a thing; w/ ruinsprofessor & conductingresistance

[simulsimul]

universe list
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 lightning and light can totally become a laserbeam amirite
- 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.

Comments

[simulsimul]

[The smith's gaze rests on Kratos for the first time, takes in his lowered chin and the braid, and this time his laugh is deep-chested, and sardonically delighted.]

Hah. I taught you better than you think. Fine, then. My name is Maodha mac Gabhann, which I'm sure your master never told you -- but at least he's still got good taste.

[He jerks his head toward the door into the smithy.]

My workshop. I'm sure you remember the way -- Commander.

[conductingresistance]

[Mentally, Yuan curses a number of things on general principle. He feels simultaneously insulted and complimented, and between the two it creates an irritating sludge of defensiveness.]

[He wonders how much he's going to wind up paying for this.]

I do.

[Pointless to deny his origins, when he swears half the soldiers in the city know it. Surely most of the apprentices have been told about him, too.]

[Yuan glances over his shoulder, confirming that Kratos is following; then, holding himself a little aloof from the surroundings, Yuan follows the smith.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos gives Yuan a nod when Yuan looks back, trailing the pair of them with his now-familiar uneven footsteps. Entering the smith is like being hit in the face by a wall of heat, just humid enough to make it extra uncomfortable.

[It also doesn't lead straight into the workshop, Kratos notes. Instead they walk past the main smith, where the apprentices are working; and nearly all of them look up to watch, perhaps alerted by their peer's message to their master. Kratos marks at least two who recognise Yuan on sight, and neither fondly.

[Walking fast may be beyond Kratos right now, but he still manages to put himself between Yuan and those dagger gazes.

[Mac Gabhann's workshop is deeper into the mountain and makes better use of air-flow, with a persistent whistle of ducts catching the wind to take the smoke and heat away. He points at a broad trestle table against the stony wall, with a stool at the base of the clear end.]

Sit on the end of that.

[conductingresistance]

[Yuan doesn't look at the apprentices, though he's reasonably sure he can feel the weight of their stares.]

[He did not leave friends behind him.]

[He knows Mac Gabhann's workshop, and little has changed. He doesn't need to look around beyond a cursory glance. All he does is nod to Kratos, indicating that he should listen, and then Yuan focuses on the smith again.]

Should I take this as agreement?

[simulsimul]

[Kratos does indeed pause to glance at Yuan before obeying. He intends to do that of every order given, by Mac Gabhann -- if only to make it clear that it's Yuan he obeys, not anyone else. Especially to the man who once gave orders to Yuan.

[It takes him a minute, even using the stool. He needs to bring his leg up manually, and by that point Mac Gabhann has returned with an armful of braces tucked under his arm, and a derisive snort.]

Don't play at stupidity now, Commander. How many people do I bring back here to tell them 'no'? What kind of brace are you looking for?

[This is at Kratos, and rather deliberately so, it seems. Kratos looks silently at Yuan.]

[conductingresistance]

[It's true enough; Mac Gabhann has, if nothing else, always been a man of his word. Yuan should, perhaps, have known better than to assign spite to that much. ...He will, he's sure, end up paying for it.]

[Yuan looks back at Kratos. Another slight nod, as though to say 'go ahead.']

My regiment is being deployed soon. He needs more mobility than he currently has, even if he won't be with the main fighting force.

[The rest, Kratos can handle explaining; he knows better what his limits are. In theory.]

[simulsimul]

[If anything, Yuan's explanation makes Mac Gabhann's eyes gleam.]

Battlefield brace, eh? Good. You still don't do half measures.

[He immediately sets aside a good half of the ones he'd been holding, and rifles through the rest, eyeing Kratos.]

Are you always this scrawny or has he not been feeding you?

[Kratos eyes him back, remaining as flat-faced as when he entered.]

Always.

[conductingresistance]

[Yuan has never done half measures. Perhaps neither of them have changed that much.]

[He hasn't decided yet if that's discomfiting or reassuring.]

He was worse off when I got him.

[Not quite defensive, but... Yuan takes care of what's his. Whether it's the blade that took him out of here or the prisoner who was his fixation for so many years.]

[...'was' may be inaccurate. Yuan ignores this.]

I don't expect him to see fighting, but the unexpected happens.

[simulsimul]

Mhm. What's your mobility like?

[He asks questions and Kratos answers, as much from his awareness of his state as from what the healer said a few months back. His tone is not precisely terse, but his answers are economical and flat.

