Kratos Aurion (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
simulsimul) wrote2016-11-02 07:40 pm
simulsimul) wrote2016-11-02 07:40 pm
a thing; w/ ruinsprofessor & conductingresistance
canon
breached
confessed
dadly
future
grigori
mercenary
MEover
origin
reversal
titans
scenario list
canon: Kratos needs to stop running off
confessed: wing reflex
confessed: actual wingpull
confessed: turning Renegade
confessed: son meets father
dadliness: confrontation
dadliness: awakening
dadliness: illness
dadliness: a fundamental lack of understanding on the word 'abducted'
dadliness: updating parameters
dadliness: assassination assignation
mercenary: hiding in the library
mercenary: aftermath of librarian saviour
reversal: oracle destroyed
titans: storming the tower
titans: safety in the canyon
titans: night horrors
canon
- combo of Kratos and Zelos ending
- Zelos does the stupid thing, but not so far as his death, and is still the eighth member of the party to Derris-Kharlan.
scenarios
scenario one: Yuan tracks Kratos down at Dirk's.
breached
- canon right up until after Botta’s death
- no one uses Yuan’s name around Mithos so Mithos walks right into the Triet base with them
- cue an epic OH SHIT in which Yuan gets a lil bit beat up while covering the evacuation of the rest of the base
- until Kratos appears to intervene and have the Chosen group get Yuan out of there
- Mithos gets Kratos tho and he’s a bit mad cos, yanno, traitor and all
- time to be locked up and punished and need to be rescued
- kind of puts a crimp in the creation of the Eternal Ring plans
- mostly cos Mithos turns Kratos lifeless, with some armour to regulate his mana so he remains a seraph. can't have the seal becoming less powerful, yo
- it does mean he can only obey orders tho
- the first rescue fails miserably but at least no one dies and they know they need to reforge his key-crest
- the second rescue attempt (circumstances of canon-point under percolation) goes a little better, though Yuan almost gets killed by Kratos trying to attach the key-crest
- luckily that and the first telepathy in a while gets through and Kratos manages to break out a la Colette, and heal Yuan enough for Raine to get there
- after which, angreh father-son beatdown on Mithos.
scenarios
None yet.
confessed
- almost successful assassination lands Kratos as an injured stranger in Iselia (1-2 years pre-canon)
- recuperation leads to accidental-on-purpose 'holiday' in Iselia
- doubts result in a request for Dirk to make a key-crest like Kratos' own
- oracle room undergoes some stealth sabotage
- regeneration journey is slightly delayed, prompted by Genis and Lloyd being discovered at the ranch
- Triet is awkward. so very awkward. for the Renegades -- whose side is Kratos even on these days and why was he vanished for two years?
- initial overall journey similar to canon, save that Kratos is a bit less circumspect about advising Colette on how to cope with angel transformations
- there are more overt Dun Wanna Feelings
- then Luin, wherein things happen and the group is in town during the Desian attack. the others naturally want to fight but tis a mite difficult against an army and building-destroying magitech. luckily, angel on their side. unluckily, wingpulls in order to muster the power to cover the townspeoples' retreat
- questions and confessions ensue
- Colette rejects the key crest (for the moment) so there's still hopefully maybe ambiguity about Kratos's position re the last seal
- it wouldn't fit anyway, it's modelled for the hand like Kratos's is because he was a derp and did not specify otherwise, so Lloyd needs to make a thing to make it fit
- slow protective retreat toward Asgard.
scenarios
scenario one: Kratos confesses before Salvation; Raine wants to follow up.
scenario two: Raine's examination of an angel; and also Kratos realises how far he's put his foot in it.
scenario three: Kratos goes to taunt Yuan a little, and also ask for his help.
scenario four: in which Raine makes Kratos tell the children all the things, and Yuan takes too much amusement from it.
