[network] Event: Long & Lost [NIGHT 217]

[snowblindmods]

it's been so long between the words we spoke
will you be there up on the shore, I hope

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Comments

[deus_ex_phs]

[Well, when he puts it like that, and after Kunsel's explained his own perspective, it's hard to fault him for that.

And yet...

He hums for a moment, noncommittal.]

Maybe. But half of dating is figuring out the kind of people you do like and get along with in that way. Wait too long, and you won't know what you're doing when you're ready to really start looking. That's not to say I think you should start trying to date right now, but if something comes along, don't feel you you have to turn it down.

[armoured]

It's not going to come along now, Kunsel, nobody is going to want to date me like this.

[There's only the faintest trace of bitterness in his voice. Mostly it's just fact to him.]

[deus_ex_phs]

Says the only guy in town who doesn't stink.

[Just a small nudge of humor. He's trying to lift Al's spirits up.]

Really, though, I don't think too many people are interested in dating at all right now.

[armoured]

[He chuckles, but there's a wistful edge to it.]

Yeah... yeah, I guess you're right. But-- Kunsel, say there's someone you like and they already have someone else? How do you stop liking them that way?

[deus_ex_phs]

Ah. Going for the tough questions there.

[A really tough one, in fact.]

There's not really an easy answer to that, Al. Sometimes you don't ever stop loving someone, even if you know they'll never love you back. Best you can do is just be glad that they're happy, and then try not to dwell on it so much that you can't find happiness with somebody else.

[armoured]

I, uh, I don't know if I'd call it love!

[He chuckles nervously.]

It's just that I think she's really pretty, and I care about her a lot.

[deus_ex_phs]

Ahh.

[There's a smile in Kunsel's voice now.]

Well, I think my advice still applies. You can still care about her, even if it doesn't look like it'll ever be more than that. Maybe it will help if you tell yourself it's a different kind of caring. As a friend, for instance, or a partner, or whatever your relationship with her is.

[armoured]

I know we're friends, and I'll never stop being her friend no matter what else happens. I just wish I could stop caring about her this way too, because I know she's never going to look at me like that.

[The woes of teenage heartbreak.]

[deus_ex_phs]

I'm not sure what else I can say besides give it time. More time. It's not something you can fix overnight. Sometimes it might take years, and maybe never go away at all. But it'll get better someday. That's all I can tell you.

[armoured]

It's okay, it helps to have talked about it at all. Thanks, Kunsel, and I hope you find a girlfriend too.

[deus_ex_phs]

Same to you, Al. And you can always talk to me, anytime.