decisions | 🌈 chroma pc

[hello percy. he comes by, because of course he does, and after entering the archway he just. lingers, a few moments, arms folded.]

Have you aught else to say on the matter?

[ percy is just. curled up in the corner. very quiet. when he hears someone enter, he looks up, his broken glasses resting on his nose. ]

Chang Geng...

[ was a monster like me. he shakes his head violently, grips it tightly in his hands. he trembles. ]

Chang Geng. I'm sorry... I...

Gods... fucking put me out of my misery already... I can't...

...not yet.

[his sword is with him. he sets it aside, pointedly.]

It must needs be done, but not yet.

Are you certain, in asking for that to rest upon his shoulders?

He's the only one, Emet-Selch... unless there is a line for my execution. Then fine. Let everyone have a shot. Give them a shooting gallery.

[ he twitches. ]

Put. Me. Down.

There will be nothing of the sort.

[his tone is clipped, there. the prism had Better not get any ideas from percy on that one, thank you very much.]

But I needed to know precisely how certain you are, that this ought to be his duty.

[if the two of them had killed, he would have argued against bringing vax, for exactly the reasons that he doubts putting this on him now.

maybe they should have. maybe emet-selch could simply have put him out of his misery then, instead of the two of them going after kazunari.]

We made a promise.

[ he curls up. tighter. starts to scratch slowly at his head. ]

Why. Do you want a swing at a monster, Emet-Selch? [ his voice breaks, twists. from the wetness of before to something eerily sharp, crystalline clear: ] I'll let you have it if that's what you wish.

I do not desire it, no. Not for myself.

[a few moments of silence, as he just watches percy.]

But I would do it, if another could not lift the weight. I would shoulder it more easily.

You are used to this...

[ his voice, it melts again. it sounds like percival, softer, wetter. ]

Eliminating that which is dangerous... [ he swallows ] Chang Geng and I... we tried to outlast it...

Precisely so. That which can no longer exist harmoniously within the whole.

[...percy exists in that category, now, and he is steadfastly ignoring the spark of emotion that comes with that. compartmentalizing it. simply a flaw, one which was taken advantage of. one which must be resolved.]

...you attempted to do so, but ultimately, you could not. Was he ever afflicted at all?

I don't know... I don't believe so.

[ he shakes his head ]

I can't be certain. I just know that he was the one who said we ought to leave the apartment. That we should go elsewhere. I knew we should. We couldn't stay there, not with you all...

[ he swallows tightly ] The tea... the game... that was us... trying to cheat it.

And it would not be denied.

[...fuck. he shakes his head.]

I would not have thought you susceptible. Not after what I saw.

We are all susceptible.

We are all just here for it to pry it's [ his voice breaks, it razes, a rough growl suddenly, sharp ] claws.

[ his eyes suddenly look wild. ]

[ah. it comes and goes, does it.

he meets his eyes regardless.]

What is it, Percival.

[ the wildness appears, a sharp dart in the dark.

and then it closes with a blink. becomes like a cruel, bold line.

and then. it's wet again. soft. ]

I don't know where it begins and where I end. This will eat me alive...

I imagine... it did the very same to Kazunari. This... this...

...it will not. An end will be put to it, sooner than later. You need only endure the night.

[almost cruel to wait, when it comes to this, but. it is what it is.]

Endure the night... yes...

[ he breathes in. he breathes out. his breath rasps. ]

It sounds so simple... dawn's not far... surely...

[he's quiet, there, for several long moments.]

I will stay a while. If you wish it.

[ he doesn't say anything for a long moment, and then... small. ]

Please.

[ he whispers: ] That part keeps coming for me... the sharp parts. The hot parts. Like iron. Red hot...

[that small please just-- it twists something, in him. harder to ignore this time, a sharper pang.

he finds a place to sit. settles in.]

I expect you will not be alone. There will be others, after me, who wish to speak.

I will see to them...

[ he lowers his head, his shoulders hunched forward. ]

I wish we could have out-paced it.

As do I.

'Twill be unfortunate, to lose you in particular. You have been reliable.

[ percy gives pause a moment from where he's rubbing his thumb raw with his forefinger. he looks over to him and lets out a soft huff. an exhale. it feels real, not pained or crushed or stifled. ]

I'll miss you, Emet-Selch, of the Convocation of Fourteen.

Wherever death takes me tomorrow.

[ softly ] If I might so bold as to think of you a dear friend...

...would that I could tell you. Would that the Underworld flowed here, and each soul within it, but my sight fails me within this prism. I cannot say for certain whither each soul departs. I know only that the apartment will be changed without yours.

[a moment's pause, quiet. his voice is low, soft just as percy's is.]

You may, yes.

Then thank you for being my friend, Emet-Selch.

[ he lifts his hand and wipes at his eyes underneath his broken glasses. ]

My life has become... richer for it.

[yet he can do nothing about how short it has become, now.

anything he can say feels as if it would be a platitude; anything else feels too genuine. he does not trust himself with it.

he simply falls silent, then-- but he stays.]

🌈 chroma pc — emet selch

w3, saturday

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