who: helena and others! what: variety catchall for the month. when: end of july/ all of august. where: across the boat. warnings: likely discussions of death.
Fine. Fine. Helena's retreated into herself. Good fucking job, Dimitri, you brute, you beast, you damned boar, bludgeoning your way through every argument with your muscle and your Crest. It's so easy to get angry, isn't it, when you're the strongest person in the room? So easy to wield that strength as a blunt instrument, to launch directly to the full assault without stopping for diplomacy, to charge with teeth and tusks unprovoked. Claim you're capable of reason and let the lie curdle on your back teeth. You coward. You monster. You fucking animal.
... what's worse, he still doesn't think he's wrong.
His shoulders sag. His voice is soft. "You speak as though I mean to enforce this singlehandedly. -- The same, I hope, as would apply to me. Or to anyone else who began to prey on our fellow passengers. If she attacks again, she will die as many times as it takes for her to understand that we won't tolerate an active killer in our midst."
"Dying once has reaffirmed to her that she's not untouchable. Not the way they were. Are."
His voice is quieter. He's still talking to her. She did the right thing, cutting herself off when she did - she's stopped things from going out of control, from ruining it beyond all salvaging. She needs to be contained. Small. Quiet. Careful, as a lady must be. No matter the rage in her heart, no matter what it feels like, like someone carefully carving out the nerves in her arm and setting them all alight -
Breathe. Breathe.
"...Why did you come to tell me all this? You could have gone to seek her out and I would have been none the wiser."
And there a hint of it is. Why bring this to her, and make it hers to hold?
"To make sure what I'd felt was truly there, and not a paranoid imagining of stress and delirium. And because if you hadn't known of her presence, I would have been remiss not to warn you."
A twinge of irritation -- swiftly crushed. The last thing Dimitri needs is to make this worse again.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
... what's worse, he still doesn't think he's wrong.
His shoulders sag. His voice is soft. "You speak as though I mean to enforce this singlehandedly. -- The same, I hope, as would apply to me. Or to anyone else who began to prey on our fellow passengers. If she attacks again, she will die as many times as it takes for her to understand that we won't tolerate an active killer in our midst."
no subject
His voice is quieter. He's still talking to her. She did the right thing, cutting herself off when she did - she's stopped things from going out of control, from ruining it beyond all salvaging. She needs to be contained. Small. Quiet. Careful, as a lady must be. No matter the rage in her heart, no matter what it feels like, like someone carefully carving out the nerves in her arm and setting them all alight -
Breathe. Breathe.
"...Why did you come to tell me all this? You could have gone to seek her out and I would have been none the wiser."
And there a hint of it is. Why bring this to her, and make it hers to hold?
no subject
A twinge of irritation -- swiftly crushed. The last thing Dimitri needs is to make this worse again.