Strange Days

- NATE -

but who am I to say?
let's all just run away

Nate is giving out comforting words that mean nothing again, that make no difference, but he doesn't know what else to do. He sits, close enough that their thighs are touching, and he watches Sunjata drink from the glass, and he wonders if maybe he made a mistake, if he's going about this all wrong. But it seems to work, seems to loosen words from lips, words that Nate focuses on with all the intensity he can muster. "One thing after another is.... just life, isn't it?"

As soon as the words leave him Nate winces, and lifts a hand to again squeeze a feathered shoulder, trying to apologize. "That's not... I don't know. It's not fair. None of it is fair, especially not to you. You don't deserve all of this, all this shit, and I... I'm sorry." Nate only knows a few of the things weighing on the attuned, hasn't heard too much of the dragon, of Lusea, but what he has heard is still too much. Would break a lesser man. Was breaking Sunjata. He hums, for once not mirroring the smile, the weak laugh, but instead squeezing the shoulder a little harder, like he could pull the pieces back together, one handed.

"I can... fuck, I will promise you that I'm not going anywhere. Not any time soon." Nate swallows, half his mouth pulled into something that's trying very hard to seem positive. This would be a lot easier if he could also drink, could also grease those wheels just a little bit, but instead he has to force genuine emotion out past the block in his throat dry, has to have it scrape and stumble. "I'm not... trying to be a replacement, or... fuck, a reason, or anything, I just... I need you. I want to help." He's still not saying quite what he wants to, isn't sure if it even makes sense, but hopefully it means something. "It's not your fault. None of it is."

grab your saints and pray
and we'll burn this world today