[R] I'm Almost Healed [Nate x Castille]

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

Castille had spent a couple days in the hospital, slowly losing her mind to boredom. There was only so much bed rest she could take! Luckily, her slightly accelerated rate of healing meant that by day three, the doctor had given her a "well enough" to go home. So her parents took her back, and refused to let her leave the house alone for the rest of the week. If she wanted to go anywhere, her parents or a friend they knew were to be nearby.

That didn't include the still suspicious guy who brought her into the hospital in the first place. Castille's father wanted to delve deeper, but with only a first name to go by, he wouldn't be able to do much on a background check. Until that changed, Castille wasn't to be with him alone.

So she promptly lied and told them she was going to hang out with her friends from volleyball. As she left the house, she called them, begging them to play along should her father or mother call and ask. They had far too many questions to ask, so she hung up and shot a text to Nate asking what he was doing. She hopped on a bus and made for the city proper, buying a hot chocolate to stave off the chill of November. She still had a bruise along her jaw, though it was less yellow and more blue. And the scrapes on her knees were mostly healed, though hidden by jeans at this time. There were a couple fresh bruises to go along with her old ones. Another run in with Leto the night before meant they both looked a little haggard.

She waited by the fountain, sipping her cocoa.  

[Lithiasaur]

Nathan Darrow had his reasons for being the jerk he was. He didn't have to explain them to any one and if he always did what he wanted, why he wanted, when he wanted, he was perfectly happy. So he had been nice and gotten her to the hospital? That didn't mean he wanted a bunch of people, like the hospital staff, asking him stupid questions like 'what happened' or 'how did you find her' and all that. He had gotten out of there as fast as possible, after dropping Grus off.

Castille. At least he had gotten some information worth the whole ordeal. Of course, he had given her his identity, too. Because he was an idiot, he imagined, and it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

When he got her text he was surprised, and something in him wanted to go and see her, see how she was. He was not worried, of course. Never worried.

He arrived looking suave, as he felt he always did, leaning on his father's stolen cane. Like the poor librarian's life wasn't hard enough, he often had to deal with his son taking his cane unless he managed to leave the house before Nate woke up. Usually it worked. Today it hadn't. He saw her at the fountain, walking toward her.

"Not getting your butt kicked today?" He asked, feigning disappointment.  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

Castille looked up at his voice and her smile was momentarily confused when she saw the cane. Had he gotten hurt? Then she remembered that his father, the librarian, had a cane. Oh for....

"Did you steal that from your dad?" She asked, shaking her head. This kid was impossible. But she was glad that he was ok, and that he bothered to show up. Something told her that Nate didn't really like admitting he had friends. Or be normal.

"No I'm not getting 'mugged' anymore." She said, using air quotes around her words. That was the story she told the police. It was better than 'Oh I was fighting someone with magic when a mirror wraith flew out and stole my energy.' Then she would have been in a mental hospital instead of a regular one.

"How are you doing?"  

[Lithiasaur]

"Maybe," he said, with a shrug. He leaned on it with both hands, tilting his head to the side. He grinned at her, a sideways expression made even more cockeyed by his posture. He imagined that just made it better.

He grunted at her question.

How was he? He couldn't complain, he supposed, but he would anyway.

"My dad got back from whatever trip he's been on, and he's acting stupidly clingy and crazy and I dunno. Just gotta stay away from the house when he's there," he shrugged. That whole parental affection thing was tripping him out. Since when did Tony actually care about him?

Of course, his father loved him. Nate just wouldn't admit it.

"What are you doing? You look better than the last time I saw you, at least." it almost sounded like he cared, but fell just short enough for him to be okay with asking.  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

Castille sighed, shaking her head again. She supposed that she should be a little concerned, but the sideways grin made her laugh instead. Dang kid. Sounded like he was having issues with his dad.

