( as he feels haise's hand coming closer, he's about to take that as a sign for something. of superiority, perhaps. or maybe, something even far more trivial. only, then... haise shakes his hand? his grip is appropriately firm and... he finds himself genuinely surprised.

as he thought, haise was as much the considerate and open-minded individual as he's always suspected. it's unfortunate as he can't even entirely consider this a complete victory, and yet... he doesn't find himself too opposed to these terms. maybe in this universe, he wouldn't be able to do battle with karna (nor develop his own standards for... some sort of far-fetched sense of retribution for his underhanded methods), but... he believed in the next opportunity. perhaps, just as much as he was coming to place some faith into some of his fellow recruits.

starting with haise, he supposes. he finally gives haise's hand a brief squeeze in return. a polite amount. not too much power, and yet nowhere near modest. but, maybe that suited arjuna just fine. ) Yes. Though, I've stated it previously, permit me to state it again.

I will continue to be in your care, Haise. ( while karna got the hand holding thing all wrong, maybe the right amount of contact was good for establishing something. not that... arjuna would ever dare to vocalize this, though!? )