[Week 1 Afterparty] Now kid, I know I haven't been a perfect man

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

That all sure fucking happened, didn't it?

Again, Leon walks out of the crypt with blood on him that is not his, and it's absolutely no comfort that he didn't even get the worst of it this time. He spends longer than he means to washing it off in the bathroom sink, going over and over and over things in his mind, before gravitating towards the kitchen to see if Luis is looking to play host to another wake. When he doesn't find him, Leon decides he might as well try to put something together himself.

Thankfully for him and also everyone in attendance, he gets plenty of help. Otto, Garry, Yuri, Lortel, and Shauna all lend a hand in the kitchen, which leaves dragging the furniture from the library back into the sitting room to him. Before long they've got a spread of snacks and drinks - better than he would've probably done on his own, having planned to make something that could be eaten quickly to efficiently replenish energy after a whole day spent arguing as opposed to like. Something tasty.

Once it's all set up, he'll go scouting around the now considerably more sensibly laid out house, knocking on doors and telling people that dinner's ready in the sitting room. Once he's at least told everyone he could find, he'll be standing guard/being a wallflower in there. Second verse, same as the first.

Comments

[doctopoda]

Oh, yes? What kinds?

[selfreliar]

All kinds. A while ago, I was really into this author, Kyogoku Natsuhiko, who had very particular writing quirks. He'd never end a page in the middle of a sentence, so you could always put it down without feeling like you had to turn the next page.

...They were vaguely paranormal mysteries, which feels... not so great to remember now. But I liked the way he leaves it ambiguous, whether beings from folklore really exist or are creations of the human psyche trying to understand itself.

[doctopoda]

That does sound interesting. I was mostly into sci-fi and fantasy when I was younger. Not to say that there's anything wrong with them now - I just haven't had the time to read for leisure in...oh, years.

[selfreliar]

Yeah. With most of my hours outside of school taken up with work, I haven't read much for fun in a long time, either.

...

It's different, living it. Isn't it? Like every page ends mid-sentence, so you can never put the book down and return to your life before.

[doctopoda]

...it really is.

[He snorts after a moment.]

I was a completely normal person six months ago, you know? [This has all been recent, and he...well, never really got a chance to sit and process any of it until now.]

[selfreliar]

[Replace 'six months' with 'eighteen years,' and yeah, Aqua can absolutely relate.]

...What happened?

[He pulls his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around his legs.]

You've mentioned things, but I don't think I know how it started.

[doctopoda]

[Otto's quiet for a moment. He's avoided the topic, true, but the fact is that no one has actually asked him directly about any of it, until now. In some ways, it's almost a relief. He was too much of a coward to take the initiative, but what he's been doing has still brushed uncomfortably close to lying. He does not deserve the way people here seem to think of him. So he does answer, actuators coiling close to him as he speaks in a hollow voice:]

......I built a new type of nuclear fusion reactor. It was meant to provide unlimited energy, freely. To change the world.

[It would have been far more complicated than that, of course. He understands what capitalism is. But that's still what he meant.]

I...miscalculated. It was my fault. [That's important for him to acknowledge.] The reaction cascaded too quickly to manage, and the backlash was enough to fuse them to me. I don't...know why I survived it. I really shouldn't have.

[By all rights, he should not be alive. Especially given everything that's happened since. Spider-Man wouldn't have killed him, but infection or one of the other electrocutions probably should have.]

[selfreliar]

[Yeah, Aqua's expert medical opinion is that absolutely should have killed you, man. An accident with a nuclear reactor? Unlimited energy? Coming from his relatively mundane world, even when Otto explains it this quietly and reasonably, it can only register to Aqua as insane.

At least he has a lot of practice accepting the insane and inexplicable. After his shocked silence wears off, he exhales soft and long.]

...That must have hurt.

[He can't even imagine. He's seen death from far lesser injuries.]

That must still hurt. Only six months ago, you said?

[doctopoda]

That's an estimate. My idea of the passage of time afterwards isn't...entirely clear. Not to mention the dimensional travel.

[That part, he still seems to think is weird. But Otto's idea of "normal" clearly does still extend to whatever on earth he was doing with that reactor!

...he doesn't acknowledge the comment about pain. Of course he's in pain. He always is, anymore.]

[selfreliar]

...Well, if it starts hurting-- [Not that he thinks it doesn't hurt. He noticed that dodge, Otto. Can't shit a shitter.] --come talk to me, okay? Pratibha was kind enough to give me a med kit.

[doctopoda]

I doubt there's anything strong enough to help much.

[He's considered it. Really, Otto isn't sure it's worth impairing himself.]

But I'm fairly sure I also have extensive nerve damage, so it could be worse. [He's? Joking? Look he knows that's bad too but at least he's not in constant agony???]

[selfreliar]

[He either coughs or laughs. It's one of those noises.]

Silver linings, I guess.

[doctopoda]

[Otto actually does just laugh. After a point, you sort of have to.]

Something like that. They were limiting my ability to feel pain for a while - [Nodding at the arms.] - but they can't do that now. At least, I'm not eager to let them try.

[selfreliar]

Ah, yeah. Good thinking. I can't recommend that as a long-term solution.

[Technically, Aqua can't recommend anything without a license to practice medicine, but Weird Teenager is what Otto's got.]

[doctopoda]

[That does have enough air of authority to draw a slightly strange look from Otto, but so far as strange things go, that is way far down on the scale by now.]

No - no, I don't like to let them meddle any more than absolutely necessary. Besides, the pain exists for a reason. I'd like to know if I'm making it any worse.

[Which he does, frequently, given the sleeping arrangements here. But you know, that's inescapable.]