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((OoC: This was started on Google Wave before Tartaros, but finished during it. We've decided to post it up and stuff. We kinda seem to favor Wave for rpging IDK))

Not everything had gone as planned, granted, but then again, when did it ever? In Creighton's knowledge, s**t scarcely went like he planned it to, and, and fate usually liked to ******** with him, so he was pretty used to it by know. He'd come to the determination that there was probably a God out there, and that He really enjoyed irony, not to mention karma, or something. He wasn't sure.

At any rate, while it was true they had not nailed the senshi they'd fought, they'd come close, and they'd managed to keep the starseeds they'd stolen anyways, which was always a plus. Had it not been for the fact they'd been so absorbed in the fight that they hadn't sensed the senshi's approaching backup, they'd had their hands around a warm little senshi star seed. Amara had gone as far as introducing her hand into the their victim's chest, and had they been more alert, they might've been able to evade the backup's paralyzing attack. Creighton blamed himself for it; damn, he should have been looking somewhere else not two girl, even if he HAD been restraining the senshi at the time.

As it was though, they hadn't, and they'd had victory swiped out from under their noses. He was actually dealing with it a whole lot better than his companion probably was; as far as he was concerned, sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose some. Besides, he was pretty much considering this a win anyhow. I'd gone a whole lot better than his fight with Iris and that tail-less little guardian cat, and the only real injury he'd sustained during the scuffle was a broken lip. The only annoying bit was that blood kept threatening to drip and he had to either lick it away or brush it away with a fist. At any rate, they'd left the senshi worse off than she'd left then, that was for sure.

They were now, however, powered down, walking the streets back to their respective apartments; they'd figured that their nega forms might attract attention and they really weren't up for another match this soon, "Well," he finally broke the silence as he tossed one of the three star seeds they'd gather, up in the air, and then caught it, pocketing it, "Could've been a helluva lot worse."

He didn't quite understand what her problem was (well, in a way, he did, but it was just hard for him to assimilate and feel entirely emphatic over the situation). As far as Creighton was concerned, it'd been a definitive win for them; the senshi had pretty much run with their tails tucked between their legs. That aside, it'd been one hell of a fight, and that alone made up for the slightly upsetting results in his mind. Not that he was planning on telling her that, since it was pretty obvious the whole ordeal had gotten to her and for once... he was trying pretty hard to not stick his foot in his mouth.

A shrug was offered in response to her next words, "S'all good talking about it. But in practice, it's pretty damned hard to not focus on the fight at hand. Rush of the fight and all that s**t," it was mildly crude and not exactly the most comforting words in the universe, but he deserved points for at least trying. He watched her out of the corner of an eye as she continued to talk, complimenting him, but he chose not to answer for a very long time. In all honesty, he wasn't entirely used to this and he was unsure how to deal with it. He wasn't exactly used to praise; not in school, and sure as hell not outside it, "Eh," he said after a while, "We did well," he'd been a loner, for the most part. He had a team, but he'd never teamed up with any of it's members before (even if Rohan had insisted on it several times - something about how they were at a clear disadvantage if they worked alone). Creighton was used to doing things his way, which usually conflicted with teamwork. He liked to punch his way through obstacles, and not everyone liked that. Rohan sure didn't.

It'd been a surprise for him that they'd worked well as a team, but at the same time, not exactly an unwelcome one. He could work with that; it might've been the fact he was rather adaptable and didn't particularly mind the fact she seemed intent on playing leader. As far as he was concerned, so long it worked, there was no real problem to address, "I don't usually work well with others either. Something about my being unpredictable," a pause, followed by a shrug, "Eh, it works. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ain't gonna question it," they were different, granted, but something told him it was those differences that made them more dynamic and able to work together.

Rock on. He was cool with that.

"So," he decided to veer out of the current conversation, if only because for some inexplicable reason, it was making him feel awkward and that wasn't a feeling he was actually used to, "That earlier invitation. Is it still up for the taking?" because he was still honestly interested in it.

