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Post by Brawn on May 4, 2016 22:25:16 GMT -5
As the ringing in his ears died down the screams were slowly getting louder. He could feel the adrenaline pumping throughout his body and yet it seemed like he wasn't moving fast enough. He was running as fast as he could. For some strange reason he couldn't get his body to fly and compared to flying running felt like he was moving in slow motion. His body was drenched in sweat and his mind racing a million miles per hour. Vibrations from the various explosions were constantly coursing through him.
Somehow he could sense that she was near.
He didn't have to see her to know; he just followed his instinct. So many people running in different directions. So many different noises. So much debris everywhere - it almost seemed like it was falling from the heavens, showering the unfortunate people below. He tried to stay focused, but it seemed that in every direction he turned there was another foe waiting to be defeated. He knew that they could not let the city fall. He knew that defeat was not an option, but he was also torn. He couldn't help but want to forgo fighting and to keep his efforts up to try and find her.
Finally with the last enemy in his immediate vicinity fallen he continued his trek forward. He was almost there. He could hear her screams as he approached closer. As he turned the corner and took in the situation he could almost physically feel his heart sink. He finally found her, cornered alone again, surrounded by a group of enemy aliens. He tried to quickly come up with a plan of action, despite knowing the inevitable outcome, but realized he was only wasting precious time.
Maybe this time would be different.
As he quickly sprinted to the first couple of enemies he heard her call out to him. "Brawn!" It seemed to motivate him even more as he moved faster through the group of enemies. His body screamed in exhaustion, but he knew he couldn't stop. She needed him. Finally after what seemed like forever he cleared out a large portion of the group with the rest retreating. He knew they would be back soon. He rushed to the corner that he last caught sight of her and slowly sank to his knees in grief. He was too late. Again. He slowly cradled Frost's body in his arms as he started to sob.
Screaming loudly Brawn woke up from his dream with tears streaming down his face. For some reason no matter what he tried he couldn't shake his nightmares. It seemed every night it was someone different that he cared about dying and despite him having the dream repeatedly it still affected him as badly as it did the first time he had it.
Slowly sitting up in his bed he sighed before getting up and turning on the light in his sleeping quarters. Maybe a cold glass of water would help before he tried, unsuccessfully every time, to go back to sleep.
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Post by Frost on May 4, 2016 23:43:03 GMT -5
As the owner of a rather extreme sweet tooth, Mia often found herself wandering to the kitchen in the middle of the night in search of an ice cream bar or something. It was a bad habit, but at the moment she had enough physical activity and metabolism to make up for her bad eating habits. Later in life she would have to change her ways, or all that late-night sugar would go straight to her hips. Or she just wouldn’t care. That was possible too. She actually thought that she would make a pretty cute chubby old lady, with gray hair and some cute little bifocals. A silly thought, but she chuckled a little to herself nonetheless.
Sliding her feet into her bunny slippers, she made her way down the hall toward the kitchen. No one else was around, which was no surprise to her, but it did mean that she had to be quiet so she didn’t disturb the rest of her team. Not even any of her usual humming or singing to herself was to be found. If anyone else was awake right now, they would think it was very strange. That was just how much she cared about her teammates getting proper rest. Well, that and she liked being able to snack freely without anyone judging her for it. The boys especially did love to tease when she gave them an opening.
Apparently something had already happened in Brawn’s room to disturb his sleep. She heard screaming and stopped dead in her tracks with her hair standing on end. That was not something she heard every day. Far from it.
Scarab mentioned once that Brawn sometimes had bad dreams, but he hadn’t said anything that indicated things were this bad. Maybe something else was going on? For a moment, she debated with herself on whether or not is was a good idea for her to approach. Maybe he’d want to be left alone. It was a risk worth taking if it turned out that he needed someone to talk to. He was a friend, after all. She hurried to the door and knocked quietly. “Jason? Are you alright?” Her voice was soft since she still didn’t want anyone else to wake up, but hopefully he would still be able to hear her from the other side of the door.
After a moment, Mia knocked again just in case he hadn’t heard her the first time. At least now the screaming had stopped. Hopefully that meant he was awake. More than anything, she just hoped something terrible hadn’t happened.
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Post by Brawn on May 5, 2016 9:09:20 GMT -5
As he was starting to rise out of bed he heard a timid knock at his door. Of course. He should have figured with his yelling he had woken someone up. He tried for a long time to keep the nightmares to himself, but eventually got contronted by Scarab about them. It was embarrassing and a little awkward speaking to him about the dreams. In Jason's opinion only little kids should have them - he was a grown man tasked with helping to keep people safe. How would anyone trust that he wasn't going crazy if he was yelling almost every night from 'bad dreams'?
He sighed and came to the conclusion that tonight would be another awkward conversation with Scarab. When they talked the first time Jason tried to downplay everything and made it seem like it wasn't a huge deal. But of course if he keeps waking everyone up eventually Scarab will realize that the dreams happened a lot more frequently than he originally let on. Figuring it was better to get the talk over and done with he started to walk towards the door but froze when he heard a soft voice call out to him, "Jason? Are you alright?"
