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Razor doesn't understand much but Bennett has explained things and they have made sense. "Have you ever been struck by lightning 3 times in a row?" He had asked one starry night while they sat under a rock formation relishing in the meat of their hunt earlier that day.
"...no.
" "Yeah! that's my bad luck for ya. It's like when something bad happens it can happen naturally, of course! but bad things happen around me more than normal."
Razor had hummed in affirmation. "Razor is sorry friend Bennett is hit by light." Then Bennett had opened his mouth and had done that nice melodic thing people called laughing.
"It's ok Razor! no matter how many times I get hit, I'll always stand up because what kind of adventurer would I be to cower at the face of fear?"
And the sparkle in his eyes had caused something warm to flourish in Razor's chest and he nodded his head rapidly in enthusiasm as Bennett continued to burn the meat on the stick over the fire.
There were also those times where Bennett's voice had a lower tone and he did not sound like normal Bennett, but like unlucky Bennett, because his eyes would do a strange thing where they looked like they held nothing in them and his lips would be facing downward which Razor had come to determine meant Bennett had been having a particularly unlucky day. His posture would sag and his hands held the stick over the fire loosely. On days like those, Razor understood more about Bennett, how he was someone with a large myriad of faces and how some faces covered others.
"Good things come to those who don't wait around! That's what they say anyway, knowing my luck...the opposite is probably true for me."
Then his eyes would go glossy and they reminded Razor of the sky just before a storm except that Bennett's eyes never rained like the thunder clouds, they just hovered in the air heavily like Bennett's slumped shoulders. On those days, Razor sat closer and made sure to offer Bennett the most tender pieces of meat. Razor never had to strain his thoughts to think of something to say because Bennett always understood and he always rewarded Razor with a defeated smile. A smile regardless. He'd always be back to normal the next time they met.
Razor has gone on many adventures with Bennett. He's seen him bleed, he's seen him fall, he's seen him get struck by lightning at the most unguarded moments. He's seen the other boy lose and lose and lose but he never let the hits paralyze his fire for too long. But there's only so many droplets of water that can fall on a kindle before it starts to flicker dangerously.
The adventure wasn't unlike any of the others. There was a lot of fighting, a lot of falling...off cliffs even at safe distances from them. The usual. Except when night came and the boys retired to a camp for the evening, Bennett's stormy eyes finally rained. And it was a thunderstorm of words and pleads and Razor doesn't know what finally did it, but he thought about what it'd be like to lose a hunt every time and he understood.
The white haired boy was hunched over, hands on his face and he let himself fall apart in the small tent.
Razor furrowed his brows and played with his hands in hesitance. Bennett filled the silence for the both of them.
"I just wish I could go on an adventure and come back with something more than cabbages once. I know I should be more grateful that I got at least that, but why should I be? When everyone else finds treasures and gold and artifacts. Why must I be the only person who can't make fri-iends and keep them? Why must I be struck by lightning? Why must I make it rain? It's just...It's just so not fair. What did I do to have this fate forced upon me? Is it too much to ask to not be so alon-e anymore?" He had to pause a few times to catch his words on a stuttering breath.
Bennett let out another sound that sounded nothing like the laughter Razor enjoyed hearing so much. Instead it sounded like howling wind or a fallen tree, a sad boy who just wanted the world to give back what as much as he tried to give to it.
"Razor will always be your friend." Razor said , gripping the other boy's wrist firmly which prompted him to look up. "You are not alone. Not with Razor...sorry Bennett is not happy. Wish Razor could do something to help you with unluck."
That only seemed to make the teen cry harder. Razor pulled his hand away and hesitantly fretted around the crying boy.
When Bennett had started wiping at his dripping nose with a handkerchief, the sun had already started to peek over the horizon.
"Thank you Razor. You're a good friend. I'm really glad I met you." He gave him a watery smile and started setting up the fire that was long due.
"Razor have something for you."
"You-you do?"
"Yes." And he pulled out a golden horseshoe the size of an enhancement ore.
"Razor..."
"Don't give up. Bennett a good person. Razor does not like seeing lupical sad."
Bennett's small smiled broadened until he was enveloping Razor in a large hug which caught Razor off guard.
"Razor...do you know what a horseshoe means?"
Razor tilted his head and quirked his eyebrow in question.
Bennett only smiled to himself and held onto the precious item like it was a Teyvat national treasure. In a way, it was.