45th treasure [anon text]

[captainash]

So, is anyone else feeling really self-conscious right now because they ended up hugging the fake ghost of their dead best friend twice, with maybe some limited sniffling involved, in public and with a handful of random strangers staring at them like they were crazy?


No? Just me? Great.

Comments

[wing_attack]

... Yeah I guess that would definitely be a problem. Mine was... we were on two different ships. I saw her through the viewscreen, but...

[captainash]

But there's still some distance, so it didn't feel like you could have changed things by acting differently?

You know, I think about it sometimes. We were close enough to speak, but if I'd just bothered moving closer... would it have helped? Or was it already too late? I guess I'll never know, though.

[wing_attack]

I mean the past is hard to change. Not impossible, since I've seen time travel happen, but wondering if you could change things... doesn't change things, does it?

[captainash]

It doesn't. Not at all. And in my world time travel isn't even a possibility, so my chances of changing things are lower than zero.

Not that I would know how to change them. That idiot had been on a downwards descent for months, and he only managed to snap out of it after...

[wing_attack]

I'm sorry. It... it sucks. I'm sorry.

I wish I could say it gets easier, but it doesn't.

[captainash]

I know. This isn't my first rodeo. Though usually the people I kill and the people I lose are in their own separate categories.

Guess I should have known better. That guy's done nothing but break my heart since we graduated, I swear.

[wing_attack]

... Like. Romantically?

[captainash]

Nah, he's not really my type. Though he did do that to our mutual best friend, accidentally, and believe me I wanted to punch him for that when I wasn't seething with jealousy. But finding out that your best friend was spying on you for over a year, and learning that he gave up on all his principles to follow the dream of a madman... They're a kind of heartbreak, too.

[wing_attack]

... Oh. I'm really sorry. That must have been... really awful...

[captainash]

Sure, but I got back at him by kicking his ass a few times, that last one not included. Or maybe I should include it, considering I wouldn't have had to use lethal force if he hadn't given up on himself and killed a bunch of his own men in the first place.

[wing_attack]

It doesn't stop it from being awful that it had to happen in the first place. 'Getting back' at someone doesn't... ever seem to really help much, in my experience.

[captainash]

It gives you a few minutes of satisfaction, sometimes. That's better than nothing.

I would rather have had that nothing than a dead friend in the end, though.

[wing_attack]

Yeah.

... Is yours doing anything other than just hanging around or is mine just not talking out of spite or something?

[captainash]

He smiled a little and kinda leaned into the hug, but that's more or less it. Never said a single word, though.

[wing_attack]

Okay. At least it's not just me. If it was that'd be really weird.

[captainash]

Yeah. Maybe they're the silent type of fake ghost, solemnly appearing to stop us from making terrible mistakes that would ruin our futures?

Or maybe they speak a different language and don't want to bother finding a translator.

[wing_attack]

... Well she should be speaking the same language as me...

[captainash]

The real one should, but that's the point. The imitation is already not-so-perfect; they're not going to make it worse by speaking the wrong language.

[wing_attack]

This is all really frustrating.

[captainash]

I know. But if previous experiences mean anything, we can be sure it won't last much longer.