Kaisel
Being swept up into the hug is what breaks him. He'd been dancing on the edge of it, but now his heart unclenches, eyes wetting beneath the absolute relief that is Koa. It washes over the strain of trying to hold it together when all he wants to do is puke. He embraces Koa back with a strength that attempts to convey all the unsaid things—gratitude for him being okay, worry for everyone fleeing, fear in such magnitude it threatens to cripple him. Perhaps this event shouldn't have been a surprise, but tense as living here had been, it'd still been home, it'd still had pockets of safety and joy.
All of that was now ripped away, buried beneath the collapsed tower.
They part, the exchange brief but meaningful, and Kaisel blinks through the few tears that managed to eke out before he neatly set aside all his feelings in a box labeled to deal with later. He rubs an arm across his face, ignoring the water as he sternly nods back at Koa, "right, good plan."
His heart thunders, full of gratitude as Koa explains where his parents are, that he’d thought to share something so crucial, even with time stretched thin and every word a precious resource. Instantly Kaisel feels lighter, something in that box he kicked into the corner dissolving. He even manages a weak smile, though it quickly fades, lips thinning with an unsettled understanding. Kaisel reaches out to Koa's shoulder, gripping it with all the hope he could muster. "She'll be safe," he says with certainty, the only upside he can cling to, the one he wants Koa to believe in.
"We'll come back for her." A promise.
The shift in Koa is palpable, and Kaisel listens attentively, not to his cousin, but to his commander now. So he doesn't balk at the order, not when their lives are falling apart and listening is the best thing he can do right now. He's a soldier after all, in the end. He might pout, but he'll do what he's told. It makes sense anyway, once Koa explains it, and Kaisel nods curtly. "Understood. You can count on me, sir." None of the venom from before. If anything, there's a fondness to him, because Koa taking control, it lets him really shine. Kaisel has never loved his cousin more than this moment, not even when he snuck him beers before he was of age.
All of that was now ripped away, buried beneath the collapsed tower.
They part, the exchange brief but meaningful, and Kaisel blinks through the few tears that managed to eke out before he neatly set aside all his feelings in a box labeled to deal with later. He rubs an arm across his face, ignoring the water as he sternly nods back at Koa, "right, good plan."
His heart thunders, full of gratitude as Koa explains where his parents are, that he’d thought to share something so crucial, even with time stretched thin and every word a precious resource. Instantly Kaisel feels lighter, something in that box he kicked into the corner dissolving. He even manages a weak smile, though it quickly fades, lips thinning with an unsettled understanding. Kaisel reaches out to Koa's shoulder, gripping it with all the hope he could muster. "She'll be safe," he says with certainty, the only upside he can cling to, the one he wants Koa to believe in.
"We'll come back for her." A promise.
The shift in Koa is palpable, and Kaisel listens attentively, not to his cousin, but to his commander now. So he doesn't balk at the order, not when their lives are falling apart and listening is the best thing he can do right now. He's a soldier after all, in the end. He might pout, but he'll do what he's told. It makes sense anyway, once Koa explains it, and Kaisel nods curtly. "Understood. You can count on me, sir." None of the venom from before. If anything, there's a fondness to him, because Koa taking control, it lets him really shine. Kaisel has never loved his cousin more than this moment, not even when he snuck him beers before he was of age.
You was talkin' shit in the beginning
Back when I was feelin' more forgivin'
I know it piss you off to see me winnin'
Back when I was feelin' more forgivin'
I know it piss you off to see me winnin'
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
