if they saw me now, what would they think [open]

[sullenstallion]

WHO: Dylas, open
WHAT: Dylas killed four people (¯\_(ツ)_/¯) and, despite mind control being the reason, has decided to hole up in the holding cell he's been staying in much to Spark's dismay. Why won't he leave?!
WHEN: Early July
WHERE: Aqures Ixen Police Station



[At least the cot is somehow big enough for him.

Dylas never thought he’d be in this position. During the day, he mostly sleeps. It’s a little uncomfortable, but being the Vampire-job bearer he is, it’s the easiest time for him to do it. It’s impossible to sleep all day with all the noise, though, so Koporo comes and goes, bringing him food and books, fearing the day that Biggs will dock his or his family’s pay after the letter he sent.

Other than that, it’s all quiet. Too quiet, really, considering his pacing doesn’t make a sound as he walks back and forth in his small cell. It’s not even a proper prison, but here he is. It’s better than being out there. He doesn’t know what the others think of him, he hadn’t even been here two months before starting to kill again. It’s better if he’s locked up. That’s what he thinks, anyways.

But he’s still bored.

Sometimes, he stands next to the bars, watching the people come and go, staring at them while they do their work. He’s been told he’s free to leave, but refusing to leave is also kind of a crime, or maybe they’re just humoring him. He isn’t sure, but here he is. Two weeks into his stay, and the police station has yet to rid themselves of the wendigo.]

Comments

[sullenstallion]

I must've missed that part.

[That sounds a lot more real. Physical manifestations of the Calamity. How does that even work? Dylas doesn't know, doesn't care. He's seen enough strange shit in his lifetime between Ryslig and Selphia, all he knows is that pains in the ass like that usually need to be stopped. If it was really someone connected to the Calamity, that...kind of sucks for him, that's more power than he could ever hope to punch in the face.]

So what do you think it does? You don't sound like you believe that.

[He looks from his hands over to the other man, taking his appearance in for the first time. Tall. Imposing. Some might say Sephiroth looks pretty, but Dylas wouldn't. He doesn't look like he's a barrel of laughs or like he's fun to be around at parties. Maybe they're a little similar.]

[shinrasfinest]

[It also means that it's not Dylas' fault but Sephiroth's not the type to keep using the same line. The guy sitting in the cell seems intelligent enough to make that logical leap himself. None of the other Heroes of Light that had been involved were taking this much blame for their actions -as far as he's seen at least- and it's highly likely that there wasn't a single individual among them that would have been able to resist the mind-control, either.

Black crystals have always been a weakness, it's high time someone started doing something about wrapping up that Achilles heel. Not that Sephiroth had any ideas about it, mind.]

Narayana? [Just to clarify they were talking about the Calamity, not the Avatar's, but Dylas gets a moment of a gauging look from Sephiroth while he tries to settle within himself if his tone had been that obvious or if Dylas was just that observant.]

Considering the sources that have always pushed us into thinking that it would spread to our own worlds once it's finished with this one, I think it's prudent not to lean too heavily into one way of belief.

[There is a little more to it than that, given one of Palitutu's reports and a vision not often thought about on Sephiroth's part.]

It's not like we've not been blind-sided before.

[sullenstallion]

"Pushed" into thinking like that might be putting it mildly. I feel like being hit by an airship would be more subtle than the amount of times I've been told the Calamity is the end of everything.

[They lay it on thick. He knows what that's like from another world. Everyone swarms you with information, but he's not always the best at handling it. Why shouldn't he be suspicious of what he's seen and been told? His experiences haven't allowed him the luxury of being naive.

He's heard that they destroy other worlds, too. It's not enough to move him to action. Ryslig should be destroyed, and whether or not his friends there are worth saving is a difficult choice to make.]

There's a lot going on here. It's a lot to jump into, can't really say it looks like all of you have been doing your best to someone who hasn't been here long.

[Dylas is a little unimpressed, in other words. From all the letters he's getting, everyone seems to be fighting a lot more than he'd thought they would.]

[shinrasfinest]

[Sephiroth nods in agreement to Dylas, his opinion of the other taking a few steps up the scale as it seems this Hero is just about on the same level of pessimism as himself. Good to know it's not smiles and rainbows for everyone, another person who understands that the world -no matter which one- isn't so cookie cutter.]

True enough, on both counts.

