[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/210131/53a200cc81a754fbfea32363291eca9d.png[/img][/center][indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=92278f][b]Location:[/b][/color]The City of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
[hr]Seele recoiled. Graves’ words weren’t spoken particularly harshly, and really, there didn’t seem to be an ounce of aggression left in him. She thought maybe she’d even seen him smile, barely, just for a moment, before he got up and started to walk away. Nevertheless a knot wound itself up in her gut, tight like she’d been kicked in the stomach, and she just stayed knelt there, watching him walk off. 

Just like during the fight, she found herself doubting. [i][color=92278f]He doesn’t mean it. He wouldn’t actually hit you. We’re a team, we work together. He’ll turn around. He’ll come back.[/color][/i]
[color=#2E2C2C][i]…you don’t get it, Missy…[/i][/color]
No. He wouldn’t. 

That familiar frustration bubbled up within her, and this time she let it—just a bit, just enough to get her up on her feet and marching after him. She closed the distance speedily, stamped down any sprouts of genuine anger that might have started to blossom, and rounded up in front of him. 

“[color=92278f]You’re lying,[/color]” she snapped. Oop, still a little too aggressive. She took a sharp breath in through her nose, sighed it out quick. Now, with less heartbeat in her ears, she tried again, much more tempered. “[color=92278f]You’re lying. No one, and I mean [i]no one[/i] is better off on their own. If you leave now, and you stick to yourself, you’ll get hurt, or worse, and you [i]know it[/i].[/color]”

She frowned, searching him in glances because she knew she might not have long. There was plenty to recognize, guilt in every twitch, soaking every word like the blood of a martyr. This side of him frightened her so much more than the attack. Rage was blind, but it could be directed. Despair was directionless. 
[color=#2E2C2C][i]…I wish you did, though…[/i][/color]
“[color=92278f]You’re lying,[/color]” she repeated, shaking her head. “[color=92278f]To me, to them, and to yourself with this…this lone wolf act. It’s not what anyone wants, it’s not what [i]you[/i] want, I can’t believe it is. I won’t. You’re not some kind of curse, Graves. You’re not dangerous. You’re our friend. You’re [i]my[/i] friend, and I’m not losing you.[/color]”[/indent][/indent][/indent]