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 Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 1:16 pm
As soon as they disappeared from the rooftop, Dia felt herself relaxing into the comforting grip that held her. Okay, comforting might have been a stretch - but at the very least she felt safe, knowing the General had collected her before the Squire - the Knight could attack her any further.
At the same time however, there was a nagging, growing feeling of disappointment that she hadn't been able to finish things herself. Or, heck, even Labyrinthite had obviously been too concerned with her state to bother finishing the job for her. Aluminite had gotten away (not entirely unscathed, at least) and she hardly had anything to show for it.
Hmph.
He wasn't supposed to see her like that. When she'd called him, she'd been on top of the world (or at least on top of the Captain), gleefully excited about the new letter she'd carved into the traitor's chest. But no, no, he had to show up when she was shoved off and stomped on, like some discarded piece of trash. He probably didn't even realize she'd done as well as she had, before that moment. Just.... hmph!
The senshi's appearance faded, Priscilla's casual attire now free from the blood that her dress had absorbed. Her hand was still a mess and there were still splatters of blood on exposed skin and hair but her aura was gone, hopefully less of an irritation to the nearby General. He hadn't growled - out loud, at least - but she knew proximity with one of her kind was still a stress in itself.
Injured hand still cradled against her chest, her chin fell and she remained quiet, unsure of what to say first - did she apologize? Defend herself? Argue over why he didn't just... just kill the little twit while he was standing there??
No, hand nursing seemed the best bet, her torn bottom lip puffing out into a sulk.
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 2:40 pm
His restraint was better than it had been. There could have been several reasons for it, his own self control or maybe it was the senshi that he carried in his arms. Either way, it mattered not.
The only thing that remained important was that he had gotten her to safety and they had both powered down before his control slipped. In the state she'd been in, there was no way she would have been able to fend him off alone and that thought alone had him putting several yards of distance between them.
Time ticked on, minutes passing, where his back was turned to her with his hand gripping the door frame that led from the kitchen into the living room. It was so tight a grip that his knuckles were white to match the intensity of his flaring nostrils. Clearly, from the tension between his shoulders, he was internally warring with himself.
Had he still being wearing the more natural skin of the good general, he would have splintered the wood in his hands and welcomed the grains that would embed themselves in his palm. Pain was grounding and right now he was only feeling instinct warring against his better logic. By the time he turned to look at her, the normally bright eyes were a dark ring of melted gold ready to be poured from the cauldron and burn everything around him.
"Who was that?" He hissed between gritted teeth.
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:03 pm
And just like that, she was alone again. Arms left from around her, the man with a pink streak finding his grip better served by holding onto the stupid doorway. The doorway, for heaven's sake.
He turned around and glowered. He was glowering, straight up, glowering at her.
Fair skin flinched as she blinked, her figurative hackles immediately raising in defense. Sure, it had looked bad when he'd arrived, but wasn't he... didn't he...
"Yeah - I'm not fine, thanks for asking."
The kitchen was as good of a place as any to end up being abandoned in, she supposed. Slender legs turned and she made a beeline for the sink, her good hand moving out to rip away several sheets of paper towels. The nozzle was flicked on and she dipped the wad of disposable towels under the running water. Bringing it up to her face, she winced as the rough texture brushed against her bruised and cut up lip.
Thoughts flashed back to what Aluminite had said, words he'd meant as a warning that she'd chosen to dismiss because her General gave her the attention she needed. Or at least, that's what she'd kept telling herself.
"Does he keep you around because he cares about you or because you’re still there?"
"It was James," she finally replied haughtily, refusing to turn around, "Or what's left of your precious little Aluminite."
The towel was redipped in the water, brought up to swipe away the blood staining her arms and chest. "He told me he knew what happened to you, you know. Still wouldn't tell me, even after he turned. Guess it's hard to resist being the golden child."
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:48 pm
Sharpness returned to his gaze as he looked at her. It was difficult to keep from scowling, letting irritation crawl out of his skin and take it out on the nearest wall.
Didn't she get that the distance was for her own ******** safety? He was a carefully held together picture of control, so carefully put together that the cracks couldn't be seen from the outside even though, if someone were to crack him open, they would see every split and splinter along his being.
"I know you're not," Chase snapped. He could tell just from looking at her. Wood splintered beneath his hand when he pulled at it, forcing himself away as his muscles strained from the exertion. "I just -- for ******** sake Priscilla." His fist hit the countertop with enough force to make it, and anything atop the floating island, rattle. "I am struggling right now so could you watch the ******** sass?"
