Taura's stomach was growling, but she could be patient. Her nails were still tacky; she'd rather wear nail polish and eat lunch than vice versa
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It really is like one of those trips... Celty finally decided after spending some time going up, down, around, and back onto what she had to guess was the main street of the town. Shinra had once explains about how classes in his school would go on trips during the year - usually the warmer part of the year. She could recall him trying to get her to sneak away on one with him, but she'd wanted nothing to do with it. And given what she'd heard had happened during it, she was quite thankful to have turned down that terrible plan.
This town was small, but it was different than the restricted hallways of the building they were being held in. It counted as a field trip in that sense. But the real question was what was she supposed to do? After all the rules of the Institute, were they really just supposed to go off on their own with cards and coupons? And just what the heck would five dollars get her anyway? That wasn't even enough to get someone to take a look at a broken PDA let alone buy one
( ... )
This place was always the same, from the predictable small-town snailbot creep of people in the streets to the clean sweep of stores filled with things he didn't particularly need or want- and whatever he did want probably came with a four-man military escort to confiscate it the second he so much as looked at it
( ... )
She'd just spotted what she thought was a electronics store and had been considering if bartering might be a viable option for getting a PDA when a familiar voice interrupted her not-so-realistic thoughts. Her head turned from the store and looked down the way to spot the person she had seen the most in the place. The... uh... robot.
While he looked different in the clothes he had on, he still didn't look at all like a robot as she pictured them. Still, she had to give him the benefit of the doubt with what she was herself.
"Um..." she blinked then looked around at the stores again. If she hadn't have already equated this event to that of a school outing, she might have admitted to being lost. That fact alone kept her from answering at first as she considered what she should be saying. Eventually she remembered what had happened the last time she had seen the man and spun back to him, looking panicked. "Your arm...?" she asked suddenly, lifting her hands as thought she might try to help.
As it turned out, he got a little bit of both. The first thing Celty did was turn to the stores, like some handy tour guide type would pop out of the nearest door and helpfully inform her of exactly where she was. Not for long, though- next thing he knew she was staring at him again, looking anxious and asking (with words, no less!) about his arm.
Depth Charge blinked for a moment, briefly taken aback that she'd bothered to ask at all, then he gave an awkward, gruff little laugh. "It's not so much my arm anymore as it is my everything." Quickly he unzipped his jacket and lifted the white shirt a little in demonstration, just enough to reveal the thick layer of bandages he'd acquired overnight, striping across his torso. "Got into a fight with a cyber raptor or three. No big deal. We won."
He dropped his shirt and zipped back up before the cold could get through to his skin and doubtless start up the pain again. He'd just about gotten used to walking- no reason to make it worse for himself again. "What about you? You keep safe last
Showing your injuries to someone who was already worried over what she'd thought had been much smaller ones was not the best of ideas. Celty's eyes widened as her formerly flailing hands jumped to cover her mouth out of shock. She didn't have the slightest idea what a cyber raptor was but it had to be worse than a monster cat to have done that! How could he be all right when he was all bandaged up!?
"You're... sure...?" she wondered as her hands fell. She kept her eyes on his chest a moment before trailing back up to his face. Saying it and being it were two different things. And as for her...! "Slept."
Uh-oh. It didn't take much more than that reaction for Depth Charge to realise that flashing his war wounds probably wasn't going to do much in terms of putting Celty's mind at ease. Smooth move, boltbrain. Somehow, he'd managed to censor out all of the unbearable injury part and only make the winning matter in his processor.
"Hey, don't sweat it, okay? It looks worse than it is. I've had worse," he said quickly (and a touch embarrassedly- he hadn't meant to worry her), waving a hand. It was mostly true, at least. Admittedly he was limping, but he could still walk and talk, and for him that was as good as anything.
At least he could approve of what she'd been doing. "'s probably the best idea, in this place. Never know what you might run into." Unless you run into it on purpose. Like we did. What could possibly have gone wrong?
She hadn't meant to sleep through the night, but after having a rather scary display from her roommate keep her glued to the bed she'd sort of drifted off with the intention of only resting until the woman was gone. That she'd awoken to the morning had been a surprise.
"Do you... always get..." she wondered as she gave a nod at his injuries, "... like that? Every night?"
Each word she spoke was strange to hear even for herself, but for some reason it wasn't so hard to speak in front of this man. He'd been there since her first night and knew already that she could speak. There wasn't any sense in trying to write things out to him or use motions. He'd probably tease her if she tried!
Surprise of all surprises, that one got a complete sentence, albeit a somewhat fractured one- it was as though she were speaking a language she'd only heard once or twice and wasn't sure if she was pronouncing the vowels right. She had a point, too. It seemed like every time he ran into Celty he was either running into a maiming at the same time or had already been maimed earlier that night. Restlessness was making him take bigger risks, like somehow they’d automatically give him a bigger pay-off so he wouldn’t have to feel like he’d done nothing but sit on his aft all night.
