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

[conductingresistance]

What are you laughing at?

[Yuan has a feeling he hasn't been minding his mental tidiness as much as he could. In his defense, it's been a while since he had to worry about accidentally sending something he didn't mean to.]

[He prods the contents of the bowl gingerly with the spoon, gives some thought to the merits of his sense of taste, and ultimately tries the food without any kind of buffer or shield. It's been a little while, but it'll hardly kill him.]

We may be here a while.

[simulsimul]

He's known you for an hour and he has you pegged.

[Kratos's head turns just enough for Yuan to be able to see the amusement in his eyes without actually disturbing their lean against one another -- a rare enough sight, for the last several centuries.]

Dirk's food tells you that?

[It isn't so bad, from what little sense Kratos has of it; which isn't much. The texture at least isn't unpleasant, even if that's the only thing that matters with his angelic fortitude so active.]

[conductingresistance]

Hmph.

[It's less offended than it might have been at any other point in time. Still, Yuan doesn't intend to dignify that first with an answer. It's entirely unjustified.]

[Yuan shakes his head, not much, careful to avoid dislodging Kratos.]

Your inclination to do as you're told tells me that.

[Kratos is sitting and eating peacefully, instead of insisting on anything. The fact he relented says something about his weakness right now.]

[simulsimul]

I'm trying to avoid the both of you taxing my ears.

[You've already proven you'll both turn on me if you feel I'm stepping out of line.

[It's not a pointed mental comment, but a fondly exasperated one. Still, Yuan isn't wrong. It's hard for an angel to really be aware of their state of weakness while seated, when passive, but Kratos has all but sank against Yuan's shoulder in a fashion which would never have been necessary if Kratos weren't weak.]

[conductingresistance]

[It isn't pointed, but Yuan's distracted enough he only processes about half the words, and he's stiffened fractionally before everything filters through. You've already proven you'll turn on me makes no sense with the tone, and the intent passes mentally -- he has the words to rights in a bare second more -- but it does tell Yuan he's feeling guiltier than he thought about what's happened, if it can throw him off from that much alone.]

[He sighs, and relaxes again, resolving not to mention this to Kratos if at all possible.]

Self-preservation is self-preservation, no matter the reason. If it gets you to rest...

[simulsimul]

[Twelve hours ago, that would have worked. As strange as the feeling of mental closeness is now, they are nevertheless close, and practically sharing mana at this point; Kratos feels the flinch.]

You bruise my pride.

[But Kratos turns his head slightly, issuing an unspoken question through that same link; something on the lines of a combination of what was that? and are you alright?]

[conductingresistance]

You'll heal.

[Damn it, Kratos, why do you have to prod only when it's most inconvenient?]

--it's nothing. I'm fine.

[This is dry and dismissive, not quite all the way to curt.]

[simulsimul]

[Yuan isn't injured, but that doesn't mean he isn't lying when he says he's fine. That mental flinch was most definitely a mental flinch. Kratos does, for a moment, consider letting it go -- but he's done that far too often of late, and it was most definitely something he had said which caused the reaction.]

Hmh. Why don't you say that like it's believable?

[conductingresistance]

It's believable.

[It is something that Kratos could choose to believe, in other words. What transmits of Yuan's thought patterns best resembles an annoyed scribbling.]

I'm fine. Eat.

[He gestures with his own spoon at Kratos' bowl, reminding him of the theoretically responsible example Yuan is setting. And perhaps, with any luck, distracting him.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos watches him a bit longer, his eyes narrowed; but then he finally does grunt an apparent assent and raise his spoon again, following Yuan's order. Ate. Swallowed. Put down the spoon.]

But I don't believe you. What did I do?

[After all this, if he's hurt Yuan in some way -- he wants to know, to fix it. It may be he can fix very little, but maybe he can fix them.]

[conductingresistance]

[Damn. Yuan had been hoping that would work.]

Nothing I haven't already done to myself.

[They used to be better than this. He prods at the tentative mental link between them, aimless, not intentionally sending anything but discontent.]

[Yuan remembers perfectly making the decision that he was going to have to kill Kratos. It seems both distant and too close at once, with Kratos still leaning alive against his shoulder.]

