you must have been laughing you really have made a fool out of me
*listens in perfect silence, every word a stab wound in his gut, as he tries helplessly to think how to explain it to you, how he can possibly explain that you are the standard by which everything in his life is measured, that he would follow you to anywhere on Órë to be ignored and ridiculed and beaten down again and again if it meant you would not forget about foolish, hopeless Tilion*
*wilting, crumbling, even as you're shimmering into nothingness* Ari- Arien, I- I'm sorry, I never- p-please...
*sits down heavily on the bench, knowing you can't have heard a word of any of it (because you hear what you want to hear)* *looks at his hands and wonders what to do now (when there is nothing of him that you want)*