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[handfast]

ok

nicknames

rafayel - scaredy cat
fiammetta - old lady
tokinaga - mr know it all

Comments

[handfast]

[ ]

Is there something else you wanted to know?

[ sorry....they are all troublesome.... ]

[lucentia]

I was wondering how you were faring in ways other than physical, but I suspect you will not give me a true answer regardless.

[handfast]

You haven't even asked yet.

[ he sort of did, but. ]

I don't feel like talking about everything, but I won't lie to you either.

[lucentia]

I will not press you for what you don't wish to speak about for my own gratification.

[handfast]

Says the guy who puts everyone else before himself.

[ why does he keep running into people like that. ]

...I remember when the first group came back and I heard a voice that said you were dead. I get it now.

[lucentia]

[a look of ? like he doesn't understand what hak means by the first comment.

but re: the next bit:]

What do you mean?

[handfast]

Tsukasa died in mine. [ just says it flat out. ] Some other people too.

[lucentia]

... I'm sorry.

[handfast]

He's not actually dead so it's fine.

[ it isn't fine, and he can still remember the shrill screams filling the air and the blood that had splattered all over him, but it doesn't feel right to burden lucien with that knowledge. ]

It's not like what I went through was any better or worse than what everyone else did.

[lucentia]

The things you have gone through do not need to be compared to what others have. [a beat] Does Tsukasa know?

[handfast]

[ a shake of his head ]

It didn't feel right to tell him.

[lucentia]

... I cannot speak for him, but as someone who has apparently died numerous times back home—I was glad to be told of them, rather than have them remain a secret that the other party didn't feel I should know.

[handfast]

[



sorry but ]

You what?

[lucentia]

Huh? Oh, I suppose I had never mentioned it to you...

[handfast]

You died? Multiple times?? How does that even work?

[ hello??? ]

[lucentia]

Ah, well... there is someone back home with the ability to rewind time, so you could say that we have lived through many timelines. Only a few recall what happened in the previous ones, though—I do not, and was told only in this life.

[handfast]

[ a long



pause. ]

That's messed up.

[lucentia]

... It is a complicated situation, and one filled with much tragedy for the one rewinding time, which they do to save the country from disaster. [...] I only wish that I could remember what happened, or that I could be a better ally to them.

[handfast]

[ his turn to .... ]

You do a lot for everyone here. That's gotta count for something.

[lucentia]

[looks at hak like he has no idea what he's talking about.]

[handfast]

[ looks back at lucien like he has no idea why lucien is looking at him like that ]

[lucentia]

I'm not quite sure what you're referring to...?

[handfast]

[ hmmmmmm ignores that question ]

The point is, you do plenty already.

[lucentia]

... I appreciate that you think so, but I am simply trying to keep up with everyone else. All the people here work quite hard for others' sakes.

[handfast]

We wouldn't be here if we all didn't.

[ and for that he's grateful. these people aren't his family and only a handful of them he might consider friends but he can at least trust most of them to work together to find a way out. ]

Still, there's nothing forcing you - or anyone else - to help the rest of us out. So...thanks.