songerein | [Closed] Convergence

Entry tags:

[Closed] Convergence

Who: Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus
Which: Closed log
Where: Emet-Selch's treehouse
What: September 13th; following events in Madhuri's dreamscape version of Aglaia, two friends engage in a long overdue talk.
Warnings: Heavy Shadowbringers and Endwalker spoilers. Sap, probably.

[Emet-Selch isn't altogether certain how long it's been when he first awakens, though judging by the journal resting on his nightstand, it cannot have been more than several days. A mere instant, by his measuring, yet it seems as if it has been far longer. So many terrible truths have been wrung from him (willingly) in such swift (self-righteous) succession, that he cannot fathom how he's to even begin mending the damage they have caused. And there will be damage, he knows. It isn't a question of whether but how much.]

[Had he been one and whole would he have approached anything differently? He thinks not.]

[Dread has him mulling the situation over in resolute silence for another hour more, yet it's that same silence (and a persistent headache) that finally forces his hand. And so it is that Emet-Selch emerges from his bedroom at last. Tea beckons, its aroma nigh impossible to miss, and yet... If there is fresh tea, it also means that someone is waiting for him.]

[No, not waiting perhaps, and yet...]

[Uncharacteristically unkempt and more than a little uneasy yes yes, go on and imagine it, Emet-Selch trudges into the living area of his own temporary abode, feeling somehow, inexplicably, as if this is the first time he's truly stepped into it.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, obviously.

[Sarcasm and what should be a stern glance follows - just long enough to bask in the warmth of those eyes. It's a warmth he'd halfway believed he'd never witness again, after all that had been revealed.]

[And, right on cue... the aversion.]

Or you could simply wait for the tea to wake me up fully and I should be happy to provide you with a detailed list.

[Take the compliment, Hythlodaeus. He meant it.]

[Hythlodaeus doubles over in laughter, much of the tension balled up inside him easing away. Hades wasn't disappointed and had no regrets when it came to him--even after he'd said his piece regarding the fate of their star.

It's more than he could have hoped for and all he wanted to hear.]

I'll have to ask you to wait on that, I'm afraid.

[His face is bright red as he sits back up properly, having composed himself.]

I'm sure I'll give you plenty cause to add to it, and I'd hate to see such a detailed manuscript left half-finished.

[While Hythlodaeus proves utterly unable to help himself, Hades offers an exaggerated shrug and moves to refill both cups.]

Fine, then. That can wait. After all, I'm certain you'd like nothing better than to give me cause to fill multiple pages with my grievances - including the margins.

[He takes another sip.]

You've your work cut out for you, however. I've reconsidered my initial tally and have concluded that your guess was correct. There has been only one such moment.

[Yet now is perhaps not the best of times to detail that specific instance, so instead he sighs and rests his chin in his hand, trying to place this particular shade of red.]

Feeling any better?

[Hythlodaeus nods]

Much better. And it sounds as if you're in better spirits yourself, any exhaustion aside.

[His hands wrap around his cup once more, his elbows back on the table.]

But if you've any lingering worries you'd like put to rest, I am more than willing to offer an ear, just as you have for me.

[His spirits are fine. Fine enough to conjure up a few snarky retorts, at least.]

Your ears are already privy to more than most.

Besides, you heard my tale. Such things do not simply get put to rest. And now, thanks to our little rejoining experiment, I have the distinct pleasure of feeling more about it than I have in millennia.

[The words may be blunt, but he does not lift his chin from his hand and he also does not sound any more upset about it than usual.]

How, then, does one even begin?

Normally I would suggest the end, but depending on your perspective, there either isn't one or you've already told us all about it.

However, there is one unsolved mystery--for both of us.

Of course there is an end. Inasmuch as every person's story transitions into another. Or at least, that is how the way of things should be.

[But as to this unique mystery... it takes Hades little time to puzzle out Hythlodaeus's train of thought. After all, he'd told him not to dismiss it out of a hand just a few short days ago.]

You speak of Elpis, I assume.

