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 Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:17 pm
Gale's face was flushed scarlet with each delicate kiss, his heart racing erratically in his chest. He tried to act as though he were used to this, that after almost seven months together he was entirely at ease with showing physical affection - and a part of him was, but at the same time, each time Stormy kissed him it gave him a thrill, little butterflies pitter-pattering inside of his stomach. It felt silly to admit this, so he mostly kept it to himself, but some things - namely his pink cheeked face - betrayed those attempts at stoic silence.
"Seven months," repeated Gale breathlessly, and leaned forward again to give a kiss of his own, his fingers gentle as they slid into Stormy's hair. He pulled away after a moment and smiled, his thumb brushing over her cheek. "Seven months is a long time to have to put up with someone like me."
He let her take his hands, but the playful, affectionate smile that had been on Gale's face slid a little at Stormy's obvious hesitance. He wasn't sure what had happened, but whatever it was, it didn't seem as though it had gone the way it should have.
Nothing ever did, really, on Deus.
His fingers tenderly touched her cheek, then her hair. "Passionate or mad, I suppose the two are interchangeable," said Gale lightly, in an attempt to brighten the mood; but the last part of Stormy's story, the real truth of what was on her shoulders wiped any teasing manner from Gale's face, replaced by a look of stunned realization.
"She's - wait, no, wait..."
Gale's fingers tightened their grip on Stormy's hand, and he stared at her in shock, his heart pounding for an entirely different reason now. "I'm...I'm so sorry," he said, after a moment, and the words weren't adequate enough to express all of the emotions had suddenly laid themselves in Gale's heart. "Stormy, I'm so sorry."
He squeezed her fingers, feeling horribly inadequate at comfort, and said softly, "Why do you say it's your fault?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 12:30 am
Not even Gale's flushed face gave her as much solace as it would have normally. He was given a glance as he touched her and asked his question, a hint of wariness back in her eyes before she dropped her gaze back to their hands, their rings. Pale, tan, White and gold, black and purple, day and night. Thus far, her way of thinking didn't quite match up with anyone else's: aside from Otto's complacency with the knowledge, Stormy hadn't had great luck with having others know about her involvement with Aria. She was starting to feel, for all her good intentions, like a black sheep.
< < There is little point in secrecy now, > > Thane pointed out. < < Your leaders are aware of the situation. You need allies. > >
Her inner eye studied him, trying to determine if this was just his usual pragmatic advice, or something truly sympathetic to his hunter for once. But if there was one thing the dracolich had carried over from his days as a student, it was his remarkable poker face.
"Because it is," Stormy answered grimly, Nevada's words haunting her like her own personal storm cloud: it brought shadows to her face and threatened acid rain. No more secrets, then. No omitting, no lying. Lying was what had driven the wedge between her and Nevada, and she wouldn't stand for something similar happening with Gale--even if it meant weathering his anger.
"D'you remember what Caelius said to me in Sensitivity Training, before it all went chaotic? And d'you remember what I told you that night in my room?" She paused but kept her gaze fixated down and away, uncertain if she really wanted to see anything play out on his face. Her shoulders rose a little, giving Stormy the appearance of a nervous, guilty child. "Have you . . . put two and two together yet? Did you figure out that I lied to you?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 9:26 pm
He hated times like these, where he could not say definitively one way or the other whether it was truly Stormy's fault or not, having not been there himself to witness situation. He knew Stormy well enough to know that she would blame herself regardless, but if he said that it wasn't her fault, she would remind him that he had not been there, and could not possibly know.
He wanted to reassure her, to comfort her, but all of the words in his head sounded stale and pathetic. Gale's hand smoothed silently over Stormy's hair, tenderly smoothing back a few stray tendrils.
His head cocked to the side, trying to figure out what she was trying to say. "Yes," said Gale slowly, frowning slightly as his mind worked to piece together the puzzle. "Yes, you told me...you told me that...you went on a mission, and wound up in a cavern. That you were 'bound' by some...allies of Halloween, that you're working for them."
