melancholyism

right by the entrance you broke, finally reality's taking its hold

“I won’t.” He murmurs, already planning things in mind, imagining that he could talk to Vai and she could care for Kamaria in the times that they’re busy, perhaps. But it would all come with time and talking, and already Sunjata feels the weight lifting off of his shoulders.

“I want to fix the buildings that burned and get things in order before we go.” He suggests softly, figuring that it’s easier to do all the work before he steps down, while he has the power and the resources to do it. “Out of pure curiosity, though, who do you plan to put in my place?” His question is aired, while his mind still falls back to the rebuilding and fixing at hand. It’s a thought, one that he hopes she understands. He doesn’t want to leave a mess behind, after all.

At the very least he can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

you're not who you were, but you can't let it go
you're not where you're from, but you're always alone

SUNJATA

Safrin

'I wouldn't bother. They will not be your places anymore, without you. And if Torchline wants them to stay, then they will. Don't waste what little time you have toiling about things that no one will even notice." Safrin muses with a soft shake of her head. There was so much to be done in Torchline, and burned buildings were not what needed to be focused on just now. "I know it is what you want Sunjata, but what you want is no longer in Torchline's best interest. That is the reason behind all of this."

Though Safrin understood the position Sunjata found himself in, she could not allow him to simply continue spinning his wheels and exerting his strength to no avail.

"My Flood, you need to invest your life and might into the things that matter. For too long you've worried about the wrong things. It's time to start worrying about the right ones."

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

right by the entrance you broke, finally reality's taking its hold

Leaving the buildings in the state they are and stepping down certainly is something that he knows many people will have an opinion about. But as Safrin’s reminded him, it doesn’t matter in the long run. It’s something he needs to get used to, even if it’s tough and difficult and it feels wrong in comparison to the things he’s strove to try and do.

So he nods, swallowing hard, until she continues and his brows are pinching, his head cocking just as that avian shift of his she’d given him comes out a bit. “How do I know what the right thing is to worry about?” It feels childish to ask and he shies away from it, his eyes dropping from Safrin’s face to somewhere else, anywhere but letting her see the vulnerability there. “The things I have,” worried about, “feel right to worry about, even if I can’t fix them. How do I know what’s truly the right from wrong?”

you're not who you were, but you can't let it go
you're not where you're from, but you're always alone

SUNJATA

Safrin

For a long moment, Safrin says nothing. Her eyes scan Sunjata's face, taking in every detail and every pore, wondering when he lost track of himself. "Your daughter." She says, eventually. "Nate, even. Friendships you have." Her galactic stare grows dark. "Your place has never been in mediocrity, Sunjata. Never were you destined to just toe this line. You are the Flood. Mine. Stop trying to be the man you want to be, and be him."

With frustration, almost, Safrin moves herself forward to force herself into Sunjata's lap. Despite the warmth and intimate position, she is rigid and powerful as she once again clasps her palms to his cheeks. Energy sizzles into his skin where it touches hers, and as her dark eyes glow white, so too do Sunjata's as the world bleeds away.

Stars and darkness fill an endless vista, where below, somehow far down despite there being no way to gauge distance, are Nate and Kamaria. Pregnancies and burned buildings loom like shadows, as do words screamed in anger. Fathers and prolonged quests hide like monsters beneath a bed that Kamaria jumps upon. A snappy one-liner from Nate drowns out the sneers of women who snarl from the darkness.

"Stop being afraid, Sunjata. You know exactly what it is you care about. Every time you placate the world around you, you pluck one more feather from your wings. It is you who will make you fall."

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

right by the entrance you broke, finally reality's taking its hold

Safrin’s gaze grows dark and she lists them off as if it were a grocery list, the realization sparking deep within him as it resonates and he, too, wonders how far he’s led himself astray. Perhaps it’s feeling as if he’s an imposter. Perhaps it stemmed from his father’s arrival, perhaps it’s when he allowed Shaju to remind him of all the things he tried to break out of.

She slips into his lap and cups his face and his arms automatically move around her, and he only has a few moments to watch her eyes glimmer with pure white before the world changes before him. And he can see it, the things he wants, those things in the shadows that should remain as such — unimportant, not even in the focus.

Stop being afraid. She tells him as he watches the scene. Stop plucking his feathers. Be the man he wants to be, and right now? Right now it’s been that lining of rage that’s going to fuel him, that’s going to wash away the things that don’t matter, that will allow him to strike out unafraid in order to protect those he loves.

He wasn’t made for mediocrity. He wasn’t made to appease everyone. He is the Flood, and he is there to overwhelm and overtake, to devour and swallow the things that opposed him whole. “You’re right.” He breathes as if a bit bewildered, as if he’s letting it resonate with him, sinking into the deeper parts of him he’s been afraid to unlock. “I’ve spent so long trying to appease everyone that I forgot who I am, what I was meant to do.” A pause, searching through the future as if he can find Safrin there. “I’ve been cornered and boxed for too long,” and what to wild animals do when trapped? They bite back. “I will be ready.” And may the bridges he’s burned light his way back home.

you're not who you were, but you can't let it go
you're not where you're from, but you're always alone

SUNJATA

Safrin

Amused and pleased, Safrin sits straighter in Sunjata's lap, dwarfed by his size and yet somehow larger than life even so. "You are not just a flood, but an ocean. Your waves will return to shore only for our family, and above you shall only ever be my sky. None shall tame you. None shall stand in your way. Not again."

The world of darkness and starlight disappears, leaving only Kamaria's laugh and the smell of one of Nate's cigarettes lingering faintly in the room.

"Go and find Ludo's illusion stone, and then lose yourself in the Wild."

With a kiss like sweet cream and static to his lips, she is gone.

~FIN

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!