Skinny Love

[Lynnori Cruz]

​

noun; when two people love each other but are too shy to admit it -- but still show it.​

​

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment, Evening
Boredom | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "I wonder how I got by this week."
——————————————————————

After the fifth adjustment across the couch, Lyn went back to staring at the ceiling.

The holoset blared on in the background, covering the news-- Grimmer in Sith space, believe it or not --still harping on about the ball a few weeks passed. Her memories of the event were hazy, despite being in attendance. It likely didn't help that she'd been drunk during, but, all she really remembered was Kole's exasperation and their dance. Everything else? A mess of surreality and swirls. Pink bleeding into everything. She turned her hand over, watching the now-tanned skin move in the light, the way the fingers moved in a way that seemed so terribly familiar but so distant, too. Like watching yourself in a dream.

The days had blended together again. A sigh, her hand folded onto her stomach. Getting used to this world devoid of colour was hard, harder that Kole wouldn't let her go anywhere. It was exceptionally hard to be angry at him, but-- Well...

She was tired of the days blending together.

She was tired of looking at the same ceiling and hoping it'd change.

And she was especially tired of the Goddamn news.

Lyn sat up on the couch and once again caught side of her new honeyed hair, a pained sigh exhaling. A tightness in the chest. Her lungs feeling like a rancor was crushing them betwixt meaty paws. There was no space for any panic or distress, however; it was just hair, they had soothed. Just hair, that could change. Why did it upset her so much to see? It was a reminder, maybe, of her new existence. Replicated. Nearly identical to her old self, but not exactly the same. Like how they couldn't match the hair or skin pigments, couldn't make her a Zeltron again. She'd hated that side of her, but it had been a side. Without it? What was left?

This was left.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, Evening
Liar | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "I just want time in a tree."
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It was pleasantly unpleasant. There were days where he still felt her blood trailing from his face, and to see her alive was all so strange but it was only a thing that was going to take time in getting used to. He wanted to, after all. Kole couldn't keep living in a way that he only saw her as this dead woman that haunted his mind so viciously on Orto Plutonia. He had been shot and stabbed, but he gained his revenge; but it didn't seem to change anything. It was to the Sith he went, and they certainly gave him a choice. The Droid didn't feel as if there was even a choice, for he knew what he had to do in that moment. Lyn. He needed her back, and now that he had her it was such an awful experience to wallow in silence as you're unable to speak from fear of outing yourself. He bounced back and forth, from one lie to the next.

​He stood within the kitchen, stealing glances here and there. Curious as to what it was she was going to do next, but it only ever included staring so vacantly at the apartment in which they resided in. It was oh so very high from the ground floor of Bastion, a fantastic overlook of the city, especially at night. Kole figured it could provide her with some entertainment, but for how long was he even capable of housing her strictly within this building? Not very, surely. The Droid refused to allow her out, not of fear of what she was to do, but what others would do to her. He lost her once already, and they might not allow him to get a second robotic replacement body for that Zeltron who strictly resembled that of a Human now. Lyn remained as beautiful to Kole as she did before, though.

Kole held a knife within his hand, slicing through several pieces of food that had yet to be truly cooked. It was the preparation phase, after all. He hadn't ever been much of a chef, but he only wanted to please her. Maybe Lyn might have found anything​ entertaining at this point, though. But Kole was too afraid to ask.

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment, Evening
Crusade | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "I only touched you once."
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"Kole," Lyn muttered, head turning slightly, "Come on."

"Let's go out somewhere."

It was worth a try, right? Legs swung off the side out of the couch and she looked over to him in the kitchen with pursed lips, hair a mess around her, "It might be fun."

She could hear the refusal in her mind already, even as she stalked over with crossed arms and a quirked brow. She leaned her new body on the counter near him, watching with an inclined head. Watching grass grow probably would have been as entertaining as that, but, she couldn't even do that from here. Apartments were nice; not when you were stuck in one 24/7.

