People don't really appreciate something until it's been forcibly taken away from them.
It's one of those curious, infuriating things about being alive that just make it just that *tiny* bit more excruciating, a little bit more painful. Going from day to day, going through the motions to just... *exist*, there are a lot of things that get thrown at you. All sorts of obstacles and roadblocks and hindrances and irritants that work in unison to make your day imperfect, inadequate, *awful*. Maybe it's something superficial, something that goes away quickly, like the air being too hot or too cold, or an itch you just need a bit of effort to scratch. Maybe it's a bit more persistent, but ultimately still something you can get away from, like a *particularly* aggravating neighbor or a job that you loathe with a passion. Or perhaps you're *really* unlucky, the universe seemingly conspiring against you and you specifically, and what strikes a nerve is some fundamental issue with the way your world works. Not having any arms, not having any legs, not having either one, the looming fear of elimination, of knowing who's on your side that you inevitably have to betray, of the fact that you're in a competition that's been running for years and years, and not a single step forwards has been taken, the eponymous Dream Island always seeming so near, and yet always so distant. You try, you work, but ultimately you fail. It's just something that you have to live with for the rest of your days, a pain that just won't go away.
That can be *particularly* irritating, yes.
But then, by some great miracle, that heavy burden is suddenly taken off your shoulders. Maybe you finally worked hard enough to throw it off yourself, or someone lent you a helping hand, or some great disaster has befallen your adversary, or the random chance of the universe just decided to make it... disappear. The circumstances of how it vanishes are irrelevant; what does is the fact that it's *gone*. Completely and totally. Maybe there's still some remnants, a few things lingering, but they're *definitely* manageable. You can now wake up tomorrow with one less thing bothering you, all the time and energy that would've been spent on dealing with it now once again free to use on... whatever you'd like.
There are two ways one can react when this great release finally occurs, that sudden feeling of liberation overwhelming you. If it'd been a particularly aggravating problem, like a question that's gone unanswered for far too long, or having to babysit Coiny *yet* again, then it can be a great provider of relief. One can just let out a deep sigh, confidently declare that that's all over, then move on to bigger, better things.
But there's also the other option. One notices that the tides have shifted, that things have changed. They notice that there's a hole in their soul that the problem once filled, a part of their daily routine now nonexistent. They are fully aware of how much of a bother it had been, of all the times they wished it could just go away. And now, that moment has arrived. The voters up above heard their prayers and unceremoniously eliminated the offending thing, or person. That's great. That's *wonderful*. That's cause for celebration.
And then they break down and start crying.
-
It was a perfectly normal day in Goiky. About as normal as it could've been, anyway.
The remaining contestants battling for The Power of Two were still reeling from the big new thing that has once again completely upended their way of living. The teams they were assigned to at the very start, the group of people they had *just* begun to get comfortable with, were now randomly shuffled away from them. They knew it was bound to happen at some point, given as that's a running theme of the Battle for Dream Island, but it still manages to be so *jarring* each and every time it occurs. They get given little to no advance warning of it happening, despite how massive of a shake-up it often is. It's made even worse by the fact that they had completely no agency and control over it this time around. Instead of just being free to switch to whichever new team looked good, some great cosmic force decided it for them. *Spectacular*. As if the unthinking, uncaring forces of the universe weren't already deciding enough of their lives for them.
