#→ *𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐔. ( 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄 )

[adversityfought-a]

                        𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭  -  𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭                            𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟  -  𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬                                  𝐈 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞                           𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨  -  𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭

[adversityfought-a]

-`ˏ  @oathofpromises​  |  JILL VALENTINE  ˎ´-

→   A kiss during a fight-maybe for the au or perhaps kiss on the neck. Whichever one you’d like to write for most with Jill~ 

(  𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐀 ;   𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 . 🪴  )

How many times had they done this now  -  bumped into one another after a mission, during them, been forced to work alongside one another in bitter silence. But as always, they fell into an easy pattern, one that was hard to forget. It'd been fine for the most part, it a little tense, strained  -  like twine pulled much too tight, ready to snap at the barest amount of pressure applied in place, but as was the nature of their 'partnership'  -  it'd never snapped. Remained strongly woven  &  ready to bear the worst of the weight they'd toss upon it without breaking.

After what they'd been through  &  sacrificed for one another  -  he knows she's also more than aware. Despite everything, she still hadn't taken that threatened step forwards to stop him as claimed.

He can feel the conflicting emotions rolling off her in heavy waves, thick like a grim, thundering storm cloud  -  all a chaotic mess of wild thoughts  &  feelings, all too palpable to ignore. He watches as she goes through the motions of typing something into one of the main computer consoles, plugging something into one of the USB ports, content to stand right where he was as he turns to look over the lab.

A clattered mess of broken glass, flickering lights  &  goop he can't nor doesn't want to bother putting a name to. All things acting as a messy reminder of what these people were striving for. What he  &  Jill at the end of the day fought to put an end to.

With a slow exhale, one steadily pressed through his nose, he waits until she's done gathering the information she'd come to collect. A quick glance tells him they'll be there for a while yet. Gaze drifting over to her hunched frame, from where she keeps her back turned to him even despite her 'distrust', he can't ignore the tension keeping her posture rigid. Deciding to be the one to break it, at least for the moment, Chris takes a step forwards to close the distance.

Slowly measured steps are taken, one after the other, as he keeps hazel eyes pinned on her frame, scanning  &  studying each small twitch, looking for any sudden movement to signal he should stop. But nothing aside from the shift from one side to the other, the further tensing of her shoulders as he straightens  &  brings them down. Turning, bright eyes meet his own, narrowed into an icy glare, the strain in her jaw as she stubbornly keeps her silence but affixes her attention back on him.

With a defiant jut of her chin outwards, angled up to peer at him, Jill doesn't need to voice her questions  -  not when her eyes say them all, knows that his answer would still be the same no matter how many times she'd asked him. So he stays silent right back, coming to a stop once he's close enough to stare right back in his own stubborn way, determination staying firmly rooted in place before it cracks when she reaches up, the sudden pursing of her lips as her gaze hardens.

Despite everything, despite all the confusion between them that lie in his own foggy goals  &  alliance  -  how he clashed with her in how to tackle their shared goal  -  he still trusted her completely.

When her hand lifts to cup along his jaw, touch light in it's hesitance, yet holding no further waver, he stares as he leans into it, turning to press a kiss to the open, gloved palm. Gentle, apologetic only in the unspoken way he knows to express that he's only sorry he still won't go with her after this is all said  &  done. Can't turn back, not when he knows that he'd just end up in another closed loop of uselessness, waiting for the next disaster.

                                                 (   ' I'm sorry. '  )

A step in closer, he allows it, meeting his former partner halfway even when she moves to wrap him up in a hug, a premature good bye of sorts as he hears a low beeping on the monitor behind the pair. He has to leave, so does she now that she'd gotten everything she'd come for  -  but it's a bittersweet thing, one he knows won't be the first or last time they likely meet eachother out on the field. With a heavy sigh, he feels one returned into the material of his vest from where she rest her head, prompting him to shake his own before he leans down, one hand moving to retrieve her USB before he presses a tender kiss along the exposed skin of her neck.

If he felt the rising prickle of skin under his lips, he doesn't say another thing, instead taking a step back as he pushes the small device into one of her hands, jerking his chin in the direction of the doors leaving back to the main elevator.

She needed to leave.

         ❝ Go. I'll give you ten minutes to get you  &  your team out of here.  ❞

.

[adversityfought-a]

 ( ★ )   𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒.   /   ( 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐔 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄 )   𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐑.

