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 Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 6:59 pm
Chance was sitting up, though it kind of hurt, if he was being entirely honest. His chest felt a little tight, his stomach throbbing beneath the bandages, and it had taken him several tries to actually bend his torso without hissing in pain. Asher's presence had already begun the quicker healing process, which meant that it wasn't bleeding as much as it had at the start, but it was still relatively unpleasant.
In the bed beside him, Ripley was asleep, the curtains drawn around. Finn wasn't around, but he'd be back within a few minutes, Chance new, because the other man had hardly left the infirmary since Chance and Ripley had been brought in. Most of his attention had been directed towards the white haired man, but he'd been helpful with Chance as well, even though it was to a lesser extent.
Chance had been watching them, of course, his curiosity piqued, when he wasn't sleeping, still trying to figure out the nature of their relationship. But for all of his observing, he still hadn't deciphered it entirely, and so had given up for the time being, instead focusing on recovering.
At the present moment, his legs had been slid over the side of the bed as Chance debated whether or not he'd be allowed to get up and go somewhere - anywhere, really. The infirmary reeked of medicine and sterile antiseptic, and it made him slightly nauseated. A breath of fresh air, even for just a few moments, would have been very welcomed.
He wondered if he could possibly sneak out somehow.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:26 pm
It might have been a bit longer then a few minutes, especially since Ripley was getting more and more irritated with Finn's constant presence. The moon intermediate couldn't actually blame him, because he knew that he was being a more than a little bit of a pain in the a**, not letting the other man sleep, his bed side manner being much, much less than desirable, and he was, quite possibly, extending Ripley's infirmary stay just by being around. So, negotiations had begun. And the more they negotiated, the more often Finn would leave to give the other man some peace, but only after getting something that he wanted out of the deal. At this particular moment, Finn was to leave for a solid two hours, though he did actually come back after only one, though at least it wasn't to see Ripley. It was to see Chance. "Hey." He wandered up to the sun trainee's bed side, glancing over towards Ripley's bed to see that he was sound asleep. "Come outside with me for a little bit. Don't worry, I can sign you out temporarily....people are always going out for a smoke anyways, so there's no good ******** reason why you should be trapped in a bed all day, especially since I'm pretty sure your legs still work." He held a hand out towards the other man, a silent offer to help him up and out of his bed.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:34 pm
Footsteps approaching indicated the arrival of someone - or, more accurately, the arrival of someone that Chance had grown accustomed to seeing here in the infirmary. Finn still looked a little weary, but at least he'd been spending less time by Ripley's beside. Clearly the former had been keeping up with his promise to make Ripley pay by constantly being around to check on him.
"Hey, stranger," Chance said jokingly, and flashed Finn a smile, swinging one leg almost experimentally. "Long time no see."
The idea that he could get out for a few minutes - and that Finn actually was offering to see him and not Ripley - was both a surprise and a relief, and it showed on his face for a brief moment, lighting up his eyes before Chance's usual mild expression returned. "Thank the stars," he said gratefully, and reached out to grasp Finn's hand, sliding carefully off of the bed. It was true that his legs still worked, since those hadn't been injured at all, but he wavered a moment, unsteady for a few seconds before he took a breath, letting go of Finn to stand on his own.
"I think I've got this whole standing up thing down again," Chance said with a grin. "Lead the way, doctor."
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:51 pm
"Probably not strange enough." He chuckled, before continuing. "I'm sorry if by being here all of the time I've been impeding your own recovery time." He did, at least, feel somewhat bad for that fact. Thin curtains could only provide so much privacy, and Finn was, in most instances, very persistent in upholding is promises, and Ripley was, as always, as stubborn as a mule. The combination had led to quite a bit of arguing, which he was sure everybody in the infirmary had been able to hear. He helped Chance get out of bed, even going so far as to use a second hand to steady him once he was on his feet, until the other man let go and made it obvious that he'd like to try and stand on his own. "Good." Finn commented, before scoffing at the doctor comment and giving his head a small shake, watching him carefully to make sure he wasn't about to fall. "But you'll excuse me if I don't so much lead as walk right beside you. Last thing I need is to be taken off of infirmary duty due to negligence, even if I am here as a visitor right now." But he did begin walking, keeping to Chance's pace as they made their way towards the front desk, where Finn was forced to put some distance between them just to sign the man out. When that was finished with, he was back at his side, and gesturing for them to make for the doors.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 8:11 pm
He smiled. "On the contrary," Chance said, "Your being here all the time provides me with an endless source of entertainment, if only because hearing Ripley tell you to shut up for the thirteenth time in a day is very amusing to hear."
