ettersberg | duplicity

[ at his core, nightingale is still a soldier. it's been decades, and more than a police officer, that's what he is. (he'll always be a wizard first and foremost, but that isn't a profession. not anymore.) ]

Because of everything about it. Because of how many people died, because of the blood I've seen spilled and spilled myself.

[ unseen, unheard, he drags in a heavy breath. ]

Because of the nightmares that followed, because it brought the weight of an entire institution onto my shoulders alone, because damn near every British wizard died or broke their staff after.

[ that's even more relatable than poe was expecting and it's... well, it has him exhaling a similarly heavy breath ]

We just ended a war. But the more I think about it, the more it feels like what's ahead of us is going to be an even harder fight. I don't know how we're even going to start putting the pieces back together, but we have to. I have to find a way, or we might be right back where we started in another thirty years.

[ well. apparently he hasn't quite shaken off that honesty bug either ]

[ ah. rebuilding after a war--

the very thought makes something settle heavily in nightingale's stomach, weighing him down. ]

There was no rebuilding after the ar. Not for the Folly. England, certainly, and most of the rest of the world.

[ he shakes his head. he doesn't mean to discourage. ]

I don't envy you the task. The only advise I can offer is to make sure that people have their basic needs met. [ he's always been focused on keeping the peace more than anything else. it's peter who dragged the folly into the day and age of community policing more than nightingale. ]

I know there aren't any easy answers. I saw how things fell apart last time, no matter how hard some people fought against it. Before this was about living up to what they did, now we've got to be better.

[ there's a reason he doesn't talk about this. that weight's never budged, not really, but he's been distracting himself with what little he can do here instead of worrying about all this makes it feel somewhat less overbearing ]

So what do you do now?

I think [ he hesitates. almost doesn't type it at all. maybe it's the forced honesty that brings the words out in the end; maybe it's just that he's been alone for too many decades, shouldered it all because there was no one else. ]

Whatever you do, don't do it alone if you don't have to.

I'm a police officer, when I'm not here.

I won't be.

[ he's got Finn and Rey. They've all lost a lot — too much — but they still have each other ]

Well I can understand why you're not doing that here. I hear that the SIN guards are hiring, but I'm sure you know what they're like.

I have very little interest in perpetuating their regime.

Yeah, I think that's a common sentiment around here.

From what I've heard the leadership options around here have been ranging from bad to a different kind of bad.

That has been my impression as well. Although it seems I missed rather a lot.

Yeah? You were here before?

For a number of months, yes. As a Dominant, at the time.

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