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Aria - 09/25/2017
Seren was in her room, after that awful Atlantis mission. It'd been a full day, and she was still prone to breaking down crying, unable to cope with the pain of losing Kim. She'd never lost anyone to death before, just having them leave her. That hurt but at least they were going onwards, getting stronger.

Kim was dead. Kim wasn't going to go on, because death was the end. Seren didn't know what to do. She was sick to her stomach, and all she could keep down was water... And that barely. She wanted Rhys and Joy, because she needed her dearest close. She wanted them to stay away, because she was a curse and the people she loved got hurt.

She wanted to find Terry, and apologize, because she was sure she'd caused him pain when she'd refused to let him remain deluded about Kim's death.
randonimity - 09/25/2017
Joy hadn't been close with Kim. She knew the other woman in passing but there wasn't much depth to their relationship beyond the professional. But that didn't mean the other woman's death hadn't affected Joy. She didn't know the details, the hows, and what led up to the moment. All Joy knew was that she'd been too busy fighting her own internal voices when Kim just.

Died.

This wasn't the first death, at least not the first Joy heard of, two years since waking and there had been news. Random hunters she'd done chores with being stationed off-island and never returning save for tablets of their weapons. But this was the first that happened while she was right there. She was Moon, she was supposed to do her job and defend the Suns. She'd said she would have people's backs and she'd failed.

Bert had not been much help, though the weapon had tried in his own way to reassure Joy that there was nothing she could have done. But this wasn't what she needed. Which was why she sent a quick message to Seren.

M comin 2 c u. B in ur rum.

It was not a request.
Aria - 09/25/2017
Haven't left much.

Was all Seren could get up the energy to say. She couldn't, if Joy was going to insist, tell her no. She might worry about the curse thing and Joy being in danger, but she hurt so much right now, so she couldn't deny Joy this. If Joy wanted to risk it, Seren would take that risk because that hurt less then denying her friend the chance to see her.

Death. Why did Death have to be real?
randonimity - 09/25/2017
Joy would have gone straight to the dorms had she not received the response. Wordlessly she did an about face, got some snacks, some spare bottled water, and made a beeline for the dorms. She didn't need to ask for directions this time and was outside the other woman's door in short order.

"Seren, it's Joy, lemme in?" she gave the last word a lilt, an indication that Seren still had control over the situation at the very least. It was something Joy knew on a personal level was important when dealing with things that were out of your hands.
Aria - 09/25/2017
Seren was silent for a moment, then slowly stood, walking to the door and opening it. Her face was red from all the crying she had been doing, and she clearly hadn't slept the previous night, since returning. She looked at Joy, all the pain and heartbreak she was feeling in her eyes.

"Joy... It hurts..." Was all she could bring herself to say.
randonimity - 09/25/2017
Joy could chatter and joke and make light because humor, self-deprecating and sometimes insulting in nature, was how Joy coped. But that didn't seem to be what Seren needed. So Joy said nothing, just looked up at her taller, younger friend before offering her free arm for a hug.
Aria - 09/25/2017
Seren collapsed against Joy, and began to cry all over again. She was hurting, she was aching and wanting this to be a bad dream.

She knew it wasn't. It wasn't fair, at all.
randonimity - 09/25/2017
Joy had braced herself to support Seren, in all sense of the word, legs spread to bear the weight of the younger woman who had gone through much more that Joy herself. She would let Seren just cry however long, however much she wanted. Then when there was a lull, water would be offered, crackers and maybe some candy bars for energy and maybe a request to be let in so they weren't just in the hallway.

