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 Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:25 pm
"Mm." Neither denial nor acceptance. But it was devastating hearing the words from king p***k himself. There was a reason Chel never talked about Tenebrae.
She was in a particularly mopey mood and while keeping her mind on Tenebrae relieved it from being on Chris, Jack was going to have to deal with it. "I knew it was a bad idea."
< You haven't had any of those before. I seem to recall an excellent on recently- oh yes, leaving Chris in the mountains. >
Chel's hand went to her cheek, still a raw red color since she had never stopped to get the bandages. She was unsure if she flinched outwards or only inwardly at Tenebrae's comment. "That's what's in my head yeah," she said softly.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 6:53 pm
"You could have mentioned that," he said more mildly as he glanced at the area as well. He'd forgotten using W-golems meant also temporarily losing barriers. It was strange to see something as mundane as a harsh slap, to remember that without a weapon they were terribly mortal and vulnerable.
Jack.
With some hesitation, he tried to coax Chel into a tighter hug, using it as an excuse to shift a little under her so his legs didn't fall asleep. "Big guy wants me to pass it on," Jack explained. "You guys could've had your play date. Why did you stick around?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:02 pm
"Sorry," she mumbled again. The hug was the only thing keeping her from utter despondence.
There was a long pause as she thought how to explain it. "I didn't want Tenebrae to hurt you." It was mumbled and said in a low voice, barely able to admit it herself. "Sorry."
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:20 pm
He sighed partially into her hair, remembering what Tenebrae had said about his threat. "He's a golem, Chel, he'd hurt himself trying. You think the program would still be happening if weapons could cause actual damage?" The slight disapproval was there but the bite wasn't; her concern, while unnecessary, was still somehow surprising to him. "Besides, a dragon couldn't kill me. It'd be damn sorry sight if I let a ******** Clear Eye poster boy leave a scratch."
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:30 pm
"You didn't see some of the things he showed me-"
There was a silence for a moment as Chel held her head. Perhaps past tense wasn't the correct way to phrase it.
All things considered, Chel would have normally combatted all these things, but her entire being felt bruised, brittle. Her bones rattled in Jack's arms and there was a great emptiness to even the tiniest breath of air. Without Chris to fill the gaps she was just an 11 year old dyslexic girl at the family superbowl party with no one to hide in the cupboards with. They'd spend hours in there, waiting to see if anyone would notice they were missing. Without Chris they probably never would have.
She shook again when Jack even brought up a potential demise. Her nails dug into his shirt and they said not you too. Everything to lose; just like in China.
"Can we go inside?" She needed something to change the pace. That was as much as she could do for herself at the moment.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:53 pm
The sensation wasn't unpleasant. Three beats after her request, Chel was finally let go.
"Don't forget your phone," Jack said as he got up and dusted himself off, indicating with his foot the general area where he had accidentally knocked it. Then, after pocketing his hands, he offered an arm wordlessly.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:40 pm
Standing up was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do. She would have taken the quarantine over how terrible she felt, physically and mentally. She'd never had to face a world alone.
But Jack was there. It was a point she could fixate on.
< How long until he leaves too? >
Chel stumbled as she picked up her cell phone, nausea overtaking her until she attached herself to Jack's arm. Something to lean on let her catch her breath enough to take a few steps. "Go slow," she instructed. "Unless ya wanna carry me."
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:06 pm
Jack tilted his head as if considering it, though the answer was being all but yelled in his head. In reality he was observing how bad Chel looked in the twilight.
"Well...In lieu of your favorite giant," he replied with a teasing loud sigh, as though they both knew she was settling, before picking her up. He let her take a moment to get comfortable, adjusting to the weight himself (she was no Abbi) before asking, "Where am I kidnapping the princess off to?"
It wasn't quite sarcastic and wasn't quite serious either. Owain burbled a little pleased noise at the unexpected indulgence, for it was rightfully a dream of his to have his own royal hostage like the legends. It might have also been a tactic to get the giant to quit filling his thoughts with worried and angry noises.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:17 pm
Chel's face softened a little. It was probably the first truly unselfish and unneccessary action Jack had taken and Chel noticed. She had no idea where this lopsided romance was going but it was something to cling to for now.
