hadriel | Video; 25 or 6 to 4

In a word, much. (How does she state this kindly?) You are here in time for a great battle.

Seems like there's always a battle to fight around here.

[He sounds resigned. Frankly, he's had enough of fighting after what he had to experience back home.]

This one will be greater than all the rest. (They might all die. Fun? Also let's not talk about Westerosi battles. Sansa has forgotten what it feels like to be at peace.)

Sounds it was a good time to come back then.

[Leo's not a good person in general, but he's an excellent monster. Destruction and death are what he's good at.]

I'm sorry you were taken away from your world for this. (As if it's her fault.)

I'm not. I was dead there and trapped in a fate worse then death.

[He'd take this over being an intangible spirit any day.]

What can be worse than death? (A lot of things, she is sure, but her morbid curiosity raises its head.)

I was trapped as an intangible spirit in my brother's mind, unable to leave or move on to whatever comes next after death.

Did he know you were there?

He did, but he wasn't sure I was real. He thought I might just be a figment of his imagination.

[As Leo was fond of saying, the Sunai didn't have a guidebook when it came to their powers, so they had been unaware that this could even happen.]

Is there a way for him to free you? A spirit should not be trapped so.

(There should be guidebooks. What are they thinking?!)

Apparently, the only way to get free is to absorb another spirit, someone that you truly love. I finally was set free when he absorbed his dying girlfriend's spirit.

[That's what happens when you're a new species that's been around for little more then a decade.]

What does that mean...? Her soul being absorbed? (She is cautious with her wording, not passing judgement prematurely even though it sounds bad.)

She was dying. She'd been mauled by a monster that she was fighting earlier. Normally, Sunai like me eat souls when we absorb them, but in these few cases, they instead remain in our minds.

[It wasn't clear whether August had wanted Leo to stay, but he had certainly wanted Kate to stick around instead of die.]

So she, essentially, took your place? (She isn't sure how to feel.) She must have loved him. Maybe it wasn't so bad for her.

I think you're right. August was going to be very lonely. I was leaving and our sister had just been killed. All he had left was our other sibling Soro. [He pronounces the name as Sorrow.] I think having her in his mind would be a comfort.

[He couldn't be sure what had happened after he'd disappeared into wherever souls went afterwards, but at least he could go being at peace.]

Either way, I'm glad you had your freedom. All souls deserve a rest. Life is hard enough without being caged after death too.

(She used to think of death as a blessed release. She sought it...twice. But not anymore.)

I'm satisfied with being able to move on now. I did all I was supposed to do. My brother can finally stand on his own two feet now.

[Spending the last year in his head had given them a better understanding of one another. August had learned how to protect and serve better, hardening himself when he had to, while Leo had gained a better understanding of where August's compassion had come from and what purpose it served.]

You were a fine brother to him, then. (Sometimes siblings take on the role of parents. It can't always be helped.) What do you imagine the afterlife will look like? I've thought about it a thousand times or more, but I can't allow myself to hope.

No idea. I just hope it's somewhere peaceful. After so much fighting, that would be nice. And somewhere without the constant hunger within me.

[Not having to eat people's souls anymore would be nice.]

Peaceful would be nice. (She isn't going to touch on his hunger.) It wouldn't need to be perfect for me; just peaceful.

Seems like we'll all get a chance to find out soon enough here.

[What with the end being nigh and all.]

... how long have you been away?

Good question. It was about a year for me back home, but I don't know how long has passed here.

Haha, oh shit.

[Taako spent too much of his time at the Coliseum this morning- and the rest of the day- to see all the new arrivals tumbling in. This certainly isn't what he expected to see on the feed, though it isn't precisely unwelcome.]

Uhhh it's been time, for sure. What was happening when you left?

Hope was still missing. I had to eat Curufin's soul or I would've lost control.

[So yeah, it's been quite a bit of time. He also doesn't know that Curufin didn't come back to life after he'd killed him.]

Shit, you missed like, a whole ass planet.

[He kinda twirls his wrist as he tries to think of the important parts of what he was out.]

Uhhh, liches found their way back bit by bit, except the Null found Tranquility first. Delight's like ultra dead now in getting him back, aaaand the planet was actually full of squid things that tried to kill us. We might still have some? Ask around.

[Well that was maybe a quarter helpful.]

[Well, that was only about 57% helpful in understanding what had been going on, but A for effort, Taako. Leo seems rather nonplussed about the whole thing.]

You know, it says something in that what was going on here was only half as weird as what was going on at home for me.

