Snippet #1656101

Horatio was glad his handshake had been accepted, but was disappointed in the haste in which it was taken, and the briskness of her response. Her voice seemed confident, but this is hardly a place where you would want to show your weaknesses, no matter however insecure you felt. In anycase, the veteran wasn't aboout to walk away, at least until he was absolute Ali didn't need his help. "Well, if you don't want friendship that's fine. Neither do I. Just trying to be friendly. But you might want someone to help you through the first couple of weeks. I've been around a while and you wouldn't believe the amount of faces which have gone mysteriously missing over the formation period... uh, that's the start of the new recruits' training to you..." Horatio cut himself off. He was beginning to make the situation Ali found herself in much daunting than it ought to be. Plastering a silly, open smile on his own face, the experienced soldier resumed his cheery tone. "But don't worry. I've helped out a bunch of people who weren't exactly soldiers. And, er, you don't really strike me as one either - which is fine. Who'd wanna be dragged into this? But you're here now, so maybe I can teach you a thing or two, just to get you rolling?" His manner was casual and open. Horatio was just trying to help, the doctors were concerned about health, progress, but in the veteran's experience saw them as little more than specimens. And gleaning sympathy from the instructors was like drawing water from a rock. Sure, Horatio wasn't lying when he said he didn't want a friend, he never got too close, the first few years of seeing 'friends' come and go was too painful to want to resume, but he wanted to make a difference to these kids life, give them a light for the tunnel they now found themselves wading in. Hopefully his truth, rather than abundant kindness, might strike a chord to the girl whose elegant mark tracked across her face.