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 Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:25 am
She was right about one thing, and that was that she completely and utterly had him wrapped around her finger; and Gale knew it well. He had already started to fall for her from early on, and as time had passed that had only gotten stronger and more breathtaking. He didn't regret it, not in the least, because Stormy was the one thing in his life that was stable, that he knew would be there for him always.
Gale's arms tightened around her, and he kissed her a few more times before she pulled away, feeling her breath against his face. He smiled, one hand lifting to gently touch her face, and then he pressed feather light pecks to her lips, punctuating each word as he said, "You are wonderful."
Her request that wasn't a request made him stupidly pleased, and he felt her fingers, warm and reassuring, against the back of his neck. Gale closed his eyes, letting himself breathe the same air, and his own fingers curled against the side of her throat, then smoothed out again, hearing his heart beat erratically inside of his chest. He wasn't sure what the context was, in which sense of the word stay she meant, but he didn't care, not anymore.
"Okay," Gale mumbled, and kissed her again, gentle and searching. "I'll stay, and it'll be just the two of us."
He smiled against her mouth again, then kissed her cheek, her eyes, her forehead, the tip of her nose. "I love you."
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Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:30 pm
To be graced with those three words again was something she would have fought the world for. And yet they were also the three words she would have run away from most at the same time. A conflicting storm of emotion swirled within her, aided by the fact that her heart skipped a beat, and she became frightened and enthralled by it all at once. It wasn't just words, Stormy realized, or the actions: it was the emotion behind each gesture, each syllable, each pause--that which went unspoken just as much as that which had been. And it all seemed so grand to her, so much larger in life, that being fed even bits and pieces of those reminders was enough to make her feel so much smaller than she already was. It was wonderful and it was frightening and it ached too much to think about when the moment was still raw and uncensored in her mind. Stormy could run from it however she wanted but that love, like Gale himself, was a constant she couldn't escape by the mere fact the it was so solid; and as a creature of water and air, she couldn't change its form, just as the earth couldn't make her stop moving.
She realized she had been quiet just a little too long after he'd spoken and snapped back to reality: warm skin and gentle lips, foreheads touched but unable to share, adoring eyes that didn't wander, a heady sensation in her head a thousand times better than a soda high. Her fingers moved absently through his hair some more, processing with difficulty the opposing ideas in her head. Greater than her urge to run was the paralyzation of her indecision. He had accepted that he didn't have to hear the same words from her now, if ever, but that freedom was both relieving and frightening. Because there was something there and Stormy wasn't sure how healthy it was.
"I believe you," she murmured at length, because at the core of the confusion was that one fact. And then, smiling gently, she gave him a soft kiss to reinforce those words and then pulled away before it all became too much.
In order to reach the bottle, Stormy had to slide off his lap and lean over to pluck it up. "Forgot what this was again..." Uncorking it, she plopped next to Gale with enough force to make one of her pillow jump, tilted it up, and took a gulp. "Uh...Hmm. Brandy, I think," Stormy said and offered the bottle with a sly look. "Don't tell Nevada I found her stash."
It was unclear how much had been in the bottle three days ago.
"So, like any good thing must, let's start with a question: what would your personal universe look like?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 7:04 pm
He wanted the world to melt away, to leave nothing except the two of them - but that would not happen, not anytime soon, at least, so he would take what he would get for the time being. And maybe it wouldn't be a long time, maybe it would just be a short time in the grand scheme of things - but whether or not that was the case was beside the point.
Life was here, life was now, life was this.
Gale smiled into her kiss, one hand lifting to gently slide through her hair. He cradled her face and looked into her eyes, his own filled with an adoration that didn't require words. Stormy reached for the bottle and when she moved, so did he, Gale rearranging himself so that he could sit sideways on the bed, leaning back against the wall.
"Sounds good to me," he said, and laughed, accepting the bottle. He tilted it towards her in a little salute before taking a small sip himself, the brandy burning down his throat. Gale wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and reached for Stormy's hand, twining their fingers together.
