Zelos Wilder (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
luxuriant) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
risingtsun2013-07-03 09:21 pm
luxuriant) wrote in risingtsun2013-07-03 09:21 pm
Exitvoid museboxing -- Week 25 Day 6ish
[Zelos had kept up with this strange distance from Jack for the week after the argument on the first day, with the sacrifices. He'd had his own things to take care of, after all. Emotions, thoughts, horrible life decisions, the works.
And he'd come to a decision. And despite all of his negative thinking, all of his wanting to give up and run and hide... There's this nagging thought that Jack may be someone he can reach out to. That maybe they had this argument because they were friends, and that it wasn't some statement that said they weren't and that he was the cause for his misery in life.
Strange, that thought.
He had situated himself atop a crane on deck late this evening with stealthy silence, and waited for the right moment in Jack's routine (or semi-routinely, it seems to happen often enough to call it that) rail leaning in thought. He was still hesitating. Hidden enough to run even now, but eventually, he gets the nerve, and steps right off the crane to take a skillful jump down on deck.
Of course, the rush of wind that follows him is loud enough, but his feet actually catch his landing smoothly, and there's just a really noticeable tap that comes as he lands behind Jack. His hands are already rested at his waist, and he leans forward a bit in combination with his surprise greeting.]
Yo. [If that staff moves up to whack at him defensively like he has a feeling it might, he's all the ready with reflexes to raise a hand and block it.]
And he'd come to a decision. And despite all of his negative thinking, all of his wanting to give up and run and hide... There's this nagging thought that Jack may be someone he can reach out to. That maybe they had this argument because they were friends, and that it wasn't some statement that said they weren't and that he was the cause for his misery in life.
Strange, that thought.
He had situated himself atop a crane on deck late this evening with stealthy silence, and waited for the right moment in Jack's routine (or semi-routinely, it seems to happen often enough to call it that) rail leaning in thought. He was still hesitating. Hidden enough to run even now, but eventually, he gets the nerve, and steps right off the crane to take a skillful jump down on deck.
Of course, the rush of wind that follows him is loud enough, but his feet actually catch his landing smoothly, and there's just a really noticeable tap that comes as he lands behind Jack. His hands are already rested at his waist, and he leans forward a bit in combination with his surprise greeting.]
Yo. [If that staff moves up to whack at him defensively like he has a feeling it might, he's all the ready with reflexes to raise a hand and block it.]
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[Sometimes you lose track of time altogether, when you get to be as old as he is. And sometimes you're acutely aware of every hour as it goes by, the eternal rinse-and-repeat countdown to the next season. They don't blend together all that often at all for Jack, that said...and he finds he doesn't enjoy it at all when they do, now.]
[Too much time to think, not enough time to know quite exactly what to do--]
[It's drizzling this evening, a light and misty thing, when Jack wanders his way up to the deck--a sort of half-hearted precipitation he'd have been utterly irritated by, on a normal basis, but after nigh two solid weeks of relentless summer sunshine? The increased cloud-cover and very gradual drop in temperature, lately, had been one small blessing to take from this entire business. The water builds, ices into progressively wider pale swirls on his shoulders and upraised hood, but for once Jack doesn't mind it so much. Enjoys the coolness, as he can, even as he drifts down a rail he finds himself far too familiar with and lets thoughts wander around in the same circles they'd been wearing in his mind for the past half-dozen days.]
[He doesn't notice the presence on the crane, of course--probably wouldn't have even if the time of day were earlier, the surroundings brighter, not unless he were aiming for a perch on the top of the crane himself. But if there's one thing Jack does pick up, it's the peculiarly loud tap right behind him. Far too loud to pass off as any sort of raindrop. And then Zelos is reeling off his terribly elaborate greeting.]
[Compared to the thick quiet that had been settled on the deck right before that? Definitely startling, and not exactly in the pleasant way.]
[So Jack jumps in place, naturally. Whips around, staff shifting from a one-handed grip to a two-handed one with fairly impressive speed...and it's a good thing Zelos is already so familiar with his habits, really, because he is reflexively whipping the crook to brain the guy before recognition actually properly kicks in, foiled only by Zelos's own blocking hand.]
--Oh.
[Jack blinks, draws back a step, staff lowering and expression promptly seguing from alarm to surprise to--something between dismay and uncertainty, in equal measures. Because here's someone he hasn't heard from in awhile, all things considered...]
You really know how to almost give a guy a heart attack, you know that? [Mildly miffed, mostly to cover for all the other feelings--gotta start somewhere, after all, because it's either that or outright turning and leaving...never mind that heart attacks hold residence at the very bottom of Jack's list of concerns, have been for the last three hundred years.]
[It's the principle of the thing.]
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So he lowers his hand when Jack draws back, and there's only a small, weak smile in return. Not his usual smirk, even if his tone stays.]
Sorry, sorry... [A pause, and he pockets his hands.]
I'm probably not who you wanna see right now, but... Do you think we could talk for a bit?
[And that's hard right there. Getting out a serious question like that with no teasing or avoiding.]
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[All things considered, after the last time they'd talked--when was the last time they'd talked? (Silly question, he already knows the answer to that quite well enough. Couldn't have forgotten if he wanted to.) But either way, Jack isn't entirely sure just what he'd have expected from Zelos, if they ran into each other again. Which had been an inevitable idea, on a ship as tiny as this one, though Jack had been furtively skirting around the notion for a little while anyway.]
