and still find yourself hating your "happy ending." Isn't that what he thanked Frisk for reminding him? That sometimes he needs to let people in and share the spotlight instead of thoughtlessly pursuing what he THOUGHT he wanted?
Sigh.
It's still hard to bend. It's hard to trust. But...]
Haha. Thanks for the input, sweetie-pie. I'll keep thinking about it, but do remind me to credit you.
And hey. I suppose if it doesn't work out, the sequel can always be a horror film. ;)
[...somehow, that tepid acceptance works far more than any pleas to open up does. Giorno's managed to make him feel guilty for once instead of vindicated that he can't trust him. Sigh.
Sigh...
It takes a few minutes to force himself into a response. A few long, torturous minutes. But if he's going to try and share himself with another person, he may as well get some practice in with someone he knows as well as himself.]
[That's not that surprising. It's not surprising at all, in fact. Mettaton is . . . it's not that he's transparent, exactly. It's just that he speaks a language that most people don't understand, a language of smoke and mirrors that's usually enough to distract from the actual issue.]
[Giorno's not going to say any of that, though. It's not a failing to have someone see you. Not even if it hurts. And he especially doesn't want to convey any kind of pity. It's a good thing for both of them this is such a relatively removed form of communication.]
i hate when they sneak up feelings i mean
[His words are carefully chosen to indicate: they can still talk in broad strokes, unspecifics, if that's easier; they can move in any direction, because Mettaton isn't trapped in this line of conversation. It doesn't even occur to him to judge. They can enthrall men with their power--he's a hypocrite, but not enough of one to act like he doesn't understand that.]
"Sneaking up" is definitely one way of putting it. "Stabbing you in the shower when you had a busy day planned" is another. [He could practically hear the dramatic death-violins playing in his head when he realized he actually liked looking at that idiot's smile. That he enjoyed listening to him laugh or memorized the exact shade of his eyes in multiple lightings.
He's dragging his fingers across his face, rolling about on his bed like a tortured child. Everything hurts. Everything is awful. Whoever invented feelings sucks.]
[Ordinarily he'd accuse the other person in this kind of conversation of changing the subject, with a line like that. But in this case . . . no. No, it's something else. And anyway, he's too tired to argue.]
naturally
[A pause, then, of several long moments.]
i lived my whole life thinking i could be cold and distant and strong and then i let someone in by accident and now cold and distant feels so awful sometimes i feel like i'd give anything to go back to how things were and sometimes i think that would be the worst kind of torture
i don't want to act as though everything i feel is the same as what you're feeling i just my experience is that it's devastating, thinking you're all you need and realizing that's not true
But isn't it so much easier to only have to worry about yourself? Haha. I mean. You can't disappoint someone if they don't know anything about you, right? If they don't expect anything from you aside from what you give everyone else?
[Oh. Well. That's . . . that's a question, all right.]
a lot. but not nearly everything. there are a lot of things i think i'd like to convince myself i'll tell him someday. but i don't want to. i really don't.
it's really strange how sometimes it's easier to be perfect and--for me, at least, inhuman. than to let people touch you.
yes. yes, it's a lot easier. i don't know that it's better, though.
it's hard to explain because i don't entirely understand it myself. not really. but
sometimes, when we're talking about something he does know about me--one of the awful things--when we're talking about that, and he looks at me, and i can tell he knows, and i'm ready for it to hurt, and for him to leave
but instead he just looks at me and i can tell he still cares, and despite all of that, or even because of it, he likes me, and he doesn't leave
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[txt | 4/15]
Well. Mettaton isn't the type of person to ask for advice. Stars burn; they don't have time for weakness. So, sometimes you just need to get creative.]
Gigi, darling, you wouldn't happen to have a second, would you? I'm writing a script and I'm positively stumped!!
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i'm not busy
what is it?
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But this SUBPLOT... The lead discovers that, once on the top, they can enthrall men with their power. And they do! They entrance a certain man into being head over heels for them, even if they know they'll never feel the same. This is fine; it's a show of the character's need for attention and despicable ways of getting it, but. The longer I wrote it, the more it started to seem like the main character DID like this man back. I've already put so much effort into their characterization that it'd feel like a waste to cut it, but it completely clashes with the original tone.
What do you think?
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you do realize people aren't static organisms incapable of growth and change, yes?
anyway maybe he was full of shit all along
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But isn't that SOOOO passé? Believe me, sweetheart, I love a good romance more than anything. It's the dramatic seasoning on the juicy meat-pie of my repertoire. But this is a story about the DARKNESS of fame! About learning to love oneself first and foremost! Is there really room for another love story in that?
