expiationnet | ( video | un: revanche )

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( video | un: revanche )

[ rafal turns on the feed, looking deeply irritated. so really, no different from his usual expression. ]

It appears I have been sentenced for destroying a person's door. Which, in my defense, was entirely deserved due to their appalling lack of manners and generousity.

[ and they denied him his candy. rude. ]

And as such I have been tasked with . . . bonds. Specifically the strengthening of them, physically, or creating new bonds.

What does this entail? I require clarification. I wish to get this over with.

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[ another one of these . . . just like alfred. he has no defense against it.

he huffs. ]

I prefer to be honest than to provide a sanitized version of myself.

[ what is this being honest about yourself thing... sounds fake. stuff all the bad things in a box and never open it, that's the way to go — ]

That's pretty great, you know that, yeah? Then you'll know the people who stick around are really there for you.

[ he sounds almost wistful for a second. but moving on, ]

So then, step two, finding common interests! Like horror stories, what kind d'you like the most?

[ hm. rafal eyes him for a moment before moving on. ]

I suppose I enjoy the fear it brings. The way it worms its way into a person's heart.

As a dragon, I also strike fear in others. But stories do it differently. They build it up. Mine exists through reputation.

[ ... oh, huh. right, well, that — that sure is an answer! it's fine, though, because charles has already decided he's befriending this guy, and so — he just takes it in stride. he's just a bit weird, right, nothing wrong with that! he can deal with that. ]

Right, so it's sort of the same thing, then, innit? Well, in theory. [ a pause and a tilt of his head, ] So... you like it, being able to make people afraid of you? Or d'you wish it was different for you?

[ that is an insightful question. rafal actually pauses to consider his answer. ]

I don't enjoy it. Not anymore. Being terrifying is . . . part of my nature as a dragon. I cannot deny it.

But it is no longer rewarding to strike fear in people's hearts.

Yeah, I think I get it, then. [ perhaps the enjoyment of horror is the leftover of that — a way of enjoying fear, where before it had come from what he was, and it no longer does. ]

I'm glad you've found horror stories, to enjoy fear in some form, yeah? And for what it's worth — it's a good thing, not feeling rewarded that people are afraid of you.

[ a pause. ] Besides, it's just that part of you, the dragon part. But that's not all that you are.

[ rafal shakes his head. ]

How can it only be a part? It informs all that I am. It shapes the nature of me.

Yeah, course it does. Me being a ghost informs a lot of what I am, too, yeah? But I'm also other things. You're also other things. Like this — talking to me about making friends and horror stories.

[ with a small, sincere smile, ] If I didn't know you're a dragon I'd never guess, based on just those two things. So yeah, it's who you are, but you can be more than one thing, can't you?

[ hm. there is some merit there, though he's not sure he believes it. the fell blood that chained all his siblings, even those in another world . . . he does not think it can be escaped so conveniently.

even nel who rebelled against their father . . . she would not say it so confidently. ]

Perhaps it is . . . within possibility.

Hey, just admitting that's already a step in the right direction.

[ he can't even begin to imagine what there is, behind it all — what kind of a history, how he might have been treated before, how much him being a dragon really had been the be-all, end-all for others.

well, not for him. that much he can say for sure. ]

Also, congrats, mate. You're doing aces at this bonds thing.

[ rafal huffs. ]

I suppose it's not as taxing as I make it out to be. I simply lack practice in doing so without deceit and trickery involved.

Well, you know the saying, "practice makes perfect"...?

[ his grin is maybe just a bit pointed there, amused despite himself. that's kind of adorable of you, rafal, describing trying to make friends as taxing. ]

And I'll practice with you any time! Though you can count this a success, we're totally friends now in my books.

That was quick.

[ people make these decisions so fast. he'll never grasp that. for rafal, such things come at a much more languid pace. ]

And a bit fool-hardly. You barely know me.

Yeah, well. I make all my decisions like this. Has worked out pretty great for me so far.

[ yes, he knows he's impulsive — but it really has worked out for him well, aside from the time it got him killed. but otherwise! ]

[ come to think of it . . . this man said he was a ghost. could rafal's powers affect him? ]

I suppose it is only human to do so. Time is short.

Not for me, though, is it? Ghosts exist forever.

[ he was like this in life and is also like this in death, while fully knowing he has technically an indefinite number of years in front of him. ]

Do they?

[ news to him. perhaps true? he's never talked to ghosts long departed. he shakes his head slowly. rafal is getting distracted. ]

How long have you been . . . deceased?

Well, barring a few disasters that could end our existence, yeah.

[ "a few" — there's quite many, in fact, especially in his line of work... but that's not really the point here. ]

Thirty-five years, give or take.

Not long then.

The grief must still linger.

[ it takes him a moment or two to answer — the only sign that the observation has shaken him. his expression still remains open, jovial even, when he responds, ]

Not much use to it, is there? As long as I've got — [ my best mate and a case to solve, he should say, a well-worn phrase, tumbling from his lips with years and years of practice, and yet.

and yet. ] It's not a bad existence.

[ rafal surveys him for a long time before sighing. ]

It may not be. And yet, you cannot force yourself to accept it so fully.

I am a dragon of the underworld. I speak to the dead. I raise them up. And what I do know is that they never stop being haunted by the life they once had.

[ there is a long pause, once more — and then a huff of laughter, a chuckle under his breath, lacking his usual brightness. ]

... Yeah. Well, you're the one who said it.

[ and then, because he refuses to talk about his real feelings over his death with someone he's only just met, ] Be haunted by the life they had, hah, that's a good one. You know, cause ghosts, yeah?

[ dryly. ]

Riveting.

It is merely what I noticed when I revive the dead, that's all.

Yeah, yeah, I get it.

[ — on second thought, actually, ]

Wait, walk me through that again. You revive the dead? How?

The process is complex.

[ hmm. how to explain. ]

I am a Fell Dragon. My power is linked to the underworld. And thus, I can pull people from there to do my bidding.

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