Snort.

"I'll do my best."

Aww.

He lingers in sisterly hugs a little while longer, then gently lets go of her to look at Sekar.

"What's my legal situation like?" he wonders of Sekar. "Am I supposed to keep my head down for a while and pretend to still be dead, do I get a formal pardon, or...?"

"I'd kind of rather it not get around that you were dead and have now stopped that, but if you don't have a good way to keep it quiet or don't feel like it then sure, yeah, consider yourself Imperially pardoned."

"Without any help, I can definitely keep it quiet if I leave the city. I could probably keep it quiet without leaving the city, but I'd be a ghost without an identity for a while without help, which might be a bit uncomfortable. Would it be possible to pretend my death was faked?"

"Well, they'd probably complain about how hard it is to execute people who self-dedicated Death. What do you mean, 'without help', what kind of help? Money, a place to stay, a whole new face?"

"I'm pretty okay with leaning on my Death self-dedication for why I'm still alive. It makes sense, and it's not like I was dead for very long. People that know me probably wouldn't be surprised that I managed to survive execution. I was being vague because I wasn't sure what you'd be willing to give me. Money and a place to stay would be great, a whole new face would be great, but it all depends on how we'd like to play this."

He shrugs. "I'm in a helpful mood. How do you want to play it? The new-face way, the 'I self-dedicated Death and made friends with the Emperor, sucks to be you' way...?"

"'I self-dedicated Death and made friends with the Emperor, sucks to be you' sounds the easiest to pull off, and I wouldn't have to rebuild my entire life. Though I might like to have a new face to run reconnaissance with so I can get the story to make as much sense as possible."

"Sure. What do you want to look like?"

Uncaring shrug. "I don't care very much. Whatever you feel like doing?"

"Sure."

He looks thoughtfully at Zeothe, and then - he has a new face. Same height and build, nothing that would make him need to relearn major motor skills; all the differences are in cosmetic details, although the new facial structure might still take some getting used to.

"Thanks!"

"Aw. You're fluffy."

"I am that, aren't I." He runs a hand through the mess of wavy curls that is now his hair. "This is weird. Am I making expressions that make sense, my face is all. Different."

"Your smile didn't look weird, but I'd have to see more facial expressions from you to say. .... Can I pet you."

"You may."

His sister giggles, then pets the fluff, delighted.

The Emperor also giggles.

"Okay, I'm done, you can have your dignity back now."

Snort.

"Thank you, it's so essential to my character. Now, can I borrow a mirror so I can make ridiculous faces at myself?"

A spontaneous flower grows out of the floor to give him a charming little silver hand mirror.

"Thanks! Off to go make faces to myself, then, where's a room I can get some privacy?"

"You can borrow my room," offers Esvetielle, pointing it out.

"Sure. Thanks." He gives a wave, and heads off to make faces to himself.