wake up time

[cardinalsinned]

[ This is probably the second worst way to wake up, in a hospital bed with Juan there watching. ]

What... happened to me?

Comments

[foundjuanting]

[shaking his head a little]

Your brothers' voice was speaking through them as well, they do not rule me.

[maleborgia]

It was muffled and harder to hear.

[foundjuanting]

Was it truly? I could understand you well enough.

[maleborgia]

I don't think that challenges my point.

[foundjuanting]

Then I would ask where you could not hear me.

[maleborgia]

I wonder if it is just that it is hard for you to notice this when you are the one under the influence, but it is difficult to carry on a conversation with you.

[foundjuanting]

I had not noticed, how is that so?

[maleborgia]

How do you think? Imagine having a conversation with a man who has been drinking, when you yourself are dry.

[foundjuanting]

It is not that difficult...

[maleborgia]

It's wearisome.

[foundjuanting]

Well if you have difficulty understanding me when you are not under the effects of it yourself...

[maleborgia]

You know that is not the appropriate suggestion.

[foundjuanting]

Then what suggestion do you have? Nothing has changed in this home and nothing will change. This deals with the matter well enough.

[maleborgia]

Do you remember when you first visited this place?

[foundjuanting]

In parts, it's beginning to fade.

[maleborgia]

If it is fading, then let us remake it.

[foundjuanting]

Is that even possible? The landscape has changed in many ways.

[maleborgia]

You are clearly adventurous. Would you not see if you can navigate it?

[foundjuanting]

You know that I mean more than just the terrain.

[maleborgia]

It's a metaphor.

[foundjuanting]

Then I consider myself without proper supplies, men, and a map. I would know if it is even a possibility. I've been told more than once that there is nothing I have done to make the situation more... habitable.

[maleborgia]

I have ridden through the old streets of Roma, where the grass is thick over falling ruins and abandoned structures. I have heard that men meet there, some no doubt to plot crime, but others to stand in awe of the past and to hope to gain insight and inspiration from its presence. They may not know the names of the buildings that shade them or that they practice oration under, but they understand the importance of being there at all.

[foundjuanting]

But would you ride beside me Cesare? I've been riding by myself for some time, part of it even without knowing that I was truly alone and that the others in my party weren't simply lagging behind.

[maleborgia]

*silent for a moment*

I think often about that, about finding myself on a strange horse in a strange land and without the men I thought I had behind me at my back.

[foundjuanting]

That is where I was back in Rome near the end, and that is where I fear I may be now.