Kalim looks up from his phone. He was halfway through getting dressed when Jamil replied to him and he stopped to text and never got back to it, so he's sitting there in his undershirts and with only one sock and one leg of his pants on, but he still gets up and shuffles over to open the door.
"Oh, hey, Jamil!" He looks surprised and confused, but pleased to see him. "What's up?"
It occurs to Kalim to reach for his phone to check back on their conversation for what exactly Jamil is talking about, and his brow furrows as he tries to follow the grammar, but...
"Oh...right. I did get brainwashed, ha ha... But it wore off when we all came back, so it's nothing to worry about!"
"Of course it matters! What if there's lasting damage? How would you know?!"
Jamil presses the heels of his palms into his eyes and sinks against the far wall without waiting for a response. He's barely woken up and he's already exhausted; this is just too much information to deal with this early in the morning when he still hasn't fully processed everything that happened last night. Why is Kalim so determined to give Jamil constant heart attacks?
(He is perhaps being a touch melodramatic in the moment.)
Kalim stands there for a moment, staring down at him in dismay. He absolutely was not expecting a reaction like this.
"Jamil..." He crouches in front of him and reaches to move Jamil's hands from in front of his face. "It's fine, okay, I promise! It was really different being brainwashed, okay, I'd definitely know if it was still happening!"
"You hardly knew the last time." Which is unfair of him, but he's tired of feeling blindsided and lashing out is easy. He pulls his hands out of Kalim's, but not angrily--he finds he's not actually angry about all this, just exasperated.
"Whatever, it's done now. But you need to tell me these things. How else am I supposed to protect you?"
Well, he kind of did know, but... he doesn't want to talk about that! He just laughs sheepishly and lowers his hands to his lap instead. He thinks Jamil is being rather unfair, but it is done now, and it's the same regardless – Kalim will tell him next time.
"Sorry, Jamil. It did feel really different from when you do it, though... I knew it'd happened when I was still brainwashed, you know? I just thought it was okay. I think if it was still affecting me I'd feel really differently about it."
Edited (ill be real id just gotten into bed and i remembered about power nerfing. long day!!) 2025-02-07 04:46 (UTC)
Jamil still doesn't like the idea of someone else's fingers in Kalim's brain, but there's no changing the past and Kalim doesn't seem any worse for wear. Not that he ever does. Jamil sighs, resigned to moving on for now.
"We can only hope that it's fine. So what was the point of it, then? You said they did it to everyone?"
"Oh... Yeah, it was so everybody would just be happy with Vaeros being in charge, even if normally they don't like him." Kalim shrugs. "It was really peaceful. But I got kind of freaked out after, ha ha! It's way weirder remembering a whole bunch of stuff you wouldn't normally do than it just waking up with no idea what happened..."
He pauses, tilting his head slightly to peer at Jamil.
"Say, where did you end up, when all that happened?"
That's... not too bad, maybe. It sounds more like general suggestion than direct control, like Jamil does, so perhaps the effects really were superficial. Kalim's question then waylays that entire train of thought.
Jamil freezes, minutely. The problem is he can't really give Kalim any details; not because he doesn't want to, but because his memory of the experience is just a blur of anxiety. He has impressions of the circumstances--entering the Labyrinth, finding Lilia, searching for shards--but mostly he remembers the all-encompassing, mounting fear of where is Kalim I need to find Kalim he could be dead. And the relief he'd felt when everyone reunited safely had overwhelmed him to the point he had never thought to ask what Kalim had actually been doing the whole time. Obviously, since they're only now having this conversation.
The thing is, all of that would be so embarrassing to say out loud.
Wow it's purely safety concerns what are you implying!!!
"No, actually, there wasn't anyone else there. Lilia was the only person I encountered the entire time, aside from the witch." Something about the place had been deeply unsettling, but in retrospect Jamil can't see that they'd been in danger in any way.
"Oh, wow... There was no one there at all? That kind of sounds worse than all my stuff. And I hated that, hahaha!" He looks genuinely sympathetic, unfortunately. "Well, I'm glad you guys didn't get hurt."
"What are you talking about? I'm not the one who got brainwashed." He can't think of anything he'd hate more, to be honest, and he doesn't understand how Kalim can be so cavalier about it. But he's had that thought about Kalim more times then he can count.
"And about that. If everyone was supposed to be so happy there, why did w... I mean, what made them separate? That doesn't make any sense."
"I don't know. They didn't tell me a whole lot about it." He's thought about this a lot, though. Both the future Kalim and the future Jamil kind of acted like it was bound to happen, just an inevitable fact of life – something they both grew out of – but he doesn't want to say that out loud because it upsets him too much. "Vaeros made everyone feel really happy and safe no matter what, though. I think maybe that's why? If they both really, really felt like everything was safe, then the older you wouldn't have to worry about anything happening to the older me, right? So he could leave and not feel bad."
