[ It is a difficult thing to see this person who has, thus far in their interactions with each other, shown nothing but grounded self-confidence forced into a position where her actions are not wholly her own. Where her own actions make her waver. Miller hears her speak under her breath as he goes to the man’s rescue, and his wrinkles deepen with his frown, turned away and unseen.
However, it is the time to act. He doesn't know for certain if they ever had a chance of saving this woman, now buried with the mutilated body of the snake beneath the ground, but either way, one person is now dead. If they have any chance of preventing another casualty or preventing the loss of their own grip on themselves, this is it.
Miller remembers the weight of the intense amount of radiation in the dead city, how it would make one's body heavy and head light, and the sound and sight of things that one should never fall prey to believing in started flashing and ringing in their eyes and ears. It wasn't until that day that he started to truly believe those things himself. Perhaps it was a shared delusion, a challenge set upon them by God himself. But whatever it was, to fight back, they had to face it head on.
This gives him the same feeling. Anna's life had depended on it.
And now there is Toph.
Maybe it is not truly the same, but she is someone's daughter, too; and when he thinks of this, he suddenly despises this miasma, angry that it could get inside the both of them and start to twist who they are. He is a Spartan. Demonic presences be damned.
Steeling himself and pulling the local up, securing him more firmly to his back, Miller seems to catch a second wind. He pauses to accept the placement of the talisman onto the man and then begins to speed up, turning back in the direction that they came.
His own talisman is tucked into the belt of ammunition hanging from his armor, in contact with the local's dangling arms. ]
Good call. It's okay—mine is right here. But stay close to me.
[ He cannot help the tenuous worry that creeps into his voice. ]
no subject
However, it is the time to act. He doesn't know for certain if they ever had a chance of saving this woman, now buried with the mutilated body of the snake beneath the ground, but either way, one person is now dead. If they have any chance of preventing another casualty or preventing the loss of their own grip on themselves, this is it.
Miller remembers the weight of the intense amount of radiation in the dead city, how it would make one's body heavy and head light, and the sound and sight of things that one should never fall prey to believing in started flashing and ringing in their eyes and ears. It wasn't until that day that he started to truly believe those things himself. Perhaps it was a shared delusion, a challenge set upon them by God himself. But whatever it was, to fight back, they had to face it head on.
This gives him the same feeling. Anna's life had depended on it.
And now there is Toph.
Maybe it is not truly the same, but she is someone's daughter, too; and when he thinks of this, he suddenly despises this miasma, angry that it could get inside the both of them and start to twist who they are. He is a Spartan. Demonic presences be damned.
Steeling himself and pulling the local up, securing him more firmly to his back, Miller seems to catch a second wind. He pauses to accept the placement of the talisman onto the man and then begins to speed up, turning back in the direction that they came.
His own talisman is tucked into the belt of ammunition hanging from his armor, in contact with the local's dangling arms. ]
Good call. It's okay—mine is right here. But stay close to me.
[ He cannot help the tenuous worry that creeps into his voice. ]
We need to make it back to that priest.