Quoted By:
"Oh, don't worry, aren't we comrades?" You hold out a hand with a smile that you didn't know you had in you. Something actually genuine. "Face the fear, build the future. Right?"
"...I can't." The meat puppet mutters. You raise an eyebrow. "Can't what?"
"I don't want to infect you. You already did enough mentoring me, I don't want to-" Wait, hold on, mentoring? You snap your fingers at her.
"Sorry, sorry, you are a bit...dazed, memory wise. I guess if you really are him, I guess it's time for a reintroduction. Call me <span class="mu-b">Phi.</span>"
[BOUND BY DUTY] "C'mon. Snap out of it, Zeta. We can't have you day dreaming right now." Phi's voice rings into your ear.
[BOUND BY DUTY] "External Affairs told us that Q-Company has an 'outstanding debt' to pay, remember?"
You vaguely remember that name. It feels like you heard it eons ago but you can't quite remember. "So, I guess the student meets the master, eh?" You're rolling with it at this point. You already had to deal with someone from your past.
"I guess so!" Phi forces herself to laugh, as if the physical strain of doing so is hell on her body. "It stings, though. That it took you that long to recognize me."
[HOPELESS WRECK] FRANKLY, YOU BARELY DO. IT'S NOT LIKE BEING A CLUMP OF ROTTEN MEAT HELPS ANY.
"So, if you're an agent, how was your service? Doubt I was around to constantly help you."
"Fucking awful!" There was way too much glee with how she said that. "Holy shit, you wouldn't believe it!" She nearly goes to put her hand on your shoulder before backing away.
"I had to go out to the Wastes lord knows how many times to grab some random board game or a blob of shadows or- God, every day she kept asking for more and more!"
Wait, every day? You only get new anomalies every two or three days. "The hell made you need to go out so often?" You want to hope it was through quick resolutions (like what's coming up soon) but you doubt it.
"Can't exactly power the facility when someone keeps killing any anomaly that looks at her funny." Phi shakes her head. "We would be lucky when D-Company dumped some horror onto us for a sponsorship."
"Huh, they only asked for anomalies, not give them away." You make a mental note in case you think of sponsorships to give to other companies. "I'm going to guess besides me and you, there were others?"
"Sure! Most of them, including me, had to constantly go out though. I would barely have time to sleep for four hours before being sent out again. You were the exception, though."
"How so?"
"The boss never sent you out. She kept you around to work on the anomalies. And you accepted." Phi shrugs, as if it was obvious.
"Someone had to work on them." You mutter, almost instinctually. Your mouth moves on its own before your brain even has time to process. "If it wasn't me, they would've killed themselves. <span class="mu-s">At least my life didn't mat-</span>"
You shake your head. What the fuck?
"...You've changed, haven't you?" Phi muses.