So  a  thing  I  feel  I  should  mention  is  in  Chris’  Eigengrau  Verse,  ehhh  he’s  less  upfront  in  his  plans  when  he’s  confronted?  Less  hostile  right  away  anyways  unless  he’s  provoked  or  threatened  first.  Will  more  than  likely  fall  back  into  his  friendly,  playful  /  bantering  demeanour  to  either  throw  someone  off  or  wait  to  gauge  whether  they’re  a  real  threat  or  who  they  are  by  how  they  react  to  him.

He  basically  takes  his  Observation  Skills  he  was  prided  for  in  his  past    &    cranks  it  up  to  something  he  can  use  to  get  a  read  on  someone  before  he  acts  because  a  lot  of  the  missions  he  takes  have  high  risk  attached  to  them    &    since  he  is  Rogue  Operative  now  operating  on  his  own  terms  instead  of  being  affiliated  with  the  BSAA  or  any  other  organization,  he  kind  of  needs  to  keep  a  low  profile.

But  for  him  he’s  very…  manipulative  when  he  needs  to  be,  if  it’ll  help  him  avoid  taking  a  more  violent  route  with  someone  or  will  help  him  in  the  long  run.

[adversityfought-a]

-`ˏ  @nightlyvisitor​  |  LUCIEN NIBIR  ˎ´-

→   “  you keep acting like if you let down your guard the world will end.  ” -from Lucien (nightlyvisitor , also hi hello :3)  it can be normal verse or dark verse chris ! 

An unlikely ally  -  or at the very least, someone not hostile right off the bat. Small blessings over all. Still not someone he trusted completely in his surface level display of hospitality  -  Chris wasn't stupid enough to divulge too much until he knew more about the man.

But he was quiet, at least for the time being, curiously peering at his supplies spread out before him, glancing observantly between Chris  &  the display with something unreadable in his wine-toned eyes. Holding his tongue, sticking to a strained silence as he hovered just close enough to watch. He isn't quite a nuisance, though he is ghost-like in his presence, in how he seems to almost loom.

Chris ignores him to the best of his ability, willing the grainy feeling away from his eyes as he caps a pen, rolling it to the other side of the table, hazel sights scanning along the marked page below. A few more minutes pass, silent save for the sound of his breathing as goes about his business in reorganizing his files on the table, finishing off his work, nothing too important or interesting to really note outside of a few stray transcripts he'd yet to look over.

He'd get to it later, the bristling feeling prickling at the back of his neck sending enough warning shivers down his spine that he knew he'd likely get nothing else down unless he addressed the other. His eyes flit over to catch on the mans, dagger sharp in their glares thinness as his brows come to a fine knit. He isn't sure if he catches amusement in his eyes or pity.

       ❝ You keep acting like if you let down your guard, the world will end. ❞

Rolling his eyes, the Rogue Operative moves to stand, turning to better face the strange man with a light cock of his head to the side. Arms come to cross atop his chest,  &  with a small exhale through his nose, he shrugs. He couldn't refute his claims, knowing damn well how he appeared, carried himself, what peoples usual impressions of him were. Too uptight, too paranoid, too wound up in the past to look forwards to the future. But there was truth on both fronts  -  if he did let his guard down, who know if the world really would end or not.

Deciding to keep up the somewhat tense yet amicable display, Chris' lips quirk slightly, more upturned on one end in a way that leaves his expression faintly crooked, just off in a way you wouldn't notice unless you looked close enough. He huffs out a whispered laugh, a low chuckle that rumbles quietly.

                                           ❝ Does it bother you that I do? ❞

.

[adversityfought-a]

Immmmmm so sorry Jill AAAAAAA

[adversityfought-a]

The paradox or our minds Too much to believe  -  too much to deny You fool me again to quiet my pride But I’m a human  -  I come with knives

I never promised you an open heart or charity I never wanted to abuse your imagination The monotony &  the rising tide Is under my skin  -  is crawling inside Adrenaline to rewire my mind I'm only human  -  I come with knives

[adversityfought-a]

On dreary days  —  I like to think about the joy that I had As a young  &  reckless kid On dreary days  —  I used to drown it out; a          𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐇 'Cause I had   n o t h i n g   left to give  —  yeah

I’m losing, I'm losing, I'm losing my   m i n d . . .  I’m fighting, I'm fighting, I'm fighting for more time I’m begging, I'm begging, I'm begging, no more          𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 'Cause I’m losing, I'm losing, I'm losing my   m i n d . . .

[adversityfought-a]

                                    If you   p u l l   me   𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍

                                                     I’m   d r a g g i n g   you with  𝐌𝐄 . . .