They realized that it was best to just appreciate the long lives that are already available after thinking sensibly about what immortality would actually mean.
[He's hilarious.]
Actually, I suppose that could be true. I never believed in an afterlife but this place suggests it's possible.
[It's not as much of a shock as it might have been, under different circumstances. It fits with the rest of the pieces - with the deal for Kujen, with other hints Mikodez has dropped. He's entertained the possibility Mikodez threw in with Cheris, no matter how self-indulgent - or gullible - it seemed to consider. Of course, that doesn't mean it isn't all part of the same story. But it fits with other things not under his control, with Mikodez the child and Mikodez the father both.]
[He has a lot of stories, most of them with some degree of truth to them. His feelings about Jedao aside, he could be useful. Which, of course, makes the stories more suspect. He still takes some sort of enjoyment from following the possible moves, that's the final (perhaps only) line he's drawn.
He doesn't know why anyone would think immortality would be enjoyable.]
The other hexarchs. That were. They were all paranoid in their own ways and yet they didn't look the right way. Maybe they put it together, in their last moments.
Once I fed him the question. The Hexarchate has it's endless problems but I didn't want to let it be assumed we share Earth stupidity.
[From what the other him had known in the breach, from knowing what he does about Jedao, for watching Fives - if he was trapped by someone saying that, in part, it has been an effort just to be helpful, he holds onto the right of claiming remaining breach bleed through.]
Obsession with games and solving with violence at least fit inside the stereotype. Dealing with assumptions of general sexual hangups isn't part of my job description.
[If Jedao had talked to Fives, then Mikodez wouldn't have felt a need to have the 'conversation'. Just because that's not his reason for telling Jedao, he considers it a reason.]
[It was a deliberately vague question, and it's an interesting sideways choice of answer. Jedao laughs, quietly, to himself, which is easier than figuring out what the fuck he's going to do about Fives. There's more to it than the Kel, more that is hard to think and nearly impossible to say.]
I'll be sure to get you a present for going above and beyond.
[Though, really, Jedao has already given him the gift Mikodez had most wanted from him. Well, he hadn't exactly given the assurance he's not returning to the Hexarchate but Mikodez is almost certain.]
[In front of it, Jedao has left a partially collapsed lump of glass that might, possibly, have been intended as an apple - or possibly something else entirely.]
[There's definitely a certain degree of dry humor hidden behind text but his thanks is close to honest. He carefully puts the lump of glass next to his potted onion so they can both catch the light. He attaches a picture.]
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He was going to be okay, I think.
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[More honest than he necessarily wants. He's also made a few decisions about dealing with the real Jedao.]
The Hexarchs wanted immortality.
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Well, fuck.
I assume we aren't talking about wishful thinking.
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[Past tense. Jedao doubts they were dissuaded with the good home wisdom of 'immortality is roachfucking awful'.]
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[He's hilarious.]
Actually, I suppose that could be true. I never believed in an afterlife but this place suggests it's possible.
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Unlikely. It doesn't make you any more sensible, among other things.
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[But it did what he needed it to do in the end, as it turns out.]
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[He could think of quite a lot to say on the subject, personally. Not entirely the point.]
I killed them all, I can't say if it came as a surprise or not, at the end.
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A surprise to whom?
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He doesn't know why anyone would think immortality would be enjoyable.]
The other hexarchs. That were. They were all paranoid in their own ways and yet they didn't look the right way. Maybe they put it together, in their last moments.
[It's not their last moments he's thinking of.]
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Do you still consider yourself one?
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[He doesn't know what will happen, what words will be chosen, but he'll be the Shuos hexarch, even if it ends up with a different name.]
What do you consider yourself?
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[Not the only true answer. But the one he feels no ambivalence about, and no uncertainty, which is a particular kind of honesty.]
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Fives didn't ask anything about you. I told him something of how the Kel work.
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But he asked about something.
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Once I fed him the question. The Hexarchate has it's endless problems but I didn't want to let it be assumed we share Earth stupidity.
[From what the other him had known in the breach, from knowing what he does about Jedao, for watching Fives - if he was trapped by someone saying that, in part, it has been an effort just to be helpful, he holds onto the right of claiming remaining breach bleed through.]
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[Not necessarily. Witness Mikodez's various recent archicides.]
Why tell me?
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[If Jedao had talked to Fives, then Mikodez wouldn't have felt a need to have the 'conversation'. Just because that's not his reason for telling Jedao, he considers it a reason.]
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I'll be sure to get you a present for going above and beyond.
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[Though, really, Jedao has already given him the gift Mikodez had most wanted from him. Well, he hadn't exactly given the assurance he's not returning to the Hexarchate but Mikodez is almost certain.]
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Be careful opening your door.
[In front of it, Jedao has left a partially collapsed lump of glass that might, possibly, have been intended as an apple - or possibly something else entirely.]
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[There's definitely a certain degree of dry humor hidden behind text but his thanks is close to honest. He carefully puts the lump of glass next to his potted onion so they can both catch the light. He attaches a picture.]
I'm glad you've taken up some new hobbies.
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[Which is part of what makes it a present.]
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