Phoenix Catch-All

[burningrescue]

Comments

[slobjection]

[ yes... phoenix is in the kitchen, collecting pudding cups. ]

[ when he sees galo, he offers one. ]

[burningrescue]

Oh! Hey, thanks!

[Yes, he's also a dumb child, so he takes one happily and rips the lid off! He doesn't have a spoon! Just get a spoon, Galo. No, he takes a lick with his finger.]

[slobjection]

[ well he was going to give him a spoon but then galo did that so. it's fine. ]

Enjoy.

[burningrescue]

[Nodding! Thanks, dad.]

Hey, can I ask something? [He's going to just ask anyway.] Why'd you choose to tell the people you told? About Melt?

[slobjection]

[ a very serious conversation with galo licking pudding off of his fingers. ]

Figured they'd be good people to know that wouldn't do anything rash.

..... But I didn't realize Lio was even more rash than you.

[burningrescue]

Hah. Me and Lio aren't even the rash ones. Was it you who told Brilith?

[slobjection]

Nope.

But it wasn't just me who knew about it.

[burningrescue]

Yeah. Well, you're smart. I know you had your reasons for picking people. And I'm not mad you didn't tell me! I just think - somebody should've told Toi, y'know?

[slobjection]

[ maybe if francia tagged me!!!!! ]

Probably.

[ he does feel bad about it but he's not going to express that bc he's a shitty hobo who was having traumatic kristoph flashbacks. ]

[burningrescue]

Next time, we have to do better. We can't just let it spread around as a secret that just about everybody knows. We have to be able to trust each other.

[Crossing his arms.]

If there's a fire in a building, and you want to make sure there's no panic, you don't only tell some people about the fire. You tell everyone! And then you make sure everyone knows that someone is there to keep them safe. That's what I think.

[slobjection]

We should probably make it our aim to make sure there isn't a "next time"..

[burningrescue]

[That comment just makes him annoyed. He scowls, defensive.]

I know that. But you should take me seriously! I might not know a lot about anything besides fighting fires, but I'm pretty sure what I do know is worth more than a ton of people's smart strategy.

[slobjection]

[ galo: take me seriously! ]
[ phoenix: no. ]

[ there's a pause. ]

.....

There's a flaw in your logic, Galo. Fires don't kill people in secret. A fire won't react vengefully if you warn people against it. And you can guarantee safety from the fire. There are no guarantees here other than murder.

[burningrescue]

[Look. That's all he wants! He just wants daddy to respect him??? I hate what I typed.]

Yeah, I guess. Maybe. But everyone found out about Melt anyway.

[slobjection]

[ siz don't curse me like this. ]

And Babo Kim went off and killed her anyway, despite our efforts.

[burningrescue]

Yep. Exactly. So. . . I don't know. I don't even know if he was wrong to do that! Not that I'm planning to go around murdering people, but. He's not wrong that we didn't stop Melt, and she would've killed somebody else if not for what he did!

[slobjection]

We could have tried another way first. We had a plan.

[ to like, actually save her from the monster. phoenix is showing his hand a little but he's also like severely sleep deprived. so galo can enjoy the like two seconds of him dropping his nonsense and being real. it'll probably never happen again. ]

... It doesn't matter now anyway.

[burningrescue]

[He does enjoy the two seconds of him dropping his nonsense. It's hard to tell what Phoenix actually thinks is important. Apparently not murdering is one of them. He shakes his head.]

It still matters. Because there's still a chance it might happen again. If we're going to say that Babo Kim made the wrong choice, we'd better have our own plan that's better.

[slobjection]

Can't say it was the wrong choice. But we'll have to act quicker if it happens again.

[ ok the bullshit is slowly returning. ]

[burningrescue]

[Nodding.]

Next time, we'll be ready, right?

[slobjection]

Something like that.

[ now back to your regularly scheduled hobo ]