hellbound. (earinor & akira)

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    • Dayan wasn't made for this, he knew that himself, among what he thought to be a plethora of other things, but whatever the case, he wasn't going to figure that out anytime soon. All jokes aside, however, he still was himself and to a degree, he also still was the person that didn't want to be who he was, that found himself in a role unfit for him and from there on out, he spiraled downward, all the way down the rabbit hole, asking and wondering what it was that he missed to become a great king, to ascent to the throne without much of a hassle, but no matter what his mind came up with, none of it made sense, at least not in a way that gave him ample time to justify. "Mental and physical strength are two different things that usually aren't interchangeable. Just because your brother can and most likely will break your arm if you get into a physical altercation, I'm fairly sure that he won't be able to beat you at something that requires mental strength." Lucien painted some sort of picture of himself that Dayan accepted as a fact and took upon himself to keep and analyze until there was nothing left and he could safely say he was at least somehow understanding him and his motivations. "And we're back at square one ... I don't think I mind honey, though", the wolf mulled over, but it still seemed somewhat personal, begrudgingly so almost. "Hm, a mess also isn't a nice nickname ... I'll allow hun, for now."

      Lucien was an oddity, a mistake in a flawed system and Dayan wondered why, how and where he had picked up on that - it might have been because there was no way of knowing from the getgo, or because the redhead felt oddly like he did right now, but maybe that was his intuition being wrong and him attributing the wrong things to the wrong person from the start. "He wasn't exactly a people pleaser", he summarized for them both and he wasn't wrong. The man that reigned before his father, someone that hardly could be called a good king - or a king at all for that matter - did leave his marks on history and yet, none of them were positive and anyone that survived from that past generation would do well to call that menace of a man out for his wrongdoings. Dayan had never cared about him, maybe his misdeeds, but that had been it - he was an insignificant speck of dust on the history of two countries that were torn at the seams anyway and the more he dug for information on any of Gaia, the less he found. Wasn't it a pain? "Nice? I'm just being polite", he answered and gave the redhead another smile - he definitely was just beign nice, nothing else. If he were trying to be, he most definitely would have moved to a more phyiscal way of acting, but he hardly could when the sole thought of having someone else touch his skin irked him. "If you do want to exercise, you just have to say a word, you know?" Though, Lucien was probably not the kind to think about any of that and Dayan would only chase him until his lungs would feel like they were aflame. It only followed that they had to do something, anything, to figure it all out for themselves. Once he had uttered his wish, though, Dayan did decide to bother a servant for a plate - and they'd get it in no time, either. "Hm, no. Sure, I'll share something if asked, but I wouldn't ask for it myself. I mean, I heard thrians don't really fancy sweets anyway and when I poured over their recipes, I found maybe two that were explicitly labelled as sweets - and they still weren't something we'd call sweet."
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "Ah yes, but that holds only true because I am very inteligent. My brother isn't a brute, he's not just strong, you know? But I train my mind more than he does I guess, so yes, I'd beat him in a game of chess, or if it comes to strategy. Still, just let me tell you that he is very smart himself.", Lucien chuckled, praising himself like it was the most normal thing to do. He didn't make a secret about the fact that he was in fact smart and his brother was too, all of that had a simple reason. "You know, my father was very strict with us and he made us learn a lot of things. I picked up reading a bit more than Ares, even in my free time, I enjoy learning new things, or learning from the mistakes that happened in the past, while he enjoys training with his sword. But the baseline is the same." Of course Lucien didn't reveal that besides that Ares training broke probably every bone in his body at least once and Lucien was subject to torture and poison from a very young age onwards. Nobody was supposed to know that, not even their sister did. Saying his father was strict was probably the understatement of the century. Lucien smiled even more when Dayan allowed his nickname to be hun for now, but... "And what about me? Don't I get a nickname?", he asked laughing.

      "Aha? Just being polite? And I thought you wanted me to have a great time here because you like me.", Lucien chuckled, but it didn't matter to him either way. Sure he wanted Dayan to trust him, but that didn't mean they needed to be friends, if anything though it looked like Dayan searched for exactly that - a friend. He even smiled one time! How often did he do that the last few weeks? Probably never. Lucien was doing a good job, right? "Hm, yes I know, but I don't want to embarrass myself in front of my future king.", Lucien answered with another smile. He was able to run, he was able to stem his own weight for a good while too, but he wasn't exaczly trained. He just had one thing helping out and that was, he didn't even feel it when his body had enough, he continued if he had to, even if it meant he ripped apart a muscle. Not that that ever happened before, he knew how to care for himself when his body didn't tell him itself. Dayan was now calling someone over to bring Lucien the desert he asked for and the redhead wondered what they'd do after that though. Would they just keep sitting here to drink a little more? "Hm, but taste doesn't have to be inherited, I think it's trained. You like what you eat as a child, I guess? I'm not sure if your genes have much to do with it, either way, I can eat desert alone if you don't want a bite." Lucien grinned a little bit and while he was at it, he poured both of them another glass and also ordered the bottles by taste once more. He pointed at two of them, looking rather puzzled. "Which one of those was better, what do you think?"

    • Lucien was unbelievable, wasn’t he? Anyone would have had to say something about his behavior, especially in the company of a king, but Dayan didn’t mind - he’d asked to be called by name, not title, and who was the redhead to decline him his request? It wouldn’t make much sense if he didn’t get a fellow noble to adhere to a simple request, much less would it make sense for someone his age and rank - one that the wolf didn’t want in the first place - to only address him with a title that, up until recently, was never meant to be his. Was that why his stomach turned uncomfortably, felt like it sunk in when he thought about it, or was that all in his head? “Is he? Then you two are quite the threat. Still, there’s always something that one excels at that the other doesn’t.” For him and Richard, that was nothing in particular, at least he thought it wasn’t. They were similar, not exactly the same but not far from it, but there were things that his brother knew that he never knew, much like it was the other way around at times, but seldom so. “Mh, my parents were anything but strict. Sure, there were some rules, but they weren’t anything crazy. Also, you still are different people at heart and seeing that you are drawn to different things to spend your pasttime with just means that you are your own person.” That went for someone else too, didn’t it? Yet, Dayan didn’t want to mull about what lay in the past, he should rather focus on what the impending future brought - even if it only was his own demise, with a heavy burden on sore and slumped shoulders. “You … want one too? If so, I’m afraid I’ll have to have you stick around a little bit longer to get to know you, so I know what fits.”

