[ in this moment, raiden has reverted back to a 26 year old man, eyes clouded with doubt — or the 31 year old man, the one who was desperate and tearful and searching for something, for anything to keep him tethered to this world. there are traces of those men present in his features, ghosts of the past reanimating as he listens in silence.
raiden's jaw shifts and clicks. his brows cinch and his eyelids squeeze shut before his head raises as snake is about to leave. ]
Because of you.
[ his voice is strained and high, practically on the verge of giving out. he has to say this now. he doesn't know if snake has any object permanance, if he's going to fade and wither into dust the second he's left this room. ]
I changed because of you, Snake.
[ a beat. ]
I've got my own things to take care of now. But you're always going to be one of them.
[ he pauses with his hand on the doorknob, ready to retreat to his own room and probably have a shitty meal of empty calories. jack speaks, though, like he's holding onto something precious; his last bit of truth.
so snake stands, turned at the hip, looking down at him with an impassive, simple expression, half cast in shadows.
it's a mutual declaration, he supposes. raiden hasn't changed, but he's matured. become something more of the man snake knew he could be. ]
I won't prove to you that I'm real.
[ he pauses, shaking his head. ]
I don't need to. If you mean that... you'll see it before long.
no subject
raiden's jaw shifts and clicks. his brows cinch and his eyelids squeeze shut before his head raises as snake is about to leave. ]
Because of you.
[ his voice is strained and high, practically on the verge of giving out. he has to say this now. he doesn't know if snake has any object permanance, if he's going to fade and wither into dust the second he's left this room. ]
I changed because of you, Snake.
[ a beat. ]
I've got my own things to take care of now. But you're always going to be one of them.
no subject
so snake stands, turned at the hip, looking down at him with an impassive, simple expression, half cast in shadows.
it's a mutual declaration, he supposes. raiden hasn't changed, but he's matured. become something more of the man snake knew he could be. ]
I won't prove to you that I'm real.
[ he pauses, shaking his head. ]
I don't need to. If you mean that... you'll see it before long.