// with our one foot in the grave //
“For not telling you.” He isn’t blind. He can see the tension as clear as day in the otherwise carefree, relaxed state the other Ancient always seems to remain in. This time, it’s different, and subconsciously the butcher is trying to align this version of Danta with the one he’d known from the Climb, spying the bits and pieces that align amongst a variety of others that don’t. Others that don’t align with anything that Astaroth has seen from Danta, and it leaves the oblivious man far more confused than he already is, and so he noses his way in and presses his forehead to Danta’s chest, exhaling a hot breath there as if it harbors all the anxieties swimming within him.
The memory sparks more annoyance, more upset, and Astaroth doesn’t know how to deal with the ash on his tongue other than to try and talk it out. “Just you.” And obviously everything else Danta’s brought. But there isn’t anything else he needs, because stubbornly the only time he’s felt comfortable since the incident is right here, each time he’s been in the other man’s embrace.
“I was helping to clean up after LongNight in Jack Tar, like I had told you I intended to do.” He starts to say, pausing because he knows the second he name drops her Danta’s fury might have a pinpoint. So his arms tighten around the other man’s middle, keeping him pressed against him in case he chooses to simply storm off. “Maea came across me as she was... leaving, I believe? And wished to talk about what happened. And so I agreed. And at first, she apologized for making the comparison between me and that man, then claimed she wished to have some compromise between what we do so it isn’t done within the confines of the Inner Quarter. But she had another idea, that like Halo they could be sent to exile. Only her version was in the Climb through the portal because that was far enough away and within the wilds.” His voice feels a bit rushed and perhaps he’s a bit lightheaded from lack of food and proper sleep, but he perseveres. “Evidently she did not realize what had happened… To me, there. I got upset, telling her that while she’d just apologized to me for misunderstanding the comparison that she would have me do the same thing to them that was done to me. And then I started to panic. She did not know the details and I began to... To divulge them. Which made me panic worse.” It ends on a hiss, pissed off at losing control and being unable to do anything about it.
But Danta had seen how he gets like that. He'd seen just how much he loses his mind and just won't shut up. Only this time he didn't have the Maverick there to quiet him. "She said she didn't know and apologized and I... Ran." Because what else was there for him to do other than get out of the situation?
The memory sparks more annoyance, more upset, and Astaroth doesn’t know how to deal with the ash on his tongue other than to try and talk it out. “Just you.” And obviously everything else Danta’s brought. But there isn’t anything else he needs, because stubbornly the only time he’s felt comfortable since the incident is right here, each time he’s been in the other man’s embrace.
“I was helping to clean up after LongNight in Jack Tar, like I had told you I intended to do.” He starts to say, pausing because he knows the second he name drops her Danta’s fury might have a pinpoint. So his arms tighten around the other man’s middle, keeping him pressed against him in case he chooses to simply storm off. “Maea came across me as she was... leaving, I believe? And wished to talk about what happened. And so I agreed. And at first, she apologized for making the comparison between me and that man, then claimed she wished to have some compromise between what we do so it isn’t done within the confines of the Inner Quarter. But she had another idea, that like Halo they could be sent to exile. Only her version was in the Climb through the portal because that was far enough away and within the wilds.” His voice feels a bit rushed and perhaps he’s a bit lightheaded from lack of food and proper sleep, but he perseveres. “Evidently she did not realize what had happened… To me, there. I got upset, telling her that while she’d just apologized to me for misunderstanding the comparison that she would have me do the same thing to them that was done to me. And then I started to panic. She did not know the details and I began to... To divulge them. Which made me panic worse.” It ends on a hiss, pissed off at losing control and being unable to do anything about it.
But Danta had seen how he gets like that. He'd seen just how much he loses his mind and just won't shut up. Only this time he didn't have the Maverick there to quiet him. "She said she didn't know and apologized and I... Ran." Because what else was there for him to do other than get out of the situation?
Astaroth
// while the other one's kicking its way right down to hell //
