ic inbox.

[lucentia]

HELLO

"Greetings."

GOODBYE

TEXT | VIDEO | VOICE | ACTION

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[aerodynamic]

Hard decisions as you were going through with the experience?

[lucentia]

Perhaps not so explicitly, in that I don't think our journey was directly testing that, but there were times where I realized I came close to making a decision I would regret, or that I might make one were I not careful.

[aerodynamic]

[ huh. he stops to look at lucien for a moment as if trying to imagine what those decisions would even be. ]

What made you change your mind from making them, you think?

[lucentia]

[...]

Sylus was the one who immediately decided to accompany Tokinaga and the others back to the island. [a smile] He is a much kinder man than I had previously given him credit for.

[we also broke the cyoa because we weren't meant to do this but it's fine.]

Truthfully, I was ashamed that I had initially intended to let them go alone, even if I don't think I was wholly in my right mind, looking back. [sometimes... you really want to find treasure for some reason...] Still, I'm very grateful Sylus was there.

[aerodynamic]

[ this is so funny what did you guys do. ]

I don't think you can blame yourself too bad. These things are designed to make you question what you know. Especially when you can't tell at the time if the people there are real or not.
I'm glad Sylus was there, too.
Even if it does sound like a bit of a hassle in the end to regroup.

[lucentia]

Indeed. Perhaps it would've been safer to stick together, but I don't think any of us were expecting things to have escalated so quickly.

[It might've been my fault... I was the one who simply left and told them to do as they wished.]

[aerodynamic]

You never do at first.
Either way I'm glad you all made it back in one piece. Safely.
Which I know is a choice to say given what happened with Hien but you get the idea.

[lucentia]

We should've taken better note of Hien's mental state before departing, so I apologize for that.

[but at least based off his conversation with hien, he doubts that lucien's attempt to, uh, self-sacrifice (which no one else needs to know about) aggravated it even if hien was getting ready to tpk when it was happening.]

[aerodynamic]

[ he frowns before he scribbles a little more frantically. ]

I feel like that's probably not something to apologize for when I'm gonna guess you guys had a lot going on yourselves.

[lucentia]

[this is very sweet of yosuke but no matter how fast he writes he cannot stop lucien from finding failure in everything he does.]

Even so, you had to deal with it for us, so I apologize.

[aerodynamic]

[ it's not like he didn't spend a long while thinking about his own adventure even though none of that happened either, so it's fair. ]

None of us regret that.
If we hadn't been there, you guys would've been in worse shape.

[lucentia]

... I suppose so. It's regrettable [to put it lightly] that we couldn't prevent Hien from dying, although his wounds had been severe to begin with when we left...

[aerodynamic]

[ he seems pensive about this. ]

This is gonna sound bad and I know it, but if the wounds were that bad maybe it was better to let it happen and let him fully revive.
Then again we don't know the consequences of that.

[lucentia]

... They say you lose progress if you die here.

[aerodynamic]

[ the way he should've known this because elysium told him but it's a backdated thread it's fine whatever. he still hates it. ]

What do you think that means?

[lucentia]

... Have you ever felt as though you were going backwards here, Yosuke?

[aerodynamic]

No. I know a few people feel like they haven't moved forward, but I don't know what backwards feels like here.

[lucentia]

... In one of the early weeks here, I felt as though I had taken a step away from my goal. It was—unpleasant. We didn't know yet what we were here for, but it felt like it was close to slipping from my fingers.

[aerodynamic]

Dude... was it like it just felt like you lost sight? Or something was physically moving further away?
What do you think caused it?

[lucentia]

I'm not sure exactly—only that it felt more distant. [...] I heard a warning then: Before you find what you seek, you must first face yourself. One cannot survive the maze alone.

... And thus I learned not to make the same mistake again.

[aerodynamic]

This place really has been harping on us talking to each other and forming connections. Thorns was cursed a few weeks ago to go around holding hands because of it.
The idea of facing yourself doesn't surprise me though.

[ of course it wouldn't. ]

[lucentia]

Indeed, it has seemed to be the goal from the beginning. I appreciate that it isn't subtle about it, at least.

[aerodynamic]

Considering we don't really have time for being subtle, I can also appreciate it.
It just means more time for puzzling out the rest of this stupid stuff, like all of this.

[lucentia]

Mm. Though the further we progress, the more I wonder just how we're meant to find those we're looking for—and how to leave.

[aerodynamic]

There's always a center to every maze. But MY fear is that we're gonna have to backtrack exactly the way we came.
Like... what if there isn't another way out but retracing our steps?