[ Cassian's eyes open, and he'll quickly find Vash's hand at his wrist as if it were as good as a physical cuff preventing him from going and getting himself free. and for a beat - just a beat, a single pulse of a squeezed heartbeat in their chests - there is a very poignant and stabbing sense of grief that lingers between them. it's hard to tell who it belongs to... or if it's something dredged up from both of them. Vash wishes things were different for Cassian, sees things all too clearly from his perspective--

and Cassian wishes he could see things through Vash's rose-tinted glasses of idealism and hope.

but the moment comes and passes quickly. whether it is old instinct or a conscious effort to put a thorough and rigid clamp down on the tether of unfettered emotions, it becomes a bit more blanketed, veiled, obscure,

and then Vash is fumbling his own Shard into his lap to reach out and in an immensely childish gesture,

pinch Cassian's nose shut. ]

You're gonna owe me a hell of a lot more than a drink, Cassian. Really?! THIS is how I gotta find out about your name?! AND you let me ask you twenty questions about why you were wanted to Harmonize to the Zenith when you knew this would happen, didn't you?!