[Dezel has something of a mental keysmash moment as his knuckles are kissed. Usually he's the one to do that to-- ah. He's going to have to get used to that if he's with someone. The... embarrassment. The flashbacks. The reawakening of a piece of him he'd sealed off until, if ever, another person came into his life and cast a shadow over all that he was.

Sorey has always loomed so large in his mind's eye. Even now, laughing and smiling, he's still a Shepherd who supports the world.]

... Yeah. I think I get it.

[He's waited all this time. They all have. It's not surprising that they've all changed in their little ways. It's true that Mikleo's was very dramatic, but Mikleo lost half of himself when Sorey left. Even if it was inevitable. Dezel and Mikleo have a few things in common.]

It's not selfish. Those were... good memories. [He releases one of Sorey's hands so that he can take off the black hat he's worn for a millennium... and he drops it on the brunet's head lightly, playfully almost.] I've never really been able to let go, or maybe it's never let go of me.

But-- I'll tell you something. [He tilts the brim of the hat up so it's easier for Sorey to see.] This world is what we make of it. If you only think about the past, what'll happen to tomorrow?