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[malpwactice]

@A | (3♠)

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[malpwactice]

[Rhodes Island showed Aak a step forward when it came to fixing the problems he saw in the world. Things that seemed insurmountable never became easy but his time working with them was a first-hand reminder that people were trying their hardest behind the scenes. In a sense, abandoning that world is painful to him. He wanted Lungmen, Yan, Terra to be a better place. And he was egotistical enough to think he could be a part of that.]

[His lips part before being silenced by Broca's gesture. He shuts them again, looking irritated, tail lashing against the bed.]

... Yea, I get that. [He takes offense at the idea that he's just bright-eyed and optimistic about this.] Getting out of here in general's such a pain I'm not expecting going through dimensions to be easy peasy.

[Although, there might be some optimism in the idea that he could jump through worlds again. Broca's intent was to emphasize the permanence of it all. To Aak, though, the only permanent thing was dying (#donttellhim). If it was a mistake, he would spend his life chasing the way back. Because,]

If I went back, then I couldn't change my mind either. [He meets Broca's eyes. There was still some shame and swirling emotions around but he already admitted the hard part when he talked to Rin in those stupid dating pods. When he pet her hair in the camping tents.]

I don't wanna just think about how she's doing. I wanna know. So I gotta be next to her.

[broca]

[ There's something a little funny in the difference between the two men here. Broca never, not once, really thought he could do much to change Siracusa. He knew other men that he thought might be able to. Chiave in his own way, Leontuzzo certainly, but he himself? If he helped at all, it would be some bit part where his name was never recorded in the annals of history.

Likewise he knew many people he might leave a big impression on Terra as a whole, change it for the better, but he himself...?

Well, despite not thinking there was much he personally could offer the world, he still wanted to go back to it. He might not be able to do much as an individual, but he could do a little something to help those who might be able to make those changes, but more important than the world itself was the people in it. Those were the things he wanted to lose the least.

So in some ways he gets it... He doesn't, because he didn't find love here the way that Aak has, but he has made connections of his own, he has people he will have to grapple with never seeing again when it comes time to leave.

... But in the end, for him the people he left behind are still more important, and he will still leave when the chance comes. He holds Aak's gaze for a moment, searching his face for something. The flippant wording from Aak is typical, but the gravitas of his next are not.

So after a few seconds of letting Aak explain himself, of getting his words out, and letting them settle in the air between them, Broca finally closes his eyes and gives one single, simple nod. ]

Alright.

[ And that's... it?

That seems to be it. Broca didn't come here to argue with Aak or to change his mind, but understanding how serious Aak is about this, even after Broca impressed upon him the weight of a choice he had to already understand was incredibly weighty, well...

What else is there for him to say? ]

[malpwactice]

[Aak doesn't know what he's looking for in Broca's eyes. He can't pin down the swirling emotions. He's not used to caring about what people thought about what he did. Hell, most of the time he went ahead and attributed people's concern to their own interests. Like, "He's only mad because he'd have to explain to HR what happened!"]

[Yet, he knows that's not really true. The two of them are only in this situation because of some fucked up familiarity. He cares what Broca thinks. Broca cares something about him. So, he braces himself for some kind of lecture, some kind of admonishment, and,]

Huh? [Aak blinks once, twice,]

That's it?! [One "alright" as the resolution to the whole arc?!]

I cleaned up for this! [in his own way] I was freaking out, you straight-faced bastard!

[He was worried and now, with no place for that worry to be released, he's just gotta go into full immaturity-mode.]

[broca]

[ Given that Aak had explained himself and was mostly not flippant this time, Broca had assumed he wouldn't even want an argument to begin with. It's not like Broca can't ask probing questions or grill a guy if need be, but he didn't need all that. Aak understands what's at stake here, and he'd weighed that against the risk of returning to their world which meant losing something more important to him.

Broca can understand it, even if his own value system skews in a different direction.

So he really doesn't understand why he's getting fussed at now. His ears twist back, and he blinks in confusion at the outburst. ]

Why were you freaking out about this?

[ As if Broca hadn't angrily told them to get the fuck out of his room the first time this revelation had cropped up, or hadn't ominously told Aak they needed to talk right before this meeting. ]

[malpwactice]

[Aak's nose scrunches at the fact Broca has to even ask,]

I thought you were mad! [Although, it's bit more complicated than that. After all, there were plenty of things that he would do that made Broca mad. He would easily slip his friends trial medications, or advertise his breeding kink on the network, all things that mad Broca mad!]

I thought, [his tail flips from one side of the bed to the other,]

Something was gonna change. Like, [he struggles to put it to words,] we'd be done, or something.

[And despite choosing someone over Broca, over his job, over his own world, he'd still be upset to ruin what they have.]