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 Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 1:05 pm
When Chel found Chris looking disheveled and horrible, she approached slowly. She wanted nothing more than to run up to him, wrap her arms around what she could (he was a ******** muscle barrel at this point) and pendant them out. But he said he could do this, and Chel had faith in the part of him that wanted to try.
"Hands up," she muttered to Jack under her breath, desummoning Tenebrae and lifting her hands towards Chris so he could see them. She still never got the full story of why it was important (Chel was the very last person who would make someone relive their nightmares just for her knowledge), but she knew it was some kind of solace to Chris, and so it became a silent communication for them.
She could at least tell he wasn't afraid now, just weak from shock; symptoms she knew well. "You okay man? Nothin' here but us, promise." She wiggled her hands to draw attention to them. "That airhorn goes off every once in a while." She'd told them as much before, but it certainly wasn't like living it. Chel just kept prattling to let Chris listen to something other than his own sniffles. "We all ********' suck at sleepin' anyways so it kinda works out, yeah?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 1:17 pm
His gaze stuttered over each of their fingers, then their eyes. He needed the physical reassurance less and less these days, but it still made something in him unclench. They were real. They were here.
He wrapped him arms around himself and nodded. "I'm okay. I'm still here." The words came out thick, but at least they came out. "I didn't bring my pills anyways," he admitted quietly. He'd hovered over the sleep aid while packing and had ultimately left it in the drawer.
He eyed the bottle Jack offered but shook his head. "Thanks, though. I uh, found a log," he gestured at the log, big enough for two to sit on. "There's another like three yards that way."
Logs were important. Logs were his job, right now.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 8:26 pm
He didn't question it and held his hands up as asked, still allowing them their space. Pills and hands and the specifics of Chris' trauma weren't his business to know. "I'll get them," he said as he moved past them and retrieved both logs. Chris looked a little too shaken for the job, and with the damage more psychological than physical, Chel was more equipped to handle it anyway.
"Not feeling particularly tired after that," Jack said when as he came back, both logs tucked under his arms. "I don't mind taking first watch."
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 8:38 pm
Chel took Chris by the scruff of his neck and headbutted him gently in a familiar motion. "Thanks," she told Jack as he moved past them, both for the logs, the watch and for reading the situation.
Then her attentions went back to Chris and she hooked an arm around his waist. He didn't look like he needed the support, but it was there anyways. "Let's go eat yeah?"
---
She pointed to the tent, gesturing that Chris should go in first. Chel was, obviously, going to take the middle and that left Jack on the side of the door. "We'll cover watches man," she told Chris, tossing his sleeping bag at him. "It'll freak me out f'you uh- do that again and we're dozed off or somethin'"
Jack was given a look. "Guess this means we can't ******** in the tent like we planned."
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 8:51 pm
Chris wrestled with the sleeping bag as it hit him, and it took a lot of fancy footwork to get everything straightened out in the confines of a tent. He felt bad that he was ******** this up, that they felt like he needed to be babysat. "It's okay, I'll be awake." Between the lack of pills and the episode from earlier, sleep wasn't going to come to him easily.
Almost as soon as he was trapped inside his sleeping bag, he wished he wasn't. He groaned and rolled as far into the wall off the tent as he could, trying to get away from them. "This is traumatic, I'm going to pendant out."
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:40 pm
A particularly lewd comment about just sticking it in and letting the growls do the vibrations for them formed in his head, but he let it go and replaced it with a deadpan, "Well, ******** me," followed by a little smirk at his joke as he crawled out of the tent; it was easier than trying to duck out.
Over his shoulder, he said to Chris, "We'll look in on you after both our shifts are done and see how you feel. Try sleeping anyway." It was the most polite Jack had ever been to him in known memory--maybe he was just trying extra hard since Chel was watching.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:49 pm
Chel laughed with him, but the secondary comment was what made her really smile. The kind of smile that ensured her that bringing them both along wasn't such a bad idea after all.
