[It's one of the only choices that night that he doesn't regret, and wouldn't have even it had lead to his death and he'd still somehow been able to reflect on it. But just because it had been the right choice doesn't mean it was easy; gathering the courage to pull the trigger while the person he loves was sobbing and trying to convince him not to do it had been the most difficult thing he'd ever done.]
But it still... I-It still sucks. No matter how much I knew it was the right thing to do.
[Maketh is quiet for a moment. She folds her arms across her chest. Hugging herself, really.] That was when it - hurt.
[It was the logical choice. But not the only one, if she's being honest. Maketh knows she could have asked Henry to drag her to Hope's temple. Maybe it wouldn't have worked, but it would have been - an alternative. A burden less painful to put on his shoulders. Instead she'd given him the kerosene and ordered him to do as she said. It should have ended then.
But here they stand. Both of them, still alive. Maketh tips her head back. She's not crying yet, but she feels like she might. They're both alive and they have to deal with the aftermath.]
[He's quiet, leaning a little against the table without thinking about it gaze dropping again. Even though the gun had been full of blanks and Josh meant for him to survive, he really shouldn't have; at such close range even a blank should've still killed him.
But fortunately all that had happened was that he'd been knocked out briefly, and when he'd awoken he hadn't even had time to be surprised--or feel anything at all--about being alive. They'd had to immediately deal with the shock of Josh being alive, of what to do with him, of Mike saying Jessica was dead and then Emily running back to the lodge screaming about monsters...
Even now, looking back, he can't remember even a moment in which he really thought about the fact that he was alive. Maybe it had just been too mixed in with the immediate fear that had led him to empty the rest of the clip of blanks into who he thought was a murderer, or the shock of realizing it was his best friend who had done this to them. Maybe the events of the rest of the night that followed--the wendigos and the death of the stranger and truly losing Josh--just drowned it all out; it had all been fake, after all, so it shouldn't really even matter right?
So the pain that she's talking about--he assumes she means the mental and emotional pain, at least--has come on somewhat delayed for him, fading in and out of the other traumas of the night and everything that's happened since then, and there's just too much to try to sort out. So he's stopped trying, except in moments like this when it serves a purpose.]
I wish I could like... Tell you something that'd help.
[Trying to make her feel less alone is pretty much the limit of what he's capable of, and he hopes it helps even the slightest bit.]
F-First person to figure out something that does has to share it with the other one, o-okay?
[It's a weak joke, but at the same time he means it.]
[Maketh laughs at that, unexpectedly. She covers her mouth in surprise. What a strange person Chris is. Very different from anyone she's met before. Kind and clever, but strangely naive in a way that makes Maketh want to shelter him and shatter his perceptions in the same breath. She settles for smiling, hands clasped in front of her chest. It can't hurt to smile, can it?] I, uh...agreed.
[He smiles a little uncertainly at her laugh, but looks a little more confident when she smiles too.]
Cool. It's a deal.
[Kind of a sad deal, but still. But the mood is thankfully a little less somber now, at least.]
I think the drinking some water thing's still a good idea, though. And food.
[He's pretty drained just from the conversation and he only had one shot, so he's pretty sure Maketh could really do with something more nutritious than alcohol.]
[Now that things seem a little calmer he moves to return to his seat, his knee a little sore at this point, and also decides to give the servings of food he brought with him some consideration. He's not actually hungry, especially not for vegetarian food--though anything with meat in it sounds similarly unappetizing for entirely different reasons--but he's also not interested in feeling any worse than he has to either.
So food it is, and he'll see if he can convince Maketh to have some as well when she comes back.]
[Despite what she'd like people to think, Maketh isn't much of a host - not when it comes to informal things, anyway. She likes events that have scripts and templates to follow, clear guidelines for every interaction. Possibly a rule-book written about the subject. Exactly none of those things apply here.
She goes to get the water, for lack of a better idea. Bottled water, instead of from the tap. She doesn't trust anything that the gods provide, but she's leery of drinking straight from the tap. There could be parasites, or something even worse.
Well, maybe. Hopefully not.
The glasses are clean, at least.
She sets them down on the table, next to the whiskey. They're probably done drinking now. Part of her thinks that's a shame. She takes a seat before that thought can spiral.] Here.
[Chris is utterly unbothered by any lackluster hosting she might be doing; it's difficult to be a worse host than Josh had been, anyway. He gives her a small smile when she returns, taking one of the bottles and a glass.]
Thanks.
[In turn, he nudges one of the containers of food toward her.]
Might help with, you know. The doubtlessly impending hangover.
