002 - [Written/Action]

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Dhaos is, as a general rule, not a social person.  He certainly doesn't mind being surrounded by people, but when most of the residents of Luceti are human he finds himself half-wishing he could strangle some of the people around him.  As such, he's spent an awful lot of time in his apartment for the past few weeks, dwelling over the latest experiment and pretty much waiting for himself to calm down.

He really was powerless here.  Even if he had been weakened by mana deprivation and injury, the Demon King of Aselia controlled his own fate, made his own decisions, chose his own path.  But here, the Malnosso could do as they wished-- they could transform his body and erase his memories, wipe the urgency of Derris-Kharlan's situation from his mind, give his heart to another woman.  Dhaos had always been in control of his own fate, and the fates of others as well, and the change was... upsetting.

Although, as Dhaos once realized with an unhappy surprise, it was something of a relief not to be the one responsible for the lives and deaths of others...

Anyway, now that it's been long enough for Dhaos to think back on the experiment without throwing a fit or something similar, it's time to get something he's been wondering about straight. This is his first time using a filter, so he's not sure he has it done correctly, but he does his best.]

[Written, Filtered to Martel: 70% Unhackable]

I need to speak to you.

[Written, Unfiltered]

What are your worlds called? Do the people of different regions call it something different? Is there a meaning behind the name, or has it been lost to the ages?

[And after a minute:]

And if there is anyone else here from Derris-Kharlan, I would like to know.

[And he can be found reading in the library/on top of the library. It's been a little while and he still hasn't read up on any of the other worlds, so he's rectifying that today. And as always, feel free to find him stargazing at night.]

Comments

[lostinmyway]

[Yeah, good luck with that.] Oh, my, you're so high up. It looks like fun!

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Noncommittal grunt. It wasn't exactly hard to get up here-- he could probably climb even if he couldn't fly. He wouldn't, but still.]

[lostinmyway]

Can I come up, too? [Come on, Dhaos, don't be a grumpypants.]

[whatdeheckisdat]

...Mm. [He's not helping her get up, though. Too bad, Dhaos feels like being a grumpypants to Grune today.]

[lostinmyway]

All right.

...Now let me see.... [How is she going to do this?]

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Dhaos turns his eyes back towards the sky and all but ignores Grune's little predicament. If she can't get up, she'll leave, right? Hopefully she won't do anything too bizarre while he's not looking.

...Not that he would particularly care if she did. Nope.]

[lostinmyway]

[After looking about a bit more, Grune finds a likely spot and begins her climbing attempt. In that dress. And those boots.

Um.]

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Ignoring still. Apparently. He's actually looking out of the corner of his eye. She had better not fall.]

[lostinmyway]

[She hasn't!



...Yet.]

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Grune, you're going to accidentally drive Dhaos insane someday.

If she gets up high enough, he'll relent and extend a hand for her to grab. If not, well.]

[lostinmyway]

[Success! ...Somehow.

Grune happily takes the hand Dhaos offers.] Thank you!

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Have another grunt of acknowledgement! Dhaos likes those. He turns away from her and back towards the sky, though he knows now that she's up here with him there won't be any pretending she's not there.]

[lostinmyway]

[That's all right--Grune is just going to come and stand beside Dhaos anyway. Nyah.

For a while, she takes in the view.] It's very pretty up here, isn't it?

[whatdeheckisdat]

[After a moment of no response, Dhaos nods. Yes, well, that's half the reason he's up here. You have to go very far in this universe for the night sky to look any different.]

[lostinmyway]

[Encouraging!] Do you like stargazing? It's so much fun, isn't it?

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Same deal-- after a moment, Dhaos nods. He's been doing this forever-- looking up at the sky to remind himself of home, maybe trying to spot his world amongst the stars. It may be a sad reminder that he would probably never return there alive, but it's somehow... calming.

Sometimes he could have sworn that Derris-Kharlan was growing dimmer and dimmer every night. But it was unlikely that any of the stars in the sky were Derris-Kharlan in the first place, so that was simply his imagination.]

[lostinmyway]

[She looks at him for a moment, almost consideringly. Then:] Do you have a favourite star?

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Dhaos actually puts thought into this one. There is one star he can't remember ever having seen from Derris-Kharlan, so for a long time he'd been imagining in his head that it was his homeworld. But he was not about to tell Grune about his wishful thinking.]

...There are too many.

[lostinmyway]

Oh, yes. Every star is beautiful in its own way.

[whatdeheckisdat]

Mm. [And heavens above, there were just so many of them. It wouldn't be half as interesting if there were only one.]

[lostinmyway]

[She's silent for a little while, just looking up at the stars.] I think those stars look like a turtle. Don't you?

[whatdeheckisdat]

[That actually gets Grune a dull look. No, not really.]

[lostinmyway]

[Headtilt?] What do you think it looks like?

[whatdeheckisdat]

[Dhaos spends a few more moments giving her that stare before deciding it's pointless and looking up again.] ...It could be a turtle. [He can't think of anything else.]

[lostinmyway]

Oh, it's so cute.