I wonder if sometimes, a moment to breathe gets in the way of the progress and goal you'd like to achieve.
[ they say this idly, listening to kaeya as he muses on this jean person. for a moment, they are looking away, gaze focused across the room - maybe lost in their own thoughts.
...kaeya brings them back when he turns towards them, though, and they laugh. it's a similar reaction. like nothing even happened. ] Quit fishing for compliments.
[ STOP!!!! SMACK SMACK, but weaker, babier smacks until he just kind of sinks into the seat like he's trying to melt into it. maybe relief? maybe tired? who knows ur on his eyepatch side. ]
A torrid love affair! Incredible. I know a bard who would love to write a story about you, I'm sure.
I'm fond of a bard or two. A legendary song about me would be pretty great.
[ teasing, there. they bat at kaeya's hand with the baby smacks gently but mostly just let it happen, preening a bit. as he sinks into the chair, he can feel a strange, sort of soft, if cold presence, as one wing curls around him. ]
You know precisely what I meant, [ nudging his leg underneath the table, but behaving otherwise to stay ensnuggled in a wing. ] I just didn't have anything to rhyme with "they" that would make proper sense.
[ would you say they're safe with your indifference?
(sisi voice) shut up, percival ]
Then...
[ a beat and then he waves at the shadow: a glass. wine: poured. ]
Hundreds of years ago, there once stood a nation without a god — not because they were abandoned or had lost the god of their homeland, but because it simply never had a god to begin with. This nation was powerful, built solely by the hands of humankind, towering, magnificent. It flourished, and its people thrived.
Some would say this nation was the pride of humankind, self-sufficient, seeing itself as whole without a single blessing from the gods of the world.
But with pride, comes the desire for more with the high of success. This nation was keen, a bastion of technology and science, and yet... it was greedy.
Thus, a great Cataclysm came to be—where the gods above saw nothing but a future of destruction if this godless land was left to continue as it had been. With the perfection of the practice of alchemical sciences... and the growing knowledge of obedient technological designs...
So they sought to wipe out the entirety of this nation. And in the end, only a handful of people survived intact. Most, for their impudence and the gall to challenge the gods, were cursed to become monsters, left to roam the land without a drop of humanity, remembering only their basest instincts.
Only a handful of people survived, able to keep their bodies with minimal taint. And they sought to return this godless nation back to what it once was...
But to do so would mean striking at the very heart of the place that had once struck it down so ruthlessly, so they sent a little spy of their own, not in the shape of a monster, but of a boy. But the intent and the mission itself was monstrous enough. To be the last hope of an entire nation, both hoped for and hated.
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[ they say this idly, listening to kaeya as he muses on this jean person. for a moment, they are looking away, gaze focused across the room - maybe lost in their own thoughts.
...kaeya brings them back when he turns towards them, though, and they laugh. it's a similar reaction. like nothing even happened. ] Quit fishing for compliments.
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[ but at the last remark: ]
No. Whosoever gave me my good looks deserves to have them flaunted and praised.
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and then laugh. ] How bratty. [ teasing, though. they boop him on the nose with a claw. ] Or how spoiled? Maybe both.
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But who spoils you, Aquila?
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Oh, the Nightman. You know.
[ this is a joke ]
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You allowed to talk about your boss like that?
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[ they are
so full of bullshit, snickering as they are rightfully smacked. ]
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A torrid love affair! Incredible. I know a bard who would love to write a story about you, I'm sure.
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I'm fond of a bard or two. A legendary song about me would be pretty great.
[ teasing, there. they bat at kaeya's hand with the baby smacks gently but mostly just let it happen, preening a bit. as he sinks into the chair, he can feel a strange, sort of soft, if cold presence, as one wing curls around him. ]
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Don't know about legendary, but...
[ and he will start to carefully carve out a beat on his knee. he's from the country of freedom and revelry after all. ] Let's see...
I once was a bird, so keen were they
With wings so strong, and demeanor quite gay
Aloft the winds of dawn they flew
Despite this miserable cage.
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My demeanor is fond of men and women, thanks.
[ they knew exactly what he actually meant and yet ]
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kaeya may stay ensnuggled. ] Maybe you’re not suited to be a bard, actually.
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Mmm-mmm. But, a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
This is what I'm meant to do.
Few people see what I am really.
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and then glance down at him. ]
And what are you, Kaeya?
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and catch his nose between their shadowy knuckles again. ]
Stop that.
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I think I'm scared. Of what happens next... I'm not even going to say it... give the asshole ideas.
So I have to laugh. [ tilting his head ] You know?
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But, I don't think that was a joke, was it?
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It's quite a story.
I already have to concoct another, you know...
[ he'll tell them if they want to swap out the second story from before. ]
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Which would you rather tell?
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[ they make a gesture with their free hand, indicating. ] Tell away.
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(sisi voice) shut up, percival ]
Then...
[ a beat and then he waves at the shadow: a glass. wine: poured. ]
Hundreds of years ago, there once stood a nation without a god — not because they were abandoned or had lost the god of their homeland, but because it simply never had a god to begin with. This nation was powerful, built solely by the hands of humankind, towering, magnificent. It flourished, and its people thrived.
Some would say this nation was the pride of humankind, self-sufficient, seeing itself as whole without a single blessing from the gods of the world.
But with pride, comes the desire for more with the high of success. This nation was keen, a bastion of technology and science, and yet... it was greedy.
Thus, a great Cataclysm came to be—where the gods above saw nothing but a future of destruction if this godless land was left to continue as it had been. With the perfection of the practice of alchemical sciences... and the growing knowledge of obedient technological designs...
So they sought to wipe out the entirety of this nation. And in the end, only a handful of people survived intact. Most, for their impudence and the gall to challenge the gods, were cursed to become monsters, left to roam the land without a drop of humanity, remembering only their basest instincts.
Only a handful of people survived, able to keep their bodies with minimal taint. And they sought to return this godless nation back to what it once was...
But to do so would mean striking at the very heart of the place that had once struck it down so ruthlessly, so they sent a little spy of their own, not in the shape of a monster, but of a boy. But the intent and the mission itself was monstrous enough. To be the last hope of an entire nation, both hoped for and hated.
A wolf in sheep's clothing, one might say.
[ his voice lowers ]
A monster in his own way, you see?
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anyway. they listen to this entire story, staying quiet and still throughout. ]
... In defense of your nation, and your home, and tasked with it a young age, no less.
[ .... ] I can't say that I'd call you a monster, Kaeya. I'd still have to disagree.
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