dahut

[discomfort]

Comments

[discomfort]

[ sadly nods his head

): ...... ]

[artificialsweetener]

People are entangled in such fascinating ways...! And there's your child to think about, too!

[discomfort]

I worry for them... I do not think this is the right environment to raise a child.

[artificialsweetener]

No, being surrounded by violence and murder doesn't do a child much good. [...] Have you raised a child before...

[discomfort]

[ oh. ]

Yes, actually. Well... I would not say I was the main caretaker, at least.

[artificialsweetener]

[HELP he hadn't actually expected this answer and there's a flicker of curiosity in his expression.]

How'd you end up in a situation like that?

[discomfort]

Um... a family tradition, I guess?

They just sort of keep dumping their kids onto me.

[artificialsweetener]

[HUH.]

Um? [HELP.] Just... They just leave their children in your care? Over the generations?

[LIKE ABANDONING A BABY AT A HOSPITAL??? BUT IT'S AN INN RUN BY A DEMON????]

[discomfort]

Well, the child could leave and go back home at any time, but. You know!

[ HE DOESN'T KNOW ]

[artificialsweetener]

[HE DOESN'T KNOW!!!!]

So it's just like babysitting that could end whenever the child wanted it to? Why?

[discomfort]

Hmmm.

To help them grow up.

[artificialsweetener]

[comes back delirious after talk of fish and fistulas]

Oh? In what sort of ways?

[discomfort]

Oh, ah... it is a family of... I suppose one way to describe them is exorcists? Monster hunters?

[artificialsweetener]

Ah! Right... If there are demons, there are probably all sorts of other things too, aren't there? In your world, that is.

[What a wild place to be. Damn. Imagine magic existing.]

[discomfort]

Basically... Their parents send their children off to me for training, and then eventually they are ready and we reach the end of our relationship. It's a tradition that's been going on for several generations now.

[ sometimes you send your demon slaying family to a demon ]

[artificialsweetener]

This sounds like a very complex way of handling things, somehow?

[WHY. This demon family's wild, good for them.]

How many of them have you watched after?

[discomfort]

... I lost count...

But the last one I dealt with is a spitfire! He is a young adult now, and he hates me!

[artificialsweetener]

Oh, no! That's so sad! Why does he hate you?

[A CONTENTIOUS FAMILY RELATIONSHIP...]

[discomfort]

Oh, well. Family of monster slayers and all.

[artificialsweetener]

You still raise them, though, don't you?

[AND THEY KEEP COMING BACK??? What kind of whackass symbiotic relationship.]

[discomfort]

Of course I do. It's not like they're ever going to actually kill me.

[ he is not even remotely worried this is going to backfire on him ]

[artificialsweetener]

[FUCKING HELP OWNER IS REALLY OUT HERE well. He is apparently some sort of amorphous eldritch creature, so.]

Hm... I guess it's just a bit of a difficult concept to grasp.

[You can be raised by someone and not be willing to soup an entire island for them?? Wild.]

[discomfort]

[ DAHUT NOT YOUR FRENCH ISLAND SOUP ]

Is it? Because of the ties?

[artificialsweetener]

[SOMETIMES THINGS MUST HAPPEN............]

It's not an unfamiliar concept that the person raising a child can be terrible, exactly... [His stupid island is full of examples of that.] But it's just a strange arrangement, from the outside! That they would keep sending their children to you and you would keep raising them despite how contentious it would naturally be. Are you fond of any of them? Are any of them fond of you...?

[discomfort]

[ he actually thinks about how to answer this. ]

They are fond... until they are not. And then depending on how it goes, they may come back around later on. It is complicated. But the way they pass down a power that runs in their family depends on it, so it must keep going.