vatheon | 8th Combo

Entry tags:

dhaos,
lloyd irving

8th Combo

Who: Lloyd and Dhaos
Where: Lloyd's apartment?
When: Present
Style: [action]
Status: Closed

[So many things have happened recently, and there's so much on his mind, that it's hard for Lloyd to process it all. It's weird, not having his Dad around to poke into things that are bothering Lloyd, but he doesn't know who else he can talk to. Colette, Zelos, Raine... They're too tied up in this, too. Dirk was almost never directly involved in the things that Lloyd got up to, so he was a perfect listening ear. He could give objective advice.

In this place, though...

He has other friends here, friends who definitely aren't involved, but he'd also have to explain things because they weren't from his world, and even then they still might not get it. But other than his friends from his world, there's only Mithos and Kratos and...

Lloyd's train of thought trails off. Dhaos. Dhaos is from his world, but so far in the future that there almost isn't a way that he could be more removed from the events that Lloyd considers the present. And... it had been nice, having him around when Zelos had been dead. He'd been a quiet, steady presence, and he'd helped.

Maybe... Maybe he wouldn't mind helping Lloyd again. Taking out his starfish, Lloyd scrolls down to Dhaos's name. His voice is a little hesitant when he speaks.]

Hey, Dhaos? Can I talk to you? At my place?

[He turns the starfish off, feeling anxious. Now all he can do is wait for Dhaos to call him back.]

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[Not really having been doing anything important, Dhaos answers almost immediately. If he noticed the slight hesitance in Lloyd's voice, he says nothing.]

...Just give me the address and I'll be over in a minute.

[Lloyd's glad for the prompt response. It gives him less time to dwell.]

I live in the Yutopil apartments, on the first floor, in room six.

I will be over momentarily.

[Lloyd's going to have about thirty seconds between the call being cut off and Dhaos appearing in the apartment's main room. Dhaos is privately pleased that teleportation inside of Vatheon appears to work just fine.]

[ALkajsdlfkjs warn a guy, would you! Lloyd nearly jumps out of his skin.]

Wh- Dhaos?! How did you-? You didn't tell me you were going to teleport right into my apartment!

...My apologies. [At least he has the decency to look a bit embarrassed about scaring the socks off Lloyd.]

I-It's fine, just...

[Give him a moment to get his heart back in his chest.]

Maybe, uh, maybe next time you could just teleport to my door and knock?

...I suppose I can do that, yes.

[He turns a bit more red for having not thought of that.]

Okay. Okay, uh, good. So, now you're here.

[Still bringing his heart rate down, but taking a few breaths helps. What had he-?

Oh. Oh, yeah. Remembering why he had asked Dhaos over in the first place seems to drain him a little bit more. He fidgets, not even sure where to start now.]

Thanks for coming. Uh... Do you want to sit down?

[He has a couch and a table with chairs - though the table is a little cluttered at the moment with what looks like a woodworking project.]

[Dhaos answers the question by parking himself on the couch. He manages to suppress his blush by the time he's fully settled in.]

...There was something you wish to speak with me about?

[If he keeps standing he knows he won't be able to keep himself still. Not that sitting may be any better, but at least he won't start pacing. He sits down on the other end of the couch, dropping his hands into his lap.]

Yeah, I did. I...

[He hardly knows where to gather his thoughts. He glances at Dhaos, still awkward and uncertain.]

Have you ever found out things that people had kept from you?

[Oh. That one struck a chord with Dhaos. He give Lloyd a sad little half-smile.]

Far too often. Most recently I found out that Uncle... That Kratos never informed me that you are his son.

[Though he never voices it, it still stings that the man who practically raised him would keep something like that from him.]

[Way to hit the nail right on the head, Dhaos. Lloyd's shoulders tense and he drops his head.]

Yeah... If it makes any difference, I didn't know, either. And now that I do know, I don't... know. You know?

[He's not sure he's making any sense, even to himself.]

