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 Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:58 pm
Barth had slept. And slept, and slept. Slept off the Trials, slept off dying, and slept off his boilfriend volunteering to go rub elbows with the Horsemen on their territory.
Christof hadn't gone either. The igor had stayed close by, and after Barth's long-suffering personal batteries had been finally recharged (or as recharged as they were going to get), he pulled out the notes for the Deweaponization Machine.
He would have liked to say that he was at a blueprint stage, but right now it was theory they needed to understand. Binding spells. Transformative magic. ...Runes. Somehow the Hunters had boiled it all down into a mechanized process. Not an exact science- Calder's weaponization, for instance, had failed, but a combination of science and magic. And what was bound, Barth theorized, could be unbound.
Of course, there had been other interesting...developments lately.
And in the middle of said interesting developments and theorizing and hypothesizing, Barth had completely forgotten to check his phone.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:50 pm
Calder was only in Amityville for a few days, and he was exhausted. A week of intense training in high platforms had left him strained, and upon that was the mental challenges he hadn't expected to face. Curling up into a ball sounded like a great idea, but curling in the arms of your boilfriend sounded better.
More than just his body was bruised.
He did not go to his dorm to stop and drop his things off. He arrived at Barth's door, and glared at it. The demon had not sent him a single text, and when he needed some form of contact the most. It hurt, and he hated Barth for it.
With that, he pounded on the door.
He needed to have a word with his boilfriend.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:45 pm
Barth was curled up in his oversized chair, reading, and at the pounding he nearly dropped the book.
"Who...who err, is it...?" He asked, cautious.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:48 pm
Calder stared at the door and then pressed against it, but it didn't open.
"Your boilfriend." He tapped the door with his hoof. So Barth was awake? So if he was awake now, did that mean he was awake before? If the was awake before, then why didn't he text him??
"Can you let me in already?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:53 pm
"Oh? You're back? ...You're back!" Barth found his remote, and the device unlocked with a whir. Thorns that had crept over the floors and walls peeled back from the door.
Had it already been two weeks? Barth was...not the best at keeping track of things. Time, especially. He was back! Barth folded the thick book shut, and smiled in a way that was for once not sly, or crafty, or sleepy...he was honestly happy to see him.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:22 pm
The door opened, and Calder came in, a pack over his shoulder and a few feathers in his hair. He dumped his bag on the floor and shut the door. "Yeah." He said, his tone flat.
Aside from looking as if he had gotten into a fight and lost, his hair was almost all black save for a bit of gray on the bottom, and was a slight darkness under his eyes from a lack of sleep.
His hooves clacked as he walked over, and set his arms on the back of Barth's chair to look down at the top of his head. "Did you just wake up?" He said, his eyes narrowing.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:26 pm
"No. I was just, err, you know. The deweaponization stuff. You're...alright, aren't you? Nothing...happened, over there?'
The smile became uncertain, Calder looked....tired, and on edge. His hair had gotten darker.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:28 pm
Calder reached out and gripped Barth's horn tightly, yanking it back so that the demon was looking up at him. "Why didn't you text me, Barth? Did you even READ my messages?"
Calder was not a happy pony, and a long, stressful week had not helped his move.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:35 pm
Barth winced visibly at the horn-yanking, trying not to yelp. He didn't work. The book fell off his lap. He writhed helplessly, unable to sink off the chair and into the floor because Calder was gripping him very tightly, and had Calder gotten stronger because he didn't quite remember that sort of...grip.
"I...I err, mess...messages?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:42 pm
"BARRTTHH!!" Calder cried, releasing his grip to walk around the chair and glare at his boilfriend. " I've been texting you since DAY ONE of leaving you! Well, NOW I guess I know why. You didn't even read them! Here I was waiting for ONE.." He lifted his finger a foot from Barth's face. "JUST ONE message from you to know that you were okay, how you were doing, to know Amityville wasn't overrun with Hunters and I didn't get a SINGLE message from you. At least everyone else had friends and boilfriends who cared about them to text back at least once to tell them everything was okay to put them at ease. I had to find out through word of mouth. The fact that everyone else around me got messages at least showed that if they were taken by Hunters, they didn't cut off their fingers!"
He kicked the chair that Barth sat on with such force that it nearly sent it tipping back, but Calder pressed his hand on the right armrest and slammed it back down. "Do you even know how worried I was about you?!"
When he looked straight at Barth, he wasn't just frustrated, but stressed and worn. "I wanted to know you were okay. Couldn't you have just sent me one little message?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 6:42 pm
"Oh...err, yes- I...I am sorry, I'll just...I'll just get my phone, shall I...?"
He looked across the room, and sunk further into his chair.
"It's on my desk somewhere, I think," he said in a small voice.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:59 pm
Calder's brow creased as he looked at Barth, not moving to get his phone or even turning to look where it might be. He simply looked at Barth. "It doesn't help me now, Barth. I was worried THEN. You have an entire week and I was VERY patient, but after a few days...." He released the chair and went on his knees, setting his head down against Barth's leg. "....I can't sleep well when I don't get word that things are okay. I think something might happen. I would think you'd like to hear about me too."
His ears drew back. ".....how am I supposed to concentrate when I think of you back in a cage?" He mumbled.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:35 pm
"That's...but that's what I've been trying to fix, you see- I don't want to end up that machine. Or for any of us to. I- err..."
He looked at Calder, who looked more tired than angry. He wasn't talking about the machine, Barth deduced.
"I lost...track, I suppose. Of you. I'm not...I'm not used to-" Calder had said he didn't like those sorts of excuses. "I'm not good at- that is...I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I know I should have checked, this sort of thing is why Lilith didn't want anything to do with me...I'll do better. I will."
He fumbled, adding weakly,
"Sorry."
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:57 pm
Calder remained kneeling, his head set down and ears back. He was so tired, and while he wanted to make his point, he wasn't about to drive it into the ground as much as he felt he probably needed to. Barth sounded genuinely sorry, and Calder took that for now.
"Keep your phone in your pocket or under your pillow if you sleep. That way you don't even have to move to text me...or have someone text me telling me you are okay. Just...."
He nuzzled against the boil's leg. He was worn, bruised, and sore. Just being able to smell Barth and not his pillow was enough to make him breath out in relief.
"I'm tired."
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