      Luciens entire behavior was unexpected, yet mostly welcome, even if some of it seemed quite of, especially when glanced at from aside - however, he hadn’t slept well the past few days and it probably was just his own paranoia getting the better of him. What would a noble from Olette gain from getting the kings trust and then throwing him off of a cliff, at least metaphorically? Probably a lot, his fathers never seemed to like the nobility that sprawled themselves across Olette and Lavern, even though the latter eventually got someone else to assume the throne - Dayan did recall a single instance where his father had cursed about the former duke, but he barely could make sense of that. Wasn’t it something about his ugly mug? “And being polite is part of that, isn’t it?”, Dayan retaliated. At first, he hadn’t even been in the mood to get out of bed, but somehow, Lucien made it all better, but after all, this was nothing but applying the smallest bandaid one could find to a gaping wound - it did the job it was supposed to do, but barely and eventually it’d be soaked with blood without having provided anything. “Take it from someone that wasn’t supposed to be king before: I don’t mind, there’s nothing embarrassing about that.” So no sparring for him - sad, but in the end, at least Lucien offered himself up like that, or at least Dayan made him. Wasn’t that quite stupid? Somehow, he almost felt sad, because of something silly - for once in quite the long while. “Oh, no, that wasn’t me insinuating that I’d rather not eat sweets. I just don’t know what exactly I like to begin with - if you’d be willing to split your dessert with me, I won’t say no, but don’t expect me to eat much.” Wasn’t he somehow acting like a puppy? Someone horrible indecisive, antsy and generally unsure of what to do - like a lost little puppy that had no idea where its parents or siblings suddenly went. Instead, however, he did take the glass that Lucien poured him and eyed the two bottles he pointed at, while he downed half of what he held in hand - was wine tasting always like this? Dayan wasn’t even sure if he could form a proper opinion at the speed they went - especially not when one of the servants brought the requested plate of food over for their guest. “Hm, I’d say this one?”, he eventually decided, pointing at the left one. Well, they still had heaps of wine to go through, didn’t they?
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "Threat? Well the war is over, so there is nothing to be scared of anyway. We're just trying to keep our harbors and industries running.", Lucien chuckled but that wasn't entirely true. Ares was no threat because Luciens father wasn't like his own, he acted through the shadows, sent his second born son on secret missions into the capital, rather than sending Ares to get rid of the wolf that was about to assume the throne. Not that Ares couldn't have in all the chaos that had emerged from first loosing the king and then loosing the crown prince, but it wasn't what Luciens father wanted. He already made enough money and connections and felt comfortable in the position he was in, he didn't want to be king himself. "My father raised us all differently if I'm terribly honest, but strict and thorough I guess. But yes, we also came to our own terms and hobbies I think. Well maybe not my sister, she still needs to find something she enjoys.", Lucien explained. Lucille hadn't been raised like Ares and Lucien were, but she also had to learn a lot of things a noble woman should know. Other than that however she was free to do whatever she wanted until their father needed her for something, probably some marriage. "Fine. I'll give you some time to think.", Lucien chuckled generously as if he was the one in power here.

      "So you're polite because you like me?", Lucien asked with another chuckle and took another sip from his glass. He was playing games that was all, none of what he said held much value. Did he ever mean anything he said in the first place? "You say that, but you could probably knock me off my feet in a second.", Lucien chuckled. Actually sparring wasn't his thing, he either hurt himself without noticing it, or he was a little too mean while fighting. If throwing sand in Dayans face wasn't allowed, what even was the point? Either way, it sounded like a bother too. When was the last time he held a sword anyway? He preferred his knife. "So maybe tomorrow we order a desert tasting? Then maybe you know what you like and what you want at the coronation!", Lucien suggested and while he was talking the servant came by to set a plate of chocolate coated strawberries on the table. Lucien took one right away to taste it. Then he ordered the bottles of wine like Dayan decided how to.

    • “I was joking, I didn’t mean to offend”, the young king said while shaking his head. Lucien was right, Olette was doing nothing more than trying to survive to some extend, but they all were trying to do just that - nobody wanted to be the loser in a game like this, much less did anybody want to suddenly disappear alongside their entire bloodline. “She’ll find something eventually, I’m sure, but that aside, is there anything else besides reading that you enjoy or aside from sparring that you … I wouldn’t say despise, we should call it … don’t fancy?”, Dayan suggested. Lucien was good with words, but that seemed to be no real surprise from somebody who had his roots in Olette, albeit, why did he even judge the redhead like that? The wolf knew nothing about him and if he was terribly honest, he knew that judging a book by its cover had never been his thing - he was like Rain in that regard, wasn’t he? Softspoken … not so much, but while there were people he could hate - which his father probably couldn’t - there were plenty of people he’d put his trust into if he could. Lucien of Olette didn’t seem like a bad person, but why would he be in the first place - there was no reason to make enemies with the king. “How generous of you. When would you like me to come up with one, though?” He was a fool and setting himself up for embarrassment and failure, like he’d always done. But that was fine - hearing the redhead chuckle after a few glasses of wine sounded less uncanny than it had been before and all in all, this evening didn’t seem like it’d be a bad one.

