#Exchanges with Mr. Miette.

[barok-vanzieks]

Yo, Ziekkyboy. You still speak Japanese, right? Like, reasonably well enough? You know all the expletives and how to do the diplomat thing?

I am asking for completely non-suspicious reasons that definitely don't end in the words "simple", "little", and "favour". You don't need to worry about that.

.........

You again.

... Yes. It carries the rust of misuse, but I do retain fragments of the language. Nevertheless, you may rest assured that I am quite uninterested in granting you any favours.

[barok-vanzieks]

... They are not incorrect.

[barok-vanzieks]

Fact #1: You love your brother. Fact #2: You show your love by throwing stuff at him. Fact #3: I throw stuff at you all the time. Hypothesis: you should be less mad at me for breaking into your house and touching all your stuff, because I am speaking your language of affection.

If throwing things were truly a gesture of my affection, I daresay much of London might have been the subject of my fondness by now.

[barok-vanzieks]

Ziekky-zieks. Honest question, hoping for an honest answer, I promise on oak and thorn that I have no ulterior motive but curiosity. Do you prosecute objectively funny crimes?

... Mr. Shields.

As a general rule of thumb, I bring to trial only those whose crimes are particularly reprehensible. You may rest assured that there is nothing remotely humorous about the offences committed by such individuals.

[barok-vanzieks]

Hey hey Ziekkyboy how do you feel about sangria? @chaosofshadow

You insult me. I would never sully a perfectly hallowed chalice of wine with something quite so wretched as slices of fruit.

[barok-vanzieks]

Yes. We have a deal.

What would it cost me to have you see the youths home safely?

— @barok-vanzieks

...Lord of Stupid Cave Decisions, here to make an actual bargain, hm?

I will leave them three gifts: a one-way ticket, a guiding light, and the words they need when the time is right.

In exchange, I want three answers to three questions I ask, answered fully, honestly, and to my satisfaction.

Do we have a deal?

[barok-vanzieks]

A second question, my dearest Lord of Stupid Cave Decisions. I've paid out the light that's needed.

Which indeed is your favourite child of the lot, and why? Should you not be able to decide on one, I would know your reasons why, you sentimental fool of a human child who doesn't get to lie to me.

-@chaosofshadow

I would say thank you, but I suppose it would be strange to offer gratitude to your creditor for simply carrying out the job he is paid to do.

Do you truly believe me so foolish as to lie to you, considering the stakes?

... Asogi. He is not a child, yet he is... growing, still. I aspire to witness his eventual blossoming.

[barok-vanzieks]

Hey Ziekkyboy do you mind if I commit unspeakable levels of violence against your apprentice if it probably won't affect his ability to survive?

I have come up with An Idea For A Prank, and I believe it will be Objectively Funny, and therefore you should let me do it. I asked your brother and he told me he's not Kazzy's parent nor mine soooooooo...

Unspeakable levels of violence - yes, I do in fact mind.

Objectively funny pranks - you may proceed.

[barok-vanzieks]

[poke poke] You alive in there, Ziekkyboy? Kazzy's making it out like you might not be, so some signs of life would be good unless you really want him to have to make a speech at your funeral.

Pray forgive the discourtesy of disappearing without a word or a trace for several weeks. It was a necessary precaution as I worked on a certain case.

Asogi, however, has been one of the few people who's been aware of my whereabouts during this time. I asked him not to reveal my location to anyone, under any circumstances. It seems that he has played his part rather well.

... Pray, let us hope we shall never have to see the day that Asogi must deliver a eulogy for my sake. Considering his rather shocking inability to write fiction, I shudder at the thought of what such a speech may entail.

[barok-vanzieks]

Do you intend to address me by that infernal epithet indefinitely? I would rather be known as "The Reaper" than constantly reminded of my past missteps.

Your swords are cool!!!!! And so are you!!!

-Log

Why thank you, Miss Log.

[barok-vanzieks]

Ziekkyboy. You. Pray forgive my sudden realization that I straight up never asked but Ryu is in fact your very best guy, right? You haven't made me lie by accident which would surely kill me very dead and stop me from questing? He's definitely your very best guy?

Mr. Naruhodo possesses a commendable intellect and promises a distinguished career in law. However, to describe him as my "very best guy" would be to overstate my enthusiasm considerably.

If I may offer you a piece of advice, Mr. Greenwood, perhaps refrain from asserting that I am attempting to orchestrate your demise, if it is peace between us you seek.

That being said… The toll of being responsible for others' demise, albeit indirectly, has grown rather wearisome over the years.

...

...

... Yes, I suppose that Ryunosuke Naruhodo can count himself among my favourite "guys".

[barok-vanzieks]

Ziekkyboy. I have done a Quest, as squirrelfoxes are wont to do. I have delivered a fish from the afterlife to your office desk. Please let me know if it arrived safely, I am testing various parameters. If it arrived with fur something has gone terribly wrong and I need to go back to the drawing board.

Ah, so that was you, was it?

I should inform you, Mr. Shields, that the crime of breaking and entering into a top prosecutor's office in order to deposit a fur-covered fish on said prosecutor's desk can by no means be considered an objectively amusing criminal offence.

Fortunately for you, however, neither can it be classified as reprehensible. Pray forgive the discourtesy of dismissing your doubtlessly meticulous efforts, but I believe your deeds may only justifiably be described as "aggravating, but ultimately inconsequential."

[barok-vanzieks]

Since your darling apprentices came home, the bill ought to come due, Barok van Zieks. One final question, and because it's in your best interests, I swear to you that none who share your blood will be able to see this thread.

Your brother: your emotions toward him are a braided mass of sorrow and joy, mirth and despair. I find it difficult to pick through, to understand the chaos of your warring emotions. My final requested answer is an explanation. What do you feel for him, in as complete an answer you may give, for both the fair and the foul?

