her advice to get it off his mind had him snorting, but it was mostly in amusement, still grateful she was actually trying even when the situation was so ridiculous it seemed impossible to do anything about it. “thanks — just tell me if i’m filling them with too much angst and i’ll zip it,” he said with a nod, mimicking the zip over his lips with a hesitant smile. “i don’t know, i really hope it won’t be addy, she’s nice and she’s… she’s always staying out of drama, i don’t see why she’s even on there,” he shrugged, a helpless sigh falling off his lips. he didn’t know dante that much either, but he couldn’t bring himself to find comfort in someone else winning, not even if it was for his own sake. he’d voted for himself the first time, when tati had been up, without knowing what it was for, an instinct to offer himself up for punishments ingrained in him since childhood. now that he knew what the stakes were, he was more dubious about the self sacrifice, death always terrifying, but he still leaned towards it when he thought of anyone else having to suffer again, when he could just take it himself and be done with it. “i think it’s the not knowing that’s hard to bear, you know, just… the waiting,” he nodded, circling the rim of his beer with his thumb. “and there’s this — like, you know when you say you don’t wanna do anything for your birthday and then someone takes it literally and doesn’t even text and you’re like, mad, but unfairly so? that kinda feeling, like — i don’t want pity, and i know i’ve, uh. burnt some bridges lately, but it still feels nice when someone shows up to make sure i haven’t died, you know,” he said, eyes on the drops of condensation going down the bottle. “did you vote? i’ve always wondered what happens if someone tried not to vote, but it would require not using my phone for like, a day or two, and i’ve never had it in me to do that.”
“it’s okay, levi. there’s nothing as too much angst in this kind of situations.” rowan added, and if there was, she frankly didn’t know. there wasn’t really a right way to react, was there? “whoever is doing this is just choosing them at random, it seems. i don’t think they actually make an strategic background check on who to pick.” it would be too much time an effort for someone. rowan wondered if whoever was doing it had such a sad life that they’d take all of this time and effort to affect other’s. fingers lightly tapping on the rough and wooden surface of the table, the chattering in the background not going amiss, but not being loud enough as to not being able to hear him. head tilting with a short nod to what he mean, lips going to the brim of her glass for the first time that night to sip on the sweet beverage she’d chosen. “no one else has reached out?” rowan asked with an arch of her eyebrow. she found that to be odd, and while she wasn’t aware exactly on what levi had done to consider like he’d burn some bridges, she still thought he was nice as to not have people checking on him. rowan figured it should’ve made people forget differences and care about their well beings, but maybe she was wrong. at this pondering, rowan couldn’t help but release a short laugh, one that probably shouldn’t taken place in a situation like this, but she brought out her phone and set it on the table. the screen frozen in place as the app remained there. “i refuse to take part on that. it’s been frozen since the voting took place, and it’s always that way since it started.” a shrugh soon followed. “it’s not like i really do use my phone either way. kind of gets annoying that spotify is a big no but-- i guess that’s what laptops are for in the end.”
