[41] - [Video] [A wee bit forward-dated, after Merlin's post.]

[sharpememory]

This wouldn't be happening if you all wore gloves. [And Barron holds up his leather-gloved hands. Annoyingly, he actually looks to be in good health.]

I mean, come on, people. This is why personal hygiene and not being naked are a thing, you know?

[Where Barron comes from, gloves are just as critical as pants. Why are none of you wearing pants. :I]

[Private - Cassel]

Stay in your cabin, seriously. This shit always gets nasty fast. [Barron kind of thinks that you can't handle this. Sorry, Cassel.] And don't turn into anything with tentacles, people may think that you're a crazy doctor guy.

Comments

Private

[buywithme]

I do.

I keep asking because I know your family is very important to you, and because I think you want to avoid having to think about them.

Cassel and Philip, and with your mother, and your grandfather, all made you the person you are now, in one way or another. I'm not going to try and tell you what to think about them, or to try and turn you against any of them, Barron, but I think you owe it to yourself to think about how you feel towards them.

If I ask you about them, it's only because I want to go on this journey with you, Comrade. I don't want you to feel like you have to do this alone.

Private

[sharpememory]

I just don't want to talk about them to a stranger, alright? [Cold, Barron. Getting on the defensive can do that.]

And I know how I feel about them. I don't have to explain it or justify it.

[And a pause, because that sounds very supportive, Prefect. :c] I don't... [Another pause.] It's nothing personal, okay?

Private

[buywithme]

Why do you feel like I'm asking you to justify yourself?

[Prefect does feel a little pinch of sadness at being called a stranger, but it's fine. It's not like they're actually dating or anything.]

What do you think I'm going to say to you about this, Barron?

Private

[sharpememory]

Dude, what is this. Are we really doing this right now? Did Cassel put you up to this?

Private

[buywithme]

Cassel didn't put me up to this, but... we do sort of need to talk about it now. Your brother is here, and... Comrade that has to be weird for you.

I know that you love him, but why is it that the first thing you wanted to tell me about him is that he's a liar? Why are you afraid he's putting me up to anything? Is it that you don't trust him? Or is it that you don't trust me?

Private

[sharpememory]

It's really not. I mean, it makes a lot of sense, right?

Hey, come on. Him being a liar and me loving him aren't mutually exclusive.

Private

[buywithme]

Your little brother, your only surviving brother, whose memories you have altered since you were both children, who you turned into an assassin while you were both still teenagers, who exploited your memory loss and forced you to side with the Feds even while you were tryIng to force him to side with the Brennans, who you do love, and comrade, brother, who I do believe you have tried to protect in some ways? He's here. Which means that he's dead. Which means that your mother has now lost all three sons and one husband to a life that was laid out in front of you before you were even concieved of. Cassel's angry at you because you locked him out of it for do long, but in so many ways you could have been saving him, and Comrade, if you don't feel something about that--

If it doesn't make you sad, or angry, then you need to raise your expectations of the world, because Comrade, it makes me so angry for you.

Private

[sharpememory]

Prefect, man, I know we can talk about a lot of things. But don't start talking about my mom, alright? I don't want to go there.

But yeah, okay. Cassel being here doesn't make me angry at him. It just makes me angry at whoever took him out.

Private

[buywithme]

Why not? Just because you ignore something, or forget it, that doesn't take it away. Whether we talk about it or not, she's lost the three of you now.

Do you know who it was who killed him?

Private

[sharpememory]

It's hard, alright? It's not that I'm trying to avoid it, it's just... not something that I want to think about. At all.

Yeah, he told me. He said it was the Brennans.

Private

[buywithme]

I understand that, Comrade. We'll leave it for now, but sooner or later you'll have to start thinking about it. It's one of the consequences of the life you and your family lived.

The Brennans. So it would have been one of their assassins? Like you and Cassel were going to be?

Private

[sharpememory]

The consequences bit is the bit that I don't like.

Yeah, I guess it must have been. A pretty good one too, to get the better of Cassel.