#divineingenuitys

While nights spent at the radiant siren's side had become something common for the pair, it was hard to deny that as of late ... Belle found herself more self - conscious than she wanted to admit. Hysilens was ... Gorgeous, refined, strong and talented ... But Belle herself felt like nothing more than a shadow in comparison.

Sitting herself on the edge of the elder woman's bed she found herself unable to keep from fidgeting, though as soon as she heard the door open shot back to her feet.

@divineingenuitys has asked: "So, at what point did 'reason' seem like a good thing to do by taking pieces of yourself away?" - kaveh

He has long since given up on anyone understanding his motivations. Anaxagoras has made peace with being an over-achiever ; nobody in their right mind would think to use themself as a test subject, or a provider of samples, or fuel for a fire.

He still scoffs though. ❝I wasn't going to use other people,❞ he replies, as if such a thing should be obvious. ❝I had a theory and I was determined to prove it, no matter the cost to myself. Alchemy requires equal exchange.❞

A pause then, and Anaxagoras looks away — but only to think, not out of shame. Giving up his eye had only allowed a glimpse of his sister, but those few moments will always be precious to him. In death, he had been given an equally precious opportunity — and he had made full use of it.

But he does not expect others to understand.

"Common decency and, furthermore, common sense shouldn't be rewarded like the learned tricks to a young pup. Even animals understand respect of a higher station," he chuckles softly, his almost entirely self tailored outfit looking less knightly, less thievish, and more scholarly, more mystic arts than divine righteousness. "I fail to see why one wouldn't offer sincerity first... it stings sharper than a blade when it's taken away that way."

@wildresonances // Kaveh

BENEATH THE SUN'S RAYS, the skyline almost seems to shimmer — this new world, this new city of Okhema, is not quite the same as the one the worldbearing titan remembers having walked through so long ago, with a false dawn illuminating the streets & a slumbering titan as its guardian.

This is a city that has never needed to be war-torn, that has not known the division of strife or the uncertainty of the future: beneath the protection of Amphoreus' sun, all places were deserving of peace, until the day came that he, too, would fade away.

( until the sun's flames reduced to mere embers, the heart holding it in the sky nought but ashes, this world would know only an era of joy. )

& yet, throughout the years since the miracle, the nameless hero had not caught a glimpse of those he once knew — not the prince who loved his people deeply, the professor who defied all odds, the goldweaver who once saved his life & in turn, a world destined for ruin. Nor has he caught sight of those visitors from beyond the sky.

( he searches for someone he once loved, who perhaps now exists only in his memory. perhaps... they all do. )

Yet today is different — today, his footsteps come to a stop next to someone who stares at the world's architecture with an attention to detail. Today, the worldbearing titan observes the person who once wrote him a letter & who he once adored. Today, the nameless hero spots a familiar face amongst the people he has woven himself between.

❝Beautiful, isn't it?❞ Phainon speaks, & while he cannot quite keep some sort of sorrow ( or perhaps it is relief ) out of his voice, he regards Kaveh as if they have never met, uncertain of where they may stand — if memories exist between them, if Kaveh might be angry with him for failing to make the promises he should have or say the words that went silent between them.

( for he has been angry at himself for waiting until it was too late, for always leaving things unsaid with those he loved. )

❝If you're here for the buildings, then maybe you have some insight — from what I've heard, most citizens can't decide if buildings like this are more blessed by Ana... Cerces' knowledge & skill, or Agl... Mnestia's eye for detail.❞ Rarely is it that he speaks of the chrysos heirs of yesterday, of those who had taken the positions of the titans only for their consciousness to be something Phainon has yet to find for himself in this new world.

Truly, he cannot tell if they are titan or memory or merely humans who have yet to be reborn. He does not dare to seek out the answers.

❝What do you think? You've been staring so intently, I can't imagine you have no opinion on the matter.❞ It is partially a genuine question & yet, Phainon finds the answer is not something that truly matters to him, merely the sort of question that he hoped would lead to some sort of debate, a reason to continue the conversation.

( after so long... i am glad to meet you once again. )

Though new customers weren't that regular of an occurrence with Okhema not often seeing people from outside Okhema coming up to the main city in favor of staying down in the refugee settlement, having someone ask questions about her baked goods wasn't so uncommon it caught her off guard. It was more seeing a face that she didn't recognize that surprised Navia more than anything as she walked over and glanced down at the cherry flavored macaron just to be sure she was looking at the right thing.

