Soleil
It's unfairly effective to use himself as a comparison not once but twice. Soleil doesn't just love her dad, she idolizes him. If he'd explored all around Caido as a Halovian then...well, she can't really argue that, can she? The guilt is so personal and painful that she worries she can't swallow it, but maybe it's not really guilt. Maybe it's remorse. She didn't do anything wrong by not arriving faster after Skyfall - but she can regret that she didn't.
The slight change in wording feels like blinking sunlight out of her eyes and finally seeing more than an endless, painful white haze. It still hurts, but it hurts so much less.
"I'm not...disappointing you, right?" It's a tiny string of sounds, hardly a whisper. Her and Luka may be equally important in their different roles and desires as he says, but - "Did you - do you - want me to do something different? Something...more?" He can justify her usefulness, but her adventuring is more personal than helpful to Halo. She needs to know if he can tell a stranger about her and be truly, sincerely proud. That she's not falling short somehow by not moving out, or dating, or trying to rule a region like Sohalia or Flora did at her age.
Nodding meekly at his pointed stare, she feels the guilt ease into what will firmly become regret and nothing more, leaving only the growing pains of life and the accompanying uncertainties to contend with. "I get it. I'd forgive Luka if it happened to him - maybe Halo feels that way too." They're a tight-knit community. Maybe she just needs to accept that her people are as capable and willing to forgive as Soleil would be if the situations were reversed. Maybe she doesn't need forgiveness anyway, just understanding and compassion. Damn her dad for making such a good point.
The slight change in wording feels like blinking sunlight out of her eyes and finally seeing more than an endless, painful white haze. It still hurts, but it hurts so much less.
"I'm not...disappointing you, right?" It's a tiny string of sounds, hardly a whisper. Her and Luka may be equally important in their different roles and desires as he says, but - "Did you - do you - want me to do something different? Something...more?" He can justify her usefulness, but her adventuring is more personal than helpful to Halo. She needs to know if he can tell a stranger about her and be truly, sincerely proud. That she's not falling short somehow by not moving out, or dating, or trying to rule a region like Sohalia or Flora did at her age.
Nodding meekly at his pointed stare, she feels the guilt ease into what will firmly become regret and nothing more, leaving only the growing pains of life and the accompanying uncertainties to contend with. "I get it. I'd forgive Luka if it happened to him - maybe Halo feels that way too." They're a tight-knit community. Maybe she just needs to accept that her people are as capable and willing to forgive as Soleil would be if the situations were reversed. Maybe she doesn't need forgiveness anyway, just understanding and compassion. Damn her dad for making such a good point.
my head's in the sky but I'm falling backwards
