LOREN
Loren remained silent as Sunjata explained what friendship meant. For a long while afterwards, the summoner said nothing, just walked with troubled eyes. Finally, he sighed. "Well, bully for you." He shot the bartender an unimpressed look. "So what stage are we in?" The Launceleyn's expression grew challenging.As the other man went on to explain how well he did (or didn't) know Loren, he fell quiet again. At the end he snarled, though half under his breath. "Really? I do?" He took a deep breath. "Because it seems to me if I disappeared again, if I left tomorrow, it wouldn't really make a meaningful difference or lasting impact on anyone's life. For good or for ill." There was a bitterness in hiss voice, yes, but also an exhausted acknowledgement of how little his presence mattered in the end.
The message on hope from Sunjata elicited an eye roll from the summoner. "When?" There was a bluntness to the question, a weary acceptance that life in Caido was fucking bleak, and nothing and no one could change that.
However, when the bartender tried to tell the Launceleyn that shutting people out wasn't the solution, his expression hardened. "Worked out fine for me in the past. And for others." The self-hatred rose up to eclipse all other emotions, and he barely resisted the urge to punch another shelf. Instead, he used his telekinesis to replace yet another volume, before moving on.
Physically, at least.
A beggar's book
outworths
a noble's blood
