Chapter Text
Nothing dared pierce the deafening silence. It lasted only a moment, but a stranger would've been writhing in agony from how unpleasant the atmosphere had turned the moment Omega had opened the door.
Zandik cleared this throat and shut his book.
Omega adjusted his cravat.
"Whatever it is, it's too late in the evening 35. I need my sleep these days."
"Always assuming you're needed for guidance.. And they say wisdom grows with age.. No, I'm here for the same reason the rest visited earlier."
Omega cocked his head and Zandik followed the line from his beak to where the little aranara toy his 8 year old segment stood displayed. He raised a brow in surprise.
"You're here to-" Zandik couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head. "Now that is a surprise."
"Oh?" Omega advanced a few steps, one hand perpetually clasped behind his back. "You don't think me capable of extending the same sentiment as the rest?"
The posture was supposed to make his shoulders look wider by using the hand as a reminder to straighten his back. Zandik remembered well the years of fretting over how he presented himself as a harbinger.
He hummed quietly, fingers idly tapping the handle of his cane. "I imagine you're perfectly capable, but I find it difficult to believe that you'd do it of your own free will."
Omega smiled at that, sharp teeth clenched together more tightly than warranted for someone unaffected by the taunt.
"Your little lover wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I didn't go. Nor would the others. A moment of displeasure is nothing compared to the torment that would be."
The sound of military boots against solid stone echoed faintly from the hallway.
"So I shouldn't consider this a show of gratitude?" Zandik couldn't help but smile when the other adjusted the mask.
Omega huffed. "Let's not pretend you've ever shown a semblance of fatherly care towards any of us."
A true enough statement. Care, perhaps, he'd at least come to accept all parts of himself with time. If that hadn't been the case, he'd have taken apart most of the segments long ago.
Both of them remained quiet, neither willing to acknowledge that the mere concept they were discussing was so foreign that it made Zandik's skin crawl if he thought too long about it. Sure, he'd observed it many times, but never been on the receiving end. Any attempt from him would've been an imitation. And all of them, even the youngest, were created to remain stagnant.
His care would change nothing.
Omega moved his the hand from behind his back, dumping a metal clasp into Zandik's lap. It looked like a repurposed component from the primal constructs of Al-Ahmar's time, much like the ones Omega himself wore in several places. It was cold to the touch, metal sanded smooth to perfection.
When Zandik looked up, Omega was already halfway out the door, stopping only briefly to look back.
"Use it with your scarf. You look ridiculous when it's fluttering everywhere."