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 Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 2:27 pm
Nathan was a cheater. He darted away from her almost as soon as the chase began, leaving his target to see her as she ran directly away and he take off after her. That left Nathan the chance to power up and run ahead of them.
He climbed up onto a roof top just outside the park and powered down immediately. He ran to the edge and looked around, thinking they would have run in this direction but not sure if she had, in fact, made it. Or she might have dodged away some where and was completely across town.
He saw the painted man run by, though, and knew he had to be close.
"Hey!" He whisper yelled from atop the two story house, seeing her in the alley below. "Up here. Can you climb? Good job, leading that guy away," he grinned. Being his bait, more like, but it had worked out in the end. They could lose him for good once they were up and out of sight. No one ever thought to look up, Nate found.
Well, Chaonis found, but Nate was using the same methods in civilian life as he did as the senshi of danger.
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 2:53 pm
Micah had to push her tangled mane out of the way as her head snapped up, searching the skies. How had he gotten up there? No time to think about that right now. Without a sound Micah looked around her, trying to find a way up. She'd never gone up before. Up was a direction she'd tried to avoid more often than not. this time, however, it seemed unavoidable. The footfalls were doubling back. She needed to follow this strange, seemingly buoyant man into the sky. But how? As the foot steps neared and voices began to pick up, Micah saw her path. Dumpster, fire escape, drain pipe. Hopefully the man would offer a hand to help, though Micah would not count on it. For some reason Micah did not know, the man had abandoned her, for however short a time it was. He wasn't willing to lead her to safety, chances are he wasn't willing to lift her to it.
Then why are you following him?
The hell? Eight years and now it was back. I follow because I have no choice., she answered wordlessly
There is always choice
Not today. Micah shut out the voice that was so much like her own, yet so very different, and made for the dumpster. She slid behind it to catch her breath. Up on top soundlessly, counting on the grace from her endless hours in track and field. The power normally channeled for forward propulsion now had to be utilized for upward momentum. She jumped twice before her hands closed around the nearest rung of the ladder. Her arms where another thing entirely. As she hoisted herself up, grunting with the strain on her muscles, Micah made a note to work her arms more often. At At last she could hook her knee around the first rung, pulling herself up. Rung by rung Micah climbed, trying to ignore the impending voices from their pursuers. Finally the drain pipe. Micah stopped and glanced up at the strange man, almost mocking her. Would the pipe hold her? It was suspended away from the wall, so she would get her hands around it, but what of the gripping? No, the drain pipe would never work.
Plan B it was then. Micah carefully maneuvered herself up to the last rung, hands gripping the pipe with white knuckled tightness. Don't look down, Little Bird. this time her brother spoke to her. Don't look down, just look up. As she crouched on the very top of the ladder, clinging to the pipe like it was her only life line -- and it was -- she looked up at Nate. I don't need your help. she may have ground it out through her teeth as she steeled her courage for a moment. I will never need anyone's help. And with the upward thrust of her first jump, Micah took special care to angle her body straight up. As she clutched the ledge of the building, Micah was certain she'd scrapped her forearm. Not a problem now. As her legs dangled uselessly below her, Micah looked down for the first time. Oh god. She slammed her eyes shut and burying her head in her shoulder. "I need help," she whimpered helplessly, not looking up again.
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 3:21 pm
"I've got you."
It wasn't the most expected thing from how Nate had established himself so far, but he was not one to live up to expectations. He reached to help her, positioning himself on the roof above her and giving himself enough leverage to be able to reach down and not send himself falling over the edge as well. He took hold of her arms, one in either of his hands, and held on tight.
He had a good grip.
"Grab onto my arms with your hands," he said, "I'll pull you up the rest of the way. Use your feet when you can."
He would make her work for it and get herself up but he wouldn't let her fall. He was not that kind of a guy, as much as he made it seem like he was. He wouldn't let her get herself killed just to make a point. Anyway, he wasn't in it to see people getting hurt. Unless they deserved it.
So far, she didn't.
