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 Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 7:12 pm
There had been rumors, whispers of things that had been happening lately. Gale had heard of Wilson and Harrison's unusual and rather worrying comas, and had even gone to make sure they were all right. But though they were both awake now, Gale had yet to have heard of an actual explanation for their strange sleep. And unfortunately for Gale, he was mostly, woefully ignorant of the goings-on. He had been rather busy as of late, mostly focusing on his own training and getting his stupid hand to stop having its stupid spasms (really, that was just getting less painful and more frankly, just plain irritating), as well as doing a great deal more research on the Horsemen.
<< You also need to get in touch with Mei again. See if she's found anything out recently. >>
Yes, that's right, though I'm not quite sure how I'm going to wrangle that...
<< You'll figure something out one day. >>
But today was not that day. Today he was going to take a break (a surprising concept, Jinhai had reminded him with some amusement - "do you even know what relaxing is?"), and he had decided on the best way to spend that break.
Namely going to take up Stormy's offer on getting cocoa. So early afternoon a few days after everyone had woken up, Gale found himself standing in front of her door (at least he hoped it was), hesitating only a moment before he lifted a gloved hand, knocking.
"Stormy? It's, ah...it's me, Gale."
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Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 10:56 pm
She'd been awake for . . . Oh, how long was it now. A glance to the left where her alarm clock used to be told her nothing. A day at least, she knew that much, but after twenty-four hours of no sleep time seemed to become a little . . . irrelevant. Two o'clock was the same as three, three o'clock the same as four. There was still that lingering feeling within she'd never be able to beat out, the unshakable but silent plea from her body to lay down and give in for a while. And she would. Eventually.
Just not now.
Just until she was sure she could fall asleep without having that nightmare again. Any of those nightmares for that matter. Her usual lucid streak had been broken ever since she had become a Hunter, and while she had been doing her best to try and regain control of her dreams, events thus far had pitted her against things that were too much to handle when piled together like they did in her dreams unchecked.
Stormy was curled against her bed, a pillow at her back, a journal in her lap, a pen in one hand, her chin cupped in the other - when Gale knocked. For some reason the sound was so sharp and sudden in her ears that even her normally dulled reflexes managed to get out a small flail of surprise. The pen and journal fell with a small clatter as a silent cry escaped her, her back brushing roughly against the metal support of her bed.
Ow. Ow. Ow.
It took her a moment to realize it was Gale's voice, at which she rolled away from the bed, got up, rubbed her back, and yawned. "One sec," she called, though for some reason she felt compelled to continue counting as she went about her business. "Two sec. Three sec. Four sec." Pick up her things, scratch her nose, yawn. "Five sec. Six seeeeee-eeeec -" Aaaah, what a yawn.
It was only then did the trainee finally shuffle to the door and opened it enoug hto reveal half her face, in nothing but an oversized t-shirt, short bloomers, and a pair of Eeyore slippers. Her hair frizz extended almost half an inch past the actual somewhat tousled hair, and with her naturally droopy eyes she looked as if Gale had just woke her up. "So that's . . . ten sec?" she asked him, almost leaning against the doorway. "I think so. It' a nice round number. D'you need something?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:02 pm
There was a long moment after he knocked in which Gale wasn't entirely certain that Stormy was actually in her room and he was just standing here like a prat. But then he heard a muffled thump, followed by a small crash, and Gale blinked, momentarily bemused before he tilted his head a bit more towards the door, trying to figure out if something bad was happening.
But then he heard her voice through the door, and he took a step back, waiting patiently. After a few seconds it was wrenched open and the small figure of Stormy Ortega appeared in the gap between the door and the wall.
At least, Gale thought it was Stormy, though it looked nothing like the Stormy he had seen before. Her hair was frizzled and frazzled, she was wearing something that resembled a crumpled bag, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
Gale stared at her, wondering what had just happened.
"Er," he said, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "I was...going to ask if you maybe wanted to go grab something to eat, or make good on that hot chocolate deal, but, er, I can come back if this is a bad time..."
