For Yuna! (Whereishe). Continued Cuteness

[my_belfry_of_fun]

Title:Continued Cuteness
Who:Yuna and Alex Mercer
What:Cuteness in an evolving friendship
Open/Closed:Closed
Additional Details:Originally based on a meme, set in the Explorers setting.

Comments

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Distress signal been put out and alert, for the rest of Yuna's team along with their coordinates. At least as far as could be extrapolated. First thing, after getting Yuna settled, Alex had done when he'd been picked up in the shuttle as they headed back to the main-ship.

Yuna'd half-woken up once, but had gone back to sleep soon enough. Probably her body's way of still healing from its brush with hypothermia. That was alright, wrapped in a blanket to keep her warm, even if she still was curled in his jacket. Alex supposed he could get it back later.

Not difficult to move her or carry her to her room either. Settling her gently on her bed, blanket and his jacket still there. From there, Alex went and turned in his data, and went back to his usual work. They'd have to talk, but it could wait.

[whereishe]

She shifted in her sleep and moaned softly as her fingers curled around her pillow. The sweet familiar scent of the pillow brought her mind back from the convoluted canvas of her dreams. Her eyes fluttered opened and she writhed slightly in the cocoon of blankets and jacket.

"Alex?" Her voice was soft as her vision focused on his sold form. "Where are we?"

This certainly didn't feel like the cave where he had been holding her.

[lessandmorethanhuman]

The door to her quarters had been left open, and he'd taken a seat at her desk. Going through, organizing the recent data, and then organizing some of the other stuff in his crew-role. Charge of daily-operations, fun--by which he meant boring as hell.

"Back on the main Exploration ship." Voice quiet as well. "You slept a long time."

[whereishe]

"Ah!" She tried to sit up but the forced and entanglement of the blankets kept her pinned to the bed. She wasn't as important as daily-operations manager but she had things that she needed to do.

"I slept that long? Why didn't you wake me?" Yuna managed to push part of the blanket off of her but she didn't think to remove Alex's jacket. Part of her wanted to keep that.

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"Because you likely needed it." Alex sounded amused, more than anything. Putting down a data-pad, and turning in the desk-chair to face her. "Think of it as if you'd burned through a lot of magic. You need time to rest and regain that energy yes? Well, your body lost a lot of heat, even if we kept it from being too bad, so you needed the rest."

Entirely matter of fact, hands in his lap and one leg crossed over the other where they were stretched out. Seemingly at ease. "I'd prescribe hearty, warm, food, and something to drink--but I'm not in charge of medical." Didn't mean it wasn't good advice.

[whereishe]

She stopped her struggling and looked over at Alex's with a pout. "You certainly sound like a doctor." She preferred to use magic than to work with doctors. It was her stubborn streak kicking in and she found that doctors always tried to tell you what to do.

Her hands freed themselves from the blanket and she placed them on the blanket. "I'm not hungry."

Nightmares

[whereishe]

She was in her own room now and Alex's jacket was grasped tightly in her fingers as she tossed and turned within her bed. There was so much on her mind and it was like every worry that she pushed to the side decided to come to her and haunt her in her sleep.

Her heart raced as tears leaked from her closed eyes. A scream rippled from her lips as she woke. Her hand went to her chest and she knew that one of the crewmates near her must have heard her. She was only in her underwear so she slipped on Alex's jacket, grabbed her belt and bag and walked from her room before anyone could check on her. She felt herself shaking as she walked barefooted through the ship.

Yuna wasn't paying attention to where she was going as she walked quickly away from her nightmares. She couldn't calm herself down and fresh tears spilled from her eyes. She looked up from her wanderings and found herself standing in front of Alex's door. Why had she come here? She didn't even know if he was in his room. She gently rested her head on his door trying to stifle her tears and racing heart before knocking. It was only this morning that they talked. Should she really be asking him for comfort now? Could anyone else really comfort her anymore?

Re: Nightmares

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Alex slept rarely, usually because of when he closed his eyes, it wasn't pleasant. Screams, in his head--all the people he'd killed by consuming, as they became part of him. Part of why he'd stocked up on books, and reading materials, and a deck of cards, and various other things that were solo, but could occupy a brain.

