Writer's Woes

The Masquerade so far was going rather well, it seemed. Chaoshin had gotten to meet a lot of new Buns and made a few lucrative connections. And of course a handful of more socially driven ones as well, which he wouldn’t complain about. It was rare to find Succubuns he did enjoy the company of, so he wouldn’t complain about expanding that list.

As of now, he was sitting at one of the tables with a few others, enjoying a couple hors d'oeuvres as a little snack, taking this chance to refuel and rest his hooves before he went back to the dancefloor. He did plan on going back there, but he did want to pace himself a little too, lest his battery become entirely depleted.

It took him a moment to realize that somebody was talking to him. Oops. Sometimes he had trouble focusing on something and it looked like this was one of those moments. Best to try and summon a pleasant response in return.

“Pardon, I didn’t quite catch your name, could you please repeat it?”

Though truth be told, he didn’t recall if the Bun had said any name up until now.

-

“Does the plot sound feasible or am I going insane from the alcohol?” Tomoki finds himself rambling, apparently to another Bun. He’s not how he got into this situation or when the two of them even found a table to talk at. For now, call it an oversight. 

Later, this moment can be reclaimed as a foolery moment and perhaps a reason for him to never come back to the masquerade. Having to dress up doesn’t help with that matter. Not really. 

All the same, the words continue to tumble out of his mouth. Are they even the ones for his book that he’s working on or some fever dream? At this point, Tomoki’s not sure. Maybe he shouldn’t have gone for those extra drinks with Hops. 

(He’ll deal with the consequences later. And hopefully, this other Bun won’t throttle him for making a fool of himself. If they do end up throttling him, then Tomoki probably deserves it.) 

“It’s just– romance is such a pain to write,” he finds himself rambling. “There’s too many variations and some of them are too common but pushing it too far means that no one will read it– and that’s not putting into consideration the fact that I need to write new characters for this.” 

Or maybe, he could rehash some of his older creations. This thought does not cross his mind, however. 

“Anyways,” he finishes. “Enough about me, how’s everything going for you? Enjoying the free food and drink?” 

-

Alcohol? Chaoshin blinked a few times as he looked at the other bun more properly, taking in his mannerisms and actions. Hm… it did seem to be that this bun was not quite sober. Though the fact that he was rambling might not be a symptom of inebriation. Chaoshin would know, given that he had proclivities for rambling himself at times. By extension, he wasn’t upset by the word vomit, though could imagine the other bun may come to regret it or feel embarrassed.

“I would argue that any kind of plot can be feasible and you might just be overthinking it.”

Chaoshin ever so gently grabbed the decanter of water from the middle of the table and began to fill the dark Bun’s glass with it.

“If you don’t enjoy writing romance, why don’t you write something else? Are you not free to make that decision?”

The glass of water was ever so gently nudged closer towards the Bun who’s name he still hadn’t caught.

“As for nobody wanting to read it, I honestly doubt that. I find myself reading or watching the same tropes over and over again, specifically because I like them. I believe it is normal to seek more of the things one likes.”

His eyes stayed on the glass of water for a moment, hoping that the stranger would drink. It wouldn’t get him sober, of course, but it would help any potential hangover soon enough.

“I’m doing fine, thank you for asking. The food is quite good, have you tried any of it yet?”

Getting this bun to eat should help as well, so perhaps he could talk the guy into it a little.

-

Tomoki hasn’t tried the food yet, rather, he thinks part of it isn’t actually that much compared to what he would usually eat. Everything is more or less bit sized with every dish. 

“I should try the food out,” Tomoki admits, quiet. “Mostly spent a lot of this night drinking and dancing with a friend. Fun experience but I’m famished.” 

Of course he would, he hasn’t eaten anything for a whole night. Though he should, or he should’ve brought his own snacks next time. Still, he finds himself taking one of them regardless as he ponders what the other bun says. It’s something worth keeping in mind. Does he have to write romance? 

“And the thing is,” he then says. “Romance sells quite well here and nothing else quite pays the bills.” It’s not that he doesn’t want to write other things, rather, he just wants to keep the carats rolling in so that he can live. After all, Tomoki doesn’t know anyone who’s rich enough to hire him as their writer for hire who will read everything that he writes. That’s not realistic. “Romance sells better than anything else even if I do try to work in a plot. You win some, you lose some.” Just like in Angora’s casino. 

Still, Tomoki can dream of making it big. 

“Also, I have this theory,” Tomoki then finds himself saying. It’s more to add onto the point than anything else. “Cuz you said that you like reading the same thing over and over again–” 

“Writers also do the same, I think,” he rambles while taking sips of the water and finally putting something in his mouth. Oh, it’s so good to have food again. “Whether it’s in themes or character archetypes. Everyone seems to have a go at or at least a few things where you’ll definitely know it’s their things. It really makes you think about how repetitive creators can be. It’s like an old habit that you can’t scratch off in a way.” 

It’s food for thought for him and really lets him pause for a moment. Tonight’s gonna be good writing material if he can remember afterwards. Still, he still finds himself scratching the back of his head. He sure talks a lot more when he’s drunk, huh. 

“I hope I’m not boring you, that’s all. Since, well, you could be dancing instead,” Tomoki points out. 

-

“Well, it’s good that you’re having fun at least… “

Even if his talking about literature and failings of writing did kind of leave a different impression. Then again, perhaps he was just a bit of a weepy type of drunk?

“Does it? I can’t say I ever really dug into those statistics myself, but I always figured that sex would sell better than romance? And what about murder mysteries? Aren’t those rather popular as well?”

He might look into it at a later point, if only out of pure curiosity. His tiny clawed hand motioned for the nameless Bun to continue talking at the mention of a potential theory. This might be good?