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 4:37 pm
Micah gladly did as she was told, gripping his arms as tightly as she had the drain pipe before. Don't let go... Please don't let go." Micah screwed her eyes shut and just trusted. Something so totally against her nature, but it's amazing what a person can bring themselves to do when they are dangling from a building with only a strange keeping you from death. Below them both the painted victim lead his mob of angry villagers down the alley way. Up... up! Micah willed herself to move her legs to the wall. Scraping her knees and she worked her way to a position where she could "walk". One foot after the other. Micah would rather still be running.
One step at a time Micah began to ascend the wall, ignoring the blood as it ran down her legs and arms. The scraps would sting later on, but right now she just had to focus on getting back into a solid landing. After many endless moments of scrapings and tripping over herself, Micah was able to hook her arms over the ledge of the building and let go of Nate, pulling herself over to collapse against the wall.
"Thank you," she puffed, trying to still her shaking body. "Micah, I'm... I'm Micah."
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:53 pm
Nate grunted and groaned as he helped her over the ledge, wobbling but never letting his hands slip from her arms. He was determined now, and would not have offered to help her if he had the intention of letting her drop. Maybe if she were a senshi, and could easily survive the fall, he would try it.
As it was, he wasn't interested in getting her hurt or worse.
Once they were clear of either of them falling off the roof, he puffed out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding during the last pull. He bent forward, after taking some steps back, hands on his knees. He took a few slow breaths, looking at her.
"Nathan," he said, then wrinkled his nose, "Nate. No one but Tony calls me Nathan, unless they're angry at me."
He was glad to have gotten her up safely, at least. With all the running and climbing, though, his muscles were burning and he was ready to head home. It was moving away from being fun, and that was not acceptible. He looked at her, though, knowing he had to follow up. Even if he felt weird.
"You okay?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:06 am
Micah caught her breath and drew her knees up to her chest in order to rest her arms on them. She hated heights. She really hated heights. She peeked back over the ledge of the building and winced as her stomach twisted sickly. Oh god. She held her stomach and took a few deep breaths before she was able to speak again.
"I... I'm fine," she finally choked out, mouth feeling a good deal more sour than she would have liked. "I've just... never done that before..." And by that Micah meant... pretty much everything that had just happened. "And heights and I don't really get along," she added pitifully, glancing at the wall behind her shoulder.
Finally that fact that she was bleeding registered in her mind. She used her sleeve to mop up a little of the blood on her knees, but her weeping arms around have to wait. How was she going to explain this to her parents? Never mind, she'd thing of something.
"Nate..." Micah repeated, leaning back with a sigh. "Alright. Nice to meet you Nate. Tony a... lover?" Micah ventured into personal territory cautiously, looking at Nate sideways as she did so.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 11:42 am
Nathan squinted at her. Any progress she had made in finding his good side, an impossible task on the best of days, regardless of the amount of effort put in, was immediately erased.
"Tony is my father," he grunted.
There were many things for him to be grumpy about now, but he pushed them all out of his mind if only because he had seen something of himself in this chick. And even if she was shaking and rattled now because of her near fall and harrowing chase, he didn't put it past himself not to take advantage of accidentally pushing someone's button in a moment like this so he certainly wasn't going to put it past her.
He tilted his head at her, noting that she was the worse for wear after their ordeal. Typical, really. He was really good at getting people in trouble, and getting himself out of it, but not so good at making sure they got out too.
"Well, don't throw up or anything," he said, when she explained that she was bad with heights. They were going to have to get down from the roof somehow, after all. He couldn't power up now, so it was going to either involved climbing or getting lucky and finding a safer way down than the one she had come up.
"I'm not going to carry you. You okay to woke, Princess?" Yes, because she admitted she was scared of something she was going to have to suffer him poking at her. Still, his expression had something softer to it than normal, and if she looked hard she might actually see concern.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:58 pm
Micah did not apologize for her blunder. Normally she would have, blushing and muttering excuses like the child she was, and then getting angry for her embarrassment. With Nate, however, she did not miss the animosity he'd exuded when she'd made her mistake. What do you expect when you call a parent by their first name. She scowled at him and looked away, temper slowly rearing it's prickly head. Another attempt to intimidate her. Her stomach twisted angrily as her temper ratcheted up another notch.
It wasn't like she was vying for his approval. Like she cared whether he liked her or not.
Yet you followed
Micah snarled as her mind worked on it's own, whispering such things into he ear. She followed because it was the only way.
