crescentview | 🌸 be not defeated by the rain 🌸

[...

He looks at the floor.]

Me. You bid on mine.

...

Sorry.

[Well.

He doesn’t know what he was expecting.]

Why? Did you force my hand?

[What does he have to be sorry for!]

Eh...? N-no of course not! The goddess wouldn't have allowed that, anyway.

I just... figured this isn't something you would have been all that happy about even if you had been lucid. [Their history together has been mixed, and while he knows Owen doesn't hate him... asking him on a date willingly seems about the furthest thing Owen would ever attempt. Really, Otegine would expect him to have done what Mishka and Childe managed, bidding to cause a ruckus only to leave the second he got bored.]

...

That's not all of it, either. Someone wrote an application for you, too.

[Why ask people on dates if you can just be a huge asshole every step of the way?]

Of course I wou-

[wait a minute]

An application for me?

Yeah. [It's clipped. He has opinions about that whole debacle of people signing up others, because it caused nothing but trouble for half the people involved.] It wasn't harshly written or anything, but that's beside the point. I don't know who did it.

One of the new guys dropped everything he had on it.

[New guys?]

I’m going to kill them.

[Does he mean the date or the poster? Stay tuned to find out.]

It wasn’t harsh? What did it say? You read it, right?

[What lies are being spread about him? Also he should probably get up from the floor, so he’s going to scramble back to his feet.]

Hahah... maybe wait until you know who it is before pulling out the death wish. [On both cases, but he assumes Owen's more irritated at whoever signed him up.]

Mmhmm, I did.

Crude, defensive, distrusting, but attractive and interesting with a good voice... A big personality that's really hard to get to know, but that you have a lot to offer even if it's not everyone's favorite, and that you're good at surprising people.

They used a cherry for a fruit you'd be like, but I can't remember why.

[That description... There's only one person it could be, isn't there? Good voice can't just be about how he talks, and there's one person on the island who's heard him sing.

Plus, he just told him he acted defensively! It can't be anyone else!]

Gaku.

[Said with all the contempt in the world.]

That doesn't even sound anything like me!

I don't know. I thought it fit you just fine... wasn't expecting the singing part, though...

[...

His eyes travel the floor in thought, mouth thinning.]

Look, uh... Owen. Before you run off to kill Gaku or something, I...

We need to talk.

[He’s not going to kill Gaku, unfortunately. He’s been too nerfed to do that.]

…what? This isn’t going to be about the dates, is it?

Sort of.

[...]

I know you'd rather nobody talk about it, but last night, you went right up on stage where everyone could see you. You're lucky you didn't tie with anyone on top of that, or the goddess would have made you - the other you - talk about all sorts of stuff. I gave you my word, but I can't control anyone else or what they might do...

Owen... who in the world is the other "you"?

[And here he was, hoping to avoid this conversation entirely.]

…I don’t know.

[He’s as frustrated about that as anyone else - if not more so, and it bleeds into his voice for just a moment before he reins it back in.]

I’ve heard other people call him “little” Owen because he acts childish, but I couldn’t tell you why it’s a child at all.

[A pause.]

…It’s an injury that can’t be healed, from fighting the Great Calamity. I’m not the only wizard who’s been afflicted by it, but nobody else has had to face the same wound. That’s all I know.

[He crosses his arms over his chest, defensive.]

And I’m sure you already noticed, but I don’t remember anything he says or does, and I don’t think he knows anything about me, either.

...Yeah. I caught on to that much, at least. He remembered me from the last time this happened, but... not much else.

[He stays quiet for a bit, processing and letting Owen figure out his words. This is the first time Owen's really talked about himself, outside of just saying how awful wizards are or some other monologue like that.

...]

I didn't know you fought.

What...exactly is the Great Calamity, then? Splitting somebody into two different people isn't a wound I've ever seen before.

