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 Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 10:31 pm
Chel made a low whistling noise that filled the office space. It wasn't anything more than what Jack, Horace and Chris had told her, but Gretchen deserved the feint of surprise. Everyone liked their story being genuinely listened to.
"Yeah," Chel said to all parts of the phrase. "Missions get crazy." She didn't want to offer advice or soft expressions, as that seemed like an insult to Gretchen's morale.
She sorted through the things Gretchen said and settled on, "Whatever's easiest t'piece through. If nothin' seems easy then we don't gotta talk about nothin'." She slyly leaned across the table. "But in my experience, talkin' stuff out tends t'help. Very least it makes y'feel better even if it don't fix nothin'."
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 10:39 pm
Missions get crazy.
It seemed like an understatement for what they'd gone through, and Gretch had over heard someone of the more experienced hunters talking about it, comparing it to other things, and from the way they'd talked this was tame by comparison. Days later she was handling it a lot better, but if this had been tame she really didn't want to see wild.
"I'm not doin' so bad now. Wake up with nightmares every so often, but not like I'd been expecting." She cradled her cheek in her palm, watching Chels lean forward rather then down at what she should have been doing. "S'just a lot to take in, really. Ain't never seen anythin' like that."
She looked away, thoughtful for a moment as she tried to pick out what had bothered her the most. "The worst, I think, was seein' people turnin' on each other." Honey colored eyes flicked back up. "We can fight the monsters without havin' to worry, but how do you fight your comrades?" Spars were one thing, they were training. What she'd seen in the mall was quite another thing altogether.
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 10:42 pm
"Nightmares suck. But they go away, promise. Helps if y'find a good body t'sleep next to." She nodded along with Gretchen's next phrase. It was a lot to take in, and somehow even through these past two years Chel had never failed to forget what it felt like to be a trainee.
She reached across the space to put a gentle hand on Gretchen's shoulder. "You're doin' great," Chel commented idly. "I know with people like me and Rep and Jack and all the other full hunters s'gotta seem like we been through hell, but that don't make yer hell smaller or ours bigger. S'okay to sat that s**t was scary."
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 10:48 pm
"Well..." A hint of a smile. She didn't know about it becoming a habit, but it'd been damn easy to fall asleep with her head pillowed on Isaac's shoulder.
Her mind had wandered briefly, remembering the shared warmth, when Chel reached out to touch her shoulder, and the trainee jumped just a bit before smiling in gratitude. "Scary is one way of sayin' it." But the praise helped. Getchen had only been on two missions, and neither had gone all that well. The first had left her feeling inadequate, and the second had just been awful.
This was easier, by far, but she knew better than to think more missions weren't in her future. "Thanks."
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 11:04 pm
Chel was unsure if the jump meant that her words had reached the woman or if it meant something else, but she was watching closely, hyper aware of Gretchen's ticks as best as she could be.
Seeing as Gretchen seemed settled, Chel moved on. "As for fightin' comrades ... I dunno man, s'to each their own." Some people fought to the point of stupidity, others ditched at the first sign of conflict. Chel found herself somewhere in between. "I always say knock 'em out and bring 'em home before doin' anythin' rash, but ..." She sighed and said, "F'it comes down to it, would y'rather live as a monster or have someone put y'out of yer misery?"
She shrugged and said, "Y'can see why I said t'each their own. S'you that's gotta decide f'you can do it." She shook her head. "No shame neither way."
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 2:26 pm
Gretchen was quiet for a long time as she milled it all over in her head. Devika thrummed in irritation, but was otherwise quiet, something the trainee was grateful for. "Dunno what I'd do," she answered honestly, finally, gaze flicking over a page in the file she had in front of her without taking anything on. "Probably won't until I'm in that situation." There was one thing she was sure of though. "If I'm ever the one goin' crazy though, I'd want folks to stop me. I don't want to hurt people." Gretch wasn't sure she could live with herself if she ever did any real damage to someone.
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 2:45 pm
"S'the kind of thing this stupid ********' island makes you think about," Chel said wistfully. She made no secret that she hated Deus, but had mastered the art of inserting it slyly into conversation; the bracelet monitoring had done that for her. "Just don't let it drag y'down. Yer too pretty fer that."
She pulled out her phone and wiggled it. "Wanna make a new friend?"
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 3:08 pm
That brought the grin back in full. "Flirt." But of course, Gretchen didn't seem to mind. It was casual, easy.
When the phone came out she gave it a curious look before Chel mentioned making more friends. "Yeah, sure. I'm always up for meeting new people. Who'd ya have in mind?"
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 3:09 pm
"Someone who don't like threesomes."
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 6:48 pm
"What? Blasphemy." It was impossible to tell by tone or expression what Gretchen's actual opinion on threesomes might be.
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 10:26 am
Paperwork didn't often make one come running, especially when it came out of the Death division; for Jack, it was more like a brisk walk. After making sure his trainees understood what needed to be done to this particular batch of minipets they were studying (already aware that despite the easy instructions, someone was bound to ******** it up), he made himself a fresh cup of coffee (in his room, as it had long since spoiled him against pretty much all other machines on the island) and made his way over to the Death building. As per usual, it was easy to see him coming. "What's the trouble today, ladies?" he greeted them as he approached, tilting the mug to his lips. "Is Chel harassing you? She does that when she doesn't get attention."
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 7:49 pm
"Oh! I know you!" She started excitedly, turning in her chair to look up at the tall man in the doorway. "Well, kinda. You're the one that ran the forum, the paranormal one." His picture on twitter gave him away. She couldn't actually recall if she had ever spoken with him directly on the forums, but the very fact that they had been on the same site was enough of a coincidence to be giddy over. Small world. She blinked at him though, as his questions sank in, and the excitement faded as she offered a snort. "Naw, she's a peach. She can have all the attention she want's." At this she'd turn, batting dark lashes at her fellow Death as she offered a cheesy grin.
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 7:53 pm
Chel make a small noise at his entrance, but more so sat back and watched the interaction between the two. She was surprised to see that Gretchen knew of Jack and even more so that Jack showed up in the first place. He always boasted of having so much work to do, she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and speculate.
Gretchen's comment had Chel at a light sparkle, beaming at the sunflower and then back to Jack in a this is why I suggested her kind of way.
"Oh uh-" She stood up from her chair (did she need to stand up?) and gestured to both in turn. "Gretchen, Jack, Jack, Gretchen." To Jack's question she retroactively answered, "No trouble, just figured this s**t would go faster with the dude who gets off to signin' s**t."
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 8:39 am
That was maybe the first time someone other than Chel or Abbi had shown excitement upon his approach. Usually it was something dryer, like an eye roll or a complaint or a snarky comment, or just no reaction at all. "I am," he replied, passing his girlfriend a look in return. Was she adopting people under his nose or something? "What am I signing off on again?" Jack asked.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 4:42 pm
Turning in her chair, Gretchen extended a hand to the tall Lifer with a bright grin. "It's sorta awesome getting to meet you in the flesh, I gotta say," she drawled. More so, now, what with his relationship with her friend. Gretch thought very highly of the pink haired gal beside her, and if Chel felt there was someone worth meeting, then the trainee believed her.
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