[The braces, as it turns out, aren't entirely one piece. Rather they're a series of interlocking rods and straps which Mac Gabhann dismantles and reconstructs according to Kratos's information and the length and shape of his leg, with the exspheres inset at the joints, like pins. It fits to his leg over his clothes, hooking to his belt; behind his thigh and knee, there's taut straps of fine mesh which emulates the cut muscle. It's altogether less bulky than he thought it would be, owing to the light-weighted rods; but it's still far more present, and alien, than the cane.

[When Kratos gets off the table, cautiously to account for the shift in weight, he finds that he still can't walk as he did when hale; but he can bend his knee somewhat more than usual, and twist without falling, and be more assured that his bad leg won't simply be a dead weight, if he needs to react quickly. It still takes a bit more measuring and switching out the rods with others, but finally Mac Gabhann steps back with a satisfied nod.]

That should do it. You won't find a better one anywhere in the city.

[This sounds, to Kratos's ears, rather pointed; and he glances at Yuan, wondering how much Yuan is about to have to pay on his behalf, and whether this level of quality is strictly necessary. (It is; of course it is. He's going into the field, if not the battlefield. But it's still galling.)]

[conductingresistance]

[Yuan watches sharply, as much to make sure Mac Gabhann is doing only what he needs as to make careful note of what he's doing. This is something that's going to be important, so Yuan absorbs as much of the information as he can without actually asking very many questions, so as not to interrupt the work.]

[It's a functional work of art. Damn. What else did Yuan expect?]

I never expected I would.

[He knows his old master's work. Intimately. Every day.]

[simulsimul]

[Mac Gabhann's grin widens, and makes him look faintly demonic; but when he names his price, it's with confidence in what he's worth. It also makes Kratos withhold a wince, and glance sideways to Yuan.

[He's not about to say or do anything which would indicate Yuan doesn't have control of him; but regardless of Mac Gabhann's worth, surely Yuan shouldn't spend so much on Kratos.

[Even though he did, once, in buying him. It's still something of a strange thought, when Kratos bothers to think about it.]

[conductingresistance]

[That grin is both well known and well disliked; but the price is, actually, about what Yuan would have expected. It reflects the expertise, and the art of it.]

[It doesn't mean he has to like it, but bargaining here would be an actual insult, especially since Yuan knows the quality of this work. He knows exactly what Maodha mac Gabhann will stake on his work.]

[To that end, Yuan nods curtly.]

That's fine.

I doubt there will be any issues with it, but I'll bring them to you if there are.

[simulsimul]

[Yuan barely flinches. Quietly Kratos marks up the quality of Mac Gabhann's work. Certainly the smith himself doesn't seem surprised at the lack of bargaining; only satisfied.]

Hah. Had any issues with my blade yet?

[It's a confident question which lacks the need for an answer; because the answer is, of course, 'no', and Mac Gabhan expects it to be 'no' for the brace as well. At least he isn't foolish about it, as evidenced when he turns to lecture Kratos.]

You might need to limit the time you wear it, until your hip and balance adjust; and you'll probably notice some aches in your leg in the interim. You'll be able to pack it dismantled -- just make sure the ends are packed against something soft. In terms of climate conditions, treat it like you would an suit of armour. Got that?

[Kratos nods and picks up his cane, deferring to Yuan for the rest of the transaction.]

[conductingresistance]

[This makes Yuan give him a thin line of a smile.]

It endures well.

[The answer is completely unnecessary, but the ego-stroking can't go amiss here.]

[He makes note of the care instructions, as well, and waits for that to be done before following up. Yuan watches Kratos's movements as he gets up, more for assessment than any genuine concern he won't be able to at this point, then focuses on Mac Gabhann.]

I can sign a note of draft, but I don't carry that much.

[It's asking without asking. Yuan hates asking this man.]

[simulsimul]

[Mac Gabhann bent over the dismantled brace, wrapping and binding it, and laughed that sardonically righteous laugh.]

Twice now I've dismissed you as a man of your word. I'm not going to be humiliated a third time.

[The first time was when he disbelieved his slave could wield that blade in any artistic fashion; the second, when he disbelieved a half-elf could graduate as an officer. No, he won't make that mistake again. He knots the strings and hefts it to hand it over to Kratos.]

Out into the shop, then.

[conductingresistance]

[...how odd, to somehow have a man's respect and be so sure there is no love between them. It isn't what Yuan expected from this meeting.]

[It might, in point of fact, be better.]

...The shop, then.

[Yuan's pause on the way back out is for Kratos, not Mac Gabhann, to make sure Kratos handles the weight of it combined with his balance well enough.]

