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 Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 4:19 pm
Ol-j-man To Stormy, nothing happened. Given her current occupation with pouring her secrets out to Gale, it would be extremely unlikely that Stormy would notice that something happened to someone else. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say something. The next time Stormy would speak to her weapon, she would discover that she wouldn't get an answer. Nor would her weapon appear out of its totem form. For all intents and purposes, her weapon was currently sulking over the amount of attention she was giving Gale. Either way, no amount of sweet talk or threats will prompt it to appear. Nor will her weapon speak to her. Funnily enough, her weapon will be able to hear her just fine. For the weapon it would be akin to being trapped in a glass box. Nothing the weapon would say would reach the hunter, nor could it move or appear. For all intents and purposes, the weapon was now nothing more than a small trinket.
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Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 10:46 pm
He listened silently, absently tugging on a stray thread on Stormy's blanket as Gale attempted to process what she had just told him. His hand gave a little involuntary twitch, as though his wrist remembered the circular mark laid into his skin among the black, and he turned his hand over, his eyes flickering towards it briefly before he laid it back down again.
"So you're...working with...the enemies," said Gale slowly, his mind feeling sluggish due to the alcohol. It was strange; he was working with Mei, certainly, but that was different, vastly so. With Mei, it was mutual, and their superiors - at least Caelius - was aware of their deal; it benefited the both of them, and they each held respect for the other.
This, however, did not sound nearly the same.
"So let me get this straight," said Gale, and he could feel Stormy's fingers digging into his hand almost painfully hard. The pleasant buzz of the alcohol felt as though it were rapidly disintegrating, Gale pushing himself up into a sitting position, trying to make sense of everything. "They bound you - bound you the way that they've bound Mei? As in they're controlling you?"
The thought of Stormy being linked two whoever this group was made him feel a little nauseated. Gale turned to look at her, his eyes wide. "Why would you do that?" he asked, and there was a small note of desperation in his voice, a desperation to understand her decision. "Stormy, that is dangerous as bloody hell! It's one thing to meet with someone, it's entirely another to give yourself over wholly to them!"
He felt terribly caught off guard, Gale pulling his hand free of Stormy's so that he could sit and rub at his forehead, wondering if there was any possible scenario in which she was able to get out of this situation without someone dying, including herself.
Probably not. He turned towards her again.
"Why?" he asked. "Why would you say yes to something like that?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 2:04 am
A thousand different reasons came to mind (because she didn't know how to say no, because it meant being able to prove herself as capable, because it meant her leader didn't have to work alone, no-one would)--each screaming at her with every syllable that left Gale's lips, every word slowly tearing away layer after layer of herself until she felt nothing but raw inside and out. In the moment it had occurred underground, her choice had felt sound: she would be helping Aria and her Mist sisters in combating real threats, and in her head it hadn't seemed all that bad. In her stupid, stupid head.
It hurt.
Bound like Mei? Stormy made a soft questioning noise, not having been aware something had been done to the student. Yet that made sense; stupid, of course they would ensure she would cooperate. There was no such thing as true trust there: it was by Aria's order that they had been Bound in the first place. But she regretted looking at Gale, regretted having to see the shock turn into desperation, frustration, and disbelief where adoration and affection had once been. Cold air where his hand had laid. Nausea in her stomach where butterflies had once been.
It hurt.
She had never felt or looked so pitiful at his questions. "I-I dunno if they can," she answered in a small voice, hating herself just a little bit more because look at her, look at the little girl who had no idea what she had just signed up for. "It--It would've stopped me by now, maybe?" Something would happen, Aria had warned them against talking for a reason; maybe it was just delayed.
Thane, as ever, remained silent, probably to let her be tortured by her clearly wrong decisions.
