Text > Video | discussion of parent death

[pheromonecoffee]

Let's set the scene here.

Bridge. Late night. Green full moon.

Six year old alone in the backseat of a car. Front seat? Two coffins.

Giant explosion. Car destroyed. Boy not destroyed. Coffins in car probably destroyed. 90% chance of coffin destruction.

Giant monster. Robot teenage girl fighting monster. Robot girl losing.

Robot girl stuffs giant monster into six year old. How? Fuck if I know.

Moon stops being green. Bridge is on fire. Car is on fire. Six year old is not on fire.

[Video flashes on. Matt's hanging around LCU's campus. It's pretty dead since it's only summer sessions and he's not by the library or anything. He'd come to pick something up, and... Well, the walk here had been eventful. He should drive more, as attested to the scrape on his cheek. He's a lucky kid.

That aside, he looks... not very amused.]

So if we're playing the crazy echoes game anymore, I think I'm winning. [He laughs a little, covering his face with his hand in sheer exhaustion.] Coffins in a car? You know what the craziest shit about this is?

I seriously think I just watched Minato's parents die. That's... that's some fucked up kind of thing to show a guy. And that... thing. That monster.

[And Matt completely freezes. And then he laughs. And it's not a good laugh--it's a kind of crazy, kind of broken laugh.]

No wonder he had to die. That thing inside of him... [And then his laughter just completely stops and he drops the phone he's recording on. That thing. That thing looks so similar to Thanatos. And Thanatos... Thanatos is Phillip. His friend. He curls himself up where he sits, resting his head on his knees and the video just shows the summer sky.]

Let's just pretend. This never happened.

Comments

[substitutable]

[He sighs.] You're not broken. You're just worrying sometimes.

[pheromonecoffee]

You read too much into it. Nobody else is worried, and they've known me longer.

[substitutable]

Your friends are all desensitized to this whole thing and made jokes when you asked about human sacrifices. Or they're twelve. And the fourteen year old's been worried about you and has been saying so in every conversation I've seen you guys have on the network.

[pheromonecoffee]

... He's actually seen me get into trouble. It's different.

[He... feels awful, though. He doesn't like remembering that he worries Ken.]

[substitutable]

Then he's also seen you get out of it. He's still worried because he cares about you.

[pheromonecoffee]

He doesn't follow me around.

[substitutable]

Don't let a fourteen year old kid follow you around. Get him to worry about himself first. But he's worried. You know that, right?

[pheromonecoffee]

Hypocrite.

And I know. I'm not stupid. Why do you think I try to act normal around him?!

[substitutable]

That's not the point. The point is that you should be aware more than anyone how much people actually worry about you.

[pheromonecoffee]

You're blowing it out of proportion.

[substitutable]

You're blowing it off.

[pheromonecoffee]

Back off.

[substitutable]

[He's quiet again but his face makes it very clear he's standing his ground.]

[pheromonecoffee]

What do you even want from me?!

[substitutable]

Right now? I don't want anything from you. I just want to keep an eye on you until you get home or get a ride home because it's dangerous out.

[pheromonecoffee]

And what I want doesn't get taken into account?

[substitutable]

Your safety comes first.

[pheromonecoffee]

I'm on a college campus. I didn't even get hurt.

[substitutable]

I don't want you getting hurt. It's a mostly empty campus for the summer, there's more people off campus today.

[pheromonecoffee]

And then you're going to go home alone.

[substitutable]

I drove here. It's better than you walking home alone.

[pheromonecoffee]

You're stubborn. I took the bus.

[substitutable]

You're not one to talk. You still got assaulted.

[pheromonecoffee]

And I successfully defended myself.

[substitutable]

If you went home with somebody, you likely won't have to again.