[SE] the best of a bad deal

Why you got it in for me?
Is it cause I bring it to your knees?

"...so I said he was being dumb, and I haven't heard from him since!"

Noe huffed dramatically as she strolled into Trinity Temple alongside her brother. Sunlight streamed in through the beautiful stained glass windows, casting multicolored swathes of light upon the tiled floors. The girl paused on the threshold, admiring the sweeping arches and high ceilings, just as she always had. Architecture had always been something she had a keen eye for, and this cathedral was certainly amongst the most stunning that the region had to offer.

Shaking off her awe, Noe's dark gaze cut to Koa. She'd been regaling him with the story of Jude's last letter to her, in which her so-called best friend had shared he wouldn't be returning to Stormbreak any time soon. Furious and hurt - particularly after everything that had happened with the Family - the girl had done what she always had: turned to her brother for support and guidance. "Did I, like... do anything while I was infected? I mean, I thought I was totally normal, but maybe I said something, or..." She shrugged, at a loss. Maybe it wasn't about her, but that didn't help the sting of Jude's silence.

Throw water on electricity just to see
If the spark'll make us feel the way we used to feel

Noe

Koa

It had taken all of Koa's self control to keep from saying something snarky as Noe recounted her tale, his hands fisting in his pockets as his already damaged opinion of Jude sank down like a stone. For months he's managed not to think about the singer, or at least not often: distracted by far bigger, more real issues, he hadn't had the energy or inclination to sort out his feelings toward the boy. As far as Koa was concerned his disappearance had been a blessing.

But now he's back, or his ghost at least, and Koa can feel his anger stirring from cooling embers into hot coals. Heat glints in his eyes as he focuses on a distant window, one depicting an image of Ludo underneath a red-leafed tree. The light breaking through makes the foliage burn as bright as fire, an apt reflection of Koa's emotions as he clenches and unclenches his jaw. "You didn't do anything wrong," he's quick to supply, a much easier thing to talk about than his feelings regarding Jude. "I promise, okay? Aside from being more bubbly than usual. and really anti-hotsprings." He even manages to turn a reassuring smile Noe's, lifting up his finger to boop her nose.

"Jude, on the other hand..." He looks away, biting his lip and shaking his head. It was one thing for the kid to come and blast his hurt at Koa, but fuck with his sister, to make her feel responsible for his codependent bullshit? "I have a lot of thoughts about. Very few of them positive." It's rare for Koa to be properly livid with someone, but when he loathes he loathes for keeps.

then you come crashing in, like the realest thing

Why you got it in for me?
Is it cause I bring it to your knees?

Koa’s reassurance was a balm to Noe’s wounded soul, and she scrunched her nose in response to her brother’s boop against her nose. Then she pressed a hand against her chest, sighing with a dramatic flair. ”As if I could be any more bubbly than usual,” she chastised the dragoon. ”Please.” At Koa’s opinion of Jude, however, the girl glanced sidelong at her brother. It had been Koa’s idea for Jude to come stay with them once upon a time. To hear that the singer had fallen so low in her brother’s esteem was… surprising.

And, honestly? In this particular instance, Noe couldn’t really blame him. Jude hadn’t ghosted her, exactly, but he’d left her with nothing more than a letter and a whole lot of questions. She was properly furious with him, and all that hurt had hardened into a ball of ice in her chest that she wasn’t sure would ever fully thaw. Any possible excuse that she could think of for her best friend was shoddy and pitiful - and at some point, she’d stopped trying to think of new ones. Instead, she sighed softly, looping an arm through Koa’s and leaning her head on his shoulder. ”At least I still have you.”

Throw water on electricity just to see
If the spark'll make us feel the way we used to feel

Noe