un: jaycetalis | voice

[hexcope]

[The voice of a mid-thirties man, who sounds absolutely exhausted:]

So.

Who broke it?

I'm not mad. I just want to know. And have a long conversation about respecting shared resources.

[This is, of course, in reference to the now damaged blue trolley line.]

Comments

[levindicated]

…Surely your word counts several times over, your Highness?

[oblige]

But you suggested five.

Surely Odin will hold you to that.

[odinpusrex]

...You as well, Bahamut.

[He almost sounds disappointed.]

[oblige]

[ He will judge you right back, Odin. ]

You called Ramuh an invalid.

[odinpusrex]

And what do you know of his body?

[There's an edge to his voice, but it's slight in his otherwise soft and languid tone.]

[oblige]

[ He knows Cid is pungent and handsy but that's impolite to just toss out there in front of Aurora and everyone. ]

Enough to refute such a claim.

[odinpusrex]

[...]

Nonsense.

[Now Barnabas is contending with the fact that Bahamut and Cidolfus might have truly slept together...]

[oblige]

[ Ignorance is bliss, for Dion hasn't a clue that's what Odin means.

That he would care about such a thing... ]

Why would you make such an absurd assertion to begin with?

[odinpusrex]

I speak only the truth, that you should nestle yourself within the same depths of delusion as he is scant my concern.

[How anyone can look upon Cidolfus' petrified body parts and act like he is hale and whole is beyond him... but most people won't accept the truth right in front of them, he supposes.]

[oblige]

What delusion?

[ Sometimes he wonders where Barnabas' mind strays, but then he remembers what he has been told, what he has seen for himself. If anyone is delusional, Dion's quite sure it's the king of a nation he consigned to its demise. ]

You paint in broad strokes, Odin, and it ill favors you.

[odinpusrex]

Cidolfus is not the man he was two decades ago. A boy like you would never know the difference.

[But Barnabas...He knows.]

[oblige]

Yet I know enough to see you discount him too easily.

[ As the man has ever done to them all, so far as Dion has seen. ]

It is to your detriment.

[odinpusrex]

Ever blinded by your own ignorance.

[Barnabas lets out a measured, punctuating breath.]

If you wish to assert yourself more familiar, then let him be your burden.

[Guess who is getting booted out of Stonhyrr! At least for a time. This is what Cidolfus gets for causing this mess.]

[oblige]

Who spoke of familiarity?

[ That would be Barnabas! Greagor knows why, but he did. ]

If you view others in such unsparing terms, it will not avail you. That is all.

[ Is it worth trying to reason with an unbudging stone? Likely not, but Dion can see a future in which it becomes detrimental to them all. ]

[odinpusrex]

[There's a beat, a moment of...not quite hesitation, but consideration.]

I speak in terms most plain and apparent. That you should ignore the truth of his...condition, speaks of your own inability to see clearly. Thickly shrouded within your shared delusion, even your searing light will not free you of this miasma.

[Though, his blade, on the other hand...]

[oblige]

They are neither plain nor apparent.

[ The more Barnabas speaks, the less certain Dion is regarding what the man is even on about. ]

Can the man not act upon his own will? You speak as though it were otherwise, and that is plainly false. Whatever else you imagine is your understanding alone.

[odinpusrex]

He is willful, indeed.

[There is a slight derision to the words, though they are otherwise light and measured as everything he says typically is.]

Though that means naught in the face of his growing weakness. He is not immune to the folly he has subjected himself to. Consequence has taken root.

[oblige]

[ Curious, the way Odin speaks of Ramuh. It's a drawn silence which follows, after which his tone is something between reluctant and wary when he ventures to ask— ]

You worry after his health?

[ Is that what this all is? ]

[odinpusrex]

No.

[That implies attachment, a bond, and those are strictly off the table for him.]

Yet, we are aligned in our shared purpose here. His dwindling strength will only hinder us further, and pretending it is otherwise is folly.

[levindicated]

Excuse me?

What the fuck are you on about?

[hexcope]

This is weird that they're talking about you like you're not literally right here, right? On a post about trains, of all places?

[levindicated]

Weird for them or weird in general?

[odinpusrex]

Quiet yourself, Cidolfus.

[You think he's going to explain himself to you? He's too vaguely annoyed to do that!]

[oblige]

You have not seen what I have.

[ The words are weighted with implication, but Dion doesn't elaborate on what he means by that. ]

It is not for us to decide what a man does with his life.

[ He does, after all, know someone who pressed on despite his pains. Despite his life dwindling away under the weight he'd taken upon himself. It is not an easy thing to watch.

If it troubles Odin to observe such a thing, as Dion suspects it does... Well. He can think on that later. ]

You cannot deny a man's vulnerabilities, nor his will. Be the strength he requires, then.

[odinpusrex]

[There's a notable pause as he allows Dion to say his piece. The implication in the beginning catches him, and part of him wonders when Dion is from, but he does not speak that curiosity aloud.

Whether or not the rest sinks in, touches him in some meaningful way, well... That's to be seen. It isn't that Barnabas hasn't considered such before, in fact, his role has vastly been to endure where others were to weak to do so. Yet, someone like Cidolfus shouldn't be weak like the rest of mankind.

He should be above such folly, or so he once believed. Yet, the greying patches that adorn his body, and the frailty observed in his movements, remind him of the bitter ache of his misplaced judgment. Not to mention the suffering he knows Cidolfus is going through.

Waloed had...ways of dealing with those who showed signs of the curse, after all. Mercy for a life otherwise promised weakness and suffering.]

Enough. You bask in your ignorance as if it were the sun. I do not deny his vulnerabilities...but I shall disparage his foolish will for the consequences it births.

Begone, Bahamut. I need not your precipitous counsel.