with knowledge comes great responsibility

[anythingforyou]

[What an absolute ordeal all of that was.

Today was certainly one hell of a day, that's for sure; they've managed to take care of another Guardian and gain it's trust (or at the very least, something resembling it), they managed to find Candice and manage to...well, maybe not get her back in a state that's altogether wanted, but ensure they managed to get her at least into a place where she could possibly regain herself. It will likely be a process, as such things are, but they've done their best, and they should have no regrets.

The center is definitely going to be a welcome reprieve for all of their suffering, at the very least. The Kompot is certainly more than enough to likely get everyone warmed back up and in a stable condition, along with the copious amount of blankets the locals have provided. They've got the time to rest and get ready for their next adventure.

Rest well, ye merry band of travelers. You've earned it.]

Comments

Center

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael will be sitting up when Jake comes back, like he's somebody's dad or something.

Well, okay, it's probably because he fell asleep in a chair and now his neck fucking hurts. Anyway.]

So. What's this "disappearing for hours and coming back hurt" thing about?

[bloodspent]

[ohhhh my god is this what having a dad that's actually around is like

...how about we never have that thought about michael again]

Got in a fight with a big, steel inanimate object, because people around here hate violence and I figured the shipping container wouldn't bitch if I beat it up.

[eudaimonikos]

...wouldn't say I hate violence, but I would prefer not being beaten up, yes.

[Don't say that to Michael or he'll make it his weird life quest to be aggressively paternal at you, just to freak you out. Which is itself arguably not paternal?]

I take it today...upset you? [Even as he's saying it, he's visibly aware that it was a stupid thing to say, but he doesn't know how else to breach emotion okay]

[bloodspent]

...One of those viruses I was telling you about kind of immobilizes people and covers them in transparent shit, until they break out pissed off, mutated and out to kill you in the face. I saw it happen to a bunch of my friends. So I couldn't stop freaking the fuck out even though I knew it wasn't anything like that. Didn't care about all the death, cared about the imagery, it was fucking stupid.

[...So yeah.]

I also just don't like helping the Lake Guardians at all, for more stupid reasons.

[eudaimonikos]

Ah. That's PTSD.

[Not said like he's telling you new information, more like he recognized a thing he saw.]

I liked Uxie better than the other one. But I'm aware that's not the most popular opinion...because of all the killing and mind-wiping.

[bloodspent]

[...He kind of looks a little blank at the PTSD mention, like he's not sure what to do with that, though he shakes it off after a moment.]

I didn't like her yelling about all the torture and being used to hurt people. I get that that's just kind of a thing with them, it's gonna come up. It just bothers me.

[eudaimonikos]

Azelf didn't talk about that part quite as much, that's true.

[It's illogical. But Jake knows that; there's no real reason to dwell on it.]

Well. There's only one more to go! Afterwards...well, I'm not sure we have much of a plan after that, but it doesn't seem like it's going to involve hanging out with them.

[bloodspent]

[...]

I was kinda used for something similar. Kept for six months, not years, but the result was sort of a shitshow and fucked up a lot of people. So probably more of that bullshit again.

[PTSD. Whatever.]

I guess we start finding ways to do something about Cyrus after that. It sounds like what people want to do, anyway.

[eudaimonikos]

Yeah, that's gonna be a shitshow. I know what I said earlier, and I stand by it being possible, but we probably do need to go after some minor gods to have any real shot.

[He cocks his head at Jake for a moment. More specifically, at the hand he's fixing up.]

You know you're gonna fuck up your bones doing that?

[bloodspent]

...Yeah, I know. That's why I normally don't.

[He's just...not going to be looking at Michael while he says that; fortunately enough, he's got like. an entire damaged hand to focus on right now.]

[eudaimonikos]

It is sort of a stupid thing to do.

[He observes mildly, a tone that's probably entirely deliberate. Nothing stupid, right, Jake?]

We can't really have a proper destructive riot here, but would going out in a field and blowing some things up work for you?

[bloodspent]

[Yeah... He gets it.

...That said, wait what- ]

You got something to blow things up with?

[eudaimonikos]

They've got cleaning chemicals, we've got fire Pokemon. I'm sure we could work something out!

[Buck up, buddy, there's always a possibility of explosives if you work hard and believe in yourself!]

[bloodspent]

[Oh my god.]

I'll take you up on that someday. Maybe not tonight, I think everyone would kill us, but definitely sometime.

[eudaimonikos]

Cool!

[He grins, pleased to have actually successfully introduced a better coping strategy. Michael's not exactly the king of healthy coping himself, but like, exploding things in fields doesn't have to hurt anyone!]

Hey, if Sena were gonna die in his sleep, he would've done it by now, right? I've been keeping an eye on him, I thought that was something you were supposed to do with head injuries.

[bloodspent]

[Uh.]

...I'm pretty sure if Sena were gonna die, he would have done it back in that cavern with Froslass. He's probably okay.

[eudaimonikos]

Hm. Okay.

[Michael nods, mostly to himself. He figured it was safe by now anyway, just.]

I don't know how you manage hanging out with people who can die all the time, it's very stressful. [How's that hand doing, as long as we're on the topic of human fragility]

[bloodspent]

[...It's. He's managing. Used to taking care of himself, at any rate.]

It's only stressful when you give a fuck about them. Most of my job involves making sure other humans die. My friend, though, that girl I'm not trying to disappoint? Yeah, she nearly died on me early on, I nearly had a fucking aneurysm.

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael's not likely to do much better with it, but he's taking some mental notes.]

Man, I feel that. All my friends are dead already, but I literally almost died like four times trying to keep them away from other demons, and I didn't even think I could have a heart attack.

[Not to mention what's happened in Sinnoh since.]

We could probably stand to plan our next lake trip better.

[bloodspent]

Yeah, just a bit.

[...Speaking of people he gives a fuck about.]

How're you doing, after that? That can't have been too great on you, either.

[eudaimonikos]

Heh.

[Ugh, was it obvious?]

That Froslass was a real dick, huh?

[bloodspent]

God, tell me about it. Been a while since I've done anything like that, and back then we at least got shelter and some snowmobiles after a while.

[eudaimonikos]

I don't understand why people live in places like this! Got a whole continent, and they're all "ooooh, you know what would be great, let's go to ice purgatory".

[He could talk about this for years.]

I feel like I understand human reactions to near-death experiences better, now.

[bloodspent]

What seemed weird about them before?

[He doesn't sound like he's judging or anything, just kinda wondering.]

[eudaimonikos]

It's not that it seemed weird.

[Right? Michael looks thoughtful.]

I mean, I understand it. Your lives are so easy to just snuff out. [He shrugs.] I guess I just didn't give it much thought. Or I just didn't care. That's probably more accurate.

I've come close to dying before. But that was more like if someone held a gun to your head - scares you, sure, but you aren't actually actively dying yet. To have your body just start shutting down around you...I didn't realize I was quite that used to having it on.