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 Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 1:35 am
The merry look was rewarded with another kiss, her smile stretching to its limits in return. "Will do! But if it gives you half as much swagger, maybe I'll let it go anyway~" she called after him teasingly as he left, twisting around the couch to watch him go. Goodbye, shirtlessness. Hello, stiff neck. Stormy proceeded to wallow and turn her head and tilt her shoulders to try and alleviate it, all but rolling around on Gale's couch in the process like a cat or dog. Part of her still didn't want to fully wake up in spite of her plans, and part of her really liked the feeling of her head against the couch.
Which was how he found her minutes later: sprawled out with her head rubbing against the arm, half enjoying the sensation, half wincing because the crick in her neck refused to go. She made a brief surprised noise and was quick to jump to her feet, fixing hair that wasn't there (rubbing her scalp to compensate) and looking a little self-conscious, mollified only by the continued affection.
"Not a princess, not yet. Now, I wouldn't call it a castle," Stormy said as they left his house, swinging their hands a little, "but it is a little bigger than my old one: I've got two rooms now! Two!" She was as visibly excited as she might have been at the news of a new Disney film, and there was a little ounce to her step. "And I heard you can upgrade them if you stay long enough: like your own kitchen, a bathroom, tv and fridge . . ." The prospect of having her own shower sounded heavenly; the other two were just bonuses.
Only when she had it all could she truly have a castle.
Stormy filled the rest of the journey with chatter about her going ons, the Mist trainees she had been herding taking up most of the conversation: the cheery mountain man Arorororo Te Rafiki (whose name she still couldn't quite remember, she admitted), dour-faced Dillon from the Mist Taken training course, chillax Harlow who was a chick that liked salmon too, Noemi the skittish blood-cousin (though she mentioned it in passing only, knowing she'd get to touch on it later), Leslie who Gale had seen before (which also needed explaining later in the conversation), Finley who seem as spacey as she was, and soon enough this new girl who looked gothy would get on her list. Listing it out like that made Stormy realize just how busying that sounded, though it had all blurred together to her after a while; she'd forgotten how much she needed social time to feel normal. But thankfully that gave the impression that she didn't spend half of her time in her room, being contemplative and moody.
(And all of it almost made up for the fact that she didn't see Ian around in the lounge anymore.)
"I was thinking of testing them, y'know," she was telling Gale excitedly, "like making up some task where they'd--oh, hold up." She made them stop once they were out of the stairwell and out on the second floor. "Let me check something real quick." Stormy let go of his hand, made a "wait here" motion, and darted to her room down the hall. There was a reason she had chosen to quietly move in while he was away on a mission, and it was to be able to invite him in with as much flair as possible, when everything was as ready and perfect and not boring as she could make it within three weeks.
After a few minutes she popped back out and waved him down with a sort of nervous energy. When Gale was close enough, she dramatically showcased her number plate (which had a sticky note next to 221 that said b and another one below that read Baker Street) and announced with great importance as she opened the door, "Bienvenido a la casa de Ortega!"
For all of her pomp and circumstance, however, the room was remarkably sparse in comparison to her old one: there were still some flowery decals on the wall, and several other decorations had made it (such as the Smile, it confuses people sign, some Disney posters, and a small collage of motivational words), and her mini fridge was still stashed away in the corner, but the dorm overall didn't have quite as much color at this point in time. By the window sill, several vanilla-scented candles were lit. The only new visible additions aside from a door leading to her bedroom were the couch and short bookcase she had gotten from the quartermaster, a bean chair, and the grandest addition of them all: a full functional, fully converted keyboard piano and accompanying stool.
It wasn't a little yellow house, but it was going to be hers.
"I, um, haven't really finished getting everything in," Stormy said with a sheepish glance, looking for approval. "Sorry it's kinda bare still."
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 10:14 pm
"Okay fine," Gale relented. "A princess-in-training, and you're building your own castle." A slight pause as he turned to look at her, grinning a little. "I could be really very romantic here and say something about how you're always a princess to me, couldn't I?"
But he liked the idea of Stormy having her own place, her own safe haven from the rest of the world. Gale couldn't deny that he had wished - at least a small part of him - that she would want to move in with him, but at the same time, he had known that she would not agree, and that this was the best course of action. Her own space - and his - were both important, something he had come to realize over the past several months, and Gale was just as happy as Stormy was that she had been able to move on her own while still remaining with him.
As long as he could still be with her, it didn't matter where she lived.
