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Did he really have to physically count? Ludger knew what one and two looked like, but whatever gesticulations he was insistent on he supposed. He grinned. Of course his idea was a good one. And now Julius was trying to make him radically change his own wardrobe. That didn’t make any sense… If he could just egg this conversation on, maybe the shops in the area would close and he could avoid this awkward excursion for another day…

Coffee spills on the other, more mundane, hand, well. Fair. They just don’t make interns like they used to.

“Remedial lessons, ouch. Guess I can’t really say anything, considering, but still...

“Well,” said Julius, clapping his hands together with a renewed energy. “We’ll get to that when we get to it. For now, why don’t we use one of our last few precious days of freedom--” from the horrors known as bureaucracy and paperwork and the task of restructuring an entire megacorp in the wake of the Trial, at least-- “to get out of our apartment and get some fresh air?”

And it seemed for good reason. His brother’s breathing eased, and while there wasn’t much physical indication of a status change, there was something about him that seemed more lively. So, it perhaps was just mana exhaustion. Or it could just as easily have been Julius hiding whatever ailed him for the sake of not concerning Ludger… he suppressed a sigh. Perhaps truly gone were the days that Ludger could just blindly trust his brother’s words. If there was something he’d started to come to grips with, it was a healthy level of suspicion toward… well, just about everyone. Bothered as he was by this, it just meant that he had to persist.

“So are you happy now, or are you still going to insist I eat the Apples too?”

Well, expected reaction or not, he had to draw the line somewhere. Picking his battles didn’t mean caving to every one of his little brother’s whims, after all. 

“All right, don’t go pushing it now. You should be rationing these out, Ludger. Don’t go overboard with this when the most I might even have are a few scrapes,” Julius said, firmly. Somewhat more gently, he added, “‘Just in case’ still applies to you too. ...And I meant it when I said earlier that all I needed was an orange. Maybe it’ll actually sink in this time if I repeat myself.

Okay, never mind, there went the calm he’d had. Ludger clutched the GHS tightly in his hand. Damn it, he’d never realized how much he enjoyed having a voice until he’d lost it. Sure, he hadn’t utilized it quite as well as he could have in the past, but now, there was some small degree of satisfaction in yelling, he noted. Somehow text messaging just didn’t do the trick. But it was all that was available to him. He’d have to make due.

[ They were trying to kill you. ]

    [TEXT –> ] : yknow i think i caught that

It would have taken a complete imbecile to miss it. In retrospect, at least. At first, he’d missed it entirely (and so had the sword…) The only reason Julius was in his current state was entirely due to their attempt on his life. That was what made it so imperative that he remedy the issue, so quickly. Though… why did they want him…? He couldn’t even conceive a reason. Julius was a top agent, a figure head among the organization that was well known. If the original aim had been him, that would have made sense. But aspiritious little brother with no solid connection besides degrees of separation? He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Still, he couldn’t imagine Julius knew much about it either, otherwise he’d have probably had a better solution to the issue than… well, than the one he’d enacted.

[ ... Ludger, please, please don’t do anything reckless. ]

No promises, he thought ruefully. He wouldn’t say that though- no need to add salt to the wound when it seemed he could possibly be getting what he wanted.

[ Just tell me, what do you think you’ll even be able to accomplish? ]

That… was a bit more uncertain. He wanted them to reverse what they had done, to put Julius back to normal. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach that his ideals were a bit too extreme and impossible to accommodate. But that didn’t stop him from hoping, at least. What was the phrase- shoot for the moon, land in the stars? If they couldn’t completely fix what they’d done, surely there was some sort of fail safe that was in place in case of accidents. Surely they couldn’t have just wanted to wantonly kill people and put them in some techy-sword-thing. That… no one was so crass. Well, he hoped at least.

With a heavy sigh, Ludger’s fingers flew.

[ ... All the same. I really can’t talk you out of this, can I? I mean. I guess I could try, given... how things are. But something tells me it’d be a waste of time and effort. Wouldn’t it? ]

The sword that now housed his consciousness was powerful, Julius knew already. Something like a paintbrush-- if the canvas was reality itself, as least from what they’d gleaned of it. Given that no one actually knew where its limits lay, what Ludger wanted wasn’t necessarily entirely implausible, though it was just as likely that it was.