He gave a small laugh. "That being said, I've been doing all right, don't worry too much about me."
Finn at least wasn't going to coddle him, which Chance appreciated, instead letting him walk on his own and staying beside him in case he needed help. He made his way a little slowly towards the front desk, though he paused while Finn signed him out. After that, it was just a little further to the doors, and Chance edged through them to the other side.
Already the air was less stale, less sterile. Chance closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath, trying to ease the slight bout of dizziness momentarily overtook him. It passed rather quickly, however, and Chance opened his eyes to give Finn a little smile.
"Thanks," he said, "I was dying to get out of there, even if only for a little bit."
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 8:37 pm
"s**t, you've actually been keeping count? Ah well, what I find amazing is how even with all of the drugs he's on, just how testy he can still be." A smirk, and perhaps just a touch of fondness in his voice at the words. Once they were outside, Finn was quick to dig into his back pocket for the pack of cigarettes he had tucked away inside. It was half empty, and he had to remove a piece of foil over the so far untouched other half of the pack, before plucking one out and fishing in another pocket for his lighter, cigarette going to lips even while the pack was slid back into it's place. "Ya. Get's kind of claustrophobic in there after a while." Finn'd had his own fair share of infirmary stays, and knew just what it was like. Lighting up his cigarette, he took a long drag, closing his eye and tilting his head back as he exhaled. "So." He began, eye opening and gaze shifting over towards Chance. "I suppose I should clarify a couple of things. About me and Ripley." No point beating around the bush about it. The situation as it stood wasn't so much awkward as just a little bit funny, actually, but Finn still felt he should probably assure Chance that he hadn't inadvertently gotten in the middle of anything serious.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 8:49 pm
Chance laughed. "Only because there's only so many times I can count the number of cracks in the ceiling before my brain starts to hurt. Plus hearing annoyed Ripley is more entertaining, anyway, the both of you are so stubborn."
The smell of smoke filtered through the hallway, which was still better than antiseptic, somehow. Chance leaned against the wall, tilting his head back and went to slide his hands into his pockets, only to realize that he was still wearing a flimsy hospital gown and there were, in fact, no pockets (it also reminded him that said gown wasn't exactly the most flattering, nor the most modest, but he could have given two craps about it). He settled for resting them against the wall instead, tapping his fingers absently against the tile.
"That's one way of putting it," Chance said, flicking his gaze skyward briefly. "Never did like hospitals."
His eyes moved back down to Finn again as he raised his eyebrows. This was certainly interesting, though not entirely unexpected. He waited a beat before answering, simply watching him for a moment with a mildly curious expression on his face.
"Well, we did say that it was just sex," Chance said, and smiled. "And that I didn't expect or want anything more than that, so if you're worried I'm gonna do anything to jeopardizing whatever you two have, don't worry, I won't. All of that still stands."
A pause.
"Though, admittedly, I am curious," he added.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 9:10 pm
"We can go outside, if you want." Finn suggested, though he was unsure if the other man wanted to go very far in his current attire. "I'll even go and find you some pants, if you want...though the view without is pretty nice." He teased with a typical cold smirk, before taking another drag from his cigarette. There were a few beats of silence after Chance spoke about what they had done together, his face unreadable as he tapped his cigarette into a nearby ash holder. "There isn't, exactly, anything for you to jeopardize, is the point." Finn finally said, giving the other man his full attention again. "That's what I wanted you to know, just in case you thought that you were...I don't know, some kind of other man." Another pause, another drag off of his cigarette. "Ripley and I are together, but it's not in any conventional sense. It's an open.... relationship, I guess, and I hesitate to even use that particular word. We have rules, and it's been working out well, so far." Somehow. "We don't talk about the other people that we've ********. We don't bring people back to our own rooms to mess around with. We don't talk about whatever we have with other people unless we're asked about it...though in your case I'm making an exception, obviously. There's no pressure to commit, we can end it any time without there being any hard feelings, without it being messy...and yet, at the end of the day, no matter what, until he or I decide otherwise, he's mine, and I'm his." He shrugged his shoulders, and took another long drag. Now if Chance asked how they'd even come to create such an odd arrangement agreement to begin with, that would be fun story to tell.
