holiday from real

Ronan bristled, not anticipating the-admittedly well deserved-jab she threw in his direction. His tongue flicked against his teeth, the urge to snap back and be cruel was more than second nature by that point. It was an instinctive, almost mechanical part of him, like if you cut open his belly meanness would slide out alongside his guts. Ronan didn't like that, he didn't want to be like this.

And yet she apologised, earnestly enough that with a sharp exhale he decided to drop it. Her keen observation was not a hill he wanted to die on. Following her line of sight, he wondered if he ought to speak, because he doubted he had the answers she sought. Naturally, he still thought he knew better, but more?

"It's not a good story." He was quick to pick apart her choice of phrasing, because stories were just strings of sentences, a life was just words, easily dismissed and forgotten. It ached to think all the lives he'd cut short with choices he'd been forced to make were so far removed from this place, the retelling would never do it justice. None of it would ever cut deep enough.

He wanted to pace, agitated energy had his wings twitching as he spoke, dragged the words out from between his teeth.

"You've probably seen somewhere like it in your travels, ruins of those who came before. All metal and rock." Massive and sprawling, laid to waste by their end. "Dogs'd been living there for as long as we could remember, it was never a good place, so I was told, with the overcrowding, lack of food, the gangs. But the wastelands beyond the walls were worse, and it was easier to stick with what they knew, can't blame them for not wanting to risk it." He squinted in thought as he dragged his paw backwards, digging a groove into the sand.


"A big tower of metal came crashing down one day, everything shook like it did here, now I think about it. Dunno how many died." But he did remember seeing mangled bodies beneath twisted steel and broken glass. "Started slow after that, few animals that were worth eating started acting weird, looked unwell. Not uncommon, water got contaminated all the time, but this was different. Then it wasn't just the animals, it was dogs I'd seen before and- it was everywhere. No running from it, no hiding. Just these worms sticking out of every hole you can think of."