Ouroboros Spine trouble come knockin'

you're a fool.

the same words he was used to hearing, just spoken by different men. an insult that, however familiar, still hit with a dull ache. and then he remembers, he's been called worse.

"well, you, uh...aren't the first to have called me that." he offered. a small, awkward smile worked at the edges of his lips for a moment, though it was fleeting. it was foolish, offering help to a man who'd pinned him down, bit, and snarled. 

but, he didn't care. so, he stepped closer. tentatively, in case the demon's in this man's head decided to make an appearance again, drive him to do some unsavory things. "um...are you hearing things? not that i'm calling you crazy but—" he was rambling. 

he takes a breath, offers another sympathetic smile, however crooked and small. "voices from your past, maybe? i get those too, sometimes. it makes me panic." lorroakan admitted. "overwhelming. loud. whenever it happens to me, i take deep breathes a-and point out all the things around me." 

his gaze sweeps, lingering for a moment longer on the bloody snow. "like the snow, the grass, the trees. how cold it is. just to help ground yourself." 

he didn't know if any of this would help. maybe the man would call him foolish again, but ro hoped that it would ease his mind for a moment or two.