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 Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2014 6:59 pm
Gale smiled. "You already make me fly," he said teasingly, and although it was a ridiculously cheesy sentiment, and made Jinhai cringe inside of his head, he couldn't help but laugh. He touched Stormy's face again and leaned to kiss her gently, warm affection in his voice.
"You're not holding me up, love," he told her, and wrapped his fingers with hers, letting her lead him up the steps to his house.
"I don't know," he called back. He fiddled in his pocket for the key and finally produced it, pushing the door open and stumbling inside. It was much quieter inside, and though he was dripping onto the front tile floor, he didn't really mind. Gale turned back to Stormy.
"I was thinking of naming it Mark," he said with a snort, and rubbed his face to get more water off. "Just so I could throw something at it when he bugs me. But I think you should name her," he added with a grin. "You're better at it than I am."
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Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 12:31 am
"It comes naturally to you, Never Never Land~" The sentiment should have been enough, but all Stormy could think about was how falling and flying could be easy to confuse. This didn't fit the smiling mask, however, and so she kept it to herself and indulged the kiss as warmly as she would have any other day instead. Kisses in the rain were special, after all, and she needed new memories to revisit in her loneliest hours. And Gale was a reliable source of support, even though she was technically supposed to be making sure he recovered now that he was fresh out of the infirmary, not tossing him straight into a hurricane.
(She did that regularly anyway, though.)
Once inside, she thought about shedding her coat to wring it out over a sink, but she was content to stay within the threshold for the moment. Shivering, Stormy tugged her hood off and winced as her free hand passed over her hair, which beyond also being wet and cold was also a thorough mess of fly-aways and curls. Well, at least she had a wild look about her . . . "That's something to check off the bucket list," she joked. "Getting half-frozen in the rain for a kiss. Been wanting to do that since the London date~"
The very notion of naming the bear Mark made her snort softly. "Mark's a sheepdog," Stormy informed him as she plucked the doll up for a moment. She fixated it for a few moments with a strangely intense look, obviously thinking hard; names were important. "Plushies shouldn't be the vent for anger: that's what pillows and training dummies and psychiatrists and best friends and girlfriends are for. Dolls are special, you know? Their stuffing lets them soak up everything you offer it, good and bad, and what you give them is what you get when you touch them. They have hearts and carry memories, just like we do."
She gazed at the bear for another moment, and then smiled with satisfaction "Esperanza's her name. Hope," she added as she offered her back. "It's always good to have some." Gale had a rival for cheesiest person of the pair.
"We should probably dry off before anything else, or we'll just track water everywhere . . . Guess it's a good thing I left spare clothes here after all!" She swung their hands a little. "Reconvene for soup and story-telling? Or are you tuckered out?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:03 pm
The term Never Never Land made Gale flinch involuntarily, though he tried to hide it. Instead, he focused on wringing out the bottom of his shirt, which was soaked through and dripping onto his carpet. He reached beneath his jacket and pulled out the teddy bear, which was, at least, not quite as drenched as the both of them, but still looking rather pathetic.
"Glad to see I could help cross something off the list, then," said Gale with a smile, and he leaned over and gave Stormy a quick kiss. "We'll have to cross more off that list too, wouldn't you say?"
Sheepdog was accurate, Gale thought, as he looked at the teddy bear. He slid a sideways glance at Stormy, half exasperated, half amused, and then carefully set the teddy bear on the small table that sat beside the living room couch, where it rapidly began to form a small pool of water beneath it.
"Esperanza it is," he said decisively. "Hope is good, and this plushie will be just what you said - special and a memory holder. And the first good memory it'll have is being squashed between us as I kissed the girl I love in the rain."
Gale flipped his head a little, spraying more water. "I think I'd like a shower, honestly," he said, starting towards the stairs. "Shower, then some hot tea and soup, and then storytelling sounds lovely. There should be towels for you in the guest room," he added, as he turned into his room.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 1:05 am
She saw the flinch but only thought it a result of the cold, rubbing his back to try and deliver some warmth as he rung out his shirt. "Yes, eventually~" Stormy hummed after she returned the kiss. "It's my turn to set up for the next date, right? Maybe we could do something for Valentines." It would be impromptu and on the fly, but she could easily work with that.
