I'm buzzed. Not shitfaced, just a little tipsy. Something to take the edge off. Lip drooping, eyes lidded. My mind goes in and out of focus as I try to keep my wandering thoughts straight. Of course they would rather not obey me. Drunken stupor... Damaris... the Regime GONE. Isorath, Reichenbach, Aislinn. Isorath I'd never been close to, but Reich and Aislinn.... my heart beats painfully in my chest, complaining at the anguish I've put it through. 'Why is everyone leaving me? Victorina and Weir.. now Reich and Aislinn. Is it me?'
Do I count for nothing? Damaris lays panting lightly over by a stone arch. I nod absentmindedly. 'I would be nowhere without you.' Though the thoughts are all mangled, we both know how sincere I am. Damaris has long become my glue to keep all my marbles in the right bag. Though she has a point, I feel through our bond her sympathy... not just sympathy, but empathy. She's also been attached to the friends and family we've had.
"You know I was more or less convinced to step down from being the Warden." I voice my thoughts out loud, and now it is Damaris's turn to nod. "But now... it's like I'm the only one left." That wasn't true and we both knew it. There were the Champions that remained: Seree, Healing; Lyra, Community; Araxes, Wisdom. But for better or worse I'd never really socialized with any of them except Araxes. 'That was a long time ago, too.'
New management would have to come in. Maybe they'll keep us around, maybe they'll give us the boot. Certainly I hope to work things out better than with the last group. A grimace crosses my face. I wish I could have parted with all of them on better terms, but fate simply a different outcome in mind. I sigh and lean up against the opposite wall of the arch Damaris has claimed. "What a mess."
Rosti thoughts | "Rosti speech" | Damaris mindspeak
Rostislav
more than a drunken fool
