Work Text:
Ascetic
Gibbs had long ago decided to be an ascetic. He’d made that decision after he lost Shannon and Kelly. It was his way of paying penance for failing them. That decision also marked his fall into pessimism.
He no longer saw hope. He only saw how the world continually failed everyone. He tried to right the wrongs that he could, but he knew that what he did had a minimal effect at best. Technically he hadn’t given up all material comforts, but he had given up most of them.
He slept on his couch instead of a bed. He refused to allow himself to have a relationship that might succeed. He refused to allow himself anything that brought him joy. He only participated in work and his boats. Both of which were penance for failing his women. Pessimistically, he refused to believe that he could be happy again after losing them.
