Deer Country IC Inbox

[eudaimonikos]

INBOX text / audio / video / action Hello, this is Michael. I can't pick up right now, please leave a message. code credit

Comments

[spiritwalks]

I mean. It's not a bad thing to get upset about — people being dicks to each other. We're supposed to be a community that helps one another.

[Quieter:]

. . . At least, I thought so.

[eudaimonikos]

Yeah. [Quieter as well:] Yeah...

[It had been genuinely disheartening. Frustrating, even. The people in Deerington were one thing; they were always like that, and practically robots anyway. But Michael had expected better from the Trenchies.]

But I could have handled it better. Didn't even try to do anything about it, until...that, really zero to a hundred.

[spiritwalks]

Corruption makes it difficult to think clearly. You didn't realize what was happening to you.

I think it's understandable, Michael.

[eudaimonikos]

But I should've known better.

[He leans back against the couch, grumbling. Maybe it sounds silly, but he's not just saying that - he's really not!]

I thought I did. The last time this happened, the symptoms were totally different! I thought - if I kept an eye out for that, it'd be fine!

[spiritwalks]

[Vyng loosens his embrace around Michael.]

We've barely been here a year. This is a learning curve. For all of us.

[eudaimonikos]

[He sighs, shifting up against Vyng.]

Other people shouldn't have to pay for it. Not for something I fucked up.

[spiritwalks]

They were basically busy shaking down other people for change next to a pillar of fire.

Not saying two wrongs make a right, but...it's understandable that, given the circumstance, it would send you into fight-or-flight mode.

[eudaimonikos]

...that's true.

[They were definitely involved in trying to literally burn Vyng alive, so that's...something.]

I still should've...at least tried something else. But - yeah, you're right. I might've ended up fighting them anyway. If they kept doing that. [...] They were probably being affected by that whole Reckoning thing too, though.

[spiritwalks]

Probably.

[As optimistic as Vyng chooses to be, he seldom sugar-coats things.]

You were dragged into my shit, though. So, I mean...you did the best you could.

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael lets out a sharp breath. Yeah - yeah, sugarcoating wouldn't have helped anyway, he knew. But also:]

Oh, don't say it like that. Of course I was.

[He wasn't just gonna not get involved, no matter what else was going on with him!]

[spiritwalks]

Yeah. [A ghost of a smile passes across Vyng's otherwise serene expression.] If our positions had been reversed...I would've done the same.

[Fought tooth and nail until Michael was safe, that is.]

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael smiles faintly.]

Yeah, sure. [Of course he would.] I hope it doesn't come to that. Probably will sooner or later, knowing this place...just, don't go too far with it.