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 Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:10 pm
She made no comment about Nevada and the mission at this point, sealing the words behind her lips. Instead, Stormy looked attentive and listened quietly to Gale's explanation. A peculiar expression crossed her face as he mentioned particular words like "mental institution" and "Neverland" and "little girl", paling when he mentioned dying. She of all people knew how much that could be the norm on missions, but Nevada's situation had made the idea of actually dying so visceral and real that she couldn't help but shiver and clutch his hand tighter. It disrupted this view of the world she longed to maintain, even when others told her to wake up.
When he finished, she hummed in thought. "So you found The Lost Boys Plus One Girl?" she asked, only half-joking; it only made sense that there was a group like that in a demented version of that story. "Sounds like quite the adventure alright~" But had something happened he wasn't mentioning? Gale had looked so haggard before, she couldn't help but nurse a worry.
"Did you help them out, then?" Stormy tilted her head a little curiously. "Who were they? Did they have names? Were they hunters, or . . . ?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:26 pm
He didn't notice her paling, but he did notice that Stormy's grip on his hand seemed to grow tighter, her fingers wrapped together with his own. Gale glanced down at them and then back up at her, his brow furrowing with concern, though she was clearly already trying to move past it, a low hum escaping her throat.
"Plus one," he said in agreement, still looking at her in a scrutinizing sort of way. "There was something...something about her, though, I can't quite put my finger on it. I don't know why, but she seemed different from the other...the other Lost Boys, as I guess you could say. Somehow she seemed...I'm not sure."
Gale shook his head, a note of frustration creeping into his voice. "I suppose I'll figure it out eventually, but I don't like not knowing things. As for the others, well...one was named Aiden, but I didn't catch the names of the others, or who they were, or what they were...I think...I think they were all dead. You know," he clarified, "in the real world, because they said they had nothing to return to."
There was a frown on his face. Gale sighed, drawing Stormy's hand up to his lips to press a quick kiss to her fingers. "We tried to help them; I think we at least helped them...move on, or whatever it was that happened."
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:43 am
Noting his studious looks and frowns, she pulled up a casual smile in an attempt to put him at ease again. "If she was that special, I'm sure she'll crop up again; then you can pester her with questions the way I've done to you~" Another squeeze of his hand, a few simple words, an easy smile she knew how to wear even though she wasn't fully feeling it: mimicking Nevada's ability to hide her feelings was starting to pay off, for what temporary time it'd give her to collect herself. Stormy had worn her emotions on her sleeve for too long--and being overemotional was something neither Nevada nor Gale needed anyway.
Her smile turned sad learning they were only spirits or memories of who once were, but not as sad as it could have been; maybe more like grim resignation. "I'm sure they appreciated it," she said with a small nod, straightening her head, fingers uncurling briefly in an attempt to touch him as they were kissed. "No-one should be Lost once their time's up." After a pause, Stormy's face lit up with an affectionate look as she gently poked his chest with her free hand. "Knew you were an angel, though, helping lost souls like that~ I'm proud've you." She could imagine their exchanges with the children being...either very dry or very awkward, depending, but they had tried.
"Anything else happen? Maybe a side trip to Wonderland you're trying to hide from me?" Stormy teased.
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:10 pm
Gale gave Stormy half a smile. "She'll crop up again because nothing goes without something here," he said pointedly. "Everything has an explanation, whether a weird one or a normal one (there are no normal ones here) - but I don't doubt that I'll see her again somewhere."
He tapped the edge of the countertop idly, Gale sliding his free arm around Stormy's waist. He didn't want to have to tell her what had happened to him, but there was really no getting around it; she'd find out eventually, and he would rather it have been from him than from anyone else.
Still, it was embarrassing. And shameful. Gale's face colored a bright pink.
"I got demoted," he said finally, in a very small voice.
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:27 pm
As he slid an arm about her waist, she turned until they were side by side, quietly grateful for the chance to invade his space without literally encroaching. "Nothing always goes with something~ The perfect pair, just like you and I~" She continued smiling because it seemed to help, though nothing about that mission seemed worthy of it.
And then Gale spoke in a small voice--the tone he only took when he was ashamed about something.