Stormy curled her legs up to her chest and hugged them tight, growing more miserable the longer she thought about it. "They could've killed me," she whispered as she stared at the wall. "When they found us, they pinned us down with an invisible force. We were Bound under force, th-there wasn't anything I could do about that. Talking to you about this, it's violating the Binding. I-I dunno what that means exactly, but it can't be good." Her voice was strained, silently asking him to understand what she could not fully explain, to understand the gravity of her choice to trust him with her secret despite whatever consequences came, because she was afraid of even speaking about it. Her body began to quiver.
"When I first met you, Gale, I said it was good you knew that gray was okay--that you were working with Mei even though others didn't approve. Sometimes the shades of gray just get a little darker is all." It was so pitiful for her to rely on imagery, allegories, similes metaphors, the tools of a writer that meant nothing compared to the tools of a hunter. Stormy took a moment to try and calm herself, but her breaths continued to be shallow, hitched here and there as she fought her rising emotion. "But it's the same. I-It's the same principle. Working together t'stop Halloween extremists, other threats. Isn't that what we do already? M'just working with the hunters on our side who're working with them."
And she knew it would be difficult to process or believe because she had kept that one crucial detail out, that it was her division, her leader, and her loyalty to them both coming into play. But Stormy could not implicate Aria or her fellow conspirators, not even to Gale; she could not drag them down with her into this one selfish choice, even if revealing them would have validated her reasoning. Her destruction was her own.
She wished she had simply tossed back the whole bottle and fallen into completely drunken bliss, back into the dream where Gale loved her in spite of and despite her utter stupidity.
"I dunno, Gale, I don't know, I-I don't know. Maybe I'm doomed now, maybe this thing inside me'll tell them I gave something away, maybe they'll hunt me down and kill me for talking and then kill you for knowing--" Stumbling across the idea caused her to suck in a quick but sharp inhale, and she half-buried, half-smashed her face into her knees and grew rigid, trying to stop the world from turning for an age so that she didn't feel so sick. "I-I said yes because I thought it was the right thing to do, because we're saving people, we're showing that we're not complete monsters to them, n-not all've Halloween is bad, not all've Deus either, and you said that, you said it yourself some've Halloween's good, and when it was happening I thought've you, thought've what you did, and I thought--I thought for a moment I could be like you, working with someone t'wards a common goal, helping everyone, not fighting--"
Her stomach churned violently. She was literally working herself up into such an inner frenzy that she was feeling the gag reflex come on, the herald to losing everything in her stomach. Shoulders rising to hide her neck and face further, Stormy gulped down audible breaths, most of which came back out seconds later in shuddering coughs. Words, words, words, what were the words again, what was her safety net, where was it now? Her drunken mind sluggishly searched, her trembling lips struggled to form the right shapes, her traitorous throat tightening."N' I've known the eyes already, kn-known them—
--eyes that--in a formurlate--f-f-formulated phrase,
N' when I'm formulated--sprawling on a pin--"She had to stop and lurch briefly, bile spilling into her mouth that was quickly swallowed back down.
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Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 10:51 pm
He knew he'd hurt her.
He knew he'd hurt her, and it was hurting him in return, his stomach twisted into knots. And it was hypocritical, too, because what was he doing with Mei-Xiu, if not crossing paths with the other side? But the difference was that Caelius was well aware of his deal with Mei, and had been the one to put the trace on her in the first place. There was a difference.
But how much of one, really?
He was not angry because she had picked that path, nor was he angry that she hadn't told him until now. He was not even angry in the first place, confusion and frustration and yes, panic, welling deep in the pit of his stomach. It was the fact that she was bound, that she was somehow tied into something greater than she was, than they both were. And there was no telling who was really pulling the strings behind everything.
Stormy's voice was small, trembling more than she let on. Gale flinched visibly at the prospect of them both being killed, his face paler than usual, but he said nothing and instead let her finish, lacing his fingers together and squeezing tightly so that his knuckles were nearly white.
Jinhai? The thought was a small, hesitant one, desperate for reassurance.
<< I'm here, Gale. >>
Do you think...
