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[major_rawne]

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Audio, during the Flood

[chaos_drifter]

[The recording is silent for a moment before they ask,] How are you doing on staying warm? [He would be comfortable hugging them, they think.]

Re: Audio, during the Flood

[major_rawne]

Pretty well. I'm managing. Are you?

[chaos_drifter]

I might need some help.

[major_rawne]

All right. You need a hug?

[chaos_drifter]

That would be helpful. [They start making their way to his cabin.]

[major_rawne]

[He'll be waiting for them, door propped open enough to see in.]

-> Action

[chaos_drifter]

They walk in and close the door behind them, then wrap their arms around him, leaning against his chest. They stay there for a moment, their body still. “This is nice.”

Re: -> Action

[major_rawne]

He wraps his arms around them in turn. "Yeah, it is."

[chaos_drifter]

“How are you doing otherwise?”

[major_rawne]

"Better. This weird flood is helping to calm me down, I think." Touching people more often has benefits, who would have known?

[chaos_drifter]

“Good.” They sit down on the couch and pull out their orb, little streaks of salmon and light indigo curling over the surface. “This Flood is strange, but at least it affects our bodies rather than our minds.”

[major_rawne]

"Oh, yeah, it could be way worse," he says, sitting, "I know some people don't like it, but touching someone every once in a while is mild. Comparatively."

[chaos_drifter]

They lean over, lightly resting their head on his shoulder. Warmth spreads through them and settles in their chest. The indigo streaks on their orb bloom, not eclipsing the black, but taking up more surface area.

“What kinds of things would be worse for you?”

[major_rawne]

"Mental torture," he says, "that one flood where mirrors appeared everywhere and alternate versions of people replaced them."

He settles an arm around their shoulders.

[chaos_drifter]

Or the reality-warping Flood that Hanna had caused.

“When something like that happens again, I might be able to help.” They have no idea what they will do if he expresses his emotions more strongly.

“Have you talked to Will or Malcolm about it?”

[major_rawne]

"No. I should, but I've been avoiding them." He doesn't feel like having his brain poked in, right now.

[chaos_drifter]

“I talked to Tendi about it,” Avalon says. “She suggested thinking about the good parts of what happened, or the parts that went better than they could have.”

[major_rawne]

"That's good advice," he says, slowly, "but easier said than done."

[chaos_drifter]

“The fortress that we saw in the dream Flood — you thought of that as a failure because lives were lost despite winning the battle, right? What else did you accomplish by winning?”

[major_rawne]

"That would have been... Jago, I think. We denied them use of one little fortress, out at the end of the fortifications. Nothing much, in my mind, considering how many casualties we had."

[chaos_drifter]

“Nothing much, but it was still something. You could have cut them off from supplies, or something similar. Like when we were paired the first time and you removed my powers. I still tried to kill Hakkai, but I was less successful than I would have been.”

[major_rawne]

"Maybe," he allows, "maybe we tied them up by not dying instantly and making them have to hide and fight more."

[chaos_drifter]

Different people need different things. And sometimes people just...need to feel bad for a while.

“If that were true, would it change how you feel?”

[major_rawne]

"A little. It would mean they didn't die for nothing."

[chaos_drifter]

“That could be a place to start, letting yourself feel like it had meaning.” This is going to take a while, and require more people than just them. Expressing his emotions could help, but if they have no idea how to express theirs, they also have no way of helping him express his.