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 Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:10 am
Her first stop was the hospital. She was expecting him to still be there. It wasn't that long after their squirrel escapade and still too long until he healed properly, especially when he kept pulling out his IVs and straining his injury. You can imagine her surprise when Kyndall was told Tony escaped the hospital somewhat sooner than reccommended. She couldn't believe it.
She had no idea where he lived but he likely wasn't there anyway. If she knew him at all, and she began to think she did, he was at the library anyway. He must have missed the quiet routine of it. As she drove she imagined what she'd say to him but more than that she was wondering at the feeling of worry that was rolling around in her stomach. He wasn't hard to find, even in a crowd. The cane and his dress usually gave him away.
She headed right toward him, looking like a woman determined. She'd be polite, of course, but this was inexcuseable. What if something had happened to him? What if he made himself worse by trying to do more than he could? There was nothing for it - no excuses. How could he do that to the people that cared about him? And she, in her moment of righteous anger, found herself among them wondering how his girlfriend could remain out of town knowing he'd been in the hospital.
"Can I speak to you alone, please, Mr. Darrow?" she asked, trying to be as polite as she promised herself she'd be. She even used the formal Mr. Darrow, as opposed to Tony, to press her point of urgency.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:56 am
Tony was at the front desk, as usual, looking like he belonged there and there wasn't a thing wrong. Except his limp was much more pronounced, and he was leaning on a crutch rather than his cane. He was looking up some books for a patron waiting on the phone, and looked up when he saw someone approach the front counter.
The look on her face did not indicate she was happy to see him.
"Ah, Miss Kyndall, I..." his words trailed off when he noticed the sharp anger in her tone. That was definitely not good.
He cleared his throat, looking tense.
"Yes... of course. Uhm. Come behind the desk, we'll go into my office." He had an office behind the front counter, but he rarely used it. Instead, he sat at a desk nearer, and not locked away in a room, to conduct his business. He motioned for her to follow him into the office, though, which had a sofa and some drawers. It seemed to be a nice little side room, rather than an office now.
"Are you... uhm... are you okay?" he ventured to ask, though he imagined he knew why she was so mad at him.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:45 pm
She waited until the door closed, pacing because she couldn't manage to hold still. She didn't start in right away, trying to gather calm around her like a blanket. She didn't succeed but she did manage to get the anger out of her tone and become less rigid in person. She allowed herself the time to relax, wondering what to say to him and how it should come out. When she did it was broken, but calm and concerned.
"You escaped from the hospital. Escaped. That's how they put it. Against the staff's better judgment, I might add. How could you do such a thing, Tony, and risk your health?"
It wasn't actually her place to question him like this. They had a working relationship more than anything but by now she considered Tony a friend, even ignoring that pesky voice in the back of her head saying she wanted more than that. First things first. It was enough that they were friends. Her voice became slightly more passionate as she continued, looking him square in the eye wherever he decided to remain.
"It's reckless, is what it is, worrying the people that care about you? What if you hurt yourself worse by straining what you can do? It's not like you were in the hospital long enough to give it a chance without pulling out your IVs and generally trying to sabotage your well being."
Then she realized what that indicated and stopped, folding her hands together and giving him a chance to explain himself. Possibly there was a good reason he'd broken out of the facility...like mafia hit men come to kill him, for instance.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:31 am
Tony watched her with falling hope that she wasn't there to yell at him. That hope was completely dashed when she began to yell at him.
His eyes immediately dropped to the floor. If he had perked up ears like his corgi, they would have drooped by now. He looked at her from under his eyelashes, his shoulders sagging a bit as she rationally told him off for fleeing the hospital.
It wasn't like he didn't understand her concern. If it had been any of his friends, any of the people he knew were senshi or other knights, or even a civilian he was worried about, he would have been just as quick to yell at them. He would likely be saying the same things, as well. He certainly understood.
He had no excuse to offer her.
"I'm not trying to sabotage anything..." he said, when he had a chance. "I'm not trying to worry anyone. I just... couldn't stay there. I have... work to do." He was the world's most dedicated librarian, apparently. But that wasn't the only work he meant. "Anyway, I would heal no better there then I can at home at this point. I have my medication, and I have hurt my leg before... I think I can handle it, I promise. I wouldn't have left if I thought I was putting myself at actual risk."