"Well maybe something happened to your dad on his trip that scared him." She said, taking another drink of cocoa. The warmth flooded her insides and she shivered. "I know when my dad almost died he really wanted to just stay with his family for a while. Called out of work and everything." She remembered the night he came home, and sat on her bed. She was 11, and when she woke up and asked him what was wrong, he broke down. That was the first time she remembered seeing her dad cry.

"I bet if you asked him, he'd tell you whats up."

She grinned, feeling the bruise on her jaw stretch. "I feel a lot better than last time you saw me. All it took was a good nights sleep and an accelerated healing from being you know, magic and all. Now I'm just escaping from my house. My family has been keeping a close eye on me too, ever since that night. Had to toss a little white lie out there just to leave the house today"

Castille scooted closer to him and dropped her voice. There were so many questions that she had for him, but most of them she was going to keep quiet. She started out with "How long have you been...upgraded?"  

[Lithiasaur]

Nate shrugged. It did make him wonder, as he wasn't completely stupid. Not completely. It did occur to him that Tony was gone roughly the same period of time most of the civilians were missing, and some of his senshi buddies were up in space. But Nate also knew any powered folks were around his age, or bad guys, so it didn't occur to him fully that his dad might be involved.

He imagined, instead, that Tony had been off trying to help the senshi he treated like his kids, leaving his real kid alone to get up to whatever trouble he wanted. Figured.

Not that Nate was bitter.

He listened to Castille and grunted, shrugging his shoulders with all the teenage angst of a vampire novel.

"Well, maybe. He hasn't said anything about almost dying. He's just been weird. I don't know what he's been doing. I don't really care," he said dismissively, looking at her. He was at least glad to hear she was feeling better.

At her question he glanced around, then shrugged again. It was a wonder his arms weren't falling off at the shoulders now.

"A while now, I guess. Pretty awesome, right?" He grinned.  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

It was Castille's turn to crack a grin, one that spread from ear to ear. "It's awesome." She said "Completely and totally awesome."

She was really excited that Nate turned out to be a good guy. Ever since she had become a white moon senshi, she wondered about the people around her. Was that girl that offered her a pencil in Math really a negaverse agent by night? Or perhaps was she someone who donned a fuku and fought for good? Nate was one that confused her. While he acted like a delinquent, Castille didn't think that he was bad enough to really harm other people. There was something about him that seemed...good.

"It's been almost a year for me." She said, setting down her empty cup at her feet and laying down onto the edge of the fountain. She faced the opposite way, so that she was looking up at Nate. He was upside down to her. An idea popped into her head.

"So you really are more dangerous than I thought." She said with amusement, recalling when they first met. She still didn't really believe that Nate or Chaonis would hurt her, but it was a little strange to think of him as the same guy that punched out Leto for her. Then she paused, closing her eyed for a moment while the headrush she knew was coming made her head feel all funny.

"So I asked you to come here so I could thank you." Castille figured he'd ask why he was here eventually. "I mean, she was talking about forcing Chaos. Who knows? I might be corrupted right now if it weren't for you."  

[Lithiasaur]

In a way, it was cool to learn someone he knew in his civilian life also shared a senshi connection. it had happened before, and would happen again he was sure, but still. Now that he knew, it seemed so obvious and he wondered how he hadn't noticed before. That feeling didn't bother him, though: he liked it.

Anyway, he was an eternal senshi, which he could brag about handily twice over now, not to mention that he had saved her butt and would hold that over her for as long as he possibly could.

He understood that he was not the typical form for a senshi, in his civilian life or in the way he conducted himself while on patrol and with other senshi. He did his job, but he did it with just enough rebellion to keep it fun for himself, and aggravate everyone else around him.

Looking down at her, he tilted his head to the side.

