ruinsprofessor

[Witness Kratos being impassively linefacey.]

Just how much have you told Ms Potts?

[ooc: after this.]

[She witnesses the lineface. And herself grimaces in turn.]

My apologies. I needed to contextualize some things for her. I... never expected you'd be here.

Never mind that now. How much?

[He's not blaming, Raine, he just wants to know what he may or may not want to say.]

[A breath that sounds a bit like a sigh.]

I filled in the broad strokes of the Kharlan War, and the actions the four of you took then, as well as what that led to in our time. Pepper knows a reasonable amount about the structure of our world.

And she knows about Lloyd.

[Although he doesn't know whether it was Zelos who told her that, or whether she knew about him beforehand.]

It might be easier to start with what you haven't told her.

[His tone is, to be fair, neutral.]

Why wouldn't I tell her about Lloyd? The reuniting of the worlds wouldn't have been possible without him.

[And Lloyd would not have been in quite the same position, nor have quite the same edge, if he was not Kratos's son.]

Pepper is a good friend of mine; at this point, I've trusted her for years.

[Longer than she has Kratos, Raine doesn't say.]

I haven't gone into detail about the human ranches and the Desians, nor about exspheres and cruxis crystals. Neither did I elaborate on who changed sides, when, or why.

[There's a rebuke in Raine's words, if a hidden one. Kratos betrayed their trust quite thoroughly, after all, and he's reminded of that keenly in this moment, enough to glance away from the camera.]

Hrm. She said something about the stories she's heard from her boyfriend.

[He saw enough on the network to know who that is, but lacks context, except the implication that anything he might say can't be worse than anything Pepper has already heard.]

Bakura, yes.

[There's a brief, considering silence.]

You would know him, if you had met him. He looks rather like Genis might, in several years. But he's older than he looks, and has been through as much as that might imply.

...he, too, is a friend of mine; but all the same, be careful.

I saw him speaking to Zelos.

[The warning makes Kratos look back, tipping his head. Raine knows what he is, and this Bakura is still worth a warning to him? Hm. It sounds a little as though Bakura's 'older than he looks' might be along the same lines as Kratos's 'age'.]

I'll be careful. I'm getting the impression young Pepper gathers similar people to her.

['Like Lloyd' is left unsaid.]

Ah-- yes, of course.

[Raine doesn't plan to go any farther than that, in the interests of preserving trust; but Kratos, she thinks, is exactly the sort of being that might be read as a threat.]

Pepper does that, yes. She has a firm belief in second chances, and there are more than a few people who have responded to the faith she puts in them.

[Yes: much like Lloyd.]

[There's something Raine is explicitly not saying, and Kratos isn't going to ask; but he does note the agreement, and it makes him wonder what else Pepper has heard, that she thinks she can handle the crimes of a four thousand year old angel. It's not a test he particularly wants to press on her, not only for his own sake.]

Hopefully Zelos will be one of them. You're aware he was lying to her, I hope?

I am.

[Raine frowns slightly.]

In this matter I may defer to your judgment. I haven't told her, yet; I believe allowing the perpetuation of the deception would be ultimately harmful, but I hadn't managed to reconcile the issue of trust yet.

[Still considering. Zelos knows what he's done, and Raine and Kratos and Sheena know what he's done, but Keeliai is for second chances and Raine wouldn't feel right supervising all of Zelos's untruths. If they harm no one, it isn't her business what he wants to pretend to others, but this... well, it has the potential to harm him, more than others, she thinks.]

Pepper, if anyone, would be able to accept it and begin to set him straight.

I told her.

[That's what the visit had originally been about. He's not saying anything about the ensuing memory trade.]

She wasn't especially surprised. You're going to need her help with him, and it would take too long for him to learn to trust me.

[Not that he expects that in any case, but the wording is mostly to cut off any of Raine's insistence that Kratos try regardless.]

[Well, that solves Raine's dilemma, though it doesn't banish her frown.]

I've learned there isn't much that can surprise Pepper any more.

...you may be right.

[Hiding hasn't seemed to help Zelos in the past, after all.]

You're concerned about him.

[For some reason, Kratos is not expecting to be called out on this fact so soon after having been called out on it once already. He pauses, then sighs.]

Yes. He's made the attempt once.

[Raine would have been there, would have seen it, far more cleanly than Kratos did through the video feeds.]

And he has no seal to keep him from trying again. I've -- heard -- that death here is not absolute. The last thing he needs is to begin thinking of it as even less a concern than he already does.

[This does not in the least bit explain why Kratos is concerned.]

I'm aware.

[Raine had been there, yes. She'd seen Lloyd and Zelos fight.]

[It had been, in many ways, heartbreaking.]

... you're not wrong. Any Foreigner I've seen die has also been returned. It... isn't something that anyone should grow used to relying on, however.

[She refuses to let the importance and magnitude of death be cheapened.]

I'm aware of the risks. It's only... hm.

Do you feel responsible for him?

[How do people keep doing this to him, in this place? It's only the logical consequence of people knowing his rawest points, Kratos supposes. It doesn't make him any less blank-faced about it, even if he answers evenly enough.]

Yes. His situation is a direct result of a social structure Cruxis invented.

[Raine has enough experience with Kratos to make a reasonably educated guess, yes.]

Hm. You weren't directly responsible for the actions of the people around him; but you are partially responsible for the structure that encouraged those actions, yes.

[She's not... trying to rub it in, not really. Just making sure Kratos doesn't take more onto his shoulders than necessary.]

And you don't believe he'll let you help. You may be right.

[Luckily, Kratos has gotten very good at not flinching.]

I believe so. Still, I --

[A pause.]

I would appreciate it if you told me if anything goes amiss.

[Better to know than have to guess; and on some particular subjects, there may be something he can do -- even if Zelos hates him for it.]

[Kratos. Kratos, she can see you caring. Phrasing it carefully doesn't change that.]

Very well. I'll keep you informed. Within reason; I'll be taking Zelos's privacy into account as well.

[Still, Kratos will know the gist of things, and if there's a significant crisis, and especially if Raine believes there's something he may have the power to help.]

Of course.

[There isn't much to say otherwise. It seems crass to thank her for something which is in Zelos's best interests, which she would do anyway; so instead of saying anything else, Kratos simply cuts the feed.]

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cw for Zelos's suicide thing again

just assume the cw continues

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