RONIN
"I've done it before..." Ronin had to try hard to keep the pout out of his voice, and he directed his eyes down so he wouldn't seem petulant. It wouldn't be a state that would serve him for long, however - as Safrin said it outright, the hero she wanted him to be, he glanced up sharply, eyes wide. Something cold ran through him, too, as she mentioned appeasing Ludo through protecting the Grounds during Longnight.
Foolish and stunned, he missed the implications hidden beneath Safrin's suggestion - to return to the Grounds when he said he would not. To use the portals when he said he would not. To look Longnight in the face when it had caused him so much horror and pain.
And then she turned away, mortal and fragile as the flower she had been spinning between her fingertips, and Ronin wanted to reach for her. Wanted to, but didn't. "I... but... if I left Vanya in the sky, none of this would have to happen, right?" he said falteringly. "Things would just... go on, as they are?"
Foolish and stunned, he missed the implications hidden beneath Safrin's suggestion - to return to the Grounds when he said he would not. To use the portals when he said he would not. To look Longnight in the face when it had caused him so much horror and pain.
And then she turned away, mortal and fragile as the flower she had been spinning between her fingertips, and Ronin wanted to reach for her. Wanted to, but didn't. "I... but... if I left Vanya in the sky, none of this would have to happen, right?" he said falteringly. "Things would just... go on, as they are?"
one more wish for you
