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[arkitect]

« thirdseat » TEXT ✦ AUDIO ✦ VIDEO ✦ ACTION Emet-Selch ✦ FFXIV
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[voidgates]

...Barely. It was a close thing.

[Too close. Terrifyingly close. She'll have scars on her knuckles for the rest of her life from where they'd torn open as she'd hit him, barely conscious of her own actions any longer, pushed to such desperation that she'd only wanted him dead by any means necessary, no matter how unwise or incomprehensible.]

I wish I'd known that trick of yours, the one you do with the aether chains. I could've used it, fighting him.

[arkitect]

...mm. Well, while I cannot teach you creation, mayhap such a spell would be more appropriate for your given abilities.

[He says it idly, with a wave of his hand-- dismissive from the beginning, as if saying it means absolutely nothing.]

[voidgates]

[When she'd mentioned Grani before, it had been to bait him for a reaction; now, hearing his reply, Summer can't help but wonder for a flash of an instant whether he might not be doing the very same to her in return. It's not just the promise of the spell, though, for all that eagerness floods her veins at the prospect of being taught. It's the way he sounds when he says it, a cadence to his tone that she now knows hasn't changed in thousands upon thousands of years — so much so that she she half expects him to warn her that she'd better not misbehave with the knowledge he's so graciously offering her, and winds up a little surprised when the reality doesn't bear out what her subconscious had already halfway filled in.

It's as though something that had previously been clouded-over and obscured has gradually become visible, over time. She understands better now what to look for, how to brush past the pro forma condescension and sift out the significance underneath.

This is — not kindness, not exactly. Not sympathy. But at the very least, approval of a sort. A prize for coming back alive, for being her ridiculous self, for living when everything she'd gone up against had done its damnedest to see that flame snuffed out.

He'll gripe and he'll complain about the tedium and burden of teaching her, and it will be a reward for good behavior. As much of one as coming when she'd called out for him — surely Emet-Selch of all people could have resisted the summons with ease if he'd chosen to.

Emet-Selch's designs are one tongue even the Echo itself couldn't hope to translate. It's nice to have at least the most basic of footing in it by now.]

Really? It's so simple even a child could do it?

[It's nice to have a better idea of how to speak it in return, too.]

Doubly embarrassing for me should I muddle it up, then. I'll have to try hard not to disappoint.

[arkitect]

So you shall. I would expect no less-- else I wouldn't bother to explain it to you in the first place.

[He's not in the habit of wasting his own time on such things, and even being dead hasn't changed that; there's more of a note of approval in his tone, though, at her response. Something like this is far preferable to eager thanks, more palatable, easier to take in.

He supposes it's a part of why, despite the ways in which she (like all of them) can be utterly exhausting, he doesn't mind her presence as much as he protests he does.]

Mayhap with time, you will develop the capability of a slightly older child.

[voidgates]

A feat for which my esteemed tutor will claim all the credit, I'm certain.

[But it will be something she can keep, even so — and one unique to this specific man, this particular shard of Emet-Selch that but for being brought to this strange and distant star, she would never have known of otherwise. Some things always stay the same, from circumstance to circumstance. The things asked of the Warrior of Light don't vary much regardless of who stands in the role, or so it seems.

But it's not the Warrior of Light who would learn this. It's just her. A skill for her and only her, because he and only he gave it to her.]

Regardless. I'm sorry that the star that endures isn't the one you loved. I hope it's some small consolation to know you'll at least have the chance to avenge the one you lost.