archived.

JACK.            he listened to her carefully,  his gaze riveted to her face as she explained herself.            a shock of electricity rippled over his skin where she touched him lightly and he felt the tiny hairs on the nape of his neck bristle.            he didn’t really know what to think about it.          sometimes jules would say or ask something and it would jar him,  the difference between their life experiences laid out between them like deadly bed of field - mines.           and yet it should’ve been all familiar ;     he’s worked with people like her before,  her hardened - type was not altogether an uncommon thing.            and yet,  and yet,  and yet…           he supposed that if he was completely honest to himself,  then he’d have to admit that he was still sometimes hurt by how hard trust was to come by in their line of work.           it made matters which was otherwise fun rather exhausting.            [     𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍.     ]            and he found it so strange that she would have to assure him so earnestly.

he drew a deep breath and it infused him with new life.            it was not so much as if a switch had been flicked, but rather a reflexive settling of features into his former jovial character.          [     the lift of a facial muscle here,  the twitching of an eyelid there,  the smoothing of the vocal chords here,  the rise of the chest there.      ]          it was impossible to tell the change from one perceivable second to the other,  the same impossibility of tracking one grain sand in the pull and push of a tide.             jack rolled his shoulders,  then he shrugged them.           “     there’s always that risk when impersonating someone that is supposedly out there,  but this fundraiser is for old friends with old money and old - fashioned values.           they won’t be interested in negotiating or playing ‘ table - to - table salesmen ’ that night.          everyone at that party is already a shoo - in for supporting burton.           a man like keizer would need a good reason to convince himself to come to a party like this.           luckily for him,  i’ve already got a reason and i don’t need that much convincing.     ”

he pumped his eyebrows a couple of times and smiled widely,  the look of a debonair troublemaker winking his eyes,  but the deep dimple in his cheek ruined the effect somewhat.            not that it mattered ;     the effect didn’t last for very long.           jules’ suggestions made him laugh heartily.            “     a fire would leave too much of an unexplained and traumatic memory in everyone’s mind.     and as attention - grabbing as a beautiful collapsing would be,  you don’t want to draw any more attention to yourself than necessary.     otherwise you might get stuck in that role for the long run…    starting with letting marco take you home and make sure you’re alright.     ever the chivalrous money - bag man,     ”           he told her,  brows waggling,  legs swinging idly in and out from under the table.

an  involuntary  tug  of  muscle  scrunched  jules’  nose  up  in  disgust  at  the  very  notion  of  such  an  unfortuitous  possibility  to  the  night’s  end.          as  if  pretending  to  be  somewhat  of  a  damsel  in  distress  wasn’t  enough,        having  to  keep  that  up  well  into  the  night  would  be  so  unbearable  that  she  was  quite  sure  that  it  would  result  with  a  break  in  her  character.          there  was  only  so  much  ego  she  could  swallow  dry.          “    that  is  never  going  to  happen.        at  least  not  unless  you  all  don’t  mind  me  giving  marcus  a  gentle  prod  with  the  end  of  my  knife.    ”          she  crossed  her  arms  and  turned  to  resume  her  pacing  before  speaking  again  —  this  time  with  a  smile  tugging  at  the  ends  of  her  lips.          “    so  I  show  up  as  a  foreign  investor,          act  my  part  as  the  new  face  among  the  filthy  rich,          and  you’ll  join  me  as  this..    ”          jules  pinched  the  sheet  of  paper  with  the  man’s  details.          “    ..  this  thomas  keizer  and  make  contact  with  burton.      ”

LIAM.          with little else to look at while he trudged along,  his feet cold,  the sensation of dirt and mud sticking to the soles of his feet and getting between his toes wholly unpleasant,  liam stared into the shadows,  almost hoping that something would wink back at him.          anything but this unnatural nothingness.          his mind,  poorly trained to remain in the present,  took its cue from the silence and nothingness,  and wandered into the past.          he felt the weight of his ancestors before him gather into him,  filling him as though he’d eaten a feast and pressing up into his lungs.          when he took a step,  he felt as though he were moving for dozens of other people,  all pale like him,  all with eyes the colour of the ocean before a storm like him,  all moving towards their death like him.          HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF BECAUSE WE DO NOT LEARN FROM IT,  but who is there to teach him otherwise?        he still felt that his decision to run with this crew had been a step in the another direction,  if not the right direction,  but he could hardly worry about right and wrong now.