She was thoroughly pleased with his observation about Esperanza's first memory, and Stormy's heart did a little spin in spite of knowing she didn't deserve taking more pleasure out of anything. Better than poor Leo's, though, which had been the pair of them being awkward and stubborn . . . "Perfect," she breathed with a warm smile as she followed him up the stairs. "Alright, go and shower, then. I'll see you in a bit~" And with a playful ruffle of his hair, she made her way to the guest room.
The moment she was alone again, the warmth melted away and her face fell.
Stormy chose not to queue a shower and instead peeled her clothes off so she could dry with a towel, leaving the soaked clothes within another on the ground. The room was technically hers to use--some of her things had meandered into the drawers, along with one or two of Gale's shirts she had stolen on occassion--but up until now it was just that to her: a guest room, albeit one she pretty much bummed off of. And now it was going to serve as an option when her room wouldn't do, like it was right now.
Her gaze kept straying longingly out the window where the black storm raged on. So much space. Gale had once said he would have gone to the countryside if Deus hadn't taken him, and she shared the sentiment. Out there, in the noise and confusion, she could breathe and be swept away into the landscape.
At length Stormy crept out of the guest room in a fresh set of pajamas and socks, her hair still damp but at least no longer dripping. She found herself again practicing quiet steps, practically gliding down the stairs and into the kitchen. Deciding tea was best left to Gale, she searched for a couple of cans of soup and got to work microwaving the bowls; at least there wasn't a risk of her messing up. As both bowls were left inside the microwave to preserve their temperature (one flat, one balance atop a cup to fit), Stormy sat on top of the counter and faced the window once more, listening to the harsh slaps of rain on the roof, her feet dangling and twitching to the beat of a song in her head. Very quickly, she lost sense of her surroundings as she waited.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:14 pm
Upstairs, in the privacy of his own washroom, Gale stood in front of his sink and stared dully at the mirror hanging above it. He hadn't been lying when he said he felt better with Stormy around, but the unanswered questions from his mission with Otto - and their ensuing stay in the infirmary - all left him feeling uneasy and wary of everything around him. Not Stormy, she was her own entity, her own world, and that was something he cherished a great deal - but the rest of Deus made him feel oddly anxious at times.
He didn't understand it.
(Maybe it was the thing that didn't understand him.)
He pushed away the thoughts and sighed.
It was a quick shower; he didn't linger, didn't want to make Stormy wait on him. Afterwards, he dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a blue sweatshirt, a towel around his neck as he idly rubbed it against his hair to try and make it dry faster. When he came downstairs, it was to find Stormy sitting in the kitchen, staring off into space.
"Earth to Stormy," he said lightly, and touched her knee gently.
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Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 10:57 pm
If Gale was standing in front of her, she saw straight through him: that was how out of it she was. She seemed to have heard him, though, because after a short pause she responded, albeit cryptically: "Yes, you are." Her face had sagged a little thanks to an inner sadness until even her spacey expression looked like it could fall away in a blink, but the same part of her that recognized Gale was in the room was now making an effort to pull everything back up. Her heel tapped lightly against the foundation of the counter.
"The sky's in mourning," Stormy said by way of explanation, even though there was no question.
Tap.
"Why, I'm not sure. I guess it's been aware of everything that's been going on for so long it just has to break every once in a while. Here alone it can get pretty depressing, so I don't blame it for sobbing . . . Just watching day after day, not being able to stop things from happening."
Tap.
"At least your house is sturdy, though. It can weather even the worst of storms and come out the same ray of yellow light."
It was around here that she was able to come out of her little reverie, a brightness returning to her eyes with the end of her Stormy Speak. Turning her head to Gale, a little smile appeared. "Soup's ready in the microwave," she told him, patting his hand and acting as if he had just gotten there. "I've left you to do the tea since you're the expert here."
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Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:17 pm
He waited for her to finish whatever internal reverie she was in, Gale standing patiently beside Stormy as he reached to open the cabinet beside her head, pulling out a set of teacups and a pair of matching saucers. He set them on the counter and busied himself with setting them out nicely before opening the drawer he kept his tea in and pulling out a couple of Earl Gray bags.
"Is it now?" he answered her lightly to the first of her questionable statements, Gale now reaching for his teapot.
"I suppose it can be quite depressing here," he replied to the second, frowning slightly as he filled the kettle with water from the tap and set it on the stove. "It's crying now, the sky; maybe it's weeping all the tears that we haven't been able to shed ourselves."