But that would be for the lull. Until then, anyone who gave them grief for grieving would be met with a slipper thrown at their head.
Aria - 09/25/2017
Seren slowly calmed enough to realize maybe they should go inside her room, and took a few breaths, then opened the door and went all the way in. "I... why would the tree do that? We even brought it something in trade, and instead it killed her." Her eyes were giant with her pain, and her glasses were tear spattered. "I.. understand going down in battle but THAT?"
randonimity - 09/25/2017
Joy twisted the bottled water open, offering it to Seren and holding it out until the other woman took it. "It's a Legacy. It does whatever it wants. It made the whole lot of us into teenagers and kept some of us at that age. And I'm certain if not the tree then another Legacy made us live out a whole new life where we were Horsemen who killed other Hunters."

A beat.

"I raided bases and slaughtered hunters during that life. I don't know if that was all just a dream-life, or if I had indeed killed some of the other hunters who've never come back from the off-island bases. We never figure out why these things happen. They just do."
Aria - 09/25/2017
Seren took the water, and slowly sipped it, glad it was something that was likely to stay down. She moved over to her bed and slowly sunk back onto it. Her bed, at least, was safe. There were no monsters in it to get her.

"Gods that sounds like... hell, not knowing." She put her face in her hands. "WhY does it treat us like puppets or toys?"
randonimity - 09/25/2017
"Dunno," Joy said, plopping down beside Seren on the bed, "A Halloweener told me that there's like Legacies at war with each other or something. Jason might be a better source of info, but just make sure he's not his mirror-possessed self. Not unless you're looking for a punch to the face."

That Joy didn't seem the least bit perturbed by what she was saying was less to do with being at peace with her situation and more resignation to this helplessness. Coming from a culture that was always enslaved throughout its history, it was almost second nature to be under the thumb of some bigger inconsiderate and uncaring power.
Aria - 09/25/2017
Seren looked confused. "Who is Jason?" She had never met this Jason person. "Is he a Halloweener, or a Hunter?" She leaned back, and closed her eyes again. "And these Legacies... Sounds like their 'legacy' is misery and pain for everyone they use, like us."

Seren was used to being treated much like a slave, and pushed around like a toy and object. She was tired of it, however, so very tired, and wanted to fight being treated like it.
randonimity - 09/25/2017
"Oh, Jason's a Moon Hunter. He had my back during a mission in the Amazon. He helped me save Kai too. So when you get your tat done, you can also thank Jason for making sure Kai is still with us." Joy grinned but it was brief as they veered back to the discussion of Legacies.

"It's, they? I don't know what they are. But they're ridic powerful. All we can do is deal with the fall out whenever they flex their magical dicks against other Legacies."
Aria - 09/25/2017
Seren blinked a little, as she listened to what Joy was saying. "I'll have to look him up, then... And ask him." She looked down at her feet, tired and drained and sick of powerful beings who use others for fun.

"So they're like my parents but on a much grander scale, then. Anything less then them is a tool, a toy, or something to be destroyed. That's why I joined this place, was to escape stuff like that, and here I am right back in it."
randonimity - 09/25/2017
"If you were looking for a place to have more control I don't think this is the right place. But it's not like it happens everyday. Thankfully. Usually you get into this groove, a routine, and hey it almost feels normal. But then s**t like these missions happen and we're supposed to be able to deal and we find that. Well. We don't do as good as we think we should."

An arm moved to sling around Seren's shoulders, trying to get the other woman to rest her head against Joy. "At least you know about it and aren't kept in the dark. Or not as much in the dark. Maybe dim lighting."
Aria - 09/25/2017
Seren leaned in as Joy's actions indicated, trying not to cling to the woman she was coming to see, more and more, as a sister, taking a tiny measure of comfort from the closeness of her friend. She still had Joy. She stiill had Rhys. But oh... oh Kim. That was an aching gulf.

"You'd think they'd have like. Trained counselors or some s**t, given what we're going to eventually deal with here. All of this sounds like step one in some one going nuts and cracking completely."
randonimity - 09/25/2017
"I thought that was what friends are for," Joy laughed, forced at it may sound. "At least you know you're not the only one dealing with this s**t. And if you do go off the deep end, you got people who's there to pull you back. Or join you."

