[The patience in his voice is wearing thin, replaced by something strict and sharp and borderline parental.]
I didn't just do this for laughs, Asch. I'm asking you these things because I want to know. But you're just-- turning it around and saying you won't tell me what's on your mind because I never knew in the first place? That I'm the one who's different, like that makes it an excuse for something?
Funny thing, but life just does that - it changes you. Whether you want it to or not.
[The last sentence hangs heavy in the air, but he's quick to continue. That's a bag of problems for later.]
I'd like to have thought that whatever happened could change you, just like it might do for anyone else. One year, seven years, here or on Auldrant; it doesn't matter. Life just happens.
And I'm sorry but, really, I can't read your mind. I don't know what happened to you, but it sure as hell wasn't anything from back home.
[Because the Asch back at home never would do things like this. He would never say things like this. He would never bother, and they would keep things that way. Would he think like this? Feel things like this? Maybe. Guy definitely wouldn't put it past him. But to speak out wasn't a sign of the stagnant, unchanging God-General from his own immediate past.
At some point, the soldier finally started becoming a man of his own merit. But if he couldn't be bothered to see it for himself, then maybe it was just wishful thinking. Maybe the word he'd given to Natalia would be empty after all.]
no subject
[The patience in his voice is wearing thin, replaced by something strict and sharp and borderline parental.]
I didn't just do this for laughs, Asch. I'm asking you these things because I want to know. But you're just-- turning it around and saying you won't tell me what's on your mind because I never knew in the first place? That I'm the one who's different, like that makes it an excuse for something?
Funny thing, but life just does that - it changes you. Whether you want it to or not.
[The last sentence hangs heavy in the air, but he's quick to continue. That's a bag of problems for later.]
I'd like to have thought that whatever happened could change you, just like it might do for anyone else. One year, seven years, here or on Auldrant; it doesn't matter. Life just happens.
And I'm sorry but, really, I can't read your mind. I don't know what happened to you, but it sure as hell wasn't anything from back home.
[Because the Asch back at home never would do things like this. He would never say things like this. He would never bother, and they would keep things that way. Would he think like this? Feel things like this? Maybe. Guy definitely wouldn't put it past him. But to speak out wasn't a sign of the stagnant, unchanging God-General from his own immediate past.
At some point, the soldier finally started becoming a man of his own merit. But if he couldn't be bothered to see it for himself, then maybe it was just wishful thinking. Maybe the word he'd given to Natalia would be empty after all.]