"It's a haven," he agreed to the last, and turned the knob to the stove; a clicking noise emanated from the range, and then a small blueish fire popped up beneath the kettle. A small bit of warmth on a cold day, Gale decided, and then turned back to Stormy once he saw that she had snapped out of whatever inner musings she had been musing about.
"Thank you," he said, and kissed her cheek. "All nice and dry and warm now? Or are you still sad because the sky is in mourning?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 10:18 pm
"Exactly so," she agreed with a small nod, watching Gale with an appreciative look as he went about preparing the kettle. He'd already accepted her rants for what they were, but it was always comforting to know that he would also contribute to them. "All the tears, all the rage, and all the screams." The words came out heavier than she intended, but then again she meant them on a personal level: the storm without was a reflection of how bad her emotions could get within, and with the circumstances lately, well . . .
It was why Stormy was drawn to look out the window and why she had wanted to stay outside: to give her sorrows over to the sky so that it would howl for her while she couldn't. Crying was useless anyway, and she had done too much of it in the past.
"Mm . . . Yeah," she told him, the little smile growing at the cheek kiss. "Nice and dry and warm. And sad, yes, because the sky has many burdens it shouldn't have to deal with alone. Then again, maybe we're all Atlases with the amount we have to carry." She started to frown, remembered that she shouldn't, and switched quickly to something a little lighter. "I can hope that for every bad event it witnesses, though, the sky gets to watch a kiss in the rain. It's only fair."
And she vented some energy into a few more tap taps.
"So, while we wait: what landed you in the infirmary in the first place?" Stormy kept her tone conversational, painfully aware of how quick they could devolve into serious talk.
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Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 9:28 pm
It would take a few minutes for the kettle to heat, and in the meantime, Gale turned sideways to lean against the stove, arms folded across his chest as he watched Stormy. He tilted his head forward until his forehead touched her shoulder, and for a moment he just stood there, tired and weary and both mentally and physically exhausted.
"We'll just have to give the sky a few more kisses to watch, then," he said lightly, and then straightened, giving Stormy a wan smile.
"Mission," he said truthfully, or at least, mostly truthfully, since he still wasn't sure that was even the proper term for it. "I found a map on the beach and went to ask Caelius about it - it had his initials on it - except he wound up setting Otto and me off to this..." Gale waved a hand. "...really bizarre, mad world of Peter Pan or something."
He shook his head, catching Stormy's eye. "One day I'll learn just to not ask questions, especially not ones that deal with Caelius."
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Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 10:46 pm
It disheartened her to see his smile lose its light like that, and she was saved from having to reach out towards him when he leaned into her shoulder. Like a warm blanket, she held him close and tried to chase away whatever was sapping him with her presence in silence. In hindsight, maybe it hadn't been the smartest of plans, taking him out of the infirmary and prolonging his stay in the rain like that . . . Then again, it had to be more than just a little foul weather that was bringing Gale down.
A mission, of course, naturally.
Her brows raised at the mention of Peter Pan, but the usual flood of questions didn't come just yet. Instead, Stormy slid off the counter and back onto her feet. "I hope you never learn that," she said gently, taking his hands into hers for a moment as if hoping a little more contact would lend him some of her odd, boundless energy for the day. "Asking questions helps you move forward and lets you learn. I'm sorry it landed you in some trouble, though." It bothered her that they had yet to really go on a mission together, that they always had to be reporting in with some new bizarre experience to get past while the other only had second-hand information. Hopefully the more she progressed in her Death shadowing, the less this would occur.
Letting his hands go, Stormy turned to the microwave and opened it, taking one bowl of chicken noodle soup out and setting it on the table for herself, then getting the other and the cup it had been balanced on (a way she had learned that allowed her to heat two things up at the same time). The bowl itself was still a little warm, so hopefully the soup was still good. "D'you want to sit and eat a bit first?" she asked as she found them spoons, stuck one in each bowl, and then offered Gale his with a smile once more. "Nothing's better than warm soup on a cold rainy day~" Even with all of her recent practice in being less overt with her expressions, it was obvious that Stormy had a lot of questions about this mission and wanted him to elaborate to the best of his ability.
