The delicate touch of Briana's fingers on his brow, brushing away those golden strands of his, was a deeply familiar thing that had captured his attention every time. Countless little memories waded through his consciousness: always, she had been above him - he could feel the sheets, the soft glow of a light, the weight of her against him - as she pulled at the strand of his psyche, with her questions. Her suppositions. Her love.
He felt other hands upon him, other words, then… then, the inexplicable muting of his pain, untethering him further from the sense that he was in his body at all, yet every little motion of the body it felt he was observing, was a wade through mud, in a sense. He fidgeted, adjusting his weak, one-handed grip on Briana’s arm; his slowly fading sight only ever came back to her.
Little else had meaning.
“
I can…” he resumed upon gaining her attention, heaving words through the labour of his breath, tripping over words, slurring, “
...see, see wha… what you… must be th-thinking,” his eyes squeezed shut a moment; it was so hard to think, so, so hard; where was he? Ah, “
leav– leaving, ch-cherie? I am ri… right wh-where… I’mmm me-meant to be.”
Fate. If not him… who, then? Astor tried a smile, though waver it did. Not by what he felt; everything was a strain to do. He closed his eyes again, shallow breaths as he tried to grasp the strand of what else wanted to say to her, tried to catch his breath, but his head was so heavy. So heavy. Maybe he could sleep. Yes. Maybe. Inviting, but cold hands, implored him. Yet the words came to him, and his eyes slipped open, to greater shadows. He searched, searched… ah. That
glow, her outline of warm light, when he felt cold, and colder still.
“
You muss- must un-underst-stand…” he continued; it was getting harder to see, as his vision continued to fill in by spots of darkness, and colours drained to muted tones, “
th-the answers, th-they are…” It was so clear, now, the truth, but air was harder to find as he gasped,
"not wif-with us, nor th-them." It was both. It was neither. It was a blood price. “
The syss-system, is…is not b-broken, Bri-Briana,” breathe, yes, breathe, “
it f-functions eggs-exactly as i-it is men… meant to.”
An implication that resonated far beyond the veil of the Consortium. He could only hope she would gather his intent, his meaning, in time. In time beyond his. It was all he could do, all he could manage, as she, and the world, faded further away.
"
S-so… t-tired…”
Astor’s weak grip slipped down Briana's arm, the call of sleep too strong, the pull into the depths too great.
Amani Serys
to potentially deal with
Astor Daaray
, while she went back to surveying the wreckage to find someone else she could actually help. Most of the people had minor injuries from the falling shards of the shattered window. "Looks like Hapes has a civil war on its hands," she remarked to
Diogo Talon
as she crouched down to begin prying pieces of transparisteel out of a woman in a bloodstained yellow dress.