"What's the worst that could happen?" She insisted softly, and then a hand laid on his arm, the one chopping. Eyes that were once gold, now brown, stared into his.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, Evening
Deflection | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "I need a place just for me."
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Kole always feared this question. It had been a thing he danced around more than a few times, and this wasn't going to be any different. He knew that was the case. It had been known the instant she opened her mouth, for he had always expected it to be the thing on Lyn's mind. A part of Kole knew how wrong this was, even if his intentions were pure; she was a free bird, and you can't cage them. That's how you lose them forever. His artificial eyes never moved to her, even as she made her approach, he kept a firm gaze on the food he was preparing. Maybe it would go away -- the question -- if he struggled to pay it any mind.

His hands began moving faster and faster, more aggression and more strength applied to each movement of the blade. There was only two of them, so there hadn't truthfully been a lot of food that required preparing- he certainly wished that there was a buffet he needed to get through now. Kole felt agitation, almost as if he was about to sweat but it held just beneath the surface. There was fear and there was anger, but the latter directed at himself. He always trusted her, but he never trusted others with her.

The former Zeltron placed a now tanned hand over his own, the one that kept moving with aggression despite the soft weight that provided some semblance of resistance. Kole certainly seemed visibly upset, carrying that subtle frown he did in moments such as these. It, fortunately, had been cut unceremoniously short when he accidentally sliced his own finger. The blade was instinctively dropped, his hands pulled away as one grasped at the wound. Soon to be placed beneath a running stream of water within the sink.

He never really answered her question- her proposal, instead shifting his focus back to her after the blood seemed to stop flowing as much as it originally had. "Hmm?" The agitation was certainly palpable, and he hadn't even realised it.

Kole only ever wanted to make Lyn happy, to make her feel safe. It would appear as if he isn't capable of balancing both no matter how hard he tried.

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment, Evening
Strategy | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "Lately I can't find the beat."
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It was worse than a flat 'no'.

Had he even been listening?

A frown creased her features, too. This was complicated. Exceptionally complicated. Her hand recoiled once he knicked himself as if she too had been burned by the action. Linked artificial souls, what-have-you. Startled dark eyes glanced up at him but seemed to harden in an instant, "I can't stay here forever." A statement, a true one, a stubborn too. A sad one. He didn't even know the extents of the creature he had caged, did he? What she'd give to be behind the wheel of her starfighter at this moment, instead of forcing herself through these exercises in the hopes of making her wonderful, tragic, damaged lover understand what he was doing to her.

Resisting the near-primal urge to reach over and set a hand on him again, she kept them close instead, folded in front of her stomach, "Please. Can we just talk about it?" Unfathomable, unfamiliar depths. In most situations Lyn preferred to absolutely not talk about it, but, this was not most situations. She shut her eyes a little and turned her head away. The floor was very interesting.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, Evening
Ignorance | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "Somewhere that I can be free."
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​The Droid, seemingly human, turned away from Lynnori the instant she started to speak; it was as if he truly wasn't listening to a word she had to say, and in this moment he hadn't thought of it in the slightest. His hand relinquished it's grip upon his own finger, snatching outwards for a tissue -- or so it seemed -- tearing it from it's box and beginning to ensnare his own finger around it. He placed both hands on the counter, his eyes closed as he let out a breathy sigh before his non-damaged hand reached up to wipe down his own face in a bid to relieve whatever stress he was feeling.

He knew everything she said was true, and it's that in which hurt the most. Especially that he found himself angered over it, the fact he was helpless to protect her, and all because he couldn't really tell her the reason why she needed to be protected.

Kole almost snapped in his turn, his hands shrugging as much as his shoulders did as he stuttered along his words- his head shaking the tiniest bit with his mouth ajar for a longer period of time than he'd like. However, he eventually asked, "What's there to talk about?" As if he was entirely unaware of whatever the issue he had been creating was.

​Always a liar, huh?

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment, Evening
Rerouting | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "I used to feel the rush."
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Her eyes narrowed, and a tense exhale was let out, "What's there to talk about?" She repeated, almost a little numbly, like even saying that sentence had already drawn most of her energy for this lover's quarrel out. Now that, was exhausting, the bone-tired kind of exhausting. Did she even have enough energy to carry this all out, drag this out into the issue it really was and get him to understand? Unlikely.

She'd try anyway.

"Ever since you-- Brought me back, I've been stuck here."

"I hate it, Kole. I'm sick of this apartment."