They had done good. There was not a soul on earth (or otherwise) that could negate that, and anyone that tried would've been punched in the face for their efforts, as far as Creighton was concerned. They were both at a physical disadvantage, one of them with a broken arm the other with a sprained (he wasn't entirely sure, but he'd decided not to ask) ankle, and yet they'd given that senshi a run for her money and had gotten three starseeds out of it. Yeah, he could live with that.

He was more focused on the fact her words implied she was no longer agreviated over the idea of working with him, and was, in fact, actually hinting at the possibility of teaming up in the future some more. In all honesty, he wasn't exactly used to having people want him around, and that was enough to pretty much throw him for a loop. As she spoke, he wrinkled his nose, as if he'd just eaten something particularly foul tasting, making a low, unhappy sound in the back of his throat, "Ehhhh... You know what they say. Two's company; three's a crowd," he wasn't even talking on a personal basis. He was talking more about the effects it'd have in a fight. He had a hard time reading people, and thus had, in turn, a really hard time figuring out what they wanted, or needed him to do in a fight. It was a pleasant surprise to find someone he could instinctively work with, and he very much doubted adding a third person to the equation would work really well. If keeping up with a single person was hard, keeping up with two different teammates seemed downright impossible for him.

A snort was released then, "Apparently the guy's smarter than I thought," the words were followed by a shrug as she entered more familiar, less awkward territory for him, "I wouldn't mind threesomes. Just... not in my battles, thank you," he'd had no problem with her taking the lead; if he could work with her, it didn't quite matter to him if she felt the need to take it. So long the results were optimal and he could work with it, he was fine. Perhaps it was due to the fact they were on equal footing that he was fine with it, or perhaps it was something else. Whatever the reason, he wasn't about ready to analyze it. Thinking was for people like Rohan, not him.

It was the petname that caught his attention, his head turning to he could look at her fully, instead of out the corner of an eye, "That is so not fair of her. I wouldn't have minded her watching," a pause as he turned to look in front of them, "I'm going to have to drop in one day anyhow. I kinna want to meet the girl," and by 'meet', he sort of meant 'tease' her, but still, "I don't think my dorm is a good idea either. Also, it doesn't have a kitten," he managed to frown at that, "Rain check then?"

"For fights? ******** yeah it's a crowd," he snorted a bit, then continued, "I don't really work well with people because apparently.... I'm a bit unpredictable - Man I don't know where people get that from. When there's a target, you attack; I don't get what the big fuss is," he waved his healthy hand, as if to dismiss the idea, "Anyways, when there's three people trying to work together, there's way more chance of s**t going down wrong, from what I've seen," again, as far as he was concerned.... if it ain't broke, don't bother trying to fix it. It would've worked a lot better if both of them had been perfectly healthy, and he was finding himself eager to give it a shot in the future.

He just... had to let his arm heal. Which was becoming quite a task, because he was apparently unable to sit still for longer than five minutes straight, and unfortunately for him, when he was moving, nine times out of ten, he was doing something potentially hazardous for his health, "Ahh... that's embarrassing. You've apparently got more experience than I do," in his (weak, weak) defense, girls usually did one of two around him; They either a) disliked him from the get go and ignored him or b) ran for the hills, never glancing back. It wasn't particularly productive for gaining experience of any sort.

"This chick out on the streets once told me to 'be nice', if I wanted to score," he turned his head to look at her out the corner of an eye, "I told her that was a lie. I dunno; I always thought it totally defeated the purpose, to act like something or someone you're not," it was actually, in a way, rather uncharacteristically insightful of him and he tried to shrug his own comment off, "I prefer brutal honesty."

