Audience: Ashiya Douman

[probe]

Comments

[probe]

you don't have to be sorry, I know that you're not them. I did want to meet you, though, I just thought

I don't know, maybe you'd hate me for getting along with them, or helping them

[commedia]

I don't like thinking that people liked that vile demon. That they persuaded so many of their niceness when in reality they were as heartless as anything.

But in the end, what is done is done. I may not have liked it, but it still happened. Right now, you are feeling bad and I am willing to put that aside for the moment...

Honestly I just want to say that you remind me a lot of me. And I can't judge you for wanting what I would have wanted. Being wanted is...alluring.

[probe]

...it really is

I knew, you know? I've always been aware of what they're like, and I think they knew that too, but

I guess there are aspects I can sympathize with for both of you.

[commedia]

[...]

I guess in the end, as much as I loathe to admit it...we are the same person.

So...thank you, I suppose.

[probe]

you really don't have to thank me for anything

but, um

if you're okay with it, I do want to get to know you, too

[commedia]

[Should they? Envy reminds them too much of themselves. Their relationship with Limbo was grating, but only because it was too familiar, too cloying, needing attention from both sides.]

[But in the end...Envy reminds them too much of themselves. And Douman doesn't have the heart yet to be as cruel as their Alter Ego was.]

I'm okay with it.

But bear in mind that I'm not as open as that thing was.

[probe]

I know, I know

you're the same but you're still different, I'm not going to assume you're exactly like them!

d'you mind if I come by?

[commedia]

[A pause, but:]

No, I wouldn't mind at all. I'd welcome the company.

[probe]

give me a little bit, okay

[and a while later, envy will drag himself out of the blood pool! if douman isn't around, then he's just going to come track them down. hello.]

[commedia]

[Honestly, Douman has no idea where the Avatars come from, seeing as they just Appear, so they're mostly just walking around, glancing at the city skyline, and...]

[Oh.]

[They turn and blink, recognizing Envy.]

Envy! [And they walk up, and there's the urge to embrace, but...they just reach out to touch the other's shoulder, lightly.] Did it take a lot to come here?

[probe]

Shiya! Um- well. Unless you don't want me to call you that.

[force of habit... he looks a little sheepish, reaching up to pat their hand by way of returning that contact.]

But no, it's easier on me than some of the others.

[commedia]

Oh! Oh, no, that's fine.

[Its honestly a cute nickname, even if its not something Douman is used to, of course.]

I think they said that Sloth, Despair, and you have it easier than the others. Perhaps with the nature of this place? I'm glad it wasn't that difficult...

[probe]

I'm a medium, you know? So I'm already pretty close to the dead. I think it's probably something to do with that.

[just try and keep him away from dead people.]

[commedia]

A medium? Ah...so you're already leaning on the wall between life and death.

[And they seem to remember something, and give a bow.]

I apologize. I forgot my manners. You know, I was...nervous about meeting you. But I think I would like to simply...start from scratch. Clean the board. Know you on my own terms. If that would be fine with you.

[probe]

Literally, yes. I kind of exist in both.

[it's all interplanar bullshit, he will leave it at that.]

But, um-- of course that's okay with me, I just- I don't want to make you uncomfortable? I might, anyway, it'll be kind of an adjustment, but. I'm going to try.

[commedia]

No, its alright.

[And a pause, before they reach out a hand to take Envy's?]

Let's just walk around together. And talk.

[probe]

[envy takes that hand, with a relieved little smile.]

-yeah. Yeah, I think that sounds good.

[commedia]

[Time to walk along, hand in hand.]

So tell me about yourself. You said you were a medium, correct? But...have you always been like that?

[Or was it a training thing?]

[probe]

...always, yeah. I, um- most people can't do what I can, where I come from? They don't usually believe in ghosts at all, not really. So it was... hard.

[commedia]

Oh, really?

[A squeeze to the hand, possibly unconscious.]

That must have been lonely.

[probe]

...it was. I've lived on my own for a while, it's-- I can't really mesh well with other people, usually. The dead usually look just like living people to me, so I don't... I end up looking like I'm talking to people who aren't there.

[commedia]

...

[Being seen as someone outside the norm because of what you are, what you can do...]

[Douman knows that too well.]

It may be scary for most, but...I think a skill like yours is valuable.

[probe]

[he holds onto their hand a little bit tighter.]

I like to think so, anyway. It is for the ghosts-- they don't have a lot of people who can speak to them, much less interact with them.

[commedia]

Well, of course. The dead are the dead. Cut off from life, some do what they can to persist as they are.

[A huff.]

I am no medium, myself, but ghosts, evil spirits, beings that dwelt in other worlds...some could post harm. But some simply wanted to live. Well, "live".

[probe]

It's like that for a lot of them that I know. They just-- they're not ready to go anywhere. They want to be acknowledged, and to be able to communicate. It's lonely for me, yeah, but.... it's even lonelier for them.