She climbed on his back the same way she'd ridden the giant (albeit Jack was so much tinier). But Jack was still beneath her as she adjusted and even Owain couldn't boast that kind of contrled patience. "Jack I-"
That was too much right now.
"My room ... I guess." Where else would she go? "Oh god," she said into his shoulders, fingers gripping the arms she'd wrapped tightly around him. "Lydia ... And Dawson someone will-" She took a deep breath. These were things she cojldn't bring herself to consider yet.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:33 pm
The trek back was at a leisurely pace, half because he felt like it and half because this was the first time he had to carry someone that didn't practically fall into the child sized category. "Not right now," he echoed her thoughts. "Deep breaths. Calm down."
Death was strangely one of the few topics he could ever be remotely optimistic about if it was his whim: there was something to be said about hunter endurance, even without considering his personal experiences. It didn't help that Jack had already been proven right once before when Ian had though Shiloh had died. Now that smug certainty had precedence.
"Big guy says, 'Think of wind in the trees,'" Jack added with an amused snort. "He's really worried about you."
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:46 pm
Owain had a good heart. She had no idea what he meant by trees in the wind, but she new the sound of Jack breathing slightly more raggedly than usual and she knew how Abbi gasped at the sight of makeup. She knew Evan's satisfaction and Jason's blush.
The problem was that she knew Chris' laugh and the way he emphasized the 'u' in "********" too.
"I'm in good hands," she reassured Owain. Maybe Jack too.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:08 pm
Jack said little the rest of the way back, though Chel would learn a few new sounds along the way such as "annoyed grunt upon nearly stumbling over that stupid rock" and "oh ******** I forgot about the stairs". When they reached the second floor, he let her step down and straightened with a roll of his shoulders and a wince; definitely needed to work more on his core than his legs.
Rather than ask, he assumed and followed the rest of the way to her room with the obvious intention to come in with her. Abruptly Jack snapped his fingers. "Damn it. I missed my opportunity to say, 'Hold on tight, spidermonkey,'" he lamented.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:34 pm
Every time Jack made a noise Chel would say sorry or I can get down, but he never faltered. The sun part of Chel admired that.
Opening her door made her feela thousand times older. She heard Chris barging in for Christmas breakfast and more vividly she remembered how excited he was to go on a mission with her. She walked into her room and it got harder. His distraught whine seeing her games missing. The way he always took the floor because she selfishly called dibs on the bed and he didn't mind.
She wondered if it would ever stop hurting or if this was her life now.
If she stayed in this room she would undoubtedly see Chris' ghost all night. He scratched his way across every surface, leaving his name carved in even her most intimate dwelling. It took such small things to remind her.
"Can I stay with you for a few days?"
Yeah of course man Chris said back.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:56 pm
He only took one step inside. Chel's question had been discerned before she asked it, in the weariness and wariness in her steps, in the familiar manner her gaze lingered near glassy.
Perhaps he should have been disturbed with just how little he honestly cared about Chris's fate—b*****d had kicked him while he was down, but that was only to be expected—but it was just like it had been with Oliver as he recovered from his mission and just like with Ian when he talked about the people he loved: there was just this emptiness in response. Not even that, because emptiness required a space and there was nothing at all. No space, no hole, nothing to evoke. And yet here he was trying to work with it once again despite knowing the problem was far beyond him, because he never ******** learned.
"If you need to, yeah," Jack replied after a while. "With one condition: stop saying sorry."
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Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:25 am
Chel turned enough to pull Jack in a hug for herself. "If I say sorry it's 'cause I know none of this is comfortable for you." She knew Jack didn't care about Chris (it still left her bewildered and maybe slightly dismayed, but not surprised). She was referring to everything else Jack had taken up today. Tenebrae's assault, her feelings- it had to be a lot for someone who couldn't tie his hair up that morning.
Maybe she had to paint it that way to keep herself from breaking it down to why she really apologized.
She moved out of his reach and began haphazardly throwing things into a bag. She hardly thought about the things she was taking- it wouldn't matter anyways.
She pushed through it. Eventually she rejoined Jack and said, "I can walk this time." Nothing had changed in terms of how terrible she felt, rather, she had gained the experience of being a burden.
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