Her smile dimmed. Then it faded away. And then a confused frown was aimed at him. Gale being demoted was a situation she wouldn't have considered at her most rational. Was that the real source of his disquiet?
"You, demoted? Was Caelius in a mood?" she asked, trying to make it sound like a joke as she lightly bumped her hip against his. Oh, that ol' Death leader, always being mildly psychotic at best! "Bet you just caught him on a bad day. You know he likes giving threats and talking down to people." But her eyes searched him for a real answer nonetheless. Like the idea of Nevada dying, it was simply shaking up her world in confusing ways, and she just wasn't going to stand for it.
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Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:32 pm
They weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but the selfish part of Gale liked to believe they were anyway, so he didn't argue. Instead, he just gave her a wry smile and kissed her forehead affectionately. "You're very definitely something, all right," he told her, and grinned a little.
The grin faded, however, replaced by a look of mingled frustration and shame, Gale shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Admitting he'd been demoted was like admitting he'd deliberately done something stupid (which he sort of had), and that alone was reason enough for Gale to feel ashamed. The last thin he wanted was for his failures were to be aired for all to see, even if that "all" was just Stormy Ortega, his ever patient and loyal girlfriend.
That "perfect" metaphor she'd made seemed even less applicable now.
Gale pressed his lips together. "Caelius is always in a mood," he said irritably, though the irritation was directed at the Death Leader and not at Stormy. "I went to talk to him about the mission and about the sensitivity training thing - you know, when he acted...well, anyway, he didn't take lightly to that."
There was a nagging feeling at him, a niggling sensation that seemed to press against his skull. Gale fidgeted a little where he stood, and then finally asked, in a quiet voice, "D'you think it's mad, me asking for a little recognition sometimes? I mean - " The frustration was back in Gale's voice now. " - he expects both so little and so much from us, and all I've ever done is follow orders. There've been some mistakes here and there - nobody's perfect - but I've always been loyal. Why is it so much to ask that he acknowledge that I've done a bloody good job of being a hunter?"
He was suddenly filled with the burning desire for the answer to this question, to understand why there could be a human being in the world so resistant to letting anyone in, to acknowledging that there was something in a person other than what he assumed. Gale had almost seen a part of that - almost - during the split second when Caelius had agreed with him, but then it had gone, replaced like cold ice against his skin.
Gale blew his fringe of sunset-colored bangs out of his eyes and scowled. "It's maddening."
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Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 11:43 pm
She wanted to launch into a beautiful (in her opinion) little rant about actually being nothing and how wonderful that was, but something made her hold back: Gale's darkening mood. Joking about it had done nothing to help.
About the sensitivity training, he said. Her pretenses of keeping it light were slowly fading the more he spoke. "So he demoted you because you . . . tried talking to him?" Stormy asked, trying to understand. Something occurred to her: it was hard to make it past the extremely overemotional parts of that particular memory, but hadn't Gale attacked Caelius openly? He had given her a vague reason behind it, one that was far from adequate now that her head was clear.
Had he, like Nevada, just been acting out to fit this own personal grudge? The thought stirred her anger enough that for a moment Stormy didn't know what to say to his question. All she had was a deeper frown than usual on as she looked at him.
"It's not . . . mad, no," she began, trying to reign herself in. Don't be angry, you're just thinking too much about it. "When you work as long as you have, wanting recognition is natural. But you're lucky he didn't do something worse, Gale. He doesn't owe you anything for doing your job." How could she put these thoughts into words, that every time he opened his mouth around Caelius was just inviting another risk that something would happen? That she couldn't afford to let him keep thinking his pride and experience was enough to shield him, important as they both were? He shouldn't keep trying to stand out, because that didn't mean anything in the end, and it was clear, it was finally becoming clear to her that it didn't matter what position someone held: everyone had the same chance of being deemed useless one day, one way or another. And it didn't take an outside force to facilitate the end of a career.
I need you to stay whole.
"What exactly did you talk about?" she asked carefully, afraid of the answer and yet needing to know. Had Gale put two and two together? Caelius had practically spelled it out at the sensitivity training.
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Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 9:37 pm
He couldn't help but notice that she wasn't quite as irritated as he was; that although he was continually frustrated by Caelius' lack of respect for him, and that he had spent several months, years even, trying to get just one modicum of recognition from the man who claimed to be his boss, Stormy did not seem quite as invested in this as Gale was.