<< I think she did what she thought she had to do, by the sound of it. Don't treat her too harshly, and don't judge her too unfairly. You thought you were doing the right thing with Mei too, remember? But it took you a while to get to where you are. >>
That was different, Gale argued. I thought...
Jinhai's voice was gentle.
<< She is your ghoulfriend. You love her. She is just trying to survive the world you've been given, and so are you and so am I. Don't back away from her now, not when she needs you so desperately as you need her. >>
He thought back, briefly, to his and Jinhai's original meeting, to the awkward tensions, the bickers, the squabbles as they tried to find the balance in their relationship. Gale had been resistant to change, while Jinhai had been overbearing and annoying.
It had taken a while, but they had progressed.
<< And now look where we are. >>
Working together.
<< Just as you should with Stormy. >>
There was a sharp gasp from Gale's side. He turned his head to look and saw Stormy's pale face, her stricken expression as her lips moved, hardly audible words stuttering out in gasps and desperately formed words.
Without a sound, Gale reached over and wrapped his arms around Stormy. He pulled her into his lap, holding her back against his chest, and buried his face in her shoulder and neck, rocking her gently. The soft strains of what sounded like Once Upon a Dream could be heard from Gale's throat, slightly off key and a little hesitant, but quiet and meaningful, the words spoken against her skin.
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 1:26 am
There was the risk of puking still, and yet she couldn't stop herself: the lines from that one poem kept spilling out, fragmented and out of order, butchered at birth and dying in shallow breaths. But they were necessary deaths in order to keep the silence at bay, the quiet aura that was Gale thinking. Necessary deaths, she thought, horrified by her own words. When has anything dying been necessary?
On the outside she might look the same, but on the inside there was something moving. Something slipping. Thane had once accused her of being too easily influenced, but she had held her ground against it; now she was starting to wonder . . . His silence was bothering her, too.
Her stomach churned ominously. Goosebumps formed on her arms while the words spilled out.
She was surprised Gale hadn't pointed out the holes in her flimsy logic by now. Maybe that silence was him compiling the evidence in an organized manner, ready to be laser guided and fired. Maybe he was starting to understand that the weight of guilt she made herself carry was practically punishment enough and was letting her have at it for a moment. Or maybe, in her inebriated introspection, Stormy had mixed him up with someone else: a different boy who had been serious, dry-witted, and frustrated by her endless antics.
The very thought that she could confuse the two for even a moment, drunk or not, sickened her further. Her demented recitation began to be interrupted by the oscillation between swallowing and breathing, facing the choice of holding herself tighter to keep herself in one piece while risking forcing the bile out from it, or just completely letting go and making an even bigger idiot of herself by purging her body of the toxicity building up inside. But she couldn't. No, far be it from her to interrupt Gale's thoughts with something as common as vomiting.
She heard the movement before she felt his arms come around her, and she still didn't stop murmuring. She was aware he was moving her from the bed to his lap, and she continued murmuring in a more strained tone. It was only when he pulled her in, when he chose to press his face closer and start to rock her, that Stormy began to quiet down, trickling from a murmur to a whisper as her self-loathing skyrocketed; only babies had to be cradled like this, she shouldn't be taking as much comfort as she did from it. And then she went completely silent when he started to sing.
The world did stop spinning. Or at least, hers did.
She forgot the acid brewing in her stomach as she listened, still feeling ill but finding it wasn't worth being at the forefront of her mind during the performance. He was singing. It took far too long to understand that. She didn't deserve a second of it either, but that was exactly why she began to ravenously absorb every word that sank into her skin: because she could pretend that she was.
Ever so slowly, her trembling began to lessen. The occasional sniffle left her, and she still felt nauseous, but it all seemed to pale in comparison to that quiet voice. Not trusting herself to speak again, Stormy began to softly hum along with him, hearing the tune in her ear like the movie was playing in front of them. One of her hands managed to pry itself from her knee, turn, and clutch at what part of his arm it could.
