Chris glanced up as the girls left the room again, Georgia hesitating by the door while Jennifer and Sophia headed for the stairs. Jennifer paused at the stairs, shooting Georgia one last insistent look, gesturing towards Chris with a slight nod, before continuing up. Chris turned to Georgia and raised an eyebrow at her. "What's up? More questions?" He asked.

Georgia flushed, opening and closing her mouth wordlessly, before letting out a frustrated groan. "I just- I- I wanted to- I'm sorry for calling you weird!" She finally blurted out.

Chris blinked. "Okay… but I am weird, aren't I?"

"W-well… I mean, you're different, but- I- I didn't mean to imply there was something wrong with you." Georgia sighed.

Chris cocked his head. "Why not? There probably is something wrong with me. There's just not much anyone can actually do about it." He shrugged. It was blatantly obvious Chris was missing something other people had. There were things he couldn't do that seemed to come so naturally to others. Admittedly, he rather enjoyed being the way he was, but that didn't mean he didn't acknowledge that there was probably something wrong with him.

"That-" Georgia hesitated. How the hell was she supposed to respond to that?!? The man fully admitted that he was weird and there was probably something wrong with him! Should she argue with him? But where would she even start? She thought he was weird and there was probably something wrong with him! She paused. "Wait, so… you don't- you don't hate me for thinking you're weird?" She asked tentatively.

Chris frowned at her. "Everyone thinks I'm weird. I don't have the energy to hate that many people and why would I bother to single you out?"

Georgia's mouth opened, but no words came out. This conversation hadn't gone the way she'd expected, though she couldn't exactly be surprised… Why should anything related to Chris be normal? She sat down with a sigh. "How do you do it? How do you just- why don't you care?!?"

"What would be the point?" Chris replied, raising an eyebrow. "I am who I am, people are who they are. I'm not changing and expecting everyone else to change for me would be unreasonable, so the situation is what it is. Even if I did care, there's nothing I could, or would, do, so I'd have to spend all my time sad or pissed off or something. I don't have the energy for that either. Besides, being weird and fucked up doesn't get in the way of me enjoying my life, but spending all my time obsessed with the fact I'm weird and fucked up would. So caring would in fact make my life worse."

Georgia frowned. That made sense? Kind of? Except… "How do you just stop caring about something?" She asked. That wasn't how it worked, was it? You couldn't control what you cared about, could you?

"Oh, I never cared to begin with." Chris waved dismissively. "I barely recognized that other people existed for most of my childhood, and even now it's a rather vague concept. I prefer to focus on the few people who actually matter to me, rather than worry about what the faceless masses might think of me."

"Then what if the people who mattered to you thought you were weird?" Georgia asked, still trying to figure this all out, feeling like she was missing some piece that would suddenly make Chris make sense.

"Well, as I've said, I am weird, so obviously they would think I'm weird. The difference is that me being weird isn't a problem for them and if it was, they would never have mattered to me. Not out of rejection or anything, it's just that the only way for someone to matter to me is for them to take a positive interest in my life, and since I don't hide how weird I am, they kinda have to be okay with it." Chris explained with a shrug. "There have been those who've insisted on trying to change me, but it never works, so they rather quickly learn to either leave me alone or just accept me for who I am."

"I see." Georgia muttered with a frown. She could see how that worked… it was hard to argue that someone should change when they were utterly content with their situation. "So then… you wouldn't mind being friends with me? Even though I think you're weird?"

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that what this is all about? You want to be my friend?"

"N-no!" Georgia immediately protested, before freezing. "I- I mean… I don't- I don't not want to be your friend, but- I'm not- I'm not begging you to like me or anything!" Georgia's expression twisted as she fumbled over her words, not even sure what she was trying to say anymore. Damn it, Chris was the weird one! Why was she the one being all awkward and shit?!?

"Okay…" Chris replied with a bemused grin. "Well, I don't push anyone away, so if you… don't not want to be my friend, just hang out with me, and if we click, we click. Though I'm not going to force things either, so if there's nothing to talk about, I'm going to go back to reading my book."

