Otter Creek Does it hurt to feel so high?

Another sad smile; he was used to it, by now. But even as he'd been inured to the hurt of it, it hadn't been enough to drive him into self-destructive fits. Then again, Dusty Rose knew that he treasured himself more than most ever learned to.

And that was sad, in his very intelligent opinion. And then Etienne went on to say another very sad thing, and maybe that wasn't something he could connect with quite so easily, but Jesus, even he knew that had to suck.

"Shit," said. Eloquently. He knew pretty well about what the season did to the people he loved, but he, personally, had never felt driven to be a whole fucken asshole about it. He put it down to being a more rational creature than some of his male relatives, and that had been annoying enough. If it had been a partner instead to go crazy, he was sure he would've felt it much more deeply.

Or it would have been reasonable, at least. Truthfully, Dusty Rose wasn't sure having a partner was for him in the first place.

"You deserve better than that," was the conclusion that he came to. "Whether you can blame him or not, y'know? It doesn't mean you deserve to feel this way."