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Post by Zuyuri on Oct 26, 2016 16:21:43 GMT
Elsa folded her arms. What was she, a hooker that was going to run off? Absolutely not. Besides, Ralph's gruff attitude was one she knew better than to kindle. His temper was his kyptonite, she would know, having accidentally triggered it...that night.
After Ralph finished his call to the cab, she pulled out her own phone. He may have been towering over her, but as the phone toned, she noticed something in his eyes. Was that...concern?
"Miles' Repairs, quickest repairs in the city, can I help you?"
Elsa returned her attention to the phone call, deciding to get the worst behind her. "Yes, I'm stuck at 4th Street and Laveau Lane. My car was assaulted by a street gang."
"Can you describe the damage?"
"The engine's been tampered with, and, well, the door got ripped off...Other activity. License plate LGO213."
"Stay where you are, miss. We're on our way."
"I won't be leaving for a while." The ending statement was directed to both Ralph and the mechanic.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Oct 27, 2016 4:24:09 GMT
Ralph didn't miss the fact that Elsa's comment was directed towards him as well as the person on the phone. However, he didn't bother responding to it and instead went over to the curb nearest to Elsa's car. He promptly sat down on a bus bench coated in graffiti and felt the seat squeal under his weight. However, it held and he merely crossed his arms over his barrel chest.
He didn't really have anything else to say to Elsa in that moment that wouldn't be in anger and besides, he honestly didn't know what to say anyways. This was perhaps the first time they had been alone together...well, at least since the 'incident.' And his feelings were so mixed in regards to the young ice-powered lawyer that he simply remained quiet and let his gaze wander up and down the streets within view.
He knew that danger would be close by, watching and waiting for a chance. However, he also knew that he could handle anything a two-bit mugger or territorial gangbanger could throw his way. Heck, even most Others would find it extremely difficult to take him down. No, his anxieties still lay with Elsa.
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Post by Zuyuri on Oct 27, 2016 4:29:47 GMT
Elsa turned her phone off, following Ralph's gaze down to the dimly lit streets of Garcon Perdu. The brick walls were the color of blood in the evening light. It wasn't as menacing as the red sky, but it still added some ambience. Graffiti was painted throughout the area, including the ashen black buildings she had been studying. A crude depiction of the Illuminati triangle had been etched slash painted onto a street sign, and she put her hand to frost over a poorly sketched phallic symbol.
What could she say to Ralph that wouldn't result in him chastisting her? What she did was stupid, but this case needed to be done. The cop who had been accused of the arson was innocent. Fire was a gifted human act just as much as ice was hers. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, choosing instead to study the graffiti littered all around.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Oct 27, 2016 4:46:01 GMT
"So, you get a hold of a mechanic or a tow truck or what?"
Ralph's words were gruff but he couldn't think of anything else to say in that moment and the intense silence in which they were sitting had grown to be too much for him. He didn't like long silences and knew that if he had to choose between a screaming and yelling match or utter silence, he would have picked the screaming.
He was doing his best to keep his gaze off of Elsa, but in that moment they briefly flickered back to her. Even now, after having her car break down, being attacked by a mugger and getting into a fight with a Giant, she still appeared so calm and collected. And despite the disgusting, dirty and derelict surroundings into which she had come, the environment only seemed to make her more....
Beautiful.
Ralph stiffed as the thought passed across his mind and quickly looked away from her. There was no point in thinking about such things, not now and after what had happened.
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Post by Zuyuri on Oct 27, 2016 4:52:14 GMT
Elsa put a hand to the tense pulsing sensation on her neck. The bruises from the attempted choke-hold were prominent, leaving behind what she pictures being raised, pink lines along the neck, very tiny veins crisscrossing throughout. She inhaled quickly, and a chill poured from her fingertips to the bruise. It would tone down the swelling.
"I called a local shop. The owner's a kyuubi who can whisper a flat tire into inflation."
Her answer was curt and to the point. If Ralph was going to be gruff, then she would respond politely. After all, he dealt with near death experiences more than she had. He had been right about going alone being stupid.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Oct 31, 2016 4:27:58 GMT
Ralph merely gave a grunt and kept his gaze away from Elsa....or he tried to. However, it seemed as if his neck were being controlled by some other force that kept turning him towards the young woman, forcing him to look at her. And looking at her only made his mind fall back to that brief time when they had attempted to have a relationship. And THAT only made his feelings become more mixed then they already were.
"Seems no matter where I go in this city, I can't get away from you."
He had meant to say it only in his mind, but he suddenly realized that the thoughts had been spoken aloud on his lips in the relative silence of Garcon Perdu. He grimaced but didn't say anymore, instead remaining quiet as the distant sound of a siren echoed off the buildings that surrounded them.
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Post by Zuyuri on Oct 31, 2016 5:19:21 GMT
For the longest time, the only noise was a melody of empty streets. The wind whipped up crumbled papers, a siren wailed in the distance, and the white noise of her powers cooling her neck. She let out an slow sigh, just to make a noise. Ralph kept turning to look at her, just making the tension all the more heavier. She had apologized for...that night. Was he still pissed over that? How many times did she have to say sorry?