"My own personal universe?" he repeated thoughtfully. "Well, you're enough to fill that space. But if I had to choose..."
Gale grew silent for a moment. "Some place green," he said finally. "Some place with lots of air and lots of grass. A little farm in the English countryside, some place where there's just space, space to breathe, space to exist."
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Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 7:34 pm
With the warmth of the brandy settling in and stinging her throat, she went about making herself comfortable as well. Stormy grabbed what pillows hadn't been tossed off during their tickling excursion (and there were quite a few to pick from still thanks to her sleeping habits) and packed a few behind her so that she could lay back perpendicular to Gale, her legs stretched out along the bed.
"One day I'll have rum available," she said, grinning at his salute and touching two fingers to her temple in response. "And then I'll finally be able to say things like why's the rum always gone and you'll get to say something like because you drink it all~"
She curled her fingers between his as she listened to Gale's answer, smiling to herself. "Not a surprising answer after three years of nothing but one island and trips to the crazy dangerous," Stormy commented. I like it. Nice and normal and quiet for a change of pace. Space, breathing, room to move . . . I heard some people actually buy property back in the human world if they have enough money. Or a timeshare or something."
She glanced his way. "What would the great Gale Gentry do on an English farm if he wasn't a hunter, though?" she asked curiously.
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Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:11 pm
Gale reached out and readjusted Stormy so that instead of her legs being on the bed, they draped across his own, one hand resting absently on her knees. He smiled, tapping a finger against the neck of the bottle, and said, "And then we'll have ourselves a campfire and dance around the beach," he said with amusement. "Except maybe without the beach part, since every time we've had a party, it seems to end badly."
He settled himself more comfortably on the bed and passed the bottle back to Stormy, Gale leaning back and looking up at the ceiling. A small laugh escaped his throat. "Interesting. Not sure I could do that, though," he added, a bit sheepishly. "I think if I had a place to live still in the rest of the world, I'd get too attached and want to stay there, rather than come back here."
Her question gave him pause, and for a long moment Gale didn't answer. He lapsed into silence, absently tugging at a stray thread on the blanket before he said quietly, "I'd train horses, probably. Just have a whole heap of them; and I'd go riding, all the time, just exploring the countryside as much as I could."
Another laugh came out, but this one was softer, less amused and more almost sad, Gale looking down at his hands. "There's not much to see here on the island, really."
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Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:31 pm
"There's no party like a Deus Ex party . . ." She winced through a smile. It was a weaker joke than she would have liked. How many times had she reviewed her memories of the dungeon party on Halloween? How many times had she winced at her behavior? Stormy took the bottle gladly and took a larger gulp of the brandy than before, accepting the slow burn sliding down her throat. The bottle was tucked close to her body, even when she knew that from previous experience it was better to keep it as far away as possible.
Her gaze drifted to the wall opposite them, where posters with various inspirational quotes hung. "Too attached, huh? I can sympathize," Stormy said with a little smile. "Plus, you're the sort of person who commits to things after you start them, I think." It was easier to make observations when they weren't looking at each other. How often had she addressed the walls with her thoughts after all? "Sometimes, though, I wish . . ." But the thought was only half-finished, and she trailed away instead into the silence left behind after her last question.
Gale's answer surprised her enough that she sat up and blinked, her knees shifting under his hand. Then she blinked a few more times as if needing time to process this. And then she turned her head towards him and broke into a bright smile. "That sounds so wonderful, though! Phillipe and Pegasus, Khan, Maximus . . . Bullseye . . . Samson and Frou-Frou . . ." There were others, but Stormy was having trouble thinking of them. Nevertheless, she sighed dreamily at the image in her head: a sprawling rural field, one gold house with vegetable patches, a garden, a stable . . . the smell of dirt and leather and the sound of rustled leaves . . .