She couldn't bring herself to admit that she hadn't cried about Kim. She felt that sadness and that loss but Joy had been keeping distant. Two years of somewhat self-imposed, weapon-influenced isolation had an effect on a person.
Aria - 09/25/2017
"I mean... Yeah. I know..." She sighed softly, and hugged Joy close, her eyes closing again. "But when.. if we all are grieving, how can we help save each other from that?" She shuddered a little at the idea of being trapped with with some one she loved who was just as grief stricken as she was at the same time, neither able to truly help each other.
September 26, 2017
randonimity - 09/26/2017
"I wish I knew. It wasn't easy losing people back in the old life. I don't think it's supposed to get any easier." It was always that sad reality of helplessness, the inability to do anything to help that tore at Joy. All she could do was acknowledge what had happened, "But we can help each other keep moving. That seems to be the only thing we can truly do."
Aria - 09/26/2017
She nodded slowly, and just leaned into her friend, glad for her presence. She was actively not thinking about the word jeoju right there, because she needed the comfort too much to let herself think about things like that. It was a bit of an internal battle but she was going to succeed.

"All right. This place is ******** up, but I knew that pretty well already..."
randonimity - 09/26/2017
"Yeah, it is." It was Joy's turn to rest her head against Seren, brown eyes staring straight ahead, unseeing of the posters the younger Sun had put up.

"Hey, if you were ever offered a Men in Black deal would you take it? I mean, get a mind-wipe, get back to the world where shadows were just supposed to be a figment of our imaginations, maybe live somewhere else under a different, better life, would you take it?"
Aria - 09/26/2017
Seren went silent at the question. Forget this place? Forget the things she had learned, forget Di, Kim, Terry, Joy, or, lord love a duck, Rhys? Go back to a life where she was just her parent's curse with no way to help the world? She sighed softly.

"No. I couldn't leave you guys. You matter too much to me."
randonimity - 09/26/2017
Joy softly chuckled, "The mind-wipe would have removed all the painful memories I think. But it's good that you've decided to live with the hurt and keep moving forward. Kim won't be the last to die though. We both know that." She wasn't sure where she was going with this line of conversation. Maybe she herself needed an outlet to process her own thoughts about her situation, beyond the background irritation from Bert.

"How's your weapon treating you?" she asked.
Aria - 09/26/2017
Seren nodded, quietly, and said "I know. I just don't.. I've never had anyone I love die before." She didn't comment on how few people she'd had to love. That was a different issue. "And now I'm scared of losing you and Rhys too." Terry would hurt but she wasn't close to him like she was Joy, let alone the incredible mix of complications that was RhysFeels. Loosing either of these two would seriously unstablize her.

"Di? She's... She's pretty good to me. Supportive. Whiny at times, always hungry for FEAR, but... She's supportive."
randonimity - 09/26/2017
Joy wouldn't let something like height difference stop her from gently petting Seren on the head, "I can't promise you I'm never going anywhere. But I will do whatever I can to keep you safe." She didn't have much confidence in herself, but she was slowly finding the family she'd longed for and refused to lose them without a fight.

Hearing Seren's weapon was being supportive was a relief and brought a small smile to her face. "That's great. When all else fails, your weapon should be there for you." I wish I could say the same for mine.
Aria - 09/26/2017
Seren smiled, weakly, and hugs Joy more. "I know... None of us can make promises like that. Life laughs at people when they make foolish promises... And you know I'd do the same, right?" She closed her eyes, the feeling of bars on her chest there for a long moment, before she added "You're like... like the sister I never had. Kim.. Kim was beginning to be one too... You guys are so important to me." She wasn't defining what Rhys was to her, not here, not now. She wasn't ready for that.

"I hope... yours is too?" She looked into Joy's eyes, worried by those words, somehow.
randonimity - 09/26/2017
"Like a sister, huh? I can see why that'd make you not want to go for me," Joy teased, trying to bring some sense of levity because humor was her default method of coping. "I hope you had a great time during Speed Dating."

