Jess watched with just a hint of her sadness showing in her eyes as Alister went toward the door, desperately wishing otherwise but knowing her words still wouldn't make him try any harder to be close to Mira again, if they had ever been close at all. She may have been imposing or bossy sometimes, and that was something she tried to work on about herself, but she didn't know any other way to make even a crack in the ace pilot's stoic shell. She had been trying for as long as she could remember to make him understand that he could be both Alister<em>and</em>a Malrain without sacrifice anything of the former, but words never seemed to be enough to change his mind.<br/><br/>"...At least give her a call or something, if only so you can set up a strategy for this fight. If you go in there and just throw her to the wolves, you'll end up hurting yourself too."