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 Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 10:58 pm
He paused thoughtfully. Then with a soft "mm", he shifted Chris so that he could slide the strap off and let Chel take it.
"Meaning something brought him there?" Jack asked with a frown. "Wonder if it has something to do with that earthshaker form earlier." Either way, it was unsettling to take note of.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:03 pm
Chel was happy to tug the bag over her shoulder. She teetered slightly with the first step (Jesus what did you put in here, bricks?!), but righted herself with the second and carried on normally. She made a noncommital noise to his musing; it hadn't been a thought she'd developed, merely something she'd mused while looking at the room. Maybe relevant, maybe just the usual Halloween brand of creepy.
She helped Jack maneuver Chris around the skeleton (Watch his ********' head a*****e!) and they came out of the pocket, back to the forest. It was quieter now with the basilisk gone, but still unsettling vast. Chel pointed to a rounded tree, one with a strong base that provided a solid barrier between the rest of the forest and the cave wall. "There's a good enough place as any, yeah?"
Well protected (as much as it could be), Chel thought it a decent place to catch their breath. At least until Chris woke up and they could decide what to do. At the very least, they had their pendants and they were together. They could leave if they needed to.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 8:21 pm
He's sitting in the dim flickering light of a baseball game on TV when he feels... something.
There's a prickle in the back of his mind, like something's watching him. But it doesn't raise any alarms. It feels familiar. If not comforting, then at least expected.
Chris blinks and turns to look to the left. Daws is asleep in his recliner, drooling and snoring. The feminine hum absolutely had not come from him.
For some reason, that makes him panic. He covers his ears and pulls his knees towards his chest. He automatically focuses as hard as he can on every detail from the TV. If he thinks hard enough, he knows who he's hearing. But he also knows he doesn't want to remember. Doesn't want to acknowledge the voice.
He blocks it out.
---
The next time it happens he's standing in the bathroom, face covered in foam as he shaves. Dawson's doing the same at the second sink.
Chris's hand slips and blood blooms from a paper thin cut along his chin.
"Aw s**t," Daws exclaims. He fumbles for a towel and dabs the blood and shaving cream away, cupping Chris's chin gently. "That pretty face is all you've got, don't go messin' it up." He finishes with a dry kiss to the spot, and Chris's heart flutters.
Chris grips the edge of the sink with white knuckles. He doesn't want to talk back. If he acknowledges it... he's afraid he'll unravel.
"Ya okay?" Dawson asks, gripping Chris's shoulder.
"Uh. Yeah. Yeah I'm good, just got a bit of a headache. Can you get me some asprin?"
"Sure thing."
When he leaves the room, Chris pinches his arm. He doesn't feel anything.
---
He wants to cry when he can't feel Dawson's hands on him anymore. The clumsy touches are like ghosts. Something should be there, but there's nothing.
But he wants to be weak. He wants to be so weak. Weak enough to feel the touches again. Weak enough to stay here, in this weird perfect little bubble. Weak enough not to remember what lies on the other side.
He cries. Silent, streaming tears that drip down his chin and leave ugly streaks. Dawson wipes them away lovingly, whispers placating words and tries to hold him together. But he can't feel him. Can't hear the words.
---
He woke with a gasp, eyes watering. He couldn't tell where he was, but he saw the rock walls rising up in the distance and shuddered hard. Hadn't he been in the water? He remembered splitting up from the others.
"Chel?" he called, voice weak and wobbly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 10:33 pm
Owain vastly approved that a tree could help them in this ghastly underground world or stone, and he made sure his wielder let that be known aloud.
The good thing: Chris didn't have to worry about helping pitch a tent this time. The bad thing: he woke up first to Jack's voice.
"Sleeping Beauty's back with us." He would have gone to check his condition again, but he was pretty sure Chel wanted to be first on the scene.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 10:36 pm
Honestly? Chel was too tired and bandaged to properly fuss over him. She was in the midst of taking a breather when he woke up, so the whole panic and worry ordeal was like a dull lowkey pain rather than immediate and urgent.
