[It takes time for the next reply to actually appear.]
Maybe you are a monster too, if you're tired of restraint simply because someone else might get upset.
There's not much to be done between where I am now and where it ends except perhaps to summon a meteor. You don't know as much about me and my real nature as you think you do, or you wouldn't waste your breath with such ridiculous thoughts as "what I want".
[Part of him very much wants to give in. He could still remember the dream or delusion she featured in, where even in the twisted echoes of the Otherworld, he'd been ... safe. Protected. That dream Sharon had been a point of refuge, and her close friendship with his two latest victims was irrelevant.
Of course, it hadn't been real. None of it; it could only ever be the dreams a pathetic child could conjure. Actual reality was waiting for when he woke up.
Everything he wanted would only ever be in dreams. Deluding himself otherwise only ended in pain.]
Do you know why I left Lapine and didn't tell anyone where I was going?
I'm guessing it's because you don't want anyone to know where you are. I get that. I just...
Listen, I'm worried about you. I care. With everything that's happened, you deserve to know you've got someone on your side right now. And I've got a lot of cookies. They're pretty fucking good, too. Chocolate chunk and snickerdoodle.
[Her focus should be on the victims, not the victimizer. They needed the reassurance and company and people on their side in a steadily shrinking pool of friends. What would happen, if their trust in her was violated like that? He'll just have to make sure she makes the right choices, before she gets added to the list of people he's manipulated.]
Cloud and Zack are your friends, Sharon. You shouldn't be offering a hand to the one that tortured them.
We both know already how any visit unfolds regardless; I am told I'm just a kid and life's unfair, there's some shoulder pats perhaps, and then you leave, your part done. I don't have it in me to pretend that makes anything better today. I'm sorry.
They'd understand that I'm offering a hand to someone who needs it, someone I happen to be able to relate with.
It doesn't have to unfold that way, Sephiroth. We don't even have to talk about what's happened. [ It's ultimately what she wants, but right now it's about getting her foot in the door. ] My part won't be done when I leave, either. It doesn't have to be a one-off.
You vastly overestimate Cloud's willingness to tolerate me in any form. Maybe Zack now too. You're fraternizing with someone who tortured them on purpose.
I've heard that too many times to believe it anymore.
[And every time he fell for it, every time he convinced himself it would be different.
There was still the dream that lingered like an aftertaste, of being safe once, even in a nightmare decaying world.]
I don't want people to know where to find me. That's the point of going missing. If you insist I can come to you, but understand there will be repercussions if it's a trap.
You vastly underestimate my relationship with them. [ Does she think Cloud would be happy with her? Not at all. But she's confident he'd understand... eventually. ]
It won't be a trap, and, yes, we can meet somewhere. Is there a location you'd be most comfortable?
[Sephiroth is confident Cloud will deliberately choose to never understand, on purpose.]
How long will it take you to reach the Encantado? If this is necessary, at least we can do something about the river being off its course in the meantime.
[Do NOT fuck the river, that's how you get water demigods.
An hour. That's going to be difficult even if he hustled. While he could still fly, that form wasn't meant for endurance, and he'd have to land repeatedly.
Instead of responding, he simply pockets his relic and leaves. It takes him a bit longer than it takes her, arriving from the south, but it's hard to tell from the ground exactly how out of breath it's made him; dragons hide that awfully well a hundred feet up.]
[ When Sharon reaches the junction of the Encantado and the Selkie, her pace eases. She follows the broken line of the river, keeping a wary distance from the pulsing gems, and her gaze sweeps the area for Sephiroth. She perks up at the steady rhythm of wings overhead. Adjusting the tote bag on her shoulder, she waits patiently for his descent. ]
Staying aloft for a few more minutes gives a bit of time to be certain they didn't have company. An occasional wandering spirit could be tolerated, anything else... well, there's a reason he sought solitude lately.
The racing shape hasn't changed any, still a black marked silver dragon, still the same rather smallish size for a dragon, and when he lands heavily in the dust, he doesn't change back immediately in favor of giving that shape a bit of a breather. Maybe he SHOULD have designed something for more stamina.
Sharon had said she was a Myth too now; he hadn't missed that bit of information. Unless she's learned to hide her traits faster than he did, it should be obvious.
When he touches down, Sharon lifts a hand in casual greeting. At first glance, she doesn't look all that different, but her skin is paler now, nearly ghost white, and her once-blue eyes are pools of ink-black that make her stare unnervingly wide. Her fingers taper into claws, the black of them fading into her altered skin. A Myth only if one knows what they're looking for.
"Hard fly?" she asks as she notes how hard he's breathing.
"I should have considered endurance racing too when coming up with this. It's a sprinter." And if he just. Sits here a moment in a scaly lump that's probably fine. He hadn't really been thinking he'd lose access to the other wings at the time or he might have tried for more versatility. It can't be helped now.
She hadn't had claws before, not like that. The pallor and smell wasn't right for undeath, so not a vampire; her husband continues to be far more restrained than stories suggested vampires should be. "What happened?"
