trans_9 | Damn Paperclip [Open]

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Damn Paperclip [Open]

Julian glared at the paperclip. Or, rather, the charred shard of metal that used to be a paperclip, which was sitting on the floor of an otherwise empty sensorium.

He had tried to pick it up and move it, something that should be a simple task for a telekinetic like him, but his precision control was still shot to hell. He ended up using too much energy in too small a space, which resulted in an explosion.

For the fifth time in a row.

It was getting annoying. He used to have perfect control. Hell, he was on the verge of learning how to disassemble molecules. Now, thanks to Emma unleashing him into overdrive, he can move a mountain through sheer force of will, but can't pick up anything smaller than an SUV without exploding it.

He was getting better at it with practice, but it was slow and frustrating. But damn it all to hell if he was going to ask for help. He could do this on his own. He'd just have to try again.

Which he did, having the sensoriums make another paperclip for him. All he had to do was concentrate, focus, grab hold of it, lift it and then.... then shield his eyes from shrapnel as that one exploded too.

"Dammit..."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Ah, I'm just being friendly," he replied casually, as if it was no big deal. Perhaps a bit too friendly, though its not like he was groping her. At the moment, anyway. So, while he didn't remove his hand, he relaxed his arm enough that if Fate wanted to remove it, she could with no resistance.

"Besides, I think she's cute when she blushes." Making a pretty girl get all flustered was a favorite pastime of his.

And Fate did just that. She made her way over to Nanoha, face still extremely red, and sent a quick telepathic "thank you" to her friend.

"We should probably leave, Nanoha. You really should be back in our room." She said. She was actually willing to let Nanoha off the hook for sneaking out, since she had just saved her, but getting out of here was Fate's priority right now, and that was a good enough excuse.

"She is cute when she blushes," Nanoha agreed, "But that's kind of beside the point. Do you... usually approach girls like that?"

She gave Fate a breezy wave with her not-in-a-sling hand. "No, no, it's perfectly fine. I think I'm good to talk for a bit more, Fate-chan."

"It depends on the girl," he responded. Which was relatively true, its not as if he had one standard tactic for hitting on women. That said...

"But I've never been shy about going after what I want."

"What you... want?" Oh dear. If it was possible, Fate blushed even harder.

"W-Well... I'm sorry, but I'm not available."

"Mm, that's true - Fate's kind of spoken for," Nanoha smiled with a subtle sharpness behind it. "But even if she weren't, most women probably don't appreciate being treated like some sort of prize to be claimed. That's just getting off on a bad start."

"Only 'kind of?'" He questioned with a sly grin. Not that he figured he had a chance right now, but the opening was there. He could still amuse himself a bit.

"But again, it depends on the girl. Some actually like the pursuit. Besides, you're not off to a bad start unless you get slapped. Usually a blush means I'm on the right path.

"Not like I asked her to do anything more than come in and chill out for a bit, anyway." Which, honestly, Fate did look like she needed to sit for a moment. So much blood was rushing to her face Julian was quietly wondering if her head might explode.

Julian's observation was more or less right; all the blood rushing to Fate's face really wasn't doing her any good. It felt like there was a hammer pounding away at the inside of her skull right now, but she tried not to let the discomfort show, though.

"And I'm sorry I have to decline... but we really should be heading back soon. It'll be much easier to rest back in our quarters than here in the Sensoriums." Time for Fate to start being a little stubborn.

"Either you're on the right path or you're making her uncomfortable," Nanoha pointed out. "And some might not be the slapping type."

She stepped forward, despite Fate's claims to the contrary. "No, no - you can go on and relax, Fate-chan. It's fine," she smiled. "I'm sorry, but were you in the middle of practice when we interrupted you?"

Julian tilted his head a bit and looked at Nanoha. What kind of game was she playing here?

"Actually, I was, yes. Why?"

"Well, I'm still on the mend from the Ohm, but I won't get better just by sitting around and not stretching, you know?" Nanoha's smile grew a bit wider. "Care for a sparring partner?"

"No." Fate didn't even give Julian a chance to respond. She was going to put her foot down right now.

"Nanoha, you're still not ready to fight again!"

Julian may have been a hornball, and an insensitive jerk when it came to women, but he wasn't malicious towards them. He took a breath, and smiled (somewhat patronizingly) at Nanoha as moved to stand next to her.

"Look, dollface," he stated, casually throwing an arm across her shoulder, careful to avoid hitting the arm that was in a sling. Clearly her entire argument about him being too friendly had not yet sunk in. "Under normal circumstances, if a pretty girl like you wanted to throw down, I'd be happy to oblige. But you might want to listen to your friend." He pointed towards the injured arm, "you're still on the mend."

And her smile dimmed. "My name is Nanoha," she informed him. "I'd prefer it if you could call me that, you know? I've always liked going by names."

"And you shouldn't just put your arm around people like that. Especially when we've only just met." As she spoke, Nanoha ducked down, slipping out of Julian's grasp, and shook her head.

The mage glanced at Fate (and gave her a sheepish smile) and then looked back to Julian. "Oh, I'll be fine," she waved it off. "I don't need that arm anyway. Besides, I'm feeling a lot better - and it's just a spar, right?"

"It's never just a spar with you, Nanoha," Fate said, frowning a little. She doesn't need to bring up the sparring matches with Signum, does she?

