extremeprejudice | (no subject)

[ Ajay doesn't realize what a blessing the helicopter is until they're rising into the air once again. The shrine is shrinking below them, his mother is finally at rest, but all Ajay registers is a cold, hard panic filling his chest.

They need to go back. This is all just been one long, insane mistake. He still needs the urn, needs his mother, needs to run his fingers over the metal engraving one last time and say one last thing before --

Noise and wind whip through the cabin, deafening the other passengers to his hitched breathing and drying his tears before they fall. He's calm once again before the doors close, too exhausted to give in to the despair for more than a moment. Even his fear feels dull and far away to Ajay, as though the events from the past few hours had happened to someone else entirely. He ignores the headphones he is passed until he can't stand the roaring engines any longer, but even after Ajay puts them on, no one speaks to him. He pretends to take in the scenery below at first, then simply shuts his eyes, overwhelmed.

When the helicopter's descent draws Ajay back out of his own whirring thoughts, he catches Pagan's gaze across the cabin for a beat, then turns almost immediately to look out the window. He fumbles with the headphones, but Ajay can hear his question, fuzzy and tinny through the headset, so he assumes the others can hear him as well. ]

Where are we?

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[ For a time, he is simply content to study the boy across the cabin. Ajay does not seem particularly interested in their destination at the moment, and Pagan finds he can hardly blame him. Just being within such close proximity to the shine, even now, has reopened wounds of his own – wounds that he had allowed fester in the wake of Ishwari’s departure. That said, the real resounding reason he maintains the peace is that he has little patience for the thought of shouting to be heard over the helicopter blades. Especially since dear Ajay has not yet deigned to put on the bloody headset. And so Pagan waits, gaze intense and intrusive. When dark eyes dart his way only to immediately retreat, he smirks briefly in amusement. ]

Oh, finally done grieving, are you? [ he remarks, the edge of the taunt softened only by the look of understanding on his face. ] Well, allow me to play tour guide. [ A theatrical clearing of his throat. ] We’re in the Himalayans. Northeastern Kyrat, to be specific. I had thought to introduce you to the palace once Ishwari’s ashes were spread, but I can see now that you’ll be needing to take your mind off your mother. Not to worry, Ajay! I have just the thing.

[ Blowing up terrorists always made Pagan feel better, after all. And he did promise guns, didn’t he? ]

[ Ajay feels his shoulders stiffen. He can't help but to meet the other man's eyes again, braver now as he bristles with offense. The answer, vague as it is, doesn't comfort him any more than the apparent pity in Pagan's expression does. It all feels like a lie, an act, and he struggles between not reacting and allowing himself to be pulled into the performance.

He doesn't press for anything more because it doesn't matter. To him, it seems like a fifty/fifty tossup; eventually the day will have to end and he'll wind up back at the bus station to make his own way home or he'll wind up dead, and the decision is completely out of Ajay's hands. ]

Yeah? Another party?

[ A dry, insincere question, but with his flaring temper burning away the last of Ajay's calm, it's hard to hold onto silence. ]