She didn't avert her eyes when Seren asked about her relationship with the ginosaji. As far as Joy was concerned there wasn't much to say about it.

"Bert doesn't talk much. So I have to supply like ninety nine percent of the convo," again that forced laughter. "Sometimes I can almost forget he was there. Then I feel him getting cranky and I remember oh yeah, I got another presence in my head. He was weird when I got him into a golem."
Aria - 09/26/2017
"Yes, indeed... You're beautiful but you're too much like family to me." She sighed at the second comment, and closed her eyes. "Everyone was interesting to meet but... no one sparked an interest, at all." She closed her eyes, and the image of Rhys filled her mind for a moment, an image of him leaning on her desk, gazing at her intensely. She popped her eyes back open, a small blush on her cheeks, trying not to think too hard about that moment. "But maybe I'll make some friends."

She frowned, though, at Joy's words. "I'm sorry he's not a very supportive weapon."
randonimity - 09/26/2017
"He keeps a FEAR shield up around me, that's support enough from him." She shrugged, "Some people and I guess weapons just have a hard time showing their appreciation of others. Pushing them for more might do worse in the long run." Way to sound mature and responsible and accepting, pity that Bert heard Joy in a do as I say and not as I do tone.

"You ever think of putting Di in a golem? She'd probably look badass."
Aria - 09/26/2017
"As long as you're happy, then, so am I, Joy." She sighed and rested against her friend, hoping Joy want trying to keep a strong face in this issue.

Her brows came together, and finally she said "I don't know how that works. Never done any research on the golems, and how you do that."
randonimity - 09/26/2017
"I'm not called Joy just cuz that's what my name means," she winked, letting her fingers stroke Seren's hair. "I don't know how it works beyond you get the Life people to hook you up and out pops a golem with your weapon in it. You don't have a fear shield, the whole thing doesn't last longer than a hour, and you get paid~"
Aria - 09/26/2017
"That's fascinating! I wonder if Di would like that. I'll have to talk to her about that when I'm feeling more... Me. Ya know?"
randonimity - 09/26/2017
She nodded, "No rush, just something you can do. And if you ever wanna do it, call me over and I'll join you. Bert could probably use a friend that isn't human."

Joy visibly winced at sharp stabbing sensation to her temple resulting in the intensity of her weapon's displeasure.
Aria - 09/26/2017
"That sounds good." She looked thoughtfully at the ceiling, as Di spoke. "She says she's very interested in meeting Bert." She shrugged and nodded at that. "So yeah. Maybe we could do that soon. Should we invite Rhys?"
randonimity - 09/26/2017
"Yes."
No hesitation. No pause. The answer just popped out of her mouth. "I mean, I'm sure he'd appreciate experiencing stuff like that with others more than doing it by yourself." She hastily added. What surprised Joy was that Bert too agreed to have a third person involved. But Joy got the feeling that he wanted a third so that Bert could be the odd-one-out and not require interactions.
Aria - 09/26/2017
Seren gave Joy an almost bright smile at that. "Awesome. We'll have to find a time when our schedules match up."

She got that thoughtful/listening look again. "Di wanted to know if golems can eat."
September 27, 2017
randonimity - 09/27/2017
Joy was glad to see Seren was feeling better, "Yeah, just lemme know okay? Do you wanna invite Rhys? You probably should be the one to do that." She gave the younger woman a knowing grin as she said this. And as for the question of whether or not golems could eat, she furrowed her brows. "You know what? I don't know. It wasn't something Bert cared about."
Aria - 09/27/2017
Seren nodded a little, then blinked and blushed. "Joy! We're still just friends you know! You're just as much his friend as I am" She wasn't actually sure about this, because things had been confusing lately, but she was in no way going to admit that right now.

