memory exercise 001: lovers on the beach
The goal of this exercise is to figure out which part of the memory is worth preserving. Sometimes we find ourselves too attached to the negative, painful, or discomforting aspects of a moment and build an entire world around those feelings. Using photos, video, audio, and ephemera to reconstruct an experience that may have otherwise been clouded in my mind.
This trip, for example, was sorta stressful before we reached the beach, but none of that matters now. The feeling of a silver lining carried us through and that’s the feeling I choose to hold on to. I smiled the whole time while editing.
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I'd be really interested to see a 💬 for Ren. 😁
The problem with smart tech is that sometimes it gets a little too smart, he thinks, taking in the sight before him. His dormmates are pleading, threatening, and overall struggling to find a way to combat the fridge's alarming sentience, while the machine itself continues a surprisingly astute monologue about their foolishness and wasteful habits. He turns to glance at the upperclassman with the TV monitor for a head, who stands slightly apart from the rest of the crowd as they observe the unfolding mayhem.
"Nobody has been able to get the fridge to open?" he asks them.
[Not yet. It's rejecting IDs for having been used more than three times in the past 12 hours.] The text on Oisín's monitor screen confirms, then adds [Do you have an idea?]
He looks back at the gaggle of other Ignihyde boys, spotting the telltale double glow of the Shroud brothers near the front as they try to puzzle out what to do, then glances to the tyrannical appliance. And an idea does indeed form.
Carefully he pushes his way towards the front, the other boys all falling silent and shrinking back as they see him.
"Yeah, good luck, frosh," one of them snorts. "Not even Mr. 'vaunted genius' Shroud has been able to get it to crack."
"Dumbass!" another hisses. "You see the size of Wei? He could rip you in half with his hands."
"Maybe that's how he'll get the fridge open?" a third suggests.
The fridge itself has paused its monologuing as its motion sensors detect him and he holds up his student ID for it to scan.
"Ah!" the fridge says in uncanny delight. "Wei Renqiao, you have not used your ID more than once in the past 12 hours! But what exactly are you—"
"Need milk," he says, keeping it to the point in hopes to throw the thing off.
"AHA!" the fridge lets out a cackle of triumph. "There, you see? Mr. Wei is being RESPONSIBLE, using the last of the milk before wanting to open a new one! A good, responsible individual the rest of you pathetic meat sacks would do well to learn from!"
He manages to keep the irritation out of his voice as he says "Milk, please," hoping to hurry the damn fridge along.
"Of course! So polite too!" it responds, letting out a chime and then a telltale click right before its door swings wide open. "You have 15 seconds to—"
"Ortho," he says, turning and making direct eye contact with the little robot as he yanks the entire appliance forward, "plug, now."
"Huh?! Oh!!" Ortho takes only a second to process, then lunges and yanks the plug connecting the fridge to the wall socket.
For a second the fridge goes dark with a slowing whine as it attempts to exclaim in shock and betrayal as he holds its door open, then it starts a sound like it's winding back up.
"FOOL! You think you're so clever and I'll give you credit for the attempt, you came the closest! But you forget! My external battery pack has a duration of 8 hours! I can still—"
"Oh! You mean this external battery pack?" he hears Ortho say, followed by a sound of something decoupling.
"WHAT?!" the fridge squawks, before letting out its final dramatic 'death throes'. "Nnnnooooooooooooooo..."
It finally goes dark, there is a low hush, and then he turns to look at his dormmates. They are staring at him, all but Idia, who actually breaks the silence by saying incredulously, "Why didn't I think of that?", followed a beat later by Oisín's amused applauding.
"I hope you're all still hungry enough to eat everything in the fridge," he says to his dormmates as he looks towards Idia, "because it's going to take us time to completely overhaul the motherboard and fix this thing, right Shroud?"
For the first time, Idia Shroud actually looks at him, nearly makes eye contact...and there's a spark there, like he's grasped that this is going to be a challenge that needs a joint team to overcome, and maybe he's actually interested in collaborating.
"Ooh yes!" Ortho says while in the middle of handing the external battery pack to Oisín. "We'll help too, right Oisín?"
[UwU I don't see why not,] they answer. [There's a lot to be learned from joining forces. Wouldn't you agree, Idia, Wei Renqiao?]
"Come on, big bro," Ortho says, giving Wei Renqiao the sense that he and Oisín have a dynamic like partners in total mischief. "It could be fun! Besides, you know you're not functioning anywhere close to full capacity right now. Help can only- um...help, right?"
There is another long pause, a moment where everything and everyone else bustling about just seems to fade and it is the four of them. He feels like he's balancing on a ledge, waiting for something to happen.
And finally Idia says "sure, let's give it a shot and get it over with," Oisín declares they're going to get started on putting snacks together, Ortho begins to cheer about something called Operation: Make The Fridge Dumber, and Wei Renqiao allows himself a smile, feeling at last like he's found people who might become his people, the people he chooses.
—————
Also going to additionally tag @distant-velleity here since I noticed you mentioned WRQ in the ask you sent as a possible option, I hope you don't mind!
Ta-daaa~! Thank you @tixdixl for prompting me to write The Smartfridge Incident, and I hope you don't mind that I borrowed Oisín for the occasion!
This takes place the year prior to the game's opening, meaning Idia is a sophomore here (iirc so is Oisín) and therefore WRQ is a freshman.
As for the rest of the taglist: @simons-twsted-children @inmateofthemind @ramshacklerumble @blithesharem @elenauaurs @theleechyskrunkly @thehollowwriter @rainesol
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