It simultaneously confused and annoyed him. And it stung, the way she said it so flatly - "He doesn't owe you anything for doing your job."
Slowly Gale's arms fell away from Stormy's to lay flat against his sides; and he looked at her with a note of surprise on his face, unable to keep the hurt from creeping into his voice. "No," he said quietly, and his fingers twitched as though he was forcing himself not to make a fist. "No, I suppose he doesn't."
He turned away from Stormy before she could see the blotches of red that had appeared on his face; the embarrassment of the truth of her statement and the shame of his demotion, as well as the hurt at her bluntness, like a slap in the face. His hands shook slightly as he busied himself with the cup of tea that he'd set down earlier. It was cold now, the liquid a pale, watery brown, but Gale picked it up and took a sip anyway, ignoring the room-temperature taste. He pushed the half eaten bowl of soup into the sink, not wanting to be bothered to do the dishes. The tea in his hand was supposed to be a comfort, a relaxation, but now Gale looked at it with disgust, dumping it into the sink with a noisy clatter.
"I think I'll go sit down," he said shakily, and made his way out of the kitchen, the dull red flush still painted across his nose and cheeks. There were times when he liked to believe he was the mature one, that he had spent all this time on the island growing up and doing what he was supposed to, and that he had managed to be an adult even with all of the opposition that he had faced during his time at Deus.
That wasn't the truth at all. The truth was that no matter what happened, he was still just a stupid kid with stupid ideas.
He hadn't grown at all.
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Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:42 pm
She immediately regretted expressing anything remotely like an opinion. It had come out all wrong: emotional restraint turning into a flat affect, a flat affect with the wrong words turned into something almost patronizing when the only thing fueling her was concern. The sight of the reddened blotches blooming on Gale's face made tiny needles stab at her chest, an apology already writing itself on her face as he turned to leave.
Speak the ******** up, Lance had said. The problem was, Stormy didn't know how to. Not properly. She could handle an unwieldy weapon like Thane because she could physically direct it, but something just as powerful, emotion, had never been her strong suit: it was always too much or too little, normally the former, and it usually ended up hurting more than helping. But she wouldn't ever get better at it if she didn't practice.
She lurched forward a few steps, thunder rumbling darkly again as if she had created them in her haste. "Wait!" The modulation was still bad, a little too frantic for the situation. Her hand shot out to get Gale by his nearest arm or wrist almost like it had a life of its own, grasping at what she could with a firm grip just as he was passing the threshold. At least she wasn't simply standing there like she had the last time they'd been in this kitchen and hit a snag, tending to food and nursing anxious thoughts about telling him no.
"Wait," Stormy repeated more softly, her expression imploring even though he wasn't looking at her. She spent several moments chewing the inside of her cheek, trying to find the right words this time. "You do all've this work, all've this really great work to prove yourself, like--like the artifact run we did a while back? You breezed through that so fast, you probably didn't even need backup to finish it. And you did good by your specialization, y'know? You had resources, you had the Halloween contact, you had that mission . . . And these don't even include the stuff you went through before I came here." And what good had she been on either mission anyway? Her proudest moment between them was taking the fall so that he didn't have to: but then, that seemed to be a dangerously accurate description of most of her intentions.
"I know it hurts, it hurts when the one person who should care just doesn't. But what I'm trying to say is . . . You don't need him validating what you do; it speaks for itself. You're already somebody to be proud of, Gale," Stormy said more firmly, hesitating a moment before continuing. " . . . Maybe it doesn't show, but I worry about you a lot. Not because you can't take care of yourself--it's clear you can--but because everything here's so uncertain. You can do your absolute best here and they won't care, and you can mess up once and that'a all they'll care about. Remember what happened when you tried to talk to him about becoming the division assistant?" She could map out the black striations up his arm, growing like a vine in a flashforward timelapse.
