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 Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 7:45 pm
It wasn't very hard to find Stormy. Or any Mist trainee, really. Candace hummed a soft little song as she walked down the hall of the first level of the dorms. In her hands she carried a tray with a cup of coffee, real coffee she had bought the mix for off the island and made in her own apartment, and a cup of hot water as well as an assortment of different flavors of tea.
She was good, but Candace wasn't creepy stalker good. She had found out the girl liked tea but which kind she preferred? Now that would be a little bit more invasive than she was comfortable with a girl she wanted to gain the trust of.
It was easy to find the door that belonged to Stormy, there was an adorable crayon drawing of a storm cloud taped to the door.
Candace knocked twice. "Stormy? It's Candace, do you have a moment?" She knew she was in, but not if she was busy.
Again, good but not a stalker.
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 8:05 pm
Stormy was somewhere between awake and asleep as she meditated, trying to focus her mind. She had been sitting on her mat for a while now, legs crossed, body relaxed, palms out. Breathing techniques were the right way to go before doing any sort of exercise, and God did she need to breathe and clear her mind. Yet no matter how long she sat there, the trainee's mind kept wandering back into memories of the gold kingdom, the mission with Death, the way that boy just exploded like a meat bomb . . .
And if she wasn't strolling through her nightmares, she was dipping her head and almost nodding off. Now wasn't the time. She had to be more tired first. Maybe another day with little sleep? Maybe another all nighter? More tired meant no chance of dreams or nightmares, right . . . ?
Having been so internally caught up, Stormy jumped with a small gasp at the knock. Did she look okay? She go to her feet and passed a hand over her hair, which might have done very little physically but made her feel better. Recognizing the voice, she shuffled to the door and opened it a crack enough to peek through. Her mouth opened to greet Candace when her eyes caught "Oh . . . You read my profile on that computer didn't you." She was touched, but not quite enough to spark a smile; her face felt fixed with neutrality, a mask to avoid looking weak. "Is something up?"Eight hi sorry this took a bit, I had finals @@
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 10:34 pm
Ah! There she was! Good, good. Candace's warm smile did falter a moment when asked if she had read her profile. "What profile?" Had she missed something? ...Did she mean that stupid..whatever it was from 'Julie'? Dead Julie? No, that hadn't been where she'd found this information. Were people seriously using that? She'd have to look into this. "Nothing really." Candace shrugged. "I just wanted to check on you, make sure you're doing all right. Plus I'd like to know you better since we're in the same division and all. May I come in?" The tea would get cold before Stormy could even enjoy it if she didn't set it down soon.
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Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 9:16 pm
. . . Oh, so she hadn't read it? Stormy opened her mouth to apologize profusely over this very grievous assumption when the smell of tea made her shut her mouth. It wouldn't do to make it go to waste . . . But that meant letting people in. She leaned against the threshold until her cheek folded partway over her nose and mouth, pensive and hesitant over this choice of choices.
"There aren't any leftover marks from the bones," she answered factually. "I'm not 'holey'. What about you?" Stormy asked in return, gently fiddling with the doorknob with indecision. Was it rude to take the tea and say come back another time? "It looked a little rough for you too . . . Though that punch was kinda fantastic."
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 6:07 pm
Candace thought nothing about Stormy's hesitation to let her in. Take it slow and easy, like luring a wary kitten out from under the porch. She gave the girl a warm smile as she answered how she was, shrugging at her question. "I was more annoyed than anything. I felt bad that Gale had to see that though..he looked so upset when I came back...and yeah, I promised myself if I came back the first thing I was going to do was punch Mark in the face." He deserved it. He deserved all of it.
"Is there something in your room you're hiding~?" Candace asked with a teasing smile, playfully leaning this way and that as if trying to see past Stormy. "I can teach you to punch like that if you'd like."
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 8:48 pm
Annoyed. Candace died by getting skewered, and she was just annoyed.
Stormy eyed her with quiet awe, though it was quickly whisked away with a coy look at her tease. "Just pillows," she mumbled. Punching those wouldn't be very satisfactory . . . trust her, she tried already. It was clear, though, that the older hunter wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, and if she had tea already . . . Stormy supposed she ought to indulge her.
"Papi said my fists were more like loaves of bread," she added with a small face as she opened the door and stepped away to let Candace in. "They still feel like them now. I'd like training, but I think they're only good for baking, not beating . . ."
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Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 3:54 pm
When the door was finally opened to let her in Candace gave Stormy a quiet thank you and stepped past her, placing the tray down in a safe place. "Loaves of bread?" Candace grinned. Ah, good for baking. That made sense. "What's your weapon? I can probably help you if you want, Aria asked me to think about training Mists anyway."
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Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 6:43 pm
As Candace went to stick the tray on her little desk, the only available surface for a table, Stormy moved to grab a few pillows. "It's a sword," she answered.
< < Greatsword. > >
"Greatsword," the trainee amended quickly with a wince, setting down a pile of pillows in case Candace want to sit. "It's almost as big as I am. But, um . . . Yeah, I remember you said some stuff about that in the Mist meeting." Stormy had been slated to go on a mission herself . . . whoops. Crap. Like her mood needed to go any lower.
