Kori's eyes lingered on the photo longer than she cared to admit. The girl did look familiar, but of course she did, when the boy in her image was right in front of Kori too. Alistair's words were exactly the kind of self-loathing she hated to see in anyone, one of the cruelest ways to burden oneself, and no matter how she felt personally about the cold look of his sister, she couldn't listen to such things from someone who was supposed to be so perfect.

"Jeez, family isn't all that great," she said tensely, as if all the muscles in her neck were tight with apprehension. Did she believe what she was saying? She couldn't be sure. It was so hard to give up on people, and peddling hypocrisy wasn't her greatest comfort. "Brothers and sisters hurt each other all the time. They hate each other all the time, and mourn each other all the time. I guess it's just the way things are."

What the hell was she saying to Alistair? That was no expectation to set. Her own brother didn't hate her, even if he was blunt and unsympathetic. She didn't hate him, even though she begrudged his success and how he obtained it. Was she lying, then? No, there was surely something else, some bitterness only siblings could share. 

"I mean, well, it's not always hate as others feel it... you know? Sometimes it looks like hate, and other times there's something more behind it, really! Even if it looks like she despises you, she probably feels that way about everyone, right?" Kori put on a wavering smile to cover her previous blunder. "Anyway, you aren't him, isn't that right?"

She paused to wait for Alistair, and then she repeated, more firmly this time, "I know you're not him, so she can't hate you."

With this, her posture became more animated, taking Alistair's hands and lowering the photo into his lap. "You can't hate someone you haven't met, even if they look like someone else. I used to hate one of my coworkers, and then she was turned into someone else. I don't hate them now. So... your sister can't measure you as someone you aren't, because you never did the things that he did. Does that make things better?"

She let go of Alistair's hands, noticing she must have gripped a little too tightly, and she handed him a cloth. "You can't be judged as someone you don't know yourself to be. That just wouldn't be fair. I think maybe in time you'll reconcile with her, and until then, don't think of yourself as repulsive, okay?"

Kori sits down next to you, looking as if she hasn't slept in days. It's quite a horrible sight -- she's still trying to fix a small hard drive in her hands, and with every motion she falters and curses. Unwilling as ever to take a break, her shoulders shudder with frustration, as if she's filled with an abundance of energy that only restlessness can diffuse. She glances at you and averts her eyes -- she doesn't want to be noticed -- but in one last fit she tosses the hard drive to you.

"S-sorry," she mutters raggedly. "I was supposed to have this fixed hours ago. I can't fail at this. I... can't do this."

VVV AWWWWWHHHH THIS IS SO SWEET I COULD CRY, THANK YOUUUUU

bump!!

(( herreee ya go Kvroii ! ))

Xe can't help but wince a hair, xer too-skittery hands scrambling to catch the hard-drive before it drops. Admittedly, there's some disappointment in there- Xe has reason to believe the data stored away on that corrupted drive contains a piece of one of xer friends, that it might help patch a broken AI. Xe's been too afraid to put xer own hands to the task for that very same reason- xe couldn't quite forgive xerself if xe failed, or altered it beyond recognition.
Perhaps... that was too much pressure?

Pangs of sympathy grips xer, as xe watches Kori crumble in on her own frustration. Those eyebags don't tell a kind story. Sometimes, it's easier to not be good at anything. Hell, xe's found that being a good-for-nothing is downright liberating. No- When you're good at something, when you make that your home, you can fail at it. It's easy, to feel like you're betraying yourself, when you can't do the one thing you're supposed to. 

"...Hey, now, hey- " Xe places the hard-drive down, gently, on... whatever space in this techno-gizmo-wonder-workshop happens to be clear enough to hold it. "There's no time limit on figuring this out, you haven't failed at anything. Let's, ah- Y'know, actually, the practical thing right now might be to step away, instead of banging your skull against it over and over? Hell, if you keep pushing that meat-brain of yours, I'm worried you're going to fry it. You've gotta approach these things, like, ahh- system maintenance! Your body's a machine, too! If you don't schedule downtime, your system will do it for you, and you might not like when it chooses to crash."

