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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:34 pm
A clock on a nightstand near the bed displayed the time with red lines on a black background, creating rather squareish numbers. It was early in the morning and Claire was still asleep, in almost the exact same position she fell asleep in last night, though she had shifted closer to the edge of the bed. She was on her side, one arm under the pillow she was now hugging to her chest, and the other draped over it and hanging off the edge of the bed.
Unbeknownst to the clearly unconscious young woman, she had begun to mumble in her sleep a few minutes ago, which was not a typical habit in the slightest. Most of it was incoherent, but amidst the unintelligible jumble were several clear words mumbled into the side of her pillow. Of these, most were words like 'can't' or 'don't' and other negatives, perhaps a name, but regardless of the words it was fairly obvious that she was dreaming. All in all it didn't seem to be a very good dream, especially considering the small amount of clear words were limited to those with negative connotations. The only discernible movement though, besides her rhythmic breathing, was the fingers on the hand that was hanging over the bed twitched every so often.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:51 am
Lucas had been dreaming himself, though by the time was realized he was waking, he had already forgotten the content. He did retain a very distinct memory of at least part of it, though. He had dreamed he was watching Rambo, and then Claire joined him and got horribly drunk--
His thought process was suddenly and completely derailed by the fact that he didn't recognize where he was. Or, rather, he recognized it - Lennyka's book forts were unforgettable - but had no idea why he should be there. His gaze wandered around the room before it found and locked onto the woman sleeping beside him. Were he able to tear his eyes away and find a mirror, he would have noticed the slow blanching of his face. He had been dreaming, right? Or maybe he was still dreaming? That had to be it. The only other explanation his mind could dredge up was... impossible. Completely impossible. It had to be a dream.
There sure was a strong and distinct feeling of impending doom hanging over his head for a dream.
He brushed his horrible sinking feeling aside, though, in favor of listening to what he suspected was the sound that had woken him. It was some kind of muttering, largely incoherent but punctuated by the occasional discernible word. Claire was talking in her sleep? And, judging by the words he could identify, it sounded as though she was having some kind of nightmare...
At length, and against his better judgment, Lucas reached and set a light hand on her shoulder. "Claire?"
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:23 pm
Unfortunately for poor Lucas it was no dream - though Claire would wish it were a few minutes after waking, for sure. The dream she was having wasn't exactly a nightmare, more like a bad memory of some sort that reared its ugly head while she was asleep.
At the touch on her shoulder and someone speaking her name, the dream was lost immediately as her eyelids fluttered open and she shot up. "Wha -- ? Hmm..?" Blinking bleary, sleepy eyes, the young woman tried to ascertain just what had woken her through the terrible headache that pounded between her ears. She blinked again, frowning and trying to will her eyes to focus properly when she turned and saw Lucas. More specifically, she saw a blurry masculine shape on her bed, a blurry masculine shape that was not immediately identifiable.
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and she suddenly felt a cold fear grip her, and she managed a half-scream before falling backwards off the bed. Thankfully she landed on her right side, though immediately was up on her knees and grabbed the first thing her hand found to defend herself with - her pillow. She held it in a defensive pose, as one would hold a book or something similar, prepared to hit whoever it was as brutally as possible. She had yet to realize a fluffy soft pillow was an ineffective weapon, but she was blinking more and thought she recognized the person on her bed despite the brutal hangover that was preventing her from thinking, and apparently seeing, straight. Was it...? No, it couldn't be... Wait, hangover...? What?
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:36 pm
Lucas was equally startled at the sudden cry of distress, and her movements towards something weapon-esque startled another of his facets, fluffy and soft or not. Luke moved to close a hand around her left wrist - more of a warning than a threat, as evidenced by a firm but careful grip - and glared at her. "You should know better than to threaten this body."
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:59 pm
Confusion and recognition, finally, were present in her face as she watched him, and her previous thoughts were all but confirmed when he grabbed her arm. "Luke?" How did he get in her room, and why was he on her bed? ...how did she get in her bed? Or in her room at all..? What? She continued to frown and looked extremely confused, unable to put the pillow down because of the hand carefully holding her wrist, so she merely fidgeted and squished it between her fingers. Her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest from the scare, and the instinctive fight or flight response had pushed a wonderful dose of adrenaline into her system, leaving her trembling slightly from her acute lack of any sort of movement. Fight or flight meant to do one of those things, not sit motionless on the floor. "How..? What happened last night?" She finally managed to ask, glancing around the room before looking back at him. His tendency to suddenly grab her was almost normal at this point.
But still crazy.
Suddenly she shut her eyes tightly and groaned a bit, as bits and pieces of the night before came trickling back into her memory. "I got drunk, didn't I? Arceus.." And doubtless this horrendous migraine was because of a hangover. Crap... Her eyes opened again as she seemed to remember something, and studied him carefully. "Excuse me for not knowing how I even got here last night and waking up with someone - with a guy - in my bed. It's very disconcerting," she said, taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down. Her mind was perfectly fine, but her body was still certain something horrible was about to happen if she didn't run or do something.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:49 pm
He released her when she spoke, content by her reaction that would not behave violently. And if she did, he could easily disable her. Preferred company as she was, Lucas's safety took priority over hers. "You were drunk," he affirmed with a nod. "You couldn't walk on your own, so I brought you here. I intended to stay until Lennyka returned, but she did not." Or she had and was so quiet about it and so quick about leaving that he didn't notice, but he somehow doubted it; both of the egos were light sleepers.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:56 pm
She sighed deeply as he spoke, and she leaned back and rubbed her head a bit. Her eyes shut tightly, as if that would help alleviate some of the pain in her head (which it didn't in the slightest), and she sighed again before speaking. "I'm sorry," she said, her tone not only apologetic but perhaps even slightly upset about something, and she sat there for a few moments before getting up with a sigh.
