That...sure does sound like a memorable day. 

Mhalir's attention is starting to drift. Worrying about the future. Worrying about his Carissa. Feeling - conflicted and tired and proud. 

<...I want to talk to her> he says finally. 

Sounds good. Do I...need to do anything - she tries the mental motion for missing a Will save on purpose -

She does not actually need to do that. Mhalir isn't sure how it cashes out in Golarion magic terms but Yeerks almost never fail at controlling a host. 

Mhalir appreciates it, though; he doesn't like the feeling of taking over a host against their will. 

He gets up. The way he moves Carissa's body is much more recognizably Leareth than how she usually moves. 

That is remarkably disconcerting for a moment, and then fascinating. 

"Carissa," he says, to his one. 

- she nods, and fails to say anything back.

"I wanted to say -" He trails off. Clears his/their throat. "I am not sure I know how to say it. Just... I am upset but I am also very proud of you. For...wanting what you want, for having the values that you have - for doing math from them - even when you are surrounded by powerful people who wish you wanted something different." 

She looks surprised, for a moment. Controls her face. "Apparently I would be much happier and everything would be much nicer if I didn't do that."

"Yes, well, that is what holding to your values means, sometimes. Doing it even when it leads to inconvenience and suffering." 

"But then, see, other people have to make you stop that. Which is why it's smarter not to - want things in the first place."

Mhalir sighs. Then sits down next to her. 

"Or you negotiate a truce with your enemies, and find the corner where you can be allies. Abadar does not share all of Leareth's values, you know. He cares only about a subset. But they can still work together. And - I think maybe we can work together, too." 

He takes a deep breath. 

"Help us find a better way. You - had offered to go negotiate with Asmodeus, before. You understand what He wants, perhaps better than any of us. And - we have time. If it takes a year - if it takes ten years, to come up with a plan - that would be worth it, right, if it meant - not snuffing out billions of souls..." Shrug. "Iomedae and Aroden will not let the deaths of billions stop them. But - you care, and you are here..." 

That should be very encouraging really but instead for some utterly stupid reason she starts crying.

Mhalir freezes for about a second and a half, and then he hugs her. 

He can't usually do that. Normally he is her. 

Sure, okay, it's not like things can get any worse. 

It is really weird to hug her Yeerk who is wearing a different her. 

"What if I can't do it."

"- Then maybe you fail, this time, and Aroden and Iomedae go ahead. But - there are other worlds, right, there will be a next time and a time after that. And you will still be here, and - Leareth's Carissa has a point, that if we keep engaging in total war with the forces of evil everywhere in the multiverse, someday we will lose." 

This does not make her feel better at all! She cries more about it.

Mhalir thinks this is incredibly worth crying about, actually! He remembers spending entire days crying, sometimes, in Nirvana. 

...In fact, apparently the thing that is going to happen now is that he's going to cry about it too, and hold Carissa, and - somehow this is the least lonely he's felt in - in longer than he had realized. 

Older Carissa, who is pretty sure she hasn't cried since she was six, is so confused!

"If - you think it's going to make us lose and die - why don't you just not do it."

It's very hard to speak and it takes him a bit to manage it. "Not doing it - would also be losing." 

"....no! It wouldn't!!"

He takes a shuddering breath. 

"- We - can take Melkor as an example, instead of Hell," he says. "Since - we think he is more like Zon-Kuthon than like Asmodeus, right, he is not building toward something, he just breaks people until they want to stop existing. And - maybe we are wrong, but - I think it likely, and Leareth thinks it likely, that if we leave him be, he will do it again. And those people he would break are - are precious and important and should exist, right? And so if we walk away and do not even try to stop it, then - then that is losing." 

"Aren't there other versions of those same people who are fine -"

She decides that is not worth getting into specifically and shakes her head. "I don't think we shouldn't do anything. But we could do - our things, with our people - defending what is ours against aggressors is much more defensible and easy to coordinate around than going out looking for evil gods to fight -"

Carissa does not try nearly that hard at having her own worldview and she's not sure it's even possible but she's kind of impressed.

The Void-ship flies onward. 

Leareth is still pacing. :Do you understand what they are crying about?: he asks (his) Carissa; Mhalir will overhear it too, of course, he can't avoid that, but he seems very distracted and Leareth doubts he would mind the question anyway.