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 Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:30 pm
Perhaps…going patrolling while at least mostly intoxicated wasn’t…the greatest of ideas, but Aegirine couldn’t deny that it was easier.
A few shots of whiskey and here she was, the energy of several people tucked safely away. She knew that her Captain would be…well. Perhaps not pleased. But at the very least smugly approving. Maybe.
Whatever.
Aegirine gave a loud, long sigh and stared up at the sky, slightly amused by the way her tipsy brain was causing the stars to sway slightly. It was pretty. Soothing. And distracting enough that she truly didn’t notice the order aura that was nearby, and moving closer to her.
Honestly, between the sky, and her own thoughts of going home and finishing off the bottle that was waiting for her, anything could have happened and the Lieutenant would have been blissfully unaware.
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 7:22 pm
Carterhaugh knew, really, that he ought to make time to visit his Wonder. It was an important part of his Knighthood, and supposedly, there was a magical artifact there that he quite needed to continue his training as a Knight.
Mostly, though, it was apparently a sanctuary, locked away and protected, and that was really all he wanted. It would be nice, he thought, to have somewhere hew could retreat to. So he needed to go.
But he was taking a walk, and there was a Lieutenant's aura--and the poor girl he'd met before, the one that had put her plastic sword against his throat, had occupied his mind quite a bit since they met. He worried for her, to a degree; she seemed like she needed help.
And there she was, in front of him, and he could definiterly smell liquor.
He frowned. Stepped forward. Slid one hand around her waist from behind, used the other to take her hand in his and draw it to his lips.
"Hello there, beautiful," he said, voice dripping with charm. "I think it's quite dangerous for you to be wandering the streets, drunk. Why don't we go somewhere a little safer?"
He focused, whispered the pledge he knew would take him to his Wonder, and vanished there.
When they reappeared, they stood in a clearing, or what had clearly once been a clearing. The forest around it had died, and there were fallen trees left behind, and then a ring of cleared area, and then a stone fence, overgrown with dead rose vines, behind whbich seemed to be a massive rose garden. In the distance, Carterhaugh could see what looked like a crumbling manor-house.
This, it seemed, was Carterhaugh-the-Wonder.
....He wasn't sure he was impressed.
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 7:37 pm
The arm around her waist, and the feeling of lips on her hand…the soft, warm voice in his ear…for a moment, Aegirine was sure, so sure that it was Jack…but…no…the voice wasn’t that of Jack, wasn’t one that…she could easily place, but she was flustered.
Even more so when she was suddenly elsewhere. For a moment, the Lieutenant looked around, confused, and filling with a discomfort that only continued to expand as she couldn't find anything that she recognized. Finally, her gaze fell on Carterhaugh, and after a few seconds of getting the Page into focus, her weapon was summoned, and Aegirine smacked the plastic sword hard against the side of Carterhaugh’s head. “What the ******** have you done? Where are we? Why have you taken me? How dare you touch me.”
Her normally slow and elegant speech was slurred, swift and angry.
The thoughts in her head were taking long to process, yes but…hopefully her reactions were…quick enough. Mostly quick enough.
She was fine, but this situation was anything but.
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 7:48 pm
It wasn't as if there was much room for Carterhaugh to dodge. He had Aegirine pulled close, still had one arm around her waist, and although he let go of her hand once they were at his Wonder, he wasn't quite quick enough to dodge away from the plastic sword whacked against his head.
"Ow! So quick to violence, every time," he said, and he let her go, though he did it carefully. No need for her to fall over or something because she was...very obviously drunk. Moreso now that he heard her speak.
He reached up to press a hand against the side of his head, wincing.
"This is Carterhaugh," he said, as if that sufficed as an explanation. "My Wonder, the place I'm named for. A magical location on Earth that has been protected by Knights like myself for uncounted centuries." He stepped towards the gates, past her, and pushed them open. "You're drunk. Wandering the streets like that, something might happen to you. Much safer to sober up here."
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 7:56 pm
Her lips twitched and Aegirine shrugged. “I’ve been drunker. I’m good enough to stand, so I’m good enough to be out. Now, when I go home. It’ll be a whole other story. There’s a half bottle of Jack with my name on it.”
For a moment, the anger, the expressions itself were wiped from her face and she sighed, shaking her head. “Whatever. His ******** loss. Anyway. What do I care? Magical schmagical. You had no right to just kidnap a drunk person, don’t you know that that really and truly makes you a villain? Like…clearly I can now see that you’re in the wrong with and about everything. I just take a little energy, you steal drunk people.”
Had she been within her full capabilities, perhaps she would have felt some fear, but it all just morphed into anger and annoyance. “Just take me back. I want to go home. I want to sleep. I don’t want to see your stupid face.”
Aegirine huffed and then glanced at him. “...You keep calling me beautiful. You should cut that out too.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:20 pm
Carterhaugh frowned. He definitely didn't like her blase attitude to her own safety; the idea that just because she had been out while less sober, it was fine to be out drunk at all...it didn't sit well with him.
