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 Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:12 am
"Don't talk to me like I don't know what I'm doing!" Rasali shouted, suddenly on her feet. She hadn't even noticed that she'd moved. "I am grateful to you. I owe you more than I can repay and I will ******** grovel if you ask me to, but you will NOT get me to pity you." Rasali jabbed her finger at Aandes' chest. "You chose to help me all on your own. If you had run off to the authorities the second you smelled rebels on me, that would have been on me. This however," Rasali gesticulated wildly to indicate the identity change as much as the hotsprings, the tracking devices, everything. "Was all your doing. I never asked for any of it. This is you trying to have me and your social climbing.""If you get yourself killed b- because- be- because of m- me..." Rasali was doing her very best to maintain her tirade whilst wiping away crocodile tears with her arms. She was failing miserably. Raggedly, Rasali caught her breath. She was at least making sloppy attempts to avoid staining Aandes' robe with her tears. "I have too much blood on my hands as it is to let yours join it."
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:25 am
Aandes fingers tensed and curled into claws as he stood his ground. His jaw was set to keep himself from losing it, and seeing Rasali so pathetic was disgusting. Wild oscillations made his chest feel as though it was about to explode from the conflict inside of him. “Goddamnit!” He shouted. Aandes clawed at his scalp, his hands digging into his hair. “I know I know I know I know I know!” He stalked and clawed. “I can’t do anything else, okay? What the ******** am I supposed to do? What do you WANT me to do? Let you go? I’m too weak to fight for you, Rasali, THIS IS ALL I’VE GOT! And if that’s too much for you…” He couldn’t accept it. Aandes made a tortured sound between a growl and a screech and dug his palms into his eyesockets. With a heaving breath he collapsed in his chair, fists pounding against the table as he let his head drop on his neck. He wheezed. Helpless. The key to Aandes’ survival was inherently risk. Masquerading as someone who knew what they were doing and had their fate on lockdown. Rasali was a loose cannon, a liability. But if she wasn’t, would he care so much? He'd gone over this a thousand times - and it never got. Any. Goddamn. Easier. “********, you’re so frustrating…” Aandes mumbled into the table. A rogue droplet stained the wood before he wiped his eyes and held his head in his hands.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:58 am
At the very least Rasali and Aandes were on the same page about shouting and crying in his nutritionblock at God-knows whatever hour in the day or night. Having been failed by her words, Rasali tried to focus on slowing the stream of tears. The waterworks had more than likely been building up since the Phoenix Initiative base was raided. After their emotionally raw outbursts, being called frustrating felt spectacularly bland. Almost humorously so. Rasali cracked a strained smile while averting her gaze behind the back of her hand. "I suppose that's what makes us such a good couple," she mumbled with equal parts bitterness and affection. Rasali stood in silence next to Aandes as she fought to control her breathing. Like a deflating balloon, she dropped back into her seat at the table. "I don't want you to go," Rasali said in a voice tiny enough, she may have been speaking to herself. "But if it came down to it, I'd rather you live than go down fighting on my behalf."Rasali hazarded a glance up at where Aandes was sitting, but still couldn't bring herself to make eye-contact. "But you're good at what you do, aren't you? I know I give you a hard time because I don't understand it, but I trust you. You've never let me down. Not in the mountains, not at the beach, not even when I stormed into your hive that one time." Despite nearly being tucked into her knees, Rasali's mouth fluttered into a brief bashful smile at the memory. "I know I'm frustrating as ********, but that's only because I'm just as ambitious and efficient as you. Just with a different skill set."Rasali's voice had increased to a normal speaking volume, though her intonation remained slow and even from her raw throat. She shot Aandes a more pointed stare to emphasis her point. "I need you to trust me, Aandes. You've done more than enough for me already."