"You're right," he said, looking thoughtful, tapping his chin, "you do owe me for that one. I saved you from having to get your butt kicked by me later." He grinned at her, though realized that the idea of someone turning one of the senshi he knew, called himself friends with, into one of those mindless drones deeply bothered him. "That's gonna be quite the debt to repay."  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

She wrinkled her nose and made a face of disgust, but it was a fake. If she owed him, that meant they would have to hang out more until that debt was repaid. Castille didn't mind that one bit. He was fun to be around, an interesting twist to what she was normally surrounded by.

Now that she thought about Nate as Chaonis, she thought about when they had interacted as senshi. How did she not know it was him? Using his power to break into a store and steal things seemed just something that Nate would do.

Her eyes momentarily widened when that memory hit her. Oh no....

She sighed dramatically, feeling her face warm besides the chill. He didn't remember that did he? Maybe it was the magic that made her bolder, but now that she knew he was aware of her as a powerless civilian, she was embarassed. Play it off. Pretend you don't remember, you know, kissing him on the cheek and calling him cute. Also forcibly push away thoughts that were coming up and poking her in the brain again.

Rolling her eyes, she said "Alright, what do I have to do to repay this debt? I'm not as strong as you, so saving your butt from a fight isn't gonna happen anytime soon."  

[Lithiasaur]

Nate liked to remember things that he could use against people later. At the moment, he was focused on her needing his help with that dark senshi. Though, he actually didn't think it was all that funny, and wanted to find that chick again to give her a proper beating. No one hurt his friends, his comrades and those he trained or helped or annoyed, and got away with it. At least, he would make sure he did everything possible to make that statement true.

Those mirror jumpers would figure that out the hard way. He had been hearing more and more about them, and remembered their leader from an encounter a long time ago. She had been mostly normal then, and he wondered what had happened to her to mess her up so badly. Not that he cared. He just hated the idea that senshi he knew could end up so wrong.

He wouldn't let that happen to Grus.

Still, he hadn't forgotten she thought he was cute.

"Like I would need you to save my butt," he snorted with pointed derision that was only mostly feigned. He was cocky enough to think that he never needed to be saved, even when he did. "I don't know. I'll have to think about it. Until then, I'll settle for you being my servant. A life debt is a big debt, you know. Gonna take a while to repay it, either way."

He grinned at her coyly.

"We are going to have to work on you not getting your feathers handed to you, though, you know. That'll just be one more thing you owe me, of course, but since you're in desperate need of someone to help you out..."  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

Castille made a face, rolling off of the fountain edge with a push from one arm. She stood, dusting off the back of he coat and readjusting it while the head rush faded away to tiny spots on her vision. She blew a piece of hair out of her face, looked up at Nate with a grin to mirror his and said "Servant? Now I agree that a life debt is a big deal, but isn't a servant sentence a bit cliched? I mean, your a smart kid, you gotta be more creative than that! Besides, you've seen the tv shows. The life of servitude debt never works out the way they want it to."

She did acknowledge that he saved her life, probably more than once with the little bit of training so far. She shared in his hatred of mirror senshi. And she didn't understand why they chose the path that they did. But as far as she was concerned, they chose the wrong side, and that made them enemies just like the corrupted ones.

Her hands went to her hips when he mentioned her fighting skills.That was a low blow! She felt like she was getting better. The girl certainly didn't enjoying fighting, and probably never would. She narrowed her eyes, though mostly for show. "Hey, I'm doing a lot better now!" She protested, leaning forward slightly. "At least I don't throw up anymore. And if saving your life is going to repay the debt, I'm never gonna be able to pay you back!" Her expression softened and she smiled. "Your too strong for lil' old me to come and rescue."  

[Lithiasaur]

"Oh, I didn't realize I had to avoid being cliche when asking for whatever I wanted in return for saving you life," he said, tilting his head. "Any other stipulations you want to put on it? I should really know for next time, you know, when I inevitably do it again."

He grinned at her at that, though he was trying to look serious and pointed. He shook his head, though, huffing as he crossed his hands over his chest.

"Anyway, it's just until I figure out something better. It's not like I'm going to ask you to rob banks. Just whenever I'm bored, you fix the problem."

