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Interpersonal Counter Revolutions.


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November 20th, 8:56PM, the Waterfront.

On a boat.

 

Errant had his legs wrapped around the head and neck of the guy, his hands gripping at the weapon smuggler's arm sharply as he tried to keep the triangle choke going.  His teeth gritted under his mask the larger man slammed him against the side of the cabin.  He managed to retain his grip, just. 'I can't get the other ones right now, I am a bit busy at the moment.'  Trying to bit back the pain as this was happening, they were in two separate sections of the boat, and both had their hands full, he had under estimated the man's strength was paying for it with a ringing headache from being swung about  'If you would just be patient I am doing the best I can.'

 

Of course this was little comfort for Glamazon, as this had been initial little social outing with some others, only for Errant slip away from the group to go after these smugglers.  Which was why he had agreed as he had some intel on them being there.  And Thaelia, sense action, have been very, very persuasive with the stoic telepath.  Not that she knew of the impact she had on him, able to obliterate his normal dry, dispassionate manner of speak into a rambling trail and a noncommittal shrug.

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'Ask for assistance if you need it.  There is no shame in requiring the aid of others every now and then.'  Thaelia was referencing Errant's habit to take off without a word.   Not that she was much better in that regard, the difference a complete disregard for subtlety as when she leapt into action.  Thaelia knew Errant was of course capable of fending for himself.  However, he didn't sound as if he was having the best of times and Errant's lack of reassurance wasn't exactly inspiring of confidence.  Her concern shifting solely towards the safety of her schoolmate.  'Besides, patience is overrated.'

 

The Atlantean took a look around of how many smugglers she had left to contend with.  They weren't strong not by any measure that she held the word to.  But their numbers and armaments had been proving themselves more than an inconvenience as she rolled out of the way of the latest hail of gunfire.  Two very motivated smugglers were doing their best to try and keep the demigoddess at a distance after she had taken out one of their men with a swift elbow.  "So you wish to have a row with the daughter of the seas? Your regret shall haunt you for the rest of your lives!"

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In fairness Errant's spirit animal was Grumpy Cat.  So he always sounded like he wasn't having the best of times, it was a conceit of his.  Then the man came lifted him up, and Errant sighed, as the large smuggler carried, or dragged the telepath out of the cabin and towards the edge of the boat.  Errant's expression was behind his mask, which was a good thing as the went to throw him overboard.

 

What came next wasn't gainly, or elegant. bit Errant managed to grip on the railing and pulled the man over with his legs.  Somehow he clung to the side of the boat as he rolled with him then, and then then he just hung there, as he tried to pull himself back up and failing.  'If you get the chance, can you help me up.'

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They may have been on different parts of the boat.  But there was no mistaking the word up.  Last she checked the difference in their positions wasn't a matter of elevation.  The change ushered a call for expediency in the straightforward brawler.  Moving with a purpose she checked the position of the smugglers as they tried to keep her away with suppressive fire.

 

When she wanted to be pragmatic, the Glamazon could be just that.  Thaelia could have torn  a piece of the ship's floorboard asunder and sent it flying as a distraction.  Or even use it as an actual makeshift weapon.   She could have attempted to try and take them off their balance by striking the ground hard enough.  Really any other idea would have been more graceful than the course of action she did choose to take.  Without any regard for her safety she charged for the two smugglers.  The shots that didn't miss her during the rampant assault served no purpose in actually harming her let alone slowing her down.  

 

The first smuggler went down as soon as Thaelia's fist connected with his liver.  The second wasn't even lucky enough to catch sight of her leg being planted against his stomach before he was knocked unconscious by straight right button on his nose.  Swiveling around her focus was set solely on Errant.  'Coming.'

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He could hear, and feel the man splashing behind him.  Struggling, a bit, he shimmied along the railing, hand over hand as he did so, glancing up towards the deck.  'I am sorry for this... but...'  He shared his location with her in related to her.  Sharing one of his senses with her.  It was hard for him to explain distances in normal terms sometimes, she but then felt that telehaptic sense of his, the telekinetic that was woven around him.  And immediately she was aware of where he was in relation her.  

 

The connection ended abruptly as a hand grasp her ankle.  Wait...

 

No his ankle.  He kicked out his leg, snapping the heel back against the man's face, not that the guy was getting a good grip given he had no leverage.

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The tether between their minds was an odd sensation for the girl to place.  Especially as it was suddenly yanked away.  As if one was in the middle of forming a thought and then not a single trace of that very same thought.  A baffling sensation for which the girl had no words for.  But Thaelia now knew where she needed to be.  The Atlantean sped through the ship with a purpose in mind.  Before she even came to reach the railing, Thaelia had already taken to the air.  

