applebough | pc w/ dahut

[ .............................. ]

Did you... not lose anything from it?

[ Hello??? ]

[Oh yeah, that does sound kind of dire, huh. HE JUST LAUGHS and waves a hand.]

Not at all! When I say he rendered our work useless, I mean he finally gave up on fighting against the importance of emotions and fixed the memory bank problems himself.

[ Dahut?? Please. ]

I... I see.

[ Wow. ]

After that, did you merge?

It's a fairly recent development, but that's the likely follow-up, yes! No more Team Zero and Team One, just the Institute. We'll finally be able to get some progress done on the rest of our problems...

[Like the wholeass curse which is just still out there, cursing.]

I hope that didn't impede your progress too much...

[ MVP to whoever persuaded Scien that emotions were important. God.

The void starts playing this memory up to 1:11:54. Enjoy............ ]

[He's about to say something but then he gets MEMORY WHOPPED and he's just left sitting there like :man_standing: thinking about how much of an absolute wholesale asshole that GUY WAS??? HELLO!!!! There's a little spike of reflexive anger as he starts to shake himself out of the memory. Smug assholes escaping unharmed truly make him want to start throwing rocks.

But he turns to Yuri soon after and - though he knows that Gregor and the others are apparently used to dying and coming back and dying and coming back, there's a certain weight to being handed the only gas mask in a situation like that.]

...You survived that, right?

[So many people are dead in this bar that he can't be sure!!]

... Yes.

[ Yuri smiles, but it falters quickly. ]

The only time when I experienced dying was when I was a phoenix, and everybody had seen that, but... I will die if I ever choose to return to The City. Gregor is from a further point in time than I am, and I witnessed his memory of me dying the moment that I got pulled here from.

[WELL. He was glad to hear that first part, at least!! Even if it's immediately negated by the everything else that follows, he hates it here so damn bad. Though it retroactively shines a light on some of the things he'd heard from Gregor all those weeks ago.]

...Then - if you have the choice, you won't be returning, right?

Yes.

[ At that, she smiles a little again. ]

No matter how this ends up, I will not be returning to The City no matter what. I have no feelings in wanting to return to that place ever again, so... it will be fine.

[Thank god! There's a little softness to his smile as it returns to his face, too, and he nods.]

Wonderful, then! To be honest, what I've heard of The City from Mademoiselle Rodeo and Monsieur Gregor sounds less than ideal, anyway... I want you to be able to have a bountiful future full of happiness.

[And that place does not seem conducive to achieving that result...]

I understand why the Rodya and Gregor are returning, but I don't have anything that ties me to that place, so I won't be returning. It's... a rough place. Even if I were to somehow survive that monster encounter, I would go back to being treated as an outcast with hard difficulty in making ends meet where...

[ um. ]

... risking my life for a promotion is apparently a bad thing?

Right, I remember hearing that you had it pretty rough there... Well! No sore loss, then! You'll just be saying goodbye to a place that didn't do anything for you, anyway.

[And avoiding a horrible monster-related death on top of that, too!

Anyway he's the last person to judge anyone for risking their life for a promotion, however:] It's generally frowned upon, yes.

[ They continue to have things in common... ]

Does that mean you think differently about it?

[ Tell her more about that, Dahut. ]

[:handshake: unfortunately...]

Well! I think that in most cases, for most jobs, there isn't much of a reason to put that much of yourself into your work... Like, if you're a baker or a teacher, it'd just be silly! But if you have a high-risk, high-reward job, then I think fatalities can just be part of it, you know? [...] But I don't think risking your life for a company just because they tell you to is very good. By "high-risk, high-reward", I'm thinking more along the lines of "your job will help save thousands of people".

But you risk your life in that last scenario because people will want to stop you?

[ She remembers something about people being targeted... ]

Well, in my specific case, it's more that the field of science is volatile in general... Some people aren't happy about the progress, too.

[It's them fuckin royals all my homies hate the royals.]

Oh...

[ There's a look of understanding in Yuri's eye. ]

It's the clash of humanity values, isn't it...

More or less! [Nodding...] It's tragic that this is something that can be universally understood, but it is what it is, I guess. Humanity values and also power play...

[ Yuri makes a Face. Politics... ew. ]

Do the same people try to sway you with money?

[POLITICS EW IS RIGHT. The vibe is just understanding.]

Of course! People like that are always trying to solve their problems with money.

I would like to solve my problems with money too...

[ Envious. The audacity of some people. ]

Who actually funds your research? It must cost a lot...

[THE AUDACITY. He reaches out and gently patpats her arm...]

I wish I could solve everyone's problems with money, too. [A light sigh... And then a strong feeling of exasperation.]

Monsieur Scien funds a lot of it out of his own pocket. His entire paycheck pretty much goes right back into the Institute! But outside of that, our biggest funding pillar is the Royal Family.

[There's a little roll of disgust in the vibes when he says that.]

Scien said that he could pay me more than Nut and Bolt does if I ever work for him.

[ She spent like 400 million at the auction. ]

I had no idea he was that rich... I hope you don't have to listen to the Royal family all that much.

He does pay very well! As much as I complain, he's actually a very fair employer.

[He believes in unions and worker's rights and pay raises and benefits and bonuses...]

Fortunately, we don't! They have the money, but Monsieur Scien has the technology, so they really can't do much to go against him. It's very funny!

[ Amazing. Scien is truly the pillar of the institute... ]

I imagine you never have to fight over patents either...

[ She makes a Face again. Fucking patents. ]

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