It was a completely ordinary, perfectly regular day.
The Battle for Dream Island is... a thing. It exists. It's a competition that several dozen of them have centered their entire lives around for *years*. That's just part of the routine, part of the status quo. They wake up, they Battle for Dream Island, then *maybe* they sleep, then they do it all over again the next day. That's just how things are. That's how the universe goes. The world gave them these circumstances, and it's not like they were gonna change if they complained about it. It's *fine*. Things are fine. There's nothing to worry about, so long as you don't question it too hard.
And why *should* you question it? The only thing that gets you is a feeling of misery and depression that wears you down all day. That's the *last* thing anyone needs, especially when there's so much Battling for Dream Island to get to. Why care about the fact that this started on a whim, completely changed their lives all those years ago/ Why care about the fact that they all joined in a competition without even thinking about what it could give them? Why care about the fact that they've been at it for over a *decade* now, and still there hasn't been a single person that has actually won anything meaningful, anything that gave them happiness? Why care about the fact that your every waking moment is being monitored by a horde of faceless, soulless voters, who can determine whether you live or die? Who cares about the fact that if you *do* end up wronging those viewers in some way, you end up getting thrown into some inescapable prison of misery and torment? Why care about the fact that Needle exists? You and *everyone* else probably has around 2,763 other issues to worry about, things that they're tackling head-on at this very moment, or planning to get to in the near future. There's just a certain point, a certain limit, where it just ends up being too much, where you put the foot down and declare that there will be no more. Instead of actually dealing with what life throws at them, they've decided instead to just curl up into a ball and cry.
And so, in-between episodes, they *don't* just immediately break down and start grieving over what they lost, over all the time and energy that they've wasted over frivolous nothings. Instead, they worry about when the host is gonna show up again. They worry about what the next challenge is gonna be, and if they're gonna be any good at it. They worry about which teams are the biggest threats, and how to deal with them when the opportunity arises. If they're *really* unlucky, they worry about which one of them could get the boot, what'd happen to them if *they* were the unlucky one, and how to best make use of what could potentially be their last moments on this Earth. They'd always keep their eyes on the prize. They had one priority, and one only. They were gonna win Dream Island, or the BFDI, or The Power of Two, and they were gonna do whatever it takes to get to that point. In that mindset, there just isn't any room for *thoughts*. Think too much, and you'll end up thinking about nothing at all.
And so, the cycle continues.
-
Snowball was busy doing... stuff. Very important stuff.
It was that brief, glorious time in-between episodes, where The Strongest Team on Earth saw no potential challenges to that title. They were doing good, they were doing just fine. Sure, there *were* the parts where thing *could've* gone wrong, the stuff Basketball and all the others kept complaining about. But who *cares*? They certainly don't know anything about anything. Come *on*. Not one of them possessed the years of experience that they had. None of them had been in the Battle for Dream Island since the *very* start. Most of those chumps just stuck around in that big metal box all day, not being able to do *anything* noteworthy or relevant. Never mind the fact that he was also stuck there for quite some time; SB doesn't keep information like that (or any information at all) in his head. All that matters is the *now*. The present. He was here, he was fine, and thus *everything* was fine. What's all the fuss?
