[ What was that old saying? Oh right. Can't dodge forever.
For a brief moment, Sans wondered if maybe the reason Syrlya rubbed him so wrong was because he seemed to... see him, more than everybody else did. Maybe that was just something the Sylvari could do.
Or maybe Sans wasn't as good at dodging as he thought he was. ]
Yeah, okay. [ He says, after a lengthy silence. ] I'll give you that.
[ Another silence, this one shorter but somehow heavier. It was clear Sans was trying to find the words for something, sorting them through his head in a way that was less calculating and more careful. ]
It--[ He starts, then stops, looking briefly frustrated before it melts into tired laughter. How do you talk about consequences when your entire life has been an exercise in futility; pushing against the whims of bored, exhausted children? ] Heh, I suck at this... accountability stuff. It's been a really, really long time since any of it's mattered.
[ Lifetimes. ]
It was a mistake, Syr. Seeing those people down there, knowing I could've stopped it if I got off my ass and did something sooner? [ He chuckles again, dry and creaky, but sincere. ] Guess I put up a good front of not giving a shit, but it tears me up. That's the truth.
[ That he could be describing the sufferers in Yuryeong or the people in his own home -- the countless monsters who were killed over and over again while he watched. Even his own brother. When was the last time he even shed a tear about any of it?
The depth of the truth was so much worse than the surface Syrlya managed to glimpse. Thank god he wasn't a mind reader. It was the first lucky break Sans had all month. ]
no subject
For a brief moment, Sans wondered if maybe the reason Syrlya rubbed him so wrong was because he seemed to... see him, more than everybody else did. Maybe that was just something the Sylvari could do.
Or maybe Sans wasn't as good at dodging as he thought he was. ]
Yeah, okay. [ He says, after a lengthy silence. ] I'll give you that.
[ Another silence, this one shorter but somehow heavier. It was clear Sans was trying to find the words for something, sorting them through his head in a way that was less calculating and more careful. ]
It--[ He starts, then stops, looking briefly frustrated before it melts into tired laughter. How do you talk about consequences when your entire life has been an exercise in futility; pushing against the whims of bored, exhausted children? ] Heh, I suck at this... accountability stuff. It's been a really, really long time since any of it's mattered.
[ Lifetimes. ]
It was a mistake, Syr. Seeing those people down there, knowing I could've stopped it if I got off my ass and did something sooner? [ He chuckles again, dry and creaky, but sincere. ] Guess I put up a good front of not giving a shit, but it tears me up. That's the truth.
[ That he could be describing the sufferers in Yuryeong or the people in his own home -- the countless monsters who were killed over and over again while he watched. Even his own brother. When was the last time he even shed a tear about any of it?
The depth of the truth was so much worse than the surface Syrlya managed to glimpse. Thank god he wasn't a mind reader. It was the first lucky break Sans had all month. ]