Loathe the way they light candles in Rome
But love the sweet air of the votives
But love the sweet air of the votives
There's the manic pixie dream cousin Koa knows and loves. A knot of anxiety releases from Koa's chest; he pats Kai's shoulder wetly, his own expression slightly crazed with the adrenaline high he has yet to crash off of. "Dude, you were roasted. Here, let's see the damage." He wades through the fountain to stand at Kaisel's back, hands gentle as they begin to unwrap the makeshift bandages and reveal the healing wounds beneath.
Koa freezes mid-motion when his cousin speaks again. "Jack?" he echoes, a hard line of tension thrumming in his voice, like metal which has been struck by a blacksmith's heavy blow. "Jack did this?" Even if it hadn't been Kaisel, even if he hadn't seen the charred body curled on the sand, the reaction would be the same. Fury rushes through him like a jolt, pooling molten in his core while the edges harden and snap. The why doesn't matter (though maybe it should, Kai had egged him on like a shitty splinter between his toes) - he barely listens to the explanation, because he's already judged the man in his mind. Jack had taken Flora from Koa.
Now he'd tried to steal his cousin, too?
"He nearly murdered you, Kai." There's an eerie calm in Koa now; should Kai look back he'll see not the fun, quick-to-smile cousin he'd grown up alongside, but a young Commander brimming with a need to see justice done. "I'm going to take you home, and then I'm going to report this to Flora and Hadama. This cannot be allowed to go unpunished." He doesn't give a flying fuck about how hard it is to talk to Flora, the tangled history between them, the way she makes him feel - this is a crime against his family, and Koa can put aside his heartbreak in the name of seeing his cousin's attacker made to pay for his crimes.
Koa freezes mid-motion when his cousin speaks again. "Jack?" he echoes, a hard line of tension thrumming in his voice, like metal which has been struck by a blacksmith's heavy blow. "Jack did this?" Even if it hadn't been Kaisel, even if he hadn't seen the charred body curled on the sand, the reaction would be the same. Fury rushes through him like a jolt, pooling molten in his core while the edges harden and snap. The why doesn't matter (though maybe it should, Kai had egged him on like a shitty splinter between his toes) - he barely listens to the explanation, because he's already judged the man in his mind. Jack had taken Flora from Koa.
Now he'd tried to steal his cousin, too?
"He nearly murdered you, Kai." There's an eerie calm in Koa now; should Kai look back he'll see not the fun, quick-to-smile cousin he'd grown up alongside, but a young Commander brimming with a need to see justice done. "I'm going to take you home, and then I'm going to report this to Flora and Hadama. This cannot be allowed to go unpunished." He doesn't give a flying fuck about how hard it is to talk to Flora, the tangled history between them, the way she makes him feel - this is a crime against his family, and Koa can put aside his heartbreak in the name of seeing his cousin's attacker made to pay for his crimes.
Koa Carpenter
Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone
Engage with the pain as a motive
Engage with the pain as a motive