Mia. It was just his luck that the subject of his dream was the one knocking at his door. Slightly panicking he wasn't sure if he wanted to open the door now. He knew eventually he would have to otherwise she might get worried that something happened to him. Maybe he could pretend he was asleep? Of course that wouldn't work. She probably heard him moving around the room and Mia is far from being a fool. Realizing that he would have to try and downplay the whole thing again left a bad taste in his mouth. He didn't like keeping things from his teammates, but he figured he has to work this out himself. That's what real men do. Plus, he didn't want Mia to think of him as childish. No woman likes a weak man right?
Hearing Mia softly knock a second time puts Jason into motion. He swiftly walks up to the door and at the last minute hastily wipes at his face hoping to quickly get rid of any evidence of the tears that were steaming down his face less than a minute ago. Opening the door he could feel his mouth dry up. Mia, in Jason's eyes at least, was the true meaning of beauty. Of course she was physically beautiful - everyone knew that. But she also had a beautiful soul. Always so caring and loving. He would have to be a fool not to love her. She had no idea of course and Jason figured it would easier this way. The joking, teasing, flirting - to her it was just them messing around and he never gave her any reason to believe otherwise.
He could see the worry and concern written all over her face as he stood in the doorway. No way anyone could say she wasn't a good friend. Licking his dry lips he swallowed harshly. He wasn't quite sure what to say. She knew something was wrong, she could always read his facial expressions so easily, but he wanted to convince that he was okay. Slightly grinning at her bunny slippers he choked out a quick, "Hey darling, if I knew earlier we were going to have a late night date tonight I would have put out some candles."
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Post by Frost on May 6, 2016 19:25:50 GMT -5
It took a while for him to answer, several agonizing moments in which Mia wondered to herself whether or not she should actually be bothering him. He probably didn’t want to know that anyone had heard him. That much she knew with a fair amount of certainty. Crap. She probably shouldn’t have knocked at all. Maybe he’d be angry. Now she wasn’t sure whether she was more worried about him and why he was screaming, or about him being mad at her for interrupting. Definitely the screaming. That’s definitely what she was more worried about, she decided. Otherwise she might as well just run off and let him think he’d been dreaming about someone knocking on his door.
Too late. She heard his footsteps as he approached the door, lifting her eyes to make contact with his as the barrier cracked open. It was a relief to see that he did not appear to be angry with her. Far from it. That usual smirk she’d grown so accustomed to grew on his face in an instant. She preferred his real smile the few times it actually appeared, but either one would melt hearts. Especially hers, even though she figured that he was probably like this with just about every pretty girl. They didn’t spend a lot of time together outside of Guardian One unless they were off on a mission, so she didn’t know for sure. It was just difficult to believe that a man like him was single unless it was by choice.
That smile almost fooled her. Almost. There was just something off about his face. It was in the eyes. Slightly red, maybe a little puffy like he had been crying. Had he been crying? Mia couldn’t imagine what could cause that reaction in a man like him. Not that she thought there was anything wrong with that. It was a natural, healthy thing. Everyone needed to do it sometimes. Jason just always seemed like he had it so together. It bothered her to think that there was some kind of hidden pain that he was suffering through alone. Did he not trust her or someone else on the team enough to talk to them about it? No. She couldn’t think about it that way. He would talk about it when he was ready to, if he felt like it was something he couldn’t just work through himself.
In the meantime, all she could do was show him that she would be here for him if he needed her. And that, at least for the moment, meant playing along with his little flirtatious game. Her worried expression melted into a warm smile of her own. “Candles, huh? I never knew you were such a romantic,” she said finally. “Although if I’d seen the candles, I might have thought you put them out for another girl. You know how jealous I can be…”
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Post by Brawn on May 17, 2016 15:38:56 GMT -5
Jason knew that Mia probably had a good idea of what had just occurred in his sleeping chambers. Even in the dim lighting he could see her glancing over his face. She was probably swiftly taking in every tell-tell sign of the misery his night terrors put him in. He could feel the puffiness starting to appear around his eyes and knew his eyes were probably red-tinted too from crying. Partly feeling embarrassed and somewhat grateful he listened as Mia played along with his flirtatious game despite her knowing that there was something wrong.
From most people who meet him Jason was always told that he seemed so cold and calculating. So put together that it almost seemed like he didn't have any emotions or feelings. He would admit, without argument, that he was definitely not the most social of people and tended to like to be the one outside of the crowd - alone and watching. Almost like he was waiting for something to happen; something to catch his attention away from pretending to want to get to know the people in the room.
The only people he really talked to were on his team and of course his mother every once in a while. So it was very strange that a crush could almost make him feel nervous like a teenage boy again. He's faced dangerous situation after dangerous situation and really did not think twice about going into a life or death battle; but for some reason he could not muster up the courage to admit those supposed non-existent feelings to one person. He probably wouldn't even be able to come clean even under torture. Maybe one day, but probably never. Mia deserves better than him.
