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 Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 1:57 pm
The satisfaction of wrecking the table was short-lived.
He froze dead at the hand on his shoulder, at first almost looking through the large black man as his anger slowly iced over in his veins. s**t, s**t s**t. He'd ******** up again. Just when he'd been ******** doing better, just when he'd been getting s**t under control. Somehow he shook off the daze and de-summoned Tracey in a gesture of submission. What the ******** had he been thinking?
As the other man spoke up, his frown deepened all the more and he looked away guiltily. He was right of course, there wasn't much s**t down here, they didn't have room for people as unstable as him to be throwing tantrums.
"No." he almost added on that age old protest of kids everywhere, that /she started it/ but somehow thought better of it right here and now. "No, I don't think there's a lot of tables down here."
He felt suddenly numb, distant, too many people, not enough space, no chance to recharge from people constantly ******** lighting his fuse to see when he'd go off. He practically wanted to cry with frustration, a terrifying prospect he was only keeping in check with that numb distancing himself from /all/ his emotions.
"I ******** up."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 3:52 am
Rue summoned herself, or maybe Ofelia summoned her, without thinking and without being told the moment Rep's weapon graced the scene. The boo hag was repeating something over and over in Ofelia's head in a language she didn't understand, possibly French or some Creole, and the teen felt all the energy leave her body as she was flooded with pure terror.
He'd cleaved the table in half so easily, and he'd already torn her apart before. Ofelia had been prepared to get hit with fists, or words, but not a weapon against her skin. The dream was wrong, it was all wrong, and as soon as she took a step back to get away there was a large man there. She'd seen him once before, she didn't know his name, but he was calling her a b***h and yelling something or another about bean bag chairs.
Ofelia didn't say anything, she didn't even nod. Instead her legs gave way beneath her and she crumpled to the ground, sitting with her feet bent under her and her arms barely supporting her from behind. Her face was still pale, ghostly white against the tan it normally was, and drops of sweat were visible on her cheeks as Rue finally was de-summoned.
You need to answer them. Say something, anything. Rue's voice was. . . oddly soft and quiet, there was nothing cruel to her tone. It snapped the teen from her daze, if only for a moment, and she bit her lower lip. Just smile and apologize. You can do it, I've seen you do it. Something was wrong, why was Rue being so kind? That actually but more of a fear into Ofelia then everything that happened so suddenly before, and she pulled her mouth open to speak.
" . . . . .it was all mah fault, Ah'm sorry. Ah'll....find a way ta fix the table." She went to stand up but her legs refused, keeping her down. Her gaze was not on the men, rather on the floor itself, and she forced her voice to continue to speak, to keep itself steady. There was no need for her to sound afraid, her body was showing that for her. "Ah. . went too far, Ah shouldn'a pushed like Ah did." She wasn't going to ask for forgiveness, Rep wanted her dead. A man who wished to kill her wouldn't forgive anything. "Ah'm sorry."
Her voice was so faint, Ofelia wondered if they could even hear her.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 4:32 pm
Killzone gave them each a narrow look and then nodded slowly, "So you both understand this is a problem. Though you," he jabbed a finger at Ofelia, "can stop taking full blame, as ginger-bro is responsible for his own goddamn actions." He stared at them for several long moments before nodding again, "Okay, so this here is how we're going to fix this little situation without me having to tell Caelius, who takes tables really ******** personally, Simon, who will just ******** end you, or Clarice, who may have another ******** breakdown."
He pointed at Rep, "You. Pick up the two pieces of that side of the table." Then switched to Ofie, "And you, pick up the two pieces on the other side. That's right, now hold them together and we'll have ourselves a nice little table once again. And while you hold this s**t together, maybe we can all talk, and you two can get your own s**t together as well."
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 5:12 pm
Though he looked as if his attention was somewhere off in the clouds, Rep was listening acutely to what the life hunter had to say. It wasn't often that he felt actual regret for things he did, regrets were just not something as a rule that had ever fitted into his life. But he regretted this, it was stupid, frivolous and at a time when most people in the bunker were almost at breaking point themselves. They didn't need to deal with the newbie who couldn't control his temper.
He still to this day remembered the conversation with Clarice and how she'd brought into focus the very limited value of trainees and their relative disposability. Since then he'd asked himself many times, her question from that night.
"So tell me, William, where do you think you are on the Deus Ex Balance sheet?"
His answer to himself, even now, was pretty ******** low.
The mention of Simon made the disappointment even deeper.
"Right." he grunted, picking up the side of the table he'd been directed to, and waiting for Ofie to do the same, the whole time he tried not to think about the fact other people had to be watching this, watching how ******** much of an idiot he'd made of himself when he'd been doing so well. "Like this?"
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 4:49 am
"Ah'm so-" The words stopped as Ofelia clapped a hand over her mouth, either silencing herself or holding something in. It happened to be the later; her stomach was hurting and Ofelia was doing her absolute best not to throw up all over everyone and everything. It was an odd trait she'd had since her accident, the fact that she'd vomit all over the place when she got totally terrified, and this moment - with Rep and Killzone - counted as a moment she was terrified. Still they were barking instructions at her, she couldn't just get up and leave, and the teen struggled to get to her feet once more. Her legs were shaking but she managed to get up and walk to the table side, her whole body trembling and her gaze refusing to turn to look at either man. She just wanted to run, she just wanted to get out of here and away from Rep.
