I will try not to breathe, this decision is mine

[withoutasign]

Characters: Signless and you
Location: The plaza, near the fountain
Time: Mid-morning
Style: Whatever works
Status: OPEN LIKE HIS HEART

[Signless wakes to find himself in a new place, soaking wet and surrounded by unfamiliar sights. He sits up, grimacing at the pain in his wrists, and looks down at them, frowning. Burned, the skin darkened to a

Comments

[aim_exorable]

[It's like waking up into a nightmare.]

[Since arriving in Vatheon, Darkleer has done well enough to keep himself busy. It had been one thing back home, in the middle of his escape with Mindfang, to run. There had been physical consequences, pain and death, that he could flee from. What the other highbloods would have done to him would have been little, really.]

[What the mutantblood and his followers did was so much worse. Because you can't run from your thoughts, your memories. Just delay their presence for a while, drown yourself in work and try not to think, try not to get swallowed up in regret although he doesn't know just what he regrets and...]

[Taking a break from Gamzee and Equius only to see that bright red text, that way of typing so similar to another, one he had briefly seen when he was still Executor and not Expatriate...]

[Everything Darkleer had tried to build up in his mind to keep the past at bay comes crashing down his ears. He replies before he realizes what he's doing, before he can stop himself.]

D --> Why
D --> Why you

[withoutasign]

[Whelp. Signless recognizes that color and quirk immediately, and with the recognition comes pain... the remembered physical agony of torture, yes, but also the mental anguish, the uncertainty of not knowing what happened to his friends, to his loved ones.]

[He is slow to reply.]

EXECUTOR DARKLEER.
I SEE THAT YOU ARE HERE TOO.

[aim_exorable]

D --> That
D --> is not
D --> I am not
D -->
D -->
D -->
D --> No longer

[He has to pause to press a hand against his head so hard until it starts to hurt. The conversation is already starting to make him feel ill to the point that he's shaking.]

[withoutasign]

NO?
NO LONGER AN EXECUTOR?

[That is surprising news, and Signless takes a moment to digest it.]

I, FOR MY OWN SELFISH REASONS, AM PLEASED TO HEAR THAT.
I WILL NOT ASK THE REASONS BEHIND THE CHANGE, SHOULD YOU CARE NOT TO GIVE THEM.
BUT IT PLEASES ME NONETHELESS.

[aim_exorable]

[That is slightly better. It is easier to deal with the other if he can just dredge up some of that old coldness and disdain he once kept so easily towards rebels and lowerbloods.]

D --> Yes, well
D --> You would
D --> After all
D --> You are still a troll like any other
D --> If you did not feel some sort of satisfaction from seeing a foe fallen
D --> You would be more abnormal than you already are

[withoutasign]

[Signless expected this. It's unsurprising, and he understands that the other is just retreating into what he knows. That won't keep him from trying, however.]

THAT IS NOT WHY I AM HAPPY, EXECUTOR.

[aim_exorable]

D --> What

[withoutasign]

YOU WORE CHAINS THE SAME AS I.
THE CHAINS OF YOUR LEGACY, OF YOUR OBLIGATIONS, OF YOUR BLOOD.

I PRAY THAT, IN CASTING THEM OFF, YOU HAVE FOUND PEACE.

[aim_exorable]

[Peace. Peace. If Darkleer were only a little more unhinged, maybe he'd burst out laughing. But he still stubbornly clings to old mannerisms and habits and demands of himself, so he just keeps silent.]

[His nails are starting to sink into his skin.]

D --> I have found nothing but misery because of you and your ilk, mutantblood
D --> What peace is there in my exile?
D --> Duty, honor, loyalty- all forsaken for a moment of f00lish weakness
D --> For a wench that will no doubt end up culled despite efforts for otherwise, making a sacrifice even more meaningless
D --> I am worth as much as a broken arrow
D --> And with as much purpose as one
D --> Do you think it a kindness?
D --> To rob a troll of all he is in life?

[Because it has to be his fault. It hurts a little less to think that- or so Darkleer wants so badly to believe.]

[withoutasign]

[They are all so broken, so destroyed by their society. It hurts Signless, reading those angry, bitter blue words... he hates knowing how much pain he has caused the other troll, and as much as he wonders what that moment of weakness he speaks of could be, he does not ask about it.]

I AM SORRY FOR YOUR PAIN, MY FRIEND.
WOULD THAT I COULD, I WOULD TAKE IT FROM YOU.

BUT DO NOT THINK YOURSELF WORTHLESS.
SURELY, SOMEWHERE, THERE IS SOMEONE WHO NEEDS YOU, AND WHO CARES FOR YOUR HAPPINESS.

[aim_exorable]

[...That makes him pause.]

[Darkleer knows himself well, he thinks, well enough to know that he is hardly the most social of trolls, particularly in a... time like is. He once thought his time here would be passed away in the same quiet exile he had hoped to grab back on Alternia.]

[But.]

[The two children... No questions asked, simply accepting them into their hive, their lives and...]

D --> Any who would do such things know little, then
D --> Now cease your prattering
D --> I know how you work
D --> How you use words to string your followers into a delusion
D --> I will not allow it to work on me

[withoutasign]

IF THAT IS YOUR WISH, EXECUTOR, I WILL LEAVE YOU ALONE.
SIMPLY KNOW THAT IF YOU EVER DESIRE TO SPEAK TO ME, I AM HERE TO LISTEN.
AND...

I FORGIVE YOU.

[aim_exorable]

[Those final three words break him.]

[The next response is nothing but garbled and meaningless words- the result of Darkleer throwing his SFC to the side harshly and with more strength than he really means.]

[There's a burst of static and white noise before video accidentally flickers on. No helping it; the SFC's state ensures that it's not in the best of condition, after all. There's even a noticeable crack through the lenses, and the feed keeps skipping.]

[What it does show, however, is a certain blueblood in the dark of his room, slumping as he sits upon the bare floor, hair hanging around his face. He's breathing heavily- maybe wetly- but his expression is completely hidden. He doesn't seem to realize the SFC is on for another moment. When he does, there's just a twitch of his head, barely noticeable, and suddenly he's on his feet. For someone of his size, he's certainly quick, and the screen quickly goes black.]

[withoutasign]

[Poor thing. Poor, poor thing, to be so alone in the world.]

[Signless does not respond to that last message, beyond a slight twitch in his face when he saw the image on the screen. He will be true to his word, and let Darkleer contact him, if he so desires it.]

[For now, though, he looks sadly at the blank screen, his chest hurting to see the other troll's pain, before he cuts the connection from his end as well.]