She grew quieter still, though her voice tightened. "Caelius could've done so much worse than just demote you, Gale. And that's with you attacking him during sensitivity training, even. The fact that that's all he did? That's all your hard work saving you, I think." It was a twisted day indeed that she would try to explain anything Caelius did ever, but if it gave Gale even a modicum of understanding, she'd talk until her throat was drier than the Sahara. "We can get your your specialization back--I swear we will, I'll do everything I can to help. But if you won't worry about you, then know that I do and I will," Stormy said and then added, her voice breaking just when she thought she had it in control, "I can't lose you, too."
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Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 9:07 pm
It was unfair of him to treat her like this, unfair of him to be surly over the fact that all she had offered him was an opinion that differed from his own. Relationships could not possibly be based entirely on couples always agreeing with one another, always perfectly in tandem.
But what do you know? said a small voice inside of his head that did not belong to Jinhai, but to some other part of Gale, dark and irritable and angry. You've never been in a relationship, not really. You've never done the whole boyfriend thing, so what makes you think that you're right?
The truth of the matter was that her opinion wasn't that wrong because Gale himself knew the truth of it. But hearing it out loud, hearing it smacked in front of him, as plain as daylight - it still stung, probably because he knew that it was the truth.
He just wished it wasn't. And that it was less obvious because apparently everyone knew of it, he was just the ignorant one still trying to make something work that everyone - including himself - knew wouldn't work, no matter how much the effort.
He hated himself for being so gullible, so weak.
Stormy's plea wasn't heard the first time, but Gale felt her fingers against his arm, and he slowed his steps, hearing the second time she asked him to wait. He didn't turn around, but he didn't move forward either, instead standing there in stony silence, his lips pressed together in a thin line.
"And you did good by your specialization, y'know?"
But I didn't, Gale thought, I didn't, because he took it away from me. He took away my specialization because I couldn't do it, because I couldn't do anything.
He remembered very clearly about the total and complete failure that had been the Division Assistant Disaster, as Gale sometimes called it in his head. Sometimes his hand still gave little pangs of pain every now and then, and he would look at the black marks curling up his arm and remind himself that he was just going to do better next time, and that he'd do an even more impressive job on the next mission.
Bigger, better, best. When will it stop?
Gale's shoulders had lost some of the tension in his shoulders, his arm going slack in Stormy's grip. All of the fight had seemed to ebb out of him, and carefully he extracted himself from her grasp, if only so that he could sink down on the living room couch with his head in his hands, his fingers digging into his hair.
"Is it really so wrong to want to be recognized just once?" he said, and his voice was thin, quiet. "Why can't I just get what I want, just once?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:32 am
< < How childish. Little wonder you became attached. > >
It wasn't supposed to be going like this: it was supposed to have worked. Didn't her little speeches normally? Or if not as a solution, at least they made headway. Instead, she felt her resolve waver as Gale went limp in her grasp and slipped away, all but ready to curl up on the couch in front of her. Defeated. And for a moment Stormy became vividly aware of just how many times this seemed to be the case for her: her mother, her father, Nevada, even Jack--and now Gale. People she tried to help by bringing everything to the table every time, no matter how laborious.
He was clutching at his hair but he might as well have been digging his fingers into her heart with how much it hurt to watch him. She was angry. She was saddened. She was bitter and determined and sinking closer to despair and pushing herself forward without looking back and tireless and optimistic because no-one else wanted to be, no-one wanted that cliche role as the person who still believed the good in the world was stronger than the bad because it wasn't realistic.
The storm raged outside; she could hear the windows rattle like they were being shaken awake. Part of her wondered if, should they break, it might somehow get linked to Gale somehow, get something through his head that her words couldn't. But Stormy didn't want more things breaking on her account; she didn't want more evidence to prove Caelius right.
< < A hatchling that whines deserves no attention, > > Thane snorted. < < Much less with his amount of experience. Let him pine away in his room if he is so angst-riddled; it is a waste of our time. > >
I'm not leaving unless he asks me to. She'd promised after all. The dracolich rattled impatiently as she approached, hesitant not because she was afraid of what Gale might do but because she did not know what to say. Her first response had been too unemotional, her second didn't get through--what use was she if her words couldn't land? Stormy couldn't help but keep tying parallels to Nevada because the two of them were remarkably similar: both she and Gale were led by their passion and their stubbornness, and by personal pursuit, enough so that they could interfere if they took a strong stance on something. On Caelius, on Aria, . . . on themselves.
