[one of life's little mysteries that shall remain as such...]

The only blood tonight was the bucket of it you dumped on those poor teenagers. Just a bit of nasty side-eyeing from the petulant teenage population, a few arguments... Same old, same old.

[and yet, instead of sitting down on the worlds most uncomfortable sofa, he's taken to pacing meandering around the stacks on the ground.]

You know that I'm going to sign up, right?

Good.

[...]

I have some questions. Not about the specifics, but the technicalities of excursions in general. ...The most pressing being: what makes our deaths the most effective source of fuel?

So, no quick and painless deaths. I can work with that.

[hey, what's that supposed to mean???]

What kind of energy did excursions like the summer camp or the carnival generate?

[like a raptor probing the fence for weaknesses:]

None of the positive emotions or memories were at all useful?

Hm. I wonder why that is... [too superficial, maybe?]

The passengers who are willing to go are resigning themselves to the situation. They're going to comfort each other afterward, and take turns to ensure nobody gets used up before their time. How much is that going to dilute what energy we do generate?

Good. [he nods.] That's good.

[at least he doesn't have to distance himself entirely.]

Then all we need to do is survive the excursions until... [time to pick a step out of a hat.] Until we find a way to keep Jenny and her brothers from coming back here with an angry mob, I suppose.

[he stops pacing, tilting his head in his direction.]

Did you know that she traded her ship to a collector linked to a group of reality auditors? Goes by the name Victoria? Has a dinosaur?

That was the name she was cursing back on the island, so yes, probably.

[oh no. he's going to have to talk to Sparkles, isn't he...]

Jenny is tenacious, and now that she has her brothers with her, her only focus will be destroying you. She knows who you're hiding from, and while they may not have listened to one insane storm god, there are now four of them to verify each other's statements. And you don't think that's important?

Maybe so. But underestimating them puts you at risk, and so I'm not inclined to take any chances. All they need are a few allies on the ship, and one person with considerable power to take them seriously. We know they have the former. What I'm concerned with is the latter.

You sincerely don't believe any of this poses even the most remote of threats?

[he knows that, in this case, the Captain is the last person he should look to for reassurance. and yet, it's been so easy in the past to take him at his word...]

[he wants to say things change. to point out that Crabb and Ava managed to break one of those seals by sheer accident. remind him that Sparkles is still a potential threat, and that neither of them know where Friday stands now that Jenny is gone.

what he says instead is:]

All I care about is finding a way to ensure you don't need to keep hiding to protect yourself. If we do that, it won't matter what Jenny does, or Clarke and Natsuno... any of them. Their loathing will be irrelevant.