#They give me such brainrot Tenka I- adjsdyhsadsadjsadjh ADAHSDHASDAJDHSAJDH!!!!!!!!!!

[yeonban]

Unprompted!

@apricyties asked: "Has your body gotten used to the change yet?" Is there anything I can do to help you feel better again? Despite the lack of words, Cyno knows that the man understands what he is truly asking: for both of them had undergone yet another change with the fragments completion. As he is the one to have absorbed Hermanubis' full powers, Cyno's reaction wasn't quite like what he had gone through during his childhood, as the separation from his other half was akin to severing ones own limbs.

"I am rather fortunate that my training in the past decade has prepared me well to serve as Hermanubis' host. I doubt that I could claim the same if that were to happen during our younger years." That is not said as an underestimation of Sethos' prowess - both mentally and physically, the man has proved how strong he is. Yet now that Cyno has both fragments inside of him, he understands the magnitude it truly hosts and he shuns the image of a child being forced to accept it.

A deflectory joke awaits on his tongue, a dishonesty in the making laying in wait for whoever wishes to attempt to encroach on Sethos' personal troubles (it's not fitting for the Temple members to know of their leader's ailing, not now, after they've already anguished over their former head's dire condition for months on end before ultimately watching him die, nor is his suffering something to make a spectacle of in front of the nosy third parties) yet the jaunty facade he steadfast maintains almost shatters when a familiar voice abruptly reaches his ears. Turning his head towards the voice's direction, Sethos' eyes rapidly scan for the locations of his nearest people, as if checking whether it's safe to speak his mind over here or not, before returning to stare into Cyno's pair.

He considers passing this suspicious movement off as surveying for whoever has given the General a tip about where to find him inside the multitude of rooms, and further considers responding to the question through a harmless act of omission, but Sethos halts these thoughts before they can take any more of a proper shape. It isn't wise for anyone to lie to the General Mahamatra's face and expect success to emerge out of that foolishness, but worse still is thinking of lying to the one he can consider his matching second half, who understands what even the slightest of shifts in Sethos' heartbeats mean. And besides... should he opt to lie to Cyno now, wouldn't it dismiss their hard won trust? Should he opt to lie to Cyno here, and by doing so establish a certain barrier between the two of them, then who else would he ever be able to confide in? It has been decades since he's last allowed himself the relief of having his burdens shared by another... and never in this world nor the next will there appear a person more fitting for Sethos to open his heart to than the man currently standing in front of him.

The hesitation previously building up slowly starts to dissipate, as does the brief tension in his muscles, and Sethos' voice comes out as soft, in part out of fondness for his friend's concern, and partly as proof of his roaring headache. Although he has valiantly done his duties thus far without faltering nor giving his people much reason for distress, if given the opportunity to... he would much rather speak on and hear a gentle tone, one not thunderous enough to irk him into an even worse state than he's already battling against. ❛ While I'd love to be able to say yes to that... no, it's not quite there yet. It's fine though, I just need to give it some more time. I'm sure it'll adjust soon enough. ❜

He could inquire about the reason why Cyno is here when the place he ought to be at is several miles away, but there is no need to ask what the heart already knows the answer to. If Sethos' condition has been flaring up as it once had upon their fragments' prior separation from one another, and if Cyno's next words are any evidence that it isn't only the loss of a Ba Fragment at fault, but the gain of its complementary half as well, then it's safe to assume both of the hosts' bodies have been undergoing changes ever since their fated duel. And from there on out... well, Cyno has always been the sweeter of the two, despite what appearances might lead people to believe.

❛ Oh, yeah. I've been thinking about that, too. You remember how my grandfather mentioned that the Ba Fragments suddenly started shining when he was considering whether to put one in each of us, or both in one of us, right? I'm sure His Glory directly intervened with his decision at that time, which leads me to believe that whichever one of us would have received both of the fragments back then would have probably.... ❜ Not survived the experiment, is how the statement would have continued, if Sethos hadn't purposefully omitted the rest. After all, with or without words, Cyno should be more than capable of piecing together what Sethos had been hinting.

Instead of stressing over the less savory parts of their discussion, the Temple leader's hues widen in curiosity and he decides to switch the tone of the conversation and ask for a confirmation for his guess, and thus return Cyno's concern in kind. If only he is suffering as a result of their bout, then there truly couldn't have been a better outcome for it, as far as he's aware. ❛ But with the way you're phrasing things now, should I take it that there haven't been many debilitating side effects to absorbing the second Ba Fragment? ❜