[He's just not sure it really matters anymore. There's a sense of finality with everything that's been happening. What sort of finality, he doesn't know yet, but it's leaving him with a sense that all his efforts might not mean shit at the end of the day.]
The timing wasn't right, he'd told Mythra when asked the same. Some time has passed since that encounter, but he's no more informed now than he was then.]
If something should be lacking, I shall write in what is necessary.
The look earns one in return, a morose frown as Duo turns away and goes to lean on the side of the ship, overlooking the still oddly colored water that surrounded their weird little home.]
I don't... really have a reason to go back. Not like you do. The wars are over. We have peace after decades of fighting. We even destroyed our Gundams to make sure no one could use them as a reason to keep fighting. Even if there are still little pockets that disagree with how things are being run now, they're not in any position to throw us back to where we were.
It's not like there isn't anything for me there, but it's not a place I feel a burning need to return to be a hero for either. There's nothing I'm in charge of fixing, nothing that I'm really needed for. I did my part. That's a world that needs healing. Not more soldiers.
In times of war, men live as soldiers; in those of peace, they lay their weapons down and reach for something different.
[Glory isn't all that for which men fight. There are those who fight for the future, but simply paving the way won't do. It falls to the survivors to maintain the future once it's come to pass. In this, everyone has a part.]
Or do you prefer the fleeting nature of this world?
[Duo gives a shrug, slowly tapping fingers on the railing in no real rhythm.]
No, but I didn't really have a set plan back home, either. I've been feeling like I was just sort of drifting for a while now... that there are people way more qualified than I am to take up the new mantle of peace.
[There will always be those who are better suited for a given task. Somnus watches Duo. But a man who doesn't reap the benefits of a peaceful land is hardly obligated to sow it.]
[Duo slapped his hand down on the railing, wheeling around to face Somnus.]
Are you really gonna stand there and judge me?! I'm not like you! I'm not a leader! I'm just some poor sad kid who shoulda died years ago that got wrapped up in a bunch of bullshit!
[The outburst does nothing to deter Somnus, who holds Duo's gaze.]
You are mortal. Clinging to the past and cowering from the future is the prerogative of your kind. In the millennia I have judged man, this has never changed.
[Spoken in a matter-of-fact tone, his words carry no audible animosity. You do you, boy. He shifts one foot toward the street, ready to depart.]
Stay here if it is your will. That choice is yours to make.
[It's muttered under his breath, but likely still loud enough to be heard. He knew that was just Somnus' nature to be like that, and that they were never exactly friends, but it still hurt to be judged so harshly for wanting to make his own decisions without the burden of his past dictating it.]
One of these days someone is gonna knock you off that fucking highhorse and you're gonna know what it feels like to be down here on the ground with the rest of us!
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Have you written in the book?
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[What did he write?
Who knows! Because he's being oddly closed off about it.]
You?
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[This is the problem, he thinks. Communication between townsmen is poor. But he sees a kernel of it, and so he must give it its due credit.]
Did it stay?
[What Duo wrote, that is.]
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It did.
[His turn.]
Are you going to?
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The timing wasn't right, he'd told Mythra when asked the same. Some time has passed since that encounter, but he's no more informed now than he was then.]
If something should be lacking, I shall write in what is necessary.
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It almost seemed like that was the end of the conversation, but suddenly Duo asked:]
Do you want to leave Chroma?
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[Staying in Chroma has always been out of the question. Somnus regards Duo with an almost inquisitive cant of his head. What of him?]
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[That was about the answer he was expecting.
The look earns one in return, a morose frown as Duo turns away and goes to lean on the side of the ship, overlooking the still oddly colored water that surrounded their weird little home.]
I don't... really have a reason to go back. Not like you do. The wars are over. We have peace after decades of fighting. We even destroyed our Gundams to make sure no one could use them as a reason to keep fighting. Even if there are still little pockets that disagree with how things are being run now, they're not in any position to throw us back to where we were.
It's not like there isn't anything for me there, but it's not a place I feel a burning need to return to be a hero for either. There's nothing I'm in charge of fixing, nothing that I'm really needed for. I did my part. That's a world that needs healing. Not more soldiers.
no subject
[Glory isn't all that for which men fight. There are those who fight for the future, but simply paving the way won't do. It falls to the survivors to maintain the future once it's come to pass. In this, everyone has a part.]
Or do you prefer the fleeting nature of this world?
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No, but I didn't really have a set plan back home, either. I've been feeling like I was just sort of drifting for a while now... that there are people way more qualified than I am to take up the new mantle of peace.
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So be it, then.
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[Duo slapped his hand down on the railing, wheeling around to face Somnus.]
Are you really gonna stand there and judge me?! I'm not like you! I'm not a leader! I'm just some poor sad kid who shoulda died years ago that got wrapped up in a bunch of bullshit!
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[The outburst does nothing to deter Somnus, who holds Duo's gaze.]
You are mortal. Clinging to the past and cowering from the future is the prerogative of your kind. In the millennia I have judged man, this has never changed.
[Spoken in a matter-of-fact tone, his words carry no audible animosity. You do you, boy. He shifts one foot toward the street, ready to depart.]
Stay here if it is your will. That choice is yours to make.
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[It's muttered under his breath, but likely still loud enough to be heard. He knew that was just Somnus' nature to be like that, and that they were never exactly friends, but it still hurt to be judged so harshly for wanting to make his own decisions without the burden of his past dictating it.]
One of these days someone is gonna knock you off that fucking highhorse and you're gonna know what it feels like to be down here on the ground with the rest of us!
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Duo's sentiment is one with which Somnus is not unfamiliar. As it's nothing new, he turns away.]
The end is nigh. Tread with care—death has yet to claim you.
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