"You look like s**t," she told him. "What hurts?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:39 pm
He checked eyes and hands first, then bandages, all with frantic sweeping glances. When they passed inspection his muscles relaxed almost with force. "Yer no Miss Deus yourself," he coughed, quickly rubbing away at his eyes with the back of his hand. He felt ******** empty as the weight of where he was and what he was doing began to settle.
"Just about everything, feels like. S'a dull ache though. Headache, too. Nothing major, I think? What about you two?" He made grabby hands at Jack, because he was closest. "Water me, Seymour."
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:37 pm
Raising a brow at the choice of name, Jack tossed a bottle his way. "I broke you out of a crystal encasement while Chel slaughtered a basilisk solo," he reported with more than a hint of pride. "You missed a pretty ******** cool show. Any details about what happened?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:40 pm
Chris pressed his lips in a tight line and gave a quick shake of his head. "No."
He took a swig of water immediately, so he wouldn't have to talk.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 6:41 pm
Chel leaned back against the tree, grateful for a moment of rest. It had been an awesome show indeed, but the performer was tired.
The term "crystal encasement" made her flinch without meaning to though.
"We woke up on the river bank and yeah. What Jack said." With a minor addendum: "That was an undead basilisk. They're not all the same." Chel was slightly touchy when it came to classifying Halloween.
She looked back at Chris and said, "We're in a forest thing. S'bigger than the last one. We're takin' it easy for a bit 'cause I got kinda cut up and you're uh. A skeleton." She tiredly prodded his body with her foot. "Now talk. No ********' secrets."
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 7:14 pm
"Basically."
Unzipping his pack, he pulled out one of his rations. "Drink as much as you can and try to eat," Jack suggested. "Who knows if we'll have to make another run for it today." He was not going to keep being designated Chris Carrier for this mission, damn it.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 7:21 pm
That explained why he felt so weak, at least. He'd pushed through worse, though. He just felt bad that he was consistently ******** up this mission. Maybe it would have been better if he'd just let Chel leave him on the island.
He sighed and tore into the ration, or at least tried to. He fumbled with the packaging, really. In the end he let out a frustrated huff and handed it back to Jack. Honey, would you open the pickle jar for me? "I got caught up in a vision. Sounds like it was the crystals again, I guess. Couldn't get out of it."
He ignored Ava. "If we have to go, I can make it. This ain't my first rodeo."
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 7:30 pm
"Mm. Us too." She was quiet for a moment, not prodding anyone to share. She and Jack would talk later undoubtedly, but now was not the time to bring it up. Better to keep their minds focused on the mission. She would at least provide Chris the solidarity that he wasn't alone in the vision, but wouldn't divulge further.
She yawned and leaned back against the tree, slightly leaning on Jack's shoulder. She opened her mouth to say, "get me one too," but then she gave a sideways grin and signed it instead.
Looking back to Chris after the motion she said, "Chill. We have time."
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:40 pm
Jack couldn't help but glance at her as he tore Chris's pack open and handed it back without even a snarky word about it. Us? Definitely something to talk about post mission. But he was pleasantly surprised she remembered the motion and quirked a smile back as he passed off another MRE, signing back practice-feel good as best as he could remember it; if nothing else, the thumbs up was unmistakable.
"So, portal or no?" he asked, a reminder that she had to assess and determine it herself, whatever his own opinion was.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:47 pm
Chris squinted hard at the hand motions and stuffed the rations in his mouth to keep from saying anything. They'd, apparently, just saved his life, so he couldn't find it in himself to be antagonistic. Not right now, at least.
"I'm okay," he rushed to say, mouth still full. He didn't want to be the reason they had to turn back. "I can keep going if you want to. Definitely."
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:53 pm
Chel grinned- Jack's wasn't perfect, but neither was hers. As long as they understood it, it didn't matter. Practice would make perfect.
"Mm." She could tell they were leaving the decision on her. "Kinda wanna eat this-" She dug around in the back before pulling out a package of jerky. "-Jerky first. I'm not gonna decide just 'cause he woke up." She looked at Chris rather pointedly. "You gotta learn to take breaks man."
Conversely, Chel needed to learn to take fewer breaks, but that was besides the point. Rather casually she offered the package to Jack. "Want some?"
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