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 Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:59 pm
Success.
Stormy smiled to herself and nodded at Gale's decision, settling in for the walk into Town. Remaining mostly limp for the trip (with the occasional sniffle), the urge to close her eyes overcame her and with very little warning she was half-asleep against Gale once more, arms tucked in, body still slightly curled in an instinctive need to be ready to protect herself: occupying the same space, but trying to encroach as little as possible on Gale's. Even trying to make it like she wasn't there at all in a way.
There was a question for that, she knew. It was just out of her reach, something she had meant to mention to Gale because it was somehow important . . . And something else too, something about those charms on his gift that she had been too stunned to talk about in that particular moment. A funny coincidence. Or maybe a fated one, she wasn't sure . . . A lot of things seemed mixed up in her head right now.
The sound of Gale unlocking the door woke her up, and Stormy yawned and wiped at her face as she was placed on the couch. Bobbing her head, she stretched out on the couch and wore the blanket like a coat, unabashedly rubbing her cheek against the soft material as she waited. "Mmm . . . Maybe you should sit down first?" she suggested mildly as she slid her shoes off and crossed her legs. "Your arms must be tired . . ." Sitting certainly helped tired arms of course.
Gale would probably ignore her idea, being the sort of gentlemanly person he was. So Stormy adopted the thinking pose and let him have at it as she thought thought thought. What were those questions? If not question, answers? If not answers, then what . . . ? She had to organize her thoughts better if she was going to get a good conversation going; God forbid she got boring because of a headcold.
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:04 pm
He smiled at her. "I'll sit down as soon as you're taken care of," Gale told her, and disappeared into the kitchen. The sound of rummaging could be heard a few seconds later, and then a small clink as a can was placed on the counter.
He wanted to ask her so many things, but the words weren't coming out properly - in fact, his mind felt sluggish and messy and confusing, everything shuffled and melted together into nonsensical phrases and useless words. Gale gave a small sigh of frustration and occupied himself fixing the food, setting the saucepan on the tiny stove and turning it on.
Returning to the living room a short while later, this time carrying a small bowl between his hands, Gale made his way carefully towards the couch. He didn't sit on it, however, but instead perched on the edge of the coffee table directly in front of it, the bowl of soup extended out to Stormy.
"Eat," he said. "You need something to make you feel better, and while this isn't anything special, it should be enough just to get you through the next little while."
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:14 pm
She looked firmly entrenched in the position by the time Gale returned, her eyes indicative that she was somewhere else--indicative in that she had been intently looking at the floor until his feet entered her line of vision. It was only after a few seconds of smelling the soup that Stormy came back to earth with a few owlishly blinks, perking considerably with the soup now before her. "Thanks," she told Gale with a grateful look, carefully taking the bowl so as not to touch his hands. If she was sick, he didn't need to be either . . . Although staying at his house already endangered Gale, so it was probably a moot point.
It was special, she wanted to say, to have someone carry you to their house and make you soup. But she was distracted by her own confusing trains of thought, trying to line them all back on the track. They liked to scatter more often when Gale was around, less like trains and more like frightened deer.
After spooning several mouthfuls of soup (and thoroughly enjoying how it soothed her throat and stomach), one of those elusive thoughts hit her. Stormy's eyes widened with realization, and she sat up a little straighter and sniffled, acting in the moment before she forgot it again. "Ursulina María José Cortez-Sevilla de la Vega Reyes Rendón Ortega," she recited slowly, giving Gale a curious look. "That's my full name. You don't have to memorize it or anything, I just . . . thought you should know."
Pause.
"D'you know what Ursulina means?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:18 pm
It was oddly soothing, watching her eat - like a tiny piece of the puzzle that had gone into the right space after being scattered everywhere and anywhere. Gale rested his forearms on his knees, linking his fingers together.
After a few moments, she spoke again, and he blinked at her, slightly taken aback.
"...it's a very long name," he said, and smiled a little. "A very unique, very you name. I like it. It's got originality."
He tilted his head a little, absently playing with the ring on his left hand.
"Not in the slightest, no."