 

With a prodigious leap she would perform a swan dive at an arc heading straight into the depths of the below.    Catching sight of the two getting personal on the way down Thaelia tried to aim her fall so that she could land on the man failing to attack Errant.  'I wasn't aware there were two of you to pull up.'

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By the time got to them it was an ungainly underwater fist fight.  Despite the fast that he avoided more overt involvement in conflicts, she had noticed he was more than game to jump into them.  In fact this was the first time she seen him hit someone, not that he advertised that his that he trained rigorously.  Though there was no art to this, a hand was gripping the other's clothes, and he was punching the goon as the man tried to hit him.

 

'He pulled me under.  This was not my first choice.'  Errant had a small advantage, he could feel Thaelia's position, and he could account for it.  So when she drew close, he reached the had been punching the other guy towards her, still holding the other guys shirt with his hand.

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''Well then it may not be your first choice, but let us make it the ideal choice.'  Thaelia didn't have to account for water resistance when attacking or moving about.  Her body was already perfectly adapted to fighting at the depths of the sea.  So when Errant presented the opportunity to join in the fray while attacking his foe, she jumped at it.  A swift kick would fly out towards the thug's stomach.  

 

She was impressed with how despite not being as comfortable in the water as say Tsunami, Errant could maneuver the larger man around.  It was an example of a tactical mind in action.  He wasn't lucky he was controlling the scrap as best he could.  The seaborn warrior felt it was something to applaud.

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'I have breathed in water, trying not to panic, pull us up, I am not a strong enough swimmer to do this while holding him.'  Said, while not wanting to knock out the guy, because then he would breathe.  This was not the first time this had happened to him.   But he kept a hand on the man, not wanting to lose him in several instances.  Errant was a guy who tended to be distant, and a jerk in that regard.  He was not, however, a vicious person.  He was a guy who was probably going to drown without Thaelia's aid however.

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'Worry not friend.  I shall have us out in the liccitiest of spritz.' Completely mangling the quote in her mental reference. Swimming forward Thaelia extended each of her arms towards one of the males. Ready to pull them in so she could simply leap out of the water with both in tow. Neither weighing enough to actually inconvenience her. It was much easier to travel at sea with people who weren't bothered by a few gallons of water in their lungs.

At least it was something she couldn't fault him for breathing was important. Suspecting that Errant was also taking the thug's welfare into consideration as well helped to expedite her action. One person, especially a fellow classmate, having trouble breathing was bad. Two, including a no good fiend as she often called criminals, was just unacceptable.

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Errant was not one to correct someone with that, because he never bothered to remember those sorts of things.  Also, he was inching in on losing consciousness, and that was far more a pressing concern for him than fixing a phrase that Thaelia had parsed badly.  And when they were free of the embrace of the water, he then preoccupied with coughing up the water he had breathed in, rather than harping on the mistake.  Curled up in the fetal position on his knees, palms and forehead pressed the dock, having pulled his mask from his mouth and nose so he could breath.

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Thaelia spun around on her heel and clocked the thug she had dragged up with Errant for good measure.  Avoiding any further recourse from him was the only solution Thaelia could think off as the smuggler finally slumped over.  Running up to her curled up classmate a worried expression dawned on her face.  Thaelia wasn't skilled at the whole medical aspect of life saving.  And punching him wasn't exactly a solution either.  If necessary she was prepared to pick him up and try and run to a medical care facility if absolutely necessary.  For now settling on just watching over Errant to make sure he was alright.  "Hey...you are going to be just fine.  Do not worry."

 

Despite who the statement was directed towards her tone of voice came off as she was partly reassuring herself of the fact that the sputtering teen in front of her was going to be fine and not just Errant.

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'Fine, just shouldn't be going back to the water anytime soon...'  He pushed himself to his feet then, shaking his head a little bit, and pulled his mask back down.  'Still other goons are there, and weapons.  Must go back.'   And while his legs were initially unsteady, he started moving towards the boat on the dock again, soon coming to a jog, once again.  Skidding down a staircase, before scrambling towards the gangplank and onto the boat itself.

 

He was confident she was in tow, though she knew he'd charge ahead even if she wasn't.

 

Though he was right, there were more guys there, well the ones that were already there.  He staggered past them, towards the cache in the cabin.

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Thaelia watched as Errant ran off.  That was the second time in the evening.  It was strange to be on the other end of the whole leaping before looking thing.  She didn't care for it.  Being the responsible one was not her gimmick.  She was supposed to be the one running off causing mayhem to be reigned in by a more responsible voice.  This was outside of her comfort level.  So she simply stopped.  

