DAMIEN
I know it's been a long time coming
I'm angry and I know that's weak
I'm angry and I know that's weak
Damien hooked the sled’s rope over one shoulder, giving it a testing pull. It slid easy enough over the crusted snow—not that Deimos needed the extra hand, but it made Damien feel less like dead weight. He glanced sidelong at Deimos’s grin, felt the edge of it land somewhere in his chest, then turned his eyes forward again.
“Twelve years goes by faster than you think,” he said, voice low, almost like he was talking to the trail ahead of them. “You start out meaning to just get through winter. Then it’s another one. And another. Next thing you know, you can’t even remember the year you stopped expecting something better to come along.”
He adjusted his grip on the rope, the leather glove creaking faintly. “Never had a family to protect, not since I was sixteen. And even then..." Well, Rane had been more reluctant caretaker, and sometimes a teacher, than anything else. "Just me, my work, and the next day. Guess that’s enough, most of the time. Keeps the snow off your back, anyway.” He huffed a dry little laugh that had no real humor in it. “But I get what you’re saying. Maybe something’ll sneak up on me too, one of these days.”
Damien followed him in, letting the sled rest where Deimos had left it. The quiet between them wasn’t awkward, but it was sharp, cut through with the awareness of what came next. He slid a bolt from the quiver at his hip, seating it into the crossbow with the practiced ease of someone who didn’t waste time when there was meat on the line. “That works,” he said, of rushing them, his tone sharpening into focus again. “You get ‘em moving, I’ll make sure they don’t get far.”
“Twelve years goes by faster than you think,” he said, voice low, almost like he was talking to the trail ahead of them. “You start out meaning to just get through winter. Then it’s another one. And another. Next thing you know, you can’t even remember the year you stopped expecting something better to come along.”
He adjusted his grip on the rope, the leather glove creaking faintly. “Never had a family to protect, not since I was sixteen. And even then..." Well, Rane had been more reluctant caretaker, and sometimes a teacher, than anything else. "Just me, my work, and the next day. Guess that’s enough, most of the time. Keeps the snow off your back, anyway.” He huffed a dry little laugh that had no real humor in it. “But I get what you’re saying. Maybe something’ll sneak up on me too, one of these days.”
Damien followed him in, letting the sled rest where Deimos had left it. The quiet between them wasn’t awkward, but it was sharp, cut through with the awareness of what came next. He slid a bolt from the quiver at his hip, seating it into the crossbow with the practiced ease of someone who didn’t waste time when there was meat on the line. “That works,” he said, of rushing them, his tone sharpening into focus again. “You get ‘em moving, I’ll make sure they don’t get far.”
And I'm longing out that open window
For whatever it is I seek
For whatever it is I seek
