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 Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 9:35 pm
Old habits died hard. Marcus had gotten her sleeping in her room for about a month before things fell apart again. Like they always did, right?
At least now she had a viable reason. If she didn't work overtime Dr. H wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, so to speak. It was either her taking double the hour amount, or her insomnia kicking in, but somehow she found herself asleep in labs more and more. Nobody bothered her, and it let her get more work done. Who cared if she looked like a banshee some days? She'd run back to her room and fix it quickly, and it was like it never happened. A detriment to her health? She was on a cracking iceburg anyways.
So there she found herself, curled up in a chair with her arms and head on the table. Three notebooks and two references spread out in front of her, and a microscope to her far left. Dainty cursive scrawled across all the pages, with note upon note about the underwater labyrinth. Every time they failed to come back with something, it only prompted her to research it harder. If only she knew about this trap earlier. If only they'd been prepared for that monster.
As she slept, her thoughts filled with water. Underwater scenes from the labyrinth, Junpei swimming in her head. The icebergs from the artic. It wasn't deep sleep at all. Then again, sleep for an insomniac never was.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 11:33 pm
Lex had finally done it. He'd written a whole sentence in Norse without having to look up the letters in the books. He was so proud of himself, he was actually skipping a little in his stride, morning coffee threatening to spill over. He made his way into the labs with glee, but spotted a certain strawberry blonde asleep at a desk.
Walking over, he noticed notebooks, reference books, and all sorts of scribbled info. He pried a little bit, discovering the notes were about an underwater labyrinth, including monsters and traps. If he had the time, he'd copy these notes - but he didn't. There was a sleeping lion to be taken care of.
He could take two routes. Either pick her up and carry her to his room - which probably would earn him a lot of scowling and probably a pistol pressed against his skull - or a light tap on the shoulder and soft words.
Light taps and soft words sounded wonderful.
"Ami...Ami, wake up. Your cardigan is going to get wrinkled." He grabbed her shoulder, lightly shaking the poor girl. Probably worked herself into an exhausted knock out.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 11:40 pm
Ami was awake from the moment he came tapping into the room, and hoped that if she just played possum he'd go away. She was so used to this stupid cat and mouse game she and Marcus played. Sometimes she hoped that playing dead would work one day. Maybe today was her day.
The only reason she hadn't freaked out thus far was because it was Marcus. He was allowed in her space. For whatever reason, he was allowed in her little circle of things. Perhaps because he'd bore his own hole and moved in without her approval.
The smell of coffee is was tipped her off that something was amiss. Marcus had a very specific kind he liked, and this was not it. The second, was of course, the inevitable voice that did not belong to her sweet Marcus.
She didn't lift her head from the table, but shoved off his hand and grumbled, "Now the scorned unlucky lad, rousing from his pillow gnawn, mans his heart and deep and glad, drinks the valiant air of dawn." A much more childish Ami said, "Go away or your valiant air will be my foot."
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 1:42 pm
Lex gave the girl a very bemused smirk, not entirely sure as to what she was even saying before being told she was going to kick him in the face. He snorted at that, and rolled his eyes as usual. "Fair maiden, thine foot could nary hardly reach my mouth, even if thou werest wearing the highest of heels."
He tried.
Lex smirked still, sipping his coffee. So Miss Grumpy Gills actually looked kinda cute while exhausted - not that he noticed that or anything. He decided to prod the dragon again. "Do you really want H or Clarice to come strolling by and to see you like this? Not very professional."
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Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2012 7:54 pm
Lex's attempt at poetry was like nails on chalkboard. Untrained tone, no effort. Spouting some "thee" and "thine" crap. "It's poetry, not the middle ages," she said grumpily, finally stirring since Lex obviously wasn't going to let her sleep. It took a moment or two of rubbing her eyes and yawning, but eventually the eyesore came into focus.
"If they didn't know I slept in the labs by now I'd be impressionable." This was the life division after all. Dr. H had his claws sunk into everyone. A tiny squeak of a yawn. Maybe she wasn't ALL the way awake yet. "And when I'm working for twice ... thrice? as long as everyone else, I don't think they'd mind."
She looked over at a clock placed on the wall. 7 AM. "Only 3 hours. I could've had 4." It was more an analysis than a comment with feeling to it. That made what ... 10 hours so far this week?
Bleary-eyed and annoyed she began shuffling her notes around to get back to work. "You've done your duty, capricious knight, now get out."
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:07 am
Lex gave Ami a typical piqued eyebrow and smirk, noting that her yawn was actually a little bit cute. Weren't grumpy gills supposed to just grunt and lumber around? Maybe she was just grumpy as a ruse?
No, she wasn't the ruse type. Lex knew the ruse type; he was the ruse type. He smiled as he went through his internal monologue, mostly at himself and how silly he was being.
"Three...hours of sleep." He whispered, stunned and not a little concerned. That wasn't healthy; ever. He wanted to give her a scolding eye and lecture, but that never really worked on anyone that was above the age of 13. So what else could he do?
"...Ami, go to bed."
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:18 am
Ami had begun flipping through pages in her books to get herself back on track. In her tiredness last night she'd ended up on a page she hadn't meant to. Lex's whisper went completely unnoticed, as she expected him to walk off and leave her be.