The subject was still a little raw, a little confusing. A hand lifted, Gale rubbing at his jaw. "As for Sensitivity, Caelius said..."
He trailed off.
You don't actually matter.
Former division leader defected.
Slowly Gale's eyes moved back to Stormy, and there was muscle in his jaw that was flexing, a look of surprise mingled with bemusement mingled with something else, something less pleasant.
"...Aria," he said quietly. "Aria's the defector. Caelius was talking about Aria, wasn't he? He knew she had gone to work for Halloween, and you knew that too, and you..." A gust of air eased out of him, Gale's face deliberately calm. "You told me it was just some random person you met."
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:39 pm
She waited still and silent as he worked it out, staring unblinking down at their hands. She had to believe that this was the right way, that telling him the truth wouldn't condemn her further. Gale hadn't reported her to Caelius when she first told him about it; it was only that hope that he wouldn't renege on that decision that let her keep going.
"I did," Stormy said deliberately, quietly, "because I was afraid of my future, and because I couldn't trust anyone outside with this except you. But I couldn't betray my own leader either, ousted or not, and I was afraid of how you'd react. So I thought I could walk a middle line: give you the gist of what happened without compromising identities." She paused, then scoffed with surprising bitterness. "I always think I can walk a middle line, even if it doesn't exist. I keep believing I know a better path than the ones I'm given, and then I keep waiting for someone to congratulate me for it. Tarado."
Cowering wasn't going to do anything; that's what she always did, and look what happened. Setting their hands down in her lap, Stormy sat up and faced Gale: still nervous, still guilty, but at least looking him in the eye. "I wasn't the only one down there in the caves," she continued in a stronger voice. "Cass and Nevada were, too. Cass promised to keep quiet, but I wanted to help. Nevada didn't want me going in alone, so she agreed, and I thought that was the end of that. I wanted to tell you everything the first time, Gale, I swear I did. I even wondered . . ." She stopped herself with a small shake of her head. Keep on task.
"I wasn't aware until after the promo, but sine then Nevada's never really trusted Aria. She's the one who fed Lance information about what happened; both she and I ran our mouths for our own selfish reasons and got her branded a traitor." Her mouth twisted wryly. "Nevada kept everything a secret because she thought I'd be safer that way--like it could just separate us on two sides, Lance versus Aria, Deus versus Halloween. All this time just hating everything Aria was, even in that New Years world, just because she associated with them. Maybe she even hates me, too, for associating with her."
Little doubts and fears slipped into her tale that she normally kept inside--but then, she always did give away a lot with Gale when they talked.
"We ran across Aria and one of her companions on that mission; that's when we got into trouble. Nevada wanted to follow her and find out what she was there for, and I tried to reason with her. She didn't want just information, she . . . she had a vendetta," Stormy tried to explain, old frustrations staining her tone. "It went against mission parameters, but I couldn't stop her. Maybe I didn't try enough. No, I definitely didn't. I could've dragged her back, but I just followed her around trying to do damage control, trying to not get her killed, trying to get her to see reason, and then that monster shows up . . ." Mistakes were made. Reprimands were delivered. Leroy was broken.
She trailed away, her strength fading into sorrow. "So yes, in the end it is my fault. D'you know why? Because she cared too much about me, and it scared her, Gale. It scared her that I thought differently about the world. And I was too stupid to notice any of it until it was too late." She was surprised no tears were coming, even though her face twisted and her jaw trembled like it always did right before it started; everything still felt surreal about the ordeal, despite its visceral emotional impact. But her hands clutched his tightly as she searched his face for signs of anger behind that calm facade.
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:43 pm
It felt like too much information all at once, Gale struggling to wrap his mind around everything. It wasn't until several more minutes had passed and Stormy had finished speaking that he was able to put things into categories within his thoughts, simplifying everything into the most basic of facts.
