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 Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:09 pm
For some very odd reason, Gale was feeling extraordinarily lighthearted.
<< You're acting weird. >>
"I am not," said Gale, though his tone of voice was clearly several notches higher in the way that it sounded oddly pleased. He pushed his bangs away from his face, absently humming a few bars of I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, then stepped back away from the mirror, hands on hips.
"There. All set."
<< Strange, strange boil... >> murmured Jinhai, but he sounded amused nonetheless. Gale reached for the coat draped over the back of his desk chair and slipped it on, tugging down the sleeves and smoothing the fabric down carefully. He wasn't entirely certain why, but he was feeling a need to look his very best for the holiday season. A sprig of holly was pushed into the lapel on his left side to complete the ensemble, and Gale made his way out of his room, heading down the hall towards the dining hall.
"LAST CHRISTMAS I GAVE YOU MY HEART
BUT THE VERY NEXT DAY, YOU GAVE IT AWAY
THIS YEAR, TO SAVE ME FROM TEARS
I'LL GIVE IT TO SOMEONE SPECIAAALLLLLL - oof."
Clearly Gale had been too busy chanting the song stuck in his head aloud to notice that he had just run into someone. Too late to stop himself, he had half walked, half bounced on the balls of his feet into her, nearly knocking her down. His hands shot out at the last second, gripping the upper arms of whoever it was to keep them from falling.
"Julie!" exclaimed Gale, once he took a step back. Without really thinking about it, he flung his arms around the hunter's waist in a hug.
<< ...are you drunk? >>
"A pleasure to see you!" Gale continued, thoroughly ignoring Jinhai's startled voice. "How are you? Happy Christmas!"
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 11:25 am
"Oh, Robby!" Julie muttered, enveloping her arms over the trainee to squeeze him into something of a bear hug - which was surprising for someone of her stature, "It is so nice to see you again!"
A couple of minutes passed like this. Finally, mostly because Gale was turning a shade of blue, which so did not match the Christmas colours of red and green, the Moon Hunter let go of the trainee and made tsk-tsk noises and patted down his hair a little more before decorating it with a plush reindeer headband.
She kneeled over just a little, patting him absently. "You have been a good boy this Christmas, haven't you?" More pats. "And what would a good boy want for Christmas this year?" Sure, the tone could have been patronizing had it been someone else, but this was Julie they were talking to, where pretty much everything sounded like a Bad Idea. Or a really good one, for the Joy infected brain.
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 4:09 pm
Gale had no idea why Julie was calling him Robby, but really it didn't matter. It was Christmas, wasn't it? He could let her pick a nickname for him out of the spirit of the holidays.
"You...too," came the muffled response as Julie's arms wrapped so tightly around him that it was not really all that easy to breathe. Gale expected her to let go after a minute, however, so he waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
"Errrrr..."
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the hunter let go and Gale staggered a few steps backwards, inhaling sharply. He resigned himself to letting her smush down his unruly hair, even giving her a bright smile when she plopped a headband onto his head.
"A very good boy," he replied, with an emphatic nod.
<< I knew it. You're on drugs, aren't you. >>
He ignored Jinhai - yet again - instead linking his fingers behind his back and rocking back on his heels as he peered owlishly up at Julie.
"Mmm...maybe a girlfriend, see," responded Gale, really having no clue where it had come from or what exactly he was saying. For some reason he felt oddly pleased and cheerful about talking to Julie.
Jinhai made a choking noise in his mind, but Gale said "I mean, maybe not a girlfriend, girlfriend, but just a girl friend. A friend...who's a girl...I mean, yes, some girls my age would be nice, you know. So I can stop liking girls that are older than me."
<< DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?! >>
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:34 am
Julie nodded sagely, listening to Gale splutter the entire way. "I understand entirely. That thing with Sven didn't quite work out, and now you want to experiment more with your sexuality. Fear not, Sir Robby, we will find you a better partner." A pause. "A better partner of the girlfriend type, but just a girlfriend, there will be no mention of the word guy in there."
She tugged off her Santa hat, and pulled out a crinkled piece of paper from within it, the Moon Hunter had meant to save it the party trick for the 9:00 movie showing of Elf, starring Will Farrel, but desperate times called for desperate measures. As a second though, she pulled out a pen as well, holding both objects poised as she gazed seriously upon the trainee. "So Santa's mission is to find you a girlfriend, but first before we start, Santa needs to know your type of girlfriend."
And she waited.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:30 pm
<< What on earth did you drink this morning? >>
Gale didn't really understand what Julie was going on about (Sven? Who was Sven?), but he appreciated her concern nonetheless. Especially since she pulled a piece of paper out of her hat and was looking at him with a Very Serious Expression.
"Well," said Gale, ignoring Jinhai's squawking inside of his head. "I like..."
Someone's face flashed into his mind, but he quickly pushed it aside, giving Julie a wide, bright smile.
"I like...sweet, I guess," he said, after a moment of thinking. "...someone who doesn't treat me like a kid...errr...nice...not really........crazy."
There was a long pause where an exasperated sigh from Jinhai was clearly audible.
"Really, I'm not too sure myself," said Gale. "I suppose it's not too helpful."
