>>6044958Also, don't do furry drugs, kids.
>>6044425You… feel a slight headache as you try to process all this. There’s a sadness that hits you, that maybe, just maybe, that end result could’ve been avoided. It’s… souring. Disappointing. Many emotions flood through your mind… maybe backlash from how you went about this? …Maybe. Well, that’s stuff to unpack back at home, but you do sympathetically tell Zelos, “For what it’s worth, I appreciate the choice you made, hard as it might have been for you.”
He exhales deeply. “What’s done is done. I cannot change that now.” You almost hear a “Tempting as it might have been…” added under his breath.
All right. You have a moment to breathe. Just… relax, and unpin that topic from earlier. It will at least get his mind off of this. “Okay, we do have one more thing we probably need to address: how’s Sala able to wield your sword with such ease?”
“Jus’ don’t see what the big deal is.” she remarks, standing up again.
“It is a very big deal.” Zelos tells her flatly.
“Also, Hado, hey! You okay? Where’ve you been?” you comment to the young man.
“I’ll live. Been trying to keep up with you all.” he states, narrowing his eyes at Sala just a bit.
“Ahahaha… sorry to leave ya behind, but hey, ain’t my fault bird brain here pulled me halfway across the planet with his sword!” the older blonde states.
“Yes it is. You were holding on to it. Which, again, is the problem. H o w.” Zelos speaks up again.
“Look, I dunno! Wasn’t a big deal with I nabbed it!” she proclaims.
Hado shakes his head and sighs exasperatedly. “Only you could have accidentally found yourself capable of wielding an artifact of absurd power…” There’s… a very, very slight oddity in tone with how he speaks.
You tilt your head slightly. “You sure you’re okay, Hado?” And telepathically you add, ‘Blink twice if there’s something weird trying to make itself comfortable in your head.’
He looks at you bemusedly, and he blinks… once, though it’s with each eye very slightly delayed. Weird. Suspicious. “Given all that we have been through at this point, the fact that I’m still in one piece is a blessing I’ll count again and again.”
“That’s fair…” Chiaotzu agrees.
…He’s not off the hook, but you gotta make this look natural. Suspicion’s there, but if you’re right and you make it so the thing in his head believes you’ve dropped your guard, you can get the drop on it. So instead, back to the task at hand! “There’s only one way we’ll actually figure this out, and that’s by testing it. Zelos, can you let Sala hold on to it for a bit?”
(cont.)