      The last few days, he’d buried himself in his bed, amidst countless blankets and he was sure that, if he could, his tears would have flooded the room and the occasional whailing had been enough to spook a servant or two. “Why wouldn’t I like you? You didn’t come here to make enemies and I’m not here to make one out of you either. If I say it like that, it sounds a lot less friendlier.” It did, it sounded as if he had to like Lucien not because he wanted to but because that was something that his country could have a political interest in - wouldn’t he have to befriend Ares then, though? “Hm, I’d rather not injure you and then have to explain what happened - someone will claim I mauled you like the monster I am, by blood, that is. So sparring is off the table, what a shame”, Dayan sighed and for a moment, he wasn’t sure what to make of it. He’d been told he could do what he wanted, yet it felt as if he had to be someone he wasn’t, adhere to rules he’d never heard of and fitting into his fathers footsteps was a whole other issue. “And then we’ll end up with chocolate coated strawberries as a desert. I mean, why not? Still, that seems a little lacking.” People expected something big, something memorable - in a good sense, not a bad one and he was the first one to pour Lucien and him a glass of wine once they both had emptied their own out. “How are the strawberries?”, he asked, not sure if he’d fancy it if he stole one for himself - why would he? Dayan didn’t feel like eating, some sweets wouldn’t change that - in fact, if anything, hadn’t Richard asked for some and then shared with him because he definitely disliked sweets? That had to be some weird wolf thing …
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "You couldn't offend me.", Lucien answered and shook his head with a chuckle. He wasn't easily offended anyway. He didn't care too much what others said about his family and he cared even less what they said about him. He didn't even know who he was, sometimes it felt he was just watching someone live his life from a distance, why would he care about someone he didn't even know? "You're asking about my hobbies? Well I enjoy tasting some good wine. I enjoy shopping, buying new clothes, that'll be fun tomorrow, even if they aren't for me. Hm, I also enjoy a good game of chess.", he explained smiling. That was all true, though sometimes it felt odd, like he was a little bit too excited over some stupid stuff when other things didn't interest him at all. "What I don't fancy... hm. I wouldn't even say I hate sparring, but generally I don't like getting me or my clothes dirty. So I guess everything that could qualifies." Gardenwork, hiking, washing something, not that he ever tried, he had servants for that, but those were things he didn't fancy. But he also was good at doing what he needed to do. If for whatever reason he had to spar with Dayan to make him like him more, he'd do it and if he had to clean the whole castle because his father said so, he'd do it too without any complaints. "That doesn't mean I won't spar with you if you ask me though.", he added since Dayan had seemed a little bit excited when it came up and disappointed when Lucien somewhat declined the offer. "Well I'd like you to come up with a nickname before I leave preferably!", he then laughed. When would that even be? There was some time left until the coronation happened and maybe he'd stay one or two days more to help and clean up the mess they would make.

      "Don't sweat it, I'm just joking with you.", Lucien smiled and poured Dayan another glass. "You're almost too mindful, but thank you, I'm glad you like me." Dayan was a people pleaser, just like his father that tried to make everyone coexist peacefully and rather tried to convince someone instead of killing them. But he also did know when he couldn't falter, history showed that and that was probably what surprised his enemies. "Injure me? Hold up now, only because I land on my ass doesn't mean I get hurt.", Lucien chuckled and shook his head. "You can order whatever you want. I like strawberries you know? Doesn't have to be a big fancy cake and if you still want one, let it be a strawberry cake.", Lucien suggested. Dayan worried too much about little details, of course it mattered somehow, but not as much as he thought. He'd break if he worried about everything. "They are good, taste one.", Lucien smiled and while Dayan poured them some more wine, Lucien moved the plate with strawberries in between them. Then with a lascivious smile he added the word "Hun.".

    • "I couldn't? That ... makes me glad to hear." There were plenty of things that Dayan of Fhaergus excelled at, mainly offending those who he should keep close with a simple action, a push - a single droplet of information that amounted to be too much for just about anyone. And why was that? Well, he did come after his father, the late king, in many ways despite not even sharing a drop of blood with the now-deceased man. Both of them had been people pleasers, both of them were happy to be around people and yet, just sometimes, they wanted to be for themselves, surrounded by no one but those who they truly cherished - and while his father had been a honest man, through and through, Dayan wasn't afraid to play with open cards if he could plaster a few hidden ones on the bottomside of the table they were sitting on. "So, you do enjoy your own kind of things and therefore, I can trust you to have good taste in fabric?", the king asked, grinning at Lucien for a moment, quite forlorn at that. Were those genuine emotions, the want and need to be pitied for not being able to become who he ought to be, or was he just being strung along on the redheads laundry line that he was busy setting up right now? "And yet I don't feel like forcing you to do something like that. I'd feel most comfortable doing something we both can enjoy." Talking was fine, but it came with one major flaw - if alcohol was intermingling their little play, they might as well share sore secrets with the other - weak points, something nobody should ever know about to begin with. What was he to call him? Lucien? Lucy? Lu? No, all of that sounded stupid, uncreative even. "Before you leave? That's ample time!" It was, but right about now, he couldn't quite make anything out - there was no definite character he could judge Lucien based off, there was only his distaste for many and his like for few things and while he seemingly enjoyed strawberries and wine, there was nothing that he could use, nothing that would stick.

      "You got me there, I'll give you that!" Lucien sure did, it almost felt weird to word it out like that - but he wasn't wrong, what was Dayan worrying for if not the wine that he found in his glass once more? There were many instances where he did drink, but this here seemed almost as if it was one that was just there to waste away on - to get his mind to go into a different, less painful direction - and if that had been Luciens goal, he was achieving it. "It doesn't? Well, it does depend on your opponent and the force he uses, but aside from that, I'm not here to take you apart." Was he, really? This was his home, if anything, Lucien seemed to be here to dissect him from top to bottom, but assuming something like that only showed how many manners he truly lacked and that he started seeing evil in everything that approached him, breathed the same air as him - tried to get under the skin of a monster that, by all accounts, was useless enough to be unable to save his own family from the even bigger monster that he didn't want to see as one, either. Dayan took another whisk of his glass of wine, only to look at Lucien, almost wide-eyed ... "That's ... actually a good idea!", he retaliated, knowing fully well that no matter how many strawberries the cake consisted of, he probably wouldn't even be able to get that far - the nausea he experienced would only be worse on the day of his own coronation, the dreaded day that would forever remind him of preventable demise. "And here you are, tempting me with what was supposed to be your dessert - but it'd be quite the offense if I didn't say yes, hm? I'll gladly take one then, thank you", the wolf hummed, only to find himself presented with the plate and ... Lucien had his hands on there just now, right? Why was he acting like a toddler, afraid of the silliest things? Instead of immediately grabbing one of the strawberries, he did grab a fork that remained at the table - put there for others to join the lonely dinner, only that nobody else remained and was the wolf winced, he did skewer one of the strawberries on said for and put it in his mouth. The redhead had been right, it was tasty, but ... he had to swallow first. "Mh, they are incredibly sweet. Well, at least that means they are completely ripe."
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • For whatever reason it seemed like Dayan already kind of liked Lucien and wanted to be his friend. Lucien hadn't done much for now, but being his friend wasn't enough to achieve his goal. He needed Dayan to trust him and to keep him at his court as an adviser of sorts, but everything would come with due time. Right now Dayan seemed to have found at least somebody he could confide in eventually, at the every least he found someone to pull him out of his misery for a few hours. "I'd assume so.", Lucien chuckled when Dayan asked him about his sense of fabric. He'd pick something nice for Dayan, something kingly and he kind of felt like Dayan was glad someone else was wrapping his head around his clothes, so he didn't have to decide something he didn't have a clue about himself. Not that his styling was bad, but he didn't seem to care too much either. "Look at you being able to grin, hun.", he then chuckled looking at the future king who seemed to actually enjoy himself here. Maybe it was due to the alcohol. "Then what do you enjoy?", Lucien asked. Maybe they found something they both wanted to do, or at the very least Lucien would just act like it was his favorite thing to do.

