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

[dovahfahdon]

[ Frown. Frown frown frown. Again, the Dragonborn disapproves of the answer heard. ]

Alan would be upset at that? I cannot accept him as a separate self if he's so disregarding to his partner's pain.

[ No comment, it's not conscious, SHUT UP. ]

[putrefaction]

[Silence. Then:]

I don't think he disregards my pain. I think my pain affects him.

[dovahfahdon]

[ This is simpler. ]

If it affects him, then he would likely want to help you--support you.

[ Alain eyes Nigel. It's a curiosity but one now more obvious. What Alain stated is likely unwanted.

But why? ]

[putrefaction]

[An unspoken question hovers between them, one Nigel is torn on answering.]

I cannot forget.

[A beat passes.]

Every day, every minute, every moment of my waking life-- I cannot escape remembering. It has been that way since my birth.

[Living as a prisoner of memory.]

You heal through forgetting, someone once told me. You learn to forgive by letting go. There is neither help nor support for someone who lacks the capacity. Alan is wasting his time.

[dovahfahdon]

You are a fool twice over, child.

[ Said gently, despite this. ]

[putrefaction]

[Child? What? Looks sad.]

Likely.

[dovahfahdon]

You may forgive by forgetting.

[ Alain is quiet. ]

But you gain strength from recall. From remembering those hardest times and the awful circumstances. From being held to your own foolishness and made to bear your deepest loss. You may not want it, but it's a part of you.

[ His eyes flicker up, to view the other. ]

And he knows that as well.

[putrefaction]

[There is silence for a beat.]

Alain.

[Green eyes meet the other's pale.]

I just don't want to burden Alan. He deserves better than what I can offer.

[dovahfahdon]

As I've said--

[ As he's repeated. ]

You cannot decide that for him. Ask him, Nigel--his wants.

[putrefaction]

[As he's echoed.

Nigel looks away, partly ashamed.]

...Yeah.

[He will. When they are alone, he will ask Alan.]

[dovahfahdon]

As for deserving.

[ The Dragonborn has the grace to look away. ]

He may think the same of you.

[ That Nigel deserves better than what Alan offers him. ]

We all have our weight to drag behind us. It's something to realize.