ledbythewind | EMPATHEIAS IC CONTACT/APPOINTMENTS POST

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EMPATHEIAS IC CONTACT/APPOINTMENTS POST

This post can be used to thread with or get in contact with Richard at any point when he doesn't have a post up! Just comment here (please use the format [Action], [Voice], etc. to make it clear what type of thread it is) for a thread with him; if it's a continuation of another thread or post, please link that so I remember the context of the thread.

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Your mind was still your own.

[That's kind of a very touchy subject for him for multiple reasons okay.]

...it was, but it wasn't easy seeing my friends think they were dead, or other friends were dead.

[Just saying.]

But you were affected by the Dream Dust--is that why you were so volatile?

[Ah, there it is: the start of the questions that he knew Yusuke had to have. He nods his assent, mouth tightening into a thin line.]

Yes. Please believe me when I say that I would never act that way towards you or anyone else otherwise.

[His remorse is obvious and very real, as is his anger at himself for allowing it to happen.]

Those false memories... they led me to believe that someone very important to me was dead.

[Oh, no.]

That was the case for a few of my friends as well. I take it they're not here in Verens, though.

[The topic is an uncomfortable one, but it's easier to talk about false memories than real ones.]

No. Although that probably made it easier for me to believe the memories...

I don't think it would have mattered. You might have just thought they were a ghost. Several of my friends did.

So I wasn't the only one.

[That makes him feel a tiny bit better. As horrible as it was, there is a strange sort of comfort in knowing that he isn't the only one who had to face memories of someone dear to them dying.]

These friends of yours... did they react as badly to the memories as I did?

[Please tell him he wasn't the only one who embarrassed himself that badly.]

Differently, but just as bad in my opinion, and there were plenty of people who were completely normally who behaved even worse.

[Yusuke chuckles a little and gestures to his jaw.]

A friend of mine punched me for trying to get him out of the mines because it was so miserable down there.

I see...

[The guilt is ebbing away just slightly at hearing that others had lashed out as well, though he still can't help but feel that he should have been better than that.]

I'm sorry you had to go through that, even if it wasn't entirely their fault. Those mines didn't paint anyone in their best light... myself included.

I don't think anyone's going to blame anyone else. It was miserable down there for us all.

[Seriously, he's fine.]

I'm just glad everyone is back to normal. Does that sort of thing happen often here?

[He shakes his head.]

Not to that extent. There have been times where our emotions have been affected by outside sources, but I haven't heard of memories being altered as well. That was why all of us were caught off guard.

Hopefully it'll never happen again, in that case. I'm not sure the city'd survive that many upset and angry people again.

If it were to happen again... could I ask you to stop me once more?

[For Richard, this is kind of a Big Deal. Trust doesn't come easily to him and he doesn't tend to show it in conventional ways thanks to his background; odd though it may seem, asking someone else to save him from himself is a testament to just how much faith he has in that person. Congratulations, Yusuke?]

I would do the same for you, of course, though I can't promise that it might not involve more punching.

If that happens to me, I'd ask to be punched.

[Yusuke has no idea that this is a big deal for Richard. None whatsoever. Sure, it's a bit odd and he's not sure why Richard is asking him, of all people, but then again Yusuke knows a talking cat.

Really, this is just a Tuesday. Or whatever day of the week it is. He's lost track again.]

If it happens again, I'll help you, Richard-san.

[That earns Yusuke a smile that is a few notches closer to the genuine end of the scale, one that is tinged with relief. Though he's still (understandably) upset over what transpired, it feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders, and the guarded air he'd been keeping up melts ever-so-slightly.]

Thank you, Yusuke.

[And now that he's no longer preoccupied with his own thoughts, he finally notices that sketchbook in Yusuke's lap.]

You're an artist?

[Yusuke's never been able to understand why people ask that. Obviously he's an artist, he's not going to carry around a giant sketchbook for funsies.]

I am. I've been learning various styles and mediums since I was a small child.

May I see?

[He realizes as soon as the words leave his mouth that it's probably a bit pushy to be asking to see someone's art without them offering it first, but he can't help it-- he's curious. Although he's no artist himself, he does enjoy looking at the works of others.]

[Yusuke hesitates before flipping the pages of his book.]

...there are a few pieces I could share. Most of them aren't complete enough.

[But he is able to show Richard some of his works. A few pages of wyvern motion studies, one of catform Morgana drawn from memory, and a few pages of buildings in the city he'd sketched out.]

[Richard just stares wide-eyed as Yusuke flips through the sketches, fascinated. He's so used to seeing finished works of art that seeing the rough sketches is something new and different to him.]

Those are remarkable. Many artists can depict an object's structure, but few are able to capture the feelings that object invokes. Those wyverns... you can feel the movement in these sketches. They almost seem like they could leap right off the page.

[The area literally lights up and--whoops, delighted pastel pink all over you, Richard. It's not real paint and will fade, but...]

You study art? I'll admit, movement isn't my strongest suite, but I'm trying to get better at it, and the wyverns are so unique that I feel if I can capture them adequately, humans shouldn't seem so daunting.

[... well. That's a new one to him. He blinks for a moment at his rather sudden makeover, lifting one arm to see if it will wipe off. Apparently not. Hopefully it's temporary...]

I'm afraid I can hardly draw a straight line without help. However, the castle was filled with paintings by countless artists from all across the kingdom. Some of them looked so real that it seemed like I could reach right into the picture and touch them.

[Another smile, but this one is almost sad.]

I spent my childhood wishing I could visit the places I saw in those paintings.

[Richard's sad smile is met with one of Yusuke's own as he runs his hands over the page.]

Sometimes it's the same for the artist. We want to escape just as much as the viewer.

Yusuke...

[It's... strange. He shouldn't be happy that someone else understands, because that means that Yusuke's past is haunted by demons of his own, and Richard wouldn't wish that on anyone else. Yet he can't deny that there is something almost soothing about knowing that Yusuke understood the true meaning behind his words-- a sense of solidarity, in a way.

The color staining him slowly begins to gradate from pink to a deep purple, then to blue.]

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up.

No, it's fine.

[And it really is. Yusuke doesn't like talking about what he's gone through, but he's not ashamed by it. It's just...not easy.]

I think we both managed to escape, didn't we?

[He nods, expression softening somewhat.]

We're here talking to each other right now, aren't we?

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