[He knows that his own contribution has been spotty recently, to say the least. That is, if one considers working as a part of the military as being completely separate to the general opinion of what 'stopping the Calamity' would entail. It depends on many a point of view.]

In many cases, I find it's not through a lack of will to solve it, but more a lack of tools with which to do so.

[sullenstallion]

[If Dylas had come straight from home, he'd be more amicable, more friendly. He wouldn't still be holding himself in this cell, he'd have sought out help however difficult. Instead, he's come from a peninsula where his body had been warped against his wishes, where he'd had to survive on the death of others. That he's more cynical and bitter shouldn't be a surprise.

The world just doesn't run on optimism.]

You're not like the others. At least you admit it.

[His mind flashes back to more of the optimistic heroes. Zelda. That cat-girl of some kind. Sleepovers in the observatory. He shifts slightly on the cot, wondering if he should stand back up and face Sephiroth more openly. He decides against it, but the man still has his attention.]

You know most people would think that's an excuse, right? [But he gets it. They're strangers in a world, none of the tools will be easy to find.] What are you going to do about it?

[shinrasfinest]

[Similarly, if Sephiroth had been pulled from a time just a few months or even just over a year earlier there wouldn't be half so much of the extra baggage that he finds himself contending within himself. But then, it had been while he'd been here that he'd really discovered all of the truth about his origins so perhaps it was better now that he wasn't living in ignorance.

Sometimes he did wonder what would have happened if he was still unaware, just as often as he wondered if he might really be all that different if suddenly he found himself 'advanced' along that timeline. It's hardly 'save the world through friendship' that many Heroes tend to have at their core.]

Perhaps. The frustrating part comes where there is a lack of a clear direction to take in order to find the right tools. There are plenty of projects which work towards one potential 'fix-all' or another. Personally I don't think it's as simple as finding one answer.

[He's certain he saw Dylas move, but won't try to capitalize on it. For all he's stood here talking to the monster-man, it would be up to Dylas to decide to come out of the cell or not.]

I'm doing what part I can, which is helping to keep people safe. [Sephiroth shook his head twice after saying that, he knows his own failure over what had happened with Rialynn but what was important now was learning from that and moving on. He had made a gross misjudgment, in his desperation to reclaim something akin to heroism or perhaps even in reaction to seeing a friend of his be killed.]

I'm not a scientist, nor a time-mage- [Or whatever the correct term for people like Jack was, those who had experience in dimension hopping and/or time-shifting.]

-but I am a soldier, and time-ago I was regarded as a hero. What about you; just going to sit there and wait for the world to end?

[sullenstallion]

There might not even be an answer. I'm sure that's crossed your mind. Here's hoping there is, I guess, but you're right. There isn't going to be one answer. Nothing's that simple.

[He'd been considering standing up and at least facing Sephiroth, all seven and a half feet of him, but some of the words he's saying really get to him. Is he just going to sit here and wait for the world to end? Isn't that what's for the best? If the Calamity destroyed him, wouldn't it mess with the history of the worlds he's been to as well? He couldn't ever do that to Selphia, but Ryslig makes him want to. People, prisoners, turned into monsters.

A world like that shouldn't exist. And as he thinks about that for a few seconds in front of his visitor, Dylas' hand clenches into a fist so hard that he's forgotten about his claws. When he opens his hand, there are fresh scratches.]

Keeping people safe...that's a good idea. Not even going to ask what a Time Mage is, I think I can guess.

[His shoulders drop and he finally rests his head in his hands.]

It's complicated. I...

[He looks like he wants to say something, but then he shakes his head.]

...don't think the people here deserve to die, no.

[shinrasfinest]

If there isn't an answer, there will be alternatives.

[This is something that Sephiroth tells himself on almost-an-every-day basis. He can't accept to keep going on if there is no point in the end. He's never been one to rush headlong blindly whichever way the rails might lead them. There has to be an answer, even if it's not necessarily the answer many might hope for.

It's strange, as he finds his scope has narrowed considerably in regards to what he wants out at the end of all of this. His own future, and a life with Terra; nothing else really matters any more. He'd feel satisfied to have some restored faith in his own heroism, as well, but it doesn't seem like that's going to come easy.

Even though Sephiroth's gaze remains heavy on Dylas as he goes through the various reactions to what he'd just said, it's a lot lighter in terms of what prejudice he might have had when he first stopped by the bars.]

