A conversation (Some and Ara)
Arabelle is settled on a bench in the general Nexus, fiddling with what looks like bisected sphere in her lap. Mechanical bits and things. She's lost weight since Some's saw her last, her head's shaved, but she's taking to wearing a skullcap until her hair grows back (Trust her, the surgery scar on the back of her head is not exactly pretty, and rough and touble as she is, she does take more stock in her appearance than she may admit). And then, she is glomped by a grueman.
Some's happy to see her! So happy to see her whole and safe and not cut in scattered bits with ice in her eyes. So yes, glomping.
She's a little tense at first, having been surprised, but hanging around at least -three- teleporters, she does begin to relax fairly quickly, "Hey, Some." C'mere, you, you're gettin' a proper hug, little dude.
"Hey, angel! You're too skinny." Some squeezes her good. He should talk.
"I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' onnit." She closes the spherical thing up and sets it aside on the bench, her mooe changes, her moods have always been pretty mercurial, "...I was th' only one to get out." She says, quietly, wings shifting a bit more against her back, more closed off, "I couldn't save 'LilKurt, and I have no idea if Savvy and Gabe were even -there- or not." She rubs her face a bit with one hand, "He's -alive-, I.." She shakes her head and closes her eyes, "M'sorry, Some." Her getting out was luck. Luck and a firey level up.
He leans on her, lending warmth. "It's okay, Ara. It is. You know he's there, and that's enough. Now we can find them all and get them safe."
A fact for which she finds herself more thankful than she might've initially thought. One doesn't really put much stock into being touched and physical contact until it's taken away for a long time, "Bastards hung me on a fuckin' rack 'cause they didn't know how strong I was." She says, quietly, letting one arm drape around Some, mainly because she wants the contact moreso against the parts of her that can -feel- it, which, her side, obviously can, while her arm can't, "Nothin' but a goddamn IV to keep me alive."
He nods, glancing up at her face. He's been there, remember? "We kept looking for you."
She does snrk, although it's something of a hollow one, "That, and pure stupid determination's what kept me from givin' in." She glances back, meeting his eyes, or shades, currently, "Their little cage had a flaw." She grins, a little proud of -that- portion of the escape, if nothing else, "Wanna know th' secret to the great Goldenwing's shop escape?"
"S'gotta be better than mine." He gives her a smile, one far weaker than she deserves.
Arabelle raises the arm she's got around him, brings her other hand up, and there's a quiet click. Her hand disconnects from her wrist. "Shackles kept my hands from goin' through. No hands, no problem." And she clicks it back into place, letting her arm drape over Some again. She's subtly, /subtly/, leaning against him too, now, "I.. don't really remember much after I tore th' door down and th' first wave of guards. I kinda hit desperation-slash-survival mode after they whipped out the real guns." She says, quietly, "I know /about/ where the facility is, and I still need to mess with that tracker they put in m'leg to backtrace it and double-check."
"They're tracking you now?" It makes him stiffen a bit in alarm, unable to keep from looking over his shoulder.
"Don't have it on me." She says, "Th' doc in the clinics found it and got it out while I was unconscious, right now, it's in a lead box back in my workshop." A lead box inside a safe, which is inside another safe. ..Which is next to a signal jammer. Which isn't quite as amusing as smashing it with a hammer, but she needs it intact to do a backtrace
Good. Oh, good. Some relaxes again, and rubs her shoulder. "Not that we'd let them get you again."
"They'll get about fifteen goddamn grenades up their tailpipe if they fuckin' try." Yeah, that's serious. /Fifteen/ grenades, "I've got a fuckin' panic button wired into the new PINs in m'arms, it goes off, I vanish, and leave my explosive surprise behind." They're mostly concussion grenades, but more than enough to, uh. Discourage anyone from coming after her, and to add to the confusion of her vanishing.
"Remind me not to startle you."
Ara musses his hair a little, "It's somethin' I gotta consciously trigger, so dun' worry."
"I'm sorry we didn't find you faster."
"It's fine, hon." She says quietly, "If anythin' I've learned, it's that London is -way- the fuck too large." Yes, that attempt at a joke was half-assed.