A hand fisted on the counter and she looked down to it, wearily, "I want to go out and explore our new home-- You haven't even told me why we had to move." That bitter little detail made her relax her tensed hand, lest she accidentally punch a hole through the plastic cooking surface. Her body language was so plain no dictionary was necessary; Lynnori was frustrated, with him. Her voice conveyed that, too. Like an animal kept in a confinement that was too small for it, she'd entered that phase of near-depression, the lethargy of acceptance. The door was right over there.

Still couldn't bring herself to walk out it, and out of his life, for all he'd done.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, Evening
Blurting | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "Keep the faith and just be."
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His brow had furrowed, and accompanying it were the narrowing of his synthetic, blue eyes. He stared down at her, his gaze fixated with a certain desperation to his sadness and self-hatred. There was no pity for himself, only anger through the lies he carefully strung up a web of. He could of told the truth; it would of been so easy. It had been selfish- hiding his own past in the fear Lyn may leave him, rather than tell the poor girl that she had been shot straight through the neck, tearing out her spine, and sadistically colouring the snow beneath her.

I'm sorry.

Kole had raised his left arm, using it to gesture in the direction of the door-- a tissue still barely wrapping around a finger-tip --his mouth fell ajar, clearly struggling to bring about the words as these minor mutterings that sounded similar to grunts left him. "You can't." Kole claimed, his head briefly flickering in the direction of the exit that was within reach. That same hand had been brought down, planted upon the bench-top alongside the other, leaning against it but still towering over the rather short Lynnori at his slightly shortened height.

There was nothing calculated in his following response that came as instinctively impulsive as the last; awfully apparent through the stammering in his voice, "I-I-I." He took a deep breath, his torso rising and falling as the frustration persisted plainly across his features. "It's work." But that had always been his excuse. Whenever Kole disappeared in the night, slinked out of bed, and wasn't there in the morning, it was all too often he claimed, 'it was work'. It didn't hold up, is all. Not as much as he would of preferred.

His temper seemed to soothe in the slightest for there was a certain calmness to the way he began speaking once more, "It won't be for long. I promise. Afterwards, I can take you to that farghhh." Kole sounded so genuine, so sincere, but it trailed off into a sigh. Lyn had never actually spoken of retiring to a farm. It was only that haunting in his mind that had, speaking in that tone that blended each word together with a whisper. It was a thought that crafted an image, and he internally smiled.

The Droid suffered from such delusions. These things he could never have, for the person he was simply got in the way.

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment, Evening
The Ultimatums | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "Started with a little bit."
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Lyn's own eyebrows rose incredulously, unable to stop a scoff from working it's way out of her throat, "It's always been work," She muttered, looking away, tearing dark eyes from his no matter how much she longed not to, "I just remember when it used to be our work."

Not sorry enough.

The fragility painted across her expression and body was its own work of art. It was clear this was crushing her. Erasing whatever was left of the vibrant Zeltron, it would have been easier to reprogram than go through this. It was with a gutted sigh that her body finally turned away from Kole, the cracks showing, "This has to change." His temper soothed, hers had fires stoked, and in her anger, she stormed back over to the living room, a genuine divide between them now.

One to be crossed, lest it swallows them whole. She stood in the centre of the room, listening to the newsreels again, the precious information of the galaxy she was now lost to. An unexpected wetness in her eyes but that felt like a joke; she was quick to rub it away onto the sleeve of her shirt, forgotten, absorbed into the dark fabric.

Outside, it began to rain. Dark clouds to match the mood, rumbling overhead as the downpour began both outside and within.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, Evening
Denial | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "What you'll be."
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​You couldn't begin to understand.

​His mouth remained closed, but his nostrils flared as an all too large intake of air had filled his lungs. It was as if that was his way of calming himself down- of dealing with the tenseness of a situation- just breathe​. His chest, as it had before, had risen and fallen but his shoulders dropped a bit more dramatically this time around. Lyn turned her back on him, and he hated that. Kole didn't move from behind the counter-top and so when he went to speak his voice had become amplified; louder, maybe louder than it needed to be. Perhaps a hint of aggression and agitation blending with each pronunciation.

"It's too dangerous." Kole explained. There was all that pain in his voice, and even more so within his fragile mind. Kole had too much to deal with and it was certainly a struggle. He couldn't protect her and make her happy, he couldn't quite place his finger on that lingering sense of invincibility he felt, and he simply couldn't tell the truth. That was bound to fracture this entire relationship.

