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 Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 2:26 pm
He had startled her, like a deer caught in headlights, but that didn't stop Gale from doing what he was doing, since he was already doing it in the first place. Her hands felt hesitant on his shoulders, but warm, and it made little tingles run up and down his spine. Gale looked up at her and gave a little laugh, letting go of the sleeves in order to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her to stand between his legs so that he could press his face against her stomach.
"No," he said, his voice a little muffled, and hugged her tight. "For believing me."
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 3:17 pm
A soft gasp left her at the contact, an alarming amount of nerves rushing through her, neither good nor bad but energizing nevertheless. The butterflies crashing around inside, though, now those were the good kind.
She sucked in her stomach with a warbley sort of chuckle as Gale's breath tickled her, grabbing his shirt before it slid off her back and pulling it over her shoulder. "I-I, um, I believe you," she said in a softer tone. "That's not a problem at all. You said it yourself: you're not the sort of person who lies." Her fingers idly tapped against his shoulder, slowly getting used to the feeling of his skin.
"I have more of a problem just...believing it's happening, you know? That this isn't all in my head, too." Her other hand adjusted his shirt once more before landing gently on his head, toying with his hair. "Sometimes I think I just dreamed you up even. A lot of things real and unreal have passed through my thoughts the past three days...I'm half afraid I'll be waking up from this, too."
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 6:21 pm
He wasn't nervous like he had been a few moments ago. Instead Gale's shoulders relaxed, his arms gentle around Stormy as he hugged her, curled around her because he felt safe here, because with her, next to her, he felt comforted and special.
"I may always tell the truth, but that doesn't mean everyone believes me," he said, tilting his head a little so that his forehead was against her stomach instead of his face. "And yet you still stay beside me, after everything."
Leaning back a little, Gale lifted his hand, sliding it over Stormy's wrist. He pulled her hand away from his hair and pressed it over his chest where she could feel his heartbeat, his fingers covering hers gently. His other hand reached for her free one, lacing them together.
"It's not in your head," he said quietly. "There's nothing to wake up from."
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 7:18 pm
"That's just what any good person should do," she said with a little smile. "Stand by the people they care about. Besides, I don't think I could ever really leave you alone . . ."
And then Stormy grew quiet as she was directed to his heart. Her fingers curled inward at first, afraid to touch something so important or so fragile (let alone his naked chest). Then, gradually, her hand flattened until it was a gentle pressure against his skin, every beat running up her fingers and through her palm like a tiny tremor. She had once had the thought of this being the means for which she could exchange thoughts with him, with someone's hand and arm acting as the conduit like neurons and synapses. The image seemed to pale in comparison to the current one before her: bake skin against bare skin, emotions laid bare from one end of the spectrum to the other, trading the familiarity of his couch for the intimacy of her bed.
Gale had revealed his heart not once but twice, and yet she was struck by how at ease he was in spite of it. She envied how comfortable he could be with himself, while she in comparison kept running back and forth indecisively; but for a few moments she regulated herself to that inner rhythm, her eyes falling closed so she could focus on it. A calm started to come over her, and she could have sworn her own heart was starting to match his pace.
"If the body is a chessboard, then the heart is the king, not the mind. It holds all the power in the world but can be destroyed by the smallest of things. That's why it's castled and protected by ribs."
And that heartbeat was like his love, she realized with a beautiful and aching pang: a constant and quiet assumption all this time, even if she didn't know or remember it existed.
Eyes opening, she gave Gale a sheepish smile. "My ranting's rusty," she said by means of apology, squeezing his hand.
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 8:19 pm
He felt as though the room they were in had grown smaller somehow, constricted until it was just the two of them, the world around them shrinking away. It was not a bad feeling, but a strange one; similar to standing on the precipice and looking out across a vast world and feeling so very small in comparison.
But it was not bad. In fact, it was liberating to know that out of everyone she could have chosen, out of an entire world full of people, she had chosen to be with him. Gale curled his fingers a little more tightly over hers, pressing her hand against his chest.
His face was a little pink. "I'll protect yours if you protect mine," he said softly, a little shyly. He lifted the hand that was on his chest and brought it to his lips, kissing Stormy's palm. "And I like your ranting, even when it's rusty," he mumbled, now slightly embarrassed by what he'd just done, but he kept ahold of her hand anyway, unwilling to break their connection.
He now held both of her hands and he looked up at her before bringing them both up to his mouth, pressing his lips against her knuckles, closing his eyes briefly. "I just don't want to be alone."
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 9:05 pm
What a funny little world they'd created, that she would spend more time blushing than he did--that she could somehow feel insignificant and important, small and larger than life, ready to sink into the ground from how bashful she felt and ready to soar from happiness. Why was it that she always fell to the extremes and never the middle?
