( He appreciates that much, at least. He'll allow Syrlya the bed, and he takes a seat in a nearby plush chair that faces him.

His answer does not come immediately, but it does come after some time. )

Yes, in a sense. ( He taps the soft arm of the chair, his forearm rested upon its length. ) As the two of you may have surmised, I didn't intend to make a point of it here.

( Hmm. )

You speak as if there is something to gain by telling him when he'd not known it before. He's been content. Elucidating the circumstances of my end seems self-aggrandizing.

I don't know how much he told you, but, in the end, all I did was buy him time. It was a relatively unimpressive feat by a relatively invisible man.

( He is an assassin, and just one of many employed by the Syndicate; he never made waves. His task was of no moment, and there would be no epic that recalled him. The night would continue on without him.

What he wants, though, is a stranger question, and one he's been wrestling with the past month. )

My fate intends to catch up to me once again, just as it has caught up with Adelis. Perhaps, in seven years, he will have marched onward and forged his own life without me. I'm certain you're aware it's doable.

( Hmmmm. )

It doesn't matter, does it? Because I'm one such dead man. He is better off keeping his heart open to those of the still living, who can so readily speak on his behalf.

( ... )

Then, let us begin this again.

You believe firmly I should have disclosed the circumstances of my departure to him. You also believe that I should remain close to him, until the time of my second departure.

Is my understanding of your thesis correct?

( Let's hold onto that first bit for a second. )

You believe Adelis would take it gracefully, then.

( ...... )

How much did he persist on this point?

( About not being anything to Mishka. Syrlya has needled this near half a dozen times by now. )

( :thinking: )

... To be plain, he speaks with such violence I would not expect him to take barbs returned to him so earnestly.

( He leans back. )

I know I seem quite sociable now, but I never was very warm, either. ( In his perspective, granted. ) He begrudged that I no longer was cold to him, so I gave him cold.

( A beat. )

Though I will confess it was colored some by irritation... given he has not taken our past actions as occasional enemies so personally, I did not imagine this would be different.

( Hmm. While Mishka doesn't generally make his emotions accessible on his face, there is a kind of air about him, like someone who's kind of Understood Something. )

... Really, I did not expect that tenderness to be oriented toward me. Our relationship remained relatively professional in Ostoya, even if that may have primarily been by necessity.

( He'll grant that. If Adelis cares that much about his opinion, then maybe, under different circumstances, their exchanges would have gone... somewhere. He doesn't know where. )

That I gave up my life in exchange for a moment more of his is still strange to me. This is no insult to Adelis; I simply... have always wanted to survive.

( And yet, there he went, doing the one thing he'd been staving off his entire life; giving up his life, his self, he'd killed so many to protect; and for what? Why? )

( "Either," hm.

He lifts a hand to press his fingers to the back of his neck, lightly running his fingers along the brand there. )

... He is the only one I've mentored who has exceeded my expectations. Still... from the onset, his goal was to leave Ostoya, and I could never leave.

( He really doesn't know how he feels about being named as someone who cares about Adelis. Of course he acknowledges he's fond of him, but it feels different and discomfiting when someone else says it; as if they've found some vulnerability of his; as if it can't now be taken back, or become again ambiguous. )

Even if circumstances had permitted a rich exploration of feeling... Why attach to someone who is meant to leave soon enough?

( So maybe he was projecting... a little... about not getting attached to a dead man... )

(

? )

Pardon?

... Adelis disclosed to you that he... loves me?

( He says this name with some emphasis to clarify whom and what they were talking about. Given the slight doubt in his voice, there's this underlying implication that he's expecting Syrlya to clarify he's referring to platonic love, which would still be strange to hear of Adelis, but would at least be within some realm of probability, however obscure.

It's pretty apparent that he skips past himself being the possible subject, despite him being the topic just moments prior. )

( Hm.

Mishka can generally take wild accusations without flinching, but this one is strange because it echoes something that had been mentioned to him prior. He had tried to set it on the shelf, and now it's come to trouble him again.

Knock knock, knock knock, on the shut doors of his heart. )

... Do I seem like I love him?

( Mishka looks uncharacteristically uncomfortable. This is a vulnerability of the highest degree, to entertain the idea instead of shutting it down completely. )

( OKAY... BUT... PLATONICALLY THOUGH...

Mishka goes quiet for a little longer than he has thus far. While he might usually have some argument, it's a little bit difficult to rationalize the whole self-sacrifice bit, given he hasn't yet been able to rationalize it to himself despite great effort. )

... Even if you may interpret it as such, this would be abnormal and repulsive. Regardless, if Adelis is off-put by my amicable treatment, I can only imagine how discomfiting the idea of love must be to him. I would certainly hope that he hasn't interpreted my gesture as such.