you're falling further down
Aurelia's expression sours, completely and utterly unamused by his coping mechanism of choice. It's probably better for him that he can't, and that he has to face all of these things. "The sooner you face it, the better," she remarks darkly without glancing at him, "Trust me, I know from experience."Even then, she's still panged by her losses. Even years down the road, they haunt her. All of them were tragic in some way, shape, or form. All of them out of her control. Nothing she could've done would have saved them. Add Sunjata to that seemingly never-ending list and it hurts all the worse. So her expression softens in understanding, empathy, and guilt all at once. Her words were hypocritical and unhelpful, and she knows it because... it doesn't work for her, either.
In further silence, she works, until she catches her palm between the bite of metal and lets out a fierce curse. She glares up at him, at the snideness of his question, and huffs. "Nothing! Just leave it to me to make everything worse! I can't save people, I can't say anything to make you feel better, and I can't even-" she stands up "-fucking-" her boot kicks against the metal, sending it toppling "MAKE A GOD DAMN ANCHOR!"
She stands there in the sand for a moment, awkwardly letting her anger dissipate and feeling rather stupid for it. Her chin lifts up towards Nate and her brows press together. Slowly, she shakes her head, feeling tears gather in her eyes that she'll never let fall - not if she can help it. "Nothing will make this better, Nate," she scoffs, disheartened, "and yet we're expected to just..." she stiffens, "move on..."
So she does, kneeling back down to continue working on the anchors. Even if she feels like she might break completely down at any second.
but I've got you by a thread
Aurelia
code credits go to Skylark!<3
