08-31-2014, 02:39 PM
Ekene grimaced, almost hissed, as Danjou took his hand. His expression was akin to a snake ready to shoot venom, but Natalie saw the abject horror behind it. Tears glazed across eyes expectant of punishment and pain; he sat very still, staring. Not fighting the vice of trust, but utterly terrified of it. Jacques Danjou was the first to show voluntary interest in the injury, to wield the firm sort of kindness a lost child might learn to find comfort in. Another tiny step in a new direction. When his hand was returned Ekene cradled it carefully, eyes wide, lips sealed.
Danjou's explanation did not entirely soothe Natalie. But why? He said himself there would be no financial gain in such support, and she couldn't bring herself to truly absorb the validity of any other benefit in the eyes of a business man. Thus the question of motivation still beat like a pulse in her temples, its burn carefully excluded from the neutrality of her expression. He was an anomaly. The solemnity of his words was haunting, the passion irrefutable, but the vision painfully naïve. If she agreed with the sentiments, she saw no vision of their actualisation. And he overestimated her reasons for being here. She was not armoured in the same unshakable faith as Jacques Danjou. Neither so pure nor so hopeful. Yet she would stay, and she would help.
"A Wallet isn't necessary. Nothing so high-spec, just something able to make calls."
Hooked up to the office computer she still had access to her Wallet's contacts, but she did not intend to remain tethered to the embassy in order to do so. A wry smirk touched her lips at the misunderstanding: a Northbrook daughter she might be, but not quite so spoilt in mentality. Denied the advantage she would make do, but there were people she could lean on to aid the work here. If she had ready access to them. Of Masiaka she only nodded. Natalie had not believed otherwise. Rather, she had mentioned it to provide Ekene a touchstone. A promise that could gild his horizon, at least until he grew more comfortable amongst the legionnaires. She would take him home, when she was able. If he still wished to.
Ekene's eyes drifted over in hesitant question as his immediate future began to take firmer shape, as it slowly began to sink in how this treacherous journey, begun in a bloody dawn, was not yet over. It trembled over his expression, but though she could see he wished to, he refused to cry where he could be seen. Instead his chin dipped to his chest to shield his dignity, but it only made him look small and broken. Eventually he dragged the back of his arm over his face, still pointed resolutely downwards. "I'm sorry. I'm sorryI'msorry."
His breath caught, silence descended.
Danjou's explanation did not entirely soothe Natalie. But why? He said himself there would be no financial gain in such support, and she couldn't bring herself to truly absorb the validity of any other benefit in the eyes of a business man. Thus the question of motivation still beat like a pulse in her temples, its burn carefully excluded from the neutrality of her expression. He was an anomaly. The solemnity of his words was haunting, the passion irrefutable, but the vision painfully naïve. If she agreed with the sentiments, she saw no vision of their actualisation. And he overestimated her reasons for being here. She was not armoured in the same unshakable faith as Jacques Danjou. Neither so pure nor so hopeful. Yet she would stay, and she would help.
"A Wallet isn't necessary. Nothing so high-spec, just something able to make calls."
Hooked up to the office computer she still had access to her Wallet's contacts, but she did not intend to remain tethered to the embassy in order to do so. A wry smirk touched her lips at the misunderstanding: a Northbrook daughter she might be, but not quite so spoilt in mentality. Denied the advantage she would make do, but there were people she could lean on to aid the work here. If she had ready access to them. Of Masiaka she only nodded. Natalie had not believed otherwise. Rather, she had mentioned it to provide Ekene a touchstone. A promise that could gild his horizon, at least until he grew more comfortable amongst the legionnaires. She would take him home, when she was able. If he still wished to.
Ekene's eyes drifted over in hesitant question as his immediate future began to take firmer shape, as it slowly began to sink in how this treacherous journey, begun in a bloody dawn, was not yet over. It trembled over his expression, but though she could see he wished to, he refused to cry where he could be seen. Instead his chin dipped to his chest to shield his dignity, but it only made him look small and broken. Eventually he dragged the back of his arm over his face, still pointed resolutely downwards. "I'm sorry. I'm sorryI'msorry."
His breath caught, silence descended.