      Lucien kept up his smile and right now it looked almost humble. He wasn't going to rub the fact in that he may have joked around a little too much with Dayan and that he fell for it. At this point Dayans mind was starting to be clouded by the wine, wasn't it? Not that it showed, he didn't have slurred speech or a stupid giggle, not even red cheeks, but he opened up and Lucien was in the meantime not faced by any of that. He kept his cool and his mind clear. "I'm sure you could though.", he answered, but they wouldn't find out because sparring was off the table, wasn't it? Yet Dayan kept talking about it. He'd ask again if he truly wanted to. "Strawberry cake it is then!", Lucien chuckled looking at Dayan accepting the offer of taking a strawberry too. He also noticed his behavior, not for the first time either. It had started with the tea and now he looked at he plate as if it was cursed. Lucien wasn't quite sure what this was about yet, it probably needed more testing, but right now he at least took mental note of Dayans face and the urge to pick up a strawberry with a fork. He almost seemed a little bit uneasy right now. "They are! Aren't they tasty?", Lucien asked with his unwavering smile and left the plate in between them, in case Dayan wanted more. So he was still hurt, proven by the fact that he sat a little bit odd and he had a problem touching certain things. More than just his body broke during the attack, wasn't it that?

    • Why did he even care in the first place? There was no strange sense of attachment towards Lucien, much like there was no way of knowing what he was going to do with himself prior to his coronation - Dayan hadn’t contemplated whatever or not he’d throw himself off of one of the castles balconies, yet, the call of the void - the urge to die - wasn’t really strong, although the realization and acceptance of failure dwelled within him and made him wonder why he allowed someone like the redhead around him all of a sudden, for seemingly no reason at all. “Then I’ll rely on you in that regard, my apologies in advance.” That meant that Lucien would be able to choose whatever he liked for him, though, Dayan took mental note of maybe forcing his opinion into the mix and probably earning the ire of both his fellow noble and the tailor - he didn’t care enough to give a definite damn, though. What was this life even worth without freedom of choice? He was the child of two wolves, that much was apparent, but he had been raised as a sheep among sheep - it was only fair that he’d behave like one. “Grinning? You might have seen a mirage”, he expressed, but shook his head at the same time. Did he feel guilty for feeling good in somebody elses presence? Maybe just a little too much - especially with all of his siblings … no, they weren’t, not Richard, right? “A plethora of things. I mean, I tried everything I could get my hands on, but I’m not one for sitting around and doing something, I’m not good at sitting still in the first place.”

      Richard had been the one interested in the finer arts, meanwhile Dayan enjoyed hunting and all sorts of things like sparring and … well, just something that got him outside, whether it was rain, snow or sunshine. Fuck, he really sounded like a fullblown wolf, didn’t he? This was embarrassing. “Silly card tricks or games can be fun, especially if someones watching or playing that can’t wrap their head around it. Or the fact that you’re playing with spiked cards”, he slowly elaborated while taking a whisk of wine and then, he grabbed a different bottle and poured him and Lucien some more. Were strawberries the only thing this guy really liked? He seemed indecisive anyway, but for some reason, strawberries - which kind of matched him either way - seemed to be his favorite. “No need to flatter me and besides, I don’t think your father would be appreciative if the future king takes you apart in a spar.”, he insisted, shaking his head. His fingers felt tingly and his face warm, was that because of the damn wine? He hadn’t eaten much, not the last few days anyways and somehow, he’d never indulged much in all of this, right? “Strawberry cake sounds nice enough … hm, do you like other fruit, too? What about … apples seem pretty standard, but pomegranates? Peaches?” At least pomegranates were red, much like strawberries and yet not at all - peaches, on the other hand, they were sweet and fuzzy, or had they been sour the last time he ate them? What did he care. His eyes fell upon the offered plate and almost as if he couldn’t decline Luciens inaudible offer, he took another one with his fork. “Very, a bit sweet for my liking but they’re just right. And I mean, I don’t want to scare you off with the things Thrians call sweets … I had them once or twice, they weren’t really tasty, trust me.”
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "Apologies? Why do you apologize? I told you, I love shopping. Besides, am I not here to help you out?", Lucien asked laughing. Again Dayan was way too considerate. For someone who wanted Lucien to treat him like a normal person and not his future king he sure treated Lucien like some form of special guest. He was here to help him, not have a vacation in Myriad! "We'll find something fitting. We already talked about colors, right? That's half the work done already." It wouldn't be too hard to find something Dayan would like too, but it was more fun if Lucien was able to sift through fabrics all day long. Then again, he had better and more important things to do, but maybe the whole touching thing would resolve itself if a tailor kept his hands on the wolf all the time. "I didn't. You definitely grinned and that is fine.", Lucien answered with a smile of his own. He could guess why Dayan told him he didn't. He felt guilty for having fun when his family just died and he should be sad instead, but hearing to what people had to say, he had been plenty sad already. "So what to do then? Maybe if we finish all the work for the coronation it would be good to have you have a little fun and relax beforehand. What about riding out? I do enjoy that, though technically it also consists of a lot of sitting."

