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Block out these vicious theatrics. Don't give him the fear he wants.

No reaction. Your face gives nothing away.

Your pineal gland. Telling you to wake up.

As long as you can hack standing permanently in the shadow of one of your old friends.

Lesser people than you would feel embarrassed for being caught in such an act. Fortunately, you have the indifference of a low-class pervert.

A wave of despair. The friends you abandoned, the promise of camaraderie you made a lie of.

Feel that. Life and death trembling beneath you, a single gram of pressure between them.

No matter how terrible reality might be, it's better than the not-knowing.

No -- but don't let her see.

Shit, he's remembered.

Hold firm. It's just stray air escaping his body.

The part of him that cares has been forcibly drowned in ethanol.

He's nervous about today. Extremely nervous.

No silence. Only the Eternal Tone, the tinnitus ringing that will play on until the end of life.

It's your inner steel he is seeing. Disregard any criticism.

Your blood cells scream at the sound of your name on his tongue.

He's a little afraid of you now.

It's far from the first time he's been threatened like this.

This is not your fault. The risks were the risks. This is not your fault.

You feel nothing. This is all part of the big comeback, baby.

A high dose of adrenaline from such a small source. You were like that before the world got to you.

He can't face them again. A part of him still believes he let them down.

Maybe breathing is slow-acting poison that takes eight decades to kill. Death's contingency when he can't get a clean shot at you.

Reason through this. There will be some logic, underneath it all.

A natural intensity of gaze. The eyes that weigh you up do so coldly, openly, and with genuine curiosity.

None of this matters. Keep your focus on the big picture.

Your cares dissolve.

Dancing on insanity, his understanding of reality and roleplay had merged entirely.

The axis of the world inverts on half-muttered sentences.

The machines are talking about you all.

Fantasies he'll never follow through on.

34 skill checks - ZERO PARADES field manual