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[notintehkitchen]

Mr. Hawk, will you please come back to the house? I found a solution to our problem.

I've sealed my gas mask on permanently so I don't have to talk to you again or be strange. I'll just be a normal Pyro again, you don't even have to think of me as a girl if you don't want to. Just think of me as a boy--or even better, an it. I'm fine with that, really. Just come back, please?

Comments

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[notintehkitchen.livejournal.com]

[She wasn't going anywhere if being here for a year told her anything from watching fellow REDs and BLUs depart. In her mind, she was destined to be stuck here forever scolding and teasing anyone from her world who arrived. For the man beside her to be so worried over her possibility of disappearing didn't seem to be a worry in her mind.]

If I didn't wear the suit I'd be nothing but a skeleton with little burnt flesh pieces clinging to me.

[Her next words came out sounding guilty, as if she wasn't faithful enough to her beloved flames.]

I like fire, but I don't want to look that scary. Is that bad?

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[hasstandards]

[He shook his head, scruff rubbing against her.]

It's not. It's just somethin' ya can't help sometimes when you're in the suit, but I s'ppose it's like you said. It's a part of the job.

[He swallowed, a knot in his throat as he thought of what bothered him. It was something he never wanted to leave that room, or even that moment, but he felt compelled to ask. The question was one he'd asked before, but in a very different context: whereas it had been laced with anger then, it now held uncertainty.]

What happens when we leave this place? If we leave this place, rather.

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[notintehkitchen.livejournal.com]

[Despite all her experience in this place there was no way she could give him a precise answer. The thought of losing Sniper like she had so many others she had grown to care about stung her heart.]

I don't know what happens. I suppose the only way to find out is when it does.

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[hasstandards]

[RED didn't respond, unable to piece together exactly what it was he thought about that. The mere thought of her disappearing wounded him, made him want to fight against whatever forces were responsible for taking her.

The idea that they'd return home and not remember all that had transpired in Paradise was somehow unappealing, despite that being what he considered the best scenario until that point. Things were different now, and he couldn't accept why.

His arm tightened around her.]

I don't think I want to know.

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[notintehkitchen.livejournal.com]

[She could recall how angry he had been when he first arrived here. The feelings he must of developed about Paradise had changed dramatically it seems.

Laughing, she hugged him back when he embraced her tighter.]

Ignorance is bliss?

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[hasstandards]

Yeah. I suppose so, sometimes.

[His breathing deepened, muscles relaxing as he drifted toward the point of unconsciousness. Despite his body giving in to sleep, his mind was still at work. He was a little less intelligible when he spoke a few moments later.]

I'd rather... you just stayed.

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[notintehkitchen.livejournal.com]

[Stay? Did he mean stay in bed? Well, she wasn't going anywhere but she still had to question him.]

Stayed?

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[hasstandards]

[His breaths were heavier, voice low as he mumbled something completely incoherent, exhaustion stripping him of his ability to convey exactly what he meant.

That didn't mean he didn't try as he pulled her to him again, eyes shut as he rested his head on her. He wanted her to stay with him in every sense: there in that moment, in Paradise, if they returned to Sawmill, and in some deeper sense he couldn't fully comprehend. Saying that much through a simple embrace, however, wasn't likely to be a successful endeavor.]

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[notintehkitchen.livejournal.com]

[Pyro decided the best thing she could do was be silent and go to sleep. Sniper looked like he needed rest after everything she had put him through that night.

Wrapped up in his warm embrace, it became easy for her to drift off into her own dreams. There was something safe and secure about those arms she had long forgotten from others in her past.]