Board Thread:Roleplay/@comment-28358106-20160820182648/@comment-28358106-20160825214545

Hound finds Ibrahim standing by a tree, alone. As he approaches, Ibrahim speaks.

"Ludica won't speak to me now.  She's madder than she's ever been."

Ibrahim turns. He looks upset, but he doesn't have the face of a man who has lost his entire family. He looks heartbroken, he looks exhausted, but he doesn't look like Hound believes he would.

"She asked me why I wasn't crying, why I wasn't sad.  I am.  But there was no way I could explain to her that I've used the Crucible to find this path over and over again, to explore its meaning, to find another way around it.  I've spent my last lifetime looking, speaking to Gods both dark and light.  I've searched for ways to avoid it.  I've looked everywhere and in every way I know how.  I've made bargains I shouldn't have.  And every time, my path led me here."

He pauses, then continues. "I've been here, Marcus.  I've wrung my hands in the Demon Lord's halls and I've wept for mercy at the feet of a dying Goddess.  And every time, this is what they showed me.  And now that I'm finally here, there's no way I can tell my daughter that I'm still sad.  There aren't any words I can use to lie to my own child.  I've lied enough.  To myself, and to them."

He flexes his hands. "I can't any more.  I can't.  It just isn't in me.  But that's because I'm not going to feel sorrow until I  stop.  And I'm not going to stop." His eyes burn. His face bears an expression Marcus has never seen. The kindness, the gentleness, the fatherly visage that Marcus is used to---it disappears. His voice becomes a low, guttural growl, deep and sharp with clarity.

"I'm not going to stop untilI get my powers back.  And when I do, I'm not going to stop until I wrap my hands around Victivius' neck and drag him into the void."