hugtopia | The First | Text

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The First | Text | Help Pls

Hello my name is Ardbert. I need to learn how to cook immediately. I'm willing to pay with touching. Nothing inappropriate. Thank you.

((OOC: For the record, Ardbert is stupid, and has told no one that Emet-Selch/Hades is gone yet. He will accept multiple offers! Corresponding log is here.))

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It does not matter if it is... "supposed" to be easy.

[ The stress of that word is another unnecessary burden. Even with her soft tone, she does take care to make her meaning known. ]

They are cares that can be managed in time. You will manage once you have time to draw breath for yourself.

[ Already he has done what many could not or would not do... and that is ask for help at all. ]

I know, I know. [A moment of tired amusement, there, before he grows serious again.] But I meant that all my stuff can go in the laundry machine. I'm not good at all the precision stuff that goes along with tending it after.

[She has no idea how difficult it was for him to ask for help. Ardbert got used to being the one providing the help. It had almost been too much to accept Urianger's help.]

... but you're right. Breathing first. I've been so focused on trying to keep things up myself that I didn't even really let myself realize how much I was drowning until the food started getting low. People are supposed to be able to handle this, you know?

((OOC: I KEEP FORGETTING to say this on plurk so uh idea of... maybe a thread of them meeting when Ardbert can return the robot when Era's up and about again?))

[ She understands how difficult it is, knowing those who have not asked before. Knowing her own history. Even those who were meant to be brave and providing the help for others constantly often did not know when to ask for themselves. Any circumstance could be extenuating. These certainly were.

Perhaps it is only because of that, that she is able to even... admire his actions here. Let alone support them. ]

... It is a lot. A lot to... take on, for all you had went through to be there. You were certainly not thinking of your own state, or the impact it has had on you until now. It is no simple measure, to pick yourself up or anyone else, after a... significant loss.

((ooc: that sounds good to me c: ))

[It makes it all the harder to ask for help when you spent decades pleading for someone to hear you to no avail.]

Aye... I've forgotten so much of what it's like to feel emotions with my body that it's no wonder it knocked me right off my feet.

... It can be rather like a shock, when you are unaccustomed to it.

[ Experience teaches much, even when it is unexpected or comes from unlikely sources. ]

For yourself, however... perhaps an opportunity will come when you can process your own feelings as well, as strong as you are being for Era and Hythlodaeus' sake. All we can offer you right now is... time.

[ Time, of all things, how ironic and perhaps not entirely a comfort. They do not know how long things will last like this for his household, but he has options and is not wholly alone to deal with them, until something more shifts within this world but better not to focus upon that concern. ]

You can say that again.

[Ardbert would like to be taught a little less.]

That opportunity isn't happening until I'm sure Era's going to be okay. Going to be on my guard until then.

Yes, they are your priorities. It is only something for you to remember for yourself... to not lose yourself to that uncertainty.

[ However long it took for Era. There was no true measure for how long such a state would last for her, let alone the state she would be after. Loss could be ravaging, and the ramifications of it were ripples for all the rest. ]

There's no uncertainy; Era will be okay. It's just going to hurt and be terrible until she is.

[It's the first time he's said that, and just saying that makes him sound a bit happier.]

[ The uncertainty was in the when, not in the recovery. But all the better for him to be more reassured of it happening at all. ]

... It will be. But you will not be alone while it is.

[ At least that he had guaranteed, by reaching out. ]

[Ardbert is quiet for along moment, his voice cracking a bit.]

... Thank you. I think I need to hear that a lot.

Many of us do.

[ So he's not alone in that, either. Frankly she knows that were she faced with such a situation herself she would not be handling it particularly well, but to help others... it was always different, when it came to others. ]

But that is why they are called... reminders. You will want to bury yourself in your tasks and care of Era, but also... continue to call on others, so that you can speak and continue to engage. To feel more connected.

Aye.

To hear someone's voice other than my own. I'd say things like "and to remember to eat", but my body yells at me, so I can't forget that one.

[He's mostly saying it to say he's not stupid enough to not eat and take care of himself. It's even a good reminder to do so.

... Ardbert doesn't want to think about where he'd be if he didn't have Hythlo and Era to care for, but truthfully, he probably would've just shown up at Ardyn's door with all of his important things in a pillowcase.]

[ She's quiet for a moment, before allowing a soft laugh, despite the seriousness of their talk. ]

I admit, that is something I still need to be told sometimes.

[ Ardbert at least may not be stupid enough for it but she certainly is, but she's learned to own that about herself; she knows she'd be lost without Lup and her brother, which is what makes everything about this conversation with Ardbert too real and too scary. ]

Hearing other voices... can do a lot.

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