Quoted By:
>Chillax bro
You mean, you're glad that worked, obviously. (You thought for a second that he might want to go <span class="mu-i">back</span> there.) This is just rather more negative thinking than you were expecting. "You're being silly," you say dismissively. "Do you think I'd save the <span class="mu-i">undeserving,</span> Gilbert? Do you think I, Charlotte Fawkins, would deign to waste my precious heroic energies on somebody I thought was weird and lame? Of course not. You should feel honored I—"
"Didn't you say you bailed out Garvin?"
You scowl. "Well... yes... on account of my incredible generosity... but that doesn't matter! That's right now, while my heroic energies are overflowing. When I found you, I— I hadn't— I wasn't exactly the same as I am now. I had to conserve my heroism, so I could protect the Crown with it. So it's not like I was going around rescuing any old person, okay? I could've left you. Did I leave you?"
Gil shuts his eyes. "No..."
"So there you go! You were judgeth, er, worthy. Worthy and deserving. And if you say you're not again, then you're basically insulting me and my profound judgment right to my face." You nod vigorously. "Even more than insulting, actually, because— it's wrong to do undeserved things to people. So if I rescued you, and you didn't deserve it, then it was basically evil and cruel of me. Do you think it was evil and cruel of me to rescue you from Beetle Hell? Should I have preserved my virtuous spirit by leaving you to rot?"
"No, I— no— no. I... I'm glad I... it's not that I-I-I wanted to sh— stay in there! And it's not like I-I want to, um, to- to go back. I-I-I'd— I'd— it'd kill me if I went back there. Back to that. I'm not pissed you... I-I don't feel like you did anything wrong. Rescuing me."
Maybe it's the alcohol, but you're not following. "So what are you all beat up about?"
"...Uh..." He sucks his cheeks in. "It's not about... i-i-it's not that I'm never happy at all about it, I just, uh... I just know intul, intil, intellesh... uh... in-tell-ec-tu-al-ly that, uh, if I-I am ever happy about it, that it won't stick. And, um, that I don't deserve... I mean, I know I don't deserve it. So there's not really any point in..."
"In what?" You're either not following, or you don't want to be. "...In being happy? And you don't deserve... being happy? Gilbert!" His ankle is jittering. "That's not just silly, that's... I mean, that's patently ludicrous. Who's telling you that? Is it Horse Face?"
"What?"
"Is it <span class="mu-i">Richard?</span> Or was it Richard, I mean? I don't think he'd say that anymore... or was it Pat? She's always so pissy for no reason! Tell me who it is immediately, and once we're back to camp, I'll accost and inform them—"
(1/4)
