dissonates | Appointments Post

[Star beams like he's proud of it, the little asshole, and gives Luke's hand a nuzzle with his head. Asch is tempted to shoo him off to the kitchen again, because seriously, food in the living room, that is how you get ants.

But... fine, whatever. He's been poor company for Star of late so it's nice to see at least one of his housemates happy again.]

He's fine, as long as he's not setting anything on fire.

[He beams and scritches where he remembers Mieu liking it. Because all cheagles are the same, you know.]

Sounds like we have a lot in common, [he jokes weakly. Luke is still getting the hang of cooking as a whole. Like, he's not always terrible, but it takes him a while.]

Right, so...

Someone named Kakashi was talking about an alliance. I wanted to ask what you thought about it. I mean, I have my own opinions, but I don't want to jump into something that might end up getting everyone in trouble either.

[Asch nods at that, opting to ignore the cheagle's insubordination (for now) in favour of considering those words. He'd seen the entry, of course- it was all people were talking about now, if only because it was a way of shaking things up. Years after leaving the Oracle Knights hasn't made his distrust of large organized groups of people any smaller, and his time in Luceti has only made it worse. He's content to learn what he can of the group without becoming any sort of committed member, but at the same time, infiltration is generally the best way to investigate.

Still, if Luke's interested in it, that gives him more options.]

I think it's the ambitious creation of an optimistic newcomer, and I seriously doubt we'll see anything substantial come of it. But for the moment, it's harmless enough, so long as they don't overstep their bounds.

[He nods.] That's the feeling I had, too. I think bringing more attention to village stuff is good, but I'm not really sure about the military part. It's one thing to teach people how to fight, but...

[He folds his arms.]

Even if a bunch of us banded together to fight the Malnosso, I'm not sure we would get anywhere. And then we'd be putting everyone else in danger-- not to mention making decisions for them.

That's assuming this alliance thing even gets that far, though.

[Asch's response is little more than a thoughtful "hnn" for a while, considering the words. From experience - four years of it - he knows that it isn't as simple as just building up a force and charging the enemy. No amount of weaponry, magic, or science has brought the barrier down from the inside, and he has little faith in their success when they inevitably try, either.]

Their first mistake was sharing the information on a public network. The Malnosso gave us these journals, it would be stupid to think that they wouldn't be monitoring it. Trying to organize the village against them using their own communication tool... they may as well have sent our enemies an invitation to destroy us before we even begin a rebellion. It's reckless.

Yeah. Even if they weren't saying anything really obvious, it's still enough to tip them off if they're paying attention. And announcing the meeting place for training and stuff... [He shakes his head.]

There were some good ideas in there about improving the village, though.

Are you going to join the group, then?

[That's the big question, really. If the group is going to be watched, he'd rather it be someone he knows to be trustworthy... ish. At the very least, Luke can't seem to lie to him.]

I'm thinking about it. I'm going to stay out of the training stuff, but there's no harm in helping build fences and roofs, you know?

[Unless you fall off and get hurt, but Luke is hoping by now he knows how to not fail utterly at that kind of thing.]

As long as you don't dig yourself in too deeply and can't get out.

[Maybe it's just a harmless organization of peers and comrades. Maybe it'll be a good thing.

And maybe it'll become a gang, a literal military where the only way out is dismissal or death. There's all sorts of people out there, and Asch has met plenty of extremists in his line of work. They don't know enough about these people to be sure.]

[Luke blinks.] You mean... in the organization? [He usually takes things at face value. Asch is more jaded, yes, but he has more experience. He thinks on this for a little while, but he can't seem to dredge up any reason why he might 'dig in too deep'-- he's never been part of any organization that did that.]

Sorry, I don't really get it. Do you mean something like when Mohs was blackmailing Anise?

[Asch's brows furrow at that. Mohs... was a different sort of darkness, more widespread and in a way more insidious for how deep into the organization it went. This...]

That's not the sense I'm getting. Mohs was too openly malicious- even you could tell right from the start that he couldn't be trusted. And I can't say here and now that this group has the potential to be outright evil. If I were to compare it to anything, I'd say... Van.

[And that's a pretty harsh accusation, especially for them, so he wastes no time in explaining himself.]

When I was taken back to Daath, I believed in him with all my heart. That we'd work together to destroy either the Score or the world itself, if that was what it took. His goal wasn't evil, it was what he genuinely believed to be the only path to freedom. But the more I learned about his plans, the more trapped I became in them. Kidnapping Ion, attacking the Tartarus, chasing your group all over the world- there was a lot I had to do in order to appear loyal while I learned about his true intentions. And you- you're too trusting. You're not as stupid as you were before, but you're still naive. Helping with one part of the organization can lead to another, and if they learn about hyperresonance, you can be damn sure they'll want to use it.