Grabbing her pillow before she forgot it on the floor, she stepped over to the bed and sat down, putting the pillow down next to her, and put her face in her hands. Why did hangovers have to be so awful? "I was stupid not to ask what he was drinking, stupid not to already assume.." Bah, stupid, stupid... But nothing could be done about it now. Even though she wished she could, especially since all the memories of what she'd said and how she acted were flooding back now. Her cheeks started to flush pink with the embarrassment but she didn't seem to notice it. "I'm sorry for getting drunk, it was incredibly stupid. That's the main reason I never touch alcohol if I can help it," she admitted, then looked at him gratefully over her slender fingers, a look on her face that wasn't usually ever there. "But.. thank you. You didn't have to do any of that, especially not stay here all night. It must've been uncomfortable," or probably, if he hadn't laid down.. but it didn't look like he had, poor thing.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:42 pm
"I already said you don't need to apologize." He felt as though he was meant to comfort her somehow but... how? What could he do that wasn't horribly awkward? Comfort and solace were simply not within his field of expertise. Besides, if anything... "If anything, I should be apologizing. For..." he stumbled with the proper words, "letting it happen to begin with." What would he have done to prevent it? How should he have known things would end as poorly as they did? And why did he feel so responsible in the first place?
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:50 pm
"You did?" She said, a confused look passing over her face again. He hadn't said it this morning, so obviously he'd said it last night, but she couldn't remember exactly when she'd said it... She must've fallen asleep at some point. Oh well, at least her drunken self had enough sense left to apologize.
The confused look remained as he continued, to... blame himself? Not entirely, but that's what it sounded like - but why? Cold, emotionless Luke, blaming himself for something trivial? The thought made the edges of her mouth twitch before she smiled, and even chuckled a little bit. "No, no, it's not your fault in the slightest." He was trying to be nice. Oh, this was too much. Mr. Emotionless Robot himself, trying to be the nice guy. "But either way, thank you. I really do appreciate it."
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:04 pm
Were he standing, he likely would have been awkwardly shuffling his feet. On a human scale, Luke's emotional development was on par with that of a fourteen-year-old. He would fix a quiet stare on the floor for a while longer before retreating back to his place. The scarred face would become a mask of complete confusion. One minute Claire had tumbled to the floor, and the next she was seated on her bed and... appreciating something?
"Are... you real?" He couldn't even tell anymore. Dreams and reality had come so close that he never knew when he was sleeping and when he was awake. He was used to being confused, but this was a strange new level.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:14 pm
Her smile widened slightly when she recognized immediately the shift in personality, from the cold emotionless Luke to the now extremely confused Lucas, and she chuckled a bit. He would probably assume it was in response to his question, but that was only part of the reason. "Of course I'm real, what are you talking about?"
A sudden pang in her head made her frown and put her head back in her hands. Giving that up, she flopped backwards onto the bed, and pulled the pillow over her face. "Are hangovers always so horrible?" She muttered through the fabric.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:23 pm
"I... don't even know..." She was laughing, so it couldn't have been too serious... Maybe it was just the usual gaps in memory after all?
Lucas instinctively rested a hand on her back. "Yeah, they're pretty much awful," he said. "You should feel all right later, though. You keep pain killers in here?" A couple standard pain killers and a few glasses of water could at least start her in the right direction.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:40 pm
She lowered the pillow with a small smile. Though it felt strange to have a comforting hand on her back like that, it wasn't unwanted. At the mention of pain killers, her brows furrowed thoughtfully as she glanced around the room for a moment. "I think I have some somewhere.. I normally never need them, but I had some after I broke my arm." Now if only she could remember where she'd put them...
She rose and dropped the pillow onto the bed, then walked over and pulled open the top drawer of her dresser. Pushing aside a jewelry box and a few other odds and ends, she finally pulled out a small bottle of pills. "Found them." Now if only she had a bottle of water in here...
Oh well, she would get that in a little bit. She paused there and closed the drawer slowly before turning to Lucas. It had occurred to her that she had apologized to Luke, who seemed to know exactly what happened, but so far Lucas was probably in the dark. "I guess I got pretty drunk last night. I should've had enough common sense to at least ask what was in the drink before taking it," which was a stupid mistake she would berate herself for at least a week, "and what I remember of my behavior, it was terrible. I'm really sorry." She bit her bottom lip slightly, thoughtfully - he would most likely accept her apology anyway but she still felt horrible that it occurred at all.
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:49 pm
"What? No, no no no," he shook his head slightly to emphasize, "I definitely should have told you what was in that drink before offering it. If you wanna talk about a lack of common sense, I think I've got you beat there." He laughed awkwardly, rubbing at his neck. "...Though I've got to admit, I was pretty damn sure that was a dream until just about now." He cleared his throat in an attempt to nonchalantly segue off. "Anyway, do you feel sick at all?"
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:08 pm
A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth again as he spoke, amused at the thought that it was all a dream. Oh, how she wished her getting drunk had just been a dream - then she wouldn't have made such a fool of herself, wouldn't have had a metaphorical heart attack when she woke up this morning, and no one would've witnessed her acting like such a ridiculous fool. But that was in the past, and there wasn't anything she could do about it now.
She walked over and sat back down on the bed, holding the bottle in her left hand. Her left hand... Oh, crap, where had her stress ball gone? She'd probably dropped it in the rec room or something... Oh well, she could find it later. "No, no, I don't feel sick or anything, just a terrible headache.." Oh dear. Oh, ohh, crap.. "Um, I didn't get sick or anything last night, did I?" She couldn't help but ask, wincing slightly as if the answer would be physically painful. There was no memory of it, no recollection of ever getting sick, but then again there was no guarantee she'd remember everything.
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