IC Contact Post

[pale_blue_arrow]

This is Brendan Frye. If it's urgent, you might have a better chance o' tracking me down on foot. If I'm not answering, chances are I've gotten in over my head with something, not that I'm refusin' to give you the time of day. So leave me some words and I'll get back to you as soon as I don't have a fire to put out.

Comments

text;

[codeoracle]

[It doesn't take long to look Brendan up following this conversation with Yusuke. She needs to know what she's working against here.]

Brendan, right? We need to talk.

text;

[pale_blue_arrow]

not interested. if yusuke thinks he can send in his friends to fix his fuck ups, he's in for a rude awakening.

[codeoracle]

I've known him longer, I know what he looks like in battle...and something in that video is off. I wouldn't be here if I didn't honestly have reason to think someone is setting him up.

Believe me now or don't, I want to know what proof would convince you and what kind of deadline you're willing to give. I'll work on your terms.

[pale_blue_arrow]

I'm doing my own investigation. If he's innocent, I'll drop it. If he's guilty, there's serious mental health issues at play and he needs help, which he won't get with you covering for him. If he's being framed, then our last traceable contact with each other needs to be him being angry at me so I can go after whoever is setting him up without them connecting it to him.

None of these options benefit from your help. Run your own ops, dig where you can, and keep away from me.

[codeoracle]

look. I don't "cover" for people.

You want me to keep to my side? Fine. But...your proof of his guilt better be definitive. You leave holes and I'll end up finding what's hiding in them.

[pale_blue_arrow]

Go for it. I don't do things by halves. When I've found people guilty, I compile avalanches of evidence. You wanna dig through the rubble, be my guest. Though with his Persona tearing up Heropa that was shitty word choice on my part, huh?

[What's life without joking about your friend's spirit manifestation thing trying to kill you in cold blood?]

[codeoracle]

[What is life without such jokes indeed.]

I know what they apparently did, Yusuke shared the story you gave. Persona...we don't use them that way. We're not meant to anyway.

If he is really, truly guilty I can't stop the consequences and I won't try to. But until that guilt is proven...I can't believe it's him that did this, I'll be looking for an imposter.




That said. Helpful tip if you run into whoever this really is and he tries to go after you again? Try fire, it's your best defense.

[pale_blue_arrow]

Duly noted. I'd normally point out the level of property damage that could cause but after Heropa, at this point there's no ramping that up.

All that said... if he IS guilty, make sure he gets good help? Real help, not just whatever the justice system here can spare. Actual psychologists with good track records for success + whatever else he needs. I want him to be okay.

[codeoracle]

Fire can be controlled under the right circumstances...That probably wouldn't be one of them.

IF he is guilty...I wouldn't want to do anything less than that. I owe Yusuke a lot...I want him to be okay too. That's why I'm even here. Our friends have been framed before; I don't want that happening again...

[pale_blue_arrow]

well, great. whether it is or isn't him, don't let him know if he kills me, tell him i'm sleeping it off. my healing factor is boosted by sleep, he'll buy that. and it'll fuck up his emotions less if he thinks i'm okay.

i hope this is a framing. but i've learned people can turn out to be worse or more complicated than anyone ever could have predicted. if this isn't a framing he needs help. which is where i could come in. wipe away some evidence of more lethal moments, keep him from a permanent lock-up situation. but on the off chance i get offed by him or his imposter, it's better for everybody involved if he hates me so he doesn't get too worked up about it.

[Brendan logic: Yusuke's feelings are more important than Brendan's life. Because why wouldn't they be?]

[codeoracle]

That's...not how things work with Yusuke. Making him hate you isn't going to really help anything. Trust me, he'll get worked up about something happening to you regardless. Framing or not, hating you or not.

And you better not end up dead. I don't even know you and that would piss me off.

[pale_blue_arrow]

me ending up dead is always my ace in the hole in these sort of situations. especially if i can take the imposter out with me. yusuke will be a lot safer that way, his name will be cleared and nobody important dies.

besides i may have already died back home - not a doctor, can't confirm/deny that - and going off that it does not suck as much as you've been told. the pain sort of stops once you lose enough blood, it's fine.

[codeoracle]

I just want to say, as someone that had that as an ace in the hole, it's a terrible plan. I can't stop you, but it's a terrible plan.

Kind of...knew that.

[Kind of hard not to realize that the pain doesn't stick when you watch your own mother walk into traffic, but you know.]

It's the pain you can leave behind that really sucks.

[pale_blue_arrow]

terrible doesn't matter. results matter. if i can keep people safe with a terrible plan, then it's good enough for me.

thankfully most people actively loathe me and the ones that don't go that direction eventually so there's not much risk of the whole pain thing.

[codeoracle]

the loss of someone can still hurt even if you don't actively like them at the time. or after the fact. or ever...really.

someone might even feel guilty for it. that's...it's not an easy feeling to live with.

[pale_blue_arrow]

death here isn't permanent. and even if it was, i have more people waiting for me on the other side than i do here. besides, in case you haven't noticed, i've fucked up this whole living thing pretty hard.

just focus on yusuke. i'm a black hole you don't wanna get sucked into. you seem nice. you deserve better.

[codeoracle]

doesn't make it any better knowing you'd come back you know. you can't fix mistakes but you can become better because of them...

i can stop bothering you...but you might want to consider that you deserve better than what you've been given too.

[It's after this point she will stop responding. She has too many people around her spiraling.]