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 Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 2:04 pm
Torn stitches were not fun. They were ugly and hurt like a b***h and usually meant your brother dragging you to the hospital so you could be restitched and get a lot of lectures about taking it easy.
Zia acquiesced. She hadn't gone out on a patrol in what felt like ages, but now she even cut down on stubbornly limping around the penthouse and resorted to sinking on the sofa, staring at the fireplace with her bandaged leg raised under a blanket and staring angrily at the cup of cocoa in her hands.
She had just concluded she should've spiked it with something before she sat down.
She was stir crazy, which was preferable to musing on the feelings about Operation Rota and Wolframite and her own past sins and how much of them was really on her shoulders. But she was still restlessly sequestered and upset about it which culminated in flopping sideways and resting the mug on the wooden floor as she dramatically laid there and groaned like a dead seal.
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 6:07 pm
There was probably something to be said for 'not teleporting unexpectedly into someone's house', but then again, there was also a few pros... at least in Realgar's opinion, if you hadn't seen someone with a tendency to poke nega-officers with a stick for a while. He knew she'd already had one, very painful and dangerous encounter with General Painite... and after a while, he'd started to worry that she'd had a similar... worse encounter. Most times he might have considered checking the hospital first, but then again, he didn't need to try explaining to a pushy senshi that no, thanks, he and Iris had set a date, no it didn't need moved up, and so on... so first stop instead had been to where he knew she'd been staying, counting on her relatives to still be out of town. Popping up unexpectedly in the home of someone who wasn't expecting it might do a bit more damage than even Tag Swagger couldn't glaze over. It was therefore to his enormous relief, if not necessarily hers, when he pretty literally appeared out of the air with an opening line of "Oh thank God, you aren't dead."
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Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 7:54 pm
Zia had been expecting a quiet night of being sullen and stuck to the couch with her phone obnoxiously out of reach. She had been slumped over like a dying walrus with her leg still raised on the foot stool under her blankets and her torso twisted around so half her face was smashed against a cushion while she reached over in futility trying to reach the phone to send a barrage of texts in her boredom.
And then there was suddenly a guy standing there and even if it was a familiar guy, she didn't have very much time to register and flailed hard enough to splatter her cocoa everywhere and jerk her injured leg up with a yelp and a scream.
"No, but you're about to be! What the hell?! Ow, ********, ow," She pushed herself up to move the blankets off her bare legs in shorts, and look at the reddening gauze over her fresh restitching. In Realgar's defense, it had already been pulled and tugged way too much for the delicate flesh, but that didn't stop her from blaming him for almost making her fall off the couch.
She gingerly touched the wrapped area on her upper leg and hissed in quiet pain in the most exaggerated way she could. This is your fault, somehow. Feel bad for her.
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 10:26 am
"s**t! Sorry!" He'd been so relieved that he hadn't popped into an abandoned appartment, or found a corpse... or... any other thing on a list of unpleasant alternatives he hadn't even immediately noticed she was injured. "Christ on a cracker, Woman. You dropped off the map. What was I supposed to think?" He demanded, raking his fingers through his hair. "What the ******** happened?" He hadn't yet had an encounter where he'd been left with stitches. Bruises. Yes. Broken bones and jarred teeth... sure... but stitches were an animal that you didn't normally run into fighting order.
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 10:54 am
"Sorry. You're not really on my list of textables," Zia said with a shrug, trying not to sound too bitter he was still keeping secrets from her after all they'd been through. She gave a lot and was increasingly bitter about how rarely she felt like it paid off, but Realgar seemed to have made huge leaps to meet her in the middle when it came to their turmoil.
Still, the fact there were still pockets of his life she hadn't been able or allowed to invade yet when he could clearly just teleport into her den highlighted something that mildly irritated her and made her feel like it was all very unfair. As long as you ignored the part where she hadn't shared the part where she was not entirely human with him. Everyone needed their secrets, his just got in the way this time.
"Well, I told you generals were stabby. General Wolframite thought I could stand to lose a little weight or a limb or you know, no biggy," She said, moving her blankets to adjust and conveniently leaving out the part where Wolframite, for all his torture at Ares' hands, was simply the worst choice for ******** it. My brother's going to kill me if I tear my stitches again."