he was just thinking to himself that he should ask viviane about how she’d come to decision to join giordano as a partner in crime,  when he was suddenly forced forwards,  his face smacking painfully against the ground.          he cried out in pain,  a curse intermingling with her name rising in his throat only to be cut off by the loud cracking of bark off the nearby tree.          rather stupidly,  liam blinked up at the hole in the tree,  his spatial intelligence faltering at tidily putting together that his head had just been at that level seconds ago.     he felt himself being yanked up,  his eyes levelling with the hole in the tree,  yes,  the hole right where his own head had been second ago,  and pushed along.         then,  they were moving.          his legs pumped mindlessly,  the ball of his feet digging into the ground,  pressing past the dirt and rocks,  his muscle burning with the effort.          panicked,  he turned his head in every direction,  searching for the gunman,  the thought that it’d been a faraway sniper having not yet clicked.          what did occur to him was that he could easily overtake viviane,  but once he’d come level with her,  he didn’t push quite as hard.          he refrained from taking her hand,  knowing that’d only slow the both of the them,  making them clumsy.          finally,  a coherent thought locked into place and liam,  despite part of him still having the audacity to feel silly in the face of danger,  began to run closer to the trees for cover.

                “     VI!     ”          he shouted,  his voice strained and thin.          “     WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO?!     ”          running this way,  liam did not notice that the shadows seemed to thin around him,  as though this could not cling to someone moving so quickly.          what he did notice was up ahead,  there was a formation of rocks,  a large clutter of grey stone that jutted out of the ground,  a sloping hill behind it.          liam diverted towards the cover,  briefly pulling viviane in the same direction before letting her hand go and slipping rather sliding down the slope.          with a bit of difficulty, he pushed himself up against the hill,  his chest heaving.          THERE HAD BEEN NO FOLLOW-UP GUNFIRE.          but someone had shot at him and they had shot to kill.

the  fear  of  having  nearly  watched  liam’s  head  burst  open  like  a  watermelon  triggered  an  influx  of  adrenaline  in  her  central  nervous  system.        her  hammering  heart  pumped  it  so  fast  through  her  body  that  in  just  a  few  seconds,    she  no  longer  felt  so  shaken.        it  had  been  replaced  by  an  innate,    𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙  instinct  that  had  her  sprinting  through  the  trees  faster  than  she  had  ever  run  before.        her  eyes  searched  the  expanse  ahead  wildly  in  the  brief  moment  of  reprieve  provided  by  their  slip  down  the  slope.        to  their  right  was  another  thicket  where  the  darkness  seemed  to  gather.          to  their  left  was  a  clearing  that  would  sacrifice  their  cover,    but  she  could  finally  see  the  first  𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑  beams  of  light  in  hours.        the  muscles  in  her  arms  and  legs  burned  and  she  knew  that  her  feet  were  bleeding  without  even  having  to  really  think  about  them.        her  lungs  strained  to  fuel  the  sudden  burst  of  activity  and  she  glanced  over  at  liam  with  a  panicked  look  in  her  eyes.

𝙱𝙴𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙴𝙽  𝚃𝙷𝙴  𝚃𝚆𝙾  𝙾𝙵  𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙼,    𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚈  𝙱𝙾𝚃𝙷  𝙺𝙽𝙴𝚆  𝚆𝙷𝙾  𝚆𝙰𝚂  𝙶𝙾𝙸𝙽𝙶  𝚃𝙾  𝙱𝙴  𝚃𝙷𝙴  𝙾𝙽𝙴  𝚃𝙾  𝙵𝙰𝙻𝙻  𝙱𝙴𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙳.        their  path  ahead  was  a  gamble,    but  viviane  gasped  out  a  ragged  response  between  breaths.        “    LEFT!    I’M  GOING  LEFT!    ”        if  he  chose  to  abandon  her  now  she  couldn’t  blame  him.        it  may  even  be  the  best  that  they  separate.        she  could  hear  matteo’s  voice  echoing  in  her  head:      [  increase  the  𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠  of  one  person  making  it  back  to  the  group  ].        her  breath  caught  in  her  throat  as  she  lowered  her  stance  and  veered  towards  the  direction  of  the  light.        she  didn’t  want  to  look  to  see  which  way  liam  decided  to  go.

I didn't delete the theme credit, but I also didn't realize that it wasn't showing until now so thanks for bringing it to attention!!!

I went in to look at the original non-contained theme coding and it looks like the symbol the theme maker used doesn't work well with HTML so all that shows is a small, white box that doesn't actually link to anything and isn't clickable. Since I don't have my borders turned on, the non-interactive box was blending into my white background color so it looked like nothing was there.