He trailed off, feeling mildly stupid, and then added cautiously, "Are...are you okay?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:30 pm
She temporarily forgot she had made such a promise and wrinkled her face with vague consternation. Then she did remember but kept the face because it might cause suspicion to that fact. Something warm did sound nice, seeing as Deus was still rather chilly . . . She blinked blearily at the light coming in behind Gale and tilted her face so some hair could shield her poor eyes. "Hmmmm. Hmmm hmm hmmmmmmmm." Just a noise to bide her time as she thought, knuckles rapping lightly against the threshold.
On the one hand, company might help chase away the chill settling over her. Hot chocolate was delicious and heart warming, and she had been shut in for the most part since the insomniatic episode started. On the other, a part of her wanted to keep up the shut down until she felt it was time, which was a dangerous dangerous cycle the trainee was all too aware of after several years of feeling its enticing offering.
"I'm . . . stable," Stormy answered after a while. Not "okay", just "stable", the way a comatose victim could be alive and stable but still, well, stuck in a coma. Self-conscious under the death hunter's stare, she effected another yawn as an excuse to wake herself up more and forced herself to stand up straighter, pushing her hair back behind an ear - or what she could manage at any rate. "I think that's a nominal idea. Nominal's a word right? I think so. Yeah. Lemme just . . ."
She shuffled out of view, rubbing her back with a small wince as it continued to throb vengefully. Despite looking as though she had just woken up, the view from the crack in the door allowed Gale to see a bit of her room: sterile white walls with an already made bed which, even decked in pastel, seemed to stand out like a rainbow in comparison. But what stuck out more were the pillows - everywhere. Squatting by the bed, she picked up the journal, pen, and room key, and returned to the door, swinging it open as she made to leave it.
Yes she was going out with those clothes. She might have changed if given a chance, but making him wait seemed a bit rude . . .
"Where's the kitchen again?" Stormy asked, stretching her arms out behind her. "I keep getting turned around here."
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Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:54 pm
There was an awkward moment in which Gale just stood there, shifting from one foot to the other and Stormy just stared at him and then looked away, her fluffy dark hair falling in front of her face.
Maybe she's about to say no. That would be awkward.
<< She doesn't look like she's gotten much sleep... >>
"Er," said Gale, tilting his head to peer a bit more closely at her. "Are you..."
Stable? What kind of an answer was that? Granted, he'd only seen Stormy a few times before he'd actually met her, and those times had hardly been more than a few seconds, but even with their building a snow dog together, she did not really seem the type to fall apart at the seams. Not that she was doing that now, but something had certainly happened to pull away that cheerful smile that he had seen on her face before.
"Stable?" Gale repeated. "I..."
She was shuffling through her room now, and Gale took a step closer, peering in curiously. It was a very...white room, surprisingly similar to the neat and orderly one he'd used to have, with the exception of the dozen or so pillows tossed haphazardly throughout.
"Um," said Gale, as Stormy padded back towards him. He leaned closer, brows drawing together in concern as he looked at her face.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked her. "You don't look very well. I wouldn't want to take you to get something if you don't feel up to it...I mean," he corrected himself quickly. "It's not that you don't look nice, since you always look nice, it's just..."
He sighed. Foot in mouth syndrome, begone. "Here." He offered her his arm. "Lemme take you to grab some hot cocoa. It'll make you feel better."
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Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:42 pm
"I don't? That's a shame," she commented as she leaned a little back in response, practically a noncommittal grunt as far as putting it to words went. Stormy did tilt her head a bit as he dug himself a little deeper into a hole she wasn't aware anyone could get into around her, taking a few extra seconds than normal to realize why he was backpedaling and retreading and clarifying; and when she figured out it was actually a passing compliment, she stiffened.
"How can you say that: 'always looks nice'?" she prompted quietly, but with an undercurrent of wariness that wasn't normally there. "You've maybe really seen me all of twice. Or thrice. Maybe I look like this normally. Maybe I'm never well." Of all the things to pick at, she had to pick that particular phrase since it stuck out for some reason to her. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation working at her, or maybe it was the lack of self-confidence that had been magnified ever since the Edric version of Stormy had given her new memories.
She paused, flexed her fingers tighter along the the journal, and then dipped her head to give Gale's feet an apologetic look as her shoulders relaxed. That . . . wasn't the best reaction to a compliment, in hindsight. Especially not for someone who wasn't sure how to approach her now that the Joy was long gone. Probably thought way too much about it. Foot in mouth indeed. "I think I'll take a gallon of hot chocolate now," she mumbled to the floor as she glided over, her slippers scuffing against the ground as she slid an arm around his, treating the stuff like an adult might treat alcohol: as a way to swallow down and forget her troubles for a bit.
