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 Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:05 am
pinchmonster inle told me 2 SORRYNOTSORRY IDK There was a faint knock on Tuck's door. It was far too early in the morning, and the caller shuffled uncomfortably, fully dressed despite the hour. Natasha Ross seriously wished for the millionth time that morning that Deus Ex had the ability to jettison her into outer space. Surely being an astronaut would be easier.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:21 pm
There came the sound of feet hitting the floor, soon followed by slow, heavy footsteps. The door opened. Theodore Ross appeared, and stared down at his twin sister. He shifted on his feet, gave a thoughtful noise, and then immediately closed the door in her face.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:52 pm
It could have been worse, she reflected glumly, staring at the grained surface of the door.
"SO, LIKE, WE'RE EVEN NOW, RIGHT?" she called.
Yeah, that sounded good.
"OKAY, I'LL CATCH YOU LATER THEN."
And as an afterthought-
"TELL EVAN I WANT BREAKFAST." After all, they had been like, pals, right? That should do it.
It occurred to her rather late that she wasn't particularly prepared to encounter the lanky, blonde and devastatingly handsome sun hunter either. Whatever.
Like ripping off a band-aid, right?
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:01 pm
There was a long pause before the door opened again. This time a broad hand snaked out, gripped her arm, and pulled her inside. The door closed behind them. Half-shoving her into the room, Tuck stared after her blearily. "You're alive." Course, he knew she was. Kinda figured someone would have let him know if she'd croaked. He wondered briefly if he should tell her he'd almost killed himself by going AWOL. "The ******** you been?" A pause, a snort. "And ******** Evan. I ain't seen his stupid a** in a while."
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:06 pm
"'Nother base," she squeaked back, a little embarrassed by her lack of composure. She shifted her weight, rubbing her arm and pretending to fix her hair.
"Was like, important, n'stuff." She picked at her nails nervously. "'M back now."
Gnat paused, looking away.
"Sorry."
She decided to use this time to judiciously peek around at his room.
"I don't see as many lady panties 'round here as I remember there bein'. Thought you'd be busier without me around." It wasn't a nice thing to say, but Gnat felt cornered somehow, even though Tuck hadn't exactly said anything. Yet.
The bit about Evan caught her off guard, though. She decided (with inexplicable wisdom) to drop it, for now.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 2:18 pm
"Could have used you here, Natasha." He sounded tired, and he was. Things hadn't been the same since the mission; hadn't been the same, no matter how he'd tried. But seeing her again, his twin, the other piece of his half - it made him feel a little better. She looked good. Healthy.
Could have been worse, he supposed. She coulda been dead.
"s**t went south a while back. Some ******** mission. I got bit," he tugged down the collar of his shirt to reveal an ugly purple mark. "Went AWOL, got podded for two weeks. I ain't real bright, I guess. Been keeping to myself a lot."
He shrugged - and then brought her in for a fierce bear hug.
"You dumb trick, I missed your stupid a**."
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 7:05 pm
Gnat let out a weak sniffle. "You too," she mumbled, hugging him back and burying her face in his shoulder for a moment.
She wasn't crying, ok. It was probably just really humid.
She pulled back after a few moments, taking an awkward step backward and leaning against a dresser. "Sounds like I got it easy," she drawled. "Mostly jus' patrols n' paperwork, kinna thing."
She punched him in the shoulder - careful to avoid the bitten one. "It's okay. Ain't nobody gonna pod you while I'm around," she boasted baldly.
In the months she had been away, Gnat had found her brother's once insufferable need to always be looking over her shoulder less and less irritating. In fact, she had come to miss it. In an institution where everyone was expendable, it had been a unique luxury to be cared about in spite of her frequent mistakes and blunders. She offered him a warm, wavering smile.
