Ravel followed, although there was a noticeable hesitation as they approached the doors leading outside the Hotel.
Somehow, when he'd agreed to this walk, he hadn't actually envisioned them going outside.
And maybe that had been foolish of him. There was only so much space in the Hotel, and anything they said would be subject to prying ears. And then, of course, there were the wards. The slightest bit of panic on his part would set them jingling as they presumably had last time, when he'd had the panic attack with Valdis. Of course she would want to avoid that if they were really going to have this talk.
So he followed, though not without one last spike of anxiety before they were free of the walls and the wards and the understanding that no violence was to occur. ...that couldn't be what all this was about, could it? The freedom to do violence? Raine was a healer. Not that he couldn't defend himself anyway, should it come to that, but if anyone were to try to take revenge for Anton it would have to be like this, wouldn't it? She was a healer, but Ravel didn't know her well enough to know if she'd try something like that or not.
It was only after he'd started silently counting the ways he could incapacitate her, should she try some magic he wouldn't recognize, that Erskine took a deep breath and realized he might be just a touch paranoid. This was why he needed Hopeless, or Anton. Someone to knock some sense into him, because he honestly wasn't sure if it was paranoia or not (did it count as paranoia if he deserved it?). Only Hopeless wasn't an option anymore.
He let out a sharp breath at her statement, turning his face away. You killed two of your brothers.
And even if I could manage to forget it, no one will ever let me.
Abruptly he pulled his right hand from his pocket and reached up, twisting his hand in a brief rotation in mid-air. The air immediately around both himself and Raine shimmered in a sphere, creating a bubble around them. They could still breathe, still see, but the density of the air around them shifted to make sound harder to pass through. If they were really going to have this talk, they might as well at least do it in relative privacy.
Not that he wanted to be having this talk at all.
"Does it matter?" he asked softly, pointedly looking anywhere but at Raine. "Do you care about the politics, or do you just want to know how much of a monster I am? If I'm going to kill anyone else?"
no subject
Somehow, when he'd agreed to this walk, he hadn't actually envisioned them going outside.
And maybe that had been foolish of him. There was only so much space in the Hotel, and anything they said would be subject to prying ears. And then, of course, there were the wards. The slightest bit of panic on his part would set them jingling as they presumably had last time, when he'd had the panic attack with Valdis. Of course she would want to avoid that if they were really going to have this talk.
So he followed, though not without one last spike of anxiety before they were free of the walls and the wards and the understanding that no violence was to occur. ...that couldn't be what all this was about, could it? The freedom to do violence? Raine was a healer. Not that he couldn't defend himself anyway, should it come to that, but if anyone were to try to take revenge for Anton it would have to be like this, wouldn't it? She was a healer, but Ravel didn't know her well enough to know if she'd try something like that or not.
It was only after he'd started silently counting the ways he could incapacitate her, should she try some magic he wouldn't recognize, that Erskine took a deep breath and realized he might be just a touch paranoid. This was why he needed Hopeless, or Anton. Someone to knock some sense into him, because he honestly wasn't sure if it was paranoia or not (did it count as paranoia if he deserved it?). Only Hopeless wasn't an option anymore.
He let out a sharp breath at her statement, turning his face away. You killed two of your brothers.
And even if I could manage to forget it, no one will ever let me.
Abruptly he pulled his right hand from his pocket and reached up, twisting his hand in a brief rotation in mid-air. The air immediately around both himself and Raine shimmered in a sphere, creating a bubble around them. They could still breathe, still see, but the density of the air around them shifted to make sound harder to pass through. If they were really going to have this talk, they might as well at least do it in relative privacy.
Not that he wanted to be having this talk at all.
"Does it matter?" he asked softly, pointedly looking anywhere but at Raine. "Do you care about the politics, or do you just want to know how much of a monster I am? If I'm going to kill anyone else?"