♖ 006; voice.

[elementally]

All this... snow. And the ice. They remind me of home.

[There's a long pause.]

I was trying to think of this place as a mercy, even with all the stuff I heard about, but... [he trails off.]
Maybe it's naive to try and give this place any kind of label. They never seem to fit.

Comments

[Voice]

[bellcricket]

[You would get along nicely with Gin, then.]

Labels rarely do.

[Voice]

[elementally]

[they have matching hair, at the very least]

I know. That doesn't seem to really stop people, though. Even when they know better-- if you're desperate for something, labels are the first thing people grab. Or one of the things, anyway. From... what I've seen, at least.

[Voice]

[bellcricket]

No, what you said is true. That's certainly the way of the world... [Somewhat bitterly spoken.]

[Voice]

[elementally]

Of lots of worlds, maybe.

[immortal_shot]

...Enough tragedy in your voice to make a bard weep. Not very fond memories of home, I take it.

[elementally]

Make a bard weep?

I-- I have plenty of fond memories of home. There was some really bad stuff, too, but... this place being a mercy wasn't just it being a mercy for me.

[immortal_shot]

They must be hard memories indeed if even a place such as this can be considered a mercy.

[elementally]

Only some of them.

I was wrong about it being a mercy, anyway.

[girl_unlocking]

It's not all bad. But ...sometimes it's just... [sigh]

[Pause.]

...do they have ice skating where you're from?

[elementally]

I know what you mean. It's not all bad, but it's... definitely not all good. [His voice drops a bit:] Nothing is, I guess.

[And a pause from him, too. Next he speaks, his voice is back to normal.]
Yeah, there was a rink at Palumpolum.

... why?

[girl_unlocking]

...cause there's one in the park and it would be fun and we should go.

[Okay so it's not a rink proper, but it's frozen over and Anatolians are skating on it.]

[elementally]

Go?

[. . .]

And... skate?

[brb, mild horror. He can barely walk without falling over.]

[yetsleeping]

It's snowy where you come from, then?

[Someone sounds very sober today. She goes quiet for a moment.]

There are good things about it. Then again, there are awful things, too. I guess nothing is simple.

[elementally]

[ Pause. ] No. Uh, they... the ice and snow makes me think of crystals.

[There's a shakey laugh, but it's not a happy sound.] That seems like a lesson the worlds just want to keep reminding us about.

[yetsleeping]

[Wait, what?]

...Crystals?

[elementally]

Yeah,

[hesiiittaattiiiooonnn]

It's not important.

[sonvisage]

I thought of this place as a mercy as well, maybe moreso, when I first arrived. It's more complicated than that, but it's been a blessing for me, compared to what I left behind.

I'm sorry it hasn't been that way for you.

But the snow...

...I find it strangely calming.

[elementally]

Some things were good to leave behind and-- and some things I can't stop missing.
It's fine. I'm... fine.

Do you have snow, where you come from?

[sonvisage]

[Well, you just summed up the way she feels. Perfectly!]

I believe we did. [Well, not from her original home but does that even count?] I didn't pay it much mind, there. Here? Things are different.

[elementally]

[He was going to ask why, and then thinks better of it. It'd be hard for it not to be different.]

Yeah. You're right.