(no subject)
There was a charm to walking. You could know a place by walking it. You could know a place through the soles1 of your boots. Ned's shoes had funny thick soles, which lead him to be barefoot, on that particular day, his eyes closed almost to slits, cigarette in hand. Learning the place.
He didn't have a beat, persay, but he walked the island anyway. He didn't have his shilling anymore (he'd given it to Rogue, and hadn't sen fit to take it back, just yet) but he still felt like a Copper, in his bones. You could take the man out of the Night Watch, but you weren't ever entirely going to take the Night Watch out of the man.
Ned wandered off the path and that was when he smelt it. The ground beneath his feet was gravel and soft dirt. He flexed his toes and didn't open his eyes, just inhaling the heavy scent of it. He'd smelled it before. To him, it smelt like waiting for a fight to start, crouching in the dark and waiting, waiting, waiting for the moment of your life.
It smelt like something that was very, very beautiful, for a moment, just before the end. Something that had shone.
Ned Coates opened his eyes, and stared.
On Tabula Rasa, in November, the lilac was blooming, waving gently in the breeze.
1 , cardboard.
He didn't have a beat, persay, but he walked the island anyway. He didn't have his shilling anymore (he'd given it to Rogue, and hadn't sen fit to take it back, just yet) but he still felt like a Copper, in his bones. You could take the man out of the Night Watch, but you weren't ever entirely going to take the Night Watch out of the man.
Ned wandered off the path and that was when he smelt it. The ground beneath his feet was gravel and soft dirt. He flexed his toes and didn't open his eyes, just inhaling the heavy scent of it. He'd smelled it before. To him, it smelt like waiting for a fight to start, crouching in the dark and waiting, waiting, waiting for the moment of your life.
It smelt like something that was very, very beautiful, for a moment, just before the end. Something that had shone.
Ned Coates opened his eyes, and stared.
On Tabula Rasa, in November, the lilac was blooming, waving gently in the breeze.
1 , cardboard.