"I, uh, wouldn't say there isn't much to see." There was a bloom of color to her cheeks as Stormy briefly broke contact to find his shirt (which she had to pull out from under her) before tossing it Gale's way to do with as he pleased; maybe she was blushing, maybe she was more sensitive to alcohol than she let on. "Maybe, hmm . . . Maybe you could handle some of the horse-like minipets in the labs?" she suggested. "I know it's not the same, but there's things that lets you take them on walks, right? You could totally become the top equestrian minipet tamer!" Don't be sad, don't be sad, don't look or sound sad . . .
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Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 1:11 pm
Gale gave a soft snort. "Nobody parties like Deus," he sang softly, in a terribly mocked rendition of the Gaston song from Beauty and the Beast. His cheeks were slightly flushed, but he smiled anyway, a little shyly, his eyes flickering towards the bottle Stormy had tucked at her side. The alcohol had tasted good at first, but now he was starting to wonder if it was such a good idea after all.
He felt her move, and his fingers brushed absently across her knees as she did so, Gale's attention focused, like her, on the wall in front of him. He smiled slightly, and felt something warm land in his lap - his shirt, that he'd mostly forgotten about now that he thought of it. Gale turned it over in his hands without really thinking about it, still lost in the visions of his own desires.
Gale's eyes flickered towards her, dark and brooding.
"Is that even possible?" he asked, and then shook his head, his smile a little dim. "That would be rather silly, walking a miniature horse, though; not quite the same as how I'd wish it to be. Still," he added, and patted her leg affectionately. "At least I have some positives in my life."
He reached for her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed the back of it gently, squeezing her fingers.
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Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 2:44 pm
She made a wry noise at his first comment and took a drink to that--just a sip of course, she was being responsible. And a second because the first barely could be called a sip; one had to properly toast Deus Ex's inability to run even a party without something happening. One also had to toast when one's head partner's annoying voice wasn't sounding as clear as it normally did.
"Anything's possible, Gale," she told him, tilting the bottle at him for emphasis. "All you need is a dream and some willpower. And sometimes a bit've luck. ♪ I've got a dream / I've got a dream / I just wanna see the floating lanterns gleam~" Gale's singing, even if it was just a brief parody, inspired her. He was starting to plod back down the path of the grump, and she just couldn't have it; not while she still had the ability to cheer him up.
All though wow, it was getting a little hard to remember the words.
As he took her hand and kissed it like a gentleman, Stormy leaned in and thought over an appropriate song response--for clearly if she just sang, he would feel better. After a moment she cleared her throat and did her best to look him in the eye (which lasted until about the second line before she gazed at the top of his head instead, the color continuing to rise in her cheeks); her voice was warbley in the beginning, trying not to lose pitch while also trying to keep it quiet while also trying to make it sound very meaningful while also several other things, probably, that she didn't know how to name.
"♪ Ohhhhhh....isn't this amazing?
It's my favorite part because....you'll see
Here's where she meets Prince Charming
But she won't discover that it's him
'Till chapter three!"
And she felt that ought to say enough.
"Not everything ought t'be serious," she argued a moment later, trying to will herself to stop blushing. "I mean okay, serious on missions and things and stuff but...Silly is just what you need, I think. Too stiff upper lip-y otherwise. You think too much about what other think. You think too much, period!" Sitting the bottle between her legs, she reached her free hand over and poked a corner of his mouth, grinning. "Smile more; if you do, the world will smile with you. You know who you are, right? That's what matters. And if you like horses, then by God who cares if you train horse minipets or buy an actual barn and a caretaker, or bring one here even?" This was clearly a very important topic to discuss and debate, yes.
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Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:14 pm
She was singing again, and that made him infinitely more happy. Gale curled himself up against the wall and just listened, a small smile on his face as he tilted his head to look at Stormy, pink dusted across his cheeks. She was right, of course; he was wallowing in self pity, which was a terrible trait to have, so instead he turned his feelings around, wanting not to spoil the moment much more than he already had.
