OPEN | prompt three | PAIN

[wrens]

prompt three | P A I N dressing-room style. start your own thread. tag others. wash, rinse, repeat. open to all.

 

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[arbitrate]

Everything is.

But that pain is not always a necessity, is it?

[fuels]

Sometimes, it is.

[arbitrate]

How is one to distinguish?

[fuels]

Insight. Wisdom. Fearlessness.

Do not turn your face away from pain. Stare into it as if it were all-seeing flame. Then understand the truth of it — cast it aside or embrace it — but always look. In looking, know.

[arbitrate]

[ The line of Merlin's jaw sharpens as he clenches his teeth, nodding. ]

You're right. There's no point in trying to cut corners.

[fuels]

[ She would dig her fingers into that face and feel that line sharpen under her hands, would understand that clench of teeth for what it is. ]

Others would lose the path.

[ But not you, Merlin. Not you. ]

[arbitrate]

[ That line draws even more taut as Merlin raises his head, proud in the presence of his familiar. (He remembers the day that he'd created her, in part thrilled that he could muster that kind of magic and in part in awe. He still thinks her beautiful, even when he recognizes that, to some extent, she embodies the sort of will that might get him killed.) ]

You would keep me on the path.

[ Thanks, rather than question. ]