PC CATCHALL WITH NERO

[greatdeduction]

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[perfectdistance]

[There is something fucked up about that, but Nero can't really make him feel any better.

He lets it go.]

...

[Maybe it's just because of what he saw in the miasma and some prodding from others.]

I told him to stop comin' back almost dead. Didn't listen to me at all.

[greatdeduction]

[Yeah, great detectives are messed up! Who would've thought!]\

...Oh. [And a sad sort of frown.] That would take a toll, yes.

[perfectdistance]

[we need a therapist so bad]

Watched him do it for hundreds of years.

I couldn't take it anymore.

[greatdeduction]

Hundreds of years...?

[Wow.]

I don't blame you, quite honestly.

[perfectdistance]

I had to watch him die down there in the miasma.

'n I know it ain't really him but... it's still my worst nightmare come to life.

[greatdeduction]

...

[His expression darkens.]

This place sees fit to mentally tear us down. It is easy to say it isn't real. But it feels real, all the same.

[perfectdistance]

Brad's not that stupid. His weapon is a rifle, he'd never run straight into a monster. He knows damn well how to keep distance.

[It wasn't him.

The hurt is real, but it wasn't him.]

[greatdeduction]

...You have to keep telling yourself that. The senses may be fooled.

The heart can't be.

[perfectdistance]

The heart, huh?

[Nero doesn't even know if he loves him anymore. But he certainly doesn't want him to die.]

He's not here anyway. It can't be real.

[But the warmth of his voice, the pride in his eyes-

...

Bradley shouldn't look at him like that.]

[greatdeduction]

It isn't.

Keep the mind of the real thing in your mind, and...keep that, over anything else. [A sigh.] And if it pains you, then put him in the back of your mind, and focus on the road ahead.

[...]

I did that for ten years. Letters were only so much. But even that was enough, some days.

[perfectdistance]

[Put the thought of him away. Because it hurts, because Nero was the one who made it hurt-]

I did that for a century, 'n he showed back up one day. Real good at bein' inconvenient.

[greatdeduction]

Oh, goodness. He tracked you down?

[perfectdistance]

Neither of us meant to. Some shit happened and now we're stuck in each other's lives 'til one of us dies.

[greatdeduction]

...What?

[HUH]

Is this...a wizard thing?

[perfectdistance]

[ SIGHS HEAVILY. ]

You've seen the mark on my arm. I'm a Sage's Wizard, and so is he.

And we're stuck like that until we die and somebody else has to replace us.

[greatdeduction]

...

[WHAT IS THIS. MAGICAL BINDING MARRIAGE THING]

So you're fully and totally bound to one another? There's really no way to break it besides...death?

[perfectdistance]

[NERO MADE IT SOUND THAT WAY. BY ACCIDENT.]

We're stuck with the responsibility of stoppin' the moon from destroyin' the world.

There's no getting out of it.

[greatdeduction]

[what the hell]

The. Moon.

[perfectdistance]

The Great Calamity is the moon.

[greatdeduction]

So it's...going to crash into your world? Is that the calamity?

[perfectdistance]

[i DESPERATELY WISH I KNEW. MHYK WHY WON'T YOU EXPLAIN THE MOON THING.]

We fight it back every year, but the after effects can get weird. Like bringing old curses back to the present.

[greatdeduction]

[EXPLAIN YOUR MOON, MHYK]

Old curses...it sounds like quite the threat. There's no way to just destroy the thing?

[perfectdistance]

The whole moon?

No. Would be easier if we could.

[greatdeduction]

There's no "exploding the moon" spell, I suppose. That would be rather simple.

[perfectdistance]

There isn't.

Otherwise we wouldn't be dealin' with it for thousands of years.