"Something to work toward," she replies lightly, drifting closer with a kind of deliberate ease. Her movements carry no threat. She doesn't even carry a weapon—not that she needs one these days.
At the question, she lifts her shoulders in a shrug, though her expression tightens. "I think it was a lot of things, honestly. Thirteen kept sending people away, sent my mother away..." She breaks off, shaking her head as grief crashes over her like a sudden tide, then breathes it out, steadying herself. "I just reached the end of my rope."
Or at least, that's what she tells herself. Truth is, she isn't entirely sure what pushed her over the edge, only that something did, and this is where it left her.
That casual ease is something he watches sidelong, uncertain. Sharon was vengeful, in a way he only wished he could be with a clear conscience, and Cloud and Zack were her dear friends. "I see."
Emotional pain was a terrible thing. It didn't seem to ever actually fade. "I think I can understand that. I've ... never known my mothers enough to miss them, but .. I miss Vincent, and I can only guess how much more it must hurt." Carefully he gathers himself up and switches shapes; it's a fairly fluid thing, one moment there's a smallish silver dragon and the next his more normal form, albeit with new twisting horns, a long heavy tail almost like an extended crocodile's and claws that'd better suit a predator. His skin color's several more shades towards gray instead of simply pale, marked by a scattering of tiny silvery scales and blue-purple lines here and there almost but not quite like stripes.
As a Myth, he looks so startlingly different that it's almost jarring—visibly dangerous, a predator at a glance. She almost feels sorry for him. Underneath it all, he's still just a kid—still that child in Hojo's lab. And the truth is, it unsettles her more than she wants to admit.
"Loss is loss. It all hurts." Weighing grief against grief helps no one. This kind of pain cuts deep, like having your heart broken and a piece of it stolen away. "And trust me, if I ever lost Mayerling, you'd know. All of Folkmore would."
Because she is nothing if not vengeful, and logic slips away when she's aching. "What about you? What made you fall?" The word slips out with a sneer. She loathes the term, loathes what it implies. No wonder so many assume Myths are monsters.
Once he would have asked her to delay vengeance until he was finished with what he had to do. Now? Now he wasn't sure he wanted to do what he had to do. Wasn't sure he was willing to make that sacrifice anymore. Now he simply makes a note of it; should Mayerling disappear it would be an interesting time. He wouldn't wish it upon anyone, the pain of losing a partner that close, but the side effects would be .. memorable, for any who might survive it. "With luck that won't be necessary, then."
He'd be more self-conscious of his changes, how blatantly it made it clear he was anything but human, had she not similarly been warped towards what most would call dark and malevolent.
The smile that follows her question is humorless. "I decided if they wanted a monster they'd get one. My own resolution. It seemed to be enough for Thirteen." There's a subtle tension that doesn't ever fade. Right afterward, he forced them to try to kill each other. it had gone nowhere, as it was supposed to. "It was a choice."
She frowns at his answer. "I don't think it was as much of a choice as you think." Her tone is careful, thoughtful, as she steps a little closer. "You've spent your whole life being told you're a monster, Sephiroth, trained to obey no matter what. Add in the struggles this place adds on, the isolation, the lack of guidance... why wouldn't you eventually give in?"
She remembers him in Hojo's lab—small and used, measuring his worth only by what he could endure. It's hard to see him as anything else, even now, changed as he is. To her, he's still a child, still wrestling with who he is, who he'll become, and who he could be.
More than this, for sure. More than just a monster.
"But when I look at you, I don't see a monster. Not even now. You're still that kid in Hojo's lab, doing what he's told even though it hurts, not realizing he deserves so much better than that." The way he hadn't wanted Hojo to die. The fear in his eyes. The reluctant trust.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2025-08-31 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 01:27 am (UTC)Maybe you are a monster too, if you're tired of restraint simply because someone else might get upset.
There's not much to be done between where I am now and where it ends except perhaps to summon a meteor. You don't know as much about me and my real nature as you think you do, or you wouldn't waste your breath with such ridiculous thoughts as "what I want".
no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 01:43 am (UTC)And if I don't know, tell me. Explain your real nature to me, Sephiroth.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 02:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 02:05 am (UTC)I won't even bring up your 'goodness' or lack thereof.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 02:34 am (UTC)Of course, it hadn't been real. None of it; it could only ever be the dreams a pathetic child could conjure. Actual reality was waiting for when he woke up.
Everything he wanted would only ever be in dreams. Deluding himself otherwise only ended in pain.]
Do you know why I left Lapine and didn't tell anyone where I was going?
no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 03:23 am (UTC)Listen, I'm worried about you. I care. With everything that's happened, you deserve to know you've got someone on your side right now. And I've got a lot of cookies. They're pretty fucking good, too. Chocolate chunk and snickerdoodle.
no subject
Date: 2025-08-31 03:59 am (UTC)Cloud and Zack are your friends, Sharon. You shouldn't be offering a hand to the one that tortured them.