[He's terrible at conflict. Terrible at knowing how to avoid it, terrible at engaging it, terrible at resolving it after the fact. Too many times trying and failing, and reaching out to a latter party once the dust's settled is an almost impossible idea, something that you ought to do but something that he can't...or so he'd been wrestling with that particular train of thought, especially over the last few days.]
[And now here the guy is, doing the approaching for him. Standing there with that oddly weak smile, now...and the hesitation is more than visible, on Jack's part. The body language, the serious question--and his eyebrows come together slightly, after a second or so. Grip on his staff switches from one hand to the other, and then he reaches up to pull down his hood, newly-formed shower ice breaking away in flakes with a crackle. Never mind that he'd be getting water on his hair now--he needs to appraise Zelos well and properly, for a moment, and a slight frown falls into place.]
[Walking away is still far more appealing than it ought to be, really, but...]
True, can't say I'm jumping for joy over here. [The words sort and come out that way, at length--probably a bit cruel and inadvisable if mending ties is going to be a thing here, but he can't really help himself. (It'd stung a lot, that last talk...)] Not walking off yet, though, am I?
[And his drawn look shifts into more of a peer now, still uncertain but curious (and maybe just the slightest bit concerned) around the edges now, almost despite himself. Zelos is already acting...kind of off...]
What's up?
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[ the comment does sting, but it's one Zelos is used to. Expecting. Deserving, he thinks. And the vague mumble that comes out in response is a peek at his true thoughts on the matter, up for Jack to catch or miss. Why hadn't he walked away by now? After putting up with him this long...
He moves to the railing next to Jack now so he can lean back against it rather than facing his friend here. How to address this... Apologize... Anything. He's not sure, but he's going to make himself, no matter how roundabout it comes out. ]
Back home, the Chosen One is someone born under the mana lineage. They're Chosen from birth, and that's how everyone knows them.
[ and roundabout it will be, though shockingly personal... ]
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[And Jack can only stand there; the transition from startled to confused and even more uncertainty is a quick thing, everything considered, and Jack realizes he has no idea how to respond to this. --It seems like such an innocuous statement, and yet...with the way Zelos is acting alongside that...]
[The pause after he speaks stretches for a little while, as Jack stares at him for a long moment. Vindictiveness that much more evaporated, now, in favor of several new developments all at once.]
...And that's who you are. Right? [It comes out more question than he'd intended, but...well, Jack can't figure what tact Zelos is trying to shift onto here for the life of him, and it shows on his expression well enough.]
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Yep. [ simply put. He looks down at the deck now. ] I'm supposedly a descendent of angels, put on the planet to save the world if it ever needs saving. I'm expected be prepared to become an angel at any moment to restore and regenerate the world, rid it of all its problems.
[ he waves a hand and it's clear in his tone he's bothered by something. ] The center of a huge scam of a religion.
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[So now they're getting a bit closer to the topic of things. ...Sort of.]
[Sort of, because that's still rather vague--but rings startlingly familiar, at the same time; enough so to have Jack blinking at Zelos in a startled sort of way, as if seeing the guy in a different sort of light for the first time.]
[Put on the world in order to save people, becoming an angel in order to free them of problem--Jack knows the story as well as anybody, if not better than most, after three hundred years of Christmases gone past and religions in tenfold cycled over back on his own world. The news that Zelos is apparently meant to take up a suspiciously similar mantle to Jesus where he's from, on the other hand, is more than a little odd to look at. And that's putting it lightly.]
[Still, something about all this is evidently bothering Zelos--even with that last line said, the bruise seems too deep to stem just from that. (Objectively looking at it, anyway...) Slight frown still well in force, Jack shifts in place for a moment, and then turns to sag against the railing next to Zelos with a short huff of breath, hands folding into pockets, head bowing slightly under the continuing mist of the drizzle around them.]
So that's a thing in other worlds too, huh? Guess no matter where you go... [It's an absent hum of words, at length. And Jack's still not entirely sure where Zelos might be steering with this whole topic--one seemingly so offset from the argument they'd had before, honestly (and isn't that why he'd come out here?)--but Jack'll take it for what it's worth. Not as if he'd know any better about how these things are supposed to go, after all...]
[And as he takes the few seconds of silence after that to mull over what's being said now, something does click into place--a minor thing that already feels oddly distant from where they're standing now. That'd been another conversation a little while ago, fraught with laughter and joking towards the end.(...It's funny, how things change like that.) And during that--]
[Jack stiffens slightly against the rail; it would have been an imperceptible thing to most, but it accompanies a slight shift as Jack turns his head to look at Zelos again, and there's just the slightest trace of something mortified there.]
...Guess you didn't choose it after all, then, huh? Being in all that.
ZELOS IS SO TL;DR...
Slowly he looks forward again, and then leans back against the railing even more until he's leaning his head back and staring at the sky.
Just about at the time he feels Jack's eyes on him again. Heh.]
...I never wanted to be the Chosen. [He admits it in a defeated, tired sort of tone, but his face isn't too gloomy, despite it all. It's just neutral. Maybe even a tiny sign of the usual smirk hidden there, like default. It's mostly because he almost wants to laugh at his life.]
My father was the last Chosen. The Church arranges your marriages for you when you're holding that position, and so he was forced to marry my mother. It was pretty clear they didn't love each other. He had a woman on the side, and for all I know, she had a guy, too. [A pause. His stories always get so drawn out when he dodges the point like this.
But there is a lot to back up what he's trying to get at.]
My father and his mistress had a kid together. I only found out when she was about four and somehow snuck into the garden of the mansion. [...Another pause. Agh...] She's probably more fit for being the Chosen. Her mother certainly thought she should be.