log | closed

[impossibly]

who River (impossibly) and Isley (swordofthenorth).
when some time after Isley's tears down Headquarters. following this thread.
where h-Headquarters.
format prose.
warnings will edit if any, but I doubt it.
summary Just two perfectly ordinary people taking a stroll and talking about their worlds. Nothing to see here, folks!

Comments

[swordofthenorth]

His golden eyes regarded the dust dispassionately; it was traces of what it once had been, but no more than that, scattered into nothingness at the brush of a breeze. There was no hope for it of being whole now that it was destroyed.

The chalky lines were clapped off his hands before he turned his reflective gaze upon River again. Had he upset her? For the briefest of moments she seemed discontent, almost mournful for the rock.

Such a fragile thing, this girl... And yet he was not repulsed by her. Her fragility was not like that of the stone. He could crush her if he choosed to do so, but she would remain in the hearts she had touched, and in the memories of those that cared for her.

She would remain with him.

A rock was just a rock. Faceless.

"There is only one thing that I believe is truly worth owning, River...and that one thing is myself." He started toward her, his steps barely a whisper upon the upheaval of earth at their feet. And once before her, his forefinger and thumb found her chin, gently tilting it upward, turning her eyes toward him. "The world can be taken away from me, but I will always have myself. As long as I live...I am all that is worth owning."

Could she say the same? Or would she fight his reasoning?

this is so so late, I'm sorry

[impossibly]

Those cool fingers were butterfly light, even as they turned her, but River could not help but think of the rock again as he touched her chin, her eyes meeting his unearthly ones.

It was not that she disagreed. One cluster of atoms wasn't dissimilar to another: reality was in the mind, impossibly large, lines drawn from hands and eyes to books and screens and back again, Yggdrasil sprouting from the crown, dropping Newton's apple, or was it a plum? The value of physical objects was arbitrary.

Yet. River is not sure she owns all of herself, if she owns any. A glance away, to the side, reacting to something too bright. Pupils dilating.

"What about other people?"

She doesn't mean for her, of course she doesn't. But from her experience people tended to spend a lot of time trying to own other people. (Everyone has a match, a mate, a Doppler.)

Likewise...so don't worry about it! You don't mind backlogging still, right~?

[swordofthenorth]

"People can be owned in name alone, River." His fingers found their way from her chin to her cheek, brushing over youthful flesh with an aberrant softness. His fingertips trailed into the hair at her temple, pushing it carefully behind her ear. "For example...if I wanted you, there is nothing that you could do to prevent me from taking you. That being said, if I did that, it would not mean that I had any real claim to you, that I owned you in any way. You alone decide that. Only you have that power...that right."

So long as her will remained intact.

"Do you understand?" His hand, tracing the outer shell of her ear, dropped back to his side, beneath the folds of his cloak once more, but he remained close, staring down at her with piercing eyes.

Fascinating girl, one of the rare lights in this dismal place to attract his attention...and on some level he respected her for standing before him and not trembling. On some level it endeared her to him even more.

"You have something that no one can ever take from you, no matter what they do to you...unless you allow for it to be taken away. That is the difference between people and objects...and why so many go to great lengths to own others. Everyone seems to want...what they can never have."