[Barely, yes. In a blaze, in hot pain and leaking from new holes, sick from poison and smoke. But that's only the physical stuff. Body is a body. Maybe they'll heal, maybe they won't.
It's not what wound him up tight this time. His gaze flicks away.]
Yeah, eventually. A woman rushed the door, knife out and ready to cut. I reacted without thinking, she went down the stairs. Dead, by a measure of seconds.
...Turned out it was her baby we were meant to kill. It was mixed race. Mother from one land, father from another. Hadn't done anything but be born.
[He remembers what she'd said about her people. It can't be too far a stretch for her to imagine. And that hurts even more. Piling it on her when she's already got worries aplenty in the same vein.
The hand to his arm helps, though. Gives him a bit of grounding.]
We didn't go through with it, of course. Just tried to get out and take the poor thing with us, even if it was a crapshoot from the get go.
...Sorry for soaking up your afternoon, Miss Eupha. But I appreciate the company. I just wish I had a happier story to tell you.
[he's just. gonna feel like shit, sometimes you have never murdered a person or done a real crime your whole life and then one magic cyoa takes that away from you forever.]
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And did you succeed in reaching it?
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[Barely, yes. In a blaze, in hot pain and leaking from new holes, sick from poison and smoke. But that's only the physical stuff. Body is a body. Maybe they'll heal, maybe they won't.
It's not what wound him up tight this time. His gaze flicks away.]
Yeah, eventually. A woman rushed the door, knife out and ready to cut. I reacted without thinking, she went down the stairs. Dead, by a measure of seconds.
...Turned out it was her baby we were meant to kill. It was mixed race. Mother from one land, father from another. Hadn't done anything but be born.
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... I'm sorry. That's terrible.
[ and a bit familiar, in more than one way. ]
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[He remembers what she'd said about her people. It can't be too far a stretch for her to imagine. And that hurts even more. Piling it on her when she's already got worries aplenty in the same vein.
The hand to his arm helps, though. Gives him a bit of grounding.]
We didn't go through with it, of course. Just tried to get out and take the poor thing with us, even if it was a crapshoot from the get go.
...Sorry for soaking up your afternoon, Miss Eupha. But I appreciate the company. I just wish I had a happier story to tell you.
[he's just. gonna feel like shit, sometimes you have never murdered a person or done a real crime your whole life and then one magic cyoa takes that away from you forever.]
no subject
I am glad that you tried to do the right thing for that child. And I think that you should take pride in that as well.