[simulsimul]

[They did used to be better. Kratos probably would have been able to pinpoint the problem, once upon a time; even with Yuan's grumpy mental poke, Kratos should have been able to tell. But he can't, because the mental link, so recently renewed, is still so recent.

[So Kratos prods back, faintly exasperated but still questioning.]

I could say the same about me and the seal. You didn't step away then.

[It's not exactly the same, if only in scale, but it's similar enough, he thinks -- without knowing exactly the problem.]

[conductingresistance]

[Oh, for--]

[Evidently Kratos isn't leaving off. Yuan gathers up the whole mental mess of it, from the split-second flinch of knew you'd turn on me to the slow creeping ache of the decision to kill his friend, made and made again, and he shoves it at the thready link in a minor fit of temper. Kratos can deal with it, if he wants so badly to.]

[Telepathy re-established does no favors for his temper. Damn. Seconds after, Yuan closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, breathing and striving to reclaim calm.]

I'm sorry.

[This is, markedly, for the mental shove, and not for everything else, which has already had its apology.]

[simulsimul]

[Kratos flinches in turn at the shove, not just because of the emotions involved but because it feels raw on the newly-regained link. The catch of his breath, after, is because of that familiar creeping ache. They're both too familiar with that ache.

[He shakes his head once.]

I asked.

[Then he exhales slowly, trying to think of how to begin to respond to that. Yuan has to know Kratos doesn't blame him for that; after all, he'd agreed to it more than once. The ache isn't guilt. It's grief, pre-emptive; it's a wistful longing for a time when that wouldn't have been necessary. It isn't something that can't be assuaged except with time. In the end, all Kratos does is issue a wordless reassurance of presence, stronger than the quiet, passive linger which is the link's default state.

[I'm here. Alive. We'll be better, and I'm here.]

[conductingresistance]

[Distantly Yuan has to wonder what Dirk thinks of all this; the half-conversation and the ancient men leaning on each other like they might fall without the support. It's not all that important, Kratos being what matters more at the moment, but he does wonder.]

I had noticed.

[That's uncomfortably raw for his tastes. Yuan turns his head slightly more toward Kratos, eyes half-closed, feeling out the shape of the link as demonstrated by that reassurance. It's easier this way, not having to talk, being able to just understand.]

[It isn't what Martel had meant, about understanding each other, but surely it's in close company.]

[We're here. We'll change it. And Yuan isn't sure if he means the worlds or what their friendship has come to be.]

[simulsimul]

[Dirk is giving them their privacy. That's about all he wants to know.]

Hmh.

[It's a half-chuckle, something nearly amused; and Kratos's own eyes are closed for much the same reason as Yuan's, the stew ignored for the time being. He's keeping his presence overt, letting Yuan examine the sense of it, the tenor of the link between them. It is easier. Maybe that's why they forgot they could do it until it was too late.

[Both. We can do both. We did the worlds once before. We can do it again, the other way. We can be better.

[The last 'we' carries overtones of this, of them, just them, with all they've been and all they have. They've both turned their heads toward each other, while listening; Kratos doesn't really notice that their foreheads have come to rest. He doesn't notice that the healing arte still in his hand has gotten a little stronger, either, as if the strengthened connection is helping that too.]

[conductingresistance]

[It's terribly obviously intimate, the way they're sitting, and Yuan can't bring himself to care, especially not with their mana resonating together like it is.]

[Wasn't I just trying to convince you of that?]

[Mentally Yuan lacks some of the sharpness, only a dry amusement. He agrees, though; they have a responsibility they can't put down, not when they were complicit in making things this way.]

[Funny how it's easier to believe they can change, now. Yuan stays right where he is, barely moving, mentally urging Kratos to heal.]

[simulsimul]

[I'm agreeing with you, idiot.

[The mental intonation is exasperated, but fond; very nearly a deep wealth of fondness, if Yuan prods it even a little. Behind it, an inkling of guilt, that Kratos had tried to put it all down, and more than once.

[In some ways, Yuan has been so much stronger than Kratos. It makes Kratos fiercely glad that Yuan is here, still, considered him worthy enough to save; that Yuan is there to rely upon to point out what's wrong, as he had when Mithos created the human ranches. If only Kratos had done more than simply agree in word. It only he'd borrowed Yuan's strength to pull away.