It wasn't quite the sort of moment she had in her daydreams, where the timing was always perfect, the nuances tasteful, everything falling into place. Then again, there was a beauty in the imperfect. In the very real.
When the song finished, she hesitated for a handful of seconds. And then she picked up another tune to hum, "Bella Notte", unsure of what else to do or what else to say to him at the moment but believing, somehow, that music could bridge that gap for her.
kurotomato have the lamest non speaking post in the world /o/
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Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 10:57 pm
He kept singing, his voice low and mumbled, half because of embarrassment (no matter what Stormy said or thought, his singing voice left a lot to be desired), and half because the song was meant only for her ears; a mantra over and over again for her to listen to, to remember. Gale had found the crook of her neck where her neck slid into her shoulder, and it was there that he imprinted the words, sung softly against her bare skin.
And it was starting to work, or at least he thought it was. Stormy had stopped trembling, for the most part, and she was not tense with the holding back of heaving sobs. Her face was still pale, but then her voice joined his, soft and humming, and Gale continued the song until the very end.
Her fingers touched his arm; he lifted a hand and covered hers, pressing them together. He didn't know Bella Notte as well as the others, stumbling over the words, but when he didn't know the lyrics, he hummed instead, just like she had, and they made a tiny chorus together, meant for no one's ears but their own.
When she had finished, the room was silent for a long moment.
"I'm sorry," said Gale softly, and he leaned back enough to move his hand to her back, gently rubbing up and down in what he hoped were soothing motions. "I didn't mean to be so harsh. I just...don't want anything to happen to you, is all. I know you're strong and you can handle yourself, and that you know how to be smart during missions because you are smart. But..."
He trailed off, and then leaned in and kissed her cheek from behind, his lips lingering against her face, and his voice trembled ever so slightly as he said, "If something happened to you, I don't know if I'd be able to handle it."
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Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 1:09 am
She realized she'd started to cry about several lines in, which shouldn't have surprised her because when wasn't she crying around Gale these days; he was still making an effort in spite of everything, and that was what had moved her to tears. But it was different in that it wasn't quite sorrow fueling it this time, not entirely: she felt happy too, because he was singing, and she was humming, and they were humming, and sometimes she wavered because something hitched in her throat, and sometimes he went off key or fudged the words, and then they would meet again smoothly, or meet again in a crash and diverge again, and that, she wanted to say, was what chaos and magic really sounded like--having two people move on the same path at the same time, but in their own way.
Her eyes fell closed as Gale kissed her cheek and spoke, not bothering to wipe at her face (or pay attention to her body's less than stellar sensations at all, really, as that seemed to do that trick). Between the warmth of his hand and the strokes at her back, she began to unwind little by little. "We're in my mind, remember?" she said in a soft but thick voice, causing her to swallow to try and clear it up. "Nothing'll happen unless I say so. We're safe here. I-It's okay."
At least her stomach wasn't churning as badly anymore; Stormy took deeper breaths just in case.
Her arms loosening, she allowed her legs to sag and give her more breathing room. "Smart," she repeated as if trying the word on. "Smart . . . Strong . . . No. Clever, maybe. Or resourceful. Or desperate. Not smart. Not strong. If I was smart I wouldn't get into half the trouble I normally do. Wouldn't take booze knowing it's a bad effect on me. I-If I was strong, I wouldn't keep cracking under pressure." She paused, then tilted her head slightly against his, her eyes half opening.
"You have every right to be mad at me, you know. I threw a bomb in your lap and expected you to diffuse it with tweezers and a fork and no hints." She glanced at him apologetically before letting her gaze fall back down again. "I do that sometimes. I might do that a lot. I-I dunno. I dunno a lot of things right now and it's killing me." Under his hand, her own curled slightly around his arm as if to remind herself that it still existed.
