And now it’s TJ in the emotional blast range. Hugging his crying alt self is… too enlightening, and he doesn’t want this insight. He’s already living an examined life; this is precipitously close to being too much.

But Tim needs this. He needed this himself, once, and didn’t get it until he was already mending. “You won’t have to. It’s not a zero sum game. The great thing about found family is you can keep finding them. Doesn’t mean you give up on them. You just get to spread the load across multiple servers. If Mom and Dad want to engage more positively, you’ll still be there. But not giving up on them doesn’t mean carrying the load yourself.”