Jakob/Azama C-S

C

Azama: Well, if it isn't Prince Corrin's surly butler! How are you enjoying the weather today, Jakob?

Jakob: Am I supposed to recall your name?

Azama: I didn't really expect you to, no. But you didn't actually forget my name, did you?

Jakob: ...Did you need something, Azama?

Azama: I was going to offer to pray for your soul, actually.

Jakob: Hilarious. I'm not exactly the praying type.

Azama: Oh, neither am I!

Jakob: I- What?

Azama: I just thought that if anyone needed a prayer or two, it would be the man who's greying before his thirties.

Jakob: (...You can't attack your allies, Jakob...)

Jakob: Did you seek me out simply to antagonize me?

Azama: Not entirely. I also came to tell there's a strategy meeting in an hour.

Jakob: An hour?! That isn't nearly enough time to prepare everything!

Azama: Well that's my job done! Enjoy your day, Jakob!

B

Jakob: Of all the days to misplace- Oh. It's you.

Azama: Well, you certainly don't look happy.

Jakob: I'm not. Did you need something?

Azama: No, nothing at all. I just noticed I was in your way.

Jakob: And you decided to just stand there?

Azama: Should the rock move for the stream?

Jakob: The force of the stream could easily move the rock.

Azama: Oho! You're going to force me out of the way, then?

Jakob: You aren't worth the effort.

Azama: Are you always this cold to your allies?

Jakob: Are you always this persistently annoying?

Azama: Why, yes. I am.

Jakob: How Princess Hinoka stands your presence is truly a mystery.

Azama: Isn't it? I wonder myself, on occasion!

Jakob: Of all the flippant...!

Azama: Well, I suppose it's time for this rock to drift downstream! You really should learn to smile sometime, Jakob. That constant scowl is going to give you early wrinkles!

Jakob: No pressing news for me today?

Azama: Pressing? I thought an hour was a perfectly reasonable timeframe.

Jakob: Obviously, you've never been a butler. A hour is barely enough time to pick and brew a suitable tea blend, let alone a suitable tea set.

Azama: Does it matter if it's suitable, though? I'm sure Prince Corrin and the wartable have more important worries than what they're drinking.

Jakob: You-!

Azama: That struck a nerve? I shouldn't be surprised, considering that butlery is your whole personality!

Jakob: ...You don't know anything about me.

Azama: Maybe not "know" but I can make some guesses.

Jakob: I've had enough of this, I'm leaving.

Azama: Running away, more like.

A

Azama: Wandering aimlessly, I see. Something on your mind?

Jakob: How do you always happen to be where I am?

Azama: I suppose you're just lucky.

Jakob: Horribly unlucky, I'd say. Here to bother me again? Rile me up and then blithely leave?

Azama: What do you mean "here to bother you?" You found me out here. This is holy ground, you know.

Jakob: Then I don't see why you would have any interest being here. Your distate for your profession is obvious.

Azama: No more than your distaste for yours is.

Jakob: This again?

Azama: You don't buttle because you want to. You just do it because it's all you know. We're not so different in that.

Jakob: If you don't like being a monk, stop.

Azama: If you don't like being a servant, stop.

Jakob: ...

Azama: Easier said than done, right?

Azama: Being a monk is basically the same as being a servant. Just to a higher entity. But to you, there's no higher entity than Prince Corrin. Isn't that right?

Jakob: The fact that you pretend to understand me is as infuriating as it is insulting.

Jakob: I've gotten a good read on you these past few days, Azama. You talk like you know everything, but you don't know anything at all, do you?

Azama: That might be true of me with others, but I actually know you very well.

Jakob: Enlighten me, then.

Azama: Well, it all started when I was just a child-

Jakob: Excuse me? What does this have to do with me?

Azama: Hush, I'll get there. As I was saying, it started when I was a child. My father was the head priest of a shrine; my older brother was training to become the next head.

Azama: Naturally, I thought that I had no obligations to priesthood, considering Father had it all figured out. He thought otherwise.

Azama: Apparently, I was such a brat that his idea of enlightening me to my responsibilities was sending me out into the mountains until I learned my lesson.

Jakob: It doesn't seem like it worked.

Azama: Not to his standards, no. So in the mountains I stayed! Eventually I happened upon Lady Hinoka, and the rest is history.

Jakob: And this has what to do with me?

Azama: Did your parents love you?

Jakob: I- Of all the absurd questions to ask- I think this conversation is over.

Azama: Very well, very well.

S

Jakob: They didn't.

Azama: Hm?

Jakob: They didn't love me.

Azama: Ah. So, we're having a serious conversation, then?

Jakob: You're the one who started this. Now, hold your tongue and live with it.

Azama: Is that what you did?

Jakob: You-

Jakob: ...You may be right.

Azama: Progress!

Jakob: What inspires you to be so persistent in this? Do you think our pasts bring us together, or some nonsense?

Azama: I just think you need to lighten up.

Azama: Before you start yelling at me, let me explain. You're never going to be happy like this. You devote everything to Prince Corrin, but you don't let anyone in. You push everyone away because it's easier then to try to make connections.

Jakob: And? You have a problem with this why exactly?

Azama: Because I could have been you. Bitter! Surly! Unable to make any real connections! It's heartbreaking, really.

Jakob: What exactly do you suggest I do, then? Since you seem to know me so well.

Azama: I think you should let someone in. Me, namely.

Jakob: You?!

Azama: Me! Think about it. Us, challenging each other! Hurling insults and having arguments about philosophy. It would be fantastic.

Jakob: You want me to suffer with you for the rest of my days?

Azama: Exactly.

Jakob: You...

Azama: You already stand my presence more than others, right? Willingly have conversations and all?

Jakob: ...I do so hate it when you have a point.

Azama: You have to start thinking about yourself. Living a real life with someone who doesn't wither away when you yell at them.

Jakob: I suppose you want us to go honeymooning in the mountains?

Azama: Oh, not on your life. Is that a yes?

Jakob: I can't imagine anyone else attempting to break down my walls.

Azama: I've gotten through a few of them already! I'm sure I have plenty of time to chisel through the rest.

Jakob: Beyond that, I have the assurance that I can always smother you someday.

Azama: Sure, you could. But you won't.