"Yeah, I like human cities less and less."
"At least New York makes some fucking sense." She adds, quietly. And of course it does, Arabelle. You -live- there. "..You seem skinner too, Some." She finally observes, "You okay?"
"Yeah. Just been keeping busy." Aaand freaking the fuck out. "Do you have somewhere safe to stay?"
"My workshop, mainly." Because nothing says security like a mini-van-sized blue helicopter shaped like a bumblebee. Stolen from the military and sentinel technology. "Possibly Cain's, but I.. still haven't decided if I'm goin' back to him or not."
"If you need a place, there's PrIME. Safest place in the Nexus."
That makes her snork a little, "Am I still enrolled after all this? Or is spending nearly three weeks in a cell constitute an excused absence?" Sorry, she just finds that sort of amusing, for some reason.
"Snape's a good man. He'll understand if you don't have a note from your doctor."
"Prolly, prolly." She murmurs, readjusting a bit and just... resting against him like this for the moment, enjoying the peace of it more than anything else.
"And I'll bring you dinners, wherever you are."
"S'fine, but if you're insistin'." She -does- need to eat. Her metabolism is one of those metabolisms from hell. Considering her wings and powers, she kinda -needs- one to keep it all running.
Smiling his most real smile yet, he pulls a wooden box from somewhere. Sweet chicken and brown rice, a peanut salad and for dessert, a rich brownie, each in their own little partition. "Thought ahead."
The look on Ara's face is best described as :O "..Holy crap, man, I -love- you right now." She has to move her arm from around him, but, -food-. And it's Some Cookin' (Yes, that was terrible, I know, but you gave me the opening, dear), She'll start on the chicken becauseohgod. /Chicken/
Chicken, but no wings. That'd be a little weird. "You love me all the time."
"Do I now?" Nomchicken, littleshove for the Grue. Food and friend, that gets her back up inna good mood.
He's done good, then. "You'd better."
"Oh, and why should I /better/?" Snrking Ara is snrking.
"Because I am the kitchen king. ...no matter what you might hear in the Sanctuary."
That earns a raised eyebrow, but no comment yet. '"Kitchen King, huh." Snrk, "Sounds almost like a third string superhero or sommat."
"Third string nothing. I can save the world with a well-braised veal." Ignore... just how hollow that sounded.
She finishes the chicken, and, really, she can't ignore that, so it does earn a reaction finally, "...Some, what might I hear?" She asks, ripping the proverbial band-aid off all at once.
"Nothing important." He picks at his sleeve, a gesture so very Jon's. "I did something stupid, is all. You know how I am."
The picking at his sleeve is noticed, but she's not connecting it to being a habit of Jon's, at least, yet (Because, hell, it's -obvious-), "What kinda stupid? Stupid that 'I painted a fellow student's room with cartoon plaid paint' for a prank, or 'I nearly got myself killed--again' stupid?" She asks with a joke because it's one way to perhaps get him to say something.
"Stupid like I reminded people what I am stupid. I mean, he was already dead..."
Of course, that instance of two and two makes four, when she remembers -what- Some eats. She pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs, "Oh, Some." Like it or not, boyo, you're getting another side-hug with one of Ara's arms.
"It wasn't a good night." Huuug.
"I can only imagine, dude."
"I creeped a- it really was just stupid."
"You gonna be okay?" She asks, resuming eating despite the, uh. Subject matter, hunger outweighs a lot of things.
"Yeah. I'm fine. You've had it rough, not me."
Nnf. She's not gonna argue it right now. Her wings flick and resettle a moment, she's working on the salad, now, "S'been rough." She says, implying for all of them, "First gettin' caught and comin' back to only find out there's another damn Island incident goin' on." She means battle royale.
"... yeah." He's not so fussed by this one. "I think it caught Doctor Grey."
"He was th' guy who blinded you a while back, wasn't he?"
He nods. "Mad scientist. Shoppy sort, but not."
Ara nods. She's just glad she's not in this one, this time. ...Horrible as it sounds.
Will edit to better format later. Posting now so I don't forget.
Formatted better.