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 Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 6:27 pm
"Indeed." It seemed that he and Chance continued to be on the same page when it came to physical intimacy. "And as long as they don't expect anything else from me." He tacked on because he had to; sex was sex, but a vast number of people equated sex to love, or sex to feelings at the very least. It was something he did not like, or appreciate, or could even handle.
"You are indeed." He agreed; scars - even smaller ones like what Chance possessed - were better than the alternative, he was sure. Well, on most days he was sure; others he was pretty convinced he'd prefer the alternative...but those days were usually the ones where he was in the infirmary anyway, fighting for what remained of his messed up life. "And congratulations on that." Surprisingly, he wasn't even remotely sarcastic about it.
"Sounds like it." His hands remained on the cold packs until Chance stopped moving, however slightly he was doing it. As he relaxed under the chill he finally let go, and shifted down the bed to be closer to the other man's feet. Then, without asking, he began to untie the man's shoes and remove them for him, and in the end began to roll up one of the other man's pant legs; more specifically, the one belonging to the leg that Ripley had hit in the battle.
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:25 pm
"No strings attached," said Chance agreeably. "It tends to overly complicate things, especially in a place like this that's as unstable as it is. Why not just do things that make you feel good without having to have all the drama that comes along with it?"
He leaned back a little, wincing slightly, and readjusted himself so that he wasn't sliding off the bed, scooting back a little. "Thanks," he said lightly, flashing a brief smile in Ripley's direction. "Existing is a pretty good accomplishment sometimes."
One of Chance's hands reached out and took over when Ripley moved, pressing his fingers against the cold pack. He blinked down at the other man, for a moment curious as to what exactly he was doing - but then it became clear, and amusement flashed across Chance's face.
"You're very thorough," he said mildly. "But I definitely appreciate it, especially after my abysmal spar with you that is vaguely embarrassing to recall."
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:01 pm
"Preaching to the choir." Ripley snickered down at his work, casting a brief glance up at the dark haired man. "Life is a precious gift." The words felt rehearsed, as if he had read them off a paper for years, but over the course of time had lost its original meaning, and had a replacement that wasn't quite there. "Plus, if someone has to exist, might as well be you." He shrugged, and flashed a brief smile at the curly haired man.
"I try." He mused. "Besides, I'm not used to winning." Or, more accurately, walking away from an altercation with nothing more than an already healed over shoulder wound; the one on his neck was sealing up nicely as well. It was weird, and so he felt a strange compulsion to take care of the other man, at least to reverse the damage he had inflicted.
"If I can make it up to you, let me know." The offer was laid out casually, without any indication of how serious he was. Either way, the antiseptic was already out again, and dabbing lightly as a semi-healed cut on the outside of his ankle.
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:07 pm
He couldn't help but laugh at it - life is a gift - because it felt like a cliche, and they both knew it was a cliche and that was why it was so amusing. But Ripley's last comment made Chance's smile widen, closer to a grin now as he said, "Excellent point. I'm glad we're on the same page here."
The injuries weren't agonizing, at least, mostly uncomfortable more than anything else, with some aches and stings that made it annoying to move very much. Chance flashed Ripley a brief look as he said, "Well, you definitely won this time, that was pretty impressive. I'll have to work harder to beat you next time."
His foot jerked a little involuntarily as the antiseptic was dabbed onto his ankle, Chance biting back a hiss and instead exhaling a long, slow breath. "Nah, you don't owe me anything, you're already doing pretty well as it is," he said mildly."But I do like having the company, I won't lie."
Chance gave a little shrug that made his bruised shoulder twinge in protest. "I like people, and you're pretty interesting."
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:39 pm
Chance received a smirk; it was good existing was something that could be agreed on.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm one level above you." He explained with a waning smile. It still didn't diminish the surprise of his win, however. Chance jerked his leg, and Ripley released his grip on him, waiting for the reaction to fade before returning to his work. Ah. Company. It involved being around, but not entirely doing anything. That was more like it. It was well within his ability to do.
"You're rather interesting yourself." Though as he spoke, he didn't look up from the shallow leg wound. Like the wounds on his torso, it was lightly bandaged easily once the man stopped fidgeting, and the pant leg was rolled back down with surprising care. "Even with your terrible judgement." Like thinking he was interesting, or anything of the sort.
