IC Inbox

[worldisyours]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, RINDO KANADE. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 4.28.13.9 *** rindragon has joined 4.28.13.9

Comments

[familyproblem]

Not unless you know exactly what you're doing, and can accept responsibility for what might happen anyways.

[Which obviously is not the standard that practically anyone else here uses, but it's Gladion's, and he sounds very certain in it. There's something stubborn brewing in his eyes, as he leans back on his hands.]

...Maybe none of us asked for the power we have here, but that doesn't mean we're not accountable for what we can decide to do with it.

cw: implied suicidal ideation

[worldisyours]

[Rindo can agree with that—the reasoning makes sense. Getting involved sounds like it's only asking for trouble, and he trusts neither the gods' intentions, nor himself to deal with the responsibility. He'd rather stay clear.

…But when it comes to changes, they don't have the luxury of making that choice. He sighs.]

Makes sense to me. I… I know I don't want to hurt anyone.

[And yet, his body has still been made into a weapon that's meant to do just that. He glances down at his roots, recalling how they pointedly avoided Gladion even though he was hungry. It's done a lot to reassure him that they won't just go out of control and attack people as long as he keeps himself fed, but… well, "keeping himself fed" implies regular murders, and there's no way for him to remove himself from the equation to limit harm.]

…At least we're Nymphs.

[Said with the weight of tacit, shared understanding. It's about the scavenging, of course, but more is hidden besides the obvious—everything surrounding it. The guilt, the distance, the loneliness.]

[familyproblem]

[The severity falls off of Gladion's expression.

That day was strange, in one of those beyond-the-pale Ryslig ways. Most things having to do with feeding are. They belong to another world that you can't quite peer into until you're inside.

The urge to brush the sentiment off runs up against the...untouchability of that day. He can't downplay it, or he upsets something...kind of sacred?

Rindo is right.]

...We are.

[Looks at his arm, where little ferns and mosses sprout from him, roots sandwiched between dermal layers. Glances - mostly with his eyes, not his head - at the different silhouette of leaves along Rindo's wrist. Fine differences that only seem, to him, to prove their similarities. Not unlike looking into Silvally's eyes. Very different with a human (...close enough), though.

...

This might be a bad time to get into it, but when's a good time?]

It doesn't feel fair.

[It's not just him, right?]

[worldisyours]

[It's not the first time fairness comes up with Gladion. The concept has a way of pulling emotions out of Rindo that he'd rather keep suppressed, for his own sanity. It's not fair—a childish and pointless protest against the new reality of his life. But… when shared, maybe it is a little cathartic, and maybe it helps push back against loneliness. Just a little.]

…It really doesn't.

[He looks down, wringing his hands. He feels like he should say something more. Maybe something about the dizzying relief of realizing he would not have to kill, followed immediately by the gut-wrenching guilt of outsourcing his sustenance to Swallow and her housemates, balanced against the logic of there would be no point in going for your own kills anyway even if you wanted to.

…]

I'm… not happy to be a Nymph, but…

[But… you get it, right?]

[familyproblem]

But— [he responds so quickly, voice almost overlapping Rindo's, like he's trying to continue his sentence—] it's like...

[...]

We can't exactly complain. [Said not in a scolding way; he glances over and lifts an eyebrow, wry, uncertain, plenty willing to talk loftily about gods and responsibility but still tentative about the little suggestion that maybe he gets it too.]

[worldisyours]

[…Even with common ground, it's still hard to talk about killing people, especially with the implied fact that the burden of it falls onto others' shoulders.]

…Yeah. We don't do the hardest part.

[Rindo speaks tentatively, with his gaze still lowered, his words in the shape of a question. He doesn't actually know… he just assumes. It only makes sense, with Gladion living with two hunters.]