      It didn't even matter, Lucien would do anything as long as it made him come closer to Dayan. He just needed to say the word, whatever it was he wanted to do. "So you're a cheat.", Lucien grinned. "Maybe a round of poker sometimes? Everything goes as long as you're not caught?" That was probably a stupid suggestion and Lucien wasn't sure if he should use all the tricks in the book or not should they play. He was pretty good at card games. He easily could remember every card and he was able to calcluate what came up next probably. Bein able to cheat or rather having his opponent cheat would up the challenge finally, even though that would also be hard if Lucien was the opponent. "I think my father wouldn't dare be against the wish of his king.", Lucien said instead and lifted up his glass towards Dayan before he drank with a smile on his face. "Sure apples are fine.", Lucien shrugged, Dayan asked the weirdest of questions. "I also like grapes and oranges." Those were probably his favorites if he even had something like that. Sometimes he felt like being someone, then he didn't anymore. It was odd. Having Dayan ask all of these personal questions was forcing Lucien to actually think about himself. "Well there is probably not much you can grow in a cold wasteland. They have to work with what they got, right?"

    • "But you're still my guest and instead of being a good host, I'm just dragging you around to do all kinds of things with and for me, that doesn't seem too far." It wasn't, as much as it wasn't good behavior, but there was no late father to ask, or any of his fathers in general, no younger brother to annoy with silly questions and definitely not two younger siblings to lie to and tell them about how clouds were actually sweets, waiting to drop from high above into their laps if they could stay put for ten whole minutes. All of those things were no more and it was odd, so much in fact that he had grown silent for a moment and his fork had missed the strawberry he tried to skewer, making a sound that forced him back into reality - Dayan looked up, then actually got ahold of said red fiend and gave Lucien an apologetic smile, as if he were sorry for losing himself for a second. "That's true, but I wasn't very decisive in the color department, either." Thinking about being touched by the tailor wasn't something he liked to indulge in either and thus, he hid his distaste for half of the situation by chewing the fruit he carefully shoved into his mouth right then and there - the kings castle was a nice place, yet it had become barren and void of life. "I ... fine, you're right. You got me there." There was nohing to be fine and none of this was actually alright - all of those words were just uselessly thrown at him, just to make him feel better about a preventable situation - if he was an actual wolf, he could have put up an actual, victorious fight. "Riding out is fine, I have some spots we could visit, actually, if that's fine by you."

      Spots that he dragged Richard to, others that he dragged his father too and then, there were those that he only went to alone, that he didn't want anyone to know about because it didn't feel alright with him, he wanted to have something for himself, just for a moment, something to use as a silly justificitation for all the times he had been genuinely sad beforehand, even if that hadn't been often. "If you can't win the natural way, just about anything counts as long as nobody notices. Therefore, I'd gladly take you up on that offer of yours sometime tomorrow or later - I'm afraid I'm too tired to hide my cheating from you today." In the end, if Lucien knew that Dayan played with spiked cards in the first place, he'd probably not figure it out until supsicions arose when the game was almost over - when it, by any means, was too late to call him out for his bullshit either way - or so he hoped. In the end, it all amounted to something, even if it was just to further a friendship that hadn't even quite prospered yet. "Hm, I think even if I weren't the kings adopted son, my father wouldn't have let something like that happen, no matter who did what to me. Sounds like your father sticks to the rules, though", he mused, looking at the dark red fluid in his glass - he had enough of this stuff, it was starting to slightly taste the same and he barely could tell if Lucien had some red tint to his deathly pale face, either. Dayan didn't know any better, but maybe the redhead truly was an angel of death sent to him for all the right reasons - and he was too stupid to get it. "Strawberries, apples, grapes, oranges ... anything else? Something that doesn't grow in Olette or Myriad or Adrestia?" Who knew, Lucien seemed like he had expensive taste, like most nobles that had been raised with a golden spoon in their mouth anyways. "They certainly do get creative, but you have to grow accustomed to the taste as well, essentially. It's some sort of mixture of snow, animal fat and berries, it's not exactly, well ... why would you want to eat something that cold when it's cold most of the year in Thria either way?"
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "To be honest, I am not here to be your guest, I am here to help and to work for you and I like being occupied, so don't worry about that.", Lucien reiterated. He wondered why it was so hard for Dayan to let go of some control and let himself be helped. Lucien was fine with shooing other people around, his siblings and his father were fine with that too. Was it Dayans upbringing? They didn't cook themselves, they didn't clean, so why was he like this? Because Lucien was a noble himself? Lucien had to admit that reading Dayan in that regard was way harder than he had anticipated. Right now he also seemed distracted again, but in this case the redhead could guess why, even though he couldn't exactly make it better. "You'll know what you want when you see it tomorrow.", he smiled instead, just shaking his head over the missed strawberry and the short break in their conversation. "It's very fine by me. But in order to have time to that, please let me help you properly.", Lucien asked of him and this would have been the moment where he'd put his hand on Dayans, or on his shoulder or knee, but no, not with him. Lucien figured it would be best to be the only one not pestering him with touches he seemingly didn't want.

      "No problem, of course, whenever you feel up to it.", Lucien nodded and then put on a somewhat troubled expression. "I'm sorry if I kept you up for too long. If you're tired, don't feel obliged to continue sitting here with me." Dayan seemed tired all the time anyway, though he also seemed like he had at least a little bit of fun and that was a very good thing. "He does, as do I. Not liking to get dirty is no proper excuse to deny the future kings wishes and I don't think you would hurt me, hun.", Lucien chuckled, just putting it out there again. Hurting him in a sense of making him be in pain was a feat a simple, young man didn't posses in the first place. He also probably had enough control over himself as to not break Luciens bones in a spar. "What? All those things aren't enough?", Lucien asked laughing. "I don't know what you are getting at. I'm not sure how much imports you have here, but I guess everything you want. Sometimes we get pineapples, or so they call it in the south, they are quite tasty, but I don't like the texture very much." Those southern fruits were something else, but barely made it all the way to Adrestia. "I like berries, but I think I can do without the snow and the fat. Not that I ever saw any snow, but it's just frozen water."