(Say that, somehow, Ludger succeeded. He got back into Trigleph. Made his way into Spirius. Stormed it, or whatever it was he was planning. Or not planning, as it were.

Did all that, but he couldn’t be ‘fixed,’ as Ludger put it.

...What would his brother do then?--

--Stop, end. No good will come from this line of thought.)

[ Willing to accept the risks, you say. One way or another. ]

Julius allowed himself to chuckle, humourlessly. It came out a little more frayed than he would have preferred.

[ I know I can’t convince you when you’re that determined, little brother. ]

That was a good question. It seemed like the AI was still helping him but was trying to be as neutral as they possibly could. He didn’t answer at first as he started to retrace his steps back, “I’m too late…we were too late. What does it matter what I do now…” 

He cradled his head in his hands, as if trying to search for what would be the next definitive move at this point. He found the answer he needed…but was that really it? Was that all he could do? Would Ludger accept an answer like that?

Ludger would be devastated. And he knew it. 

The synthesized voice was deceptively light, though clinical and sharp in delivery. Whether a product of the speaker’s nature or otherwise, it continued.

<!--Unfortunate. You see, there is enough of Julius left in me that I was going to offer my aid in whatever it was you had planned.-->

His older brother had an impressive glare. While he was a master of masking the majority of things, he was almost never able to hide when he was clearly looking for something (and Ludger had gotten used to that look often enough to know that he was pretty much vulnerable to it at any given time). It seemed this version of his brother had a similar skillset, leveling a scrutinizing glower against him that made him half tempted to leave. After all, it was clear he wasn’t the catalyst- he’d have reacted-, so why was he still here other than… well, morbid curiosity, he supposed. This was nothing like the Julius he had known growing up… and if the man wasn’t going to just tell him about his life, then Ludger would just have to find out for himself. Didn’t he at least deserve the truth? Didn’t he… shouldn’t Julius at least give him that much?

He gave his head a succinct shake. He was owed nothing and he knew it, but it didn’t make the situation any less frustrating.

“I should thank you for the intervention, though. It simplified things a lot.”

Ludger perked back up, meeting the other’s eyes with a bit of surprise. He hadn’t really done all that much- just offered a distraction and some artes. With something like that huge arte under his belt, Julius clearly had it handled. And what was with that face? Sure, it was a bit relaxed, but there was still a strain to it. Maybe he wasn’t used to–

Oh hell he was a stranger wasn’t he?

Wait, no, surely he’d recognize Ludger, right? Oh but wouldn’t that be worse than anything else? Maybe it was the hair- Julius hadn’t ever seen him with the hair dye before in this verse. Or maybe he was overestimating how old this Julius was? Had he… even met Ludger? There was no way Ludger could be that fortunate to encounter a Julius who wouldn’t know him at all, that could potentially tell him everything he wanted to know about his brother.

“Julius Wi Bakur. And you are?”

That sentence told him two things: one, he had expended all of his luck finding a Julius that would likely not recognize him; and two–

“Ba…kur?” For a moment, he stood in shocked reverie. Bakur. As in Bisley Bakur? No way- Julius had never mentioned anything like that in any respect. And that was the kind of thing that came up, right? That they were related to– well they both had to be. Half brothers. That was what Julius had told him when he’d asked about his mother. “Your mother” he’d said. Okay, sure, but that meant they had the same father, which would be through the family name, which would…

He’d asked him a question. And instead of answering like a normal person, he’d been standing there in confused contemplation. With impressive animation, Ludger shook his head to clear his thoughts. What did he do? Did he answer honestly- would Julius recognize the name at all? Or–

Will Kresnik. Kresnik-- his mother’s maiden name, and that middle name... Too uncanny to be simply coincidental. Some relation to his aunt? For whatever reason, the man had known him by name, but yet was thrown by the mention of his last. What had he been expecting instead? Julius Wi Bakur wasn’t exactly a secret, at least when it came to others in their profession.

He swallowed down a grimace. Relations and connections to people could get awfully convoluted in fractures. For all he knew this actually was a fractured reflection of his aunt. You couldn’t really rule anything out, when it came to all the possible ways the myriad of might’ve beens in the Prime could have happened. Though he’d never really dealt with something quite like this before...

Still, it was curious enough to warrant investigation. It wasn’t as if he had any other leads on the catalyst at this point.