That just kinda sounds like what happens to you.

[If anything that Taako remembers about what was happening with his whole thing is still going on, that is. Something something soul vore something something sinners. It's kind of a mess in there.]

Look, what's up is we're about to like, murder all the Null once and for all, so you kinda t-posed and clipped through the floor right to the end, seems like.

Oh trust me, things managed to get even weirder then last time. I'll tell you about them if you're inclined to hear.

[Leo seems none too surprised to find out he's arrived in time for another fight. Really, when he got right down to it, that's what his entire life had always been made up of, just one unending fight.]

Perfect. Finally I can murder without judgment.

[Okay, that makes him laugh.]

Of course, that'd be your priorities. Let us do aaaaaall the legwork and you just show up like a spinning blade of bullshit.

[He'll be good to have on hand though. Anything at this point is a boon.]

Do they have souls you can rip out anyway? Were you here last time?

Exactly. Why bother with behaving myself when I'm eventually needed to do the dirty work anyway?

[Now he's sounding a bit more like the arrogant monster who had been here last time. At the question of the Null, he shrugs.]

I don't know. From what I heard they're like living robots, right? So I don't know where that qualifies them on the scale of creatures with souls. Guess we'll just have to see and find out.

[Well, some things never change. Some things are murder. Bygones, bygones.]

You should try and let me know. If we can like, possess souls and shit, it sounds like it could go really wild. Good info to have, even if we're in the uh, in the whole thick of it.

I will, providing I get more then a moment's notice. At least if these things can die I'll be able to do some damage to them.

[He's never met something yet his demonic fire and smoke form can't hurt even a little bit. Even The Visitor here, which was more like an astral projection then anything else, had taken damage from him.]

I mean they can deffo die, if you like, believe machines have consciousness or whatever. You can shut them off, so.

[But that sounds like a philosophical debate that he doesn't actually know anything about.]

Can't you just like, rip 'em to pieces anyway? You can't just have the soul trick.

Oh, I can totally do that.

[He rubs at the crosses that run up his arm and disappear under his shirt sleeve to where they continue on across his chest and back in an unconscious manner.]

It's been a long time since I went dark on purpose.

[Taako's never been around to see Leo turn into the devil monster form that lurks beneath the surface.]

Go dark. Man, you sound like such a goth. Or I dunno, some kind of 12 year old with a fantasy Livejournal. Are you gonna just leap into a rage and go absolutely feral?

[Sorry, Leo, this is probably a very serious thing! Too bad Taako has the emotional processing capability of a corn chip!]

I didn't come up with the name! [That would be his sister...she was kind of weird like that.] It involves burning away the outer human-looking part to reveal the monster made of fire and smoke beneath, so yeah, it's kind of intense. And yes, feral is a good way to describe it.

[He's not telling you anything anymore Taako. You are The Worst.]

Wow yeah that's like, ultra goth. Dude, I have to see that at some point, please give me a ring before you just absolutely lose your shit next time.

[He will take that trophy with pride, thanks.]

For now though you might as well just hang. Not much to do until we start knocking heads, unless you wanna get the lay of the land or whatever.

Be careful what you wish for. I might end up eating your soul in the process.

[Taako, will you ever learn the value of common sense? Ultra-raging soul-eating monsters are not good things to be entertained by!]

I think I'll just sit in my house and learn the chords to every Beatles song ever created instead.

[He's very good at staying alive, thank you very much. He's only died like twenty something times, and most people on the mission he was on had numbers in the fourties or higher. That's a much better ratio.]

Pssssh, you wouldn't dare. And if you did I'd kill you. Pretty simple, I'd say. I think you've got a good enough want to live to like, not.

[Just said so casually. Sorry Leo, until you know him 50+ years he'll prioritize Not Dying.]

Hard to threaten someone with death when it's already happened once. It didn't feel so scary last time.

[Is this how one interacts with friends? Leo's never had too many so he's not sure how this whole deal is supposed to go.]

[By constantly one-upping each other in increasingly terrible ways? Yeah, basically. That's Taako's idea of friendship anyway, chuckling in response.]

You are like a little baby, call me back when your count's in the 20s and we can compare.

[He knows that isn't like... an accomplishment, strictly, but. It's fine. Come to think of it, he's going to have to update that count fairly soon, because he just recently went down for the first time here in the city. Whoops! Oops! Oopsy! Sometimes, things!]

Go on, get your bearings together, this place isn't big. I'll find you soon.

Video; 25 or 6 to 4

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