dadliness
- Kratos retires in Iselia under the name Irving to raise Lloyd after the death of his wife
- no exsphere. ageing occurs! so does a beard and a braid
- teaches Lloyd swordplay, but on the sly, to avoid the other villagers noticing. his daytime job is weaving
- Lloyd finds the box of their exspheres and wants details. after some prodding by Dirk, Kratos explains how exspheres are made and that one is Anna's life. Lloyd is too young yet, but when Lloyd comes of age (~15) Kratos lets him make his own decision re wearing it
- Lloyd chooses not to wear the exsphere
- Genis befriends Marble and Lloyd meets her, as in canon; this happens before the journey begins, with the fallout
- difference being that Colette is still in the village so they can't be too horrible, so they just demand Lloyd be turned over for a flogging
- Kratos stands in his stead because natch. luckily, they're only mooks and don't recognise the bearded weaver as anyone important
- gives Lloyd his guilt complex early tho
- the oracle happens much the same way except Botta doesn't quite recognise the weirdly familiar bearded swordsman
- he does when he's reporting to Yuan tho
'there was an exceptionally skilled human'
/brief physical description/
/did x other faintly recognizable thing/
and both he and Yuan are aware that Kratos has been awol for a while, so there's a moment of pure silence and dawning 'no, it couldn't be'
- but then obviously one of them has to go make sure
- cue an interruption just out of Triet.
scenarios
scenario one: Yuan feels the need to investigate; this results in Kratos injured and abducted.
scenario two: Yuan realises he can't kill Kratos with his own two hands; Kratos gets mothered.
scenario three: Kratos gets sick on the heels of his recovery. Yuan mothers him some more. Botta disapproves.
scenario four: Kratos recovers and makes an escape attempt. Sort-of.
scenario five: Kratos recovers more and talks to Botta, when not needling Yuan about his lack of preparedness.
scenario six: Sheena's contract takes a slight shift into undercover instead of assassination work.
future
- Aselia is Earth ~10,000 years in the past
- all is peachy-keen except the tree is now underground and the elvens/half-elves/some humans are in hiding in the centre of the planet, hidden thanks to the summon spirits
- Colette is working with humanitarian aid in various impoverished nations
- Zelos is a diplomat in West Asia / Middle East trying to keep the peace
- Yuan is a crotchety lecturer at Cambridge who's also HUGE into environmentalism
- Lloyd and Kratos are having family time in space
- occasionally the trio on Earth meet reincarnations of people they used to know
- but rarely at the same time and almost never in a position where they meet
- but then they start meeting them
- lots of them
- all in the same span of years
- they're starting to think something's hinky
- until the space-elves attack
- and then they know something is hinky.
scenarios
None yet.
grigori
- at some point significantly before canon, Kratos actually calls it quits
- the Church's institution calls him a fallen angel of vengeance
- really he's just going around trying to help people and avoiding being taken back to Cruxis
- assigns himself to the Chosen parties whenever he can, up to Colette
- ????? idk some kind of profit somewhere
scenarios
None yet.
mercenary
- when Yuan visits Kratos at the beach when Lloyd is 3 months old, he does not manage to escape before Anna and Lloyd return
- accidental attachment to this kidlet who likes pulling his hair
- three years later, Yuan can't stand to hold back while Kratos fights Kvar, so he throws caution to the wind to help
- Anna is still killed but they rescue Lloyd and Noishe and both are branded as traitors
- Lloyd is raised as a Renegade with Dad, Uncle Yuan and the extremely reticent Uncle Botta (how dare)
- meanwhile in Tethe'alla Yuan infiltrates the castle as the library archivist
- stays out of sight, mostly, but has a good ear around the politics thanks to recruiting Princess Hilda
- also happens to stumble on Zelos hiding in the library right after his mother's death
- look he's got a 'nephew' he can't just do nothing (even if all he meant was to recommend a book)
- unwittingly accidentally 'adopts' the Tethe'allan Chosen by virtue of being the only one who doesn't treat him like the Chosen
- sometimes Kratos brings Lloyd to visit and basically they're all separate pairs of exasperated bros
- by canon Lloyd and Kratos are wandering mercenaries, helping people on the sly while gathering intel to send back to the Renegades
- Yuan and Zelos are actively building resistance to the Church using inside knowledge
- the ninja are all Renegades
- Colette is escorted by Raine and by the priests
- yes the 'chain up the Chosen and drag her to every seal if necessary' priests
- she meets Lloyd randomly in Triet but Lloyd doesn't know her as the Chosen. they're a bit out of touch on the Journey of Regen timeline
- stuff happens and they keep missing each other up until Palmacosta, which is a warzone between the Desians (and Dorr as their figurehead) and the Renegades (with Neil as their leader)
- Colette wants to help; priests say no
- out come the chains
- Raine objects, but she has no exsphere so what can she do
- btw Genis got caught in the Iselian ranch and tossed in as a traitor to be made a host
- he gets sent to the Palmacosta ranch
- right after Neil manages to take the city, after Colette and Raine leave it, Botta takes the Palmacosta ranch and rescues Genis, among others
- Genis becomes his little shadow and is much preferable to Lloyd, in Botta's opinion
- Lloyd and Kratos are still trying to catch up to Colette to rescue her when they drop by
- Genis hears what they're trying to do and insists on coming along.