Taking a deeper breath than usual, Stormy sat up and let herself fully uncurl, her legs jittery and a little numb from being held like that so tight. Slowly she turned herself around until they were facing each other once more, her hands half hidden behind sleeves and plopped in her lap, her eyes at his collarbone and contrite, her cheeks dusted red and glistening still with tears she'd forgotten about. "I wonder what people like you are made of," she mused quietly. "Maybe if I knew where to find some of it, I wouldn't get like this."
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Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:56 pm
Her face was wet. Gale lifted a hand and gently smoothed his fingers over her cheek, brushing away some of the tears and leaving behind sticky tracks beneath her eyes. "You keep me safe here, and I'll keep you safe elsewhere," he said, and rubbed her back again, gently trying to massage away the pain he knew she was feeling. A part of Gale felt useless, as though nothing he said would make a difference, nothing he could do would ease the stress that had settled deep within her bones.
She pulled away from him, and he felt a gust of cool air as she moved, his face flickering in bemusement; but then Stormy was climbing back into his lap, this time looking at him, and Gale pulled her close, his arms around her waist. He settled back against the wall, and curved his fingers over her wrist, gripping her hand.
"Do you remember," he said, "what I told you in the infirmary that one time? It was before we started dating, and you were frustrated. I quoted Winnie the Pooh and told you that "You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
Gale withdrew his arm around Stormy's waist and instead took both of her hands in his, bringing them up to his lips to press little kisses along her knuckles. "There's another part of that quote, you know," he said softly, and pressed Stormy's fingers against his own cheek, feeling their warmth on his face. "That wasn't all of the quote. The rest of it goes “If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you.”
He kissed her fingertips and then carefully drew her nearer, his fingers cradling her neck, tilting her head so that he could look at her properly.
"Even if we're apart, I'll always be with you," he said, "because I love you, and also because you are smarter than you think, stronger than you seem, and braver than you believe."
He pulled her towards him and kissed her gently, sighing against her lips. "I'll help you find whatever answers you need," he said. "We'll search together; we'll figure things out, and we'll keep you safe because that's what we do; we look out for each other."
He kissed her again. "I love you," he said, as though to reassure not just her but himself as well. "And I don't want to know where people like you are made of, because I like having just one of you, just one person like you that I can be with."
It was cheesy, but he said it anyway, smiling shyly. "I like that you are your own special just for me."ol-j-man oh jeez I was falling asleep while writing this SO IF IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE I AM SORRY OTLLLkjdf
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Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:01 am
It was a guilty pleasure of hers to look weak and be doted upon, even if this time she really did feel as fragile as she appeared. It was an even greater guilty pleasure to be able to touch him, whether she was led to or not. Maybe it was odd to think of it like that still when not only were they dating, but he had professed his love--and several times more now to boot, as her fingers happily transferred from his hand to his lips to his cheek and dreamed of the day she had the nerve to explore more of the planes of his body. It was distracting again to be gliding against skin rather than fabric, to remember that past the dramatic scenes and emotional turbulence, he was still (happily) shirtless and that she could take a girlish glee in it like a normal person.
"Don't say things like that," Stormy whispered with imploring eyes now that she was nudged to look at him. "No 'apart' here, no scary future. You're here now, that's what matters . . . That's what I wanna celebrate: the constant that's your existence in my life." And maybe that was just the alcohol still lingering and making it harder to articulate herself, but she was trying, trying to grasp at the elusive emotion that was filling her the more he talked. Hoping her breath wasn't sour, she vented that need to make him understand what she couldn't into those several kisses, condensing the gratefulness and affection as best she could into mild and gentle kisses.
The problem was that the more their lips touched, the less she wanted them to part, save to maybe find more alcohol. Being inebriated made her realize just how much she had been holding herself back, and that inebriation was whittling away at her control the more she decided to try and accept what Gale kept offering. Stormy didn't know what exactly she wanted: she just knew she wanted all of it for herself. And her hazy mind came to the conclusion that he had already seen her unshowered and messy, break down once, nearly break down a second time, and sad drunk. What was a few more layers shed, a little more impulsive thinking, if it meant giving up some of that weight inside?
