Albedo shivered, and waited for Rubedo to speak. In the seconds forming the interim, Nigredo took a step forward, to clutch and press at Albedo's back. There was a moment of physical relaxation from the touch, and he leaned back instinctively, exhaling quietly. Nigredo wasn't leaving him at least. No matter.... No matter what this came to, Nigredo wouldn't leave him.
This was something he had gained faith in, formed from the shattered remains of a broken heart.
--To complement, it seemed his twin had broken his mind at first thought, and there was no end to that amusement at the words used. Albedo's hands clenched into fists, and as his nails pressed into his palms, the boy laughed, the sound grating and harsh, high and nearly unnatural. "Have you been spending time seeking Valhalla, dear heart?" The endearment came without effort, as if they hadn't been separated for weeks pushing years. "I wager you'll have a hard time finding it."
And Loki's house. Really. Of all of them.... Again, the boy laughed, and there was a desperate quality in it. In that family, the youngest was the father's favorite, the eldest the most gifted and skilled, and the middle one? One that didn't belong, who was villainized for his plots, and cast out from the family that he had. Oh, didn't that just smack of similarities? Didn't that just cling to things known well?
Albedo was breathing hard, and he hadn't realized it. The laughter cut short, and he stared, dead-eyed, at his twin. "No, he wouldn't," he said, speaking of the earring, and--how ironic! For wasn't that what Albedo had noticed first before?! "You're twenty-seven, then." A guess as good as any--the last ones had been, why not this one? If people were taken from a moment of great meaning-- Albedo and Nigredo's lives had changed at the Conflict, but it seemed Rubedo's was far later.
Perhaps that was just an assumption. Albedo couldn't claim to know. The child was suddenly tired, the energy drained out of him, and he nearly slumped where he stood. "...Wherever you've been," he picked up again, tone exhausted. "We've been elsewhere. There's a great many different realities nestled within time and space, and--"
Albedo stared as if to discern meaning. "And we've met quite a few of you in the time spent here."
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This was something he had gained faith in, formed from the shattered remains of a broken heart.
--To complement, it seemed his twin had broken his mind at first thought, and there was no end to that amusement at the words used. Albedo's hands clenched into fists, and as his nails pressed into his palms, the boy laughed, the sound grating and harsh, high and nearly unnatural. "Have you been spending time seeking Valhalla, dear heart?" The endearment came without effort, as if they hadn't been separated for weeks pushing years. "I wager you'll have a hard time finding it."
And Loki's house. Really. Of all of them.... Again, the boy laughed, and there was a desperate quality in it. In that family, the youngest was the father's favorite, the eldest the most gifted and skilled, and the middle one? One that didn't belong, who was villainized for his plots, and cast out from the family that he had. Oh, didn't that just smack of similarities? Didn't that just cling to things known well?
Albedo was breathing hard, and he hadn't realized it. The laughter cut short, and he stared, dead-eyed, at his twin. "No, he wouldn't," he said, speaking of the earring, and--how ironic! For wasn't that what Albedo had noticed first before?! "You're twenty-seven, then." A guess as good as any--the last ones had been, why not this one? If people were taken from a moment of great meaning-- Albedo and Nigredo's lives had changed at the Conflict, but it seemed Rubedo's was far later.
Perhaps that was just an assumption. Albedo couldn't claim to know. The child was suddenly tired, the energy drained out of him, and he nearly slumped where he stood. "...Wherever you've been," he picked up again, tone exhausted. "We've been elsewhere. There's a great many different realities nestled within time and space, and--"
Albedo stared as if to discern meaning. "And we've met quite a few of you in the time spent here."