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Post by husk on Dec 17, 2006 2:30:23 GMT -5
She wasn't going to peel skin today. This was purely a test of her reflexes, and to see if her gymnastics training was holding up. Paige wore her black leather outfit with red piping, the one Bobby had helped her pick out.
Sighing, she walked into the empty Danger Room and looked around at the set up she'd discussed with Forge. A dusty junkyard under a bright blue sky, the sun straight overhead. She picked up the wooden bat from the ground near the entrance to the maze of twisted metal and rusted out appliances, turning it in her hand.
Bobby was on her mind. Everything that had been said on that last date, and after their breakup. How easily everything had gone. Preoccupied, it took her a second to hear the tennis ball come sailing out of nowhere. It his her in the shoulder, and she yelped, grabbing her arm.
"OW!"
Cursing under her breath she lifted her head, turning in a circle, readying the bat. The next ball could come from any direction, she had to be ready.
Bobby had kind of let things go. As if he'd expected the breakup routine. As if he could just shrug her-
Paige swung her arm with a soft grunt, and the tennis ball went sailing away over the tops of the cars into the infinite distance.
-shrug her off.
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Post by angel on Dec 17, 2006 2:40:50 GMT -5
He'd never felt entirely comfortable in the Danger Room. There was something about knowing that it didn't actually go as far as it seemed to and that he was actually flying around in what was effectively a small metal box had always disturbed Angel.
But he still had to train. And it was the best place to train. Nowhere else in the world had this kind of technology, and he was smart enough to know that he should be taking advantage of it even if he didn't always want to.
So as he stood in the lift (another tiny metal box, ack) and tapped his foot a little, he thought about just what kind of scenario he should run through. Maybe that savage lands thing Forge had made - apparently there was a surprise in the sky for him. Should be interesting.
When Warren reached the Danger Room, though, he found the doors shut and someone else logged on.
"Nice." Any excuse would do. A few more buttons told him who it was that was logged on.
"Also nice." Pressing another button, he leant over and spoke into the little microphone. His voice broadcast through the scenario that his friend was playing out, but did nothing to stop it or even slow it down. "Hey, Paige, you feel like company?"
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Post by husk on Dec 17, 2006 2:45:30 GMT -5
Paige laughed at Warren's voice echoing into the junkyard like God speaking from inside a trashed out Pinto.
"Come on in sugar!" She yelled, dropping to her stomach as a tennis ball went flying. She tucked a knee under her and was back up in a second, running over to a car.
"It's kinda... well... I used to play this game with my brothers, y'see," she said, though he couldn't immediately see her behind the remains of a primer-grey Chevy truck. "Mostly I think they just wanted to throw things at each other."
With a vicious, enthusiastic grunt, she swung the bat as the next tennis ball came at her. It struck the bat and the tennis ball came back up into the air, straight towards Warren.
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Post by angel on Dec 17, 2006 2:56:41 GMT -5
The door rolled open with the same mechanical creaking as the rest of them down on this floor, and the leather-clad man stepped inside to see a rather interesting scenario being played out. Definitely not Forge's savage lands, this one.
"Uh huh. That sounds like guys. I never had brothers to --" he stuck his hand up to catch the tennis ball - hardlight technology made it feel real even though it wasn't - and then pegged it back in the direction it had come from, "play with, but the guys at school were pretty much the same."
He followed the ball toward a slightly less crowded area, looking around slightly curiously. "Your parents knew you were playing in a junkyard?" Just one more thing that reminded him how different his upbringing had been. He'd never been allowed near a junkyard, let alone to play in it.
Warren couldn't help but wonder if that was a good thing or not.
The thought was interrupted when another ball came swishing through the air and bounced right off the back of his head.
"Shit!" For something completely non-existent, that really hurt.
"So they're coming from any direction, then?" He rubbed the back of his head and frowned off into the 'distance'. It kinda made his eyes feel weird in here, too. Like he should be able to see further, but it was only a backdrop so he couldn't.
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Post by husk on Dec 18, 2006 15:18:20 GMT -5
Paige stood, smiling at him but keeping her eyes moving about just in case another one came at her. “Yeah… they smart, don’t they?” She chuckled.
Turning her back towards him a bit- she figured she may as well use him as part of her defense, she’d have done so if this were a real-life situation- her shoulder brushed his, and she lifted the bat a bit, rolling her wrist.
“So the premiere. Are you excited?” She was a little nervous about it, and hadn’t bought her dress yet, but wondered how Angel was doing with the whole thing. He still seemed unsure about how things were going with Alison, and it made Paige curious. It wasn’t like Warren, as far as she knew, to keep going out with a girl he wasn’t totally interested in. Maybe he didn’t want to be rude, or just wanted to be friends. It didn’t seem to her Warren was ready to decide.
Now that was true to form, at least. There were very few things Warren was willing to be nailed down on, most of all women.
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Post by angel on Dec 19, 2006 5:58:28 GMT -5
"Yeah, I guess. I mean, I'm a bit nervous that I'll be like, the freak of the week turning up there with Alison... But she said they've only invited friendly press, so you know." He shrugged uncomfortably as he gazed around his half of the junkyard, waiting for the swish of another ball coming toward them. His eyes gave him very little advantage in a digitally constructed environment.
"You're looking forward to it, right? Getting all dolled up? You'll probably outshine Alison, her publicist will shove you back in the limo or something." Warren grinned even though Paige couldn't see it.
