I'm never gonna quit, got my legacy set in motion
Somehow, every explanation feels like another stone dropped into deep water, swallowed before it can reach the bottom. He keeps reaching for understanding only to find another accusation waiting in its place. Zavien's voice snaps out with more force than before, and Kaisel's head jerks back a touch. It lands no differently than another swing of the sword. The weapons have changed, but the rhythm hasn't; every sentence feels like another strike to catch, another opening to search for. "I hear your apology," he sighs, one hand flopping back to his side while the other scrubs at his cheek and chin. "I told you it takes a lot to say. But back then, I didn't have that yet, so I'm trying to explain why I said what I said."
"What you said, was you couldn't lie, and if Koa asked, you'd tell him. That sounded like a threat, so I answered in kind." His hands chop up the air in front of him, as if his voice needs the specific compartments to fit into in order to be properly received and digested. "Just like I didn't say then the threat was empty, you didn't say then that you telling Koa would be worse. That you would do most anything to avoid it."
When Zavien speaks again, Kaisel is startled into a fresh silence. The frustration sets between his teeth like a particularly tough strip of jerky, and as much as he works at it and works at it, it doesn't seem to be breaking down any better than when he'd started. "What the hell does caring look like to you then?!" he demands, holding Zavien firm with his gaze for a second. "I'm here, aren't I!? I'm wounded, but I'm talking to you!" The words leave him almost breathless. He can't think of another way to prove the point. He could've limped away the moment the sword bit into him, could've let the pain be an excuse enough to leave the rest unsaid. Instead, he's still here, aching while he's trying, apparently in vain, to convince someone he once admired that he isn't the monster they've decided he is.
Shaking his head sharply, Kaisel scoffs. "I didn't hurt a friend's relationship over a misunderstanding," Kaisel mutters, tone souring beneath the constant villainization. "Only you did that." Because if they'd been friends once, Zavien has made certain they aren't any longer.
Growing weary of being misunderstood at every turn, something inside him finally slackens. Every explanation only seems to return wearing a stranger's face, and he's running out of ways to say the same thing. Unwilling to endure more than he has to when it isn't appreciated, Kaisel slowly starts to shuffle and limp back towards his bag and his healing water. "How can you trust anyone won't do that?" he demands back, one shoulder lifting and shrugging away the implication that he's out to dismantle every piece of Zavien's life. How quickly a single mistake could become the only portrait someone bothered to keep. It doesn't seem worth comparing their taste in art any longer.
"You're asking for proof the threat was empty, but you're the only one that's filled it up. I didn't tell Lena shit." He glances back over his shoulder at Zavien, gaze darkened with the fierce certainty he sets down. "And if I meant to, I would have." Not sure anyone on Caido could accuse Kaisel of keeping his mouth shut.
"What you said, was you couldn't lie, and if Koa asked, you'd tell him. That sounded like a threat, so I answered in kind." His hands chop up the air in front of him, as if his voice needs the specific compartments to fit into in order to be properly received and digested. "Just like I didn't say then the threat was empty, you didn't say then that you telling Koa would be worse. That you would do most anything to avoid it."
When Zavien speaks again, Kaisel is startled into a fresh silence. The frustration sets between his teeth like a particularly tough strip of jerky, and as much as he works at it and works at it, it doesn't seem to be breaking down any better than when he'd started. "What the hell does caring look like to you then?!" he demands, holding Zavien firm with his gaze for a second. "I'm here, aren't I!? I'm wounded, but I'm talking to you!" The words leave him almost breathless. He can't think of another way to prove the point. He could've limped away the moment the sword bit into him, could've let the pain be an excuse enough to leave the rest unsaid. Instead, he's still here, aching while he's trying, apparently in vain, to convince someone he once admired that he isn't the monster they've decided he is.
Shaking his head sharply, Kaisel scoffs. "I didn't hurt a friend's relationship over a misunderstanding," Kaisel mutters, tone souring beneath the constant villainization. "Only you did that." Because if they'd been friends once, Zavien has made certain they aren't any longer.
Growing weary of being misunderstood at every turn, something inside him finally slackens. Every explanation only seems to return wearing a stranger's face, and he's running out of ways to say the same thing. Unwilling to endure more than he has to when it isn't appreciated, Kaisel slowly starts to shuffle and limp back towards his bag and his healing water. "How can you trust anyone won't do that?" he demands back, one shoulder lifting and shrugging away the implication that he's out to dismantle every piece of Zavien's life. How quickly a single mistake could become the only portrait someone bothered to keep. It doesn't seem worth comparing their taste in art any longer.
"You're asking for proof the threat was empty, but you're the only one that's filled it up. I didn't tell Lena shit." He glances back over his shoulder at Zavien, gaze darkened with the fierce certainty he sets down. "And if I meant to, I would have." Not sure anyone on Caido could accuse Kaisel of keeping his mouth shut.
Kaisel
So welcome to the fire, I'm the one with the lighter
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