-@chaosofshadow

...Very well. I suppose I have delayed this for quite long enough now, and I have had much time to think on the subject. You wish to know how I feel about my brother? Here is the fair and the foul, laid bare for you to witness and to judge.

For ten years, I lived without my brother. For ten years, I cherished the unblemished memory of him; a hero of the people, a paragon of fairness and justice. For ten years, I mantled the echo of his heroism, nearly crumbling beneath its weight. For ten years... I hated for him.

And then... With the ten-year-anniversary approaching... I learned the truth at last. My brother... A murderer. The very murderer, in fact, whom I had so despised for the past decade—in his name.

All those I prosecuted, and the weight of the title I carried... All of the pride, all of the pristine sorrow, all of the hatred... Tainted.

My brother tried to tell me, long ago, that there was a demon inside him... I dismissed the idea. And for a decade after his death, I stood by this dismissal. Yet, when the heavy fog was dispersed at last, not only did I learn that he did in fact have such a demon; I stared at my own visage in the mirror, and I saw within my features... another monster. Not by the same name, not at risk of committing the same unforgivable deeds. But nevertheless, a monster who had convinced himself he was merely a victim. And this realisation shook me to the core.

I believe we all have them, these monsters. Some battle theirs. Some succeed, others lose. Some never need to learn whether they would be victorious or not. Some embrace them willingly. And others... simply give in.

When I learned that my brother had found a way to communicate with us from beyond the grave, I was... conflicted. The dead should stay dead; it is the natural order of things, and in Klint's case, I knew that his presence would create waves of discomfort and pain for those around me.

And yet, I am merely a man. A man who once loved his brother more than anything else on this Earth. A man who, despite everything, or perhaps because of it, needed to be reminded... of what is truly important. Of how to love. Of how to be loved. Of how to laugh, and live, and wonder what tomorrow might bring. Of what it once felt like to have an entire world before my feet, exciting and new, while still being firmly rooted in the security of a love so irrefutably true and sincere that nothing could destabilise it. This was the Barok of a decade prior, and it was the Barok I had locked away when my brother died. I locked him away because there was no longer anyone to share him with, no light to be cast upon his future, and no love to ground him. Had I not locked him away, I might as well have thrown him in the deep sea; cursed him to an eternal life in the depths of his own desperation and misery.

But I locked him away. And when my brother returned, albeit only in an ethereal, untouchable form, he began to pick that lock.

It is clear to me that his presence, however much pain and suffering it might have brought to both me and others, has undoubtedly returned some of that light and love to my life. It has enabled a younger, less troubled Barok to peek out from the dungeon in which he had been locked away for so long. And when he dared to peek... He saw that perhaps, the world was not quite as dark and gruesome as he had convinced himself. Perhaps, there might even exist the possibility of love outside of his brother's shadow.

My brother opened that door by appearing in my life from the afterlife, but... I believe that if he were to vanish again... I might not need to lock a part of me away a second time. Not because I am by any means grounded, or secure, or loved the way I once was. But I do have a better sense of the world now than I once did, and I understand that there is no such thing as to walk eternally in bright sunlight. Sometimes, walking in shadow—or even darkness—is not only the right decision, or the necessary decision, but also the decision which will bring you all the more light in the end.

Perhaps I might have had this realisation without the reappearance of Klint in my life. If I had, it would surely have happened at a much later point in time.

But enough rambling now; I suppose I have yet to answer the actual question you posed. What do I feel for my brother? ...It is rather complex. I love him, more than life itself, despite his flaws and imperfections. I am not yet prepared to say farewell a second time. And yet... I will never again view him with the adoration I once did. The Klint van Zieks I loved as a young man is dead, and nothing that exists in any of our planes of existence would be able to bring him back. Where once I felt untainted sorrow for his death, I now face emotions that are thousands of times more complicated. I have only begun to make an attempt at expressing them to myself, and so I fear I cannot yet give you an exhaustive answer as to their exact nature. Were I to attempt it anyway, I might name such concepts as disappointment, anger, a sense of injustice and a deep, deep loss. But these are mere vapid descriptors and cannot possibly convey the true spectrum of how I feel.

Despite all of this, before I end this post, I must emphasise: He still loves me, still carries me unquestionably if necessary. And some part of me, at least... still remains his darling.

.........

With hope that this shall serve as a satisfactory answer at present.

[barok-vanzieks]

Ziekkyboy you are thirty-three years old. Humans live for like a century usually if you don't screw with them. You're a third of the way through your natural lifespan.

If Kazzy's a child, so are you.

The average life expectancy for a British man in this day and age is nowhere near a century. Add a dash of questionable living habits, and for someone of my ilk, the estimate contracts significantly. I regret to acknowledge that the same must be said about Asogi. The odds that he or I will see past forty are, regrettably, slim.

[barok-vanzieks]

given everything, how do you feel about your brother now? I dunno how I feel about him, but you're still the expert on Klint, so...

How perfectly innocuous it seems, for me to have received this question while I was yet blissfully unaware of what would soon begin to unfold. Wouldn't you say?

I have to assume that you played a part in my brother's... return, shall we say. I've surmised that he has an accomplice among the living. Clever work, clearly. You must be quite proud of yourself.

As for your question... Pray forgive the discourtesy, but I hardly think it would be proper to phrase an earnest reply to you now, considering that the man in question will doubtlessly read every single word. He... deserves to hear it from me directly.

[barok-vanzieks]

Actually, how do you feel about other types of wine? Port, sherry, sangria...? @chaosofshadow

Truly, I see no reason to diverge from the most hallowed of beverages for something that is quite certainly inferior in every way.