She made her way back to the elevator, noting the lights were on in Kid Win’s workshop.  Heading back down to the base, she walked toward her cubicle-room.

I guess Kid’s still working on those pear guns from before. Nice.

“Holy crap, you’ve been crying again?  I thought you were over that.”  Sophia commented from the console.

Not helping, you harpy.

She was on her laptop, sitting just to the right of the main console.  Nobody else was present in the headquarters.  Again, the two of them were alone.  Was Sophia’s nice act only for when others were around?

She has a nice act?

I mean, true, she has been acting a little less venomously than expected when we’ve seen her over the course of the Arc.

Vista turned, irritated.  “I was venting a little with Weld, what’s your issue?”

“I just really hate crybabies,” Sophia turned back to the computer.

Yeah, just… fuck you, okay?

I guess someone had to pick up the slack in “fuck you” attraction after Kaiser died.

When she pulled away, a few minutes later, his shirt was damp.  She sniffled, taking the offered tissue to wipe at her eyes and nose, Weld spoke, gently, “I’m always here to talk, and the therapist will be there too.”

Sounds good. You really do seem to know what your teammates need. 🙂

Vista nodded.

“If you need a break from the team, just say the word.  I’ll talk to Piggot.”

She shook her head, “No.  I want to work.  I want to help.”

Yeah… she may be taking Weld’s suggestion to let the others take some of the responsibility, but she doesn’t want to dump it all on them. She wants to uphold Aegis and Gallant’s legacy.

“Okay.  Then we’ve got patrol in… two hours and fifteen minutes.  Go relax, watch some TV, maybe take a nap.”

“Alright.  Don’t you dare let me sleep through patrol.”

“I wouldn’t.”

😀

The tears were rolling down her cheeks, now.  She let her head hang, her damp hair a curtain between her and her team leader.  He stood, pulled her into a hug.  She pressed her face against his shirt.  It was soft, but the body beneath was hard, unyielding.  It was still very gentle.

I really,

really,

really like these two.

Y’know, in general, this Arc has so far done a much better job than Interlude 3 at letting me get to know the Wards, probably mainly due to the expanded format and ability for Wildbow to focus on each character in more detail. I find that I quite like all of them except Sophia.

And hey, chances are next chapter is about Sophia. Who knows what’ll happen over the course of that. I don’t think I’ll outright like her, but Wildbow could be pulling out some empathetic traits. Or he could be going the opposite way, to reinforce the sense of “why does a person like this get to be a Ward”. Either way, I’m getting ahead of myself – this is stuff I should be speculating on in the end-of-chapter post.

Just the mention of crying made her eyes water again.  Vista wiped it away once more, “I’ve cried enough.”

“If your body wants to cry, then you should listen to it.  It doesn’t make you any weaker if you let it happen.  You think I’ve never cried?

I wonder if Weld ever gets rusty cheeks.

Or other parts of his body, when left underwater for too long… Other people get wrinkly skin, Weld gets rusty.

Looking like I do, facing the disappointments and frustrations I have?  Maybe it’s self-serving to think so, but I think it takes a kind of strength to let yourself face your emotions like that.”

Everyone has it tough from time to time. It’s important to let those emotions out somehow.

It seems Weld is better at understanding other people’s emotions (and psychology) than I gave him credit for back in 9.1.

Her eyes started watering.  She blinked the tears away.

“And my orders?”

Stay alive and… stay sane?

“Order number one is that you go see the PRT’s therapist.  If I can clear it with Director Piggot, figure out a way to make the patrol schedules work, I’m going to try to get everyone to go.

Sounds like a good idea. Man, the amount of fictional ‘verses out there where no one gets therapy…

I’m honestly kind of flabbergasted that nobody higher up than me has mandated it already.”

Heh, yeah.

“Okay.”  In a way, she was relieved, at that instruction.

“Order number two is to let yourself cry, damn it.  Stop holding it back.”

Open those dams.

Seriously, this is good advice.

She shook her head, “Nobody else seems to care as much-”

Weld raised a hand, “Stop.  Let me finish.  Remember that your teammates have their individual strengths to their personalities.  I don’t know enough about Aegis or Gallant to say for sure, but I think maybe Clockblocker is stepping up to become more of a leader, in Aegis’s absence.

Oh yeah, Clockblocker was the one who was supposed to be the next leader anyway, wasn’t he? Except he wanted to procrastinate on that for as long as he could.

And it does seem like he’s gotten a little more assertive since Interlude 3, among other changes.

It could be part of why there’s friction between him and me, even if he doesn’t fully realize it.”

Maybe to some extent.

“Gallant was sort of preparing to be the team leader, for when Aegis graduated,” Vista said, her voice quiet.

Oh right, that’s how it was. Clocky was next, I suppose.

Weld nodded.  “The impression I’ve picked up, and forgive me if I’m off target, is that Aegis was the head of the team, the leader, strategist and manager.  Gallant, maybe, was the heart.  The guy who tied you all together, kept the interpersonal stuff running smoothly.  

Weld, have you been up looking at TVTropes?

But yeah, that sounds accurate.

Would I be wrong in assuming he was the one who handled Sophia best?”

…

That might explain Sophia acting differently for a while too.

Vista shook her head.  A lump was growing in her throat. 

“Okay.  With all this in mind, I have one suggestion and two orders.  My suggestion?  Stop trying to be everything they were.

So if Clockblocker’s taking over as the head (even though officially, that’s Weld’s job), maybe Vista should settle for the heart. She’s rather fitting for that role anyway, what with her emotional maturity. She’s sort of been doing that already, throughout this Arc…

…and she wasn’t visibly doing it in Interlude 3. Huh.

Be what you’re good at, a caring, sweet young woman who everyone on the team likes.  My professional opinion is that you have it in you to fill some of that void Gallant left.  Use that empathic nature of yours to help others with their own struggles.  Be the team’s heart.”

Yeah.

You know what, Weld? I think you’re pretty good at this whole leadership thing, once you’re settled in.