Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-24416658-20140311004142/@comment-24487330-20140626133747

Camo blinked.

...And that's all the response he could muster.

Honestly, things were going from bad to weird all at once, and he was having a hard time wrapping his head around them. First he managed to get both himself and Al all moody, which was uncharacteristic on both counts. Then, he'd seemingly convinced Nikolai to hire Al, which he'd previously considered a potential hazard at the very least, and as his subordinate, no less. And now, his teammate was expressing sympathy to his financial plight, despite having just admitted to having problems of his own to deal with.

It was only when he mentioned Tanner's advice that he snapped out of his funk. "Friends" again...That was the fourth (or was it fifth?) time one of his teammates had bothered to use that word in reference to the archer. The first few times made it sound like an undeserved assumption, but in the light of the current situation, it almost sounded genuine. It made sense in a way, given how they had just discovered a commonality in their personal struggles, tenuous though it might have been. Maybe Talen was right: maybe it was worth opening up, even just a little, to let these people become more than simply allies.

There may have been enough of a pause to allow Nikolai to respond to Al's offer, but if not, he'll argue, "Let's figure that out on our own time. It'd be too many hoops to jump through at the business level, I'm sure." A grim smirk will cross his face as he snarks, "Besides, I think you'll need the money to pay for the damages to those automated defenses." Typical Camo.

Then, to bring the tension back down a notch, he'll finish, "But thanks for the offer. It's not something you'd say on a whim; there's sincere intent behind it, and I respect that."