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 Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 9:45 pm
Ripley had a lot to think about recently, and being cooped up in his room simply wasn't cutting it. He could no longer focus on his reading, which became painfully apparent to him after he attempted to re-read the same paragraph no less than seven times. So he took to the training field, hoping that some mostly fresh air and some exercise would help clear his head.
The Trainee took to the field in the plainest clothes he owned; a plain white t-shirt and simple grey sweatpants. His gloves were still on simply because he always wore gloves, and his glasses were tucked away for now, hidden in a safe spot until he was finished. One day he promised to get himself some contacts, but today was clearly not that day.
Suitably blind, he stretched for a workout and then set to do a few laps around the training field; after a while he lost count, and eventually just ran for the sake of running. There was something oddly calming about running in a very large circle at your own pace, with nobody to bother you but the -- really blurry figure in the distance?
Aware now that someone was coming, Ripley slowed his run down to a small jog, and eventually came to a halt a few paces from the blurry shape he was sure he somewhat recognized. "Hi." He greeted the blurry figure that was suspiciously Finn shaped, deciding to be friendly and hopefully non-committal, because right now he couldn't really make out who he was addressing, and though he had an idea, he didn't want to give the wrong name.
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:33 pm
Finn probably had a lot to think about lately but instead he had shoved most of it back to the corner of his mind and had chosen instead to avoid, avoid, avoid. It wasn't that he was ashamed of who he had been in that other world, the one that he had gotten a glimpse of for just six hours, six loonnng hours that gave him way too much information. It was more that he just...wasn't sure it was something he should bother to care about. It was perhaps even more confusing to the moon trainee that when he did bother to think about it, he couldn't decide if that had been supposed to be his darkest timeline or his brightest. It certainly could have been considered either from where he was now standing. Actually he was now standing outside, staring up at the sky and thinking wow the sky sure looks dark along the horizon that can't possibly be a good thing, when the sound of approaching footfalls caught his attention, and he turned towards it, seeking out it's source with his one good eye, seeing first that it was somebody running laps on the training field, and second that it was actually somebody he knew. Avoid. The voice snarled in his head, making Finn wince slightly and curl up his lip in disdain. Or how about I don't feel like it so ******** off. Still, it had been a long time since he'd even seen the death trainee around. A part of him did feel at least a small urge to say hi, and it was that part of him that made him finally start taking steps towards the training field, and it's jogging occupant, footsteps speeding up so that he could intercept the other, and begin jogging next to him. "Hey." He replied to the greeting, turning his head slightly and cocking it to the side, eye squinting as he realized that Ripley wasn't wearing his glasses. Had he ever seen the other man without glasses before? Even in that alternate world, it was just his hair really that had been different then now. Finn suddenly became very aware that he was staring at Ripley, leaning in close and had been for far longer then was likely appropriate. Clearing his throat, he continued to jog, frowning to himself before saying. "So. Brothers. And secret lovers. ******** weird."
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 6:56 pm
Ah-hah, so he had been right! The blurry shape was in fact Finn! Though he wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing, considering the awkward situation the six-hour dream put them in, but he could still appreciate being right in his own head.
A sentiment that made Wilhelm scoff in amusement.
"Well aren't you point-blank." Ripley laughed, somewhat breathless since he had been running pretty hard until his friend had come along. "But yes, very weird. Never thought I was the type." He mused on it; in that 'perfect world' scenario, he had started out with a male lover, had his heart broken, apparently made his family adopt said ex-lover, and ended up falling for his sister's best friend. Apparently, his perfect world was tv-drama worthy.
"-The weirdest part was being jealous." He admitted, clearing his throat. If Finn was going to be so obvious about starting that conversation, then he was going to talk about it. Even if he didn't stop jogging, and never turned to look right at Finn. "-Over you, of all people." It was very important to him that he add that part.
