heaven / shadowheart

[midway]

Comments

[sacredpath]

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.]

[midway]

Wow, tell me how you really feel, Shadowheart.

[ Smiling a little. ]

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

[sacredpath]

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

[midway]

[ 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.

[sacredpath]

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.

[midway]

[ 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.

[sacredpath]

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

Certainly, theories are all we have.

[midway]

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

... Are you worried?

[sacredpath]

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

[midway]

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.

[sacredpath]

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

[midway]

Yeah.

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

[sacredpath]

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

[midway]

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

[sacredpath]

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?

[midway]

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.

[sacredpath]

It is. You don't seem like an iron fist person. At least, I imagine your subjects feel they can speak remarkably freely?

[it is very hard to picture him with kingly authority he is truly so just a guy.]

[midway]

I don't really think they even think of themselves as my subjects... And neither do I. The title is pretty new.

But they're pretty candid with me. Kinda hurts sometimes, but I guess there's no sugar coating life or death situations.

[ He grimaces a little. ]