This was one of those awkward situations where Inès, in a display almost uncharacteristic of her, didn’t know what to do. She knew [i]why[/i] everything was why it was, and yet, Inès knew there wasn’t anything she could say now. Freya said it herself, that it was, [color=FF0202]“Best not talk about it, if you ask me.”[/color]. That slight smile, that broken face, how she tried to smile like she meant it, pretending everything was okay. 

Inès wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t have issues. But neither of them knew what to do about them.

She took Freya’s offer for a handshake with more of a soft, splayed grip, more like the two were holding hands than shaking them. The two crept closer to one another, Freya whispering hints of advice into Inès’ ear, received by a woman who, herself, was a micron fracture away from staring into an azure oblivion. Inès hated it. She knew exactly what to do whenever she was fighting. She had fought her whole life, after all. Life was parallel to hell and a war changed none of that. But fighting someone in front of you and fighting some[i]thing[/i] in you were two different things. Sometimes, you didn’t know what you were fighting, and when you did, you weren’t sure what to move. It was very much a sense of fighting yourself, for who knew how to counter one’s maneuvers better than the very same person fighting? Now there were [i]four[/i] people she’d have to learn how to fight their inner battles against. 

Why did [i]she[/i] have to be the one with a conscience? Why couldn’t she just ignore it and only give a damn about herself? 

Slightly tilted, her head eked back in turn to Freya. Her hushed tone was almost indiscernible from her regular pitch, thanks to the naturally smooth diction that was a Francian accent.

[color=4682b4]“You’re pretty important too, you know.”[/color] Inès responded, almost sighing as she did so. Her gaze goes out, peering upon her comrades deeply, as if looking out from above upon them. [color=4682b4]“It is...it’s like people do not know how to be themselves anymore, like it’s not alright to be yourself. It’s like there is this notion that if we ever feel like telling anyone what we’re actually like, nobody will believe us, or that they won’t really understand. And...it’s just…”[/color]

The Darcsen huffed in frustration, as her brow furrowed in either anger or disappointment. Taking a deep breath in, the shocktrooper closed her eyes for a brief moment, and as her head turned to Freya, Inès’ azure eyes seemed saddened, but calm, like the final acceptance of passing.

[color=4682b4]“I don’t know. But it’s not like we can just all pretend like things are okay. We’re just...we don’t want to show what we’re really like. It’s like we are afraid to be human, but we don’t want to stop being human. We’re afraid to live, and we’re afraid to die. And we can’t spend our lives waiting to live.”[/color]

Slightly, her head shook. Not a full shake, but more of a half-shake, stopping as she got to one side, like she stopped what she was doing. Relegating herself to her position, Inès turns back to the crowd, still addressing Freya.

[color=4682b4]“...i’ll...check on him soon.”[/color] She promised Freya, [color=4682b4]“I think some time to...just...take a break from this will be good for all of us.”[/color]

She wasn’t going to break that promise, of course, but there was only one Inès, and there were a lot of people, and she knew she couldn’t take care of everyone, especially if she herself wasn’t taken care of. Making mental note to check on Jean soon, she opted toward that other Darcsen around. [color=4682b4][i]“Franz, I think…? Yeah, Franz.”[/i][/color]

The [color=F52713]Silverhead[/color] was already right by him, but what was one more to him? She nodded off to Freya just once, then made her way over to the other Darcsen. By the looks of it, he’d been through a lot; Like they all had, but distinctly difficult to say whether he had it better or worse. Finally over there, she aske-

[color=4682b4][i]Dammit.[/i][/color]

[color=F62713]“Franz, are you alright?”[/color]

Well, maybe she’d take just a backseat for a bit. Show she cared.

[@LetMeDoStuff] [@FalloutJack] [@CFProxy]