LU 16 - Space 5

I was relaxing in the kingdom when Thornberry came up to me and asked if I wanted to take part in some experiments he was going to try on Hallthorr. I didn't have much to do, so I obliged and went over to his lab. Once there, we went over to Hallthorr and put him in this testing room. While experimenting, I noticed that the potions Thornberry was using was extremely basic stuff - strength, weakness, and poison potions; Is *this* those magic potions he hyped up when I first met him? Damn this guy underdelivered. He seemed quite shocked that I knew about these potions, and I explained that they've been around way before he started using them. I also noticed how kindly he was treating Hallthor and asked Thornberry about it; apparently he cares for Hallthorr somehow, despite slowly and painfully ruining his life, and trusts him to a degree. I asked what was stopping Hallthorr from running away, and he said that he trusted Hallthorr not to run away. I can't with this guy sometimes. I asked why he bothers with caring for people in general, and he just said that he does because that's who he is. Really? He's open to capturing and torturing children, but refuses to kill people and do great harm? Fuck this guy is confusing. But then it hit me - maybe he isn't as twisted as I think he is. Like, he has every right to care for other people, albeit he's a bit weird for the Hallthorr thing but still, so how can I expect him not to? Fuck, maybe being alive for so long has really fucked me up. I mean, I seemed way more open to killing people that could become a threat than I used to be. I seem way more open to kill in general. I can't even fathom why anyone would care for other people anymore, which is mildly concerning to me... whatever.

While talking about this though, some prick eavesdropping on us came to chat. Thornberry and I began to panic, but this guy seemed chill with what we were talking about. In fact, he offered his help in achieving our goals. He explained villagers to Thornberry and suggested we just buy some stuff from them. Thornberry seemed like he liked this idea, but I just didn't feel motivated to do all this; I unfortunately seemed to be outnumbered though, so I went along with this trading plan. Then, Thornberry naively showed this guy, who introduced himself as echo, the lab and Hallthorr. I wasn't a huge fan of this choice, but hey it's not my lab. We sat and chatted for a bit about echo, since he was somehow 200 years old and I've never seen him before, and I was stuck with Hallthorr since Thornberry and echo seemed deep in a conversation. He was complaining about how he didn't trust echo, and how he wanted echo to stay away from him or some shit. I got sick of his shit and put him in his place. I explained how he was just a lab rat, and that he wasn't allowed to have things like trust and friends. He was about as human as a fucking animal, and I made sure he knew that. Normally I wouldn't go so hard on him, but I know that I'm gonna watch everyone in this lab turn to dust so why the fuck should I care? Damn I've gotten apathetic over the years; I guess being alive for so long really does you in. The mind-warping shit the sword does really isn't helpful. Anyways, I eventually got annoyed and bored, so I left and went back to relax in Koratai's house.