I'm not saying it's going to happen. But how do you plan to deal with it if it does?

[Oh. That is a pretty harsh comparison, but it gets Luke's attention. As Asch explains, he begins to see. Van seemed like he was right, but his methods were just-- entirely wrong. It could end up similarly, with Luke and the Alliance wanting the same result (freedom?) and having extremely different ways to get there.

It gives him pause.]

I don't think that's something I can deal with alone, [he says finally, thinking of Asch and how hard he worked. Luke doesn't think he's that strong-- and really, he would've argued Asch didn't need to work alone either. (There's the Dark Wings, but that's a little different.)] I would tell someone, even if they threatened me.

And I'm not volunteering my hyperresonance. It... might kill me. That's not something I can give up so easily.

[That's an interesting confession, and one Asch had forgotten about for a while. But Luke had been dying, hadn't he? It had happened before, when he'd faded away. Not to mention what he'd heard from Guy, a long time ago.

It's reason enough to give him pause. Not that he's inclined to say as much, but putting his replica at risk? ...Hn. He's not a fan of the idea. Even if Luke agreed to tell someone if things got dicey, it's still a risk for him to get involved alone.]

...Maybe I should join with them. Their army. It wouldn't be that different from how I investigated Van and the rest of the God-Generals.

[Luke looks surprised to hear Asch even having a little interest in it. At the same time, it gives him some comfort. If they both investigate different sides of the same thing, they'll be sure to meet up and be able to share their discoveries. Which Luke planned on doing anyway, but...

It feels nice, sort of, to have Asch there to potentially watch his back. Luke has to get used to that idea; it's not often they fight together.]

You don't have to. We can both just stay out of it, if you want.

[Yet even as he says it, he knows Asch can't help but investigate something fishy going on in front of him. He knows because he's the same damn way. Whether he'll join or not is still up in the air, but they can certainly get down to the meat of things if they work together.]

small>[Luke's pretty much on the money, there.]

Don't be an idiot, of course we need to be involved. Whether we hate this place or not, this is the only world we can live in, now. It's our duty to protect it.

[At the very least so they have a place they can still exist in, anyway.]

[The little scolding only serves to make Luke smile a bit. Yeah, he's definitely happy to have Asch with him in this. He's right. This is the only world they have, and Luke has to work to protect it.

He raises his fist.]

Then it's settled.

If I find something out, do you want me to swing by the bar? I'm still not sure the journal is a good idea, but for most things it'll probably be okay...

[Asch frowns. It's true that the journal isn't safe, but the bar is often crowded, and who knows if other members - associates of this Kakashi person - would be listening in. They might not take kindly to their intel being spread around.]

The safest way would be the fonic link.

[That's it, but Luke seems a little unsure. He knows he can initiate it-- he's done it more than once-- but...]

It-- it doesn't hurt you when I do it, right?

[He never asked before.]

Not really.

[As a fonist, his fon slots were opened properly, not forcibly the way Luke's had, and he's always had better control over the link. The only time it really hurt was when his dissonance acted up, and that had nothing to do with Luke.]

[Luke seems relieved at this, a little bit like when he was worried about Asch getting weaker way way way back after Akzeriuth fell. It's the little things.

If he initiates it, it won't hurt as bad. At least not until he's used to it again.]

Okay. We can try that.

[Geez. He really is pathetic, to have his replica worrying about him again. It makes him wonder about the dissonance and how he should be dealing with that when the time comes.

Later, though. First this has to be handled.]

You should go home. Your friends are probably worried.

[What if Guy sees you hanging around here, huh?]

[He blinks, and then his mouth settles into an amused half-smile.]

I guess I should.

[He pauses.]

You know, you can come over anytime... if you want.

[He wouldn't mind seeing more of Asch, whether Guy approved of it or not. Asch is just as much a part of Luke's journey as any of the other party members.]

[Asch snorts quietly at that. Yeah, right.]

I'm sure your friends would welcome me with open arms.

Of course they would!

[... Yeah he doesn't know about all the shit that went down with Asch and Guy here, but...]

We couldn't have stopped Van without your help. You're still one of us, no matter how much time's gone by or what world we're in.

[Suddenly he feels rather foolish. He ducks his gaze, and gets ready to leave.]

I just... want you to know that.

[Asch still has doubts, but he doesn't particularly want to argue about it when he knows Luke's just going to be bullheaded about it. The replica thinks too highly of his friends.]

Your opinion is noted.

[That's about the best Luke's going to get out of him right now.]

Appointments Post

there isn't much to know from luke's perspective anyway really

TRUE ENOUGH

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backdated threads are depressing

oh god they are 8(

HEY ABOUT THAT GUY WE BOTH LIKE WHO IS NO LONGER AROUND

8(((((((((((

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