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:31 pm
"It's overly complicated and unnecessary," she muttered with sudden frustration. "It's got so many letters and so many spaces that you can put yourself in there and there's room left, plenty of room. It's like wearing oversized clothing, shirt from your sister, pants from your grandmother, shoes from your mother; none of it fits. The only thing that's yours is what lies underneath it all, somewhere no-one can see unless you show them, and then they're disgusted. Put those back on, they say, nobody wants to see what you're showing. They want colorful and tradition and blessings, but what's in a name if you don't know who you're named for really? You stretch and stretch and stretch yourself trying to fill all the spaces anyway, but you're not Mr. Fantastic, you're not fantastic in the least. You're just weary and bitter and stretched thin. Colors fade, proportions are forgotten--you don't feel like yourself anymore, except you don't even know what that is to begin with because you can't fit even your own name."
Stormy dug the spoon into the soup. "I don't like it," she added more softly, the frown still there but with more of an apologetic look to it. She downed soup as an excuse to fill her mouth before some other nonsense fell out for about a minute until what had bubbled up from within felt out of range.
"Sorry," she mumbled, only looking up when she felt stable again. Her throat began to hurt more from words kept back. "That was uncalled for. Ah . . . What I meant to say was that it means 'little bear'. So the fact that you got a bear charm's kinda funny . . ." She tried to smile in hopes that doing so would chase away her dark outburst before it clung to her like her own shadow.
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:39 pm
Her outburst startled him, Gale's eyes widening slightly. He hadn't expected the sudden torrent of words that spilled from her lips, nor had he expected the frustrated look in her eyes, in the tone of her voice, and it made him slightly concerned, more than a little frustrated himself - at himself, for not noticing.
"...don't be sorry," he said finally, after she had taken a moment to let herself calm down again. "I get it. I mean...my name's not the same, obviously, but Gale is most commonly a girl's name - you know, spelled G - A - I - L. My mum picked this spelling because she liked the way it looked, but it's always been...well, it's always been a bit awkward."
His voice dropped a little, Gale shrugging slightly. "Anyway, I think you're plenty fantastic on your own, just as 'Stormy.'"
It didn't hit him quite yet, at least not until she had explained a little further, and then he got it.
Ursalina. Like the constellations, Ursa Major and Minor. He hadn't known that before, had never even heard her real name until now, and Gale leaned back a little, clasping his hands a bit more rightly together.
He gave a small laugh, shaking his head a little.
"Guess it was just meant to be, wasn't it?" he said lightly, trying to keep her from drowning in those feelings, from treading water in her consciousness.
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:53 pm
She really ought not have ranted. One small rant, fine, but two? Her throat was starting to get raw again, soup or not. Stormy nodded with a softer expression, hastening back to a more passive stance as before, and listened to him as she ate. "I never thought of it like that, to be honest," she said between spoonfuls. "The first few times I saw you, even when we were doing just the snowdog, I figured . . . Gale. You had the full hunter coat, you had the emblem of your specialization, and just . . . y'know, being you. A very strong wind. A force of nature." Her expression turned bittersweet at the notion.
"Maybe it was." But she didn't know how to continue that line of thought, because it was dark and unsure, and if she tried to stay above anymore waves, she might just decide to drown instead.
So she reached for a lifevest, something bright colored and fixed. "So, you know the pirate queen?" Stormy prompted him suddenly. "What was his name again? Oswald? He seemed like a character."
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:57 pm
His face tinged the lightest pink, because no, that wasn't true, he didn't really fit his own name just as Stormy didn't think she fit hers. Gale was feminine, it was little kid-ish, it was something that wasn't quite what it should have been.
"Yes, well," said Gale. "I'm not entirely certain just how forceful I am, really. I'm just...me."
He cleared his throat and tried to breathe, tried to keep himself above level and remember that he was not drowning, that he was out of the water, that both he and Stormy were breathing and sitting up and alive.
It took him a moment to realize just who Stormy was talking about and then it clicked.
"Otto," said Gale, trying (and mostly failing) to hide the grin that suddenly lit up his face. "Otto would fit perfectly as the pirate queen, I think. He's just that type."
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Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:27 pm
"We are who we are," she paraphrased, suddenly finding them profound words. "Maybe we don't need names in the end." Maybe it was just the headcold talking . . . But she sniffled and looked unconvinced by Gale's response nevertheless. "You can be forceful if you want; you were giving me orders during those battles after all. You know what, maybe we should consider what 'being ourselves' means. What does it mean to be human? To be a hunter? To be your name here? Can they co-exist, or can you only pick one or two? What if--"
That was ranting again. Stormy swallowed with a wince and tapped the spoon to her cheek in a chastising manner.
