abraxaslogs | INTRO LOG #2

Intro Log #2

It has been two months now since the initial group of summonings first took place. Castle Thorne, or at least the part above ground, is buzzing with a vibrant air of hope following the 'success' at the Singularity. Eager smiles and excited chattering are to be found in nearly every corner of the castle and surrounding town. The honored guests may find grateful looks turned their way more often than not. A new and brighter day seems to be dawning on the kingdom.

In the dungeons it's a different story entirely. The mood is somber and uneasy. The prisoner taken for trial has yet to return, and no word has come regarding her or her fate. There has been no mention of any further trials as of yet and guards seem to have little patience for unruly behavior or even conversation. Some seem to not even look at or acknowledge the prisoners at all.

[ Feel free to continue threads from the TDM here or start your own! As cell and room assignments will be short-lived due to this month's event, you're free to assume whichever cellmates and roommates you like instead of officially signing up as long as there are ICly no more than four people in a cell or room at once. ]

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[How long indeed? True, he had meant to make something of a pass by all the cells, if only to get a sense of how many people were currently being held within. But now that he has stumbled on her, of all people... the idea of searching further is at least of less immediate importance. Something he will likely still wish to do, but less urgently. When he has more time for such things. (And perhaps has had a moment to allow whatever should happen to come up here settle.)]

I will not deny that I would have chosen a different outcome to our... conflict, had I my will. Nor do I regret the actions that had led to that conclusion.

[Although that latter, at least, may be no surprise, given he had been all but goading her into that final fight.]

But I would not have requested that which I did in those final moments had I not meant it. Had I believed you unworthy of the burden of remembrance.

[And a burden it is - without him, and without Elidibus, there will be few left who know the truth of their long forgotten civilization, and that which that had striven so hard to save.]

Still... [a pause, as his voice turns to something close to mock-upset] did you have to lean on the power of the light quite so much during our battle?

[ As trusting as she can be, even Himeka wouldn't have believed him if he said he wouldn't have wanted it otherwise. If there is one thing she would never begrudge another being, it is the desire to live, even if it may be taken from them for supposedly understandable reasons. (Mayhaps someday that is how her own life will be taken, but that's yet to be seen.)

But the promise is something she did take to heart, to take seriously, which is a far cry from the person she had been who so casually walked into the Waking Sands and agree to join the Scions because she wanted to see the world rather than to take on the Primal Threat. It's how she approached her final showdown with Elidibius and how she will likely approach the oncoming battle with Fandaniel--

--assuming...they can get out in any reasonable time. But that's another issue entirely.

She's touched, in a way, feeling a bit like maybe they had come to understand one another even towards the end. She hadn't really thought on wanting that validation, but maybe she did. Maybe she really did.

But, of course, he has to slide in with an appropriately "put upon" remark like that. Himeka blinks once, twice, and then snorts. ]

Maybe if you had refrained from aetherial gaols and giant...claw hands, I would have felt more generous. [ No, she wouldn't have. ] But I feel if I'd given you anything less than my best, you would have just been disappointed.

[ As he is so want to portray, at least. ]

Still...thank you.

[ That's what you say to a frienemy, right? ]

[After so many long years, he cannot - in truth - say whether or not he still has a desire to live. He does not wish to die, yes, for all that it had ever been denied him, but the simple act of living for so many centuries on end had become... tedious. Simply what he did in the absence of any other option. What he did until his own world could be reborn - a life lived in bits and snatches, through the lenses of other people instead of his own. (Not that he spent any great time dwelling on that fact, and he has no desire to do so now, even despite having been snatched from.)

Instead, he focuses instead on the fact that she does seem to be taking his final request with the gravity with which it had been meant. A heavy weight, but one that he would like to believe she will bear with all due seriousness, even despite the fact that she has not always done so. A belief born of the fact that he would like to believe he does understand her, to some extent. True, he might have something of an advantage in that he knows the person from whom her soul had come, but even then she is not Azem. She will never be, and that is no direct fault of hers.]

I did suggest that we show our true faces to one another, did I not? [A brief pause.] But yes, I would have been.

[Even if it had been more than a little annoying.

(The thanks he leaves unanswered. While he doesn't have an objections to it, neither is he precisely sure how - or if - he should answer.]

To be fair, you showed several faces.

[ Not just in his different transformations--which did come a bit of a surprise--but in the myriad of souls she saw reflected in those large wings of his. She wouldn't ever admit it aloud, but that was an image that stuck with her for quite some time.

That doesn't mean that she won't poke at it now that she has the opportunity. ]

Then aren't I the one who should be complaining about overkill? One might call it cheating.

[ Ignoring the fact that he was the one that, you know, died. Yet given that he's here now it doesn't hold the same weight. A passing inconvenience to him?

While she has more questions than she began with this morning, there is...something of a weight that has been lifted, if she were to describe it. Maybe a bit of closure she hadn't realize she needed. ]

So...what will you do now?

Can you truly say you would not have, given the option? Besides, they were both me.

[Slightly different iterations of himself, yes. But still him and thus still something he would personally consider to be his true face. To say nothing of the fact that he had never said that he would be showing only the one face. If that is how she ended up taking it, he will certainly not blame her, given that he hadn't bothered to clarify. But as far as he's concerned he had not done anything other than exactly what he had said he would.

(He is likewise aware of the fact that she may be speaking of the masks that had accompanied his final transformation. He doesn't care to speak of them.)]

Really though, it was meant to be one final conflict. Whyever would I have not given it my all?

[Even if it might well have felt like he had been cheating. Still, what's done is done, and he cannot well change it now.

The question of what he means to do now, on the other hand, is... more difficult. Though he yet retains some connection to Zodiark, strained though it is by both his death and the sheer distance they are from the Source and her shards, that same death has realized him from much of his duty with regards to bringing about Rejoinings. Nor could he do so even if he'd wanted to - though he has not yet had either chance or ability to check, this world is likely not connected to the Source, and thus cannot be forced to Rejoin with it. And thus, he finds himself somewhat at loose ends.

There's little indication of that on his face though. Merely a brief pause and then a shrug.]

I thought I would see what this world has to offer.

Mmm, perhaps not.

[ Whether or not they were at odds or saw eye to eye, Himeka has never been the sort of person to deny someone a valid point. And, truth be told, after all the build up a part of her would have been disappointed if he had intended the whole display to simply be another test. (In the end she supposes it ended up being one given that he finally deigned her worthy to carry on what he saw as a burden, but even so.)

To see what this world has to offer, though...a part of her can't help but be a little envious and it shows in the way her tail starts to swish behind her again as she tightens her grip on the bars that separate them. ]

Do they treat you well up there? Have you seen the city?

INTRO LOG #2

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