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 Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 10:36 pm
Once again that frozen moment, the world peeling back as the edges to reveal a glimpse of the nightmare that had been patiently waiting all this time. And then everything resumed as normal, and America was nodding her head and giving the bearer a wry smile at the news. Oh he's back then? That was quick. Yeah, no worries, nothing I can't handle.She didn't visit until early the next morning, after Kostya had gone off on his own business, but hours before her own shifts that day. Normally she'd be taking this time to run and train, maybe bother Taym a bit when it got too quiet. Instead she wordlessly opened the door to Lawrence's infirmary room and took the visitor's chair. She didn't move it close or lean on the bed, but rather sat at a polite distance and stared. America took in everything changed and unchanged about him in silence, and wondered what he'd gotten out of doing the same to her. He didn't look like a nightmare like this, at least not hers. And there was both relief and a disappointment in that, because she'd have liked to face that down. Take the power of her fear away from him.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:06 am
Time was measured only in breathing here, hours and minutes lost every time he slipped under the surface of conciousness. His dreams were strange and hollow, people long locked away because they were unimportant and memories that likely were not his own. He was staring at the ceiling, eyes open but completely sightless, blinking now and then when he felt his eyes get dry. He did not know if he would ever see again and had not bothered to ask the nurses or doctors if he would die here because it did not matter.
When he heard the door click open, he turned his head slowly to face the sound, still staring and disconnected.
When there was no further sound other than someone moving, possibly sitting based on the exhalation of the hospital chair cushion, he finally spoke, raw and rasped. "Now now then, it ain't polite to creep up on a blind feller."
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:12 am
"It'll be a cold day in hell," America answered, her own voice still rough around the edges, "...before I let you lecture me on creeping." There was a smile in the girl's voice, and while it wasn't exactly kind, it didn't hold the venom one would expect, either. "Looks like you came close, but, mmmm," she hummed, "...not quite there."
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:30 am
When he realised who it was he stopped dead, freezing up, the words dying on his lips. And again out of the silence, out of the cold and the void there was something, a kindling that did not belong. And he neither liked nor disliked it. He simply as always, wanted more.
He shouldn't theoretically be alive and wasn't sure how, or why he had survived. "I never creep missy." he said. That was simply rude. "I revere as appropriate." And he closed his eyes for all the difference it made. "Did anyone mention how I got back here?" Assuming there was even a here, assuming he was on the island at all.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:45 am
"Oh revere," she rolled her eyes, "...is that what we're calling it now? Okay." America took a moment to remind herself that this man was ******** crazy, so maybe that wasn't actually a joke. The smile in her died quickly at the implication, and she went quiet for awhile after his question.
Eventually she answered with a shrug, "Somebody tossed you back through a portal. Apparently, Caelius didn't like, inform the people on that base that you were coming. They don't know you, so they didn't want you dying on their watch or whatever."
She crossed her arms, and lifted her feet up onto the bed. "Not exactly happy about it, but I kinda hate Caelius more n' you right now, so I'm glad his plans, whatever they were, fell through, even if you being alive and here is a side effect of that." Pursing her lips she continued, a little reluctant, "At the end you tried to tell the truth, and I can appreciate that moment of common decency. Singular though it may be."
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:53 am
So they'd thrown him back, passed him back as a problem they didn't want to deal with. It was logical and it was certainly a game his parents and his siblings had played. Viktor had often left him places when he had wanted to smoke or play sports without his little brother in tow, and told to wait somewhere he would, for as long as it took, seeing no reason to go anywhere else. Some nights he forgot to come back to pick him up and it would be his mother who would come and retrieve him at midnight when she finished work, flustered and upset at him, and he had never been sure what she was upset about.
"Well I'm glad to be home." he lied. "Even if ahm a little deficient in the eye department I tell ya. Maybe for ever, who knows eh?" and it was strange to use only Jan's voice and nothing else about him, to fight against his physical limitations to speak because she was the main person he wanted to speak to.
He opened his eyes again as she thanked him for telling the truth and again he didn't understand. "I always tell the truth when I feel it might have some impact. That moment if anything was entirely illogical missy. I didn't expect him to stop. And he didn't. I don't.." he didn't want to admit he didn't know why he'd done it, instead he pressed on.
