[voice]

[wannabethehero]

[The audio on this message is a little hard to pick out from some background noise - it sounds like Kiwi is in a public area with a lot of chatter.]

Hi everyone. So, Will is staying with me for a while. He's been really stressed and sad, after the monster attack and...some friends of his getting sick.

So I want to do something to cheer him up; I'm putting together kind of a last minute party. Nothing too fancy...if you want to come over, we can play some games or just talk. I just want to remind Will that we love him and we're still here!

Let me know if you'd like to come...and don't tell Will about it! I want to surprise him.

Comments

[original_is_best]

"Hn," he let out a brief hum in response. He'd hoped to hear more, but it seemed Magolor didn't know too much yet, either. "Indeed, we will have to discover how it is spread and if it is contagious. We can't simply let it go."

Though his current entry had nothing to do with that. Glancing down and tapping a pen to his mouth for a moment, he moved that paper aside and quickly covered it up. "I'm surprised information about something so conspicuous hasn't spread much more quickly. I would have expected mass panic." He glanced over his shoulder. It always seemed like he had to look back at Magolor. "We should keep an eye on Will, considering his prolonged exposure to several people."

[begguiling]

Magolor doesn't get a look at the paper, but he does note how quickly Verstael covered it. SO maybe it was something a little more personal, considering the few words of it he had seen. Fascinating!

And on a less gossipy note, the man has a point. Magolor nods, more seen than felt the way he's positioned right now.

"I don't know if I think it's contagious, but on the other hand, it's telling that three people who live together would all catch it. That'd be one heck of a coincidence, right?"

And yet the thought of it being contagious doesn't make much sense, if Will's explanation of it having something to do with "not belonging here" is accurate. This is why he needs to go shake down those robots.

"I'm sure the natives knew there'd be mass panic too. That's why we suspiciously haven't heard anything about it until it was too late."

[original_is_best]

It could be. Verstael wouldn't share easily, though. While normally he was pretty open, he knew when to keep things to himself.

"It is quite worrying. We know little about it right now beyond what we've been told, and we have no evidence to back up those claims. Some have recovered from it, so that does leave us with hope. We may need to find effective methods for curing people."

Intriguing but at the same time distressing. Verstael knew that unexplained plagues could cause a lot of damage. They needed to understand it as soon as possible and take control. Knowledge was power here.

"It seems the one he is moving in with also had some trouble with the disease. If there is a contagious element, Will has been exposed at length. ...I will be sure to let him know that should he suffer any symptoms, he should contact me immediately."

The thought disturbed him. Perhaps more than it should, but he didn't want Will to disappear.

[begguiling]

"You, specifically?"

Verstael keeps surprising him; there could be a lot of reasons behind that kind of insistence. He is a medical professional, so it makes sense on that level. And maybe that's where it begins and ends. But he doesn't know yet what to do about the disease, or even if anything can be done, so again Magolor has to wonder: is this just a personal thing? He is here at the party.

He wonders, but he doesn't ask, yet. Instead he needles a little:

"Shouldn't he be calling the temples, not his beloved friend Chief?"

How did this tag get lost?

[original_is_best]

"I can't think of anyone more qualified. I prefer to take care of things myself." With a small nods in Magolor's direction, he emphasized, "If you want something done right."

Do it yourself. Oh, not that he'd never had help, and other people certainly had their place. But when things were important he liked to be hands-on. He wouldn't make the mistakes others would.

"When did you become so close with the natives?"

you found it again which is more than I ever do tbh

[begguiling]

"I've just followed up where I said I would! I didn't collect all that feedback a couple months ago for nothing. I took it to them and spoke to their council, that's all. Someone had to be the one to take that on, for all our sakes!"

Close is misleading—and yet it's not like he wants to entirely dissuade either the natives or the offworlders of that impression. They need someone "close," and he's positioning himself to be that person as best as he can. So he winks, hitching over Verstael's shoulder to look at his face. He is still a little hung up on the medical treatment issue, though:

"You know, saying you prefer to take care of things yourself usually means it's your own business. Not that you're offering your services in anything and everything to everyone else. Might you be a biiiiit of a control freak?"

It takes one to know one!

[original_is_best]

"Things run better when I'm in control."

Not even going to deny it. He liked to be in charge and give orders. How other people felt about that, he didn't care.

He made a mental note of Magolor gathering information and turning it over to the natives. He couldn't be sure how much Magolor told, but given the sensitive nature of his work he needed to be wary. Any indication that Magolor was oversharing meant hiding more things from the floating ball.

"Have you future plans of where your relationship with the natives is going?"

[begguiling]

Phew, there's a lot to unpack there, and Magolor's not going to spend now doing it. It's a mindset he understands very, very well, and definitely one that clings still to a lot of what goes on inside his head, but he'd had to discard the worst of it long ago when things had gotten—bad. Quite bad. He smiles winningly, packing that all away.

"Of course. It's not a secret. I'd like to continue acting as a go-between from us to them! Nothing will get better in this place if we don't make demands. They're too ignorant of our needs. I want to present our case to them on our behalf. And if we make our demands clear and organized, and of cooooourse polite! And nothing comes of them, or something only comes of the meaningless ones? That's important information for us to have."