Nobody Expects the Ghostly Exposition!|Sensatia

[Darastrix]

The sun had set about an hour ago, and Spirit Night had officially begun. The red-haired man who materialized in Mikasi's front room supposed that it would have been more dramatic to show up closer to midnight, but fuck drama. Forces knew he'd been watching plenty of it over the past few years. Besides, he'd rather not have to wait on someone he just woke up to get his wits about him.

"Mikasi!" he called, his tone of impatience almost a perfect match to that of another red-headed Mind the healer was acquainted with. His voice itself was pitched lower than Schuldig's was, though, and was less nasal.

[Kender Bard]

Mikasi jumped; if he wasn't used to sudden visits and conversations, he might have dropped the teacup he was holding. He set it down and turned to face what he thought was going to be Schuldig. His heart leapt into his throat at the sight of the other man. ~You're not Schuldig!~

[Darastrix]

The man before him gave a quiet snort. "Obviously. But you've got nothing to worry about; I couldn't hurt you even if I wanted."

He took a step closer to Mikasi, tilting his head to the side as he regarded the other man with an expression of smug amusement. His hair was slightly darker than Schuldig's and considerably neater; he had his pulled back into a long, high tail, and his thick bangs were parted in the center. His narrow eyes were like Schuldig's in everything but colour; his were light grey and were framed by glasses. The planes of his face were wider, softening angles that might otherwise match Schuldig's sharpness.

"My name is Luca. Can you guess who I am?"

[Kender Bard]

Mikasi scanned the other man's face. ~You look so like him. You must be some relative of his. But Schuldig doesn't know any of his family... So I will say either a dead brother or his father. Maybe an uncle. What I really want to know, though, is why you've come to visit me on this night?~

If anything, he'd been hoping for one of his parents.

[Darastrix]

"Because I can't visit him, not yet." Luca paused a moment and amended, "Well, I could, but I doubt it would go well. It might make him remember--there are probably cracks in whatever they covered the truth with by now--but if it were to all hit him at once...." He shook his head.

"I figure at this point, you could use some extra insight. I can tell you what he doesn't remember and let you know what to look for so you can try to control how much is uncovered at once." Luca smirked. "Elemental skill runs in our family. I can't affect him or see into his mind, but I was damned good at memory manipulation and since he was just a child, I doubt the bastards used any real finesse when they worked him over."

[Kender Bard]

~Covered...?~ And then Mikasi remembered Farfarello. ~Stupid!~ He slammed his palm against his forehead. ~Why didn't I assume that he would have gone through a similar process?~ He exhaled deeply. ~Right. Okay then. Please... Enlighten me.~

[Darastrix]

"Well, I doubt they did quite the same thing to him," Luca said. "A telepath or an empath set to lose it if someone digs up a memory is going to be dangerous to everyone in their range. The only thing that ought to be triggered when he does remember is his own unique style of overreaction, which is bad enough. From what I was able to gather, they just wanted him to rely on them. He was a stubborn little shit, though." A note of pride coloured his voice. "They turned him against us, but they never got him on their side."

Luca took one of Mikasi's chairs, hovering in an imitation of sitting with one leg thrown over the armrest. "Schuldig is a bastard, in the literal sense. My wife...let's just say she was a proper Morilantan woman and leave it at that. Our marriage was just another alliance. Schuldig's mother, Leto, was a brothel worker, and if we hadn't been living in Morilanta, I'd have married her instead. Of all the places to start a romance...but considering where we were, we were lucky to have one at all. I bought her from the brothel, set her up with a house, and spent as much time there as I could. That's where he was born."

[Kender Bard]

Mikasi fell back into one of his own seats, a little wide eyed as he absorbed the story. ~I would have never guessed... There's nothing in his mind that I've seen to even suggest something like this. You do know, I trust, that he thinks you and his mother sold him into slavery. I'm going to guess that's not true?~

[Darastrix]

Luca glowered at that, though the look wasn't directed at Mikasi. "Even as Minds, it was hard to keep that sort of thing a perfect secret. So while he was living with Leto, I was shifting things around with my financial affairs to get ready to leave. We were going to get him out of that hellhole and into Anarlina. We wouldn't have sold him for anything. Ever. My wife, my estate, that was my business. Schuldig and Leto were my life."

[Kender Bard]

Mikasi nodded slightly, a little surprised. ~So you were headed to Anarlina... How was it that he fell into the hands of the Kazimirs then?~

[Darastrix]

"I don't know who it was that betrayed us to my wife; it could have been a number of people. And it doesn't really matter now. But my wife was made aware and she conspired with my business associates to take care of the matter. Their motivation was just for the money and if it had just been them, I might have been the only one to die. But she wanted revenge."

Luca slipped a hand under his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She told me she knew and what steps were being taken at the same time that men would be coming for Leto. It was a trap, of course, but I had to try to save them. I don't care to go through the details, but Leto and I were killed. Schuldig was a surprise. I think if she'd known about him beforehand, he would have died with us. But I guess our deaths had mollified her somewhat, and she decided to sell Schuldig instead to get back some of the money I'd spent on him and Leto."

[Kender Bard]

Mikasi sighed deeply. ~Another tale of Morilantan cruelty. Sometimes I wonder why the Narutan nations don't unite and wipe them out.... And then I remember that there are innocents trapped there too. But still, I understand your reluctance to make yourself known to Schuldig. So is it your wish that, eventually, I bring the truth to him?~

[Darastrix]

Luca nodded. "The truth is somewhere in his mind. It's bettter if someone he knows and trusts knows it and can help draw it out instead of waiting for something to destroy the illusion with force and him having no clue where those memories are coming from."

[Kender Bard]

~I will do my best~ Mikasi promised. ~He's made excellent progress, better than I had hoped for. This will still take time, but hopefully this time in four years he'll be ready to speak with you. I can't guarantee his feelings will be much changed... But I hope they will be.~

[Darastrix]

"That's all I ask," Luca said. "I've waited almost thirty years to be able to do something for him. I can wait a little longer."

"We both can," a feminine voice interjected. Standing behind Luca's chair, as though she had been there the whole time, was a woman of average height with long brown hair and a wide band of cloth wrapped around her forehead. She gave Mikasi a bright smile. "Thank you for being such a good friend to him."