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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 9:27 pm
He gave a little snort. "Thanks," Chance said dryly, though his expression was amused. "Bet you say that to all the guys in hospital gowns and bandages up the wazoo who haven't showered in two days and whose hair is probably something akin to a bird's nest."
He shook his head, however. "I'm good with staying inside, though, here is fine, just inside is kinda overwhelming right now. The offer was generous, though, so thanks."
Chance was listening as he leaned more fully against the wall. There was an IV needle taped to a spot on his arm that itched, though it wasn't connecting anything, having been taken off of the IV earlier that day (the needle had been left in just in case they had needed to give him more fluids, the tech had said, though Chance sincerely doubted it was that dire).
Finn's answer was not quite the one that Chance had expected. He tilted his head slightly, letting out a small hum.
"That's kind of..." He contemplated it a moment longer. "It's interesting. I kind of just assumed the two of you were together from what I saw in the infirmary, but that clears everything else up." He waved a hand. "The whole no expectations thing is much clearer now.
"I did think that, by the way," Chance added, after a moment's thought, and smiled. "The other man thing, I mean. Not that it bothers me a whole lot, since it's not my business, but to be completely honest, I do like the both of you as friends, and it would have sucked a little to have gotten in the middle of something, since both of you are pretty cool."
He let out another musing hum, Chance running his fingers idly through his hair, which was in desperate need of a wash. "So how did that whole thing start, really? You just decide one day that you were both into each other but didn't want anything committed or something?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 4:27 pm
"Only the ones that are all of those things and yet somehow still achieve an air of attractiveness." His smirk, and his quick to retort tongue, were both relentless it seemed. But he waved all of that away with a motion of his hand that left tendrils of smoke trailing in it's midst as it rose up towards the ceiling. He wasn't here to hit on Chance (though it was fun to do so) but to explain himself....somewhat. As well as he could, at least. "From what you saw...." He repeated slowly, with a small frown, and then a quick shake of his head. He could only assume Chance was referring to the hand holding, the gentleness that Finn had treated the other man with at the time. It had been...unlike him, actually, but much more like a different version of himself that he sometimes tried to tap into, just to see if he could experience what it felt like one more time. "We've been how we've been for several months now, and up until what happened between me and you." And what could have happened with Chel, "I'd never really bothered to..." He paused, as if rethinking what he was about to say, and then shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like I go out of my way looking for sex with other people. If it happens, if the timing is right, then it happens. If I put the offer on the table, and that offer is accepted, then it happens. I enjoy it but it doesn't mean anything. With Ripley it's just....different." That was the best way he could describe it, reaching up with a free hand to scratch at the top of his head. "And what we have is working. The last person I was with, we should have worked. I liked her, a lot, and she liked me but...it just didn't feel right. It felt like I would have taken the first opportunity I had to hurt her if I could. I knew that she thought she could be happy with me, forever, and I knew I would never let her be happy for long because I just...can't help myself." He sighed. "So ya, this works. No expectations works. And, he's miserable around me 75% of the time and I enjoy it immensely." A grin that would have looked almost jovial, except that with the coldness of his eyes it simply looked malicious instead. The question about how it started was met with a sidelong look, and another tap of the ash off of his cigarette before he took another long inhale, exhaling again when he was ready to speak. " That...is a very weird story."
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Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 5:59 pm
A laugh escaped his throat, slightly rough from his bruised neck. "Thanks," said Chance with amusement. "Glad that I have a hot, one-eyed guy to watch over me while I'm resting up, make sure I'm recovering as well as I should be. You're a very dedicated man, Connor Walsh Finn Connor."
He had fun dealing it right back, even if that wasn't the purpose of this particular meeting. Smoke trailed in front of him, and Chance leaned a little more further against the wall, tilting his head against the tiles. Sometime during Finn's explanation, he slid slowly down until he was sitting, still too influenced by the lingering effects of the pain medication to stay standing for too long. Eventually it would wear off, but his body felt worn out.
"I'm not sure I should feel flattered or not that I was the one to break your streak," said Chance, with a slight chuckle. "So basically what you're telling me is...that the two of you are just sort of...letting things happen the way they happen. If either of you have a good time with someone else, that's cool, but at the end of the day, the two of you are technically together."
A slight pause. "Sort of. In a noncommittal, non-conventional way that's kind of entertaining, as an outsider."
Chance waved a hand. "I get it, though, it works for you guys, and that's good, that's really good, even if its not the same as other relationships, or whatever word you want to use. That's pretty cool in and of itself." He smiled. up at the other man. "If you guys are content with what you've got, then that's great, really."
