[IC] Day 37, very late evening

[thexfactor]

[ knocking on Epona's door ]

Comments

[thexfactor]

[ laughs softly ]

I wish I could do the same.

[grandstanding]

No. You really don't.

[thexfactor]

Maybe not really, no. But I wouldn't mind some simplicity.

[grandstanding]

That sort of thing is why I try to get out of Epona on my own sometimes.

[thexfactor]

I do that anyway, but my team . . . as you already know, has a tough time on their own.

[grandstanding]

[he sighs]

There are too many children here for them to cope well on their own.

[thexfactor]

That's true.

[grandstanding]

Not that we always do much better.

[thexfactor]

No, but the children being here makes it worse.

[grandstanding]

I wonder if younger souls are more resilient, somehow. Easier to retrieve from the void.

[refilling their glasses]

[thexfactor]

There's no way to know for sure.

[grandstanding]

Of course not.

[thexfactor]

All we know that is we're here and we make the most of it.

Though . . . what the teams did. For us, for themselves. As terrible as it was, there are good people here.

[grandstanding]

[... sips his drink]

[thexfactor]

It matters.

[grandstanding]

I know.

[thexfactor]

[ taking a sip now ]

[grandstanding]

[yeah]

[thexfactor]

[ deep thoughts, I know ]

[grandstanding]

[there's been such a shortage of them today]

[thexfactor]

Still, I hope it never happens again.

[grandstanding]

I think we all hope that.

[thexfactor]

Yes. I know.

[grandstanding]

But we'll need to be prepared if it does.

[thexfactor]

How?