Gale listened quietly as Stormy talked about everything that had happened, laughing here and there at parts (like the Rafiki guy), but making a disgruntled sort of noise at others (like the Leslie imposter). He liked the casual conversation, because it was only several weeks ago that he'd barely been able to get her to even look at him, let alone talk to him. The progress she'd made - that they'd both made was staggering, and Gale was taking advantage of it while he could.
"I think a task would be a great idea," he was saying when they stopped. He gave her a curious look, but obeyed, waiting patiently by the stairwell until Stormy popped back into view, sticking her head out of her room. Gale hadn't spent a whole lot of time on the second floor of the dormitory building; Marcus lived in the towns, but Bix and Ceres lived here, and so did Candace, when she wasn't away.
He made his way towards Stormy's room, caught sight of the sticky note, and it made him smile, Gale looking expectantly at her. The door swung open, and then there it was - Stormy's new room. Gale peered in interestedly, sliding his hands into the pockets of his pants as his eyes raked the walls and the furniture and the piano -
- a piano. Or, more precisely, a keyboard. Gale gave it a surprised look, but it melted away into one of pleasure, and he reached out and slid his arm loosely around Stormy's waist, drawing her closer so that he could press a gentle kiss to her temple.
"It looks great," he told her truthfully. "It's very Stormy. And I see you got yourself a new friend," Gale added, with a nod towards the keyboard. "Does this mean I get to hear you play sometime?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 1:09 am
She made a few half-hearted noises of protest. "Not quite Stormy enough," she argued. "Still too bare and too blank, still feels like it's just a room instead of mine." There was an implied but not for long, though.
Her nerves began to ease as he showed his approval--not that disapproval would have changed anything other than make her extra self-conscious, and not that she believed Gale would have disapproved anyway, although there had always been that slight chance he would be vocal about her not choosing to move in with him, always that doubt that maybe space was not the correct choice and that she should have done the normal couples thing for once and moved in. "Mmhmm, hopefully a very good new friend. Converting it really broke my bank," Stormy admitted sheepishly as she leaned against him, scratching behind her ear. "I wanted a grand of course, but it's too heavy, and the noise would've . . . yeah." And in a way it seemed like a betrayal to the dusty piano left in the schoolhouse still, the one she had made a supposed promise to find again; remembering it even now made her feel a twinge of guilt, as if it'd know somehow.
"I bought it on a whim when getting things for the new room," she explained, her expression softening as she gazed at the keyboard. "Just . . . felt like splurging on myself for once. It's been too long." It had really taken a hit on the "Owed Gale Date" money jar, though, because rather than a cheap one she had chosen to get an electric piano that looked close to the real thing in spite of its buttons. And between the conversion, the additions to the room, and her occasional guilty buying of smokes and alcohol, Stormy's wallet ended up as light as a feather these days. (But at least she had removed the cigarettes and stashed them deep in the trash to avoid them being seen, at least she had stopped herself from buying any more bottles for the hidden stash.)
It had been a rare, selfish choice for her to consider her wants instead of anything else: self-absorption had been relearned in her melancholy days after Nevada's death.
Gradually she slipped out of his hold, grasping his hand as she led him straight to the piano without preamble. Gale wouldn't get to hear her play sometime: he'd get to hear her play now. Stormy settled onto the bench and patted the empty half of it with his hand before letting go, a smile lighting up her features. Unplugging the headset it came with, she turned the keyboard on and tapped middle C a few times as she adjusted the volume so that it could be played without creating a disturbance.
(It had been so satisfying the first time she had turned it on and found out that all the times she had hummed the note, she hadn't been flat or sharp. Few things were as innate as that middle C in her head, and the security of that knowledge in spite of her chaotic thoughts soothed her.)
"You and I will be playing together," she said, suddenly turning shy. "I-If you don't mind. It might help me with something. Explaining something, I mean." There was a lingering pause like she meant to say more, but instead Stormy put her hand on the left side of the keyboard, took his hand again, and placed it overs hers. Aligning their fingers, she slowly pressed eight keys one by one, doing it twice just to be sure. He might have recognized it as the cello part of Pachelbel's "Canon in D Major".
She took her hand from his reluctantly. "Easy, huh? I want you to keep playing those notes at that tempo."
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:36 pm
"Maybe not yet," Gale consented to say, "But it feels Stormy-ish, even if you haven't finished getting everything in yet. It may not be a castle quite yet, but you've at least got the walls built up and the moat. As long as you don't get a dragon," he added, with a small, teasing smile. "I think we've both had enough dragons to last us a while."