    • "I ... That ... I mean, I appreciate it but you really don't have to bend over backwards for me." Dayan had become someone in such a short amount of time, he wasn't entirely sure if this was him now - for now - or forever. Trauma could change people, that much was clear, but he'd still held onto that glimmer of hope that no matter what, he'd just pull through somehow, just make things work and still, he was holding the reigns in his hands and had no idea what he was supposed to do with them from the beginning. Lucien was like a gift in disguise instead, somebody that seemed to know what he was doing, selflessly sent by his father of all people just to assist their future king in all and any endeavors he could have. Dayan was glad to say the list, yet he didn't feel like he was expressing any of that properly and it felt like a damn shame to even think about. "You're right ... sometimes you just need to see and feel it and you know if it's the thing you were looking for all along." He, for one, could use a hug but all and any people he'd take it from where either dead or missing and anything else just didn't feel the same, like a cheap replacement for things that didn't need to be that - they didn't have to be anything and he was sure that he, no matter what, didn't have to figure anything out on his own either. Handing work to Lucien, he already had done that, and yet it didn't feel like the right thing to do - instead he put his hand on the nape of his neck, he felt tired and exhausted, more than before.

      Was spend and worn the right expression? Either way, he wasn't so sure. "I ... Are you sure?", he instead inquired, uneasy and uncertain. It didn't seem like him, like the bold playboy he'd usually be - the one that didn't even know what slowing down or not allowing someone to join in on the fun meant, no. He'd always wanted everyone around him all the time, but right now, it felt like everything was getting closer and like his shirt was clinging to him, suffocating him just by being there. What was he, if not exhausted? "No need to apologize, I just didn't want to propose something and then dip out because I am no good for anything currently." Getting frisky with Lucien was also nothing he'd fancy, he was already letting him a tad bit too close to feelings he wasn't able to lock away at the moment and Dayan did hate himself for the assumption that maybe, Lucien was not after helping him but rather helping himself by lending him a hand. "And you're so sure about that? What if I do? Just because I'm a king I can't excuse hurting someone." Hun it was, huh? Why did that seem awfully close to begin with? He was overthinking again, tired and overthinking the stupidest of details, the littlest of mistakes he'd made and in reality, no matter what he thought about, it all came back to bite him in the ass. His heritage especially. "What I'm getting at? At what you like, that's all." While he talked a lot, he didn't talk an awful lot about himself and seemed unsure whenever Dayan proposed something - but pineapples were something else. "I had some once or twice and overate, so I ended up with quite the numb mouth, yet, when I took another piece, it just hurt.", he explained. Pineapples were odd fruits, weren't they? But they were tasty, that much was clear. "You never saw snow? You have to be kidding."
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "I'm not!", Lucien laughed and then shook his head. "You know what? I will just still some work from you and do it. You won't throw it away when it's already done, right?" He wouldn't, that wasn't even a real question and Lucien intended to force Dayan to recognize he could make himself useful if he had to. Besides, Dayan already had plans for a rigged poker game and riding out, how would they do that if Dayan kept up his slow pace? "Good and if the tailor doesn't bring anything useful, we have him come again and cheaper.", Lucien chuckled. Not that he or Dayan ever had to think about money, but Lucien was from a family of merchants basically. They made their money from their harbor and from selling imported goods all over Adrestia. Money was an abstract concept for some nobles, but not Luciens family. Even with tons of money they still wanted to save some if possible. Sure, investments were also in it, but it had to have a good turnover, which didn't need to be money all the time.

      "I am sure, come on, let's go to bed. We can drink more wine tomorrow and decide which one we want for the coronation.", Lucien answered and before Dayan was beating around the bush again he simply stood up, ending their little dinner like that. "We can talk on the way to your room, if you'd let me escort you. We'll have some more time to talk then, instead of ending this so suddenly." Luciens room was in the guest wing, but he'd find there no problem. He didn't want to be rude to Dayan either and it seemed like there was a little more to talk about. "Now drink up!", he urged, his own glass was already empty and he grinned at Dayan as if the wine had gone to his head a little. "That's nothing a future king should say.", he then reprimanded a little bit, but Dayan was depressed, everyone could see that. "As I said, I'm not that fragile and we won't know unless we try anyway." Lucien didn't mind a fight, even though he'd lose probably. If that was something getting him closer to Dayan, he'd do it. "It gets quite sour, you're right. And no I am not kidding. It never snows in Olette and since your family moved to Myriad, I was saved from attending events in Fhaergus."

    • "You can't just steal work fr- fine, I'll give you some, if you insist!" There he had it, he'd been beaten and Lucien got what he wanted, which was work - why would anyone want work from him in the first place, especially when it only revolved around him either way? Dayan was glad for the help, he knew that he moved about as slow as he could and he didn't feel confident enough to hand his work to anybody else, not even Lucien, mainly for the fact that he probably thought that, if only he had some more control back then, he could have changed something about a situation entirely out of his control and he was, probably, too far gone to realize that nothing would change anything at any point either way. "Pfft, who thought you how to deal like that?" His father wouldn't have changed anything, a king didn't have to worry about finances and everyone knew that King Rain was, next to being too good to be true, a people pleaser. Sometimes, it did seem quite nerve-wracking, he was sure of that but he also had to realize that no matter what, he was to be king now, something he was never supposed to be and while he didn't want to and lived in denial, he had to move on - he could rest after the coronation, somehow, and try to heal wounds that never would close up entirely.