[He considers warning Otegine about how, apparently, the little Owen can be dangerous. That he still apparently has control over Cerberus, but he resists the urge. It’s not like it’s as big of an issue with how Cerberus is just a puppy right now, anyways.]

Of course I can fight, but it’s not like I asked to be conscripted.

[His nose wrinkles, but since it seems like he’s stuck in this conversation (even though he could just walk out of the room if he wanted to…) he flops down backwards onto Otegine’s bed.]

The Great Calamity is the moon of my world. I never really cared about more then that, but every year it tries to come down and destroy everything. […] It’s been like that for as long as anyone can remember.

[Which is a very, very long time considering how old wizards can get.]

[Oh... he was forced? A draft, maybe? Blackmail? Did someone drag him kicking and screaming?

...

Okay, no, the longer Owen talks, the more questions he has that blot out the conscription concerns in the immediate realm of "what the fuck did he just say".]

The moon...? You mean, the actual moon?

H...how do you fight the moon?

[Should have expected that question.]

With magic?

[Just like Otegine should have expected that answer.]

It’s not like it’s just a rock floating up there.

[please they haven’t explained this at all i’m dying]

[Just...squinting down at Owen in pure mental constipation.]

I... thought it was?

[hhhhhhhhh]

O-okay, no, I... guess I can't say much. We have gods for the moon. But...

Why did it do something like that to you? I... I mean, if it wanted to actually injure you, wouldn't it just do that instead? Or do something to your ability to come back to life?

If it was, I don't think it would be as destructive? And why are you worshipping the moon?

[What are y'all, just a bunch of Murrs?]

I don't know. It's not like it's ever done anything like that before - this last fight was just... worse then it was supposed to be, so now I'm stuck with it.

[Because of Nova, but it's not like Owen knows anything about who the man is or why he's so deadset on the Calamity.]

Eh?? Ah... I don't know. That's humanity's choice, not ours. There's gods for plenty of things. Tsukuyomi angered Amaterasu, who watches over the sun, so they just happen to be the one that was banned to never share the sky with one another.

[SHRUGS...

Still, that's hardly the point of this conversation. Whether it makes sense or not, it's still DONE something.]

...Is there any kind of cure? I mean... it sounds less like a wound and more like a curse, but...

You can't be stuck with that forever... can you?

[Aren’t the sun and moon in the same sky… That doesn’t make any sense… He’s also never heard of there being more then one God, but Owen’s familiarity with religion begins and ends with Riquet and that’s a very… particular view.

Anyways.]

If there was, do you think it would still be happening?

[Ugh.

Owen knows that some of them have had their injuries temporarily relieved by the Sage - Akira has helped Mithra sleep and Oz cast magic at night, but it’s inconsistent. There was no helping Cain or Bradley, and Owen had to step in and save the Sage from Heathcliff…

He hasn’t asked for help, but it doesn’t seem there’s much point in trying when there are so many questions that still need to be answered.]

…It won’t be forever. I just don’t know what will fix it yet.

[He hums his understanding. Or, well, as best of an understanding as he can manage. If Owen doesn't know, it's not like asking more questions will help.]

...You said you were conscripted, right? By who? Are wizards the only ones that can fight something that big?

The Sage. I didn't really speak with the one that summoned me, though.

[He props himself back up, sticking out his tongue to show Otegine the mark on it. It's not like he can really hide it, but he also doesn't make a habit of pointing it out all the time. He has no idea how much attention Otegine's been paying to his mouth, so he might not have noticed.]

See this? It marks me as one of the wizards chosen by the Sage. I don't really know what the ceremony is like because I've never watched it myself.

[And why would he want to?]

I don't think anyone else can really do anything. Humans don't have the means no matter how great they think their magic technology is, and all of the strongest wizards in the world have already been chosen to be a Sage's wizard. It's not like there's anyone else out there that could turn the tide against the Great Calamity.

🌸 be not defeated by the rain 🌸

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