She gently lifted the teacup from the tray like it was a bomb, glad for its warmth. "I, uh, I'm supposed to be getting close to promotion," she added with a shy look over the lip of the cup, "But I don't know if I've been really 'Misting' right, Miss Candace."
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Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 7:02 pm
Ooh! A greatsword! How fun! "May I see it? We have many swords but I don't recall seeing a greatsword aside from Raeg!" Did Stormy have a sword as huge as Clarice's? God, she kind of hoped not. This little thing with a sword twice her size? That would be ridiculous. But she was glad to hear it was almost as big as her and not bigger than that. Stormy's already hard to read expression seemed to get a bit..dismal. Was everything okay? Ah, hadn't a few Mists been assigned missions and training courses? "Hey," Candace gave her a gentle pat on the arm. "I can take you on a mission if you want. There're some externals right now that need investigating, I haven't had a chance to do any of them yet."
Ah! Promotion? How lovely! Candace gave Stormy a warm smile at that, nodding her head at her worries. "Oh, trust me, I know that feeling all too well. I can help you, if you like. Also..just call me Candace, no need for the 'Miss'. What is it you're concerned about?"
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Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 7:28 pm
"It's two-handed," she added most helpfully, not visibly reacting to the arm pat at first. After the amount of touching she'd been forced through at that . . . party thing, Stormy had grown temporarily numb to contact; normally she would have avoided it entirely if possible, but Candace had been sweet and offered her training and tea and she just couldn't be rude to that.
The mention of missions did add a little light in her eyes, though. "Would you?" she asked with a more imploring look, though almost immediately dimmed again into something more somber. "Although I . . . I don't know if I can handle another one right right now. I'm concerned about . . . well, everything I guess. I'm not at my best." If her saggy posture and less than friendly attitude hadn't hinted at it. She wanted the help, really, but it was hard to ask without coming across as needy at the moment.
Pausing, Stormy shuffled to the pile of pillows and took advantage of them, nudging them against the wall before laying back. She set the teacup down beside her before summoning the greatsword into her lap. "This is Thane," she introduced, gazing at her blurred reflection in the dark steel to avoid looking at Candace some more. "He says hi."
The rumble in her brain was not distinctly welcoming.
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 9:43 pm
"Of course! I'd be happy to. We can take a few others along as well, external missions tend to be better with groups." Candace hummed quietly. Stormy was concerned about her skills and readiness? "You're a trainee, dear. It's okay to not be at your best...if you're not ready for a mission we could do something else first. Courses, spars, specific focus on something you're unsure about?" Hm, was she being too pushy? She hoped not, she just wanted to help. She wanted all of these Mist trainees to be wonderful Mists. It was like watching precious babies grow up. ...That was sappy as hell. When Stormy started to move around and shift, Candace watched curiously to see what she was up to. She looked impressed when the girl summoned her weapon. "Hello, Thane. It's nice to meet you," Candace said with a warm smile. "He's impressive! I like him. Very lovely." A bladed weapon was a weapon she could help with more easily than a gun.
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 11:59 pm
The idea of groups sounded good at first; after all, safety in numbers, right? But then Stormy had an unbidden flashback to her little group in the last big mission: Jake, Tuck, Nevada, Evan, and Gale. She had been skewered right in front of them without so much as a chance to react. And then the other mission Jake took her on, that had Gale and Sherry and Marcus too and she still had been completely useless.
Groups meant absolutely nothing. Groups just meant having an audience when she added evidence to the fact that maybe signing up for this job had been a mistake. Maybe she was too young. Her Eclipse brothers were right to treat her like a kid.
Stormy shuddered and clutched the greatsword until the metal was beginning to bite into her palms, uncaring at how odd a reaction it must have been to Candace's chipper suggestions and compliments. The gentle sting of pain was a welcome reminder of how wonderfully alive she was and was somehow the key to keeping her from clamming up. "He says thank you," she mumbled.
< < Debasing herself to someone of an inferior rank? Bah. A true trainer would be whipping you into action, not babying you. > >
"And that you're very lovely too," she went on anyway, stiffly peeling a hand off the greatsword to get her teacup and continuing sipping its dregs. "I-I, uh . . ."
Don't cry, don't cry.
"When I say I'm not at my best, I'm saying . . . The--The dying thing." Now both hands were grasping the cup, trying to suck out the warmth leftover from the drink; she could feel her heartbeat in her hands from how hard she had been holding her weapon. "That was the first time I died, Miss Candace," Stormy stated to her now drained teacup, completely forgetting she was supposed to drop the title. "Like . . . in a visceral way. The whispering fog took me once, that was sort of like dying. Everything went white and gray and I couldn't remember existing until after the fact. But the Sahara was the first time I died died and I-I just . . . can't stop thinking about it."
And she was trying to emote, trying her hardest to evince emotion in the form of knitted brows, a turn of her mouth, something: and yet the trainee's face remained very placid, very much like she had just woken up and was still half-asleep--like it always was. The tremble in her voice and pauses between words were what gave away how heavy the matter weighed on her.