      "Alright", he simply replied and got up from his seat - he didn't want to seem like he wanted to end this, found himself back on his legs soon enough and Lucien was the one that planted another idea in his head, or rather allowed his own head to finally do what it wanted by pushing him in the right direction he was too afraid to walk alone. "I wouldn't mind, but you're still my guest, I'd rather escort you to your room." Wasn't Lucien the slightest bit tipsy? He didn't seem like it, yet Dayan felt quite fuzzy and warm, not used to just ... tasting wine, right? Tasting had turned into much more than that and in fact, upon being prompted to do so, he took the half empty glass, drank from it and then sat it aside again - it was empty now, much like he wanted his mind to be. "I have! And now we should get moving.", he proposed instead, they could still decide on a direction to walk once they got out of the dining hall for real. Where they went didn't matter - if he had to bring Lucien to his room, he'd probably have to figure out where his servants had put him and if Lucien brought him to his own, he'd have to do just that on his own. "I know, but I was never slated to be anything important either way, so ... excuse my un-kingliness, if you will. I'll grow into that role eventually ... hopefully." His father had, too, but by the time he was old enough to understand, said father had already become well accustomed to being a king and Dayan himself couldn't exactly ask a ghost, a maniac or any of the deceased kings before that. "So we shouldn't try." That was one way to take it, right? "Oh, right. Fhaergus is just cold and lonely, without any noble family now ... that's also kind of sad, but at least nobody has to go over the mountain pass to get to an event. And nobody is locked in there for half of the year." Fhaergus manor was, most likely, not in a bad shape but it sat there, outside of the city, where it had always stood and every little bit of life that it had in the years prior to his birth had faded, at least with the death of his grandfathers who'd visited once in a while - at this point, he wouldn't actually mind reigning from there, but that was impossible. How many dusty family portraits of unfamiliar faces did this thing have anyway?
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "I do insist!", Lucien chuckled, but in the end, he'd just forcefully prove that he could be of use to the new king in any case. For what it was worth, he was way to welcoming anyway, so he wouldn't just throw already done work into the garbage, right? "I'm from a family of merchants, we do nothing but bargain. You should visit our capital sometimes, the harbor is pretty buzzing.", Lucien explained with a grin, even though he didn't think Dayan was one for many people, not anymore at least. Lucien knew how to get what he want however, he learned it while growing up, though bargaining with his father never was of use and he soon enough had learned it. Anyone else however was free game. Olettes noble family always made their money through trade and by going to great lengths to make sure they were the best and biggest trading partner for their southern friends. They'd even trade with Thria if it hadn't been so far off, right now Alster, Stenz and Wezette had better chances at that. Did they use it though? Probably not like Olette would.

      "Well I wouldn't mind if you want to do that instead.", Lucien smiled after Dayan stood up and suggested to bring Lucien to his own room instead. It probably was more fitting anyway, because Lucien was sleeping in the guest wing and had no business in the main wing of the house, yet Dayans servants just led him there when he arrived. Some of those needed to learn some serious manners, didn't they? At home that was unthinkable, Luciens father would have probably beheaded them already, or worse if he was in a bad mood. While Dayan started moving Lucien tried to figure out how well he still stood on his two feet, but given the fact that he was hurt too it wasn't easy to figure out. Lucien didn't exactly plan to do anything with a drunken soon to be king anyway, not now at least. Lucien nodded and followed Dayan out of the dining hall. "I'll excuse it this once.", Lucien chuckled and afterwards crossed his arms. "You will, don't you worry. I bet your late father wasn't prepared for his roles here either, from what I have heard, but he did quite well, right?" If anything any person was just a product of their upbringing and thus it didn't matter if Dayan was by blood a wolf, he still had been raised by the former king. "That's not what I said, but riding out will be enough.", he answered, well no sparring then, good. He wouldn't ruin his shirt or pants. "People told me it's almost as cold as Thria! I think that is no weather for me..."

    • "Then you'll get work, as simple as that!", Dayan answered, laughing about it for a good second and a half. This was ridiculous, he never thought he'd even speak to any of Olettes people and here he was, joking around with the younger son of their noble family, despite the fact that he shouldn't be. This were different if he were in higher spirits, in a different situation - he was sure nobody would even have cared, he was the son of the most important noble in all of Adrestia, the adopted one, with no name or rank or title to it, but he flocked among nobility and charmed those who thought he still had a shot at the throne - poor maidens. "Lots of people piled into one crowded market? Hm, I can't really turn an invitation like that down, but I have to admit, I'll have to come back to that invitation at a later date. I fear my duties will have to come first and I still need to figure those out." Besides, a country that had just lost its king couldn't just not have one, or wait until the new one felt like working - Dayan had to do something, even if he didn't know what it was yet. How did Rain figure all of these things out? Did he have a dairy? Could he find something anywhere? And yet, it felt like grave desecration, were he to sift through the former kings stuff or even the room in which stuffy air piled up and Dayan just saw things that were never there. "Off to your room it is, then!" Meaning, they'd have to go to the guest wing and Dayan would have to remember how many doors he'd passed earlier when he'd gotten Lucien - which also meant, he couldn't let the alcohol get to his brain just yet, that was something he could do later when he was this close to falling asleep and really needed one final pull into the underworld.

      The pain was bearable lie this, maybe because he was focused on something else than it for once or rather because he wasn't overexerting himself too much just yet - he hadn't felt like doing much anyway, but if he did something, it was nothing good, nothing that gave his body the chance to heal and that felt like a mistake and a half. "Thank you, you'll not need to excuse it a second time." Actually, Dayan was sure that Lucien would have to excuse it a lot - it wasn't like him to get so worked up over something, but he also was fairly aware that he lacked the knowledge and etiquette of a future king ... what would he even be? If Richard had any sympathy for him, which he did, and no regards for duty, which he didn't, he'd probably had ended up as something like his right hand man, but knowing that he was much more like his actual father, like Nayantai, in the first place, he'd gotten bored, wandered off and returned years later, maybe with presents and a few more scars, just to annoy all three of his siblings. "He did well, you are right about that. I just wish he could give me advice, but alas, the dead stay dead", even when they were buried out in the non-accessible part of the castle gardens, just because. "Then I can show you some places, I just hope you don't expect anything too fancy." Him and Richard had liked going places, just looking around and taking in the scenery - or rather, finding a completely ridiculous adventure that led nowhere, except back home because they couldn't be out there for weeks on end. "Almost? I haven't been to Thria all that often and I can only go off of descriptions my father has given me, but Fhaergus is tame, especially compared to Thrias frigid west. Those who live there don't seem to mind, though, for them the cold is nothing ... I don't know if the same applies to me, I never tried."
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "Good! Finally you agree!", Lucien chuckled but he'd believe it when he started seeing any work coming his way. Thus far he always had to beg to get something to do and even was sent to his room for a while with nothing more than his books. He could read them any time, it wasn't like he was very busy at home either. At some point his training had ended and his father didn't need to teach him anymore lessons, his poor dog of a son has learned and memorized all tricks and now he was free to do what he pleased until he was needed. Lucien had a hand in his fathers less known businesses, but it wasn't too much work. The most exciting thing was waiting for reports of people searching for the missing crownprince all over the country. "You'll always be welcome in Olette. I don't think your family visited us very often. Maybe you'd like it though.", Lucien smiled generously. Warmth wasn't something Thria or Fhaergus was known for, so that family probably liked it cold, except the late king that fled the weather in his home and opted for Myriads more stable weather. For now they decided to go to Luciens room and headed in that direction. It wouldn't be a very long walk.