This was ... A situation he'd never once thought he'd find himself in. It was almost the time he'd told Kaveh to arrive at the Tavern, though Alhaitham had been there for almost an hour already. Their friends had gradually filtered in, hidden away out of sight just as planned, but the Scribe, despite his cool and calm demeanor, was more nervous than he ever had been in his entire life.

Hands awkwardly adjusted the collar of his shirt, the deep emerald green button down feeling almost foreign, but he had to look the part for what was to come. He'd spent far too much time preparing for this for anything to be any less than perfect.

Hearing the door open - right on time - Alhaitham rose from the table he'd been sitting at, already laden with all of Kaveh's favourites. All that was missing was the man of the hour to sit with him.

♡ / @wildresonances

HE SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED THE MODESTY — few were eager to accept praise without question & even fewer still without giving some sort of credit to another. ❝I think she's lucky to have you to work with, too.❞ & the express is better off for it, to have two people who know their way around maintaining it.

❝Even with a million lifetimes, I never managed to learn a thing about how to keep the express running.❞

( even when they had traversed the stars on the express themselves, they hadn't known much of how it functioned. there was little need: not when THEY still walked amongst the people & THEIR pre-destined path had not been cut short. )

❝I'm glad to hear that it hasn't been anything you can't handle.❞ Should the day come the express crew could not handle matters alone, then Aether would gladly step in, but he always held hope it would never come to that.

This crew, thus far, have been more than capable of treading their own paths with ease & he wouldn't want to get in the way of that if it wasn't necessary.

❝I've been keeping out of trouble, if that's your concern.❞ He does not mention how he has trailed the express from time-to-time, nor how his search for THEM has been fruitless. That isn't anything new, & there's no need to bring it up. ❝There's nothing of interest to say, really.❞ & he wishes there was.

❝Thank you.❞ He murmurs after another moment of silent. ❝For the chai, and... asking after me.❞ Very few people did, nowadays, not least because Aether's attitude lent to the idea he's more optimistic than anything else.

❝I've mostly just been following the trail of the express, at the moment. Sight-seeing, you know?❞ There's a somewhat awkward tone hidden within the cheerfulness his voice carries. ❝I.. might join you all for an expedition, sometime. We'll see.❞

worried & scared sentences // accepting. @wildresonances // "I am only going to say this one time, okay? Whatever stupid ideas you've got locked in that rock hard head of yours, they're going to get you killed!" - from HSR Kaveh :3

IT ISN'T THE FIRST TIME HE HAS HEARD WORDS LIKE THIS — they do not cut deep, exactly, but there is a part of it which gives Phainon pause. It is decidedly not the fact Kaveh's scolding sounds almost exactly like something Anaxa had recently said to him, or so he would claim until the day he died should the similarities ever come to mind in his memories.

( what does it matter, if no one wishes to see him dead, when all he can do to keep others safe is bleed in their stead? )

Perhaps his own recklessness ( borne of the parts of him that cannot bear to see another corpse fall before him or another home burn to ash ) which leads others to see him through a lens of caution — for can one be trusted to see their journey to the end if they are so willing to fall by another's blade? Is it a show of bravery or distrust to stand before people, who are more than capable of protecting themselves, willing to take the blows?

Such questions are better kept to himself, if only because he has no answers to them & he isn't sure if he ever will. except he does. he knows very well what the answer is.

❝If it helps, I'm sure that they wouldn't actually get me killed.❞ If Phainon were going to die, then he would have been burnt to ash alongside Aedes Elysiae all those years ago — it is a cruel trick of fate, he thinks, to have survived such a tragedy alone when everyone else. ❝After all, I made someone a promise not to. I wouldn't want to go breaking those now, would I?❞

( until the final act, he had agreed, but no longer than that. )

❝But please, don't worry about me. I know better than to go rushing into things with no plan.❞ Even if said plan was simply to kill Titankin, or to prevent the Flame Reaver from taking the lives of anyone else — he had been more than willing to hunt that monster down & perhaps he would have if not for the watchful eyes of those around him, Kaveh included from the sound of things.

❝I promise to tell someone before I go doing anything that might be deemed as stupid, if that helps.❞ Whether that meant a responsible member of the Chrysos heirs or simply asking someone to pass on a message, Phainon would not specify, if only because it would be far more likely to be the latter.

❝Hearing that from you and the professor as of late... It does make me wonder why everyone seems to be so concerned. Do I really seem so close to doing something ridiculous?❞