more ways to break.

[dovahfahdon]

[ Two men settle around a table, low and wooden, rough along the edges. Alain Ebon has made it months ago, but the other man across from him likely doesn't know that.

There's a beat, a moment. Alain thinks to offer. ]

Is there anything you'd like to eat?

Comments

[putrefaction]

[It isn't the setting that unnerves him. The antiquated, rustic look has a charm Nigel can appreciate, and simplicity is easier on his damaged eye than elegance.

It is the man seated across the way. He does not come as simple.

Yet Nigel somehow remains impassive, despite the fire along his nerves.]

No, I'm fine. Thank you.

[dovahfahdon]

[ The Dragonborn gives a breath of laughter, then leans back in his chair, wood creaking. ]

You're very accommodating.

[ ...It's so different from a dragon he knows. ]

[putrefaction]

[Any other, Nigel might have laughed along. He might have thrown himself fully into this scenario to see where it went.

Here:]

Some might disagree with your assessment.

[But he is attempting to be polite. Detached.]

[dovahfahdon]

[ Sorry to say, the Dragonborn doesn't detach with kin. And you are that, Nigel, despite everything.

The man gets up to walk closer, steps silent despite his larger form.

And a hand drops into Nigel's hair as Alain smiles. ]

Well, we are always outcasts, are we not?

[putrefaction]

[...If his heart skipped several beats and died in a tragic crash at the touch, Nigel does not show it. Instead, he slips his wide eyes to rest on the wooden table.]

Society's loss, I suppose.

[--is the murmur.]

[dovahfahdon]

[ His hand slips from dark hair. ]

Ah, but it allows for closer bonds between.

[putrefaction]

[Okay, okay. No contact is good. Nigel exhales slowly.]

Funny how that works. Is this something...your companion would agree with?

[That stalker dragon Nigel still cannot form opinions on.]

[dovahfahdon]

[ Alain looks at Nigel carefully. ]

...Nehnahlmey and I would have bonded no matter what. We are more than Grah-Zeymahzin, fron and vahzah sos.

[ Kin and true blood, but Alain will not sound more like a dragon and translate. ]

...Closer than any other bonds.

[putrefaction]

[Of those words, Nigel understands two, for the dragon has used them once in his presence. The rest he can get the gist.

Thus, pain flashes momentarily behind his eyes before it fades to calm.]

...That is good.

[dovahfahdon]

[ The Dragonborn is observant, it has never been said otherwise.

Still, Alain passes over the reaction, continuing as casually as he had been. ]

Is it not the same with you and yours?

[putrefaction]

["You and yours?" Nigel could fall to sardonics and ask exactly who counts as his.

He chuckles uneasily instead.]

I wouldn't say we would have bonded no matter what. It was just my luck Alan happened to not find me irritating.

[dovahfahdon]

Do you really think he views it as such?

[putrefaction]

[A bitter smile lingers on his lips.]

I wonder. It's less that I distrust his views and more that I can't accept mine.

[dovahfahdon]

Such a fool. Life is too brief for you to mangle true bonds by the excuse of reasoning.

[putrefaction]

Indeed.

[In all sense. Nigel would rather not explore the details.]

You have a nice home.

[dovahfahdon]

I have a wretched home made into something others enjoy by my own hands. I prefer caves, fields, and snow more than this, and I dislike cold.

[ To make his point. ]

I'm not so kind as to allow the subject change.

[putrefaction]

[The tiniest of frowns.]

I'm surprised you built it, then.

[As for the point:]

Yes, I am a fool. There was no denying it.

[dovahfahdon]

I built it because my mother believed my life was only made for servitude and gentle labor. She wished me to be a body-servant to a high ranked official; when I was inducted into the house guard, she was nearly beside herself for the fact of the training. This was something I could do with my own hands, something that I could do, with my own will.

[ Alain gives a trade. He speaks truths he has never told another soul, Man, Mer, or Dov. ]

It was not the fact of foolishness that I wished you to think on.

[putrefaction]

[The man passes as an existence beyond Nigel's paygrade, and he speaks of a truth Nigel can empathize with. It is a trade--Nigel understands that much--but where he might fall to abridgement, he opts otherwise.

Blue-green eyes settle on the grain in the wood.]

Alan loves me. I cannot live without him. We exist as a bond, yes, but what else can I do but mangle it? Subject that precious man to my stagnation? Perhaps he will finally understand and leave me.

[Before Nigel ruins him.]

[dovahfahdon]

[ Alain will not call Nigel a fool again. The child is more willing to speak, and Alain forgives him on that.

Instead, the man reaches out again, to press his palm to the side of the other's head. ]

He will never leave you. Niall and I can both see and speak for that. Your existence does not pain him, and you, Nigel, are nothing close to the stagnation you claim to hold.

[ Let the Dragonborn tell you of stagnation, of what he has seen. Let him describe to you mages caught in theories, Nords in prejudices, and kings in times past. Let him tell you further of his family, and that death. ]

You love Alan, and he cannot live without you.

[putrefaction]

[Nigel cannot answer Alain. Not with the hand pressed against his hair. Instead, he stares at the blurs and contemplates the meaning. He wonders at what exactly he claims to hold.

If Alain was Alan, Nigel might cry. As Alain is Alain, Nigel allows silence to overrun him, to choke down the urge and give rise to a state of apathy.]

[dovahfahdon]

[ This child. ]

...Don't mourn what you have not lost.

[putrefaction]

It's what I do best.

[Though he's sure this is becoming annoying.]

But I'm not so rude as to reject your advice when under your roof.

[dovahfahdon]

[ The Dragonborn coughs a sound of amusement, not unfamiliar, and removes his hand. ]

Then we'll go outside to continue speaking, if that's your reasoning.

[putrefaction]

[Nigel cannot help the small smile.]

How unfair.