There is never only one way.
She was going to have to have a lobotomy if this kept up. Micah ground the heel of her hand into one of her eyes, trying to push the voice from her mind once again.
Nate brought her back to reality. Was that... concern? So he was going to try and intimidate her and than act all filial? Like an older brother who'd seen his sister falling? Like he could not hid the rivalry all siblings suffer from, but neither could he fight the fear for her survival. Stupid boy. Micah shoved herself to her feet and pulled a face as her scraps hissed at her. "Last time I checked," she ground out as she gained her bearings, "The Princess did not take lip from the Court Jester." She eyed him again, brushing the rubble from her shoulders.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:25 pm
"Jester, huh? I don't think you were laughing too much back there. That's fine, Princess, we'll see if I can't do a better job of it later." He grinned. He didn't think he would spend any time trying to make her laugh, but that was fine.
She needed a break, and so did he. They had been fighting and running around and just generally being more active than most people were on any given night. She was tired, he could tell, and even he was winded despite the fact that he wouldnt admit it.
He took a breath.
"Alright, alright. How about you just get home and try not to fall off any more roofs? Or into any more trouble." He grinned at her. Of course, he was well aware that he had been the one to start the chase to begin with, but that was not a fact he really needed to pay any mind to.
He had his arms folded over his chest. He grinned.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 10:39 pm
"Right." Micah didn't believe his claim to try anymore than Nate did. She rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. Oh, it had been quite the day. Running, jumping, climbing beuildings. Micah had never been up to such tom foolery before. Nate's talking brought her back to herself. "No promises," she grinned, pushing herself to her feet, knees cracking as she did so. Though, as daunting as the task to get down was, Micah was anxious to get home adn shower, coated as she was in sweat and blood. Yes, a shower sounded nice.
Micah stretched, arms extending over her head as she did so. Her bones and muscles groaned in protest, wanting instead to be left alone after the sudden sprint and climb. As she slumped back into a normal standing position, she grinned back at Nate, and reached over to punch his arm lightly.
"Next time you want to do this... why not stick with me, instead of abandoning me, though."
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:43 pm
Nate watched her as she stretched, but he seemed to be doing it just because he knew it made some people uncomfortable to be looked over like pieces of meat, and not because his hormones were getting the better of him. That was often the case. Not the lack of hormonal impulses, he had plenty of those for a young man his age, but the idea of doing things just for the sake of making people uncomfortable.
Or mad.
But he was pulling back now, thinking she had been through enough for one night, maybe. Fight it as much as he liked, he was still a senshi, and in him there was some idea of basic good. He could tap into it fleetingly, every now and then, when it suited him.
"Where would the fun in that be? Every man for himself. Anyway, you won't get good at getting away with s**t if you don't get caught a few times. Gotta learn it the hard way." That was his philosophy in training other senshi, as well, point of fact.
"Now go home," he waved his hand over his shoulder as he turned to find a way down from the roof. He'd meet her again, whether she wanted him to or not. It was just her destiny to suffer his company, now.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:35 pm
Micah was done scaling for the night. As Nate headed for the side of the building Micah opted for the door at the far end. It was propped open with a cinderblock, allowing Micah to enter the building safely. Her hand on the knob, however, she looked back at Nate with a grin. Boys normally set her on edge. Getting used to her hormones, what else could be expected. Now, however, Micah just felt... comfortable. Not in love. Micah felt like it would be like falling in love with Alexij. It made Micah laugh out loud. No. Micah looked back at Nate and felt the same buoyancy she felt when she was with her beloved twin. Yes. A brother. Another brother, anyway. One who wasn’t as cautious as Alexij. Someone who didn’t have to take five minutes to make a decision because he was so busy looking at the consequences. A brother who just did, the way Micah loved to. A bright grin parted Micah lips.
As she descended the dark stairwell, ears perked for any sign of life that would get her in trouble, Micah dearly hoped that she’d see Nate again. She had a dear love for getting into trouble, an adaptation from her dangerous temper, and Nate might just provide the high she needed from it. Micah could even grow not just to be fond of him, but to love him in the same way she loved Alexij.
And to think she began her day hating Nate.
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