She considered the second statement. "I'll have to ask, then." She nodded firmly. "Di really wants to know."
randonimity - 09/27/2017
See that expression on Joy's face? That arch of one brow and the upward quirk of her mouth? "Mmhmm, right. Friends~" and left it at that because this didn't seem to be the right time to push. The issue with eating golems though, "Best we ask that before letting the golem eat. I remember reading in the waiver that if we damage the things we pay outta pocket. And that s**t is super expense."
Aria - 09/27/2017
Seren's head drooped a little. "Yes, friends and as long as he wants it that way, that's how it's gonna be. I'm not going to push myself at him, and risk getting hurt again." She remembered the conversations with Joy when drink with more clarity then she'd expected or liked. Wasn't alcohol supposed to fog the memory? But it meant she knew what all she'd told Joy. She was just glad she'd had the restraint enough to not tell Joy about her back.

"Oh ******** yeah. No I'm not going to let Di eat, then, unless we know for sure. What money I'm getting is to go to my tat!"
randonimity - 09/27/2017
"I can try and ask Kai to consider taking payment in installments, not like any of us are going anywhere, right?" Joy laughed, gently ruffling Seren's hair. "And he's convinced me to, like, maybe do a little bit of a catering business. Well not catering-catering. More like if he's got peeps waiting for tats, I can sell some homemade food. Not a whole bunch because it just feels, I dunno, bad to make people pay for something I like doing for them."
Aria - 09/27/2017
"Hey. If I liked cooking for people more.. I like it for people I care about, so like you and Rhys and... I liked cooking for Kim..." Her face crumpled again at the thought that she'd never cook for Kim again, and she started to cry again. She'd managed to distract herself but this brought the whole reason Joy has come over back to her mind."
randonimity - 09/27/2017
"Then cook in honor of Kim," Joy said gently. "I know some people do the whole pouring a drink out for a loved one, it could be something like that." She didn't try to stop Seren from crying though, thinking how the younger woman could cry for both of them.
Aria - 09/27/2017
"Ye... Yeah. Maybe I'll... Make a meal to... To say good bye. If I can I'll try to get Terry to come. He needs... To grieve properly." She paused, then added "I haven't seen him since yesterday. Is he... Still in denial, do you know?"
randonimity - 09/27/2017
Joy's brows furrowed, "Terry's the black-haired tall dude right? I've seen him around but never met him properly. He Kim's boyfriend?" She'd never gotten around to talking with the other Sun much since Camp Lucy. Amidst the missions and chores, their schedules never really seemed to match up.
Aria - 09/27/2017
Seren ah'd at that. So Joy didn't really properly know him. "Yeah. Not quite Rhys tall, but tall enough. He was." She sounded like the words hurt a lot. "And he sounded like he didn't believe it when last I saw him. He was talking to her body like that would make her wake up." Her eyes closed. "I tried to.. Be as kind as I could but I refused to lie to him."
September 28, 2017
randonimity - 09/28/2017
"Oof, those are the hardest to deal with. Either he'll stick to his guns and continue to pretend it didn't happen, or he does the three Ds of something dumb, dramatic, and dangerous," Joy sighed. "I don't butt my nose in other people's business, usually," she added that because she totally does, "And I know people grieve their own way. But given the weird s**t we deal with, you probably should keep an eye on him. Or get someone to do that. Call me if you need extra muscle or something."
Aria - 09/28/2017
