( semi-open ) though it may hurt today

[gradenine]

WHO: Roland (gradenine) & some of you guys
WHAT: July catchall + event
WHERE: Vaults, then some formalwear shop (get in losers we're going shopping)
WHEN: The rest of July
WARNINGS: Major Ruina and Leviathan spoilers in the first prompt. Death, murder, the usual Project Moon warnings apply, probably. Please refer to his opt-out for more info.




art credit | plotting comment | event log
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Comments

[gradenine]

[ he'd never kill children. he had wanted to have one, after all. but most children in the city would later grow up to be the adults you see in the city now; both of them had been little at one point in their lives, and now look at them.

he's silent for a while, as if mentally trying to come up with an exact number. but alas. ]

...I lost count. Their corpses had formed a hill at first, until it got taller and it ultimately became a mountain in front of me.

[ but really, who keeps tabs on that? other sickos might have, but he's not one of them. and on top of that, vergilius would've been part of that mountain he created, too. ]

It doesn't matter, though. If we can kill so many people without a care just because it is part of our job, then we could be killed by someone else with the same kind of excuses. There's just nothing we can do about it.

[immortalpoet]

[I would've been one of them. But you spared me.]

[Why did you spare me? Because of that foolish dream?]

[Why? Why? Why....?]

I see. Of course. There really is nothing we can do.

[Of course he won't judge. He can't judge. He opens his mouth, his hands shaking.]

You know, I...

[He closes his mouth, something panging in his chest. Should he even admit to something like that...?]

[He doesn't know.]

[gradenine]

[ roland notices his shaking hands, and turns to look at him. his expression is, as always, unreadable. ]

...Go on.

[immortalpoet]

I thought of you when I...

[....]

[He closes his eyes, pained.]

No, never mind. I don't want to...burden you. It's fine.

[gradenine]

[ roland's lips are a thin line. he thinks of digging deeper into it, but ultimately, does it matter?

(yes. it really does. no one else really thought of him from out of a blue, after all - at least, not to his face.) ]

...All right, then.

[ next time, for sure.

as if on cue, the heavy fault doors open with a resounding creak. finally, the both of them can breathe. ]

Come on, let's get outta here.

[immortalpoet]

...

[He feels like a coward. Back then, he had been so open with Roland, despite them only barely knowing each other. Now, it feels a little like walking on eggshells.]

[He glances towards the open door, before he moves to fold the photo carefully and put it in his inside pocket. Close to his heart.]

...What are you going to do with the gloves?

[gradenine]

[ as if to answer vergilius's question, he slips the gloves on one by one. ]

What else? Bring it with me.

[ he stands up and turns his back on vergilius, his voice dark and solemn. no matter how open they are, roland will always seem distant. the less vergilius knows about the real reason why the black silence hadn't killed him that day, the better. ]

Whoever sick fuck chose to play around with our feelings like this... They're going to pay.

[ You are like those who never left
the sad fireside corner of my poor black heart. ]

[immortalpoet]

Of course.

[You're going to carry it wit you a long time.]

Do you think we'll able to find out who did this? [It's sort of a rhetorical question. He knows Roland won't care if they can or can't. He simply will.] Everything seems so far out of reach.

[gradenine]

...Doesn't really matter.

[ he looks up, gloves stashed in his pockets before walking out. ]

Someone needs to take the blame for all this, and it sure ain't gonna be us.

[ they're all victims, at the end of the day. ]