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 Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 8:11 am
Gale's grip tightened just a little.
"Breathe," he instructed calmly, though it wasn't said unkindly. He knew just how intense things could be, especially for someone as young as Ro, and Gale had been even younger when he'd first come to the island. "Slow breaths. Inhale, hold it for a second, then exhale."
He squeezed Roland's shoulder once more, then let go, his brows furrowing. "It wasn't really you, you know that, right?" said Gale quietly. "I'm sure that's not much help right now, but the nightmares will fade, I promise. It's not easy in the beginning."
It never is.
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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:55 am
Roland didn’t shy away from the grip, he simply remained doubled over having his panic attack. He started to breathe, but it was hardly the controlled pace Gale would instruct. At least not at first. He took a few slower breaths, starting to hold them after the first few panicked ones. He held it longer this time, and longer again, he kept doing that for a few seconds before slowly standing upright and staring at the sky. “I know, it was, something else it was me in another world, or a lie. I don’t know it was just. I lived as that person. For so long. I had existed as that and just. It’s, it’s really hard for the first thing I had to really fight to be. Me.” He ran a hand up his forehead and through his hair sighing softly. “What was it like, the first time you had too,” he gestured again, this time towards Gale’s weapon resting in his other arm. The implication of the question easily even without him asking the last part.
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Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:37 pm
He hated watching them all like this; watching the struggle to figure out where to begin, what to do, how to handle everything that was thrown at them. It was never something that could be just overcome with a positive attitude and a smoothie, as much as Gale wished it could.
The patience, after so many years of dealing with everything that he had, was a continual, calm thing. Gale had no qualms about waiting out Roland's panic attack, and he gave a small shake of his head, exhaling a breath.
"I know. I was someone else there, as well, and it was...not what I had expected."
It was terrible, as a matter of fact. Gale glanced down as Roland gestured, picking up on the meaning without needing more. Something in his chest tightened, twisted unpleasantly; a painful reminder of all that he had lost over the years.
All that he couldn't have saved.
"It was bad," he said, without sugarcoating it, but his voice was as calm as ever, quiet. "I hated it. I thought I would drown under it all, but..."
One of Gale's shoulders rose and fell in a small shrug. "I learned to keep going, because I had no choice not to."
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Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:13 pm
Roland had first been introduced to being a hunter when the Island was attacked, a man named Killzone had died, this time he woke up a child and was thrust into a whole other life. It seemed the options for waking up as a hunter all ended roughly the same: Suffering and pain. Growth. It took a bit, but Roland finally collected himself standing up a bit straighter, breathing in and out long and slow. He wrapped his arms around himself, hugging at his shoulders. Roland didn't pry into what the other Gale was like, he figured most people wouldn't want to remember that. So he focused on the advice, "I guess it's sink or swim. Or... kill or be killed," he didn't recall the trial in the pod, some hunters didn't ever, but his choice of words where ironic to say the least in that regard. There was another shiver, but it wasn't all that cold out. His arms still remained tight around him. "I'll be okay, won't I? With the memories? I won't.... wake up as him right?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2017 9:14 pm
He could see the moment when Roland started to come to himself; the slow steadying of his breathing, the careful rearranging of his limbs to try and straighten himself out, the brief moment of quiet while he got his thoughts all together in order.
"Well, it's certainly about survival," said Gale, after a moment. "But there are also people who make lives here, and there are times when it isn't just about killing or being killed. You don't have to make it into a death sentence to be a hunter, not really."
Even though a lot - most - of them did. Gale shook his head.
"No," he said, and his voice was firm. "No, you won't. You're you, and yes, you will be okay. You aren't weak and you will make it through this."
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 7:57 am
Again, irony was thick in the air though Roland would never know. Jordan once gave him advice similar to this when he first woke up. The idea that being a hunter wasn't just about fighting not to die. They had other reasons to live, people to care about, things outside being hunters that made it worth struggling to keep going. More so, it was the reassurance that he would be okay, that he was still Roland not Rohim, and that he would never become Rohim in the real world for what that was worth. He stood up a little straighter and took another deep breath, "Thanks Gale," he turned and offered a small smile to the older hunter, "Sorry I got in the way of your training. But it's been really good to talk to you today."
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Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 2:35 pm
Gale offered Roland a brief and very faint smile.
"If you ever need to talk to someone again, I'd be glad to," he said, and gently tapped the other's shoulder. "Don't feel like you have to carry too much too soon. You'll figure things out just fine if you keep going the way you've been going, don't worry."
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