[Thank you.

[For saving him. Forgiving him. For being willing to be here, like this, granting Kratos access to his mana until he heals. Kratos can feel that link between them cycling with every breath. The arte in his hand is strong, now; a clear glow in his palm and bathing his side, soothing the pain, knitting flesh. Still slower than it ought to be, because Yuan's mana is still not his, just borrowed until his own mana cycles what Yuan has given him -- but constant.]

[conductingresistance]

[Heh. The worlds may tremble.]

[But the fondness is there, impossible to miss even after everything. It's heartening, though that isn't something Yuan's going to mention out loud. Only a similar affection rises up in return, tempered by a mild annoyance that sounds a lot like reciprocal name-calling.]

[He'd call Kratos' estimation of him optimistic, were he privy to all of it.]

[What else could I have done?]

That feels like it's flowing better.

[This is actually aloud, an absent commentary on the state of their currently-collective mana. Yuan's erring on the side of keeping his attention on it until he's sure it's settling properly.]

[simulsimul]

[So they should, but not in so many words; more a nostalgic memory of how they'd once taken the worlds by storm, the two of them fighting the kingdoms to a standstill until Derris-Kharlan's orbit brought it close again.

[And, following it, nearly lost beneath their not-quite-name-calling, a whisper of: You could have let me die, barely aired given the blanket refusal inherent in Yuan's initial response. Yuan could not have let him die, even at cost to himself. Yuan could hardly bear to make it happen, even to save the world.]

It is. It's helping mine, too.

[The slow steadiness of the healing is giving his body a chance to catch up; there's threads of his mana cycling now, with his wound closing, with his body healing. It's still similar to Yuan's -- very similar; it's probably what saved their lives -- but with edges of groundedness which is highlighted by the lightning flavour of them both. It isn't enough to reject the aid Yuan's mana is offering, yet, but it will be a good sign when it can process the healing arte without that help.]

[conductingresistance]

[Don't be stupid is the sharp response to that barely-whispered thought, a quick determining to ensure that idea goes no farther. Even when there was no other option, Yuan had to try something. Foolish or not.]

The more it does, the easier it should be to heal. Especially if you don't push yourself.

[In theory, based on what Yuan does know of the body's processes and the way healing artes work. He had done more than a bit of hurried research, and retained only the most pertinent parts to the possibilities of conducting a successful mana transfusion.]

[simulsimul]

[That barely-whispered thought dies easily under the forcefulness of Yuan's denial, but it's not the sort of death which hurts. If anything, the reiteration brings a smile to Kratos's face.]

According to whose definition of 'pushing'?

[It's half amused, half genuine; Yuan's own definitions of things have a tendency to scale depending on to whom they're applied. Then, more quietly:]

How long were you planning that?

[conductingresistance]

Dirk's.

[As neither of them, really, can be trusted to supply an adequate definition, being what they are.]

[Yuan hmphs quietly. Not quite annoyed at Kratos, but at having to think about this in any more detail.]

Since shortly after the first time I decided that you needed to die.

[simulsimul]

What?

[Dirk looks up, sees them, looks away again with a grunt; and Kratos chuckles quietly at the dwarf's wordless grumble.]

We're trusting your definition of what constitutes pushing too hard.

[A second grunt, more approving this time, and Kratos returns his attention to Yuan's response.]

You've been planning that for seventeen years? -- Or has it been longer?

[conductingresistance]

[Yuan thought that might get approval. His exhalation is a little like laughter in turn.]

[It also tells him Dirk is not paying all that much attention to them, which is something of a relief.]

I made the decision longer ago than that.

[He's declining to specify exactly how long, but by the time he went to Kratos, his mind was made up. Mostly.]

I would have-- but I kept thinking there must be another way. And while mana leaving the body and death usually coincide, they're not quite the same condition.

Trying it became an easier choice to make when it became clear Lloyd would be capable of wielding the Sword.

[All this is in a sort of casual, dry undertone, Yuan trying to still keep Dirk a little bit out of this while explaining to Kratos.]