"Hopefully this all works out for her and the publicity is positive. It could go either way, I think." Depending on how it was handled, she could either look good surrounding herself with mutants or look like a total wannabe who was only doing it to look good.
"How's things with you, anyway?" The pair only been apart for all of a day or something, but Warren well knew how quickly things could change.
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Post by husk on Dec 20, 2006 11:44:11 GMT -5
Paige stepped in front of him. “You might want to back up,” she said, her eyes on the tennis ball that was careening toward them out of nowhere. She swung the bat, but missed, and the ball bounced against the ground, thunging up into the mass of metal and rust noisily.
Suddenly she didn’t really want to practice. Warren had this way of making her want to curl up with ice cream and Sex In The City and talk like girls. Looking back at him, she smirked a bit. “It’s alright.” Her blue eyes looked around to the sky again just as quickly. “Far better for Bobby apparently. I’m surprised he’s not dancing a jig or something.”
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Post by angel on Dec 20, 2006 23:47:57 GMT -5
What he wanted to do was take her into his arms and give her a good hug and let her vent out all her feelings.
What he actually did was reach up to catch another ball that was coming their way and toss it gently over toward the edge of their little clearing. Knowing Forge, the balls would stay where they were until the program was shut down and he'd trip over them or something.
"I'm sure it's not like that, Paige. Maybe he's just pretending that he doesn't care so it doesn't hurt as much. Or maybe he's just too stupid to realise what he's missing out on." He snuck his head over her shoulder to give her a cheeky grin and plant a kiss on her cheek. Of course, it was entirely possible that Bobby didn't care, but he wasn't going to say that to Paige when she obviously wasn't feeling good about it anyway.
Warren didn't think that was the case, though. Bobby had seemed to worship Paige, so he could hardly have just forgotten about her so easily. Could he? The winged mutant, who was back to looking around again, didn't think so - but then he wasn't usually in relationships in quite that way. Not calling a random partner was easy.
"You wanna go somewhere else to talk about it? Or would you rather stay here and kick the crap out of something?" Another cheeky grin, although he wasn't game to show it to her this time. Another ball should be coming out at any moment.
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Post by husk on Dec 21, 2006 7:55:06 GMT -5
Paige looked at him, and smiled a little. "Program Off," she said, and the room's illusions dissolved to leave them in the large metal room.
"You sure?" She said softly, turning towards him a bit. "I mean..." She reached up and pulled her ponytail free, sighing a bit. As her blonde hair dropped onto her shoulders, hiding her face a bit, she looked at the rubber band in her hand for a second.
She didn't want to push herself on Warren because she was screwed up about her breakup with Bobby. It wasn't like a normal breakup, where you once loved the person and it just didn't work out. She was never in love with Bobby. Loved him, sure, and that wasn't going to change. It was a false start. Then why was she so irritated that Bobby didn't seem to care?
Impulsively, Paige moved to Warren and slipped her arms around his waist, pressing her forehead to his neck and hiding her face. She closed her eyes and hugged him tightly, holding her breath.
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Post by angel on Dec 21, 2006 8:44:41 GMT -5
"Of course." Sometimes he wondered what the deal was with women - if he didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't have offered. Yet girls just didn't seem to do that straight talking thing like guys did. It was weird.
When she slipped her arms around his waist, Warren automatically returned the embrace, one hand coming up to stroke her hair. "Oh, Paige sweetheart, don't be sad."
It felt so impersonal, trying to hold her in the leathers. They were designed to keep the wearer safe, but put a thick and awkward feeling layer right in the way. And he was reasonably sure that his armpit had squeaked just then.
"You just didn't work right now, it's all going to be ok." She'd told him once that she was afraid she'd messed things up terribly and forgotten everything that she had meant to achieve at Xavier's. "Not everything works out perfectly, it's what you've learned and how you've come out of it that's important."
Warren pressed his cheek to her hair as he held her tight, one hand on the small of her back and the other still stroking her hair. "Don't be sad," he whispered, but it echoed back anyway in the large, empty Danger Room.
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Post by husk on Dec 21, 2006 8:53:13 GMT -5
She could tell he didn't know what to say, and the truth of it was, neither did she. She knew these uniforms weren't the best for getting the human contact someone needed when they were upset.
Paige lifted her head after a moment and looked up at Angel, smiling softly.
"You're a great friend, War..." She said. There was more to say, but maybe it wasn't best to say it.
"Wanna steal that peppermint chocolate chip ice cream in the fridge and hole up in your room until dinner?"
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Post by angel on Dec 21, 2006 9:11:37 GMT -5
He gave her a half smile before he nodded, keeping his right hand on her lower back as he drew away from her embrace.
"I think that sounds like an awesome plan. I'm even willing to watch a chick flick with you and complain about how the ice cream is going to go straight to my thighs." Maybe it was too soon to be making jokes, but Warren just wanted to see her smile again. Especially if they really did start getting into it over ice-cream and she ended up more upset again.
He knew, though, that most girls had to talk through these kind of things until they started to feel better. And since Paige was pretty much the best friend he had, Warren would be there to listen and do his best to say the right thing without betraying Bobby. It really did suck that things hadn't worked out between the two - but things didn't always work out perfectly, so he hoped that they'd at least enjoyed being together while they had the chance.
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