[Nero pauses again, and his eyes jut away; very much the clearing of his throat and the silence that follows when one is caught stealing cookies from the very hot pan.]
Four.
[It's one of those stories that, when you retell it, it sounds real bad.] Funny thing is, I went to make sure those yahoos wouldn't get their asses bitten off, and then Thor ended up chopping off my goddamn arm.
[Somehow, he manages not to sound angry about it.]
Look, no one is. They're either in on it, or they consent to it, which is what I think is goin' on. I've been in the middle of this. I was raised with people like this. [His voice curbs towards a combination of pain and anger, roiling together quickly. He's tired of being gaslit about this shit. People are disappearing. And it's not as simple as they're movin' away. He doesn't believe that for a second. If he's wrong -- so what? The only thing he does is embarrass himself. He'd rather have people alive than give a shit about his ego.] With enough conviction, they'll toss themselves in a bit of spikes if they think some god'll be happy about it. All I get is that they moved somewhere else. Another settlement. Another land. But whole families, over and over? People going into the forest and not comin' back out? They must think we're stupid, or blind, or that we won't care about the natives. But I tell you, I'm sick of sitting back and watching this happen again.
no subject
Four.
[It's one of those stories that, when you retell it, it sounds real bad.] Funny thing is, I went to make sure those yahoos wouldn't get their asses bitten off, and then Thor ended up chopping off my goddamn arm.
[Somehow, he manages not to sound angry about it.]
Look, no one is. They're either in on it, or they consent to it, which is what I think is goin' on. I've been in the middle of this. I was raised with people like this. [His voice curbs towards a combination of pain and anger, roiling together quickly. He's tired of being gaslit about this shit. People are disappearing. And it's not as simple as they're movin' away. He doesn't believe that for a second. If he's wrong -- so what? The only thing he does is embarrass himself. He'd rather have people alive than give a shit about his ego.] With enough conviction, they'll toss themselves in a bit of spikes if they think some god'll be happy about it. All I get is that they moved somewhere else. Another settlement. Another land. But whole families, over and over? People going into the forest and not comin' back out? They must think we're stupid, or blind, or that we won't care about the natives. But I tell you, I'm sick of sitting back and watching this happen again.