beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young [OPEN]

[counterattack]

Who: Law & YOU
Where: Aldrip and the surrounding area
What: Settling in, getting up to hijinx, with a timeline anywhere from shortly after the TDM to the end of the month
Warnings: Probably nothin'.

Prompts in the comments, some open and some closed! Please feel free to drop any wildcards in the comments as well if there's something else you'd like to do. Law also has a toplevel at the Day of Devotion log, here!

If you'd like to plot something out, you can reach me on discord at tarocchi#8388, or on plurk at astrologies!

Comments

[counterattack]

[ Maybe the death worm isn't a stretch when he and his mom swore up and down they'd seen jackalopes all the time, something they'd never been able to successfully convince Zephyr of. He'd always just say it was a regular desert hare standing in front of a snaggle of brambles or something, and they'd gotten the silhouette confused. But they knew what they saw.

Law hesitates as he's beckoned, glancing across the short expanse of the pillow at Zephyr while he settles on his arm in a way similar to how he's laying, himself. I'm too old for that sits on the tip of his tongue again, but this time he doesn't really have the conviction to come out and say it. He's too old for what, exactly? Cuddling up to his dad, yeah, maybe. That's kid stuff. But he knows as sure as anything that's just an excuse to cover for a number of things, chief among them his uncertainty over being close to Zephyr again. That, and his uncertainty over being close to anyone, really. Even among his friends, there's always an arms' length between all of them. The simplicity of a friendly hand on the shoulder is asking a lot when one in their ranks can't be touched, and when each and every one of them has a history that makes the bridge between them feel bigger than it is.

That's always been a struggle for Law, though. He wasn't raised to be so hands-off, and essentially being forced into it in Cyslodia made for some miserably cold nights. His teeth sink into the inside of his cheek, not for the first time and probably not for the last, and then he shrugs everything aside to scoot partway onto the pillow, one arm sliding underneath it and the other folded against his body.

His eyes close to offset whatever he's feeling. ]

A few. They were mostly Dahnans my own age. Not... rebels, exactly, but people acting on their own. We had a secret language to pass messages back and forth. It was a small network, which made moving restricted supplies difficult, but it had to be that way. If the operation got too big, then it'd be easier for a rat to slip in and report us all.

[ Brows creased, Law's train of thought starts in one direction and then shifts in another, and there's consternation in his features when he opens his eyes again. ]

I know what it looked like when we met, but I wasn't... I felt like my chance to be a good person was long gone, but I still wanted to give other people the opportunity. It was all I could do.

[crimsoncrow]

<sub>[ No matter how much time passes, Law will never be too old in Zephyr's eyes for something most Dahnans don't get to have. As such, he doesn't hesitate for long to fix the blanket over Law's shoulders and awkwardly tuck him in (due to the angle) nor does he hesitate to reach up and tuck that long, errant section of hair out of his face. Old habits die hard it seems, and this was no different. Rift or no rift, Zephyr was still a father and Law was still his. He had... so, so much to make up for and when words fail, he defaults to action.

Frowning to himself he withdraws his hand after a moment or three and tucks it against his chest. ]</sub>

I still don't fully understand it, but... At the same time I think I do. It's not the choice I would've made myself but that's just who I am.

_{[ And if he's allowed to be selfish? Then he's glad Law made the choice he did. It meant he survived, and it meant they had the opportunity to reunite even if it wasn't perfect. If only. ]}

Growing up means having to make difficult decisions. I had to make my share of them when I was your age too, but they were never for something like you were doing until I was older. You gave those people a chance, and I don't think that makes you a bad person. You were trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

[counterattack]

[ Law's eyes close again, a mixture of emotions passing through his features. For a split second, being fussed with, he wants to cry. Then he's frustrated again. Then he's just... resigned. Too tired, too technically in the wrong to really argue. ]

Yeah, you would've died before you ever did what I did.

[ It's just a fact; he almost says it with a shrug. He already went through the gauntlet of inner conflict about this once, twice, three times already—I'm a disgrace, a traitor to my people, I'm weak, a coward, all that. In the end, he'd dressed it up as best he could to assuage his moral agony, but it just... is what it is. His parents would've rolled over and died before they ever agreed to bend the knee to a Lord, and yet somehow, they raised someone like him, who prioritized his own survival. ]

I don't know if I was thinking that hard about it. I guess "do this or die" is technically a choice, but it didn't really feel like one at the time. I tried not to make the Dahnans' suffering any worse. It was different when I saw you. That was personal.