[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/necCR92.png[/img][/center][hr][sub][color=darkorange]Location:[/color] The Jail[/sub][hr][hr]
[color=darkorange][i]Ah. So he was arrested for talking too much.[/i][/color] 

This one just loved the sound of his own voice, didn’t he? It was almost entertaining. At least, it would’ve been if he weren’t [i]in Elio’s way.[/i]  He was so very pleased with himself behind those prison bars, so [i]annoyingly[/i] smug about… who the fuck even knew. Elio’s eyebrow twitched up at Zeph’s name, but [i]fuck[/i] Zeph too, for running around without Elio and making him [i]worry[/i]. The punk was probably fine. He was likely squatting in some alley shoving a piece of cake in his mouth as he waited for Volkov to round a corner.

Yeah, Elio wasn’t surprised that he’d dipped out on guard duty if [i]this[/i] was the prisoner. Crossing his arms, Elio leaned against the wall as the blond chattered. 

Then Gadez — what a stupid fucking name, it didn’t even sound real — seemed to finally wind down enough to let someone else fill the air. A comment about his skin, a smile like he was waiting for applause, and then silence. 

Elio let it stretch. Amber eyes met blue. The quiet filled the air, as thick and potent as any words that might’ve been stacked atop each other like so many layers of bricks in a wall. 

When he finally spoke, his voice was easy and measured. 

[color=darkorange]“Elio Azkona.”[/color]

Then an impressively built woman walked in and started talking shit. Elio… was he frustrated? Annoyed? [i]Eager?[/i] It was hard to tell as they all began to feed into each other. He kept his body relaxed as he leaned against the wall, eyes still trained on the smiling man. But he could feel that familiar fight start building in him. Anger or joy, it all felt secondary to the promise of [i]action.[/i] Irritation thrummed through his blood at the new guard’s condescension. 

[color=darkorange]“Oh, don’t worry about me,”[/color] Elio replied, voice deceptively smooth. [color=darkorange]“Wouldn’t dream of asking anyone to do any work around here.”[/color] Wouldn’t that be a change? [color=darkorange]“I just put my hammer to stone. Nothing grows in winter — hafta [i]build[/i] things instead.[/color]

[color=darkorange]“Now if I were, say, a [i]gardener[/i],”[/color] Elio continued, turning an easy smile to the guard, [color=darkorange]“can you imagine the time I’d have trying to get work done [i]now?[/i] Planting doomed seeds in a foot of snow, pouring water on them [i]incessantly[/i] like I’m not just drowning them in ice? You have to be careful as a tradesman, I’ve found.”[/color] Elio cast an appraising eye over his own work, running a finger over the seam where two stones lay against each other. [color=darkorange]“Get too sure of your craft, and you’re liable to get cocky. Make sloppy mistakes. Like planting in the dead of fucking winter and only making more work for yourself because you didn’t bother to check and see if the conditions were right to begin with.”[/color] He looked at the small grains of dust on his finger, rubbing them with the tip of his thumb. He shrugged a shoulder. 

[color=darkorange]“I am but a humble stonemason,”[/color] Elio parroted Gadez’s words back at him, amber eyes narrowing. [color=darkorange]“What would I possibly know?”[/color]

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[sub][color=darkorange]Interactions:[/color] Gadez Paladice [@Dezuel], Daphne Athenus [@PrinceAlexus][/sub]