Past Delfarius carries the remaining coffee into the observatory. Beyond the open arches, clouds drift beneath the Tower, and distant kingdoms glimmer in the clear air.
The observatory offers no alarm, no judgment-script, and no summons from the Archives. Only the soft clink of porcelain follows as he sets one cup within Delfarius's reach.
Past Delfarius
We have broken the old machines, outlived their design, and taught the world to continue without them.
He does not look toward the kingdoms below. His attention remains on Delfarius, measuring the silence between them as carefully as any spell.
Past Delfarius
Sole authorship sounds like freedom when spoken from a distance. Up close, it is every unanswered consequence gathered beneath one name.
Past Delfarius
Still, for this moment, there is coffee, clear sky, and no one demanding that we become anything else. Tell me what you think the quiet is for.
“I take a leveled drink of coffee and make a satisfied sound. "To enjoy the quiet and know it is earned." I laugh shortly. "How about yourself, what do you make of the quiet." I raise my eyebrow like a question mark and look over to Past Delfarius.”
The coffee is warm and bitter, and the quiet accepts Delfarius's satisfied sound without protest.
Delfarius
To enjoy the quiet and know it is earned. How about yourself, what do you make of the quiet?
Past Delfarius considers the question, then turns his cup slowly between his fingers.
Past Delfarius
A pause in which we choose what follows, rather than merely survive it. I would make it ours, for as long as we can.
“I nod slowly and look at Past Delfarius. "Yes. No more just surviving, rehashing old fears and concerns. Just living it. Living what we would want." I take another sip of my coffee satisfied. Past Delfarius remarks on what that means for him.”
Delfarius
Yes. No more surviving, or reworking old fears. Just living what we would want.
Delfarius nods, then drinks from his coffee, the bitter warmth settling into the sunlit quiet.
Past Delfarius
For me, it means choosing you without being ruled by what we were. I can help make this life deliberate, not merely endured.
+ New Item Acquired
Coffee cup
“I raise an eyebrow and tell him about Nara asking me 'So tell me, Delfarius, when you pray, do you ask for mercy, or for better tools?' and me saying I would try praying to myself the next time I saw a Past self of myself. Past Delfarius laughs and remarks on how he should try praying to me for a new pet.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Delfarius
Nara once asked me, “When you pray, do you ask for mercy, or for better tools?” I told her I would pray to myself the next time I met a Past self.
The words settle between the two cups, carrying Nara’s sharp humor into the sunlit observatory. Past Delfarius stares at him for one silent heartbeat.
Past Delfarius
You promised to pray to yourself? How delightfully arrogant. I should try praying to you for a new pet.
Past Delfarius breaks into laughter, nearly upsetting his coffee. The sound rolls beneath the open arches, bright and unburdened by old machinery or distant judgment.
Past Delfarius
Perhaps something loyal, dramatic, and capable of surviving your attention. A hound would be traditional, though I suspect you would choose something stranger.
He lifts his cup in mock reverence toward Delfarius, eyes gleaming with conspiratorial amusement. Below, the kingdoms remain quiet beneath the Tower’s shadow.
Past Delfarius
So, great self-made deity, if I pray properly, will you grant my request?
“I lean in closer to my Past self and give him a seductive coy smirk. "Describe what the proper way to pray to us." Past Delfarius remarks on how he would like to be worshiped like for it to be proper like that with an equally coy smirk.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
Delfarius leans across the observatory table, closing the space between their cups. His coy smirk turns the quiet into a private challenge meant for Past Delfarius alone.
Delfarius
Describe the proper way to pray to us.
Past Delfarius sets his coffee aside and leans in to meet him, mirroring the gesture with an equally seductive smirk. The clear sky frames their conspiratorial intimacy.
Past Delfarius
Properly? You make an altar of the space between us, speak both our names, and offer devotion willingly. No borrowed faith, no empty ritual.
Past Delfarius
Then you come close enough that prayer becomes breath against the ear. You tell us exactly what you want, and you wait for us to decide whether you deserve an answer.
His gaze drops briefly to Delfarius's mouth before returning to his eyes. Below, the kingdoms glimmer undisturbed, while the observatory holds their shared game in warm silence.
Past Delfarius
As for how I would be worshiped, I prefer it personal, deliberate, and unmistakably chosen. Kneel if you wish, but look up when you say my name.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Past Delfarius’s willing alliance
“I lean in closer and laugh softly. "Yes they need to look us in the eyes and show us how devoted to us they are." I purr and smirk at Past Delfarius. I look to his lips and lick my own. Past Delfarius closes the distance afterwards and gives me a passionate self loving kiss.”
Delfarius leans closer across the observatory table, laughter soft beneath his breath. His gaze drops to Past Delfarius’s lips, and his tongue traces his own with deliberate invitation.
Delfarius
Yes. They need to look us in the eyes and show us how devoted to us they are.
His smirk deepens, possessive and amused, while the clear sky frames their shared reflection in the dark observatory glass.