He shook his head a little, amused. "You're terrible. And simultaneously immensely interesting."
More smoke curled around the air above his head, Chance closing his eyes briefly. "Well, like I said, I'm curious," he said as he opened them again. "But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I am always curious." The flash of another smile. "One of my greatest strength and worst downfalls, I've been told."
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Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 9:49 pm
Finn considered the other man for a moment, and then finished his cigarette, butting it out while saying. "Yes. Technically, though I'm not sure how to feel about the entertaining aspect." He smiled, and it was still cold, and gave away nothing. "That isn't all to say that I don't care about him, either. I do have that capacity, as much as people believe that I don't. I care about a few people, unfortunately." That last part was muttered, and when he turned back towards Chance, it was to slide down the wall across from him so that they would be back on the same level, because damned if he was going to stand there getting a crick in his neck for the sake of conversation. "I'll take that as a compliment." He smirked, and then. "It's not a terribly long story, however. Just a weird one, as I said.....And I guess since you are living here now, theres no reason not tell tell you that weird s**t is going to happen from time to time. I mean, waking up one day to find that you've been turned into a kitten weird." He paused for a moment. "Now, with that kitten thing in mind, which actually happened by the way, imagine if you will, going to sleep, and dreaming of an alternate universe, on the same night that everybody else on the island has the exact same dream."
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Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:05 pm
"Entertaining in that I mean I like observing people," said Chance mildly. "Not entertaining in the way that it's funny, really, just that I find people interesting. And hopefully that didn't sound too creepy," he added, with a small laugh, putting a hand over his stomach to keep it from throbbing too much beneath the bandages.
Such a complex situation, Chance thought, as he watched Finn. The other man was cold when he wanted to be, careful to keep things beneath wraps, careful to not give away anything; but at the same time, there was small minutiae that was able to be read, or at the very least implied. Right now, however, all Chance was getting was that Ripley and Finn had something going on between them that was relatively confusing.
"It is a compliment," he answered lightly, and drew one leg up, resting his free arm over his knee while tugging down the gown and easing out a sigh that hurt his chest.
There was a short pause.
"...a kitten," said Chance, raising his eyebrows, which almost disappeared into his black curls. "Well. Uh. That's...that's an adventure right then and there. Obviously it didn't last, since you're...well, you, but that's...I don't get it, but I'll take your word for it."
He let out a thoughtful hum, pressing his lips together. "Okay. So basically like in that one dream movie where everyone shares a dream together, only it's not really real?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 10:29 am
"No, you absolutely sound ridiculously creepy." Finn told him, though there was enough humor in his voice to suggest that he was actually kidding. The kitten thing though, he felt like it needed some further amount of explanation, even if it meant getting just a little bit side tracked. "Look, I don't question these things, they just happen. This island is holding on to all kinds of ancient relics, artifacts they're called. They all do weird s**t, magical s**t, and the illustrious division lead that did this to my face," He tapped against his eyepatch "Apparently hordes them like he's some kind of dragon. Things happen, and I wouldn't doubt it if it it was just because some a*****e in the life department was messing around, or just thought it would be funny." And now, back to the dream. "Except it was real. It was just as if we were living in the minds of our alternate selves, in a universe where things were different, for whatever reason, for six hours. All of us, everybody who experienced it, were out for six hours, from six pm, to midnight, on New Years Eve." He knew it sounded crazy. He knew it did, but he also knew an entire island of individuals who had experienced the same eerie events.
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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 11:04 am
Chance flipped the bird at Finn, but there was an amused grin tugging at his lips anyway.
The whole kitten thing was confusing, but artifacts kind of made it easier to understand. He'd seen enough superhero movies to kind of make things up in his head about what sorts of artifacts there were (it's the Tesserect, he thought sardonically to himself, inwardly laughing), but at least it shed some sort of light on what sorts of things could happen here on the island.
"Okay..." said Chance slowly, giving a little nod of his head that kind of hurt. The hand on his knee slid down so that both of his hands were resting in his lap instead, one leg still drawn up a little. "So basically there was this...artifact thing, or something, that made you all think you were in this...shared world together."
He thought about this for a moment, trying to picture it.
"So..." said Chance, as Asher hummed inside of his thoughts, trying to ease some of the throbbing behind his eyes. "So I assume that...somewhere in this shared dream thing...you and Ripley had a thing or something?"
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