bottle of red, bottle of white

[Jefferson Soul]

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After a pause, Razekiel began musing aloud about an area up north he admired, speaking with a passion Jefferson found rare to hear. Every individual had their likes and dislikes, their skills and their deficiencies, but none spoke with more zest and heart than Razekiel when it came to the natural world around them. True, Jefferson himself found comfort in nature and the good green earth, but his appreciation for it was like a mustard seed to an apple compared with the dark-furred Lykoi at his side. Perhaps it was the cigarette rushing relaxation through his veins, or perhaps it was the fact that the scarred man was having a decent conversation with someone he admired in a way, but a slight smile touched at his lips and eased his one-eyed gaze.

The prospect Razekiel had to offer tempted him terribly; to be left alone again sounded wonderful, but it had been a long time since the cyclops had fended entirely for himself. He could not leave Phoenix Valley behind for a break with none to cover for him, nor could he "vacation" from the worries in his mind anyway. Jefferson dare not desert Pripyat like Geneva had, intentional or not. His father was all Pripyat had left, regardless if he had been the reason for Jefferson's lost arm.

The one-eyed, one-armed man replaced the cigarette and breathed from it again, finding himself oddly at peace with the activity. Never before had he smoked, and yet it came naturally and painlessly. He sputtered not once after the first initial cough, and with each second the stick touched his tongue he grew to admire the taste. "It's not as easy as you think, getting people together and keeping them from killing each other," the cyclops said, a chuckle at the sentence's end. "I've been lucky to keep this place peaceful. We had a lot of issues with Inferni, years ago, and I took care of the idiot attacking the women here a couple weeks ago."

He shook his head, frown returning. "I can't just go on 'break.' There's too many people that need me and no one to take over. I've failed them enough already; I'm not failing them again."