perfectmatch | week two

[ the view is very nice, objectively. Were he younger, he might have been moved by it. Now, it stirs nothing in his exhausted heart besides a vague yearning for home. Nature is beautiful, but it isn't enough. Nothing ever is.

At least Rom is enjoying it. Maybe. It's still hard to tell how much of him is genuine. ]

... Such a simple thing thou wouldst stake thy chances on.

[ The comment isn't dismissive, merely bemused. Rom seems well-educated about this world's technology, its culture - all of it is far beyond Messmer, much too far for him to even attempt to comprehend, and so maybe Rom is right about "how the show views them." ]

Thou fearest assumptions. Then shall I test thy intuition?

[ He briefly considers arguing against the wording -- pointing out that he doesn't fear making assumptions, and that it's simply a strategic choice. But it doesn't feel like the sort of thing that would make a significant difference to Messmer.

'Lived a long life,' Wei Wuxian had said. And that he sees the world in a different way than most. A factor that he thinks holds promise, thought finding the right angle to broach it from remains a problem. So for now -- ]

A test? How scary. That's quite the intimidating thing to propose, you know. [ So he says, but his demeanor and delivery remain unchanged, even his posture staying lax as he meets Messmer's eyes. ] But I suppose it would be anticlimactic for the audience if I were to refuse, so -- I'll do my best to meet your expectations.

[ he'd tell Rom to relax, but he's pretty sure Rom is already relaxing, in spite of his words to the contrary. ]

It is thine own expectations thou'rt to be compared against.

[ his "true nature" is his burden to bear, but Messmer has no reason to conceal his variety of other problems; he may as well throw another data point into Rom's unexpectedly simple comparison. ]

I am the son of Queen Marika, the Eternal - the goddess who doth keep our homeland under the protection of her Golden Order and the boughs of the sacred Erdtree. Through it, all things are harmoniously conjoined. Yet there remaineth forces beyond even Mother's salvation. Blasphemies of chaos and ruin that entwine not with Grace - that would threaten its very roots. [ he holds out one hand, palm upwards, and a small orb of fire appears out of thin air there - slightly different from a regular flame, with dark red-black embers that lick in serpentine coils. ] Such flames are sin against the Erdtree. Yet from my birth they hath burned through my veins as surely as my mother's grace. What tree giveth seed cursed by nature to one day fell it?

[ Moments like these, he's almost grateful for the decades of practice he's had in keeping a straight face while confronted by horrors on a daily basis. Otherwise, he's pretty sure he would have already flinched back -- if not from the sudden appearance of those flames, then from the gravity of what Messmer is saying.

But at a glance, Rom appears perfectly at ease with everything he's being told, only giving a placid blink at that finale of a rhetorical question. And there's only a moment's pause, a slight tilt of the head, before he responds: ]

Ahhh~ that would explain it. I was wondering what I was seeing in you, Lord Messmer! Now it makes a little more sense.

[ Truth be told, this isn't a tactic he's used often. Acknowledging a malicious spirit in this manner is just asking for trouble, after all; it's simply not in his style to go head to head with something(/someone?) this powerful that he hasn't been able to research beforehand. But strange circumstances call for unorthodox solutions, and he's not one to tuck tail and flee. His delivery remains impressively calm as he continues, casual, as if they're talking about a peculiar item of clothing Messmer's been wearing. ]

These two forces -- chaos and ruin, you said? Even they're not particularly at ease with each other, are they? There's quite a lot going on in there. -- aah, I don't mean to understate what you're going through, of course! I do apologize if it sounded that way, but I'm glad to finally get to know you a little better, my lord. ... it sounds like your circumstances truly are remarkable.

week two | dates

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