scenarios
scenario one: in which Yuan accidentally adopts a Chosen instead of a book from a library.
scenario two: in which Yuan is accidentally-deliberately adopted by the Meltokio Castle Knights.
MEover
- Mass Effect crossover someplace in the realm of 15,000 years after TOS canon
- except started before then, cos elves are really from Feros, planet of the cranky telepathic plant
- got decimated by the protheans trying to assimilate them into their empire
- elves objected, got killed a lot, fled Feros and got stuck in Aselia's orbit
- kinda forgot a few things but planted a seed from the Ferosian mother plant on Aselia
- Origin hasn't forgotten tho, kinda has a grudge against grumblegrumbleprotheansgrumble
- the entirety of TOS happened, and then some
- Kratos, Yuan, Lloyd, Colette and Zelos are the only ones left, but tis okay, they have each other
- somethingsomething natural space disaster, Aselia is destroyed but they manage to move Yggdrasill onto Derris-Kharlan and do a quarian by becoming a roaming ship
- mana is a variant of eezo lbr
- Derris-Kharlan's too big to use the mass relays, but c'mon it generates its own mass effect field so they develop tech to do hops on their own
- they're in no hurry tho, i mean lbr primarily angelic, elf and half-elf population
- so they're just bumming around their local clusters doing thorough investigations on all the things
- so much eezo on their ship
- so much
- suddenly the Normandy running from a reapers comes along to hide behind them
- reapers start shooting
- everyone on Derris-Kharlan objects
- JUDGEMENT IN SPACE
- so much profit and judging of reapers.
scenarios
None yet.
origin
- Kratos tells Lloyd the dad thing in Triet
- dad and son feelings ensue
- they culminate at the Tower of Salvation in Kratos stabbing Yggdrasill in the back
- unfortunately he does not quite die but impales Kratos against a wall and goes berserk on the Chosen party to the point of Yuan stepping in to help
- that is, by threatening to stab Kratos in the back while he's vulnerable (with Kratos's permission)
- Yggdrasill calls his bluff and fails, and Yuan does the thing
- while Yggdrasill is distracted the Chosen's group nail him but good and he retreats
- luckily while heart-stabbing happened, Kratos's cruxis crystal is still intact, and between Raine's healing and Yuan's mana transfusion he survives long enough to be taken to the Triet base and a refresher
- stuff happens in some fashion or other up until opening Origin's seal
- as it turns out, the mana tranfusion has fused the lock, so to speak, and Kratos can't unlock the seal even voluntarily
- only way to get Origin out at this point is to let him fuse with Kratos, so Kratos becomes Origin
- stipulation of this: Kratos refuses to let go of his humanity
- luckily Yuan already has a literal bond with him thanks to the mana transfusion, so with him as his summoner Kratos can keep his humanity, and only use Origin's powers when Yuan summons them
- commitment like woah for a literal eternity
- but hey, they messed up but good and it's the only way they can reunite the worlds.
scenarios
none yet.
