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

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.