[Oh, but he does think it a game - to Hythlodaeus at least. A game as well as a rather generous helping of playful verbal prodding all with the aim of leading him in a particular direction. If he so chooses to acquiesce.]
[Yet things are not quite so simple. There is a rigidness which returns to his shoulders, a twitch of his jaw, a hardening of his expression. He pauses there amidst his dear friend's airy banter, and for an instant the man appears a stranger.]
Hythlodaeus.
[His tone is not precisely annoyed, but there is a sternness there which he has not employed before. Emet-Selch is not smiling, yet he does labor to speak calmly rather than allow his temper grounds to run unchecked.]
[His words are chosen carefully.]
Although I have always appreciated (and suspect I always will appreciate) your perceptiveness, I can assure you that an ego boost is the very last thing I require at the moment.
Much less all this talk of disappointing ends.
[He does not think he needs to explain that one. Emet-Selch may have accepted his defeat and his own end, yet hearing such things being joked about is far from his idea of a good time - particularly when it comes to the man before him. Mayhap he does not realize the hole he left behind when he walked from Emet-Selch's life that day to pursue his own duty - his own purpose - apart from his? Yet the eons have done little to repair it or to fill it. That wound has never closed, and it is that very chasm, perhaps, which lends an uncomfortable quality to this moment.]
[Emet-Selch is not wholly the man Hythlodaeus may remember. He may be recognizable, yes, but even he has changed. Yes, even someone as stubborn and unshakeable as him. He turns away then and begins to make his way toward the village in earnest.]
no subject
[Yet things are not quite so simple. There is a rigidness which returns to his shoulders, a twitch of his jaw, a hardening of his expression. He pauses there amidst his dear friend's airy banter, and for an instant the man appears a stranger.]
Hythlodaeus.
[His tone is not precisely annoyed, but there is a sternness there which he has not employed before. Emet-Selch is not smiling, yet he does labor to speak calmly rather than allow his temper grounds to run unchecked.]
[His words are chosen carefully.]
Although I have always appreciated (and suspect I always will appreciate) your perceptiveness, I can assure you that an ego boost is the very last thing I require at the moment.
Much less all this talk of disappointing ends.
[He does not think he needs to explain that one. Emet-Selch may have accepted his defeat and his own end, yet hearing such things being joked about is far from his idea of a good time - particularly when it comes to the man before him. Mayhap he does not realize the hole he left behind when he walked from Emet-Selch's life that day to pursue his own duty - his own purpose - apart from his? Yet the eons have done little to repair it or to fill it. That wound has never closed, and it is that very chasm, perhaps, which lends an uncomfortable quality to this moment.]
[Emet-Selch is not wholly the man Hythlodaeus may remember. He may be recognizable, yes, but even he has changed. Yes, even someone as stubborn and unshakeable as him. He turns away then and begins to make his way toward the village in earnest.]
Come, then. We've much to learn.