"I should make you figure it out yourself but we might all be dead by then." It wasn't even exactly meant as an insult. The man was a slow thinker to his core and if you paired that with an inability to read between even the thinnest of lines, and on top of him simply being a man ... Really, it was almost as if everything was against him figuring people out. Almost.
"Because she sees herself as some awkward placeholder for the space Susan should have been in, and she thinks that's how you see her, too. It's great that you can get along and it's great if there are things you like about her but, Roland, if you sit in front of someone and say 'if not for her I would have loved you with that same intensity' then they're always going to know their best is still worthless just because they aren't who you really wanted. If you pair that on top of the fact that she's been told she's worthless scum all her goddamn life its begging for an outcome like this."
Kaine rubbed the back of her neck, looking a bit weary despite herself. "For her to lay down her pride and her morals and do something that might make you happy, even if it makes her suffer, that's about the greatest display of love someone like Nariko can express. It's harder to let you go than it is to hold on, and it's necessary in a way because even if you could have both Nariko would still feel like the - whatever you call mistresses in your world. Just the woman you sort of idly keep around to maintain your vows."
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"Because she sees herself as some awkward placeholder for the space Susan should have been in, and she thinks that's how you see her, too. It's great that you can get along and it's great if there are things you like about her but, Roland, if you sit in front of someone and say 'if not for her I would have loved you with that same intensity' then they're always going to know their best is still worthless just because they aren't who you really wanted. If you pair that on top of the fact that she's been told she's worthless scum all her goddamn life its begging for an outcome like this."
Kaine rubbed the back of her neck, looking a bit weary despite herself. "For her to lay down her pride and her morals and do something that might make you happy, even if it makes her suffer, that's about the greatest display of love someone like Nariko can express. It's harder to let you go than it is to hold on, and it's necessary in a way because even if you could have both Nariko would still feel like the - whatever you call mistresses in your world. Just the woman you sort of idly keep around to maintain your vows."