He could've sat there for hours—just staring into nothing, watching the play of light over the grains of wood, listening to Jigano's heart and feeling the rise and fall of his flank. Partially because it was soothing (because he finally had him back, after the longest week of his life) and partially because it required absolutely nothing of him.
No confessions. No hope, no emotion, no strategy, no plans, no future—
He felt the darkness sit in him, spreading through his veins, winding and wrapping itself around every sinew and tendon. It felt like sleep, like when your brain just detaches from your body and you realize that you can't actually tell if that part of your body is still there until you move it and yeah, sure, it's still there.
Only it was more like he wasn't sure it was his soul that was still there.
Thank you Jigano began to say and Rory pressed his eyes shut. It was hard to accept it when everything in him had wanted to fling itself into the dark, to feel it rake along the inside of his skin and sear his veins and—and what if he could've fought it?
What if he could've .. but what good would it have done? Could he have destroyed something wearing Karlia's face, even if it attacked him? "Mmh," he hummed into the silence, feeling the need to acknowledge it but... It was difficult. It hurt that he couldn't say of course like going into the night had never been an option, but he was too honest.
After a moment he sighed, sensing the pain behind the words, something unspoken, like.. Rory slowly raised a hand to rub at his own forehead, as if that would chase the apathy from his soul. He was not the only one to suffer in the dark, and if he had any clue at all about Jigano, he would've suffered his fair share of horrors.
So he pulled himself together, because what else was there to do?
"Mmh?" he said again, this time a prompt.
No confessions. No hope, no emotion, no strategy, no plans, no future—
He felt the darkness sit in him, spreading through his veins, winding and wrapping itself around every sinew and tendon. It felt like sleep, like when your brain just detaches from your body and you realize that you can't actually tell if that part of your body is still there until you move it and yeah, sure, it's still there.
Only it was more like he wasn't sure it was his soul that was still there.
Thank you Jigano began to say and Rory pressed his eyes shut. It was hard to accept it when everything in him had wanted to fling itself into the dark, to feel it rake along the inside of his skin and sear his veins and—and what if he could've fought it?
What if he could've .. but what good would it have done? Could he have destroyed something wearing Karlia's face, even if it attacked him? "Mmh," he hummed into the silence, feeling the need to acknowledge it but... It was difficult. It hurt that he couldn't say of course like going into the night had never been an option, but he was too honest.
After a moment he sighed, sensing the pain behind the words, something unspoken, like.. Rory slowly raised a hand to rub at his own forehead, as if that would chase the apathy from his soul. He was not the only one to suffer in the dark, and if he had any clue at all about Jigano, he would've suffered his fair share of horrors.
So he pulled himself together, because what else was there to do?
"Mmh?" he said again, this time a prompt.
