15 . JOHNUARY

[necrolord]

Who: John Gaius and company.
What: All around him, John's friends and loved ones begin to shed their skins. Also: Riteoir.
When: January
Where: Gaze and the new city.

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

Comments

[necrolord]

[ It is a kindness. He can recognize that, sitting beside each other and looking only at the fire, with Qrow's voice careful and low. ]

It's good advice. [ He exhales a long breath, and looks at Qrow again, his expression gone wry and tired. ] But it's right there in the story: once you've been a god, it ruins you for trying to be a man. Even though he tried to pick one and not the other... he couldn't pull it off.

[bolstafir]

I don't know about that.

[And here's where Qrow is at an advantage, of course, knowing the story is real.]

There's many versions of that story out there. Some versions like to imagine epilogues for it. The infinite man doesn't stop being infinite just because one of his circles was broken, you know? He carries on. But the great thing about that story is that it's exactly whatever you want to make of it. You can still decide what he does next, write an epilogue for your ideal version.

[He lets out a quiet huff of a laugh.]

I mean, we're all a little bit infinite out here in squidland, right? That calls for a few tweaks, if you ask me.

[necrolord]

It doesn't seem sadder, trying to picture what came next?

[ He sits back and rubs a thumb at his temple, weary, but some of the weight has gone out of the moment. He says it like a hypothetical, even if no one's fooled. ]

With everyone gone... nothing left but ashes and one pissed-off old woman... you think he just starts over? Seems like we've got the opposite, here. Nothing ever really dies.

cw: reference to "hypothetical" suicide

[bolstafir]

What choice did he have? I mean, it's not like he could die. If I had to guess, he'd probably already tried. He was known as a man who'd lived many lives, after all, well before he ever saved that village.

[Qrow speaks as though this isn't a story about someone he knows, and John carries on as though it hasn't hit home. Both of them maintain the kindness of continuing to politely pretend as though they believe each other.]

The one nice thing about hitting bottom is that the only way left to go is up, even when it's a treacherous climb and your shoes are torn to shit.

[necrolord]

That's the truth.

[ There's a clean-slate simplicity to losing everything. That's what doesn't sit right with him, here: no one ever starts fresh. Their deaths and disasters follow them again and again. With people around to watch it all play out, the only way up is through hell, and all that's at the top is the view of the bottom.

Their fire is burning low, by now. The forest around them is cold and still. It isn't the kind he wanted to live in, when he was a kid, and there's nothing out in it but a world that'll keep them for infinity. ]

Thanks for the story.