[He's not fucking listening, but he figures he doesn't need to. Arthur has made these arguments before and he'll make them again.]
Things might be bad right this minute but it's only for a minute. For right now. [With some finality:] We finish with this, we'll be home free. I am sure of it, and it disappoints me that you aren't.
[There's a pause. Maybe something like clarity, if only a glimmering instant of it, and then the feeling that if he stops not, all of that loss will be for naught.]
It hurts me, Arthur, it honestly does. I... I didn't want any of this to happen, but it did.
[He hates himself for feeling hope at that moment's pause, and more for the crushing grief that washes over him when Dutch goes on in the same way. His voice is soft, and heartbroken, when he replies.]
Hurts me too, Dutch. It hurts me more than I think you'll ever know.
I... I gave you all I had. One day, you might even believe that.
[Dutch has seen Arthur through a lot, and in all those terrible moments, those miserable ups and downs, there were always ways to take the edge off the hurt, to twist it around into something to move forward towards. Always. It was like that when his boy died and when his girl left him and all of those other bumps along the way.
But there's nothing now. No way to smooth it over, no way to ease it down if Arthur won't trust him. Dutch lets the silence linger for a moment, working the cigar in his mouth as he thinks.]
Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell I suppose.
[A sudden scoff, something like a laugh.]
Where are you? How the hell are we talkin'? I keep thinkin' you're gonna come out of the goddamn woods.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
MANGOES, ARTHUR
Things might be bad right this minute but it's only for a minute. For right now. [With some finality:] We finish with this, we'll be home free. I am sure of it, and it disappoints me that you aren't.
no subject
Because 'we' ain't no longer we. Who are we, without Hosea? Without John, or Abigail, or Miss Adler, or even goddamn Uncle?
It'll be you, me, and Micah. If that's your idea of paradise, you're even more deluded than I thought you was.
no subject
It hurts me, Arthur, it honestly does. I... I didn't want any of this to happen, but it did.
[He lets out a long breath, a shake of his head.
There is no alternative.]
no subject
[He hates himself for feeling hope at that moment's pause, and more for the crushing grief that washes over him when Dutch goes on in the same way. His voice is soft, and heartbroken, when he replies.]
Hurts me too, Dutch. It hurts me more than I think you'll ever know.
I... I gave you all I had. One day, you might even believe that.
no subject
But there's nothing now. No way to smooth it over, no way to ease it down if Arthur won't trust him. Dutch lets the silence linger for a moment, working the cigar in his mouth as he thinks.]
Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell I suppose.
[A sudden scoff, something like a laugh.]
Where are you? How the hell are we talkin'? I keep thinkin' you're gonna come out of the goddamn woods.
no subject
Doesn't matter. I ain't in the woods. I ain't anywhere you know.
Just... remember what we was. Try and remember what we did, all of us, together.
no subject
I already think about it all the time, son.
no subject
Yeah.
Maybe we just arrived at different places, comin' from the same start.
no subject
no subject
Wish it was different. But it ain't, so no use cryin'.
no subject
[Less an accusation than a passing thought said aloud.]
no subject
I already did, but you weren't listenin'.