"Does . . . Does that make me a bad Hunter?" Stormy eventually asked, slowly raising her gaze to meet Candace's with a forlorn and childish look, like a kid seeking her mother's approval. "I try my best, I do . . . But I died and it just won't leave me alone. Thane," mocks me, "he--he doesn't get why I'm obsessing over it. Lots of Hunters here die and come back, don't they? You did and you shook it off like it was nothing, and I want to be like that . . . 'Cause it's affecting my focus, my sleep, everything. A-And know I'm still a basic trainee, but that doesn't excuse anything . . . I'm afriad I'll just--I don't know--" She took a deep breath and blinked hard, feeling her eyes sting briefly and then nothing more. "Afraid I'll, like, have a meltdown again if I go on another big mission."
xEight that was bigger than I meant whoops HAVE FUN AT AN~
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 9:25 pm
Oh. That was it. Candace finished her coffee and listened very attentively to what Stormy had to say on how she was feeling. It hadn't been the first time she had..'died'. Candace could have pointed out her hunter trial, she had to die during that at some point, but it seemed Stormy didn't think of that and she didn't want to make her feel bad. She didn't correct Stormy for forgetting to drop the Miss title. The Sahara..it was always the ******** Sahara. "No, Stormy. It doesn't make you a bad Hunter," Candace assured her with a warm smile. So she had to get Stormy over this hump, this death hump. That didn't sound too bad. "Death isn't the same in Halloween as it is here. While Thane is a weapon now he was and will always be one of them regardless, so he probably really doesn't understand it. When they die, unless it's incredibly severe, they just...reform..kind of like back in the Sahara. But no, lots of Hunters do not die and come back...I've seen many, many Hunters die." Candace would at least be honest with her. She didn't need someone being sugary sweet and evasive for her own sake. "I only shook it off because it had already happened to everyone else like..three times. I was annoyed but...only when I came back. Dying, it's a scary thing. When I died during my trial I was terrified. It..it was awful. So trust me, I do understand. It's one of those things...I can't...I can try, but in the end I think the only one who can help you with your fear of dying is yourself. Everyone handles these things differently. I don't know when exactly I stopped worrying about dying..." A lie. "But it does happen. Just give it time, your wounds are still fresh."Hm. She was afraid of meltdowns. Candace frowned. There was a way she knew calmed her down now, but that was Rep's thing...she wouldn't share Rep's methods. It was important to him. And her other method probably wasn't Stormy's style. Finding someone to relieve stress with probably wasn't the best idea for her. "I've had my share of meltdowns. They suck. But sometimes having them makes you feel better after, to let it out..hm..."Suddenly she perked up a little. "Have you ever taken a night to just lock the door, turn off the lights, put on some sad music and just..cry? Just let it all out when things are quiet, to think about the things that are bothering you and just cry until you can't cry anymore? I find it therapeutic, to stop holding it in and let it all go." Candace idly turned her empty coffee mug in her hands. "From watching you now you seem like a pretty strong girl, but I have to wonder if you're putting up a front of not...I don't think you're a bad Hunter, I think you're just human. Dying is scary, it's not fun, it's...not pleasant."Ol-j-man Candace is like ADVICE IDK I'M STILL NEW AT THIS WOOOOOOOORDS
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 10:37 pm
So one day dying was just going to be part of the norm, huh? She wasn't sure how to feel about that. But she did know how to feel about the music suggestion, and the trainee blinked and gave Candace a curious look. "N-Not strong, no," Stormy said distantly. "That's not the right word for it. But . . . maybe music'll help. If I could get something runic. But I wouldn't want to bother someone with the noise." She was hedging around her words as she often did when things touched a nerve, good or bad.
"I do miss music, though. I used to have a piano at home . . . Twelve years." She made as if to sip more tea but found her cup empty. Her brows knitted closer together, and she had to blink back the sting in her eyes again before an unbidden memory cropped up; it was stifled to just. "You've seen a lot, right?" Stormy asked quietly. "What d'you do to help yourself? Is there a way I could just . . . I dunno, train myself to not care about death anymore like you do?"
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Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 11:02 pm
"You can borrow my iPod if you'd like. I had it converted a long time ago so it wouldn't die." And with the headphones she wouldn't be bothering anyone with noise. Though she mentioned a piano.. Candace raised a brow. "I gave Jerry a piano for Christmas. I'm sure he wouldn't mind letting you play on it if you ask, he'd probably be elated."When asked if she had seen a lot of death she sighed. A lot, yes. "I...ah.." Candace wasn't sure if this was a good idea. Were her coping mechanisms really the best advice? "Sometimes I do what I suggested, the crying thing. But I think mostly it's a support system. I've never actually handled death too well, but I think the best thing for me is...the people around me. I tend to use them to help me cope with death. Talking to people, spending time with them, living life..that could help."She paused a moment, a little smile replacing her frown. Ah, this could work. "And I work damn hard to be capable of doing my best to prevent their deaths. That is something I can help you with."
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