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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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 Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 4:31 pm
He could continue to ask for her answer to that specific question until he was blue in the face - she would not answer. Well, it was more like she couldn't answer. Why would she ever want to think about Lucas shooting himself? She wouldn't, which therefore meant she couldn't answer the question which rendered it moot. It made perfect sense to her, and it might make sense to him too, but of course... that would require her to answer with that statement.
She wouldn't do that either.
Her eyes narrowed again as she visibly bristled at the mention of him actually getting a gun. He wouldn't get anywhere near them if she had anything to do about it. She was silent for a few moments before she sighed, expression softening slightly. This was not something she wanted to be dealing with. Hell, it wasn't anything less than frustrating and upsetting to be forced to deal with it, but it wasn't like she would just up and leave. Or give in. She was much too stubborn to do either. "You should go to bed, Lucas. You'll feel better in the morning." Plus she would be able to keep an eye on him, too, and make sure he didn't do anything stupid, since Luke was no longer there to do so. s**t, no wonder Luke always looked so grumpy. Was this what he dealt with on a regular basis?
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 4:39 pm
He held his hands up as if in defeat. "All right, all right. Give me a minute, okay? I'll be right back." It seemed he would continue to ignore her words until they took the form of the response he wanted to hear. His tone was casual, perhaps a bit exasperated, as though he had just had his hand forced in some matter, but his expression was impossibly grave. He moved away from the stool and started towards the door, his gait betraying no trace of intoxication.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 4:48 pm
If Lucas continued to behave this way, ignoring everything she said if it wasn't the answer he sought, then he would be ignoring her for an incredibly long time. At his mention of 'be right back' she immediately stood, nearly stepping on Zeus who hurriedly dove out of the way just in time to escape the painful wrath of her boot. He had no intentions of being stepped on. Thankfully for him, nearly stomping on him made her suddenly remember him - and she immediately recalled him into his pokeball before promptly forgetting about him again. There was only one important thing at that moment, and that was making sure Lucas didn't do anything stupid. It seemed like a very possible thing right now, and it scared her.
"No way in hell," she replied evenly, her tone firm. "Let you just waltz around by yourself like this? I don't think so. I'm coming too." And with that, she followed him to the door. She would not take no or an argument in response. She was going too whether he liked it or not.
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 4:59 pm
"Fine. If that's what you want." Something about her tone made him angry, though he couldn't place exactly why. He pulled the door open, letting it swing wide enough for Claire to pass as well, and started in the direction of his room. He moved at a relatively brisk pace, his thumbs hooked casually into his pockets, and proceeded in silence. There was nothing to be said until Claire gave her answer.
On reaching the door to his room, he pushed it open and entered, leaving the door open for his company to enter as well. He crouched to reach the lower level of a shelf and pulled a box forward, setting aside the large rifles on top in search of the smaller handguns near the bottom.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:09 pm
Silence reigned from the time between her exiting the rec room until entering his bedroom. She didn't need to reply to him when they left - actually she probably might have had something snippy to say, but that would've been counter-productive. Claire remained silent until he pulled out a drawer and started digging through it, and her face turned a shade lighter. She'd seen the guns once before, all laid out on his bed when she'd last seen Luke, but had no idea where they were kept. Now she knew, but sort of wished she didn't. At the very least, it would've been so much better under different circumstances.
"Don't," she started, but words suddenly escaped her as the reality of the situation crashed down on her. With a sharp intake of breath she was suddenly on her knees next to him, putting a hand on his arm entreatingly, and her stubborn, frustrated expression had morphed into a combination of worry and fear. "Lucas, don't.." She was at a total loss of what to do - she had no idea if he would just demand an answer to a question she couldn't even bring herself to consider, or if he would actually follow through on it.
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:19 pm
Wrong words. Still the wrong words. Why wouldn't she just say it? Why did she insist on making this difficult? It wasn't a hard question, and he was only making it easier and easier. Why the hell wouldn't she give a proper answer? He ignored her still, selecting the a standard handgun and checking the ammo. A few bullets remained in the magazine. He tilted his head slightly, curious as to why he had never properly unloaded that one in particular, and chalked it up to oversight with a shrug. Fluidly, he wrapped a finger around the trigger and raised the barrel to much the same position as he had earlier held his hand.
"Okay," he said, his voice still painfully calm. "If I pulled this trigger, what would you do?" His gaze darkened sharply. "If you dodge my question one more time, I'll pull this trigger and find out your answer for myself."
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:36 pm
Arceus. Oh freaking Arceus he wasn't kidding at all. Not even close. Concern and a mild, lurking fear both combined and exploded into full-on panic as he put an obviously loaded gun to the same position he had in the rec room. Her eyebrows rose and violet eyes widened, her lips parting slightly as she struggled to process this as fast as she possibly could to come up with something - anything - before he made good on his word. Then that would be it - it would be all over.
Bang.
Just like that.
Something clicked in her head at that moment. She had always hated feeling scared, so terrified and panicked - she hadn't felt these feelings so strongly in months, not since she'd defected from Galactic. These feelings would do her absolutely no good here, they would just be horribly, catastrophically detrimental. She realized this, and in an instant she decided to rely on her usual defense when presented with something emotionally distressing. In an instant, all of the cold fear taking up residence and chilling her entire body to the bone, freezing her in place, was transformed into boiling anger.
