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 Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:20 am
Time to sleep. Time to rest. Time to recharge after a harrowing day of stress and shock and getting injured but not really. Before flopped onto his bed, prepared to slip into dreamland the instant his face hit the pillow. Except. Except sleep seemed to have decided it didn't want to visit Before just yet. Instead, what invaded his thoughts was worry. Worry and doubt and whether or not he was cut out for this Hunter stuff and if he had the chops for it. Did he survive and pass the test because of the awesomeness of his team and groups had unintentionally seeped into him in some form of osmosis?
And now Before's head is starting to hurt xAx!!!
Maybe he should ask for advice. Maybe he should pour his heart out to someone he trusts will either pat him on the head and tell him he's overreacting or give him a swift kick in the a** and tell him to suck it up and stop being a whiny little idiot. (Basically stop being himself.) Or maybe he should distract himself from his own petty little problems and see if anyone else needs an ear to listen! Far as he was concerned, Everyone Else's Problems > His own.
Yeah, that made perfect sense to Before. And so he left his room, and randomly picked a door to knock on. Fingers crossed that it wasn't Davey because he would really rather not piss off the one-armed man who could undoubtedly still wipe the floor with him.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:09 pm
Gale had been resisting the very strong urge to throw something at the wall once they found themselves at what would become their training facility, in a series of dorm rooms in a starkly neat and tidy building. Once he had found out which room was his, Gale had all but collapsed onto his bed, pressing his face into the pillow and letting out a long, exasperated screech that was half a sigh.
"Seriously? You're seriously telling me - telling US - that that was all just...an illusion?
His own voice came back into his head; the disbelief and blank stare he had given their oh-so-delightfully-absent instructor Caelius. Not that he had had a bad time during the whole...simulation...test...thing...but it had been pretty damn painful.
And slightly disturbing. Those creatures...Gale gave a small shudder, not wanting to remember the razor sharp fangs dripping with saliva, the way his skin had felt like it was burning off of him. He pushed himself up into a sitting position on the bed, absently reaching down to rub at his ankle. It was normal, of course; no trace of the flesh eating acid that he had felt after being attacked by the...er, whatchamacallit. Creature thing.
It felt weird. Very weird. So instead of sitting in his room, Gale decided to take a walk to clear his head. He stood up, stretching out his stiff arms, and legs and padded towards the door, pushing it open.
Thwack.
It wasn't quite the sound an opening door was supposed to make. Gale blinked at the sudden stop, wondering what it had hit. As he peered around he caught a flash of familiar brown hair.
"OH JEEZ BEFORE I'M SO SORRY - "
Quickly Gale stepped out and pulled the offending door away from Before's face.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:10 am
The door moved! Yay! Oh look, it wanted to say hi. Well, Before wasn't the sort to really refuse anyone or anything but uh, wait, wait! Don't move too fa-THWACK! "OH ******** s**t WHYYYYYY?" he whined, stumbling back with a hand covering his very much smarting nose. He supposed this was one way of warding off unwanted visitors but s**t, a quick "I'm busy" or even a very pointed glare would have been enough to make Before skeedaddle xAx
Which he would have done, had he not heard Gale's voice and the subsequent apology. He risked removing his hand from his nose, letting out a faint eep at the sight of blood. First it was psychosomatic blindness and skin-rotting injuries from ******** imaginary creatures. Now it was doors that didn't know the meaning of personal space.
"Nnnnng," he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I-I'm good, I think. And hey, maybe this is just another one of those all-in-our-head injuries!" His optimism and babbling seemed to indicate he was fine. Lightly bleeding nose aside.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:07 pm
Gale heard Before let out a startled wail, and he quickly reached out, attempting to see if he'd done any significant damage. He hoped to high heavens that he hadn't broken the other's nose or anything - at least he hadn't hit him that hard -
"Oh, bloody hell, you're bleeding!"
The squawk that came from Gale was a little bit higher pitched than normal. He grabbed Before's arm, and kicked open the door to his room again, hauling the older boy in after him.
"Come on," he said, and glanced around the room before he realized that he had, er...nothing to staunch the bleeding with. No bandages, no clothes, no towels, nothing.
