04-13-2019, 12:00 PM
[align=center][div style="text-align: left; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 8.3pt; letter-spacing: .3px; line-height: 1.35; padding: 4px;"]Link couldn't comprehend the reasoning behind bringing a child so young to the Badlands, even in search of his father. Were he in that woman's position, he'd have found some other way to reunite the family  or abstained from contemplating reunion at all, supposing it safer to raise the boy away from blood relatives for the sake of protecting him. Perhaps that made him a hypocrite; he had, after all, chosen the Badlands as his home too. He could hardly claim to be any better than the others here, complicit as he was in their actions simply by remaining. Did it make him a criminal? A bad person? Morally corrupt, a murderer by association?
He didn't know what counted as law anymore, didn't think to dwell on it. So long as he never fell into line, never committed himself to the same bloody lifestyle, he still retained some semblance of humanity. Sheogorath... had lost that footing long ago, toppled from that pedestal years before Link had ever met him, most likely. But he was the one with the son, with the weight of new parenthood settled on his shoulders. Irrespective of his own opinions of children, Link didn't envy his position, least of all in a place like this.
"Father?" He hadn't caught the boy's age but he was young, no more than two or three. Did he know what his father had done? What he was? Did he know that his bloodline was steeped, to some degree, in violence? Did it even matter? Link could look at Sheogorath and see somebody worth spending time with  and family was family, whether you wanted it or not. Still, a creeping doubt curled in his chest, cold fingers wrapping around his heart and squeezing: Sheogorath was a worm; the Badlands seemed in the midst of some sort of war; and this wasn't safe place for children on the best of days. Joshua was so small, clueless and naive. Was it wise to bring him into such hatred?
Regardless of the validity of his concerns, Link buried them beneath a welcoming, if reserved, expression. "Well, I don't see why Cat'd turn you away." Maybe if they cared about the life of a child  but, he supposed, it wasn't much safer in the mountains. [It wasn't safe in many places outside of the still-civil cities anymore.] He glanced at Sheogorath wordlessly, wanting to speak but not knowing what to say. Eventually, he conceded defeat, exhaling slowly and returning his attention to Mary. "I'm Link. D'you need anything while we wait?"
He didn't know what counted as law anymore, didn't think to dwell on it. So long as he never fell into line, never committed himself to the same bloody lifestyle, he still retained some semblance of humanity. Sheogorath... had lost that footing long ago, toppled from that pedestal years before Link had ever met him, most likely. But he was the one with the son, with the weight of new parenthood settled on his shoulders. Irrespective of his own opinions of children, Link didn't envy his position, least of all in a place like this.
"Father?" He hadn't caught the boy's age but he was young, no more than two or three. Did he know what his father had done? What he was? Did he know that his bloodline was steeped, to some degree, in violence? Did it even matter? Link could look at Sheogorath and see somebody worth spending time with  and family was family, whether you wanted it or not. Still, a creeping doubt curled in his chest, cold fingers wrapping around his heart and squeezing: Sheogorath was a worm; the Badlands seemed in the midst of some sort of war; and this wasn't safe place for children on the best of days. Joshua was so small, clueless and naive. Was it wise to bring him into such hatred?
Regardless of the validity of his concerns, Link buried them beneath a welcoming, if reserved, expression. "Well, I don't see why Cat'd turn you away." Maybe if they cared about the life of a child  but, he supposed, it wasn't much safer in the mountains. [It wasn't safe in many places outside of the still-civil cities anymore.] He glanced at Sheogorath wordlessly, wanting to speak but not knowing what to say. Eventually, he conceded defeat, exhaling slowly and returning his attention to Mary. "I'm Link. D'you need anything while we wait?"