yogen | ♛ This place is pretty dead ♛

[There's the slightest tilt of his head to indicate Childe had heard Noah's inquiry, though it doesn't quite seem like he's processed it just yet. He's standing in front of the auditorium, seemingly supported by the inky black of the reaching void itself. He almost writes Noah's voice off as a product of the soft whispers he'd been listening to for... A while now. What day is it? He's not too sure how much time has passed by, actually.

He does turn after a moment's silence, however. There's a sense of vertigo that washes over him at tearing his eyes away from the darkness, as well as the briefest feeling of deja vu at their current stations. Same place they'd first spoken, all those months before.]

Do what?

[The same place. The same spot. Where once stood an incorrigible child with tunnel vision about rights and wrongs who thought he could fix everyone at one point and make them see the "right" way to do things... now stands that same child, but with a want to understand the hows and the whys first and foremost.

Murder is wrong. He knows it's wrong. It's always been wrong. But instead of lashing out, getting angry, or refusing to interact, he just has to know why Childe would do it. There are people in the world he'll never understand, like Dito or like Joshua, sometimes like Add — part of him hopes Childe won't become one of those.]

The murders. Throwing people into the void. Why did you do it?

[Ah... That's what this is about, then. Childe had briefly hoped that word would never reach Noah's ears, but even he knew how unlikely that was. It just wasn't feasible, not with how interconnected the boy was in this place.

There's a soft, huffed sigh, and then he's turning his head to look back into the abyss once more. So familiar at this point, yet still as alien as it had been the first time he'd set eyes on it.]

Who told... [Well... No, that wasn't important, was it? Noah had a right to know regardless. Childe shakes his head, and with a wave of his hand the moisture in the air crowds in on itself to form a thin, undulating bridge of liquid for Noah to pick his way across if he wants to. Because Childe wants to walk further in, and the quickest way to get Noah to understand would probably be to show him.]

Do you really want to know? Wouldn't you rather walk away and allow things return to normal? We could pretend that nothing's changed, and you could simply trust that I have your best interests at heart. [He knows the kid better than to think that Noah could ever be able to take the path of least resistance, but at least he can say he extended the offer regardless.]

[He would've found out somehow. Secrets don't stay secrets in this place, not for long. When secrets are kept, Noah goes poking his nose into them; he was kept in the dark long enough in the past for it to make him angry when he doesn't know something, when it's not revealed, as if he's privy to every bit of information floating around here.]

I can't do that. Not here.

[Noah has his trepidations about walking directly into the void. A void which he used to think was Henir — they might as well be the same, though. Henir's space is sort of like this, just a bunch of floating cubes and things to jump over, a boundless abyss that you fall into and you can't get out of. Childe could dump him in there, dissolve the bridge and walk awway.

He'd like to think Childe won't, though, so he takes a step forward.]

I want to know. I want to understand.

[He gives a light nod to himself at Noah's response, because that's a fairly level-headed stance to take given the circumstances. As much as he wants to protect the dreams and aspirations of the children here in Yogen... This is a place where ignorance is not bliss. In fact, keeping them in the dark only seems to serve in making them into even larger targets.]

Maybe I just wanted to. [He offers dryly, though he doubts Noah will accept that answer the way he probably should. Childe's played the fairytale villain before, and it would probably be easier for him to do it again. Drive Noah away for his own safety.

Worth a shot, right? At least once.]

Maybe I just missed the feeling of blood on my hands. Maybe I missed the sound of it all, or missed the way a fight to the death gets the adrenaline coursing like nothing else can. Is that a reason you can believe in?

...

[He shakes his head, looking cross.]

No, I don't believe you're like that. I've known people like that.

[Titania and Dantalion, deceptive to the very end, especially the former — that was, until her cover was blown. But her cover was not blown of her own volition, and perhaps that's where the difference lies. Childe had given himself up, or so Noah understands. To him, a true sadist doesn't turn around and admit they want blood on their hands.

Perhaps he's wrong about that. It's a high probability. He's a kid with a narrow view of the world; who's to say a sadist wouldn't whip around and admit all their crimes? Maybe that's just the very definition.

Noah would like to believe that Childe isn't that person.]

Someone with my "best interests at heart" wouldn't kill indiscriminately for that reason.

♛ This place is pretty dead ♛

"wherever" you know where he is

you're tellin me noah did more parkour crimes

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