are you still hurting?

maybe we exist to bleed // maybe we exist to burn

oh but who can say which?

As Ronin begins to find a seat, Kiada glances around the quiet room a small amount more, before finding one for herself. Sinking down into it, her gaze drifts to the sketches, having never known that he was an artist or that he enjoyed other things. It’s part of her inability to realize someone could have other interests other than what the world wanted from you – having always been a warrior, a fighter, and leaving little room to explore something else. Perhaps she’ll try, soon, to do something somewhat different.

At her question, though, she can see the arch of his eyebrow briefly as she folds her hands into her lap, nodding in understanding of the blight. “Ah.” She says quietly, biting down on her lower lip before shaking her head to his awkward smile. It was an honest question with an honest answer, and that’s really all she can ask for at the end of the day.

“I’m afraid I may have upset Ludo.” She pauses, gaze drifting from Ronin to the sketch, then to the floor as if she isn’t sure where to look before acknowledging the shame that burns within her. “I… Lost someone last LongNight,” Someone important to me like Vanya was to you. “And I asked to see him again. It told me that the LongNight monsters still had his soul and that if I wanted to save him I needed to go and retrieve the soul.” To slay him is to save him. “And well, Jigano and I weren’t strong enough to slay the monster… I had to make it a bargain to let us leave. And since I’ve failed it, I… I’m just not sure what to do.” A light frown crosses her face, a sigh leaving her lips as she begins to wring her hands lightly.

KIADA