(SE) step on paper thin glass

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

“I guess it wouldn’t.” Sunjata murmurs quietly, ignoring the extra bits of feathers that float to the ground past the shock of the airhorn. As for immortality and power? Well, Ronin’s right. With the war on its way it was a tantalizing option, but it still causes his gut to churn, his impulse to chew on his cheek.

He does manage a small huff of a laugh, a bit of pride pulsing through the Attuned bond toward his friend as they pause by yet another mirror that makes them incredibly short with big blocky faces and bodies. “I did, actually. I asked Safrin to think about it so I didn’t need to do the whole… Impulse answer, implode my marriage. And I told him.” He’s proud of himself for it, unlike when Kamaria had been conceived. It wasn’t a surprise Nate had to come home to.

Sunjata’s sure that Nate likely knows the consequences of it, but Nate had asked for time to figure something out and Sunjata had obliged. But as it stands with battles over relics, he’s not too inclined to mention to his friend about the thought process that goes into it, so instead he reaches for Ronin’s sleeve, tugging him along further into the maze. “Suppose we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” He says offhandedly. “Probably sooner rather than later, if I had to guess.” Because that's how it always went.

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

Reaching out, Ronin offers his friend's arm a small pat, as if to stand in solidarity with how ridiculously difficult their lives keep becoming. And as they draw up together against their blocky reflections, he's honestly just as proud as Sunjata to hear that he's spoken to Nate about all of this. "It's hard, right? Talking about the difficult stuff. But it's always worth it afterwards," he murmurs. He and Remi have been walking that walk for a while now, and though it's not pretty sometimes, he prefers it to sweeping things under the rug.

Pulled along with Jata, Ronin tries to navigate around another hall of mirrors, feeling his way around a corner and seeming victorious when the carnival music sounds like it's getting a bit louder. "Oh, of course it'll be sooner rather than later. And if you do decide to take her up on it, just know that I won't beat you up. I promise." He winks.

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

“I think his pride of me telling him before I did anything outweighed the question, honestly.” Sunjata murmurs with a small half laugh, but all the information had been given and they step around toward a blocky set of mirrors. He has to agree, though, it was easier. Even if it was far more terrifying. At least things were changing for him – telling Nate, finding a solution, rather than the ball being dropped.

Truthfully he still doesn’t know what he wants to do, but he feels himself edging a bit further away from the possibility of it. After all, Ronin was right. He’d have to learn a whole new set of abilities and lose the ones he’d begun to use as a crutch.

Unless, of course, Safrin needed him so terribly for it and made an offer too good to pass up – but Sunjata’s got a relatively low ego when it comes to the gods and with everything that’s gone on with him he’s fairly certain he’s not worth the trouble.

Another small chuckle leaves him when Ronin promises not to beat him up, nodding as they round a corner and the music gets louder and louder – so much that he can almost feel the pulsing beat of the music in his bones and singing through his teeth. Steel seeks out Ronin’s blues with an avian tilt of his head, unsure of where to go from here.

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

"The real victory is when he isn't proud of you any more, and it just becomes expected," Ronin says with a knowing little smile. While what he says might be true, it would be a lie to say that he still doesn't feel a bubble of pride swell in his chest when he and Remi succeed at being better than, thus proving that he's still on his way to that victory.

He's glancing around as well when he catches Sunjata's tilt of his head, Ronin chewing on the inside of his cheek and pointing in a random direction. Because that can't set them on the wrong path, right? Right. "So how are you finding fatherhood? I know you've told me a little bit about it, but I always got the impression that you weren't really looking for it...?"

As it so happens, the direction Ronin has chosen has led them back out of the maze, through its entrance... somehow. And the confusion on the Huntsman's face is enough to say it all, Ronin turning to peer up at the mirror-hedge-maze. "Oh," he says, eloquent as always.

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

“True.” Sunjata agrees with a softer edged laugh, a slight roll of his shoulders as he follows through with the direction Ronin’s picked. He quiets down again, scanning the mirrors as they pass by to watch his shape turn into a number of different things, when Ronin’s question hits him with a bit of surprise. Because it’s true, he hadn’t been looking for it, but not because he didn’t want kids.

They keep walking in the direction toward the sudden entrance of the maze while he speaks. “I wasn’t really. I was more terrified of being a father like mine that I didn’t want to give myself the chance.” Though as everyone had told him, that deep fear of his was ridiculous – he’d never be the monster his father was. “Aside from that, back home, it was expected of me to continue the line.” He shrugs, stilling when they reach the end and Ronin’s oh is exactly what’s on Sunjata’s mind.

“All my fear about it sort of disappeared when Ria came home and I looked at her and realized there was no fucking way I was the monster I thought I’d be.” Casting a glance over to Ronin he shrugs, before the dragon wings unfurl from his back. “And with the twins we just thought… I don’t know, I couldn’t just leave them there when I could help.” It’s awkward for him to talk about it, as if he thinks that Ronin wouldn’t understand when the Huntsman likely understood more than most what it meant for the Flood. “But, I guess we’re done at the mirror maze. Care to fly back with me?” An eyebrow bounces with a hint of mischief and he nudges his friend with his elbow.

god, i'm a mess

SUNJATA

the baffled king composing hallelujah

Ronin's smile is warm as he listens to Sunjata speak, the Huntsman resting his hands in his pockets even as the carnival music continues to parp and jangle overhead, the mirror maze beckoning them back inside (as if). "I think you're a great father already. And you'll keep being a great one as the twins grow up," he murmurs, and he means it, nudging his shoulder against Sunjata's affectionately.

"One day when we get a spare few minutes - and the world isn't on fire or doing... this..." - he gestures at the maze - "we ought to set them all up with a playdate."

But that will not be today, evidently. Stepping back from Sunjata and rolling his shoulders to let leathery dragon wings stretch out behind him, he flashes a smile to his friend. "Only if we can race," he says. And without further ado, he beats down on his wings to let himself propel into the sky, and they're off into the horizon.

~FIN