[closed] The Mis-Adventures of Derpman and the BangBang Baby

[ignite_the_sky]

Who: Roy (ignite_the_sky) & Riza (firebornfidelis)
When: Soon after this thread
Where: Park
Format: Paragraph
What: She wants answers, he wants..?
Warnings: Nothing as of yet

Comments

[firebornfidelis]

Foremost on Riza’s mind at the moment was just how much she disliked the cold. She always had, even during the comparatively mild winters of her childhood. And in fact, she hated joint maneuvers with the Northern Command almost as much as the Colonel himself did, though she had enough will and good sense not to complain about the freezing temperatures while she was there in company with the soldiers who lived in winter all year round. Now, with Anatole as white as Briggs and less of a reason not to be annoyed by the stinging of the cold air on her skin, she had to wonder (among her many other very valid and yet unanswered questions) just what in the world the Colonel could mean by making her come all the way across town in this harsh whiteness and abominable cold. Even in her long black coat and with her gloved hands tucked deep in her pockets and a thick woolly scarf wrapped around her neck and still she felt like the winter wind was cutting through her

[ignite_the_sky]

The little dog and the crunch of snow beneath boots alerted him to her presence. How anybody could think stealth was possible in this stuff was beyond him! She didn't look terribly enthused to be outside though, and he couldn't blame her for it --he hated it too. The East Area was bordered on one side by the Great Desert, and while Eastern Headquarters was nearer to the Central Area in terms of boundaries, much of the East Area was bordering on desert and the temperatures across the area reflected such.

He'd have to apologize for asking her to come out, and maybe accompany it with the offer of something warm to drink, but that would come later. For now, he was "lying in wait for his prey".

As he peered over the top of his little fort, watching her draw ever closer, his mind raced to calculate her distance... and the moment he deemed her close enough, he let the snowball fly.

[firebornfidelis]

She could honestly say she hadn't been expecting to be hit by a snowball so when his head popped up over his little snow wall and threw one she was somewhat surprised. Really, she shouldn't be. He did have quite a knack for distracting himself with trivial pursuits, especially when she wanted him to be serious. If it wasn't cleaning the windows or napping or some other nonsense while there was an undone stack of paperwork due, why shouldn't it be snowballs when she wanted real explanations?

The offending projectile exploded damply on her shoulder, snowy bits clinging to her coat. She hadn't really bothered dodging except enough to be sure it didn't hit her in the face. She extracted her hands from her pockets only to brush away the remains of the snowball before offering a glare in her commanding officer's direction.

"Colonel." There was enough warning in her voice to let him know she was really not in the mood for games. Not that she actually expected him to heed it.

[ignite_the_sky]

Well, that did it. Her tone completely killed any enjoyment he might have gotten from that little moment of triumph. What was it Galatea had said? Show her through your actions if words didn't work?

It was worth a shot...

Sinking down behind the bunker with his back against the wall of snow, he sighed and huddled up for some vague semblance of warmth. Had he been thinking about it beforehand, he'd have grabbed some branches to use as firewood and cleared a little spot out, but now he didn't have any desire to. He knew that tone, he knew he was probably in trouble and he knew why ... he just hadn't expected her to find out so quickly.

He pulled one of his pyrotex gloves from his pocket and held it up, waving it like a white flag of surrender. She wasn't in the mood for games and he wasn't in the mood for a lecture, so it was best to get this over and done quickly.

[firebornfidelis]

Riza called Hayate back to her side as she picked her way through the snow into the little bunker. He trotted in ahead of her and greeting her Colonel with a level of affection untempered by his master's annoyance. She had noted the Colonel's white flag with only the quirk of an eyebrow.

Crossing her arms, she looked at him critically, almost expectantly. He'd made her come out here just to hear an answer to her question and she intended to have that answer. But she allowed none of her storm of internal confusion show on her face. It wouldn't really do to let him see how much not understanding his intentions bothered her.

"Having fun, sir?" A little lighter, though not quite forgiving. She wasn't planning to back down but she also had no real desire to get in an argument with him right off the bat.

[ignite_the_sky]

Roy held a hand out to the dog, letting Hayate sniff his gloves before petting him. Why couldn't people be more like dogs? They were loyal and affectionate, they never asked questions or demanded explanations, they didn't argue or complain, they didn't care how many stupid things you did, who you talked to, or whose bed you spent the night in. All they wanted was someone to feed them, take them outside, and pet them, and they were happy.

"Not particularly, Lieutenant. Can we get this over with? I'm freezing." He didn't even look up from the dog, perfectly content to direct his attention to someone who wasn't going to want to bury his head in the snow when his answer wasn't up to par. "That 'something relevant' you wanted to tell me... If it's what I think it is, you won't like anything I have to say about it."

[firebornfidelis]

"You're the one who wanted to meet outdoors." Her clipped tone left no question as to how she felt about that decision. And she wasn't terribly pleased that he refused to look up at her either. He'd been acting strangely ever since the subject of the auction had come up and it was setting her teeth on edge.

