Malta

[peace_inthe_violence]

This is a fairy tale of blood and bullets
It is the story of three men and three women and a small island between Italy and Africa.
This is a story about tragedy and pain, about healing and hope, but mostly it is about
love.

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[transfuge]

And when it did sink in they would be there for her. Booker would do everything he could to keep her from making his mistake. He wouldn't wish that pain on anyone even his worst enemy.

The point, though, was to let her talk. He didn't quite understand the important of updating a dress code but that didn't matter. It was matter to her brother and he had kept going until he won. Nile was proud, as well. The story mattered to her.

"What we do doesn't always feel like changing the world but we help. If you see something you want to get involved in you can bring it to the group. It's rare we've said no to each other." Booker couldn't remember a time when they had.

[notariver]

It had been so that the girls were allowed to wear pants instead of just skirts, because the school had once had a uniform policy, but had changed parts of that, but not all of it, apparently.

She nodded at the offer, "I'll keep it in mind." There was a narrow smile that followed, and an arched brow, "But that was also a warning, you all should know better than to try and tell me anything's just the way it is. You'd better be prepared with a damn good explanation, or be prepared for a fight."

Which was undoubtedly something they'd already figured out before she'd had things thrown forcibly into perspective, but she felt it needed to be made clear anyway.

[transfuge]

"Gravity." Booker paused a moment to let the word sink in. "That's just the way it is."

His sense of humor was rather warped but at least it wasn't one of his more morbid jokes. The other way it tended to shift was towards dark and grim. It was much better she got a dad joke instead.

"If you don't want to do something we choose you can sit that out as well. It's been rare over the years but we've done it. I spent most of World War 2 in Paris while the others were all over Europe."

He had started with them and helped liberate a few of the early concentration camps but when Paris fell... he was gone.

[notariver]

That first statement did get a little flicker of a smile, already more at ease than she had been when he'd first emerged from the house, and the explanation that followed had her lifting both brows a little, "Yeah? That's... that's good to know." She'd thought it might be the case, but hadn't yet asked, and considering what she was used to, it would be a pleasant change.

She scratched the back of her neck with one hand then, squinting skyward briefly, "You know, I read a book on anti-gravity once." The barest pause before she shook her head, expression still thoughtful, not giving the joke away even if he knew what was coming, "Literally couldn't put it down."

[transfuge]

Booker barked out a surprised laugh. He hadn't expected she would come back with her own bad joke. Nile hadn't struck him as the type but he had only seen her alley cat mad and calculating really. This side of her was entirely new and it was good to see it coming out. She must be getting more comfortable.

"You know, you're a good kid," he said with a small genuine smile. "You're gonna be great for the team."

And he really felt that.

[notariver]

She was definitely finding her equilibrium again, and trading a bad joke for a bad joke was a good start there. It wasn't something she really made a habit of, but it wasn't like she'd just been going to let that opportunity sail by, either.

She also decided that she liked the fact that she'd actually gotten a smile, one she'd seen the edges and angles of when he was interacting with the others, but it was different when it was more or less at her instead.

"I was going to argue about being called 'kid', because usually I'm a fine young lady, but I guess in comparison, I'm definitely a kid. So I'll take it."

[transfuge]

"I won't use the term often." Booker didn't want her to feel insulted by the term. He meant it more as a teasing nickname not an actual comment on her age. She didn't like it so he would save it for when he absolutely needed to tease her.

He got up and slid his flask into his back pocket. "I guess I'll leave you to your gardening since you've figured out a lot of this."

Like not going back to her family and that they weren't out to hurt her. Booker felt she'd get through those first rocky weeks a lot better than he did.