"They sound like something else, Hope, I might be a little jealous!" He is not, he loves his gender-neutral Paladudes, but they'd get along just fine with that l'Cie legion. There were even some similarities here and there, which made him repress a laugh. Hunk's glad he did, because there was one thing he noticed, and it was enough to make the flood of posturing and theatrics and tomfoolery slow to a trickle as that food gently slid off the railing and back to the floor.
He's much smarter than his demeanor and humor imply, and he picked up on that wording, on the storytelling, on what wasn't explicitly said about why this might have been even harder on Hope. He can't support his team if he didn't figure out how to read between the lines, after all. He swallowed a bundle of anxieties, as if all of his nerves and butterflies were waiting for this one instance of vulnerability and hesitation to terrify him. But he had to bring it back there, he had to say it.
"I... I'm sorry about your mom." In Bodhum with his mom, then a l'Cie, a prisoner, a gladiator for a godlike being and then he's chasing his friend Snow, who he blamed for his mom's death, making her a casualty of the war he was forced into. Hope sounded so hurt, so tired when that nerve was struck, and he said that the options were either a crystal sleep or becoming a monster, and neither was happening so he couldn't have been done with that Focus thing! Hope's mother died, he's been fighting, and he still can't see his sky. Like Shay and the Balmerans. He still isn't free.
One arm opens up, offering a hug. He wasn't sure how his friend would react or if he was crossing a line, but Hunk wouldn't be much of a Paladin if he wouldn't try.
This thread started bc "Hope is normal this should be nice and normal" and it's a dang feels trip
He's much smarter than his demeanor and humor imply, and he picked up on that wording, on the storytelling, on what wasn't explicitly said about why this might have been even harder on Hope. He can't support his team if he didn't figure out how to read between the lines, after all. He swallowed a bundle of anxieties, as if all of his nerves and butterflies were waiting for this one instance of vulnerability and hesitation to terrify him. But he had to bring it back there, he had to say it.
"I... I'm sorry about your mom." In Bodhum with his mom, then a l'Cie, a prisoner, a gladiator for a godlike being and then he's chasing his friend Snow, who he blamed for his mom's death, making her a casualty of the war he was forced into. Hope sounded so hurt, so tired when that nerve was struck, and he said that the options were either a crystal sleep or becoming a monster, and neither was happening so he couldn't have been done with that Focus thing! Hope's mother died, he's been fighting, and he still can't see his sky. Like Shay and the Balmerans. He still isn't free.
One arm opens up, offering a hug. He wasn't sure how his friend would react or if he was crossing a line, but Hunk wouldn't be much of a Paladin if he wouldn't try.