Easy to hear the footsteps approaching, then the faint sound of tears and a thump against his door, over the normal white noise that was part of the ship. Then the knocking, and he got to his feet after marking his place in the dry medical text from somewhere around Germany in the 1870s. (How it had ended up on the Exploration ship, he didn't know.)

Alex had not expected Yuna, as the door slid aside. Not that he was going to turn her away. Stepping aside and ushering her in from the hallway, he was in his the blue-BDU pants, and black-tee shirt of their official Exploring uniform. Bare feet, no Hoody, and he actually had short dark-brown hair that had a hint of curl to it, cut close to his head.

Nightmares

[whereishe]

She tried to wipe away her tears as she stepped inside of his room. Her eyes remained down not really sure what to say. Yuna didn't often ask for help and comfort and she wasn't very sure how to begin to ask for something like that. She wanted to stop crying but she couldn't stop the tears that silently streamed from her eyes. Her fingers wrapped around his coat as she hugged herself.

Yuna stepped into his room just enough to be inside and then out of the way. It was cold in the halls of the ship but it was warm in Alex's room. She shivered for a moment looking at the walls of books set up for him to read. "I'm sorry. It's so late." Her voice was a little horas but she tried to sound like her usual confident self.

Re: Nightmares

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"It's ok...what happened?" Soon as she'd shivered, he moved her closer, all but gently-pushing her towards the bed. "Curl up, take the blanket, I'm not using it." Something was wrong, and he wouldn't turn away a friend. He wouldn't have turned her away even if she wasn't his friend--she reminded him too much of Dana.

Now, even with their complications, she was his friend. Alex was usually good with being protective.

Nightmares

[whereishe]

Yuna followed his words and slowly walked towards the bed. She wasn't sure if she wanted to curl up just yet or even try and sleep. She sat on it's edge and then brought her knees to her chest not really caring that he could probably see the edge of her underwear.

"I don't want to sleep."

Dungeoneering mission!--a week or 2 later

[lessandmorethanhuman]

It wasn't a difficult mission--at least, it wasn't projected to be so. They had two packs of supplies to help them through their mission, all compressed down for storage, and as light-weight as possible. Exploring the caves and subsequent ruins the Ship had sent them too was being done in various groups of the explorers. Just so happened that Alex and Yuna were set up to be one pair-group.

Included in the packs were a scanner to help them determine air-quality, water-quality, etc that had a built in tracker for the ship to retrieve them if needed, and a few lights--at least one of which could be used as they headed in and down. So far, it was just...down. Down into caverns, and cold and chill.

Air-flow though, as the air wasn't stale, and quiet enough to Alex's senses. Absent skittering echoes, but nothing nearby that made him be particularly on alert. Honestly, the most annoying part was the lack of light. Both of them were starting the mission in their Explorer's uniform, with head-lamps on to help them see. Small radios too, just in case they got separated.

Once they got down another mile or so to the ruins, hopefully it'd get more interesting.

Dungeoneering mission!--a week or 2 later

[whereishe]

Yuna held the straps of her backpack as she stepped forward. She never minded these missions but after everything that's happened she was a little glad to be going along with Alex. She could feel her heart skip a beat when he was close and she was sure that he heard it too.

"Do we have a set depth that we are climbing too?" She was still getting used to some of the equipment and the idea of following directions over just rushing in and seeing how it turned out. She easily moved through the cave following close behind Alex with her head lamp lighting the way. It was annoying and she had hoped that their would be enough light to just let their eyes adjust to the near darkness of the cave.

Re: Dungeoneering mission!--a week or 2 later

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Alex ran through what had been projected, before replying. "Probably another mile down. This cavern is supposed to bend around before starting a sharp descent, from what information there was in the briefing."

They hadn't really had to go 'straight' down yet... Sort of a winding descent-path through the caves, with a little climbing here and there. Sometimes through narrow passageways, but Alex had been able to stand and walk comfortably upright for the most part. Then again, the mission had mentioned how getting to the ruins hadn't been a problem so far. Just that where they were going, hadn't been explored.

Personally, Alex would've liked a little more explanation on 'why'. He was going to assume it was because there was something dangerous, or several somethings, beyond just the usual, with where they were heading. In which case, he hoped it was easily-handle-able enough for them.