Were her words to Nevada after that mission worth anything to her friend? Or had they simply been gusts of air against a solid wall? Maybe . . . No. She wasn't giving up on Nevada just because things looked impossible, and she wasn't going to give up on Gale just because she was frustrated.
Stormy squeezed her eyes and chased the thoughts away for now, fumbling for the edge of the coffee table and bringing it closer to the couch so that when she sat on it and leaned forward, the gap between them wasn't so large. She gazed at him with a mixture of emotions for a moment--then she slowly reached out and placed her hands atop his, light, warm weights that didn't invade his clutch nor pressed or pulled.
"I never said it was wrong, cariño," she replied gently. "If there was any way I could get you what you wanted, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But you can't think like that, Gale; the only thing it does is bring you down. All you can do is keep moving forward and keep working as hard as you do, 'cause even though Caelius might not see, others do; Marcus even said you'd make a better division assistant than Mark," Stormy reminded him with a weak smile. "You've done things, amazing things, and when you messed up before, you got back up and resolved to do better. Don't let this make you think you're anything less than brilliant--you're worth a lot more than just your title."
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:35 pm
He was treating her - Stormy, his girlfriend, the girl he was in love with - as though she were nothing more than a casual acquaintance; like she was just someone giving him unwanted advice that he was unwilling to hear, and it made him sick, made his head ache. Gale rubbed his fingers against his temples and tried to get his stupid, rampaging teenage emotions under control.
<< She's trying. >>
I know, thought Gale in frustration, I know.
<< If you know, then do something. She's doing more than you are right now, at least. >>
Jinhai's voice didn't sound irritated, but there was a soft note of mingled exasperation and frustration. Gale couldn't quite blame him, but there was still embarrassing blotches of red that appeared on Gale's face from the reprimand, the dragon curling up inside of Gale's mind. He touched on Gale's thoughts gently, as though to remind him that he was still on his side.
I never thought otherwise.
<< Good. Now treat your girlfriend with the same respect you've shown me. She deserves it, not you whining about how miserable your life is. >>
Gale clicked his teeth together, half annoyed, half relieved, and he could feel Stormy's hands atop his own, warm and familiar and caring. He turned his hands palm up so that he could wrap his fingers around hers, slide them together almost experimentally; and after a moment, after she was done speaking, he lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her palm.
"You're right," he said, in a low voice thick with shame and frustration. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just got caught up in my head for a little bit, and I just..."
He pushed Stormy's hand against his own cheek, eyes half closed, and said, "Caelius just makes me so angry all the time, and I can't change divisions, or anything like that, because Death is where I belong. But it's like nothing I do or have done has made a difference, not just in Death, but anywhere."
He opened his eyes again and sighed. Gale let go of Stormy's hand and reached out to touch her face, running his knuckles alongside her jaw.
"Sorry I was a boor," he said softly, face flushed.
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 1:19 am
She sighed the rest of her air and let the tension rise out of her with it. "S'okay. S'okay, honest. Let's be fair: I did just drag you out of your recovery from another mission and into some cold, wet weather. No-one's going to be in the best of moods, even without certain Death leads in the picture," she pointed out with a tired smile. "You're not a boor, you have a right to vent. If anything, you're patient and kind for indulging my stupid whims. I'm just sorry I can't do more . . ."
Stormy turned her head, kissed his knuckles, and then bumped her cheek against them in a fluid, almost cat-like motion. "I'm also sorry for being short with you, though I guess we never really stop being short," she joked weakly, stroking his face with her thumb when she could. "Don't pull an Otto and get a last minute growth spurt on me, though, okay? I like being able to reach." She gave an example by reaching over and smoothing some of Gale's hair back down and away from his face, enjoying the feeling of long strangs sliding over and between her fingers. It was bothersome to have to sit on hardwood to do so, though, and so Stormy transferred herself to the couch and sidled close before continuing her doting, craving close contact again.
"It's not the end, okay? We'll think of something together." It would be wrong to simply let Gale flounder when she was pouring so much energy into Nevada's case; she'd find a way to balance it out, somehow. "Luckily for you, I want to go into Death as my Mist concentration," Stormy informed him happily, finding it easier to sound so when stating the facts. Her other arm snuck around him, pulling gently in a silent question to come closer. "So it'll benefit us both~ No more worrying, alright? Between you and me, anything's possible."
