[Hayame says everything with certainty. She had learned early that there was no room for uncertainty in the breeding stable, because not being sure invited only accusations of weakness. She'd had the keen foresight and awareness to rarely be wrong. Here, though... She doesn't know anything. She doesn't understand the nature of this place. Everyone came from different worlds, different cultures. Yet despite knowing that for truth, she cannot so easily let go of the instinct to just be certain-]
Set smears himself over every man who insults my honor or earns my enmity.
[And she hated it. She'd told him she hated it, and still it wouldn't change. He'd insisted they were friends despite that, but it was not enough to turn her anger to acceptance. It didn't make it easier for her to swallow her pride and simply forgive seeing him cavorting with her enemies just because he didn't interfere when she lashed out at them.]
Liem betrayed me- [No-] - ridian.
[He was supposed to be free of the hold the black sludge of Kenoma had once had on him, he was supposed to be stronger, he was supposed to be the man she had met in the space between their rebirth on Horos, who had known her and not turned away... and he turned away now not just from her but from the entire faction, all because he was tired?]
Amos would try to kill me if that witch Yima even hinted that she might want to see it done.
[- Had she betrayed her affection for the man on their quest to rescue Vander, when she was known for her hardline stance against the members of Zenith? She had tried to keep their understanding a secret, she had sworn that she would keep the nature of that understanding a secret, for both of their dignities, but-
That leaves Akua, standing here in front of her now. The woman who had helped her murder her doppelganger under the ice, who kept arguing against her shattering the man in this world she hated the most-
So she throws out all of the reasons that she shouldn't care at all what happens to these people. She thinks she could go on even further, she could claim Set was a god, that Akua wielded magic beyond what reality should warrant, that Liem had magic, too, that Amos was stronger than most humans, so they could defend themselves even if her "mistakes" brought threats to their doorsteps, but... She pulls her arms from their tight, defensive posture to spread them wide, almost inviting the disdain... even as her expression twists with pain she doesn't even notice is fairly leaking out of her. Disdain she knows how to handle, being looked down upon and hated, that she understands, so why is she being tormented with offers of affection, of care that take forms she struggles to accept- ?]
Who would think that we were friends, Akua?
[And yet, even though that would be the simplest way to refute the other woman and "win" this argument... Why does she fail to say in simple words that none of them were worthy of her concern? Why does she simply say "no, none of you care"?]
Is that what friendship is?
[She doesn't know. Will someone who makes sense just tell her- ?]
no subject
Set smears himself over every man who insults my honor or earns my enmity.
[And she hated it. She'd told him she hated it, and still it wouldn't change. He'd insisted they were friends despite that, but it was not enough to turn her anger to acceptance. It didn't make it easier for her to swallow her pride and simply forgive seeing him cavorting with her enemies just because he didn't interfere when she lashed out at them.]
Liem betrayed me- [No-] - ridian.
[He was supposed to be free of the hold the black sludge of Kenoma had once had on him, he was supposed to be stronger, he was supposed to be the man she had met in the space between their rebirth on Horos, who had known her and not turned away... and he turned away now not just from her but from the entire faction, all because he was tired?]
Amos would try to kill me if that witch Yima even hinted that she might want to see it done.
[- Had she betrayed her affection for the man on their quest to rescue Vander, when she was known for her hardline stance against the members of Zenith? She had tried to keep their understanding a secret, she had sworn that she would keep the nature of that understanding a secret, for both of their dignities, but-
That leaves Akua, standing here in front of her now. The woman who had helped her murder her doppelganger under the ice, who kept arguing against her shattering the man in this world she hated the most-
So she throws out all of the reasons that she shouldn't care at all what happens to these people. She thinks she could go on even further, she could claim Set was a god, that Akua wielded magic beyond what reality should warrant, that Liem had magic, too, that Amos was stronger than most humans, so they could defend themselves even if her "mistakes" brought threats to their doorsteps, but... She pulls her arms from their tight, defensive posture to spread them wide, almost inviting the disdain... even as her expression twists with pain she doesn't even notice is fairly leaking out of her. Disdain she knows how to handle, being looked down upon and hated, that she understands, so why is she being tormented with offers of affection, of care that take forms she struggles to accept- ?]
Who would think that we were friends, Akua?
[And yet, even though that would be the simplest way to refute the other woman and "win" this argument... Why does she fail to say in simple words that none of them were worthy of her concern? Why does she simply say "no, none of you care"?]
Is that what friendship is?
[She doesn't know. Will someone who makes sense just tell her- ?]