audio / Soviseri 29 / all Kenoma

[galdorleod]

[ Howl's psychic voice is familiar in the way it sounds, but not in the way it feels. There is no mirth, no haughty playfulness, no usual thread of flippancy to his words. He is exhausted, on edge, and anxious, and it leaks into his message. Although "leaks" is not even the right word — he is making no real attempt at hiding his misery right now. ]

Aions have arrived in this world twice so far. The second batch appeared in the Shrines about three months after the first.

Tomorrow... marks another three months.

[ it's much too early to say there is any kind of pattern to it all, but... ]

Those of you whole enough to travel to the Shrines and check for new Aions must do so. We cannot afford to let the Pleroma strengthen their numbers.

[ And for now, he leaves it at that. No indication of what he is planning to do with his weekend, and definitely, conspicuously no mention of the mission failures, the traitors, or the prisoners. ]

Comments

[semicharmed]

[ The answer to "what does Matt know" may come through in his rueful smile. He can't say how accurate the visions in Venera were--memory is such a malleable thing, especially when you're young--but he's confident at least that Howl knows why somebody might want to talk to a demon. ]

Honestly ... mostly to see if I could. [ Matt heaves a sheepish sigh. ] I think I've mentioned I taught myself everything I know, and I'd just ... never met a limit that had stayed a limit, at that point. So I got curious, and I just went for it.

[ Though from what he recalls of Howl's motivations, they seem far more altruistic than his own. Sweet, even. It's rare to have the capacity to care about something you've been taught to see as a monster. ]

if only this thread were taking place a month later

[galdorleod]

I see.

[ Unfortunately, Howl does not pick up on the subtleties behind Matt's smile. The impossibility of telling others about his curse, the unlikelihood of Matt having seen enough of it himself to slot him into one of the exceptions to the provision of silence... it's a mental blockade in many more ways than one.

Instead, Howl can only look down with his own distracted smile. Oh, they have so much in common, it's almost laughable. If only he were capable of saying so out loud. ]

Still... to survive an encounter with a demon with only a single scar, and a literal one at that... if it were me, I'd count it as a blessing. [ Without looking up, he reaches for his drink. ] Unless...?

ahehehehe

[semicharmed]

[ Matt doesn't know what to make of a lack of eye contact--or rather, he knows how to make a large number of things. It could mean disgust at Matt's recklessness. Sadness over what happened with the demon. Guilt for something demon-related in Howl's own past. In fact, that one word, that "unless," grants Matt more certainty than anything that there was such an incident, however many years ago.

It's probably weird to feel guilt over that, or at least, it's most likely unjustified. But Matt can't help feeling like whatever happened to Howl happened because his warning wasn't clear enough. Like, it was a dream, he gets that. It was a shared illusion produced by the Innocent's affliction. But in his heart, it feels like he gave a child-Howl advice about staying away from demons just a few weeks ago.

Gently, as if trying not to rouse a sleeper, Matt echoes back, ] Unless ...?