He caught her hand, pressing his lips against her fingertips. "Well, if you say it like that," said Gale with a small laugh, and squeezed her hand affectionately. "Sorry, love, I didn't mean to be all downer on you. I'll keep myself positive here."
He reached for the bottle and tilted it towards his lips, taking a long swallow, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "Come here, you," he said, and curled an arm around Stormy's shoulders, pulling her towards him where he rested his head atop hers, affectionately nosing into her hair.
"I told you a story once," said Gale. "Now it's your turn, Miss Disney. Tell me a story, any story."
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Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:18 pm
"Mm~ It's not that you can't be a downer sometimes," she said, though she was addressing the wall behind him. "It's impossible t'always be happy or optimistic n' stuff. Sometimes you gotta go down the path and find the abyss, and sometimes you gotta just stare at it for a while--let it stare back, just have this whole staring contes of the soul going on. Important part's that you walk away before all you see's the pit." Stormy blinked a few times as if in a daze, then squeezed his hand in return.
She briefly made a face as Gale snatched the bottle, vaguely territorial over how much brandy he drank. Nevertheless she was happy to curl up under his chin, drawing her knees up a little on impulse as she leaned against him. "Mmm," Stormy hummed some more as her eyelids fell halfway, less from being sleepy than it was from thinking. "A story...Hmm..." Lazily she slid her hand atop his, the one that held the bottle, and directed it to tilt the bottle and let her have the dregs of the alcohol; and then she let him go with a satisfied sound, her fingers sliding off his arm and back to the bed.
"I dunno...Most've the stories I remember right now aren't happy," she mumbled, her words stopping at odd intervals. "N' he already said stupid, stupid things, I shouldn't add...But things...happy things...Want you t'be happy. Stupid happy." That didn't sound right. She lolled her head against his shoulder some more, making a soft frustrated noise. "Knew shouldn't've drank. No good, no good."
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Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:50 pm
Gale gave a little snort. "Of course, of course," he said with amusement, his eyes flickering across Stormy's flushed face. She made sense, of course, but at the same time there were bits and pieces of her words that weren't quite spot on, which was quite entertaining. It also meant that she'd drunk more of the alcohol than he'd realized.
She was pulling the bottle back towards her, and he let her, waiting until she was finished before he set the now empty bottle aside, back down on the floor. Gale curled up beside his girlfriend and kissing the top of her head again. "Happy thoughts," he said into her hair. "Think happy thoughts.
"Just like Peter Pan," he added, with a small smile, but there was a note of worry in his voice. Just how much had she drunk? Gale tilted her head back so that he could look at her properly, his fingers brushing over her flushed cheek as he gently stroked the side of her face.
"You doing okay there, sunshine? Need some water?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 9:07 pm
Either her face was burning up, or Gale's fingers were cold; she shivered at the contact and kept her gaze steadfastly ahead, her cheeks red. "Happy thoughts, happy thoughts . . ." But her brows knitted with concern as the alcohol churned in her stomach, making her vaguely nauseous. Stormy hadn't eaten--for how long, she wasn't really sure--and an empty stomach was more receptive to the drink than a full one was.
But she wasn't hungry, not for food at least--no, she craved something deeper that, for whatever reason, never seemed satisfied no matter what she did. It was more than a beast, it was a black hole: a singularity that sucked things away little by little. When she filled up with too much emotion too fast, it took the edge off and ate away at it until she felt either felt better or numb, whichever came first: it was the medium that let her snap into a robotic state in the Sahara until Lance coaxed her out, the method that let her focus on one point even if all else was chaos, and yet also the means that let her mind be freed to wander while it took care of the nastier bits of the human experience.
Gale didn't do things halfway. Similarly, Stormy didn't feel things in small quantities. When she had cried her heart out earlier it had funneled away her locked up feelings from that black hole, that self-sustained and unconscious defense mechanism that had been with her for about five years, and gave them away to Gale; being denied its sustenance like that came with the consequence that now it would swallow even those good feelings she was trying to rouse.
Or, so she liked to think. Otherwise she was just really, really crazy.