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:24 pm
He hadn't really been quite sure what to expect for Ripley's reaction to his words. Perhaps just the usual I hate you now ******** off, Finn. In many ways, that might have actually been the easier of the scenarios to deal with. Instead what he'd said had only earned laughter in the place of scorn, and an opening that Finn leaped towards with a laugh of his own. "What can I say? Nobody can resist.~" He might have been teasing, but he sounded quite sincere, and there was no hint of amusement in his gaze but really, when was there ever? What Ripley said next, however, had Finn shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Jealous over me? When you had your new budding relationship with a cute little red head that was on your arm all night? Please." A cocky grin began to form on his face before he continued. "But then again, of course, I can't really blame you. It's gotta be rough going from prime rib to mutton chop." That was a bit harsh, and he pretty much expected a punch for saying it, but he let the cockiness drop, as well as the smile, for what he had to say next. "...If it makes you feel any better, I was jealous too. That Finn missed what he'd had with that Ripley, and regretted letting it end. Though he was also going through what seemed to be some kind of mid life crises and I have to think a lot of that was because of....well...upcoming fatherhood." He couldn't even mask the disgust in his voice when he said it that last part.
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 8:18 pm
He could hear the change in Finn's expression with the way his tone shifted, admitting the feelings of Other-Finn. That was something other-Ripley would probably have loved to hear, and yet he was grateful that he didn't, only because it would further complicate things. He was sure of that, at least. "Guess that-Finn just wanted a simpler time." Ripley shrugged as best as he could considering he was still jogging and even though it was a somewhat useless gesture. "Plus, that-Finn wouldn't have gotten into that situation if he'd stayed with that-Ripley, hindsight and all that." He waved it off, but honestly he felt a little bad for other-Ripley, with that in mind. "Poor Fini, though. Having to deal with your sorry a**." Ripley chuckled, shaking his head. "Have you talked to her since?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:38 pm
Those three words were enough to melt away the last of what was left of Finn's tensions surrounding the other man. The other universe dealy had been weird and all kinds of messed up, but in this world, Ripley was his friend and quickly becoming a bro, and actual friends for Finn were hard to come by. The last thing he needed was alternate world bi-sexual tendencies messing up what little he'd allowed himself for relationships in this one. The slap to the shoulder earned Finn turning and giving Ripley a shove in response, though it likely wasn't hard enough to do much more then break the other mans stride a little. "Maybe that Finn is making all the same mistakes this Finn is making." He replied to Ripley's observation. "I told myself I wasn't going to get involved with any women here. Well, men or women I suppose. It complicates things. It makes things messy. And you know..." He made some vague gesture that Ripley probably couldn't see, then reached up to rub at his face as he ran along. "No, I haven't really talked to her much lately at all." He decided to just leave it at that, because he would be damned if this was going to turn into some ridiculously girly sharing-of-relationship-woes moment. "How about you? Seal the deal and jump all aboard the dirty ***** train yet?" Yes. Spin this around on Ripley and make the man feel horrible about his life's choices. That was the perfect way to change the topic of conversation~
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:55 pm
The shove did it's job and Ripley did stumble a pace or two, but thankfully he did not hit the ground and quickly recovered after that. He even caught up again fairly easily, but didn't retaliate. It would start a vicious cycle, and he knew it. Besides, he'd already hit Finn and that was satisfying enough.
"...Involved as in dating, or Involved at all?" It was apparently very important that distinction be made. "I imagine the latter would leave you very...lonely." It was Ripley's turn to make a gesture, and the one he chose was a rather crude jerking motion. He knew Finn would be able to see it, and simply couldn't help the massive grin on his lips.
"I hope you're not avoiding her." He wouldn't pry, and honestly he was okay with leaving it at that. Finn never was the type to chatter about things like that, at least not when it involved him. To anyone else, however, he was more than prying. That much was proven as Finn so eloquently inquired as to the nature of his own relationship.
The grin was gone and, soon after, he nudged out a leg in an attempt to trip Finn. It made him stumble himself, but it was worth it. It didn't matter if he was successful or not, either way he slowed his jog down to a stop, and leaned down, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Not that he had been winded, it was simply habit at this point.
"First off, it's only a five year difference and she's past the age of consent. Stop trying to make me feel like a pervert." He did enough of that himself, he certainly didn't need Finn's help. "And secondly, I don't kiss and tell. Sorry, man."