reversal
~ 2000 years in, Kratos and Yuan conspire to kill Mithos and succeed, sorta
- he's stuck inside his exsphere, possessing people
- but he manages to survive and while Kratos and Yuan claim Derris-Kharlan for their base, he takes most of the angels as 'fallen', as well as the Eternal Sword
- most of his bases are hidden behind dimensional slips created by the sword - Iselia included
- Origin refuses to trust either Kratos or Yuan with the job, anyhow, and they don't have a summoner
- instead they're forced to fight Cruxis, embroiling the worlds in an angelic war between Cruxis and the new organisation of Chayim
- the Chosen bloodlines are more important to Cruxis than Chayim, but Mithos seals the seals so only the Chosen bloodline can flip the mana switch. Kratos and Yuan need someone to do that until they can reunite them, so the Journey remains an institution, just without compulsory death at the end
- there is angelification tho, if only so Chayim gets more soldiers and so the Chosen can defend themselves against Cruxis
- Kratos sends Anna and Lloyd to Iselia, because even though enemy territory, it's the safest place there is for them
- Anna get word to Kratos that the Desians are using Iselia as a long-term cruxis crystal cultivation location, and that the sword is held there
- her spy succeeds but is intercepted, and Mithos locks down the dimensional slip to prevent exit and access by angels for ~15 years
- Lloyd grows up in a town with a heavy half-elf population and believing he's training to help the good guys
- he has his own cruxis crystal as a host, but doesn't tell his mother due to the faith-based propaganda encouraging hosts not to bring it up or risk the powers not taking
- he wants to help though, so he steals a key-crest to ensure he can fight
- Yuan and Kratos plan to assault the town and shrine but Mithos uses the sword to interrupt travel between worlds, keeping Yuan in Tethe'alla and forcing Kratos to attack Iselia alone.
scenarios
scenario one: Iselia is attacked by Chayim to claim the sword, with the sword already gone
titans
- Yggdrasill captures Kratos before Kvar finds Anna and Lloyd, but after Kratos makes an Eternal Ring
- Yuan figures hell no and raises the Renegades to try and take Derris-Kharlan, rescue Kratos and solve the split-world problem
- the attack fails. a lot.
- Renegades are wiped out, Kratos is still in Cruxis's hands, but Yuan manages to escape with the Eternal Ring
- Cruxis follows him to Triet base, which gets destroyed and the few remaining Renegades scatter
- Botta is still around tho, helping out how he can
- mostly Yuan just goes searching for Lloyd and Anna
- doesn't manage to find them before Kvar does tho, and Kratos hears from Yggdrasill that they're dead
- this is slightly inaccurate, cos Lloyd still winds up rescued by Dirk in Iselia
- where Yuan eventually finds him, not knowing that he's 'supposed' to be dead
- so Yuan settles in Iselia for a bit to watch Lloyd and the Chosen
- cuts and dyes his hair, the whole shebang
- learns how to carpentry, invents a new use of magic
- winds up being Genis's role model just because scholar and magic-user and half-elf who can pass but also takes no shit from people
- is one of Colette's companions on the Journey when it starts
- he's been challenging their understanding of the Church's institution this whole time lbr
- Sheena is still a thing because the ninja have taken over the Tethe'allan base, which has survived, somewhat
- a grilling ensues
- sometime just after the Asgard Ranch Yuan does have to drop the bombshell
- about how the Journey is just a front, he and his bestie are angels, btw his bestie is Lloyd's dad
- how they're out to topple the institution of religion
- forget sacrificing Colette for the Regeneration, when they get to the seal they can do that without anyone dying
- and then move straight on to rescuing Kratos in Derris-Kharlan
- then they get to the Tower and realise Yggdrasill has Kratos under a Prometheusesque punishment a la 'impaled on the Eternal Sword to suffer the Seed's pain and watch the Chosen get murdered'
- luckily this does not happen, as they manage to rescue him and escape Yggdrasill instead, barely
- retreat to Botta's hiding-place in Asgard so Kratos can recover
- and also find out that Lloyd is actually alive
- the Chosen group goes around to make as many pacts as they can while in Sylvarant
- they get up to Aska when Yggdrasill sends his angels to attack Asgard
- cue Yuan and Kratos being unstoppable battle gods together
scenarios
scenario one: in which Yuan leads the Chosen's party to the Tower of Salvation to dismantle all the traditions ever, and find Kratos waiting for them in serious need of a rescue.
scenario two: in which being in safety reveals that Kratos is not precisely unscathed, but he's doing his best.
scenario three: in which Kratos is emphatically not okay, but with Yuan's help, could be.
no subject
[He manages only to keep wailing to a minimum, contained in ragged breathing and choked sobs. It seems to take forever before it all eases, and even still he feels as though he's still bearing a dagger to his heart; but at least he can take deep breaths and start to comport himself with some dignity.
