A Good Night's Rest

[gale_force]

Sleep doesn't come easy, even though this is the first time he's had the chance to completely let go and sink into it. When it does finally take him, his dreams are vivid. Hundreds upon hundreds of flashing neurons make the connections to these moments that his eyes

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[teradyne]

She didn't quite expect this when she punched in the PINpoint coordinates. Maybe something with stone walls, and a moat, but this...Monstrosity of a building is making Argilla rethink her approach to finding Gale, especially when she's deposited in front of a front door.

...Not the front door, she notes as she looks around. There's too many entrances to really figure out which one really is the proper one, and she's not about to waste any more time looking for it.

Instead, she walks up to the door in front of her, and knocks as loudly as she can on it. She'll try the diplomatic approach first, before sneaking in; he's supposed to be with people he trusts, she reminds herself.

[gale_force]

Good thing big, stone monstrosities of buildings lend a generous echo. The heavy iron fittings on the door rattle a little, too, and the sharper metallic sound carries better than the thudding itself.

Passing through one of the halls, Gale pauses. "Hippolyta, I think you have a visitor . . ."

Or maybe a very determined solicitor.

[h_hollister]

"So I do. Weird. Hold that thought."

She strolls out of the room and toward the 'front door', which is actually the door that leads to the side garden, by the dungeon. (Yes, the Salazars had strange senses of humor. Hush.)

Hips pulls the door open a crack...and then pulls it open wider, recognizing in a vague way that shock of pink hair.

"Yes? Oh! You're Argilla, right?"

[teradyne]

She'd been trying to figure out where to go from here, frantically trying to fill in the blanks between where she is and finding Gale. But once the door opens, she's suddenly able to match the name to the face, and memories start clicking together.

"I...Yes, I am. I think we've already met, before." She's not sure how long ago, but it feels like years.

"I heard that Gale is staying here, and...I'd like to see him." Better to keep it as a request, first. Even if she intends to find him, regardless.

[gale_force]

"Argilla?" His hoodless green head appears just over and behind Hippolyta's. He doesn't make a move to step around her, though, seeing as that would put him in direct sunlight.

"Is everything okay?" Which strikes him as a very dumb question even as its leaving his mouth. Very little is okay these days. "I mean, are you feeling better?"

He'd invite her in himself, but it's not exactly his castle, so he leaves that to Hips.

[h_hollister]

Which she does, and easily. Now that Gale has identified the woman, it's all okay.

Hopefully. She stands back and aside, giving the two Tuners a moment.

[teradyne]

She's quick to take advantage of that, and steps in over the threshold to get a better look at the strategist. Some part of Argilla reminds her that she's being rude to her hostess, and she's able to manage a nod before focusing on Gale.

"Well enough." She tries to look the part to, and stands up a little straighter when she looks at Gale. And above all else, does not look at or rub at her arm. "All it took was some rest, to get me back to how I was." A pause, when she realizes just how much she's stretching the truth. "Or at least, how I was before we were dropped in that city with those...Those Tuners. I wanted to make sure that you'd also recovered, and when I couldn't find you," She tips the hand holding her PINpoint. "I decided to follow you instead."

[gale_force]

And Gale's eyes do wander over her neck and shoulder, but they're thwarted by the concealing sweater. "Yes, I have recovered as well, although I did have an incident yesterday. I seem to have developed some unexpected sun sensitivity."

On inspection, he does look well enough, if a little tousled and bleary-eyed from a very long stretch of sleep. He rests a hand on her upper arm, in part a cordial gesture, but also calculated to get a sense as to whether that skin aberration is still there. Maybe some feverish heat, or a flinch. "Sorry to have taken off so suddenly, Argilla. There were far too many people around the Mayfair flat and I was not about to risk their safety."

He gives Hips an acknowledging nod and a small smile. "Thanks to Hippolyta and Ramon's accommodations, I can at least sleep without worry of Vayu getting too far."

[teradyne]

Oh, that talk about sun sensitivity earns a frown from her. Despite all the upheaval that's happened recently, she still has a good idea of what 'normal' is, and a violent reaction to something as simple as sun light does not fit in to that.

"You're well now, though? You certainly look better then before." She manages a thin smile, although it looks a bit forced.

"I suppose that you do have a point about leaving. I was worried though, and-AH!" That would be when Gale touches her arm. He certainly gets a reaction out of Argilla by doing that; the spots under his fingers writhe, the muscles twitching under the sudden touch. Argilla herself starts to flinch away from his fingers, out of reflex. And while she's trying to keep her eyes from narrowing or her lips from pulling back and showing her teeth, she isn't very effective.

[gale_force]

Gale isn't terribly surprised to get a reaction, but the extremity of it takes him off guard. "Sorry," he says as he quickly removes his hand. "Still tender? Has it gotten worse?"

Funny that they both have to be so secretive about this. Gale has to acknowledge that he's in the habit because he likes to keep a strong and stoic image, but that's hardly worth anything now.

[teradyne]

"Just more sensitive." She gets that through a set of clenched teeth. It takes some deep, albeit shuddering, breaths to get her jaws to relax, and to be able to look at Gale without squinting.

"I think..." Her hand starts picking at the sleeve on her marked arm. Gale might be able to make out a series of black dots on her other hand, which is curled into a fist. "It's spread a little more. Sometimes it reacts to pressure, like-" She cuts off and pulls at the hem of the sleeve, showing more of the marked skin.

After that bit of contact, having cloth over her collarbone and arm has gone from irritating to unbearable. She feels constricted, like that bit of cloth is suffocating her.

[gale_force]

His brows furrow and his lips squeeze together in a half-grimace. One of sympathy, not disgust. "Have you tried applying anything to it? Aloe vera? Something to soothe the irritation?"

He holds back a sigh. "I suspect worry was not the only reason you sought me out. I did not forget; we have some unfinished business."

As much as he knows this must be done, it will probably take the last of his strength.

[teradyne]

"I hadn't considered that yet." For a change, she actually looks at her hand as she says that, examining the marks over it. "It has been sensitive to touch, but a lotion couldn't be any worse then sleeves."

She manages a nod to Gale's other question. "I was...Worried that you might have vanished like Sera. And I still am worried about her. Do you have any better leads on where she could've gone?"

[gale_force]

"No leads, no, but I believe it still stands to reason that she would return to our home world to search for answers. It is certainly the place I would visit."

As much as he's still at odds over all of this, it's Sera, and no amount of cold logic can truly deter him from taking some kind of action. "I think it would make both of us feel better if we did some reconnaissance, at the very least. Again, no combat if we can help it -- definitely no Atma -- just watching and listening to see if we can discover any clues."

"I can hardly imagine what kind of state Karma City must be in right now." He combs fingers through his hair, feeling a little unkempt, a little tense. "Regardless, I think it is fair to assume that there are far fewer Tuners, but the ones that remain will be twice as dangerous."

[teradyne]

"Which only supports the 'no combat' approach. But if we slipped into the city once, when their security was much higher, we can do it again." Argilla looks over Gale again, and forces herself to take a deep, steady breath before speaking.

This feels like one of the hardest things she's ever said, but Argilla still forces it out. "But...I think we should wait until you-we're both in better form. Portland is hard enough without being sick, or fatigued." And they can't help Sera if they're dead. She has to keep telling herself that.