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[He only hums in agreement.]

It's dull. Lifeless. Colorless.

There is an unbalance. One does not have to be able to feel or see the aether to realize that. Though it is different from the Thirteenth.

Mm. It weighs like a stone. It is hard to imagine living in it and feeling as if that is how things should be, not noticing every moment how wrong it is. But such are the creatures that inhabit those shards.

I suppose I would liken it to walking in a half-real world inhabited by ghosts. I cannot see the wrongness as you do, but it crawls across my skin even so.

She is like a parasite. Each shard made a husk to sate her. I can only imagine what it looks like to your eyes, such lifeless worlds.

[Wrapping a strand of Lahabrea's aether more tightly around his fingers not taking his eyes off it as he speaks.]

Zodiark was given life with a will to save, to protect, to turn back the tides of ill fortune that befell our star. Hydaelyn's was to envenerate, to weaken. With such a wish, such a will there is naught She can do but bring ruin to all around Her.

Edited 2020-05-28 00:38 (UTC)

[He glances at Emet-Selch. Adjusts the way his head is in his hand to keep looking at him, just at him now.]

What is it on your mind, my friend?

Idle thoughts. One that haven't been given true from. At least, not yet.

As for the rest, I'm just admiring the color.

Do tell me when they form. Or talk them out if you wish.

[He snorts a little, but not derisively.]

It must be nice to see in color again. Like opening your eyes to the world after many years of dimmed sight?

Yes, dimmed it was. Though I could always see your color and Elidibus, bright as it ever was. Now...

[Letting their aether mix together ever so slightly.]

...'tis nothing but a dull, lifeless thing.

Hm.

[He lifts his hand, putting it over Emet's, letting his aether mingle without obstruction.]

I cannot imagine losing your Sight. But I do understand, missing the sense of the world around me is... Unsettling to say the least. More than unpleasant. I assumed that was why you were so fond of this dream. Among other things.

[Letting the aether capture his entire interest as he speaks.]

Perhaps that is why you quickly judge them to be only parts of a whole. For is that not what it feels like to walk among them?

[He shapes it absently. Not concentrating enough to Create anything but enjoying the ebb and flow of the lifeforce. What it looks like to Emet-Selch he cannot guess, unless he materializes it, but he has no particular urge to do so.]

Perhaps. It is hard for me to accept them as whole. I cannot See in these dreams as you do. And bereft of my other senses in the waking world it is not so different from the mortal abominations of our star. But perhaps that is just my lens of bias. Or perhaps it is the limitations of mortal flesh.

As ever I rely on you to see what I cannot.

[At the last comment, he raises his free hand and snaps his fingers.

Congratulations, Lahabrea. Now you can see as he does.]

[He had not actually thought to use the dreams this way so he goes still, blinking and looking at Emet-Selch quite intensely.

It is a long fucking time before he even draws his gaze away from Emet's soul to look at the dream around them.]

[He simply smiles and says nothing.

Once he looks around he will notice above them is the lifestream though from this distance it is hard to make out the color of souls. If he focuses, he probably can.]

[He does look at the lifestream, look at the souls, look at the world around them just taking it in with wide eyes and silent awe.

He really doesn't know how long he sits in quiet appreciation, before he puts a hand over his eyes as he realizes they've begun to ache from being kept open.]

Beautiful. I begin to understand.

[Resting his head against his shoulder.]

Apologies for not showing you earlier. Sometimes I truly forget how unlimited the powers of the dreaming are. Somehow even more vast than those we were born with.

[He looks at Emet-Selch again, though not moving enough to dislodge him. It really is fascinating seeing the color of his soul.]

I hadn't even imagined to use it this way. This really is.... Quite the power, even if it is all a dream.

[Emet-Selch's soul is two-toned with one color more prominent than the other. Lahabrea will notice his is as well. Wonder why that is.]

Now you can understand why I bemoan it so.

[He is examining that. Hm!]

I can. I will hate to not see this, when we wake.

Tell me about our souls.

You want a lecture? At this time of night?

[Being obtuse on purpose.]

[He makes a vague gesture at the man leaning against him.]

Is this what tempering looks like, then?

You know as well as I do the summoning flows back upon those that called it forcing them to align.

Though now I wonder what you were expecting.

I had no expectations. I never really wondered how it looked, in your eyes. Or, perhaps, I did once. But that was long ago.

[He lifts his hand, curiously inspecting it.]

Everything you see... It truly must seem like blindness, not having this.

Colorless. As if everything was dipped in gray.

Ah, but I will survive it, troublesome as it is. But you are correct, this is another reason why I retreat here as often as I do. Calm and comfort. A way to ease the mind. Even if the memories are sometimes to painful to recount.

[Taking one of Lahabrea's hands and just barely mixing their aether again.]

You can feel it, can't you?

Hmm.

[It's a soft acknowledging noise. Watching that with renewed interest, now that he can see it and not just feel. It's fascinating, and honestly beautiful.]

And to think my Sight isn't even the strongest.

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