At What Price Respect

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity in the forum? Not a strange sight. Verity without coffee? Rather less common. Verity slumping, exhausted, into a couch? Unusual. Verity covered in scrapes, bruises, and dust? Definitely strange.

"Help isn't if it's forced on someone. This is true. Someone not in possession of all of the facts cannot give fully informed consent. This is also true. But nobody can be forced to listen." Of course Verity has things on her mind. Who here doesn't? "How do you reconcile that? Is ignorance truly bliss? Or do you do what's needed to save someone despite their choices?"

((A note before you come to play with Verity: she's got a magic spell stuck in her that lets her always know when someone is lying to her. This includes sarcasm and knowing when someone believes something to be true when it isn't. This doesn't include lies of omission. She can also see through illusions. Please respect this; if your character is trying to lie to her, please make that known so she can react appropriately. [I completely understand this isn't going to be everyone's idea of fun.] Thanks.))

Comments

[onemorebounty]

*Samus sighs, dropping her face into her free hand.*

It's kind of funny how everyone phrases it exactly like that, too.

[brave_heart_verity]

She's just laughing more now.

"How'd the girls take it?"

[onemorebounty]

*That elicits a groan.*

They gave me a stern lecture about not expressing my feelings with hitting. Lost my cocoa privileges for a month.

[brave_heart_verity]

Aaaand now she can't breathe. There's some coughing when she tries to stop laughing.

[onemorebounty]

*Verity can have her hand back if she needs it for flailing or the like.*

[brave_heart_verity]

No, she can flail just fine with the one hand. She'll be okay in a minute.

[onemorebounty]

*Samus will wait until Verity's got her breath again to speak, sitting quietly until then.*

I'm not sure if you're suffering some mild shock, or just very, very amused at my mistakes.

[brave_heart_verity]

She forces herself to take several long deep breaths before answering. "Ehh. Six of one?"

[onemorebounty]

Fair enough.

[brave_heart_verity]

That gets a little smile, but she doesn't start laughing again. "I'll be okay."

[onemorebounty]

So, we're adding first aid to the curriculum?

[brave_heart_verity]

"Yeah. Please." She's going to have a lot of free time soon.

[onemorebounty]

*Maybe not. Samus can certainly provide instruction enough to fill her time, if she likes.*

We can start before tomorrow's run, if you like. Optional homework tonight, study up on the major blood vessels in the human body.

[brave_heart_verity]

Homework? An eyebrow raises, but she's not going to argue. "Yes, ma'am."

[onemorebounty]

*She did say optional.*

Some good news for you, humans are surprisingly durable--assuming they don't bleed out. It actually scares some other sentient species a little.

[brave_heart_verity]

"That's... good. Not the scaring part I mean."

[onemorebounty]

It is.

*Samus takes in Verity's expression.*

Change of subject?

[brave_heart_verity]

"Please. I should probably try and get some rest soon and thinking about all the things a person can live through isn't relaxing for me."

[onemorebounty]

Rest would probably be a good idea. What relaxes you?

[brave_heart_verity]

"Drinking. That's probably not a good idea either." Especially since it doesn't work that well anymore. Thanks, Samus.

[onemorebounty]

I wouldn't generally think so, no.

*That's one way to treat functional alcoholism.*

What else? Music? I don't have any more horse-punching stories, but that wasn't helping you relax, anyway.

[brave_heart_verity]

It's a terrible way to treat it. Not dealing with the issue only makes someone a dry drunk.

"I like music. If there's no words."

[onemorebounty]

*That is a point. This may not be the best time for such a talk, however.*

Hmm. I've got something, maybe you can tell me what you make of it?

*Because with enough jiggering, a PINpoint can have smartphone-like functionality, Samus queues up a series of odd, drawn out notes, deeply resonant.*

[brave_heart_verity]

Maybe wait until she's far enough through grieving to have the strength to deal with anything else.

She curls up to watch the jiggery-pokery (did Samus take first in her class?) and stays that way to listen. It's not what she was expecting, but she's not complaining. It's something pleasant to try and work through.

[onemorebounty]

*(Yes. Possibly at gunpoint.) It's the songs of whale-like creatures that swim through the dense, ever-storming clouds of a gas giant in some distant star system. The melodies are literally unearthly.*