ʀᴀғᴇ ᴀúʟʟᴀ ᴀ ʟᴀ sᴏᴍʙʀᴀ ᴅᴇ (maginus) wrote in repose,
Re: Woods: Holly and Rafe
Telling things how they were was definitely better. Rafe could have used that kind of upfront honesty not so very long ago when it came to his marriage, and the fact that his wife was at the very least unsatisfied with it, enough to go behind her husband's back with another man that was. If Jenny had just told Rafe that she was unhappy, or that she had developed feelings for someone else-- well, actually, that probably would have been equally as disastrous given how everything had unfolded and what had happened on his last tour. There was a part of him that couldn't blame her for being unhappy, given the man who had returned from the front line in comparison to the one who had left that last, fateful time. He had been distant, irritable, restless and unpredictable. Not violent or aggressive, not with her (never with her), but he certainly hadn't been the man she had fallen in love with during their college years.
But that was the sort of thing the wolf didn't care to dwell on. The past was the past, there was no changing it and wishing for such a thing was wasteful and juvenile. And so very, very human. The wolf's intolerance for such useless things was such that Rafe actually rarely found himself consciously thinking back on those days. Unconsciously? Well, that was another matter altogether. Wolf or no wolf he couldn't fully control his subconscious and where it chose to roam in those times when it was free to do so.
The longer he spent in Holly's company the more he picked up on that military air: the physical confidence, even with the limp, the way he stood to his full height without straining awkwardly to do so, and the attentiveness with which he conducted himself in his surroundings. A soldier (of any kind) always recognised another soldier.
Rafe didn't interrupt Holly when he was talking, not even when he seemed to trail off at the end of one thought before starting up another instead. As difficult as it could be sometimes when having to keep the wolf's impulsiveness in check Rafe was usually a patient man. Whatever Holly wanted to say would be worth waiting for. And it was, because that information the younger man provided? It was information he hadn't had a minute ago, and therefore valuable. And he knew all about people being messed up in the military. Not so long ago he had been one of those people. Still was, some days, albeit never in front of people.
With a nod he acknowledged all of what Holly had said, lowering and then turning his gaze down to the spot he had been crouched over when the other man approached. "How often do you smell sulphur around here?" he asked, bringing his eyes back up. "Because it's strong here, just like it was in Audrey's room. Just her room, not the entire house." He narrowed his eyes a little. "Could that be what you picked up that night?"