"I will do my best. I've only had a little contact with him, technically... One spar, and then a nice conversation after. I'm just not sure if he'll hate me for trying to make him see the truth." She closed her eyes, then added "I need to figure out if there's some kind of funeral or whatever it is they do here, too..." She had no idea. She'd have to go by Kim and Terry's room to find out how he was doing, too. God, she'd have to see it without Kim in there, making her strange dolls of people she cared about. She'd... Never get to have Kim make that doll of her, weird as it felt to know she'd have a doll of herself... Weird but nice because it was from a friend.
randonimity - 09/28/2017
"I don't think they hold funerals here. But if the whole Snow White-ing doesn't work the way Life peeps think it will, we'll just have to start figuring things out." Joy didn't know what you did to organize a funeral. She'd been to several, usually old relatives who finally gave up the ghost, and Lando's but that wasn't the same, was it?
Aria - 09/28/2017
"What do you mean about... Snow White-ing?" She didn't understand that comment at all. She looked at Joy, eyes wide. "And... yeah. That sounds like a plan. I want to give her a proper farewell, given the chance.
randonimity - 09/28/2017
"Well they got her in a pod right? For observation? Sure it's not a glass coffin but in a way those things look like coffins. Yesh she didn't die by poison apple. But Creation's a tree and where do apples come from?" Joy would mention the seven dwarves taking vigil and comparing that with Terry and his folding chair, but she wasn't sure if that was a Disney thing or if it was in the original. "Dunno how long she'll be kept in it before Life declares her officially-officially dead. That stuff's beyond my brain capacity."
Aria - 09/28/2017
Seren blinked, slowly, then said "Is... that what happened? I didn't know..." She was not at all used to the way the world worked here. "You mean... t hey think she might... be not really dead?" She was so very confused by this idea.
randonimity - 09/28/2017
Joy raised her arms along with her shoulders into a shrug, "******** if I know. Like I said, Life's got the brain peeps thinking away, being R&D and all. Maybe they know something we don't. Maybe they got a Lazarus Machine in the works and plan on using her as a sample. Although if I ever died, don't let them experiment on me. I'd want whatever it was that killed me to bring my corpse back home as a trophy."
Aria - 09/28/2017
"Mmmm... I wont let them experiment on you but... that's a sad thought, somehow." She sighed, softly, then blinked and said "What's a Lazarus machine, Joy?" She was leaning forwards, now, to rest her tired head on her knees, her eyes fixed on one of her star charts.
randonimity - 09/28/2017
"Eh something from this old movie called Casper. Had that girl who played Wednesday Addams and Devon Sawa. Anyway the movie has this dad who was an inventor scientist guy, obsessed with death and the whole unfinished business because his wife died leaving him to raise his daughter alone. Anyway he builds this machine that can bring you back from the dead, so he named it the Lazarus Machine. After Lazarus. Guy from the bible that Jesus brought back to life." Joy didn't mind chattering about movies she saw when she was younger. Or admitting "I only watched it for Devon Sawa but felt totally ripped off cuz he only appeared like at the ending for a few minutes."
Aria - 09/28/2017
Seren listened with a still confused expression on her face. She clearly didn't know the movie, or the actors. Or the Bible reference, for that matter. "I see." She said, though she clearly didn't. "So basically it's a way to bring people back from the dead. Got it."
randonimity - 09/28/2017
"Well when you put it like that, it makes it sound like I just wasted a lot of words." Joy laughed, and ignored the rare verbal acknowledge from Bert of You always waste words.