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:28 pm
She still looked a little despondent, maybe even a little wary, but at least she had slid towards him, her warmth encasing him. Gale slanted his body sideways so that he could lean against her, his eyes half closed; Stormy's fingers felt wonderfully cool and gentle against his brow and in his hair, and for a few seconds he felt almost calm under her ministrations.
"You do enough for me," he said, exhaling a sigh, and he slid his arm around Stormy's waist, obliging her unspoken question by pulling her into his lap. He would have just curled up with her on the couch, but he was afraid lying down would make him fall asleep.
Though, come to think of it, maybe sleep wasn't such a bad idea after all.
A soft snort escaped his lips. "Otto is a git," Gale grumbled, "Getting all taller than me and whatnot."
He leaned over and kissed Stormy gently, his forehead against hers. "I wish there was an easier way to get through all of this," he said, and sighed again (he was full of them today). "I wish I could just...change the way that I think, that it was easier to bear. That Caelius was easier to bear with. I wish for a lot of things, but nothing seems to ever work out in my favor."
Gale shook his head, kissed Stormy again, and leaned back against the couch, his arms loose around her waist.
"Enough about me," he said, and touched her hand. "I'm just full of regrets and frustrations and anger, which can't possibly be all that exciting to you. Tell me more about what's been happening in your life lately."ol-j-man y gale so derp ps I want 2 ask u about a potential plot thingy tomorrowww
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:37 am
"We're working out, though, aren't we?" She became more at ease in his lap, stretching her legs over an arm of the couch, the tired smile gaining more warmth as the bumped foreheads. "That's an accomplishment here. Consider: end've July to end've August, August to September, September to October . . ." Stormy listed them off with a light kiss per month that grew incrementally stronger (nose, cheek, lips, jaw, lips--) until by the time she hit the January-February mark, she'd turned pink and was reluctant to stop. "Seven t'be exact," she mumbled, clearing her throat sheepishly. It wasn't a career goal, but it felt important to make note of nevertheless: she was the kind of person who would have celebrated every monthly milestone under normal circumstances, if not weekly.
At Gale's request, she hesitated and sat up again, having lingered close after her burst of affection. Her hands fiddled with each other for a moment before they slowly enveloped his. "Where to start . . . Nevada had her promotion mission," Stormy began, striving to keep up optimism despite the territory she was heading into. "The two of us got lost in this bamboo forest trying to find a village with a weird Fear reading on it. I-It was kinda funny, we kept running into this panda bear eating and he'd just look at us funny, and Nevada even took a photo . . ." It was such a disconnect: joking about how the panda was probably their real target, discussing making it a mount, laughing about their miserable sense of direction. Her faint smile was short lived.
"It got hairy in there. We were fighting mutants, just--lumps of animal parts meshed together, screeching and thrashing." Stormy could almost recall the fetid stench in full (organs bouncing and bobbing like macabre spring toys, blood and spit and bile bubbling out of orifices that should never have existed, gore revealing the impossible inner matrix) and scrunched her face, swallowing hard.
She didn't know how much to reveal or what Gale thought about her complicated Aria situation and her role in it. Stormy remembered his first reaction to her detail-omitted version of what happened in the underground caves: would it be worse this time around now that Caelius had filled the gaps back up and revealed her as a liar? Or would she be so lucky as to get away with a cross look and nothing more once it was brought up? Gale's palm became her personal worry stone as she circled her thumb around mindlessly.
"I tried defending her," she said quietly. "That was my one job: support her. Isn't that what I always do for you guys? You two are so alike in many ways, y'know: you're passionate people. You don't look it on the outside because you look serious or lazy, but if something comes up that you want, you just . . . go for it. And I follow after with a hundred cheers and hope that for one moment I can be part've that process." She lifted his to her mouth as if to hide behind it, gazing ahead with something close to a despondent look as she became barely audible over the storm outside.
"But I failed. Her weapon broke somewhere in that chaos, and I couldn't stop it. She's dying, Gale. Nevada's dying, and it's my fault."
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