You heard of April Fools, get ready for-

[ulternnpc]

The reverse of that.

*image vaguely related

Silly white lies? No, none of that will be coming out of anyone's mouths today. Instead, anyone you meet and talk to you be shocked to realize you're incapable of lying. Staying silent may be an option--or is it? For whatever reason, it's really hard to keep your words in today.

You just might be spouting the first thing that comes out of your mind!

What another, peaceful day in Ultern it is!


...what do you mean that it's not? Well, things have been mostly peaceful for a while anyway. Some chaos is always in order! (Apologies to any Domeists in our midst).

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(🌺You thought there'd be no April Fools event?! Surprise! It's true, this is reverse-April Fools. Please enjoy, and don't forget about the OOC plotting post!🌺)

Comments

[serperiority]

I’m thinking about taping my mouth shut for my own good, but I really, really don’t want to it to hurt when I rip it off.

[Completely honestly, all said in one breath.]

Alice, maybe don’t talk to me today, I’ll just say stuff you or I or anybody else don’t want to hear. That… didn’t make sense, but I mean, all jumbled up, not myself today, or too much—

[Awkward forced smile to mitigate whatever rudeness might follow, maybe.]

[domeinion]

You mean you're compelled? It must be another one of those instances where a strange Pokémon comes through to mess with people, but I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. I hope it doesn't hit me, it's bad enough people tune out what I do say and they'd never understand about --

[She stops and sighs.]

All right, apparently it has got me. But a compulsion to speak the first thing on one's mind can't be that bad, can it? Are you feeling all right?

[serperiority]

Yeah, maybe if you didn't talk about several complicated topics at once and jump between all of them faster than anyone can keep up, more people would pay attention—

[He winced and covered his mouth, mumbling a muffled apology.

That's rich, coming from someone who gave unwanted lectures to people and acted like an insufferable know-it-all!]

[domeinion]

[Alice raises her eyebrows, but she looks less offended and more... well, used to it.]

It's because they're complicated that I can't just stay on one track. Everybody would still get just as confused. You really aren't having a good day with this, are you? Sorry about that.

[serperiority]

[He shook his head.]

No, ma'am, I'm not.

Sorry... it does sound really hard to talk to others like that.

[domeinion]

You're telling me. But it sounds like you're holding things back normally, huh... then again, I think that's probably common.

[serperiority]

… my mind’s quiet, too.

Is that a bad thing?

[He simply doesn’t talk very much, not even in his own mind, unprompted.]

Are you calling me boring or restrained?

[domeinion]

More the latter? But most people probably are. I think everyone has something important that they don't want to bother everyone else with about their lives.

I can't say I even remember what it's like to have a quiet mind. I mean, it feels like it once they leave, but then you realize there's still something echoing in there. I don't think it's a bad thing if it's not the same for you. Most people probably couldn't take it. I hear Red almost tore the universe apart to make it stop, the first time around.

[serperiority]

… that sounds awful.

Sorry for being a jerk about it, before.

You can talk about it more if it helps.

How do you deal with it? [Since Alice had to be doing something different…] … I think I might learn something that’d help me be stronger.

[domeinion]

Oh, don't worry about it. I don't expect people who haven't been hosts to relate or anything. Even if I do wish I weren't the only one. But thank you. It's nice to hear, Trip.

[She taps her chin and thinks.]

You need help with dealing with other voices? To get stronger?

[CW ableism, 'cause he's like that in the dub... calling Oshawott "special, in a way"]

[serperiority]

I'm not CRAZY, I don't hear voices! [Said before he can help himself, then, more groaning and covering his ears.]

... sorry. Didn't mean you were. But I don't. I just don't like getting overwhelmed or too emotional about stuff. I want to keep a clear head, I only need to think logically.

[domeinion]

[Alice visibly winces.]

You'd feel differently if you spent even a day having to hear them and do what they say all the helixdomed time!

[But once it's out, she trembles and looks at her hands, then makes herself look back at Trip.]

No, I'm sorry. I should have kept my temper about it. I know I'm weird, and it's hard to understand. Logic... It's not as easy as it sounds. Just because I'm a scientist doesn't mean I don't feel a lot of things, or make mistakes because of them.

[serperiority]

Don’t—
[He really didn’t like loud voices…
But he understood and quietly let Alice say what she needed to say.]

… sorry.

[domeinion]

[Trip's reaction makes Alice blink. She pushes up her glasses and just thinks, going over things in her head. Then she nods.]

All right. I'll try not to. It's considerably easier without this effect hanging over us, but I can see why you wouldn't stand outbursts.

[serperiority]

It's fine. It's not really your fault, I felt ashamed of the idea and snapped. I wasn't even really going to say anything about the shouting, if it weren't for this forcing it out of me. I deserved it anyway.

Sorry. Kind of a self-centered jerk.

[domeinion]

...I suppose we both have things to work on. I don't know if I can say you deserved it if something made you, from a technical standpoint, at least. If you are, you're trying, which is more than can be said for some people.

[serperiority]

... thank you.

[Well, that did make him feel a bit better.]

I still thought it, so it's not like it was completely undeserved.

I wish I could have more control over things anyway...

[domeinion]

I know how that feels. Just wanting to, you know, restore order. It's easier in an environment that's not trying to pick at you and provoke you, like whatever this is doing.

[dome help us all]

For how I deal with it, I sometimes let things happen if it's harmless, so that I'm not constantly expending energy on trying to be normal all the time. I'm not sure anyone can b, when you think about it. And then there's more energy to deal with the more important things. I'm not sure how one applies that to self-improvement, but there might be a foundation there.

[serperiority]

Basically… let things go more? Don’t sweat the small stuff?

… trite, but true, I suppose.

[domeinion]

That, allow small and harmless intrusive thoughts through to expend your energy on larger ones, one of those things. Of course, what you're describing is certainly different, but the principle is the same as if you allow the impulse that says "eat a handful of snow" through and then automatically reject the one that tells you "try to hug that Tauros that's chasing you."