[Likewise, Kratos looks sidelong toward Yuan, a flickering glance which moves aside a moment later, before they can catch each other's eye. Colette's gentle words seem to be calming Lloyd, too, so that he looks more thoughtful than not; but he doesn't manage to speak before Sheena breaks the silence.
[Kratos finds time to be faintly amused by the 'we', given that Sheena hadn't even technically been part of the group by the time Kratos pulled his wings, but that amusement dies quickly under the weight of her actual question. He manages not to look toward Raine, but it's a near thing. He does not manage not to dip his head again.]
Yuan does need to come into it. There are things we need which can only be gotten from Derris-Kharlan, where Mithos resides. As soon as we get to the Tower of Salvation and Mithos realises Colette has a key-crest, he'll know who gave it to her, and I'll lose any degree of trust he might still have in me.
[It's so very tempting to leave it at that, except that he knows Raine won't let it go at that. Kratos inhales slowly and lets it out as a deep sigh, forcing himself to relax, forcing his fingers to loosen their grip on his arms.]
The man who runs the Asgard Ranch. I know him. His name is Kvar. He's in charge of the Angelus Project -- the project trying to create cruxis crystals from scratch. My wife was one of his test subjects.
[Even without quite seeing their faces, he can see Lloyd's double-take. He can certainly hear Colette's gasp. It is Lloyd who answers, however.]
You -- you had a wife?
[He sounds uncertain, cautious. He knows enough to tell that this isn't the punch-line, but he isn't analytical enough to follow the line through to why it's important.]
Yes. That was after the first time I betrayed Mithos, and came down to Sylvarant. I helped a resistance movement stage a prison break in the Asgard ranch. Anna was one of those who escaped, with the cruxis crystal.
[This time Lloyd's breath is audible.]
Anna?! But that's my mom's --
[It's hard to tell whether Lloyd's voice dies with a strangle or Kratos just cuts him off. A bit of both, perhaps; now that Kratos has started, he's leaning toward rolling on, just to get the words out.]
We spent a few years on the run. In that time, we had a son ... whom we named Lloyd.
[Now there's only silence, as though Lloyd is holding his breath; and then he says, shakily:]
no subject
[Kratos finds time to be faintly amused by the 'we', given that Sheena hadn't even technically been part of the group by the time Kratos pulled his wings, but that amusement dies quickly under the weight of her actual question. He manages not to look toward Raine, but it's a near thing. He does not manage not to dip his head again.]
Yuan does need to come into it. There are things we need which can only be gotten from Derris-Kharlan, where Mithos resides. As soon as we get to the Tower of Salvation and Mithos realises Colette has a key-crest, he'll know who gave it to her, and I'll lose any degree of trust he might still have in me.
[It's so very tempting to leave it at that, except that he knows Raine won't let it go at that. Kratos inhales slowly and lets it out as a deep sigh, forcing himself to relax, forcing his fingers to loosen their grip on his arms.]
The man who runs the Asgard Ranch. I know him. His name is Kvar. He's in charge of the Angelus Project -- the project trying to create cruxis crystals from scratch. My wife was one of his test subjects.
[Even without quite seeing their faces, he can see Lloyd's double-take. He can certainly hear Colette's gasp. It is Lloyd who answers, however.]
You -- you had a wife?
[He sounds uncertain, cautious. He knows enough to tell that this isn't the punch-line, but he isn't analytical enough to follow the line through to why it's important.]
Yes. That was after the first time I betrayed Mithos, and came down to Sylvarant. I helped a resistance movement stage a prison break in the Asgard ranch. Anna was one of those who escaped, with the cruxis crystal.
[This time Lloyd's breath is audible.]
Anna?! But that's my mom's --
[It's hard to tell whether Lloyd's voice dies with a strangle or Kratos just cuts him off. A bit of both, perhaps; now that Kratos has started, he's leaning toward rolling on, just to get the words out.]
We spent a few years on the run. In that time, we had a son ... whom we named Lloyd.
[Now there's only silence, as though Lloyd is holding his breath; and then he says, shakily:]
This -- this is a joke, right?