He said the inevitably grating words. "No," she responded promptly, wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Have you been talking to Marcus?" Well it was an important question.
If there was one benefit to having Junpei gone, it was the endless nagging in her head gone. Sometimes she really was just so fed up with hearing "GO SLEEP GO SLEEP GO SLEEP" in her head that she went. At least that was a nice change.
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:57 pm
Lex just stood there for a second, staring harder at Ami than before. "Marcus? I thought...you told me he died." The Trainee nearly balked, extremely confused and concerned. Either Marcus had magically come back to life (see Bix and Ceres), or Ami was hallucinating from a lack of sleep.
"But either way, no, I haven't been talking to Marcus." Concern still made its presence known on his face, he was nearly tempted to just pick her up and ask which room she was in - but that would never work with this one. Too stubborn, too wily.
So he just stood there still, staring at her.
"I'm not leaving until you go to bed."
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:36 pm
Ami stopped for a moment, realizing she'd revealed a lot of embarrassing things to Lex that Marcus could never, ever find out. It was a momentary stutter and then she went back to shuffling things around, as though the thought had never occurred to her at all.
"He's back. I don't know how, I didn't bother to ask. Ah ... if you do see him, don't ... disclose ... certain ... immutable details." You could just see her struggling to find words, a rare sight. Ami just didn't want Lex telling Marcus she'd gone all mushy. She had a reputation.
She gave Lex a bleary gaze. "You'll be here all day, and the patients you're supposed to be taking care of will-" Yawn. "Suffer."
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Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Lex sighed, standing his ground, even putting his mug down to show that he was not moving. "No infirmary duties for me today, Ami, just a whole lot of studying, and a little bit of coffee fetching - which they can go send some other hapless trainee to do, honestly." He didn't miss a beat as he explained, setting both of his fists on his hips.
<< Whelp, let the woman do what she wants. Or do you want her to pin you again? >>
< I was completely unawares. >
<< Mhm. >>
< Sarcastic a**. >
Refocusing, Lex gave Ami a hard look. "Don't make me carry you out of here."
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:05 am
Coffee fetching again? Apparently the trainees all had to do it. Maybe they just gave it to Lex and Solia because they were annoying? Yes, that was probably it.
Ami rubbed her forehead. It was already rocking from lack of sleep, and Lex was just poking at it. She tried to just ignore him and get back to writing, but his voice persisted. Why oh why was she condemned to bothersome trainees? First she had to baby Solia around the labs, then she had to deal with Melvin. Why couldn't she just be left in peace?
"Why do you care so much?" She looked at him, exasperated with the entire situation. "Why is this a big deal? It's just sleep."
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 1:00 am
Lex actually squatted to reach Ami's eye level, giving her a very, very hard squint, as though he were examining an open wound. He just sighed, shaking his head, after all of five seconds of staring. "You're turtling again." A statement laced with concern and mild frustration.
"I care because you're in my division; and while this may be a division full of malicious people, I intend to make sure the malicious people I know are taken care of and healthy." He cleared his throat, looking off to the side. Honesty was...difficult. "I actually do care about people, you know. Hurt people. And Ami, you're hurting."
He stood up then, grabbing his mug of coffee.
"But alas, a surgeon I'll never be. If the maiden wishes me gone, so shall it be."
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 1:03 am
"Again with the wounded turtle," Ami grumbled. Lex had at least gotten her to stop working, but it wasn't a very positive step. She was only stopping so she could yell at him a bit.
She snorted at his idea of taking care of people. That wasn't how this hunter thing worked. You didn't survive here on Deus by being nice to people. Even the kindest of hearts soured eventually.
"You don't know a single thing about me, therefore you have no logistical reason to care. It's stringently foolish- you can't spend your time fixing every wounded bird that comes into your perch. There are too many birds." A look down. "Besides. People either thank you and forget about you completely, or they couldn't care less in the first place." Back to Lex. "Don't be so solipsistic to think your kindness will go far here."
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:32 am
Lex rolled his eyes, pulling out a chair to sit face to face with his fellow Lifer. Harsh words were dealt, kind words would be given back. Kill 'em with kindness, make them feel guilty. That's the game he played; unless you were a serious pervert. Then Lex just played the game of 'how many times can I punch your face before you black out?"
"You know, you're kind of the solipsistic one in this situation." He started, voice level and laced with concerned tenderness. "You impose all your awful experiences on other people, assuming that everyone is just like the people that have hurt you in the past." A narrowing of the eyes, an increase in depth of tone. "Not everyone on this island is awful, Ami. You're probably not even awful. You've just got a lot of callouses that need to be broken through.
He stood up then, grabbing his coffee.
"And if you don't want me calling you a wounded turtle, you're going to have to prove to me that you're not one."
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:40 am
Well Lex had pinned her there. There was no disputing that Ami thought people were awful and just expected them to stay horrible. "Better to expect the worst than experience it when you're not expecting it. Believe me, I know," she said quietly, looking down at her books.
She didn't want to do this now. She'd just woken up, and Lex was shoving Adam in her face without meaning to. Not right now. Just ... not right now.
Ami put her head back on the lab table, resting it lightly on her arms. "Just get out of here." Ami was doing it again.
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