“What can I say?” Depth Charge answered, smiling grimly and shrugging (not a good idea, as it turned out; he winced). “Guess I’m just lucky like that. Or hey, maybe you’re just a jinx and keeping getting me into trouble.” He made sure to soften that with a wink, just in case she didn’t pick up on his sarcasm. Who knew, with a dullahan or whatever she'd said she was?
Each time Celty had seen him he'd ended up being strangled or bleeding or something that couldn't have been very pleasant. She'd been practically dissected before herself, but at least she had been able to heal. Not like now, for either of them. Robots repaired themselves or something right? So he couldn't do anything like that looking like a human.
And then for him to go and call her a jinx was too much and the coming guilt nearly had her bowing in apology. But then he winked and his tone made more sense in that he was being sarcastic. The bow was averted, but that didn't leave Celty with some emotion for being teased.
"D-don't joke about that!" she warned, throwing her hands down in fists as she leaned closer to make her point. "Getting hurt isn't funny!"
And again he seemed to have picked exactly the response that wouldn't win him first place in the popularity stakes, but hey, it was hardly a slap in the faceplate, was it? Nothing wrong with a little teasing here and there.
Depth Charge gave a little laugh, and though it was still as gruff as it had been before it sounded more genuine, less as though it were being forced out under threat of punishment. "What, really? Coulda fooled me. Least, that's why I figured it keeps happened to me- fate's got a pretty sick sense of humour." Even so, he gave the woman's arm a little nudge. "Seriously. I'm fine. To be honest, I was more worried about you."
This town was small, but it was different than the restricted hallways of the building they were being held in. It counted as a field trip in that sense. But the real question was what was she supposed to do? After all the rules of the Institute, were they really just supposed to go off on their own with cards and coupons? And just what the heck would five dollars get her anyway? That wasn't even enough to get someone to take a look at a broken PDA let alone buy one ( ... )
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While he looked different in the clothes he had on, he still didn't look at all like a robot as she pictured them. Still, she had to give him the benefit of the doubt with what she was herself.
"Um..." she blinked then looked around at the stores again. If she hadn't have already equated this event to that of a school outing, she might have admitted to being lost. That fact alone kept her from answering at first as she considered what she should be saying. Eventually she remembered what had happened the last time she had seen the man and spun back to him, looking panicked. "Your arm...?" she asked suddenly, lifting her hands as thought she might try to help.
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Depth Charge blinked for a moment, briefly taken aback that she'd bothered to ask at all, then he gave an awkward, gruff little laugh. "It's not so much my arm anymore as it is my everything." Quickly he unzipped his jacket and lifted the white shirt a little in demonstration, just enough to reveal the thick layer of bandages he'd acquired overnight, striping across his torso. "Got into a fight with a cyber raptor or three. No big deal. We won."
He dropped his shirt and zipped back up before the cold could get through to his skin and doubtless start up the pain again. He'd just about gotten used to walking- no reason to make it worse for himself again. "What about you? You keep safe last
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"You're... sure...?" she wondered as her hands fell. She kept her eyes on his chest a moment before trailing back up to his face. Saying it and being it were two different things. And as for her...! "Slept."
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"Hey, don't sweat it, okay? It looks worse than it is. I've had worse," he said quickly (and a touch embarrassedly- he hadn't meant to worry her), waving a hand. It was mostly true, at least. Admittedly he was limping, but he could still walk and talk, and for him that was as good as anything.
At least he could approve of what she'd been doing. "'s probably the best idea, in this place. Never know what you might run into." Unless you run into it on purpose. Like we did. What could possibly have gone wrong?
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"Do you... always get..." she wondered as she gave a nod at his injuries, "... like that? Every night?"
Each word she spoke was strange to hear even for herself, but for some reason it wasn't so hard to speak in front of this man. He'd been there since her first night and knew already that she could speak. There wasn't any sense in trying to write things out to him or use motions. He'd probably tease her if she tried!
Reply
“What can I say?” Depth Charge answered, smiling grimly and shrugging (not a good idea, as it turned out; he winced). “Guess I’m just lucky like that. Or hey, maybe you’re just a jinx and keeping getting me into trouble.” He made sure to soften that with a wink, just in case she didn’t pick up on his sarcasm. Who knew, with a dullahan or whatever she'd said she was?
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And then for him to go and call her a jinx was too much and the coming guilt nearly had her bowing in apology. But then he winked and his tone made more sense in that he was being sarcastic. The bow was averted, but that didn't leave Celty with some emotion for being teased.
"D-don't joke about that!" she warned, throwing her hands down in fists as she leaned closer to make her point. "Getting hurt isn't funny!"
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Depth Charge gave a little laugh, and though it was still as gruff as it had been before it sounded more genuine, less as though it were being forced out under threat of punishment. "What, really? Coulda fooled me. Least, that's why I figured it keeps happened to me- fate's got a pretty sick sense of humour." Even so, he gave the woman's arm a little nudge. "Seriously. I'm fine. To be honest, I was more worried about you."
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