A pause followed as she mentioned Rohan, and he couldn't help but snort, "He was probably trying to dump me on the first person he could find. He doesn't appreciate my approach on battles much. The guy's a sniper or something. He's all about about studying the target. I mess s**t up when I'm with him. He's too slow. Talks too much," he'd never fought with Serah or Sass, but wasn't particularly looking forwards to it. Serah sometimes (more often than not) made him want to bash his head on a wall, and while he had nothing against Sass something had told him it would have never worked, from the get go - she would've done a lot better with Rohan than with him, "Awww, I was more expecting another chick over another dude," he made a mild face, quite honestly, if Amara had offered the chance, he probably would have taken it; there was nothing wrong with a little experimenting. He was, however, still looking at her out the corner of an eye, this time looking mildly thoughtful, for whatever reason, which was also rather uncharacteristic of him.

"If there's no need for the rain check, I'd take it. I like your cat. I also like you," there was absolutely no hesitation in the words, "Dunno Khalla, but if she's there, and we don't plan on doing anything that would make her feel uncomfortable I don't think she has any say in it. I don't think she has much say in where we decide to play with a kitten. It's a pretty innocent thing. And my arm's still busted anyhow," which... sort of rendered him harmless? More or less? At least people thought so anyhow.

He didn't answer her, but his grin, which came as soon as she spoke, voiced the fact he rather agreed with her terminology. If anything, it was putting words to his earlier thoughts, and it was clear he was amused, "Sometimes it's interesting, but... in fights," a pause, "These types of fights anyhow," he wasn't talking about the stupid back alley ones where, you know, the world's order wasn't at stake, "It's not a really good idea, no. I agree. If it weren't because the other side apparently likes to work in ******** teams, we've probably not be teaming up," so in a way, he guessed he'd have to send the senshi a silent thanks, for the time being. Oh, the irony, it burned.

His head turned to face her, his brows shooting up for a moment as he regarded her in silence. Then the grin back back and he chuckled; he couldn't help himself; it was just that funny. He'd thought about what Amara was saying, but he wasn't stupid enough to voice such thoughts; he liked his life, thank you very much, even if he didn't quite think a stuffed bunny to be particularly threatening... there were always higher ups, and in an organization like the negaverse, it was just better to keep your mouth shut. Even Creighton was smart enough to know that being a 'rebel' within such a tight wound group was a bad idea. He'd just never thought Amara, of all people, to express such thoughts and ideas; he'd tagged her up as the type that respected authority. But then again... Serah was asking for it, what with the name she'd given her team, and the pins. God, the stupid, ******** bunny pins, "Ohhhh boy, so I guess world traveled about that? You get the Hunny Bunny bit?" a pause, "Wait, you probably don't even know about the bunny pin business, do you?" he held up a finger, as if to tell her to wait a second, and then dug around in the pocket of his uniform.

After a few moments of searching, the boy produced a bunny shaped pin, which he dropped in Amara's grasp, "She wants us to wear this. On missions. I kinda refused. She'd have to tie me down first. But I still have it," he shrugged slightly, almost as if to say just in case, "The girl's strange. I mean, she's nice. She's just... naive. Thinks her bunny fetish is 'bunny love', but can't entirely dis her," he shrugged, "I like her. Just not as a Captain. She made a wrong call, and I got my arm busted for it, just 'cause she wouldn't take my word," yes, he was still mildly bitter over that, even if she HAD saved him later and treated him to candy. He still had a busted arm, "She'll get better," probably. It was as much of a defense as he was going to put up in her favor; he was, after all, almost like the 'team rebel'... or as much as one as he could afford to be. In his defense, he didn't quite think that refusing to wear a pin and warning people that if they called him 'hunny bunny, he'd punch them in the face was being too much of a Rebel. Seemed like common sense to him.

He watched Amara as she snapped, still looking mildly amused, "I know right! That's what I said. Much rather someone like me for me, than for the show I'm putting up," he'd taken hold of the pin again and had pocketed it, still thinking it was for his own good to keep it, just in case, really, "A girl after my own heart. Seemed rather ridiculous to me at the time," a shrug, which he stopped short as she continued, "That sounds kinky," he informed her, for some odd, inexplicable reason, perfectly comfortably with the territory. It was almost like they were talking about the weather, and he was perfectly fine with that; he'd gone so long without some sort of companion or friend that could actually retaliate in kind. It was, quite honestly, refreshing.