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Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 10:43 am
That one stung a little. Gale took an automatic step back, flinching slightly at her tone. It wasn't angry, nor was it even particularly loud, but there was a note of bitterness, perhaps, maybe even irritation.
"...I'm sorry," he said quietly, after a long moment of very awkward silence. "Look, maybe this was a bad idea. I can see you're a little...busy...right now, and you don't seem to want company. I just thought maybe you'd want to...take a break and relax from..." He waved a hand in the vaguest direction of her room. "Whatever it is that you're doing."
Inside of his head Jinhai made a soft noise of reassurance, Gale's cheeks flushing. He wasn't very good at talking to girls in general, let alone ones his own age (Eva's face flashed in front of his thoughts, but he pushed it away, tamped down on those emotions), and it had been long enough that he felt awkward and clumsy.
"Just...take the compliment," he said, as Stormy shuffled forward, taking his arm. "I think you always look well - at least, from the few times I've seen you. I know that may not mean much, but..."
He shrugged, and sighed, wondering if he could fit any more feet into his mouth as he started leading her down the hall towards the cafeteria.
"Do you...wanna talk about it?"
Whatever it was.
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Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:14 pm
Her response was a small shrug, a continued floor-fixed gaze, and the slightest tightening of her arm linked with his that was equally childish and apologetic in nature.
< < Someone is being difficult, > > Thane noted with the disinterest of one watching a boring skellyvision drama, the first time he spoke in quite a few hours. There was no enjoyment for the dracolich to be reliant on a body that could be weakened by insomnia alone, and thus he had held his tongue for the most part. Stormy didn't comment, but hearing him was enough to make her push past the heavy silence.
Well, when they were almost at the caf at any rate.
"I think I should," she finally answered at length, lifting his gaze so that she was finally eying what was in front of them rather than beneath. "That's what they tell you in therapy: talk it out. How does this make you feel. Air out the dirty laundry before you get mold." Then she blinked. "No wait, that was the pamphlet for STDs . . ."
This was apparently her way of trying to lighten the mood she had accidentally set.
"Do they have bananas here?" Stormy added hopefully. "I've been craving bananas for a while . . . Bananas and hot chocolate and something salty."
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Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:31 pm
Clearly his attempts at being a good friend - or at least, a good acquaintance were falling flat. Gale frowned a little, feeling a bit frustrated, but it was not as though he could do much to convince her otherwise when she was so dead set on not believing him.
He gave a small shrug. "Well, talking about it - whatever it is...I mean, I'm not a therapist, obviously, and I'm not going to feed you some malarkey about how you need to express your feelings, but I mean...I'll listen if you wanna talk."
His cheeks flushed a little, Gale pausing just outside the door to the cafeteria. "I'll be your friend, is what I'm saying," he said. "Even if you don't wanna talk, I'll just keep you company."
A slight pause.
"And get you bananas," he added, pushing open the door. The cafeteria, fortunately, was mostly empty, and Gale took Stormy by the wrist, gently leading her down to the tray area where he picked up two mugs, moving to the hot chocolate dispenser. He filled them, added a few marshmallows, picked up a set of spoons, and then nodded towards the fruit area.
"There are some bananas - why don't you grab some, and I'll set this down at a table."
There was an empty one, off to the side, slightly shaded - a nice place away from prying eyes. Gale set the mugs down and slid into one of the plastic attached chairs, waving a hand over his own cup to blow away some of the rising steam.
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Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 10:06 pm
Stormy tasted the word for herself. "Malarkey. Malaaaarkeeeey. I like it," she chirped, her countenance lightening up. "I remember it now, must've slipped away. Sometimes the fun words slip away because you have to use more mundane ones, 'cause people don't use long-long or complicated words anymore unless you're writing down, like, on an important document or something. Not that malarkey's complex or long, but I think it's neat and uncommon to hear. Like defenestrate and malaise and mulligrubs~"
Two words on her emotional state, fifty on one random word. It was always easier to talk about anything other than herself.
