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 Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 5:25 am
He didn't want to pull away, but he had to, and the effort of not getting too close was stuck in his throat. There shouldn't have been a reason why he was feeling anxious, but it had been so long and he had missed her like a physical thing, even if he had tried to push back on the emotions, compartmentalize, lock it away, focus on the work.
"Come here, you," said Gale, as Tink fluttered towards him, her wings flapping. She had been waddling curiously towards the door, just as suspected, but at his call she was back, and he ran fingers over her scaly head with affection, relief at her safety evident in his face.
"I'm glad she's okay," he said, as he bent to put her back into her box, receiving a small chirrup in response before Tink curled up in a ball in her blankets. Gale straightened, reaching up to undo the fastenings of his coat before sliding it off of his arms and draping it over the back of the nearest chair. The studious, fastidiously buttoned up dress shirt was loosened as he undid the top few, and he kicked off his shoes by the couch, Gale sinking down onto it, in spite of the fact that the bed was only a short distance away.
It was easier to see Stormy like this, moving around the kitchen. He let his eyes rest on her, because he hadn't gotten to do that for too long.
"What happened to your leg?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 10:58 am
As Gale wrangled the minipet, she set about putting a kettle on the stove to heat and taking inventory of what cups hadn't been cracked. One of their nicer ones had knocked against the cabinet door, and another had a noticeable chip in it, but otherwise it looked safe.
"Twisted it getting away," Stormy replied as she went for the tea bags next, counting out what was left. Too little earl grey to really ration it between two people, so chamomile for her it was. "It was a student at the haunted house, some...plant-based thing. A thorny vine got around my leg."
At length, she poured the boiling water into each cup, set it aside, and made her way to the couch, sitting neatly beside Gale and placing them on the coffee table to steeple. "Nothing really dangerous," she said before turning to Gale, visibly more relaxed now that she had had a few minutes to herself. "You?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 1:05 pm
He liked the sound of her here, in their apartment - in their home. Just the simple, uncomplicated noises of human life, of someone other than himself moving around, of the woman he loved picking up teacups and turning on the stove and reaching for the sugar.
He didn't want that to go away. He needed it - her - too much.
"So, all around unpleasant," Gale said with a grimace, leaning back with his head resting against the couch, eyes directed somewhere to the ceiling. "I'm sorry, though. Do you need me to look at it later? I don't think all of our things got messed, we should still have bandages and antiseptic somewhere."
Hopefully. Gale turned his head as Stormy's footsteps came towards him, teacups settled onto the table in front of them. Gale could see the calmness ebbing back into her, the relaxation; she wasn't as ghostlike as she had been for a long time, but she wasn't quite herself either.
But she was still, even if she wasn't all of herself, Stormy. Gale's eyes traced her face.
"Apparently the Horsemen were here on the island, while we were stuck in some sort of..." Gale waved a hand. "I'm not sure what it was, exactly, but for a while I thought I was a Horseman."
He made a face. "Thank heavens that wasn't permanent."
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Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 5:02 pm
"Thank you, but it's just sprained, I think. Thane's taking care of it."
She dropped a cube of sugar into her cup and stirred as she listened. "Here?" Stormy asked with a frown. "Like through a portal? Was it some sort of spell someone had cast?" She knew the pains of believing she was a horseman very well; the Pride persona was something she was embarrassed over.
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Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 7:53 pm
Gale made a noncommittal noise at the mention of Thane, pushing back the instinctive urge to double check her leg and letting her be when she said she was okay. He was not going to smother her with concern; and besides, she was relaxed and comfortable (hopefully) beside him.
A hand rose, Gale resting his elbow against the couch arm, his fingers idly massaging his temple.
"I...it's hard to remember," he said with a frown. "I'm not sure, exactly. It felt like I was in some sort of weird, shared alternate world. Bix was there, and Lucky, and I think probably a few others...I remember thinking that I was a Conquest Horseman, but the details are hazy."
He didn't like hazy details. He liked answers. Gale let out a breath.
"I assume there's an artifact or something in play, something more."
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Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:24 pm
"You would be Conquest," she noted with a hint of a smile which, as it often did these days, faded as quickly as it came. "Was there anything that looked like it'd be a legacy thing? If it got to your memories, that makes sense. That's what powers a lot of the major stuff."
Stormy tilted her head, considering.
"If the horsemen were here, maybe that meant you were in their lair, or some version of it? If you remember what it looks like, that'll be really valuable for later recon." She was thinking ahead, considering how she could help.
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 1:53 pm
He gave Stormy a smile, a little squirm of pleasure escaping at the sight of her own, in spite of it being brief. They might have been rare, but it never failed to make his heart just a little bit warmer, in spite of the seriousness of the conversation topic.
"There was a bit of..." Gale waved his hand again, fingers wiggling around his head,"the memory things, yes. I would assume that it had something to do with Creation, because the last time anything occurred that had to do with memories, it had to do with that thing."
He remembered the grail only too well. Gale reached out and picked up his own cup, absently swirling the teabag around before taking a sip.
"I remember a little bit. Not a whole lot about the surroundings, it's kind of like trying to remember an old show, or perhaps a dream. I do remember that it was Horseman like. But not much after that."
He took a sip, sighing with relief at the familiar taste. Gale glanced over at Stormy, lips pressing together, his stomach still doing fluttery, anxious things.