[In the front of the shop he finds an appropriate flat surface and takes the time to write out a note of draft, for the precise number quoted him; his handwriting is careful, precisely legible.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos gives Yuan a nod; the brace is in all honesty no heavier than a sword, and will be far easier to bear once he's wearing it. He's able to easily manage, with it tucked under his arm, leaning on his cane.

[Mac Gabhann follows them out and rifles behind the counter for a stamp for Yuan to sign over, to designate to whom the note is for. He glances over the page.]

Hmph. Your handwriting's better than it was.

[As if he'd even known Yuan could write, before the day he took him to sign into the academy.]

[conductingresistance]

[Yuan hmphs right back at him.]

Practice does that. Sloppy writing gets misunderstood.

[And that's not to be borne, when dealing with requisitions or troop movements. Yuan refused to allow it, so he improved. That was all there was to it.]

[He looks the note over once more once the stamp is added, nods, lays the pen down.]

[simulsimul]

So it does.

[The words are grudging, rather than approving, but there's something in Mac Gabhann's gaze as he eyes Yuan. Nostalgia, perhaps, or regret; Kratos has no doubt it's not regret for however Yuan was treated, so much that someone so capable got away.

[In the end, Mac Gabhann grunts and waves them off.]

That'll do. You know where to send people if you see anyone else in need of my work.

[And he turns to stride back into the smithy, leaving his apprentice behind the counter and eyeing them with wary interest.]

[conductingresistance]

[When he's done with the note, Yuan meets that gaze, and doesn't know what to make of it, so only meets it with his approximation of Kratos's stony silence.]

[...He should acknowledge Mac Gabhann's last. He doesn't, only watches the smith go.]

[The apprentice gets a short nod by way of farewell, and Yuan turns to go, listening for Kratos falling into his wake. He wonders, offhandedly, passingly, what the smith had thought of where he has come to now, what he has made of himself.]

[Then Yuan dismisses this as not worth wondering about.]

We should head in to HQ from here, if you don't have an issue carrying that with you.

[simulsimul]

I'm fine. It's lighter than my shopping basket.

[They'd need to take a rickshaw anyway, and there's plenty for Kratos to help with at headquarters given how quickly they're moving out. He'll have time to pack tomorrow, as well as test the brace by walking to market to give over some things to Acacius. It would be a pity to waste the olives, so they may as well take advantage.

[Kratos leaves the brace in Yuan's office, preferring to test it at a time when taking it off and putting it on isn't liable to get in anyone's way. As it is, the day passes quickly, with Kratos returning to Yuan's office at the end of it, entering unsurprised to find that Yuan is alone inside.]

[conductingresistance]

[The putting-off of the testing makes sense to Yuan. They've enough to do, anyway. Fortunately Yuan's attention to detail, and An-Lin's support, means that they aren't scrambling as much as they might be, though there's always significant effort involved in getting this many people moved at once.]

[The day goes by quickly and there's still more to do, but it will be manageable.]

[Yuan looks up when Kratos comes in, but only briefly.]

You may as well close the door; I'll be another few minutes.

[When he's actually finished what he was doing, and the ink is drying, he sets his things down, and pushes back from the desk, stretching his arms over his head and to the side in turns.]

...There's something I wanted to ask you, about this morning. Can you explain exactly what you meant?

[He's very consciously phrased it as a question. Not sure if it's something that can be put to words.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos obeys, shutting the door and moving to take a seat so he can unfold the brace's leather wrapping and have another look at how it constructs once more. There are hardly any instructions, after all. He looks up when he hears Yuan's chair on the floor; but it takes him a moment to remember what Yuan must be talking about.]

... Exactly what I said.

[This, slightly puzzled; he's not sure how his words had been at all vague.]

[conductingresistance]

[There is a deep, longsuffering sigh. If Yuan had full comprehension of the emotions behind the words, he wouldn't have to ask in the first place.]

We speak many of the same languages, yes. I'm aware of what you said.

[Shouldn't the fact he's asking anyway say something?]

It isn't your words I'm wondering about.

[But nothing more is forthcoming to clarify what he is wondering about. Yuan gives serious thought to retracting the question.]

[simulsimul]

[If it isn't the words, then -- hm. Kratos starts dismantling the brace, in as far as he's constructed it; but the movements are thoughtful. He can tell Yuan's reconsidering having asked at all, which means Kratos ought to be giving this its proper due.]

I meant it much the same way you mean it, I think. For much the same reason you took such effort to buy me. It ... might be considered sad, to some, but -- in many ways you were the nearest thing I had to a friend even before now.

[Even while they were trying to kill each other. There was an honesty in that relationship which Kratos valued, even while being on opposite sides of the conflict; and there was something reliable about knowing that, sooner or later, Yuan would turn up to fight him.]