(no subject)

[theyregooddogs]

Who: Doctors in training and the curious
Where: Clinic
When: Day 123, 7AM Sharp

[Well, whatever way the winds blow on combat in the cooliseum or combat over the next upgrade, someone has decided to be prepared. If more wildlife comes to Imeeji, there could also be some severe reactions to it. So, the lesson for the day is allergies, from the banal to the lethal, including how to do a basic level allergy test. Sorry, it's for skin only; John is not ready to teach anyone how to work with any of the laboratory gear he has amassed for blood tests. There are practice and real epipens for students who want to be prepared . . . ]

[Or you could just gossip after class about why did John have to show that many gruesome pictures of rashes, hives, and sores?]

[[This was announced on Dissonance for anyone to poke their head in and learn something, like all first aid classes. There are some more classes over here, since I fell behind.]]

Comments

[sancrimony]

[ he is uncomfortable honestly but he's also leaning into it, letting himself get used to it. ]

I wouldn't call them complaints. At least, none of them were directed to me. Somehow, it's still frustrating, though.

[ with a pause ]

Might I ask about your own circumstances, or would that be out of bounds?

[theyregooddogs]

It's denying what made you you. In essence, denying you.

You can ask, but I don't have any answers. As much as I can guess, I was an estranged child living in unstable conditions with one of my parents. Nothing as grand as a divine savior of the suffering people.

[sancrimony]

[ the whiplash of hearing something oddly comforting like - denying what made you you, and then the name of divine savior isn't particularly obvious to other people, but maybe john can see how he stops to the words, a soft sort of tentative attempt to accept the words like they're comfort -

and then the slightest press of his lips to the title, not irritation but a welling bitterness, resentment pointed inward ]

. . . I see. You aren't a fan of taking memories, then?

[theyregooddogs]

There is no purpose in them, except to create more suffering. Only began taking them when I switched units to keep my distance.

[sancrimony]

[ damn.

with a wry smile - it isn't anything like judgment but rather a subconscious feeling of jealousy and a conscious appreciation of john's wisdom, though he'd never cop to feeling jealous. it isn't something he's deserving of, after all - and oh, that only makes the bitter taste in his mouth sharper. ]

. . . Suffering due to longing for a place that you once knew, or suffering in another way?

[ with a pause ]

Aaah. Just what about that changed your mind?

[theyregooddogs]

In that and other ways. Seeing who you were and who you've become and being resentful of it, struggling to decide where to go and what to do, despairing over not knowing how good even the most banal day was . . . All of it.

And it's what I said, Lucifel. There wasn't suffering in it, anymore.

[sancrimony]

I see - that's good, then, that there isn't. And, I think you're wiser than most here, for that line of thought. Intensity-sama holds a similar opinion, I believe.

[theyregooddogs]

[small huff]

Not wiser or dumber, just the exception. Would have liked to have better company, though.

[sancrimony]

I don't think there's anyone else who is better company than Intensity-sama.

[ this is

genuinely

genuinely

not sarcasm.

this is real.

he has real admiration for intensity.

he loves this man to death. ]

[theyregooddogs]

Yeah, don't really take to the overly narcissistic types. Only mild ones.

[sancrimony]

Mild - like who?

[theyregooddogs]

[slight snort]

Sure. Let's try. —Like Whisky.

1/2

[sancrimony]

- Ah!

[sancrimony]

Certainly, he is wonderful!

[ whatever residual bitterness was in his body language is instantaneously melted for whisky love. sheer, unabashed radiating love and joy for this man ]

So "narcissistic" is "confident", then - ? I must say I don't know the word very well!

[theyregooddogs]

He thinks he's better than any other. In very select aspects.

[sancrimony]

. . . Ah, so Intensity-sama is intolerable because he thinks he is better than any other in all or most aspects?

[theyregooddogs]

Somewhat. But more because he can't be trusted. Too selfish, too narrow in his view.

[sancrimony]

. . . Is that so? Though that's not the impression I have of him . . .

[theyregooddogs]

[holding back his sarcasm]

And? Be strange if you did have the same impression of him as me.

[sancrimony]

I think it's stranger to not pick up on something like that -

Then again, I must admit my own view is always too narrow. More and more, I learn that I'm not seeing the forest for the trees, and though I re-evaluate my own perspective, it's still not enough . . .

[ it isn't enough to think, "save just these few people". it isn't enough to think, "save every human, including those who would wrong you", either. because there are those who aren't human, too - so his salvation needs to reach them, too. ]

As someone whose views were broadened by him, it's difficult to think of him as narrow-minded. But, two narrow minds does not mean that one cannot be widened by the other, I suppose.

[theyregooddogs]

[slowly, carefully selecting what to share]

. . . You two share some qualities, not hard to be blind to them. Most people are not capable of authentically seeing themselves. From an external perspective, at least.

[sancrimony]

[ taking that pretty easily with a laugh ]

Mm, indeed! I would say that, of everyone in this place, he might be one of the few who really understand me. I'm sure that bias of mine is blinding, too!

[theyregooddogs]

Not so strange, then . . .

[sancrimony]

Mm, it isn't.

I'm a little surprised, though. I think . . . it's speaking rather poorly of him to compare him to me, though I don't think that was your intention by any means. Rather -

To most people, I think we seem quite different?

[theyregooddogs]

I said, some, not all. The qualities you don't share might be more distinctive to other people. A little more attention grabbing than what you have in common.