gregor

[discomfort]

Comments

[verminous]

Well. Guess firing him's still your prerogative as the boss, but...

[it still just feels a little--

sad, he guesses.]

[discomfort]

... he will be fine, in the end. He can't stay with me forever.

[ but yes.

it is a little sad. ]

[verminous]

I guess nobody stays anywhere forever.

[that's the nature of it.

...well. and speaking of that: owner gets a memory in return, up to 1:53:15.]

[discomfort]

[ well, it's certainly a surprise. the fact the memory plays isn't one, considering the theme of the week, but that it's both gregor and yuri.

owner's expression softens, just a bit. ]

My apologies for seeing that, Gregor-sama.

[verminous]

...no, that's not... your fault.

[it's his fault this memory exists, after all.

he reaches up to rub at his face with a shaking hand.]

[discomfort]

[ this one feels a little more delicate to touch, so he takes a moment to figure out what to say. ]

Was that a while ago for you, or something recent?

[verminous]

...weeks.

[but it's not easy to see again. especially not...]

It-- all feels a little more fresh when she's here, I guess.

[discomfort]

[ he nods his head, taking in the information. it is one thing to have someone close to you die, but that was a rather extreme way. ]

How is she...?

[verminous]

...she knows. She has since the other week.

[he shakes his head.]

Hard to hide that when we're all sharing what's in our heads.

[discomfort]

[ hm... so then their timelines don't match? interesting, interesting. ]

You blame yourself.

[verminous]

I was with her.

[of course he does.]

...we can come back from it, but she can't. I should've...

[discomfort]

You should've done a lot of things. But no matter what those things were, do you know if it would have made some kind of difference?

We can always blame ourselves for inaction, or making the wrong move, but how do we know if anything else would have actually made the situation any better?

[verminous]

...we don't, not for sure. But we almost had that thing beaten. If she'd just survived that moment, then-- I think it's pretty likely she would've lived.

[discomfort]

Maybe.

[ he reaches over to pat him on the arm. the cute roach one. ]

I do not want to tell you not to feel guilty, because those are your feelings, and I won't try to tell you how you should feel about a situation I only saw a glimpse of. But I hope you are not letting yourself be crushed by this weight, Gregor-sama.

[verminous]

Well, I'm still going, aren't I.

[it's still more subdued than he usually is-- though he does glance over to owner when he touches the roach arm, a little surprised.]

[discomfort]

That you are.

[ he does not move the hand. ]

But I consider you a friend, so I can't help but me concerned.

[verminous]

Oh. Well-- I appreciate the concern, but I'm... I like to think I'm pretty good at living with things, by now.

[looking at the hand.]

You, uh, sure you don't want to...

[move that, maybe. it's a bug arm.]

[discomfort]

[ he does not remotely care it's a bug arm because he has touched grosser things.

but he will let go. ]

Oh. I apologize again. I didn't mean to invade your space.

[verminous]

Just- not used to it being touched.

[thanks for being chill about it, though, owner.]

[discomfort]

[ ... well, that makes sense, he supposes. ]

Was it uncomfortable?

[verminous]

...I guess it wasn't, after a second.

[he has to think about it first though.]

[discomfort]

[ ...

does it again. ]

[verminous]

Owner-?

[WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS

....he allows it, though.]

[discomfort]

I would like it if you were no longer surprised when someone does this.

[ get used to it, punk ]

[verminous]

...you're a weird guy, you know that?