[no, it's definitely just cold out. it's fine. she wasn't expecting something so sincere and heartfelt so quickly, but... well, she shouldn't take joy in the fact that she can sympathize with this. but that she can means that she still remembers A2. the story is identical. a commander who watched her entire squadron die in front of her for reasons she couldn't comprehend, prevent, or tolerate. she was responsible for so many lives, but she fucked up.]
[and she was the sole survivor. and it wasn't as bad as giving cancer to an entire universe, however that's possible. but he says it so genuinely that there's no way it can't be real.]
[they're here to throw rocks, aren't they? she takes one, but can't bear to throw it yet. not while karkat's story is still ringing in her head, bouncing around the hollow cavity she calls a chest that still does have a second soul inside of it.]
I know the feeling. [and unfortunately, she realizes, that's all she knows.] It's... complicated to get into, but I have memories of someone the same thing happened to. Someone who lives inside me now. [sure, whatever.] Her entire squadron died, some of them in ways she couldn't prevent. Some of them trying to protect her. People she trusted... people she loved.
[she folds her hand, turns the rock with it. and taking his advice into account, anna whips the stone as far as she can throw it. to see if she really can do it, just by listening to someone else. it doesn't make it as far as karkat's, but there's a little bit of progress.]
I guess that makes me lucky. I haven't really seen war like you have. Not through my own eyes. [wrong. on a few counts.] I never gave any orders or told anyone what to do with their lives. I talk big shit, but in the end, I'm just a girl who found something she wanted to protect and did her best to do it. I'm no soldier. And Lillian is just... [sigh.] The first one who really is gone forever.
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[and she was the sole survivor. and it wasn't as bad as giving cancer to an entire universe, however that's possible. but he says it so genuinely that there's no way it can't be real.]
[they're here to throw rocks, aren't they? she takes one, but can't bear to throw it yet. not while karkat's story is still ringing in her head, bouncing around the hollow cavity she calls a chest that still does have a second soul inside of it.]
I know the feeling. [and unfortunately, she realizes, that's all she knows.] It's... complicated to get into, but I have memories of someone the same thing happened to. Someone who lives inside me now. [sure, whatever.] Her entire squadron died, some of them in ways she couldn't prevent. Some of them trying to protect her. People she trusted... people she loved.
[she folds her hand, turns the rock with it. and taking his advice into account, anna whips the stone as far as she can throw it. to see if she really can do it, just by listening to someone else. it doesn't make it as far as karkat's, but there's a little bit of progress.]
I guess that makes me lucky. I haven't really seen war like you have. Not through my own eyes. [wrong. on a few counts.] I never gave any orders or told anyone what to do with their lives. I talk big shit, but in the end, I'm just a girl who found something she wanted to protect and did her best to do it. I'm no soldier. And Lillian is just... [sigh.] The first one who really is gone forever.