We both know already how any visit unfolds regardless; I am told I'm just a kid and life's unfair, there's some shoulder pats perhaps, and then you leave, your part done. I don't have it in me to pretend that makes anything better today. I'm sorry.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 09:31 pm (UTC)It doesn't have to unfold that way, Sephiroth. We don't even have to talk about what's happened. [ It's ultimately what she wants, but right now it's about getting her foot in the door. ] My part won't be done when I leave, either. It doesn't have to be a one-off.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 09:52 pm (UTC)I've heard that too many times to believe it anymore.
[And every time he fell for it, every time he convinced himself it would be different.
There was still the dream that lingered like an aftertaste, of being safe once, even in a nightmare decaying world.]
I don't want people to know where to find me. That's the point of going missing. If you insist I can come to you, but understand there will be repercussions if it's a trap.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 10:04 pm (UTC)It won't be a trap, and, yes, we can meet somewhere. Is there a location you'd be most comfortable?
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 10:07 pm (UTC)How long will it take you to reach the Encantado? If this is necessary, at least we can do something about the river being off its course in the meantime.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 10:22 pm (UTC)An hour. That's going to be difficult even if he hustled. While he could still fly, that form wasn't meant for endurance, and he'd have to land repeatedly.
Instead of responding, he simply pockets his relic and leaves. It takes him a bit longer than it takes her, arriving from the south, but it's hard to tell from the ground exactly how out of breath it's made him; dragons hide that awfully well a hundred feet up.]
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 10:36 pm (UTC)switching to nonbrackets just for ease of typing, you don't have to!
Date: 2025-09-06 10:49 pm (UTC)The racing shape hasn't changed any, still a black marked silver dragon, still the same rather smallish size for a dragon, and when he lands heavily in the dust, he doesn't change back immediately in favor of giving that shape a bit of a breather. Maybe he SHOULD have designed something for more stamina.
Sharon had said she was a Myth too now; he hadn't missed that bit of information. Unless she's learned to hide her traits faster than he did, it should be obvious.
i match babyyyy :3
Date: 2025-09-06 11:01 pm (UTC)"Hard fly?" she asks as she notes how hard he's breathing.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-06 11:30 pm (UTC)She hadn't had claws before, not like that. The pallor and smell wasn't right for undeath, so not a vampire; her husband continues to be far more restrained than stories suggested vampires should be. "What happened?"
no subject
Date: 2025-09-10 11:14 pm (UTC)At the question, she lifts her shoulders in a shrug, though her expression tightens. "I think it was a lot of things, honestly. Thirteen kept sending people away, sent my mother away..." She breaks off, shaking her head as grief crashes over her like a sudden tide, then breathes it out, steadying herself. "I just reached the end of my rope."
Or at least, that's what she tells herself. Truth is, she isn't entirely sure what pushed her over the edge, only that something did, and this is where it left her.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-10 11:33 pm (UTC)Emotional pain was a terrible thing. It didn't seem to ever actually fade. "I think I can understand that. I've ... never known my mothers enough to miss them, but .. I miss Vincent, and I can only guess how much more it must hurt." Carefully he gathers himself up and switches shapes; it's a fairly fluid thing, one moment there's a smallish silver dragon and the next his more normal form, albeit with new twisting horns, a long heavy tail almost like an extended crocodile's and claws that'd better suit a predator. His skin color's several more shades towards gray instead of simply pale, marked by a scattering of tiny silvery scales and blue-purple lines here and there almost but not quite like stripes.
"But you still have Mayerling, I hope."
no subject
Date: 2025-09-20 11:46 pm (UTC)"Loss is loss. It all hurts." Weighing grief against grief helps no one. This kind of pain cuts deep, like having your heart broken and a piece of it stolen away. "And trust me, if I ever lost Mayerling, you'd know. All of Folkmore would."
Because she is nothing if not vengeful, and logic slips away when she's aching. "What about you? What made you fall?" The word slips out with a sneer. She loathes the term, loathes what it implies. No wonder so many assume Myths are monsters.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-21 12:00 am (UTC)He'd be more self-conscious of his changes, how blatantly it made it clear he was anything but human, had she not similarly been warped towards what most would call dark and malevolent.
The smile that follows her question is humorless. "I decided if they wanted a monster they'd get one. My own resolution. It seemed to be enough for Thirteen." There's a subtle tension that doesn't ever fade. Right afterward, he forced them to try to kill each other. it had gone nowhere, as it was supposed to. "It was a choice."
no subject
Date: 2025-09-21 01:35 am (UTC)She remembers him in Hojo's lab—small and used, measuring his worth only by what he could endure. It's hard to see him as anything else, even now, changed as he is. To her, he's still a child, still wrestling with who he is, who he'll become, and who he could be.
More than this, for sure. More than just a monster.
"But when I look at you, I don't see a monster. Not even now. You're still that kid in Hojo's lab, doing what he's told even though it hurts, not realizing he deserves so much better than that." The way he hadn't wanted Hojo to die. The fear in his eyes. The reluctant trust.
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