Fact: Aria is the defector Caelius was talking about. She's working for Halloween.
Fact: Aria Bound both Stormy and Nevada, as well as Cass, to secrecy.
Fact: Stormy told me that it was some random person.
Fact: Stormy lied.
Fact: Aria was the reason Nevada was dying.
Fact: Stormy believed herself to be the cause for Nevada dying.
Fact: Gale could not and did not understand Stormy's involvement in Nevada's ultimate fate. It wasn't that he was blinded by his affection for her, but even in his stunned state, he couldn't quite put all of the pieces together to equal Nevada's encroaching death to be Stormy's fault, for a variety of reasons.
He sat there, his thoughts whirring, for several moments in absolute silence. Stormy's grip on his hands was tight, but he hardly noticed them, staring absently at a spot on the floor, his brow furrowed, lips pressed together in a thin line. He did not look angry, but almost bemused, as though he were working on a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out.
After the moments had passed, Gale took a small breath. Finally he lifted his head and looked at Stormy, and the calm expression was still on his face, placed carefully to avoid indicating any differing emotion, like anger or irritation or frustration.
"You lied to me," he said simply, and it wasn't an accusation so much as it was merely a statement, a fact to be logged away. "You didn't trust me enough to tell me the whole truth, so you lied to me."
He wasn't sure how he felt about that - about any of it - so he pushed it aside for now, tucked away those thoughts and feelings and memories for later. Gale's thumb smoothed over the back of Stormy's hand in idle gestures, almost as though he were unaware he was even moving.
He tilted his head to look at her, his eyes meeting hers.
"It wasn't your fault," said Gale quietly, though a part of him understood that it might make her angry, that it might make her frustrated. "No one person can control anyone else. She made her choices, and you made yours. I'm not saying that Nevada deserves what she gets - she doesn't, not at all, because no one deserves that. But you were not a weakness to her, you were a strength."
Stormy's hands were drawn up to his lips, Gale gently pressing a kiss to her knuckles. One had touched her cheek, his palm flat against her face, gentle in its pressure.
"I wish I could take the pain away from you both," he said softly.Ol-j-man I am sorry for this tag I was so tired when I wrote it so if it makes no sense I am sorry skdklfjfs lies on floor
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Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 10:53 pm
"I did. I'm not proud of any've that, or anything else I did while drunk that night." The longer she watched him, the more uneasy she became. Gale was just processing facts--she knew that would happen, it was only natural--but she had expected something more than just a calm look out of him. The sympathetic gestures only made her more anxious on the inside, made her want to grab ahold of him and shake out the words he had to be holding back. She wanted anger, not sympathy, and the worst part was she couldn't begin to explain why.
Maybe when Nevada's words had left little cracks inside, she had traded for some of her best friend's newfound madness. That had to be it: Stormy felt fractured inside and was looking for pieces to close it up again, and what better seal was there than pure anger? What could burn hotter?
Love could.
Too much.
"Here is another secret," she whispered, glancing around as if to make sure they were really alone before turning back to him. If facts were the best way to communicate, then she'd offer up more; she'd offer whatever it took to make this all right again. Stormy fidgeted. "Pain is . . ." She fidgeted again, her face coloring this time as she switched to something else. "What I have is what I've taken from Nevada," she tried to explain. "I have an abundance of Optimism, and she had an abundance of Despair, so I traded her: Hope for Pain. I did the same with Otto because it was the least I could do. Maybe--Maybe I've taken on a little more than I should, but I can handle it. I don't want it taken away 'cause it's mine to bear. If I keep it, then they don't have to."
She knew she was throwing a lot at him again, but there was a compulsive need to speak she couldn't turn off: to find some combination of words that could save her yet. "I could do the same for you," she offered, bright eyes still searching for chinks in that all but blank expression of Gale's. "I want to. I need to. You've suffered enough, and I have to fix this mess the only way I know how: I'll save Nevada, and I'll help you get your title back. And until both happen, let me take away what brings you down as penance so you can fly again."
