And they both think that the other is the one who has lost sight of what that grief was for. Remembering, persevering. honoring, loving- Either way they are both suffering intensely and it has irrevocably shaped who they are and limited who they can be.
And they look at one another like a mirror version of torment that they might have been had they been different people. They see each other's grief as the torturous one. Aru thinking that keeping his grief locked away inside of himself is less harmful, but destroying himself in the process-
Trying to redownload all my games onto the new PC and it is taking, genuinely, HOURS to get even a single game downloaded...
And Nil struggles to connect with anyone and isolates and pushes others away but longs deeply for a connection again and ends up tethering himself to others in the hopes that might get to keep it.
They think the other is the saddest version of their fork in the road that could have happened, pitying the way that they have turned out. Both would be ruined by what the other wants.