"That's okay. Why make things complicated. There's totally no need for a threesome. Something tells me it'd scandalize your roommate further anyhow," lord knew he didn't want to do that. Yet anyhow, "And that's cool. I would be worried if everyone liked me anyhow. This is much better," a pause as she mentioned her cat, followed by another grin, "I really like your cat," then again, Amara could have asked if there wasn't a creature that he didn't like, specially of the fuzzy cute variety, and Creighton would have told her that no, there probably wasn't. He would have hugged a hedgehog, if it hadn't been horribly hazardous for his health. Still might've even despite that.

Well, if that was what she wanted, then he was more than happy to comply. So thus, at her words, he gave her another mild shrug of his shoulders, as if to say that sure, he had no problem with that; it was true that the job was over, and that that meant they could now relax. It was just that... in all honesty, he'd never really had much of a 'relax time' with another person. What appealed to him didn't usually appeal to teenage girls (though he had no idea why - man, slasher movie marathoons would make a great first date experience, with plenty of laughter potential, as far as he was concerned), "Think it's too late to have a Karaoke session?" he would go for that, actually, "Or a movie," because movie had... added bonus of it being dark, which might lead to other things. Yeah, movie sounded like a good ******** curfew. He'd sneak back to his dorm somehow or other. It wasn't like this was the first time he'd stayed out, though in the other occasions, it had been more to do with his job as a lieutenant than anything else. He gave her a pointed, almost suffering look as she called him by his team name, "That stupid name. I'd understand if she'd gone for like, Ferocious tigers or something, but noooo.... of course not. That would've made sense, "Are you going to keep calling me that? Because that's totally unfair; I can't keep my promise of punching the next person that calls me that in the face if it's you," despite the words, he actually didn't sound offended (he should have, maybe, but he didn't). In fact, for some unholy reason, he was still amused; he was finding himself way too amused for his own good, and that was probably bad, because it meant he was getting attached. He knew how dangerous it was to get attached to people, and here he was, perfectly content to do so.

This was going to come back and bite him in the a**, he knew, and yet right now, he couldn't quite be bothered to give a damn.

"It's a freakin' pin. I don't get it either," he stopped short, almost pausing his steps as he looked up at her, his face absolutely horrified by her request, "Are you kidding?!" apparently not, because she said the magic word, and all his reasons for not wearing the stupid thing seemed to shatter. Huh, Serah should take a lesson from Amara; the later was much more convincing than the former, "Okay, okay, fine! Geez!" he fumbled with his uniform and placed the pin on it, staring down at it with a mix of confusion and embarrassment, "It looks absolutely stupid. Why the hell would you even want me to wear it?" still not offended, still amused... still not sure as to why this was so. Turning his head, he gave her a look that clearly voiced his thoughts, "Adorable? Not the word I was thinking of. Probably not the best word to describe me," maybe the girl was insane? It'd explain a hell of lot, actually. Not that he minded.

The slip up was noticed, but Creighton chose not to comment on it. His gaze was on her, regarding her seriously for moment, but soon enough decided it was for the best to not touch on that; he'd give her some slack by leaving that alone. For now, "I wonder if Khalla and Rohan play teacher, student s**t," he paused as if to consider the possibility and then snorted, "Huh. He doesn't strike me as the kind," after another moment, he turned to watch the girl by his side, "Tell truth, I'm not that good at sharing either. Forget the third party," just him and her all the way, baby. That was cool with him. A pause followed his words and he turned to look down the street, "I dunno if that's a good idea. Where would you keep me? Plus, I don't think your room mate would like that. Not to mention the guys that own the dorm rooms. Something tells me there'd be more than a bit of protest. Besides, I'm not that little and difficult to hide."

