the promised distraction.

[darkeststars]

WHO: Archeval, Eleven
WHEN: May 24th, shortly after Lan Wangji's announcement.
WHERE: Around the farm.
WHAT: He promised he'd try to keep certain people out of the way of the cleanup, and he knows where to find exactly one of them, so...
WARNINGS: Frank discussion of death, maybe. Arche being an asshole, probably.



The farmland they're staying on is a fairly expansive place, but if Archeval opens his senses to the brush of minds around him for a little while, he's more than familiar enough with Eleven's to zero in on the one presence who's consistently been somewhere nearby since day one of this whole ordeal. He turns his attention away from the quartz for now as he heads over to find where El has gotten off to, closing in quietly to simply watch for a little while, not quite sure what he should even say. Something... something comforting? He feels like normal people would probably say something comforting. But death simply is what it is, one of the normal facts of living. He's been giving it the finger for twenty-three years, but many beings of his acquaintance haven't been so lucky. He's seen far too much of it for the idea to shock anymore. People die. Sometimes gruesomely.

...still, someone like Eleven should be spared the sights, though, if someone like Archeval can help it at all. It doesn't make the galaxy any better a place to spread around this particular misery.

He finds a spot to lean on and cross his arms over his chest as he looks on softly.

"...I'd like to ask a favor, if you're amenable," he says at last.

Comments

[bearshermark]

Archeval's bare protest in response to the accusation that he might be doing something selflessly is both surprising and not. A sentiment that starts, then tapers off into a form of admission. That the man would go so far out of his way as to take on weeks worth of responsibility for a handful of plants..

Eleven hums shortly, looking back out at the garden and the vegetables in varying stages of growth. In the quietest of moments, he likes to imagine he can feel them growing.

"We couldn't not try," he says, arguing against an absent judgement as his fingers curl into his sleeves. "Even if it was always going to end like this, or like that half-dead animal in the desert, life is precious. If there's a chance.. and if there isn't. Otherwise, I may as well give up in my world, too."

[darkeststars]

"Nothing wrong with trying," Arche agrees quietly.

"They had the right to choose their own end, and they did. But that doesn't make it meaningless -- what you did for them. What the other two did for them either, offering them that. Their last days were far kinder than they might have been. That's not nothing."

[bearshermark]

He thinks about that for several moments in relation to the wretched uselessness dragging at him, berating him for this latest failure. But.. maybe he had helped, at least a little. Some kindness, rather than none at the end of their lives, even if they hadn't appreciated it. Even if he'd failed them, in the end.

"I'll keep trying," he decides with quiet conviction, then pushes himself to his feet. "Someday, I want my title to mean something. In the meantime, there might be at least one more thing I can do for them."

[darkeststars]

Gathering the planting things into his arms, Arche follows El back up to his feet, casting the other young man a quiet glance again.

"Your title. Luminary, yes?... Someone who brings light to dark places."

For a moment, standing there as a black stain against the gray tundra grass with cloak tossed about in the cold breeze, the Dark Lord stares over very solemnly indeed.

"Not everything is yours to fix, hero," he says quietly.

"But you do plenty of illuminating already."

He stands there for another second in silence before turning away at last, taking a step back toward where they picked up those supplies so he can put all this away.

"...So. What is your plan now?"

Hopefully he's not about to have to scramble to come up with a second distraction.

[bearshermark]

Someone who brings light to dark places.

Eleven reaches for the journal tucked into his pouch and taps into the rose quartz network to write a quick question of Alina while Archeval is occupied, then breaks the connection to respond.

"If we bury them, the wolves will probably dig them up. I can help burn them, and offer prayers for their passing."

A proper ceremony would have a real priest and their families present, but this is what they can do now.

[darkeststars]

"I suppose that's sensible," Arche sighs.

He'd just as happily keep Eleven away from whatever mess has been made of the corpses as well, but a hero of light has probably seen a few dead bodies in his time, and it sounds like El is probably already fairly set on this path anyhow. Perhaps taking some kind of action will help him sleep better. Far be it from Archeval to tell anybody not to do precisely what they can live with, no more and no less.

But hopefully those bodies have been bundled up away from the mess by now. Or maybe Lan Wangji, the man who apparently can't be bothered to lift a finger for menial labor, has managed to get it cleaned up. Stranger things have happened.

"Well, I will do my best to absorb the lesson," he murmurs a little dryly as he walks over to tuck the supplies away.

"And I won't shirk my duty, since you've gone to the trouble. Suppose that means I'll see you here bright and early tomorrow."

[bearshermark]

Perhaps this world isn't his to fix, but he'll rest easier knowing he's done everything he could for them, even in death.

Idly, he wonders what it is Archeval thinks he's illuminated, and resolves to ask some time.

"I do feel a little better," he assures the man, in case there is room for doubt. Though there isn't any telling how he'll feel after the ceremony, or if he crosses paths with Lan Wangji. "More clear-minded, at least."

The Luminary isn't the only one able to lift people out of dark places- just as well, as his own light wavers more often than not.

"I look forward to seeing your seedlings come along."

[darkeststars]

It surprises him a little to receive the reassurance, as though Eleven is concerned that he might actually need it. But then he's certainly revealed far more of himself to this particular sentient than is really wise, so perhaps Arche will have to stop being so surprised when Eleven treats him... hm, just about the same as Eleven would treat most people, probably.

It's a bad habit he indulges too often, willy-nilly getting close like this. Probably going to get him knifed in the back someday. He really has gone inexcusably soft since first being handed the Council seat. But... it's certainly made surviving in this place more bearable, even if some days are like this.

That's not nothing, either.

"Well, if they turn up black and withered one day, please know that I still tried," he says with another bone-dry glance. He's hardly El's babysitter, so he's not going to patronize him so far as to follow him around the whole farm, but as the other turns to leave Arche will walk with him to the edge of the garden to watch him go.

"But I will do my best."