[PRP] Textual feelings (Finn/Ripley)

[Enoh Love]

The mission had been hectic, and the aftermath was just as bad. Chel had continued to trail him, and before he even quite realized what had happened, he ended up spending the night with her. Well, in her room. On the floor. On his own sheets on the floor. Still, company was better than silence, which was the conclusion he had come to after a rather confused pause as his situation set in.

With nothing else to think about as he lay there, staring at the ceiling, he realized something else; he should probably apologize. The events he had managed to piece together were all very terrible, yes, but the worst part was: he started it all. In the darkness, Finn had taken his hand - and in the darkness, startled, he had let go. He refused the touch on the grounds he wasn't sure who it was, and after that, well...everything happened.

So he grabbed his phone, and sent off a quick text:

Seussi

Text to Finn: I'm sorry.

 

[Seussi]

On the surface for Finn, the aftermath of the mission had been simple. Get himself cleaned up, go to bed, sleep it off and wake up feeling better, whether he managed only a couple of hours of shut eye or many. Not often did he find himself in such a state as he was now, tired, angry, disappointed, and a tumult of other raging emotions that he couldn't hope to ignore no matter how much he tried.

He had made his way to the showers as quickly as possible, hoping to head off the rush. He had spent as much time scrubbing himself clean as he possibly could, wincing at the feeling in his shoulder where he had been bitten.

And then he went to bed, collapsing in it and expecting that, given his exhausted state, he would be out in no time.

He wasn't.

Instead, he stared up at the ceiling of his room, an unfamiliar feeling twisting in his gut, combined with a relentless itch in his shoulder that kept him shrugging and adjusting his position. More than once, he let out a long sigh of air, closed his eye, and tried with all his might to pass out, only to blink his eye back open moments later.

This just wasn't working. Every time he closed his eye, he felt it again, saw it again, tasted it again. The stinging bite, the sickly green eyes that stared at him from out of the darkness, attracted to the light of his weapon, the salty iron tang of blood on his tongue.

And if that wasn't enough to keep him awake, there was also his confusion over...other feelings. Ones that he was trying to ignore, but with everything else going on in his head...he couldn't find the energy to do it.

He had no idea how long he had been lying there when he heard his phone buzz. Rolling out of bed in an almost mechanical manner, he reached over to his nightstand and snatched up the lightly glowing device in his hands, flipped it open, and read what it had to say.

I'm sorry.

Finn stared at the message a moment, completely bewildered, and without thinking, sent a text back.

Enoh Lovex

Text to Ripley: Why?

And then, for completely inexplicable reasons, he thought to himself. This is it then. Didn't last very long.  

[Enoh Love]

The phone buzzed back a little quicker than he had thought, but that wasn't the only thing that startled him - what did, was the fact that he hadn't put it on silent, and Chel was right there. His hands clamped around the phone to stifle it until it shut up, and he cast a slight glance towards the bed, where he could see the top of Chel's pink haired head.

His first order of business was to put the phone on silent, which was done as quickly as possible, before he checked his messages. Why?, he asked? That was an odd question to ask - it should have been pretty obvious why, wasn't it? It took him a moment to figure out how he wanted to handle this, and once he figured that out, sending out the text was easy:

Seussi

Text to Finn: For letting go.

 

[Seussi]

Finn's brain might have been working a little slower than usual, because the text he received in return caused him a moment of confusion. Letting go? Letting go of what? He was about to ask that very question in reply when it finally hit him, so many things having happened since that moment when Ripley had slid his hand away from Finn's that the moon intermediate had nearly forgotten about it.

Still, he wasn't sure why Ripley was sorry about it. Didn't seem like it was that big of a deal....unless, Finn realized as he thought about it more, Ripley believed it was the catalyst for every bad thing that happened subsequently afterwards. Finn summoning his weapon for illumination and becoming bitten. Ripley walking into...whatever he had walked into, alone, becoming crazy afterwards.....

Finn shook his head. He couldn't blame Ripley for any of those things, really, but still he replied with.

Enoh Love

Text to Ripley: Oh ya. ******** you, a*****e.

Quote:

Text to Ripley: Was that all?

 

[Enoh Love]

Of all the responses he could have gotten, that was the one he honestly expected. Part of him was hoping there would be something else, but really, this was just as good. It was normal. To be expected. Safe. It made the corner of his mouth twitch in amusement, resisting the urge to even breathe an amused sound, lest that wake up his current room mate. Rolling onto his side - and internally grumbling at how the unforgiving floor bit into his boney hip - he began to type a reply.

Then the second text came in.

Was that all? Well, yes. When it came right down to it, that was all he needed to say. The reaction he had gotten was well within normal perimeters, and he felt...oddly comfortable. Somewhat unhappy, definitely stressed, but comfortable. Everything was going to go back to normal, he was pretty sure of that. It would just take time, as most things did.

