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[There's a thing about cats that most cat owners know - the same with children or ferrets or any small, sneaky thing, but mostly cats: When there's noise, there's no need to worry. When it's quiet, that's when something is going wrong.]
[Qilby hasn't heard or sensed Valerius in a few hours, and given his proclivity for either disappearing or crawling up Qilby's side constantly, a bad feeling is rising in his gut. He makes sure the Zinit is on its pre-charted course to its next planet, first - can never be too sure! - then sets out through the halls as quietly as he can manage. (Maybe if he's quiet enough, he can spook Valerius a bit, whatever he's doing! As if.)]
[The door to the Herbarium is as open as it ever was, though Qilby doesn't go in there much - maybe part of that is that it was never his space. (Not that it's ever stopped him when he really wants something, but when one can portal into any space at will, it's only social norms dictating that one doesn't. Eliatropes impressed those social norms on each other quite well as a result.) Without Chibi's actual, physical being in that awful rocking chair at the top of the stairs - he recalls with great humor a time a squirrel scampered behind Chibi too loudly and he went falling down all those steps - it's merely a husk of stone and stasis.]
[Oh, also the fake skeleton. Qilby maintains that he is the only one to understand Chibi, but only half of that is the relationship they shared; the other half is that Chibi does bizarre shit Like That seemingly out of nowhere, and thus is impossible for anyone to understand.]
[Well. Val's there, with the stasis and the skeleton (which has fallen on its face; a fitting end) and the looseleaf sheets of poetry. He's probably getting a kick out of whatever memories of sin are lingering in the cracks of this old hovel. Qilby stands in the door and watches carefully, but doesn't say a word to break the still air.]
[Qilby hasn't heard or sensed Valerius in a few hours, and given his proclivity for either disappearing or crawling up Qilby's side constantly, a bad feeling is rising in his gut. He makes sure the Zinit is on its pre-charted course to its next planet, first - can never be too sure! - then sets out through the halls as quietly as he can manage. (Maybe if he's quiet enough, he can spook Valerius a bit, whatever he's doing! As if.)]
[The door to the Herbarium is as open as it ever was, though Qilby doesn't go in there much - maybe part of that is that it was never his space. (Not that it's ever stopped him when he really wants something, but when one can portal into any space at will, it's only social norms dictating that one doesn't. Eliatropes impressed those social norms on each other quite well as a result.) Without Chibi's actual, physical being in that awful rocking chair at the top of the stairs - he recalls with great humor a time a squirrel scampered behind Chibi too loudly and he went falling down all those steps - it's merely a husk of stone and stasis.]
[Oh, also the fake skeleton. Qilby maintains that he is the only one to understand Chibi, but only half of that is the relationship they shared; the other half is that Chibi does bizarre shit Like That seemingly out of nowhere, and thus is impossible for anyone to understand.]
[Well. Val's there, with the stasis and the skeleton (which has fallen on its face; a fitting end) and the looseleaf sheets of poetry. He's probably getting a kick out of whatever memories of sin are lingering in the cracks of this old hovel. Qilby stands in the door and watches carefully, but doesn't say a word to break the still air.]
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[But he'll take a look anyway, no matter how much he pretends not to be interested. As though wiping the dust from an old mirror, he runs his thumb over one of the crystals at the arm of the rocking chair. That's Mina in a compromising position. Next. Thankfully, the next is much more interesting.]
[Chibi is sitting at the Pow Wow, cross-legged in the middle of the clearing, shadowed by the stones at its center - grey, emotionless. There is a carved bone knife resting upon his left knee. With face dark, Chibi chants a prayer - not that Qilby can hear it; he's not sure whether the crystal even transmits sound, or whether he can't hear it from the blood rushing in his ears - and sinks the blade into his fifth intercostal space, threading the needle through his ribs like he's somehow practiced it before. Like he knows. Qilby watches as a manolia spirals from the wound, flowering a mottled red-blue over his bare chest, its roots surely winding about his intestines.]
[The crystal is the color of sloth.]
--Ah. Not the most pleasant, indeed. [Qilby's voice doesn't shake, but his jaw is set tight. Seeing Chibi in pain like that was never easy for him - and though Chibi's not showing it, Qilby sees his weary soul was aching - and he wants more than anything to give Chibi's head a shoulder to rest upon.]
[But as the years passed, what happens when you're the one causing all that pain? Perversely, he created the wounds he so desperately wanted to heal. Worth it, but painful.]
Did you find anything of particular interest in here?
Turning the Gay up to 11
That you and your family’s lives could restart at the end, and go on so easily, combined with so many conflicts...sometimes even repeating the same ones from incarnation to incarnation, in itself would seem like a sort of Hell to me; had I not been trying to understand the workings of other dimensions.
[The large, maned head rests and briefly nuzzles the old man’s leg as it gives a huge sigh, purple claws tapping against stone as he considers his next words. The sounds they make reverberate throughout the space as he looks to the other crystals.]
It all helped me understand your own sins and motivations, in the end. [The wicked scorpion tail coiled around Qilby’s other leg, before effortlessly moving away as the creature stood again. He began to pace around him as he spoke, until he finally leaned on one side of the chair and reformed to his preferred humanoid shape. Leaning over the Eliatrope for an embrace, he finally murmured after a kiss to his forehead]
Despite what my other half may think...I believe you were in the right to try and break that cycle, before it corroded you entirely.
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[The contact is far too short, all things considered - by the time Qilby has registered the manticore's mane against his knee, or the tail around his calf, it's gone. Valerius' footsteps feel so damnably loud in the hall, but his voice is enough to fill that empty space between them.]
[Qilby doesn't quite melt into the lips on his forehead, but he does look up and catch Val's jaw in his right hand, tilting him down for a gentle kiss on the lips. It's not long - he wants to keep talking, which is hard to do when one's mouth is occupied - but it's enough to make his feelings known.]
I was. I'm glad someone sees it. And when I find them again-- [when, not if!] --I'll gladly use your help in conveying that. [Those dragon arms certainly hadn't escaped his notice, even if they were only there for a moment. He could probably pass Valerius off as a dragon, couldn't he...]
[He could also just get rid of Yugo, which is what he was trying to do in the first place, but saying that would probably break the moment???.]
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[The scales on Valerius’ arms start to creep along the sides of his body, snow-white and opalescent--much like the color of the sloth crystals adorning the room. As if to confirm that yes, his “master” can very much pass him for a dragon. He even learned the language just in case he decided to camouflage closer~!]
I’ll do everything I can to assist, dearest. [He said with a sparkling, sharp-toothed grin. But then a thought occurs to him, and he looks pensive.] Although, perhaps not in here...I wouldn’t want to transform and destroy anything you’d rather leave intact.
[The most considerate sin-eating death god one could ask for.]