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

[color=lavender]The server came by to top up her whiskey. Blond hair, lanky frame – it was the same young man who’d greeted her when she’d first been pulled into this strange place. He kept his carefree smile, but his eyes told another story as he poured her drink. He disapproved. 

Teresa’s response to that was to raise her glass and take a long sip. He left without another word.

Neither Jay nor Sirpa seemed overly disturbed at her blunt admission. Which was... well, it wasn’t good – nothing about this, about disregarding every protocol the Council had drilled into her, was [i]good[/i] – but it was better than having to deal with civilians who bought the candy-coated perception that heroes could be who they were without any risk involved. They [i]literally[/i] fought people who made it their life’s work to kill and hurt people on a daily basis; the number of people who thought death wasn’t a part of the equation was frankly astounding.

Teresa put her drink down. 

‘[b]He didn’t know it was me. And by the time I realised who he was, it didn’t matter anymore.[/b]’ A faint smile tugged at her lips. ‘[b]We have our differences, but we share the same goal. He–[/b]’

[i]He has my back[/i], was what she would’ve said, if the words didn’t catch in her throat.

She trusted Caden. She [i]did[/i]. But he’d known about the truth behind the Council and he hadn’t said a word. Had he thought she’d known? Did he think she wouldn’t have believed him if she hadn’t?

[i]Or maybe[/i], she thought, [i]I was the fool to have followed the Council without question.[/i]

Whichever it was, it was a fruitless mental exercise without Caden himself present to give her his answers.

‘[b]I trust him[/b],’ she said instead. ‘[b]I trust him because he chooses to be more than the role society forced him into.[/b]’ She traced the rim of her glass with a thumb. ‘[b]Actions over words, I suppose. That’s what worked for me.[/b]’[/color]