He deleted what he had been about to say, thanks to the newest text, and sent a much shorter reply.

Seussi

Text to Finn: Yes.

He didn't tell Finn where he was, because it would likely be a waste of time on both their ends. He even contemplated wishing him a good night, but after a moment's pause, he decided against it, and instead shut his phone, setting it beside his makeshift cot.

Then, he did his best to sleep, though he knew it would be futile from the start - less sleep and more laying there with his eyes closed than anything.  

[Seussi]

Finn read the reply with a long drawn out hiss let out from between his teeth that might have been a sigh, his head flopping back on his pillow as he once again stared up at the ceiling, tired but with a brain that wouldn't stop it's constant whirring cycle, replaying the events of the day over and over again. He set the phone down because that seemed to be the end of the conversation, and while Ripley's reply wasn't exactly surprising, it was, in some ways, disappointing.

And there in lay the problem. Disappointment hadn't been a part of the plan. Caring had never been even factored in to the equation before. He had jumped to Ripley's rescue without considering what that meant, without any thought whatsoever, and it had bothered him more than it should have to see him hurt, but even worse than that, not himself.

But what was even worse than that. Chel, with her smug look of self satisfaction, with her ridiculous smile that tried to convey the feeling that she knew something, Chel, placing herself between Finn and what was his, standing above Ripley like she had just conquered and placed ownership on him.

That had been unbearable. That was what had made Finn finally turn and walk away, his brain telling him that he was making the sensible choice in that situation, but other parts of him urging him to stop, to go back, to wait.

It was too much to think about. It was too soon to have to deal with this. Any time would have been too soon because this was never supposed to have happened.

Finn let out a huff of air and turned over onto his side, forgetting about his shoulder, letting out a hiss of pain. <********>

He tried to sleep again, but sleep wouldn't come. <******** everything.

He picked up his phone again, staring at the last message. Yes, that was all.

So normal. So businesslike. So perfectly reasonable.

Finn typed in a response.

Quote:

Text to Ripley: Are you okay?

Deleted.

Quote:

Text to Ripley: How's the face feeling?

Deleted.

Quote:

Text to Ripley: I can't sleep. Want to come over?

Deleted, though this time slightly slower than the others.

He started at the blue glow of the screen some more.

Enoh Lovex

Text to Ripley: I'll talk to you in a few days. Try to stay out of trouble.

A fairly vague message, though he was sure Ripley knew him well enough to understand. Finn was never any good when it came to being reminded just how very human he was, and this recent experience had shaken him up more than he'd ever let on to anybody. He needed time. He needed space. He needed to think things through but most of all, he just needed a chance to recover.

And than things could hopefully go back to really being normal.  

[Enoh Love]

In his haste to attempt sleep, Ripley forgot to take off his glasses. So when Finn's text message came through and the phone lit up to silently alert him, he could see it clearly. Not only clearly, somewhat magnified, thanks to how close it was to him.

It was just fine for him. He couldn't sleep anyway. All he had managed was yet another recount of what had happened, with a greater emphasis on the hysteria he had suffered, and what had happened around him. Specifically, the way he had internally reacted to seeing Finn's bloody, beaten face.

It was a thought better pushed aside, and so it was.

Shifting again, he reached out to pick up his phone, and to open it to the new text. His gaze lingered on the time stamp, noting the time that had passed since he sent his last reply; there would be factors, of course. Perhaps Finn did manage to fall asleep, or perhaps was just too angry to reply...but he didn't put much stock in that.

It was reassuring, as vague as it was.

Quote:

Text to Finn: I will if you will.

Select all. Delete.

Quote:

Text to Finn: I make no promises.

Pause. Backspace. Backspace. backspacebackspacebackspace

Seussi

Text to Finn: I will. Take care of yourself. Goodnight.

He hit send before he could change his mind again. This time, when he set his phone down, he also took off his glasses. They ended up folded on top of the device, and he rolled over, putting his back to it to try and actually get some semblance of rest.  

[Seussi]

It was some amount of time before a reply came, and Finn figured that Ripley had either gone to sleep or was just pulling his fairly usual stunt of not responding, which was fine. Finn had texted him all that he had needed to, and with the decision made that he would now distance himself from the other man until the time came when he felt like he could approach him again, he began to feel a lot better.

A little bit hollowed out and empty, in fact, but that was actually preferable to the previous alternative.

He had rolled over to his other side now, attempting to get comfortable, eye closing. His phone buzzed, and he frowned, his eye twitching slightly though not opening.

He wouldn't check his phone again until very early the next morning, and no response was ever given.

Enoh Love

dats a wrap