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A small, faint smile forces itself onto Benedict's face. "Not a bad catch?" He mimics what you said.
"Yeah!" Lex's smile is almost enough to light up the dark, gloomy sky you're sitting under. "Just keep doing it like that. You'll do just fine, man."
"Do just fine." He, again, mimics what Lex said. The three of you return back to fishing. Over the next two hours, that's all you really do. Fish. You and Benedict manage to catch a decent haul of fish while Lex struggles to keep up. Can't blame him, he's just a normal human at the end of the day.
Laying all around you are small piles of fish. Flounder, yellowfin and bluefin tuna, a black marlin or two. Hell, you even found a really weird looking koi that's bright white with a single black spot on the back of it.
>FISH PILE (COMMON) x5 ACQUIRED (Low quality fish. Can be sold at any shop for $150 per pile. When cooked by Benedict, grants the person who consumed the meal the ability to reroll up to four dice on one check of their choice.)
>FISH PILE (RARE) x3 ACQUIRED (Highly sought after fish neatly piled up. Most shops are willing to take this as proxy for one A-Energy per pile. When cooked by Benedict, grants the person who consumed the meal a temporary +2 in a random stat.)
>-3 MEAT BAIT.
"That was. Nice. Nice." Benedict has slowly been relaxing over the last few hours. While admittedly, being soaked head to toe in water isn't pleasant, seeing him happy makes it worth it.
"Feh. You two are too fucking good." Lex shakes his head as he begins to pile up the fish and wrap them up into bundles.
"See? We were just hanging out like friends, Benedict."
"I'm. I'm not a friend. I'm. You know what. I am. I." His eye twitches. "I'm."
"Benedict. I don't see a monster. I've seen a dozen anomalies at this point but you know what they haven't done with me? This." You gesture at the rods you were using. "Fishing. Talking. Just hanging out. We care about you, man. Adam does. I do. Lex does. Even Ashley wanted to comfort you in her own way."
Benedict simply stares into the deep, dark abyss of the Infinite Sea. "It. Am. I. I." He can't really find the right words to say. You simply smile at him, to show him you're being sincere. "...Okay. If. If you say so. I. Didn't I. See you before?" <<span class="mu-b">"Familiar. Hurts. Hurts to think about-"</span>>
"Yes. But that's not important for now." Best to distract him before his mind goes into some dark places.
As Lex finishes wrapping up the fish, he glances over to the enemy ship trailing behind the S.S FREEDOM with the help of some chains tied between the two. "I'll leave you two to talk it out. Meet me up on the pirate ship." And in one smooth jump, he jumps right over to the abandoned enemy ship.
"...Do you ever. Feel. Like you're a monster. Nicole?" Benedict stutters out like he's fighting his own mouth every time he speaks; You almost want to pity him but you know that's not the right move here.
"You're not the only person with those thoughts, you know?"