Hearing that she had used up a lot of her money to get the piano converted almost made him say that he would have helped; Gale rarely did anything with the payment he got as a hunter, after all, and most of it was still tucked away beneath one of the loose floorboards in his bedroom (he may or may not have gotten the idea from a certain set of wizarding books), just in case anyone got any stupid ideas. But then, on second thought, he knew that it would have cheapened the whole thing; it was Stormy's piano, and it was her room, her precious room and he was not about to do anything to detract from the effort and care she had put into getting both the piano and the room.
Some things people just needed to do themselves, after all, and although internally he was still struggling not to say something stupid and mess things up again, he gave Stormy a gentle smile and squeezed her.
"Well, it's the best thing in the room, I think," said Gale, and then added, just to be cheeky, "Besides you, of course, but I'm a little biased."
He was about to protest that she was pulling away, but her hand found his, and Gale laced his fingers through hers, following obediently. Stormy led him to the piano, and he slid onto the bench beside her, his eyes wide with wonder and curiosity.
"Together?" Gale repeated, suddenly as self-conscious as Stormy was shy. He'd taken one or two piano lessons when he was a child, and he'd tried to get Jerry to teach him ages ago so that he'd be able to surprise Stormy, but none of those things had ever panned out; the most that he could do was plink out an awful rendition of Chopsticks that would probably deafen the nearest person. Stormy was the musical one; Gale was not, and although he'd sang to her once or twice on special occasions, that fact was made abundantly, obviously clear.
"Okay," he said, after a moment, and then, in a slightly stronger, more decisive voice, "Yes, I want to learn. Explain things to me."
Some of the tension eased in Gale's shoulders, but he was still a little nervous as she moved his hand atop of hers on the keys. Gale followed the gestures of each finger as she pressed down the notes, one by one, his brain repeating the sound in his head.
"I...I think so..." said Gale, and attempted to do it himself, mimicking her original gestures, but his fingers slipped, and there was a discordant note among the swell of music beginning to form. He took a breath and tried again, teeth gritted, the tip of his tongue poking out as he concentrated. It took him a few moments; he didn't manage to get it semi-right until about the fourth or fifth attmept, Gale taking a deep breath.
"Okay," he said, and turned to Stormy, smiling in relief. "I think I've got it now."
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 10:37 pm
She didn't make any overt reactions as Gale plodded his way through, her hands curled in her lap and her attention flickering between his expression and his fingers. The mistakes were barely given any attention. Rather, Stormy was drawn in by his looks of concentration and frustration: the way his brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed, the way his jaw alternated between tight and loose, and the way his tongue peeked out from between his teeth. To her this was just a simple exercise, but he seemed to treat it with the same determination he would have given a mission. It reminded her of how seriously he had taken the impromptu dance in the night weeks ago, of just how Gale it was to do.
By the time he had gotten it down and turned to her for further instruction, a sudden swell of affection had threatened to overtake her; it was only the thought that it would be incredibly distracting to unleash that stopped her, though that fondness didn't stop shining in her eyes or her smile. "Mmhmm~ Now, just keep playing that, and I'll join you," Stormy told him as her right hand went to the middle of the keyboard. Regardless of his tempo or additional mistakes, she let Gale go through it twice before adding the basic melody, syncing as best as she could.
"D'you know how to play any instruments?" she asked, curious.
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Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 11:19 pm
If there was anything that Gale did not do, it was anything halfhearted. This was both a blessing and a curse, since it meant he was mostly incapable of taking things less than seriously, and had a significant difficulty in trying to simply let things go; but it also meant that he was usually determined to either keep going until he got it right, or concede that he had done his best but still failed.
He sincerely hoped he was not a failure at the piano, but it was hard.
Stormy was smiling at him with those bright eyes of hers, and Gale's face flushed a little, his cheeks warming. He turned quickly to the keyboard, his stomach flip-flopping a little, and hastily tried to wipe away the strange shyness and self-consciousness that seemed to be eating away at him.
His fingers moved, slightly clumsily, as they went through the music, and although it was very obvious Stormy was much more experienced and more talented than he was, it was still beautiful to hear the melody come together as a whole. Gale was slow, but Stormy matched his pace, and he felt marginally better about his inability to be musical.
When they had finished, he looked relieved; not because he hadn't wanted to play, but because he'd managed to get through it without too much hassle, and it felt like a wonderful accomplishment to him. Gale turned to look at Stormy, letting his fingers slide off of the keys.
