S'fine. You probably did me what I deserve anyway.
[ What did you think was going to come of helping her, John? At worst she was baggage and at best she was a human talisman to ward off his own guilt. Do right by one person, and maybe you can forget all the death you've caused.
He knows her choices are limited, that having power and having options aren't the same thing, that even deities can be broken and manipulated. She'd gotten her big bloody life goal when she became Persephone, and by the time she realized the cost, it was already too late. By the time she realized that which she'd spent her life obsessed with was orchestrated by a lying, scheming old bat, there was no return.
John wants to tell her it's not her fault. Not her powers, nor what she became in the dreamland. Children are lied to constantly, anyone can be broken, and there are a million ugly ways to tear away someone's freedom. But those are all fancy ways of saying "it's okay", which he can never, ever insult her by saying.
Which is maybe why he finds it all too easy to talk shit and pick a fight now. He can tell himself it'll create a safe distance between them.
He can feel the silence bearing down on them and he's not sure if this is his second or third cigarette that he lights with trembling hands. ]
But you also fill places with people who don't deserve what I do. That the thanks your worshippers get? Bein' toyed with.
[ Please, child. Get mad. Shut him up. Stop him. Run. Get yourself far as you can from the curse that falls upon those he cares about. ]
no subject
[ What did you think was going to come of helping her, John? At worst she was baggage and at best she was a human talisman to ward off his own guilt. Do right by one person, and maybe you can forget all the death you've caused.
He knows her choices are limited, that having power and having options aren't the same thing, that even deities can be broken and manipulated. She'd gotten her big bloody life goal when she became Persephone, and by the time she realized the cost, it was already too late. By the time she realized that which she'd spent her life obsessed with was orchestrated by a lying, scheming old bat, there was no return.
John wants to tell her it's not her fault. Not her powers, nor what she became in the dreamland. Children are lied to constantly, anyone can be broken, and there are a million ugly ways to tear away someone's freedom. But those are all fancy ways of saying "it's okay", which he can never, ever insult her by saying.
Which is maybe why he finds it all too easy to talk shit and pick a fight now. He can tell himself it'll create a safe distance between them.
He can feel the silence bearing down on them and he's not sure if this is his second or third cigarette that he lights with trembling hands. ]
But you also fill places with people who don't deserve what I do. That the thanks your worshippers get? Bein' toyed with.
[ Please, child. Get mad. Shut him up. Stop him. Run. Get yourself far as you can from the curse that falls upon those he cares about. ]