Xe steps away, to start filling the coffee pot with water. Some voice echoes in the back of xer brain that caffeine, in fact, does not play well with anxiety breakdowns, but hell if xe's anywhere to judge on that. She looks tired. Xe's seen her drink this stuff. It must be some kind of a comfort, in the short-term. Distractions? Distractions. "Maybe.... Oh! Do you have any good RPG recommendations?"

( spoilered for potential dysmorphia? imf sorry professionaldumbass good fuggin luck )

(he's not good at these sorts of problems)

Veritas would be lying if he said that this was the first person who could cause some severe damage to confide in him. Not that he had any real problems with it. He enjoyed talking, even about the sort of stuff that hurt like a bitch. But he recognized a lot of the familiar motions. Change in speech, no eye contact, hell, no energy at all. So he listened, a mug in hand that he sipped on without a sound. When Xeno finished. Veritas looked at xer with a strange look. The sort you'd get from someone understanding an issue but not getting it in its entirety. Veritas knew he could never understand this sort of thing, best he got was the feeling of being a stranger to the world. 

"welp-" Veritas spoke after a few seconds of silence, with the noise a older man would make when rising to his feet. But this time it was a noise of momentary defeat "I wish I had a cure all to this." He gave one of his usual beaming smiles, the one he tried to give when things looked lost. But it faltered a bit as an expression of compassion tried to mix with the false confidence. But it failed. It came out as an expression of an attempt rather than a whole emotion. Because that's all he could feel, a desire to attempt to help. He didn't know the solution, but he had to try. To help Xer was all he could think of doing now. Now just DO IT. Stop thinking.

"Usually I offer a drink but- it's temporary. It won't help. Don't take up drinking. But I'm getting off track a bit. I think the best idea I got for the whole thing is find a distraction. Don't look a mirrors, don't- fuck if I know. I'm sorry your feeling these. I think the best thing I can really say is-" he paused trying to think of SOMETHING but all he came up with was "I think one day you'll get something that feels better."

------------------------------------

TW: Self harm, loss of memories, realizing mortality, and general nihilism 

Illanya's form separates from the shadows around her, a bundle of wood cradled in her armored arms. Her gaze focuses on the Veritas' back, unable to see much beyond the flickering firelight beyond him. It's only when she steps around him, setting the logs aside that she smells it. Burnt flesh, a horrid sharp smell that nearly drags her back to rotting stone walls, dizzying pain, and fear. So much fear. 

She would account that she allows her body to whirl around a blessing, permitting her to see what exactly V is doing and snapping her from thoughts of the past and into this moment. A gauntleted hand closes around one wrist and then the other, a grimace on her hand as she can feel the heat even through her gauntlets. The undead tugs him away from the fire and facing her, worry written deep into her face. Her mouth moves, but perhaps nothing comes out, perhaps it is only what she can hear, as she calls his name. Staring into his blank eyes, and seeing nothing reflecting back until he speaks.

She stills but her hands stay on his wrists, held gently. Something weighs heavily in her chest. Beneath her own hurt, her anger, and vengeful desires, sorrow drags. It makes the phantom feeling of a tightening lump in her throat, what might have once been watering eyes come to her senses. Her own urge to stifle it, to run from this aching, painful thing is strong, but she stays. Stays and sits in the pain, in that loss that Veritas doesn't even understand anymore, but still feels. The undead listens and does not speak, her expression deepening in sorrow as he goes on. Some of this is new, more was old information that she knew. Had been told before.

Eventually, when he asks, Illanya tries. She really does try to smile back, to over any assurance to a man who kept losing more and more. A wavering smile that falters after a moment is all she can give and she moves a hand to his shoulder.

"It's okay. We can start over." Her voice is unsteady and pained. She's spoken these words before and it hurt each time to have to say them. "You're Veritas. You're a good man, and I'm your friend. We're going to get through this. From one warrior to another."

