Private Mirror Image

[Zaavik Perl]

Bedsprings croaked as Zaavik sat up reflexively. Initially he'd expected the fall to be much harder than it was. It seemed more like a collapse, especially when the sobbing followed. Nostrils flared, jaw clenching as he turned his face away to hide the expression. He always hated it when people cried. It always induced a deep rancor that had been molded into him at a young age. His adopters looked down on those displays, plating an aversion with him that stuck even into his adult years.

Quick mental reflex kept his involuntarily disgust hidden from any empathic sense. He knew it was an unfair way to feel, but nevertheless it was hard to help. Defiant to his instincts, he slid down off the side of the bed and onto the floor, walked on his knees a few steps and settled to sit on the floor beside her. Hesitantly, one arm wrapped from behind.

No words, only an ill at ease effort to comfort. He bit his tongue, a tourniquet that held back a groan. At the very least, he was trying.

 

[Darth Daiara]

In the years he had known her, there had only been one other time he had seen her like this. Aradia had never been one for emotions beyond anger, yet here they both sat wrapped in the loud silence of her tears. How did a midnight spat compare to a mental break at war?

It didn't.

Perhaps it was the alcohol, perhaps it was the fight. Perhaps it was the confessions, the vulnerabilities, her fears.

Perhaps she was pmsing that day.

Sometimes messes had no cause. For a pair of child soldiers whose bodies had been sold to a cause, they made it out alright, but there was a past they were running from...

And it was catching up.