[Maketh grimaces. Oh yes. The hangover. She has a feeling it's going to be nasty. Though probably not the worst she's ever had - she's not blackout drunk yet, and still has all her clothes on.] Thank you.
[She gives the food a curious look, not recognizing it.] What, uh, is it?
[Honestly she'll eat nearly anything, but she likes to know. Just in case. There was the whole cannibalism thing.]
[Maketh drinks some water, to start. It's not the same as the whiskey, doesn't give that warm sort of comfort, but she's beyond the age where she can really enjoy passing out drunk. Especially in the current company. That would be awkward.] Oh. That's...fortunate.
[Theoretically, Maketh can cook. She just hasn't in a few years. Thus far she's been happy surviving on canned goods and whatever Amos feels like sharing. This looks - good, she supposes. Probably not stuffed with human remains.]
Yeah. I'm pretty sure if she were still here, now that the uh... Wendigo problem's over, she would be saying 'I told you so' nonstop on the whole vegan thing.
[Sam's actually too nice to do that sort of thing, at least outloud, but the smugness would definitely be there quietly under everything else.]
Oh. Is that for...spiritual reasons? [Or something? Maketh isn't unfamiliar with the concept, though she's not the fan of willingly limiting one's diet.] I've heard of similar things back home. Not on Lothal, of course, but other places...
Hot. Frustrating. [Maketh grimaces. She was born there, sure, but that doesn't mean she has to like it.] There were a lot of problems. I would have rather been stationed elsewhere, on one of the inner planets, but those positions are very competitive.
[She pauses.] Does your world have space travel? It seems rare, from what others have said.
[Huh. He's still curious, but it seems kind of like a sensitive subject so he lets it go for now.]
We have space travel but it's really limited. Like, we can get to our moon but we haven't done it in forty years or something, but there's plans to go to one of the closest planets in the next few decades or something.
I'm guessing there's a lot better spaceflight where you're from, though.
[Maketh rests her chin on the heel of her palm, considering this.] It's commonplace. Has been for a very long time. But you only have one planet? Truly?
[She has trouble imagining that. It must be very crowded.]
[Seeing other planets, especially as just a normal part of life, would be super cool.]
Yeah, just one planet, Earth. There's eight planets total in our solar system and then like, some ridiculous amount of dwarf planets, but Earth's the only habitable one. The others are gas planets, freezing, scorching, have no atmosphere, or any combo of those things.
That's...strange. [The universe is so vast to be left unexplored. Certainly there uninhabitable planets back home, but there were always more that could be taken if needed.] Your entire population on a single planet. How was your government structured?
Yeah. I think there's like seven billion people now?
Geez, now you're asking the hard questions.
[He's not nearly as good at this subject, but he'll try and answer he question anyway.]
The planet's split up into lots of different countries, and they all have their own governments which are all kind of different. The country I live in's called the United States and we have a whole complicated voting system for a president and a senate and representatives. Other countries are like, monarchies or dictatorships or communist or a whole bunch of other things.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mismanagement) wrote2016-01-25 02:02 pm
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[Her life was more important. Is more important.]
I don't um... I don't regret making that choice.
[It's one of the only choices that night that he doesn't regret, and wouldn't have even it had lead to his death and he'd still somehow been able to reflect on it. But just because it had been the right choice doesn't mean it was easy; gathering the courage to pull the trigger while the person he loves was sobbing and trying to convince him not to do it had been the most difficult thing he'd ever done.]
But it still... I-It still sucks. No matter how much I knew it was the right thing to do.
[And he knows it's probably the same for her.]
[Action]
[Maketh is quiet for a moment. She folds her arms across her chest. Hugging herself, really.] That was when it - hurt.
[It was the logical choice. But not the only one, if she's being honest. Maketh knows she could have asked Henry to drag her to Hope's temple. Maybe it wouldn't have worked, but it would have been - an alternative. A burden less painful to put on his shoulders. Instead she'd given him the kerosene and ordered him to do as she said. It should have ended then.
But here they stand. Both of them, still alive. Maketh tips her head back. She's not crying yet, but she feels like she might. They're both alive and they have to deal with the aftermath.]
[Action]
But fortunately all that had happened was that he'd been knocked out briefly, and when he'd awoken he hadn't even had time to be surprised--or feel anything at all--about being alive. They'd had to immediately deal with the shock of Josh being alive, of what to do with him, of Mike saying Jessica was dead and then Emily running back to the lodge screaming about monsters...