"What about your mission?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 5:21 pm
"Mm..." She took her own cup as well and scooted closer, their legs now brushing. Contact and warmth beside her and in her hands. "It wasn't anything. Just collecting some weapon tablets before someone else got to them," Stormy replied. "Bases here and there, near lairs. I think some of the horsemen want to claim them for experiments. Students, I don't know...maybe just curious."
She sounded distant. Her thoughts were flying from this to that, but she didn't think her job had been particularly note worthy, even if it did keep her away for a while. Other, more important things were occupying Stormy's mind, though she was incredibly reluctant to voice them at the moment. So for a while, she said nothing and sipped her tea, mulling it all over.
Eventually, when she finished, she set the cup down and twined her arm around his, bringing his hand to hold between hers once more. "I'm glad you're safe, though."
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:40 pm
There was a small thrill of pure happiness at the way she shifted closer, Gale still trying not to overthink it and possibly, definitely overthinking everything. He took another sip of his tea and gave a little nod before making a face, exhaling a breath.
"The Horsemen need to quit it with their experiments," he muttered. "I don't trust any of them. Some students can be persuaded to work alongside us, but the Horsemen..."
They were the far bigger, far more dangerous threat. Gale lapsed into a silence that matched Stormy's, until there was the click of the saucer on the table and then the warm, wonderful feeling of her arm looping around his, her fingers matching his own, finding them to hold. Gale leaned forward enough to set his own cup on the table and then relaxed back again, his head against the couch as he turned to look at her.
She was still so - real. She was here.
"Me too. And I'm glad you're safe."
The relief was almost palpable. Gale's heart throbbed in his chest, his eyes tracing her face again, following every curve.
"I missed you," he said softly, and the words felt too simple for the ache that had welled in her absence.
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 10:10 pm
Safe. In so much as Deus could allow them to be. Stormy's gaze fell to their hands and grew pensive.
"It's been about..." She did some mental math. "Six months, I think. Or more. I lost count after a while. Time and distance makes you fonder, they say, but it also lets you look a the big picture. Get your head above water and breathe. At some point I convinced myself that this happened to you. Not death or anything permanent like that," she thumbed past his knuckles, felt the divot of O's scar, "but something worse: perspective."
(She had always wanted to be that safe harbor, that shoulder to cry on. Something stable. But she was too weak to be sturdy, too flighty.)
"You wouldn't die," Stormy repeated, this time bittersweet. "I wouldn't believe it even with a body in front of me. You're too stubborn and lived here for too long. But perspective--that's harder to escape. I convinced myself that over time you would've realized how much trouble you've been through, how much more you could safe yourself from. Your life is hard enough."
She paused. Her mouth felt dry, probably because this was the most she had spoken in such a short period in a while. Then a noise that was half a snort and half the beginnings of a sob left her. "Damn it," she muttered.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 7:59 am
Six months. It felt like forever, Gale's throat constricting; he swallowed hard, trying to push past the feeling in his chest, which felt painful to draw breath. Stormy's voice was low, soft, a tone he knew and recognized and felt somewhere within his heart.
He couldn't help but give a small, slightly hollow laugh, because he was stubborn. He was too stubborn and too prideful and too serious, he knew all of this, and it was because of this that he was still here, still alive and still trying to work as hard as he was.
The half sob gutted something in his chest. Gale leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Stormy's without thinking, his fingers tightening on hers.
"It is hard," he said quietly, and his voice sounded strained even to his own ears. "It is, but you are my safe space. You are what I come home to, what I want to always come home to. Time and distance haven't changed that. I love you. I love you, and you are what lets me get my head above water and breathe."
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:50 am
< No-one wants to be alone, after all. >
She stiffened at the implications and closed her eyes, trying to focus on the moment instead. One hot tear was making its way down her cheek. She did her best not to sniffle and failed.
"I wasn't here even when I was," Stormy mumbled.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:22 am
He lifted a hand and touched her face, just lightly enough to feel the warmth of her cheek, sliding a thumb over it to catch the wetness. The moment ached; he felt it in his chest, in his slightly trembling fingers.
"You were always here," said Gale softly. "You were a little lost sometimes, but I'm not giving up on finding you again."
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 10:20 am
< Again, he says. He did give up once. Do you remember? >
She was a guitar string, thin and taut and shaking from the touch, the words, plucked and picked at until the single note became a din in her ears. She gripped Gale's hands tighter.
< It was in town, I recall. He showed you a piano, and you said there was nothing -- >
The noise became a roar she couldn't bear anymore. Without warning Stormy was ripping herself away, stumbling off the couch, yanking the talon ring and flinging it blindly away with a harsh hiss of breath between her teeth. She couldn't see through the tears now streaming down her face, but the totem had embedded itself in the wall opposite them with a loud sound that, even in her anger, made her cringe instinctively. Stormy was trembling, her expression a mixture of rage and guilt and sorrow.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 12:30 pm
In a second, she was gone.
He had felt the iron tightness of her grasp, the way she had clung to him, and then she was up, off of the couch, and her fingers were clutching the ring that Gale knew to be Thane's totem. It went flying away across the room with a clatter, cracking into the wall.
He didn't remember moving. He had, at some point, risen from the couch, and now he was in front of Stormy, her expression twisting his heart, an awful, pained thing, and his arms were around her, gripping her tightly, trying to hold her, his fingers sliding into her hair.
"Hey. Hey. I'm here. Stormy. I'm here, and so are you."
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