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Stepping through the Golden Mirror, Hybris barely paused in his chatter, "And then I threw an eggplant, which shattered a path of dozens of mirror people, clearing the way for Big Brother Muri to deliver a spinning kick to the weird crystal. But as he turned to thank me, everything started to fall apart, and there was a flash of light! I was suddenly blind and that was so scary!"

Hybris made sure to explain to Lenka how he'd been both very brave and good during the recent happenings in Mirrorspace, but also very vulnerable and in need of comfort and concern. "I don't know what I would have done if Hela and Bélénos hadn't grabbed me."

The sky above them glinted and glittered with its false stars, pale islands floating silently around the land surrounding the Black Citadel. It was, as always, a strange and majestic place; one that always felt both too empty and very patient in its wait to be filled.

"I didn't get to see Mirror Da-cough, Prince Remarque do his very cool thing, but from all accounts it was very cool," Hybris assured Lenka and he playfully tugged and pulled her along toward the Citadel. Trying to distract her from the fact that she was here. In a place that he'd become increasingly aware that Lenka was utterly unenthusiastic about. Where once he'd assumed she was simply so used to Mirrorspace that it just wasn't very exciting, it had started to seem more and more like an avoidance of the place.

"It's just more thematically satisfying. Watermelons and Eggplants!" He gestured grandly, "And then I met Bélénos of Pears and it seemed perfect. And somehow, went I met Hela of Dolls, and Lete of Decadence, those didn't clash with the theme but expanded it. The savage garden of the mirror!" Hybris seemed, at least, to have a lot of fun when it came to themes. But eventually he added, "Also, it's just very funny."

He grinned over at her dramatic show of disgust, bumping her shoulder with his own and looking up at her pleadingly, "Lenka, I have eyes. But for your continued existence, I'll shut them against your brother's great big....aura."

He laughed all the way until they were standing before a round mirror on the ground. "We're here for you to claim an island. I want to see how big mine will be later on and..." Hybris gave a playful tug at her long, gauzy overlay. "I want to see what you do with it. How Lenka would shape and color a world."

"Excuse me, but I am a theatre kid. It is my social duty to be Like This," Hybris tutted at her.

"You brought me into the mirror," he argued, voice a little needy as he leaned heavily into Lenka's side, head on her shoulder. "I'm your forever bond with the mirror, no matter what else you do." The concept of real/not real clearly bothered her in a way that he likely would never relate to. It's fun to be authentic, it's even funner to be a little fake. But maybe not feeling any control over the former, lessened the value of the latter?

He tugged as her elbow back and forth as he leaned until both of them were swaying together like little kids being silly and random in front of the mirror step. "Why imitate? There's more to you than space watermelons." He paused and then explained, "There's also space samurai."

If he was a nerd she was a bigger nerd.

"Your Jedi," he grinned. "And whatever else you love outside magic and space. It's not a whole world, but at the very least it's a whole something, just for you. Think of it like a studio space, or a personal garden. Isn't it nice to have room for yourself and your interests?"

He ushered her to the mirror plate and then held her hand, "You step on it first, so it registers to you instead of taking us both to mine." It was something of a role reversal, him urging her toward mirror, explaining a new world to step into.

As much as he liked to hide behind her and be comfortable under the wings of Lenka's protection, Hybris felt that this made a sort of balance. She knew about fighting and strength and being better. He knew how to love, both the Dark Mirror and the person who he was within it.