Confessions of a Wanton

26 Bombs away

Photo above is Alex Zedra- how I imagine Char, but with aquamarine eyes
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🎶 Scarlet : In this Moment 🎶

Charlotte Flashback

I'm making my rounds with Jasper. The boys are asleep. We didn't make a fire tonight, didn't want our enemy to see.

We're all in full gear. Light colored camo adornes each of us, all wearing light colored helmets the color of sand, all except for August and Cameron. Our resident blondes. Their helmets are close at hand, August adamant that he didn't need no stinking helmet on 24 flipping 7.

His Texan drawl always brought a smile to my face. He refused to cuss outright. Especially in front of me. Saying that no lady would ever hear foul words coming out of his mouth.

It made the others laugh when the small man would walk around muttering about all the dagum crud he has to put up with. Kicking his size 7 boots, small size for a man, in the sand while glaring at the other men who towered above him.

He never backed down, never gave up. It made their teasing relentless. He'd set a few cherry bombs off in their tents as retaliation. Hence the no tent policy. Made breaking camp all the easier. It rarely rains in the desert. If it does we have a canopy we can put up over the vehicles we drive.

We don't have any vehicles right now though. We're currently set atop a crumbling building, sussing out the sand hewn city below us. Waiting.

The sounds of nightlife are subdued in this region. The populace is poor, preferring to mostly stay indoors after dark. It's close to a full moon out tonight. The stars twinkled in the sky, only hiding near the horizon where the big cities are.

We're nearing the end of this tour. As soon as we're done with this mission we could either re-enlist, staying on our team or go home. None of us really had homes to go to.

Ariels wife had cheated on him, divorcing him while he was in basic. A few months later she had another mans baby. I hadn't been there for the aftermath, it'd been before my time with the unit.

Maguire, and I were fresh out from the system. Deciding life as a soldier had to be better than life back in the states without family. Without the friendships we'd built.

August had family, all in Texas but he liked us enough to do another round. Or two.

Jasper had family too. Super rich assholes or something that he didn't want to go back to. He was supposed to take over the family business when he returned. He had hated whatever business they were in. I never did find out.

He'd clamp his mouth shut and not tell me anything else. It had pissed me off most times. But he'd teddy bear his way out of it. Softening up enough that I'd just melt.

I'd never cared if people had money or not. It definitely helps in survival, sometimes money molds people's character. Not having it makes you rely on yourself more, toughens you up because you can't rely on anyone else. Having it, can make you a bit of a complacent asshole. Depending. There are the rare few who don't become entitled. Jasper is one of them.

Character is everything, it's what's built up in oneself to maintain a certain inner imperative. Reputation is just what others think of someone and that can be squashed in an instant by a number of things. Even a sideways glance can be misinterpreted, leaving people to think too much inside their own heads. Communication is hard enough with people silently judging.