... I'll let you sleep.
-Heads downstairs-
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?-Joins Cloud and Fen-
-Looks a little shaken-
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?...
Rennor was talking about whether he should go back to his own universe. Into the Reaper War. And... it went down about as well as last time.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?Yeah, well I didn't do too great with it myself. He... he's thinking of just staying here. And not going back. I didn't even realise he had that choice on the table before. And I tried to convince him otherwise, but it just came off as me dismissing his worries and... treating him like a coward.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?I know. And he knows. And then we started talking about the war and what could happen and what happened to me and I just... lost any shred of rational argument.
-Looks at her feet-
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?No, it's been happening a lot. Back home.
...
Once I left the army, the last few switches the war flicked went back to normal. The war felt like it was really over once I was out of the uniform. And it just... I started to really see just how far and deep they'd obliterated everything.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?...I still kind of feel that way sometimes. You go about your day and don't notice anything, and then you look up, and the skyline's filled with a mass grave of millions that used to be the centre of human civilisation. Or someone comes in the bar, and they're missing a hand, or an eye, or they have scars from the stigma...
...
I mean, that's basically nothing compared to a galaxy-wide war, but — I mean, it's —
Forget I said anything. This isn't helping anyway.
MY SOUL IS DARK BUT MY HAIR IS COLORFUL — Brahian Pokémon Alchemist... During the war, it was easy to just... shift focus onto the Reapers. I could just... get angry at them, and kill them, and make them suffer for what they did. That kept it all under the surface, knowing they were out there dying.
And now they're all gone. I almost... I almost wish I could keep killing them.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?But I'm a cop now. I have to sit back, and listen, and think. And if I lose my temper when I'm dealing with the kind of shitstains the Citadel hides, reports get filed and... there's consequences.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?Yes. I mean... Kaera can content herself with growing plants and sculpting clay, but I just... I can't sit still knowing I could be actually fixing things.
I thought that was what I was doing in the army, taking down mercs trying to profit in the aftermath, but honestly, as a cop I can actually resolve problems instead of shooting them dead. Kids trust me. People listen to me. Nobody has to get hurt. I love the job.
...
I hope I still have it when I get back.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?... There's... there's some nasty parts.
...
There was this... this human named Alejandro Jaudron. He was in the Tayseri Ward. It took the most damage, and its socio-economic status post-war was bad. Really bad. Sometimes you forgot you were on the Citadel.
We traced a bunch of petty theft from some of the local kids to him. Turns out they were just stealing for the money for him to give them their fix. He was running drugs to the kids the system forgot. Orphans living in the vents. Kids who've run from homes that don't want them or can't support them. Kids who don't see any light at the end of the tunnel.
I don't know who was supplying him. He couldn't have been making it all himself. But he was cutting a real profit.
...
-Screws up her face-
Not all the kids had the nerve to steal to pay for their fix, though. A lot of them were young girls. They couldn't pay.
...
-Grinds her teeth a little-
So he offered them... alternative payment.
edited 2nd Sep '14 5:35:17 AM by SR3NORMANDY
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?... No. He gave up once we had him cornered.
... Once we have somebody in cuffs, we're responsible for their safety. We can't let them trip or dislocate their shoulders and we certainly can't hurt them.
We were bringing him in, no complaints, and I was holding it together.
...
Then he asked me if I had kids.
...
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?

...I think I figured out what the Planet did, though. I can't do a lot of the stuff I could before, but... that stuff was only... I could do it after a thing that happened here.
MY SOUL IS DARK BUT MY HAIR IS COLORFUL — Brahian Pokémon Alchemist