[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— Colt was panicking - there was no other way about it.
In the matter of a few hours, everything had come crashing down around him. All it had taken was Xavier's presence to screw things up. The intricate web of lies he'd been telling was being torn to shreds, held together by just a few strings. If he didn't do something - and fast - then it would all be over. He would be cast out from Flintlock and the Ring, a traitor to both - alone. Or dead, if Xavier managed to get to him. Still, what could he do? If he told Eddie - or anyone - about Xavier's true identity, then his integrity would be questioned, and the truth would surely come out. But if he didn't tell anyone, then Xavier would kill Eddie and reveal the truth.
There was only one option; he had to deal with Xavier himself, quickly and quietly. That wasn't going to be an easy task - the guy was twice his size, an exceptionally skilled assassin, and the only merc that Colt had never been able to beat at hand-to-hand during his training. Still, he had no other choice. This was the only way for him to keep up his fictional life for as long as possible without anything going wrong.
He needed some time to plan - but he had to make sure that Xavier didn't screw anything up in the meantime. He doubted that the other mercenary would try to make his move on the first day; it would be nearly impossible to take out Eddie without gaining some of his trust first. That being said, he had a feeling that Xavier would target his friends - try to turn them against him. And he wasn't about to let that happen.
Doing his best to steady his breathing, Colt found himself standing at Drew's door. His heart was pounding - matter of fact, it hadn't stopped pounding since he'd first seen Xavier at the border that afternoon. He was wired, on edge - and not in a good way. He was usually good at keeping a level head, but this situation was too much. He clenched his hands into fists, knocking on the door. "Drew? You in there?" He cleared his throat, waiting a moment for an answer. "I need to talk to you. It's important." He didn't know why, but Drew was the first person he'd thought to go to.
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[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-size: 12px; font-family: times new roman; letter-spacing: .6px; color: #494949;"]growing up looking after herself and never having much to call her own was what drew had been use to all her life. she always was sure to keep people at an arms distance away and did her best to not ever really get too attached to anything or anywhere. you never had anything to lose if you don't have anything to begin with, which was something she lived by. as long as she looked out for herself and stuck to this, she wouldn't have to worry about her life falling into pieces around her. she wouldn't have to worry about feeling the pain of losing people or them leaving her like her parents did. besides, with no attachments it meant she was always free to do what she wanted and didn't have to worry about anyone else. it was pretty much ideal, right?
hearing the knock on her door made her jump, quickly moving to try and move her bowl and weed she had out. even though she hadn't heard anything against it since being in flintlock lodge, past groups that she had been in had strict rules on smoking inside - not that she even listened to the rules anyways - so it was a habit for drew to start hiding things whenever she could hear someone approaching. once she heard colt on the other side of the door, she relaxed and stopped, setting her bowl on the window sill before walking over to open the door. "jeez," she started off once she saw him. "everything okay? looks like ya seen a ghost or somethin'." she left the door open for him and walked back over to sit on her bed by the window.
"what's so important?" drew looked over to him as she asked, picking up her bowl as she used her pointer finger to pack the weed down in it more. "as you can see, i'm very busy at the moment." she joked, motioning around her room to the bowl in her hands, ipod playing music and comic books scattered on the bed by her. was she really? not at all, but she she would never pass up the opportunity for some type of joking around. her attention briefly went back to the bowl, moving the comics around to try and find her lighter that she lost on her bed. once she found it, she leaned towards the window more and light the weed, taking a hit off of it before blowing it out the window.
between coughs, drew reached over towards colt and offered him the bowl to hit if he wanted as she drank some of the water she ready on her nightstand.
[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— Colt had never gotten the chance to explore the concept of friendship up until his separation from the Ring - much less romance. Romantic love was not something he had ever really considered seeking out; no one in the Ring had long-term romantic partners, and it was always considered an unnecessary attachment. Had Colt thought that some people looked nice? Sure. But he never put any more thought into it than that, seeing as he'd never been able to form any sort of close relationship with anyone ever. Until now, that is.
