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[Hmm. He considers that, returning with two steaming cups if whatever-the-fuck, and setting one down for Yuri.]

You're still there, though. Even if it doesn't work out every time.

[Alright, finally sitting down for good, and he's glancing down.]

He might be really embarrassed. Or worry that people are gonna think he's gross or broken or something. [A shake of the head.]

A friend of mine back home, Colette-- she had to deal with a lot of stuff like that. Losing parts of her humanity... and then later when she got sick, and her skin started crystalling over. She hid it for so long, and when we finally saw she panicked, taking about how gross it was, but...

[Eyes dip down at that for a moment-- but then, nope, he's looking back up, intent as ever.]

No matter what happens to him, it's the same as Colette. She's still herself. She never asked for those things to happen to her, and they never changed who she was. Flynn's still Flynn. He just might need you to remind him of it. That you don't think he's weird or anything.

I know that.

[It comes out a little sharper than he intends, not necessarily out of any real irritation at Lloyd, but because he's still sort of raw about the whole thing. But part of it, too, is that the story about Colette reminds him of Estelle. She's never far from his thoughts, even here.

He sighs, rubs a hand over his face, and reels that back. They're going to have a talk now, so he follows Lloyd's lead and sits. He's been having a lot of talks the last week, huh?]

I know he's still Flynn. Even if those changes are permanent, it doesn't matter. He's still my best friend.

[And maybe at this point he should admit to himself that the term best friend is doing a lot of work in terms of what Flynn means to him, and it has been for a while. Everyone else they're befriending here has certainly seemed to pick up on it.]

I'll make sure he knows, no matter how much I need to remind him.

[It just didn't seem fair to push that conversation when they'd already talked about so many other things they'd been avoiding, and when Flynn had been so exhausted. But he gets the point—don't let it slip.]

[Yuri snaps, and just for a moment there's a shadow over Lloyd's expression- a lip twitching up, a fang half-flexing down. But it fades just as quickly as Yuri's irritation had, and he busies himself with looking down at his drink for an embarrassed moment as Yuri sighs.]

...Sorry. I guess it feels a bit personal to me. More because of Colette than... this stuff. [A gesture with a scaly hand. Whatever bro.]

I guess I just don't want him feeling like she did. Especially when it's kind of my fault. [Would it have happened anyway if they weren't trying to corral Lloyd? He's not sure.]

And I don't really know him well enough to try. So... thanks.

[Not... that this is easy for any of them. And it's only after he says this that he thinks he might be putting too much on Yuri. It's such a hard balancing act.]

But if you need help, too, let us know? Flynn or me or-- anyone else. Keeping everything together for everyone can't be easy.

It's not your fault.

[The masks might have failed anyway, it's true. Or it might have happened another time, on another trip. The whys don't really matter, do they?]

We have a friend back home like that, too. Her powers are unique, and they can be dangerous. Someone ancient called her an "insipid poison", and it got into her head. Whenever she slipped up after that, she thought it was just proof, like she was a curse, but she was wrong. Everything that happens to us outside of our control, it doesn't have any bearing on who we are. The choices we make do. You went into the incense because you wanted to help. Maybe in a perfect world you would have known it was a bad call with your curse, but you're doing the best you can like the rest of us. None of us are going to hold an honest mistake against you, Lloyd.

[Yeah, okay, maybe he's skating past Lloyd's "keeping things together for everyone can't be easy" comment, but he genuinely thinks Lloyd needs to hear this, too.]

[He glances up as Yuri recounts Estelle and her difficulties. And while different, they do sound similar, don't they? Insipid Poison, Forsaken Chosen. Both cruel titles thrown to people who didn't deserve it, to do nothing but shake their faith. As different as their worlds all are, people really are similar throughout them all, huh? Everyone just wants to do what they think is their best.

His hand clamp down tighter on his own cup, and he just--nods. Not gonna get stupid emotional, he had enough of that this morning. But there's probably still some misty eyes happening, anyway.]

--Yeah. You're right.

[It doesn't feel like anything is okay, but that does help feel like maybe he could be. If it's a mistake that can be corrected, then correct it. Just be careful of the ones that can't be. That's what Kratos had sort of said, right? Right before betraying them, sure, but-- maybe that means it was the most honest.]

Yeah, okay. Just like Colette and Estelle. I guess that means we gotta really believe it for us, too.

[Because otherwise they would have lied to their friends, right? You believe something or you don't. And if he said all those things to Colette, it means he has to believe it for himself, too.]

Yeah, we do.

[And maybe Yuri is a bit more willing to say things to other people he doesn't believe for himself, but that's neither here nor there.]

Tell us if you need anything. Be honest. We want to help.

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