She tried sleeping, she really did. It was going to be exhausting tomorrow keeping them together, diving fighting who knew what the hell was down there, but it just didn't happen. A few times she thought about talking to Chris to pass the time, but she also didn't want to accidentally disturb what little chance he had at sleeping.
It was a few hours later that she decided it just wasn't going to happen. Bothering Chris wasn't an option, so she figured she'd get up and bother the other one.
She struggled less with the tent flap and zipped it shut on her way out. It wasn't like privacy was an issue (Chel had changed in front of both of the boys before and been a** naked with Jack many times), but more than she wanted to keep the light of the campfire out of the tent for Chris.
"Hey," she said in the same tired tone she had had when she'd been standing in his doorway after the knights nightmare. Her fingers wove into his hair in a "I'm here" kind of way. The fingers receded back into her lap as she sat on the log, but she still leaned against him. "See any killer tigers?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:58 pm
If he stared into the fire too long, he grew hypnotized and felt his head grow heavier. Maybe the tension he perpetuated was more draining than he thought. Jack's legs were splayed, and he was in the midst of stretching when he heard Chel emerge from the tent.
"Mm, no," he replied, comforted by the sensation. "Nor killer bears or killer lions." He slid his arm behind her, not quite into a one-armed hug but enough to plant his hand on the other side of her--the equivalent of resting his arm behind her on the couch. "Chris snoring or something back there?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:03 pm
Chel put her hand over the bigger one; always weaving her way into things. "Naw, he ain't a problem. Just couldn't sleep." She was antsy, for good reason.
"You wanna trade? I can take over f'you want."
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:15 pm
"In a little." He wasn't going to deny that sleep was tempting now, but he wanted to have a few moments of solace with Chel now that it was granted to them.
Jack spread his fingers and invited her to slide in. "How're you doing, captain boss? Considering we didn't get ******** over five steps in, I'd say you're already doing better than me in Athens."
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:24 pm
"Yeah well you had a lot harder job in Greece. All we done so far s'take a hike." She reached up to move some of the hair out of his face. It was getting so long- all the more reason for a punk haircut. Yet another thing they still had yet to do.
As for how she was doing- "I'm holdin' up." And she was. There were many more difficult things she'd had to do before; it was maybe going to get harder from here, but things could always be worse.
There was a long pause as she took in how remarkably similar it felt to China. Talking over a campfire seemed to suit them more than anything. In the silence she put her head against Jack's arm (his shoulder was too high to lean on- damn him). "I see you, y'know. Tryin' to make friendly with Chris. Y'don't have to do all that for me."
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:30 pm
He rolled his eyes as if trying to deny it and made a low groan. "Don't remind me. Being charitable is ******** weird when there's a stream of full retard coming out of his mouth all the time. But." He simultaneously did fully go through with the one-armed hug and looked off to the side, conveniently scanning the perimeter as he spoke. "He's important to you. So I might as well try to give half a s**t about him. Mm...Quarter of a s**t."
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:50 am
Chel snorted, but leaned into his side nonetheless. She wanted to point out that what came out of Chris' mouth was nearly a mirror if what came out of hers (if Chris had boobs would he-) but it seemed like a moot point.
"Quarter's better than none I guess." It seemed reasonable, honestly, for two people who in a different scenario would kill each other. "Thanks man."
She paused for a moment, drinking in Jack's change of heart with a cat-like smile. Then she said, "He's gonna have to walk me down the aisle. So he'll get used to it." There wasn't anyone else who could fill the role of father figure after all. "I mean, that's supposin' we don't go to godzilla in Vegas- like we should."
Chel still had dreams.
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 9:50 am
"Mm...Stripper in the cake and everything, huh," he mused with a lopsided grin. And then, jokingly, "Vegas is a little tacky for a wedding. What would Chauncey say?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:13 am
"Vegas isn't tacky it's awesome," Chel protested, despite having never been. She'd seen it in the movies though, and it was awesome in the movies so clearly it must have been in real life as well.
"Chauncey will never be married- her heart belongs to money," Chel said dramatically, breaking into a fit of giggles and knocking into his side.
She nudged him and said, "What d'you want? Be honest."
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