[Another man might have heard the answer D gives and asked “But what about yourself? Isn’t there anything you want?” Liem knows better. He has lived too long with the weight of judgement, from himself and from the humans he’s met, to believe that wanting something is any kind of real reason to actually pursue it. At least, for beings like himself, who cast a shadow of fear and violence behind them as they move through life (despite the fact that Liem does not cast any literal shadow at all).
D’s desire to let the humans of his own planet be prosperous and content is the simplest and most uncomplicated thing that he could have voiced to make Liem understand. He meets the taller man’s scrutiny — ironically with less anxiety than before, now that he knows he is a monster — and nods slowly.]
I see.
[Two of them…]
After I swore myself to Meridian, I learned a small spell to make going out in the sun less bothersome. I am using it now. [It is the source of the penumbra that cloaks him, a half-shadow cast from no discernible source.] If you like, once you have harmonized, I will teach it to you.
no subject
D’s desire to let the humans of his own planet be prosperous and content is the simplest and most uncomplicated thing that he could have voiced to make Liem understand. He meets the taller man’s scrutiny — ironically with less anxiety than before, now that he knows he is a monster — and nods slowly.]
I see.
[Two of them…]
After I swore myself to Meridian, I learned a small spell to make going out in the sun less bothersome. I am using it now. [It is the source of the penumbra that cloaks him, a half-shadow cast from no discernible source.] If you like, once you have harmonized, I will teach it to you.