He wasn't aware that he was disappointing her hope that he had a good excuse for his actions. He had no such thing. Not that he could explain to her, anyway.
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:01 pm
Kyndall was beginning to lose faith in the idea that there was a sufficient explanation beyond he simply wanted to be out of the hospital. She paused when she noticed that he looked something like a whipped puppy and imagined Dogby in his place being scolded for something, she couldn't imagine what. She sighed, bringing her hands up to cover her face to hide the partial smile of imagining him as Dogby. She couldn't afford laughter right now. She was trying to make a point - an angry worried serious point.
"Oh, Tony, whatever work you do here, while grand, is not worth risking your health for! You're on crutches standing upright for God knows how many hours here when you should be sitting."
She looked at him standing and frowned, shaking her head. She didn't like the idea of him putting any more strain on his leg and took his hand, leading him to a chair. She encouraged him to sit and took a seat beside him, close enough to continue holding his hand though that wasn't a conscious decision.
"Sit down, won't you? Dance a jig when I'm gone but humor me while I'm here."
She hadn't actually meant to come in here and yell at him. In fact, it was the one thing she'd promised herself she wouldn't do and still she was doing it. She had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down and looked at him again, sighing softly.
"I'm sorry, Tony. I didn't come here to scold you. I'm not your mother or your girlfriend or anything but I do care for you and I don't want to see you get hurt. I mean, I don't care for you as a mother or a girlfriend would but, you know, as a friend. Because we're friends. I mean..."
She noticed she still had his hand only by the fact that she was squeezing it gently and let it go again, blushing a little. The color spread the longer she was quiet. She got up, looking embarrassed. She felt embarrassed for being the one here scolding him when it wasn't her place and touching him in what she felt was an inappropriate way while he was with someone else. If she could have sunk into the ground at that moment she might have taken the option.
"When they told me you'd left early I suppose I was a little shocked. I should have taken some time before I came to see you."
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 11:58 am
No one could scold Dogby, and it seemed her teachings were not lost on her master.
"I sit down!" He protested, "I do take breaks, and work much slower than usual. Don't worry so much, I am taking care of myself. I just... I can't be stuck in that hospital for days on end like that. I can't."
He couldn't explain just why.
Kyndall was a civilian, and innocent in the second world that moved around them. The war between Senshi and Nega, the Knights that fought for their own beliefs. She had no right to know. Or rather, he had no right to tell her. To ruin her life with that kind of a revelation. There were many reasons to keep his secret, of course, but protecting the innocent was a big one.
So he couldn't tell her he could not stay in the hospital because there were youma to fight. That there were people to protect. And he had to do it.
He sat down slowly, at her request, grimacing as he did so. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as he smiled at her, taking a breath. "Well, I needed a break, anyway," he said, his tone light and almost teasing.
"I know you care. Believe me, you're not the only one to tell me off, and I know you're right." He thought about Valhalla, who had caught him slipping out of the hospital while powered up. That had been awkward. "You're all right about it, I should be more careful, but I don't believe I'm putting myself in harm's way. I know how to handle myself, and I don't have any intention of making my life harder than it has to be, or getting myself in a worse state. Believe me, I'm aiming to avoid all that."
He smiled at her, not blaming her for being upset and certainly not mad at her for voicing her concern.
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:16 pm
She paused, momentarily charmed.
"Are you teasing me, Anthony Darrow?"
She smiled, shaking her head at him in wonder. Somehow he'd managed to diffuse her anger in one sweeping motion and now she had a grin on her lips. She felt much better about him and his decision making. She knew it was still wrong of him to have checked out of the hospital so soon but she supposed he knew best for himself. That didn't help, however, when he turned things around on her and threw her off guard for once.
"I think you're more devious then I tend to give you credit for."
She sat in a chair, flustered, and considered him a long while. He was obviously in pain and obviously trying to be good about it. And she, with her need to come in all brunt and bluster was clearly not needed. She had to do it anyway because she did care about him and needed to feel like she was trying her best to be a good friend. It had been a while and she was unsure of how to be a friend anymore.