It's not like I have a choice who my father is, but I don't know how to think of him now.

[Dhaos just sits quietly and listens. He has no advice for Lloyd; not really. For all that Kratos was fundamentally the same as in his time, four thousand years changes a person in so many little ways. It's enough of a change that his feelings on the matter aren't completely dissimilar to Lloyd's. But...he's here to listen to his not-cousin, not attempt to work out his own issues, and that's just what he'll do.]

[Maybe all he needs right now is someone to just sit and listen to him. He's not used to keeping so many feelings bottled up inside. Now that he's started speaking, it's like something has opened, and it all comes pouring out. He clenches his fists, anger and hurt coming first.]

Should it even make a difference? Even if he's my father, that doesn't change the fact that he betrayed us! Maybe that makes it even worse! I don't know how much you know about what happened, and I know you like him, but he did some really rotten things in my time. He tricked us into thinking he was our friend - or, well, maybe not a friend, but definitely on our side. Then he kidnapped my friend Colette so she could sacrifice her heart and her soul and become a vessel for... for Mithos Yggdrasill's sister. And when we tried to stop him, he would have killed us if Yggdrasill hadn't shown up.

[He'd never liked losing to Kratos, even when they were just training, but that had been even more humiliating because he'd had the help of his friends and had been going all out.]

And he just stood there and did nothing when Yggdrasill tried to kill us. What kind of father does that?!

Edited 2012-06-26 12:16 (UTC)

...He told me little of this. But... he regrets. He regrets now, and even in my own time, I... [He bites the inside of his lip, debating on whether to continue. Unsure, for this might help Lloyd, but... Saying it out loud would make it far too real. One look at the boy's face though, and his decision is made.]

...I believe it may be part of the reason he agreed to be my mentor, though he did join your cause in the end.

[Lloyd quiets at that, letting it sink in. Dhaos had mentioned that Kratos was his mentor before, but he hadn't really thought about what that meant. It meant that Kratos had taken someone under his wing, taught him whatever things he thought Dhaos needed to know. Maybe sword fighting or magic? Maybe how to fly? Maybe just little things, day to day life.

Something in Lloyd twinges at the thought of Kratos treating someone else like that, but he roughly shoves it away, making himself focus on what Dhaos was saying.

He did join your cause in the end.

He swallows, again trying to ignore how that thought makes him feel. He's not so successful this time, though. A small, painful note of something he doesn't dare to hope enters his voice.]

So, you think he really can change?

...I don't know.

[Dhaos looks up at the ceiling. Though it somewhat hurts, he can't keep the fond smile off his face.]

...I have to believe he can though. If I can't believe in the man who practically raised me since I was very small, who can I believe in?

[That dull ache in his chest twinges again, frustrating him because he shouldn't be feeling it at all. He had a Dad growing up. A good Dad. He doesn't have any reason to be jealous.

Mixed with that uncomfortable feeling, though, is that hope that he doesn't know how to deal with. It stirs at Dhaos's words, trying to fuel the part of him that always wants to believe the best. It's just that he's already been burned once with this. Does he want to risk that again?

Fall down seven times, stand up eight... Dirk's voice drifts back to him from some memory from when he was a kid. Never let fear of failure keep you from trying, son.

Lloyd lets out a breath, a small smile making it's way onto his face. If I can't believe in the man who practically raised me since I was very small, who can I believe in? Dhaos was talking about Kratos, but the words fit for Lloyd and Dirk, too.]

Yeah. You're right. I guess... maybe I should give him a chance. But...

[He bites his lip.]

What about Mithos?

...Mithos?

[Dhaos furrows his eyebrows. He throws his mind back to the two conversations he's had with the founder of Cruxis, and what Kratos had told him. Altogether, not a lot of information, now that he thinks about it. And there seemed something...more behind each of those conversations.]

I am...uncertain.

[So much had been left unsaid to him already; so much hidden. Perhaps... Perhaps this was finally his chance to get answers. No deception, no avoiding the subject. Just the facts, pure and simple.]

