Question Meme v. 2

[puzzlekeeper]

10,000 COMMENTS MEANS I'VE RPed TOO MUCH so u know why not talk about that

Ask me questions, I respond and then ask you a question, etc etc we know how the tradition goes

Comments

[rollplayinghouse]

So the thing about Maki is that for all she is a very stoic and reserved person generally, it is actually pretty easy to get her to open up about herself. The basic requirements are: 1) show some empathy for her, 2) ... ask her to. It's just that doesn't happen very often because it takes a certain kind of person to do those in the face of Maki being... herself.

However! King had done 1) very first conversation, and obviously after her live did 2). Which means she did open up to him! She was extremely low at the time due to the collection of things that lead up to her doing her live, and having Intensity (among... many others) be angry at her and losing his support left her feeling extremely both distressed and alone, so even King just offering to spend some time with her was really important to her. But he also talked through things with her and asked her about her plans, and most importantly when she told him her future house pipe dream and jokingly said he could join, he both made her be honest about how serious an offer it was (not... serious in the sense that this is a thing she actually expected to happen, but serious in the sense that if it did she would genuinely want him there because she likes him) and said he might actually accept the offer. This was really important to her, because it didn't actually have to be serious at all, and so it meant something to her for him to respond that seriously. So he became abruptly way more emotionally important to her after that thread.

Then the very next day she went to talk to him about her talk with Intensity, and he was willing to help her then too. And that's when they jumped off the balcony together. Which again was really important to her, because even if she didn't know anywhere near all the details of it she could tell he was uneasy about it, but he still trusted her with his life. AS AN ASSASSIN THAT'S SUPER MEANINGFUL FOR HER.

And then yeah he adrenaline-junkie laughed after they landed while still holding her hand, and between that and the trust of jumping with her in the first place it was in fact really hot. So then suddenly he was both emotionally important to her and attractive??

So then when they talked and she told him she appreciated everything and he looked surprised, she was still feeling all that, and she really wanted to show that to him, and she had no emotional capacity left for restraint, so she just kissed him. WHICH WENT A LOT BETTER THAN SHE EXPECTED not that she really expected anything. She came away from that knowing 1) maybe King's actually slightly insecure about some things?? 2) King's hot and fun to kiss.

Which is why their conversation about not being an Intensity stand-in went as smoothly at it did. Knowing he was likely to doubt himself she made herself very clear that she liked him! But while Maki also doesn't do totally casual things well, after the last few days she was also pretty confident that they actually had a solid emotional relationship, so she didn't feel like she needed any more assurance on that.So there's no real reason for it to be "dating" or anything. This is her new policy based on the fact that dating has gone badly and not-dating is fine since she knows Intensity cares.

And it appears to be working out with King also?? He's very suddenly become important to her. She can trust him with things like revenge murder plots, she can spend time with him and it's fun, and she feels like he cares about her feelings.

And then the castle game, and King saying he had nowhere to go, and Intensity had already denied to Maki's face that he'd been worried about HSS, so Maki was mad at him and assumed he'd probably deny it to King's face too. So...! There are some points at which Maki draws a hard line on doing what she wants, and she wanted to bring King with her, and she really would have just dealt with whatever ZRAEL had to say about it because no objection they could have to her just cuddling him in her room could possibly be reason enough to leave him with nowhere to go. So apparently this is a thing they do now.

Then there's the fact that Intensity stood them up, though. SHE'S STILL... HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH INTENSITY ABOUT KING, WHICH CONTINUES TO BE VERY ROCKY. So we'll see... how that goes. Intensity appears to be upset King is important to her, and not only does Maki not really understand why, she knows that's not something that's going to change, at this point. Why can't Intensity just acknowledge feelings and be with both of them??? (Because he's like that, she knows that, she is just genuinely not sure how to deal with that in these circumstances.)


What are King's general ZRAEL feelings at this point?