[ the heaviness of something behind that agreement to Abel's offer isn't lost on him. he understands the importance of finding a light in the darkness, even if it's something as fickle and meager as a candle's wick stubbornly glowing through hard times-- he's learned time and time again that enduring is so much easier if you aren't alone.
and it isn't an entirely selfless act, extending a hand to this other man. maybe there is a sense of solidarity in needing someone to reach back, someone to help chase away the feeling of solitude in all this. he and Amos might very well be from different worlds, but... here and now, they're together. simple as that is, maybe that'll make a difference.
so it doesn't bother him at all to hear the leak of something dryly bitter leave his newfound companion; if anything, maybe it's oddly comforting. it means Amos isn't shrinking inwards anymore, and that-- that is a wonderful sign. ]
Do you mind if I ask where you'd been, before all... this? [ a vague gesture to the fire, and to the bodies amassed beyond it, and to the big, wide, foreign landscape of a place neither of them could call familiar. ] Hopefully someplace that fed you a bit better than dry rations...? Ah, that's a sadly low bar to have, isn't it. I guess-- maybe I'm just curious where you called home.
gently holds this thread to my heart
and it isn't an entirely selfless act, extending a hand to this other man. maybe there is a sense of solidarity in needing someone to reach back, someone to help chase away the feeling of solitude in all this. he and Amos might very well be from different worlds, but... here and now, they're together. simple as that is, maybe that'll make a difference.
so it doesn't bother him at all to hear the leak of something dryly bitter leave his newfound companion; if anything, maybe it's oddly comforting. it means Amos isn't shrinking inwards anymore, and that-- that is a wonderful sign. ]
Do you mind if I ask where you'd been, before all... this? [ a vague gesture to the fire, and to the bodies amassed beyond it, and to the big, wide, foreign landscape of a place neither of them could call familiar. ] Hopefully someplace that fed you a bit better than dry rations...? Ah, that's a sadly low bar to have, isn't it. I guess-- maybe I'm just curious where you called home.