"Er," he said, "N...not really. I mean...I played the recorder in grade school, and that was pretty much it. I wasn't ever, ah...really all that musically inclined. Or at least," Gale corrected himself, "Not musically talented. I do love music, I'm just not good at it."
He gave her a smile. "But that just means I get to listen to you more."
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 1:46 am
Stormy was still out of practice, but it didn't stop her from trying to embellish and follow the variations as much as she could remember them--and every once in a while attempt her own flair. What mistakes were made barely phased her as she let her fingers remember on their own how to play. The longer they went, the easier it became, until she was comfortable enough to add another layer to the song by humming the harder parts she couldn't remember the notes or fingering for. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be to accomplish the job.
When they finished, her hands remained on the piano a little longer, her eyes having closed somewhere towards the end. As silly as it sounded, the music felt as though it had wiped something inside of her clean, and Stormy felt at peace. Music had been missing from her life for far too long.
She nodded vaguely, either at his explanation or his hope to hear more from her (or both, more likely). A bag of songbooks and sheet music leaned against the keyboard, scrounged from her things to peruse later and get herself back in the groove. This had honestly been the most she had played since moving in, and she had forgotten just how good it felt to do so--let alone sharing the experience with Gale.
The knowledge that they could do this again and again was a word she couldn't think of in that moment, better than soothing or comforting and more concrete.
"What I love about this piece," Stormy said as she opened her eyes, "is how it's the same melody in different forms, backed by similarly changing harmonies. I used to listen to it a lot and focus on different lines each time, just...weaving in and out." Her hands, still curved over the keys out of habit, flattened and gently pressed down without activating them, letting the keys rise and fall silently. "And how it starts so simple and just gets progressively more complicated and varied...It feels, I dunno...brilliant." And she smiled to herself for stealing the word. "In a way, I think it's like musically describing a person as you parse through their layers. It's ups and downs and simples and complexes, and even if some parts look similar, they're in fact different enough to stand alone."
Sliding her hands off the keys at last, she let them fold into her lap as some self-consciousness returned. "If that makes sense?" It wasn't quite the explanation she wanted to give--not flower and wordy enough, not enough time to spout a stream of descriptions and odd analogies. Playing together was just dipping their toes into the ocean waves.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:54 pm
He loved watching her play.
It was almost like a magical experience, seeing her so in tune to the music, into something that made her happy. Stormy was radiant to him always (if he was going to be cheesy about it, he would have said something about how it was her soul that he found so bright), but playing the piano, even if she hadn't been playing for a while, was entirely within her element. It was really very beautiful to watch, and there were moments when Gale was distracted by her presence, wanting to watch her lose herself in the music instead of playing himself.
"I remember this piece," said Gale thoughtfully, running a finger along his chin. "It was played at Christmas, just before I came here. I remember it because my aunt and uncle played it on the clarinet, or at least, they accompanied each other, one on piano and one on clarinet. It's a classic piece, but I was still somewhat young, so I didn't appreciate it very much."
His expression softened as he looked at Stormy. "I appreciate it now," he said. "And it makes sense to me. You're learning more about the music as you play it, and each time that knowledge grows more. It's...beautiful."
Gale reached out and gently slid the backs of his knuckles down the side of Stormy's face before he let his hand fall away again, curling his hand into his lap. For a moment it was quiet, as he let the last few ringing notes echo still in his ears, and then he took a small breath, distilling the silence.
"What next?" he asked, looking from Stormy to the piano with a small smile. "Are we going to play some more, or do you want to play by yourself?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 12:50 pm
"Ahh...That must've been amazing," she sighed, the faint sounds of a clarinet in her ear. She beamed at his response and couldn't help herself. As his hand slipped away, she grasped and entwined their fingers, cupped his face with her other hand, and kissed him. It wasn't for long, but there was still an affectionate glimmer in her eyes when she pulled away, their fingers staying woven.
"I'm out've practice, sorry," she said. "So I don't really have anything else in my repertoire just yet. I only just started getting back into it." The piano had lied there for a good week and a half before she even dared to turn it on, like it was a sleeping beast she wasn't sure how to approach after years of neglect. Muscle memory had allowed her to remember bits and pieces, but it was all a shadow of her former glory.
Hopefully it would help keep her in check, though: venting emotions through music could have saved her weeks of trouble.
"We could plod through a book together in a bit, but I need to talk to you about a few things." Stormy made a face at how ominous that sounded in spite of her casual tone. "Firstly, that I'm going on a mission soon, and I'm not sure how long we'll be out. They've been keeping me in the loop because they think a few spots should be reserved for Mists. It's, um, in the Sahara."
