13 . autumn catch-all

[necrolord]

Who: John Gaius and company.
What: After a rough summer, the King Undying lays low.
When: September - October
Where: Mostly Gaze.

Content Warnings: Tagged in headers as needed. Note all the usual warnings of this character.

Comments

[necrolord]

[ His voice has gone low under the building noise of the crows. There are so many of them they black out the sky. ]

That assumes we're at a crossroads, right? But how can I be anyone else while they're here?

[ There's a note of frustration to it; he reaches up to rub at his eyes, and it breaks the intensity in his face. He huffs a sigh into his palm. When he lifts his face away to look at her again, he's put the fury somewhere out of sight: now there's only a dull exhaustion left. ]

I'm not game to start over. I've got nothing but unfinished business. [ His mouth twists, wry. ] Maybe that's why they love showing me ghosts.

[frogfear]

It doesn't change who you are. You're still you, and this place isn't going to take that away from you. But you do realize there's more to who you are than the fight you had at home, right? And bringing it here, trying to pick fights with the Pthumerians? What's that doing besides hurting the people around you?

[Willow's tone is quiet, and gentle under the sound of beat of the crows' wings, and their cries.]

Maybe it's not about starting over, but about moving forward from it. I'm not saying that's an easy thing to do, but hanging onto old grudges that you can't satisfy from here is just going to drive you insane.

[necrolord]

[ He exhales a low breath, looking back at her. The King Undying dips his head just once in a tired nod, something old and anguished in the lines of his face. ]

Don't I know it.

[ But he doesn't believe her, that he's more than his fight. That he could ever just walk away. It's worse, in ways he could not express to her, to think that he could simply shrug off that weight.

There is a swirl of black feathers, and the vision ends. ]