@aeipathicism sent: to live or die with you — it comes to the same thing for me anyway. without you what am i?
battle preparation becomes it’s own routine, over time, takes on many a form; no amount of experience has ever called for him to stop adapting what that looks like — though promotion to general has taught him more of what war demands than he ever thought there could be, donning interior armor ( perhaps more impenetrable than the real, the physical ) is a step the general learned never to skip early on. narrowed in on their goal, nothing should be capable of shocking him anymore, no words should cut through him so sharply … yet kokomi breaks through those walls like the demolition of him is nothing. of course only she could. “ don’t. ” a warning or a plea — a choked sound that gorou is too busy reeling from the shock of to care about examining; for the general to so much as question his divine priestess is unheard of, let alone forget himself so sharply. turning on her with resolution, a modicum of sense washes over him almost immediately & head dips in apology, though unwilling to drop the matter quite yet. “ your excellency … forgive me, but there’s many a man who could take my place — really, i only follow your orders. ” she executes the plans, he sees to it that they succeed. it takes durability, initiative, but gorou is not the key player in this game. & sworn as he is to those orders, to protect her with all he has is a personal rule & therein lies the truth of such a passionate objection. “ you are indispensable. watatsumi needs you here, not me, so don’t say things like that. ”
that she held him so dear; it once would have warmed his heart. now he only falters, suppresses it instead, because she shouldn’t have to worry about this. & here is where someone else, in his place, might reassure her. tell her that there’s nothing to fear; because he doesn’t plan on dying, not unless her own safety was at risk … but his life is on the line every day. if the general had it in him to deny this fact — he wouldn’t hold his current position at all, & speaking out of turn is enough of a discourtesy already. he can’t lie to her. “ i need you here, okay? and i don’t want to leave you either. ” ears pulled back, brows furrowed. he’ll kneel to her if he must — gladly; everyday this is changing him for the worst, pieces scattered & bent at the edges, unsure if they can ever be found once more … but he grows around their absence when she’s here. there’s already so much pressure, too many expectant eyes on kokomi & he is supposed to share the weight of responsibility — can’t bear for it to change her too. “ i know it’s not my place to ask, kokomi, but i really don’t think you need to be on the field right now. ”
𝙿𝙰𝚃𝙷 𝚃𝙾 𝙽𝙾𝚆𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙴 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙼𝙿𝚃𝚂: 𝙰𝙲𝙲𝙴𝙿𝚃𝙸𝙽𝙶.
