"You know, I hoped I would be dealing with the best case future, but I prepared myself for the worst case as well, I see I'm gonna have a lot more work ahead of me than I expected."
"Tell me at the very least, it's really big and breathes fire!"
"Would you stop fucking around!!"
Damian's words stopped me mid dance, draining all the excess energy in my system.
"I'm- I'm so sorry."
"Hey, you don't have to be rude. Yuri can't help it when she's having an episode."
"I get that, but we don't have the time to use soft hands; the clock's ticking faster than any other future I've seen. Yuri is as far behind as she can be. I was fully prepared for someone who was almost ready to learn how to fly; she hasn't done more than teleport a basketball."
"Fly?"
"Oh, you shouldn't have said that."
"No. No, no. I can handle myself. I can handle the idea that I'm going to be able to fly. I'm definitely not on the verge of having another episode."
"Listen, Yuri, I need you on this. You are not the version I wanted to deal with, but you are the version I got. I need to turn this unstable and untrained mess into a fit and ready fighter. Yes, you will fly. Yes, you will fight some really cool enemy. But, I'm gonna work you so hard you won't be able to process how sore your muscles are. Are you ready for that? Can I trust that you will at least make your best effort?"
"Yes. I will any effort necessary to fly and fight giant evil monsters."
"That's what I want to hear. You're working to fight against a lot of futures where you fail, so I need you to keep that energy for as long as you can maintain it."
"How many futures do I fail?"
"Innumerable."
"That many?"
"I am not exaggerating for dramatic flair, I'm being literal. Keep in mind that there are too many possible futures to truly analyze them all. But, in a sample of one million futures, you have a one point seven two four repeating chance of success. This number stays relatively firm at higher sample counts."
"One point seven. I can do that."
"I sure hope you can. Now, let's get to training."
"Terri, I need to speak to you."
After his motivational speech, Damian sent Yuri to her room to rest in preparation for whatever hell she's about to live through. Just as I thought I was going back to my dorm, Damian called me over to a private room to talk.
"You're the most normal part of this group; would you agree with that?"
"Well, I seemingly can't die; but other than that, yes I agree."
"You know what I mean. I'd say on level of normal to crazy in terms of personality, you're the most normal, I'm above you, and Yuri is in another dimension."
"I don't like to think of Yuri as crazy. She has her issues, but she knows what she wants. As long as she's not in a manic episode, she's perfectly sane; she's just not happy. Well, I could say that; I'm pretty sure she's nothing but happy now."
"And that's the problem. Too much happiness and she goes into a mania episode and becomes useless to me. I need your help in preventing that from happening."
"And how do you suggest I do that?"
"I'd hate to even bring up the idea of slipping her meds for what she's got."
"And I'd have to refuse if you asked. I won't give someone drugs against their knowledge, even if it could help them. I also can't professionally diagnose Yuri as I haven't graduated and she's not my patient. I am very limited in what I can do."
"Just, try to keep her balanced. Keep her from getting too excited. Things are going to get crazier and more out of control and I know she'll have more episodes when they do. Just, help her a bit more."
"As her friend, I'm not above helping her. But that's all I'll do. I don't know what you plan to do for your training, but I can only be so useful to keep you and all of this from setting her off."
"That's enough. I may also make strange requests of you. If I ask you to do something weird, I'm only doing it to try and steer us towards the futures where we win."
"I'll consider your requests."