[ Which, yes, means alone tasks. Better not to deal with the fact he's allied with the enemy when attempting to navigate such uneven ground. Better not to paint a target upon Viktor's back, however unintentionally, when he's only barely grazed the surface of just how much everything has changed in the wake of their deaths.
Viktor's alertness does not go unnoticed, though. Emet-Selch weighs just how much of an answer to give and decides on functionally none. Not until he understands the full scope of the situation. Not until he has made a plan for what must be done and can run it past Viktor, less for reassurance and more for the peace of mind that Viktor will not interfere if what needs to be done is ugly. ]
When we've both returned and before we explore where the princeling would prefer we do not, I will explain my...suspicions on the matter. But not until I've confirmed them wholly. You'll simply have to live with a little mystery for now, I fear.
[ To hear Viktor explain his thoughts is not necessarily a surprise. An earlier Emet-Selch likely would have agreed to the assessment, but an earlier Emet-Selch would not have let Viktor linger in the room because he had no time for ghosts and certainly no time for flesh and blood recreations of them. Fetching his own glass once again with one hand, he goes back to the lazy lounge, one elbow leaned atop the stonework. The simple answer is that the first time...he'd forgotten himself. Forgotten to hold that line between them in the sand, ceded too much territory to Viktor and had not cared to take it back. There was still a barrier of a floor between them, he'd thought, foolish. A slippery slope, as always; he'd known it then and now was proof but he cannot quite find guilt about the choice when he looks for it. ]
I took my baths with you present because it was convenient. [ An understatement. The word convenient holds a half-dozen meanings with middling success. ] I misliked the thought of wasting time, and it seemed...wasteful just to send you away when 'twas not as if you could leer at me from the bottom floor.
[ And it isn't that he thought Viktor would leer, nor that he couldn't deal with a bit of leering, exactly, either. In some cases he'd almost prefer a leer - easier than contending with the simple truth of want. ]
no subject
[ Which, yes, means alone tasks. Better not to deal with the fact he's allied with the enemy when attempting to navigate such uneven ground. Better not to paint a target upon Viktor's back, however unintentionally, when he's only barely grazed the surface of just how much everything has changed in the wake of their deaths.
Viktor's alertness does not go unnoticed, though. Emet-Selch weighs just how much of an answer to give and decides on functionally none. Not until he understands the full scope of the situation. Not until he has made a plan for what must be done and can run it past Viktor, less for reassurance and more for the peace of mind that Viktor will not interfere if what needs to be done is ugly. ]
When we've both returned and before we explore where the princeling would prefer we do not, I will explain my...suspicions on the matter. But not until I've confirmed them wholly. You'll simply have to live with a little mystery for now, I fear.
[ To hear Viktor explain his thoughts is not necessarily a surprise. An earlier Emet-Selch likely would have agreed to the assessment, but an earlier Emet-Selch would not have let Viktor linger in the room because he had no time for ghosts and certainly no time for flesh and blood recreations of them. Fetching his own glass once again with one hand, he goes back to the lazy lounge, one elbow leaned atop the stonework. The simple answer is that the first time...he'd forgotten himself. Forgotten to hold that line between them in the sand, ceded too much territory to Viktor and had not cared to take it back. There was still a barrier of a floor between them, he'd thought, foolish. A slippery slope, as always; he'd known it then and now was proof but he cannot quite find guilt about the choice when he looks for it. ]
I took my baths with you present because it was convenient. [ An understatement. The word convenient holds a half-dozen meanings with middling success. ] I misliked the thought of wasting time, and it seemed...wasteful just to send you away when 'twas not as if you could leer at me from the bottom floor.
[ And it isn't that he thought Viktor would leer, nor that he couldn't deal with a bit of leering, exactly, either. In some cases he'd almost prefer a leer - easier than contending with the simple truth of want. ]