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 Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:31 pm
Sometime after the ice cream fiasco, Lance had settled back in his office. He idly flipped through the paperwork on his desk. Then he leaned back. Forward to grab a pen. Back again. Lance stared at the paperwork in front of him, then reached for his phone. Ol-j-man Text from Lance:You got time? I'm free for a meeting if you're available. Text sent, he settled back to wait. Ol-j-man I'm not sure how much longer the meeting will go on for, so let's go ahead and RP. 8D
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:53 pm
She was glad for the cold: for one, it reminded her of Illinois and of how the snow had always made her feel better (probably due to the holidays it tended to represent), and for another it reminded her of when she had first come out of the pod, back when Deus was just a brand new place and not the ticking time bomb it was starting to become. The reprieve after the meeting, along with the odd Christmas effects that had only recently wore off, had given Stormy some breathing room to relax a little--and yet all it took was one text to make her chest get tight with nerves once more.Quote: Text from Stormy:Yes sir, on my way!
No backing out now.
Layering up for the outside and hanging a plastic bag of candy from her arm, she left her room, pocketed her hands, and mulled over exactly how she was going to approach this. With each bump of the bag against her leg, though, her mind just grew more and more fixated on how stupid everything looked in perspective. Maybe Lance would focus on that instead of the looking like a traitor part. Oh and maybe while she was at it, Caelius's heart would grow three sizes larger.
It was odd to approach Aria's office and remember that she wasn't there anymore . . . Taking a deep breath, Stormy knocked. "It's me, sir," she announced. "Um, I come bearing gifts?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:20 pm
"Wrong side," Lance called to Stormy through the open door, waving at her from the other side of the room. "The main office is still being rebuilt. What with what's going on..." Lance rubbed the side of his face, sighing. "No idea how long it'll take, but in the meantime I've got this cramped room."
"But." Lance thumped his hands on the desk. "Enough of that. You needed to see me?" He couldn't help but to glance at the bag on her arm as he waved her to one of the uncomfortable chairs in front of his desk.
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:36 pm
. . . Well this was a great start good job Stormy A+ remembering skills.
She quickly turned around and all but scuttled into the cramped room, hoping that her nervous twitches looked more like natural shivering from the cold. "Right, yeah, sorry . . ." Loosening her scarf, she slid the bag off her arm as she approached and sat it down. "I did one of those resupply missions," Stormy explained, trying to smile through her anxiety. "I was gonna keep it all for myself or for presents, but I saw the bowl was empty at the meeting, so . . . There's a five pound bag of gum drops and some pretzels in case people don't like super sweet."
Gifts were a great way to segway, right?
She eyed the chairs hesitantly before settling into one, shifting to try and get as comfortable as she could on it. "I, um, I was wondering how you've been since the . . . incident and stuff."
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:43 pm
The offering brought a grin to his face. "Hey, thanks. Nothing gets people together like sweets. And gambling." He reached out and took the bag, setting it to one side on his desk.
He settled back in his wheelchair, elbows propped on the desk as he watched her carefully. "I've been well enough, considering. You, on the other hand? You don't look so good. Did you participate in the trials?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:52 pm
Or alcohol, she almost added, remembering the turn out for the free beer and vacations right before they'd been thrust into the trials. Her hands folded in her lap out of habit to stop them from squirming. "Yeah," Stormy answered, her smile fading as he eyed her. "It's hard to get past what happened. What did you think about them, sir, if you don't mind me asking?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:57 pm
"It's nothing new," he admitted. "There's always been a group or two thinking they could run Deus better. People that break off and do their own thing, that is. Sometimes they're tracked down and turned into examples, other times they up and disappear." He pulled his gaze up from his own hands, trying to keep his face and tone neutral. "They claim to want to save the hunters, yet from the looks of the trials they aren't any better than what we are now. Or what the hunters were before you became one. My advice is to stay as far from them as possible."
"And what of yourself? You've had first hand experience with them."