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:11 am
Aandes wiped his raw eyes and fruitlessly tried to paw his hair back into place. He was now exhausted, the emotional ride of this evening happening fast and loose with little warning. Now, in retrospect, it seemed bound to happen. It was irritating how shortsighted he had been. “Tch. Don’t pull the trust card after pinning your insecurities on me. Of course I trust you. An idiot couldn’t pull off what I had planned.” Aandes rolled his tear-reddened eyes and settled on Rasali in a side-glance. “And I still haven’t seen how your skill set’s paid off in the grand scheme or whatever, but if I didn’t trust you I’d have written you off as dead meat long ago. I suppose I just have to spell out the fact that you’re my equal partner in these affairs, don’t I?” He spat, the soft words contrasting his bitter tone. “If it makes you feel any better, they were gonna sell off those damned springs anyway. If I’d planned to sit you down and ask for your blessing they would have been gone by the time I’d started my engine to rush over to your Podunk little ‘secret’ meeting spot out in the a** end of nowhere.” Aandes waved loosely with a hand and rolled his head around with the other. He’d exhausted his energy, clearly. “I guess now we have time to figure this out together. I’ll admit that much.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 5:26 pm
Rasali ignored the familiar desire to roll her eyes at Aandes. "I'm skilled enough to still be alive. It's not for a lack of trying on the Crown's part either." Rasali grumbled in defense of her own ego. "I just... don't want you to over-exert yourself unecessarily--not just out of concern for me, but also 'cos you're a big-for-your-britches workaholic. So long as I know you're taking care of yourself too I'll... I'll let you dress me however you want."Technically Rasali already was. Aandes could have told her it was fashionable to wear a wig made out of fruit and she probably would have believed him. She wasn't about to tell him that though, even if it was her intent to cheer him up.
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Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 5:46 pm
Skill enough to stay alive? That was fair, on Alternia at least. Especially for someone with Rasali’s abhorrent personality. “I suppose.” He plopped down his head onto his arms on the table, rolling around the beverage with a hand idly. “We’ll start small. I can’t quite cut back, given that I’m creating a producing empire built on the bending of the truth – but it should write itself as I make it work. You’re easy in comparison. I just need to get you pretty dresses; tragic, I know, to snuff your deplorable sense of style. So we’re all fair and good now?” Aandes nudged the bottle and smirked, his head raising again. “You’re in luck that you just bathed, because you dodged the new eyeshadow palette that I bought that turned out to be a few shades too warm for me.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 9:12 pm
Rasali sighed as the tension eased out of the room. Having to be honest about her emotions with Aandes was always a big, awful production. At least the aftermath gifted her the relaxing effect of endorphins. Not to mention Aandes' eyes looked all sparkly like one of her animes. "I wouldn't expect you to drop everything or else you'd be living in the swamp with me." The mental image was equal parts funny and horrifying. She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Aandes' jab. The two of them were comfortably settling back into their usual banter. "You're gonna regret getting rid of my athletic wear when you realize I'm totally super hot and you can't focus on doing anything productive." Rasali winked and stuck her tongue out.
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 9:23 pm
Aandes’ eyebrows raised in unison like a set of enclosure talons. “Well, I’ll take that notion as permission to go hogbeast wild on your make-over, then. Your hair’s getting ratty. Tomorrow we’ll give you a trim and fix that nail… Thing you’ve got going on.” He grimaced. “I hope you’re not wearing flip flops in the swamp. You know what, don’t answer that. The less I know about your horrendous squalor the better.” The greenblood removed himself from his seat and stretched. “We can also go get you a care package while we’re out. I imagine your friends would enjoy some cases of cream soda, yeah?” He tapped his chin and wandered about, mentally calculating the plan for tomorrow. A date with Rasali was of utmost importance. They were stocking up on supplies for her undercover identity… And he was stocking up on time with his kismesis, who lived in the goddamn swamp. “Hey.” Aandes announced. He was tapping his fingernails against the doorframe. “I’m going to head upstairs and change. I got some movies if you wanna pick one out. They’re all terrible.” His mouth twisted into a smile and Aandes disappeared up the stairs.
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 9:49 pm
The more Aandes talked the more Rasali had to reassure herself that this was all in the name of self-preservation. A necessary evil. "S'not like I had much choice at the beginning there..." Rasali muttered in a tiny voice. It was harder than Rasali would have liked to admit to distinguish swamp algae from her chipped green nailpolish while scrubbing herself down in the shower. Aandes was going to make everything about her appearance so much better and Rasali was going to hate every second of it. The promise of more cream soda (as well as scoring points with her fellow rebel members) was enough to keep Rasali from complaining (more), though (for now). Rasali relaxed her face and rolled her shoulders. Her ears almost visibly picked up at the mention of movies. "I'm gonna make you regret that offer so hard." Rasali grinned bright enough for all her teeth to be visible. Without further invitation, she grabbed her soda and followed Aandes up the stairs.
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