C-4, I do that damage—My ego is titanic
His blink is more like a flinch when she laughs. It's a stranger's sound already. He's never heard it before at least, has never seen the stark chill of her like this, so it feels like he's looking at someone he doesn't recognize. When he once said he wanted to hear all her different laughs, this had never been one he expected, and now he's certain he could have done without ever being gifted it.
That's always been the problem, he doesn't know her well.
He wanted to change that, once, not very long ago. He couldn't forfeit things that were important to him though, not while he'd still been learning how much she meant to him. He still cares about her, but he doesn't even know if they ever would have been friends, not when it all started with a burn. He doesn't know if they would have lasted, especially beneath the strain of her family's weight. He doesn't know what she even wants, because last they'd talked, it hadn't been him. Nevermind that he guessed wrong once already to her mother too.
There's not much point in arguing. There's no better end to this, only worse ones. She's hurt, and he's the one who hurt her, and no apologies or gifts or promises would take it back. He did fuck up, he does know that, and he wishes it could have gone differently in dozens of ways, for her sake.
Her words land sharp and stinging, and he tries to swallow them back as his hands retreat over the bar. She's upon him suddenly though, and all that panther grace humming beneath her skin practically rises as she claws his collar into her grasp and hauls him further over the counter. He doesn't resist—he'll take whatever blows help her through this—but surprise streaks across his features. He expected this wouldn't go well, but the intensity of her outrage is more than he ever could have guessed. "Caly—" he starts, but it's quiet with the strain of guilt and it gets swallowed up by her vehement refusal to keep any part of them intact. He didn't think they could be friends, he didn't know that meant they'd immediately be enemies. The shit list he'd groaned about to Flora seems far more real than he'd like now.
He stumbles back onto his weight and his legs as she releases him. His eyes have widened gradually, but they flash now as he ducks, barely avoiding the bottle that smashes apart on the ground behind him. "I never meant to hurt you, Caly!" he doesn't mean to say it, but it wrenches out of him as horror and shock and grief mix into one thundering pulse inside him. So much destruction here that he never meant for, all because he thought the golden girl behind the bar was pretty. "Things change—I didn't lie, I didn't know it would end up, like this." Even as he says it though, it feels awful. He had loved Flora, and he'd tried to use her to bury it, and denied it when she uncovered it for him. That he didn't do that consciously, or with the intent to harm her, doesn't change the outcome.
All the while he's been retreating back to the door, not positive she won't shift and clamber over the bar with literal claws next. "I wish you the best," he says lower, aware that doesn't include him, not anymore. There's no sunshine left between them. He sighs, slipping out the door.
[FIN]
That's always been the problem, he doesn't know her well.
He wanted to change that, once, not very long ago. He couldn't forfeit things that were important to him though, not while he'd still been learning how much she meant to him. He still cares about her, but he doesn't even know if they ever would have been friends, not when it all started with a burn. He doesn't know if they would have lasted, especially beneath the strain of her family's weight. He doesn't know what she even wants, because last they'd talked, it hadn't been him. Nevermind that he guessed wrong once already to her mother too.
There's not much point in arguing. There's no better end to this, only worse ones. She's hurt, and he's the one who hurt her, and no apologies or gifts or promises would take it back. He did fuck up, he does know that, and he wishes it could have gone differently in dozens of ways, for her sake.
Her words land sharp and stinging, and he tries to swallow them back as his hands retreat over the bar. She's upon him suddenly though, and all that panther grace humming beneath her skin practically rises as she claws his collar into her grasp and hauls him further over the counter. He doesn't resist—he'll take whatever blows help her through this—but surprise streaks across his features. He expected this wouldn't go well, but the intensity of her outrage is more than he ever could have guessed. "Caly—" he starts, but it's quiet with the strain of guilt and it gets swallowed up by her vehement refusal to keep any part of them intact. He didn't think they could be friends, he didn't know that meant they'd immediately be enemies. The shit list he'd groaned about to Flora seems far more real than he'd like now.
He stumbles back onto his weight and his legs as she releases him. His eyes have widened gradually, but they flash now as he ducks, barely avoiding the bottle that smashes apart on the ground behind him. "I never meant to hurt you, Caly!" he doesn't mean to say it, but it wrenches out of him as horror and shock and grief mix into one thundering pulse inside him. So much destruction here that he never meant for, all because he thought the golden girl behind the bar was pretty. "Things change—I didn't lie, I didn't know it would end up, like this." Even as he says it though, it feels awful. He had loved Flora, and he'd tried to use her to bury it, and denied it when she uncovered it for him. That he didn't do that consciously, or with the intent to harm her, doesn't change the outcome.
All the while he's been retreating back to the door, not positive she won't shift and clamber over the bar with literal claws next. "I wish you the best," he says lower, aware that doesn't include him, not anymore. There's no sunshine left between them. He sighs, slipping out the door.
[FIN]
Kaisel
I woke up in self-destruction mode—Watch me go, I'ma do it again
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