"Anywhere else?" At this he shifted closer, returning a couple items to the open kit for the sole purpose of keeping them out of his way for now.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:33 pm
Chance's eyebrows rose. "I thought you might be," he replied mildly. "An intermediate, that is.You kind of give off that air. But you still kicked some serious a** back there, so I'm still impressed." He rolled his shoulders a little, clenching his teeth briefly. "Hopefully it won't be too long until I get to the point where I can actually hold my own against somebody."
Ripley's ministrations were surprisingly gentle, coming from someone whose room was almost so clean it was sterile. Chance laughed, his ankle itching a little beneath the bandages. "Glad to know somebody else thinks I'm interesting," he said with a little grin. "It's usually a little one-sided on my part, not that that really ever bothers me. But it's nice to hear I'm not completely boring of a person."
He twisted a little, Chance idly rubbing at the back of his neck. "Just the one on my palm," he answered, wiggling the fingers of his left hand at Ripley and a laugh escaped him. "But that one was definitely my fault, I scraped it a little on the ground when I fell, but it's not too bad."
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:55 pm
As he had been since they met, he continued to overlook and usually ignore any and all comments that minutely resembled compliments.
"Avoid Halloween and Horsemen until you can." It was a mistake he made a few times now, and not entirely on his own accord. More often than not he was on duty when he became horribly injured; granted his numbers were skewed, because he never went to the Haunted House without being forced.
"I'm thorough, remember?" He held out his hand expectantly, as if he fully expected Chance to give him his, but then seemed to think better of it and instead reached forward, curling a pair of gloved fingers around the other man's wrist to pull the mildly scratched hand towards him, his thumb joining after a moment to help aid his progress. However, before he could put the antiseptic on it, he noticed something; gravel, small pieces of it, in the wound. He brushed a gloved finger over it carefully, but it didn't budge.
A glance at the kit, and noticed it lacked something he would need. The alternative wasn't pleasant for him, and so...
"You wouldn't happen to have tweezers, would you?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:09 pm
"The closest I've come to Halloween was a brief trip to the Haunted House," said Chance thoughtfully. "But I went with someone else, so I wasn't at least on my own. And the most dangerous thing we ran into were a few harmless ghosts that looked like cartoons. Abbi ran defense, so I didn't really get hurt at all."
His eyes slid sideways back to Ripley, amusement in his voice as he said, "Yes, I remember; one of your better qualities, I must say. I'd rather someone be thorough than careless when it comes to me."
He'd been about to give Ripley his hand, but the other man made his choice for him, gloved fingers wrapping around his wrist. Chance eyed them briefly, the faintest flicker of curiosity appearing on his face before it disappeared again, uncurling his hand so that the scrape on his palm was visible.
"Nope," said Chance, with a glance at the kit as well before his gaze went back to Ripley and a faint smile touched his lips. "So I guess we've gotta do whatever you've gotta do the hard way."
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:44 pm
"Abbi is a good person." Ripley agreed with a small nod. She was a hard worker, and he was pleased to find that she was doing alright, at least when it came to the field. "But, you're lucky. I've only been sent alone." It was like throwing a scrap of meat to starving dogs.
"It's more of a way of life." He corrected absently, pondering it; he didn't recall any point in his life where he wasn't being thorough about something. Well, thorough to the best of his abilities anyway.
Chance denied having tweezers, and Ripley's unreadable gaze drifted towards him. He considered, for a moment, that the other man was lying to him. That he did have them somewhere, but was being stubborn about it. There were certainly other venues he could go to, people he could text or visit to borrow what he needed...
"Perhaps not." He released Chance's hand and took out his phone, typing away quick texts to various people, clearly searching for someone available to borrow tweezers from. As the last text was sent, the first response came in, followed by more and more - ultimately, it was either a 'no', or to suggest that they wouldn't be able to get them to him any time soon.
Unfortunate.
Ripley heaved a sigh and put his phone away, staring down at his gloved hands. Asking Chance to do it himself was out, considering he could barely shrug without wincing. Damnit.
"Fine." He shook his head slowly and without any more hesitation, took off one of his gloves to show a burn-scarred hand, his little finger curled a little more than the others; something that was only obvious when the gloves were off, and his hand up as it was.
He said nothing, as he carefully pulled and lightly dug the small gravel pieces from the other man's palm.
