======You Need to Fix Everything and You Need to Do Everything and You Need to Save Everything and You Need to End Everything and You Need and You and Need and You Need======

=====Planning can go up here, if you want=====

=====Writeup=====

<fc #cc0000> and now you know exactly how to fix everything and how to do everything and how to save everything because you can touch them without so much as cringing. </fc>

<fc #cc0000> You beg for the vaccine with the ferocity of a starved animal. It falls on deaf ears; Colby and Peregrine, the mad scientists, are hermits, hiding somewhere you can't find them. You tear into their working tent unannounced just to find it empty. You wait for them for what must be days, the sun cycling a slow, bloody trail in the sky as it sets for the tenth time before you concede they aren't coming. Dead? Deserted? Unlikely. If they'd died, the vaccine creators, someone would care, and the Bastion is carrying on like normal, unbothered. They must be alive, still. </fc>

//<fc #cc0000>Would</fc>// <fc #cc0000>anyone care, if the vaccine creators died? Is there any space left in these dead hearts, these dry eyes, these parched throats, for emotions? </fc>

<fc #cc0000> No. No, you know there isn't. There can't be an ounce of humanity left in any of the people of the Bastion. It's been sucked out of their orifices leaving chapped lips and veins empty of blood and minds incapable of reason. That's the only explanation, after all, why when they look at Eric, they don't see what you see. </fc>

<fc #cc0000> You're on your own for this mission. </fc>

<fc #cc0000> Good thing you've got your friends on it, too. </fc>

<fc #cc0000> You can't touch Eric. Not yet. Not without the vaccine. You throw water on him from afar and he looks freshly washed and smells of roses. You toss a small, stolen kitchen-knife at Guneir so he can shave that stubble and look good as new. As for the third unknown, although some time has passed between when you could last tell if they were a man or woman, you reassure them they look stunning in whatever choice of clothes they prefer. They decide not to change out of their rags. Fair enough. </fc>

<fc #cc0000> You bind Eric's hands together. He doesn't wail. He doesn't cry. He doesn't complain. He understands. He looks at you and the corners of his mouth tilt upward, understanding. </fc> \\ \\

<fc #cc0000> "You understand what's happening, don't you?" you say. </fc> \\ \\

<fc #cc0000> He nods yes. \\ \\

<fc #cc0000> "You understand you're going to meet everyone soon?" </fc> \\ \\
<fc #cc0000> Yes. \\ \\
<fc #cc0000> "Are you excited, Eric? Are you ready to come home?" </fc> \\ \\

<fc #cc0000> Yes. \\ \\

<fc #cc0000> You tie Guneir to him and Guneir is respectable, proud, and stoic as usual. This is why he is silent. He chooses not to speak. He does not make any sounds at all. He does not lift his head. He is calm and docile. You cannot hear him. </fc> \\ \\

<fc #cc0000> You tie the third unknown with some difficulty because they keep dropping their hands. </fc> \\ \\

<fc #cc0000> Eric looks ready. Eric looks hungry. Can we have lunch after this, Eric asks you. </fc> \\ \\

<fc #cc0000> "Of course, dude. We'll eat right after this." </fc>
{[]}{{tag>writeup6 gm_tara complete}}