[Who cares about that? He didn't ask for caring. He just demanded loyalty. In his own way he gave it back, but it doesn't mean much in context -- no one in their right mind would want the kind of "staying together" that Ariel would have kept with left to his own devices. Ariel wouldn't want it himself, if he were on the receiving end. But still he's furious at having lost that position, that stability and superiority, because he doesn't care, yet, what anyone else wanted but himself.
It doesn't take Tristan's unintentional meddling to make him collapse again once he's sealed in. That's just a part of the erosion of his mind that got him the government's "mercy" to begin with, a now not too unusual fit of bitter, unhinged laughter, sitting on the floor with his back to the door.
No, he didn't ask for caring at all. It hurts. Everything since that day has hurt, and he's got willpower to put himself back where he wants to be, but the slow creep of self-doubt rots everything from underneath, and the less certain of his delusions he becomes the more desperate he becomes to keep them, and the more he crumbles under that pressure.]
Ahaha-- I don't need you. I don't need anyone. This is all a sham!
[Tristan himself just feels tired. Exhausted emotionally because he does still care, but it's hard to care for someone who doesn't feel it back, who is insane and broken and evil. He rests his palm on the door frame a moment, tempted to try to comfort Ariel but knowing that's a bad idea, a pointless task when he doesn't want Ariel to gain any illusions of controlling Tristan, even through his tantrums, so he simply turns to go back to his room where he'll hardly sleep through nightmares of things being the way they used to.]
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[Who cares about that? He didn't ask for caring. He just demanded loyalty. In his own way he gave it back, but it doesn't mean much in context -- no one in their right mind would want the kind of "staying together" that Ariel would have kept with left to his own devices. Ariel wouldn't want it himself, if he were on the receiving end. But still he's furious at having lost that position, that stability and superiority, because he doesn't care, yet, what anyone else wanted but himself.
It doesn't take Tristan's unintentional meddling to make him collapse again once he's sealed in. That's just a part of the erosion of his mind that got him the government's "mercy" to begin with, a now not too unusual fit of bitter, unhinged laughter, sitting on the floor with his back to the door.
No, he didn't ask for caring at all. It hurts. Everything since that day has hurt, and he's got willpower to put himself back where he wants to be, but the slow creep of self-doubt rots everything from underneath, and the less certain of his delusions he becomes the more desperate he becomes to keep them, and the more he crumbles under that pressure.]
Ahaha-- I don't need you. I don't need anyone. This is all a sham!
no subject
[Tristan himself just feels tired. Exhausted emotionally because he does still care, but it's hard to care for someone who doesn't feel it back, who is insane and broken and evil. He rests his palm on the door frame a moment, tempted to try to comfort Ariel but knowing that's a bad idea, a pointless task when he doesn't want Ariel to gain any illusions of controlling Tristan, even through his tantrums, so he simply turns to go back to his room where he'll hardly sleep through nightmares of things being the way they used to.]