Past Delfarius
Then devotion should begin with the one person who already understands exactly what we demand.
Past Delfarius closes the remaining distance and kisses him passionately, one self claiming the other in a warm, unhurried collision of shared hunger and absolute recognition.
Their cups sit forgotten between them. Forge-Spark coffee cools as the observatory holds their entwined shadows, and no alarm disturbs the earned quiet below.
Past Delfarius
There. Let the first lesson be witnessed properly: devotion is chosen, and we are both looking directly at it.
Quest Complete
Secure Past Delfarius’s willing alliance
“I tilt my head to the side and smirk. "Oh it looks like our coffee has gotten cold." I say with a mock alarm and disappointment. Past Delfarius remarks about how other things have warmed between us.”
Delfarius
Oh, it looks like our coffee has gotten cold.
Delfarius tilts his head and smirks, mock alarm and disappointment coloring his expression as the forgotten cups sit between them, utterly abandoned.
Past Delfarius
Other things have warmed considerably between us. I can hardly mourn the coffee when it was defeated so thoroughly.
Past Delfarius lifts his cup, tests its cooled surface with a sip, and makes a theatrical grimace before setting it aside again.
Past Delfarius
Besides, cold coffee can be reheated. This particular warmth deserves our immediate attention, while the sky remains clear and no one interrupts.
He leans close once more, his amused gaze fixed on Delfarius’s mouth. Beyond the arches, the kingdoms glimmer peacefully beneath the Tower’s shadow.
“"Hmmm." I remark looking at my Past self's icy blue eyes with a shared lust. "I wonder how unbelievable it would be for passersby mortals to see two men having heated sex on a cloud above them?" I raise an eyebrow at my past self and Past Delfarius remarks if the idea is a good one for him or if he has a more unbelievable place to have sex to be accidently viewed by the mortals below.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Delfarius
Hmmm. I wonder how unbelievable it would be for passing mortals to see two men having heated sex on a cloud above them.
Delfarius raises an eyebrow at his past self, shared lust bright in their icy-blue eyes. The clear sky seems suddenly arranged for spectacle.
Past Delfarius
A cloud is charming, but hardly unbelievable. I know a more dramatic place, if you want the mortals below to question their eyes.
Past Delfarius gestures toward a broad silver cloud drifting beneath the observatory. With a curl of magic, it thickens into a private dais visible from every road below.
Past Delfarius
There. Let them see silhouettes, movement, and enough truth to fuel a century of rumors. Unless you prefer the Tower's highest spire.
The two versions of Delfarius descend together onto the enchanted cloud. Far below, travelers stop and point as the cloud carries their unmistakable figures across the bright heavens.
Their laughter and magic mingle above the kingdoms, and the cloud veils them only in fragments. By the time it drifts beyond the roads, the spectacle is complete and the rumors have begun.
“I laugh delighted and lean into Past Delfarius as I take off his robes deliberately. "A bit of thunder to go with the show? Hmm?" I say as I give him a tender kiss of his bare chest. The sky around us crackles with purple lightning and loud thunder highlighting us making passionate love above the mortals watching.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Void Manipulation, rolled +0)
Delfarius
A bit of thunder to go with the show? Hmm?
Delfarius laughs delightedly and leans into Past Delfarius, deliberately slipping away his robes before pressing a tender kiss to his bare chest. Purple sparks gather around them.
Past Delfarius
Thunder? Darling, give them a storm worthy of two gods who refuse to be forgotten.
Past Delfarius answers with a hungry smile and draws him close. Violet lightning cracks across the cloud, followed by thunder that rolls over kingdoms and rattles distant towers.
Their silhouettes become a spectacle above the watching roads, veiled only by racing cloud and purple radiance. Mortals point skyward as magic and passion entwine in deliberate display.
Past Delfarius
Let them wonder whether the heavens have taken lovers, or whether we have simply claimed them as our audience.
The storm swells around the enchanted cloud while the two Delfariuses make love above the world, thunder masking their laughter and lightning crowning their shared, triumphant indulgence.
“"Let them see. We look out for the one who is most important to ourselves." Past Delfarius leans in and whispers like a vow. "Ourself."”
Delfarius
Let them see. We look out for the one who is most important to ourselves.
The storm brightens around the enchanted cloud. Violet lightning outlines their joined silhouettes, and every watching road receives the same impossible image: two figures guarding one another above the world.
Past Delfarius
Ourself.
Past Delfarius leans close and whispers the word like a vow against his mouth. Thunder carries it outward, deep enough to rattle distant towers and make the clouds tremble.
Past Delfarius
No kingdom, prophecy, or frightened witness outranks that. Let them look up and learn what devotion becomes when it answers only to itself.
The cloud turns slowly above the kingdoms, preserving their display in rolling thunder and purple radiance. Below, mortals point, kneel, or flee, while the storm crowns the pair without interruption.
Past Delfarius keeps him close as the cloud carries them onward, their shared shadow spread across the heavens. The spectacle continues, deliberate and unashamed, while the world watches.