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“You didn't tell me much of anything about him!” Nectaris had started with a sufficient enough distraction that he didn't immediately ask about her odd freckling. Probably typical Destiny City summer bullshit. Honestly, Promethei loved gossip, lived for gossip, and he was absolutely here to hear about something dramatic. His views on the chaotic boyfriends were certainly a bit different than, say, Encke's, so he liked to eat the news right up.

He did hope this would actually lead to a purification or two for her, and hopefully none as messy as Ransomite’s had ended up becoming, but …

He digressed.

“I mean, I'll be honest, I'm still mostly attack on sight,” though, he admitted, he was a lot more willing to try and open with the conversation if it seemed like they were being friendly enough, “with a lot of chaos! So I absolutely support you getting better at hitting with that thing.” For his part, his weapon was very much something that he could hurtle at people. It wasn't attached to a string or anything like that, so his best move with it was to literally hurl it out of his sight. It was a clay beaker, so he wasn't sure it could last being whipped around, but he would try it anyway!

And this, where she was willing to use her staff a bit like a baseball bat? Perfect excuse to practice that!

Promethei tossed his beaker up and down in his hand, watching the way she swung the staff at him. Was he a pitcher? Well, not in that sense, but he could certainly try it. It had been a long time since he had played baseball, but it wasn't like he had never done it.

So, it was tossed at a mild speed toward the baseball bat of a staff.

If it's shattered, oh well. It would end up coming back anyway.

“Who was he, anyway? I've run into quite a few agents at this point, maybe I know who he is."

Promethei did not quite think about the consequences of tossing his weapon. For one, he needed to go back and go get it. It didn't even have the advantage of being rollable like it was a couple weeks ago…

As Nectaris talked, Promethei went to go retrieve the damn thing.

“Oh, that guy! He's in the database, think I've seen him before too.” From what he gleaned from the database, he was good when he was on your side, but for most of Order, he wouldn't be. He wasn't surprised to find that that had carried to his ex. After all, his ex was no longer part of the Negaverse.

But this guy sounded like… well, piece of work was one way of putting it.

“The concept of him crying over your corpse instead of trying to protect you is wild.” Honestly, it definitely backed up why he was avoiding most of the Negaverse. If that was the opinion of one of their Eternal members, and he had gotten to the point of being Eternal, there was certainly something to be said about these people as a whole.

He could tell by the way she was moving that she was getting worked up about it, but honestly, that just made him more interested. Sounded like everything here was juicy–

And she was alive, in any case!

“Of course he did! He wasn't getting to finish the story. He had decided you guys were going to get to finish it already. In… your death, apparently.” Promethei returned to his original spot, holding the clay beaker once again. “Yeah, that's sure a toxic way to approach a relationship.”

Honestly, red flags everywhere! It gave him an eerie sense of someone he already knew…

Though at least Jason didn't have the power of Chaos on his side to maybe think he could take that kind of hyper-controlling approach.

“Yeah, no, you shouldn’t have to prove that to someone who loves you.” Promethei’s brows knit. “If they love you, they shouldn’t be pulling that kind of bullshit. Threatening your life, even indirectly?”

… That rang odd, considering. He loved Teegan, had loved him as Elliot too. Him showing up as a Negaverse agent that did threaten him, could have threatened Diryas, could have threatened Tobias? It changed the calculus, but it was because of a betrayal. It still felt odd, though, to state outright that no one who loved someone should ever threaten their life, because he had done that, hadn’t he?

But if Ransomite had remained, Promethei couldn’t allow that.

… Never mind. Not important. They were talking about Ignacio the drama. Well, how to handle the drama with Encke. Promethei continued tossing the clay beaker in one hand as he listened. “He has issues with purification now?” That, actually, came as a bit of a surprise. “Didn’t Teegan live with y’all for like … a year?”

Well, not quite.

But close.

“Huh. Well, won’t bring it up. I’d actually like to dig more into what he thinks of some of his roles. Or if he could get me some signed scripts or something.” Promethei cleared his throat. He also wouldn’t complain about model posters, if he happened to have any of those. Or exclusive photoshoot imagery. “Or maybe give me a hug. He’s ripped.”

Promethei paused.

“I probably shouldn’t thirst for your brother in front of you. But yeah, don’t worry, lips are sealed about your new boys.”

“Oh s**t.”

Honestly, Promethei would give Ignacio–Encke–that much. Gave a very self-protective and everyone-protective vibe. To have a purification case they were working on morph into a whole ******** ultimate in the Negaverse would certainly make him less trusting too.

But from his perspective, he did have the alternative to look at: Emain Ablach.

“Can't blame him, necessarily, if that's been his experience.” Promethei knit his brows, experimentally holding out his beaker in front of him as an attempt to block any jabs she might have pushed in his direction. This thing was heavy but honestly kinda fragile. Would this work?

“Probably gonna take some time to undo that…”

He was about to respond about his thirstiness, which he would absolutely own. Twitter? Perhaps. But then she named something else, and his lips upturned.

Promethei couldn't help his bark of laughter.

