Palace Game 6/5

[fujimaru]

The Dreamer In The Grand Temple
Humanity Foundation Value: ????

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Comments

[survivaltricks]

[her explanation makes so much sense, and it resonates with Akira, somewhere deep inside his heart. he falls silent and takes a few more bites of curry, savoring the flavor as he absorbs her words]

Did he ever. . . act on his pity?

[fujimaru]

"If he hadn't, we wouldn't be here," she says, not unkindly. "Ah, maybe not 'here' in the sense of... whatever place Master is in right now. But she wouldn't be my Master--she wouldn't have any of us here, if he had not."

[survivaltricks]

. . . right. Of course.

[he's smiling, but he sounds a little rueful]

Rituska's been through a lot, hasn't she? She tries to hide it. . . but honestly, she's not very good at it.

[fujimaru]

"That girl..." Boudica grimaces. "Honestly, I don't know what they were thinking, putting all of it on her. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. And we were all in a fairly desperate situation. ...We still are."

[survivaltricks]

[lifts his chin]

Whatever responsibilities she had thrust upon her- she knows she isn't alone.

Right?

[fujimaru]

There's a pause, and Boudica actually sighs, looking away briefly.

"That's complicated," she says at last. "She isn't. But she is. There's a lot that we've put on her, even when it wasn't fair. There'll be more, too. Some of it, there's no help for her.

"But she has me." She puts a hand to her chest. "She has everyone who has answered her call. And that's not nothing."

[survivaltricks]

. . .

I'm glad for that. She deserves that support.

[said quietly, but earnestly. and then, with an exhale—]

If I manage to find this Beast I, do you have any advice on how to deal with him?

[fujimaru]

"Don't fight him," she says firmly. "Not that I don't think you're weak or anything. But he's not the sort of thing that's meant to be fought by a single person. I don't care what your pride says, if you think it's a wise idea to die in this place, I'd have to knock you out right here."

[survivaltricks]

[a wry laugh, his lips curving upwards]

Based on what you've told me, I don't think I'd want to fight him, anyway.

. . . he may be the embodiment of humanity's sin, but even he has a right to exist.

[fujimaru]

She huffs a little, smiling as she does, then reaches to pat his cheek fondly again.

"No wonder she likes you," she says. "That's the sort of thing she'd say."

[survivaltricks]

[oH NO HE GOT MOMMED AGAIN. blinks a few times, but then huffs in that slightly-exasperated-but-not-really-all-that-bothered teenager way]

Mmm. . . maybe we're more alike than either of us think.

[polishing off the curry and placing his utensil aside, fingers linked and hands stretched in front of him]

Thank you for the food-- and the help. It was delicious.

The-- ah. The curry, not the help.

[fujimaru]

Unfortunately for him, you cannot escape Boudica motherhenning. But she laughs at his correction, waving a hand.

"Come back some other time! When things are a bit less what they are right now. You can meet some of the others."

[survivaltricks]

[standing up now, and giving her another polite bow of his head]

I will; I promise.

[AND THEN HE IS LEAVING, through a door that he didn't enter from]

[fujimaru]

Out in the stairwell, the only apparent way to go is up.