when things break bad...

[ldfsh]

Bad End AU Meme

Sometimes you want a fix-it AU. You want everyone to live, to be happy, to find love, so on and so forth. You want the bad guy to lose early, for victory and triumph. Those are great things. Those are happy things. But sometimes terrible things happen to good people and you want to get catharsis through making some characters suffer. We understand. We really do. Sometimes no one wins. Sometimes the villain wins. Sometimes even if the heroes win everything is for naught. Sometimes, things just don't end happily.

• Top level your character. Include any details you might think are relevant. Or don't. As always, we're not the cops.
  
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• Have fun!

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[helpdesk_hero]

Equals, huh? The Viera considers that.

"Yes, as you say," he says at last as he walks with Balthier. "I shall still set up the tent, if you wish."

He had gotten very good with that. Cooking was also something he was happy to do, but being invited to dinner meant that he couldn't really take that task tonight.

[portolan]

"What do you wish? I'm not quite as much of an invalid as I was," he says with a small smile. "I'm happy to help, or to leave you to it."

He's not entirely comfortable with David doing as much of the work as he does, even if he knows he has to heal before he takes on more. It's good someone else is cooking tonight, and that he could help with the books.

[helpdesk_hero]

"I wish to look at the books," he admits a bit shyly. But he's supposed to be pulling his weight. And that means doing work.

[portolan]

"I'll set up tonight, then." So they wander back, and he leaves David to it while he sets things up. He's a little slow, but not unskilled, and when he's done he comes to perch near David. "So? How is it? What new wonders have you learned?"

[helpdesk_hero]

Well that's kind of him, to do this for David. The Viera sits contentedly near the tent area, already flipping through the first book. The fictional one. The one he didn't know was fiction. When Balthier came over David's face lit up.

"I am reading the history of a sky pirate adventurer, in a quest to find a tome which would prove his heritage as a prince."

[portolan]

Balthier glances at the title. "That was one of my favorite stories when I was younger. A lot of the locations have historical links yes." He pauses, trying to remember if Fran ever talked about reading. She was private, and had been out in the world already when he'd met her. "This one isn't a history, though I desperately wanted it to be."

[helpdesk_hero]

Wait, what? David's ears twitched and straightened more, shocked. This definitely seemed like a shock to him.

"This is not correct history?"

[portolan]

Oh dear.

"Are you familiar with the concept of fiction?"

His tone is patient and casual, careful not to draw too much attention to the mistaken understanding.

[helpdesk_hero]

David considered him with a tilt of his head.

"Like tales told to children as lessons?"

[portolan]

Balthier settles in beside him, partly expecting this may become a long conversation, partly more tired from pitching the tent than he really feels he ought to be.

"They are in that category, yes. Anything where the actual people and events didn't literally happen, but there's a truth to them, either emotionally or in custom, though with some embellishment to make their points clearer. Myths, legends, children's tales all fit in. Most theater. Novels like these."

[helpdesk_hero]

With Balthier close, David shifts so that it's easier for the man to relax. He doesn't want Balthier to have to move after all.

"I hadn't seen things like this before. How interesting."

[portolan]

"I quite enjoy them," Balthier agrees. "They always reminded me that while the truth exists, it can be bent and applied -- we can carve our own paths."

Which....maybe he's starting to believe again.

[helpdesk_hero]

Well, that's interesting. David looks to the book in his hands again.

"And what of those of us who do not wish to carve our own paths?"

[portolan]

Balthier considers that. Once, he would have dismissed anyone who trusted their path wholeheartedly, but lately, it was something he admired. Something he wondered if he'd ever reach.

"I think there's value to understanding the paths of others, and affirming the one you're on. Following a path is as much a choice as deviating."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I must determine what to do then," he said with a sigh, folding his hands over the book. If only he knew what to do with himself other than following Balthier. "There is a lot I am uncertain of."

[portolan]

Balthier lets out a sigh of his own, and honestly, it's nice to just -- have someone to talk to. "That makes two of us," he assures David. "Gathering information, sorting through options, sorting through what you even want...it takes time. And it always feels like being lost."

[helpdesk_hero]

"So this feeling lost is not... bad?"

BEcause he feels bad about it. As bad as he can. He feels like he's stumbling through everything.

[portolan]

"It feels bad," Balthier admits. "Every time. But -- it's necessary. It's always when I collect myself, get back in touch with things, reset my compass. So no. I don't think it's bad."

And he hopes that's comforting. Because he can only imagine how hard this is the first time, with so much upheaval.

[helpdesk_hero]

The Viera goes quiet, because it makes sense. And he has to think about all of this. It is quite a bit that he has to process. And this is best done quietly. Until, that is, he has a question.

"Have you reset your compass?"

[portolan]

Balthier is no stranger to Fran falling into silent thought, so he doesn't think much of it, other than a dull ache at her absence. His own mind is chewing through his words, clearer to him for having said it to someone else.

"Not yet," he admits. "I think it's going to take awhile. But -- I do think, for now, it has something to do with helping you adjust. And I'm grateful for that."

[helpdesk_hero]

Helping him adjust was recalibrating the compass? How interesting. He had not expected to hear that, at all. But he supposed he wasn't going to argue with it.

"I hope that I have not made myself a burden to you."

[portolan]

Balthier lets out a low laugh at that. "I could say the same to you, though objectively I have certainly been one."

[helpdesk_hero]

"You have not," David insists, reaching out to touch the other man's knee. But it was not as simple as that he supposed.

"You have guided me in new ways."

[portolan]

The gesture is extremely welcome, even if he doesn't show it past a smile. He's had so little touch these past months.

"Then you understand why you are not a burden to me either."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I am not as certain of this, but I will accept it," he decides with a nod before putting his book aside. "Should we seek these hosts of yours?"