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Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 10:26 pm
"Involved at all. Trust me, considering how desperate for a good lay some of this islands inhabitants are." He gave Ripley a long, long look when he said that, a smirk still plastered across his face , "I could have gotten myself involved several times before Fini came along." And it was scary to even Finn himself just how quickly he had become very deeply interested in her, having not gotten himself so incredibly bound to just one woman in quite a long time, because the last one still stung a little to think about. He had to snort at the lonely comment, however. "You would know, Ripples~" The other mans grin was met with the much colder version of Finn's, but then he continued to jog along beside Ripley in silence for a moment, trying to ignore the stitch of pain that was beginning to throb in ribs that had healed but were still a bit tender. "No. I'm not. We've just been busy. And we talked when we woke up." There, happy now, Ripley? Because that was definitely as much sharing as Finn was willing to do right now. At least, when it came to his own relationship. Chatting about Ripley's was still fair game. The sudden leg pushed out just enough in front of Finn to trip him up did as it was intended, and the moon trainee stumbled more then a few steps, cursing but then chuckling as he came to a halt himself. Straightening up, he turned back towards the other man, and beyond him, making a note of their location. "Whatever you need to tell yourself to help you sleep at night, old man." He reached up to run fingers back through hair that had finally begun to lengthen past the horrible fuzzy buzzed stage and into something he could style and make look like he cared about his appearance again.
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Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 5:13 pm
Ripley caught the long look - though only because he saw the blurry shape that was Finn's face turned towards him - and rolled his eyes. "Wow, you really are full of yourself." Though he was surprised to find that Finn had at least attempted to be celibate on the island; he didn't really fit into the personality he had pegged him with. So, without really thinking, he spoke: "Why didn't you? There's nothing wrong with unattached sex. It's just sex." He did not, however, comment on the little dig.
"Well, at least you're not ignoring her." The trainee mused, before they were both interrupted with Finn's suspiciously sudden tripping. "Whatever Huckles, you're not too much younger than me." Ripley found himself staring at the other trainee's back, observing the way his shape shifted when he rubbed his hand through his hair. Then he looked away, squinting into the distance before bowing his head to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"I need my glasses." Ripley conceded, starting to get a headache from the strain on his eyes. "Come on, kid, let's walk and talk." He jerked his thumb in the direction he knew his glasses - and towel - would be found, and didn't wait for his answer before walking away. That didn't stop him from talking, though. "So. What now?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:47 am
"When is sex with anyone just sex, Ripley? Maybe to you and me, it's that way, but how do you know that the other party involved isn't going to turn into a clingy, needy, nightmare?" Or any other type of crazy a** thing. Stalker tendencies. Violence. "But it's good to know you at least have your head on straight about the whole thing. Where were you when I first got here?" He smirked. The other man was likely in a pod, but really, it felt like for the first couple of months Finn had never really gotten out of his, hating what he had signed himself up for. And he still hated it now, but he kept his mouth shut about it and did his job, or at least, pretended to do it. Once he was back on his feet, he shrugged his shoulders. "I have no reason to ignore her, really. I just....everything feels a bit different now." He conceded, before adding on. "But I'm sure it will pass." He joined Ripley's side again as the other man said he needed to go get his glasses, musing silently to himself before chuckling. "Oh god. Kid? Does that mean I'm at risk of being at your dirty ***** mercy as well?" He made a show of moving away from the other man, putting distance between them while giving him side eyed looks. As for the question..... "What do you want to happen now, Ripples? Because I'll tell you what I want. I want to forget that any version of me with such terrible fashion sense and awful life choices even exists."
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:36 pm
"When you agree it means nothing, that's when." The Trainee shrugged. It was a risk you took when you opted for meaningless sex over abstinence, but so far he had never had to deal with the overly clingy friends with benefits or the occasional one night stand. When asked where he was, he shrugged. He was probably podded, or in the library. Come to think of it, he never really did ask Finn how long he had been on the island. Not too much longer than he was, or so he assumed based on rank alone.
"If I say yes, will you shut up and go away?" Ripley replied, surprisingly calmly despite scratching his temple with his middle finger. A nice and obvious gesture for the other man to suck on. As they reached their destination, Ripley reached out, carefully patting along the ledge until his fingers brushed his glasses. It was around the time that Finn was giving his answer, and he listened as he cleaned off the lenses and fit them back on his face, nudging the frames properly on his nose.
What did he want? That was a loaded question.
"Sounds good to me, Huckles." He agreed for the most part; there was no point in trying to think too hard about what happened in an alternate universe. It messed up the present. "I don't know, though. I think it was that Ripley and that Fini that made the bad life choices." The amber-eyed trainee glanced up at Finn, a smirk toying onto his lips. There was only one thing they had in common, after all.