I do. And there is much to speak of in that regard. But first, I would like one thing clarified: does aught remain of Elpis in your time?

Edited 2022-10-05 03:58 (UTC)

[...]

Nay. Little of the world you know exists on present-day Etheirys. What does has fallen to ruin, much of it swallowed by oceans and earth.

As for Elpis specifically, naught remains but half-remembered visions. I've found no trace of it.

[As he'd thought, then.]

Then I would put forward another twist to our tale.

Not long after I arrived, G'raha Tia knew of it. And he mentioned that a friend of his had been there.

And while I'm well aware of how ridiculous the thought may be, when I add this fact to that half-remembered sentiment of yours from the dreamscape...

[Hades is silent a long moment. Although he'd certainly like to bury his head in denial... recent revelations and present company require honesty. That, and he's hardly forgotten the scolding he received in regard to the one person who is not here...]

[Why though? Hades frowns, staring down at his hands as if he might conjure the details from thin air.]

It isn't nearly as ridiculous as it sounds. If this friend of his is the person I'm thinking of, they'd be the one individual capable of making the journey.

Yet that does not explain how they learned of Elpis in the first place, nor why they might choose to go there.

[Could they have remembered somehow? Are they one of the blurred-out figures he had seen through the lens of the Observatory's telescope?]

[Impossible. Utterly, completely impossible... And yet, a part of him wishes it were true.]

[At least Hades is giving the idea due consideration. And it seems they have the same suspicions as to who their mysterious fourth companion might have been as well.]

No, it doesn't. But we do have a fair few individuals here who might know. 'Twould be secondhand knowledge, but I've a mind to see this mystery to its conclusion.

[A smile.]

If only to sate my burning curiosity.

[Hades likes that idea even less. Truce or no truce, he's had more than his fill of G'raha Tia's version of the future and if there's any one of their number he'd deign to interrogate about what may have occurred and what may have been discussed in Elpis, it would be the Warrior and none other.]

[Surely they knew what they were getting themselves into...? Why, then, if such an account is true, would they travel into the past only to land on his doorstep?]

[His mind weaves to a particular conversation not so very long ago. When he'd taken the hero aside as the Eulmorans worked together (actually worked - perhaps for the first time in their lives) and reminisced about his people, his city... Had his words struck a chord? Or had some trouble befallen them and they'd come crawling to beg his help?]

[He doesn't know. Yet it vexes him.]

Perhaps I should send them a warning in advance. Nevertheless, I hope you find your curiosity sated. Elsewise, we'll never hear the end of it.

[...Hades is a stubborn man.]

Edited 2022-10-05 17:56 (UTC)

[Hythlodaeus cocks his head to the side]

You make it sound as if I'll be going alone. Surely you don't intend to leave a friend--who, I may remind you, is quite ignorant as to what the future holds--to investigate all on his own?

[...]

And won't you?

Surely you haven't forgotten that the "friendly terms" I share with the people to whom you would take your investigation are complicated and less than pleasant? Doubly so considering I held one of them at gunpoint just a few short days ago.

[So he says, though the words are less "final" than they could be. There is at least some room for argument, though he doesn't seem particularly eager to take part in it at all.]

[But can he really bid Hythlodaeus go alone when he's followed him into far worse already?]

Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. You held me up at gunpoint as well until you realized who I was, after all. And with a flourish I could swear was rehearsed.

[He makes a show of sighing and puts on a pout--that would be much more effective if the corners of his lips weren't threatening to tug upward.]

But I suppose I can go alone if you'd like. I could even use that time to gain you some favor with them. A few tales from past travels, you think? They did seem to turn quite a few heads when you were nominated for the Third Seat.

[...]

[The pout (performed though it is) would be quite pretty if the words weren't having the same effect as, for example, a sharp heel being ground relentlessly into an unbooted foot.]

An altogether horrifying suggestion, and one i might easily mistake for personal vengeance rather than a concerted effort to pave the way for productive discussion.