Even if the 'right' outcome might be to finally let this Planet die? There might not be really be any way to absolve that.

[He took a light breath and then steps closer to the door of the prison cell, pushing it inwards a moment later and stepping back with his arm against the door; an open gesture to invite Dylas to leave, if he's so inclined.]

We're a part of the problem no matter which way you look at it. The least I find I can do is to be less of a problem and more of a contribution.

[A slightly raised eyebrow; Dylas could too, if he put his effort that way.]

[sullenstallion]

Yeah. Probably. It's not something to give up on.

[But his advice is more for Sephiroth than himself. He doesn't plan on getting involved in all of these discussions, he doesn't even know where to start. The only thing he's contributed to anything is that he called Biggs and asshole and told him to stop mailing him. And that's not hard to do.]

Hm.

[That'd be pretty bad, letting an entire planet die. It's pretty cold to think about, especially since this one doesn't seem to 'deserve' it as much as the one he'd come from did. Dylas recognizes that they're on the same wavelength, though, and finds it oddly comforting to know he's not the only cynic around here.

But when the attention turns more to him, he quickly scoots further down on the cot, aggressively turning his gaze away from the door. He just keeps seeing it in the back of his head. A blade of his own making stabbing through a man with brown hair and glasses, Jade Curtiss. And three others followed.

It's like Ryslig all over again. He has no choice but to be a monster, he can't escape that fate.]

You don't want me to contribute. [He puts those words in Sephiroth's mouth for him, spits them out angrily.] Did they tell you what my Limit Break does? If someone pisses me off, it'll happen again. And again. Every damn time.

[shinrasfinest]

[Sensitive much? Even that slight, and Sephiroth thought, subtle gesture was quickly reacted to with more stubborn stone-walling on Dylas' part. The tall silver haired man drops his gaze more over what he can make out from the others' body language, unable to shake the notion that there might be yet more similarities between the two of them.

Dylas isn't the only one that has a trouble getting over the fact that his fate might not be one to escape from.

He wasn't expecting such a toxic reaction to his suggestion though, though all it does is tear Sephiroth's gaze from looking at Dylas in an effort to tone down any provocation he might have instilled...limit breaks though...]

That's not how limit breaks work.

[Not that he even knows what his own limit break is here, despite having learned of their existence, having never been beat on hard enough to have had it triggered. Part of him wonders if it might be similar...]

You know this is exactly what Narasimha wanted?

cw: cannibalism mention

[sullenstallion]

I know how they work. But that asshole somehow triggered mine without even having to fight me. He forced it out of me.

[He feels violated, truly. There's no other way to feel about being possessed or controlled. His body did things he didn't want it to do, and he has to live with all the consequences of it. It's disgusting, that's what it is, but it did illuminate that his limit break was a nightmare. All he knows now is that it would have happened sooner or later.]

I don't care what he wanted. There's a damn good reason for why Koporo keeps my file locked. Dammit, I think about leaving, but I can't let it happen again. I'm sick of letting it happen, it's been happening for too long.

[He wants to punch a wall, but eventually he looks back over at Sephiroth. The gaze doesn't last long before his eyes fall back to his hooves. He sounds pathetic. He knows he sounds pathetic. His life has been difficult, but he's trying to get over it. No one knows that, though, and how could he ever open up to anyone about the things he's done? How would Sephiroth react to Dylas explaining to him exactly which parts of a human arm are the best for eating?]

This place would be better off without me.

[But he hasn't hurt himself, he hasn't removed himself from the situation, so he clearly doesn't want to die again, either.]

[shinrasfinest]

[It's not a contest, but Sephiroth feels that he's been made to do much worse things through the control of a black crystal. That first Night of the Thirteen Moogles will never really fade away. The two-staged transformation he went through, the monster he became, those thoughts that couldn't have been his own yet felt somehow familiar.

Details that were also in Sephiroth's own file. That he had been similarly so defensive over for so long...but now?]

We all have reasons why we'd rather not the whole world know about us. Who we really are. What we really did.

[He steps away, leaving the door open but comes around to the other side of the bars again. As far as he's concerned he's given Dylas the all clear to leave, but he's not the type to stick around trying to nurse someone so convinced he's a monster. Sephiroth doesn't have the right to do that, when he often worries the exact same about himself.]

This place would be better off without any of us. Doesn't change the fact that we're here, anyway.