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:51 pm
"That she is," said Chance agreeably. "Very enthusiastic about everything." Sometimes a little too enthusiastic, but since he mostly didn't mind this, he added, "But going by yourself sounds like it would be one big mess in and of itself. Glad to see that you survived being thrown to the wolves, or so to speak. Thrown to the monsters, I guess I should say."
Ripley's thoroughness may have been a way of life, but it was a good way of life, really. Chance met his inscrutable gaze with a calm one of his own; he liked to think he was mostly a good judge of character, but Ripley's stoicism was giving him a run for his money. The lack of emotions was difficult to distinguish - Ripley gave away very little - though it did say something overall about his personality.
"I didn't bring much with me to the island, unfortunately" Chance said, by way of explanation, even though Ripley hadn't asked. "Other than the picture on my desk and those - " He pointed up to the ceiling. " - and my clothes, I didn't have very many belongings in the first place." He gave a little laugh and shook his head. "General essentials like tweezers would have come in handy, though, I'll have to remember that."
It was the truth; and apparently they were going to have to do it the more inconvenient way. Chance gave Ripley a mildly apologetic look, lips quirking upwards a little at the one side. His eyes, however, flickered to his hands a moment later as the gloves were peeled off.
Burn scars were very familiar to him; one obvious detail about Ripley that Chance was able to read, though the circumstances surrounding them were entirely unknown. An urge to ask about them almost made him open his mouth (his curiosity had always been one of his best and worst traits), but he refrained at the lats second. He flattened his palm, Ripley's hands professional and careful against his own, and a second later a jolt of pain rippled up his arm.
"Shhhheeeesssh," Chance gritted his teeth and then took a sharp breath before settling himself again, letting out a little laugh. "Remind me never to have this happen to me again. Or at least, not fall on my a** and get gravel and dirt in my cuts because s**t that hurts."
There was a pause, and then he added, "I know it's not much, but I really do appreciate you helping me out like this. I'm still getting used to fighting, after all."
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:58 pm
"Indeed. She's very refreshing." On an island of cold, stuck up and harsh people, Abbi's general enthusiasm was nice. Overwhelming at times, and very easy to get swept up in, but nice.
"It's fine." Though he was mildly inconvenienced by having to take off his glove, he was mostly alright with it. The only reason he didn't want to, was because he didn't like looking at them. Picking gravel out of wounds meant he had to look and focus on them, which was never a good part of any day. Usually they were just in his peripheral, where they belonged. "Interesting choices. Never thought you'd play the What would you bring to a deserted island game seriously, hmm?" It was an attempt at conversation, and though he was curious about the picture, he didn't yet bring it up.
"This is nothing." Ripley warned him lightly, distracted enough by making sure he could get out as much gravel as he could. "You'll look back on this like the good ol' times." A low, almost sad chuckle escaped his lips, but it was quickly squashed. Once he was certain the wound was now debris-free, he released the hand just long enough to put his glove back on, which was unfortunately a two-hand deal.
This time, when he grabbed the antiseptic, he didn't pause before dabbing it into the now fresh wound.
"Just be thankful it's your hand, and not your a**." He mused, his lips skewing into a half-smile. It looked like he was about to say something else on the subject - and for a moment, he considered being lewd - but instead, he stayed quiet. Chance was thanking him, and being rather sincere about it.
"You're welcome." His gaze met Chance's without hesitation. "If you need it again, just ask."
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Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:21 pm
Chance gave a small laugh. "Not at the rate my old life was going, no, though there was a time when I was kid that I debated packing up and moving to Hawaii. But seeing as how I was about six at the time, it wasn't really a very well thought out plan."
He smiled slightly, his gaze drifting skyward to his ceiling. The plastic stars were dim in the fluorescent lighting of the room, still collecting it for when it was dark. "I was told not to bring too much stuff, so I brought what I could that mattered. Or at least, that weren't too heavy."
His smile flashed in Ripley's direction, Chance shifting a little on the bed. He reached for his glass with his free hand and took a swallow, a slightly dry tone to his voice as he said, "I'm sure it's not, seeing as how I haven't yet had the pleasure of going on a mission. I hear those are just oozing with fun and sunshine."
