ic contact

[14thcommander]

It's Hange, Hange, Hange! Were you looking for me? I'll get back to you posthaste. Or when it's convenient.

[ communicator & actionspam it's all good ]

Comments

[14thcommander]

Yeah. You want to walk or I summon you?

[beejfu]

I can hoof it.

[he should get used to walking around anyway]

[14thcommander]

[Hange is standing outside her room waiting for him.]

[beejfu]

[he shuffles along the hallway, looking, as usual, odd and out-of-place in the relatively clean barge atmosphere, nodding to Hange and scootching by when she lets him in]

Hiii.

[14thcommander]

She intercepts him, pivoting him so she can step in and hug him. It's really... good, that he's realizing this, because fuck if Betelgeuse's selfishness isn't draining, but she also reflexively dislikes her charge being in pain.

[beejfu]

"Ulp."

He says, when Hange hugs the breath from him, and holds his arms out, near but not touching her back just yet.

"Hey, I'm good. I'm good."

[14thcommander]

Hange doesn't press it - she releases him and backs off, heading towards the so-familiar armchairs, one of which will probably smell slightly of Betelgeuse forever at this point.

"It's about Rhys and that new guy, huh? I had an eye on it."

[beejfu]

"Cyberstalker." He teases, without heat to it. Betelgeuse wanders in after her and drops into his favorite and claimed seat.

[14thcommander]

She sits across from him and drops her head back, staring at the ceiling. What a question.

"Regarding how to be less selfish... I think the fact that you're asking the question is a step in the right direction. I don't expect this to immediately change, because for the record, how long were you fending for yourself again?"

[beejfu]

"Millennia." His face fills with a wary dread at the idea of going another millennium to unlearn bad habits.

"But I wasn't trying for most of it! The Black Death took up so much of my time in the 14th century!"

[14thcommander]

"I'm just saying - you probably are going to take a while to internalize that you don't have to do that anymore, not just in your brain, but, you know, your gut. What's the Black Death?"

[beejfu]

He looks down at his tummy and presses into it with black-tipped fingernails.

"Deadliest pandemic in human history." He says, distracted. "A third of a continent died, it was hilarious. But it meant I was running around like a nutcase."

[14thcommander]

"... Because...?"

[beejfu]

He squirms, making a face. But BJ answers, because Hange is doing him a favor by listening.

"Because I was a guide to the Netherworld. If people didn't read the book - and trust me, a lot of people couldn't read back then - I had to go Upstairs and lead the newly deads home."

[14thcommander]

Okay, this. This is better than what she was expecting. Hange smiles slightly.

"So you took care of them?" Well, who knows what "taking care of" constitutes for Betelgeuse, but she could see him being good at this, actually.

[beejfu]

He nods, sinking into the armchair.

"That job was a fucking nightmare. Can you imagine being some boring-ass farmer who just died from the bubonic plague and he doesn't wanna leave his stupid breather family and then I show up trying to force him through the door? Got one too many pitchforks to the face.

And that wasn't the worst of it. All the crying and carrying on. Jesus christ. Why are we talking about the past?"

[14thcommander]

"I asked about it." So she'll move on. "Anyway: being less selfish. Maybe a good thing to do would be, I don't know... maybe ask your friends sometimes about nice things you could do for them? If they're having a good time? Paying attention to whether someone is actually having a good time when they're interacting with you, or trying to escape? You tend to want to hang on to people, but sometimes you'll actually build a stronger bond with people if you show you're willing to let them go..."

[beejfu]

"Sounds fake." He grumbles. "I spent all this time GETTING friends and now I'm just gonna let them go?"

[14thcommander]

"Yeah," Hange says calmly. "If someone looks like they're feeling tired, or they need to do something else, or if they have to go home - you have to let them go."

[beejfu]

"They don't ever come back."

[14thcommander]

"Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they don't come back and it's not their fault. That's one of the hard things about being alive."

[beejfu]

"You're always alone in the Netherworld. Why can't it be different when you're alive?"

[14thcommander]

"I don't know. Maybe if you live in a time of peace..."

Hange shrugs, and drags herself away from the contemplation of her lost comrades.

"Anyway - if you want to become less selfish, think about how you can offer your friends what they want and need. Be good to them. Make sure they're really having fun with you and ease up if they're not."

[beejfu]

He nods, and takes out a crayon to scribble some of this down.

"How do you know if they're really having fun or if they're lying that they are and really just stalling until they can find the exits?"

[14thcommander]

"Sometimes you won't and people won't tell you. Watch body language. If someone's pulling away from you, let them go, or hold them loosely enough in the first place that they can pull away. Eyes and shoulders are good things to watch... I'm a bad person to ask about this, honestly, because I'm not always good at it."