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"You don't have to..." Dave began, but realized it was a lost cause. "I'm... I'm going to check on the parasite at Chip's lab," he mumbled. "Just. Tomorrow. Talk to Flesh about finding the last Soda Substitute. Maybe. I don't... Fuck." His ears swiveled at the sound of the front door opening...

"I'm fine, I just..." Deep breath. Fuck. Why was she running around making him coffee? Twice? Didn't she have shit to do? He was going to tell her she shouldn't, and then didn't. He closed his eyes, took another breath, felt himself melting into the sofa. Okay. Okay. He could use some rest...

Dave shook his head, not exactly in response to anything she said. "He's just... fucking unrecognizable. Just doing whatever the thing tells him, without even realizing that's why. Kept calling it just random whims he had. And he was still... He kept asking me to join him, in changing the world...

"Yeah. At least people appreciate you over here." She'd be happier here, wouldn't she? Like Mia, probably. "Wonder if Diyem could let you stick around. Not like people haven't worldhopped permanently before. All the omen heroes. Your dad. Even Soda." The parasite. Check on the... "Guess the...

Dave gave a long sigh. "Yeah. Of course they would." He paused, looking into the air. "Hey, Starr told me something. She was talking about how... you don't have anything to go back to. Is that... were you considering trying to... just stay? Not go back?"

"So do they respect her back? Even though she's a 'feral'? Somebody they'd hang if she weren't a fucking legend?" God, these fucking people.

"World of fucking pricks. Fuck 'em. If they don't want you, their loss." She'd called the Zeraora Luz Escarpa, hadn't she. "Do they even do Zeraora? I mean, is she their hero? What, does she wear clothes?"

Dave frowned. "Is this the fucking... 'feral' discrimination again? You don't get rights because you like fighting and don't wear clothes?"

"Huh." So she did exist, if they could find her at Spirits' Edge. Could you just fucking... go through deities and myths one by one, visit Spirits' Edge, definitively confirm or deny their existence? Fucking amazing. Maybe he could do that when he was bored sometime. If he was ever bored again...

"How's that supposed to work? Does the legendary just..." He waved a paw. "...pick somebody? Hey, I'm retiring, you're Zeraora now, clean up my mess?" Though it kind of sounded like all that might as well just be a myth, didn't it. If she was making a point of it not being a matter of fact and...

"Yeah, well, never actually going to meet her." Dave drank the rest of the coffee and put it back down. "So that's a moot point." He looked dully at the empty cup. "So in your world regular people can ascend into legendaries, too?"

"She's... she was half Vulpix. Fucking adorable. Loves cartoons and games and adventure books. Simple easy stories where the heroes beat up the villains and save the world. She used to daydream of being a hero all the time, too." He glanced at Brisa. "She'd fucking love you. Big sister who's a...

"...Huh." Just... dreams of being a hero. That was it? She'd wished for heroing as a kid, and the Blacklight just went and turned her into the hero she'd imagined? He stared at the empty air for a few seconds, his chest tight. Had to swallow a weird fucking lump in his throat. Fuck. He really...

Dave squinted at her. "The... therapists' office? No thanks. Talking to Bean once was enough." She'd told him about her therapy before, hadn't she. Something about Fugu being a battle therapist, who'd just fucking fight her. Wild. Pokémon and their battling thing. And Starr, he supposed, sure...

"It's pretty obvious." Dave took another sip of coffee, a hint of a smirk tugging the corner of his mouth. "You worry about everyone, but the way you look at her? While doing your special paired fusion attack? Not subtle." He put the cup down and leaned against the back of the sofa again. "In...

"Probably. She sure was desperate to see you and make up for, you know, getting possessed." Dave opened his eyes and picked up the coffee again. Couldn't fall asleep. The fucking parasite. He blinked blearily as he sipped from the cup. "So when are you going to ask her out?"

"I mean, all kinds of shit." Brisa's expression had softened. Maybe it was something else she was pissed about. Whatever. "She came here looking for you, to make sure you were okay. Thought this was totally different from your episode with the Shadow Machine because that was just pulling out...

"My point is that's fucked up." She was definitely pissed at him. Figured; she rarely wasn't. Why the fuck was she pissed about this? He was far too exhausted to try to figure that out. "Guy recruits his own twelve-year-old daughter into his criminal organization, sends her out to -- she...

"Well, if anyone doesn't let it go, let me at them. Literally possessed by a fucking parasite. Do they have any coherent concept of moral responsibility." The parasite. Couldn't forget about the parasite, at the lab. God. He put down the coffee cup and rubbed at his eyes. "She tell you Giovanni...

Dave blinked up at her as she put the coffee in front of him. Wait, what? She didn't look like she'd ever intended it for anyone else. "...Thanks," he mumbled. He pushed himself vaguely upright, picked up the cup and took a sip. She'd added something to it that he couldn't entirely identify...