Georgia flushed, clenching her hands into fists. She wasn't some child he needed to placate or humor! Why did it seem like she was the one pursuing him?!? She didn't pursue! She should be the one telling him she wasn't going to be forcing things! But- if she just stomped off in a huff… she was supposed to be fixing things with Chris, not offending him more! Though she wasn't sure even that would offend him… still, it definitely wouldn't help! Which meant… "You- you could tell me about your book?" She offered through gritted teeth.

"Eh?" Chris shrugged. "I don't really like to talk about books, particularly not with people who haven't read it. I just end up explaining the plot, badly, and you just nod along like you understand, with nothing of any substance exchanged."

"Then what do you want to talk about!?!" Georgia exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration.

Chris cocked his head. "I suppose the usual question would be what are you doing here, wouldn't it? I'm here because of Greg, since we're connected. I know you're part of a group yourself, but why did you join up with them? Why travel instead of staying where you were? Do you like fighting? Have some inborn need to right wrongs? Just like to travel? Or were you just that close and willing to go wherever they went?"

Georgia frowned. "We- I guess we're just looking for a place to belong… after everything came out-" Georgia sighed. "It felt like everything we'd done was for nothing. Working to make our city safe, only for aliens to kidnap us and force us to train for a war that ended after a few weeks, leaving us to fend for ourselves on a strange planet! We kept putting in so much work and getting nothing out of it! Everything we worked for just… turned to dust. So when the war was over, we just left. If everything we built was just going to be taken away from us, why build anything? And we've been drifting ever since. We still help where we can, but… I'm not sure if it's enough." Georgia shook her head. "I just want to do something that matters, you know? Something that will last!"

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Chris nodded. "I can understand that. Sort of like making a fort out of blocks only for some jerk to come around and knock it down. Makes the whole endeavor seem pointless. Ultimately the problem is a lack of control. If anything you do can be taken away from you at any point, then why do it? Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to change that… I suppose you just need to find joy in the process? Yes, the building can be torn down, but there's still satisfaction in having built it in the first place, in giving someone a home for however short a time. Just because something ends doesn't mean it wasn't good while it lasted."

Georgia frowned. "But life shouldn't be an endless struggle just to get things back to normal! We should be able to make progress, without having to fight just to maintain the status quo!"

"Well, that'd be nice, but you can't say that's how things should be." Chris shrugged. "Life doesn't exactly have a standard to which it has to conform, it just is what it is. We should always be looking for ways to improve it, but just complaining about the way things are doesn't help anyone. And if you give up when you don't see a way to make progress, then how can you complain when everything falls apart?"

Georgia shook her head. "People can't keep fighting for nothing. I can't- I just can't." She groaned. "How can I keep building when it seems like everyone around me just wants to tear it all down?"

"I think at that point you have to ask yourself why you're trying to build something it's clear no one else wants." Chris replied. "Do they not understand what you're trying to do? Are they actively against it? Are they right or wrong? Communal problems require communal solutions, so if you aren't working with your community, you aren't going to get anything done."

"So if the community is okay with hurting people, I should just sit back and accept it?!?" Georgia asked incredulously. "Would you have supported slavery just because it was legal!?!"

Chris blinked. "What form of slavery are we talking about?" Georgia's eyes widened in incredulity as Chris raised a hand. "Not important. Either way, it isn't about supporting or not supporting. No matter how heinous your community is, the first step you need to take is to get the community on your side, to convince them that whatever you're trying to do is good. Otherwise they're just going to keep tearing down whatever you try to build, until you're completely burnt out, because there's more of them than there are of you. It isn't a matter of principle, it's a matter of procedure. A condition that needs to be met before you can make a change, and if you don't meet it, you're going to have a bad time."

Georgia frowned. "How do you convince criminals to stop doing crime?"

"Every crime needs a victim." Chris shrugged. "Show people the damage and hope they see the need for a change. I'm not saying it's easy, it's just what needs to happen before anything else."

Georgia slumped back in her seat, crossing her arms. "So no matter what, I'm stuck with what everyone else wants? No matter how awful it is?!?"

