If not for the sacrificial plants, he'd hardly have the energy to wrap his arms around her small frame in return. As it is, his grip is almost crushing. Clem was all he'd had from his past life. Sure, it hadn't been all shits and giggles, sunshine and roses. But they had been together and this was one path he couldn't follow him down. There wasn't a portal that went wherever Clem had gone.
"It isn't fair..." He sniffled against her neck, hiding his tear stained cheeks against the crook of her neck. He knew life didn't make these decisions to spite him, but there were gods in this land and they hadn't done anything. Not once had these gods influenced his time here in Caido, instead, only serving as a basis for the prejudice he'd witnessed. What kind of society was okay with this-- Powerful gods that couldn't do jack?
The ache in his chest was monumental now that'd he settled enough to feel. A halting sob slips from his lips as a new wave of tears tears from his throat. While anger and heartache swelled within him, shame wasn't showing it's head, completely at ease within his surrogate mother's arms. "It hurts, and I can't even do anything about it."
no, i won't be afraid