"Happy thoughts . . ." Gale's voice brought her back from staring into that pit, and she took a deep breath and sighed. "S'why I shouldn't drink. Sometimes makes me happy, mostly makes me sad. No, better word, what's a better word. Think, think, think . . . Words . . . M . . . Mo . . . Maw . . . Maudlin. Maudlin? That sounds better."
She paused and then tucked her head further, growing anxious. "No. I just need you here. I--I have a story, but you can never tell anyone, Gale. I shouldn't now, but . . . but I trust you." Maybe this would be okay, maybe Aria would understand because Gale already worked with Halloween people. Stormy had no intention of mentioning her leader in this particular telling of course, only that she herself had decided to become part of a sort of underground movement--and maybe if she spoke as generally as possible, it wouldn't trigger the pact.
This would have never sounded like a good idea if she had been sober, but right now, maybe she just needed to feel closer to Gale to stop the gnawing inside; maybe telling a secret would help clarify her own emotions.
Stormy's hand sought his as she swallowed and began. "There was--There was a thing that happened at the Mist meeting a while back," she said in a faltering, quiet voice. Her eyes shifted about for invisible intruders. "Suspicious activity. A few of us went to look into it--"
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Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:29 pm
Ol-j-man For now, nothing happened.
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Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:47 pm
He felt as though the alcohol had been a bad idea altogether, now that he looked down at Stormy's unusually flushed cheeks. Gale pressed his lips together, a worried frown crossing his expression as his eyes traced her face, and he passed a hand gently over her head, smoothing down her hair. His fingers curled over her ear, tucking a few stray strands behind.
"Happy thoughts," said Gale, and managed a small smile. "And you're not maudlin, at least not yet. You're still you, and you're still wonderful."
But, said a little nagging voice in his head that he wasn't about to say out loud just yet, no more alcohol, at least for a while. He himself wasn't drunk, he knew that at least, but his own senses felt a little number than usual, a strange buzzing in his head that was mostly unpleasant. Unlike Marcus or Bix, Gale had never found most alcohols appealing, and this was part of the reason why.
Gently, Gale took Stormy's hand again, the frown back on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked, now more than a little nervous because she had something, a secret, a dark secret, by the sound of it, that she hadn't told him? What had happened that was bad enough that she had kept it to herself? He wasn't offended, but there was a note of dread that settled in the pit of his stomach, because whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
"What sort of suspicious activity?" Gale asked quietly.
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Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:12 pm
Stormy shifted idly. "Someone went missing," she answered. "We didn't notice it at first, but Mr. Lance thought it was strange, so . . . We looked into it.
"We touched down in a cavern and followed it along for a while. Eventually we heard voices and stumbled across a group of Halloween people, people in cloaks--I couldn't make out any features really. They were talking about . . ." She had to think about it, remembering belatedly Aria had asked them not to mention the underground garden either. "Something about specimens being contaminated. Not Insanity, something else. And something about the Circles too. But they noticed us eavesdropping and--" Stormy lifted his hand and pressed the back of it against her sternum, her brows furrowed. "--and they did something. Bind us, they called it. Something was happening, and they mentioned trouble. Trouble that could possibly come to us too if it wasn't stopped."
It was difficult trying to skirt around the detail of Aria's presence, but she was trying her hardest.
"There was another hunter there--I didn't recognize them--but he spoke out for us. Said we'd be compliant now that we're Bound, explained that he was working with Halloween and that they were his friends and allies. That they were working to stop the renegades, the horsemen, and that they could do more for their worlds working together than apart . . ." Stormy hesitated, then swallowed. "You know me, Gale, if there's a way to help then I can't . . . I-I asked if I could join, and--and they're letting me for now.
"One day I might get orders that contradict what our superiors tell us. I guess that means I'm pretty much a traitor," she continued more quietly, clutching at Gale's hand. "A-And if you're not okay with that, I'd understand. But I just--I wanted to let you know, in case something ever happens."
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