Jamil frowns. Kalim's speculation makes logical sense, but something about it just doesn't sit right with him. Like the thought of leaving Kalim behind in the Scalding Sands to go traveling--it feels like a somehow impossible idea. Not that he wouldn't want it, obviously, but it just isn't something that can happen. There's always reasons.
"There had to be something else. If they really just drifted apart, then why did the other me visit you in prison?" And not do anything about that?
"Curious," Jamil echoes. It... doesn't sound unlike him, truthfully. But the thought of any version of him leaving Kalim to rot still bothers him. If they'd truly lived in that other universe for years then Jamil could believe the older him might have sense his sense of duty but... but. Still.
"Did... he truly seem happy? Apart from the effects of the spell."
"...I don't know," Kalim says. "Everyone was happy. I couldn't exactly just... look past the spell, you know? And I can never tell what's going on with you anyway, haha."
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"Oh, hey, Jamil!" He looks surprised and confused, but pleased to see him. "What's up?"
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"Well, did you?" he says tightly.
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It occurs to Kalim to reach for his phone to check back on their conversation for what exactly Jamil is talking about, and his brow furrows as he tries to follow the grammar, but...
"Oh...right. I did get brainwashed, ha ha... But it wore off when we all came back, so it's nothing to worry about!"
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"WHY WOULD YOU WAIT UNTIL NOW TO TELL ME THAT?!"
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"Well... it didn't matter any more, once we were back!" he says, bewildered. "And I'd told you you didn't need to worry about me, too, so..."
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Jamil presses the heels of his palms into his eyes and sinks against the far wall without waiting for a response. He's barely woken up and he's already exhausted; this is just too much information to deal with this early in the morning when he still hasn't fully processed everything that happened last night. Why is Kalim so determined to give Jamil constant heart attacks?
(He is perhaps being a touch melodramatic in the moment.)
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"Jamil..." He crouches in front of him and reaches to move Jamil's hands from in front of his face. "It's fine, okay, I promise! It was really different being brainwashed, okay, I'd definitely know if it was still happening!"
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"You hardly knew the last time." Which is unfair of him, but he's tired of feeling blindsided and lashing out is easy. He pulls his hands out of Kalim's, but not angrily--he finds he's not actually angry about all this, just exasperated.
"Whatever, it's done now. But you need to tell me these things. How else am I supposed to protect you?"
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"Sorry, Jamil. It did feel really different from when you do it, though... I knew it'd happened when I was still brainwashed, you know? I just thought it was okay. I think if it was still affecting me I'd feel really differently about it."
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"We can only hope that it's fine. So what was the point of it, then? You said they did it to everyone?"
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He pauses, tilting his head slightly to peer at Jamil.
"Say, where did you end up, when all that happened?"
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Jamil freezes, minutely. The problem is he can't really give Kalim any details; not because he doesn't want to, but because his memory of the experience is just a blur of anxiety. He has impressions of the circumstances--entering the Labyrinth, finding Lilia, searching for shards--but mostly he remembers the all-encompassing, mounting fear of where is Kalim I need to find Kalim he could be dead. And the relief he'd felt when everyone reunited safely had overwhelmed him to the point he had never thought to ask what Kalim had actually been doing the whole time. Obviously, since they're only now having this conversation.
The thing is, all of that would be so embarrassing to say out loud.
"I... was in the Labyrinth. With Lilia."
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"Whoah, really?" Kalim leans forward a little. "Was it dangerous?"
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"No, actually, there wasn't anyone else there. Lilia was the only person I encountered the entire time, aside from the witch." Something about the place had been deeply unsettling, but in retrospect Jamil can't see that they'd been in danger in any way.
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"And about that. If everyone was supposed to be so happy there, why did w... I mean, what made them separate? That doesn't make any sense."
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"I don't know. They didn't tell me a whole lot about it." He's thought about this a lot, though. Both the future Kalim and the future Jamil kind of acted like it was bound to happen, just an inevitable fact of life – something they both grew out of – but he doesn't want to say that out loud because it upsets him too much. "Vaeros made everyone feel really happy and safe no matter what, though. I think maybe that's why? If they both really, really felt like everything was safe, then the older you wouldn't have to worry about anything happening to the older me, right? So he could leave and not feel bad."
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"There had to be something else. If they really just drifted apart, then why did the other me visit you in prison?" And not do anything about that?
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"Did... he truly seem happy? Apart from the effects of the spell."
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