His thoughts were cut off as they turned a corner though, and oh joy. There was a chasm in the middle of their path. Alex blinked, and crouched to grab a rock, before heading to the edge and throwing it across to the other side. Verifying by sound, and what he could make out by head-lamp.

Fair enough, he could jump that. Looking down, and unable to see much of the bottom, although what little he could make out looked like the stalagmites' tips rising up from the depth. Which meant jumping was their better option.

"Wonder how our predecessors managed this." Alex commented absently, before taking several steps back from the edge. "I can jump it, if you make sure you hold on tightly."

Re: Dungeoneering mission!--a week or 2 later

[whereishe]

Yuna skidded to a stop before looking down at the dark pit in front of them. She felt her head swim and she reached out to grab hold of Alex. She sometimes felt waves of dizziness from heights but she hadn’t expected that traveling through a cave in the ground. She looked up at him with a light smile trying to stop her head from spinning further.

“I think I can hold on tight.” She might have been able to jump across but she didn’t want to chance it. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head into his chest. She didn’t really want to see what they were about to do.

Re: Dungeoneering mission!--a week or 2 later

[lessandmorethanhuman]

A half-smirk on his face, looking at her for a moment. "Right idea, wrong way." Shifting slightly, then lifting her up, so she'd better reposition herself to hold on around his shoulders, and could bury her head against his neck if she wanted. "Easier this way."

Not like she was heavy. Then again, most things weren't heavy to him any more.

Backing up several steps, before sprinting towards the edge, then crouching, and then jumping.

Holding tight to Yuna under her legs and around her waist as they sailed over the chasm. Normally, Alex would roll with the momentum to soften the impact, but that wasn't an option while carrying her. He settled for landing in a crouch, taking the full impact so she hopefully wouldn't feel anything. Not a hard jump at all--there were worse 'chasms' running around Manhattan between sky scrapers, far as he was concerned.

Re: Dungeoneering mission!--Into the Ruins!

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Yuna had eventually fallen asleep, while Alex just rested. He'd nudged her after several hours, so they could keep moving. Packing away their gear, cleaning up and dousing the fire, and then they'd set to work on clearing the arch-entrance to their deeper goal.

Well, Alex had cleared the big rocks anyways. Moving them, getting the obviously heavy ones and hard-placed ones, so that then he and Yuna could focus on the more easily removed ones.

From what Alex could detect, the air was clear and smelled fresh, also slightly wet. That was mostly good. He couldn't hear any obvious signs of trouble...yet. Moving to grab his pack, he looked to Yuna. "We find a safe place to fortify, then we scout more. Map as we go, and stay at least in ear-shot of each other at all times, yes?" That was the plan they'd discussed while packing up.

Dungeoneering mission!--Into the Ruins!

[whereishe]

"Yup!" Yuna felt better after sleeping and her dreams had been calm due to the sound of Alex's heart beat next to her head as she drifted to sleep. She slid her backpack over her shoulders feeling excited to find a safe place for their things so that she could leave her bag behind.

Clearing the rocks wasn't so hard with Alex and they were quickly making there way into the ruins. Yuna ran ahead slightly jump from rock to rock easily as her eyes scanned the area. She liked this sort of exploring and was decent at mapping things out in her head. She tried to listen for the water or stream but she knew that Alex would hear it first anyway.

"I don't sense any monsters but they might have heard the rocks being moved." She looked back at Alex wondering what sort of dangers and mysteries lay before them.

Re: Dungeoneering mission!--Into the Ruins!

[lessandmorethanhuman]

"I don't either." Alex kept his voice low but pitched enough to be heard. Staying alert, as there were several feet between he and Yuna, as he followed her on the rocks and jumps. "Which means they might be further in, or waiting."

Another few feet, and he caught up to her, grasping her arm gently to turn her in the direction he'd spotted. "Look there..." The rocky-outcrops they'd been on were giving way more to what looked like a road or path. Wide enough for a wagon or car or two to cross it abreast. "Bet if we follow that, we'll go deeper into the heart of things."

Considering they were looking for an underground city, he was probably right.


[OOC: I'm thinking like, pompeii or similar type structure buried underground. :) Ye old classic underground civilisation. They could even kidnap a 'house' for their safe spot, theoretically.]

