Philza: easily findable, easily ushered out of earshot. "What's up, mate?"

"I-- do not know if Ghostbur is the most reliable witness. Did you kill him?"

He was planning to improve morale, and look how that's going... no. This is more important.

"Yes."

"Why."

Phil bites down on his first response, which is none of your fucking business, mate, and then on his second one, which is fuck off. Instead, he takes a deep breath and tries to be reasonable.

"I tried to talk him out of hurting anyone. It didn't work, he blew the whole place up, that's why there's a fucking crater. And then he begged me to kill him, like, grabbed my hands, put my sword to his throat. When he left for the Dream SMP he had all three canon lives left, and he didn't mention losing any in his letters. I'm not proud of what I did but I didn't know it was his last life."

Jingyan is trying not to look like he is shaking with anger, and not completely succeeding. "He asked you to kill him, so you did. Is that correct?"

"...Yes."

That cannot be the full story. It cannot. There is something missing there, and it's important, and he knows that. But there is no way he is getting an answer out of Ghostbur or Philza about it. And-- it's probably not the same as what happened back home. (Probably.) "Thank you for your time. And your answer."

"You know, you can just ask someone else if you're not going to believe me."

"No, I believe you."

"Fine. Great. I'd say anytime but actually I'd rather not."

He is-- going to leave this conversation. This is a the smart move here. He is going to leave, and pace, and do his best to not look like he is doing upset pacing.

Yeah, Phil is also going to leave this conversation. He goes to the docks, makes a boat, and leaves L'Manberg while he's at it.

If Jingyan paces for long enough, he will be approached very tentatively by Ranboo, who is significantly taller than is possible for a human but is hunching in on himself enough that he looks more pathetic than intimidating. "Are you alright? --I mean, stupid question, sorry, but, uh, I noticed you pacing, and I was wondering if you wanted someone to talk to? Or if you don't I can... go away?"

Well, his plan to get a better idea of interpersonal dynamics and improve morale went swimmingly.

...but that doesn't mean he should stop. "You're Ranboo, yes? I don't think we have officially met. I'm Xiao Jingyan." Look, he can do small talk. He is definitely fine.

"Yes! Um, yes, I am. Ranboo. I am Ranboo. It's nice to meet you? Sorry you arrived when you did. I'd say it's normally less... this... but I don't actually know if that's true? I think we'll be okay, though. Assuming that's what you're upset about, anyway."

"I heard you had joined recently?" So good at small talk!

"Yeah! I did, yeah. Um, last week, about? Yeah. It's been, a bit chaotic, I would say, but overall, uh, I'm glad to be here, I think."

"There are worse places."

"Mhm, mhm." Lots of nodding. "Definitely, yeah. That's, um, one good thing about most places, is that they're not the worst place."

It takes him longer than it maybe should have to process that statement. "...that's true..."

"Great, 'cause it would have been really awkward if it was false! So, uh, yeah, at least we're not in the worst place. Probably. There are a lot of places and this is almost definitely not the worst one!"

"People are... alive here, and that is a start."

"I'm pretty sure there are as many as several alive people here, yeah. So, uh, it's got that going for it.

...I know I already asked this, but. Are you okay?"