midway | heaven / shadowheart

[ He's a little scuffed up, and his arm is in a sling, but he's otherwise okay.

His vision is a little unfocused though. ]

Made a bad call on the field. [ Brows furrowing. ] It didn't cost us too many troops, did it?

It didn't cost a single one.

[she has no idea what he's talking about but she'll nurse him through his delirium i guess.]

We had three injured, but all are expected to pull through.

[ Oh. He smiles like he thinks she's humoring him, but doesn't call her out on it. ]

That's an unusual stroke of luck. Jing Yuan might even throw another party to celebrate.

[to be fair, she is humoring him.]

Will he now? It sounds reasonable, for such a victory.

He's a reasonable guy. [ Looks at her for a moment. ] ... I thought we were supposed to try being more sincere.

[aww...]

You're hurt. I don't even know what happened to you. But what I said was true. No one is dead, they're all going to be alright.

[ He rubs a hand over his temples. ]

No one is dead. [ Okay. ] Well, I don't know what happened either.

... The others have any clue? I haven't spoken to them.

They're all confused, too. You weren't gone for any period of time that anyone noticed. You simply... appeared, injured, with these memories of another life.

Maybe this place is feeling conflicted about whether or not we belong here.

[ was it trying to spit them into hell or something ]

Don't be silly. You, Richie and Mizu may all be wretched sinners, but Taair is a perfectly nice person.

[so it can't be that.]

Wow, tell me how you really feel, Shadowheart.

[ Smiling a little. ]

I guess it could be a test. I definitely felt tested.

Did any of it feel especially heavy handed, like you were trying to decide how many people to leave on the track of trolley?

[ He shakes his head and sighs. ]

Yes, actually. We were healers... We had to decide who to prioritize when healing, knowing that others would die. Or where to station ourselves in relation to the combat.

I really don't miss war.

So maybe it really was some kind of sick test.

[that thought makes her very angry, though.]

When you woke, you were speaking as though you'd failed your troops. I don't know what good a test like that does.

[ Oh, looking mildly caught off guard. ]

I guess the easiest way to make people want to be better is to make them feel like they're not enough.

... It's just a theory though. I haven't actually asked the guardians about it.

Is it? That always only makes me want to be worse out of spite.

Certainly, theories are all we have.

I get the feeling they won't have any answers, but might as well ask.

... Are you worried?

I should hope I am. At least with being dead, we ought not to be worrying about death and misery all over again.

I can't fault you for that.

I don't know what I thought about the afterlife, but it wasn't more of the same struggle. It'd be enough to drive me mad, I think.

It's not meant to last forever, but it seems to only be getting worse.

Yeah.

It definitely feels like something isn't going to plan with all of this.

And the ones in charge would seem to prefer not to acknowledge it.

Well, in my experience, people in power rarely like to admit when that power slips.

Is that how you rule? If some of your subjects went insane and started killing each other, would you tell everyone it was probably just a funny little coincidence?

No, I'd never be given that much grace in the first place. [ Lorenz would kill him where he stood. ] Which, I think is a good thing, for the record.

But, you know, sometimes people have more of an iron fist.

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sacredpath - 2025-02-24 00:05 (UTC) - Expand

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midway - 2025-02-24 16:24 (UTC) - Expand