It was like the alcohol that had been burning a hole in her stomach had finally kicked in; she could practically feel the effects physically covering her like a sheet, making her both more languid and yet hyper aware of her sense of touch as her head buzzed. "Truth is, I wanna know everything you're made of," she said softly, leaning in as she stroked his face and parts of his hair. "Everything, inside and out. Those're th'answers I need, Gale, 'cause if I could figure you out, maybe--maybe I'd see what makes you so wonderful it hurts. It hurts in th'most amazing way, and you'll say you aren't, but you are, you are."
Her hands shifted to mimic his hold on her, lightly scratching the back of his neck. "Everything," she repeated, still soft but with an odd intensity beneath it. "You spoil me already, what's a lil' more? What's a lil' more pain? I can't save myself, no-one can, but . . ." Stormy frowned, losing her train of thought, and then shrugging it off. "But you're here, that's what matters. Always will be here. Always have been here. And I'm not. M'running around head in the clouds doing God knows what thinkin' it'll help things, and it's like every time we talk I have somethin' new that's bad, like I can't come over unless it's like an overcast cloud ready t'rain on your parade.
"And you just . . . take it," she said with reverence, managing to maintain eye contact this time even as her face began to turned flushed in patches from the drink. One of her hands unhooked, forgot there still was no shirt involved, and laid flat against his chest. "That's why I need t'know. I need you," she whispered specifically into his ear, her body lightly pressing against his. "I need what parts've you I can take 'cause that's how I know who I am, that's how I can know myself: by stealing it away from others. It's the moon again, told you--sitting pretty in the dark forgotten 'til it's time to come out, reflecting the light off the sun . . . But you're the sun, right? You hurt to look at but you-are-vital, necessary . . . And if my life had t'be spent chasing you across the heavens, it wouldn't sound so bad . . ."
Good thing the only bottle within reach was empty now.
xkurotomato naw you're good bby <3 sorry if this one doesn't for the same reasons though OTL
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:33 pm
He was not drunk - or at least, not as drunk as Stormy was, but there was still the pleasant buzzing sensation that zipped along through his veins; remnants of the drink, though his mind was still relatively clear, clear enough to understand Stormy's words and the fact that her voice was somewhat slurred. But in spite of that, she could still seem to draw him in with just a few sentences, weaving a spell around him made entirely of words and phrases and the cadence of her voice.
Her fingers felt warm against his face as they slid towards his hair. "That's half of the fun of being in a relationship, isn't it?" said Gale with a gentle smile. "Learning new things, pushing the limits of what's right on the surface and what lies beneath it. And I'm not that wonderful," he added, his cheeks flushing from more than what she was saying. There was a force behind the words that made his heart beat just a little faster, just a little more erratically in his chest.
"I don't want to hurt you," Gale mumbled, and he slid his hands around Stormy's small waist, holding her carefully in place. "But I do want to know everything about you, and I will keep learning new things, and I hope to spend a very long time learning those things."
Always always always. His brain was running over those words, repeating them like a mantra. "That's because I love you," said Gale, and stroked her hair. "But even if I didn't, I would still take whatever you have to offer because of who you are."
Her fingers on his chest startled him, Gale blinking rapidly, and the red flush across his face deepened, blossomed over his cheeks like scarlet flames. I need you was not I love you, but it was something so very raw and open, something so very vulnerable that it very nearly meant the same thing to Gale. He reached up his hand and covered the one on his chest with his own, squeezing her fingers.
"You wouldn't need to chase me," he said, "because I'm already right here."