But she'd felt him sag like a lifeless doll and didn't want to push him further than he could manage either. She'd asked already to stay out in the rain: squeezing him of more information like toothpaste out of the tube would be overstepping. And with everything going on with Nevada, Stormy had just grown even more sensitive to people's needs.
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Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 9:14 pm
The kettle on the stovetop was making a high pitched keening sound, its whistle sharply cutting through the doom and gloom of Gale's exhaustion and the overall serious nature of his conversation with Stormy. He reached for a pot holder and then grasped the handle of the kettle, carefully transferring it from one burner to the other.
He heard a thump of footsteps beside him and knew Stormy had slid off of the counter to stand beside him without having to look and see. "Questions only seemed to land me in trouble lately," said Gale ruefully, passing her a smile. "It's both a blessing and a curse, I know, but one day I'd like to ask Caelius something and not have to worry about him chopping my head off."
There was also a part he'd left out - the part about how he'd been demoted.
It was such an ugly term. Gale really didn't want to think of it as anything that terrible, but considering he no longer held the title of Specialist, it was a hard thing to ignore. He'd never been demoted, in the past three years he'd been at Deus, and it was a blow that was both staggering and painful to Gale.
He wasn't sure he could admit that he'd lost it out of his own doing; a consequence of acting prideful.
While Stormy got the soup ready, Gale poured hot water into the teacups, and then set the kettle back on the stove. He tucked a few teabags onto each saucer, added a spoon and some packets of sugar he'd swiped from the cafeteria, and then turned around to find Stormy had finished her own preparations.
A smile touched his lips. "Food first," he said with a nod, and reached for the bowl she offered, the warmth of it seeping into his skin. "Thank you."
He leaned back against the counter and took a bite.
"How have things been while I've been, erm...indisposed?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 11:42 pm
She didn't answer at first: instead, she took the time to do a little rearranging, checking that the microwave dish was clean, that the stove knob was turned all the way off, that nothing had spilled even a drop. Then she took her teacup with a thankful nod, blew on it a little, and sipped, taking more comfort from the radiating warmth in her hands than she did the actual flavor. "Some things have come up," Stormy admitted, trying to sound like they weren't a big deal. But they were, each in their own way: New Years, Aria, sensitivity training and what Caelius had mentioned as well as the lack of reaction on Gale's part (which was probably best, seeing as she had spent the majority of it under intense emotional sensitivity), her decisions about the future, Nevada . . .
"But like you said: food first." She offered him an encouraging smile as if they both needed it to continue before turning her attention back to her tea and soup.
Stormy remained standing as she ate, occasionally tucking her hair behind her ear as she bent over bowl and cup. She seemed to gently sway in place without realizing it, a means to vent out the remaining amount of excess energy the run outside had given her. The urge to go back out there still lingered, even though it sounded absolutely horrible out there now: the rain almost seemed to shatter against the house with how hard they were being blown, and thunder continued to rumble at an increasing rate as lightning flared in and out of existence.
"I'm afraid that I'll wake up one day and you won't be here anymore, because you're gone or because you chose someone else, or because you're just not here."
"You were too good for me and I couldn't give you up. Then when I was scared you were being taken away, I - I ruined us, I ruined it by not being honest."
"I'm like the initial burst of lightning, there for a moment and then gone." Words she had said long ago, in what almost felt like a completely different time, that were resurfacing for more than just the weather.
Stormy stopped swaying, the teacup half raised to her lips. "Hey, Gale?" she asked, her soft voice breaking the silence the way a finger disturbed the surface of a lake. "When I said I'd never leave you . . . You believe that, right? You know I'll always be here if you need anything at all, or even if you don't?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:54 pm
He frowned slightly because some things that have come up was most definitely not a direct answer, which meant that Stormy was not really answering him as truthfully as she probably should have. The deliberately casual diversion of his question was proof enough of that
Still, Gale didn't press it, and instead continued to eat his soup in silence. After a few moments, he set his bowl down and reached for his tea and saucer, lifting the cup up and towards his lips - at least until Stormy spoke again.
Her question surprised him. Gale lowered the cup back to the saucer again and gave her a slightly bemused look, though it was mixed with a sense of silly pleasure and wariness all at once. Gale's cheeks were slightly pink as he said softly, "Of course I believe you."
He set his saucer and teacup back down on the counter and stepped towards Stormy in the tiny, cramped kitchen, reaching out to gently touch her hand. "I know you'll always be with me," he said, and his voice was gentle. "Even if it's...not like this as time passes...even if we're not together like this," he corrected himself, face still flushed, "I know you'll still be with me."
