Taciturn

[Kana Truden]

[member="Aver Brand"]

Air burst her lips into another grin.

“I wasn’t faking a broken leg.” No mention or indication at how she felt about the second accusation though. “And yeah, maybe next times drinks are on me. Provided that there is a next time.”

There was always a next time. Kana was well aware of that.

“Until then, I will remain where I am, and you will be wherever — or even, whoever — you are.”

Kana looked at the nearby hospital sign. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get herself checked, just in case, but what was the point? She was a healer, and if she just got herself back home there was both cheaper and more efficient healthcare at hand. She shook her head and looked back at [member="Aver Brand"].

“Just, try not to get yourself killed, yeah?” The healer’s grin turned into a smirk. “Maybe one day we’ll get this chit sorted out and get on with either life.”

 

[Aver Brand]

[member="Kana Truden"]

Relief wasn’t the right word, but she’d never been good with those.

So, relief – at the fact that standing over something broken no longer filled her with disgust; that she no longer felt the urge to snuff it out beneath her boot.

It wasn’t compassion, though. An eagerness, perhaps – to see the weak take power back with their own hands and fight for it, bloody, until they made it their own.

Aver blinked, straightening her shoulders.

“Yeah.” She offered a gauntleted hand to Kana, making little ceremony of the exchange. It was what it was, for better or worse. They were who they were, too.

“Maybe one day.”

But it was alright – who they were could change.

 

[Kana Truden]

[member="Aver Brand"]

They were who they were, and who they were would change the moment Kana would grab that hand. A single second passed before she reached for it, but inside it was something similar to a short lifetime. Not because the handshake meant a whole lot. It did, but most of it was empty gestures. The last time that Kana and this woman had separated it was under terms that were perhaps left muddied by the passage of time at best. No name, no actual goodbyes either; goodbyes were saved for friends, and back then there was really no telling what it was. Physical, for sure, but what was it beyond that?

She read too deep into it whenever the thought crossed her mind, so she tried not to. Their hands grasped at each other, shaked once and then let go to allow the other a moment of peace to just… Leave.

Was it that simple?

Yeah it was, sometimes.

The doctor turned on her heel and looked back towards the scene where she had fought her newfound friend. Or enemy. Frenemy. Things just kept getting more and more blurred. Lines disappeared that neither of them really cared about at this point.

Something told Kana that it would be a while until they met again.

They’d both be different then.