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 Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:55 pm
Ever/Ilmenite had been missing for a few Days... for his concentration, that was a marvelous thing, a restful thing, a handful of days of solid delight and no threat of alcohol soaked lieutenants with mouths like torn pockets spewing forth irritating quips and jabs.
But after a few days it became it's own form of irritation, a nettle that had gotten under his skin till he couldn't not be bothered by it, couldn't ignore that niggling stinging itch and had to seek out his somewhat catastrophic student.
He tried the Library to no avail, scoured a handful of 'bars' and interrogated a few 'residents' before liberating them of their energy. He began to suspect the worst when he finally made the last guess and headed for the small apartment that he had helped locate for Ever, he had low hopes for the use of the trac phone that he had purchased Ever after all... since Ever himself hadn't used it to try and contact him or tell him he needed assistance. That said his hopes were lower and his frustrations higher when he knocked on the thick wooden door and waited.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:36 pm
If Ever'd known who was on the other side of the door, he might well have left it unanswered: as it was, he expected it to be his new landlady coming up to fret and offer him more food and make sure he was really alright and make eyes at the mess that was his face. Because it really was a mess: bruising across both of his eyes, at least the swelling in his nose gone down and the split lip faded to an angry red line across his mouth.
He looked tired, unsmiling, leaning against the wall with an arm curled across his ribs, to just stare at Zac. Something frustrated heated an otherwise dull expression, an edge of fury sharpening eyes that otherwise might have been distant, distracted. After a moment, he closed them. "What, Zac?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:50 am
Zac arched his eyebrows, both at first and then one just quirked. "What the HELL happened to you..." he said with all the mercy of a steam roller.
While his delivery needed work, there was at least legitimate concern in his eyes, his own cheek sported a bruise of its own but it was little to nothing compared to the blackened eyes and broken nose that Ever sported.
Clearly training sessions were in immediate order... well nearly immediate.
"I came to find out what happened to you, no one should vanish for too long... it get's people -killed-, if I'd wanted you -dead- I could have done that already..." He groused narrow eyed and then demanded "Have you eaten any of the energy you've collected for that? It'll help you heal faster... you had that trac phone I gave you why the Devil didn't you text or call or something."
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:23 am
"Tony saw me like this." It was clipped, short, Ever most certainly not moving out of the way to let Zac into his apartment right now. This was, perhaps, a time when delivery mattered, his trust knocked askew and world somewhat crooked and maybe -- just maybe -- Ever was a little bit afraid, himself. He licked that split lip carefully to keep it from cracking open again, his eyes flicking over Zac's head for a moment before they returned to his face.
"I thought that we had secret identities for a reason, and if I healed up fast..." If he healed up, Tony would know something was up, at least. Ever shrugged delicately. It was decent logic.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:27 pm
"Half the city heals at an alarming rate..." Zac countered with a more even and soothing tone, perhaps he read the look in Ever's face... who could say.
"Injuries can... lead people to find you as well, or that is my suspicion." He shrugged slightly and pushed back his overlong sleeve to show a pale scar running from his knuckles over the back of his hand and still vanishing beyond he hem of the sleeve.
"Though you'd think distinctive scars would make us easier to find, whatever it is keeps people from connecting our civilian self to our uniform self will take more than bruises and healing to reveal... take some energy... you'll hurt less. I'll take you to the rest of the team to work on your dodging... when you're feeling better, if you would like."
A pause and a suspicious blink. "Are... you 'involved' with Tony?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:40 pm
The question got a twitch in reply, his jaw shifting: not the expected sense of amusement, likely, but instead a sharp edge of annoyance. Ever uncurled the one arm from around his ribs and rested his head against the doorway, biting down his first comment -- and his second -- and his third -- and
"...now is not the time to be ******** with me, Zac." Whatever the intent had been, behind that question, Ever had interpreted it his own way. It was impossible to tell if that was a 'yes' or a 'no'..."Is there a way to heal enough that it doesn't hurt, but not so much as it's suspicious?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:44 pm
"I've not yet calculated that..." he answered with a sharp eyed honesty. "I can fetch you a less potent one... or you could if you are so inclined, you can take a whole one and risk shaving days off the average bruise time... or... you can suffer, is that 'not ******** with' enough?"
He glanced Ever over and then met his eyes again. "How much worse is it than what I can see?"
He folded his arms... quiet, silently determined. He wasn't leaving, at least not soon. "... I can teleport INTO your god forsaken apartment, you can invite me in or we can continue the risk of having this conversation in your -doorway-." He added with the same measured tone he had used referring to 'calculating' injury healing rates.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:49 pm
For a long moment, Ever just stared at him -- considering, perhaps, a refusal, making Zac teleport, making a scene, something. But at the end of it, he just nudged the door the rest of the way open. Not getting out of the way, no, but there was enough room for Zac to squeeze past while Ever chewed on more words and tried to come up with an acceptable reply.
