#wtrss

ㅤPaige's words disarm him, but Roland's attention doesn't stray from the window. New York has changed since his footsteps last fell upon its flat, hard ground. Cities rise and fall across the worlds, he thinks, levelled by might and meekness both, but this city only grows—silver buildings ever sprout from stiff grey soil, unending life packed into a space so small. Blue eyes stay tilted upwards, unerring in their attention, his gaze bound to the darkening sky. The orange blaze of evening is dying, a swathe of black encroaching across the light. Roland will watch the sky until the light returns.

ㅤ"I won't leave you alone, Paige."

ㅤThe Gunslinger's gaze moves to her. New York, he is sure, is a starless city—perhaps they've vanished, he briefly worries—but it is not a moonless one. Carried upon that dark black cloak, a pale disc is strung, and the moonlight slants into their shared room. Paige wears moonlight well. The pearly light sits sweetly upon her features, paints her impossibly gentle. Roland longs to join her in the moonlight, but settles for pulling a chair to the foot of the bed, eyes trained on the window, his body turned towards Paige.

Human functions cease,    starting at the throat;   diluted rubbing alcohol flowing through a fabricated larynx without issue ebbs to set alight the tender    &    raw path once traversed with ease.    Clear waves crash against the crystalline walls of a finger-print riddled glass in their spider - like grip,    abandoned on the bar top without the shed of a single drop.    Composure is grasped in the gathering seconds,    howling beast resembling its anthropomorphic guise once again.    A few  (  unnecessary   )  heaving breaths good measure secures the masquerade as anything but a fancy façade to dress up.    Briefly,    a hoarse laughter emits from the bowels of their self.

〝   I’m sorry [ ahem ] it almost sounded like you said we’re doing this together . . .    〟    Nox knows precisely what was said,    it sits verbatim on the tip of their pallid tongue, metallic against seared taste buds.    Dark,    empty eyes sit alert behind the opaque lenses of their signature sunglasses;    mirth knew its cue to leave.    〝    Oh, absolutely not!    You are going to stay exactly where you are    &    I’m going to work this case like it’s my job  —  oh wait,    it actually is!    〟

As unorthodox vocation as the selfish exploration for independent investigation into the lives of everyday people is,    there was a clear demarcation established between involving those they work for:    you just don’t.    Safety is outside of the scope of concern,    where risk is justified through refractory amusement    &    reckless abandon in spite of a calculated approach;    what fun would that be?    The same cannot be said for Paige.    Guilt — in its nascency of their experience with it through the death of the consciousness — seeks nutrients in the threads of culpability that is their very existence,    moth holes frayed    &    needing tending to.    One was enough to deal with.

They relax,    tension swallowed as a chaser to Nox’s poison of choice reduced to beads of alcohol clinging to the crystal.    A soft thud,     as shot glass meets wood.    〝    I doubt Joe would want to lose his shining star of a waitress on account of some shady bum like myself leading her right into the mouth of the beast.    〟    Nox lauds through the glinting teeth of their grinning maw;    as clever as a cover as they believe it to be,    it was not without its truth.

 head swimming, the vague remnants of last night’s rum still lurking in her system, maria’s first thought upon waking is that paige’s place feels more like a forest than it does a home. no less homely for it, though, she thinks through the haze of her mild hangover–––in fact, seeing paige engulfed in her room’s greenery and the thick shafts of light streaming in through the window, there’s something so undeniably lovely about the image that maria doesn’t fight the smile that starts spreading at the sight of it. hangover be damned.

        HIS BREATH REMAINS SLIGHTLY HEAVY as arms extend over his head to widen his lung capacity.    the hike up the hill would have been easy enough had he not lied about the fact that he was an expert hiker,   with every step he had to hide how heavy he was breathing in order to keep up the façade he set in motion weeks ago to impress Paige.   he made sure to remain behind her most of the hike,   just to save himself from further embarrassment.   it was worth it all in the end however,   as they stood next to each other at the top of the small clearing. 

        THEY HAD MADE IT JUST IN TIME to see the sky slowly change its hue to a softer orange.   the sight of the early sunrise had soothed him completely,   creating this sense of peace over him as he watched in awe.   he was lucky to be sharing this with her and for a moment he hesitates to look over in fear of catching her gaze,   as he glances to the side he sees just how the pastel colors bathe her skin and create a soft glow.   her eyes are shut and she's taking in the warmth of the suns rays and its then he decides to reach out.   he’s unsure how she would react to his movement and hopes that it would be anything other than rejection,    subtly he moves his hand to brush against hers,   drawing her attention just for a second to show her he was offering it with a warm smile behind it. 

men. jyn huffs out a breath in amusement at paige’s words, shaking her head as she wipes down the latest dishes that the other woman had just brought over to the bar. as an undercover operative, it’s one of her jobs to get close to people in the workplace. even without the added influence of her good-natured, warm alias ( much kinder than jyn will ever be ), it’s easy to get along with paige. they’re . . . not friends, not exactly, but jyn doesn’t hate spending time in her presence –– and for someone like her, that’s practically an endorsement.