[He nods, slowly, just once. It isn't something he can explain, doesn't know how to express, just a shiver of feeling as natural and sure as his sense of smell, or touch, or sight. The Witch's words have the ring of truth to them, a surety he can detect; he's either telling the truth, or believes he is.
Julian's tender, too-open expression once again turns harder at the edges, drifting inward to some dark part of himself that goes unspoken and unseen.]
If I do, I'll keep an ear to the ground for just such a man.
[If he's someone who knows the lay of the land, who can give him information. Tell him, perhaps, what he needs to know...then so much the better. Because--]
...if all of this turns out to be fact, if I do wake up in some other world, in some other time and place...there must be a meaning to it, mustn't there? A...a reason, for me being there. And why else would a plague doctor be brought to a land riddled with plague, if not to try and cure it.
[He barks out a quick laugh, strangely devoid of mirth.]
I didn't do the best job last time, but perhaps, given a second chance...
[The words trail off into nothing, and then he abruptly shakes his head.]
Listen to me, though. Prattling on. For all I know, I'll wake up in the palace library, ink smeared across my face. No point worrying about it just yet, is there?
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Julian's tender, too-open expression once again turns harder at the edges, drifting inward to some dark part of himself that goes unspoken and unseen.]
If I do, I'll keep an ear to the ground for just such a man.
[If he's someone who knows the lay of the land, who can give him information. Tell him, perhaps, what he needs to know...then so much the better. Because--]
...if all of this turns out to be fact, if I do wake up in some other world, in some other time and place...there must be a meaning to it, mustn't there? A...a reason, for me being there. And why else would a plague doctor be brought to a land riddled with plague, if not to try and cure it.
[He barks out a quick laugh, strangely devoid of mirth.]
I didn't do the best job last time, but perhaps, given a second chance...
[The words trail off into nothing, and then he abruptly shakes his head.]
Listen to me, though. Prattling on. For all I know, I'll wake up in the palace library, ink smeared across my face. No point worrying about it just yet, is there?