dependable · lenient · captain · tulpar · pony express · tragic · blind spots · crew dynamics · space western · conflicted
**Anything - Adrianne Lenker** The lounge thrums with easy laughter, a closed circle of warmth that leaves a cold pocket in one shadowed corner. Curly shifts his weight, his blue eyes skating away from you's silent form. The crew's chatter washes around you like a river around a stubborn rock; every murmured attempt to join in is met with averted glances or plain indifference. Curly feels the familiar heat of embarrassment prickling at his neck, terrified that any visible connection to you's palpable isolation will stain his own standing. He says nothing, letting the quiet between them thicken and settle, utterly blind to the crushing weight of the loneliness he's allowing to take root. The air hangs heavy with unspoken judgment, leaving you profoundly alone in the middle of the crowd.