"What of it, who’s going to stop me? You? Unlikely, you always leave me to my own devices so long as it doesn’t interfere with your stuff. Anyway, tell me about the Circulation Skill you chose. I had initially wanted to go over it with you so that you didn’t do something stupid like picking the same one you had in the Origin Timeline…" The moment I said something about his skill, I heard Brenden’s footsteps stop some way back, causing me to halt in place and stare forward with dead eyes.
"Brenden…tell me you didn’t do something that stupid…." Apart from the static sound of the Command Center’s air conditioning unit, there was only silence…and with each passing second, I grew more and more agitated at the lack of answer from Brenden.
"You…just when I think you may finally be using that peasized brain between your ears…You little SHIT YOU COULD BUY ANYTHING!" However, when I spun around, all I saw was a massive shit-eating grin on my little brother’s face.
"Gotcha…" he said while wiggling his eyebrows…and that was all I needed to lose my patience; rushing forward, I caught my brother in a headlock and started brutally…smacking his forehead, a tactic we had used for as long as I could remember to torture each other.
"AHH, AHHH, TAYLOR STOPP AHHH!" Brenden screamed as I mercilessly smacked his forehead, repeatedly without leaving so much as a red mark behind as evidence.
Mind you, I wasn’t actually HURTING HIM; I was only using enough strength to make a soft tapping sound, and if anything, all it served to do was annoy whoever was getting smacked, but that was his punishment.
I kept it up for a solid two minutes before releasing my brother and allowing him to slump to the ground in defeat.
"Now tell me what fucking Circulation skill you bought, and I swear to god, if it isn’t up to par with my standards, getting your forehead slapped will be the least of your worries." Placing my hands on my hips, I struck a defiant pose in front of my brother and glared down at him.
"Fuck…why did you have to hit me for real on the last smack? Now my ears are ringing." Brenden complained while rubbing his forehead with an aggrieved expression on his face.
"Play stupid games win stupid prizes; I don’t give a shit if you were tryina get back at me for the Particle Grenade thing, but that DEFINATLY wasn’t the time and place to do so, especially since I wouldn’t put it past you to do something idiotic such as buying the exact same shitty skill you used in the Origin Timeline on the grounds of ’If it aint broke don’t fix it,’ now fess up."
"Ugh, fine, it’s called Resilient Body, and it’s basically what you think; it increases my Defensive stats dramatically. Both Meta-physical and Physical, which was my biggest flaw." Confessing what skill he picked earned a nod of acknowledgment from me.
"Good choice, it will make you a fine meatshield…I mean tank,"
"The fuck did you just say, MEATSHIELD?"
"Nahh…who said that…. wasn’t me, I have no idea what you are talking about, I definitely said tank, yeah, tank, I would NEVER…EVERR~ think of chucking you into enemy lines as a distraction." Smacking my lips, I smirked and spun around to walk over toward the command console.
"Hey…HEY DON’T WALK AWAY FROM ME! WHOSE YOUR MEATSHIELD!" Brenden cried while chasing after me, regretting that he didn’t purchase a circulation skill that would boost his offensive stats to new heights.
In actuality, he had chosen the correct skill. Although he did get a minute boost to his defensive stats, Brenden’s Talent turned him into a literal glass cannon, and unless he was heavily reinforced with durable and strong armor, he would be the first one down if he got hit.
That’s not to say that he didn’t have a strong body; it was quite the opposite, in fact, but working out and conditioning yourself will only get you so far when Talents and powers are brought into the conversation, as such by finding a Circulation skill that would not only increase his physical defense but also meta-physical was a huge benefit for him in the long run.
---
And so time moved forward; after spending a week relaxing, gathering survival resources, and getting Brenden acclimated to the 1990s, I bid farewell to my little brother as he crushed a ++ Instance token to begin his training.
Like myself, he was no stranger to instances, and according to what he told me, he had spent years grinding undead inside of that Instance I died in during the Origin Timeline. Although he hadn’t been around normal people for years, I realized that years of solitude hadn’t affected his mind much, and I can say that without a doubt because he allowed me to check.
While I may not have degrees in psychology or psychiatry and hadn’t spent a single day in a college classroom for those topics, that didn’t mean I couldn’t earn said Doctorates; in fact, I had read through most college-level textbooks out of sheer boredom in my free time, so in a sense, I suppose I could be considered as having multiple Doctorate Degrees, hah, Dr. Taylor Jörgensen has a pleasant ring to it.
Regardless, between the book smarts and my experience with using my Talent, I was able to determine that Brenden wasn’t suffering from PTSD or any other psychological issue, well, not any that had been developed inside that Undead Instance.
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Like any other adult, he had his issues and even shared an ADHD diagnosis with me, but overall, he was the same person from my memory, with no real changes other than being a little more…feral.
I say that because it was something I noticed the moment he came back; it was like he had a bestial aura surrounding him, or in other words, a bloodlust, which I knew came from never-ending killing, as I, too, had something similar about me.
So after teaching him how to control it and reel it in so that he didn’t scare the shit out of our Father or, worse yet, Deeana, he was good to go.