If I was to agree to such a venture, I would be doing so only out of consideration for what occurred the last time I left you to go off alone.

[Hythlodaeus's eyebrows raise with semi-genuine surprise.]

"Vengeance?" Whatever gave you that idea?

[Though as Hythlodaeus thinks on it, there might be a hint of... displeasure at the fact that half of Hades had been using him.

But Hades was hardly the only one to blame for that, was he?]

Mn, perhaps that first part was a bit harsher than necessary. But the second still stands. Honestly, I'm surprised you don't want anyone to know the good you've done for our star.

[Modesty went out the window once Hades became willing to transform in front of others--or so Hythlodaeus thinks.]

Mayhap the part where I was reminded of something which I am not particularly pleased about. Or perhaps the fact that I might have pulled the trigger if given a sufficient reason to do so.

[He glances aside.]

As to the latter, those efforts account for little in the end. A few "good deeds" toward individuals they have never heard of and cannot remember, for civilizations that no longer exist? What is that worth to them compared to direct actions by myself and my empire? Actions which have impacted their very way of life.

[Hythlodaeus's smile falls away. He clasps his hands in front of him and shuts his eyes.

Hades might have pulled the trigger, hm? He doubts that--or rather, he wants to doubt it. But Hades seems so sure of it, and there were times when that half of him had seemed callous, nearly cruel.

And from the reaction of the half of him he was before and the whole of him now, it's obvious Hades takes no pleasure in the knowledge. A mindset necessary to save their people, to bring their star back to what it was before. The beautiful end to a disgusting duty.

And yet... he cannot judge.]

You are aware that I would have allowed you to kill me if you so desired? That half of mine was not speaking in jest--even if the whole of me would prefer to live.

[Hythlodaeus opens his eyes, but keeps the lower half of his face hidden.]

And I would have done much more as well.

Oh, yes. I am more than aware of the fact you would willingly play the martyr again if you thought by doing so you could somehow benefit others more worthy, more useful or more ambitious than yourself.

[Hades is not normally a spiteful man, yet the words here are not blunted. There is no kindness in them, only a harsh, stinging honesty and the festering of an old wound. He won't look at him, yet his voice wavers, stumbling at the last.]

Why you think I would desire it, however, is a mystery completely beyond me.

I would take no satisfaction in your death no matter how noble the reason.

I don't recall ever "playing the martyr" before, nor was that my intention at the time.

[Hythlodaeus's own words come out equally sharp. And though half his face remains hidden behind his folded hands, it is clear that he's scowling.]

Unless you've been holding a grudge towards myself for whatever actions I may take in the future, as you do with Azem.

[He's still angry for what he said about Azem, it seems. Fine then. Let Hythlodaeus be mad - 'tis his right. Hades's scowl, however, is far more open as his eyes slide back in his general direction. It's clear Hades is simmering quietly, but there is no accompanying outburst.]

If you think it a grudge that I wanted both of you to live, then call it whatever you like.

I honored your choices. That does not, however, mean that I must like them.

On the contrary, I will forever be haunted by our final moment together, wondering what I might have said or done to alter your fate.

[Hythlodaeus's brows knit, and he sits a little straighter, anger and offense all but forgotten in the moment.

Those words do not describe the death of a man who fell in the midst of chaos.]

Hades.

How do I return to the star?

[There is nothing for it. Hades breathes, and he closes his eyes. Into the silence, Hythlodaeus receives his answer.]

You don't.

Like so many of our people, you too volunteered yourself as sacrifice to Lord Zodiark for the future of our star.

Your essence, your soul, everything, forever forfeit until such a time as the Great Rejoining comes to pass and our god is made whole once more. Another sacrifice to restore those who gave all of themselves to our cause.

[And because that alone is too much to bear, so devoid of hope at the present moment, he finds himself adding...recalling words the Exarch had once shared, words he can scarcely bring himself to believe:]

...or until He is defeated. In at least one future, that appears to be the case - if our contacts are to be believed. Yet I dread what that will mean for Etheirys.

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