[And as someone who feels he relates to Pratt on a personal level, as they have both clearly experienced hardships that shaped them into men plagued by their own guilt and remorse, he genuinely means that. He's happy he seems to finally be moving forward himself rather than stagnating in regrets of a past he cannot change, and while those regrets still haunt him, it is progress, more than he ever made on his own. He would be pleased to see others do the same, to be given the opportunities he has been blessed with.
Accepting that he need not be alone with his burdens was, perhaps, the most challenging hurdle of all, a frightening deviation from what he had done for years. Not only would he feel accomplishment with himself for helping someone out of a similar situation, but his goddess would look favorably upon such an act. There is purpose in helping others, he reminds himself, however futile it often seems.]
I, too, have described it as a fresh start. Back home, the Longinmouths are well known, even legendary in our region. Warriors, hunters, scholars, magicians -- each has left their mark on the world for generations, tales woven about their exploits reaching far and wide. It all led down to me.
[His smile fades, a rueful tinge coloring him as he opens up.]
I am the end of it, as I said. I am the one who damned it by being cursed. I am the failure of my lineage, and everyone knows it. My work for the church has redeemed me in the eyes of a few, but to many beyond our village, I am known simply as the Longinmouth heir, a title said with more disdain than it once held. Nothing I can do will bring back my uncles or my father. The world was stripped of three capable hunters, each having saved so many... and all that remains is a man who cannot even look himself in the mirror some days.
[His fingers tighten on the bandage around his arm, the ink stains there long dried, but the residue still prominent enough to be felt beneath his nails.]
But knowing that I had none of that lineage here -- no bloodline to loom over my head, no weight to my name -- it was as though a weight was lifted from me. I still feel it some days, but I am trying to take advantage of this freedom I have been given in the hopes of finding a future I was not afforded before. I encourage you to do the same.
no subject
[And as someone who feels he relates to Pratt on a personal level, as they have both clearly experienced hardships that shaped them into men plagued by their own guilt and remorse, he genuinely means that. He's happy he seems to finally be moving forward himself rather than stagnating in regrets of a past he cannot change, and while those regrets still haunt him, it is progress, more than he ever made on his own. He would be pleased to see others do the same, to be given the opportunities he has been blessed with.
Accepting that he need not be alone with his burdens was, perhaps, the most challenging hurdle of all, a frightening deviation from what he had done for years. Not only would he feel accomplishment with himself for helping someone out of a similar situation, but his goddess would look favorably upon such an act. There is purpose in helping others, he reminds himself, however futile it often seems.]
I, too, have described it as a fresh start. Back home, the Longinmouths are well known, even legendary in our region. Warriors, hunters, scholars, magicians -- each has left their mark on the world for generations, tales woven about their exploits reaching far and wide. It all led down to me.
[His smile fades, a rueful tinge coloring him as he opens up.]
I am the end of it, as I said. I am the one who damned it by being cursed. I am the failure of my lineage, and everyone knows it. My work for the church has redeemed me in the eyes of a few, but to many beyond our village, I am known simply as the Longinmouth heir, a title said with more disdain than it once held. Nothing I can do will bring back my uncles or my father. The world was stripped of three capable hunters, each having saved so many... and all that remains is a man who cannot even look himself in the mirror some days.
[His fingers tighten on the bandage around his arm, the ink stains there long dried, but the residue still prominent enough to be felt beneath his nails.]
But knowing that I had none of that lineage here -- no bloodline to loom over my head, no weight to my name -- it was as though a weight was lifted from me. I still feel it some days, but I am trying to take advantage of this freedom I have been given in the hopes of finding a future I was not afforded before. I encourage you to do the same.