So he grabbed a shirt. "Er," Gale said, slightly awkwardly. "Here. Have, er...yeah, stick this against the bleeding."
He paused. Then added "So what were you doing, exactly?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:43 am
With his head tilted back and a hand still pinched at the bridge, the bleeding was starting to look not as bad as it first appeared. "Wudja loogid dat! I am!" he stated, trying to wave off the shirt Gale was offering him. "Dob worry, aboud eed," he insisted with a wet snort and quick wipe on his own sleeve. Okay that was kinda gross, Before, but hey, at least it wasn't from a popped pimple, eh? Eh? That seemed to clear his nose enough that he didn't sound like he'd had a mouth full of cotton.
"Ah, I couldn't sleep and thought maybe other people couldn't sleep too. So I figured why not offer my listening services to them! To uh, help us bond as a team. And uh, to give the non-Beta peeps a reason not to kick my a** outside of classes and, um, any upcoming tests." That latter part was muttered softly, and with embarrassment. Obviously, Before did not have that high an opinion of his performance during the evaluations.
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:01 pm
"Oh jeez - "
He'd smacked Before in the face with a door. What a great first meeting, Gale thought, mentally whacking himself upside the head as he scrabbled around uselessly. Well, sort of. Re-meeting? We already knew each other before, but those were all group meetings and training and orientation and missions and getting eaten by man eating plants and stuff. The first chance I have to prove I'm not a kid, and I end up smacking Before in the face.
"No, really, here let me help...somehow..." Gale said, feeling pathetic. "Seriously man, I'm...er, really sorry. I didn't know anyone was standing out there."
There was a pause. Gale looked at Before. "You weren't that bad," he said, trying to be encouraging. "I mean, it was our first mission, sorta. Everyone's bound to make mistakes. I know I did."
Another pause. He fidgeted a bit, twisting the shirt between his hands. "And I'm sure nobody's going to kick your a**," he added, then gestured to the chair at his desk. "Here, sit down for a few minutes. I don't want you to get dizzy or anything."
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 8:54 am
Before gave the younger Beta a reassuring smile and a double thumbs up. Although by Before's definition of reassuring, it was more of a cross between deranged and excessively happy. "Hey, it's coo~ We coo~" he insisted, "We so coo~ I'm just gonna sit down on the chair you so kindly offered 'cuz I think I'm getting frostbite!" Before was a funny guy. Usually. Unfortunately, it's never on purpose.
Still, he made good his promise to sit down both to appease Gale and a precaution. In case he got a concussion. But from a door applied to face? Seems rather extreme, isn't it? But then again this is Before. He did wince at the reminder of the trauma that was their first mission, which was all a ******** evaluation, "Thanks but I was supposed to come here to be encouraging you!" :<<<<< "So uh, anything you wanna get off your chest or something?" Oh God, please, please, please, don't let this devolve into small talk. ;A;
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 2:44 pm
Before was a strange person.
A very, very strange person.
This was mostly okay, however. Gale was slowly becoming used to the fact that pretty much everyone (himself included) on this island was at least a little bit odd in some way. He had a feeling they wouldn't even be here otherwise.
Except now Before was talking about a chair and frostbite and...yeah. Gale reached up a hand, rubbing the back of his neck, still holding his shirt useless in his hand. "Er," he said, and then crossed the room to hang it back up, since it looked like Before wasn't going to use it. Then he made his way back over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it.
"Encourage me?" Gale repeated, eyebrows drawing together in slight confusion, but Before's next question made him hesitate, biting his lower lip.
"...sort of," he said, half mumbling. It felt a little strange, talking to someone he barely knew, but at the same time, maybe it would help.
"It's the whole age thing," Gale said after a moment of wrestling internally with himself. "I'm one of the youngest here, yes, but I'm fifteen and everyone treats me like I'm six or something."
It was one of his biggest pet peeves, and the most patronizing thing that Gale felt one could offer to him. He let his shoulders rise and fall in a halfhearted shrug. "It's stupid, really."
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Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 1:30 am
Before listened intently, his face resting on his palms, elbows propped on his thighs, "Wait, you sure you're fifteen?" he asked, tilting his head as he leaned forward, ignoring how odd he must look with the blood drying on his upper lip. "And what's wrong with being taken care of? It's not like Boss-dude-Caelius is all "After, no fighting for you!" or something," he pursed his lips after making a very unconvincing mimicry of their superior officer.
