sacredpath | pc: jiaoqiu

From:

[ i won't actually make you play a horrible guessing game, she can find him with some persistence

he's at the top of the lighthouse, standing right up against the railing and staring out at the sky. ]

From:

sacredpath

[this is where she would have looked anyway as it's one of the three top aesthetically saddest locations. she had to climb these stairs last week, too.]

...There you are.

From:

fried

[ it really is it's the most dramatic place other than the cave

i'm sorry for this also but he just does not answer. lights are on but nobody's home - all that nihility, flooding right on in. ]

From:

sacredpath

[well. she really doesn't have any idea how to comfort someone, but he was very kind to her, so she feels an obligation to try.

so at least what she will do is approach him carefully, like she doesn't want to startle him, but take his hand if she can.]

From:

fried

[ yeah, that's okay, he's fine with that. he doesn't react much, but his fingers twitch when she takes his hand.

silence, and then in a low, dull voice: ]

Hello, Shadowheart.

From:

sacredpath

[she's fine just holding hands silently for a little while, too. but the acknowledgment is good.]

Hello. You've very far away.

From:

fried

Apologies.

[ ... ]

I'm scraping from the bottom of an already very empty cauldron, I'm afraid.

From:

sacredpath

Not all of us can be filled to the brim with happiness, a beautiful life, the comfort of knowing it usually turns out well.

[that sort of thing feels like a fairy story.]

Is it harder than you let on, to find meaning in it?

From:

fried

[ his lips twitch at that. there's not much joy to it but they do. ]

Of course it is. [ ... ] It's there. There's always something.

Still. It does feel as though sometimes, when I reach for something comforting, it's snatched away.

From:

sacredpath

Mm.

We Sharrans are not typically good at recruiting, except amongst people who are already broken down by life. There is not much comfort to be found in the belief that there is no way to prevent pain, and everything will be lost. I see why people like Lathander better, that is to say.

[nice to think you can expect something kinder from the universe than this, if only you work for it.]

But I did like the idea. I see what you mean when you say it, the way you exercise it. I think you're more right about the value of what you try to do than you may know.

[at least, she'd like to think it's sift through the muck of all of it and find something to hold on to, and need no one else's blessing to deserve it. and he is kind, and helps people, which makes it seem real.]

From:

fried

[ he kind of just... wilts. his shoulders come down, and his ears drift down, his tail limp and hanging behind him. ]

I can only hope that I am.

[ ... ]

I was starting to get used to having her by my side. Neverah, I mean.

From:

sacredpath

I suspected as much.

[almost a little teasing with it. not quite, just - she did understand that the emotion here was sorrow at losing someone he cared for.]

And how unfair it is. Though the benefit here, perhaps, is that we are not left to simply curse the senselessness and meaningless of the universe. This wasn't randomness, this was something else, and it hurt her on purpose.

From:

fried

That is the worst part, isn't it.

[ ... ]

She doesn't think she's done anything wrong. She finds this unjust. And it is, really. [ a beat. ] I'm sorry I could not bring myself to help accuse her, even when I knew it was her.

From:

sacredpath

You don't need to apologize for that.

[it would be a lot to expect.]

Caring about someone and wanting to protect them is not something to be sorry for.

From:

fried

I feel that way about all of you.

[ he says, finally. and he glances at her. and then, like he's really trying to be a person by joking: ]

Some of you more than others.