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 7:48 pm
Right here, yes, and against the wall she remembered. A convenient way to cage him in with very little effort. But it was starting to feel like there was some sort of communication error going on, because she could go at it for minutes and never reach her meaning and all he needed was a sentence or two to make himself clear in seconds, and that wasn't fair, that wasn't fair--
"And who m'I exactly, Gale?" she asked softly, sitting back to look at him and his red cheeks without a hint of a smile. Stormy looked closer to forlorn, as if expecting something to happen again and break apart what had been a touching moment. "'Cause right now m'the girl who cries and runs away instead've dealing with something, drinks when she can, drinks a whole whole lot so she doesn't remember. And I'm gonna say it again, m'gonna say Why d'you love someone like me?, and you know what? I'll never stop askin' either. And one day you'll get tired've of it, it won't have the same quirky ring anymore, no, 'cause'll be from the desperate girlfriend who doesn't understand instead, the words'll come out've the mouth that used t'touch someone else, a-and that's all you'll think about, all you can, 'cause hating him'd be easier than loving m-me."
The quiet intensity remained, but the usual free associative rant was turning feverish thanks to alcohol. Her voice kept rising and falling, unsure what frequency was best (or, more likely, Stormy just didn't bother modulating it). The hand beneath Gale's was curling into a fist at his chest, and her eyes didn't leave his.
"You have one've my secrets. Question is, what'll you do now? Will y'go report me?" she asked with a wary look. "Or . . . Will y'be a good boyfriend and spoil me with some more booze? Will you let me forget how stupid I am for a night?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 11:39 pm
His expression had softened the more she spoke, Gale's fingers curling around Stormy's gently to keep her where she was, to prevent her from moving too far away. He could feel her hand clench into a fist, but still he stayed where he was and just listened.
His heart ached, and so did his head.
"You're Stormy Ortega," said Gale quietly. "Not Ursalina, because that's a name of the past, and you are a person of the present, of the ever changing moments. You're a wordsmith, a creator of worlds and imaginer of dreams. You build things no one else can, you make something out of nothing."
He squeezed her fingers so tightly his knuckles were white, but he wanted her to understand, for Stormy to see what he saw. Leaning forward, he kissed the mouth that had kissed someone else, firm and quick before leaning back again, his forehead against hers so that they were in that special place again, with just the two of them.
"I fell in love with you because your life isn't just one world, but several. You life widely, expansively, not narrowly, not limited by the mere lines drawn in the sand by others. You make your own lines, and at the same time you still know when to move and when not to move."
He brought her fingers up to his lips again, closing his eyes against them. "No more booze," he said softly, "but I will keep your secret. And the last one is a no too, because you, my darling, are never stupid."
And maybe he was the stupid one, maybe he shouldn't spoil her as much as he did, but at the same time he was simultaneously patient and impatient, wanting everything all at once and wanting to learn for himself over the course of time. He was, for the most part, still new at this, at being a boyfriend, which meant that his reactions and emotions were going to be all over the place.
"I will stay with you for as long as you let me."
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 1:39 am
Stormy's eyes fell closed the more he went on and her head bowed slightly, either in concession of these truths or in shame of them. The kiss left her with a tiny spark, and the touch of his forehead nurtured it. "Never say never, Neverland," she murmured, though her fist began to uncurl. "But s'that what you really want? Someone who doesn't know how t'live in the real world? Sounds dangerous, s'pecially here."
But he wasn't going to turn her in. That was the important part. Muscles she hadn't known she had been tensing began to relax, and she sagged against Gale a little more and was grateful for his hold on her waist to keep her steady. Stormy exhaled slowly and sniffled. "Thanks," she said (which couldn't begin to cover what she actually meant), opening her eyes to give him a drained but grateful look that lingered longer than was meant for conversation. By the time Stormy caught herself, it had developed into something else, somewhere closer to pining or longing. And then she slipped her fingers from his lips and pressed her own to them instead, hesitant at first as if unsure of even her own decision but quickly growing in strength.