Maybe it was time for her to return the favor.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 7:49 pm
"Next time you go, I go too," was all he said when she pulled away, and it was obvious by the set of his mouth that he meant it. She was his sister, but more than that she was his twin - they'd shared space in the womb of their mother, and that was something special. ******** weird to think about, but special at the same time. Tuck took her silence as an invitation; whether or not she meant it as one didn't matter. "I been all kinds of ******** up in the head lately," his voice was quiet, and he braced himself for her mocking. It always came, and that was fine - but ever since the incident, he hadn't felt himself. He could project himself just fine, but there was even a distance growing between himself and Heidi that he couldn't bridge. He felt isolated, and it was entirely his own fault but he didn't know how to fix it. "S'been hard for me. Don't know how to get right. Looks like you came back at the right time." He tried to smile, but it was stiff. Awkward.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:07 pm
It was weird, being the one who wasn't in some sort of mess. Okay, so she had totally run off to work at another base because she wanted to be a Strong Independent Woman, which in retrospect was stupid. But even so, she had managed to keep out of trouble and not piss anyone off. Tuck had always been the better of the two of them in her eyes, with her always running to catch up. The kid sister, for all that they were born at roughly the same time. Gnat felt off balance a little, as if something in the cosmos had shifted. She must have been feeling unwell, she decided much later, because instead of offering a joke or some other insensitive way of brushing his confessions aside, she reached in for another quick hug. "Maybe it ain't about gettin' it right, you know?" She remarked, biting her lip and trying to hide the shine in her eyes. "Maybe it's jus' about doin' your best." She paused. "I always looked up t' you, you know. Even though I acted like a damn fool half the time," she added. "You's always so put together and smart and I think, well." She let another moment of silence pass, and then blurted, "I don't know where I'd be without you." She scrubbed her eyes with one hand irritably, looking away. "So. Yeah," she finished lamely.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 8:59 pm
That quick hug reminded him so much of their mama - the way she'd been so free with them, convinced they had healing powers. Tuck rubbed the back of his neck after Gnat finished talking. She made a good point - and maybe she was right. Didn't mean that he didn't hate himself a little more each day for the failures he accrued like so much garbage piled in the street. It would take time to sift through it all, but time was all he had. Time and four walls. "Put together," he gave a low laugh, "naw, I really ain't. Just a huge ******** up who pretends he knows what someone 'put together' s'posed to look like. I'm a real good actor, I guess." He fell silent. Took a second to rub his jaw. "I know where I'd be without you. ******** up. Lost. Acting like a damn fool kid. Thinkin' about leavin' and not comin' back jus' so I ain't gotta put up with disappointing people." He shrugged his broad shoulders. "So you ain't allowed to leave no more."
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:14 pm
The idea of Tuck leaving - after they'd finally found each other in this, well, this shithole, for better or worse - She shook her head vehemently, to banish the thought. "Well, s**t. Now it's like, my duty. To the poor women of Deus ex Machina, lest their tall dark n' handsome leaves them," she teased finally. She had already lost him once, her better half for all that he thought he wasn't. She couldn't do it again. You were never disappointing to me, whispered a small and much younger voice in her head. "You can't escape me anyway, I'm right across the hall. Maybe Life division'll loan me a security cam," she drawled, and couldn't keep a mischievous grin from flitting across her face, imagining getting to watch the walk-o-shames of any ladies his brother happened to dalliance with. She supposed in a way it was kind of a point of pride, that he was popular. It used to bug her but now - Now she had gotten a little better at not taking things for granted. Speaking of which... "So." She dug into an ear idly. "What'd Evan do t'get you all worked up? Did he change his last name to Cullen?" She allowed herself a self-satisfied smirk. "Can't blame you for goin' off rails if he bit you." Ha ha. Vampire jokes. It was a pretty pathetic one, all things considered, but she'd give her right arm if it would make him smile, just a little.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:28 pm
Tuck snorted and moved towards the bed; it groaned beneath his weight, just as it always had.
"He's all tied up in other s**t, ******** if I know. I seen him a while back when we spent some time with Stormy."
Another stretch of silence.
"This is going to sound stupid as ********, but sometimes I feel like I ain't nothin' but a goddamn failure to him. An' I wanna be like. Equal. To him. Not in the faggy way, I ain't trying to get on his d**k an' s**t. You know when I got podded, he slept outside'a my ********' pod with Stormy? ********. That's ******** up. I ******** up. I been tryin' to do better an' s**t but I feel like things ain't never gonna be the same again."
Theodore shrugged.
"I'unno. Maybe it's all in here," he tapped his temple. Shrugged again. "Prob'ly is."
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:41 pm
Gnat understood. It was, after all, how she'd always felt about Tuck. "Well," she tried again, "then things'll just be different, and we'll figger out how t'make it all work out anyway. We're all a little crazy right? Voices in our heads n' s**t." She crossed her arms stubbornly, then had an idea. Without notice, she whipped out her phone and sent off a quick tweet. "Wanna get somethin' t'eat?" She exclaimed with sudden gusto. She hoped this worked, because she could barely fry an egg.
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:59 pm
"You can't cook, an' I can't cook - but I did hide a box'a cereal in one of the pantries a while back. Bet it's still good." He rose from the bed and shoved his feet into a pair of ratty-a** sneakers before grabbing his jacket and scarf. It was obvious he was oblivious to what his sister was orchestrating. "Maybe they got some of them microwave sausages or bacon. I know how to cook that. I can microwave an egg, too. And make toast."
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:19 pm
More furious texting.  "Microwave, yeah," she replied, trying to keep up. "Wait. Can you microwave bacon?" Her face screwed up in a small frown. Well, at least the cereal was a solid back up plan. "An' what kinna cereal?" She opened his door, ushering him into the hallway with a flourish.
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