"Please, forgive me. I don't have a lot of adult friends. I suppose I'm sorely out of practice letting adults make decisions for themselves. It's hard to let go of the parenting instinct."
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Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:40 pm
Tony gave her a very innocent look, half of which might have been sincere. He wasn't sure what she meant, calling him devious, though he had done well enough to soothe the wild beast and keep her from telling him off with any more gusto then she had walked in with.
Arguing was not his strong point: he would have lost easily.
"I promise I'm not devious," he said, with a pointedly devious smile. He shook his head, though, and the expression vanished as a much more defenseless smile replace it.
"I understand that, too. Apparently I'm very understanding today. But I mean, the adult friend thing. Ah. It's surprisingly hard, at least I find, in my line of work perhaps, to form relationships with people my own age. I'm a little out of practice myself. Though, I don't have the excuse of being a parent. My son was an adult by the time he came to me. If you count seventeen as being an adult. Certainly not a kid."
He sighed.
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:17 pm
Oh, God, why was he so cute?
He had to be more devious than she gave him credit for, flashing her such a cutely devious grin that her heart dropped a little in her chest. She came closer to him, smiling as she did and stopped short when he spoke again.
He'd mentioned a son, certainly, but this was the first time he revealed any of his history to her. She had no idea he hadn't known his son until the boy was almost a man. She'd assumed he'd married the Nathan's mother and it simply hadn't worked out. He was altogether too stuffy looking to have such a potentially scandalous past. Very interesting. So he wasn't born a librarian after all. He had a past like the rest of them and deeper than she suspected.
"Don't get too interesting, Tony. I might never leave you alone until I learn everything."
On impulse, and probably not one of her brighter moments, she reached out and kissed his cheek. She'd have gone for his lips but she was a classy woman and besides, he hadn't shown the least bit of an inkling toward her. He was a loyal man and steadfast to an absent girlfriend. It was sweet. And irritating.
She was walking a fine line between friendship and flirtation. All the same she blushed.
"I'm...I'm sorry."
Had he noticed her indecision and did he suspect her last minute change? Was he angry with her? She hoped not.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:13 am
"It would be a short story, I assure you," he said. He smiled, teasing, though really he knew he would just be leaving most of it out. He couldn't tell her that he was a knight, for one, and that now made up a majority of his interesting stories. Without that information, or without any reference to senshi or negaverse agents, he felt he was a fairly boring person.
Standard, maybe, not boring. He didn't have to be an astronaut or a cowboy to be successful and interesting, did he? He wasn't going to demean himself at the moment, his mood fairly good and not really calling for it. No, he was happy with his station in life, in both regards, as a Librarian and as a Knight.
He was a bit stunned when she kissed his cheek, turning bright red. Had she been aiming somewhere else? He told himself no, she hadn't, it had just been an accident.
"Oh, it's fine. I... ah... it's fine. No harm done, right?"
He didn't call any attention to her diverting her kiss, or to the fact that she had kissed him at all. He smiled at her warmly, patient and sweet as ever, and eased the tension in the air a bit by chuckling. He was enjoying their conversation, but there was always work to do. His conscience kicked him in the back of the head, reminding him of the fact.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:27 pm
"I should go."
She was humiliated down to her core. Oh, sure, from the outside it looked all fine and innocent enough. He wasn't pressing the issue in any case and for that she was exceedingly grateful. Well, that, and she had no idea what she would have said to him about it if he did. She'd kissed him because she wanted to and there was no denying that. If she were smart she'd simply make a very hasty retreat and simply never let herself alone with him again.
Brilliant.
"You have things you should be doing, I'm sure. I'm just getting in your way to yell at you when I have no right to. Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking."
She started backing off lest something else come into her mind like actually explaining why she'd felt the need to kiss him. And yes, he looked very cute emblazoned in red like that. But she was being much too forward. Just because she felt a thing didn't mean he did and it didn't give her a right to act on it. Yes, she knew she was a generally headstrong woman with good intentions and a very strong lack of impulse control but that still didn't mean she should do things like this. They usually just sort of happened leaving her in states like the one she was in.
