[GNAWS ON DEATH we are truly about to just pingpong the animation this binch
Anyway!! Here they are!! Lucas is just blinking in surprise as he walks through a door INTO THE FUCKING MIRROR HOUSE OF HELL, and this can be the first time he's experienced this for funsies, so he's just like oh! A new location! Surely nothing bad will happen.
Except he just barely has a moment to glance over toward Zhongli before they're being yoinked into a memory.]
[ i dm'd you my reaction to finally getting to read this but, also, hEY WHAT THE FUCK?
zhongli is about to greet lucas, before he is practically gutpunched out of the blue by the memories being reflected twenty-fold at them in the funhouse of mirrors. and it is an agonizing thing to bear witness to, the loneliness and helplessness that wracks a fragile, human body. he's seen innumerable people die to sickness, incurable and realized too late alike, but this, this is...
cruel. a dying man, forced to soak his hands in blood.
(relivers, he thinks, remembering an unmasked face with wide eyes. have you seen a taller sir that looks a little like me? though his hair is longer and his eyes have a blue pupil. a reliver! you see... i am looking for my grandfather.)
a dying man, whose only wish was to be with his sister - now alone, and abandoned by a god whose deliverance was promised to him.
he's not the right god, by any means, but - zhongli sees him, and he reaches out, first touching both hands to lucas' arms, his elbows, then up. and he draws him forward to envelope him in a hug, one that he can escape, if he desires, but one that is given regardless.
Honestly, Lucas is not overly-perturbed despite the contents of this memory spilling out all over the place. Despite the feelings his mirror-self projects, he's quite secure in his belief that he wasn't actually abandoned, so he's just kind of looking upon this with an air of "oh you, with your silly dramatics".
When Zhongli reaches out, it's a little bit of a surprise, though. Lucas knows that when people aren't aware of what Relivers truly are, his work looks gruesome, so he expects them to draw away and not come nearer. Zhongli isn't exactly an average person, but even then, it's an unexpectedly kind gesture that he isn't sure what to do with for a moment. He doesn't try to escape from the hug, though! After a second, he'll return it, though it's with a faint little huff that could be a small laugh.]
[ a little huff of his own leaves him, though there's not much humor to it. where does one start? human lives are already so short, and so many have left his own life over the millennia, that he'd nearly lose count if not for the memories he holds tight, like their own binding contracts. but it isn't only mankind that lucas reminds him of, in this moment - despite the very human feeling of it all. ]
Perhaps you might not need it, but I felt... it only right to give it. What happened to you reminds me in some ways of others I've known - and I would have liked to have been there with them, when they passed, so that they might not be alone.
[ whether lucas' god would or not, he doesn't call into question. lucas is secure in his faith, and, unlike other gods that he knows pages and books and libraries about from experience, he knows nothing of this one. save for what one of lucas' fellow followers of the faith had him do.
(and in that, he thinks of a broken bird with a shackle of cruelty and commands, forced to obey. did they use lucas' faith as the shackle?)
he has to bow over to properly embrace lucas, but he gives him a squeeze while he's still there. ]
[Sometimes you are just a little freak of a man who's out here reminding gods of past wounds just by existing...
He does seem grateful for the kindness, though, even if perhaps he doesn't think that he's in need of it. Maybe that's just his own little sliver of greed; that selfish part of his heart that's never satisfied with the good he gets, even when he receives miracles. There's a little smile, and he returns the squeeze with a gentle one of his own.]
...I'm sorry to have reminded you of something painful. Your heart is very kind... Surely that person would also have appreciated knowing that even now, you're thinking of them like this.
[Or maybe they wouldn't - Lucas doesn't know. He can only speak for what he himself would believe to be true.]
Thank you for that, as well. My God is truly merciful, so I was granted good after enduring that trial, but... I suppose my heart is still susceptible to selfish whim. [A little smile.] As another selfish ask, I should hope that you might keep this between the two of us. I would hate to worry dear Yves.
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Anyway!! Here they are!! Lucas is just blinking in surprise as he walks through a door INTO THE FUCKING MIRROR HOUSE OF HELL, and this can be the first time he's experienced this for funsies, so he's just like oh! A new location! Surely nothing bad will happen.
Except he just barely has a moment to glance over toward Zhongli before they're being yoinked into a memory.]
no subject
zhongli is about to greet lucas, before he is practically gutpunched out of the blue by the memories being reflected twenty-fold at them in the funhouse of mirrors. and it is an agonizing thing to bear witness to, the loneliness and helplessness that wracks a fragile, human body. he's seen innumerable people die to sickness, incurable and realized too late alike, but this, this is...
cruel. a dying man, forced to soak his hands in blood.
(relivers, he thinks, remembering an unmasked face with wide eyes. have you seen a taller sir that looks a little like me? though his hair is longer and his eyes have a blue pupil. a reliver! you see... i am looking for my grandfather.)
a dying man, whose only wish was to be with his sister - now alone, and abandoned by a god whose deliverance was promised to him.
he's not the right god, by any means, but - zhongli sees him, and he reaches out, first touching both hands to lucas' arms, his elbows, then up. and he draws him forward to envelope him in a hug, one that he can escape, if he desires, but one that is given regardless.
you are seen, and you are no longer alone. ]
no subject
Honestly, Lucas is not overly-perturbed despite the contents of this memory spilling out all over the place. Despite the feelings his mirror-self projects, he's quite secure in his belief that he wasn't actually abandoned, so he's just kind of looking upon this with an air of "oh you, with your silly dramatics".
When Zhongli reaches out, it's a little bit of a surprise, though. Lucas knows that when people aren't aware of what Relivers truly are, his work looks gruesome, so he expects them to draw away and not come nearer. Zhongli isn't exactly an average person, but even then, it's an unexpectedly kind gesture that he isn't sure what to do with for a moment. He doesn't try to escape from the hug, though! After a second, he'll return it, though it's with a faint little huff that could be a small laugh.]
Whatever is this for...?
no subject
Perhaps you might not need it, but I felt... it only right to give it. What happened to you reminds me in some ways of others I've known - and I would have liked to have been there with them, when they passed, so that they might not be alone.
[ whether lucas' god would or not, he doesn't call into question. lucas is secure in his faith, and, unlike other gods that he knows pages and books and libraries about from experience, he knows nothing of this one. save for what one of lucas' fellow followers of the faith had him do.
(and in that, he thinks of a broken bird with a shackle of cruelty and commands, forced to obey. did they use lucas' faith as the shackle?)
he has to bow over to properly embrace lucas, but he gives him a squeeze while he's still there. ]
But here, you are seen.
no subject
He does seem grateful for the kindness, though, even if perhaps he doesn't think that he's in need of it. Maybe that's just his own little sliver of greed; that selfish part of his heart that's never satisfied with the good he gets, even when he receives miracles. There's a little smile, and he returns the squeeze with a gentle one of his own.]
...I'm sorry to have reminded you of something painful. Your heart is very kind... Surely that person would also have appreciated knowing that even now, you're thinking of them like this.
[Or maybe they wouldn't - Lucas doesn't know. He can only speak for what he himself would believe to be true.]
Thank you for that, as well. My God is truly merciful, so I was granted good after enduring that trial, but... I suppose my heart is still susceptible to selfish whim. [A little smile.] As another selfish ask, I should hope that you might keep this between the two of us. I would hate to worry dear Yves.