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 Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:14 am
There had been no sleep that night.
So far, Otto's plan of drinking and enjoying a disaster movie marathon went off without a hitch. He was miserable, despite his favourite movies playing on the large screen. He broke down into sobs through most of them as he remembered watching movies with Nevada not so long ago. But this was what he wanted. To be surrounded in what he loved; pillows, comforters, duvets, and movies, as he stewed in misery.
He was, unfortunately, low on new movies. The teen took to replaying old favourites on as high a volume as his ears could withstand. Each explosion quaked the walls with rumbles.
He hadn't eaten. He had a bag of snacks waiting but it remained sealed.
He didn't feel too good. Kind of sick, actually.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:36 am
Word always travelled fast on Deus. Information tended to spread like wildfire, and the death of one of their own was something that everyone knew quickly. What he didn't know - what information seemed to escape him - was how close Otto had been to the victim. He knew the young man had been there when Nevada's life ended, but he hadn't been aware of the relationship the two had shared. Ripley had only assumed that they had been close friends.
It wasn't until someone mentioned it to him in passing a few days later that it clicked. How Otto's behaviour made a lot more sense now, and Ripley felt that it was about time for a visit but first: supplies.
When he had them he made his way to the young man's room, and after hearing the explosions and wall-rattling surround sound, simply entered the room without knocking. He closed the door behind him, locked it this time, and after surveying the layout made his way to the little nest on the couch. Ripley only gave Otto a passing glance in his search for the remote, and when he found it, off went the sound.
"Give that to me." Ripley demanded firmly, his hand out for the bottle the young blond held.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:40 am
Otto didn't notice Ripley until he'd taken away the sound. A distressed gasp escaped the boy, his head whipping up to gaze at the older man. His deman earned a whine from the boy with bloodshot eyes, curling his body around the massive bottle of Southern Comfort.
"Noooo...." He whined miserably.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:41 am
"Now." Ripley demanded again, a little harsher, his hand still out expectantly.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:42 am
Otto sniffled loudly, slowly holding out his bottle. If Ripley ran off with it, otto would just pull a fresh one out from under the couch.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:49 am
"Thank you." The bottle was taken and set on the table, keeping it in Otto's line of vision. The Trainee then took a seat beside the boy, digging through his bag to pull out a bottle of red liquid - gatorade, apparently. He tore off the packaging and the seal before offering it out to Otto. "Drink."
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:54 am
Oh good. he didn't take away his booze. His deliciously sweet and syrupy booze. The teen blinked slowly, sniffling as he watched Ripley get him a new drink. A very not alcoholic drink.
"I was drinkin..." he mumbled, taking the offered sports drink and gulping it down. His made a sour face, the difference in taste and texture off-putting at first.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:04 am
"Yes. Now you're going to drink this." Ripley didn't seem very put off by Otto's grumping, and after making sure the boy was doing as he was told, stooped again to go through his bag. A second package was opened, and like the drink, held out to Otto. It was a small, single-serving loaf of banana bread, apparently quite fresh. "Eat."
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:06 am
Otto glared but took it anyway. "But I don't feel good..." He mumbled, looking at the bread wearily in his hand. If he ate the bread he felt he'd likely throw it up fairly quickly. However, he also knew he was dealing with the stubbornly stern Commander Ripples.
Otto took a tiny bite, chewing for a long time before swallowing.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:12 am
"Eat." Ripley repeated, as stubbornly stern about it as Otto imagined he would be. A second drink was pulled from his bag, but it was just a bottle of water, which was placed on the table in front of them. It didn't seem to matter to him that Otto was only nibbling, but he did seem to approve of the effort he was making. He stayed silent for a long while, his attention moving between watching him attempt to eat and the movie that was now playing, silent but violent. Then, after a while, he spoke softly.
"You have my sincere condolences." It was rare for him to use words like sincere, but he felt it was needed, considering the circumstances. It must have been terrible.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:24 am
He'd managed a few more bites, his stomach doing flips from the sudden intake of real nourishment it had seen in a day. His chewing slowed down.
"You don't gotta be all professional yanno... y'don't work at a stuff funeral home no more." He drawled miserably, his eyes cast down to his lap. "M'not some client family needin'... that.... I'm not..." His mumbling seemed to fizzle out, his heart heavy and weighing him down.
"Nevermind..." He blinked slowly, the euphoria the booze had given him waning away. "M'guessin yer checkin on me?" He wasn't sure why. Maybe it felt good for Ripley to go back to something he knew. Or maybe the older man did care for his former roommate from the time he'd spent in his father's care.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:46 am
"I know." Ripley replied softly to all of Otto's concerns. He didn't have to be here, or offer his condolences. That life was gone; he had turned away from it and never looked back. Today had been the first time Ripley had ever uttered such words, and it was almost refreshing to not have to express them every day, to countless faces. It always meant something to him, but today they meant more now, somehow.
"I am." He confirmed, nodding to the water. "Finish that, the gatorade, the bread, have a shower, and then you can have your booze back." Ripley reached into his bag, and pulled out a bottle of his own. "I'll even join you, if you want." The whiskey disappeared again, hidden away for now. "But not a moment before." He gestured back to the water again, to remind Otto of his demands.
"Someone has to make sure you take care of yourself." He explained with a small, almost teasing smile.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:50 am
Otto nodded, finally being a lot less stubborn about it. He ate half of the small loaf, about as much as his body would allow without gagging. He'd drank part of the bottle of Gatorade, and a few generous sips of water before moaning in objection.
"Shower now, okay?" He grumbled groggily, slowly peeling away the layers of blankets that confined him.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 12:01 pm
"Sure." Ripley shifted, getting off the couch so Otto could untangle himself and get up without being hindered by a second body. He stayed close though, in the off chance he needed to catch the malnourished and intoxicated Hunter. Before Otto could start to the shower though, he was once more interrupted by Ripley - this time, it was for a hug. A tight, encompassing hug.
Perhaps he had only wanted Otto to get out of his nest on his own will.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 12:19 pm
Oh no, why was he stopping him now? Ripples was just a blocker of all his---
Oh.
Otto was tense only for a moment, before he leaned heavily into the hug. His hands clung to the fabric of Ripley's top. There'd been times during the night he wondered why he was in this position at all, nearly having allowed himself to forget Nevada had died at all, let alone before his eyes.
His eyes glazed over again with a new batch of tears, despite how he'd felt as if he'd must have run out by now. Another loved one was gone, but this one he couldn't forget so easily. That reality he'd been forced to witness.
Otto's grip on him tightened, the haze of alcohol further washed away by all that Ripley had made him ingest. He let out a low whine, the pain bubbling up again fresh.
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