[ It had been bad enough last week when the idea of executing an innocent person was just a near-miss what-if. Now that it's actually happening, even if he bears less direct responsibility for it this time, Phil feels absolutely terrible. What could he have done differently that would have changed the outcome, though? He hadn't voted for SQ, and he hadn't abstained, and his vote had at least been plausible... even if he hadn't thought it likely, and had been banking on that person not getting enough votes to be in danger.
Even voting for himself wouldn't have changed anything. And as much as he would have liked to have been able to try volunteering himself for execution in her place — and as much as he would have done that if he'd been taken from his world just a few weeks earlier — he can't do that now, when he has a responsibility to help save his world and may have a unique role to play in doing so.
It would be easier to just look away, and maybe that would even be better; he can't imagine talking to him could possibly be any sort of comfort. He'll probably just make things worse, like he always does. But it seems too cruel to just leave someone in this situation alone with their thoughts, especially someone who apparently already felt unwanted.
So... here he is outside that holding cell in the dungeons, with Marcus beside him. ]
...Hello, SQ.
[ The only appropriate greeting he can think of, stilted as it is, since it's hardly a "good" anything. ]
[ It takes her a moment to respond because she's very much just curled in her cell. She's not actively crying at the moment at least, because she's pretty much cried herself out at this point. ]
[Marcus, meanwhile, just sort of follows in Phil's wake like a silent shadow, his own eyes cast to the ground. He can't bring himself to look at her, not after all of that, because he can't shake the feeling that it's in no small part his fault that things ended up this way. If he hadn't been so desperate to try to cast the blame away from himself - if he'd just stayed quiet - then they might have voted for him instead of her, and while that would hardly have been ideal, at least someone innocent wouldn't be about to die for it.
He's sure Phil is probably finding some way to make this his fault in his mind, too, but no... the fault this time lies with him, and he knows it.]
I'm... sorry for being so useless. If we were in my own world, or if I had my usual capabilities, I'd at least be able to do something.
[ They would be able to put a stop to all of this, probably... and even in a worst case scenario, if she still ended up in this same situation, there could still be a chance of preserving her core. And he really wishes he could do that, to show that the part of her that wasn't supposed to exist was worth saving. ]
But... that's not the case. And I don't know what I can do.
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week 2, saturday
Even voting for himself wouldn't have changed anything. And as much as he would have liked to have been able to try volunteering himself for execution in her place — and as much as he would have done that if he'd been taken from his world just a few weeks earlier — he can't do that now, when he has a responsibility to help save his world and may have a unique role to play in doing so.
It would be easier to just look away, and maybe that would even be better; he can't imagine talking to him could possibly be any sort of comfort. He'll probably just make things worse, like he always does. But it seems too cruel to just leave someone in this situation alone with their thoughts, especially someone who apparently already felt unwanted.
So... here he is outside that holding cell in the dungeons, with Marcus beside him. ]
...Hello, SQ.
[ The only appropriate greeting he can think of, stilted as it is, since it's hardly a "good" anything. ]
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no subject
He's sure Phil is probably finding some way to make this his fault in his mind, too, but no... the fault this time lies with him, and he knows it.]
no subject
[ They would be able to put a stop to all of this, probably... and even in a worst case scenario, if she still ended up in this same situation, there could still be a chance of preserving her core. And he really wishes he could do that, to show that the part of her that wasn't supposed to exist was worth saving. ]
But... that's not the case. And I don't know what I can do.