The laugh was unexpected, even if it was small; Chance flexed his fingers a little as Ripley let go, but a moment later it was taken again, and this time Chance held back the hiss as his palm stung, the antiseptic seeping into the newly cleaned wound.
"Fair point." Chance's lips twitched with amusement, as though he were considering the exact same thing as Ripley, a comment about his a** on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it back in favor of the more serious conversational topic. And having someone who was unafraid to stare straight at him was refreshing.
"I''ll probably take you up on that offer in the future," Chance said, tilting his head a little, a black curl sweeping over his forehead. "If you don't mind, that is."
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 1:20 pm
"You were six, the world was an open ball pit." Ripley mused, thinking back on himself at six; what memories he had put him as just as quiet, though a lot more curious, than he was now. Though there was one time when he too considered leaving. Certainly not to Hawaii though; it was too warm for him. "I wanted to go to the North Pole." His thoughts drifted to what he had brought from home, but before he could even form a coherent thought on the matter, he forced his thoughts elsewhere. Mainly, Chance's rather on-point commentary on missions.
"Confetti, too." He added; Fun and Sunshine was just as true as Confetti, if in this case confetti was synonymous with blood and guts.
"I wouldn't offer if I did." His eye contact with Chance broke as he put some square gauze on the palm. "But my offer extends beyond first aid." He certainly didn't mind helping those he found he liked, until such a time he stopped liking them. His attention remained on the scraped palm; It was an awkward place to bandage, so the gauze was all it got. No tape, or anything; he imagined it would just either conform to his hand, or fall off anyway. Either way, it was only a formality, as his weapon's shield would take care of it shortly.
"Good news." He delivered blankly, his free hand closing over Chance's. "You're going to live." The pale man leaned away, sliding his gloved hands off of the other man's so he could start putting the first aid kit back together.
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:10 pm
"If only it still remained as such," said Chance airily, with a touch of melodrama, sliding an amused look in Ripley's direction. "Right now it's sort of like a shark pit instead of a ball pit, but I guess it depends on your definition of the two terms, really. Also the North Pole? Trying to find Santa?"
He shifted a little, flexing his fingers were they lay against Ripley's hand. "Confetti in the worst sense of the word, I'm assuming," said Chance, with a slight grin. "Next time I have to be sent there, I should drag someone with me to at least help run defense - I've heard Eclipse teams are all the rage these days."
The gauze over his palm still stung, but he was slowly getting used to it by now, and had better control over the wince that threatened to pass over his face. Instead Chance just gave Ripley a smile and curled his fingers over the gauze to hold it briefly in place. "Good to know. And although I'm relatively new here, and don't have much experience in anything except maybe useless history knowledge, space, and a few other things better left to the imagination, that offer can be reversed from me to you as well."
A laugh escaped his throat. "Thank heavens for that," said Chance, lifting his glass to give Ripley a toast before downing the last of his drink. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and then reached over to the desk for the second glass, holding it out to the other man. "Here - don't forget to enjoy it a bit yourself too."
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2014 5:27 pm
"Close enough to still be close to my family, far enough to be left alone." He was guessing about his own motives, but that sounded like something he would do. "And yes, the kind of confetti that will antagonize the sharks." He seemed amused, at least slightly, and nodded along to the idea that Chance would bring back up. It was smart, definitely smart.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." The pale man hummed as his mind naturally fell into the gutter, which he was beginning to suspect he had a time share in. They had more or less established that sex was ultimately just sex, so hearing it eluded to in a list of negatives was mildly perplexing, though entirely interesting. "But thank you, I will keep that in mind." It was nice to have someone's help if he needed it...and he was sure he would. He was pretty good at getting himself into trouble without meaning to.
The first aid kit was repacked and tucked away, and as he turned he was treated to the sight of Chance downing his drink and, much to his chagrin, leaning over to get something from the desk. In playing nurse, Ripley had forgotten about the drink he had poured for himself. Now relieved of duty and literally presented with it, he looked almost surprised, but took it regardless.
"Thank you." He raised his glass, and was about to drink...yet paused with the glass to his lips. He lowered the glass, staring quietly, and finally leaned over to grab the opened bottle. Chance's glass was refilled, the bottle returned, and finally he lifted his, in a toast.
"To continued existing." He clinked glasses with the other man, and finally took a (perhaps longer than necessary) drink.
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