tomorrow's gonna be a brighter day

"How could a person...do something so awful?"

For a moment, before Jin's mind caught up with his ears and mouth, he could have sworn that Lora was talking about Malos - single-minded and tunnel-visioned as she could be at times, it wouldn't have been out of place for her thoughts still to have been stuck on the Dark Aegis, even though their overall conversation was meant to confirm that the razed destruction shot across and through what had once been Porton Village was not due to his world-rending powers.

It was telling of her character, and in a good way. Jin would just as easily believe that she really believed Malos to be a person worthy of all the same human considerations, of motive and morality, as he would that she might regard him as a complete and utter monster - the way he did, or usually wanted to, at least, before Lora's over-goodwill influence caught up to him.

And, that was why it hurt all the more when he had to see how unequally she regarded her two bonded companions. It wasn't as if he truly expected her beloved touting of "equal opportunities" to be true all the time, or even once ever, but...it was odd, all the same. For her acting guardian to receive such greater measures of affection and attention - nigh fixation, at times - than the sweet, sweet girl who took after her in absolutely every way, who was practically awakened for the sole purpose of being her transfeminine mirror was...confounding, all in all.

Jin didn't like to dwell on it, however. It was one quite odd thing to be constantly chasing after a chance to be passed over, to not-so-subtly give a push for your own ignoring at every turn, and it was then wholly another to know inside and out why, to be convinced of your purpose when you were doing something otherwise nonsensical. A reason won't make it better. A reason will only torture you more.

It was easy. Too easy. Always was, and hopefully always would be. One moment, Lora was all drabs and drumbles, staring drawn-faced into the fire and likely feeling her way, internally, all the way back to the very days when she'd been in the same exact style of threadbare moccassin shoe as Mikhail, wide-eyed as anything and more lost than all of those, and then the next...

"Anyway. You should rest now. We should be able to meet up with Haze tomorrow."

Her head whipped over, ponytail following in short order, fast as anything. "Ooh, yes!" All smiles. Thinking about Mother, getting hopeful again, eyes crinkling full up with glee...this was the Lora Jin loved. This, exactly, was the precious little girl he'd sworn to protect. Did he mean to infantilize her? Never, not once, don't even think of it. But the childlike joy was adorable, all the same.

She didn't stop smiling until about midway through the next day, when they'd reached the actually bombed-out corner of Feltley, and in that time Jin found himself quite unprepared to match Lora's energy. That was nothing new, of course. She'd always been the sprightly, chipper one. But when Haze wasn't there, well, it was trouble. Any significant change to their core roster usually meant trouble, after all.

"Looks like...Haze isn't here yet." And now things began to drop, drop, drop.

"But why would he do this?" Golden eyes widened and wobbled again, spilling liquid fear and shock, and then the Gargoyle, and then Mythra's Siren blast, and then Addam's troubling, carelessly chosen words...

It was all a wash. Jin swallowed sharp on his own anger, by the time it was over. To be sure, it - the enormity of everything - wasn't half quite over yet, but there was a start. There was Haze, you see, all smiles just the same, and curtseys and blushes and hands hovering near hands.

That one breathless look from Lora as Addam had hailed for Milton had shown everything. Bar none, everything. Never mind the distraction of Addam's status, or Mythra's useless brashery, or a little more nervous stuttering on the idea that royalty was trouble, trouble, trouble, don't you know? Never mind any of it. Because Haze was back, and that was Lora's entire world sorted, really.

"Haze!"

"Oh?" Addam's voice was pleasant, to be sure, but he seemed to be lacking something of his own. "Was she with you?" Brains, perhaps, it was. Wasn't it so plain to see?

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, my lady." Nothing to be sorry about. You're back now, and that's what counts.

Throughout the entire tense conversation after dinner - a further battle with Mythra's dual-edged wits and wagers - Lora fiddled nervously with the braids wrapped around her wrists. She wanted to hold Haze's hand, that much was plain, but Addam certainly wasn't road family yet, if he was ever to be, and so it was still business. Lost "trinkets" and all, yes, indeed, it was business.

Still, once Driver and Aegis had both stepped away, and Milton and Mikhail were busy occupying each other, whether in ways one-sided or not, they found the time that they so desperately needed - enough was enough, and that was only a minute or two.

"I really did miss you, Haze."

"Oh, and I you, my lady."

And then soft hand cupped softer cheek, one certainly more free of calluses than the other, and perhaps they kissed, only briefly, but then Lora's fingers became distracted again, and she turned back to ask Jin about their planned new campaign, and his opinion thereof.

Ah. So this was to be how it was. Always something. Before the inane conversation swallowed him up, Jin made eye contact with Haze, a silent plea for their usual quick conversation right after Lora had fallen asleep, and though a slight frown shaped the other Blade's lips, chasing the ghost of the kiss as she was, her chin dipped minute acknowledgement.

"She really didn't...want to talk to me for all that long," Haze offered when the moment had come, like it was an observation at only the most surface of levels, and like she didn't really know or care any further about it.

"Really," Jin replied, a flat not-so-inquisitive question. She knew he could see right through her, but he didn't begrudge her the games at all. They all played them. It was somewhat of a human inevitability.

"You don't think so?" So the wind could chill, sometimes, on its own. She wasn't mad at Jin, or even irritated with Lora, so much as just...disappointed. It was a disappointing thing. All the time they had was together, except when they were separated, and to come back and not have that borne out in any grander way stung.

How could a person do something so awful? Blatantly misappropriate the attentions and intentions of their own Blades, all the time, without thinking? But that wasn't what Lora was doing. Life just had its way of mucking things up, like Upa's lights somehow still lost in a murky pond.

Words only go so far, but they have to go at least once, have to be given to make the thought count.

"She was very excited when she remembered how soon she'd get to see you, you know."

"Really?!" Ah, again. There it was. So easy. Just as it had been with Lora. One piece was all it took, sometimes. And thank the Architect for it.

Then, Haze toned herself down, deepened her voice (to match Lady Lora's, in fact!) - all for appearance's sake, and really, with the company they were currently keeping, was it even necessary? The answer was no, but let her have her petty embarrassment, won't you? After all, girls will be girls.

To wit: "Really?"

And thus, said one Truth Blade to the other: "Would I lie to you?"