Though she did pause when he professed wanting to be friends, mildly stunned as she chewed on the inside of her lip - especially given how different she was acting from when they'd talked in the snow. But mentioning she wouldn't even have to talk at all if she felt like it . . . It took her a moment to recognize the warm feeling in her chest, but when Stormy recognized it as relief she let it come out as a soft sigh and a light smile. Maybe it was a bit weird to think being friends was serious business, but then again she was in a foreign environment full of strangers, one of which for sure she knew didn't mind hurting others - those sorts of close bonds made her wary about inviting people in, even if violence was in the minority.
Allowing herself to be tugged along at his whim, she gave Gale a nod and set her possessions down on a counter before gliding to the fruit area. Oh delicious, delicious fruits~ :kirakkira: The trainee piled her plate up with two bananas, kiwi slices, apple halves, and several small tangerines as Gale made hot chocolate, carefully making her way back with everything she owned in tow lest something spill. A light hum of pleasure left her as she settled herself opposite him, journal and plate side by side on the table, a banana already being swiftly peeled.
"It's real, though, what they say about expressing yourself," Stormy picked back up, like they hadn't just endured an awkward silence. "Or at least it works for me. I just did it in a journal instead since writing's easier than talking about some things." She pat the one before her before chomping down on the banana, savoring the taste. "Used to have a ton of them, but half turned into random in-the-middle-of-class doodlefests . . . Especially in geometry. No wonder I failed that class," she mused, caught off guard by her own analysis.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:51 am
He was somewhat relieved to hear the light tone to her voice, even if Stormy was talking about something that wasn't entirely relevant. But at least she was talking, and Gale found he rather liked hearing what she had to say.
"Malaise is a great word," said Gale lightly. "Personally I'm a fan of synchronicity myself. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
While he was figuring out a table and attempting to cool off the hot cocoa, Stormy was over at the food table, slowly gathering a small army of various fruits, some of which Gale wasn't entirely certain what they were (something that looked vaguely orangeish?). But he made no mention of it, instead giving Stormy a small smile as she sat down across from him, setting everything down carefully.
"It's real?" he repeated, slightly bemused as he slid her mug of hot cocoa across towards her, reaching out to carefully drop a spoon into it. But then Stormy continued, and Gale nodded in understanding, He pulled his own back towards him, gently blowing across it. "I think it's different for everyone. You write in a journal - " He gestured towards it. " - and I find speaking to be more effective myself."
He trailed off a little, slightly embarrassed, and busied himself with his cocoa. "Though...admittedly I might have a bit of an issue actually...talking about things, I suppose."
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:29 am
"Synchronicityyyyy~" Terribly pleased at his input, she lifted the rest of her banana into her mouth, clapped a few times as if to say bravo, and then finished the fruit off with a speed the normally languid teen did not display. The second one was peeled deftly.
"Oh yes, it's very real. Really really," Stormy added in what was supposed to be a Shrek-ish voice, but which sounded too Australian. "Talking, writing, drawing, music, punching things, there's all sorts of ways. I tried talking, but when I do I ust start rambling things off topic, which my therapist says is a way to deflect, which is totally true but at least I'm expressing something, right? It's nice that you like talking though - accents like that are cool to listen to, I think~" Picking up her mug, she bobbed it at him for emphasis before using the spoon to swirl it around; the marshmallows became mesmerizing.
In fact she stared for a solid five seconds before blinking owlishly. Sleep deprivation, man.
"So. Um. Not been getting sleep lately . . ." She swirled her drink a little more and blew off some steam. "Which is normal for me, really. Either sleep too much or not at all. Which is sad because I do like dreaming - it's when you can go bonkers and bobbery and no-one can say no unless you let them . . . Right, getting off topic. Did you hear about the research into Excaliber and Merlin?" she prompted Gale, looking up from her hot cocoa curiously.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:32 am
He wasn't sure what sort of accent she was trying to pull off, but it didn't quite sound like any one he was familiar with. Gale let it go, however, instead stirring his spoon in his mug of cocoa, absently poking at some of the now soggy marshmallows.
