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 Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 3:17 pm
The admission was startling and Trey paused to give Eion a look over for it, trying to grasp someone who would have treated him that way. Labyrinthite had been a hard a** and there had been times Trey had hated him, but he'd never... well, at least not that way. He'd been demanding, harsh, but he'd also seen Trey as a resource and perhaps that had won him some better treatment. But the abuse of Eion's general, and it was abuse, he could see that, made him wonder. Was that usual in the Negaverse? Had everyone just... looked the other way about it? He wasn't sure he could have done anything about it if Laby had been the type to use his position like that, but... it was a hard thing to wrap his head around. Maybe not so surprising when you considered they stole energy and souls from people, conscripting them into a hidden war, but...
"I don't tell anyone anything we talk about or do together." He said after a moment, his voice lowering to something a little more gentle. His resolve to remember his general was a soul-eating, fiery monster was already being put to the test in the face of sharing past trauma. It was hard to see both the monster and the boy at the same time... hard to know how to treat him, when one deserved both fear and respect, and the other protection and support.
It was, honestly, above his pay grade to unpack any of this, but... he could at least listen, and offer what he could. Setting down his glass, Trey rose and offered a hand out to the other man, drawing him up.
"You can decide what you want to do after you've had time to think about it. I'm certainly not an expert in these things. For now, why don't we get in the pool and work on that distraction. Its what you really came here for, right?" He offered a brighter smile now, offering out that change of subject and scenery if Eion wanted to take it.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 3:17 am
What Trey proposed was a far more attractive option to continuing to share anything about his current struggles or blatant lack of understanding for how those struggles were supposed to be resolved. Eion always preferred shutting out the past for another day, especially when there was the opportunity to share a few hours with a cute (and charming) boy. By taking up Trey's hand, Eion agreed — to hell with all of that.
It would be safer in the pool, regardless. Harder to reach for anything untoward. Easier to try to let go of it all.
He liked it better, too, because no one expected him to speak when he was underwater. He could swim and keep his mouth shut and exist without putting his foot in his mouth. Eion wasn't going to let the timer on his existence as a person cheapen that time, nor did he want his existence as a General to influence the relationships he could have outside of Negaverse business.
He didn't know if Trey saw it that way, or even cared for the distinction between the two. Maybe it didn't matter to him.
Stripping down, Eion stepped into the water and slipped beneath the surface, where sunlight became dancing fractals over the surface of the pool. It was a view he learned he would never experience as himself, only as Eion, and that impermanence made it sweeter. Eion held his breath for as long as he could while he stared up at the hectic scene. It was beautiful — quiet — and it expected nothing of them.
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