LogFAQs > #904767653

It was at that time that Owen realized Captain Punch had come to join him. Or perhaps he had been sitting there on that log near the fire all along. Even watching him while he was sleeping. And Owen came to a startling realization as he felt a chill run down his spine. "You saw... all of that. Didn't you? My-... My thoughts...?"

"Yes," Punch said, sounding quite sad. His eyes turned to the firepit which had burned out long ago. "I see the kid's thoughts, still, too. We might have only met not too long ago, but I have all of his memories. I have all of his thoughts inside of me, now. It feels like I've lost someone I knew for their entire life."

Owen pushed himself up to a sitting position and then looked away. He remembered when Punch had put 'something' inside of his head. Was that supposed to change everything? Was he going to be a more assertive person now? Or was he the same guy who had simply walked away when his relatives plotted to steal his grandfather's legacy? The photograph of them meeting together in secret confirmed that. It was all too tangible, all too real.

"Why did you do it?" Owen asked. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. As they were talking, he noted Aaron waking up and moving out of his small cot and overhanging tent that he had set up. The lancer had stripped all of his armor pieces off and was doing sit ups somewhere nearby.

Punch was oddly sincere in that moment. Although, if he had to give a reason why, it was because Owen was the person he most understood in the entire world right now. And that level of kinship and honesty could not be replicated by anything else. Their minds were literally connected by the Moth Parasite now. There was no reason to lie to Owen. "I was lonely," Punch admitted. "I didn't want to be the only one..."

"Then why did we-" Owen started with a demanding tone, but his voice trailed off. Punch knew what he was going to say anyway. Was there any reason why he had to say it out loud?

"Why did we keep it a secret from them?" Punch completed the thought, for emphasis. He glanced around. At Aaron, who was now sweating in exercise. At the other killers and adventurers who were starting to get up and get dressed, and gather their gear. "Look around, you."

Owen studied them as well. One at a time, each. Those who hadn't already left during the night.

"These people came here to kill monsters," Punch told him. "What do you think -WE- are?"

Owen knew the answer to that question but he didn't want to say that out loud either. Punch already knew that he knew. And so they both got up in silence and went to find Torin Gemmason. That guy was already making plans to lead the expedition into the estate, now that the surrounding hamlet should have been cleared. You could never truly account for the fact that more monsters might appear in your blind spot. But, well, Torin had at least reached a level of safety he was comfortable with.

Jennifer Lowell had woken up and was sitting propped up against the wagon. She was wrapped in a blanket to cover the scars on her shoulders and her arms. Leone the Cat was sitting beside her and the two seemed to be talking about something unrelated to the major events that were going on here. Rather, it felt like those two had taken the brief moment of respite to retreat from the mental stress of this situation.

It was something you could only do if you had someone beside you to rely on.

Was that what Punch meant when he said he didn't want to be alone anymore...?
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