But Gale smiled a real smile this time, and her aches didn't seem so bad in comparison. She sniffled and coughed but managed to forge a little one of her own. "What's that mean? Elizabeth was very outspoken and courageous, so he's like that? I wonder how Eva takes it," she mused airily, trying to mimic the way a normal person would push a conversation. Little learned phrases to try and not seem so off, certain questions to prompt an exchange of information. Anything to keep afloat. "That's who you said was his girlfriend, right? Or was it someone else? Are all of you friends?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:41 am
"What's in a name?" Gale murmured, half to himself, but half to Stormy as well, idly twisting the ring on his hand again. "That which we call a rose / by any other name would smell as sweet."
He leaned back on the little table and sighed. Thinking of Otto as outspoken and courageous made him inwardly laugh, the corners of Gale's lips twitching slightly - at least until Eva was mentioned, and then the amused expression faded somewhat.
"No, you're right," said Gale quietly. "Eva is Otto's girlfriend. They've been dating a few months now."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not sure friends is really the right word. Otto and I have...well, right now it's just a mutual agreement to not strangle each other, we're slowly working through what used to be a rather tenuous relationship. Eva...Eva's a good friend."
The word was said as casually as possible, not wanting to make Stormy uncomfortable, and Gale pressed his lips together, standing up abruptly and brushing a hand down the front of his shirt.
"Did you need more soup? I can go get some from the kitchen, if you do."
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:36 am
There it was again! Just a little bit more of Stormy Speak, that looseness to recall things just because they reminded you of something. She practically beamed at the reference and would have applauded Gale had her hands not been occupied, but hopefully the smile was enough. "That it is~"
She coughed to clear her throat again and ate more soup as Gale spoke, chuckling softly to herself at the description of the relationship he had with Otto. It sounded a little like what Evan and Tuck had, though she knew their bro-ness was solid. But Stormy fell into a little confusion when he suddenly stood up and offered to get her more soup. There had been something off in Gale's words...So she nodded and passed him the bowl, saying, "Please and thank you?"
When Gale left, she went about doing several things. The first was to fish her phone out of her purse, having a small anxiety knot in her chest about whether it didn't work thanks to the water or not. But it turned on just fine...Sighing with relief, she wiped at her nose, scrolled through the names, and fired off a quick message.Nyxtsuki Moon Text to NevadaFeeling kinda contagious so staying out of the room until I feel better; Gale's giving me soup. Hope you feel better than I do, will give lots of cuddles when I'm better!
But they all pointed to one thing. If she was right, then Gale and Eva...
Oh.
At first she was simply sad for Gale, because he really was an amazing person and all those other things she'd said on the ship, and she remembered Eva as being very kind and sweet and protective on the one mission they'd gone together on. They'd stayed good friends, though, and that's what mattered, right? It wasn't until Thane stepped forward with his own observations that the implications sank in.
Was this like in the desert with Jake and Sherry? She'd figured them out (though it was still just an assumption) and had been driven to believe she was cared for only as a secondary person to the mission thanks to that conclusion. If they'd had to decide who survived, Stormy was sure regardless of their infighting she would have been last by the mere fact that she was a third wheel, not counting that she tried to injure Jake.
The situation with Gale was different, but it drove a knife deeper into her heart. She was afraid of one thing and one thing only: that he was venting frustrated and unrequited feelings onto her because she was the next best thing. That every kind word, every hold of their hands, every affectionate action done was only because he couldn't do it to someone else, and that the little things--things like jewelry and letting her dance in his house and tolerating her rants--had been done to ensure she was charmed into it.
Stormy found it hard to breathe again.
< < I warned you. > >
It's not the same, it's not . . . He's not . . .
Was this what Gale meant when, on the ship, he said things hadn't been going right?
Her stomach turned and she didn't know the reason anymore. Stormy pulled her legs up to her best and tugged the blanket tighter around her until she was just a mound of soft white fabric with a head. Had she been thinking too much again? Maybe she was completely wrong. Maybe all of it was in her head. Maybe she ought to just stop thinking before her head exploded. Maybe maybe maybe, always maybe and never yes or no.
Her body shook with several coughs, and with a sniffle she closed her eyes and willed herself to get back to that serenity she'd found on the balcony. But the only waves she remembered now were dark monstrous things, tossing and turning and threatening to bowl her over once more.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 1:59 pm
He stood in the kitchen alone, both hands resting on top of the little yellow counter, leaning over the untouched pot of soup as though it's presence could somehow tell him what he needed to know. The faint sent of hot broth wafted up towards him, and Gale closed his eyes briefly, taking a slow, deep breath.