Because life is about being dynamic, Stormy answered herself. And that's how I want to live.
Her smile wavered at his words as if on the verge of tears again, because there was only so much someone like her could take before that love swallowed her whole. It didn't matter that they felt at different rates because, at the very back of her mind, a voice whispered that maybe she didn't deserve someone this devoted--because in spite of the fact that people were inherently flawed, somehow or another he was perfect and she was not. "I can barely protect myself sometimes," she mumbled as Gale took both of her hands, barely able to look him in the eyes and glad that he closed them for a moment. "I'm afraid of damaging or breaking what you want to give to me, Gale. Things . . . Things have a tendency to happen around me."
Because she couldn't settle for the median or the average, because she couldn't let sleeping dogs lie without poking at least three of them for a reaction, because she had this innate magnetism for trouble be it by bad luck or of her own machinations.
Nevertheless, she softened as he kissed her knuckles. Careful not to dislodge them from Gale's grip, she settled down and turned her body towards him, one leg bent on the bed an inch away from him. "But since you already know that . . . Let me remind you of some wise words a good friend once told me." She leaned in to kiss his brow, lingering to speak. "'You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.' And you are not alone."
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Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:23 pm
He'd chosen this life; he knew it well, and he didn't regret that choice. But a part of him, just a small part of him, wished that maybe it could have been different. Maybe he could just spend his time with Stormy, doing nothing in particular, staring up at the stars and picking out the constellations, eating sno-cones when it got hot outside, running to catch a bus in the rain together.
It wasn't rational, and it would never happen, but it didn't hurt to think about, at least. But Gale gently and firmly pushed them aside because thinking about something that would never come to pass was fruitless and it would only make things more difficult. Instead, he focused on the here and now, because here and now was pretty wonderful in and of itself.
"I told you once already," he mumbled, still with his eyes closed. "I'll take whatever troubles you bring."
He felt a lot less strong saying it and a whole lot more pathetic, but maybe saying it repeatedly would somehow make the words stronger, make his confidence stop wavering. Gale felt the mattress beside him sink a little as Stormy sat beside him, and then her lips were against his forehead, gentle and soothing. He closed his eyes at the sound of her voice, exhaling a small breath and then turned towards her, his eyes flickering a little.
"Neither are you," he said, and tilted his head, kissing her gently. "I'll always be with you."
A cliched statement, perhaps, but he meant it, Gale leaning against her.
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 12:22 am
It might be a saccharine sentiment, but that was the stuff Stormy lived for. This was the girl who could watch Disney movies on repeat and never get bored, who believed so much in a fantastic fairy tale romance that it almost physically hurt her when things didn't work out: lines that others might see as cheesy or hackneyed, she viewed as meaningful words that stood the test of time. That they came from Gale only magnified their significance, because she could believe them without a doubt--and in a way that too hurt her heart, in the same way someone could cry from happiness, and that was the only sort of pain she would ever invite upon herself time and time again.
Translating that into a simple kiss was too difficult, but she tried anyway and smiled throughout in spite of herself. The rest would simply have to be put into words when she had the chance to sit down and write.
Hesitating as Gale leaned against her, Stormy lifted an arm and gingerly set it around his shoulders, her leg sliding back to the ground so she could scoot up beside him. She was silent for a minute, just getting used to the warmth of his presence. ". . . You know, everyone talks about how being someone's pawn is bad," she began, picking up her chess analogy from before as she looked out in front of them, "but I think all of us have been pawns one way or another: not sure of where to go except ahead. It doesn't have to be in a scheme someone set up either. In chess, pawns are the only pieces you can use to make any other piece besides the king. They don't have to be things people belittle or think badly of; they can be the ultimate representation of the potential people have to be anything they want to be. Keep moving forward, like Walt Disney said."
She couldn't swim much deeper into the ocean of emotion Gale had introduced her to without hitting treacherous waters. But if he did love her rants, she wanted to provide what she could--whatever made him happy and whatever kept him close.
"Hah .. . I have this thing about underdogs, I guess," Stormy went on to say with a thoughtful smile to herself. "Or about upsetting the conventional. There's something in the challenge, you know? Something in saying, 'Here we were at the bottom, but now watch us rise'."
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:36 pm
He wondered just how late it was; probably getting close to late evening now, and somehow he felt mentally and physically exhausted. Stormy's arm was warm and gentle around his bare shoulders, and Gale leaned into the warmth, wanting more of it.
