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chokmahemperor

Thi~s is Peony~ Leave your name and a message, and I'll get back to you A.S.A.P.. Maybe sooner for pretty girls~

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From:

chokmahemperor

Hasn't risen for you yet, has it?

[It's an even question, tone light enough to make it easy and curious. Calculating. Peony isn't Jade, not by any means, but there are things he needs to make sure are in order.]

No, it took way more than just a skirmish.

[It took the wish of a boy who only wanted to live, and the combined strength of the people who love him, he wants to say, but that might... be too much just yet. Let Guy slowly gather the pieces, ease into the facts as he can. If it comes to it, though, Peony won't keep that piece from him.]

From:

relinquishing

[He slowly shakes his head at the Emperor's question, staying quiet otherwise. It was a location. He didn't need to know the details other than that. There were more important things.

...]

This battle... Were either Luke or Asch involved?

Edited (BETTER WORDS) Date: 2013-01-13 05:08 am (UTC)

From:

chokmahemperor

[Eldrant is only a place, he's right. But there was meaning in it, once. Now it just serves as a reminder, as far as Peony's concerned.

The emperor shifts in his seat, crossing ankle over knee.]

Yeah.

From:

relinquishing

...Did either of them return?

[There's a colder, hesitant edge to his tone. Hearing it from Dist was one thing. Does he really want to hear the truth now...?]

From:

chokmahemperor

[Peony hums, drawn out and lilting, the sound a little tighter with how his tongue presses against his hard palette. How to answer this? He will answer, that's not the issue at all, but it's a question of "how". As far as he knows? The situation is more complex than he's sure he understands, but the long and short of it...

He isn't deterred by the edge to Guy's voice, having expected it.]

Right for the heart of things~

[But that doesn't mean he has to necessarily answer right away. It's... delicate.]

From:

relinquishing

[His expression tightens, not offering much of an apology. Despite the fact that it's not even an answer, Peony's statement itself could be all the confirmation he needs, and he's not particularly pleased about it.]

Is it something you're not at liberty to say?

From:

chokmahemperor

Not at all.

[Expression setting on something serious, Peony straightens his shoulders even with the quiet sigh that slips free. When he speaks, the flippancy is gone and all that's left is something almost reflective. Even if Luke had made the decision on his own, Peony hadn't been able to tell him no. Couldn't. One boy or so many lives... He can't imagine how those at the head of Kimlasca must have felt at the time, what was running through their heads at the news.]

The short answer is no.

[Tanned hands fold against the counter.]

Neither of them have returned.

Edited Date: 2013-01-18 12:31 am (UTC)

From:

relinquishing

[Guy's jaw sets with a sharp exhale.

So that was how it would end, then. The ones whom he served and the one who had served him, caught up in a conflict that he might not ever understand until he was able to see the fight for himself. Who knows how long in the future that might be. But the news from Peony himself gets the knot that had formed in his stomach to twist to the point of snapping.

Seven years.

Only seven years alive, and Luke would still have to--

No. No, Peony hadn't said they had died. Just that they hadn't returned.

So maybe...]

How long ago was that battle?

From:

chokmahemperor

[The truth of that uncertainty is that Peony really doesn't know. The most likely scenario is that they've died; not hearing from someone in two years in circumstances like that... But then what does he know? Not enough. Maybe because of that whole replica thing, something happened that wouldn't normally. Or really, anything could have happened. He just doesn't have the actual answer.

How long ago, though... There's a small ache at that question, because Luke managed to touch everyone he's ever met, Peony's sure; with that kind of spirit, there's no way he couldn't have. He's not sure how Guy'll handle the answer, but...]

Two years.

From:

relinquishing

Two...

[Years.

Years.

He'd like to think that he had been braced for the worst possible answer. But he'd held onto that flicker of hope - that little edge that had screamed that Dist was lying, Dist was wrong, and that Peony's avoidance of the word "death" was because he didn't know, rather than a fact of courtesy.

But two years ago?

Fifteen hundred and thirty days, and as far as Peony knew, the Fabre boys never returned. Had anyone searched for them? Had there been rescue parties, other fighters, someone there to see them or help them? Anyone to talk them out of that dangerous situation and make sure they came out of it alive? Damn it all, had anyone even tried to find the bodies? Was it even a situation where there were bodies left to be found?

He doesn't want to admit how frightened he is to ask any of that. Peony was the Emperor, after all, and from what Guy had observed he had developed some sort of fondness to Luke, or at the very least to his cause. To ask about things like search parties after so long was obvious. If Peony hadn't, then certainly Kimlasca would have. These were the tertiary heirs, after all. To not attempt to locate them after such a climactic battle would be unheard of.

He knows that. He knows that.

But he doesn't want to. There's still a burning discomfort whispering stubborn denials, scraping away at the logical evidence and rationality for a rising, panicking plea of no, no, no no NO it couldn't happen this way, not when Luke had just begun to live. He doesn't want it. He can't resign himself to that fact - to that, or to the hole of yet another loss starts to crawl its way open, or how much the thought of him possibly being present at that death in the future is already grabbing at a deep place in his gut and clawing.

Wounds he never wanted to feel opened again were being prodded with a hot iron rod. He didn't want this. No one should want this, why hadn't anyone--]

Edited Date: 2013-02-02 06:15 pm (UTC)

From:

relinquishing

[The anger and confusion, although tucked back out of his voice and much of his face, bristle up through Guy's body language. He may be staying quiet for an eerily long time, taking an apathetic interest in the cubes of ice in his drink. His grip on the cup in front of him looks so tight that the glass could easily break.

Relax.

Relax.

...

His voice is low and quiet, riding on a forced sense of calm.]

Does Jade know anything about this?