Gale's brow furrowed a little. "Why do you ask? Did something happen?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:08 am
"Always will be."
She used to take comfort in that wiggle room he provided, willingly or otherwise--even if we're not together like this--because for the longest time she had deluded herself into thinking this wouldn't last anyway. Her last relationship certainly hadn't, regardless of whatever Jack was deciding to believe. If something bad were to happen (God forbid), then there was the safety net of knowing they could still be friends.
But that wasn't what she meant here. In that moment of deja vu with Nevada, one fractured person clinging to another, Stormy had finally understood. She had sat in Gale's position and given similar sentiments, that love could and would pull people from darkness, and clutched someone tight in feeble hopes that emotion overrode reality and rewrote it like a story she knew the ending to, the one that was supposed to go not towards a Happily Ever After but to at least go on. The development was too sudden, too soon, and it made Stormy inch closer towards fear: if this happened to her sister, whom she loved and adored openly, then what would happen to Gale if even a fraction of what she really felt came to the surface? This and the other reasons she wanted to talk to him were all too much at once, however, just as many things ended up being to Stormy.
One thing at a time, she reminded herself. Thinking too much just piled it all up in her head until it threatened to collapse and bury her alive. But she tucked away the image of a sincere, blushing Gale into the ever-growing album in her head.
Her expression had clouded over as she thought, but with a blink she was back in reality and aware of how warm his hand felt in hers, and of how her gaze had been almost entirely trained on his even if she hadn't really been seeing him. His second question probably didn't need an answer thanks to her extended pause, but she gave it a voice anyway since silence was completely vague, while her answers at least shed a ray of light. "When doesn't something happen?" Stormy posed with a weak smile. "If you want the most recent item, I went on a mission, too, while you were away. Nevada's promotion." And that was all she would offer, just as he had.
Dimming, she took another sip of her tea before setting it down carefully next to the now empty bowl of soup. "D'you wanna talk about what happened on yours?" She threaded their fingers a little tighter. "I know anything involving Caelius can get sort of . . . grisly."
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:25 pm
He gave her the space because he was afraid if he pushed too hard and too much, it would overwhelm her; that one day his feelings would be too much for her, and it would cause her to change her mind and to leave him. Secretly Gale hoped that day would never come, but if he had learned anything while at Deus Ex Machina, it was that nothing was ever really guaranteed, least of all lasting relationships.
Still, he could hope, and he could pray that she would choose to be with him both romantically and otherwise. Her words - "always will be" - were a warm reassurance to his always aching heart, and Gale gave Stormy a small smile, his cheeks still slightly flushed.
The smile faded a little at her weak one, and Gale sighed. "Nothing doesn't happen," he said dryly. "That's what doesn't happen - nothing. There's always something happening around here, and it's usually not the good kind of something."
He tilted his head a little, expression curious. "Oh, Nevada was promoted?" Gale asked, and then added, "You must be proud of her. She's a lovely person."
There was a mental note made in Gale's mind to make more of an effort to talk to Nevada, mostly because she was Stormy's best friend and sister in all respects of the word; she was important to Stormy, and therefore was important to Gale by default.
He didn't have time to ask more about her mission, however, since Stormy had asked about his. Gale sighed again, his fingers squeezing Stormy's. "It was pretty ludicrous," he said, shaking his head. "When I took that map to Caelius, I was expecting maybe a lecture on my uselessness, maybe one of his famous dismissive looks. But he dropped Otto and me off in this...mental institution or something, and we were thrown into this...alternate universe place."
The red was still vivid in his eyes as Gale squinted, trying to recall the details. "They called it Neverland, and there was this...giant hand that kept trying to come attack us - that was Peter Pan, apparently - and we had gotten stuck with a group of kids - and there was this little girl..."
A curious little girl...
Gale frowned. "At any rate, it was...pretty terrible," he said, wincing slightly. "I'm pretty sure I died in there, but somehow was brought back. It felt like a virtual world or something, like the nightmare pods, but at the same time, slightly different. We woke up in the infirmary with no sign of Caelius."
He sighed for a third time and ran his free hand through his hair, which was getting long - almost to his shoulders now.
"Needless to say, it was quite the adventure."
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