Calan
By the time Calan comes back from the docks, the basket is still tucked carefully against his side, his hands damp from the ice and his face already preparing itself for bad news.
He spots Carlo with Ren and slows before he reaches them, because arriving properly is just as important as leaving properly. His shoulders drop first. Then his mouth pulls down, not too much, because too much sadness looks fake even when it is being done by someone very good at it, and his eyes go wide in the way adults seem to like best when they’re about to decide something is unfortunate but not technically their problem.
Still, Calan is not aiming at an adult this time, his twin and (what looks to him like) a girl.
He gives Carlo a small, pathetic shake of his head, the kind that suggests terrible news, worse luck, and possibly a whole difficult life ahead if someone does not intervene. "The price he offered is so far below market value," he says, carefully miserable. "I don’t know why he’s singling us out like this, but.." Only then does he seem to notice Ren properly, and the sadness on his face shifts at once into something apologetic and small, as if he has accidentally dragged a stranger into a private injustice rather than placed the private injustice directly in front of them on purpose.
"Oh, sorry," Calan says, glancing between Ren and Carlo with his brows lifting in a soft little wince. "I didn’t mean to interrupt."
He spots Carlo with Ren and slows before he reaches them, because arriving properly is just as important as leaving properly. His shoulders drop first. Then his mouth pulls down, not too much, because too much sadness looks fake even when it is being done by someone very good at it, and his eyes go wide in the way adults seem to like best when they’re about to decide something is unfortunate but not technically their problem.
Still, Calan is not aiming at an adult this time, his twin and (what looks to him like) a girl.
He gives Carlo a small, pathetic shake of his head, the kind that suggests terrible news, worse luck, and possibly a whole difficult life ahead if someone does not intervene. "The price he offered is so far below market value," he says, carefully miserable. "I don’t know why he’s singling us out like this, but.." Only then does he seem to notice Ren properly, and the sadness on his face shifts at once into something apologetic and small, as if he has accidentally dragged a stranger into a private injustice rather than placed the private injustice directly in front of them on purpose.
"Oh, sorry," Calan says, glancing between Ren and Carlo with his brows lifting in a soft little wince. "I didn’t mean to interrupt."
you are a victim of the rules you live by
Code stolen from Queen Sky