"If you pull that trigger..." A slender hand darted up to grab the barrel but made absolutely no effort to remove it. Instead, it attached itself to the end of the gun in a rigid, firm grip, pressing her palm against the cold cylindrical piece of metal. "If you pull that trigger," she repeated again, her tone venomous and her expression darkening to match his, "then you'll put a hole through my hand instead of just your head." Because there was no way in hell she would let go. He would have to pry her fingers off of it, and good luck with that.
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:50 pm
When she interfered - failing to answer him yet again and essentially disarming his threat - he lost all semblance of patience. He suddenly jerked his hand to throw the gun aside and rose to his full height, staring down at Claire with a livid scowl. "What do you want?!" he shouted, his hands drawn into fists. "I asked you a question! I made it as simple as I could! Just give me your ******** answer!"
Someone in a neighboring room was likely very near ready to bang on the wall and call for quiet.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:06 pm
When he attempted to throw the gun, it merely came away in Claire's hand. She would not let it go until he was finished - there was no telling if this was the only loaded gun in the drawer or not, but if it was, then he'd have to pry it out of her cold, dead fingers before he could use it on himself. And when he suddenly stood, a terrible look on his face as he glared down at her... she matched him again. Rising to her full height of 5'7" and not even slightly perturbed by the fact she was several inches shorter than he was, she scowled right back at him with her free hand clenched into a fist, her occupied one tightening its hold on the barrel of the gun.
"What would you do?" She suddenly asked loudly, though not quite yelling as he had. "What would you do if I did that? What would you do if I took this gun," the weapon in question was waved slightly, "and put it to my head like that? What if I pulled the trigger, Lucas? What would you do? How would you react to that?" Her tone had started out angry and venomous, but as she continued it wavered and finished sounding a bit desperate, the volume significantly lower when she ended than when she'd begun.
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:30 pm
"Shut up," he demanded, his voice, while still carrying a distinct anger, more level. "You wouldn't pull the trigger even if you did put the thing to your head. You've got no reason." Clenched fists trembled slightly as he spoke, the chapped and battered skin of his knuckles tearing slightly with the tension.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:38 pm
The command to shut up went completely ignored, but her tone hardened all the same. "I could put it to my head, but I think that would just upset you more," she countered. "And what if I do have a reason, like you do? What's your reason?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:47 pm
He sighed, his entire posture deflating briefly. He took a step to approach Claire, filling the difference in their height with a scrutinizing glare. "Okay, Claire, listen to me for a second." His words were hardly kind, but they had lost their bite. He inclined his head slightly as he continued, "Why are you fighting me so hard on this? I just asked you a question. No foul play, no ill intent. Just tell me your answer and we'll all get on with our lives."
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:53 pm
"Because I have a point to make," she replied, her voice oddly detached. He was too close suddenly, so she stepped back a couple feet with a sigh to lean against the wall, watching him carefully. "I listened to you, now you listen to me, Lucas. You asked me that in all seriousness - and I did too. How would you react if I pointed this at my head?" The gun was waved a bit in a gesture to accent her words. "How would you feel?" There was a meaningful pause as she hoped he'd think about it, but... In this state, she wasn't really sure.
"No," she suddenly said as she gazed down at the gun she held in her hand still, and then with a sudden, smooth motion she was holding it not by the barrel, but by the grip. Her finger wrapped around the trigger and she lifted it, carefully watching his face. It wasn't pointed directly at her temple, as he'd held it before, but it was close enough yet held in such a way that it wasn't pointed directly at her head, but slightly in front of it. Pressing a loaded gun right to her temple would be too much for her, but she hoped either he wouldn't notice the slight difference in angle or that her point would be made nonetheless. Either way, she continued where she left off, her expression level and her tone calm. "What about now? How do you feel? You don't have to tell me, I just want you to think about it," she explained, still holding the gun up and watching him with a level expression. "As long as you know how you feel, Lucas, then you know how I would feel. I don't need to tell you my answer. You already know what it is."
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:21 pm
Once the grip was in her hand, the barrel smoothly raising to level at her head, he no longer heard a word she said. He scarcely registered the fact that he was moving, and the next he knew he had moved his palm to pin her wrist against the wall, removing the barrel from the proximity of her head simultaneously. A violent trembling shook him, and he fixed his gaze on the wall behind Claire rather than on her properly. "Not again, please." His breath was shuddering, his words equally so. "I won't be responsible for another death. Please, stop."
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:34 pm
The last time she'd been pinned so fast was the last time Luke had had to do so, but at the moment she forgot exactly which time that was. When Lucas pinned her wrist to the wall, he was met with no resistance whatsoever. She'd gotten the desired reaction in any case, and her expression softened as she put her free hand on his shoulder. "Now you know how I feel, Lucas. I don't want you to do that again, either." Her tone was gentle but firm, letting him know she was just as serious about him never doing that again too. She felt sort of bad for doing it, but hopefully it had got the point across.
Wait... Another death? That meant he was responsible for more than one, which meant.. Had he remembered missions? She wouldn't ask him that directly, of course, so she gently squeezed his shoulder, violet eyes full of concern as they focused on his face, searching for answers. "What did you remember?" She asked quietly, asked it for probably the third or fourth time so far. It didn't matter how many times she asked, she would find out what had upset him this badly, no matter what.
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