[right][h2][color=lavender]Teresa’s Catharsis[/color][/h2][@Tlazolteotl][@silver21][@JJ Doe][/right]

[color=lavender]The place had changed again. Teresa couldn’t recall when or how it had done so, but questioning this place was a fruitless endeavour. She merely settled in her seat, curled her fingers around the glass in front of her and did her best to keep her breaths even.

The dull grey globe was nowhere in sight.

They were seated in a booth now. Worn leather and solid wood. Inlaid glass cut through the floor alongside the booth’s exterior – a privacy line, one of the few cracks in the old-fashioned facade draped over Tipsy Chambers. There was no physical or visible barrier, but the people outside of the booth wouldn’t be able to listen in to anything they spoke of.

It was useful tech. She and Caden had gotten plenty of mileage out of it.

‘[/color][b]I guess what I meant was—how do you know the other person feels the same way? That you’re not just... someone they tolerate.[/b][color=lavender]’

The empty space behind the distant bar ached with the absence of its usual bartender. Teresa traced the rim of her glass.

Whiskey. Neat. Just the way she liked it.

‘[b]You don’t.[/b]’

The words emerged in a near monotone. She took another breath.

‘[b]I could say that it’s the time that they put in. Or the things they go out of their way to do for you. But the truth is, trusting people to be who they are... it’s hard. You think you know a person.[/b]’ A huff of unamused laughter escaped her. She rubbed her mouth. ‘[b]You think you know people. And then a day comes, a perfectly ordinary day, and they flip on a dime, and you’re left wondering what the hell everything was for.[/b]’

These weren’t heroic words. It wasn’t a heroic answer at all. But this was the first time in hours where no one was dying, or being held hostage, or trapped in a mental mindscape, or breaking down, and–and what was she supposed to [i]do[/i] now? There were no answers to be sought here. Not about this place, not about the council, and not about the people she’d trusted with her life.

They’d lied. And Caden had known. And Erised had been right all along about the big fucking joke heroes were.

She took a long sip from her drink.[/color]

[center][color=808080]━━━━━━ ◈ ━━━━━━[/color][/center]
[right][@Tlazolteotl][@silver21][@JJ Doe][@DaftJive][/right]
[hider=In This Catharsis][color=lavender]
[list][*] The environment of Teresa's Castharsis changes again. It was already Tipsy Chambers, but it's somehow become [i]more[/i] like it, in ways that Teresa hadn't noticed it wasn't before. To Teresa, they are now seated in a privacy booth (which is just a regular booth fitted with futuristic tech that can mute their words to outside eavesdroppers lol).
[*] Silas is still able to listen in if he wants to.[/list]
[/color][/hider]