Not Again | Catch All for Magnus

[applechemist]

Comments

[applechemist]

[ She is also just exhausted through and through. Frustrated and scared, all of it right on the verge of overflowing but carefully suppressed just below that boiling point. ]

I'm sorry. I - don't know what I should have done, but I'm...

[ Should she have focused her attention on protecting him, instead? Should she have - found out in advance, somehow?

Escha sighs. ]

[ruffboi]

Hey. You don't have anything to be sorry about.

[He won't let go, so she'll feel that he means that. Escha didn't let him down at all.]

If it weren't for you, maybe we wouldn't have been able to vote for that guy. So. Look. I never could've voted for somebody if it would've hurt Lili.

[applechemist]

[ She offers a weak smile, grateful for that press of emotion, even if it didn't sway her own feelings that much. It's wild that this week's effect has been a mostly positive thing for her.

She draws back from the hug and sits down nearby. ]

I was really scared that they would vote for you. And now... I'm scared of what the punishment is going to be for Taako.

[ruffboi]

I know. [He lets go of her, and rubs his jaw.]

I'm worried about Taako, too,

[applechemist]

I don't... Want to jump to any conclusions.

But whatever happens, if my team wins, he's getting saved. At the very least, we have that.

[ But it's frustrating because it's not enough. It doesn't make any part of this easier, and her team winning isn't even a guarantee, anyway. ]

[ruffboi]

I know. He told me that.

[That's part of why he was so instantly loyal to her.]

Knowing Taako, he always has something up his sleeve.

[applechemist]

[ She's not so sure, in this instance. Which shows on her face, but at least she doesn't say it. ]

...

[ruffboi]

You don't know him like I do.

[But. He gets why she doubts it, too.]

Look, just - don't worry about me. I'm gonna be okay. Was kinda funny, when you came and asked if I'd used my power on Beau. But, y'know. I didn't.

[applechemist]

[ Escha nods... That's fair. ]

I'll just put my faith in both of you, then.

[ ... ]

Then that means it was probably Minako's power that was used on Beau. Then... [ Even after everything she's still too frazzled to make sense of all the details. ]

[ruffboi]

Yeah, seems like, huh?

[He kind of. Thought so. The entire trial.]

But if she did, guess the real question is - why?

[applechemist]

I don't know... We're all on the same team, so it's only hurting their own odds if they went after her...

[ ugh. ]

I... Don't know if I did the right thing.

[ruffboi]

I don't, either. But I don't think you did the wrong thing.

[applechemist]

It's the same, isn't it? Not doing the right thing is doing the wrong thing.

[ruffboi]

I don't believe that. Sometimes there isn't a right thing to do, and you have to pick from a few bad choices.

I don't think your choice was a bad one.

[applechemist]

... Do you think that's how this game is going to end? Just... Bad choices where there is no right answer?

[ruffboi]

Haha!

[There's a laugh with a lot of exhaustion behind it.]

God, I hope not.

[applechemist]

I keep coming back to that.

That some people think there's a better ending, different from the one we know about. And that the best chance we have at something like that is to believe in it, but...

[ruffboi]

I feel like I've gotta believe in that ending. 'cause - if there's not, I'm sacrificing somebody I care about either way. I don't wanna think about that.

[applechemist]

Yeah. Even if I try to accept that I could only save a limited number of people, the math never works out in a way that I'm satisfied with.

I just wish we knew how to work towards that better ending, instead.

[ruffboi]

Maybe there's something there, in the combining teams? I wanna think so.

[applechemist]

Even that's just so... Conceptual.

We don't have any steps to actively start taking.

[ruffboi]

Yeah. But we're learning more every week, right?

[And starting to run out of time.]

[applechemist]

... Yeah. I guess so.

[ruffboi]

It doesn't feel like enough, huh? We can't be far from the end now, but it doesn't feel like enough.

[Sighing. He's too tired to stay posi right now.]

Beau's somebody important to you?

[applechemist]

... I don't know, to be honest.

[ She has to. Stop and think about it, and figure out how to articulate it. ]

I like her. I like spending time with her. And we're on the same team, so there's... That.

But it feels like there's always some kind of conflict. Maybe it's just bad luck. But we're not close. I... Care about my other friends more. Maybe that's mean to say.