There was something there, but what were words, what was the word--
She wanted to kiss him until his head bumped against the wall and she felt it. She wanted to kiss him until the breath was sapped of her and she had nothing left to give except herself, which was already an assumption she had dangerously made. But most of all she wanted a repeat of that experience on the beach where she'd somehow, somehow done enough to make him say her name. It was always her decision, her choice, her way up until he veto'd more alcohol; it made for letting Gale have his way to be different, the good kind she liked to dip her toes in and try out just to see what happens, the boundary she wanted to test and cross.
"I said stay the night," she murmured against his lips while catching her breath, her other arm snaking around his torso. "So here we are. Ideas?" She didn't bother waiting for him to answer, instead surging forward into the kiss again in the special, intense way only the drunken or courageous could manage because it meant no inhibitions, no doubts about whether it was right or wrong, only that it felt better than good and that was the feeling that fed her addiction.
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 4:08 pm
He gave a small laugh. "'Never' is a strange word," he said and smiled as her hand began to loosen its iron fist. He tapped his fingers against the back of it and smoothed back some of Stormy's sweat dampened hair, his movements gentle and tender, his hand cupping the side of her face. For a long moment Gale just looked at her, drank in the features of her, marveled yet again at the fact that she had chosen him, that she could have dated anyone on the island, anyone at all, and that she had picked him, of all people.
And then she had leaned forward, and Gale's eyes flickered shut, his fingers curling where they lay against her cheek as he sank into the offered kiss. Her skin felt warm, almost feverish, and he slipped his hand to the back of her neck, tilting her head towards his.
The room felt warmer still, in spite of his lack of a proper wardrobe. Gale opened his mouth to answer Stormy - with some pathetic response, most likely - but she did not give him a chance to respond, at least not vocally. Instead, she kissed him again, and then again, and he had quite forgotten what it was that he had been going to say. His hands slid from her neck down her sides, resting on her hips to pull her forward in his lap, close whatever distance lay between them.
His head dropped, and he kissed her cheek, her jaw, her neck, and then her lips again, drawing her breath into his own. He breathed out a word that might have been just a sigh but that sounded as though it also could have been a name, Stormy's name, exhaled against her mouth.
"I love you," Gale whispered, and he was saying it too much, but now that he'd said it once, he wanted to keep saying it. His grip on Stormy tightened, Gale leaning back against the wall and pulling her with him. "Stormy, I love you."
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:33 pm
The room was beginning to grow hot and she could feel sweat trail down her face and neck. Or maybe those were his hands and lips moving, she was starting to have trouble telling the difference. What she did know was that one moment she was there and then the next Gale was too, and if that was the fire that was consuming her now, then so be it. Last time, they had been drowning; this time, like the brandy warming her from inside, they were burning. And what a sight it must be.
Stormy was vaguely aware she was throwing herself at him in the way generalized, desperate drunk girls did, and she was also vaguely aware that until the haze wore off she didn't care either. A short throaty chuckle left her as Gale briefly went exploring, tilting her head to encourage him. "Dios os conceda misericordia," she said as he reeled her in, beginning to grin in an impish manner, "porque no lo haré." Leaning in, she heard what sounded like her name and gave him another heated kiss just to make sure, just a little more slack on her rope to steal from him what he kept taking. "Que dios te bendiga, pero creo que me está pasando a mí también..." And that was the truly frightening part.
Her free hand slipped away from its journey around his back to touch his face. "If y'loved me, you'd get us drinks to celebrate," Stormy teased, and if the redness in her fact wasn't noticeable before, it certainly was now. Just avoid the deep, set it aside, stop worrying so much. "Then we'd find some way t'stop feeling so hot...Hah...M'hot, Gale,aren't I? You are~" Laying against him more now that he had found the wall again, she planted a lazy and lingering kiss halfway under his jawline.
"How much d'you love me?" The hand that had once curled against his chest sought to wander his torso, trailing lower. "Hmm? Enough t'stay shirtless for sure~ Doesn't sound like a bad idea..." Once again she touched their foreheads together, eyeing him with that now with slightly glazed eyes but a fully realized grin.
"Maybe y'should help me take mine off," she said in an undertone.
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