What They Thought (Steve)

Apologies in advance for 

Apparently, the press was eating up my time in the psych ward. I was bombarded with questions I longed to answer, but couldn't. I missed the heat of the sun, the chill of a mineshaft's air, and the weight of a sword in my hand. I didn't like the tacky feeling in my mouth (antidepressant side effects), but at least I could soar with the music! It's honestly a small price to pay. The coming school year would be a good one. I was especially looking forward to meeting Kaito.

We were getting the instruments set up for trying. I had a large bottle of sanitation spray handy. The reeds were nice and soaked. Cane gathering is rather fun in Minecraft. The Minecraft Symphony Orchestra uses a variety of reed materials. Whether to start beginners on spruce or sugar cane is a popular debate. Sugar cane does not leave residue if it is treated properly by squeezing out the juice, soaking it, and re-drying it. Pieces that are too sweet can be eaten or made into sugar. Caitlin bakes cookies with this sugar. They are far superior to the village bakery's cookies and, thus, more effective in motivating students (and me).

Speaking of Caitlin, I found her with at least fifty self-inflicted cuts on each arm yesterday. They were rather deep too as there was blood dripping on the floor. The sight made me sick with worry, but it is a sight I knew all the same called the "rescue wife phenomenon" (which can also apply to husbands, but it mainly happens to females because of tradition and whatnot). I "researched" (read: asked around meeting interesting people) this hoping to better understand Caitlin's perspective. The phenomenon is incidents of depression in these so-called "rescue spouses" due to feeling useless. It occurs mostly in quiet, altruistic, and sensitive types who have been abused for long periods of time.

I opened the bento box she packed for me. It was diamond blue with a creeper on the lid. Thinly sliced strips of teriyaki chicken and an assortment of vegetables were in one box. Apple wedges with tiny sword skewers were in another; they were likely a hint to not get my fingers sticky. They were juicy, sweet and crisp with a hint of lemon juice. I rummaged around for a fork in the box and, instead, I found chopsticks. Really? You have got to be kidding me. I ended up stabbing the chicken with a chopstick to eat it. Setting up an instrument booth is harder work than it sounds like it is. The sales associates were given a primer on what to expect. I just let the students try the instruments for themselves to see what works best. I don't pressure them into picking things they don't want to play because study without desire, especially of an instrument, makes it not worth doing at all.

Since the students wouldn't arrive for another 500 ticks, I decided to check my Twitter. I had so many follower notifications alone that the notification box wouldn't display the number. Surprisingly, none of them looked like spam bots. Mental Health in Minecraft mentioned me in one of their posts about  how pressure to "be the hero" can damage one's psyche. They linked to the article. Mark (@OnYourMark) sent me some weird memes and then said "Help my friend (@SteveDoesTrumpet) come back!" Caitlin's Twitter was filled with psychology and music-related stuff as usual. Some of it was in French, so I couldn't understand it. She posted a quote and tagged me a day ago. ("You can cry and still be a hero.")

A multitude of people gave me death threats because Alice found me. They said I was "selfish" for "letting" my seventh grader (at the time) find me. Well, since I was unconscious, I couldn't control who found me. In fact, I didn't think anyone would have found me in time. Alice should have a crack at the camera for her heroism. All I did was kill a dragon. She saved my life by doing the right thing when no one else had the guts to do it. So many people are true heroes in their own right; why is everyone wasting their time on me? Not wanting to dwell on the matter, I turned my attention to another thing that grabbed my attention.

There was a rather long discourse on Caitlin's personality; a disability representation blogger said she was "too humble" and asked "Why isn't she the hero herself?" Several people followed in assent with things like "She perpetuates the "disability angel" stereotype". Others said her humility was a symptom of depression. That was only marginally true. Even in her happiest states, she still blushed at a compliment and preferred the shadow of the background over the glare of the spotlight. Caitlin is one of those people who is more comfortable playing second trumpet than first. Landon (@LandonLakesButter) told them "Stop. Let her be who she is. It's hypocrisy to tell other people how to act when you are unwilling to conform yourselves. #why". That tweet was enough to make me pause. How did Caitlin turn her former tormentor into another ally? She seemed to have a talent for that. Alisha (@TheRealAlisha) chimed in with "You will never find anyone as trusting or as kind. Hang in there, sister. @ClarinetteCaitlin".

I said, with the help of a predictor app that "learns my language", so to speak the following:

"Humility is a virtue I deeply respect. If you don't like it, that's not Caitlin's problem. It's yours."

After that, I proceeded to get every student outfitted with their instrument. With most, I had a keen sense of who would play what; some others I had no idea about.

(A/N: Do I get bonus points for the Hamilton reference?)