[The handoff is a gentle one, Solomon remaining quiet as he settles the drifting coolness overtop his neck and jaw.]
It will have to remain a mystery. Whether it was that he recognized yourself, Fandaniel, or something else... Perhaps something I'd said, or done, or insinuated... he wouldn't say.
[His chuckle is mirthless, tone growing melancholy in a way that feels hard to place.]
Even with his hands at my throat, poor Danya wouldn't tell me my sins. Just anger, so distant and offended.
[ Ainosuke is silent for a long moment, a measuring look on Solomon's face through the darkness of the box bed. Is he lying to protect some secret of Nishi's? It seems plausible, but it feels just as realistic that this went down exactly as described.
Frustrating. He's so frustrated by it all. ]
'Danya'.
[ He just repeats the nickname. He's heard it before, at trial, but it sits even more curiously now. ]
He asked for his name, when we first met by the graves. Insistent that he'd done some horrible wrong in a life he couldn't quite remember. Insistent that I was wise enough to tell him his truths, when he learned my name.
...
[He leans further into his pillow. Exhausted.]
I couldn't lie to him. But he let me provide a nickname, to at least fill the void.
no subject
It will have to remain a mystery. Whether it was that he recognized yourself, Fandaniel, or something else... Perhaps something I'd said, or done, or insinuated... he wouldn't say.
[His chuckle is mirthless, tone growing melancholy in a way that feels hard to place.]
Even with his hands at my throat, poor Danya wouldn't tell me my sins. Just anger, so distant and offended.
no subject
Frustrating. He's so frustrated by it all. ]
'Danya'.
[ He just repeats the nickname. He's heard it before, at trial, but it sits even more curiously now. ]
no subject
[Cruel, perhaps, given their surroundings.]
He asked for his name, when we first met by the graves. Insistent that he'd done some horrible wrong in a life he couldn't quite remember. Insistent that I was wise enough to tell him his truths, when he learned my name.
...
[He leans further into his pillow. Exhausted.]
I couldn't lie to him. But he let me provide a nickname, to at least fill the void.