"'Sides, it just means most of 'em are totes worried for you! I mean, don't you have someone you're worried about? Or did? Or, uh, I don't know! Do you get what I mean?" oAo
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:58 pm
Talking to Before was actually making Gale feel the teeniest bit better. If anything, just getting it all out and saying what was on his mind made him feel marginally more relaxed, although Before's question made him slant a bemused gaze over at him.
"Er," he said. "Yes? I turn sixteen in a few months. Why?"
Did he think I was younger or something? wondered Gale, this thought immediately followed by Oh, jeez, I certainly hope not. Not Before too.
"Nothing's wrong with being taken care of," he said, in a vaguely exasperated tone of voice. "It's just...I know how to take care of myself. I've been doing that for years."
Gale hesitated, frowning a bit at Before's last comment, which was both true and untrue. "Well, sort of," he said, shrugging. "I mean. Not all of them really care what happens to me, which is cool. Whatever they want. And I'm worried about..."
He paused. Was he worried about someone? "Well, you and Bix, I suppose," he said thoughtfully, tapping his chin. "And Boss, I guess."
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:46 am
"Ah, it's nothing, nothing!" Before tried to wave his hand in dismissal about the whole age thing. He didn't want to quite admit he suddenly caught a case of onset "OH-GOD-I-AM-SO-OLD-WRYYYY QQ" upon confirming his friend and team mate's youth. "You've been taking care of yourself by yourself?! FOR YEARS?!?!?!" he gasped in exaggerated (but still very genuine) dismay O___________O?!?!! "W-were you, like, a latchkey kid? O-or something?" He doubted After would know what exactly he meant by latchkey. Good job, Before, way to go and show how OOOOOLD you are :<<<<<<<<
At learning the younger Hunter was worried for him, "Really? Awwwwwww!!!! That's so awesome of you!!!!" he squeaked. Before couldn't help himself but throw his arms wide open in an attempt to give Gale a Before-Bearhug-Special ;0;!!!!
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:37 pm
He gave Before a suspicious look, but didn't press it. Instead, Gale resisted the urge to put a hand to his face in exasperation, shaking his head a bit.
"...a 'latchkey' kid?" he repeated, looking at the older boy with an expression of complete astonishment, as if he could not quite believe that there was someone who still used a phrase so ancient as that one. Gale did not even really know what it meant; something about being on his own was his best guess.
He shrugged. "I mean, I've lived with my uncle since I was eleven, but he's never around and so I learned to fend for mys - auuuggghhhh what - ?!"
Before was hugging him. Hugging him. Gale squirmed, his face turning red with embarrassment as he tried to wriggle away.
"Oh jeez, what are you dooooiinggg - ?!"
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:56 pm
Before went stock still. W-what? Why was Gale asking him what he was doing. O.O Hands moved to rest on the younger trainee's shoulders, holding him at arm's length as teal eyes just stared. "Y-you don't know what a h-hug is?!" ;A; He stared for a few more moments before Before went and pulled Gale into yet another bear-hug. "You poor, poor, poor thing! Don't worry! I'm totes here for you! FOREVER!!!! You, me, Bix, we can all be Bros!"
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 10:40 pm
Gale decided something right then and there:
Before was completely and utterly bonkers.
"OH HOLY JEEZ WHAT THE DEVIL ARE YOU DOING?!"
It took a great deal of prying, squirming, pushing, squawking, and shoving for Gale to manage to finally wriggle free, away from Before's backbreaking bear hugs. His face was red with embarrassment, Gale resisting the urge to throw a pillow at the other's head.
"I know what a hug is," he said. "I meant why were you giving me one?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:29 am
Before reluctantly released Gale from the bone-crushing hug ;n; "Don't bros give each other hugs? O-or was it a slap on the a**?" he blinked, visibly uncertain which was the appropriate gesture needed in this particular situation. >.>a "Or did your generation have, iunno, a different sort'v thing? Brofist maybe?"
Before is grasping at straws at this point. Have mercy on him, Gale :<
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