Who: Mercymorn the First, Paul Atreides, and you What: October catch-all, open and closed prompts When: Throughout October Where: Various locations in Trench
Content Warnings: Depression, suicidal ideation (passive), body horror, memory loss
Sometimes uncanny insight set aside, Paul is seventeen, and prone to blind spots. What might be obvious from an objective perspective is obscured from his, looking up at the slight but real pedestal he's set Johnny on from the position of having never, for everything that's happened, having been told he was a disappointment to anyone.
He listens intently, heart swelling lightly to be included in the ranks of people who had made a difference to Johnny after that. The fire dies further, unnoticed, a thin pall of strange light cowling him.
"You're not a loser, sensei." Paul is resolute on that point, first and foremost. Whether or not Johnny speaks in the past tense, Paul needs him to know that Paul doesn't believe it, not in the slightest.
"And I'm glad you're my teacher." His voice is thick with feeling; he's glad of the shine of light over the shine of salt that might cling to his eyes. "You stood by me when I was wrong. You still do. So - to hell with him. What did he know about anything? You're ten times the sensei he was. A hundred times."
no subject
He listens intently, heart swelling lightly to be included in the ranks of people who had made a difference to Johnny after that. The fire dies further, unnoticed, a thin pall of strange light cowling him.
"You're not a loser, sensei." Paul is resolute on that point, first and foremost. Whether or not Johnny speaks in the past tense, Paul needs him to know that Paul doesn't believe it, not in the slightest.
"And I'm glad you're my teacher." His voice is thick with feeling; he's glad of the shine of light over the shine of salt that might cling to his eyes. "You stood by me when I was wrong. You still do. So - to hell with him. What did he know about anything? You're ten times the sensei he was. A hundred times."