[video]

[symmetrophile]

[What greets viewers perusing the network for the following three seconds is the fuzzy back end of an Umbreon (plus one swishing tail) but Pip soon darts aside to reveal one sallow and apparently very groggy Grim Reaper, still scrubbing the sleep from his golden eyes. Waking up is hard for young gods, it's hard and no one understands.

All three Sanzu lines in his black hair remain connected, forming a trio of parallel white stripes around his head, but Death the Kid is otherwise no different than he usually is.

Also, the pajamas he's wearing have skulls on them. Skulls everywhere, and he isn't yet aware of the device enough to be embarrassed by the less than presentable state of his rumpled clothing and bedraggled hair.]

Did I oversleep?

[The only thing more unfunny than an understatement like that is an unintentional one. Whatever he might do or say next is neatly apprehended by the enthusiasm with which the Umbreon demands his affection; the SFC is knocked off the edge of his bed as Pip lunges for his arms. The video cuts out upon the device's impact with the floor.]

Comments

[symmetrophile]

As one ascends, there is a transmittal of all power from the previous Lord Death.

[But it's more than just a transmittal; for the significant power that Kid gained, he lost someone very important to him. Which isn't to say his father is truly gone -- Lord Death is him, now.

Grim reapers sure are weird!]

He's gone.

[keepsthefire]

... ah--...

[Even if it's not the same, even if Kid has taken his place in ways Rin couldn't possibly understand, to him it might as well be. He lost his father, and now Kid has, too. Hearing that brings a startling wave of emotions over him, memories he'd gone months without dredging up back at the forefront of his mind.]

... I'm sorry, Kid.

[symmetrophile]

[There had been so much to look after, so much to keep him occupied. The announcement that there would be no further attempts to make Death Scythes of the Weapons who attended the Academy was as much to demonstrate their devotion to the peace treaty with the Witches as it was to announce an end to the dangers that had plagued the world.

His role as Lord Death took up much of anything that might be called free time in any case, but he still had time to celebrate the small things. Little lives soon to welcome to the world. The graduation of friends to contributing members of this brave new world they lived in.

But Rin's reaction reminds him of how they have now both lost their fathers, and he feels something hot prickle at his eyes.

He misses him, and how all it took to hear his voice was a fingertip sliding across the cold pane of a mirror's reflective surface and an intonation, or a few gestures at empty air.]

So am I.

[For someone so thin, sometimes Kid can really hug tight.]

[keepsthefire]

[That was something else Rin could relate to. After the funeral there had just been so much to take care of. Getting his and Yukio's guardianship handed over to Mephisto, enrolling in the Academy as well as the cram school, moving out of the church to the dorms... all that time he simply spent it 'moving forward', or just being angry that it had happened at all.

He was left wondering sometimes if he ever truly grieved for Shiro until he had arrived in Vatheon.

Never in his life would he wish that sort of fate on others, not his worst enemies and certainly not some one he cared for, but he would be lying if he stated that he didn't feel a shared connection with Kid in their loss.

The tight hug didn't bother Rin in the least, and he hugged back just as tightly.]

For... whatever it's worth, you're not alone in this...