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“Yes, we want to see them. Why the fuck else would we be here? Nothing to report?” He figured more people might be showing up, but whatever, not hanging around for them. This’d already waited long enough.

Dave didn't exactly feel great in the morning, but he was able to string a thought together, and that thought was the fucking parasite. He downed a glass of dissolved painkiller, hung around on Brisa's advice pacing until it started to kick in just about enough, and then made his way to the lab...

"Yeah. Thanks." She sounded so relieved. God. Dave sank back into the couch. "Thanks for the coffee," he muttered. "You're good." Mia started saying something to Brisa about fighting, but he was drifting off before he could start to process it properly. <><><><><>

That was true. Dave often conceded points but he didn't often change his mind, not really. But you could talk to him, most of the time. He'd have reasons for things. He wasn't stupid, usually. "If it sometimes works, there is no reason not to try it. Even if it doesn't work it's just some...

Mia frowned intensely as Brisa explained. This didn't sound like any kind of science-based medical intervention. Was just talking to people supposed to fix problems with the brain? But aura manipulation... That wasn't real in their world, but it was on Cibus. Maybe that was how it worked? At...

"I'm... what? I'm not going to fucking therapy." Dave opened his eyes, struggled to push himself upright again. Mia looked at Brisa, frowning. "How does therapy work?"

"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...