[i][/i][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/cQ1NPja.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/jttTmEk.png[/img]
[sup][sup]And [color=6D4833]Latoya[/color][/sup][/sup][/center][right][b][code]Spanksgiving.[/code][/b][/right][right][b]Interactions: Paloma ([@Atrophy]), and the other ppl ion feel like tagging them rn)[/b][/right][hr][hr]

The noise persisted. It became thinner. Forks clattered. A plate slipped from someone’s grasp and shattered on the floor. Mashed potatoes hit the ground with a wet splat somewhere behind her. Chairs scraped, then stopped. Voices cut off mid-word, mid-laugh, mid-[i]breath[/i].

Not the room froze.

But the people.

Destiny sensed it instantly, something heavy pressing down on everyone except [i]her.[/i] The Blind went slack, frozen like puppets with cut strings, eyes open and unfocused. Gravity persisted. Food continued falling. Sound leaked out in uneven, ugly fragments.

Her pulse accelerated.

Her focus sharpened.

Her gaze drifted[s] (unwillingly)[/s] to Latoya.

[i]Nothing.[/i]

No tension. No shift. No sudden alertness.

Latoya was exactly the same as a second ago, like the sudden stillness around them was a minor inconvenience. Like this wasn’t something [i]worth[/i] reacting to.

That made Destiny’s skin [i]crawl.[/i]

Her thoughts stalled, echoing her earlier telepathy misfire. The wrongness of Latoya’s mind, ungraspable not because it was blocked but because it simply wasn’t [i]comprehensible[/i]. Looking at her now, Destiny felt the same vertigo.

This wasn’t someone preparing for power.

[i]This was someone used to it.[/i]

She quickly looked away, heart pounding.

And then [i]Paloma.[/i]

Arm out. Expression set. Completely comfortable amidst the chaos.

Nice. Warm. Funny. And now—decisive. Absolute.

Destiny felt a quietness in her chest.

This was the essence of what she’d meant earlier. The unspoken truth.

Not that kindness was fake.

That it could change.

It could fill a room and then suddenly lock it down without warning. That it didn’t need permission before turning dangerous.

Her shoulders tensed slightly.

She didn’t accuse. Didn’t speak. Didn’t show fear.

She simply stopped seeing Paloma as safe.

And as the Blind remained frozen, their food dripping, gravity indifferent, the world partly frozen, the decision was made in Destiny’s mind, unspoken.

Vin was dangerous but straightforward.

Latoya was beyond her understanding.

And Paloma—

Paloma would never earn her trust again.