essek.

[tactic]

Comments

[tactic]

[ He's quiet as he listens, the smile on his face growing more and more the longer Essek talks about his brother. ]

I can tell how much you care about him from the way you describe him.

[ His voice is teasing, but he does find this very sweet. ]

A smart, battle-savvy commander, hm? Some siblings get all the luck.

[unconsecuted]

[STOP SMILING, FUCKER. Ughhhhhhhgghghghghghhh. Anyway, he hits Aventurine on the arm. For both things.]

Oh, shut up.

[So what, they are both pathetic. Two peas in a pod.]

He put jam inside one of my books once.

[tactic]

[ Okay, well if you wanted him to stop smiling, this story definitely does not help because Aventurine starts laughing in delight. ]

I wish I'd been there to see the look on your face when you discovered that!

[unconsecuted]

[TCH! He goes tch with his tongue and teeth quietly. Aventurine needs to be smothered.]

You two are just as annoying as each other. You would get along. I told him to stop putting jam in my books and he denied having done it.

I guess it did make me begin to appreciate jam. Not for the taste, but it reminds me of Verin.

[tactic]

You're so sentimental.

[ Says Aventurine, and then immediately memshares him keeping his dead dad's tattered old shirt for years until it was so threadbare that it basically fell apart.

He waves his free hand in the air like it'll make the memory go away faster. ]

... That was some horrible timing.

[unconsecuted]

[HELLO??? He makes a FACE at being called sentimental only for the two of them to experience the most fucking sentimental piece of shit thing imaginable.]

Uh-huh.

[HE'S sentimental, sure.]

You kept his shirt. [Until it was rotted. A bit more quietly:] What happened to him...?

[tactic]

He passed before I was born. My mother gave me that shirt to remember him by.

[ Pokes Essek on the forehead. ]

It was a long time ago. Don't get all somber on me.

[unconsecuted]

[SWATS AT THE HAND, annoyed. Less about the poking and more about the fact Aventurine turned this into a dunk on him when he was about to be a little more open (not that Aventurine would have KNOWN this).]

The last time I saw my father, I had made him terribly angry, and he went into the ruins of Bazzoxan ill-prepared, and we never saw him again.

[tactic]

[ AW MAN AVENTURINE YOU REALLY HAVE PISS POOR TIMING ]

[tactic]

[ But ah. He lets his hand get swatted because he feels he deserves this. ]

... Do you blame yourself?

[unconsecuted]

[YEAH, WHY IS HE EVEN FRIENDS WITH YOU? ANNOYING!!!!]

Yes, of course. It was my fault. I saw him as someone who lacked aspiration, and I told him as much. I sent him to his death.

[tactic]

[ Huffs... And then gives up on propping up his head as he lets himself fully collapse on the bed. ]

It's not as though you ordered him to be ill-prepared or marched him into the ruins yourself.

[ Just kind of a defeated sigh, though, as he closes his eyes. ]

But who am I to tell you these things? I'd be a hypocrite when I carry my own special brand of guilt.

[unconsecuted]

No, but he did it because of what I said to him.

[He slaps a pillow over Aventurine's face suddenly, but doesn't try to smother.]

Yes, exactly, so shut up. What do you even have to feel guilty about exactly...? What you told me about before? Sacrificing people for you?

You are a changed man now, though, aren't you? Well, except for when it comes to Nehan apparently.

[tactic]

[ Truly the worst thing about decorating his bed with like twenty pillows is that they're all weapons now. Aventurine grabs the one Essek had hit him with and throws it off to the side. ]

Please. I'm always going to convince myself it was my fault no matter what others may tell me. If logic and reason were enough to make the guilt go away...

[ Gives a very pointed smile to Essek. ]

We wouldn't be such head-cases in the first place, would we?