networkinthenight | @lonk; audio; January 31

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@lonk; audio; January 31

Uh. Hi.

I'm sorry to anyone who's had to be around me over the last... I dunno. However long it's been.

I wasn't myself and I know I messed up real bad.

I'm better now.

...I mean, I'm still dead but I'm alone in my own head again or whatever so that's nice.

How is everyone else?

Are you all okay?

[A long pause.]

Right. Yeah.

That's all.

How I do make this thing stop ag--

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You're wonderfully thick.

This should be fun.

Alone in your own head, huh. That explains things.

Maybe more like a junior hero, but thanks.

I go to the gym on Wednesdays and Fridays for Mr. Javert's classes and I stay around to work after it's done. Do you wanna meet me then? Do you know where that is?

[ He won't be doing this specifically to knock certain Hylians flat, but it'll be a nice perk! Especially if neither of them has to get hurt. ]

[ Another longer pause before this next message comes in. ]

if we're going to make some wild guesses about what actually hurts us now vs what stopped hurting a while back then let's make it constructive!
i'm going to make a biiiiiig guess here and say that you didn't want my help a couple of weeks ago because the idea of needing help is painful to you
which i get? lots of people don't want help for lots of reasons, but maybe consider that getting help fast is worth a headache
if i was gonna make a smaller guess about you i'd say that you don't want to get to know me well enough to say something that actually hurts
which is too bad because the fastest way to hurt someone is to get to know someone and THEN hurt them
everything else takes time or luck
or! you DO know something that will hurt me but it's going to either hurt someone you care about or you
which means you have enough of a heart for it to hurt and like, hey! that's something to celebrate! not the hurting part, just the having a heart part
i'm not gonna make any smaller guesses because that's all i'm sure about and i don't wanna put words in your mouth but bud? if there's one thing i've always known about being me, it's that i've always needed friends to tell me to keep going when i think i can't
so i think maybe you should probably rethink the shotgun approach if you wanna get any headway here because taking potshots at stuff i've made obvious for days isn't gonna work fast enough
tick tock bud two years left

anyway in interest of stopping this before you or i accidentally stumble into hurting each other (see? time or luck)
do you wanna go get ice cream with me?

Wrong on all accounts. You really don't know anything at all.

Go back to your little friends, Skyler. You're a useless disappointment to me as you are.

Maybe we'll talk again if you remember anything worthwhile.

man it's weird how all i remember is people telling me i'm useless and weak and then it's like i'm supposed to be doing something for them anyway?
why can't you people make up your minds?
which is it?

anyway ice cream invite is still open
they have 31 flavors and i'm trying them all
i'm planning on getting REAL sick
you could probably stab me after if you want in on the attempted murder

That's why I left in such a hurry.

[And other reasons but the voices weren't helping.]

Uhm...No, I don't know where that is.

Fun?

Who are you, anyway?

Cool, okay, that's fine! Do you remember the cabins where Aziraphale and, um, Riku live? [ Awkward, but we are going to PUSH THROUGH THIS. ] It's in the same area. Here -

[ And after about ten minutes, Sora will send a second message with an image attached! It's a rough map of the Village area with landmarks and everything! The rec center is circled and has stars around it. ]

Okay.

Second question, how do you it's Wednesday or Friday?

I thought it was something like that. Not the best first impression.

[ But. ]

I've been there. So... water under the bridge.

I'm sorry.

[He'd meant everything he'd said in his Hero Lecture but with the benefit of hindsight, and not vividly hallucinating, he feels like the timing sure could have used some work. It's too bad, he thinks, he is proud of how articulate he very nearly was.

He won't mention the conversation they had, things are awkward enough, but...]

Would you mind starting over?

I'm Link.

You know, that's a really good question? I don't think anyone knows for sure. I just use the date on the tablet - if you let it go back to rest mode and wake it up again, it'll have the time and date on the same page as the apps.

Riku.

[ Seems he's serious about what he said about water and bridges. Just not the water around here, which will straight up kill a guy. ]

Now that we're all ourselves again, maybe I could ask you for something this time.

What is it?

Huh.

Good to know.

Without the sun I keep losing track. It's all been one very long night to me.

You good enough with that sword to teach others?

Yeah, I've been using swords since I've been old enough to walk.

I'm everything you fight against.

But you can call me Vanitas.

Given any thought to volunteering at Javert's lessons? People could always use another trainer.

Yeah. I've been a few places where the sun never rises. Or sets. Or, like, stops setting?

[ ... ]

We've gotta make our own time. Little pretend suns to tell us when the day's starting, or when the day's over.

Hm.

Teaching's a pain.

But I already offered to train Sora at the gym, so I guess I can take on more students.

I should probably talk to this Javert guy about that, though.

It can be.

[ He doesn't see a need to tell him what feels obvious - that no one necessarily said he had to do it for free, people barter skills and services sometimes. ]

He's a good guy to get to know anyway.

I’ll try to track him down.

What does he teach?

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@lonk; audio; January 31

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