burningrescue | Ayabe Catchall

And if you'd gotten hurt, or died? You don't run into a burning building without proper equipment or training- there's a greater chance you will die than make it out and...

[ He shakes his head before he goes into full blown lecture mode. He wants to, but he's sure plenty of people have yelled at him for it. If they haven't, they should have, and what he's said so far is a good enough start. ]

Are you that lucky, Galo? Confident? [ Stupid? ] That you would gamble with your life?

Whoa.

[He wasn't expecting Ayabe to scold him? He has been yelled at, but each new person is kind of a surprise. He folds his arms, defensive.]

That's how I've always lived my life. No holding back. And I'm still standing, ain't I?

For how much longer?

[ He's in no position to scold people and he knows it, but it's still frustrating. He takes a step back from Galo, eyes to the ground and arms around himself. ]

...Sorry. This is probably why you're qualified for the job you do. [ Self-sacrificing, bravery, unhesitating. Ayabe wouldn't be able to do that sort of thing. ]

I just don't want any more injuries or deaths that could have been prevented.

Mm.

[He stops and listens because, well. Actually, he's pretty reckless even by the standard of his co-workers. He's lectured for that all the time.

So. Serious answer time. He takes a breath.]

I guess you can say I do feel like I'm that confident or that lucky. I've always survived anything that's been thrown at me. So every time things come to a point where maybe I should slow down or hold back, well. If it's pointless, it's pointless. But if it could help someone else, shouldn't I go for it? At least if I never hold back, I'll never have to regret not giving it my all.

Before I came here, I was in a jail cell, you know? I was supposed to be executed that day. And there were so many things I needed to do that I'd never be able to do. But I'm here. I'm still standing. I'm not going to act like I'm still in that cell, unable to do anything to help anyone, just because there's a risk I'll be hurt.

Oh...

[ He breathes out the sound, and is quiet the rest of the time Galo speaks. A dead man walking, living off borrowed time, that's what it must feel like. Wasn't that the same for Asch? Who said he had already died, and wanted to do what he could with his life, because he cannot lose what he no longer has. If Galo gets out of here, he will die. If he stays here, he will die. One more day, one more week, nobody knows how much longer they all have, but unless somebody does something, it will be short.

He finds himself sitting. Whether he'd sat down slowly or had his legs give and collapse, he can't remember, but he's sitting now by the lakeside pulling his knees to hug close to his chest. ]

I think I get it. I'm very much the opposite. Careful, scared... [ A plain and boring life, but there is one thing he needs to go back for, so he can't die here, and he has to play it safe. ] I don't know which is the better way to live.

[Galo doesn’t actually see himself as a dead man walking. He knows he was condemned to die, and he knows no one is coming for him in a secret cell deep in the Governor’s lab, and he knows there isn’t anyone powerful enough to stop the Gov from what he’s doing. But he still thought, all that time, he’d survive somehow. Somehow. He’d get lucky, or he’d manage to talk his way free, or someone would come looking for him and bust him out. Or maybe, just maybe, the Gov would change his mind.

Probably not. But, well, he got out, didn’t he?]

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. You’re brave when it counts, so it doesn’t matter one bit if you’re also scared. But I don’t think I can be any other way.

[ Galo is stupid. Optimistic, and stupid, but he did get out and maybe he can become a fugitive when he gets out of here. ]

I wonder how far you would take that.

[ He breathes into his hands and then pushes himself up onto his feet. ]

We're going to need everybody we can to break out of here, so please be more careful. You have a team here too, but we're not trained like the one you had, so I'm worried we can't always help you.

Aww, geez.

[He rubs at his temple, a little embarrassed at being called out, and also a little touched at being told he has a team here.]

Guess it's true that I don't exactly get out of jams by myself all the time. Okay. I'll tell you what. I can't promise I won't do some dangerous things, but I'll try harder to save it for when it counts.

[ This sounds like the best he can get, so Ayabe nods, and sticks his hand out. ]

I'll take that. Promise me, Galo. I don't want to see you die.

Ayabe Catchall

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