[He doesn't hear a nearly-silent footfall outside, a patter left by a child passing by; but if Yuan looks, he will find the corridor empty, save for a small bouquet of slightly wilted orchids at the doorstep.]
no subject
[More patient than he usually is. Yuan stays there, with Kratos, and resolves to be the one of them who is actually situationally aware. As such he's the one who hears the footfall, glances up; and, in a few moments, since Kratos seems slowly to be quieting, Yuan gets up to go and see.]
[...Orchids. Yuan picks up the bouquet and regards it for a little while, marking off the resources that go into growing flowers, and then he brings them back to where he was, to Kratos, and sets the bouquet in Kratos's line of sight.]
no subject
... Those are from our garden on the balcony.
[His voice is raw but even, exhaustion settling in. Someone's keeping care of the flowers. ... Someone's giving him flowers. The honour of a returning valiant soldier. He stares at them for a moment and then, very gently picks them up and cradles them, taking some more deep breaths. After a moment he rubs his face with his sleeve. His eyes are undoubtedly bloodshot, but since he'll be keeping his head down, it doesn't matter.
[Wordlessly, using the help of the wall, he gets awkwardly to his feet and turns toward the door, shoulders unslumped but head bowed. Then he waits for Yuan's guidance, without looking around at the ruined room.
[(Outside, down the hall, a few more flowers have been scattered. Not orchids, these, but flowers easily grown or picked wild, suitable for foot-traffic; a patchwork welcome carpet in lieu of the victory parade Vanaheim usually hosts.)]
no subject
[He waits for Kratos to be vertical, for some signal that Kratos is all right with going, has seen and gained what he needed to from this place. It is not, Yuan thinks, someplace to stay. It's more of a monument for others now.]
[The turn toward the door is signal enough. Yuan turns to go that way, allowing Kratos the space to fall into step with him. Quietly, just a little bit over his shoulder:]
Will the rest of the city be too wearing on you?
[On your leg; on your heart.]
no subject
[Yes. Kratos cradles the orchids a bit closer.]
I need to see.
[To turn away now would be to deny the suffering the rest of the city has endured. He can't do that. Even so, he feels like he's leaving pieces of him behind as they move up the hall, chunks carved out of him so his heart cries freely.
[When they come back out into the second building's courtyard, they find the path strewn with flowers which hadn't been there before -- and still, no one in sight. But watching. Or respectfully not watching, as the case may be.]
no subject
Very well. This way, then.
[There's the faintest uptilt in his tone; Yuan is not the one who knows his way around the city.]
...Do say something, if your leg begins to trouble you too much.
[Or. Anything else.]
no subject
[The street is empty still, and downhill does nothing for his leg; but Kratos persists, still holding the orchids. They reach the boulevard again, and Kratos quietly directs Yuan to turn down the opposite way they'd come, to continue the loop around the city. Would he even be let into the castle ...?
[Doubtful. And perhaps just as well. He restarts his quiet explanation of city landmarks as they pass, hoarser than before, but with dry eyes hidden behind his bangs.
[The boulevard has a crowd, still; but word seems to have spread of an Aurion in the city. Bystanders are more liable to turn and look, and then look away, very quickly. Flowers appear in his path, like they're manifesting from nothing in the crowd; a young girl on her father's shoulders plonks a wilted crown of daisies on his head as they hurry past. People brushing by press flowers into his hands -- often sad and ragged, but always orchids.
[Some stare. These are the ones with flat anger and betrayal in their faces. Yet no one stops them; no one cheers. And still the flowers appear, on an electric undercurrent of defiance which Kratos doesn't know whether the Sylvaranti can tell is there.]
no subject
[Flowers. Always flowers. And a flower crown. That's got the potential to be trouble. Yuan pretends -- for the moment -- he sees nothing. Spares a moment to wonder briefly about the pressing of flowers -- but that's not a matter for here and now. Perhaps later. Perhaps when they're... not home. But back to where they sleep.]