Dungeoneering mission!--Into the Ruins!

[whereishe]

She looked down at where his hand grabbed hold of her arm and then at the face under his hood before glancing over to the path. A path was good. A path meant there was a town or a sigh that life once was here.

Yuna moved forward expecting Alex to let go as she ran towards the path. She was sure that it would go in the right direction. She glanced back at him with a wide smile. "Let's go!"

[ooc: Sounds good.]

Dungeoneering-mission: Day two in the Ruins

[lessandmorethanhuman]

After their conversation, and during lighter topics, Alex had helped Yuna to dry and rebraid her hair. It was peaceful, in a way he hadn't expected. Nervous-making too, as he was still confused overall. Just...doing a good job of ignoring the confusion as much as he could.

They'd see where this all went, and he was trusting Yuna. Something that was so rare, him trusting another person. Letting her closer.

Dinner had been quiet, and then they'd outlined their plan for the next day. From there it was time for a rest, like bedtime. Alex knew Yuna'd insist he rest too, and if he were honest, he wanted her to. He wanted to hold her close, to know he kept her nightmares away. Feel her warmth, breathe her scent, try and explore this new fluttery feeling that baffled him when he was around her, make sense of it in his mind.

Taking another look at the room they'd made their 'base', he moved the bedrolls. They were in a corner, farthest from the doorway and away from windows. Positioned such that their feet would be to the wall, and he'd made sure the line of sight to weapons and the door was clear, if needed. Then he'd curled up, Yuna closest to the wall, and his back to the doorway so he could protect her. Tucking her under his chin, arms around her, letting her sleep in his hoodie if she wanted.

It had been nice, and he'd been surprised at how peaceful it really was.

Dungeoneering-mission: Day two in the Ruins

[whereishe]

Yuna curled a little tighter against Alex as they laid snuggled up in the corner. She wasn't ready to wake up yet but she knew that they had work to do. She slowly opened her eyes realizing that everything that happened the night before wasn't a dream. She couldn't believe that Alex had kissed her and, while she wasn't going to push it, she was going to think about it and turn bright red in the process.

After the thought had passed she choose to focus on their mission. She closed her eyes, feeling out for the magic she had placed before bed. It was still there but she added strength to their shield just to be safe. It was only then that she realized that Alex was laying behind her and he was still asleep.

Yuna wasn't sure if she had ever seen Alex sleeping and so she slowly turned so she could look at his cute little sleeping face. She watched the steady rise and fall of his breath and for a moment she lost herself in thoughts of him.

Re: Dungeoneering-mission: Day two in the Ruins

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Alex, was in position even while asleep, to protect her. Keep her safe. Even though he was confused as to the depth, his feelings on how he felt in general for Yuna were very clear.

He liked spending time with her. Trusted her, valued her presence. Wanted to keep her safe and happy.

None of that was likely to change, or had changed, since last night.

No one had seen Alex sleep--and that was because short of something knocking him unconscious (which was hard enough to do on its own)... He didn't. Sleep brought voices, screaming at him as he killed people, and memories of how their owners had died. How they were now apart of him.

So catching him, actually asleep? Was a new experience, and an unfakable, unconscious sign that he was relaxed. At least enough at peace to do more than simply rest in an almost meditative-state which is what he'd done before.

Nor did he show any sign of waking up as she turned in his arms to look at him.

Re: Dungeoneering-mission: Day two in the Ruins

[whereishe]

Yuna frowned slightly when it seems that Alex wasn't waking up. There were two schools of thought. One was that they had things to do, the other was letting him sleep. She didn't remember ever seeing him sleep and she was sure that he'd rather stay away than hear the voices in his head.

She gently shifted and lightly brushed her lips across his forehead before nudging him. She can be forceful but she'll start small.

"Come on sleepy head, wake up."

Re: Dungeoneering-mission: Day two in the Ruins

[lessandmorethanhuman]

Whether it was that she shifted more, her voice, or the kiss against his skin, Alex started waking up. Which was odd. Because he wasn't really sure when he'd actually fallen asleep.

His arms tightened around her, shifting with her to curl her under his chin. Hold her close. Alex made a noise of some kind, slightly confused and sleepy as he cracked one eye open. "That's...definitely a new experience for me." His voice was even more raspy from sleep.