"Is your bird all right?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:06 am
The girl tilted her head at them mention of his eyes, but then dismissed it. It wasn't likely it'd be permanent. His eyes were still in his skull, so America figured they'd heal. It's what every hunter did better than any normal human being had any right to. It was a trait she appreciated, even if it did mean Lawrence would be moving about freely once more.
It was the admission of not understanding his own actions that gained a strange pull of sympathy for the him. It was the same when he'd watched her breakdown, the strangely helpless creature that didn't know what to do, not even enough to find out, not even enough to care. He'd reminded her of a doll then, given the ability to talk and move like a real person, but nothing else beyond that.
She scooted the chair closer, leaning in to examine him more closely as she answered, "I had to rebond, but we're stronger for it. Got a promotion out of it an' everything."
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:18 am
"A promotion? Congratulations." And this time he did allow the front to take over, to smile in that soft Jan-like way despite how it hurt to do so. "The spirits were clearly with you and your bird then." And he could ignore the chill, the void, everything except the front in that moment. "I suppose, I did you a favour then. You can thank me.. in compliments."
He waved a hand vaguely and his fingers stung. "But my weapon is still missin' missy. I don't think his plans entirely fell through."
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:29 am
"Compliments, huh?" She drawled back at him, unimpressed. "You'll either get it back or die," another shrug and then she was leaning closer. "And healing will go slow without him, too. Must be painful," she caught the hand gently between her own, and quietly considered his bones. "Do you feel vulnerable without Butch?"
He had fine bones, strong and sharp, but there was always a sense of fragility, especially now. Such a pretty little man, indeed. Her fingers flexed and it felt good to be strong and hold something delicate. It felt good to know she could break it so very easily, but still have the control to refrain.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:36 am
He was impressed - as much as he could be - every time she made an observation which felt cold and emotionally stripped back. He would die or he would not, it was exactly how he saw it and with the same level of indifference. So many people had pretended to care about him, feigned that they did not resent throwing their emotions and investments into the void. She did not care and it was somehow what he wanted. "It is painful." he said, focused on the contact, on the warmth of her hands, remembering the way her fear had felt and tasted, forgetting the ice of his prison if only a moment. "But pain is nothin' to an old cowboy." And because she seemed to value truth for whatever strange reason, he generously bestowed some upon her. "And no. I do not. Nothing can hurt me. Nothing ever could, even before he was there."
And because he still indulged in taking her victories away from her, he gently curled his fingers against her and added. "The spirits are stronger than you are."
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:59 am
Her hand clenched around his immediately before she suddenly let go as if burned. Bruises were already welling up under the pale of his skin. Nothing was broken, but it'd been close. America made a small, frustrated sound as she refrained from hitting the man. She had not come here to hurt the ******** invalid. That was not the person she was or who she wanted to become.
Abruptly she stood up, placing the chair back where it belonged. "Well that's a damn shame, now isn't? Pain is part of how people learn. Though I prefer to use positive reinforcement myself, I doubt that'd be much for you either." Leaning over him, America took a deep breath, counted out seven heartbeats, and then pressed a soft kiss to his temple. "What a sad piece of work you are."
She righted herself and moved for the door. It was enough, for now.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:08 am
The pain, even in amongst the other aches he felt was sharp and clear as a bell. When it came from her there was some part of him, some subconcious splinter which prioritised it higher than the other sorts. He almost felt it, that is to say it almost affected him. His breathing had picked up but only fleetingly, quickly dropping once again to the slow patient indifference from before.
"I learn by knowing." he said, still able to feel the spot where she'd placed the kiss as much as he could feel the gathering protests in his fingers. "And by being told."
What he did with information once he had learned it however, was entirely reliant on being afraid of bad choices, and he had no fear at all.
"Thank you for visiting me missy." he said, and the smile audible in the words lingered a few moments before it vanished once again.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:51 pm
Pausing briefly, she looked back at him, voice oddly wistful as she spoke, "I'll be seeing you, mister whoever."
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