Life's third most memorable moments, for better or worse, come when our emotional threshold gets drawn back as far as possible in either direction; its second comes when the arrow of our emotions gets shot back in the opposite direction; its first however is rarely appreciated, it comes when this idiotic bow metaphor is abandoned and instead reimagined as an active instruments string vigorously oscillating between the two.
The most memorable people are those who experience all three in equal measure. Additionally, the shy intersection between the memorable and the wise forms when all three are equally appreciated.
While a few of the crew were wise, understandably, none of them appreciated the oscillation back into horror that happened next, and only Robin was able to anticipate it.
"Get us out of the water now, Isaac!"
Pop
Within an instant, they had all been transported far above the ocean. Diogenes was unable to tell if it was the wind smacking his eyes or something deeper, but he had an odd feeling he wasn't fully understanding his environment. What he could understand left his spine trembling almost as much as what he couldn't. The first thing everyone noticed was a man clad head to toe in tactical armor and just a ridiculous amount of weaponry, mostly guns, but he even had a spear sheathed on his back; this sight was especially ridiculous given his obscenely powerful right arm that emitted a heat he used to boil the ocean it boiled the ocean.
"Shit, those filth escaped! I must've raised the temperature too quickly!" He called out to where the club used to lie, but now his downtrodden-looking colleague, who seemed to be talking to himself. Had replaced it.
"Do I have to ask them? You're better off this way, look at me, I hate knowing what I am, no no no don't look at me."
By then, Isaac had recovered from the surprise of the sneak attack and transported the crew down to the beach where they could observe the scene from ground level.
"Hey, he used to go to the camp! Jean, what are you doing? I thought you and Reflection died!" Robin called out to the downtrodden boy.
"Oh no, she knows me! "Jean shuffled like he was hiding behind someone, as the whole crew maintained eye contact with him. "There, look, they can't see you. They don't know what you are."
This scratched Isaacs' curiosity, so he transported himself closer to ask, "Who are you talking to, man, and where'd the club go?"
Jean hid his face and mumbled something about not wanting to be seen. Unable to decipher what Jean was saying, Isaac tried to step closer before he got blasted deep into the ocean.
"Isaac! Oh, god's, they killed Isaac! It's too deep for him to survive!"
"Ey, my man, you gotta relax, he landed in the water, he'll be fine," Lou reassured Phillip while casually deflecting a ray of concentrated fire with his bat. "You missed!" he taunted the arsenal of a man.
"Oh, your commitment works like that weakling Jean. If I can't hit you, then I'll just make sure your friends can't go anywhere!" The arsenal shouted while he bent over to grab the sand, and quicker than a single grain could flee his grasp, he had superheated the entire beach into glass. The crew huddled in the minuscule oasis created by Lou's power. "Jean, step on the glass!"
"Ok, you don't need to yell, Misthios."
Before he even pressed down on the sand, it had all splintered into fine spikes. Overzealously, when Jean saw this, he belly flopped into the glass, creating even finer spikes.
Robin grabbed Lou's shoulder as he prepared to shoot himself towards Misthios, planning on taking both on at once. "Don't you need to stay close for when Isaac hurries up and gets here."
With a pop and a sneeze, Issac returned.
"Hi guy-"
"What are you talking about, shoot an arrow or something!"
"I can't argue with you, right now, get us back to camp, Isaac."
Pop
They had crashed on top of a picnic table, offending the couple that occupied it as everyone, but Robin and Lou bounced off.
"They hell's wrong with you, I could've taken them! You didn't even try and shoot that bow!"
"It wouldn't have worked, that mercenary guy, Misthios, would've burnt my arrows, and the other one would have deflected it! Now I'm not gonna argue with you right now, we're all tired, let's all clean ourselves up, then meet in the tent." Robin tried to diffuse the situation in front of the other rebels in the town.
"No, Isaac, bring us back now!"
"Don't listen to him, can you bring us to are chambers please."
Pop
Pop
Pop
Pop
Pop
Pop
Just like that, they were all back in their chambers, back in comfort, back in the homes they built for themselves over the time they'd been in the camp. All of them got to walk past symbols of their interests, such as bookshelves, ant nests, guitars, and outfits. All except Diogenes, who was suddenly in a tiny house completely foreign to him, filled only with a mat for a bed and a door leading into a shower room. And for a moment, after all the bustling chaos and noise of Club Feed, the quiet emptiness gifted him a sense of tranquility. But it was fleeting. Diogenes suffered from the most prevalent forms of illnesses in Athenia, perversion of concept, and the single most prevalent illness in men, perversion of the concept of ego. When he saw his empty room, he thought the phrase so many do, "My ego won't allow this." This was the most utterly blatant of the perversions, as it completely subverts the definition. Ego is true self-assuredness, so it's completely absurd to claim anything outside the self could possibly assert influence over it. But to the people of Athenia, it made perfect sense, as all things in Athenia surely did.