Her next words caught him by surprise however, "You want me to take you to the prom?" well, that was a first, "I... really?" he wasn't sure why the flirting was a-okay in his mind and yet this seemed entirely different. After a few moments, he finally kicked his mind of second gear and smirked at her, "Sure. I'd love that. But if you don't mind me asking, who the hell was stupid enough to .. .vanish on you anyhow?" not that he minded; the dude was giving him a golden opportunity. However, if he saw the dude, he might have to smash a football in his face for being such a dumbass. And then thank him. In that order.

To say that he was amused, no longer seemed to cover the range of the emotion; amusement was watching someone run themselves into a wall. This was on an entirely different level now, "Oh?" he arched a brow at her, "So karaoke's not out then?" For some reason, he'd always wanted to have a chance to sing stupid, obnoxious, loud songs with someone. Preferably a girl. The more obnoxious, loud and immature, the better, "You can always ask her to referee. It would be a good match."

He almost stopped mid stride, "Wait, you have cable?" a pause followed as he attempted to digest that information, "How the ******** you get that?" he didn't even have a stupid tv, back in the Hillworth dorm. Granted, he made up for it by having a nice, extensive collection of DVDs and a portable dvd player, which he would have offered up, but man... cable seemed like a much better deal, "That always works. Most the good s**t runs late anyhow. Bet'cha we can find something that's watchable - even the bad s**t's fun to watch when you can make fun of it," in fact, he did just that quite often; or had back when he'd been home anyhow. His room mate was a bit of a stick in the mud.

Creighton was, for all effect, now openly trying to ignore the stupid bunny pin he was still wearing, as if by ignoring it, it'd perhaps vanish, "Eh, that's a close call. Can do both," it was only after he'd spoken that potentially doing both meant he'd have to spend a whole hell of a long time in that apartment, and while he really usually wasn't all that fussed about overstaying his welcome anywhere, he was mildly self conscious for some reason, "Oh the cable's cool," a shrug, "Don't have a TV back at my dorm. I usually have to make due with a little, stupid portable DVD player. I do have a lot of s**t we can watch though, so maybe next time," because there would be next time (yes, he was still amazed at this, but he was getting over it).

His gaze was redirected back down to the bunny pin, and he shot it a dark glare, "It's so stupid. I don't see what good it'd do me in battle, except maybe make my opponent piss themselves with laughter, " stupid, stupid thing that it was. Ridiculous; he still had no idea what it was meant to achieve, anyhow, aside from making him look non-threatening. He turned to give her a suffering look again, "And people wonder why I'm upset; my mission sucks, and the s**t I'm meant to wear on it also sucks," he drew a line at actually complaining about a higher up. Make fun of her in his head? Sure. Implying it without actually saying it? Also cool, but he wasn't stupid, and he was pretty sure, given their time spent together, that the girl beside him also wasn't stupid, "You better because--"

He was effectively silenced (not to mention thrown for a loop) when the girl swooped her head down and pecked him on the lips. There had been a lot of things he had been expecting from the evening as a whole, seeing as it was only getting better and better, but for some reason, a free kiss (as innocent as it'd been), had not really even made the top thirty on his list. He blinked once, twice as the girl retreated back away from him and continued walking and talking as if nothing had happened, leaving him to wonder how to drag his mind out of second gear, "Uhm," he licked his lips, as if the motion would somehow allow him to shift gears. He wasn't really hearing her at that point; something about Khalla, Rohan and a dress.

Backtracking, he attempted to piece together what bits and pieces of the conversation he'd managed to gather (sorry, he was still very much concerned with with 'did she just kiss me?' and 'that was a lot better than I had imagined it' and 'what exactly do I have to do to get a repeat?' bit of the ordeal to concentrate on other things). After piecing it all together, he looked at her and told her the first thing that went through his mind, "You can dress me up however you want," she could have told him to wear a ballroom dress and he probably would've asked her what color, when and where, at least at that moment in time.