Immediately he regretted his outburst and his hands found the edges of the stone top to grip as tightly as he could muster. Eyes closed and his long, lanky body hunched over as he forced himself to focus on his breathing. In. Out. In. Out.
The buzzing in his veins seemed to settle a little bit as did the rattling of the bars that held his beast back.
It rose two seconds later when she revealed who it was. "What." It wasn't so much as a question as an outburst of disbelief. That had been the turncoat and she had let him walk away?
No, no he was going to focus. Prissy had clearly thought she had the situation handled when she called, there had been no desperation in her voice but--
"He was keeping you safe." Chase knew that without a doubt, because that was the final order he had given him. "Following orders." Even if the ******** couldn't be assed to stay where he belonged.
"The hell were you thinking Prissy?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 8:43 pm
The fist hit the surface behind her and she let out an involuntary squeak as the paper towel wad dropped in the sink, startled by the sudden violent outburst of the normally composed man. Labyrinthite, she'd come to expect that sort of behavior from but Chase had been doing better. He wasn't back to normal, but he was better.
Or, so she'd assumed.
She let out an audible huff but didn't snap back with a retort, as tempting as it was. He was admitting that things weren't hunky-dory with him and that was fine - she could behave. She would behave, for his sake.
Sort of.
The monster in her boyfriend (or was it the monster that was her boyfriend now?) reared its ugly head as the revelation sunk in about who the Knight had been. Okay, now he surely had to be regretting the fact that he'd walked away without finishing the job.
Wait.
"Safe? Keep me safe?" What universe was he living in? Turning around, her backside pressed against the sink as she shot daggers at the frustrated man. "Chase, he turned as soon as you were gone and tonight he tried to take me with him."
Trusting that little twit with orders was an absolute joke. And to confide in him instead of her? Well that was just downright insulting. Granted, Aluminite had only offered to "help" her when she was baiting him, but that wasn't a tidbit that Chase needed to hear. Or wanted to hear, apparently. No, he was too busy trying to make her feel bad and incompetent - like a jerk.
"I was doing just fine until he did his whole..." her good hand waved around towards nothing in particular, "... light show, transformation thing. I had him trussed up like a pretty little present for you and I..."
The anger in her voice faltered. She had been given ample opportunity, in reflection, but hadn't seized the chance to kill him. She'd failed. As much as she'd like to argue that it hadn't been her fault, it had been.
"I don't know what happened, okay?" Her head turned to glare at the wall, rolling her eyes in the process. "He was ripped up and bloody one moment and then looking like a pretty boy the next."
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:27 pm
He waited. Chase waited for what he thought was the inevitable comeback and when it didn't come the sigh of relief he exhaled was audible.
There were several things that he was angry with; himself mostly and the fact that his grasp of control was slipping, then there was that godforsaken beast within him who's cage bars were bending under the weight of everything that he was, and he couldn't deny that he was frustrated with his girlfriend who didn't understand how dangerous being around him could be for he.
It didn't matter that he was doing better. Chase wasn't doing well enough if he was having difficulties after a brief brush with his corrupt.
When she tried to argue with him, he laughed. His head dropped back and he laughed, loud and almost bitter, in response. "I don't expect you to understand." How could she when he kept so much from her still. He ought to just tell her, to admit that it had been by his own hand and the follies that he'd been cast out and banished until he had crawled his way back with blood, sweat, and likely the cost of his soul somewhere. (Did he even have a soul to sell pieces from or did Metallia own that as surely as she owned the rest of him no matter what?)
"That sounds just like him doesn't it? Offering you his hand and what he thinks is safety? Why are you surprised?" It didn't matter that she probably wasn't, his anger had already bubbled to the surface and it showed in the way he spat each reply at her.
"You are all so goddamn young and foolish when it comes to the Negaverse and the queens that we serve. For ******** sake Prissy." He sounded exsperated, done.
Hands pushed off the counter and ran through his hair, taking turns as they pulled through each of the pink and black strands. Eventually they rubbed his face.
"What if you hadn't called me? What if because of you something switched in him and he had the spine to try and kill you?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:58 pm
He was laughing. That sonofagumdrop was laughing at her and Prissy could feel her own anger rising. It wasn't cool and collected, it wasn't even well thought out. It was rash and passionate and red as the color her cheeks were blossoming into.
