OOM: Everything Ends
Julian tends to think better when he's in a forest, having lived in one for thousands of years. This is why he's outside now, walking slowly through the woods at the back of the bar. He would have just gone home but that wouldn't be right - there's someone he needs to talk to. And after he has...well. That remains to be seen.
He's a Prince of Amber. He's well over nine thousand years old. He's seen a lot in his time - isn't this just one more thing?
Not really.
Random's words are turned over carefully in his head. He wishes he could believe that the little fink was just trying to stir up trouble. But as much as Julian sometimes ignores the obvious, he can't this time. He knows Mary Anne. He knows that this is something she would do.
He doesn't care about the human, this Gorlim. He's never met him. If he wanted to sacrifice himself for a friend, so be it. He doesn't hate Ruin, particularly - he's an Amberite, he understands Tarot. The thing is just being what he is. He understands war, and murder, and intruigue, and betrayal, and deceit and a thousand other things besides. If these things are necessary, or just happen, he has no problem with them. Indulges in them all himself, from time to time.
But he is a Prince of Amber. To some of his siblings, this means nothing. But to one such as Julian, who spends his life defending the kingdom, there are certain things that are still clear. And one of them is this;
If you want to self-destruct, that is your choice. If you want to self-destruct and take your enemies with you, that is acceptable. But to have a friend sacrifice himself, someone you actually care about, and not only allow it but actively participate, while still proclaiming to care?
...well, sometimes that happens.
It doesn't mean he has to associate with the person who's done it.
He thought he knew her. Almost believed her when she said she'd try to stay away from the thing, although that had obviously failed. To know that she would stand by and let two men be raped, one repeatedly, and still fall into bed with Ruin? Well, it changes things.
It had been confusing, thinking of her as a possible immortal. The Queen of Swords. It made the future unclear, as she wouldn't be disappearing in another fifty years or so and leaving him free to go back to Fiona and carry on life as normal. Still, he'd been willing to think things over.
Now though, he just walks. He doesn't feel morose, just cold. There's only so much a man can hear before he washes his hands of the entire mess, and Julian of Amber has reached his limit. Better to reitre gracefully and leave this Shadow, return to what's important.
There'll be a conversation. And then, he doesn't intend to return. Let the tragedy play out far from him. He has more important business elsewhere.