[Signless can feel the tension radiating off Dualscar, and he reaches up and strokes one fin. After a short time, he moves his head, looking up at the seadweller.]
No, I don't think so. But I'll let you know if I come up with anything.
[He starts a bit. He can totally believe that there are things that Signless can't tell Psiioniic, and that he can't really depend on Psiioniic's counsel, especially compared to Dualscar. And finally, he feels a great deal better]
I'm tryin' to get along wwith him. He's been comin' to me and I'vve been real kind - I swwear, as kind as I knoww howw to be. But it's not an easy thing for him to forgivve, I'm sure. He told me he hates me.
[The answer is without hesitation, and calm. He can't imagine Psiioniic as a rival to him. There's no way that Psiioniic could challenge him the way a kismesis must. And honestly, Psiioniic hasn't done anything to inspire hatred in Dualscar]
[Dualscar huffs a little, his gills glubbing softly] Maybe hatin' me is a good thing for him, evven if it's not returned. Hate is somethin' trolls do. It's a selfish feeling.
It may not be destructivve if it reminds him howw to feel somethin' for himself instead a just on behalf a someone he servves, or you. [Very quietly] But you're not the only one wwho doesn't knoww howw to fix him. Maybe he can't be helped. Wwhat's happened to him is beyond compare.
[He stiffens and cuddles Signless tightly, shooshing him and stroking his hair]
Don't... don't do this. He has already started improvvin', but wwhen you havve expectations that he can't fulfil, then you hurt both a you. He'll nevver be wwho he wwas, but he wwill be better.
[Fuck, that wasn't what Dualscar intended. He stiffens like a deer in headlights, then hastens to cuddle and stroke him, though he already was.]
No, no it wwasn't. It wwas my fault, o-our fault. The fault a Her an all a the highbloods wwho wwanted to keep their powwer an keep you dowwn. It wwasn't your fault at all!
[Signless is prepared to be insistent about this.]
I knew what he was, I knew what happened to trolls like him in the Empire... I just... I just never thought... I thought he would die before he'd let himself be captured...
[He hides his face, actively sobbing now.]
S-sometimes, I... I think it would be better... if he had died...
[Dualscar's arms tighten around him and he rocks in place, making awkward, reassuring noises. He fully believes that Signless is right - dying would have been a mercy]
But...but here he can livve a happy life. Maybe not a normal or perfect one, but still, it can be good. He seems happy enough, uh, most a the time, so you don't need to glub so much...
[Sorry, Dualscar, Signless just needs to cry himself out now, and that's exactly what he's going to do, staining the front of Dualscar's shirt and the water in the spa red.]
[Whether Dualscar realizes it or not, his awkward comfort helps Signless calm down, and he stops crying after a few minutes, his sobs trickling away into sniffling and then silence.]
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