He takes a similar seat on fallen tree, no doubt from the storm, and the white undershirt clings to him and makes it clear she has nothing to fear from him physically at least.
"I would say 'everything' but I am hardly unbiased." He lets his gaze unfocus (the one she can see, anyway; there's a focus on her that can't be pinpointed, coming from somewhere, that will not veer) before he starts speaking, and the words themselves hold something terrible and otherworldly.
"Fear is a terribly personal thing. Even the most basic fear you feel can be focused on one direction or another. Will this kill me? Will this cripple me? Infect me? Will this destroy everything I love? Do I know the answers to those questions?
"Do I want to? Is the enormity of them too much to handle, an endless wasteland unknown... or is every one another shovel of dirt burying you alive? Is it something physical and tangible to fear or something ephemeral and ungrabbable, something you can't fight? Is it something you can't even know or understand, something you can't see, something you think you see but... what if you're wrong?"
He turns to look at her, and the questions soon hold points, not yet stabbing in but their tips like a physical thing against her skin.
"I could ask you questions and you would pour your truths out, heave them like vomit until you were shaking and your gums were bleeding from the force of it on you. That's something any number of people fear. Others fear that kind of power turned on their friends. Their enemies. They fear what truths someone might share: old hatreds, old pains, secrets. To be Seen is horrifying to so many. To see others can destroy relationships."
He looks away from her.
"And even more dangerous is the urge to Know. The voracious, ever-hungry beast that lives behind your ribs and demands more, whispers to you of all you could do and all you could accomplish if only you Knew. All the people you could save or discoveries you could make.
"And all the people who will die or the knowledge that will be lost if you don't."
The pressure around them releases in a blink, a literal one of more eyes than she can see, as he shakes off some of... all of that.
"My apologies. I... didn't mean to answer you quite so, er, intensely."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-07-12 09:22 pm (UTC)"I would say 'everything' but I am hardly unbiased." He lets his gaze unfocus (the one she can see, anyway; there's a focus on her that can't be pinpointed, coming from somewhere, that will not veer) before he starts speaking, and the words themselves hold something terrible and otherworldly.
"Fear is a terribly personal thing. Even the most basic fear you feel can be focused on one direction or another. Will this kill me? Will this cripple me? Infect me? Will this destroy everything I love? Do I know the answers to those questions?
"Do I want to? Is the enormity of them too much to handle, an endless wasteland unknown... or is every one another shovel of dirt burying you alive? Is it something physical and tangible to fear or something ephemeral and ungrabbable, something you can't fight? Is it something you can't even know or understand, something you can't see, something you think you see but... what if you're wrong?"
He turns to look at her, and the questions soon hold points, not yet stabbing in but their tips like a physical thing against her skin.
"I could ask you questions and you would pour your truths out, heave them like vomit until you were shaking and your gums were bleeding from the force of it on you. That's something any number of people fear. Others fear that kind of power turned on their friends. Their enemies. They fear what truths someone might share: old hatreds, old pains, secrets. To be Seen is horrifying to so many. To see others can destroy relationships."
He looks away from her.
"And even more dangerous is the urge to Know. The voracious, ever-hungry beast that lives behind your ribs and demands more, whispers to you of all you could do and all you could accomplish if only you Knew. All the people you could save or discoveries you could make.
"And all the people who will die or the knowledge that will be lost if you don't."
The pressure around them releases in a blink, a literal one of more eyes than she can see, as he shakes off some of... all of that.
"My apologies. I... didn't mean to answer you quite so, er, intensely."