Team Free Will

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As he spoke, he glanced over once or twice, and to his surprise he saw the ice daggers beginning to drip away; her whole visage thawing over as she took the time to truly listen. It was... strange. Just being so honest and forthright for once - and to a stranger no less. But... it was working. The girl who had looked ready to whip a paw across his face earlier, was beginning to see things a little more from where he stood. She even went as far as to sit down, no longer looking like she just wanted an excuse to leave. Cross had grown quiet after he'd spoken, and in that pause he noticed these things through soft, guarded, emerald eyes. Again he wondered idly what sort of a wolf she was. But she was getting ready to speak and he was about to find out.

"-I understand-"

Those had not been the words he was expecting. But what she said made sense. Rather answered his earlier wonderings about her too. But now it seemed he'd made her curious, and as she asked that fateful question, the boy's brows knit together and his gaze fell away. Cross was lost in thought but clearly trying to answer. At first his visage was tinted by the slightest air of confidence and lightheartedness in the face of the past ? but quickly enough that cracked straight through and for a moment what showed instead was the utter terror of widened eyes, a quivering muzzle and flinching ears. But just for a heartbeat ? if Liberty blinked she would miss it. He just went back to his stoic expressions. They were what came naturally. If a little of his pain and sadness and fear showed through in the eyes, he couldn?t help, trying to force bravery just didn?t work.

So he merely told it like it was. Grim eyes were raised, a little hesitantly at first, and the words slowly came out. "I... saw stuff." Well, that was anticlimactic. There was more it just didn't want to come at first. Silence on the subject was all he had known for so long. It had been a coping mechanism of sorts, but now he saw it for it had become. A wall. An obstacle. And he would stand for none of those. He forced himself on after a swallow. "I learned things about-" he hesitated, wondering if she would understand, "-about the outside world... and what's really out there." There was a slight wince as in the same tones he rumbled out, "And I also learned that a wolf can have their eyes ripped out and their neck cut open and still live - for a while at least." Another swallow, this one accompanied by a hard, distasteful look that twisted his muzzle and hardened his eyes.

That had been a bad day.



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