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 5:15 pm
"Yeah, well, we do sort of know a few of the same people. Hell you probably know half the people with powers in this insane city..." OK so maybe he could have been more sympathetic sounding. Ok he definitely could have been more sympathetic sounding, but he figured she could lump it just this once. He'd been worried sick, and surely she could have contacted someone... "...Yeah uh... Wolframite... he's...." He wasn't sure how to put it, but he'd heard stories about what had happened to Wolframite and some of the other agents who had been through Rota. "...Kid has problems. Understandable problems, but problems." Wolfie must have done a damn highland jig when the brass officially dissolved the alliance between them. It wasn't war with the DMC, but he knew that had been a significant sore point. "Have you considered getting someone to go with you on these damn cataloging things" He pushed, guessing the answer was no, because he couldn't imagine many people approving of the idea or the danger it presented to try and strike up conversation with Negaverse agents. Not that he could blame them for that caution either. Damn. "Sorry, seriously sorry I just... I wouldn't have, you know... popped in here but...."
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Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:42 pm
Talk about Wolframite's 'problems' caused a noticeable reaction in Zia as she sank into the couch uncomfortably and nervously ran her fingers over the brand on her chest without thinking. Wolframite had taken her questions as mockery, but Zia did carry the weight of those two weeks with her and her nonchalance was only detachment and denial in desperation to cope.
"I dunno, maybe. Luxor goes with me sometimes, but no one ever turns up. I think his aura scares people off..." She mumbled, trying to pretend she wasn't visibly upset by her own brain going off on mental tangents she didn't want it to.
"It's not bad, I guess I'm flattered someone noticed my absence on the grid," She added with a weak, forced laugh and reached up to tug his arm in a weak attempt to pull him to the couch.
"Watch TV with me or something, I'm dying up here by myself and useless... I'm always useless."
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Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:24 pm
"You don't look like you're dying, and you're not useless. It's this hilarious process called healing. You have already lectured me about it..." He reminded her, letting her drag him just far enough to lean his hip against the arm of the couch. "I can get you stuff from the kitchen or whatever, but I can't stick around. If Luxor attracts notice, you better believe I will too. He warned. "I don't want some well intentioned idiot breaking the door down." Like for example... Luxor. "I can't stay, not powered up." He sounded a bit apologetic, but concerned. "Think you'll be mobile for New Years?" He added. "I'm meeting Iris at the park."
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 9:02 pm
"We're all the way up here!" Zia complained, sounding like a child being denied. But she did, at least for all appearances, look genuinely hurt he was leaving again.
"I just..." She sank. "You've been up here before. Luxor hasn't. Luxor doesn't... Please don't leave. Just for a little bit?"
Alone, stifled, and being someone who thrived on physical touch with other human beings, Zia was not coping well with recovery.
She managed to listen, even amidst all of her wallowing and self pity, to his mention of meeting Iris, though. "To... to actually do it?"
There had been a lot of talk about his impending purification, and even though his original announcement had quite the impact, the actual notion it was really going to happen still seemed weird. At least weird enough to put her in a sort of daze as she tried to mull this over.
"...I'll be up before then..."
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Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 12:22 pm
"Well, if you wanted to show up I wouldn't have a problem with it." He offered, which was as close to a direct invitation as he felt like giving. He was honestly surprised that Luxor hadn't visited there, as close as they'd seemed, and it was a significant part of his decision to relent. "...Fine. But if someone starts heading this way I'm gone." He agreed. "Before I sit down and drive you crazy by complaining about your choices of entertainment, can I get you anything?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:59 am
"Why do you think he'd be around?" Zia sulked, not coming out of her sunked position on the sofa. Clearly being left alone to recover had been doing the paranoid and already unstable girl no favors.
"He never smiles or reaches out or touches me, being in a room with him is just as lonely as being by myself, of course he's never been here, he probably doesn't even know I live here," She babbled on. Now that Realgar had managed to hit the sore point, her frustrated and exaggerated 'boy problems' were all too willing to be spilled out in the open
She knew it just wasn't in Luxor's nature to be affectionate, and she shouldn't take the fact he rarely, if ever reciprocated personally, but after being left alone to wallow for some weeks she had started to, mostly because she hadn't been around people in a while.
"Just come sit with me," She muttered, giving him another tug. "Before I invite my ex over again. Because I'd rather have you around."
