#nokturnas

( before the devil breaks you // accepting ) KARAAS [ @nokturnas ] WROTE: ❝Rules exist for a reason. Even within disobedience, we need order.❞

VAUQUELIN TOOK A FULL THREE steps back just so he could better look Karaas in the eye. The almost forty-five degree angle he'd bent himself back into brought his baffled expression into full light, exaggerated by his heavy makeup. Hands on his hips, too. He'd learned that stance from a tough-as-nails matron back in Halamshiral. He didn't realize he was mimicking her, but she'd left such a strong impression he'd always carry the memory regardless of whether he realized it.

He let the weight of it sit on Karaas for a good while before replying. ❝That makes no fucking sense.❞ But, he was going to argue it anyway. He had to. It would bother him too much if he didn't.

          TRISTAN’S INVOLVEMENT IN ANYTHING IS A BIT OF A GAMBLE FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO EMPLOY HIM THROUGH ANY MEANS.       his immense skills counter his unpredictability  -  but all of it comes with a risk, with at cost, and he refuses to compromise, to make himself  lesser  or  more palatable.  she’s a strange foil to him, upright and   VISIBLY   confident, where he practically stinks of the chaos in which he operates.   ❝   I told you that I was  trouble,   ❞   he says airily with a wave of his hand.  he’d done as he promised ;  his methods were simply  ...   UNEXPECTED.   ❝   you know that I’m  no good.   ❞

cass shakes his head, looking over to where bodhi was perched in the pilots seat. he had been putting together a rifle, a new one, and he wanted to learn it inside and out before he needed to use that. “explain it to me, you’ve nothing to apologize for.” he might not understand what the other man was saying, and he won’t pretend he did, but he’s willing to listen and learn.

standing from where he’d been working, cassian walked towards bodhi, placing himself carefully in the seat beside him. a bit like he’s trying to keep bodhi from getting more nervous, he’s seen that type of behavior before. the apologizing, the nervousness.

he can’t do anything but nod at that for a second, just a moment in time where he sits in silence and lets those words settle on his skin, figures out what she’s trying to say to him. it could mean a thousand things, and despite how long they’ve known each other, despite the hours they’ve spent together, and the dreams they shared, he does not know her mind inside and out. and he certainly doesn’t now, after what she went through in the hotel on rix road. whatever he had known about her is changed, for both of them. 

in the end he settles on a reading, and settles down beside her too, letting his knee bump her’s but doesn’t touch her in any other way. she isn’t made of glass, he knows that, but he still feels compelled to be careful with her. he doesn’t want to stain her further than he already has. 

SHE   HAS   GOTTEN   TIRED   OF   THIS,   Grimshaw   working   her   to   the   bone,   some   of   the   men   looking   at   her   as   if   she   is   a   prize   to   be   won,   the   fact   she   was  STUCK   there,   needing   PERMISSION   to   leave   the   camp.   And   poor   Javier   had   sat   next   to   her,   soon   to   become   a   victim   to   her   complaining.   Mary-Beth   does   it   gently,   expressing   the   frustration   that   she   was   experiencing.   It   was   tough   being   a   woman   in   this   world,   and   she   was   not   going   to   be   quiet   about   it   for   much   longer.

aaron understands the sentiment — he's always believed it himself, and he's always worked to make sure his life counted,  not just for himself,  but for everyone around him.  maybe it’s easier to see that success in other people than to understand you’ve already fulfilled it yourself,  because he looks at tommy,  and he sees a man who’s done nothing but make his life count.