"And Pri did mention that we get antsy if we go too long not killing people earlier. Besides which. Seemed like a pretty good 'fuck you' to them when we realised that managing to get people to move back into those colonies was a lot harder than they thought it would be."

"Yeah, the getting antsy if you go too long without killing people sounds like it might be a problem."

Wrath looks down, lips pursed. "Two weeks is time," she says carefully. "And we've pushed it longer before..."

Pride looks over at Wrath. "Time to what, exactly? And last time we pushed it further you nearly blew yourself up."

"I have to say," says the Emperor, "it sounds really inconvenient to be you."

"Was fine till we ended up here," Envy mutters petulantly into his tea cup.

"And two weeks is time to fix the Cardinal and figure out a way back," Wrath points out.

"And if it takes longer than that?"

"Guess I get to try blowing myself up again."

That pronouncement is met by dead silence and stares from the rest of her group

"...do you like having to go on a murder spree every two weeks? I mean, is this actually something you'd want to keep if you had the option?"

Lust looks back to Solekaran, while Pride continues to watch Wrath with a narrow-eyed gaze.

"It might not be convenient," e says, "but it's sure as hell stress-relieving. And it's not like we actually have any other option that we've found. Besides which, people are dicks. The galaxy could use less of them."

"What if you did have another option, though?"

They're all silent again. Most of them look...thoughtful, confused by that question. It's pretty clear they've just...never thought about it before.

Wrath's shifted so that she's more sat on the vehicle she was leaning against, one leg stretched along it, the other knee up by her chest. She doesn't actually seem to be considering the question, more focused on fiddling with the shotgun in her lap.

"It would...certainly be more convenient to not have to," Gluttony says eventually, rubbing her hands together. Pride, Lust and Envy appear to be in agreement with that. Avarice doesn't really look concerned one way or the other.

"Better for sleep," Sloth mumbles, somewhat blurred by the fact that he doesn't appear to be entirely awake.

"For that matter," he says, looking at Gluttony, "I expect you probably don't prefer to be constantly dying. And," glancing at Sloth, "whatever's going on with you doesn't look like much fun either."

"'Constantly dying' feels a bit like an exaggeration," Gluttony retorts coolly. "Pri's done a damn good job keeping me alive and more to the point functional."

"But it was always just a patch. I've just never figured out how to actually get rid of that tumour and stop this war your body's got going on to stop it killing you. Or how to actually help S here."

Sloth does appear to have gone back to sleep.

"You never intended to be a brain surgeon, love," Avarice murmurs. "And Gee had some of the best brain surgeons in the galaxy consult and they couldn't solve it."

Pride gives him a flat look that seems to say 'Well I should've been better'.

"I, however, have magic," Solekaran reminds them, "and can fix that kind of thing pretty trivially. Will it fuck anything up if you stop constantly dying? At this point I wouldn't be surprised..."

That gets him a startled blink from Gluttony, and Wrath straightening, the shotgun now nearly aimed at him again.

"I...don't- Pri?"

Pride is silent for a moment, fingers tapping on her thigh. "I'd probably need to disable some of the patches I put in place so that your system doesn't try to over-correct, and make sure the nanites don't just...attack your brain. But, taking that into account, I can't imagine removing the root cause would fuck anything up."

Wrath's back on her feet, restless, a quiet growl emanating from her. "You seriously considering this?"

"What, you don't want Gee healthy?"

"Not what I was saying, L."