...that's amazingly appropriate.

He goes to the window and leans out it and uses his land-shaping power to summon up a chain and setting more or less like his, and then he comes back and attaches them to Sun-dark's soul and hands him the resulting necklace without touching the soul at any point.

"Have fun, little one!"

He holds up his soul on its chain and looks contemplatively at it for a few seconds and then puts it on the bedside table.

"I know what I'm going to decide but I haven't actually decided it yet," he says, "and I'm sure I've thrown all your careful plans for how to shape me into the perfect gift completely off-course, and there's no way I'm passing up the opportunity here. Much as it will tempt me to make the sane and reasonable choice. You were planning to have us both at some point during this carefully planned campaign of manipulation, weren't you?" he asks, grinning up at Maitimo (and never mind the sudden sharp pain of remembering just last night - how long ago was it really, he wonders - when Maitimo wanted to indulge himself with both of his boyfriends...)

"We thought it'd take you longer to be persuaded that 'be happy with us both forever' was an option. But, you know, since I don't know how long my alt'll make you wait -"

He laughs.

"I observe that you're happy. It could not possibly be clearer that you're happy. I have no fucking idea how you pulled it off, but," he gestures at Dawn-shining's soul, bright-blazing evidence of their happiness. "If I were sensible and prudent I'd wait to understand it before I accepted it as an option, but if I were sensible and prudent I would've climbed out the window and fled by now."

"If you were sensible and prudent you wouldn't have forked yourself and therefore wouldn't exist!"

"Okay, you win that one," snorts Sun-dark.

"I win everything; I have a permanent Taliar and a temporary Taliar with no idea of what I can do to him."

Well how about that sudden jolt of pure terror.

He smiles.

"Oh, you're all talk," he says merrily.

...Dawn-shining splutters with slightly horrified laughter.

"Is this what it's like to watch me from the outside?"

"Isn't it astonishingly compelling?"

"I suppose that's one word for it," he says, shaking his head in amazement. "Wow."

"If I get fed up with you I can always make you collapse to the floor writhing in agony. That makes it way more adorable."

"Is that so?" says Sun-dark.

"Are you skeptical that I can make you collapse in agony or that the ability contributes to my finding you adorable?"

"I'd say less skeptical and more intrigued, on both counts."

"Darling," he says to his husband, "give me your soul."

He smiles and kisses his husband and sits on the bed and takes off his soul necklace and hands it to Maitimo.

And he cradles it and then imagines pressing him into the bed and kissing him.

The cascade is glorious - he loves Maitimo so much, so much, so much...

...that is not agony. Sun-dark watches, fascinated and envious.

He adds ten imaginary strangers.

The cascade is - still glorious - but oh oh oh oh it hurts -

"How are you doing that," breathes Sun-dark, utterly mesmerized.

"His soul gave me powers, and then the marriage added new ones - I can make it feel like an arbitrary number of strangers are holding his soul, I can make it feel like I'm touching him, I can set off these cascades that way - I'll have to be more creative with you but I somehow think I'll rise to the occasion -" He lets go of Taliar's soul but leaves the imagined strangers in place.