CW: Panic attacks, depictions of past trauma, and torture (definitely don't have to roll with this if it ain't your cup of tea)

(Aough, J being sweet to her just makes me emotional 🥺, she’d be embarrassed but wildly appreciative of the kindness. J has definitely mad eherself a much more trustworthy ally in Illanya’s eyes…)

     Man. Chad did not know how to comfort someone to this extent.

     He sat awkwardly in the couch across from J, at first rubbing the back of his head while praying for someone else to come in and get rid of the tension in the air, then pulling out his phone to scan through social media. It was a fine distraction, but he knew in the back of his head that this didn't fix anything. J was still in a rut and he was the only one here. But what if he made it worse? These things she was saying, he wasn't used to it. What was he supposed to say? It felt like anything he said would be dismissed or make things worse, maybe both. Instincts told him to make a joke to break the gloominess, but he had a feeling it wouldn't help. Sighing through his nose, he put his phone up and looked at her just as she spoke up again.

     The rope in a tug'o'war game? He could understand that, to some extent. It wasn't easy juggling three jobs, after all. What did she mean by quartered, though? Context told him she was having trouble sleeping?
     Then he got overloaded. "Whoa, bro, hang on a second," Chad said at the end, holding a hand up as he leaned forward. He looked down, absorbing the info. "Borrowed time. So, like, does that mean you need to leave soon, or something?" He shook his head. "Who are you talking about, brah? What do you mean killed again? Second wind?"
     He paused and took another deep breath. Was this all some elaborate metaphor, or was it literal? He'd seen enough paranormal creatures to know it could be real... Times like these made him feel like he was stupid for not understanding.

     "I don't know exactly what's going on, bro. I don't think I could even if you spent all day telling me in detail, ch'yeah. But I've lost close friends before. Not-Not in a literal sense, but there have been loads of times I've tried to get them back. Sometimes it just didn't happen. It sucked, yeah, and it made me feel like a piece of shit for a long time, for real, but in the end, I did what I could. I at least got the closure in knowing that, like, I tried, you know? Even though it didn't work out, it's not because I stood there doing nothing. And yeah, brah, I'll think now and then about if I could've done more, but what happened happened. It is what it is, you know? You feel me? I know that's not, like, the best answer for something like that but we can't always win. That doesn't mean all the losses are our fault, though, ch'yeah."

Someone left a hate comment on his recent selfie   

Scott didn’t remember the last time he comforted someone. He looked at Chad, who was no longer his upbeat self. He was curled up on the couch with an obviously depressed look on his face, which made Scott think he strongly resembled a kicked puppy. The hunter looked awkwardly at their surroundings and scratched the back of his head, trying to think of ways to cheer him up. To be honest, Scott couldn’t understand why someone would get upset over a hate comment on a selfie pic, mainly because Scott himself would just ignore it and think the person was some loser with nothing better to do.

-but it was Chad. The bundle of sunshine absolutely LOVED taking pictures, especially selfies. Now, Scott was putting things into perspective; if someone talked crap about his leather jacket or pistols, he’d feel like beating their ass.

“Chad?” Scott made his way over to the empty spot next to his boyfriend and cleared his throat. “Chad, buddy. Are you okay?” He eyed the phone that was left sitting alone on the coffee table and decided to see the comment himself. With a swipe of a finger, the screen faded to reveal swarms of comments—mostly positive ones—left under Chad’s picture. Scott couldn’t help but whistle at how many fans he had. He already knew Chad had a large fanbase, but damn, this was crazy. “Look, man. They love you. Everyone loves your photo!” He tilted the screen at an angle for Chad to get a good look at the comments as he swiped through them, but came to an abrupt stop as soon as his finger landed on a chunk of rude words. “Oh.” he muttered. Oh. Wow, hurtful. Scott took a moment to observe this supposed ‘hater’s’ profile. Their picture was that of the American flag with money and some random dude’s hand doing a thumbs up. They had a few pictures uploaded, matching the strange theme that was displayed on their profile picture. Other than that, it was a blank page.