"I guess since you never heard of Lazarus, your religion is different?" Joy asked.
Aria - 09/28/2017
"Sorry? I just am not familiar with most of what you said. I don't know those actors or... anything, really." She sounded uncomfortable, because this had to do with how limited the experiences she had growing up were. "And... I never particularly had a religion. My parents went to church for the sake of appearances. I was... not welcome. I don't even know what I believe in."
randonimity - 09/28/2017
"Welcome to the club. Most of the religious stuff I have in my head got drilled into me from school. But I guess I was lucky that my family wasn't one of those crazy-strict types. We went to church on Sundays 'cuz it was just what everyone did and then we'd eat out for lunch or dinner." Joy leaned back, staring up at the ceiling but not really seeing it.

"Since Deus and Halloween and Horsemen though, it's kind of hard to still believe in religion. That maybe this life is all we get, unless we turn into a Halloweener or something. Wouldn't that be weird and freaky?"
Aria - 09/28/2017
"We... can turn into Halloweeners? Is that really a thing?" She sounded shocked, and maybe a little appalled by the idea. "That would be beyond weird and freaky. Possibly downright scary. I don't know how I'd handle that."

She looked down at the floor, then added "It might have been nice, though, to have some sort of faith. At least then there would have been a community I felt I was a part of."
randonimity - 09/28/2017
"I don't know if we could but zombies are real. Ghosts are real. And yeah not all ghosts used to be people but preeeeetty sure zombies were humans once upon a time." Joy had only ever met one zombie, at least one who seemed like they had sentience, "But maybe that's for regular humans. Maybe hunters have it lucky in that they just get to die?"

This time Joy's hand sought to grasp Seren's to give her a comforting, reassuring squeeze, "You might not have had it before but you got somewhere you belong to now."
Aria - 09/28/2017
Seren shuddered a lot at the idea of becoming a zombie. "That's a scary thought, to be honest..." She closed her eyes, working to compose her instinctive fear. "The idea of becoming something that might attack the ones I love after I die... I do not like that at all. Please make sure if... I go down... I am properly disposed of so that I can not?"

She clung a little to her friend/sister's hand, eyes closing in pain for a moment. "I... Yes. Yes I am. It's just hard, sometimes, to believe it's real."
randonimity - 09/28/2017
"I will do whatever I can to make sure you don't turn into anyone but Seren. Pretty sure I won't be the only one to have your back on that," still staring up at the ceiling, Joy couldn't help but smirk at her knowledge. She wasn't going to name names, especially when she left it vague enough to suggest a group of people instead of a specific individual.

"You've been awake only a couple of months, not even half a year. It's only normal to need more time to fully get into Deus life." She gave Seren's hand another reassuring squeeze.
Aria - 09/28/2017
Seren smiled, a little weakly, at that statement. "I am glad to hear it, Joy. I would never want to know that some form of me could hurt you or Rhys." The two people she was closest to here, the two people that mattered... Well, that were still alive. She liked Terry, she did, but she hadn't gotten to know him well. Despite meeting him first, she had known Kim far better.

"I suppose that makes sense. It's a weird place, and so different from the 'normal' world. It just is so different from what I knew, too, though."
randonimity - 09/28/2017
Had Joy been freshly woken, she would have made some naive song and dance thing about that not ever happening. But the fact of the matter was, it did, does, and will. Perhaps not to them, or perhaps not to them yet and Joy knew it would be a disservice to Seren to sugar coat and lie about other possibilities.

So she opted not to bring up the possibility of them falling prey to alternate lives, becoming someone else entirely, and wishing they could have stayed there. "Baby steps, Seren, the weirdness of our lives will become normal one day."
Aria - 09/28/2017
Seren gave a soft sight, and nodded quietly. "I'll get used to it, I am sure. It's just so much to take in, compared to what was." She hugged Joy again and added "Thank you for being here, helping make this strange new life more easy to cope with."
September 29, 2017
randonimity - 09/29/2017
"Anytime," she said with a smile, "I didn't go through anything quite as grim as you, but even I would have appreciated someone letting me know it's okay to not get the ropes so easily." It had been hard, which wasn't all that difficult for Joy to deal with. But it had mostly been lonely and that was what slowly ate at her.
Aria - 09/29/2017
Seren gave Joy a slightly fierce, and caring hug. "I wish I could have been there for you. But... At least I got you now, and you got me, yeah?" She might not know about how lonely Joy had been but she knew what it was like to be alone.
randonimity - 09/29/2017
"Yeah, mos def. Thank you," the Moon beamed, and she meant it. She wanted to have faith in Seren's promise of friendship and support. And while Bert was very clearly unimpressed, Joy felt no guilt in ignoring her weapon.
Aria - 09/29/2017
Seren hugged her more, then leaned into her friend. She spent the next hour leaning by her friend, before her exhaustion from not being able to sleep with her grief took over, and she feel asleep against Joy.