hazmats | Glowfic Constellation

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He nods, and shivers, and looks at the floor, and retreats to the back of his cave.

"...um? Are you okay?" says Stalas.

Instead of answering, Ruck begins to cry.

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"Do - do you need me to take one of the powers back...?"

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Ruck shakes his head.

"Might have something to do with why he doesn't want to talk about how he ended up stranded in a cave eating darkspawn," murmurs Stalas.

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Nod.

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Ruck cries and rocks back and forth in the corner.

Then he starts to hum.

Then he screams.

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And Annie collapses in agony too.

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"...humming, the thing that just happened was Ruck humming," says Stalas, as soon as he realizes that Annie might not know that.

"Aah!" says Ruck. "Aah!"

"Well, now we know what the drawback of the healing is."

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Annie sits up, shivering and definitely not lurching Stalasward for a hug. "Humming. Oh, god, I kind of need to know if it's just humming and I really don't want to test it."

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"Give it to me and I'll go off to an isolated corner and attempt to quietly sing," says Stalas. "I mean, if it just hurts and isn't some unrelated horrible sensation."

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"It - it hurts a lot and that's all, but, um."

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"I guarantee I have a much higher pain tolerance than either of you."

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"Yes, but I have that thing where I'm in love with you and I'm not sure I can argue my brain into letting you test a thing that hurts that much to spare me temporary discomfort."

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"Not even if I don't mind? I really don't. I regard the prospect of testing this with approximately the same attitude I have toward killing giant spiders. It's not my idea of fun but it's not hard and it's not really worth making a big fuss to avoid."

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"You could have maybe talked me into it if I hadn't just tried it. I'll - think about it and see if I get anywhere. Annnnnd if you need the power for other reasons and then run away and test it I won't be mad at you or anything but it makes my skin crawl thinking about it."

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"Well, I suppose. We can talk about it more later, maybe."

Ruck has recovered from both the screaming and the tears. He sits quietly in his corner for a minute longer, and then gets up and returns to the entrance area of his little cave.

"...thank you," he says. His voice is much steadier now.

"Do you still want to test the rest of them?" asks Stalas.

"It's... I... yes," says Ruck.

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"Should I take back those two or would you like to keep them in case they're useful if you land somewhere else?"

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"I... don't know..."

"Take your time thinking about it," Stalas says gently.

Ruck nods. He fidgets for a minute or so. Then he says, "I... want to keep them. I don't want... the darkness again."

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"Okay. I've also got... a weird sense, sort of like Stonesense but for things besides stone too... and a language thing... and that's all I know about that's good besides the thing that's letting me share these in the first place, which won't do you any good."

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Ruck nods. "I'll... try them... if you want."

"Thank you," says Stalas. "Which one first?"

"Sense...?"

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Tap.

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"Aaah!" exclaims Ruck. "Can't see! Can't feel the Stone! I don't want it!"

Stalas looks intensely sympathetic.

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Annie undoes it.

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Ruck stands there rubbing his face for a few seconds, with a deeply unsettled expression. Then he says, "I can... the next one."

(Stalas is quietly impressed.)

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Well, if he's sure. Language thing.

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