Softly chuckling he pondered if she was just joking about being jealous or if she was serious, but pretending to joke before responding and winking accordingly, "You jealous of another girl? Of course you know that I only have eyes for you."
Walking out into the corridor and letting his bedroom door close behind him he stood next to her, almost crouched, and held out his arm to her. He couldn't pass up any chance he got to make a subtle jab about their height difference. "You're the only girl for me Mia. I think I'm in the mood for a late night snack in the kitchen - interested in coming with me?"
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Post by Frost on May 23, 2016 22:24:49 GMT -5
It was almost too bad Jason was joking. The things he said to Mia, it would be way too easy for a girl to get her hopes up. A hopeless flirt, that’s what he was. And considering how handsome he was, it really wasn’t fair to the women of the world. Though she couldn’t really verify that because she hadn’t really seen him around other women, but she could only assume that if he really had feelings for her he would have… made a move... or... something… She didn’t really know what to expect from a man like him. All she could do was take everything at what she thought was face value. That meant playing along with Jason’s flirtations, but knowing that it would unfortunately never go anywhere. At least it was still fun.
“Well you know, a girl can never be too sure…” She smiled at him when he winked at her. It was basically all she could do to keep herself from blushing. All she had to do was remind herself that it was just playful banter between teammates.
His invitation to go to the kitchen with her made her pause for a moment. She’d been planning to go there anyway of course, but part of the appeal of the intended trip had been to be able to eat anything she wanted without anyone judging her for her caloric intake. If Jason was there, she would have to be a little more self-conscious. Well, maybe not. They were just teammates and friends, after all. He wasn’t seriously interested in her. But actually, even if he was it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. She’d always felt like it would be best for her to be true to herself. If someone didn’t like her because of something that simple, then they weren’t meant to be a part of her life anyway.
Again the smile grew on her face. “What, you’re not sick of me yet? Alright then...” Instead of taking his arm, she stepped sideways and jumped on his back. He shouldn’t have crouched down near her if he didn’t want to give her a piggyback ride. That’s what he got for making a small jab at her height. “To the kitchen!” she said before throwing her arms around his neck and giggling. She was so excited. Ice cream was only a few moments away...
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Post by Brawn on Jul 18, 2018 23:08:13 GMT -5
Being someone with years of combat and military experience Jason had pretty much seen and heard it all. Seen the life slowly seep from the eyes of members of his platoon; heard the sobbing of a mother grieving a child, a wife a husband. It was part of the reason that almost nothing caught him off guard anymore. Keyword -almost- nothing. But that didn't surprise him that it would be Mia to do that. When he decided to tease her about her height he was just pretty much looking forward to the usual - her getting flustered and telling him off a bit before they both moved on with their day. But her reaction this time was completely unexpected to him.
Almost immediately after she hopped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck he could feel his body's automatic response of tensing up. Physical contact wasn't something he was used to or even comfortable with to be honest. Due to raising him as a single parent his mother didn't spend a lot of time home - which obviously meant less time she had to show him affection. It was originally one of the reasons he joined the military. No need for affection to blow an enemy to smithereens. The other reason was the fact that this was the first time they have ever had physical contact with each other - something that struck him almost instantly and odd. Weird that despite the many battles they were in together they never had reason to touch each other before.
Forcing his muscles to relax he slowly took a deep breath before standing up while grabbing ahold of her legs to make sure she didn't slide down his back. Tonight was a night of firsts apparently so he might as well make the most of it right? "To the kitchen indeed." Glancing behind him to look at her he turned back around before starting their trek to the kitchen. "Let's go."
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Post by Frost on Jul 21, 2018 15:15:51 GMT -5
Maybe it was too forward of her to have done what she did. Mia didn’t realize until after she’d done it that it probably wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had. She tended to get a little silly in the witching hours, which was part of the reason she normally preferred not to have any company on these midnight snack trips. Feeling him tense up immediately made her worry she’d done something wrong, but his apparent discomfort only lasted a moment before he’d secured her legs and was going along with it all. That made her relax a little. If he was willing to put up with it for now, that meant she hadn’t upset him. Whether or not she had any deeper feelings for him, they were teammates who put their lives in each other’s hands on a regular basis. The last thing she wanted to do was overstep her bounds and create any kind of negative feelings between the two of them.
When he looked back at her, she smiled and nodded at him that she was ready to go. Then, for good measure, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Not tightly enough to choke him, of course, just for a little additional stability. She knew he wouldn’t drop her, but it was easier and more comfortable this way.
After he’d been walking for a minute or so, she smiled. “You can let me down now, if you want.” She didn’t want him to think he was somehow obligated to carry her the whole way when she was fully capable of walking on her own. For her, this was actually kind of nice. She got to glance at his handsome profile basically all she wanted without him being able to catch her looking. It wouldn’t be very nice of her to take advantage of him in this way after already making him a little uncomfortable by putting him in this position in the first place.
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