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 Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 6:33 pm
tea time
He'd spent so long on the island without someone that sometimes it was still hard to believe that Stormy had chosen him; that she'd given him more than just a simple chance, that she'd given him more than she would ever truly know. It felt overly sentimental thinking about it now, but Gale was nothing if not loyal - and his unwavering desire to see Stormy's safety through to the end had yet to be compromised by anything.
Her story came in little sentences, almost like separated puzzle pieces that slowly clicked together. Gale's thumb slid along the side of his tea mug, and he said nothing at all while she spoke, letting her finish what she was saying.
"I let it take Jack and V."
His heart constricted, whether in fear or stunned surprise, he wasn't sure.
"You did what you had to," he said quietly. "There's no shame in being scared. I'm scared all the bloody time. And you stayed alive. You're still alive, you're still here."
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 6:36 pm
ghosts
Gale let out a soft snort. "Caelius will always think of us as incompetent, til the day we all surpass him as Division Leaders, and even then he'll probably call us a bunch of names and tell us we don't deserve it."
A sigh passed through his lips, his hand still moving absently. "I'll have to look and see what Life Division says, they usually handle this sort of thing, don't they?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 6:49 pm
tea time
"At what cost?" she asked in a shaky, frightened voice, because if there was no shame in being scared then she might as well openly show it. "It wants me to give it three humans, Gale, it...it wants to breed people with the hunter gene. And until I give some up, those things'll be crawling around inside me until, God, I-I don't know, I don't know what else they'd do except eat me alive at its whim."
Stormy set her cup aside, suddenly not thirsty. She crossed her arms over her stomach and clutched at her elbows, praying that she wouldn't feel the moving bumps.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 6:56 pm
monsters inside me
She was as easy to carry as a doll even before she put the energy in to help, which was good because Stormy had not yet put in the application to upgrade her room and so the nearest bathroom was down the hall. For the next half hour she alternated between retching into the toilet and staring morosely at the floor.
When her stomach finally settled enough that she could stand up without feeling nauseous, Stormy washed her face and cleaned up after herself. She still trembled with aftershocks and felt way too hot in a building whose air conditioning was working perfectly fine, but at least Nevada wasn't whispering in her ear.
She didn't even know what to say to Gale except to give him an extremely tired and grateful look. Wait, no, she knew what to say: what she always did. "Sorry."
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 7:02 pm
ghosts
She chuckled at the thought. Her, a division leader? Now that was a joke, whatever her New Years universe self had thought.
"I think so, yeah. I'll help," Stormy offered. "Maybe Mr. Lex or Miss Ami know something about it..." And even if they didn't, at least she was planning to do something other than wallow in her failures. Now she'd get to do both.
Her smile grew. "Can't even escape work in the middle of the night, huh?" she observed with a sigh. "Man...Switching topics. I never asked, but how'd house sitting go?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:11 pm
ghosts
He hadn't seen Lex or Ami in a long time, come to think of it. Gale let out a little sigh and flattened his hand against Stormy's arm, gently smoothing his palm along her shoulder. "I can't ever seem to escape work no matter what I do," he answered ruefully.
He didn't mind the topic switch and said, "It went pretty standard. Tink and I did a bit of flying lessons, but she hasn't really gotten the hang of it yet, I don't think."
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:25 pm
tea time
His expression was pained, bordering on horrified, because what the hell was that even supposed to mean? Breed with humans? The fact that Stormy had insects crawling around inside her was bad enough, but this...he swallowed hard and tried to stay calm.
"We'll figure it out," Gale said bracingly, which was probably not helpful in the slightest, but he was trying to fight the panic rising in his throat. "We'll figure it out, you'll be all right, we'll stop this."
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:31 pm
monsters inside me
He sat beside her on the floor of bathroom and did nothing except rub gently, carefully at her back in slow, rhythmic gestures. Every once in a while he'd murmur something encouraging, something nonsensical, something gentle, hum something wordless just to fill the space between them with sound.
When she finally calmed down, looking exhausted and drained, and had washed up, Gale got to his feet and stood beside her at the sink, lifting a hand to brush a thumb absently across her cheek, wiping away a bit of moisture there.
"It's okay," he said quietly. "It's okay, my love."
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:49 pm
tea time
She wanted to believe him, desperately so. But if she couldn't even keep her family together, how could she possibly handle this?
I need to get them back, Stormy decided. I need to fix this. Somehow.
She nodded vaguely, still looking worried. "Doesn't it ever bother you how much trouble I give you, Gale?" she asked in a softer voice. "Like how almost every time we talk I have some new problem to put you through? I told you on the cruise, I said I'd only bring you trouble, but I didn't think it'd be like this..." Aria's defection, Jack's return, Nevada's death, every other little painful incident in between (falling, skewered, separated, spelled), and now a deal with a demon, a fractured family, and another dangerous spiral down. "Like some neverending conga line of pain," she finished more bitterly. "Like I exist just to screw up and make you suffer with me."
Like I'm poison.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:56 pm
ghosts
She nodded a little, forgot that it was hard to see in the dark, and hummed instead. "I'll help with that too. There's not really anything here she could break anyway," Stormy said with a smile.
She hesitated, then asked, "So would you say you liked sleeping in the dorms?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:08 pm
monsters inside me
It wasn't okay and they both knew it. Another incident, another worry, a real piece of Stormy Crazy. But Gale was there still, and that was what mattered most to her.
If she hadn't thought it would even remotely disgust either of them, she would have kissed him right there. An arm around him and a lean would do. The cold water helped immensely, but she still felt sick, so Stormy took baby steps.
"Least y'didn't have t'worry about my hair," she murmured half aloud and half into his shoulder.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:28 pm
ghosts
"I'm sure she'd like that," Gale said with a small smile, but then it faded a little, and her next question took him somewhat by surprise. There was a small pause in which he considered it, resting his his chin against her shoulder and letting out a small hum of contemplation.
"It's nice, yeah," he said finally. "There's the sort of...you know, sense that you're surrounded by other people. In the house, there are neighbors, of course, but you're not sharing a wall with them, so it's not quite the same.
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:34 pm
tea time
His expression was only half inscrutable this time; and Gale was looking at Stormy with eyes filled with a sort of quiet pain. Silently he reached out and the tips of his fingers skimmed over her jawline very briefly, almost a thoughtful, tender gesture, before his hand fell away.
"I told you I would take all of you," he said quietly. "Not just the 'good' parts. I love you. I'd die for you. I don't regret how I feel about you, or that sometimes it seems it's harder than it should be, that sometimes all we feel is the pain."
Gale gave a little sigh, his face troubled, and for a long moment he was quiet, both hands wrapped loosely around his mug of tea.
"It bothers me I can't help more," he said finally, softly. "It bothers me that I can't fully understand all the time, or that I keep pushing you when you don't want to be pushed, or that I always seem to stick my foot in my mouth when it comes to you."
His shoulders slumped a little. "It bothers me I can't do anything to help you sometimes."
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Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:00 pm
monsters inside me
It wasn't okay, but it was okay for now, or at least, it was the loosest possible definition of okay. Stormy was no longer throwing up, and although she still looked as pale as death, she seemed less inclined to find herself on the bathroom floor, leaning over the toilet.
His arm slid around her waist to steady her, keep her upright.
"Do you want some water?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 12:20 am
monsters inside me
Her nod was a nuzzle against his shoulder. "I saw her," Stormy whispered with a distant look. "She was right there. Mad. Angry. Mocking. Right there, Gale. One eye, smiling, lounging like a cat. She looked so graceful even when she choked me."
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