It probably didn't make much sense to him, but the point was that it did to her. After going over her words, Stormy realized she hadn't said the five most important ones of all, and she softened as she lifted a hand to lay over his. "I'm sorry I hurt you."
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Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:20 pm
He tried not to remember the other parts of when Stormy was drunk - namely that she'd almost taken her shirt off in front of him - and instead focused solely on the other facts, like Aria and Nevada, and the fact that Stormy was looking at him in a way that made him uneasy somehow, as though she were still holding some part of her story back. But he knew at least that she'd set everything out in the open now - what did she have to lose?
Gale immediately felt guilty; she had a lot to lose, like Nevada, and thinking resentfully over the fact that she had not only kept things a secret from him, but had lied straight to his face about it, was not going to get either of them to where they needed to be.
Wherever that was. He couldn't be sure anymore.
He tried to decipher the meaning behind Stormy's words; the toss between Pain and Despair and Optimism and Hope, and it felt somehow difficult. Normally he just went along with Stormy's little whimsies, even if he didn't always get them, but this time it was important to get them. This time it was important for him to understand what it was that she was saying.
Facts were easy to understand.
Stormy was not, but that was why he loved her.
"It's all right," said Gale, after a moment's silence of him carefully sorting through things inside of his head. He let his fingers drift away from Stormy's face and he settled his arms around her waist again, his expression slightly pained. "You didn't hurt me, Stormy, not really."
The calm facade was slipping a little; Gale exhaled a long breath, a flicker of frustration passing over his face.
"You've got enough on your shoulders," he told her quietly. "I can't have you bearing my share of my burden too, that's on me, as we both know it. I was the one who decided Caelius wasn't catering to my every whim and need and desire, so I'm the one who has to bear the full brunt of that burden."
A slight pause, and then he said softly, "I still love you."
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 2:26 am
It was precisely because it wasn't her burden to bear that she wanted it to be. Worries were tiresome things to hold, but they kept her attention and gave her the drive to keep going, in an odd sort of way. Without anything to worry over, things would be a-okay. Just fine. And wrong. Peace was wrong. She had to have something pre-occupy her at all times, and while certainly Nevada's allegedly impending death was a heavy weight, it wasn't completely capable of bringing her to the ground--not yet.
She could carry more. She was supposed to be strong after all, according to him.
"'Not really'," Stormy repeated sadly. "But always a little at least. You can say it: I've committed a capital offense." She could see them now in his face, the little things that were slipping out--and she knew it was better this way when she felt worse for it. Nevada had kept things from her, and look at what happened . . . No, she'd rather suffer all the little hurts as they came rather than take the entirety of them at once, if Gale harbored anything at all about what she had done.
"I still love you."
A small shock went through her, as if she had forgotten. Of course he did, of course he did . . . And she still didn't deserve it. If anything, it was just a temptation to invite more trouble in, a risk that something else could be taken from her by enacting that selfish, three-worded impulse. She was allowed what good things may come, not things she longed for or loved; that was the hard learned lesson from cheating death as a child, she believed. Be grateful for what you have and don't get greedy.
But it was far too late for that.
Now freed, her arms loosely wrapped about his neck and brought her close, shoulder slightly hunched as if to further hide her face from the outside. "I'm sorry I don't make any sense," Stormy mumbled, tilting her head against his as her gaze fell. "I'm sorry if it frustrates you more than you let on, too. And I'm sorry I talk too much and that I make everything about me, even when it's your problems, and I'm sorry I keep bringing us down, o-or putting you in these awkward positions, or dumping so much at once, and I'm very, very sorry I keep finding trouble, and I'm sorry I keep apologizing for things I can't stop like it matters, and--and I'm sorry my reaction's just to rant--" She trembled a little, an unconscious way of repressing the tears."It's just--Gale, I'm scared." It was the first time she had admitted it since that promo mission, and it only seemed to heighten her fear by acknowledging it. She sniffled and pulled herself closer, her soft voice straining. "I'm losing her to a madness I can't stop because she hated someone so much it blinded her. I-I can't lose you, too, not to that same poison, not to anything. I need you. I need you . . ." If there had been anything else following, it was drowned out by the sudden crash of thunder outside that made her whimper and clutch him tighter, her already heightened hearbeat spiking.
