born for burning

Clumsy but confident, such is his way. There's no reason not to be confident, in Viðarr's mind... though maybe that's misguided. His warmth is easy, laid back. There was no reason not to be relaxed. Tenshi's grimace doesn't go unnoticed, but the shadow knows better than to pry. He doesn't know her well enough, and it's not his way. Still, the shadow studies her openly-- he can't help it. She did seem well, strong, capable, healthy. And yet there was something else under it. Something Viðarr doesn't know how to name but gives heed to. It's something that lives inside him, too.

Still, it seems to him that they're kindred spirits.

Tenshi speaks of Tojo-kai, and Viðarr nods softly. It was a spare few days ago that he'd crossed paths with Hattori. He'd been pleasant, both similar and dissimilar from the shadow himself. Still, he's struck by the memory of the woman before him and her quest. She'd wanted revenge against them, and now to see the passion buried... he thinks for a moment. For a long moment. Viðarr had watched his sister bury feelings that she couldn't give words to, and watched what it did to her. "Burying those feelings has consequences," it's an observation, one shared with neutrality. He speaks as a friend. He speaks as someone who is all too familiar with those consequences.

Gently, the shadow listens. The fish are gone in a matter of mere moments, but they are not his focus. Instead the shadow listens intently, attention undivided. "Why do you stay?" There was a restlessness that lived deep in the shadow's heart, one that wouldn't be tamed. The pining for the trees, the snow, the mountains-- this is a feeling he understands. Still, there was a reason he'd stayed in the desert with Celeste. There was a reason he stuck by them now, though he understood that their time together was finite. There are things you do for those you care about, and Viðarr cared deeply. But what was her reasoning for staying in the south, isolated? Was it getting to be time for him to move on, too?

"Viðarr"