Kole panned off to the side, his eyes wide with all this confusion before he turned back to her behind with the same expression. The Droid seemed to stumble over his words again as the stammering continued, "I-I-I don't know how... It can't. Not yet." It couldn't. He couldn't let it.

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment, Evening
The Ultimatums | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "Now I don't know how to quit."
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It was hard to resist rolling those frustratingly wet eyes, but she did anyway. A shaky inhale and exhale, she half-turned to him just so he could see the fresh emotion across her face, "The only reason," Swallowing a lump in her throat, she forged on, "The only reason I'm still here is because I--" No, she couldn't even say it now. Her eyes turned to the windows, back stiff, a gentle noise of emotional distress leaving her. Self-comfort was tough, but tough love and an arm encircled her torso subconsciously in an effort to provide it. Soothing oneself was a skill most functioning sentient beings learned as a child, and Lyn was just barely functional. Her 'free' hand covered her mouth now, just barely holding back the tsunami.

All the emotions she'd kept quiet were unravelling. She was unravelling, and he was standing there, letting it happen, and that hurt most of all.

"You think I can't protect myself now?" A pause, her voice growing harder like stone even as a couple precious tears managed to escape her prison, curling down her new perfect face down her perfect chin to the imperfect floor, "Clearly I couldn't protect myself before. But I'm made of goddamn Durasteel now, Kole."

"I'm not made of glass."

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, Evening
Further Denial | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "I guess rules are there to break."
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It was difficult to do anything but feel anger, though the kind of anger that one felt for themselves when infuriated by their own stupidity. His hands, atop the kitchen bench, curled into fists as his knuckles whitened. There wasn't a singular sound that escaped Kole bar the intensive and frantic breaths that left his nostrils, accompanied by the subtle rise yet sudden drop of his torso. It had been the strangest conversion of emotional energy where the tears that rolled down her cheek had converted into a burning rage within him.

"Your still flesh and blood, Lyn!" He exclaimed far louder than he ever needed to. His voice had been strained as the culmination of all this fear had been expressed so vividly. There was one large huff that came straight from his mouth, and then his lips almost closed as those teeth within his mouth clenched themselves together. "And I don't-" Kole seemed to of bowed his head-- his voice so full of anger --whilst his right hand raised itself upwards, only to be sent back down, but it was with all the force he could afford to muster. There was a thunderous crunch as his fist went straight through it, cracking out a sizeable chunk and scattering it across the floor beneath him. "-want to see it!" This artificial man, with his enhanced strength, was able to act as if nothing had happened for the briefest of moments. His hand had been pressed against the bench top, narrowly avoiding the hole, face-down with his palms. "Not again." His voice made softer.

Then came the realisation. Kole's neck craned as his eyes stared downwards. He didn't understand how impossible that should of been. His hand, the one that punched through the tabletop, had shifted to his forehead as it scraped backwards slowly whilst raising his head back up. It was clear to Lyn, as those knuckles faced him, that there'd been inklings of blood forming for that jagged edge had met his skin. That sweat at his forehead that once held itself back made an appearance.

What is happening to me?

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment, Evening
The Stalling | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "Always feel inadequate."
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Upon the sound of breaking kitchenware, she turned to fight or flight. The fight was less violent than some might have expected. More, an emotional war of wills, two people caring too deeply, "Kole," Her voice was hoarse and sad, and she turned on a dime to face him, slow steps carrying her back to the kitchen where he'd lashed out, "We didn't talk about that, either." A murmur, a comment, half to herself.

She didn't even know how she had died.

"You hurt yourself." Lyn noted in an almost dull tone as calming eyes swept over him, a sense of alarm to her; in the end, she still sought to bring peace to him before herself. Fingers brushed along the wounded back of his hand, an exasperated breath leaving her, "Come on." A hand encircled his, trembling slightly as an aftershock, and she began to pull him away.

Towards the door, the exit, freedom.

"We won't leave the building, okay?" Baby steps. She hoped, silently, he would let them try this without breaking, in this case, her.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, Evening
Simmering | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "But I make mistakes like they were handed on a plate."
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Agoraphobia: Fear of places and situations that might cause panic, helplessness or embarrassment.