The boy blinked out of whatever daze had consumed him and came back down to earth with a shake of his head, his gaze falling back down on the pin. Funny; he no longer hated it half as much as moments prior, "Not like I was planning on doing much that day," a shrug, "I don't graduate till next year," which meant he was a whole year younger than she was, "I dunno. What if i kept you instead?" ******** that other boy - he wasn't even going to make a wise crack about it. That could wait.

Technically, he'd been too surprised to actually enjoy the kiss while it'd lasted (it hadn't helped that it'd been a brief peck), but that didn't mean he wasn't enjoying the aftermath. Or trying to anyhow, seeing as he was still caught up in the whole 'Is this really happening?' factor of the whole ordeal, "Up for both," 'and more', came the unspoken words, which while not voiced, were still probably obvious to her. He was just currently trying to figure how to bypass the curfew, having finally managed to drag himself entirely out of second gear. At least, till she spoke again; his gaze, which had been focused on the road they were following, fell on her, albeit slowly, and to his credit, he actually looked confused, as if not entirely sure had heard her correctly.

But then... she was looking at him, and Creighton had absolutely no idea how to answer her. For all he liked to think big about himself, these were deep waters he'd suddenly been thrown into, and he'd not even tested the shallow ones yet. He felt like he'd been tossed out in the middle of open, shark infested waters without a lifesaver, and yet all he could think about that hell yeah, he was willing to give this a try, "If you want it to be," he told her, "Though you're gonna to have to bear with me here. These are deep waters, so I'm gonna mess up," there was no 'if' about that, no 'maybe'. He was going to mess up sooner or later; it was a given, as far as he was concerned. He was adaptable, sure, but there was going to have to be a learning curve, or... something, "And yeah, I'll bet you wanted the cable bad," something about the way he said it made it sound like he wasn't really refering to the cable though.

And just as he was almost entirely sure he was once again on top of the situation, having it all under control... she reached out and tugged a bit on his hair. Blinking in mild confusion, he'd turned towards her again, and was promptly rewarded with a kiss. Before he could even make heads or tails of the situation, she kissed him yet another time and then pulled away, leaving him feeling strangely dazed. She was going to have to stop doing that, or he was going to walk straight into a lamp post; in fact, when the girl bolted from him, the boy had to pretty much side step a lamp post rather ungracefully in order to avoid colliding with it. There had also been something decisively not innocent about her later comment, but he decided to ignore that in favor of regaining his bearing, "You," he told her, well aware that he'd actually voiced this opinion earlier that afternoon, "Are a tease."

His head tilted to one side as he listened to her; she wanted to study cuisine? There was something definitively awesome about that, and he couldn't quite his finger on why, "Will it be sweet?" he was in fact, being deadly serious and utterly innocent. He'd apparently revealed (unknowingly - he wasn't sure if she'd caught on yet) that he loved sweet things, which was part of the reason he really liked Halloween. Horror, carving pumpkins and candy in one day, all rolled into one? ******** yeah, "As in... like desserts and s**t?" he hurried to catch up, and in all honesty, all that remained was for his eyes to practically sparkle at the idea of sweet food, "I don't like bitter, but anything else is fair game."

In all honesty, he hadn't quite been expecting her to answer him, so that came as a (pleasant) surprise, "I might just have to," he watched her and swiftly decided that he appreciated the role reversal. It was about time she got flustered; turn about was fair play, "Yeah, no. Hillworth ain't all that good with freedom. I'm sure I can get around the curfew. This is worth any punishment they might be able to devise anyhow," a pause, and he raised a finger in the air, as if to tell her to hold up a second, much like when he'd pulled out the bunny pin. Instead of sinking his hand into his pocket however, he fumbled clumsily with his right ear until he managed to take one of the stud earrings he wore and after a moment, he stretched his hand and offered it to her. He had absolutely no idea what the ******** he was doing, but it felt right, so he was going with it.