Ah, that's probably why it sounded ominous. She squeezed Gale's fingers reassuringly.
"It's nothing bad, I think. Or as bad as it normally is. Something about routing Famine nests." Which...still sounded bad unfortunately, when one remembered both of their collective histories about it: while Gale dealt with Ben and God only knew what else, she had been killed and Insanity converted, bug puppeted, and then had a full on break from reality with the sand worm (which still made Stormy cringe just remembering; she hadn't even offered an explanation for that, or for a variety of things really).
She took a breath and pushed past that entangled knot of thoughts. "While I'm gone, I was hoping maybe, um...maybe you could house-sit for me?" she asked.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 8:35 pm
"I've always loved music," Gale admitted, lifting one hand to run his fingers gently over the tops of the keys. They felt cool against his skin, a strange smoothness he was unused to. "To be honest, I was always a little envious of people who could play instruments, because I never could quite get the hang of them."
He smiled warmly at Stormy. "But listening to you play and watching you play is good enough for me because it's like I get to live through that; and it's pretty amazi - "
He didn't get to finish his sentence, because Stormy had grabbed his hand. His heart leapt in his throat and then she was pulling him into a kiss, one Gale happily returned, his lips curving upwards in a smile against hers. He squeezed her fingers, his cheeks flushed as she leaned back, and Gale took a small breath, resisting the impulse to kiss her again.
"You could play the same note repeatedly and I'd still find it beautiful if you were the one playing," said Gale airily, an affectionate tone in his voice. "I'm not gone deaf, thankfully, but I know enough to know that what you have is a gift with music."
He lifted his free hand and ran it through his hair just as the rest of what Stormy was saying reached his ears. His hand slowly lowered, Gale dropping it to his lap as the color drained from his face. He stared at Stormy, mouth slightly agape, and tried to subdue the sudden rush of panic and an anxiety that had started to well in his stomach.
"The...Sahara?" Gale repeated, sounding slightly faint. Stormy's tight grip on his hand was greatly appreciated, but unfortunately wasn't doing much to alleviate the innate fears he had about that horrible place. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on what she was saying.
"Yeah, of course I can," he said quickly, nodding, and then his shoulders sagged, and he said, in a much quieter tone of voice, "...I hate that you have to go back there. To that..." Gale shuddered involuntarily. "That bloody hell of a place."
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 12:03 am
"Hey..." She gave him a sympathetic smile as she reached out and smoothed some of his hair. "It's not always so bad. Maybe I'll get a second tan while I'm there," Stormy offered as a weak joke. What she didn't tell Gale was that her bird-like eating habits had been part of what had earned her a spot on the team: less resources required, fresh from trainee time, and technically able to pick up the slack of what was predominantly a Sun and Death group.
It wasn't easy at all to hide her anxiety about the bugs they would undoubtedly encounter, but she did her best to help alleviate Gale's concern; after all, the more he expressed it, the more worried she grew herself. Stormy was glad her hands were occupied so that she didn't start scratching her head and ran her thumb along his fingers.
"I'll be back before you know it, mi corazón. Now, about this house-sitting...Well more like dorm-sitting I know, heh..." She trailed away as her gaze did, her lips pressing on and off in a familiar way that said she was having trouble approaching something. "There isn't really a reason to have you stay; I don't have much in the way of valuable stuff, at least. It's, um..."
Stormy felt stupid despite having practice this several times in the mirror. When alone it had sounded okay, but with Gale there suddenly it felt incredibly childish and selfish. She made a few more false starts before stumbling into the real thing.
"Ever since the break-ins, I-I just, you know, want to be sure everything stays in place," she mumbled, glancing at him. "I put in extra locks just in case, but I of all people know how those can get picked if they know their stuff. A-And, um..." Stormy's hand slipped from his hair to pick at her collarbone, her gaze drifting to their hands. "I was thinking, maybe you could...give dorm life a shot while I'm out? Just to see how you like it, that's all. I'm situated nearish Mr. Bix and Dakota and Miss Candace and Otto and all, and Jake and Sherry are down the hall, and you wouldn't have to walk so far to get to your office or the caf, a-and you could move your books and stuff on the shelf over there if you need, and I have some tea packets lying around and a mini fridge for stuff, and you could use the couch or my bed to sleep, doesn't matter because there's a lot of blankets and pillows and stuff even though it's kinda still in boxes around here--"
She opened her mouth to continue, then slowly closed it. Her cheeks began a slow burn.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 9:22 pm
He felt terribly blindsided, though he knew that it was not unusual for people to be called on missions out of the blue. In fact, having time to prepare for missions was what was usually unusual. But it was the idea of Stormy having to go back to that place that Gale was having the most difficulty with, because it was in the Sahara that everything terrible seemed to happen.