He didn't know what the nervous fluttering in his stomach meant when he looked at Drew, and he didn't know why he felt the urge to wrap her up tight in his arms and protect her from any danger ever - but he didn't like these feelings. They were... strange, foreign. Therefore, he was going to ignore them. He pushed them down even as Drew opened the door in that very moment, looking him up and down with her big, bright eyes, her soft hair fluttering around her face... The young man blinked a few times, clearing his throat. As she questioned if everything was ok, he frowned. "Actually, uh... we gotta talk real quick."
"As you can see, I'm very busy at the moment." Colt quickly picked up on the smell of weed - an aroma that accompanied Drew on a pretty regular basis. He glanced between her, the music player, the bowl, and the comic books. Any other day, he would've loved to sit down on her bed and chat about stupid stuff - and maybe finally let her convince him to try some of her weed. As she attempted to pass him the bowl, he waved it away - not today. Not when Xavier was still around.
"Listen, Drew..." He reached a hand behind his head, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck. "This is serious. You know that guy who just joined? Xavier?" He met her gaze, slowly sitting down on her bed. "He and I used to be in a group together. He's, uh... well, I really can't say much. But don't go near him, alright? He's bad news. He tries to talk to you, walk away. Don't believe anything out of his mouth. Just trust me, ok?"
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[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-size: 12px; font-family: times new roman; letter-spacing: .6px; color: #494949;"]drew never really did well in serious conversations. "you're starting to freak me out a lil bit, dude." she let out an uncomfortable chuckle. she never saw him this bothered by something before, it was weird.
drew's relaxed posture stiffened as she took another hit from her bowl and sat it down on her nightstand. "yeah..." she answered slowly when he asked her if he knew who xavier was, eyebrows furrowing together slightly as she leaned back into her bedframe and crossed her arms, something she tended to do when she got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach in attempts to try and make herself feel more guarded.
"just trust me, okay?"
there it was. deep down, she wanted to and knew she should trust him on this, but she could feel her walls and freedom start to crumble, only making her feel flighty even more. she wanted a reason to be pissed at colt and push him away and he just helped her achieve that. "you can't just tell me what to do." there she goes again trying to build back up her walls while she attempted to use this reason to hate him.
"if you can't even say much about why i shouldn't go near him, then why the hell should i trust you about it?" her eyebrows narrowed as she looked at him. the rational side of her wanted to just simply go along with it and believe him, he never gave her a reason to not trust him, but that made her want to shove him away even more and build the walls up higher. if she wanted a good reason to leave this place, this right here was a slowly starting to become her best bet.
[align=center][div style="width: 370px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 1.4; color: black;"]— Colt could see Drew's doubt and pensiveness shift into something more akin to anger as he spoke - and it came as a bit of a shock. He blinked a few times; he'd expected her to understand, to trust him. After all, they were friends, weren't they? Ironically, he really did want her to trust him, even though he knew that he had been lying through his teeth to her and hiding things from her this entire time - like all of the Flintlockers.
"You can't just tell me what to do." He scoffed, frowning. "No, Drew, I'm not trying to-" He reached out, but she kept going. And as she spoke, it clicked within Colt. These feelings that he'd been having for Drew, the ones he couldn't exactly pinpoint, the ones that he was unsure about, the ones that made him want to be vulnerable around her - when vulnerability wasn't a word that had existed in his vocabulary before - this was his chance to get rid of them. If he could get her to just leave, then there would be no feelings, no fear, and no guilt. It was simple. Fool-proof.
He narrowed his brows, taking a step backward. "You really don't think that if I could explain this to you, I would?" he would ask, an edge to this voice. "You just have to understand that this is important, and... well, and trust me that everything will work out just fine if you do what I ask." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Haven't I shown that you can trust me? What did I do to you?"
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