Her teeth gritted together as he continued to chastise her like she was some stupid girl that didn't know what she was doing. Fists balled up and a sharp pain shot through her arm as she realized she was squeezing tightly with the wrong hand. Oh, she knew what she was doing - just because she'd made a bad call didn't mean she was going to get herself killed.
"Then I guess you'd have one less young and foolish person to have to pick up after, huh?"
Arms folded across her chest, sore one on top of the other. She had half a mind to slap the stupid man upside his head, ergo, her hands were safer tucked away, out of temptation's reach.
"You're a real piece of work, Chase Black." Her nose wrinkled. "If I wanted to get lectured, I'd go back to my father's."
He was rubbing his face, his hair mussed up. How easy it would be to take a step forward and smooth it out, run her fingers through it and tell him to stop being so worrisome. Maybe before he'd left, she could have done that. Maybe.
Her own hand moved up to brush away pink curls, one of them stained a dark red in the corner of her eye. Shaking her head, she muttered to herself, "Shoulda made it a D after all."
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 10:01 am
Everything about him went completely still in response to her rebuttal.
Trying to keep himself in place besides the ticking of his jaw and flaring of nostrils was difficult. "If I wanted you dead I wouldn't be here trying to make sure I don't lose my s**t." Each word was hissed out between clenched teeth and angry lips. There were several different things that he wanted to say to her that were pressing against his thoughts but he didn't.
Instead he forced himself to inhale, then exhale. He would stay in control as Chase.
"Look." He said with an unsteady voice. "I know you don't like that I don't tell you everything." No one liked that he was prone to keeping secrets but that wasn't going to change. "I am trying to keep you safe." It was the least he could do for everything she was putting up with. "I - " He hesitated because in general Chase Black did not apologize for things.
"Prissy. I'm sorry."
With that he disappeared from the kitchen only to return a few minutes later with the first aid kit he always kept fully stocked in the downstairs bathroom. "Sit, let me look at your wrist."
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 10:59 am
He was chewing into her again, the anger clear from his expression. Bare feet adjusted themselves, the young woman bracing herself to stand around for yet another lecture - or a yelling match, whichever came first. The words that did come next weren't what she was expecting. He wasn't giving her more crap for what had happened, he was... apologizing. Her boyfriend was apologizing to her after she had gone and gotten herself into a bind that had required his assistance in getting out of.
Her mouth grew slack and she leaned forward to say something...and then he left the room.
Her arms fell apart from their hold, the good one bracing herself against the counter while the bad pressed against her chest. For a brief moment, she was scared he'd walked out on her. It was one thing, to fight and explode at each other - she could deal with explosions, with anger, with fury. What she couldn't handle was abandonment. Being left alone with just her, of all things. His apology had defused the situation almost instantly but she didn't want it if it meant he wasn't going to stay.
Quiet footsteps returned her boyfriend to the room, along with the familiar looking first aid kit. Priscilla felt air leave her lungs as she exhaled - had she been holding her breath in, the entire time?
Obediently, she made her way towards the stool at the breakfast bar, slipping onto it as she offered her arm without a word. Well. Maybe for a moment, at least.
Eyes averted their stare down towards her swollen wrist as she quietly whispered in return, "I'm sorry."
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 11:09 am
Things were perpetually tense between them these days and he couldn't say that it wasn't for any reason either. No, Chase knew that largely all of this was his fault. He was the one who disappeared, who had silently begged with a man who would later turn his back on them to keep the truth of the events private, and when he'd come back...
He had come back hardly a shred of the person he'd been before he left.
Sometimes when he looked at himself in the mirror he didn't see the handsome and somewhat gaunt - though he was looking healthier and healthier as each day passed - face of Chase Black. Instead, he could picture the way he'd look if someone cracked him open and pulled out that hungering monster that chaos had fed and fed and encouraged.
The worst part of it all?
Chase didn't think there was anything wrong with what he had become. He had a cause he believed in. A sovereign he had sworn his life and loyalty to, who had yet to truly lead him astray even when she punished him for his misbehavior. He thought, for the most part, the things he did and the way he acted was just.
Prissy seemed to share those thoughts, or at least her boyfriend liked to think that was one of the many reasons she stuck by his side even when the uglier - and they were nasty, cruel parts of him - sides shone brightly.
"I know." He replied, sliding into the seat next to her and pulling out the wraps to stabilize what he was certain was a sprained, if not broken, wrist. His fingers were calloused but gentle as he wrapped her hand. This was not the first time he tended to someone else's injuries but it was perhaps the most care he had taken
"If it swells, we'll need to take you to the instacare."