      "Are you sure?", Lucien asked with another chuckle. Dayan didn't really fit the role of a king, much as his father didn't fit the role of a Thrian diplomat, but at least he did somehow better. Lucien didn't truly care about manners either and the old king before Rain had the worst manners of all, he still remained king for quite some time. Dayan could rule however he wanted as long as he didn't make the wrong enemies. "Talking to the dead sometimes helps still. Maybe reading about him r what he did would help too, you know?", Lucien suggested. He didn't have a dead father, but a dead mother he never met. He wasn't very sentimental though, but his sister wanted to know everything about her all the damn time. "Too fancy? Well I'm not expecting any civilization if that is what you think.", the redhead laughed and eventually shook his head. "Well I know that I don't want to visit Thria then... or Fhaergus for that matter. But now you make me wonder, doesn't your father not have family? He has a sister, you never visited her?"

    • "That sounds like you've been dying to get your hands on something to do ... if that's the case, I apologize for not paying attention sooner." Lucien was only trying to help, yet he hogged everything that he could for himself under the pretense that his father shouldered everything all alone all the time, too, even if that definitely wasn't the case. In fact, Dayan was fairly certain that Rain had had other people to help him, if not lend him a hand more than once and while he was knowledgable himself, that didn't help anyone if he was just extremely worn out from everything that swamped him - at least the late king had a wolf by his side, someone that - with just a stare - could ward off most of the people. Dayan wished he was more like his father or the mother he never got to know, never questioned in the first place, but in the end, he was loved and he was, who he was. If that meant he had to reign by letting his voice speak for him, not his actions, so be it. "I'm sure the late king would have prefered to got there more often, but knowing my father, he probably used all his strength was worth to go somewhere else. The one instance I remember of being there was, when we visited one of your beaches and he was absolutely miserable from the heat." The crude look on his face had also been enough to get anyone off of his case once they started questioning him a bit too much. "No, but it sounds better if I say it like that. I'm horrible, even if I was raised a noble, I had no obligations." Besides, Lucien was his age and while Dayan was to be king, he also felt as if someone was placing an illuminated crown of thorns onto his head, digging deeper and deeper into his skull and leaving behind distinctive scars - something that would remind him that he didn't want to be here, that he didn't want to become a king when he was his age and he was sure that Richard would have wanted to live past twenty without a care in the world as well. None of that was possible and still, why did he even cling to a flimsy silver of hope?

      "That would be a start, but that also meant I'd have to ... I'd rather not do that. It feels like picking at the scabs of a barely healing wound just for curiousities sake and I'm quite tired, not just physically." His body could go on if it wanted to, but something was going on in his head that changed most of it anyway. Dayan had died, at least he hoped he would have and what remained of a person that barely could help himself was more than apparent. Why? Because there was no way of knowing, as much as there was no way of realizing. "Oh, no, but I'm also not taking you out to a gazebo full of wild roses or something absurd like that. It's just very simple and a vast strand of nothingness. Of course, if you'd rather not go there and here me talk all day or try to hunt something, let me know." Dayan was someone that, in the past, wouldn't have cared much about an opinion like that - if he felt like going, he did and if Richard didn't, he coaxed him into it and when he still didn't feel like it by the time he was to leave, he then did, because he wanted to stick to him, like always. "I'd not drag you out to the west, but the choice is up to you. I don't think I should set foot into Thria that soon anyway, unless I really have to. As for my aunt, we visited her a few times and I do recall at least one time where she visited us, still ... I wouldn't call the relationship between her and my father sour, it's just very ... she's in a position she never was supposed to be in, much like me, and losing two of her younger siblings also weighs hard on you. Especially when the one you still have isn't within your reach at any given time and you are all alone, without the rest of your family, in a cold and wartorn country. It must suck."
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • “I am!”, Lucien replied with a grin. “Look, I’m here to help you and since the coronation is such a big event and there is lots to take care of, I didn’t bring much for my own entertainment, I didn’t think I’d have lots of freetime. Besides, I like shooing people around.” Dayan needed to learn to trust Lucien and to depend on him, after all this was Luciens goal here and why his father sent him in the first place. He was a quick thinker, he was able to read people and situations and he was fast to adjust, that is why he was here and not Ares or Lucille. Ares was meant to rule over Olette anyway, not pull the strings behind the curtain in Myriad. Besides, he wouldn’t be able to sit still anyway and Lucille? She knew too little about the world and Lucien doubted she’d be happy to marry Dayan, a half wolf and someone that she didn’t love. Lucien wondered if people had to love each other to marry and he doubted very much that his parents loved each other. Then again, he knew nothing about his mother, he only knew how she looked like from some portraits at home. “I guess it is quite the opposite from Thria. I prefer the warmth.”, Lucien answered, and he questioned Dayans good will he still had towards his father. Not that Lucien could tell him with certainty that Nayantai had been the one killing his siblings, lest he’d have to explain how he knew, if not only through rumors. Dayan must have known it though, but there was no way to make him admit it yet. “You’ll get used to it, just a little later than your brother. I don’t know what I’d do if my brother would suddenly be gone and I had to take over Olette some day. You’re holding up great.” Some sympathy here and some praise there, maybe that did the trick, yet Lucien was pretty sure, that Dayan wasn’t one for too much praise, not in his current state.

      “Take your time then and do that by finally letting me care about the coronation. That is why I am here after all.”, Lucien answered, hammering the point home once more. It was clear that Dayan didn’t want to do this and in that case Lucien couldn’t ruin anything either, it was an easy task to delegate. “We can go wherever you like and to be honest I prefer just riding somewhere instead of hunting. That’s a sport for people like my brother, or you.” Lucien didn’t like hard work and he sometimes acted weaker than he actually was. He was probably able to kill someone if he needed to, but he didn’t necessarily wanted to do that. It wasn’t a complete lie when he said he wasn’t as strong though. Ares was much stronger than him, not necessarily smarter, but stronger and Dayan probably was too. “It sounds like she and you are very similar if you say it like that. Caring about Adrestia for now is probably for the best though. At least until the coronation is over.”