3 hours ago
“Hey,” Hallowette murmured softly. "Hey Mara… Yeah… I think you’re right.”
The sotto voce words were the reassurance that Mara needed, that she’d done a good thing. She gave the gentlest of squeezes as the two parted.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” the Tactical officer added with bright eyes.
Calleja found herself lost for words, not trusting her voice to hold, and she managed to tilt her head in acknowledgment before retreating to her perch on the bench.
As she watched everyone else interact, Mara felt herself starting to well up, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She wasn’t used to these emotions and didn’t really have a reference point on how to handle them. She’d known for a long time that the whole Bandaran ‘bottle it up and keep it there’ approach was the absolute opposite of the correct thing to do, but it was the only one she knew. Spending so much of her career holding back and refusing to engage with the rest of her crew really hadn’t helped either.
The Security Chief snatched up the bowl of pasta salad and started to shovel it into her mouth, trying to literally bite down on the phantom pain at the back of her throat. She wiped her eyes with the back of her fork hand and watched on, the mercurial officer suddenly quiet as she watched on.
The sotto voce words were the reassurance that Mara needed, that she’d done a good thing. She gave the gentlest of squeezes as the two parted.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” the Tactical officer added with bright eyes.
Calleja found herself lost for words, not trusting her voice to hold, and she managed to tilt her head in acknowledgment before retreating to her perch on the bench.
As she watched everyone else interact, Mara felt herself starting to well up, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She wasn’t used to these emotions and didn’t really have a reference point on how to handle them. She’d known for a long time that the whole Bandaran ‘bottle it up and keep it there’ approach was the absolute opposite of the correct thing to do, but it was the only one she knew. Spending so much of her career holding back and refusing to engage with the rest of her crew really hadn’t helped either.
The Security Chief snatched up the bowl of pasta salad and started to shovel it into her mouth, trying to literally bite down on the phantom pain at the back of her throat. She wiped her eyes with the back of her fork hand and watched on, the mercurial officer suddenly quiet as she watched on.