"It's better than nothing."

"Is it? I mean, is it actually, on the whole?"

"That's what I said," says Jackson, annoyed. "It's better than nothing. It's not the best possible thing but I can't fucking have that, can I."

She raises her hands in a placating gesture, and almost loses balance upon doing so, but catches herself. She sighs. "I'm gonna go finish my breakfast."

"Fine."

She stands up and goes back to the table where she and Isabella had been eating.

Isabella's breakfast is gone; apparently she's been waiting for Sadde.

Sadde kneels.

Scritch scritch.

Sigh. Eat.

"You okay, pet?"

"Complicated question, that. I'll go with a qualified yes."

"If he's upsetting and you aren't getting anywhere with improving him..."

"I mean, even if I don't interact with him—Wow I'm about to say a really selfish thing. He's kind of a reminder that there are things I can't fix, that sometimes life just sucks. I mean... That might be a bit premature, anyway, if he does get psychiatric help that might—But still."

"Do you need a reminder of that?"

"I don't want to believe that, even if I already do? I mean... I mean, apparently the thing you found most attractive about me was that I wanted to make everyone immortal, and that's the kind of person I am. And it's not even that selfish, I don't need to be the person to fix everything as long as everything does get fixed, but ugh."

"I'm not sure why this adds up to it being a good idea to interact with Jackson."

"It doesn't, this isn't any kind of rational well-thought-out decision, this is purely superhero syndrome. It's a problem that's right there."

"I try not to privilege problems that are right there except insofar as this makes them easier to fix."

"Ergo the 'not a rational well-thought-out decision' part. I am still going to make everyone immortal, just... I mean, it's an emotional thing, it would eat me alive if I never even tried."

"Is there a point at which you'd give up?"

"Yeah. I don't think I can convince him to actually care that he's being a creep and upsetting other people. If even therapy and stuff like that fails, there's really nothing I can do to help."

"But you're not administering the therapy, so... what's your contribution now it's been suggested?"

"I expect having someone to do stuff with will help him develop an interest in doing stuff."

"Do you do any stuff with him besides call him off his usual mealtime activities?"