I mean! YES, there's CHEMISTRY. I'm a terrific writer. But in the midst of the rest of the drama, it's merely a formula for a horrible, messy break-up. It'd take too much attention away from what I need to convey.
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i'm confused as to why you're so convinced it'll be an all-or-nothing thing. why do you think a character can only love themselves OR someone else? or that light and darkness can't coexist in some way. i don't get it.
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I know it's hard to understand, not being a writer, but. Bending away from your original vision hurts. There's so much time and work put into every project that seeing it get away from you is like losing a child or... something physically painful, I wouldn't know.
It isn't that I think these characters are incapable of change or finding each other, just. Not in this story.
no subject
in that case i suppose it depends what's most important to you, the story you've got in your mind or being true to the characters you've created. sometimes characters take on a life of their own, i think.
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Mettaton quietly reminds himself to get Giorno some sort of trophy. A sweetness trophy. In the meanwhile:]
Awww, Gigi... <3
But that's haaaaaaaaaaaard.
How would you want the script to end?
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i think perhaps the truest tragedy is that sometimes what you think will make you happy won't, in the end
so perhaps something like: the main character chooses not to pursue this other person and realizes too late that he really wanted to
he achieves all of his goals with respect to his dreams and is still not entirely happy
maybe he doesn't even understand why
if you're that married to a depressing ending. if not
i don't know
the end of a story isn't really the end of a story
just because something romantic works out doesn't mean you can't end on a note of ambiguity or uncertainty
life goes on after the script ends
no subject
Sigh.
It's still hard to bend. It's hard to trust. But...]
Haha. Thanks for the input, sweetie-pie. I'll keep thinking about it, but do remind me to credit you.
And hey. I suppose if it doesn't work out, the sequel can always be a horror film. ;)
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of course. let me know if you need any more, um, brainstorming help i suppose
[. . .]
are you okay?
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Of course! What could be wrong?
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[Their lives are maddening chaos and they both hate themselves, not that he's going to say that. It's not like he knows. Not knows knows.]
but if you say nothing's wrong then i won't pester you
i worry a lot that's all
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Sigh...
It takes a few minutes to force himself into a response. A few long, torturous minutes. But if he's going to try and share himself with another person, he may as well get some practice in with someone he knows as well as himself.]
I wasn't talking about a script.
I was talking about me.
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[Giorno's not going to say any of that, though. It's not a failing to have someone see you. Not even if it hurts. And he especially doesn't want to convey any kind of pity. It's a good thing for both of them this is such a relatively removed form of communication.]
i hate when they sneak up
feelings i mean
[His words are carefully chosen to indicate: they can still talk in broad strokes, unspecifics, if that's easier; they can move in any direction, because Mettaton isn't trapped in this line of conversation. It doesn't even occur to him to judge. They can enthrall men with their power--he's a hypocrite, but not enough of one to act like he doesn't understand that.]
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He's dragging his fingers across his face, rolling about on his bed like a tortured child. Everything hurts. Everything is awful. Whoever invented feelings sucks.]
Are you speaking from experience?
no subject
naturally
[A pause, then, of several long moments.]
i lived my whole life thinking i could be cold and distant and strong
and then i let someone in by accident and now cold and distant feels so awful
sometimes i feel like i'd give anything to go back to how things were and sometimes i think that would be the worst kind of torture
i don't want to act as though everything i feel is the same as what you're feeling
i just
my experience is that it's devastating, thinking you're all you need and realizing that's not true
no subject
How much does Fugo know about you?
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a lot. but not nearly everything. there are a lot of things i think i'd like to convince myself i'll tell him someday. but i don't want to. i really don't.
it's really strange how sometimes it's easier to be perfect and--for me, at least, inhuman. than to let people touch you.
yes. yes, it's a lot easier. i don't know that it's better, though.
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i'm worried he'd hate me
some days i'm certain he would
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it's hard to explain because i don't entirely understand it myself. not really. but
sometimes, when we're talking about something he does know about me--one of the awful things--when we're talking about that, and he looks at me, and i can tell he knows, and i'm ready for it to hurt, and for him to leave
but instead he just looks at me and i can tell he still cares, and despite all of that, or even because of it, he likes me, and he doesn't leave
that's
what makes it worth it
to me
no subject
This person. I tried to tell him something about myself. Something I don't really talk about with anyone.
He ignored it. He actually did the opposite of what would have helped in that situation.
He's... kind of apologized for it. But I don't think I can trust him with anything deeper if I know that's his instinctual response.
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