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Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:02 pm
He couldn't deny that while he wasn't overly angry at Stormy, the hurt was undeniable. It was already surprising that he didn't feel as furious as he might have thought he would be, but the old wounds, the lingering feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness had surfaced with Stormy's half truths and her lack of honesty.
"Not totally," Gale corrected her gently, quietly, and let his fingers slide alongside her cheek, as light as butterfly's wings.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and he in turn kept his wrapped around her waist, drawing her close and leaning back on the sofa so that they were both a little more comfortable, curled in together. "I've never thought that you talk too much," said Gale truthfully, and ran a hand up Stormy's back in an idle stroke meant to be soothing. "I always thought you talked just enough."
Her voice was trembling, along with her body. Gale turned has head to look at her, and there was pain in his eyes, and sadness.
"I know," he whispered, and he hated that he couldn't do anything to help ease that fear, hated that he couldn't give her what she truly wanted - which was Nevada safe and sound and not dying. He couldn't give that to her, and it was devastating to know that this was one of those times where no one could fix it, no one could make it better.
His arms were iron around her waist. Gale's lips pressed against Stormy's temple. "Hey," he said sharply, "Hey. Hey, you're not going to lose me."
I need you was not I love you, but at the same time it was, just in a different way. Gale felt his stomach twist, his chest feeling tight, and he squeezed his eyes shut, his face flushed, buried into Stormy's hair. He could't stop the fear, hers or his own.
"You won't lose me," he whispered, but they both knew it was an empty promise, because he couldn't promise something like that, not at a place like Deus. He hugged her tightly, so tightly that he could scarcely breathe properly.
"You won't lose me," he said again, this time with more force.
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Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:03 am
It was an empty promise, yes, but the intent to thwart it was very real. That was what mattered. After hearing Nevada cycle through giving up and trying to hold on enough times to go a mile, she needed to hear that decisiveness. She was guilty of lying, but Gale wasn't.
Stormy breathed in his words and exhaled slowly, doing so several times to calm her shaking as she shifted positions along with him, humming softly as he stroked. It was almost bizarre: normally by now she would have been burying herself in tears, but whatever had come over her since that mission persisted. No tears, just the idea of some. Things to be bottled away because they had no purpose yet could not be stopped, things to leave to the storm or some equal power. For a while it was just the rain talking as she breathed him in, snarling and stalking outside like a beast unchained, beating against the roof and windows with a white noise roar. The violent sounds of nature were soothing when they weren't catching her off guard; she had missed this sort of weather.
"Good," she said almost absentmindedly as she kissed his hair, though it almost sounded like thank you instead. "Good . . . Because we're as inextricably bound as our weapons." Her words were soft but her arms were not, still entangled around him, not so much in a vice grip like he had on her but still clingy. Still possessive. She believed him, but her body didn't: not after slapping Nevada, not after grasping her shirt with a bravado that rarely visited her except in her more passionate bids, not after holding her broken friend and feeling for herself the jagged edges that broke her skin and cut her fingers. They were all horribly mortal past their Fear shield. Some day, some horrible day in the future, it could be her in that position. Worse, it could be him.
This wasn't the first time Stormy had visited those thoughts. It was, however, the first time she could put faces to her fears, the first time they felt real. Her heartbeat has slowed down, but it still thrummed enough that she wondered if he could feel it. That was something she admired about Gale: the ability to be calm under almost any circumstance. It was easy to mimic and follow when they were close like this.
