school: beau

[shaft]

Comments

[disreguarded]

[she shifts, so that she's sitting in front of him rather than to his side, and takes his face in her hand. gently, just lifting his chin so he's looking at her.]

There's no fucking thing as destiny. [Hate that fortune shit.] But if there were - if there were such a thing as fate and destiny, fatal flaws aren't a thing. You stumble into things, and you do the best you can with them. It's not a fucking failing from within, it's what you have to work with.

And if nobody gives you anything your whole fucking life, if you have to claw for what you've got, and you manage to keep any of it at all, that's a victory.

[she drops her hand, but she keeps her gaze on him.] You aren't destined for failure. You haven't seen all the angles, you've only seen two, maybe three. That's not enough to make a theory out of.

[shaft]

[ He just looks at her for a moment, surprised and... a little troubled. Because he believes everything that she's say, and he's never put much stock in fate or will of the gods, approached things rationally and carefully. Characteristics that had been central to him for so long.

But even now he's struggling to believe it. He's knows it's true, but falls just short of actually believing it. ]

Yeah. [ He'll keep saying it though. Taking these words for himself. ] Is this how you always get back up?

[disreguarded]

[she nods.]

Yeah. It is. [firmly.] It's not always easy to believe, and sometimes I falter with it. But - my friends were the ones that gave me that mindset.

So. [Let me be that friend for you. just for now. until he can believe it himself.]

[shaft]

[ He huffs a little sigh, and smiles. You're more than I could ask for. ]

Thanks. Thanks, I... [ He hesitates a moment, suddenly shy. ] I'm glad to have a friend.

[disreguarded]

[she smiles at him in return, easy enough.]

Don't gotta thank me. But - you're welcome anyway. [there's just a little flicker of a thought, an image of a pile of people breathing slow and easy. friends. Friend.]

[shaft]

[ He's going to... just slump forward onto her shoulder, breathing slowly.

That image is nice, sparking a bit of hope in his chest. A reminder that bonds heal as much as they hurt. ]

If we ever get out of here, I might actually miss you, Beauregard.

[disreguarded]

[that makes her laugh, actually, even as she's bringing her hand up to rest against the back of his head.]

Might? Asshole. [but it's affectionate, and she's teasing.] Move to Winter at the last second so you can come see me when we win.

[this is also a joke. she absently pets at his hair.]

[shaft]

Recruiting? Even now?

[ He also sounds amused. A good sign. ]

I could never Annie down though. I'm going down with that ship.

[disreguarded]

You say, after hopping ship from Hugo. [tease, tease.]

Nah. Stay with Annie. She's good people. Deserves better.

[shaft]

She really does.

[ He smiles softly before giving Beau an amused look. ]

Maybe when you win you can include us in your prize.

[disreguarded]

[a little smile of her own, here.]

Hey, I still have to figure out something to use my wish on.

[shaft]

Do you have too few options or too many?

[disreguarded]

Too few.

I was gonna use it to bring Molly back, but I think he's got that covered. [...] There's other stuff at home that I could use it on, but. I kind of want to make it happen myself. I don't want some magic wish to do it.

[shaft]

[ He nods, he can understand that. ]

Not interested in the usual draw of power and riches, I guess. [ He lifts his head, looking around. ] My primary desire is to make sure this never happens again.

[disreguarded]

Pretty noble of you. [she's teasing a bit again.]

... No, me too. But I think we can do that. I think we can manage that much, wish or no wish.

[shaft]

Same here. [ He smiles a little, amused. ] If nothing else, I have faith in our ability to just snap and destroy this destroy entirely.

But hope our solution will be a little more calculated.