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Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:42 am
Realgar floundered, caught between the temptation to easily throw down a few relationship mines in the path of someone who... frankly he wasn't sure he liked so far (Luxor), and between trying to be nice to someone who he frankly did. "Have you...." He floundered some more, sitting down carefully where he could find a space that wouldn't hurt her. "...OK. I'm like the kind of relationship train wrecks, so I'm not really who the hell you want to be taking advice from, but... uh... Have you asked him about it? I mean, I don't really know the guy... but does he know what you're looking for? Might save you two both some pain and anger if you have a discussion about what you're looking for from each other. I mean... hell, Marilyn there obviously likes you. He stopped in his tracks for you." "I mean I'd offer to go get the guy but given how we got on so far I think you'd have to loan me some couch space afterward." He joked, hoping to coax a smile out of her. The temptation to tell her to just dump the a** was ENORMOUS... but it was also shitty as hell and he was pretty sure nothing good was down that road.
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Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 5:34 pm
Realgar's advice was met with a narrow eyed stare that seemed like it couldn't figure out if it was contempt or confusion.
"...Dude, there is no 'relationship'. He's just a friend. Some knight I indexed who decided to patrol with me sometimes. I mean... sometimes... I mean, he took me to his wonder and he let me crash on his couch for a week or so but."
There was a dramatic huff and a sweeping motion of her head accompanying it.
"He never notices me in that way. I feel like no one does, not when I want them to. Like I gave up some huge chunk of value when I gave up on spending four hours a day on my hair because I was busy dealing with the fall out of a friend slaughtering teenagers at my feet and burning people alive."
Suddenly, without warning, she flopped into a dramatic one armed lean lean on Realgar's shoulder, staring at him with something almost accusatory. "You left me at your cat lady friend's house. Why? Am I not pretty enough for you? Are you gay or something?"
Boundaries and healthy interaction were apparently off the table for tonight.
"Only Pascal gets me, but I don't think I can handle being with him for real again. I hate being called names and he treats me like I'm disgusting and he still comes over and tries to take me on dates and stuff but I'm not sure if I hate or what and then I think why do I care because the world is ending and I'm ending and you're about to give up this huge piece of your life and move on to a new chapter and I'm just here being weak and pathetic and bitter."
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Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 7:39 am
"...Yeah that wasn't exactly the impression I got." He grimaced slightly, bracing himself to get pummeled for pointing out that the way she'd been acting didn't exactly say 'just friends'. This conversation had suddenly turned into a tangle of thorns, and neither of them were probably coming out unscathed. "I..." He had taken her home, but he couldn't tell her that. "I still a Captain of the Negaverse, and you were drunk. If I didn't take you home and take advantage of you, it has nothing to do with you being hot or not. You could probably goddamn set something on fire even if you were wearing a thrift store acrylic afghan, that's not the point." He floundered, tripping over the timing, the emotionally loaded statement. "You're important to me, goddamnit. I... care about you ok? You're important to me, I'm not going to treat you like..." He was actually a little bit angry now, mostly at this 'Pascal' who he wanted to go after, to give her the mans star seed as a necklace charm. "Or fine, whatever, assume I'm 'gay' if that's easier." He'd noticed her, god he'd noticed her, but he was rapidly approaching a point where he'd loose a damned big chunk of memories, and no idea which ones. Seemed like a pretty shitty time to think about hooking up. Especially having seen how pointy some of Zia's heels were, and her proficiency with hitting people.
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Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 8:38 am
Zia stared, and stared, and stared. There were a lot of things he was saying and trains of thought he was driving that didn't make a lot of sense to her. Physical attraction didn't necessarily have anything to do with emotions or relationships in her mind, and on top of that some form of boundary pushing, objectifying action that might be seen by others as degrading or disrespectful was key in communicating interest.
Not that that should've surprised anyone if they thought long and hard about the way she followed her father around as he made his way through disposables wives and girlfriends and often pushed his doll like and demure daughter on older men whether she expressed discomfort at it or not.
The gap in understanding likely came from the fact Zia was not a demure little doll, and hadn't been in some time, which was a hard thing for her social conditioning to wrap around when it came with differences in how people treated her. It would be hard if her mind wasn't in fragile pieces.
Still, Realgar was upset and she at least managed to comprehend she was the cause of it, and normally she tried not to care if she made people upset but this was different. Mostly because she had created the situation by pushing something that was uncomfortable and humiliating for both of them.
She fiddled with her fingertips and took her interrogatory stare off of him to glance in another direction as something she was sure was supposed to be humiliation seemed to try to be breaking it's way through.
"I'm sorry," She mumbled, the best she could do to apologize for his discomfort and anger. But then he was trapped in a slumped sort of hug.
"I care about you too. And you're a really good friend. And I shouldn't be left alone to talk to myself for long periods of time," She concluded.
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