[And Yuan's learned a great deal about the city, by the time they're done and heading back. He thinks, perhaps, he understand Kratos better. He can only hope.]
[All the same, he won't be unhappy to be out of that odd electric atmosphere, and it's only when they're beginning to head back that Yuan's shoulders start to soften. And even then, only a little.]
no subject
[Before he can take a seat on the cart back, someone calls his name -- his whole name, not his rank. His ex-rank. Kratos turns automatically; and the baker's girl from earlier comes out of the crowd, pushing a warm package into his hands and kissing him on the cheek before darting off and out of sight again.
[For a moment, Kratos can only stand where he is, a statue to avoid emotion.
[A soldier returning home as a slave, and yet -- still seen, far more than he believed. Or possibly wanted. He isn't sure, if this has made things easier or harder.]
no subject
[They couldn't have made any more a scene if they were trying, could they? Yuan surveys the assortment of people around them, looks over the city. The package newly placed in Kratos's arms. No; Kratos is not unloved, here. And they should get moving. He makes sure Kratos is settled in the cart, helping as much or as little as necessary. Hesitates over what to say, if anything; eventually only grimaces. Climbs up to his own place.]
[How does he handle all this...? He hardly wants to crush whatever feelings Kratos is having, but among the Sylvaranti this sort of demonstration will be deeply unwise.]
...there should be a basket, in the cart.
[It's the best solution Yuan has right now. Flowers and mysterious bread-probable package in the basket. Pretend Kratos is carrying them for him. Most people will assume that. In Kratos's arms they look something different.]
no subject
[Wordlessly he finds the basket, sets package and flowers in. It's not a difficult order to obey. Right now, orders are very easy to obey.
[The cart sets off and Kratos is for a moment caught between looking and not looking; but in the end he does. The city is forever changed, and the sight of it receding in front of him makes his heart twist painfully as much for what he didn't see as for what he did. He hadn't been able to turn down the street where he'd been when the surrender order came. He'd stared at it just long enough to stall, and then silently passed on by.
[And Nike ...
[Of course, that had happened in the castle. There's no way he could have visited.
[But even so, the bitterness is thick in his throat, and the tears silent and unnoticed on his cheeks, as Vanaheim is swallowed up by Sylvaranti war camps around them.]
no subject
[When they are back in their camp, and Yuan is not obvious about making sure Kratos gets down from the cart all right, he cannot feasibly say anything about the tear-shadows.]
[And there's still food to be handled, or-- there would be, if someone's second-in-command hadn't noticed they were out a little late and left covered food in Yuan's tent. He's going to thank An-Lin later. Or, at least gently express his appreciation.]
[Inside the tent, though it's scarcely any barrier, Yuan's shoulders slump like the press of observation is a true weight, and he turns to Kratos with questions in his eyes. The pressing one, are you all right, is too stupid to be asked aloud.]
Do you need to sit?
[Do you need anything? Yuan does not know what it is, to grieve like this. He never has, save perhaps the grief of possibilities.]
no subject
... Yes.
[His voice is still soft, still raw. Hours of walking, then an hour's trek by cart -- his leg barely wants to hold him. He managed to get into the tent without anything seeming untoward. Now he's not sure how to take a step.
[But he does, and though his trembling knee buckles, the brace locks in and he manages to keep his balance until he can lower himself on his trunk.]
no subject
Here. You haven't eaten much today.
[A hesitation. And Yuan lifts the package from the basket, offering it to Kratos.]
Do you need help?
[Mostly with the brace. Or... anything else.]
no subject
I --
[He can't imagine doing anything for himself right now.]
Yes.
[The plate, he barely glances at; but the package, after a moment, he takes to set beside him, a little blankly. It'll get in the way, on his lap.]
no subject
[He might feed Kratos if it's strictly necessary, but it seems a bit more intimate than Kratos has signed up for.]
[The brace, though. That's surely been worn long enough for one day. Yuan bends to work at the buckles, realizes the angle is going to be awkward, and lifts one shoulder in a faint shrug.]
[And then drops to one knee to get a better angle for undoing Kratos's brace, piece by careful piece. He knows this handiwork well.]
no subject
[Duty, above all else, slams into place as solid action.]