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 10:21 pm
Her brows knitted into a thoughtful frown. "I wasn't around when they first showed themselves; up until the trials, all I had was secondhand information about them just being a splinter faction who marked people with circles and didn't like how Deus was run. Then that happened . . . And like you said, the message was to save us, but if anything I just feel, I dunno, more damned as a result." She paused, then added with a more troubled look, "That was the first time I've ever willingly killed anyone that wasn't from Halloween, Mr. Lance. I wasn't myself in there and I'm not proud of it."
It didn't matter that it wasn't real in the end. The weight of the dagger in her hand, the gurgling noise it made as it ripped through flesh and muscle, the sound the door made as it opened as a result, the way the body fell: those were very real things that haunted her.
Lance didn't have to tell her twice; she had enough on her plate without messing with The Circle.
"It's not what I came here to talk about, but . . . I have to ask: is it ever okay to sacrifice one person to save many more?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:26 pm
"What's with the serious question?" Lance joked, forcing a laugh. His mirth dried up as he realized how serious she was, his grin fading as he leaned forward to stare at her intently. "That question isn't... simple. Hunters are expected to lay their life down on the line in order to protect humanity. There may come a time where you're forced to act, either sacrifice yourself or a friend." Lance took a deep breath before continuing. "With recent events, it might not be a bad idea to start thinking about it. What brought this on?" He pinned her with a sharp look, waiting.
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:50 pm
"Ah, sorry . . . I only have serious questions today, sir." And she did look very apologetic for her tone, her hands wringing themselves self-consciously under Lance's gaze. She should probably just get to the point. Talking about the trials was just circumventing the real reason she had come anyway, and Stormy feared if she go off topic for too long she'd never have the nerve to come around to it.
Swallowing, she scooted her chair closer. "I only killed someone in there because I was promised it would save another group of people. I made a bad choice with the best intentions. That's the sort of thing I'm here to talk t'you about." Stormy hesitated, her palms growing sweaty. "Sir, I--I knew about what Aria was doing before she was exposed," she said in a lower tone.
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 8:37 pm
Upon hearing what Stormy did, Lance probably would have consoled her. Told her of a time when he was placed in the same position, reassured her that it wasn't that bad.
He was saved from moving by what she said after. The news made him grow still, to look upon Stormy with a predatory gaze. "What do you mean."
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:08 pm
It didn't matter that Lance was in a wheelchair; she could still imagine him getting up and looming over her and felt herself almost physically shrink into the chair as a result.
Thane? Silent as ever.
"Back--Back at the last meeting," Stormy explained in a small voice, belatedly wondering if the Binding would trigger something else, "when she disappeared and we went to go find out why? We went through a few of the tunnels for a bit and stumbled across Miss Aria and some people from Halloween talking, that they were friends and had been for a while? O-Or at least that's what it sounded like . . . They'd been talking about how the plants were going nuts, I think, part've some bigger movement."
She was suddenly and acutely aware that she had boxed herself in by scooting her chair.
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:23 pm
Lance was quite still as she spoke. So very still, in fact, that it was quite possibly a relief when he finally moved while she admitted her part in it. His eyes rolled up into his head before the leader slumped forward across his desk.
He wasn't moving.
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:54 pm
That was . . . not the reaction she was expecting. Immediately her heart started thumping as she scooted her chair back and made to stand.
"S-Sir?"
Concern overriding her better judgment, Stormy reached out to shake his shoulder.
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Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 9:00 pm
As she leaned over him, Stormy would see a very visible dart in the side of his neck. The feathers on it where white, yet as Stormy moved it would take on a pearl-like coloration by shifting to green and pink. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you. Not unless you wished to sleep in a pod for the next month. Then again, considering everything that's happened? It might not sound like a bad idea." Aria lowered the dart gun she held in her hands, dropping it into her pocket as she leaned against one of Lance's bookcases. She was wearing one of the head-to-toe black coats that completely covered her form, hood pushed back to look upon Stormy with disapproval. "How does it feel to have sacrificed someone to, what was it? Save many more?"
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