"That would be how it works, yes." Chris nodded. "At least, unless you have the ability to change to a different community or possibly create your own. Or if you're strong enough to threaten everyone else into going along with whatever you want, though that's a bit immoral. Or you could provide enough benefits that people are willing to put up with your shit to keep you around, but again, not very moral. Well, depending on how shitty your shit is."

"So basically, if you're rich and powerful, you get to do whatever you want." Georgia scoffed.

"That would be the case, yes." Chris shrugged. "Not saying it's good or bad, it's just how things work." The whole Ruin incident had proven that quite nicely.

Georgia huffed bitterly, but there was nothing she could say to disagree. All of history proved his point again and again. No matter how unfortunate it was, might made right more often than not. "That doesn't mean I have to like it though." She grumbled.

"As long as you don't uselessly obsess over it, sure." Chris agreed. "I mean, I don't like the sky, but there's nothing I can do about it, so I just deal with it."

"You don't like the sky?!?" Georgia asked incredulously.

"The sun is too bright, the wind is annoying, and I don't like being wet." Chris replied, his expression twisting distastefully. "The only thing it has going for it is that it looks pretty sometimes. It's like putting up with an abusive spouse just because she looks stunning in a cocktail dress. Just not worth it."

Georgia blinked at him for a moment, before snorting and devolving into a fit of giggles as her whole argument suddenly seemed utterly ridiculous. So what if she needed to rely on the community to get things done? So what if the rich and powerful had an easier time of things? So what if Chris was weird? It's how things were! To complain about it would be like complaining about the sky. You could do it all you want, but it wouldn't change a thing. "So the world sucks, but what are you going to do about it, is that it?" Georgia snickered. "Just fuck it, huh?"

"Well, I mean, you still do what you can." Chris pointed out. "But basically, if you don't have an answer for what you're going to do about it, then yeah, just fuck it. Not an excuse to give up, just to stop stressing yourself out over things that won't change."

Georgia nodded. "Right, right. You can still work to change your community and shit. Just… focus on what you can actually do, not the unchangeable realities of life."

"Right." Chris agreed. "Life may be miserable, but that doesn't mean you have to be."

Georgia snorted again. "That sounds so wrong, but I like it."

"But I suppose the real question is where does that put you?" Chris asked. "Anything you can do to change things? Anything you want to convince people of?"

Georgia paused, before letting out a sigh. "Right now all I want is to rest. We've been through so much shit in the past few years, struggling on our own against the injustices around us, trying to do everything ourselves… I just want to enjoy the fact I have an actual bed to rest in for a bit." She fell silent for a moment before continuing. "After that… well, I'll probably be helping with whatever you end up doing."

"Eh?" Chris raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well… I mean, if you'll let me…" Georgia coughed awkwardly. "If we want to make a difference, joining up with you is the best way to do that, right? You're- I mean, that whole avatar thing… If anyone can make a difference in this world, it's you. I- I want to be a part of that."

Chris cocked his head. "Well you aren't wrong. Still leaves the question of what we're actually going to do, though. I mean, I respect Greg's idea of running around putting down problems, but that's more of a stop-gap measure than anything. Evil people rising to power is a symptom of the larger issue, namely that you all lack any sort of structure people can look to for security. Without that, people can only look to strength for security, which means you're gambling on whether the person with strength is good or not. Unfortunately, we have no interest in being or even setting up that structure… None of us have any interest in politics." Chris's expression twisted at the very idea. "So we're pretty much left with the stop-gap measure until we can find someone to set up the structure for us… you wouldn't happen to be interested in politics, would you?"

"No." Georgia replied with a twisted expression of her own. Part of the reason they'd started to travel was to escape the mire of politics, and she had no interest in jumping back into it any time soon.

"Then yeah, just solving problems… unless you have a better idea, I suppose." Chris shrugged. "We are open to suggestions."

"Well, we were doing pretty much the same thing, so… I guess that works?" Georgia responded hesitantly. "I'm just not sure how much of a difference it'd actually make…"

"Yeah, neither are we." Chris agreed with a sigh.