"You can spar with him some other time. It'll be bad if you fight again so soon after using all that magic, and you know it." With that, she took her friend's free hand, and attempted to head towards the exit.

Julian allowed Nanoha to slip away without further incident, and simply folded his arms across his chest.

He was, admittedly, intrigued, but he wasn't a total ass. Still, he'd let the girls settle this themselves, for the moment.

"Geez, Fate-chan... I'm feeling a lot better, I promise!" Nanoha sighed, holding her ground despite Fate's best efforts to the contrary. "I'll go easy, I promise!"

"Besides, I'm not letting him get away with treating you like that, you know." The telepathic communication rang out inside Fate's head.

"It still seems like a bit too soon... something bad might happen, even if you're careful." Fate said, frowning a little.

"... Is that what this is really about?" Came the telepathic reply. "You really don't have to do this..."

Julian decided to take a moment to interrupt their conversation.

"Look, Dollface, all things aside... you sure you're up for this?" While not completely turning off the attitude, he at least turned the volume down enough that it was evident the concern was genuine. "There's a lot of things I'd like to do with you, but sending you back to the Medbay isn't one of them. You sure you can handle it if things get a little physical?"

He was fine with the idea of fighting a woman-- you can't be on the X-Men unless you can stand being around about a dozen women who can kick your ass ten ways to Sunday at any given time-- but he really didn't want to hurt her.

"Na-no-ha," she corrected Julian. "That's my name. And you don't need to worry about me." She ignored his statement about doing things with her as best as she could, though the frown on her face deepened just a bit. "I can handle myself."

"And that goes for you too, Fate-chan." Nanoha glanced over at the blonde girl. "I'll rest all day after this, okay?"

"Yes I do," Nanoha retorted mentally. "I think he needs to learn a bit of a lesson, don't you? You can handle yourself, but what if he did it to some girl who wasn't strong like you? I just don't like it. I'll be fine."

"... Fine." Fate said, after thinking it over for a few minutes. She could brush off her own discomfort, but she did not like it when his comments were directed towards Nanoha. She was sure none of the other girls on the ship would appreciate being hit on like that, too, so... Nanoha was right. Maybe he does need to be taught a lesson.

"But if things start getting bad, I'm stepping in, okay?"

Julian shook his head. "You know, I really don't get why some girls get all hung up on the name thing," he said to himself. But that was neither here nor there. "But, if you really want to... well, how can I say no to such a pretty face?"

Julian stepped back further into the Sensorium, which suddenly transformed the room until they were standing in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge, which itself was littered with a few abandoned cars. Oddly, the sky was red, initially, and for some reason, Julian was quietly unsettled by that. He looked at his hands for a moment, flexing them, having this odd feeling like there was a memory in the back of his mind that was gnawing its way to the surface.

He pushed the feeling aside, and the red sky changed to a bright and sunny blue one quickly enough. He just shook the whole thing off. "Must've been a glitch..." But, that too was beside the point.

"Alright, Dollface," he spoke up, "here are the rules." Yes, there would be rules. They were sparring, not having a deathmatch. "The field of battle is on or over the Bridge itself, or over the water, for about a hundred meters in each direction. If you get knocked outside of the field, you lose. If you hit the water, you lose. If you hit the land on either side of the bridge, you lose. And all knockdowns are subject to a standing eight count. And if your friend thinks you've gone too far, Sweetheart can step in and call an end to this." So far, nothing unreasonable.

"Any stipulations you want to argue or add?"

"Nope," Nanoha shook her head. "That seems fine to me. Although... how about if I win, you'll call us by our actual names, okay?" A pause. "And maybe rethink your approach to how you treat the female members of the crew, too." Nanoha had no problem with gentle flirting or teasing, really, but there was something about Julian's casual and aggressive approach that rubbed her the wrong way - especially when it was aimed at her lover.

She closed her eyes as the world changed around her - San Francisco on Earth, wasn't it? - reaching down to the jewel that she wore around her neck, and brought it to her lips. "Are you ready, Raising Heart? Set Up."

"I am ready, my master. Raising Heart Excelion, Stand By. Barrier Jacket: Aggressive Mode."

The familiar pink light enveloped the mage, and when it cleared she was in her blue-and-white battle outfit, holding the golden-tipped spear that was her weapon in her good hand. Nanoha frowned to herself, knowing that Raising Heart would be difficult to use with one hand - and reached up to remove the sling on her arm and toss it aside, stretching the injured limb a few times before grabbing the staff with both hands like she was used to.

"I'm ready," she called out to Julian, and sent a quick telepathic message to Fate: "Don't worry, Fate-chan. I'll be fine." Mainly, she hoped that the girl wouldn't get too upset over her discarding of the sling. Her arm was mostly healed, anyway.

Edited 2010-07-08 01:14 (UTC)

Oh, Fate was was going to protest, but... it really was hard to wield a device one-handed, even if it was for mainly long-range combat. So, again, she'll let it slide for now. Only for now.

"... If you say so."

And with that, she floated back, just outside the perimeter of the battlefield. Bardiche was already clutched in her hand; she didn't think things would get bad right from the start, but she wanted to be on alert. Just in case.

"And if I win..." he rolled that thought around for a moment, but decided to be nice and let her off the hook. "You keep the nicknames, without complaint. Sound fair?" Not like he was going to lose anyway. She really was only working with one arm.

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