Deliver Us

SAMUEL i am the ocean, crawling madly at your moon. and with one wanton whoop — As they approached the shrine Sam felt a rising lump in his chest, like his heart trying to leap out of his mouth. As irrational as he knew it was he felt he might be walking towards his death (but The Voice wouldn't kill him, right? Right? She valued them all too much, right? But he wasn't the most useful of them...). But looking across at Rexanna being led by Bastien, knowing that she was hurt because of him, he couldn't stop. When The Voice appeared he immediately prepared himself for shouting, pain, anything. As instead his hair was gently ruffled, an affectionate gesture from a loving parent, he frowned, confused. Did she not know? He had thought even if the Gods were quiet during Longnight, they watched all that happened. Her questions seemed to indicate that she really didn't know, but Sam wondered if she was just giving them a chance to explain themselves. If she was, he would take it - he did not want to prolong this any longer than was needed. "It was...it was my fault." He admitted, stepping forward with his head low. "I thought...um...w-well...a friend of mine told me that the monsters that are out in Longnight were once like us." He gestured to himself, Bastien and Rexanna. "That thought made me scared, because I wouldn't like to turn into a monster, and I was worried, I suppose, that I could -- my mind sometimes runs away with an idea like that and I can't let it go and I thought if I could try and talk to one of them, maybe it'd help." He lifted his head to peek at the Voice, see how she was taking this so far. "B-because...because either they'd respond and we'd know we could help them get better, or they'd not respond and we'd know they were something different to us, at least completely taken over and not aware they were monsters. And well, they did reply, but they weren't interested in speaking to us." He brought up his good hand and nibbled at one of his fingernails, knowing he sounded stupidly naive. "Me and Rexanna did use our upgrades but...too late. Not before all this happened." He held up his injured hand but only quickly, not wanting to take the attention from Rexanna's much worse wounds. With the majority of the story told (though in Sam's classically vague style) he shakily got down onto his knees and dipped his head, hands on the floor. "I'm so sorry, I...I just...I wanted to help them. That's all. I shouldn't have risked everyone else to do that." His voice was quiet and clearly not far from being overcome with emotion, but he had managed to get out all the words he wanted to say. — i melt into a sycophantic soup, & all that's left to do, is giggle, fawn, and swoon.