( Video )

[confined_to_briah]

( There's a small groan of frustration and Alexiel appears on the feed, running a hand through her hair. She has isolated herself for over a month, barely leaving Hatter's mansion - except for work, of course. But it's time things changed, so she's back out on the street, taking in the goings on around her. )

Kurai... Michael... Hatter...

If you see this, I would like to speak to you.

( Let's face it - depression or overwhelming sadness isn't new to her, but this lack of purpose is. She seems lost without her heart and her sword. )

I'm beginning to lose my sense of how things used to be.

Comments

[gotashortfuse]

Oi. You called?

[confined_to_briah]

( That attitude is comforting. She smirks to herself. )

You haven't changed.

[gotashortfuse]

Duh. I'm Michael.

[confined_to_briah]

And Michael you shall always be.

I envy that.

[gotashortfuse]

...Eh? Why?

[confined_to_briah]

I have never been simply myself.

[gotashortfuse]

No one has but me. That's why I'm the greatest.

[confined_to_briah]

Who knows, you might be.

1/2

[gotashortfuse]

Yeah I a-

[gotashortfuse]

The fuck is wrong with you?

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[mortemscintilla]

I was starting to wonder if some world wasn't one angel richer.

[ Long time, no see, Alexiel. ]

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[confined_to_briah]

( She considers what she wants to say, expression unreadable. )

I thought I might lose myself in the silence.

( A beat. )

I didn't talk much when I was in the garden.

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[mortemscintilla]

[ Silence, in Hei's experience, has its uses. Sometimes it's the only tool by which he can negotiate with the world, other than rage and violence. But he's also learnt how it can creep and smother until there's nothing of you left. ]

[ His tone is neutral when he says, ]

Do you feel like talking now?

[ He's not offering a sympathetic ear. He prefers action to speech. But if she talks, he's willing to listen. ]

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[confined_to_briah]

I haven't a clue what I would talk about. ( There's too much empty space. It's almost like being asleep again - except this time, her dreams are devoid of familiarity. ) Are you too busy for a visit?

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[mortemscintilla]

I see.

[ That's not a good sign. But he doesn't say so. Personally he thinks it was a bad idea to let Alexiel wallow in a self-indulgent cesspit for so long. Different strokes, different folks is all well and good. But stay wrapped up in your own thoughts for too long, and your mind rots from lack of sunlight. ]

[ He doesn't say that, either. Instead, ] I'll come by. [ A beat. ] To take you monster-slaying in the Underground. [ Bossy, but he means well. Carnage may not be therapeutic -- but action certainly is. ]

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[confined_to_briah]

( She is emotionally fatigued. She isn't used to feeling so much at once. The harsher emotions - rage, vengeance and so forth - are far more familiar to her. Yet with Setsuna and even Lucifer, she had been feeling...love? Definitely affection. And then Rosiel had shown up, briefly, and all of those emotions had become confused.

She misses them all. Period. Rosiel needs her most and that won't change. But who says she can't love others too? Should she feel guilty for that? )

Make sure you're armored. ( All of this emotional energy has to go somewhere. ) I might have something to tell you.

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[mortemscintilla]

[ It's a simple enough thing for Hei to comprehend, even if his own emotions tend to hide from him. He's always been like that -- even when he was a teenager. Enemies and allies had always said they couldn't figure him out, but Hei couldn't figure himself out, either, and had to look for clues like anyone else. Love. Loss. Grief. The surest sign that any of these emotions was stuck inside him had been sudden, unwarranted fits of temper, often with regrettable consequences. He'd learnt not to succumb to his rage so much, these days, and to keep his anger under a tighter lid -- which was just as well, given what was at stake in his profession. But it did mean it was harder for him to guess what sort of state he might be in. ]

[ He could glimpse his feelings, but only at the edges of his perception. Only by not looking for them directly did he have any chance of spotting them. ]

I will. [ Flat and calm, with a moment to pause at her next statement. ] Whatever you wish.

[ Not indifference, but offering her wide berth. People deal with aimlessness and loss in different ways. He won't interfere with Alexiel's, except to offer her a sounding board. ]

[indecent_butterfly]

You have but to talk, One shall hear.

[confined_to_briah]

Are we dreaming, Hatter? Or are we awake?

[indecent_butterfly]

If it is a dream it is not of Ones making. Or choice.

[confined_to_briah]

Then a nightmare, perhaps. One we share; one we cannot escape.

[indecent_butterfly]

[Alexiel are you really going to make nem do this? So very cruel.]

Do you even wish to? It would seem you care not at all any longer.

[confined_to_briah]

What is there to care about? What is there to protect? ( Honestly she is fond of nem, Michael and, of course, Kurai. ) The enemy is beyond our reach or else I would have sunk my blade into them already.

[indecent_butterfly]

Are you so weak to need reason? Why live at all if the burden is too much to bare? Proving the frailty of your spirit is not so hard a task to accomplish.

[confined_to_briah]

Weak? ( The word echoes and her eyes flash. ) Leave me be.