"Dawn told me it was you who signed me up for that auction." Might as well fill in all the gaps now. That was her 'something relevant' and she assumed it was probably what he expected to hear from the way he was speaking. What she didn't know was why and what could possibly be so damning about his explanation that he felt the need to dance around it as much as he already had. "And then you bid on me, and well beyond what anyone would consider a reasonable sum." She stared at him, unflinching, though her feelings were far more jumbled than her unwavering gaze she was afraid they bled a little into her voice. "Why?"

[ignite_the_sky]

"There are two reasons behind that, actually, and one is probably not something you'd want to hear, so we'll skip it and go straight to the other one. Remember how I'd said it was like you were on a pedestal? There, but completely unattainable?" He paused momentarily, not to give her time to answer, but to give himself a second to collect his thoughts, still never once looking up. "I did it to push you off and force you into a situation where you'd have to at least feign an interest in something that doesn't have a trigger or four legs

[firebornfidelis]

She continued to watch him as he spoke, a huffy breath escaping into the air in a little cloud, and felt her ire rising. Still he was evading and giving partial answers when all she wanted was a simple explanation so she could put her mind to rest trying to puzzle out his motivations. She bent down and scooped Hayate into her arms in a bid to get him to look at her because, oddly enough, she felt that was wearing on her the most.

"I know I said I wanted to make an effort, but I don't appreciate that this attempt to make me more attainable, as you say, happened without my knowledge. I'm sure you know, now, what it feels like to be bid on like livestock. But I didn't wish that on you." She could have protested that she did have at least one interest outside of guns and dogs, but that was rather more than she was prepared to admit in her current mood

[ignite_the_sky]

He pouted slightly at the loss of Hayate, but the pout faded with her words. That feeling of being bid on like livestock? He hated it. It was people trying to put a monetary value on another's head as though that price defined them as a person, and it was disgusting.

His gaze shifted to the snow at his feet, and he raised his hands, cupping them together and blowing into them to try and warm his fingers. "I know that, and I only gave you half an answer because you won't like the rest. I certainly don't, and I'm the one who used it as a means of justification." A pause as he deliberated his next course of action, because she wasn't going to like this. "It was a means by which to convince myself that I didn't care. That there wasn't some underlying reason behind things. That I was just overreacting before, and it didn't matter who you were with."

He still couldn't bring himself to look at her, afraid of what he would see when he did, but more so of what would be visible to her. "You asked why I bid on you. That's because it didn't

[firebornfidelis]

"Who I was with...?" Her brain stalled momentarily, trying to process his words, unable to quite grasp their meaning at first

[ignite_the_sky]

His shoulders hunched, head ducked down into the warmth of his coat, eyes immediately averted. He didn't know how to handle this... this... whatever it was, but her eyes and her voice had him frightened. He didn't know what to do, what to say, how to act. This was terrifying, and if he'd been able to melt the snow behind him, he'd have darted through the bunker and beat a hasty retreat.

Actions speak louder than words, huh? No, actions got him into trouble. Then again, so did words. Regardless of how he looked at it, it was an unknown territory for him.

"...yeah. You do." He couldn't bring himself to say it, because he didn't know what "it" was, and without something in his past experience to compare it to, he couldn't even begin to know what that something was let alone decipher the meaning behind it... but it was something, and it was there, and no amount of denying it or trying to bury it could make it go away.

[firebornfidelis]

So he insisted that she knew but she really understood this only marginally better now than she had before coming out to the park today. Not that it really surprised her when she thought about it. Given the amount of fear and confusion her own feelings gave her, she didn't know how she was supposed to understand his at all

[ignite_the_sky]

"I don't know. Does it even have to mean anything at all? Can't things just stay the same as they've always been?"

He didn't want to lose her, and that's what stood to happen if any of this meant something. It was like being on a wire, dangerously high above the ground, where even the slightest misstep could send everything crashing down around him. She was his best friend, his not-quite-sister, his supporter, his subordinate. She was his entire life wrapped up in a pretty blond package. To let himself get this close was going against everything he'd ever known.

Or was it?

Was it really that she was so untouchable like he'd come to believe, or was it that he'd thought, somewhere in the back of his mind, she'd still be there when he was ready to settle down? Had he really never looked at her, or had he been looking at her all along without ever realizing it? Was it that he wanted her near him as his own personal executioner or was it that he wanted her near him because he didn't want anyone else to be near her? Was the reason he

[firebornfidelis]

"I'm not going anywhere, if that's what you mean. Whether or not anything has changed, that never will

[ignite_the_sky]

"...Huh? Oh. I'm fine." Somehow, he managed a weak laugh. There wasn't much about the situation to find funny, but laughing was easier than crying and so much more productive. At least now he knew she wasn't going to drop him on account of--

Wait. That meant this whole thing was on him, didn't it? He was the one with the emotional hangup. He was the one who had just put everything on the line. Whether that something was there or not, it didn't matter one bit because it was all him.

Which meant it was one-sided.

He could deal with that. He'd figured it would be something of the sort, after all.

He gave her a small, somewhat sheepish smile, "You can go if you want, Lieutenant. I know you don't like the cold. I'll probably stay out here for a little while. I can still feel my toes, and my fingers aren't quite numb yet."