Honestly, he was unbothered by having that directly named. “Consensually! Though I'd argue beat them up is a bit of a strong descriptor!” He knew for people not in the community, that knowledge was definitely awkward to have. Hurting people? On purpose? A little bizarre at its core, he supposed.

“Sorry you managed to figure that part out, though. Not really knowledge you needed about Emain, in any case.” Or himself, but he imagined the one she purified was the crux of the issue–

He didn't quite hold back a chuckle when she said what he did was worse than wanting to get with her brother--he would keep tangential thoughts to himself--but he did take the matter seriously. This was clearly bothering her, especially since she was conquering the embarrassment to stare him down and talk about it directly. He didn't bother denying that what he did was a little weird. Her answer to that was an innocuous shrug and a playful smile, an attempt to diffuse.

The overall answer wasn't necessarily hard to come to, though. Promethei looked down, for a moment, and then glanced to her eyes in turn.

“I step into a different space while I'm doing any of this.”

Promethei had thought about this himself. Why did he enjoy it? What about it really appealed to him, and why did he keep going for it? He could understand why she was weirded out by it, honestly! The best he could do at this point was try and ease that.

“It's intense,” had been the conclusion he had come to. “Being willing to let someone do what I do and trust they will treat you alright in the end is a powerful feeling, sure, but it's also about that connection. They're giving me permission to hurt them, and in turn I'm showing they can trust me deeper than they could trust most anyone else. It's an intimate intensity, too, and not just in a naughtier way.”

His smile was oddly affectionate, despite his topic. “I'm constantly checking if what I'm doing is okay, if they're fine with what I'm doing, if they'd like me to step back or be cautious with going any further. And honestly, watching their reactions is rewarding, and again, not just in the other ways. If I see Imhotep content, I feel like I'm doing well, for example. If I see Emain on some other planet, it's gratifying and I feel appreciated. That intense connection felt and still feels nice.”

Promethei took in a deep breath. “And it is important to reinforce it is hurting. I do not enjoy harming.”

Two extremely different things, and part of why Jason made his blood boil to this day.

Even if Tobias had put Jason behind him, Zebulon still wanted to beat his a**.

She was right. It was pretty personal! But there was another element to that. “You're not wrong that it is personal, but open communication is a very important thing in the community that I'm part of. It includes people who aren't necessarily directly part of the actions, just making people feel a little bit more comfortable with what's happening. To dispel bad impressions, or maybe even sate someone's curiosity.”

Promethei figured it was a bit of both at this juncture. Which he was fine with! He legitimately did not mind sharing!

And it did seem like it was helping, because the tone she had been using was easing off, which was a good thing. If she was going to be aware of what Teegan was up to behind closed doors, the best he could do was make her comfortable with it.

That also stretched to him considering he wasn't going to be leaving Teegan.

She mentioned someone doing self-harm, and he frowned at that, leaning back. It was a valid thing to bring up in response to him saying he was hurting not harming. But how did he explain the difference?

“Doing legitimate harm to someone is doing something they didn't necessarily consent to. It's harming them that they can't easily recover from, that affects them mentally, emotionally, or physically in a way they can't easily heal from. It's a way that weighs on their mind, even if they don't realize it's weighing at the time. I have seen abusive relationships in this sphere, and from the outside, they can be harder to decipher, and even for us it can be a little bit.”

Promethei would admit that Jason gave him bad vibes from the moment they had met in person. Knowing that something had to be wrong with him didn't necessarily mean that they immediately realized that was connected to Tobias. At first, it just seemed relatively normal, it just seemed like Tobias had a beau that took a lot of his time! And having a primary was fine!

Hell, at that time, they weren't even all dating, so primary wasn't even necessarily apt…

“But consent is the biggest part of it. And that deep trust is the biggest part of it. Knowing that your partner in this will care for you in the aftermath. Knowing they aren't prodding at you in unwelcome ways. Knowing they will support you through it if you need it.”

“It can.”

He knew that Tobias said that he had put most of it behind him, and he also knew that was true! But that didn't mean that something still didn't bother him. He had seen his reaction to a few things, including very recently. He knew there was something behind that.

And he knew there was a reason why he couldn't let Tobias know the full story behind him going too far with Teegan! While he was sure it would come out eventually, he wanted to make sure that it was clear that they were both in a good place and that nothing sincerely bad had happened. The moment that Zeb realized he had gone too far was the moment he stopped.

He wasn't sure he could trust that of other people.

And honestly, he probably couldn't trust that of that Albite ********, considering he was perfectly okay with just letting her die at the very least–

Wait, was she threatening him?

His sudden laughter was a jolly bark, followed by a quiet amused, “Alfalfa!,” and then, more seriously,

“Promise. Got no plan on tasting weaponry, thanks.” They weren't even into that in general, but there was no point in worrying her further by mentioning even more intense things– “I appreciate being called cute. And trusted. Know that was prol’ly a pretty intense thing to find out about me without knowing about much else.”

And by probably, he meant assuredly.

“I love them, have for years, and I trust you because Emain Ablach trusts you.” A beat. “And also you've been pretty cool. Appreciate you hearing me out about all this.”

He honestly hoped it would help her be comfortable with everything she knew about now. Hopefully, they could move forward in a better place with each other.