firstworldproblem | IC Inbox 2 (Imeeji)

[He smiles. This feels... better, warmer, being able to joke around, closer to the kind of relationship he wants to have between the two of them.]

Perhaps your old age is finally catching up to you?

[He tsks.]

You have no idea if you are older than I am. What does that say about you?

I have retained my youthful looks and demeanor!

That hardly excuses being senile.

[He stops once they reach the edge of the water.]

Lahabrea is better suited for keeping us motivated, and I know the Production can seem overwhelming at times. But in the end, we'll make it through.

[He stops, too, looking out at the ocean before them. There's a sense of... peace, serenity, here.]

Hearing that from you, a fabled pessimist... I do come to believe it.

[His tone is only half-joking, but his expression grows a little more serious again as he turns to look at Emet.]

Hades... can you grant us the Sight here? I would look upon you.

I have to believe it. I would not move forward if I thought it all for naught.

[He laughs low under his breath and Levity is gifted with the Sight. Hades color is two-toned.]

Finally, someone else who understands. Remind me to have you borrow the contacts that Lily did gift me.

[Because that is hygienic.]

What contacts?

[He studies Emet's soul curiously, noting the differences and similarities between how he is now and the colour, structure of his soul in Levity's memories... Gently, he reaches out to trace his fingers along some of the patterns he can see. There's a thought he's almost having...]

Glass lenses that sit on your eyes directly.

[He holds out an arm for him to do whatever tracing he likes.]

What do you see?

Hmm...

[The way he hums is playful, like he's deliberately postponing his answer, but with the way he falls silent and his expression softens it's obvious he's actually thinking about something. He keeps following the patterns slowly, glancing up at Emet every now and then, not so much to draw his attention but to study his expression and whatever else it is Levity sees.

And then--he smiles, face lighting up as though something dawned on him.]

I see you.

Of course you do. I am standing right in front of you.

[Surly! But no bite.]

[...he was going to say something serious, but it's so hard to resist temptation. So he doesn't.

Only gives Emet one of his trademark smug grins and then vaguely pats the air near Emet's face (and his cheek as well).]

Oh, speak up, young man, I'm too old to see or hear anything!

[Wow. He sure did miss his gremlin friend.]

I'm going to bite your fingers.

[Mostly.]

[ew what are you five]

I'll put in an order with Bell to make me robotic hands as well, then. I'd like to see you bite those.

Get them to make you eyes first. Those are more pressingly needed.

[He squeezes his fingers before letting them go raising his arms dramatically.]

I'm surprised you haven't created your beloved snake pit here. I'm sure you can manage to fit it wherever you please.

[Oh you mean like right under your feet, because that's obviously what you're getting. Have fun being dropped in with the robosnakes?]

[He teleports behind him, form changed from his Garlean look.]

Too obvious!

[Though he does wraps his arms around him head resting on his shoulder.]

[WOW. GAY. He laughs, obviously amused, resting his hands on Emet's arms around him in lieu of a return hug.]

Curses, I am foiled!

[Once he's done laughing, though... he turns his head slightly, a soft, apologetic smile on his face.]

...I'm sorry, Hades. For how I've been treating you.

[...and this should be a serious moment, but he can't help adding:]

Not about the snake pit, of course. I'm not sorry about that.

It must be overwhelming, having all stolen from you. Your abilities. Your memories. To get them back in scraps and pieces.

And we will fight. Sometimes the fault mine. Sometimes your. Sometimes neither. Amaurot was a utopia beyond words, but it wasn't perfect. We had to learn from each other. And it will be no different for you and I.

[And he drapes his aether over him like a warm blanket.]

[OH NO... CUTE....... He sighs, contented, peaceful, and tries to reach out with his own aether, brushing against Emet's soul.]

...Yeah. I hadn't realized it until you scolded me, but...

[He takes a deep breath, but he's smiling.]

Forgive me my abundance of words, but I feel that it should be said. You saying that I act like you're a disappointment to me, that you're afraid to trust me because of these arguments... and just now, that we have to learn from each other. It made me realize... I hadn't been thinking about you. Only about myself. And for that... I am sorry.

I thought that our bond, our friendship was something... mystical. Something meant to happen, a destiny for us, one that I was not fulfilling for some reason. And I thought that the answer lay within, something wrong with me that was getting in the way.

[He leans back a little, closing his eyes.]

So I sought to understand you by doubting myself even further. And it feels like I've tried just about everything to do that, except actually listening to what you've been telling me. It's almost funny, don't you find?

You tried too hard, too quickly to be Hythlodaeus as if he were an ideal to achieve. And I pushed you that way.

But he is you, and you are him and in some aspect you are neither. And trying to confine you in any way seems to only have caused you worry.

[He accomplishes the aetherical equivalent of entwining their fingers. Not a merge of souls, but a gesture of closeness.]

I wonder if it is me. You aren't the first or will be the last to brush off what I have to say. All this wisdom gone to waste!

[He's joking.]

If you can forgive my missteps, then would be cruel of me not to forgive yours.

[But then he laughs.]

And truly, it is not as if you and Azem every listened to me back then. All grins and mischievous faces. It's a wonder you didn't burn the Bureau down.

[Soul handholding!!!]

It's particularly ridiculous, given that sometime soon after my arrival I spoke with Lahabrea and told him that I do not truly see Hythlodaeus and Levity as separate people. "Levity is just Hythlodaeus without his memories", I'd said... and perhaps promptly forgot. I'm not quite certain what led me away from that thought, but I am more confident in it once again.

[He sighs softly.]

Being without my memories does not have to change me. Rather than a flaw or an obstacle, it is much easier to move on from it if I simply think of it as a thing that happened. Nothing more, and nothing less. And thus I will move on.

[He laughs at the complaint, though!]

Ah, perhaps it's like with Ardyn? Appearing insincere, or perhaps scheming, even when you are being such, preventing people from becoming closer to you, but only those close to you can see the truth? Though the situation between you and I differs from my relationship with Ardyn.

[But, ah. Hm. Azem.]

...Azem... he was our friend, wasn't he? But you told me I could blame him for the distance between us when I remembered enough. Did something happen?

I had worries by pushing you I'd only prompt you to try to be the person in your memories too quickly. Perhaps by not pushing you enough that made you simply run to it more.

But this is your journey and no one can tell you the right path to take. Only you can determine that for yourself. Though I would offer vocal suggestions.

I truly mean it when I say I want you to be happy. I hope you are able to find that.

[He shakes his head at the question.]

An echo. That's all that is left of them. And while their spirit lives on fractured and imparted to others, that is never truly them, is it? They no longer remember, and unlike you, I'm not certain they can get it back. Or desire to.

I've always been contrarian, haven't I? Of course I would run to it all the more if you withheld it from me.

[He chuckles.]

Though in that case I would likely have been cross with you for seeing Hythlodaeus in me when I wasn't yet him... I wonder if there would have been a way forward for us that didn't have any friction.

[News of Azem, though... Leave him stunned. He doesn't know what he expected, but that wasn't... that wasn't it.]

... Oh.

[He stays quiet, trying to process the thought. Even though he remembers so little, it feels... wrong, to think that...]

...they are gone?..

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