" you've made a fool of me, you know that, right? " the warrior of light mumbles. currently seated at the table in her room at the pendants, cora sat with her head in her hands, both thumbs rubbing both of her temples. though the immediate threat was gone, there were now other things to worry about. like how to send the rest of the scions home, for example. still, the two miqo'te managed to steal away a moment to catch up. who knew when the opportunity would next present itself? " i should've recognized you. why didn't i recognize you? " she exclaims, less frustrated with the exarch— with g'raha than she was with herself, feeling rather... embarrassed by the whole situation. she groans, letting her head fall on the table, forehead hitting the surface of it with a dull thump. " i'm horrible. "
"cora... you are many things. horrible is not one of them." if anyone's earned that word, it's the man who let her believe a lie for so long. vaguely does he remember when @bludlily first arrived, asking of g'raha tia— and gods, did it pain him, to be mysteriously evasive and deflective, hiding who he was so her actions weren't influenced by knowing who he really is. it wasn't the first time he'd had to watch her from a distance, unable to say what he wanted to; an old ache, one that had followed him for years. many such cases grew exponentially, speaking of their history. it didn't help that the tower looming over both of them served as a constant reminder. he looks down at his hands, fingers of spoken flesh and crystal intertwined nervously. "you will be pleased to know i rehearsed several very dignified responses for this exact conversation... all of which have apparently left me the moment i needed them, so—"
a thumb rubs against the other, in an attempt to self-soothe. "what i mean to say, is none of this was yours to see through. i forged the mask to fool you specifically, if i'm being truthful." ignore the fact that he tried to sacrifice himself, of course. one life instead of the world; a footnote in the hero's story. she, as well as everyone else, had already given him an earful upon emet-selch's defeat. "so... if you're horrible, then i'm— i'm considerably worse, and far less charming about it, given how badly this is going."