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 11:51 am
Oh boo.
She didn't want to go to an instacare. That meant sitting around with a bunch of snotty nosed children and gross, sick old people. No, she was far too beautiful and classy to be seen sitting in one of those plastic, uncomfortable chairs waiting to be snooped on by some overworked old man who probably would take two x-rays, toss a brace at her and then send a bill for a cool grand, if not more.
If they were going to spend money on her arm, it would be by a private physician who knew how to treat a daughter or girlfriend of a rich man.
Prissy opened her mouth to argue, when the figurative lightbulb twinkled overhead.
"You know," she purred, one hand slipping atop of his. Soft fingertips brushed against the rougher backside of his hand as she threaded her fingers between her boyfriend's, "James might not have eluded us, after all."
Her wry smile gave away her excitement, rose eyes sparkling as she grinned. "I bet he ends up in a hospital, after all the fun we had together. And our sweet, sweet Aluminite can't exactly pass his scarring off as just an accident."
Prissy was evidently still very proud of her handiwork.
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:37 pm
Chase didn't look at her. Instead, dark brows furrowed as he focused on caring for her wrist and when that was done, he busied himself with returning supplies back into the box and clicking it shut. It was only Prissy's soft hand sliding over his own that got him to look up. There was a lump in his throat that stayed lodged there even when he swallowed.
Focusing on their joined hands was easier than looking at her no matter how she looked at him. The flames appeared to be put out, for now, and both of them had apologized. It was such a strange thing, knowing that he had apologized. Chase was a man used to absolute control over his circumstances and ever since he'd returned such a thing had been just out of reach for him.
It was aggravating to say the least.
He did not enjoy being a slave to the beast prowling about inside of him. Chase was confident, however, that he would learn to tame and control it once again. He was stronger than that after all.
A weak grin curled the corners of his mouth upward, exhaustion settling into his spine. His strength was not as endless as he liked it to be, the constant internal war leaving him drained. Things were getting better however and he had to be grateful for that at least.
"What did you leave him with princess?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 5:42 pm
If she noticed that he wasn't paying attention to her, she didn't say anything. Truthfully, his hand was in hers and he wasn't being a total jerk about things so she was placated for the time being.
"Weeeell..." her tone had risen, playful as she moved from her chair to position herself over him. Legs moved to either side of his as she took a seat in his lap, facing him. Injured arm was draped over his shoulder while her working one fell to his collarbone, toying with the button of his shirt. "You might say I was feeling a little inspired while I was waiting for you to arrive."
Successfully having opened the first three buttons of his shirt, she peeled the fabric back and ran her fingers across the warm, smooth skin beneath. Strong muscles met her back, a pearl colored scar here and there along the trail. Rose eyes lifted up to look at him, her grin giddy and excited as she beamed at him.
"I wanted to remind him of who he belonged to, since he seems to keep forgetting." Her index finger began to move again, tracing the same letter softly over his skin as opposed to the bloody carving on Aluminite's. "So he got a nice, deep R for the Reaper he won't be forgetting about any time soon."
Bottom wiggling in his lap like a proud little pup for her alpha, her nail traced the letter again, applying a tad more pressure, enough for him to feel the R a little more forcefully. "He didn't seem to be terribly thrilled about all the blood, though..."
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:03 am
While they were mostly fine, almost normal, Chase did not expect his girlfriend to slide into his lap. He should have, considering she had easily forgiven him and apologized herself. As far as she was concerned, things were fine and he had enough of a grip on himself to stay in control.
Chase, on the other hand, didn't know if that was true or not.
But her ministrations were definitely stirring a different beast in him that needed an outlet that he tended to save just for her. Aggression needed to be released and there were always other ways to take care of it that didn't involve violence.
Whiskey-gold followed the tracing line of her fingers as she undid buttons and ran a soft, manicured finger along his skin. Despite himself, a soft growl rumbled from his throat in response. His girlfriend was quite the little minx after all. Hands found her waist, sliding along her slender back and tugging her closer, seating her more firmly in his lap. Leaning in his lips were against her throat when he said, "You make daddy proud, Kitten." There was a n** of teeth and suddenly his hands were on her backside to hold her in place when he stood.
Now, he figured, was as good of time as ever to show that he appreciated what she tried to do for him. If it helped quell the rattling monsters within, that was merely a bonus.
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