He hadn't expected Stormy to mention Eva. In fact, he hadn't even considered the possibility that Eva would ever come up in a conversation with Stormy, which he supposed was one of his own childish faults. But regardless, his relationship with Eva (or lack thereof) was of little consequence to Stormy.
...wasn't it? Gale wasn't entirely certain anymore, but he already knew at least one fact: that he didn't know how Stormy felt about him. He knew that she cared, that she maybe possibly sort of kind of could give him a chance, but it had never been definite. She had never actually said straight out what she had wanted out of this, what she saw herself wanting.
He had said "I like you," but she had not said the words back.
He had told Candace that he still had feelings for Eva, that feeling that way about someone else wasn't what he had intended, that it wasn't what he had ever thought. He was so used to watching other people find their significant others that it had never occurred to Gale that he may very well find his own as well.
But that's not entirely true, is it? said a small voice in his head, and Gale's fingers curled under his hands, pressing into his palms. You don't still have feelings for Eva, do you? You've all moved on, haven't you?
I don't know, he thought.
<< Eva is happy. >> said Jinhai calmly. << And now it's your turn to be happy. >>
But what if she doesn't want to be happy with me? Gale thought, and let out a frustrated sigh. What if she decides not to give me a chance? I've already watched Eva, I don't know if I can watch Stormy walk away from me too. I don't want to be that guy that everyone sees as a friend but no one sees as anything more.
Jinhai was silent, and Gale pushed back from the counter, occupying himself fixing the rest of the soup so that he would not have to deal with his convoluted thoughts and feelings.
When he walked back out into the living room, it was to find Stormy huddled beneath the blanket, nothing more than just a heap of white fabric. A little confused by this, Gale made his way across the room and sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch again, setting the bowl of soup beside him. He reached out a tentative hand towards her, touching her shoulder.
"Stormy?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 2:15 pm
"I felt cold all've sudden," she answered without thinking, and it was true in a way. But her quick response didn't mean she was all there--there was still that familiarly distant look in her eyes, the telltale sign she'd been deep in thought again. Being sick probably made it easier to waver between dreams and reality. She had gone from thought to thought, battling Thane on several points, unsure who was winning or if there even was a need to keep a scoreboard; either way she felt like the losing party, because her head hurt and her throat burned as it had the last time she had been in the infirmary.
She shifted a little and shivered, sniffling. "M'afraid th--" Stormy started to say, then dropped it with a sudden shut of her mouth. Her gaze lowered with a wince as she inched a hand out of the warm embrace of the blanket to touch one of her temples. Then she glanced to the hand on her shoulder and caved a little further.
"C-Can you sit with me?" she asked tentatively. "You don't have to do anything else but sit, I just need...I need a reminder of where and when we are."
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 3:41 pm
His expression was slightly bemused, Gale tilting his head a little, brows drawing together. He didn't like seeing her so upset, and he could tell that she was, her face looking pained, distraught.
"...Stormy?" he said quietly, and his hand fell away from her shoulder as he pressed his lips together. Silently he eased himself off of the table and slid forward, maneuvering himself beside her on the couch, close enough that he could feel her warmth, but leaving just a little space between them so that she would not feel as though he were pressuring her.
"...what's wrong?" he asked her. "Did I do something? Or is it the...you know, spiders and all?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2013 4:07 pm
There was a pause after he sat down, and then that small gap between them was bridged as she left herself tilt and lean against him, still bundled up and closed off but needing that contact to tether her to the present. God, but her head was throbbing and she wanted to just crawl into his lap and curl up, but her body and mind were once again in a disconnect: orders sent to deaf ears, cold arms, numb legs, sore throat. She felt like her jaws were great weights with how hard she had to fight to move them, and the sound of her own voice almost frightened her for some reason.
"Bugs didn't help," Stormy murmured, her eyes falling half-closed. "Awful poisonous things. Like little leeches. I get those a lot more than I should."
She paused again, then winced as she scooted closer so her neck wasn't at such an awkward angle against Gale's shoulder. "Were you afraid back there, Gale?" Stormy asked with a sidelong look. "When we were fighting the captain? You looked as white as a ghost when the bugs came."
Those were not the questions she wanted to ask, but she hoped in time she would get the nerve to.kurotomato oh wow i totally forgot to quote you OTL
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