“Um. Chad?” Scott turned to face him. “don’t worry about that comment, it’s written by some weird guy who probably has nothing better to do with his life.” He raised a hand to scratch the back of his hand once again, trying to think of something better to say. “Besides, I think that picture looks great. You looked super good in general.” He laughed a little at his pathetic attempt to console Chad, god he was horrible at this. “If it makes you feel any better, wanna take a selfie together? Just a little something to throw back at that guy I guess.”

-------

For NP: He was able to defeat the vampire he was after, but couldn't save the hostage ;;

     The room was silent. All there was in there was Adrien, sitting against the couch with one arm draped against the back of it, and Scott, slumped forward with his head in his hands. Chad had left to clean their gear. They'd finished fighting a vampire far stronger than they'd anticipated. And they paid for it.

     "... You can't save them all," Adrien said quietly after what seemed like ages. Although he didn't show it, he was nervous. Giving life advice wasn't his forte, and he was scared shitless he'd say the wrong thing, but he couldn't leave the kid in silence forever or else he'd swallow it all up and breakdown at the worst possible moment.
     "We've saved a lot of people, but we're still human. It's not always going to go smoothly. Listen to me. Hey, listen." He leaned forward so that Scott could look at him. "You didn't kill her, either. Okay? Remember that. You weren't the one that killed her. You stopped that monster from hurting others. You did the best you could."

     It didn't feel like this was the right thing to say. Was there really anything that could be the right thing? Maybe giving him space for now would be best.
     Adrien stood up, but not before saying one more thing, "No one will blame you for feeling what you're feeling. Sit with them for the day, let it eat you up. But tomorrow you've got to get moving. This isn't going to be the last time this happens, you have to be prepared for when it happens again."

He's sad he misses his daughter :(

(MY FIRST TIME DOIN THESE WRITING FORUMS SO I MIGHT BE A LIL' TERRIBLE)

The Doctor was walking along the sidewalk, humming a tune and dancing when he suddenly saw Adrien, crying silently. Sunshine saw the greif in his eyes, and went with his instincts.

"What's the matter, pal?"

Adrien, a bit confused and why, a stranger, would ask, but through tears, told about his daughter, how the vampires had gotten to her and how he is going to make every vampire pay. Dr. Sunshine was there listening, giving tissues he had ready in his coat pockets, and gave some advice, like he'd always do,

"Listen, from what I can tell, she sounds like a great kid. It's saddening to hear whenever bad things happen to good people, but you'll get through this, I trust you will. Even if every monster is as wild and scary as the one that took her away, she'll be with you again"

The bounty hunter, still crying, but had a little smile peeking through

"Thank you"

Then the Doctor tried to lighten the mood

"I got a little one of my own, she's growing up a bit too fast, and I'm afraid she'll get along with the wrong crowd. Just last week, she had let a criminal up her window! Can you believe that? Lucky that he fell into my garden and I whacked him with a broom"

Adrien giggled, and asked for more stories, soon they were laughing, telling their best dad jokes and stories about their kids, till the Doctor had to come home for supper, and they both bid farewell

He's sad that his daughter disobeyed him by keeping big secrets from him, and participated in a mind control project

After a lot of stalling and anxiety, Val finally decided to suck it up and approach this stranger. He of course felt like he was having a heart attack, but Eddie had promised to buy him a new plushy he really wanted if he managed to speak to at least one new person. So here he is, about to approach som stranger and offer his horrible comforting skills

"Um...Hi...Are...you ok? You seem kinda...not too good"

Val was good at listening to this persons problems, that's for sure. As for helping...well

"Right...well...that sucks I guess...Uhh...well um...is there anything you can do to like...I dunno...not have that happen...?"

He was absolutely regretting his decision to speak now. He was the absolute worst at comforting people. He tried but...lets just say that if he saw his friend crying, he'd just awkwardly stand still and wait for it to end

"Sorry I'm uh...really sucky at helping people. I dunno what to do exactly. Uhh...so..."

NP:

TW for idk just mention of a really sucky dad getting mad for a dumb reason