( it was a bit of a moot point, isn't it? the Pleroma Aions have the ability to make that choice for themselves without consequence — or, at least, without direct consequence. they might eventually have to face complications from their own lack of involvement in the conflict, but their lack of clear central leadership meant that they neither had the carrot or the stick to "motivate" them. it wasn't necessarily a secret that makoto's wariness of falling short of the Regent's expectations has motivated him to act when he might have otherwise chosen not to, falling more often on the side of saving his own skin than risking pain and worse for others. what he had done to estinien was personal, yes, but he would also claim it was tactical. he found a powerful enemy combatant in a compromised state, and he had hoped to take his shard back to achamoth in order to remove a powerful piece from the playing board. given his "fortune" in arriving to the scene so early, his failure to do anything at all might have been called into question. and so for that reason, and several others, he had done as he'd done.

perhaps he should have been confused by that answer, but he's not. makoto had been dashed against the rocky shore of one of the lowest parts of his life (lives, plural) when J had taken him into his arms, murmuring that he could hate him if it made it easier for him to live with a pain that he couldn't escape. and so he had. and he still does — he hates the man with an intensity that felt corrosive, like it ate away at everything else that comprised him as a person until there was nothing left but that wroth fury. but... he knows that's not necessarily the case. things are rarely so simple. it would be so much easier to simply hate him, to sever all emotional ties and work on the single axis of his revenge, but...

yes, as ryunosuke says. perhaps it's easy in concept, but not in practice. is it the presence of a contradiction or the absence of one?

tragically... he seems to be a good person. makoto's not necessarily a good judge for such a character. no one around him in life had ever seemed particular virtuous, and the humans that had summoned him for a contract had often been desperate souls, lashing out from anger or fear or despair. on the other hand, any demon in hell that entertained notions of soft-heartedness often found themselves toppled to the bottom of the food chain, impoverished, taken advantage of, or worse. makoto himself and orchestrated a handful of falls for such creatures himself.

for a demon like makoto, how does he weigh the positive human standards that ryu seems to show? it's hard to say.

unfortunately for ryunosuke, it just makes him kind of interesting to him, in a science experiment sort of way. )

It's a sign of strength, in my opinion. Many take the easy way out.

( including makoto himself. )

Hm... Why indeed. ( but why did he come to speak with him? it had been that line of interest, of seeing a familiar face but applied to a dramatically different context. was it to intimidate him? to let him know that while in the streets of venera, he was swimming with sharks? it's hard for him to say. it had largely been a whim, though one that had vague architectural supports to it. ) Is curiosity a bad reason to give? I doubt this will be the last time our paths cross. I suppose I'd like to know what I might expect from you.

( it's a boldly truthful answer, but... well, he seems the brutally honest type. so he replies in kind. )