Neverwinter Forest The man who's a dreamer and never takes leave

mali - mal - starts to speak. okeanos lets go of the breath he'd been holding, letting his gaze sweep over the other boy. still the same surly, spotted boy he'd known, but different somehow, leaner, more powerful, maybe. he can't help the way his eyes crinkle in a mix of relief (that he isn't being outright attacked, and, more importantly, that he's found him) and a little amusement (yeah, of course mal would think he was here to drag him back to elysium, huh?). "i'm not here to try to make you come back," he says, taking a step back -- a shy display of deference. "actually, i -- i left too. i should have -- well, i mean, i think you would've been mad if i followed you when you left at first, but i should have. it wasn't, um, it wasn't right," belatedly, he realizes he's babbling, the various speeches he'd prepared in advance to convince mal of his intentions all muddled together. he stops abruptly.

"what i mean is, i left elysium. ibis is with me. i wanted to find you to ... i guess, not apologise, because it's not like i could have done anything to stop what was going on, but to say that i think what happened with you and your sisters was really shitty, and i couldn't... i don't know. stay there and act like i was okay with it." it's hard to put into words -- he loves his mothers and he doesn't want to come off as condemning them, but in a way, he does. it's hard to hold both ideals in his head, the loving warmth they gave him, what was going on outside of his family; he knows they tried with delight's kids, he mainly thinks it's delight's issues, not his moms, but still. family, huh. he suspects that mali - mal is just going to tell him to fuck off anyway,  but he doesn't add any more yet, just licks his lips nervously and watches the other boy for his reaction.