[ The proper place to have this conversation is not in the bowels of the Underworld, where all of the fragments of the dead lie waiting, listening if not properly aware, but neither is the best path forward to dismiss Viktor, changing the subject. He's made his bed, Emet-Selch thinks wryly, and now he must lie in it.
Of course I do. That is not the answer to give. That would destroy more trust than basically anything he could say, Emet-Selch thinks. Evasion is a better tactic, for now, focusing on Viktor's own preoccupation with what Emet-Selch thought was a simple, easy no from him. ]
I fail to see how providing access between the shards' Underworlds and incentivizing rejoinings - chaotic, sloppy rejoinings, potentially fundamentally unmaking and remaking souls in the process - is a solution you would be best pleased with.
[ It's certainly not one he likes to consider. The rejoinings they managed were not...neat, necessarily, but they ensured like called to like. Countless souls mixing and matching may sound romantic in a way, but it is not just the souls that would mix, it is their memories, their thoughts, their impressions. The countless horrors each one experienced, those events written upon the aether of their souls now mixing, melding with the others. He does not know if anything would go wrong, but there seem to be too many ways for the manifestation of all that hurt scattered about to gather, to say nothing of the other countless issues. He would be condemning all of them to a final death as they were, and would not recognize what they would be reborn as.
Viktor continues, and instead of chastised as he should probably feel, anger is what burns the rest of the feelings out. Hydaelyn had hobbled them immeasurably. Had she done this intentionally? Sliced the parts and pieces of Aepymetes that made him difficult to work with, scattered those across the shards so they would be easier to use to her ends? He could not fault the process looking at it objectively, but objectivity was hard to maintain when considering Viktor.
He does not like being wrong, but the way Viktor describes what he'd felt - fleeting as the explanation is, Emet-Selch knows he was at the very least not right. He'd assumed most, if not all of that sensation would be far out of reach. His mouth presses into a tight little line of displeasure, but he lets Viktor speak, pleased, at the very least, at the heat in his words. ]
I understand. Are we quite finished here? If you would like to be irritated at me further, I would prefer it when we're both in our borrowed quarters, warm, and ideally with a glass of wine.
no subject
Of course I do. That is not the answer to give. That would destroy more trust than basically anything he could say, Emet-Selch thinks. Evasion is a better tactic, for now, focusing on Viktor's own preoccupation with what Emet-Selch thought was a simple, easy no from him. ]
I fail to see how providing access between the shards' Underworlds and incentivizing rejoinings - chaotic, sloppy rejoinings, potentially fundamentally unmaking and remaking souls in the process - is a solution you would be best pleased with.
[ It's certainly not one he likes to consider. The rejoinings they managed were not...neat, necessarily, but they ensured like called to like. Countless souls mixing and matching may sound romantic in a way, but it is not just the souls that would mix, it is their memories, their thoughts, their impressions. The countless horrors each one experienced, those events written upon the aether of their souls now mixing, melding with the others. He does not know if anything would go wrong, but there seem to be too many ways for the manifestation of all that hurt scattered about to gather, to say nothing of the other countless issues. He would be condemning all of them to a final death as they were, and would not recognize what they would be reborn as.
Viktor continues, and instead of chastised as he should probably feel, anger is what burns the rest of the feelings out. Hydaelyn had hobbled them immeasurably. Had she done this intentionally? Sliced the parts and pieces of Aepymetes that made him difficult to work with, scattered those across the shards so they would be easier to use to her ends? He could not fault the process looking at it objectively, but objectivity was hard to maintain when considering Viktor.
He does not like being wrong, but the way Viktor describes what he'd felt - fleeting as the explanation is, Emet-Selch knows he was at the very least not right. He'd assumed most, if not all of that sensation would be far out of reach. His mouth presses into a tight little line of displeasure, but he lets Viktor speak, pleased, at the very least, at the heat in his words. ]
I understand. Are we quite finished here? If you would like to be irritated at me further, I would prefer it when we're both in our borrowed quarters, warm, and ideally with a glass of wine.