Her fingers gently stroking his hair gave him some comfort. Gale tried to rearrange his face into a less stressed expression, but it was difficult, since he knew Stormy would know exactly what he was thinking anyway. He lifted his eyes to meet hers and caught the worry there, pressing his lips together.
She was stumbling over her words; it took him a moment to grasp what she was saying, and when he did, Gale's mouth opened a little, his eyes widening, and then he promptly shut it again, his expression softening. He knew she worried about him, out there in the little yellow house; maybe this was her attempt at making sure that nothing happened to him while she was gone, instead of Gale worrying about what would happen to her.
He reached out and wrapped his arms around Stormy, Gale sliding forward on the bench to pull her closer. He pressed his face into her neck and exhaled a long breath, his hair falling into his eyes, and for a moment he didn't say anything at all, just held her against his chest.
"I'm going to miss you," he said softly. "I'll stay in here, for you. And I'll wait for you to get back."
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 10:48 pm
He was neither entirely wrong about his suspicions for the house-sitting nor entirely right. She just couldn't seem to spit it out even though words had tumbled out of her like a waterfall, or when Gale came closer and pulled her in. No amount of wonderful pressure was enough to squeeze the question out, even though they were no longer face to face, even though that alone was usually enough to let loose things she wouldn't say otherwise. Her arms came around him instinctively as she tucked her nose into his shoulder, eyes closing as she breathed him in for a while.
"Thank you," Stormy said at length, tilting her head to kiss his hair while keeping her face partially obscured. Her hold on Gale wasn't loosening any time soon. "When I get back, we'll go on that date I owe you. And all the stuff we want and should talk about'll happen. Sound okay?"
I'm coming back, she was saying quietly. I'll always come back.
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 11:05 pm
He felt her lips against his hair and his grip tightened involuntarily around her. Without realizing it, Gale's arms had started to shake, just a little bit, as the realization that she was truly leaving began to sink into him. It was not just about the fact that she was going on a mission - they were both bound to go on missions without the other, obviously - but the destination that made things worse. Even if it turned out to be a mission of only a few hours, he would have been worried, and this was a mission without an end date, and that was probably what was shaking him the most.
Gale tried to calm himself down, because getting worked up over it before it had even started was not a good idea, and it would serve no purpose other than to worry Stormy even more. He curled himself around Stormy and pressed his face into her neck.
"I like that idea," he mumbled, his voice muffled, and he leaned back just enough to rest his forehead against hers; his favorite spot to be, because it always felt like just a little space of the world that was just their own, that no one could break apart. "I still want to take you to Paris some day, so we can see the Eiffel Tower." His arms were still curled around her waist, and Gale's eyes were half closed.
"Promise me that you'll come back," he whispered. "And that you'll try to be safe."
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 11:39 pm
One of her hands left its curled nest in his shirt and lightly pressed the back of his head, encouraging to leave an imprint of his face in her skin; if her own nails could so easily trace marks, why not this? She could feel the little tremors in Gale's arms and felt her chest tighten, because only when she was forced to stop and sit and fully acknowledge where she was going and what she was going to be doing did Stormy realize the extent of danger--and it was as if someone had taken the bottom of her insides away and dropped her heart down the hole. The sudden and brief rush of fear dizzied her, and she was thankful she was already holding onto him.
She stopped the pressure once Gale touched their foreheads, and she let her fingers slide down and through his hair until they caressed his neck. There was a stiffeness in her shoulders from the realization of her soon forthcoming mission, and she took a deep breath through her nose to try and calm herself back down. "Paris sounds like a wonderful idea," she whispered with a dreamy sigh, retrieving her usual smile to cheer them both up. "Now I can't use it for our date, oh nooooooo . . . I'll have to come up with something just as fun." But the longer she met Gale's eyes, the softer her expression became.
Bridging what little distance was left, she kissed him with more energy than before, feeding some of her nerves into it until she reluctantly pulled away and bumped their foreheads together once more just long enough to talk. "I'll be fine. You know why? 'Cause I'm gonna bring your lucky charm bracelet, Galestorm," Stormy said with a little smile. "If it can handle an ocean, it can definitely handle a desert, right?"
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