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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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 Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 2:17 pm
Ugh, finally a day off. Working hadn't been too bad lately, but the mission just a day or so prior and the effects of it were wearing her down. But then again, anything that Galactic did wore on her stressed nerves and made her nervous. This time, however, was made infinitely worse due to the fact that Aila had died on the way back to the base from her injuries. In Claire's mind, the Galactics had killed her. Something they did injured her so severely as to make the wound fatal - it was all their fault. And the fact they had caused the death of someone who obviously wasn't an ex-Galactic just made her stomach do even more acrobatics than it usually did. It made her feel sick to think about.
A faint buzz interrupted the rhythmic clicking her heels made on the floor and she paused, a mild frown forming on her face as she pulled out her 'dex. The message on it immediately transformed her expression into a smile and she quickly replied: Okay, I won't go later.
She'd go now.
Her path ended at the infirmary after a few more short moments of walking - she'd been headed there anyway and had been nearly there when she received Aulus's message - and she poked open the door to the room and peeked in. Said door was partially cracked open anyway. "Leaving so soon?" She asked the room's occupant with a small, wry smile.
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 2:46 pm
Enormous baggy t-shirt? Check. Sweatpants? Check. Comfy sandals? Check. Honestly he looked like about the least stylish thing that ever lived but comfort came first for now; having much pressure on his burns - even covered by dressings as they were and somewhat medicated as he was - was painful. His left leg was also painful, and actually just about bloody useless. He had crutches of course, but as his right hand was one of the burned things using them was also painful. On the whole however Aulus was still in a good mood; Red was almost fully recovered, though the plumage on her chest still hadn't fully regrown, and he was getting the hell out of here!
His mood further improved when the door opened. "Claire!" Aulus grinned. "Did you sprint here when you got my message or what? You don't look out of breath." This was good. A bit scary - okay ******** terrifying - but good. He needed to talk to her before he talked himself out of... talking. Anyway, her presence was definitely a good thing. "Uh... want to walk up to my room with me then? Afraid it'll take a while," the scarred man said with a rueful nod at his leg. It was alright to admit it around Claire. He trusted her. She wouldn't mock him, or take advantage of him.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:59 pm
Ever since the Halloween party in Camphoreon, Claire had become quite aware of the fact she was too close to Aulus - after all, it wasn't any of her business if he wanted to date other girls, nor should it upset her at all. Not in the slightest. She'd made vague attempts to spend less time with him, but she had to admit, it was hard to do that when he was such a good friend. "Excuse me?" She said, mock-displeased as she put her hands on her hips. As if she'd run all the way down from her room at the drop of a hat - or because of a text from her friend. "Maybe I was already on my way down here to see somebody."
She chuckled a bit before stepping further into the room. "Nah, I got your text when I was about fifteen feet down the hall. And sure," she smiled, casting a quick glance around the room. "Need any help with anything?" From the crutches, she sort of figured he wouldn't be able to carry anything. If he had anything to carry, that is.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 2:09 am
Well it would have been nice to think she'd rushed off from whatever she was doing just for him, but she'd already been coming to see him and actually that was about as good. “Well," he gave a crooked smile, "nice of you to be dropping in on the invilid then. Anyway, no thanks,” Aulus shook his head, “Char’s already taken the stuff I had here up to my room, only thing left to get up there is me.”
So, time to go then. Aulus took a tentative step forward, and then grimaced as he had to swing himself forward on the crutches and his burned hand made itself very well known. “Ugh. Ha. Haha. Quite a while,” he said with a slightly tight grin; if the first step was that uncomfortable he was going to be a wreck by the time he got up to his room. Wasn’t like he really had a lot of choice though, now was it? Well, he did, he could ask for a wheelchair but he was damned if he was doing that even in front of Claire.
Aulus set his jaw and hobbled another awkward step. Good mood. Stay in a good mood.
Sodding ow!
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:12 pm
A smile twitched onto her face as she stepped away from the door. "What, he didn't want to carry you up there too?" Well, the thought 'I wonder how long it'll take to get up there' was extremely brief and immediately answered (with a sympathetic wince) when he nearly stumbled. Oh dear, this might take a while... "Ah.. want me to go ask for a wheelchair?" She couldn't imagine using crutches with a -- whatever was wrong with his bandaged hand, would be any fun at all. It looked pretty painful...
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:20 pm
Was it that obvious how pathetic he was? Yes, yes it was. Ugh. Damn. s**t. Buggering wanking shitting bollocks. "It's... it's really not that big a deal," Aulus muttered, his tones and downcast gaze making it perfectly clear that he wasn't even convincing himself of this. After a moment he looked back up, an almost plaintive expression softening his scarred face. "It'd be fine if it was one or the other," he said awkwardly, "it's just the combination is... is... and if it was my left hand I could just use the one crutch but it's the right one I need to support my left leg...." Aulus trailed off at this point and looked away again. He hadn't actually answered the question, perhaps hoping somewhere deep down that Claire would make the decision for him so that he could save a bit of face.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:44 pm
Well that just made her feel worse. He looked like a kicked puppy or something. Ugh, why did men have to be so stubborn? He didn't say yes - and honestly she didn't expect him to, because augh, men - but he didn't outright say no, either. Oh, she could -- no, no. Better to just find a wheelchair. "Um --" she quickly cast around for one but there obviously wasn't one in the room, so, "hold on." With that she was out the door, but returned after a minute or two with a soft frown. "Can't find one, and I didn't see anybody around I could ask.." Maybe they were all on lunch or something...