 

As far as she was concerned the only way to make sure they got out of the situation with no significant injury was to work with what she knew.  Rushing headfirst into madness.  A smile appeared on her face as she bolted forward.  Not running after Errant instead moving to head towards the smugglers he had run past.  Reintroducing herself into the fray by charging shoulder first into the first one she saw.  'You have a warrior's courage.  I give you that.'

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Whereas he went low, diving under a grabbing arm from one of the men on the boat, as he was skidding down the stairs ungainly into the hold before getting up and moving the to the hold and the stash of weapons.  As others had seen, and now she was seeing he was driven, he was obsessed.  It was something he had mentioned, something that tried to explain, but had given up on it before meeting Thaelia, as most people assumed he was boohooing his situation.

 

That was hardly the truth.  He knew where these guns were intended for, he knew they were advanced tech.  He knew how escalation worked.  He was stopping this portion of the cycle, it was just a matter of finding... There.  'Off the boat. Now.'

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thaelia didn't listen to the direction to get off the boat.  She wasn't great at following orders after all.  So when Errant stated it was time to leave, she instead chose to descent the vessel moving after Errant.  If they were going to have to leave the vessel.  She would make sure they would leave together.  "As you wish.  We will exit the vessel now.  Come quickly so that I may clear our way!"  Thaelia's response was both internally and externally relayed as she simultaneously shouted and thought the information in his direction.  If there was one thing the Atlantean was, it was loyal to a fault.  And leaving the boat without making sure the guy who just barely pushed through almost drowning was not going to be in the cards.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Setting a long enough delay, he turned to move out of the hold and back up through the cabin.  'There is no one else, go, and throw the two on the deck to the dock.  I need to make sure there is no other surprises.'  Not that he expected any chemical weapons or anything weird and he was being a bit extreme in his response, but he was eliminating the weapons and resources.  The men would likely still be arrested relatively eas-...  Cursing under his breath.  'Get them off the boat!  I need to get something!'  He moved then, dashing back into the hold and grabbing a duffle of evidence out before heading back towards topside.

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Glamazon turned around to follow Errant's directions.  Enthusiastically throwing them off the deck following the worded request to the letter.  Some landing better than others as Thaelia flung them with her impressive might.  Moving with dedicated intent the muscular teen kept tilting her head back towards the stairs of the boat.  Wondering what was taking Errant so long.  He skimped on details to a degree that was so impressive, that someone like Thaelia who didn't normally care for the specifics was not pleased.  At the first sign of him coming for topside she'd begin making her own way for land having finished her recreational gaim of criminal ring toss.  'What was of such urgency that you had to delay your exit as such?'

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  • 2 weeks later...

'Evidence.'  The reply was terse, but then if he could help it he would be as shorthand as possible.  And as he moved up onto the deck with the duffle over his shoulder, he glanced to her, and frowned a little under his mask.  He wasn't acting any differently, he was doing every normally for him, but unfortunately working with him tended to strain personal relationships.  But he had a point, explaining to her what was happening would prolong it, he had faith in her assessment of a situation.  But then, his ability to feel out, to read and understand others without resorting to his powers was so innate that he tended to assume that she, and others, were that way as well.  It caused problems like this.

 

'We can go now, we have thirty seconds before the remaining weapons are taken care of.'  And as he was sending that he saw the man on the dock pulling his gun out, out and levelling at Thaelia who was closer to the edge of the boat.  And then he reacted, as instincts he had suppressed a long time ago kicked in savagely as the world seemed to slow down.  He darted in front of her, throwing his arms up, and using his telekinetic parries to bat away the blasts from the man's sidearm, as he threw the duffle bag at the man's head, aided in his efforts by forcing that telekinetic web to help throw it at him.

 

As this was happening he was keenly aware that the timer was winding down, and he wasn't sure that the timetable in his mind could be kept readily.  So...

 

'Jump.'  And it was a command, not a message as he reached out into her mind.  He didn't bother with the higher functions, he reached directly into autonomic responses, and sent her leaping into the men on the dock.  Just in time, as the charge on the energy cells for the weapons being ship hit the overload he had set up.  Unfortunately he had forgotten to account for the fuel, and the explosion was far bigger than he had anticipated.  Dammit, was the last thought he had, realizing his error before the force of the explosion blew past his telekinetic defenses as he tried to dive out of the way only to have it impact him solidly, along with pieces of the boat and sent him careening, again, into the water.

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Thaelia didn't appreciate being flung off the boat.  Even if it was her own legs doing the flinging.  Ridiculous as it was to think of the fear of being caught in an exploding ship had never registered on her mind.  Having faith in her own resilience.  But before any sort of choice could be conferred up to her as to her course of action, Errant had assisted her in expediting the process.  Much the Atlantean's ire.  She was honored by his assistance in rescuing her from the armed smuggler.  But that still left her divisive view point on the mental urging.

