History - Keiv Moc [ Duke and Yeager ]

[Yeager]

[Wow, that's a lot of talk, coming from Duke.]

He sounds wonderful. It must have been awful to lose him.

[Duke]

[ A blink, a stare, as if he'd forgotten someone was there. Listening. A human. Torn between two reactions. Blank. Stare. ]

I would say that few have felt the same. [ And even ten years later, if he only knew who to find... ]

[Yeager]

I do know what it's like to lose someone important to you, if that's what you're referring to. I lost a woman I loved at Temza. [slightly wistful] I might've married her, had she lived...

[Duke]

..... [ Duke has nothing to say to that. He's not particularly certain that Yeager had been splattered with his female's blood, or she had been slain by allies while wounded, but he'd never found someone that he'd planned on staying with in that way either, so perhaps they were near equal? In any case, the Krene is more interesting again. ]

[Yeager]

[Continuing to ramble, as Duke isn't keen on responding] That sort of loss...it's not something you ever really get over. You learn to cope with it, ja, but it is always a part of you to some degree. In my case, I still think about her at the oddest times, wish she could see where I am now, with my business and my daughters...though I would not had my daughters had she lived. I suppose that's something to consider as well. You can't replace someone, but there are ways to find new people that are important to you, and that can help enormously.

[Duke]

[ Yeager lost Duke for a moment there when he started talking about children. He knows that it isn't something that he'd get over... He understands thinking of them, wishing they could see, even occasionally simply wishing to fly with him again. But a part of him knows he'd gone wrong, twisted the wish in his anger and grief and his scramble to get half of it kept and doesn't want Elucifur to see.

As for finding someone new to be important to him... ]

And what... if.. [ Taking a bit of a large step for him, here, even if the words come slowly and quietly, and while he's not facing Yeager. ] the loss of the important person had been because of betrayal.... and one does not wish that again? When it is not every human, but any human, who could wish harm and take a new important person away.... [ He doesn't know how to end that sentence and trails off. Not watching, just listening for Yeager's reaction. Uncomfortable. ]

[Yeager]

Well, every new relationship comes with a certain amount of risk, from the person themselves and from those around them. You have to weigh the benefits against that. When it comes to someone that could be a great friend and confidant for you, oftentimes those benefits are most important. Even if there's a chance that they could be hurt or killed or taken away...it can be worth it to befriend them.

[Duke]

. . . . . [ Whether Duke's thinking, has nothing to say, or has used up his word-count for the day, he's quiet. He's not too sure on the point that getting close, befriending someone might be worth it, even if the pain of losing them follows. ]

. . . perhaps.

[Yeager]

Think about it. I think generally people are not meant to be alone. It's always good to have connections, to have others you can depend on, if only to an extent.

[And just because he's curious, though he doubts the possibility] Is there anyone you keep in contact with, maybe from the knights?

[Duke]

.....

Kept in contact, within the knights? ... None. I have cut those frail ties. Could not trust... [ The order had come from within the knights, but which knights? Any, but not all... And he had kept in contact with Khroma, but Khroma was no longer Khroma - and she'd never been a knight. . . ] Encountered the dead man, with the Brave Vesperia, both when and before they were such, but... contact, no.

[Yeager]

Ah. It was safer for me to cut my ties as well. Some guildsmen don't care about what you were involved in in your past, while others would see a stint in the knights as evidence of your being an imperialist spy. And while I have good business with many knights, I do believe Yeager von Kunze is officially dead through circumstances that would be difficult to explain away, so...I don't bother.

It is difficult to trust the knights--the higher-up ones, at least. They're all backstabbing one another constantly to suit their own interests. Some try to manipulate me when I work with them, thinking as a guildsman my intelligence and standards are lower...I have to be quite careful.

[Duke]

. . . . . . [Yeager, if you're trying to tell him something, all Duke is getting that you're rambling at him. About yourself. Which, while Yeager is an odd human, isn't particularly. . . something he's interested in. He's listening, but not really paying attention because... He knows of the corruption, and he isn't interested in guilds, other than stalking Brave Vesperia occasionally. ]

[Yeager]

[Oh, right. Duke doesn't respond well to this 'let's make conversation about our respective lives' approach. Opening up to him isn't going to do much.]

I apologize; I must be boring you. [smiles a little] I've probably made you talk more today than you have in a while, hmm?

[Duke]

. . . . Recently. Yes. [ Not since Tarqaron. He talked a nice amount there.

And he's turning away from the Aer Krene, absently watching Yeager for a moment, then heading off to the forest. Duke's too... Duke for goodbyes. ]

[Yeager]

[Annnd he's leaving. Guess that's it, then. Not that Yeager isn't satisfied for the moment--he figured out who Duke was and how he'd come to know about Yeager's heart, which is what he tracked him down for. And since Duke's social awkwardness doesn't look like an act, Yeager can trust that he isn't the type to spread that information around. Man, what a strange guy, though...]

Well, it was nice speaking to you. Thanks for your time. [He turns as well, heading back towards civilization.]