Of course she could probably just run away now and totally give a big <******** you to whatever this man was trying to do (Ofelia had no idea who this black man was, okay okay) but that would end even worse than getting axed in half by a very angry ginger sun trainee. The best option was to lift the table, which she did, and the teen shuffled over and placed it so it connected with Rep's half. All the while her gaze stayed on the ground, her eyes stayed dry, and her stomach rolled with the passion of a thousand fiery suns.
"What no-" Trying to speak brought more dry heaving and Ofelia dropped the table in favor of holding both hands over her mouth, her shoulders violently rising and falling with each gag impulse. Throwing up would come soon most likely but dammit she didn't want to do it now.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 2:40 am
Killzone's eyes narrowed a bit as Ofie slapped a hand over her mouth and then nodded, assuming that she was refraining from apologizing even more. It was one thing to take responsibility when you ******** up, but another thing entirely to take that away from someone else. Even if well-meant, it reduced the other party as an individual. "Yeah, that's right. Time to get your ******** acts together." He kept nodding in encouragement right up until the woman dropped her part of the table.
He stared, eyes wide.
She began to heave, and Killzone's eyes widened still further.
"Girl, if you're gonna puke, you had best get running to the bathrooms." The large man edged away a bit as he spoke.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:56 am
Rep put down the table as Ofie did, still distant, still cold and with a raw sort of impatient fury rising in him the longer she delayed. As she started to heave he curled his lip in disgust.
Women, always weak, always incapable of doing even the simplest things without amateur dramatics. Maybe it was meant to evoke sympathy in men. Maybe he just lacked that wiring in his head. All he knew was that Ofie's vulnerability made him want to stick an axe in her, finish her off like a dying wounded animal, it would be the kindest thing.
But he could not of course. Instead he had to sit outside himself for the most part, trying to ignore his punishment, trying to keep himself from shattering.
Yes. Leave he thought.
But he didn't say it.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 4:17 am
Ofelia shook her head at Killzone's suggestion, shrugging off the last of the nausea for the moment to lift the table back up. She was going to do what she'd been told to do, she wasn't going to throw up and look weak in front of anyone. Just because she was ill didn't mean she was going to stop, it meant she was going to try harder and get it done without too much trouble. The table half she dropped was quickly picked up and held in place, Ofelia's grey eye looking to Rep to do the same.
She felt no shame at this moment, no worries about others watching. All she was focused on was keeping the table upright and keeping the contents of her stomach inside her body. The last thing she needed, on top of clothes that were still somewhat bloody, was puke all over her shirt and pants. Her jacket was ruined enough as it was, what with all the stains and tears from her recent adventures. "No. . .w. . . wha. . . . t." She spoke slowly, carefully. Each word had a hiccup on it, a gag impulse that she was fighting back. "Si...ir." She added the 'sir' on because well, she needed to be polite.
These men weren't going to praise her for not throwing up. They weren't going to praise her for standing there and holding a table. This was her punishment after all, since she'd started it. The fact that Rep was to blame for a whole lot of it, like the broken table entirely for example, never really crossed her mind.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 4:28 am
Killzone nodded slowly, and a bit doubtfully, "If you're sure." He still kept his distance. He was a healer of the mind and soul, not of the body, sure as hell not of bodily fluids except perhaps the pure and spirited sweat of healthy exertion. "Alright, ********, you pick up your half. You think just because she dropped her half that's an excuse for you give the ******** up?"
Crossing his arms, the Life hunter continued, "Now. Let's continue things on a ******** positive note, by each of you saying one nice thing about the other." Killzone's eyes were still wide and staring, on the alert. It kind of made the large man look like he was about to snap and beat the s**t out of them both at any given moment.
Some people would call it a homicidal look.
Killzone preferred the term motivational.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 4:48 am
He rolled his eyes and picked up the table again, still fighting off the urge to skewer Ofie for wasting time and being female.
Oh great, a nice thing. Nice things were hard for him to say.
"You don't die easily."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 5:13 am
Ofelia hiccuped and gagged again, still holding the table. When Killzone mentioned something about compliments she wanted to flip the table and run off. There was no way in hell Rep would say something nice about her, considering he was all about trying to kill her, but when he mentioned she didn't die easily she couldn't figure out if that was a compliment or him stating a fact. "Th...ank...ya." Or maybe making a threat by saying she didn't die because there was always someone there to protect her in the end, like dumb luck or Rue.
Of course now Ofelia had to say something nice and she ran a list of traits down in her mind. Even though she was terrified of Rep that didn't mean she hated him; hate was something Ofelia couldn't really grasp no matter how hard she tried. Well, she could hate the halloween people but that was an entirely different story and right now she was supposed to give a compliment. Or say something nice, whichever came first. "Yer... re...ally, rea...lly st..ro...ng." The table shifted so Ofelia was holding it with one arm, mostly her forearm, as her hand clamped on her mouth again. She shifted her hip to help support the table, keeping it up thanks to balance.
It was almost like she'd practiced this, only instead it was because she just was doing her damndest not to let it fall down.
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