You shouldn't be doing that --
[He moves to slap Yuan's hands away before he can stop to think, then aborts halfway, catching his breath. The knowledge that this is the only duty he has left seems a more solid weight than it had, with the shadows of Vanaheim still on him.]
no subject
I'll do what I need to when you can't.
[And he keeps doing exactly what he's doing, unfastening the brace.]
You've been on your feet all day.
[To say nothing of the emotional wringer.]
no subject
Thank you.
[This is hoarse and soft, and not at all referring to just the brace. He leans back on a hand, shifting his hip so Yuan can get at the part under his thigh, and settles once that's done. Even that seems to take more strength than it should. Kratos catches his breath, and after a moment stirs to unwrap the package.
[Inside are a set of honey cakes cradled by waxed paper cups, still warm and delightfully sticky. Kratos stares down at them for a moment, and thinks of the limp but gracefully given flowers still in the basket. Not unexpectedly, his breath catches again and his vision blurs; he presses the back of his hand to his mouth, shoulders trembling, but manages to keep things to a series of short gasps instead of outright sobs.]
no subject
[...surely he is missing something about the significance of honey cakes.]
[But Yuan doesn't know what to do with this, with grief naked in the daytime instead of clutching harshly in the night, when barriers are lower. He's too conscious of himself, too conscious of Kratos.]
[It would be crude to just stand and watch, however. He sets the brace on the trunk beside Kratos and straightens, unclasping his cloak as though it's just another day.]
[He drapes the cloak over Kratos instead, letting it fall on his head instead of his shoulders. The fabric has a heavy drape, and keeps warm enough to keep out the worst of Nidavellir's chill; it's an approximation of physical comfort. Maybe.]
[Yuan lets Kratos be for the moment, and starts setting their things in order for the evening.]
no subject
[And yet.
[Kratos takes advantage of it until the heartache dies down enough to let him do anything worthwhile, and by then Yuan has already settled the tent. Kratos sits for a moment with the cloak just around his shoulders, trying to decide if he wants to look at the flowers or not, and then picks up one of the honey-cakes to hold it out.]
Here.
[Softly raw, and yet. Still offering. They're still warm. A taste of home he might never get again. A taste of Tethe'alla Yuan might never again receive the chance to have. The honey cakes sold to Sylvaranti would surely not be the best.]
no subject
[And yet.]
[Things are settled and Yuan's debating what to do with himself, what to do with his Kratos. There are a few moments of hesitation, and a low lantern turned on, burning with just a hint of mana as it ignites a flame.]
[And then Kratos offers. Yuan stops, turns to look properly at him.]
...are you sure?
[They were given to Kratos. A taste of a home that's gone. But Yuan paces over anyway, standing before Kratos. Pauses again.]
no subject
[His voice is still raw, and he doesn't quite look up enough to look Yuan in the face; but his head isn't entirely bowed, either. He extends the honey-cake again.]
This may be ... the nearest way to show you Vanaheim as it was.
[Of gifts freely given, warriors who risked their lives honoured, of sweet pastries and fierce, defiantly patriotic pride. A lump blocks his throat again.]
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[He hesitates a little longer, and then reaches out, takes the cake from Kratos.]
Thank you, then.
I... can scarcely imagine the depth of feeling.
[There is little Yuan thinks he would grieve so readily for.]
[Save his blade. Save, perhaps, Kratos.]
[Carefully he bites into the cake, and gives it all due attention. It's still warm, and not too sweet, balanced perfectly as far as Yuan can tell.]
It's... wonderful.
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When we got our orders, the night before we shipped out, my siblings and I used to go to that bakery. We'd get a dozen honey-cakes and take them into the central garden, where the orange trees grew, and make a picnic under the lanterns. We'd eat. We'd talk. We'd sing.
[His throat closes again. He doesn't know what happened to his younger siblings. He might never know. But ... but he has this. He lifts his face and takes a breath, blinking tears down his cheeks, and for a moment lifts his cake at Yuan.]
Eneulodeus.
[It's a blessing, of sorts. A bid to confer upon Yuan all the benefits of the future, brought by the mightiest powers in the world. A word of hope.]
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finis