Open, TVK-verse (forced singing. Because reasons.)

[fractured_white]

*Singing wasn't normally Albedo's thing, but today something had come over him. He didn't know where the words came from, but he found they hit a little close to home as they came out. This was his childhood in song form, and he was unusually somber by the end.*

Lucifer, am I? Fitting, in a way.

Comments

[namedforcat]

[Way to give your youngest sibling all the feels there Albedo.]

Albedo...? [Seriously, what the hell was up with that, though he had to admit Albedo had sung it well. That song...how horribly applicable.]

[fractured_white]

*It's only fair, since he gave himself all the feels, too. And this may well be the most bitter smile your brother has ever given you.*

I should have expected you to hear that. Interesting that it would be that one, isn't it?

[namedforcat]

Indeed. [He'll come and stand next to his brother. To be honest, he doesn't know what to do. This isn't one of those times where it was clear that Albedo wanted philosophy or reassurance.] You would think that it had been written for you.

[fractured_white]

*He wants to reach out and grab Nigredo's arm, like he would do when they were younger and Rubedo wasn't with them, but it's already hard enough to keep his emotions in check.*

And yet, it dates back to what those native to this place consider the modern era.

[namedforcat]

[Well he hasn't been told to go away, so that's a sign of something he thinks.]

It's strange, isn't it, that things so ancient to us can be considered applicable. It's like things really haven't changed...or that we're stuck mirroring the past.

[fractured_white]

I'm familiar with quite a few ancient sayings, Nigredo...among them is that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But the comparison falls apart at a certain point. His was the hubris that caused my fall from grace.

*His own just made the landing that much harder to get up from, but he knows that.*

[namedforcat]

It's kind of distressing to think of him as 'God', isn't it. So I think the analogy falls apart even quicker then that. [He smiles a bit, his fingers making tentative contact with Albedo's shoulder, testing the water. He missed all the easy cues that Rubedo and Albedo used to give about what they wanted. Now both of them would just hide so much that it was often hard to make the right choice.]

[fractured_white]

But he was quite close from our point of view back when we were still possessed of wings.

*He instinctively leans the tiniest bit into that touch.*

And we his loyal little messengers of devastation.

[namedforcat]

[Ah, alright then, so it is comfort. Gaignun lets the touch be more firm, resting the palm now on Albedo's shoulder.]

True. God and General, how wrong things were with that picture.

[fractured_white]

*Now he does reach up and grab hold of Nigredo's sleeve with one hand.*

No wonder, then, that we fell as we did.

[namedforcat]

You think we fell? I don't know about that. Considering the place and the time and what we went through, I would call it more 'rising'. It was freeing to be out of his control for a while.

[fractured_white]

*That earns a bit of a laugh, but still bitter.*

Perhaps for you. Don't tell me you're capable of forgetting the state I was in until Rubedo lifted me from my pit.

[namedforcat]

No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that. [He hasn't forgotten, not for one instant, but he also isn't going to mention that his and Rubedo's life was not all kittens and roses. Gaignun tightened his grip on Albedo's shoulder as an additional apology.]

[fractured_white]

It's times like these that I find myself envious of you, Nigredo.

[namedforcat]

What do you mean?

[fractured_white]

You escaped him to live as you pleased, until our collective past returned to make things difficult. I wasn't offered that luxury.

[namedforcat]

I wasn't living as I pleased. If it had been left up to me, me and Rubedo would have found a nice quiet little farm house in the middle of no where.

Don't get me wrong, I love what we were able to create, but it was not what I would have chosen for myself.

It was false freedom, only on the surface.

[fractured_white]

You know how quickly Rubedo would have tired of that.

*There's a faint flicker of amusement in his eyes, but it's short lived.*

Your semblance of freedom sounds better than my layered shackles. By no means a satisfying end, but a step up I only recently got a second chance to take.

[namedforcat]

I know, I know. I suppose you have every right to be envious. Out of all of us you got the shortest end of the stick.

[fractured_white]

And you had Rubedo all to yourself for quite a while, as well.

*Fourteen years. He could have at least tried to call...*

[namedforcat]

No I didn't. I barely had him at all. He spent those fourteen years mourning you.

[fractured_white]

*That's...unexpected. His eyes widen a bit and his hand tightens on Nigredo's sleeve.*

Even with that habit of his of fleeing from his past and pretending it no longer has significance?

[namedforcat]

Of course, even with that. You know as well as I that when he flees he's never really let it go. He can't. [Gaignun shook his head, laying his free hand over the one gripping his sleeve.]

He's always been yours underneath it all.

[fractured_white]

He hasn't been entirely mine in quite a while, Nigredo.

*'Ever since he met her' goes unsaid.*

[namedforcat]

[Of course, it all comes back down to Sakura. ALWAYS.] That was inevitable, but you always had more of him then you seem to think you had.

Look, just accept the fact that he missed you terribly. He just didn't contact you because he didn't know what to do and went in circles.

[unknownrival]

...I'm not sure if it's supposed to mean that much.

[fractured_white]

It's far too fitting to mean anything else.

[unknownrival]

That's fair enough... Music can bare the soul, I hear.

[fractured_white]

Music can do a great many things.

*Have a bitter, bitter smile, Issei.*

[unknownrival]

Spoken like a musician.

[fractured_white]

It is one of my more enrapturing hobbies.

[unknownrival]

I wouldn't mind listening to you more.

[fractured_white]

I wouldn't be particularly adverse to performing more often.

*Clearly someone needs to get him a portable keyboard.*

[unknownrival]

Too bad organs aren't very portable.

[fractured_white]

And are quite expensive, as well. As capable as I am with a basic piano, my true interest does lie with their larger cousins.

[unknownrival]

I'm afraid I don't have one to let you use.