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Vomit soon mixes in with the rest of the fluids on the floor. Max whimpers out a 'sorry' while she wipes the vomit off her mouth.
>Max takes 1 RESTRAINT and FLESH damage! She now has 4/5 in each!
>Max gains 4.5% CHAOTIC SPARK progress! She now has 143/180!
Clover and Kiara and chattering to each other about 'finding whoever did this' and, hell, even Lapis is a bit unnerved. Not from the body itself and moreso a small detail about it that you would've skimmed over.
<span class="mu-s">"Shockley is missing his left arm. This could be his work. Some perverted means at getting back for what you did."</span>
"How da hell does that prove he-" Clover is interrupted by Kiara.
"Oh god. Okay, we need to find more evidence to confirm that but if this is his work, he's gone off the rails."
Lapis silently tosses Casey a...bodybag? It appears she had that in her inventory. Not shocking considering she's a spook.
Casey quickly soothes her nerves by defaulting to her 'Sanitation Technician' training. As she deals with cleaning up the body, you decide it's probably wise to check somewhere else first.
"Okay. We'll deal with THAT later. Everyone, we're going to the right hallway. I really don't want this place to burn down while we're inside.
You wait for Casey to finish up before gesturing at everyone to the hallway you're talking about. Everyone starts making their way to it but you stop Kiara before she can follow the others.
She turns her head just enough to side-eye you. "What's up?"
You're not sure how to breach this and you don't really want to be antagonistic about her (infrequent but looming) issue with her self control at times.
"I just want to say this. To friend to friend. We've been here thick and thin. Facilities, anomalous ghosts, military bases. The works. We can <span class="mu-s">TRUST</span> each other, right?"
"Of course we can. Without you, I would probably still be stuck chasing after low-stake stories that don't do anything. The people I meet because of you, the things you do for me, the opportunities..."
"Why? What's the matter?"
You place your arm on her shoulder, pulling into a side hug. You hesitate to say what you're about to say to her but it has to be said.
"Then I trust you to understand what I mean by this: Do what you feel like you have to do but only if you're certain it is the right thing to do. If your heart wavers, even for a split moment, trust your heart's hesitation."
Kiara quickly picks up on why you're saying this. She doesn't say anything at first but she hesitantly nods. "Can you blame me, though? I've been watching here in the corner of my eye this whole time. Making sure she didn't hurt you- hurt the group." She doesn't want to look you in the eyes when she said that.
"I don't want the person I care about the most besides, well, Maruyama to...you know." She shifts a bit closer to you. The hug you have her in is soothing her nerves well enough. Your face softens when you see how nervous she is about your wellbeing.
"You still trust me, right?"
