Friends Reacting To S.T.A.L.K.E.R

Prologue: Insanity of the Present

"... We'll figure that out." Tenko sighed. "I'm a little cautious about it to be honest. After that first one, I'm not sure if this one will be as bad as the last."

"Yeah, we'll come to that when we get there." Trace said, also remembering the events of the first feed.

Off in another group, Lupa was in a group with the rest of Hunter's girlfriends. They were mostly talking about the feed, but Lupa seemed indifferent.

"What do you mean "it wasn't that bad"?!" Alice yelled as she looked at Lupa.

"I'm just saying that DarkWood isn't as bad as you saw. What's so hard about understanding that?" Lupa responded. She was trying to explain that DarkWood wasn't as bad as others seemed. "Yes, it gets "sketchy", as Hunter would say, at night, but it was rather calm during the day. Everyone agreed that the day was the time for us to do what we needed." Despite the societal collapse within the forest, there were several unspoken rules they abided by.

"He lost a hand!" Lilac yelled.

"He loses a hand every week." Lupa sighed. "With how many times I had to reattach it, I might as well be a neurologist."

"Whatever, we're getting nowhere." Carol said, rubbing her temples. "How'd he leave y'all's world?"

"Got into a fight and was forced back to his world." Yuri said. It was the basic concept, but after seeing that he indeed lost his powers, it was better not to go into detail.

"He died for us." Milla said. Seeing that he was still alive made it easier for her to say it.

"Sounds about right. The kid doesn't know how to look for himself." Lupa said while the rest nod. "We've been going with each other for a few years now. Every world he's been to, I went with him. Recently, in Mobius, we were separated by distance, but I found him."

"Wow, you're lucky." Yorokobi said. "We've been trying to get to Hunter's world."

"Don't even try. That world is so messed up that you're better off just killing yourself instead. You achieve the same result; faster." She wasn't joking about that. With the war, the more recent epidemic, and the tanking value of all money; the world was completely messed up.

"What I want to know is your story, Carol. I highly doubt that you would have settled down with a man." Corazon said to her sister.

"I'm just going to be as blunt as possible. It started 100% as a hate fuck. The only reason why we didn't like each other was because he said a few things that would have sounded better if he wasn't monotone." Carol explained.

"At least that's consistent." Lupa said. "I'm guessing it took a while for you to realize that he says exactly what he means."

"Ain't that the truth." Most of them nodded.

"He has stated that his love language is Quality Time." Sora said.

"Love language?" Yuri asked.

"It's a psychological classing chart for what you responded to the most with other people. It's usually in rearguard towards lovers, but can be applied to friends and what not."

"And you say this now?"

"As I was saying, he mentioned that his love language is Quality Time. Meaning that he doesn't need much other than you just being there." Sora scratched her head. "I'm just regurgitating the info he gave me. You'd think with someone who's really well versed in psychology, he'd work on himself more."

"He did. Officially, he went in for confidence and to see if he has Asperger's. Knowing him, it was something else." Lupa said. He almost always avoided talking about his mental health.