[ like clockwork, he allows himself to be pulled in, and like clockwork, he leans a little into it, desperately, desperately touch starved. and! it's funny you ask that!!!

there's a tiny flicker of something small and sad that ripples through his emotions, like a stone tossed on a lake. ]

... I will be returning to the Papal States.

[ if any better doors opened, they slammed shut a long time ago. ] Iria may have one chance to try again for peace, if I am able to shift the time of my death, and I do not intend to deny it to her.