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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=dc143c][b]Location:[/b][/color] City Streets -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
[hr]A whirlwind kicked up in Graves’ chest as he watched Seele approach him. There was an easy confidence to the way the woman walked, as if her friends hadn’t just been trying to kill each other a couple minutes ago. It was bizarre to see her smiling like that- like all this was no big deal. It made him angry, confused. If she had an ounce of sense beneath all that empathy she’d leave him in the dirt to rot. But that wasn’t the kind of person she was.

The ghost of a smile possessed Graves’ pale lips. The wind in his chest rose up to his throat, clinging there like a welt. Graves was surprised to find he could talk at all. [color=dc143c]“Stay the hell away from me,”[/color] he hold her, as casually as if he was chatting about the weather. The storm brought with it a clarity he had never known before. It was like he was standing in the eye of a hurricane and saw some profound truth hanging in the sky above him.

[color=dc143c][i]‘I tried to kill you, dumbass. Learn a little self-preservation and walk away.’[/i][/color] The words stopped just at the top of his tongue, his eyes tracking over the guards that still stood around them. Graves had no intent of being dragged off to jail right after Seele had bailed him out. It would’ve made her life more complicated than it needed to be.

[color=dc143c]”Better off on my own. This working was always a long shot. No need to get teary-eyed about it. Good luck, n’ tell Rael…tell her she was right.”[/color] Graves pushed himself off the ground and turned, walking away.
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