Having your energy drained was such a strange experience. As Gale made her way home after once again donating her energy to Lt. Paracelsian, she felt quite dizzy. So far it had taken her almost forty five minutes to make what should have been a twenty minute walk, due to the fact she had to keep taking breaks every hundred steps or so.

Honestly, this was the worst part of giving her energy, the weakness that she felt afterwards, and the fatigue that she felt for a few days after…or maybe that had been just when she had done it the last time, maybe this time she would recover quickly and feel better by tomorrow…though the way she felt right now didn’t support that hope at all.

The brunette let out a long suffering sigh and scanned the area for someplace to sit. Finally she found a bench that was more or less in the direction she was headed and dragged herself over to it, landing on the hard surface with a thump and a groan of discomfort. It was better than the ground though…

The one thing that was starting to bother her was just how…vulnerable she was right now. Honestly it wouldn’t take much for even a weak youma to do her in, and if another officer found her, she would be done for…an easy target for energy draining…or worse. There was always worse. She was quite sure that she didn’t have the strength right now to power up into Sailor Kari, and that was absolutely worrisome, for all of the above reasons.

Damn him. Stupid Paracelsian…stupid lieutenant promising not to drain other people…

Gale gave a great yawn rested her arms on the back of the bench, twisting so she could nest her head on them. Maybe if she just let herself take a quick nap…maybe she would feel better and be able to make the last half mile home without stopping…

Or maybe she could just give up going home as a bad job and become a hobo and live out here in the woods…that would work too.

She felt herself begin to drift out of consciousness. No, no…this wouldn’t do. This wouldn’t do…and the thought she was having wouldn’t do either…

The lieutenants face swam in her mind, his eyes kind…imploring.

Damnit.

Gale forced her eyes open and shook her head with all the strength she could muster. No. She was not going to think about him before going to sleep. No. That was gross and stupid and she was neither stupid nor gross.

Though…his hand was so strong as it supported her…and it almost…almost kind of felt like an embrace…and that was mighty nice. And he wasn’t…bad looking, even though she hadn’t ever seen his mouth or anything…maybe he wore the mask because he didn’t have a mouth.

She closed her eyes again and scoffed to herself. That was stupid. He spoke to her, didn’t he? Of course he had a mouth. Maybe he was just horribly disfigured. She couldn’t have a crush on someone who was horribly disfigured…not that she was a bad person or anything…but looks did matter…at least a little…

His face swam up into her imagination again and she sighed, nuzzling her face closer to her arms in turn. Well. Maybe thinking of him before a nap wasn’t such a bad thing…maybe it didn’t mean anything bad or anything and maybe she wasn’t falling for him.

She wondered when she would see the lieutenant again…and wondered if he would want her to donate energy again…it was almost becoming a habit and not a very good habit…not that any habits were very good.

Her mind continued to drift and her thoughts grew more and more unintelligible, and soon, she thought nothing at all.