"I suppose I can't tell you what to do, it just doesn't strike me as safe to be out fighting a war while less than sober." He shrugged his shoulders, pretending to be unaffected. "In any case, didn't you tell me your General helped you stop drinking? This doesn't seem like what they'd want, given that."
Something on the wall had caught his eye. It looked like it might be a loose brick; and perhaps it was so that the wall was starting to crumble, but that one seemed odd. So he moved towards it, gripped it, pulled it out--and there, behind it, was a ring. Without a word, he slipped it out and put it on. This must have been what Laeradr was talking about; his signet, his communication device.
"Anyway, I'm not asking for any ransom, and if you do indeed want to go back, I'll take you--as long as you promise me you'll go straight home." He sighed. "I've got no doubts you could defend yourself against mundane threats, but there are plenty of people on my side stronger than both of us, and it stands to reason that one of them might decide you're an easy target."
Her second request made him smile, though, and he stepped around the wall, putting a hand on his hip and fixing her with a playful grin.
"Anyway, you are beautiful, and I like saying so. But if it really does make you uncomfortable, I suppose I can stop."
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:09 am
“Well, if I’m not actually fighting, then I’ll get off with a technicality. Besides. So long as my Captain doesn’t catch me and I get the energy that they require. That’s all that matters right? Just a cog in a wheel.” Hm. Perhaps that wasn’t the best kind of PR for winning him around to joining…but.
With a very undignified snort, Aegirine wondered why she would even want Carterhaugh to join. Other than the fact that.
…They thought she was beautiful.
Which was being addressed right this moment, and the Lieutenant looked at him and frowned slightly, and then huffed as he touched her again.
“Look. Buddy. The last three people to call me beautiful, the first one got shot. So, there’s a warning right there. Not by me. Just. Shot. In general. In the head, actually. Right in front of me. We had just gotten engaged…”
She fell quiet for a moment, her eyes misting over slightly as she thought of that horrible night, and then she wagged a finger in the Page’s face. “The second! The second was with me for a while…Lots of sex and then he got tired of me or something because he left and didn’t come back and didn’t even tell me he wasn’t coming back. Isn’t that great? And the third is a perfectly lovely girl who I can’t see anymore because of all of this!”
Aegirine gestured to herself. Her outfit. The whole implication that she was Aegirine.
“So. Do you really want to call me beautiful?”
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 4:26 pm
Carterhaugh sighed, unhappily. There was little getting through to her, it seemed; or at least, it was going to take them a lot longer to do this. But maybe that made sense; she had been in the Negaverse for what sounded like a long time, and been made to feel like a cog the whole time.
"They don't seem to treat you very well," he said, softly. "It doesn't seem fair, to me. To ask all that of you, and not really care about your safety."
But he didn't want to push. Not when it might just chase her away, and it seemed like she very, very much needed help.
Especially since it sounded like she had suffered loss after loss after loss.
"I think," they said, and they moved closer to her, but didn't reach out, "that I still think you're beautiful, and that I still want to say so, but I understand why you might not want me to. And that I am very sorry, for all the loss you've suffered. No one deserves to carry that much weight, Aegirine."
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:27 pm
“Well, at least I have someone who remembers I exist now so. That’s something.” Aegirine rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I’m used to carrying it. It’s been years. You’d think I’d be more used to it by now. But. It’s just. Gotten hard again. Look. Just take me back so I can go home and finish my bottle. I’ll stay in the house like a good little alcoholic, okay?”
…And maybe tomorrow she’d reach out to Anella and see if her cousin would be in the mood to come over and…help her clean or something. Perhaps that would snap her out of this funk.
Most likely not but.
“Meet me on Monday night. I’ll take your energy and you can keep calling me beautiful. If you must.”
She could meet her quota and…maybe just feel a little special at the same time. If the Page agreed, that was. But.
Shamefully, Aegirine hoped so.
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:47 pm
"Yes," Carterhaugh said, "you do." And if she'd let him, perhaps they could share the weight between them. But that was probably too much to ask, so early in their acquaintance, no matter how taken he was with her. No matter how much he wanted to help.
They extended their hand.
"I'll take you home. I'd love to walk you there properly, but I think that would be a very bad idea," he said, and he said it like it was a joke, even though it wasn't.
There was a promise. A chance to meet again. A chance to keep trying, to maybe help her see that things didn't have to be quite so miserable.
"Monday night. It's a date," Carterhaugh said. "And I'd love to get to know you better. Compliment you on more than just your looks."
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:53 pm
It wasn’t quite a date, but an easy way to make quota and get complimented. She could handle that. “All right then. A date.”
She reached out and took the offered hand, going so far as to lace fingers with Carterhaugh. “I know how to get home, don’t worry so much. It’ll cause wrinkles. Trust me. I know.”
And Aegirine laughed softly, ready to go home. Sure, she could make it, but if they stood and talked much longer…the less likely it seemed that she would.
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