...so back to her first idea. It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was just, well.. ...why did he have to look like that? Ugh. "Here," she murmured gently as she walked over, holding his upper arm with one hand and taking the crutch with the other. In a brief moment she'd slid the crutch into the crook of her elbow, grasped his wrist with one hand, put his arm around her shoulders and slid her free arm around his waist. She'd helped Lucas out like this when he'd had a concussion, poor guy, but this time it was just.. She was just helping out a teammate who also happened to be her friend. A good friend. A good friend she frequently fell asleep watching movies with and ended up cu-- "Better?" She asked, aggressively punting that line of thought out the window.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:52 pm
Uh. Buh. Wah? Aulus stared down at the woman who was suddenly supporting him and slowly, ever so slowly, a smile soft spread across his face. "Hey. This remind you of anything... chocolaty?" She was fantastic; kind, funny, sharp, beautiful, a good trainer, smelled fantastic.... He was asking her out. Definitely. He was not going to wuss out. Not this time.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:59 pm
The way he'd asked that question made her laugh as she supported him. "What, that you're still just as stubborn as you were then? A little less prickly though," she said with a wry grin. She was just helping him out, nothing more. That was it.
...and she most definitely was not thinking about how easy it would be to tickle him right now.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:12 pm
"Hehe, well that too," Aulus nodded as they set off slowly along the corridor towards the lifts, "mostly just remembering the whole incident.... I was pretty spiky towards you. Very spiky.... I... guess I'm just a bit defensive." He remembered how convinced he'd been that she wanted something from him, or was out to hurt him. He'd also never even entertained the idea of joining a criminal organization that horribly mistreated pokemon, killed people, and where people got killed almost as a matter of course. Right at that moment in time he felt as if he'd made the right decision, and vaguely wondered if that made him a bad person.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:38 pm
"Heh, yeah... You know Zeus would probably still try to drown himself in that chocolate fountain if we ever went back," she said with a light chuckle. Mention of him being spiky and 'a bit' defensive made her chuckle more. "Oh, just a tiny bit," she commented, helping him along before pausing to push the button for the elevator. "And yes, you were. Incredibly so. But you've gotten much better, not nearly as spiky as before." Huh, that was odd. He really wasn't, and it made her feel... Glad? No. Well, yes, she was, but she felt more... proud? Maybe. She pushed the thought aside as the doors slid open.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 2:04 pm
"Well yea...." Aulus trailed off and glanced around to make sure nobody else was about before saying. "I trust you now.... I'm just... I take a while to warm up to people, you know?" He didn't want to go into all the details of why just at the moment - partially because it was long and complex and he didn't entirely understand himself at times - but he didn't mind admitting the fact that the failing (or just aspect) existed. Maybe it was the drugs. Maybe it was just her being all... all Claire and all, like she insisted on being all the time.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:34 pm
"You do?" She asked in a fake-incredulous tone. "I didn't have any idea." It was only the most obvious thing in the world that he wasn't very trusting of people right away - then again, she wasn't either - but it was equally obvious that he did trust her from how he'd told her so much about himself and how often they hung out, and that he'd given her Artemis, and when he got her those flowers...
...anyway. She lifted her chin slightly - with her cheeks a bit more pink than they were a few moments ago - and offered him a warm smile despite her previous sarcastic tones. "I'm glad you do. And.. I'm glad you're okay." She didn't want to think about if he came back severely hurt, or just... not at all.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:39 pm
"Ha. And I'm glad you added that last bit." Aulus twitched another smile, adding; "As I can trust you, I can afford to tell you I really don't like to be mocked when I'm being sincere, well not only mocked anyway, you can get away with a bit of a tease so long as you... you know," he gestured vaguely with his crutch as they stepped into the lift, "add bits on the end like that."
Eloquence, thy name was not currently Aulus.
In all fairness however his mind was running ahead of him, to what he'd say when they were really in private... or as private as you ever were on base anyway, there was probably some perv hunched over the hidden cameras he was sure were everywhere 24-7. Ugh. Anyway. That aside though... what was he going to say?
"And I, uh, I'm glad I'm okay too... that mission... that mission was... intense." He'd thought he was going to die on several occasions, and that Hayes was going to die on at least two more. Both of them were fine but... but... Aila. Oh there were people still in intensive care, but it was Aila his mind wandered to. Their lunch picnic on first meeting, and talk of pokemon eggs. Him talking her into keeping Mise. s**t. Mise. What was the poor bug going to do now? He'd have to make sure it got a good home.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:08 pm
"Aw," she started with a small chuckle, "you know I'm just teasing, I don't really mean anything by it." Come to think of it, why did she tease him so much? She didn't really do it to anybody else... Well, she did to Lucas - and to Luke, too, but that obviously wouldn't happen again - but not really anybody else, like... ever. Odd.
"Ah, yeah," Claire agreed with a soft frown, purple eyes sliding to focus on the corner of the elevator as it started going up. Poor Aila... "They're usually pretty intense, I believe, although obviously some are moreso than others..." Her mind went back to the raid in the cave with Kyogre, and where Lance revealed himself. That had been intense - and poor Lucas with his concussion - but nobody had died.. Actually, she couldn't really think of anyone else dying on missions like that. Close, yes, but she hadn't heard of anyone actually dying... It worried her. A lot. She didn't want anything like that to ever happen to Lucas or Aulus. Or Alba, or Faleen, or, or.. well, anybody, but especially those she was close to.
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