"I'm so very sorry, Tony. I'm really rather ashamed of myself."
Yes, leave it to her to make a bigger deal out of it than he was.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 11:05 am
"You came over to yell at me because you were worried for my health, as any good friend would be. And I appreciate your concern, I really do. Please don't feel... awkward..." he blushed a bit, though, and it was clear he was beginning to think about the kiss a bit more. He shook his head, aiming to laugh it off.
It was harmless. He was just embarrassed because he didn't think he was worth anyone caring so much about him. He knew he had his duties, and he was nice, and he had a few friends who would beg to differ with this opinion of himself. He knew he had people he needed to survive for, to protect and love and shelter.
"Don't be ashamed, seriously. I don't know what to say. It's honestly not so bad a deal, I promise. And come back to visit any time. I'd like to continue work with that script, and I'm sure Dogby prefers your company to mine. Please."
He smiled reassuringly, nodding his head and trying to comfort her, or at least smooth things back to a normal peace.
"You haven't upset me, or hurt our friendship."
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 1:25 pm
He obviously didn't understand the dilemma and she was not inclined to try and explain it to him if he didn't know. She didn't generally go round kissing her friends on the cheek or otherwise. She wasn't really the touchy feely type as he'd probably figured out in their time together. She barely kissed her daughter and that was only on special occasions.
"You're very kind, Tony."
But she continued to back up against his rationalizing and trying to comfort her. It was sweet of him to pass it off as no big deal and in his mind likely that's what it was to him which only made her feel worse about her embarrassment because she seemed to be nothing more than safe in his book. Safe enough to kiss him in some way and not feel the slightest bit weird or guilty about it.
Oh, yes, Kyndall, very good choice and wonderful exit. If he doesn't happen to think you're completely insane now I'm not sure what else you could do to convince him.
She was beginning to think continuing to work with him might be a bad idea. Especially knowing herself. Especially knowing she was capable of completely rash choices like these. But she couldn't actually explain her reasoning for any of these paths of thought without explaining to him the one thing she absolutely mustn't say.
She liked him. She honestly and earnestly liked him.
And knew she didn't have a chance. She didn't have a prayer. He had a girlfriend who, in all likelihood, was less completely bonkers than she was and deserved a guy as good as him. What right did she have to disturb something like that? None, that's what.
"I know I haven't, Tony. You're a good man."
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 7:00 pm
Tony saw her retreating and realized there was more going on here then he first anticipated. He wondered if she was embarrassed. It had just been a friendly peck on the cheek. If the TV was anything to go by, everyone said hello or thank you or good bye like that, so it was perfectly normal. He was sure he didn't know he as well as he should have, or would like to, and he pondered her slow escape as she was making it.
He did know, very well, what it was like to be embarrassed. To want to flee and to keep getting trapped. he wouldn't be that guy. He would let her go if she wanted to, and let her come back to talk to him when she was feeling less awkward. Whenever this kind of thing happened to him, he found it best to leave, calm down, and let things smooth out without his poking at it.
Time was a much better problem solver than he was.
Tony smiled at her, reassuring and kind, nodding his head. He wasn't sure about that. All these compliments. Being kind and a good man. What did that mean? He tried to be a good person, in general, but he wasn't sure if he was a good man. He was awkward save when he probably should be. He was attractive without paying too much attention to it. He was a constant source of vexation to some of his friends. He lied regularly because he led a double life. True, that double life was as what some people would consider a super hero, but it still made him a liar.
"I'll see you soon, yes?" He nodded his head, as if freeing her from the shackles of the encounter.
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Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:06 pm
"I don't know, Tony. Probably. We have a play to plan."
But now she was considering public venues and wanted very much to spare herself from another one of these impulsively bad choices. She turned around and put her back to him, finally feeling like she could actually get away without him asking for an explanation. That, in itself, was a blessing.
She paused and looked back at him after she opened the door and felt like she owed him to tell him the truth but half of her was so afraid of the consequences of that that she couldn't open her mouth to begin. Instead she simply used what was normally the kiss of death between a man and a woman. A very simple phrase:
"I'll call you."
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