"...nose was broken, but they set it. Two cracked ribs but nothing broken there." He should have sounded more upset about it, but instead he just sounded blank, straightening slowly. "It looks worse, I guess."
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:55 pm
"Cracked and broken ribs are the bane of my existence." He replied sounding like he at least knew what that felt like. "I've not yet had a broken nose though, I'm afraid I can't sympathize with that... at least... I don't think I have..." His voice trailed off with a small frown and he shook his head.
Something had bothered him if just for a moment and been pushed away as secondary to...well, helping Ever. How one forgot if you'd ever had a broken nose though was anyone's guess.
He paused looking tense as a cat in a rocking chair factory before squeezing Past Ever as though he were on some great task for the Holy Grail, as soon as he was inside he brushed at his sleeve and leg where he had brushed against the taller young man, though the gesture seemed entirely unconscious. As soon as he seemed to catch himself doing it hands were crammed into his pockets and he cleared his throat trying to brush the embarrassing reaction under the rug.
"I'm assuming you have energy... if you show me what you have...we can pick one that is at least likely to take the edge off..." He offered carefully, his tone still blunt edged but he was fumbling with civility.
"...I may have pain killers at the Dorm...I'd have to check in the ceiling tiles...they are surprisingly close minded in their ideas of hiding places."
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:59 pm
"They gave me a handful at the clinic, but they make me feel sick." He sighed slowly, closing the door as he turned. The place he had here wasn't bad: a nice room offered up by Zac's lovely Italian friends. He hadn't done much with it, though. All of his things were still in his bag, except for a book on his bed [he'd been in the middle of reading that], a pair of shoes by the door [ready to go] and a completely ruined, blood-stained shirt and torn pair of pants on the floor.
It was a place to stay. He hadn't bothered even trying to make it feel like home.
Ever eased over to sit on the bed, fumbling and considering for a moment before shifting into uniform. He was still awkward at that, it was new, somewhat difficult. Another moment, and he poured a generous handful of energy into Zac's hands.
He didn't say anything, because Ever wasn't sure if it was a lot -- but it probably was. He was a social animal with too much time on his hands. He'd found people.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:05 pm
Zac nodded looking impressed "good job..." he said quietly and then knelt laying them carefully in a line on the floor before picking up one and eyeing it carefully before handing it back to Ever.
"Here..." He said with more confidence and volume. "This should help..."
a pause before he continued again almost contemplative and surprised. "I thought you'd be the type to enjoy pain killers." He admitted bluntly before he shifted momentarily into his own uniform and pocketed the pain killers...then let go of the uniform and looked again like the young, insecure if slightly sociopathic student he was.
"Tell me what happened." He added without missing a beat, his inflictions never changing as though there was nothing but clothing that divided the two halves of his life.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:11 pm
For a moment, Ilmenite hesitated on the bed, staring at the little energy bead -- and then, not quite sure what else to do with it, he swallowed it. It seemed logical. Pill-shaped, pill-uses, gulp it down. Hopefully that hadn't been ridiculously stupid.
Instead of answering immediately, he sat quietly and waited for it to kick in, one boot tugged up against the edge of the bed, arms around his knee, wincing as he moved. He imagined he could feel it working; some tension deep inside of him slowly relaxing, the throb of his nose fading out to an annoying but manageable buzz, swelling going down in his lip...
"...mmp. I don't...I don't know. I left work and I got jumped by a senshi. Out of uniform."
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:15 pm
"...What."
The tension in Zac's voice was like a snapping cord on a guitar, quivering at the fine moment before it lashed out to curl up with a bitter twang from having been drawn far too tight.
"... Who, what did they do...why did they do it...they didn't s...." He stopped himself from asking if they had -seen- Ever Change, if they had...well, Ever was a walking deadman if they had, a terrible liability for both sides.
"Did they say why?" He asked in calmer tones but his eyes could have burned holes in a paper...and through the desk that paper sat on.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:19 pm
Zac's line of thought followed about the same as Ever's; he looked relatively calm about it, though, quiet as he faded back into his battered army gear, his eyes still bruised but his color looking much better. Ever now looked less likely to pass out on Zac, less likely to crumple if he so much as sneezed.
"He didn't say one ******** word." It was biting, short, the words clipped. Yes, Ever had been thinking about this a lot. "Not a comment. Not a request. Not a question. Not a word."
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:35 pm
The air practically hummed between them and Zink scowled and glanced away for a moment as though he could see some line of thought in the air.
"Can you tell me what he looked like... I'd like to... make sure he gets what is coming to him." there was a knife edge to Zac's voice, he'd done revenge before, but it had most often been for him.
This though... someone had attacked HIS team, HIS recruit, it would not be tolerated.
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