chrono

[sacredpath]

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[sacredpath]

Just Shadowheart is perfectly fine.

[sitting up from where she's lying down.]

[clockpunk]

[ nods once. sort of hovers an awkward distance away. ]

Shadowheart. Look, I wanted to- [ egghhhh ] -apologise. For snappin' at you during trial.

[sacredpath]

Ah. It's really alright.

[she was not angry so much as exasperated at the time, and is even less angry about it now.]

I don't really relish having to be the one with the responsibility to try to make people cooperate with that business. And I'm not particularly good at it.

[clockpunk]

I think doin' it at all makes you better at it than nearly anyone else.

[ sighs. ]

Still, it wasn't fair, and I'm sorry. I was on edge, but who isn't at those things.

[sacredpath]

I'll accept your apology in the spirit intended, even though it isn't necessary.

[a smile.]

It is not a pleasant situation. Tempers flare, of course. I wouldn't possibly hold it against you, but I appreciate your courtesy nonetheless.

[clockpunk]

Thanks. It just felt wrong to leave it like that.

[ and jiaoqiu told him off, which was a bad sign.

hesitantly, he will sit beside her. ]

Do you usually come here after-- everything?

[sacredpath]

[she'll allow it.]

Sometimes. It's a good place to collect thoughts. Pretty, yes?

[clockpunk]

[ ah. their first conversation. he smiles, only a little sad around the edges. ]

Yeah, it's pretty. Did you have beaches nearby, where you're from?

[sacredpath]

[oh you mean when she was such a bitch about how ugly heaven is? yeah. laughing a bit.]

Not like this. I grew up in a city on the ocean, but the docks there are more - merchant ships and the smell of rotting fish.

[clockpunk]

[ nodding. ]

My city's on the ocean, too, but it's mostly industrial around the ports. Beaches like this you've gotta travel for. [ ... ] It's nice and open, here, after bein' stuck all weekend.

[sacredpath]

Mm. I don't swim, but I like to watch the waves.

[it's very peaceful.]

It's been a very long week.

[clockpunk]

I read somethin' about movements like waves being calming. It's like... a natural reaction to the motions.

[ he sighs, drawing his knees up to rest his arms on them. ]

Every week feels like it's getting longer.

[sacredpath]

How are you feeling, lately? It isn't an easy thing for any of us to bear.

[but he's young, so presumably harder, especially this week.]

[clockpunk]

[ it takes him a moment to answer, his tendency to deflect at war with the sincerity he wanted to bring to this interaction. ]

...I feel like shit, honestly, but it'd be worse if I didn't. [ he scrubs a hand through his hair, sighing. ] As long as I feel bad, it means I'm not getting numb to it.

[sacredpath]

That’s a good way to think about it. I don’t want to let down our fallen friends by allowing their deaths to be the catalyst for abandoning hope.

So… we simply must try.

[clockpunk]

That's a good way to put it, too. Like giving up on them.

[ just keep swimming, and all that. ]

...the city you grew up in, what's it like? Everyone's from such different places, learnin' about a new one's always interesting.