He grinned at her.

He was mostly kidding, of course. He didn't expect her to play along and that wasn't the point. He just liked messing with her, always messing with her. He grinned and tilted his head to the side, thinking that this settled things. She was alive, and doing well now, and they could go back to how things were before. Normal. No near dying. And if he needed to train her, to help her, he would do it.

In his way.

"Then how about you settle the debt by saving your own life. You know, not needing me to help. Show me you can do that, and things'll be settled."  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

She laughed loudly, saying "No, I don't think there is anything else attached to coming up with creative ways to repay a debt." Helping him whenever he's bored huh? That wasn't too bad. Maybe if she was around a bit more he'd stop vandalizing things for giggles. This thought was met with doubt. You can't change someone.

"Boredom. I can totally fix that!" Her grin remained stuck to her face while her mind's wheels were turning. He still wanted to train her, which was alright in her book. Anything to get over the stupid fear she had. Now that she had been on the wrong side of a beating, she was beginning to understand what he had said about fighting for her life. It wasn't a matter of whether she wanted to, it was a matter of she had to.

"I have to save my own life huh?" She asked, pondering. "Does that mean I have to find that camo girl and beat her up? Because I don't see that happening. I actually don't ever want to see her again. Now a youma fight, I could totally do that!" The thought of the mirror senshi brought a small frown to her lips and took a little bit of rosyness from her cheeks. If she never saw that women again her life would be awesome.

She let the thought slip away, and returned to her overly-happy self. "So, you bored now? Or are you off to hide that cane somewhere your dad can't find it?" Her dark blue eyes fell to the cane he was still holding.

His dad....Castille wondered if the librarian knew that his son was a senshi. She decided not to ask. They were having problems, and bringing him up might put Nate back into a sour mood.  

[Lithiasaur]

It was more likely that he would make her help him vandalize something, then call her to keep him from doing it. After all, as his slave, she would not be allowed to protest whatever he chose to do with their time.

"I think that'd be a good place to start," He said, nodding his head slowly. Revenge was a concept most people saved for bad guys. For Nate, it was more a matter of pride and establishing oneself as more than a target. If that camo girl spread the word that she beat up the feathered senshi, then more would come for her. If she established herself as a force to be reckoned with, at least she'd level the playing field.

And no one would think her a wuss.

"But if you're scared, then yeah. Youma. I mean, you know, if you want to be a baby about it," he tilted his head at her, arms folded over his chest. At her question of if he was bored, he shook his head. "Bored of talking, maybe. We should go do something. I've got a cane and you've got some training to do. There has to be some fun in there somewhere."

He glanced around, literally looking for something to smack with his stolen cane.  

[Blue Eyed Melloon]

Castille puffed out her cheeks with mild irritation that flickered away almost as soon as it started. She had come to start recognizing when he was pushing her buttons, and it made hanging around with him a lot easier. And he wasn't far off. She was scared of the camo senshi, and the pain she could inflict.

But she knew he would be there to protect her. And she was glad. A lot of thoughts had come to her recently, and they told her to stop being timid. Magic was a hell of a thing, and she needed to embrace it rather than run from it....but it wasn't just magic she had to accept. There were other things. Like that she might just have a crush on this guy.

"While I am younger you, I am hardly a baby." She said smiling mischievously. Her grin widened when he mentioned fun. While she was positive his fun was illegal or dangerous, maybe she could convince him to do otherwise, just this once. "Someone out there trusts magic powers to me, so I can't be that awful, can I?"

She walked past him, away from the fountain and made a snatch for the cane. If there was fun to be had, it certainly wasn't here. And there was no reason for her to not tease him back. "Alright Master Nathan, where shall we go to find this fun you speak of? I have a debt to repay, and I would like to get started as quickly as possible." She turned and bowed dramatically, turning her face upward to wink at the boy. Then she straightened, bouncing the cane against her leg.