Her words washed over him like a balm. Though she rarely thought so, her rants, her way of speaking, her soft, gentle voice had always been soothing to Gale. Stormy had a way with words, a way with just speaking, and that had been one of the strongest aspects that had drawn him to her in the first place. Her ability to calm him with just talking was simultaneously incredible and mind boggling.
Gale lifted his head and then his arm, letting his fingers trail gently alongside Stormy's forehead. He didn't say anything for a moment, just looked at her, brushing tenderly at the soft strands of hair by her temple, and then he leaned forward, pressing his lips to the same spot. He lingered there for a long moment, eyes closed, and then leaned back, his cheeks pink, his expression quite adoring.
"Move forward with me," he said. "We'll move forward together, whether it's from the depths of that darkness you talked about earlier or somewhere else. You are, and always will be, so bloody amazing to me, and I want to see you succeed."
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:13 pm
A soft note left her at the doting, feeling oddly pressured by all the attention. Stormy combed some hair down in front of her face, hiding behind the maksehift curtain of curls for a moment as she blushed under his gaze. She hummed softly in thought, her heart twisting multiple ways when she realized there was still one thing she was keeping from Gale--something that, whether he was alright with it or not, would affect them both in the future. While it was obvious how much he cared about her, it was also equally obvious that he had worked hard to earn his status at Deus. Sure, his job entailed working with Halloween occasionally as well, but that didn't mean he'd like the manner in which she had been introduced . . .
She was certain and yet uncertain, and Aria's warning still hung in her heard like an eerie fog. But in order to do anything about moving forward with a clean conscience, maybe she should come clean . . . What was the worst punishment? Listening to Gale say he was disappointed she had kept something else from him, or the nebulous threat of the pact sealed inside her?
The arm around his shoulder slid until it hung loosely around his neck, quietly and surreptitiously as it could tracing where his neck merged with his chest; the other found one of his hands, the one streaked with black, and gently took it to her lips. "You're right about one thing: a lot has been going on lately," Stormy began, kissing his knuckles. "Most of which I haven't sat down and dealt with. If I don't, I'm afraid of . . . I don't know. Breaking down again maybe. But if you let me sort things out--"
She paused. At this point in time she had turned Gale's hand over to kiss his palm like he sometimes did to her, but something caught her eye; the same something that she had made a mild note of prior. Tossing her hair back, Stormy brought his wrist up for closer inspection, her thumb tracing the parts of an odd symbol she could make out underneath the dark striations. "You never told me you had a tattoo," she said with an amused look, eager and easy to distract.
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:07 pm
He was probably pushing too far too fast. He'd already told her he loved her, which meant that the pressure was already there, unintentional or not, and he didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable. Gale gave Stormy one last gentle smile and kissed her forehead affectionately before dropping his hand.
Except Stormy's fingers against his collarbone was immensely distracting. Gale tried not to let it show just how loudly his heart was beating, and focused instead on the hand she had brought to her lips. His expression softened, and he curled his fingers around hers. "I'll sort anything out with you," he told her, and then his brows drew together a little, slightly bemused. Tattoo? "What..."
But then he remembered how exactly he had gotten it and winced slightly, an involuntary reaction. "It, ah...it's not really a tattoo," he said haltingly, and then let out his breath in a long exhale, idly tugging at a lock of his overlong hair. "It's a brand," Gale explained, after a moment's pause. "There was this time, a while back, where the Orborous group came to Deus, and me and a few other hunters went back to their encampment. This is the mark we had to get to show them our loyalty.
"Which," he added with another sigh, "wasn't really loyalty, but undercover work. Still hurt like bloody hell, though."
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:26 pm
A brand. Something small but cold shifted inside her chest, and her fingers stilled against his neck, almost cupping it even in a protective gesture. "Orborous . . . The O group, right?" Stormy frowned in thought, recollecting that Lucky had mentioned being marked as well. The hand that held his continued to trace the symbol lightly until it figured out the pattern that was infinity. Someone had marked Gale for forever first . . .
"So it was infiltration?" she asked in a more muted voice, as if afraid they would be overheard. Stormy wasn't so much concerned as she was curious for the moment, though the brand didn't sit well with her. Criminals were branded, as well slaves back in the day. Despite being right against Gale, she tried to scoot closer anyway, tried to shrink the world down just a little more and keep them secret; the side of her shirt was gently pressed to him at any rate. "Can I ask what happened? I don't really know much about them . . ." And if there was one thing that was dangerous at Deus, it was ignorance of current events.
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 10:04 pm
"Yeah," said Gale, his eyes tracing the lines Stormy was, a slight frown on his face. In all honesty, he'd mostly forgotten about the brand until she had mentioned it, if only because it was half hidden in the mess of black scars that tangled up his arm, thanks to Caelius. "They're not exactly subtle, them. They're positively paranoid, but we infiltrated them under the guise of joining them. Me, Solia, Lucky, one or two others. Sam," he added, with a roll of his eyes. "She's a real charmer. But anyway, it was in some forest or something..."