"Can't say I've ever punched anything," he said, after a moment. "Er, no wait, I take that back. I did slap Bix once, but in my defense, he deserved it. Mostly I just...hold it all in, I suppose." He smiled a little. "That's probably worse than rambling. At least with rambling you're saying something, like you said. You're expressing something, even if it's not quite what's on your mind."
He shrugged, taking a sip of his cocoa and swallowing, watching Stormy closely. She seemed...well, he wasn't sure, to be honest with himself. He didn't know her well enough to know whether or not this was just her normal state or whether or not something had happened, something that had made her just slightly...off.
Gale smiled slightly, holding the steaming mug up to his nose and breathing in the spicy, chocolate scent briefly. "Dreaming is nice...when they're good dreams," he said. "I don't tend to sleep a lot myself, only because...well, my dreams haven't exactly been...pleasant...as of late."
He shrugged a little, as though trying to dissuade the awkwardness, and then furrowed his brow, setting his cup down.
"Excalibur and Merlin?" Gale repeated, tilting his head. "No...can't say I have. Why, did something happen?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:52 pm
The notion of Gale slapping anyone made her smile a bit - slapping someone always seemed funnier than outright punching for some reason. "Technically I still hold in some things too," she commented as she set the banana peels off to the side and began arranging them neatly into as flat as stack as possible. "You get embarrassed after a while, writing everything down; not everything makes it on the page. It's like when you know you did bad on a quiz and don't want to see the grade when it's handed back because you know it's awful, even though it still exists whether you like it or not. I also have a sister who's A-plus at being the nosy sibling too, so I started getting a bit paranoid she'd be reading . . ." Look at her, still using present tense about family like she could still visit.
Then Stormy remembered belatedly how Gale had a sister who wasn't around to make such memories, and she hurried back to another topic with a self-conscious wince.
"I, um, don't know all the details about the mission," she began, gently wrapping her fingers around the mug and bringing it below her chin to blow on it some more. "Maybe only Death division did, I dunno. All I remember is that they said we were to go find this artifact of -" The trainee paused, squinted down at her plate in thought, then took a sip of her hot chocolate. "You know what, I don't remember whose artifact it is. Like at all. Totally drawing a blank. Sorry . . .
"Anyway, so we had to retrieve it by entering Blank's territory, which meant we had to go into a dream place, which meant we had to take on the persona of people who lived there - only something happened I think with what the Life Labs were using, because when we got there we couldn't remember anything beyond what the dream person - the fragment we got - remembered," she continued, looking more delighted at the phenomena than she probably should have. Then again, it was a story plot device she was enchanted with, so to live it out was fantastic in a way. "The place was broken up into seven lands and ruled by seven kings: red, blue, green, gold, violet, black, and white. I got into gold."
A pause. A long sip from her hot chocolate. Mmmm~ =3=
"Gold was like . . . Well obviously a lot of stuff was gold, and gold was precious and expensive. But it was also a really exotic place with a lot of rich colors and fabrics: like the Chino-Japo feel," Stormy described, wearing a dreamy smile. "They had class distinctions and magical powers and fashion and magical powers, and also magical powers! The summoning kind especially. We had these mana stones to do fun stuff like spells and . . ." She was just going to go on and on.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:53 pm
"That's an interesting way to put it, I suppose," said Gale, idly poking at his spoon as he twisted it around thoughtfully. "I never really thought about it that way before, but I guess it's true. You look back at what you've written and it's like remembering all the bad things that happened. Or maybe the good. Or both."
He gave a small shrug, trying to brush off the sudden pain that made his heart ache, Leslie's face flashing through his mind just briefly before he pushed it away, unwilling and not ready to remember just yet.
The mention of an artifact made Gale frown a little. He'd heard a few rumors that had passed his way of something, but he hadn't realized that it was anything to do with Merlin or Excalibur. There had been Wilson's odd sleep, of course, and a few others, but now that he realized they were all related, things were slowly starting to be put together.
"So...so you were...asleep," Gale said, trying to figure everything out. He took another sip of his hot cocoa. "You were asleep, but not really. Sort of in a dream world, where you were...put into this 'gold kingdom...':
<< Interesting. Think it's got something to do with Mark? He was locked up in his office all week... >>
That's not unusual for Mark.
<< True. >>
"So...so what happened, then?" asked Gale. "In this dream world, I mean. What happened to the kings?"
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