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(Awash & Hugtopia) IC contact
Somnus is slow to respond to text messages and accept calls.
Somnus is slow to respond to text messages and accept calls.
Somnus is slow to respond to text messages and accept calls.
Somnus is slow to respond to text messages and accept calls.
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He is far too accomplished and strong for her to pity him, yet... she wishes his fate-- and that of his brother and all of his family-- were different.
That he keeps everything to himself, refusing to talk about his feelings and what he thinks, saying that it doesn't matter in the end, she realizes now that... ]
You love him.
....That's... [ A pause. ] That's why you suffer in silence. [ Not out of pride, not just out of serving a god's greater plan. But because of that love. She wishes she could convince him that he doesn't need to be silent (not here, of all places).
She smiles at him, sympathetic, lifting her cup. ] I wish... the gods had been kinder to the both of you. [ She recalls when he had said to her before: ] May... both of your souls be granted repose.
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Well-wishes for bygone days are trite, little more than a means devised by mortals to cope with the burdensome past. Somnus knows how this all ends. Rather than the past, he would look to the future.
It's close, closer than it ever has been. Yet it remains just out of reach for as long as he's trapped in a world of uncertainty. He almost feels young again; alive. But for all that, he only has one thing to say. ]
The end is nigh . . . for both this world and ours.
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Her brother, herself... did not start the fires humanity had, but she may be there to end it. ]
Then... if the end is to come, and it is beyond your power...
I would listen to your feelings. You might not say it matters, but it is not wasted breath to speak them.
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She claims to love the world and everyone in it despite her limited understanding of human nature, just as he struggles to grasp the nature of the gods. Thus she seeks to love him by listening to his heart when few ever have. Somnus understands now: while he may perceive this as a waste of her time and energy, this is how she confers her blessing unto the people she so dearly loves.
He closes his eyes, then reopens them.
"Surely, you don't only see him as a means to an end." ]
They are my children. I have never not seen them as such, just as I have always seen the monster as my brother.
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...You call him that, but you love him. [ His greatest regret is about him. This whole fate with the gods seems to be primarily about Ardyn, too.
She brings the glass to her lips. She can deal with Somnus' knack to trend the conversation topic towards something terrible. She can use that terrible topic of his brother, too. Gently: ]
What do you admire about him?
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My brother always saw the good in others, who gave him their hearts in return. Together with the gods' blessing, he was ever a pillar of salvation in an era marked by turbulence. Even when the sickness began to overtake him, he never once wavered in his calling to take the people's suffering unto himself.
[ Somnus pauses. Not to take another sip of rice wine, but to simply allow a moment to pass for those departed days. His beloved brother, who could easily best him in a round of chess while playing with a handicap, who could match him in combat no matter how many long hours Somnus trained, who could do everything Somnus did but better— ]
He was everything I wanted to be . . . and everything I could not be.
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Somnus had mentioned before, and it seems that that is just the opposite, ugly face of admiration and awe. ]
Everything you wished to be...
[ A pause. And then something occurs to her with some mild surprise. She blinks at him, placing a hand upon the countertop. ] You... wish to see the good in others, and have their hearts given to you in return?
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I wished to be popular. My brother was beloved by the people, yet I had nothing to set me apart and earn their gazes as he had.
[ He understands how petty this sounds. He realized it the second he donned the crown and received his calling, just how small he had been in the grand scheme of things. ]
He was chosen, whereas I was not. That was what I thought.
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...But the gods had chosen you. [ She whispers, listening to his story. ]
Knowing his fate... would you trade places with him?
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[ Curses do not scare Somnus. Knowing he and his brother's individual nature, however, he would not trade places with Ardyn. There was a reason he plotted to usurp the throne before the gods made their choice. ]
My brother saw only the good in people. I saw the bad where he turned a blind eye. Because of that, I could not trust him to rule.
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[ More than anything, he wanted in his youth to emulate his brother, who seemed to navigate life with noble grace. It was only as he grew older that things began to change. Too many years have passed since, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact moment his feelings took a bitter turn. ]
I saw both the good and the bad in all who stood before me, even myself. While my brother drew ever closer, I distanced myself from the people who must have held me in contempt for my lack of grace. My concern was with being fair, but what I craved was acknowledgment.
[ Acknowledgment that was only ever extended to his beloved brother. What a small man he was. ]
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[ She says his name sympathetically, but it’s followed by a firmer tone.
She leans forward, as if inspecting him— or, perhaps, challenging him. From the way he talks about his brother... perhaps he doesn’t even realize it himself, or maybe two thousand years kept sealed in a purgatory have clouded his mind, but— ]
You said that you’ve only ever saw him as a monster.... but is that really true?
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No matter what he's become, he is my brother.
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She tilts her head. ]
Is the scourge beyond the gods' control?
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House Caelum was thus chosen. Our line will end with the Scourge.
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....I... [ She stars, stops, and starts again. ] I wish I could somehow help your line. Your legacy is-- great. That it must come to an end is... [ Her voice drifts off. Eventually, she shakes her head. ] If only there was another way to defeat this scourge, than the gods sacrificing your family.
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[ And all things must eventually come to an end. His legacy was survived by over a hundred generations, far longer than for which most can ask. Somnus was never concerned with this, however; his worries lay with the future of his people. Now that this future draws near, he finds those worries ebbing and flooding in tandem with his hopes. ]
Ours is but a single dynasty. In order to bathe the world in light once more, we would see the prophecy fulfilled.
[ He drinks. ]
The time has come. I will soon return to the Star . . . to leave it.
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[ She knows he has regrets, mostly around his brother. He's been waiting for a long time for a release from his purgatory.
She realizes something then and there: finally, he is speaking of what he wishes-- for himself. An end. As tragic as the topic is, she understands that it is something he's wished for. ]
...That is what you truly desire, isn't it.
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Once the darkness is expunged from the world, my brother will be freed from his curse . . . and we the rulers of yore shall know death as the mortals before us. From the moment I received the Draconian's prophecy, this has been my only desire.
I've remained in the mortal realm long enough. It's time that we moved on.
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When he returns, he'll be gone. He'll be at rest. If there is an afterlife in his world, he might be with all of his loved ones. Or he might be reborn, she really doesn't know. Either way, his current memory and burdens-- will be no more. Rest, he will finally rest.
No wonder he seems to tired and weary. ]
...I'm glad to have gotten to meet you.
And, I hope... that if I may return to my world, I will not forget your story... and your love for your brother.
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[ That was never his concern. Glory is no longer his vice.
Somnus sets the glass down. Pyra would still continue to hope for another, and one who doesn't even belong to her world. ]
There is no place in the future for this story. It should remain in the past.
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Ah.
A soft breath escapes her; a giggle, perhaps, if she were not so weary. ]
You... don’t even realize it, do you, Your Majesty?
[ Her tone is lighter despite the heaviness of the topic. She lifts her glass. ]
But there you go again.
[ She delays in elaborating, wanting to see if he catches on with any change in his stoic expression. Whether or not he does, she continues: ]
You’re speaking as if you don’t matter.
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