She tucked herself closer, bumping her nose gently against his cheek before kissing it next. "D'you know how I know we are? Because across the universes, we always meet," she said with a hint of a smile, evidence that she was trying to get better. "Different lifetimes, different names--but the same souls, I think." She paused, then tilted her head towards his ear and whispered with a better smile, "What did one hurricane say to the other?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 10:53 pm
He felt her lips against his hair and Gale's eyes fluttered a little, half shutting as pressed his hand against Stormy's back, his arm settled firmly around her waist. He could still feel the tightness of her grip against him, and he wasn't about to let go now, not after what she had just set.
His cheeks felt warm. "I don't want to ever let you go," he said, and stroked her hair, the back of her neck, his fingers lingering. She kissed his cheek, and this time Gale's eyes did fall entirely shut, easing out a long breath into Stormy's hair that was half a sigh. He felt sleepy and weary and frustrated and uncertain and everything all at once, but focusing on too many things at one time was not good for anyone, and would not help the situation.
He wished he were stronger.
Her words washed over him, and he was suddenly transported back to that room, where Ben and Clarice and Stormy - no, Lina - had been, and his breath caught in his throat, an unexpected welling of both sadness and happiness curling in his stomach. Gale's chest felt tight, and he pressed his forehead against the side of Stormy's, rocking slightly to the left.
"I've got my eye on you'," he whispered back, and kissed her cheek and then her forehead and then her eyes and finally her lips, gentle but firm, breathing out a long sigh against her mouth.
"I'll always find you," he said, leaning back with his eyes closed and his forehead against the side of hers again, and it was perhaps cheesy, perhaps melodramatic, but at least he meant it.
"I wish I knew a better way to make you happy."
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 12:24 am
A soft hum accompanied his strokes, her smile growing. "Neither do I. So let's promise not to," she told him very simply, as if it were the most achievable thing in the world. Maybe if they thought of it like that, then it would be.
It was probably a bit much, bringing up New Years on the heels of something like Nevada's condition and his mission, but Stormy hoped remembering that happy evening would help their moods. She certainly tried to gift some of her positivity through their kiss, loosening her grip so she could cup one side of his face and convince him to stay for a few seconds longer. Kisses were not the magical macguffins that solved everything, but they were excellent distractions to indulge when she could. No dead people, no dying people: just them.
"Ding ding ding~" She rewarded Gale with a nudge to turn his head and another kiss, just a notch more energetic than the last to try and help him out of the emotional slump she'd practically cast him into herself. "Good answer, Sherlock. But you do make me happy, you know. You're just hard on yourself a lot more than you should be."
Her hand slid up and brushed some of his longer bangs behind his ear. "This right here, curled on the couch in the middle of a storm? This makes me happier than I can put into words. You don't have to always be at your best, or always be doing and saying the right thing--you don't even have to be doing anything at all, Gale," Stormy told him affectionately, well aware that he was a perfectionist and sympathizing. "The fact that you're out here, breathing, moving, living, makes me happy. To borrow your words for a moment: your existence is all I need. Though cuddles and kisses like this are a very nice bonus," she added with a soft chuckle, tucking away the greedy, grasping impulses away; they were inappropriate now.
She noted that he was favoring closing his eyes and felt a little chagrined once again for throwing her usual heap of stories and emotion on him. "You tired? I'd be tired in your position. Actually, I'm kinda a little tired anyway . . . How's about I finish the job and bring you to your room?" she offered with a smile. "I think a little nap'll help us both feel better."
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:19 pm
Gale smiled into her hair and then leaned back, cradling Stormy's face in his hands. "I promise," he said gently, and kissed her lightly, exhaling a breath out against her lips. He liked the way her fingers felt against his own cheeks, her hand delicate and tender as she turned his face back to hers. He very willingly obliged, his heart in his throat, and when they pulled away from each other, his face was slightly flushed, his expression vaguely amused.
"I know," he said, and sighed again. "It's a bad habit of mine, as you're well aware of by now."