Even now, looking back, he can't remember even a moment in which he really thought about the fact that he was alive. Maybe it had just been too mixed in with the immediate fear that had led him to empty the rest of the clip of blanks into who he thought was a murderer, or the shock of realizing it was his best friend who had done this to them. Maybe the events of the rest of the night that followed--the wendigos and the death of the stranger and truly losing Josh--just drowned it all out; it had all been fake, after all, so it shouldn't really even matter right?
So the pain that she's talking about--he assumes she means the mental and emotional pain, at least--has come on somewhat delayed for him, fading in and out of the other traumas of the night and everything that's happened since then, and there's just too much to try to sort out. So he's stopped trying, except in moments like this when it serves a purpose.]
I wish I could like... Tell you something that'd help.
[Trying to make her feel less alone is pretty much the limit of what he's capable of, and he hopes it helps even the slightest bit.]
F-First person to figure out something that does has to share it with the other one, o-okay?
[It's a weak joke, but at the same time he means it.]
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Cool. It's a deal.
[Kind of a sad deal, but still. But the mood is thankfully a little less somber now, at least.]
I think the drinking some water thing's still a good idea, though. And food.
[He's pretty drained just from the conversation and he only had one shot, so he's pretty sure Maketh could really do with something more nutritious than alcohol.]
[Action]
[She's going to have a bitch of a hangover later. Maketh runs a hand through her hair, tipping her head back.] Do you...want some, too? I have--cups.
[Other than the shot glasses, she means.]
[Action]
[Now that things seem a little calmer he moves to return to his seat, his knee a little sore at this point, and also decides to give the servings of food he brought with him some consideration. He's not actually hungry, especially not for vegetarian food--though anything with meat in it sounds similarly unappetizing for entirely different reasons--but he's also not interested in feeling any worse than he has to either.
So food it is, and he'll see if he can convince Maketh to have some as well when she comes back.]
[Action]
She goes to get the water, for lack of a better idea. Bottled water, instead of from the tap. She doesn't trust anything that the gods provide, but she's leery of drinking straight from the tap. There could be parasites, or something even worse.
Well, maybe. Hopefully not.
The glasses are clean, at least.
She sets them down on the table, next to the whiskey. They're probably done drinking now. Part of her thinks that's a shame. She takes a seat before that thought can spiral.] Here.
[Action]
Thanks.
[In turn, he nudges one of the containers of food toward her.]
Might help with, you know. The doubtlessly impending hangover.
[Action]
[She gives the food a curious look, not recognizing it.] What, uh, is it?
[Honestly she'll eat nearly anything, but she likes to know. Just in case. There was the whole cannibalism thing.]
[Action]
[He pours some water but doesn't yet drink it, distracted by peeling the lid off his own container.]
I dunno exactly, but my friend made it.
[Before she disappeared, but that's a different issue.]
She didn't eat meat even before all this stuff, so...
[It's definitely safe, and if anyone's capable of making vegan food that actually tastes at all good it's Sam.]
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[Theoretically, Maketh can cook. She just hasn't in a few years. Thus far she's been happy surviving on canned goods and whatever Amos feels like sharing. This looks - good, she supposes. Probably not stuffed with human remains.]
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[Sam's actually too nice to do that sort of thing, at least outloud, but the smugness would definitely be there quietly under everything else.]
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Not eating any meat makes you vegetarian but I guess you can sort of eat some meat? Like fish doesn't count or whatever. I don't even know.
Vegan's like, super vegetarian. No meat, no fish, no eggs, no anything anywhere near coming from an animal.
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[He tilts his head a little, curious.]
Lothal?
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[Also is she implying people in her world travel to other planets? Because that sounds awesome and he's all about that.]
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[She pauses.] Does your world have space travel? It seems rare, from what others have said.
[Action]
We have space travel but it's really limited. Like, we can get to our moon but we haven't done it in forty years or something, but there's plans to go to one of the closest planets in the next few decades or something.
I'm guessing there's a lot better spaceflight where you're from, though.
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[She has trouble imagining that. It must be very crowded.]
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[Seeing other planets, especially as just a normal part of life, would be super cool.]
Yeah, just one planet, Earth. There's eight planets total in our solar system and then like, some ridiculous amount of dwarf planets, but Earth's the only habitable one. The others are gas planets, freezing, scorching, have no atmosphere, or any combo of those things.
[He really liked his gen-ed astronomy class.]
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[Tell her details, Chris. All the details.]
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Geez, now you're asking the hard questions.
[He's not nearly as good at this subject, but he'll try and answer he question anyway.]
The planet's split up into lots of different countries, and they all have their own governments which are all kind of different. The country I live in's called the United States and we have a whole complicated voting system for a president and a senate and representatives. Other countries are like, monarchies or dictatorships or communist or a whole bunch of other things.
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