acatalepsy_rpg | video, after the caverns

So, correct me if I'm wrong about this.

[Hank doesn't bother with an intro, just starts right on in. The angle he's holding his wrist shows both his face and the stick he's dragging along the wall behind him, which has been in a fire at some point in the recent past and leaves a long black trail of ash over the wall as he walks.]

But when all you heroes trooped into the haunted caves under the mysterious freaky lake the communication plan was along the lines of, 'gee, if someone gets their feet ate off by some freaky bullshit I sure do hope they yell real loud so I can get there before they bleed out' right? I mean, I trust you guys know to make a post letting us all know if you need backup, but what if this- [Here the screen shakes as Hank wiggles his wrist, indicating the watch] -gets busted, or stolen, or whatever?

I don't know, I was just thinking, next time a bunch of us, or just anyone, goes into something that might get bad there should be some kind of post stuck to the top of our feed that we could all check, just something like this-

[He stops walking, still talking as he starts to scratch a little list in ash onto the wall beside him.]

Hey, I wonder how little Suzy's doing. Oh, she checked in an hour ago, she's probably fine.

[He writes Suzy on the wall, and a checkmark next to her name.]

How about JimBob the Murder Bot? Oh, he hasn't checked in for about seven hours, I should take someone to go look for him.

[Next to JimBob the Murder Bot he doodles a little skull. Sorry Jimbo, it's hard out there for a figurative probably-dead robot. Better luck next time.]

Or maybe you guys would rather do some kinda daily role call like in school or, hell, maybe it's just more fun to lone wolf your way through all this world saving shit, what do I know. Decide amongst yourselves. I might be around, I might not. Just thought I'd throw this out there. I'm gonna go eat.

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[Yeah... he just waves a hand at that.]

Yeah, don't worry, I won't go out of my way too much. [He will, but it's fine.]

But I mean... I guess it'd feel a bit like I'm part of the problem if I don't do something.

[Hank's eyebrows rise as he guesses about this kid what the kid's probably guessed about him: neither of them are going to be able to keep their noses out of the dangerous shit, are they?]

Oh, so you're one of those. Sorry to tell you this kid, but giving any kind of shit about the problem's a fast track to going out of your way. I mean, unless you hunker down with me in the land of 'fuck you all' and that's kinda...

[He wobbles his hand in a 'so so' gesture.]

It's not really going as well as I'd like it to, you know. I tripped up, I made a suggestion where other people could see. Don't make my mistakes.

[Niether of them is quite as good at pretending as they'd like to be, clearly.]

Ha... I don't know that it was really a mistake. Well. You might kind of be tired of all of the responses, but I figure if you cared enough to bring it up, it matters to you too.

[...]

So really, neither of us is doing a great job here.

We're really not. You know what we need? A 'fuck it' support group where we just like, moral support each other into giving less of a shit about just, everything. That sounds like a lot less work than the uh, Anime Wrangling Division, doesn't it?

Honestly, it sounds more fun, too. But how many people do you really think are going to join?

[JUST LOOK AT THIS PLACE...]

Well, you know, support groups of two are a thing. Aren't they? Hell, maybe we can recruit, work up some advertisements, figure out how to convince some fence sitters to come over to the 'fuck it' side of this shit. You're the, uh, expert on protagonist shit or whatever you said, what do you think would do it? Promise people snacks if they stop trying to save the day?

That sounds like even more work, y'know.

Well.

Let's start with just a support group of two, and giving people our best disapproving faces when they get themselves into trouble constantly.

What, go tell each other not to give a shit and then give enough of a shit to go guilt people into trying to be safer? [He makes a quiet, amused noise.] I guess that sounds like my kinda support group. Any time you want to start that up let me know - I guess it's good to have some kind of plan for dealing with this place.

Ha, you got it.

For now, I think we'll live, but you'd better bet I'm not going to let you wiggle out of it when we end up hopping worlds again and everyone immediately dives into the most dangerous places possible.

[He will remember this conversation...]

Shit, don't make me think about it.

[He pulls a face at the screen.]

The worst part is feelin like you ought to do something about it, you know? Cause you can't.

[Then he huffs, amused at himself, looking down for a second.]

Look at me, startin already. Guess I like your little plan even more than I thought I did. I guarantee you I'll still be up for it when the time comes. In the mean time don't let the morons get you down, okay kid?

[Ha... Kou snorts softly at that, and nods.]

Yeah, you got it. And you make sure to not take on too much either.

... It's Kou, by the way. So you've got something other than "kid" to go by when you're looking me up.

Yeah, 'kid' does kind of describe like ninety percent of the people here, doesn't it. Uh, also- it's Hank.

[He gives a very, very loosely military, two-fingered wave.]

And believe me, the last thing you got to worry about is me taking on too much. See you when all this shit gets worse.

[He smiles faintly. It's a joke, but it also isn't. The whole thing they've been talking about with people jumping into danger for no reason will kick off sooner or later - that's the whole reason behind this place. So that'll be fun.]

video, after the caverns

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