trial 4 afterparty

[exequte]

[Boy, that all sure Just Happened, didn't it? It Sure Hecking Did.

Akane helps drag anyone who needs it out of the theater as best as she, a tiny frail sick girl, can, before heading straight to Hubert's room and retrieving the letter he had told her was there, and then finding a sheet of paper, a pen, and a small knife, writing a short one of her own, and paying Charon to send it to the afterlife.

After this she brings Hubert's letter to the mess hall, as gathering for food after these things seems like the common thread that's bound all of them together.

Akane herself still has a lowgrade fever, and that last trial was not easy on her, but it seems to her like there's more important things to do at the moment.]

Comments

[somuchshipping]

Yeah. Nobody I know in my game, and any of the players I know, have never been that... weirdly nice to me...

It's so weird.

[exequte]

O-oh.

[BOY SHE'S NOT SURE WHAT TO DO WITH THAT]

A-and...

Is... is that a bad thing?

I mean. That... that we're nice. It sounds like a bad thing if no one else is. But. If... if you mean it's bad that we're nice to you, then....

I um. I don't want to be mean, but um....

Oh, gosh.

Is it mean to be nice if you're uncomfortable with that?

[Hermes do not break the Akane she's been through a lot today.]

[somuchshipping]

[???????????????????]

[Hermes looks so confused right now.]

...Yes? Is... is that what I'm meant to say?

[Hermes bobs up and down.]

[exequte]

Oh.

Well... if that's um.... if that's really how you feel.....

Oh, shoot.

I'm doing it again, aren't I?

[somuchshipping]

I actually don't really know what you were asking... Um.

I... I was just saying that I'm just not really used to this behavior. I mean.

I have friends. Lots of them! And they like me. But none of them ever really, uh... say that they like me having faith in people or worry a lot over me.

And if bad things happen? I just roll with it. It's the safest option. Sometimes people die. I shouldn't have forgotten that.

...

[And yet, Aoi's words are still in Hermes's head. "And now you can change that. You've been given a chance. Don't waste it."]

[...]

[exequte]

Oh!

[RELIEF!!!]

Okay!

Sorry, I even confused myself for a moment there.

But....

Um....

Tell me, okay? If you don't want me to do something, I mean. Because you are my friend. And even if people do die, sometimes, we... we don't have to let go of that.

[somuchshipping]

Um? O- okay...?

[Let's just... put on a reassuring smile.]

I mean, don't really worry about me. My problems aren't really that important when compared to other people.

[exequte]

.... yes they are.

[CONCERN CONCERN CONCERN]

You're important too, Hermes. Just as much as any of us.

[somuchshipping]

[??????]

[Seriously, what is WITH this niceness???????]

[Hermes scratches at his front leg.]

I mean there may be millions of me out there depending on how popular Fortuna is. I don't see how I'm more important than any other Hermes.

[exequte]

Because you're you.

I'm one of billions of humans. Do you think I'm different than... than Gai, for example?

[somuchshipping]

I... you... Th- this is different...! You humans have always been real. I'm just lines of code made for the entertainment of others...

[exequte]

Aren't humans just lines of DNA and RNA that came together and in some mysterious way created sentience?

[somuchshipping]

I don't know, are they??????

[Hermes actually legit doesn't know.]

[exequte]

[OH hm you know what this is a gap in his knowledge that she wouldn't really have expected.]

I guess it depends how philosophical you want to get with all of this, but....

You could make an argument for it, at least.

[somuchshipping]

Pfff. I'm not really good with anything philosophical. I... honestly never have been.

[Hermes goes and just sits down right next to Akane.]

...I wouldn't even know where to begin with that. I'm not that kind of tutorial.

[Hermes seems... subdued. Well, when compared to his usual self.]

[exequte]

[She giggles at that.]

Well, maybe you're not that kind of tutorial, but if you were interested in it then maybe you could learn about it!

But it's okay if you don't want to, too.

That's what you can do when you're a you, after all.

[She will sit down next to him and lean lightly against his skinny noodle body]

[somuchshipping]

[Choice... Choice, choice, choice...!]

[Hermes shifts a bit, nervously. Not enough to knock Akane down.]

I... I get the general context of what you're getting at with that...

...

...

...

But what if the choice I make ends badly for me? Or any of my friends? WhatIfISeeSomething That'sUnfairBut ItEndsBadly WhenITryToMakeItFair?

[exequte]

Then that's....

It's something that can happen.

All you can do is do your best to try and make good choices, and to fix any mistakes that you make, if you can.

But just being afraid that it might... won't stop that from happening. Sorry.

[somuchshipping]

[The crunch of metal enters Hermes's mind as someone got torn apart. On one side? A cursor. On the other? A quicksave, saving what he touches. That mistake will never be fixed.]

[A tear in the fabric of space enters Hermes's mind. A shell, about to be destroyed... murdered. An uproar was caused. Hermes avoided blame. A Roman got it, instead, simply because the Roman is a Roman. A bootleg. Hermes, at the time, didn't want to get blamed.]

[A cucumber monster, just as frightening as that tree. Hermes fled to the Underworld. Tricked, because he was too eager to find come cool loot. Separated from the player's current crew. That run is finished. Mercury got no punishment, but Hermes WAS planning on stealing his ship to get back at him, partially for the player's sake.]

[...Why does Hermes feel a pit in the cylindrical part of his shell? Why is it so difficult to ignore now?]

[exequte]

[Akane sits next to him in silence and lets him process for as long as he needs, waiting for him to make the next move. Be that to stand and leave, or to talk some more. Sometimes, though, silence is the best of all. Sometimes, your thoughts, and the moments they live in, need that silence to be able to breathe.]

[somuchshipping]

[It takes.











A long time for Hermes to summon the strength to speak without just totally breaking down.]

...Aoi said... I have a chance. T- to not be... just a fictional character.









...I'm terrified.

[exequte]

[There's a long pause before she answers, though not as long as the one he took, and in her case....

Perhaps she's letting the weight of the words settle in, not trying to take that away too soon. Maybe she's not sure what the best thing to say is, to a being in his position.]

That's all right.

It is scary, facing the unknown like that. It's always scary. I'm.... I'm sorry about that, too.

But....

Sometimes you can find....

[She struggles for a moment, forcing down tears, because she's already cried so much, and this isn't the time, not right now, not right here.]

Sometimes you can find something wonderful there, too, that you wouldn't have found if you didn't look.

[somuchshipping]

[Hermes scratches at one of his front legs.]

And what of the friends I have in the game...? I... I miss them.

I miss Thanatos. I miss Mors.

[exequte]

Are those bandages itchy...? You don't have to keep wearing them, you know....

[Akane sighs.]

I.... I have people I miss too. It's part of the deal. When people go away, or... or get taken. You... miss them.

[somuchshipping]

[!]

...I want to keep them on.

[Herrmes sighs a little.]

...It's been five weeks. The player's probably on a new Universe with a new Hermes by now...