(Untitled)
Characters: Stoneface and OPEN!
Date/Time: From December 26th to January 2nd, let's say
Location: Varied.
Rating: PG-13 for naughty language!
Summary: Stoneface died. He's come back. People want to see him ( Read more... )
Date/Time: From December 26th to January 2nd, let's say
Location: Varied.
Rating: PG-13 for naughty language!
Summary: Stoneface died. He's come back. People want to see him ( Read more... )
And... oh damn, she could feel herself getting choked as she breathed in the smell of new armor and cigars... a strange combination, but in the circumstances she'd rather have that than roses. "I missed you," she said. Not loudly, but not a mumble either. The words came out before she could think about them, but for once she didn't feel embarrassed about showing such emotion around him.
People... left a lot in Edensphere. Cara had accepted that although it was never easy when it occured. Losing people was just something that happened in life. But for them to come back wasn't something that she'd managed to get used to. And the death of someone like Stoneface--someone so in-charge, so steady, a person to rely on--had rocked her in a painfully familiar way. There weren't words to describe her relief and happiness that he had returned.
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The inner voice inside his head reminded him, you wanted to leave this behind.
No. Never. His home and his family were elsewhere, but as loathe as he was to admit such things, he belonged here. He didn't say anything, because Stoneface was never very good with words, and especially bad with the ones that mattered, but he could force his body to be mildly comforting, at least.
They weren't in public. Nobody could see. The way he patted her back and tentatively squeezed was awkward at best, but it was all he could do and somehow, it seemed like it'd be enough.
"I think," he said, voice light, "that I'll have to be taking you up on that offer for discounts on weapons."
'Cos you'll never have to be missing me again, that's for sure, he thought. Not if I have any say in it.
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She didn't speak for a moment until she could trust her voice not to shake or jump into a weird pitch that crying made it do. She still couldn't stop herself from sniffing loudly as she struggled to think as lightly as Stoneface spoke--she knew what he was doing and she didn't want to break down completely. He's back, Cara told herself. That's a silly reason to cry, because he's back. Come on.
"You can have them free if you want," she said at last in a very nearly normal voice. "Seems like you guys are going to need all the help you can get."
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"Oh," he said cheerfully, "I think a discount will be quite enough, thanks all the same."
So, he had a crying young woman in his room--or one that was about to cry very soon. If this was what she was like when he came back, he could only wonder what she was like when he left. Underneath normal circumstances, he would have offered her some hot chocolate. It would give her time to get her bearings together, and him time to get his, but there was a curious smell coming from his fridge that he rather expected came from spoiled milk.
The next best thing was to pretend that everything was completely normal. Doing so, he crouched down to pat Nobby, who looked as if he was about to relieve himself in his excitement. The small dog viciously attacked Stoneface's face with a slobbery tongue, and he had to admit it was a sweet sort of sentiment. Unfortunately, along with Nobby came the distressing smell that didn't seem to go away no matter how much soap you used.
"Thanks for taking care of Nobby," he said. "I hope he wasn't a pest."
He pushed Nobby off of him, only for the dog to leap back on. The process repeated itself a few times before Stoneface relented and amended, "Too much of a pest."
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Well, whoever had done it would be laughing out of the other side of their face (she was sure laughter had to have been involved; horrible, gloating laughter), because he was back and there was no way the Watch was going to not get off the ground now. And even if Stoneface didn't want weapons completely for free, she was going to set the discount so low they might as well be. She giggled as Nobby began showering him with affection, glad to see the poor dog happy again. He'd been so glum the whole time, poor guy...
"He was fine," she said after blowing her nose and getting a smudge of ink on her face with it. "But you really need to feed him better, you know. And I wasn't able to give him a bath since it's winter and all."
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Hands firmly wrapped around his middle, Stoneface straightened up, bringing the dog with him. "I do feed him well," he protested, thumbs pressing against the little dog's sides. After all, he'd heard somewhere that you ought to be able to feel the dogs ribs, but you shouldn't be able to see them. And you didn't see Nobby's ribs, that was for sure.
He frowned. He couldn't feel 'em, either. Well, they were in there somewhere, weren't they? If he squeezed harder, maybe. Nope. No sign of them. Stoneface glanced down at the dog, mildly alarmed, and put him down on the floor. "Maybe a few less treats are in order," he said, dubiously, knowing full well that Nobby knew his weakness for a chin placed endearingly on his knees at meal time.
"So, tell me. Besides the attacks, did I miss anything interesting?"
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Interesting? Well... Cara thought about that. She hadn't been paying very much attention to the journals for the last few days, moving through on something that was nearly autopilot, although she had been far from acting robotic. And she definitely remembered what else had been going on. "The unicorns came back for a few days," she said. "And then everyone got flavored somehow... oh yeah." Something that was still going on.
"There are these weird glass-like bubbles that keep appearing around islands and houses for some reason," she said. "I don't know why, but it's pretty inconvenient. It takes an hour or so for them to go away." She was very grateful that she hadn't encountered any of those on her way here, though she might just have tried stabbing through it with her spear if she had.
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