Duplicity IC Inbox

[omnicrafter]

"In your darkest hour, in the blackest night... think of me, and I will be with you. Always. For where else could I go? Who else could I love but you?"

Comments

text | un: desch

[crystaltower]

It has come to my attention that others have seen into my dreams.

If you were one of them, please accept my apologies.

[omnicrafter]

What?

Oh.

[It took her a second to recognize the username.

...Oh, G'raha...]

Why apologize? If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I made a liar of myself, didn't I?

[crystaltower]

[So she had truly been there, as another had been, seeing him in such a state and fighting back the shadows in the one way it seemed the nightmare would allow... there is a reason he chose to have this be text, so she would not hear his anxious whine as he curls himself up into a pathetic ball.]

You did as you had to, to dissipate shadows of my own making. It was my own nightmares that put you in such a position.

You warned me such things might happen.

[omnicrafter]

Am I to believe you're responsible for something so deeply-seated and out of your conscious control? Because I'm not buying it.

Besides, I had my fun with it. That makes me just as guilty, if we're going to go assigning blame.

[crystaltower]

[Yes, he does recall she did seem to find a strange kind of amusement in unravelling him, despite the situation. What a time and place for it... although, true, it seemed the shadows would tolerate little else.]

If not my responsibility, then whose? Those thoughts were not planted in my mind by another, they are mine alone.

Quite how you found fun in such a situation is beyond me. I fear that for my part, the memory is tainted by cruel whispers, taunts, and the unforgivable pressure put upon you to act. It is not one I wish to look back on. If only it were possible that the memory could be written anew, free from shadows and guilt, then I might look upon you without this feeling of deepest shame.

[omnicrafter]

Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I put it this way: I had fun with it because I like you a lot.

And, well... we could rewrite it anew, just... as a suggestion. But I won't pressure you into it. I already feel like I've traumatized you enough.

[crystaltower]

[As he reads over the message, he groans slightly - that was not quite the intention of his message, but the answer fits only too well. To create a happier memory to mask the terrible one...

...and it would probably help Irhya as well. He can’t have her feeling guilty for it.]

You have not. It was my nightmare, a creation of my mind, and I will hear no more unwarranted apologies from you.

Your actions were not unwelcome then, and they shall not be unwelcome in future. I only ask that there be no looming shades of doubt and anxiety present, for they distract me from what is truly important.

[Would he have been able to say that out loud? Probably not. Did it take him several attempts to compose that statement and several awkward seconds of hesitating over the send button? Absolutely.]

[omnicrafter]

"In the future"... so you mean...?

You're sure? I won't be barking up the wrong tree if I offer?