[muffled spooky scary skeletons playing in the distance]

[geonomy]

Who: You! Me! Everybody!
Broadcast: idk but we've sure got a pretty broad cast of folks eh, eh
Action: HECK YEAH PLANET MINGLE
When: 10/7 until plot update or recaptcha

It's a deep, deep forest filled to the brim with fungi, mysterious life forms, and pitch black darkness. Explore if you dare and discover all these things and more! Just don't get lost...

Comments

[exothermia]

[He's quiet for a while, working on the plants, but there's another thought knocking around in his head. It refuses to leave him alone, and so he must venture it. The fact that Aurae is around to hear it is a stroke of luck.]

I think I'm going to do something for Charles. Him and Raven.

[noprophecies]

[she glances up curiously, then hums a bit quietly and moves to sit closer to him once more]

What were you thinking of doing?

[exothermia]

I'm not sure yet. Something physical, I think.

[He sighs, sitting back on his heels.]

It's all well and good to say I can take my time with things. But it doesn't feel right, to do nothing.

[noprophecies]

Something . . . physical. I'm not sure what you mean by that.

[she purses her lips, shifting to sit so she can draw her knees up and lean on them]

There is a difference between taking your time and doing nothing, though, Erik.

[exothermia]

Well, I meant giving them something. [There's value in the tangible, and it's something he's more adept at than actions or words, at the moment.]

I know. Both can happen at the same time, though.

[noprophecies]

Ah, a present. That would be a nice idea. [she's reminded of the ring Charles had worked to make for him, that she had helped with, and wonders if that's what Erik means]

I know it can.

[exothermia]

[He looks away, prodding at the dirt with a finger.]

They've done a lot for me. They even did something for my birthday. [It was that, more than anything, that really sunk into his heart. He had expected nothing from anyone, but they had kept him company on that day. Erik doubts he would have made it through without crying himself sick otherwise.]

[noprophecies]

It is like I told you, yes? They love you. It was nice of them to do something for you.

[she distinctly doesn't think back to her first birthday without her parents or her village, because that isn't a road she wants to go down again]

—wait. When was your birthday?

[exothermia]

November third.

[noprophecies]

. . . [she takes one of the nuts she collected and tosses it at him, huffing]

[exothermia]

[He jerks back, and scowls at her.]

What?

[noprophecies]

I had no idea your birthday was this month.

[exothermia]

I didn't tell anyone. [He had tried to forget it himself, honestly.] Frankly I'm not sure how they knew. I must have told one of them years ago.

[noprophecies]

I would be surprised if Charles didn't know when your birthday was, honestly.

[she considers throwing another nut] You could have said something, at least.

[then again, she wouldn't have done anything the day of, either. But she is glad that someone did]

[exothermia]

[That's true enough - he might have found out one of the times their minds were weaved together. Those days they spent on the Hand-Holding planet were more together than they had ever been. He swallows against the thought, and pushes ahead.]

I didn't want to. [Best to be honest.] But... it reminded me of what I haven't done in return.

[noprophecies]

I'm sure you have done more than you think. [after all, it isn't always about physical things. She tosses the nut anyway, though more half-hearted than the first]

Hmph. You will just have to accept a late present, then.

[exothermia]

[He weathers the nut blow with more stoicism than last time.]

There's still much to make up for.

[noprophecies]

That is not how you should think of it, Erik. Or else you will be making up for things the rest of your life.

[exothermia]

[He shakes his head. That's not a concern for him.]

I've already spent my life doing that.

[noprophecies]

Is that how you want to spend the rest of your life?

[exothermia]

I don't see what the alternative is.

[He still struggles to see how he'll spend the rest of his life at all. He's started and restarted so many times, that in his darker hours he wonders what the point is of trying again. All he's managed to do is fail at everything he's tried. It's merely taken him fifty-odd years to realise it.]

[noprophecies]

[she blows out a sigh. Now here is unfamiliar territory for her. She's never tried to make up for everything she's done. She hasn't even considered it]

The more you try to make up for something, the more you'll keep wondering if it is enough, or if it should be more. And that's sounds like a damn headache, among other things.

If you truly had something you had to make up for, Erik, the world would tell you in one way or another. It is one thing to give back; it is something else entirely to "make up" for something else.

[exothermia]

[He's silent at that, knowing he can't give Aurae a positive answer. The world has told him, over and over, that he's not good enough. That his efforts aren't enough. The signs are everywhere, in the bodies left in his wake, in that spot under the trees where he buried his family. He can't make up for everything, he knows. There's too much damage at this point, and he's not inclined to make an offering of good faith towards humanity. They've more than had their chance to prove themselves to be other than what they are.

Eventually, he speaks.]

Don't worry. I'm not so altruistic that I'll try to right every wrong.

[noprophecies]

[she huffs a little noise and rests her chin on her hand, giving Erik a wry smile]

I don't think you'll go that far, old man. [she lets a lighter tone slip in, to balance out the somewhat heavy conversation they're having]

But you can't tell me not to worry. That's like asking me to stop breathing.

[exothermia]

It's unfair, I know.