[Lloyd rests his chin on his knees, a troubled expression on his face as he remembers the last conversation he had with Mithos.]

The last time I talked to him, he said...

[He hesitates.]

You said you knew stories about Mithos Yggdrasill. Did you know about his plans for his Age of Lifeless Beings?

[Well this is completely new information. He's not quite sure why he's still surprised even after the bombshell of "Lloyd Irving is Uncle Kratos' son."]

Nothing of the sort was ever mentioned to me.

[He doesn't know what to make of that, what it means that Dhaos doesn't know. So, he doesn't try. Doesn't try to figure that out. He just talks, letting the story spill out.]

Mithos wants everyone to be the same, to stop discrimination. He wants to give everyone Exspheres to turn them into angels so that no one has any emotions, so no one can hate.

[His hands tighten, clenching into fists.]

He doesn't care how many people he has to kill to make the Exspheres he needs. He doesn't care how much suffering he causes, and he can't see that he's making people hate. He won't listen...

...What...?

[Dhaos...isn't sure what to make of this. How to feel. He can't manage anything more than that quiet question through the horror that anyone would even attempt to rob anyone so utterly of free will, and it bleeds through into his expression.]

[Lloyd searches Dhaos's face.]

You really didn't know? But aren't you from Derris-Kharlan? Aren't you... Aren't you one of Mithos's angels?

[He's never really asked Dhaos about the details of his people. It's one thing to know four thousand years have passed (will pass?), but another to really consider how a whole people might change in that time from whatever they started out as.]

[Lloyd's questions distress Dhaos even more than the revelation about Mithos' true intent already had, and it shows. Kratos - the man he had just said he needed to believe in - had only told him that Mithos had lost his grip on reality and gone down a dark path; nothing of the reality of the situation, of what his true goals were. Everyone, for generations upon generations was told nothing... And my people are all paying the price...

He doesn't say a word, but the expression brought on by that last thought says worlds about just how utterly betrayed Dhaos feels at the moment; how close he is to losing that fragile grip he has on the remainder of his sanity...]

Dhaos...?

[The distress is obvious, though Lloyd's not entirely sure what caused it. Was it just hearing what Mithos's plans were, losing faith in a hero? Or was it that Lloyd had basically assumed that all the angels were the same as the ones he knew? The thought makes him wince with guilt. He shifts on the couch so he's a little bit closer to Dhaos, reaching up to put a hand on his shoulder.]

Sorry. I guess I should have thought about it more before I opened my mouth.

[Absorbed in his thoughts as he is, the hand on his shoulder startles him into flinching a little. Physical contact is still something Dhaos is getting used to; since his arrival in Vatheon it had almost entirely been constrained to Zelda. That's right... Lloyd is here... He can't break down here, not when it would hurt Lloyd. The assumption that his people were still followers of Mithos even after such a long time was excusable. It was difficult to grasp just how quickly things can change when one hasn't observed how much can change in less than a decade. ...And yet, in some ways it seemed it was true that even four thousand years couldn't change some things in people.

Dhaos smiles weakly.]

...No, I never would have known if you had not told me. Thank you.

[He sees that smile and he can tell. He can tell it's not really real. Maybe it's not such a good idea to ask Dhaos what to do about Mithos after all.

His hand stays where it is on Dhaos's shoulder as he tries to make awkward amends.]

I don't blame you, you know. Whatever he did, it's not your fault. I just... thought you knew.

I suppose many things are left to be buried with the ages.

[He can't keep the slightly bitter edge from his voice. Not wanting to further upset Lloyd, he switches topics.]

...But this is not about me. I hope I have been of some assistance to you.

You have.

[Maybe he still doesn't know what he's going to do about Mithos, but at least he has an idea now for Kratos. If he can just... figure out exactly how to go about it.]

Thanks, Dhaos. I think I really did just need someone to talk to.

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