[PRP] Mind Over Matter (Invi and Lan)

[demon_pachabel]

The day Invictus was late to a meeting would be the day half the clan died of a heart attack. He was like a wizard - never arriving early, precisely when scheduled. The clock would have ticked the minute exactly when the flap of the tent swung open as the Protector stepped inside, seeming even less pleased with life in general than he usually was.

He said nothing as he sat down at the small table across from his cousin, yet it wasn't her he was looking at as he took his seat. In fact, he was staring quite pointedly at the table.

After a moment, he carefully reached out and adjusted that out of place flower. Only then did he finally look away from it and back to Lan.  

[demon_pachabel]

She probably should have been concerned that she had known the flower was off but he had to fix it, but that would be a lecture for another time. Mostly because she had asked him a question about one of the nobles.

"We are aware of who he is and that he seems to be having...." Invictus lightly touched the grey that still cracked away at his own face and fingers. "What of it?"  

[demon_pachabel]

"And what are you asking me to do of it, Lan? Are you requesting that we stage an intervention?" he inquired, not sounding as though he was entirely uninterested in the idea, but rather that he wasn't sure why she'd want him to handle such a thing.

"If he continues on this path, do you fear it would be a merciful thing to destroy him?"  

[demon_pachabel]

"Controlling something and overcoming it are different things. Because you can keep the volcano from erupting does not mean there is no longer a volcano, Lan." he answered stiffly. "We returned, but do not mistake that as having been cured. We accepted that what bubbles inside of us is...a part of us. There is not one Invictus and one Insanity. We are one being - and that is what keeps us from being consumed. It is a matter of picking battles. Unfortunately for Mengyao, it sounds as though the battles he has chosen are unwise."

He tapped the table with a finger.

"There are times when forcibly struggling against something will only make it stronger because it makes you tired from all that work."  

[demon_pachabel]

"We can't promise our answer will be insightful." Invictus answered, "But you may."  

[demon_pachabel]

"Our entire existence was shattered. Insanity is what pulled the pieces back together. So in some senses...no." he answered calmly, however his hand hovered over that spot on his chest - not the wound of a scythe, but something else.

"However, we feel as though it was for someone else we were reformed. I would not go as far as to say that it was the power of love, but perhaps the strength of a bond that even if we wanted to we would never be free of. A tether."  

[demon_pachabel]

"Sometimes... a desire is stronger than a bond. You might be well advised to see if such a thing exists within him."