He was hazy on the details. Gale wracked his brain, trying to remember. "We were all branded, and our weapons were taken away, which was harassing. I dislike having Jinhai out of my head after all this time, so it was pretty unnerving."
Gale shook his head. "After that, there were some explosions, some confusion, lots of irritated Division Leaders, and then we were brought back to Headquarters. There wasn't a whole lot of information, to be quite honest. I wish I had paid more attention while I was there, then I could figure things out more easily..."
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 10:55 pm
Paranoid, right . . . Lucky had mentioned that too. "Extremist" more like. Her brows raised with alarm when Gale mentioned they could take away weapons, her eyes darting immediately to Thane's totem to reassure herself. She'd already gone through one period with her partner completely ignoring her, and that had ended up disastrous; Stormy couldn't imagine being parted from him completely, no matter how brief it was.
"You got out safely," she said when he finished. "That's what matters to me." From her experience in missions, it was a miracle to come out in one piece, and she applauded his luck. Her brows knit with worry, however, as she paired up certain words like undercover and positively paranoid. "I know you don't need me telling you this, but please be careful. This sounds serious, especially if they're not afraid to be extreme. You're obviously capable of taking care of yourself, but with everything else going on . . . I don't think I could bear it if something happened to you now, Gale."
Her tracing stopped, and she brought his wrist up to lightly kiss the mark, feeling guilty at her own words. Her fingers slid between his while the other remained dangling near his neck, unsure of how to position herself still (as being shirtless granted Gale a different sort of status in her eyes) but also unwilling to let him be.
"Sam . . . I've met her before," she said thoughtfully, swallowing back her own confession. "I watched her interview and then convert a student after my first mission. She, uh . . . gets things done, I suppose." But Stormy could still recall the desolate look in that large student's eyes even after all this time, the devious work of imagination and her habit of revisiting memories working in tandem. The loneliness there had chilled her to the bone, had made her accept that weaponization was sometimes the better option. Still, seeing someone suffering while she sat idly by . . . She hadn't even known the student yet still felt awful for his predicament, especially considering the brisk manner Sam had dealt with him.
Numbers, statistics, and facts. Thinking like a true Death hunter. Sometimes she wished she could hide behind those more so that it wouldn't hurt so much to feel things. Her gaze turned distant for a few moments, the bags forming under her eyes seeming to get darker.
Sighing through her nose, she tilted a little against Gale, their shoulders pressing together. "I never asked, and I guess it's pretty silly to now, but . . . How've you been? Aside from the fight, I mean." She glanced at him hesitantly. "The--The Sahara's not a good place for you, I know. The party wasn't much better," she added more apologetically.
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Posted: Fri Nov 15, 2013 9:50 pm
Gale gave Stormy a little half smile. "I did get out," he said lightly, idly rubbing a finger against hers. "It was a little...well, it was a little intense, but thankfully all's well that ends well. Plus I did get Jinhai back, for which we're both grateful," he added, tapping the side of his head, where the dragon gave a small hum of approval.
But his lighthearted expression softened, and he felt his cheeks flush a little as she kissed his wrist, the warmth rising in Gale's face. He curled his fingers through hers and squeezed her hand, reaching his other up to cover the one at his neck, pressing them flat along his collarbone. "I'll be careful," he said gently. "I promise. And the same goes for you," he said, with a tilt of his head towards her. "I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you, so you need to watch out for yourself."
He let go of the hand at his neck, letting her move her fingers freely, and focused instead on the other hand he held, moving his now free hand to cover hers with both of his. "Sam's quite a piece of work," said Gale, letting out a long sigh. "I can't even make the claim that she's good at what she does, because she annoys me so much that I usually try to steer clear of her."
<< Little brat, that one. >>
Gale smiled slightly, the corners of his lips quirking, but then he regarded Stormy with a small amount of surprise, his brows raising before he settled down against her again, the warmth of her soothing. "The Sahara is...what it is," he said, trying to ignore the feelings of disgust and fear and pain that always seemed to associate with even the mere word. His fingers, however, trembled just slightly against Stormy's, though his expression and voice were deliberately calm, carefully controlled.
"I had hoped, rather," said Gale quietly, "that I would never have to go back to that infernal place." A short laugh escaped his throat, harsh and bitter. "Apparently I don't have much of a choice when it comes to that, so I better learn to like it. Maybe I'll build myself a summer home to get used to it there," he added, a tiny note of bitterness mixed with sarcasm creeping into his voice.
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