I am.

[22:15] Emiri sighs
(Emiri Taiyang)
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[22:15] Emiri Taiyang says, "Oh great, you're here."
[22:15] Emiri Taiyang says, "SIGH."
[22:15] Adonis Lowe says, "Who are they going to address? "
[22:16] Siegfried looks at his father. It is the most anticlimactic reunion...perhaps in the history of reunions. Rather than immediately even address it, in fact, because it is so anticlimactic, he instead turns to Adonis.
(Siegfried)
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[22:16] Siegfried says, "..."
[22:16] Siegfried says, "Fuck, he ran off too."
[22:16] Siegfried asks, "What, do you need to borrow some money or somethin'?"
[22:16] Emiri Taiyang says, "Your friend is already gone. Maybe if you were more perspective you'd stop loving a corpse, and you'd have realized he ran off. So sad, so pathetic."
[22:17] Emiri Taiyang says, "I could buy you."
[22:17] Siegfried says, "........."
[22:17] Siegfried asks, "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"
[22:17] Emiri Taiyang asks, "Have you made anything of yourself yet?"
[22:17] He balls his fist. That one was unnecessarily harsh.
(Siegfried)
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[22:18] Siegfried asks, "Dunno. You done anything in the last fifteen years besides sit on your ass?"
[22:18] Siegfried says, "All that tea's really goin' to the gut."
[22:19] Magdalen's kind of listening in, honestly a little shocked by the exchange. She doesn't butt in, though. That's a first.
(Magdalen Elisheva)
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[22:22] Percival was, actually, still in perfect otter condition in some strange way. The illuminated offered perfect insight to the greatest ways to stay fit, and youthful, and also beautiful. Even so, it can't help the mild amount of wrinkle lines his scowl gives off towards his eldest son.

"I'm sure I can probably do more than you just by breathing. Hm? I'm an alchemist, I make something of myself. Do you enforce here? Have you done anything about the trees that plague the statue of Elisheva the Principle Ithaca the Slayer, Arthur Pendragon the hero, or the rest of the land around us? Children can get lost in this new forest, and die to creatures like Sors Ultovex, or rabid demons. But I guess it's my fault for not treating you well when you didn't demand or deserve any of my respect as a child, right?"

He reaches into his pocket, pulling free a Nyphadora plushie. He squeezes it, as it squeaks in response.

"Does this help? Fatherly love? A gift? You're the one who decided to run away. Maybe you should go and do literally anything so I can learn to try and respect you as a person-

-oh, and by do anything, I don't mean do your corpse girlfriend. Got it?"

He drops the plush at Siegfried's feet. He huffs.
(Emiri Taiyang)
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[22:28] "You know...I already had this talk today, with people who're actually a part o' my life."

Siegfried is not ethereally beautiful, preserved by magic to look otherworldly perfect. He is the sum of his scars, marred by his every defeat, having been ravaged by the world as he failed, time and again, to leave his impact when it counted most. His eyes remain transfixed on the plushie, for now, as if unable to believe the audacity of his father...

And then he looks up.

"She isn't my girlfriend," he says feebly, sounding very, very tired, and very old. Older than his father who was twice his age, if it were even possible. Today had been a lot of him being told that he wasn't quite up to snuff, at this point, and he was getting rather sick of it all. "An' since when do you give a shit about trees? You're that grouchy of an old man?"

The Nyphadora plushie does not help. In fact, he kicks at the damnable thing, sending it flying into a nearby lamp post. Flame flashes in his eyes.

"I ran away to get the hell away from this. From you. All you've ever damn wanted was another you. But I don't want to be you. I don't even think you wanna be you.

I wanna be me."

After the rant, he seems...exhausted. Like the smoking forest after the wildfire has burned out. Dull blue eyes gaze into his father's.

"Why can't you just respect that?"
(Siegfried)
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[22:44] "So kawaii, so genki, Yasuo. So cutesy-wutesy. Maybe if you hadn't run away I could be part of your life. I could have helped you. But here you are.

Do you even know what to do with yourself right now?"

His eyes are cold, calculating. He can see himself thirty years ago in the same place standing before him. When Reito became Chancellor, and he earned nothing. When he became Illuminated, but the Chancellor shone brighter than he did. When he was given the role of Chancellorship out of pity.

"I don't want another me. I disappoint myself. I just wanted a son who was more than me. Better. Stronger for it."

He hisses.

"But here I am, looking at a broken, broken person who I don't even know anymore. Are you going towaste more years of your life like this?"
(Emiri Taiyang)
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[22:54] * You have been awarded 1 Roleplay Points! *
[22:55] …

His eyes...go soft. They go hollow. It's like all the pieces fall into place. It's like he comes to understand everything that he'd failed to before. This is his father, looking at him, and telling him that at one point, he had been in Siegfried's shoes.

The very same father that he'd ran away from.

The very same father that he had been so afraid to face as he was.

The very same father that had seemed so perfect, so impossible to please.

The very same father that was now telling him that all he'd ever wanted, all along, was to be a better him.

"Emiri..."

The words come out stranger than he'd expected. Alien. He doesn't even speak of his own father. He doesn't even say his own father's name. This is the first time he's done so in years - even writing it in his letter to Sors had been such a chore that he'd never wanted to do so again. And now, the phantom that haunted his memories, who he'd demonized, worked into this larger than life boogeyman, dreaded encountering, and now looked in the eyes...

Stood before him. Encouraging him. Motivating him.

It was far, far too much.

"Dad."

He runs a hand through his hair. The instruments he carries on his person rattle. They drop. He just...looks at the man in front of him.

"I've always thought you were the greatest. That nothing I could ever have done would live up to that legacy you've built. An' here you are, the one person I thought didn't have a regret..."

He'd been so stupid.

"But even you're just a person. I see that now."

And even though Emiri'd already said it, he needed to know...

"What do you want me to do now?"
(Siegfried)

_____________________

[23:06] It was like his own façade broke, for a brief moment as his son finally pieces it all together. Why he never raised Haruko- Why he never bothered once she became impulsive about everything he feared- and refused to acknowledge. It was the exact reason why she dropped her in front of Reito in response.

He sighs.

"No, I am not just.. A person. I am.."

He turns his head. His whole body. Wow. That hurt. He wasn't even the Chancellor anymore.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do. You have to figure it out yourself." He declared, before beginning to walk down the stone path. With a mere focus of his mana, he evaporates into light and leaves behind a stoneskin potion.
(Emiri Taiyang)
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[23:06] {Item} You picked up Stone Skin. Dropped by Emiri Taiyang. .