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:20 pm
"People lie." That really didn't need any more explanation added to it. People just lied. Plain and simple. They thought they could do the friends with benefits thing with no strings attached, but then they became needy, they began to care. That had happened to Finn all too often. One night stands tended to not have as many problems, and it was why, among other reasons, he had eventually turned towards those. And then he came to the island and decided things were far to confined for s**t like that to not get messy. And then he met Fini and everything went out the ******** window but at least they had an agreement to well...be with each other, and nobody else. Or something like that, at least. She said things that made him wonder sometimes about how much she might be opposed to new things..... Okay thoughts derailed for a moment, he came back to the present with a bark of laughter. "Not a chance, Ripples. I enjoy your company way too much. Besides, I'm over 18 years of age so I'm pretty sure I'm safe." Never. Going. To. Stop. Ever. Stopping with Ripley when they reached the place that he had left his glasses, Finn shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, waiting. And then eye rolling. "Puh-lease. You were both..." He stopped himself there, half way to saying something and then deciding that no, he didn't want to go there. He didn't really even want to think about it anymore. He'd been dwelling on this other world too much already and he just wanted to put it behind him. "I told Fini about that, by the way. She now thinks that I have a type." He smirked. "But don't worry, I have no intention on pursuing that idea to see if it's true. I also told her not to mention anything about it to anybody else." Anybody else meaning a certain red haired girl who he was sure would be devastated by the knowledge, despite it being something from a world that was miles different from this one, with a version of himself that had almost nothing in common with the Finn that stood here now.
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:39 pm
He shrugged once more; Finn had terrible luck, and that was that. "Damn." The Trainee cursed, though his heart simply wasn't in it. "So what does make you go away?" Now he was curious, for the sake of curiousity's sake. It wasn't every day someone stubbornly stuck with him; so far, on the island, Finn was one of two. It was enough for him, but still surprising. It was Ripley's turn to laugh as the conversation with Fini came up. "Good." It was a relief that Finn had no intention of pursuing it. "You'd have to find someone else. You're not my type." His type, apparently, was small red-heads. Or so he had come to learn pretty quickly. The most important part of that whole conversation came to light, and Ripley offered the man his first real, however slight, smile. "Thanks, man. I appreciate it." Other world or not, he didn't want Abbi to find out; she had too little self esteem as it was, and the last thing he needed was for her to jealously worry about what happened in a totally alternate universe. He had enough to contend with in this universe.
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:58 pm
"I think we both know I'm not going to tell you that." Finn answered, though to be honest, he was pretty sure there was nothing Ripley could do short of beating the ever loving s**t of him, to make him go away. And even then probably not. After all, Nevada had held a gun to his head, had beaten him bloody on the training field, and he still found it amusing as hell to harass her whenever he found time to do so...or rather, when ever he ran into her, which wasn't as often as he might have hoped for. It was just Ripley's bad luck that Finn chose to become his friend. Or his personal nuisance. Whichever term he preferred. Finn could only shrug his shoulders at the comment, though he might have muttered. "See, people lie." Under his breath while rolling his eye skyward and to the side, smirking innocently. He didn't give a s**t, however, who's type he was. He had Fini, and she was all he needed right now. And then his gaze dropped back down, leveling on the other man as they seemed to pass into serious moment territory. "Of course. But I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for her." He meant Abbi, of course. "Despite the fact that she seems to think that I hate her every second day of the week. Which I don't. Jesus you know she just....she doesn't seem to get it that I'm actually nicer to her then just about every other damn person I meet. Drives me ******** mental. Good luck with that. You'll need it." And then. ".........Are we supposed to bro hug it out now or something?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:35 pm
"I know." But it would make his life so much easier! Not that Finn ever really cared about that. Perhaps he could simply goad the man into spilling that particular secret...but that was being incredibly optimistic. It seemed, for better or worse, he was stuck with Finn. At least the man could take a punch.
"In this world." Ripley clarified for Finn. In the other world they had more or less grown up together, which made it easy to form an attraction. In this world though, Ripley had experiences that gave him a whole new type; he hadn't lied, at least not obviously. It was simply a difference in worlds. "Be that as it may, my gratitude stands." He waved a gloved hand in dismissal; even if he was doing it for Abbi, it helped him out by contrast. "And thank you." He didn't need the luck, but it was nice to accept anyway. It wasn't often Finn extended such a courtesy, and he'd take it where he could.
The suggestion made him pause for an obvious couple seconds before he turned a flat, rather unimpressed stare at the other man.
"No." He said simply, his body language enough to tack on Don't you dare touch me. "But I could use a spar."
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