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[hauntedking]

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[hauntedking]

[ To be fair, Dimitri had come here with the intent to help John. Even if it cost him some peace of mind. Maybe he hadn't understood - or underestimated what it would take. For the moment, he's still in a bit of turmoil. Trying not to relive those horrible days and the fallout that had come with it and left him as he is - brittle, but trying to be better. Strong, but fragile in some of the worst ways. There's nothing else for it at this point.

And at least he takes a bit of comfort from John's words. ]

...I had people like that back home. And I have a few here. But I miss all of the ones who are apparently gone.

[ This is close to the divide between them; the gulf between restoration or creation. ]

I want to bring them back.

[eyesite]

( even still. he is most accustomed to reading the statements of those who have already come and gone from the Institute — some of them so old that when his assistants tried to reach out to the original statement-giver, they can't seem to find them. when he had been Head Archivist of the Institute, he had ruminated often on the survivor's bias that reading these statements had given him, but that wasn't always the case; sometimes they were given in a narrow window between a Dread Power's fixation on them and when they were finally claimed by it. helen was one of those, among many. he'd just had the misfortune of seeing her claimed by the Distortion right in front of him.

when someone is presenting their fear and their pain to him in person... it's harder. he knows logically there's nothing he can do to help, that there's not really anything anyone can do (least of all an avatar of a god of bloody fear), but still... the yoke of an Archivist is a heavy one, especially upon a soul as generally sympathetic as john's is. )

Good. That's good.

( he doesn't speak on those that had been left behind. how can he? it's not that they are completely at odds here; there are those that he is serving Zenith in order to retrieve. one, he already has, but he hopes yima will continue to fetch the souls of those he feels most responsible for. there are four left... even if he can't go to the world he creates, he wants them to be able to. with martin.

john stands. he feels that their time is coming to an end — he needs to get back to highstorm, and... typically those that give statements to him don't really want to hang around him for too much longer afterward. but he does pause there a moment before looking back to dimitri, sidelong. )

I'm not without a heart. If it were so easy for me... I would want to do the same.

( the obvious indication here is that it's not. but he doesn't want to discuss that now. that's a conversation they have later. )

Thank you very much for your time, Dimitri.

( and for your fear. even looking at him now, one could see that john already looks much haler; he stands up straighter, and there's less of a nervous jitter to his movements. )

[hauntedking]

...you're quite welcome.

[ It's been... what? Harrowing? But he thins he would do it again. He's helped someone and that's important. Even if he has had to dredge up memories he would almost rather leave buried. He cannot turn away from this. He never can. ]

I hope you stay well.