[Shadow Self meme-jack]

[bloodyashes]

[Even those who know Asch and Luke well might get a bit confused seeing this redhead wandering around. The slightly darker hair is a clue, tied back in a loose ponytail, and the clothes are little better. That's not something Luke would wear, right?

And yet he doesn't carry himself like Asch at all; there's something gentle about this boy that the God-General lacks. Asch is a blade just under the water, waiting to strike those who don't pay enough attention. This boy is a gentle stream, quiet but steady, nearly impossible to dam up.

The boy who might have been Luke looks at you with bright yellow eyes and a gentle smile.]

Comments

[seekinganswers]

You said you're what's left when there's nothing more to burn.

[She says it gently, trying to keep herself calm, but there's something wrong here. Have the administrators done something to him? She looks up, looks into his eyes, and starts.

They're yellow. Not the usual bright green that she's grown so used to, but yellow. What on earth...?

If they've done something to him, she can't leave him in the thrall of whatever it is. She speaks carefully as she prepares the Mind Read Psynergy, but she doesn't try and look at his thoughts until she's finished speaking.]

I think there were a lot of things that Van never meant to be true. But ever since you broke free from him, you've forged your own truths and made bonds that he could never touch. That no one could ever touch.

[Falling silent, she casts Mind Read and attempts to see what he's thinking - she thinks that maybe he's trapped somewhere within his own mind, just able to speak this time, unlike the last time when she hadn't been herself either.]

tags this rly late

[bloodyashes]

[Mind Read will reveal something quite strange - his mind isn't blank, exactly, but there is no difference between his thoughts and the words that come out of his mouth, not even the small variations of someone who is considering the right way to say something.]

And I'm forever grateful for that. For you, and all the rest - I don't think I could trust myself to do the right thing, if you weren't around. You give me something to hold myself to.

[His expression sombers, a little, and he glances off to the side.]

Natalia would have done the same if I'd given her the chance, but she couldn't see me as anything but her fantasies of me. It hurt too much, being unable to live up to them. But you and the people here - you had no expectations of me.