#thegrectwar

Wylan tilted his head. Why would Mal say that, when surely the man had far bigger concerns of his own. He nodded once, firmly down, “I’ll be okay. What about you?”

they have been to far too many funerals lately. it’s all that marlene can think as the day goes on, a somber mood hanging over them as time creeps by. it shouldn’t come as a surprise — this is war, after all, isn’t it? and yet marlene feels each loss as sharply as the first. she’s standing outside, leaning against the brick wall of the safe house and chain smoking away her anxieties when sirius joins her. even on a good day, she already worries about him more than he needs to know. but days like today when she’s actually forced to think about his his near misses brought on by his impulsiveness? her nerves are shot, and she doesn’t respond to what she is sure were intended to be sweet words right away. instead she flicks the ash from her cigarette, shaking her head and sighing quietly. “not everything has to be a fight,” she reminds him. though everything does feel like a fight these days — that whole war thing, she reminds herself. this was what they had signed up for. “can we just have one day?”

Alina smiled, feeling her chest tighten with an emotion she could only describe as joy.

"oretsev," she looked from the water over at him. "is something on your mind?" she'd seen him walk away from the drinking and card games the crew was playing, and followed him after he didn't return in a few minutes. "i brought a bottle," she held up one of the bottles they'd opened in hopes that it would ease any anxiety he might have about talking to a stranger.