Once everyone had taken their time to thoroughly shower, one by one, they made their way to the green tent in the center of the town. Robin first and last, Phillip, who hid lingering in the shower, praying not to any god in particular, effectively just mumbling to his shower head, mumbling about a meteor striking him, a sudden brain aneurysm, even his shower water turning to acid, all these prayers for death birthed from Phillips desire not to walk out to his death at the hands of another. This made perfect sense as all things in Athenia surely did.
Phillip, once he had steeled his resolve, he limped into the tent right as Robin was nearing the climax of her speech.
"That is why, while we may have time to prevent a world war, we need to act quickly before Athenia can officially announce its allegiance with the warlike countries Inzeral Saliru!"
It was then that the naked man's TV blared. "We interrupt this scheduled programming with an announcement. It is with great pleasure that Athenia would like to officially announce its allegiance with Saliru and Inzeral in their war!"
"No, why what was Bingo Bob going to say! He's always so funny!
Blzert, the TV went.
"Well, Monica, you know Airplane food."
The naked man relaxed once his show was back on while the rest of the crew had to deal with the reality that they were officially part of yet another war.
This news shocked the whole crew, except for Diogenes, into reevaluation or cynical mockery for others. Robin searched for a way to speed up her plans, and Phillip searched for a sneaky way out, and the other three, who, while deeply revolted by the news, could only find it in themselves to joke. "Oh, so much for that plan. "Athenia would like to announce" fuck I don't remember announcing that what about you all."
"Ok, new plan, we can't stop the war, so we need to find a way to help the other side." Robin clapped
"Woah, you want to help the other side? I understand President Mitas and that deity are bad, but this is downright unpatriotic! It makes sense to partner with nations like Saliru and other superpowers, they'll make powerful allies." Our lead idiot spoke up for once.
Everyone stared down Diogenes with an almost murderous intent.
Pop
Within a blink, Diogenes was in a grocery store watching as Isaac half-hazardously knocked various foodstuffs into his cart.
"I think you and I share in an issue we have perverted perspectives," Isaac explained while riding his shopping cart. "Don't tell the others, but I'm not like you, I don't have some commitment, I am the way I am cause when I was eight, I got abducted by aliens."
Diogenes tensed up as if to say that makes no sense.
Sensing Diogenes' reservation, Isaac allowed his foot to slide against the floor so Diogenes could catch up.
"I'm not crazy, I'm saying I was probed or anything they just taught me things, showed me things some of which I still can't understand." He explained as he paid. "I've met people in heavens, and I've certainly met people in hells and learned the seemingly arbitrary rules that dictate which heaven or hell you go to."
As they walked out to feed the homeless, a hairy nude man held the door open for them. After which he calmly walked into the store and placed a paper bag over his head as to facilitate an easy clean up before shooting himself. This made sense as all things in Athenia surely did.
As soon as all the homeless men had their choice of food, there was as there always was a
Pop
They were now on top of the vanguard building of a resilient city with only a view of rubble before it. Wind blew Isaac hair as he sat on the buildings ledge
"This is Urk, the country Saliru wants to see turned to rubble. One sec I'll be right back.
Pop
…
Pop
And just like that, Isaac had gone and came back with half the groceries and the addition of a thank-you sticker on his forearm.
"As I was saying, um, oh yeah, it's cause of things like that I've grown a warped perspective on life and death, I know it is merely a transfer of energy that facilitates an easy path to one of the many galaxies you all call heavens." He continued on as golden constructs smacked artillery down from the sky. "But it doesn't change how I feel when I am actually exposed to suffering, you'll see. Let's visit a country that's not lucky enough to have Adams' protection. Like, let's say Stypalsin"
Pop
Screams filled the ears of Diogenes like he was back at Club Feed, concrete dust invaded his lungs, and the blood of civilians clung to his shoes.
But this made sense as all things approved by Athenia surely did.
"Come with me this time."
Pop
They were in a shelter, if you can call it that. Isaac strolled around, passing out food to all the survivors, getting stickers from every one of them until he came upon a small boy who cried out an apology for not having any stickers. Apparently, it was all Isaac had asked of them, and the boy's sister had died holding their last batch.
"Don't even worry about it, little man, just make sure this gets to Yasmin. I'm sure your mom needs extra support right now. Isaac handed him extra before he finished giving out all the food.
"Now, before I take you back, I want you to think about all the things you and your politician buddies have said to justify all this. Did any of it make sense? And more than that, since all this bloodshed goes against our country's core principles, does it really make sense to claim it's unpatriotic to fight against it?
Diogenes forced himself to recall the times when he and colleagues sat in front of millions and laughed at the people against the war, saying things like "that's just how war is." "Inzeral are really the ones defending themselves." "All the other countries support them." He remembered when he laughed. And his stomach couldn't help but turn, his knees buckle and his eyes water.
"Bring me back, please."
"First, we have to restock. We have two other sets of civilians to visit. And sadly, many more sights to see and stories to hear"