[Taning slowly lifts his head and stares at you, with an unblinking poker face to rival a statue's. If you watch his eyes, you'll see that for an infinitely tiny moment, something like revelation crosses them, replaced by a look so shuttered you'd probably be forgiven for thinking he's decided to lie to you for all he's worth.
The moment you told him his thoughts like they were your own, he realizes that, no matter how different you two are, in you he has what could only be described as a kindred soul. He has only felt this twice before: with his adoptive father and with his fiancee. The mark of true mage wisdom isn't knowing things and knowing how to apply that knowledge, but a true, instinctive, deep-seated understanding that something just is, and that nothing, save perhaps the universe itself shifting, can stop that is from being.
At that moment, he knew. Somewhere not here, sometime not now, in a different reality, he would have probably loved you. Because you understand. And he's an Obrimos. Obrimos never handle people completely getting them well. For that matter, he does love you now, dear friend. His heart is full to bursting with appreciation.
And with sorrow. Because in that same moment he understood that you will die. You will die before everyone he cares for, everyone else that he loves, and it is a terrible thing to fully comprehend how much it will hurt to lose you in the same moment that he realizes that he will lose you first. It is in that exact same moment, too, that he understands Josh better. No wonder, he thinks, that Josh would be driven to murder if necessary, for you.
These are thoughts far too morbid for this early in the morning, but they are what they are, and if there ever was a place for such thoughts, then in Hell on a carriage heading for possible doom is definitely one.
Losing you, losing anyone, would kill him here more surely than any demon you might encounter.
He stares at you for a few seconds, then decides to tell you the truth. As well as he could put it, anyway.]
I'm not afraid of dying, Yulia. I'm afraid anyone else might.
[His eyes have lost the shadows within them, but maybe now they're unnaturally bright.
He's never felt this vulnerable before, and he trusts you to shut up about this. From a Mortician to a Whisperer, from a Hound to another, from a friend to another.]
here's a hassle tag for your efforts
The moment you told him his thoughts like they were your own, he realizes that, no matter how different you two are, in you he has what could only be described as a kindred soul. He has only felt this twice before: with his adoptive father and with his fiancee. The mark of true mage wisdom isn't knowing things and knowing how to apply that knowledge, but a true, instinctive, deep-seated understanding that something just is, and that nothing, save perhaps the universe itself shifting, can stop that is from being.
At that moment, he knew. Somewhere not here, sometime not now, in a different reality, he would have probably loved you. Because you understand. And he's an Obrimos. Obrimos never handle people completely getting them well. For that matter, he does love you now, dear friend. His heart is full to bursting with appreciation.
And with sorrow. Because in that same moment he understood that you will die. You will die before everyone he cares for, everyone else that he loves, and it is a terrible thing to fully comprehend how much it will hurt to lose you in the same moment that he realizes that he will lose you first. It is in that exact same moment, too, that he understands Josh better. No wonder, he thinks, that Josh would be driven to murder if necessary, for you.
These are thoughts far too morbid for this early in the morning, but they are what they are, and if there ever was a place for such thoughts, then in Hell on a carriage heading for possible doom is definitely one.
Losing you, losing anyone, would kill him here more surely than any demon you might encounter.
He stares at you for a few seconds, then decides to tell you the truth. As well as he could put it, anyway.]
I'm not afraid of dying, Yulia. I'm afraid anyone else might.
[His eyes have lost the shadows within them, but maybe now they're unnaturally bright.
He's never felt this vulnerable before, and he trusts you to shut up about this. From a Mortician to a Whisperer, from a Hound to another, from a friend to another.]