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And what happens when you lose consciousness from a head injury? Did he smash your head in? Or blood loss, how's your skin tone looking? Anything aching in your torso, abdomen?

[ He just effortlessly starts listing. ]

Not even magic can heal everything. Wanna know how it feels to have an injury aggravate, lose feeling in parts of your body? And of course, potential organ failure from internal injuries. All this and more is possible if you don't get yourself fucking checked out.

[You know, this catches him off guard. He wasn't expecting any level of expertise from Alex, but there he goes rattling off a fairly comprehensive list of potential complications like he's seen it all before.

After a long moment, he sighs.]

You seem to be laboring under the impression that I'm unfamiliar with being injured or in pain.

During the war, they sent us to Manchuria in the dead of winter. We were stuck in the trenches between freezing winds and Russian howitzers. I can't count how many times I swore I wasn't going to be able to reload my rifle because my fingers were so numb.

After the war, during the incident in which I broke my jaw I also broke my arm and almost died of hypothermia. I believe I was in the hospital for three weeks, I don't remember all of it.

I'm not refusing your help because I don't understand the situation. I'm refusing it because I'm not so desperate that the only option I have is to rely on someone like you.
[It's... mostly true. He should probably ask someone for help, at this point. But not Alex. It cannot be Alex. That's just too incorrect for him to bear.]

[ All while Ogata speaks, there's the sound of noise. Alex hasn't stopped moving. There's nothing else he can do, after all. ]

With how fuckin' cavalier you're being about all this? You coulda fooled me. Where're your other options, then? How're you going to get yourself a cleric if you're locked up?

[He doesn't know. He's still not fully willing to admit he needs a cleric, such is his pride, but the rational part of his brain (shockingly, it does exist) knows he does. He doesn't know what classes people have. He knows some that have magic, but not what kind. Still, surely it would be easier to lower himself to asking someone else that wasn't Alex.

Granted, he wouldn't have to ask anyone for help if he just let Alex do whatever he's doing. But it just feels wrong. He doesn't want to owe his thanks to this boy. But he's not going to be talked out of it by normal means. He needs to try another tact.]

You know.
[Slowly, methodically.]

If someone wanted to kill you, feigning injury to lure you in and then striking while you're distracted would be an excellent way to do it. You already proved how gullible you are with that entire "Monica Bellucci" incident, wasn't it?

Edited 2019-10-21 21:37 (UTC)

[ It's a good thing Ogata can't see him right now, the way his mouth thins and jaw juts out. For a moment, he wants to lash back. ]

That's not-- [ That's not the same thing. But- he can't. Arguing with this guy, like that... No. He has to be smart about this. ]

But you can't kill me. [ Through gritted teeth. ] We've been over this. Will's prevented it.

[Good. Get mad!!! Suffer for the choice you are making!!!!]

I can't kill you if I'm unwilling to break the contract I have with him. Maybe I've decided I don't care about that anymore. Can you really be sure? Aren't I a wholly untrustworthy, monstruous person?

[He makes a sound that starts as a laugh, but shifts into a groan as the action sends a sharp pain through his side.]

[ He considers it. For a moment, he considers. But- ]

...Yeah. Good job fakin' the way you sound like hell warmed over. I don't trust you, not one bit. But that doesn't mean you deserve to die, so shut up, stop being a whiny baby, and deal with it.

[Damn. This is why he'd gone with text earlier!

There's a long pause where it seems like maybe Ogata's run out of arguments and has resigned himself to what's happening. But then;]

... What do you expect from me in return.
[He refuses to Owe Alex One, and he's sure not accepting help without establishing terms.]

[ That stops him in confusion. ]

Wh... Nothing. Except not for you to, you know, not die. I don't want anything from you.

... That's stupid. You're stupid and I don't believe you.
[He had this conversation with Michael already but hey, Michael's not human so it was excuseable. But here? Come on.]

You know how the world works, right? No one gets something for nothing. You should drill that into your head while you're still young.

Well, believe me. I know how the world works, but I'm not gonna make a guy who's clearly got some damage going on do something for a...for keeping him alive.

That's basic. That's literally the baseline of human decency.

[Ogata groans, though it's unclear if it's in pain or at the words coming out of Alex's mouth. Possibly it's both.]

There's nothing decent about human beings. People dress it up all sorts of ways but when it comes down to it, if you don't have something people want, they're not going to even bother giving you the time of day. Whether it's a skill, money, connections, or just a warm body they can throw against the wall or into a trench...
[Another groan, and a heavy noise as Ogata leans back against the wall of his cell. He's rambling now, and he wouldn't normally lay all this out there so forthrightly, but his mind is starting to unravel and he's very tired.]

All this naivete is going to get you is an early grave, Alex.

I already got one. Not just from you.

[ ...This guy needs help. He really needs help. Alex practically jogs, he needs to- he needs to take someone with him, Lion, maybe- ]

Maybe that's how you've seen the world. Maybe you've had a pretty shitty life. But I'm not ready to throw away the idea that if you can help someone, you should. I won't give up on the world.

[ Even if it gives up on him. ]

[Ogata makes a mental note to bother Alex about that first fucking statement later because hm what the fuck. Another person who's supposed to be dead like Mia Fey? Maybe.

Again, he's quiet for a long moment, aside from slightly, increasingly labored breathing.]

Why?
[Finally, simply.]

[ That's a wonderful question. And yet, Alex has an answer almost immediately. ]

'Cause I've seen way too much death already. And I'm ready to fucking do something about it.

[ A heavy sigh. ]

Now, if you'll excuse me... I'm gonna make sure you don't keel over.

[The shitty part of Ogata’s brain considers giving up and actively trying to keel over and die at that. Just to be spiteful. But despite all he says he does really want to die.

Maybe some small part of him doesn’t hate what Alex is saying. Either way, he doesn’t respond further. Just leaves Alex to run around and figure out how he’s going to help. Much later, after some chaos and arrests, Dr. Tank is finally summoned to the brig and takes care of business. He comes out looking irritated, but hands Alex a folded piece of paper before he heads back to the Medbay. Though it came from the good doctor, the message clearly isn’t from him. In neat, tiny handwriting where the letters are so narrow that some of them are hard to read;]

I suppose you did something about it.
[A thanks, in a way. As close as one could possibly expect from Ogata.]

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