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:40 pm
"Nice, sweet, nice, okay, I think I got this!" Julie jostled on the paper what seemed suspiciously like a picture of a reindeer stick figure and then threw the entire thing in the air. "I, Ms. Santa Julie, will help you, Robby, search for your true love." She wiped a single tear. "I understand what its like to be misunderstood, some people just don't appreciate you for who you are but not this Christmas, this Christmas, we will have a right to do whatever we want, and date whomever we want..."
The Moon Hunter continued to ramble about equal holiday rights and gift wrapping as she ushered Gale down the hallway, finally changing conversation back to topic. "Now, it is important that you look your very best on our mission. Yes, a mission, this is indeed a mission. We shall call it, 'Mission High School Romance'."
They two finally stopped in front of the cafeteria, Julie surveying the scene. A rather impressive group of Hunters were currently assembled on most of the tables, some of them sharing stories, others sitting alone mulling in a cup of gingerbread and eggnog.
"There!" She pointed randomly, "Talk to that girl! Ask her what you like!"
The 'girl' Julie pointed at was also six feet tall, rippling with muscles, and of questionable gender.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 6:52 pm
The expression on Gale's face was one of great relief. For some odd reason, he was feeling quite pleased by this whole turnout of events, despite the constant nagging of Jinhai in his ear and the fact that he was asking Julie to find him a girlfriend for Christmas.
It seemed like a Very Good Idea right at the current moment. Gale was very happy with this thought.
"Thank you," he said, nodding. "I'm so glad to see that you understand how it is for me. Not very many people do."
Linking arms with the hunter as she talked, Gale let her half push, half direct him towards wherever they were going, listening intently and nodding at random intervals to show that he was taking in everything she said.
"This sounds like a good mission to me," he said, and then peered into the cafeteria around his "partner." There was a large gathering of hunters centered in the middle of the room, all laughing and talking to each other.
Gale's brows rose.
"Er," he said, looking slightly crestfallen. "T...that one?"
After a moment, however, he shrugged. This is Christmas, right? The time to be adventurous and spontaneous? Plus this is Julie; she knows what she's doing.
"Right," said Gale, squaring his shoulders. And then he marched across the room, slid into the seat across from the girl, and said "Hi. I'm Gale. What do you like to do in your spare time?"
Not exactly a winning opening line, but it would do.
There was a choking sound from Jinhai.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:22 pm
The six-foot being of questionable gender turned around, expression entirely stoic as they stood up, towering over Gale. "Belinda," was pretty much the only sound that it uttered out in a gruff sort of unisex voice before enveloping the Death Hunter trainee in a giant bear hug, Gale's feet clearly hovering half a foot off the ground.
Belinda leaned turned her head and whispered loudly, firmly, "I like to Christmas."
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:14 pm
It was almost like being squashed in a hug by Julie again, except this one felt almost as though his ribs were about to crack.
And it was slightly more terrifying.
There was a lot of wriggling, kicking of legs, and Gale's helpless expression peering out at Julie over the behemoth's arm in an expression that clearly said HELP.
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:13 pm
Casually, Julie slid over, next to Bertha - the lady in question - and Gale, giving the trainee two thumbs up to reassure him that it was all okay and that he had passed the first part. She watched him wriggle for a bit before she decided that perhaps more encouragement was needed.
The Moon Hunter broke out into a loud conversational whisper next to Gale. "Try telling her a joke, that always impresses us ladies."
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 9:20 am
Only the top of Gale's head, his eyes, and part of his nose were visible above the massive, muscular arm of Bertha as he wriggled uselessly to free himself.
But Julie was giving him a thumbs up - that was a good thing, right?
A joke?
<< Oh, this oughta be good... >>
"Er," said Gale, his voice muffled. He thought for a moment, then said "A fish ran into a stone wall. What did he say? 'Dam!'"
Complete and utter silence.
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:24 am
The good news was that Bertha, in her moment of deep thought had finally dropped Gale, eyes crossed over, slightly glazed, as she tried to figure out why a fish was running into a stone wall.
Julie took that time to snag Gale's free arm and continue pulling him onwards. "Hmmm... I don't think she's impressed, you're just not her type, it happens time to time, life is too short to regret," insert a rather dramatic hand wave, "my young apprentice, all we can do is move on."
Their next target, as dictated by the Moon Hunter and her various hand gestures, was a rather decent looking woman, a Life Hunter it seemed, dressed in an orderly coat with brilliant auburn hair. She didn't look bad, really-
- if one was into beards.
"Go on," Julie pressed, "We shall keep on trying!"
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:09 pm
He landed back on his feet with a small thump, staggering a few feet before Julie grabbed his arm, towing him in a different direction.
"Yes, right, move on," said Gale, slightly confused and a little dazed. He let the Moon hunter drag him along, and it was only when he realized they were in front of yet another hunter that he perked up a little.
At least until he saw the, er...facial hair.
"Uh," said Gale, sounding a little horrified as he tried not to stare. He latched onto Julie's arm and whispered, in a somewhat strangled voice, "What am I supposed to say?!"
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:36 pm
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Julie suggested, eyelashes fluttering dreamily, "It is not what matters on the outside but on the inside. A kiss is worth a thousand words. Love is short, but life is shorter."
She continued on, and on like this for a while, just spouting up entirely nonsensical romance quotes. Maybe Gale really shouldn't have asked her.
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 2:20 pm
Gale's expression was something like this:
Except without the extra person.
"So...you want me to kiss her?" he asked, sounding horrified at the very thought.
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