JUNE OPEN LOG

[sailmods]

[but, hey: you shouldn't be left out of the camping fun just because you didn't think to sign up, or you only got here yesterday, or actually you only got here today and you have no idea what's going on! because the camp can come to YOU!

meaning, shortly after seeing the others off, Friday returns to the atrium and begins setting up a few items she's brought from... somewhere, one assumes? a pup tent. two sleeping bags. a tent stove. s'mores accoutrements. there's a fake potted plant that she decided looked enough like a tree. all pushed together in the middle of the atrium.

at her spot behind the desk, she looks visibly pleased with herself. she's doing her best.]

Comments

[lachtara]

"Me." He says firmly. "Concerning myself with the volatile interests of is much too bothersome." Maybe he would have been more conscious of how he appeared to others many thousands of years ago, but that has become less of a concern as time has passed. Or - at the very most - a situational concern.

"In my judgment, I know that I am capable of doing it myself. I'm not a child." He takes a glass all the same and takes a drink. It is certainly not about the judgment of others, but more a habit formed in years long past to be cautious with 'vulnerabilities'.

[ktizo]

Hythlodaeus shrugs good-naturedly. "Then I shall never again assume otherwise. Satisfied?"

He can't say he's personally satisfied with the option to not tease him over it any more, but he doesn't want to push it too far.

"In any case, how would you rate the food? I rather like it, personally." Though Hythlodaeus has never been fussy, really. He's not hard to please.

[lachtara]

Though the obvious answer to that question is 'yes', he can't help but wonder why he feels so conflicted about it. He'd gotten what he wanted without struggle. So why? Hm.

"Mmm." He says as the verbal equivalent to a shrug while he continues to eat. Emet-Selch picks at the food with his fork. It's not dissatisfying, but her certainly has tasted better. "You have much to catch up on in terms of cuisine." That is all he says on the matter.

Emet-Selch gives him a look and his tone changes to something infinitely more heartfelt. "Many new things have passed you by since the days of antiquity, but I shall see to it that you see them all regardless of our confines."

[ktizo]

Of course it makes sense that, as Emperor Solus, Emet-Selch would have tasted far finer things. But Hythlodaeus knows little and less about Emet-Selch's other lives- besides what he was told on the moon by the Warrior of Light. He's not had a chance to ask Hades as much, either.

He pokes at the food idly, wondering how to start that particular conversation. "There is much I need to catch up on, indeed... and not just in terms of cuisine."

He tilts his head a little, watching his dearest friend with a smile. "I feel as though I both know you, and yet do not know you all at once. So much time has passed, I am sure you are a changed man for it."

Whereas he feels like the same old Hythlodaeus for the most part. Sure, he's been having nightmares of the Final Days and he most certainly did not used to have nightmares at all, and he now knows how terrible death can be. But he hasn't changed much on the outside for it, he thinks.

[lachtara]

The usually stern expression he wears fades into wistfulness. Their time together in the Lifestream had been brief, and certainly not enough to recount each troubled day since their last meeting.

Every time he thinks about speaking of his past with Hythlodaeus looking back at him, all he can think is that he would watch that expression wither into disapproval. Then to hatred. Thinking about that is too much to bear.

The words he says are much quieter than usual. "Mayhap that is a blessing. I must wonder if you would sooner despise me for my many failures."

[ktizo]

His own expression melts into something softer, before he shakes his head with a smile.

"Despise you? I would do no such thing." Leaning forward, the food temporarily forgotten, he makes pointed eye contact.

"Do you truly believe that I could ever hate you, my friend? We have been through too much, mourned each other for too long."

Certainly, he could forgive Emet-Selch for anything.

[lachtara]

Though he meets Hythlodaeus' eyes initially, he averts his gaze when asked that question.

That is precisely part of the concern. He had mourned his friend for so long. His people, his home, and those precious to him who had served as his sole motivation through the long years have all vanished. There is such precious little that remains of what he held dear and if he were to lose Hythlodaeus forever on top of that, well, he could not imagine being able to bear it.

This he keeps to himself. Voicing it out loud may serve to only influence the opinion in an unintended way.

Emet-Selch sighs through his nose. Keeping such a thing from Hythlodaeus forever is surely impractical, and he longed for someone to confide in besides. "I believe that no matter what you decide, your decision is your own." He looks at Hythlodaeus in earnest. "I cannot regret fighting for that which I love."

[ktizo]

"I would not expect you to regret it." He tries to recall what the Warrior of Light told him in Elpis- that the Ascians had been causing calamities to try to rejoin the shards of worlds. Emet-Selch had built a replica of Amaurot- complete with Hythlodaeus shade- in the meantime... and then he'd died at the hand of the Warrior and his friends. He doesn't know much else beyond that. He doesn't know anything about the Garlean Empire, or Emet-Selch's role as Emperor. He doesn't know the extent of Emet-Selch's loneliness, how Elidibus began to forget himself and Lahabrea went mad.

"Do you recall our time in Elpis? We were told, in brief, what would happen by the very same opponent who bested you in the end. I did not run from you then, I will not do so now... no matter what you choose to tell me."

[lachtara]

And he had felt all the same then as he does now regarding what others felt about him. Though it seemed less tangible back then as he lacked the experiences that went with it.

Emet-Selch folds his arms and sighs. "I will tell you the sum of it. All I ask for is time. It is not easily said nor is there a small amount to say." Some too much to account for in one sitting.

He looks up, "Notably, I am not the only one who has had time pass betwixt now and then."

[ktizo]

Hythlodaeus shrugs a little as if it's not a big deal. "I cannot say that my time between the sundering and our reunion was too exciting, alas."

Really, he thinks he got it easy compared to Emet-Selch. Sure, he was trapped for 12000 years, unable to move on... but he spent most of that lonely time in a daze, and the years flew by like minutes. Emet-Selch had to endure every agonising year with the burden of his people upon his back.

"I can speak of it if you would like me to, however."

[lachtara]

"We have the time for it." It seemed fair to try and understand Hythlodaeus's thoughts and experiences as much as he tried to relay his own. He can imagine they are quite different, still... And after so long apart, they finally have time enough at last to do so.

"This is a sorry place for such a conversation." Painfully uncomfortable stools, as it were. "Let us speak of it later."

For now, they could simply enjoy each other's company away from the rest of the world.