How lightly such weight settles on small shoulders. [ And how strange, that such weight only pulls heavier as those shoulders broaden and grow strong in manhood. ] I felt much the same of the clergy, in my own boyhood.
[ This dawn, and every other, given in service to his Lord. Though Godfrey's own devotion to his calling felt a more intimate one than the childhood fervor Zevlor details, and though his own did not first involve soldiery and warfare, he knows what it is to be a child reaching to heights you cannot possibly understand - and to grasp on to it, once you are tall enough to brush your fingers against its possibility. ]
Forgive me if my saying so is impetuous, for my own oath is yet young. I think that to answer a call to protect is no small thing, and ought not be diminished by betrayal. Your continued dedication ought not be tarnished by machinations which none could have understood.
( same man, take ur time. i love when people match my freak (getting unpredictably existential and deep on tfln) )
The weight of a lifelong oath is never felt in the beginning, but it grows with the years, ofttimes faster than the bearer of it.
I made my choice when I was thirteen, half out of hunger for justice for my kin, half out of defiance for those who would deny them. Elturel was not the cruellest place to be a tiefling before it's fall, but it wasn't the kindest, either.
You speak of...many layers of betrayal, some of which I haven't begun to fully comprehend yet. What the Hellriders were. What the city became. What we were bound to, without our consent, and then the blame laid upon my kin's shoulders. Maybe some day the full truth will be more widely known, but until then we can waste no energy on rage. We must endure.
((yeah, I live for elaborate existential IC conversations so like...bring it on, any time. also hi thanks again for the icons))
I suppose that is so, though I cannot imagine that a boy of thirteen could truly understand such an undertaking.
I respect greatly your dedication to protecting your folk, and your enduring devotion to your city. I know that it must be a complicated situation, but it feels as though you do not see what I see in it.
( LMAO you caught me..dang. my long-running scheme of making icons for characters i wanna play with, exposed )
No, you're correct. And perhaps that itself is a condemnation of the Hellriders and the Order, an ill sign that more people should have seen before the system broke down and dragged us with it. I was not the youngest Hellrider recruit, though I was one of the youngest to swear by the Creed Resolute in my day.
[There's a brief burning in the hollow space in his chest. A shame that the world has become so twisted that a kind compliment should provoke such rage and shame. Zevlor swallows it down, accepting the words in the spirit in which they were given. None of this is the other man's fault, after all. It's for the best, maybe, that they're having this conversation in writing rather than face to face, where Zevlor's expression can't be hidden.]
No. Not to the City. Elturel broke faith with me. I owe no fealty to its new masters. But to the people, not just my kin but everyone ever tied to the Creed or to the city's fall, I am still loyal.
Even the ones who stood at the gates baying for our blood as we left. If they call for the Hellriders, I for one will answer. But I hope it will never come to that. It's enough to shepherd a handful of kin across the countryside alone.
((I won't spread it around, lol! But do feel free to tag me in memes or tap me for PSLs if you want!))
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bakerstreet2024-08-09 12:10 am
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[ This dawn, and every other, given in service to his Lord. Though Godfrey's own devotion to his calling felt a more intimate one than the childhood fervor Zevlor details, and though his own did not first involve soldiery and warfare, he knows what it is to be a child reaching to heights you cannot possibly understand - and to grasp on to it, once you are tall enough to brush your fingers against its possibility. ]
Forgive me if my saying so is impetuous, for my own oath is yet young. I think that to answer a call to protect is no small thing, and ought not be diminished by betrayal. Your continued dedication ought not be tarnished by machinations which none could have understood.
( same man, take ur time. i love when people match my freak (getting unpredictably existential and deep on tfln) )
no subject
I made my choice when I was thirteen, half out of hunger for justice for my kin, half out of defiance for those who would deny them. Elturel was not the cruellest place to be a tiefling before it's fall, but it wasn't the kindest, either.
You speak of...many layers of betrayal, some of which I haven't begun to fully comprehend yet. What the Hellriders were. What the city became. What we were bound to, without our consent, and then the blame laid upon my kin's shoulders. Maybe some day the full truth will be more widely known, but until then we can waste no energy on rage. We must endure.
((yeah, I live for elaborate existential IC conversations so like...bring it on, any time. also hi thanks again for the icons))
no subject
I respect greatly your dedication to protecting your folk, and your enduring devotion to your city. I know that it must be a complicated situation, but it feels as though you do not see what I see in it.
( LMAO you caught me..dang. my long-running scheme of making icons for characters i wanna play with, exposed )
no subject
[There's a brief burning in the hollow space in his chest. A shame that the world has become so twisted that a kind compliment should provoke such rage and shame. Zevlor swallows it down, accepting the words in the spirit in which they were given. None of this is the other man's fault, after all. It's for the best, maybe, that they're having this conversation in writing rather than face to face, where Zevlor's expression can't be hidden.]
No. Not to the City. Elturel broke faith with me. I owe no fealty to its new masters. But to the people, not just my kin but everyone ever tied to the Creed or to the city's fall, I am still loyal.
Even the ones who stood at the gates baying for our blood as we left. If they call for the Hellriders, I for one will answer. But I hope it will never come to that. It's enough to shepherd a handful of kin across the countryside alone.
((I won't spread it around, lol! But do feel free to tag me in memes or tap me for PSLs if you want!))
no subject