“That makes sense, no? Isn’t fiction always heavily dependent on the author and their own experiences? It’s much harder to write about things you don’t know jack shit about, so it makes sense to draw inspiration from one’s own proclivities, memories and yearnings. The more one experiences, the more varied one’s creative works can be, I think… Well… that and the willingness to self reflect, of course.”

Well, at least the bun had begun to eat and drink by this point.

“I could be dancing, yes, but if I dance more now, I won’t be able to dance at all for the rest of the night, which I plan on doing. If I take a little rest occasionally I’ll be more than good to go for much longer. Though I will say that I believe you worry too much. I would have walked away, if that's what I wanted to do.”

Bored was most definitely not what he would call this. If anything it was slightly… amusing? Annoying? A little hard to pin down. The unnamed bun seemed not quite able to grasp reality right now, and Chaoshin was judging based on the fact that he was just talking and talking, not entirely registering what was being said to him or done for him. At least from the impressions he was getting, this guy seemed very hung up on his writing and its potential failure right now.

Though he could be wrong. Chaoshin always reserved the right to be wrong about what he thought and believed when it came to things he didn’t have all the facts for, and considering that he didn’t even know this Bun’s name was only the tip of the iceberg. Maybe he was only like this when given enough alcohol, or maybe he was like this when sober as well. Chaoshin didn’t know, and that was a crucial part of the equation. Better err on the side of caution in this case.

“Aren’t you taking a bit of a breather yourself right now? If not, I would recommend you do so you can make your fun last longer.”

Ever so gently he snuck more water into the guy’s glass and pushed some of the snacks closer as well.

-

“Sex does sell, it’s about making it sound decent with prose that’s headache inducing at times,” Tomoki admits as he takes another sip of champagne. He can regret this much later. At least he’s no longer starving from running about the masquerade. “But I was hoping this ball would inspire me to work on something afterwards. Maybe not a complete romance but something else that will sell.” 

That way, Tomoki hopes, he can work on his other projects instead. Something that he cares more about while the romance and sex sells to pay his bills. Though really, he’s not against shaking things up. Call it a break for himself. 

Though the comment about self reflection does get Tomoki to think for a moment. Really, he’s spent part of his life looking inwards to do things so much so that he doesn’t look elsewhere, or see the outside world for what it is. In a way, it explains why he’s here of all places instead of staying in and daydreaming about how a masquerade should play out. 

“I just want to write something that others will remember me for,” Tomoki admits, quiet. “It’s the most that I’d like most as a writer. These days, it’s more about paying bills than anything. There’s not as much wiggle room and having a rich patron would be nice as fuck. It seems that every artist wants one and I’m starting to get the appeal of it, I really do.”  

At least that way, he won’t have to worry about the carats. And also it would mean that he can work on other projects on the side. Truly, it would be the best way to live more than anything else. 

Although, he does drink to this other bun in regards to the fact that they’re both trying to relax for now before jumping back into the fray again. At least he might go off to take a nap before attempting to socialize again. It sounds like a decent plan the more that Tomoki spins it around in his mind. Seriously, it sounds so nice. 

“Any plans after all of this is over?” he then finds himself asking. “At least after the masquerade. And if you do dance, I hope you at least have some sort of fun.”  

Then it hits him. Specifically, well– Tomoki’s a fool first and everything else second. Because– because– 

“I never caught your name, did we even exchange names?” he then cuts in, far too curt for his own liking. What comes out instead is one of the most awkward deliveries that Tomoki has ever said to another bun. “If we haven’t then uh, you can just call me Tomoki. I guess, If either of us will remember this tomorrow.” 

It seems that, well, old habits die hard.

–

“Well… are you not inspired by your night so far? You do seem to be having a whole lot of fun from where I’m standing”, well, if he put the complaining aside at least.

Mystery bun had been dancing and getting drunk from what he could tell, so he couldn’t help but think of it as the guy enjoying himself. Though something about what he was saying seemed to hit a nerve. Not in a bad way, but it stuck with Chaoshin.

“That’s not something you can decide for others. Just because you think it would make others remember you, doesn’t mean that’s true. You might be noteworthy of remembrance to many a Succubun already, and you wouldn’t even know it unless you paid attention to them.”

He paused for a second, glancing off to the side as if pondering his exact word choice.

“Perhaps you seek more to write something that you yourself would remember for the rest of your life? There is no way to please others to such a degree that you would be remembered by them, at least not without selling yourself out to them quite a bit. People remember things important to them, not important to you. You should perhaps take a note or two from a Pride Bun and pride yourself in what you do no matter what others might think of it.”

Any plans for after the Masquerade? Well he did plan on properly introducing the new Imp he was expecting to be delivered soon. A cute, little Bimble for which he had the perfect name in mind already. Bommel would get to meet all of his Imp siblings and explore the house and garden under supervision… and pets! Lots and lots of pets! Though that wasn’t information he needed to share with this Bun in particular. Manis might have wanted to hear about this, but they had parted ways a while ago.

“I’ll likely take a day off to recover once this is do-”

Albeit interrupted in his answer, the question about his name caused a little chuckle. It seemed the guy had sobered up a tiny bit? Or at the very least the snacks he had consumed had soaked up enough of the alcohol for him to think to ask for a name. Chaoshin sipped on his glass of champagne, as if to indicate that the interruption wasn’t any kind of issue.

A mystery this Bun no longer, the stranger had finally given a name. Admittedly Chaoshin hadn’t thought the answer to his initial question would come, but better late than never, yes?

“My name is Chaoshin. It took you a while to ask, but I don’t mind. And you don’t have to worry about being remembered. I don’t plan on forgetting… “, even if only due to the fact that this had been a rather unexpected encounter.