 

But before she could lash out towards him.  Before she could even react.  There was a massive explosion nearby.  Her view obscured by the pillar of flames.  "ERRANT!"  The Atlantean demigoddess yelled out worried into the night air.  She had no notion of where his body had ended up.  But that didn't matter her body was already running off the dock.  Leaping off with ferocious intensity as she set her mind on the task of rescuing her comrade at arms.

 

"ERRRANT!"  The scream echoed through the night diving into the water beginning a search for the telepath.  Ignoring whatever flaming debris could wash upon her.  Her sense of loyalty once again overriding whatever sense of preservation she had.  It was hard to pinpoint what Thaelia ran on.  Honor, valor, loyalty.  Whatever it was, definitely wasn't logic by any standard.

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Errant's assessments of things were not perfect.  He operated on his time frame, in his admittedly logic.  He did not communicate, with anyone, and that was a sticking point for him at the school.  It wasn't like he was unuseful in a group, it was just he was apt to do things without help.  He was constantly hurt in someway, constantly throwing himself at problems with a calculated recklessness that no one else could even begin to work out.  The thing was that he was effective, he just clearly place less importance on his wellbeing when compared to others, a dangerous method when he was not as tough as others.

 

Like right now.

 

He was unconscious, and sinking in the water like a proverbial stone.  

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Thaelia was comfortable in the water.  Far more than she would have been had this search taken place on land.  Her body darting through the sea with a grace that didn't match her body.  Making a beeline for every moving object that came into view.  Looking for the one that was the body of a teenage boy.  

 

The torpedo that was the Glamazon charged through the debris.  Until finally, out in the distance sinking away was what she felt had to be Errant.  Arms stretched out she adjusted course hoping that it wasn't too late to get to him.  Tales of heroes dying during their last stand after felling the villain made for good entertainment.  But they were best as just that.  Entertainment.  And Errant's current unknown state had pushed her well out of the entertained marker.

 

So when Thaelia found Errant's sinking form.  It was all she could do not to give him a disgruntled quick shot in the arm before hauling the telepathic teen back to shore.

Edited by HG Morrison
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  • 2 weeks later...

The bubbles helped, he was an air breather, so this wasn't precisely tricky to find his plummeting form.  Given it was the docks she would have to throw him up onto one of them, or take the longer path to the shore.  Either way he anded on the surface heavily, and laid there for a moment before he started to sputter and cough up water.  Though it quickly turned to retching it up as he rolled onto his hands and knees, sputtering and coughing, displacing the water he had breathed in with some air between the violent reactions.

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Thaelia once again found herself treated with the sight of Errant sputtering water out his mouth.  Only the pitiful encore was coupled with the promise of vomit too.  She wasn't easily grossed out.  One should see her diet while back home to understand that much at least.  But the retching did bring a slight grimace to the warrior princess' face.  "Medical attention now!"  Thaelia barked out the order while turning her head slightly away from staring directly as he struggled to regurgitate the large intake of water.

 

It seemed best to save sea-faring adventures for Tsunami's company.  Especially if the rest of her surface dwelling friends were also not the strongest of swimmer's like Errant.  Although that did leave out for consideration that the fact most people weren't the strongest swimmers when caught near an explosion.  But to her swimming was akin to walking.

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  • 2 months later...

April 30th, 2014

 

 

 

It was not a glorious moment between them, it was, however a telling one.  As Glamazon got a bit of understanding of what Errant was willing to do to accomplish his goals.  Though, honestly, apart from seeing each other 'in action' there was not bonding.  Which might have been a subgoal of Errants.  Still they had succeeded, because of, or in spite of, their working together.  Regardless of that, Errant/Elias withdrew from her.  Not that such was immediately noticeable.  He tended to be present but not 'here' oftentimes when on campus.  Though given how he acted at the New Years party later that month there was clearly something stewing about behind his eyes..

 

What he didn't, or couldn't, convey was his feeling of attraction to her, of course being able to understand and dissect emotional responses didn't mean he had the best mechanisms for dealing with them.  So it was simpler to disengage, especially after confronting her and Subito on their behavior.  But then, Subito missed it to some degree, and he didn't talk to Thaelia after that.  At a certain point it became a bit of a point where she would notice.  The lack of him being somewhere she was, and with him refusing to be pinned down, it was hard to say the cause.

 

As this happened it was clear something was up, as he seemed to go from manic, obsessive bursts of energy, to where he was struggling with fatigue and the exhaust that came in the lull after that.  This was noticed by the faculty, and there were efforts to get him to focus on schoolwork, and engage his classmates, as there was a going concern over his prior actions and his tendency to not socialize if given the choice.  And then the faculty rather pointedly gave him an assignment out on Lonely Point.

 

With Thaelia.

 

.

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