Ralph broke the silence with a comment of never being able to escape from her. That was followed by a frustrated grimace. Elsa lowered her hands from her neck
"...Ralph..."
They needed to talk, whether he liked it or not
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 2, 2016 4:01:17 GMT
Ralph forced his body away from Elsa and tried to act as though he hadn't heard her say his name. Her voice.... he knew what the tone of her voice meant and he didn't want to deal with it. Not now, possibly not ever.
"Where is that mechanic?!"
He suddenly rose from his seat and took several steps away from the bench, all the while keeping his back to Elsa so that he wouldn't have to look at her. He went over to the nearest light post and leaned against it, causing the metal to give out a small groan and sway slightly. However, he didn't care. Heck, maybe knocking over the light post would be a good thing if it kept the young woman behind him from bringing up the one topic he had been avoiding like the plague.
"And where's the damn taxi?! I told them thirty minutes and they better be here in thirty or so help me..."
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 2, 2016 16:33:59 GMT
Elsa was irritated by the display of behavior. Here he was ignoring her and not calculating that it had only been five minutes. These were people, not pizza deliveries. He was acting very much like the Giants people told their children about.
She glared at the plaid back, folding her arms. "Look. I want to put all this behind us, I really do. I've apologized for what I did, so just...let it go."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 4, 2016 4:59:34 GMT
"I CAN'T!"
Ralph wanted to punch something, anything in that moment. He wanted the cab to come and just take Elsa away so that he wouldn't have to look at her or listen to her anymore. Heck, in that moment he wanted to just run and keep running so that he wouldn't have to think about the past again. However, he knew that he couldn't do any of those things without feeling ashamed of himself and making the stubborn, annoying, beautiful lawyer behind him hate him.
"I can't just let it go when I still have feelings for ...."
The words died in his mouth, forcing him to swallow as if they were too painful to be spoken. He clenched his jaw and flexed his fists but at the same time closed his eyes so that no one could see what he truly felt reflected in them.
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 4, 2016 16:03:03 GMT
"You and I both know about your temper. Holding onto it will only make this worse...It's...it's all right."
Ralph's minor temper tantrum very slightly shook Elsa. She kept her hands out in front of her, but knew he wasn't going to turn around. Pride was something so easily bruised, she would know for all the cases she had been through. The it's all right was a strategy she used to calm down clients who were in panic. It was a reassurance, telling them it was okay to be upset, to be angry, to be...ashamed
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 5, 2016 5:41:06 GMT
"You still don't get it, do you?"
Suddenly the anger, the rage and frustration that had seemed to fill him to bursting in that moment, faded away and left him looking defeated, as if his own weight were too much to carry in that moment. He knew that eventually he was going to have to face up to Elsa and tell her the truth. And yet part of him had still held onto the false hope that they could continue their lives without ever bringing it up. Well, the time had come at last and he still felt like cutting his losses and running.
The problem was, if he ran now he would never stop running from Elsa and what connection he still had to her would be destroyed. He sagged, as if the weight were baring him towards the ground and nothing, not even a sudden attack from a whole army of criminals, could rouse him out of it. Then he spoke, in a low voice that sounded gruff yet at the same time hollow.
"It's easier to be angry than it is to love someone you can't be with..."
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 5, 2016 16:09:24 GMT
Love someone you can't be with. That comment alone made everything fall into place. Even the deflation of the angry stature helped say everything. Because of that one incident, he felt he wasn't good enough for Elsa. The hollow sadness echoed through the gruff tone, and her heart just ground to a slow beat.
Ralph was angry because of her. He wanted to be with her, but that one blowup made him feel like he couldn't. Elsa knew it was her fault he had felt this way; she pushed him into her world, out of his comfort zone selfishly.
"What would you have me do?" Elsa asked, quietly but sincerely
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Nov 6, 2016 4:44:00 GMT
At first all he wanted to tell her was nothing, that there was nothing she could do and it was pointless to even bother asking. It would only reopen the wounds that lay like ugly scars between them. However, the words wouldn't come and he knew that it wasn't the answer either. The time had come to be straight and forward about the whole thing, even if it did mean more pain.
Heck, he was used to pain, wasn't he? He'd dealt with any number of physical wounds and had never shied away from the possibility of injury or bodily harm. So why was this kind of pain any different?
Taking a deep breath and forcing his spine straight once more, he spoke the question he had been terrified to ask Elsa yet desperately wanted to.
"Tell me why? Just...just tell me what I did wrong."
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Post by Zuyuri on Nov 6, 2016 5:47:07 GMT
Guilt hung in Elsa's answer to Ralph's question. He had been so afraid to ask her what he was asking now, and she knew that because of her, it had happened. If sshe had just been quiet like he had asked her to...She averted his gaze, instead looking at her hands clasping over one another.
"You...let your anger out. I made you angry because I wasn't listening. No one got hurt, thankfully," her lips curved weakly, "but I have to admit if you hit Frollo, I would have been impressed."
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