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 Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 1:04 pm
Chel rolled her eyes, not that Jack could see. "Oh shut up dramatits. Legacies ain't gonna be the thing that does us in." Chel constantly offered Jack the opportunity to leave, but wouldn't hear of being offered them herself. She had no time for her own indecision, and hid it under conciseness.
She needed more than a moment to mull over what he'd told her.
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 1:18 pm
He snorted but didn't offer more. Maybe he had already said too much at once anyway. Rather than leave, though, Jack gave her space and moved to a different window, switching between idly inspecting the rotting panels and gazing outside until Chel stirred.
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:45 pm
She had expected him to approach, to push the way he always did, but nothing. Just space to think and his own way of ignoring her.
Finally she made a decision and returned to his side, brushing his shoulder and looking out the same window. Normally she would have been clinging to his form, always hanging off him like a child, but for once she allowed him his precious distance, even if it made her feel too old, too tired.
"Just 'cause I'm upset with you don't mean I'm tellin' you t'hit the road, dipshit." Then Chel winded up a fist and socked him in the arm. It seemed payment enough. "Alright?"
She went back to the window with a blustery sigh, pushing the bangs out of her face again and scratching at her chest because the crystal was irritating her skin. "What's done is done," she concluded. "We suck, we lived." She looked up at him. "Cut me a deal alright? You have t'tell me if there's Merlin s**t now. No makin' decisions without me from now on." The same deal she was responsible for with him. "And don't try an' hide it, I'll just weasel it out of Owain."
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 4:11 pm
It took him longer than necessary to string together the words, "One punch and we're okay?" He had to clarify and understand that first before making any deals. It was too simple a punishment to go without question.
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 5:04 pm
"Well ... no, but yeah." She scratched the back of her head, trying to figure out what she meant. "I'm not cool with what you did, and I don't forgive you." Blunt, poignant. The cut was still fresh, and there was a reason she ran.
She shrugged, trying to shake the anger from her body like it was something that could be shaken. Chel was quick to anger, but so too was she quick to cool down. It was still there, she was still going to cry later, and it was still going to make her stare off into space with a frown for just a few minutes too long, but for now she could be satiated with the facts.
Fact being, being in a bitchfight with Jack was both 1) a fight she would always lose and 2) more hassle than her laziness allowed. "But what am I gonna do, send you to the couch tonight?" she asked him, lips twisted in an uneasy frown. "I'm not good at grudges, 'specially not with you."
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 5:23 pm
Much better. "Whatever you think is appropriate," he replied as he rubbed his face, casually as he could, on the side Chel wasn't close to. A cough and a small sniff later, he added, "Be glad you aren't, honestly. It takes a lot out of you."
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 5:40 pm
She gave him a look. "I'm not punshin' you." The irony was that Chel didn't deal in revenge. She and Chris talked their problems out in the sparring ring, and Chel would be lying if she said she didn't want to punch Jack's face in a little, but she knew that in the end no amount of backtalk would ever stop Jack from doing anything. "Be an awful lonely bed if I did."
She sighed and gave a half-hearted groan out the window. "Now agree to what I said or I really will punch you.."
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 6:27 pm
A short amused noise left him as he finally pulled his hand from his pocket and wrapped his arm around her, feeling safe enough now to reach out to her. "Agreed," Jack declared, clearing his throat again. Maybe the dust and mold there was giving him an allergy; he picked at his eye again at any rate. "But feel free to punch me anyway."
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:42 pm
Chel wondered how she was supposed to convey the clenched feeling she had her in heart. The warnings she wanted to give him, the advice he needed to hear. How he wasn't going to sleep anymore. Neither was she.
She didn't quite lean into him like she usually did, but she didn't brush the arm away either. His fingers felt cold on her skin, they lacked their usual confidence.
"Think I already did enough," she said quietly, reaching a hand up to his chest to stroke with the back of her hand; knuckles dusted scarred skin, an ugly blue color. One more thing she could never forgive herself for. "Sure it doesn't hurt?" she whispered.
She noticed the eyes, but tried not to comment on it. Where she normally would have mocked, she thought maybe Jack earned a silent cry. "I'll always be here man. Even if you ******** up real bad. Promise."
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:14 pm
"Not any more than the other one does," he replied, meaning the infected scar stretching down his face.
Jack tilted his head up like there was something particularly interesting to look at for a while and blinked back anymore signs of shame. When he felt it was safe again--and it took longer than necessary thanks to her reminder--he glanced at Chel and asked, "So does this thing make me Iron Man now?" as he tapped above the blue scar, her hand if it was still there.
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:31 pm
"You're not cool enough to be Iron Man," she told him, knocking against his hand, looking over at him.
Then her eyes cast back to the window. "'Fore you came. I was thinkin' 'bout how a hammock'd be nice. Always saw 'em on TV but I never sat in one. We'd need a fence an' some runics t'keep s**t out, move a few big a** trees ... but I think we could do it."
That hadn't been what she was thinking at all, but it was pleasant conversation.
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:44 pm
She didn't fool him, but he tried to indulge it anyway. Additional penance if nothing else. "Maybe. I have to wait a while before a Moon's available to help me get an estimate on this place," he said, feeling how god damn bland the words coming from his mouth were. How out of place and normal. "They've been double downing recovering s**t from the wreck."
And back to square one on all counts. Well, it was worth a shot. He sighed inwardly.
"Wanna head back yet?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:51 pm
"You got Finn and I got Daws, what else you wanna delay?" she said. She put a finger to his cheek and wistfully added, "Always later."
She thought for a moment. Going back was probably smartest. Warm bed, warm food. All the things a healing hunter needed.
She shook her head slowly. "Can we just ... hang out here a while?" There wasn't anything but the debris of furniture left, but Chel had never been opposed to sitting on the ground against a wall. "Talk for a bit ..." She rolled her eyes. "This sounds stupid, but it feels like we haven't talked in forever. "
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:00 pm
It was maybe his emotionally sensitive mood that made that little add on of hers sting more than usual, and his eyes narrowed briefly in response.
"Sure," Jack muttered as he checked the floor with his shoe for glass or other undesirables, making several sweeps before he sat down and against the wall. His face wrinkled as some stitches and lingering bruises protested the position, and he adjusted as best he could without pressing his back too hard. "What about?" he asked.
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:39 pm
Chel hovered over him as he sat down, watching the cuts and bruises carefully before lowering herself down beside him.
"I dunno. Whatever." Since neither of them were capable of "normal" talk (as evidenced by their starry date night), Chel decided it was stupid to skip around the elephant in the room. "What was it like? The armor?"
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