He turned his head and kissed the palm of her hand and tried to imprint her words in his head. Things were not ever going to be exactly how he wanted them on the island, and it was something that he had to learn to accept. Little moments, little scenes; times like this, caught in the middle of a storm, but it was just the two of them now, and it was just the two of them still.
She could read him almost better than he could read himself. Gale hadn't noticed that he'd been half dozing already until she'd mentioned it, and now he gave Stormy a slightly sheepish smile as he kissed her cheek.
"Long day," he admitted. "Maybe a nap would do us both some good...if you'll stay with me," he added, a little shyly.
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:35 pm
"Of course~" The usual trepidation was missing this time, replaced with a lightheartedness that suggested she thought it went without saying rather than, say, was a step forward from her typical avoidance behavior. Stormy felt more giddy from all of the exchanges of affection, and had they not been tired she would have coaxed more out to keep that high going. For now, she'd just have to settle for Gale looking almost unreasonably adorable: seven months in and she still had the ability to make him act like a shy schoolboy, excellent!
(Nevermind that she was guilty of having the same exploitation, nor that she too also had slightly darkened cheeks.)
It took a moment to extricate herself--her body seemed to rebel at the notion of being separated for even an instant--but eventually Stormy was on her feet and stretching. One hand reached for his to help him up, the other scouted for Esperanza. "For a bad habit, it's not that bad in the grand scheme of things," she said getnyl as she led them towards the staircase. "Well, I mean, it is bad obviously, otherwise they wouldn't call it a bad habit, but there's worse things you could have besides an intense need to better yourself," (depression, self-loathing, escapism), "which can also be a good habit if you look at it like that! If you need healthy reminders that you're amazing just as you are, though, I'm happy to supply~"
She would have ascended the stairs with poise after such a noble intent, but she paused on the first step, suddenly in thought. And then Stormy gained an impish grin that signalled one of two things: either a mischevous act, or--
"If nuns commit crimes, does that make them bad habits?"
She let go of his hand and promptly jumped up four steps, two at a time, to put some safe distance between them.
"To be fair," she continued, "a few of them were bearly legal to begin with~"
A still wet and cold Esperanza was then unceremoniously tossed at him as, practically cackling at her genius, Stormy bounced up the steps to get to Gale's room and escape his wrath.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 10:48 pm
Gale's soft sigh of reluctance escaped his lips as Stormy extricated herself from his arms, Gale waiting until the very last possible moment to let her go. Even after she had stood, he was reaching for her, his fingers brushing over her sleeve and then touching hers, Gale sliding to perch on the edge of the couch and wrapping his hand around Stormy's.
"Is that right?" he asked her, allowing himself to be led towards the stairs. He followed her quite obediently, too bone-tired to argue or resist or even make jokes; Stormy taking the lead was much appreciated, very much appreciated. "I suppose I'll have to remember that the next time I get lost within the very confusing thoughts of my own head."
It was said with light affection, Gale making a small noise in protest as Stormy let go of his hand. This noise was followed by a groan, Gale rolling his eyes and leveling a very dry look at his girlfriend's mischievous expression, her dancing eyes.
"Terrible," he told her. "Absolutely terrible."
But he was smiling as he ascended the stairs slowly, one hand on the rail, the other at his side, Gale's eyes still fixed with Stormy's. He shook his head and then gave a squawk of protest as she flung the bear - and the awful pun - back at him, Gale batting it away and then catching it before it tumbled back down the stairs again (he was too tired to fetch it should it fall). He finished climbing the stairs and found Stormy in his room, her laughter still in his ears.
"You're very punny today," he said with a pointed look in her direction, jabbing a finger at her. Esperanza was set on the side table, Gale stepping over to the bed and pulling down the covers on one side, climbing under. Once he was settled, he looked over at Stormy, a half smile on his face.
"It would be a lot more warm if you would join me," he said, stretching out a hand towards her.
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