[She says go, and the last bit of him that hoped she might give up on this is dashed. They can't go back to lying now. He can't go back to pretending this isn't what's happening, because it's not even about Lup now. It's about the realizations he has to face. It's about the lies he's still telling himself, about where she is now. He draws the Umbra Staff just a little tighter. He wants to believe. He wants to.]
Well, it... everything keeps going tits-up for a while. Hunger's getting stronger, we're getting wrecked, the usual. It sucks. Anyway, we hit this world where like... it's all about making magical items, basically? And uh, you and Barry got another idea.
[He needs to phrase this like it happened. No emotional response, none of his opinions. Keep it clear. He'll... talk about the staff later.]
You thought, uhm... you thought that if we used the magic from that place to split the Light up, the Hunger wouldn't be able to find it. So if we hid it in these items, before the Hunger found us, it never would. We could just hide these massively powerful whatevers and people could use 'em and fuck themselves up, uh, 'cause Barry said they'd have to be used, but it'd be whatever because, you know, the whole thing at least wouldn't have been taken over by the tentacle death zone. Like, what could we do that's worse than the Hunger, right? But uh, we put it to a vote 'cause...
[He feels the anger already pulsing behind his chest, and bats it down. Talk. Just talk. She hasn't done it yet, here. She hasn't done it yet, where they are now. He grits her name through his teeth, unable to hold himself without judgement for just a moment.]
... Lucretia didn't want to. She said she could, uh, put a barrier around, keep the Hunger out, but she lost the vote because it was a stupid idea. So it took a couple more cycles, and uh, we did it. Got the Light on like, day two. Split it up all nice into these relics and hid these things all over the place, and... it worked. Hunger didn't show. And the world was like, almost the same as home. Felt like it could be, if we could let it. But that sort of assumes that our lives aren't a constant dick show, so.
[So here comes the fuckening, basically. He sucks in one more breath.]
Barry wasn't fucking around when he said the relics would want to be used. Took a little under a year but... started a war. Massive one that took over the whole planet. We'd... I made a stone that lets you transmute anything and a fuckin' kid found it. Turned her entire town into candy. Three seconds. Thousands dead.
[Can he even tell her about hers? He... he has to, doesn't he? He's not looking at her, but they're still touching, just barely, at the knees.]
You... you thought it was gonna be easier to just, make something that was just destruction, no, no messy shit, no unexpected garbage. Just fire. It leveled whole towns, just, burned up the entire thing into a circle of black glass. And it... we all tried to get over it, to not just, not care, but it was messing you up. We couldn't stop it, 'cause if we did the Hunger would find us, but you...
[His voice is shaking. God, why can't he make this stop. His hands are curled into fists, punched into the bedding, body taut with tension.]
You left, Lup. You just disappeared, left a note that said "back soon" on the kitchen table. You didn't tell anyone where you were going and I never fucking saw you again.
no subject
Well, it... everything keeps going tits-up for a while. Hunger's getting stronger, we're getting wrecked, the usual. It sucks. Anyway, we hit this world where like... it's all about making magical items, basically? And uh, you and Barry got another idea.
[He needs to phrase this like it happened. No emotional response, none of his opinions. Keep it clear. He'll... talk about the staff later.]
You thought, uhm... you thought that if we used the magic from that place to split the Light up, the Hunger wouldn't be able to find it. So if we hid it in these items, before the Hunger found us, it never would. We could just hide these massively powerful whatevers and people could use 'em and fuck themselves up, uh, 'cause Barry said they'd have to be used, but it'd be whatever because, you know, the whole thing at least wouldn't have been taken over by the tentacle death zone. Like, what could we do that's worse than the Hunger, right? But uh, we put it to a vote 'cause...
[He feels the anger already pulsing behind his chest, and bats it down. Talk. Just talk. She hasn't done it yet, here. She hasn't done it yet, where they are now. He grits her name through his teeth, unable to hold himself without judgement for just a moment.]
... Lucretia didn't want to. She said she could, uh, put a barrier around, keep the Hunger out, but she lost the vote because it was a stupid idea. So it took a couple more cycles, and uh, we did it. Got the Light on like, day two. Split it up all nice into these relics and hid these things all over the place, and... it worked. Hunger didn't show. And the world was like, almost the same as home. Felt like it could be, if we could let it. But that sort of assumes that our lives aren't a constant dick show, so.
[So here comes the fuckening, basically. He sucks in one more breath.]
Barry wasn't fucking around when he said the relics would want to be used. Took a little under a year but... started a war. Massive one that took over the whole planet. We'd... I made a stone that lets you transmute anything and a fuckin' kid found it. Turned her entire town into candy. Three seconds. Thousands dead.
[Can he even tell her about hers? He... he has to, doesn't he? He's not looking at her, but they're still touching, just barely, at the knees.]
You... you thought it was gonna be easier to just, make something that was just destruction, no, no messy shit, no unexpected garbage. Just fire. It leveled whole towns, just, burned up the entire thing into a circle of black glass. And it... we all tried to get over it, to not just, not care, but it was messing you up. We couldn't stop it, 'cause if we did the Hunger would find us, but you...
[His voice is shaking. God, why can't he make this stop. His hands are curled into fists, punched into the bedding, body taut with tension.]
You left, Lup. You just disappeared, left a note that said "back soon" on the kitchen table. You didn't tell anyone where you were going and I never fucking saw you again.