Yet, the only fear Kole had of the outside world was for someone else. It was a strange concept, an unfamiliar feeling; to be so afraid of something for what may happen to someone else, even if they hadn't the slightest clue. Kole knew that it was the fact she was never going to be aware that made it so difficult. He believed that, anyways. His intentions were never anything but pure. Perhaps this HRD could see that.

Kole struggled to feel anything physically, and so it was only after the mentioning that he had hurt himself that the inorganic individual had become aware of the stinging burn that came with torn flesh. He pulled it from his forehead, removing that sweat, and rotating it before his eyes. He felt so cold, so harsh and unrelenting in his anger that he'd become a monster. Lyn was afraid- afraid of him. Then, he felt the warmth of touch. His synthetic eyes held no liquid as he cast his gaze into her own, but there was as swallow in his throat despite there never being anything there.

He look over in the direction of the door, and then back to Lynnori. Her brown eyes were all too calming as a subtle nod of his head came about as he replied, "Okay." But it came across as breath-y, barely above a whisper, as if he failed to truly pronounce such a simple word.

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment Building, The Rooftops, Evening
The Great Escape | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "Same way that my daddy did."
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Passing through the threshold was like leaving her known world, which, was somewhat accurate.

She only remembered the exterior hallway from the faint memory of being taken home by him, and even then she'd been sharp enough to notice some things. Turbolifts, other residents, other rooms, but the one thing to catch her eye had been the stairs. Roof access. That was where she headed, to the stairwell, dragging Kole in tow.

"We need to figure this out." Almost a grumble of annoyance, insistence, that affection that runs so deep it turns your mind in circles. Her mind was definitely in a circle; his was likely in orbit. Up, up, up they went if he didn't resist to the whole idea. Sure, it was raining outside, but that carnal wish to be outside, under the real sky, wasn't going to be denied any longer. The noose was slipped.

There was hesitation, at the panel that would open them up to the world. Her fingers still locked around Kole's, she was quick to tap the initializing button and revealed Bastion's rainy rooftop to them. It overlooked the Sith city, a sea of starlike lights, and a rough exhale left her mouth, "See. Nothing bad."

A good way to overcome one's fears were to expose oneself to them. If she could sit out here and not have the karmic hellfire of the universe rain down on her, perhaps Kole would begin to understand that just because one bad thing happened, didn't mean it'd happen again.

He had a good heart, with dark intentions behind it.

She could work with that.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, The Rooftops, Evening
Overcoming | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "When I try to leave sometimes, I'm standing in the way."
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Kole had passed straight through that doorway, and as he did there was something that had washed straight over him. He wasn't able to place it, nor could identity whether it was something good or bad. It was simply a feeling. As he had done so, however, his hand reached outwards to snatch his typically worn coat- it did seem to be raining, after all. Those synthetic eyes of his panned around the all too familiar immediate area from their apartment, and he could recognise it all. Bastion was becoming as familiar to Kole as every inch of Lyn was. He trailed behind, a lingering sense of hesitance and begrudging acceptance.

He didn't have any words to offer. It was only the silent contemplation that echoed within his cavernous mind. Perhaps he knew she was safe, deep down. They had been killed, all of them, right? There wasn't a chance of them coming back, and even then on Bastion? That was a bone most wouldn't dare to pick. There were, unfortunately, simply no risks he could afford to make. That's what he believed, at least.

The Droids stood at the doorway as the rain became unmuffled, visible and tangible. His coat had been slung over his arm, not worn by him, but had then been placed over Lyn's shoulders. It was clearly too large for her, but they both knew that was the case. It was with one final, deep breath that he stood still, casting nothing but a glance towards her.

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper's Apartment Building, The Rooftops, Evening
The Great Escape | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "Mama told me not to try."
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Lyn almost jumped out of her skin when she felt the heavy, warm layers of Kole's jacket settle on her comically small shoulders. At first, a shock, but then a protective feeling. Hands detangled from his, one of them reached out, to catch the rain on her hand. Water spilled over her palm, droplets across the fingers, and ran down her arm to the duracrete roof below. And in that brief, second-long moment, Lynnori Cruz knew some peace since her resurrection.

It was with a sigh that she willingly murdered that peace, head turning towards him. The rain hadn't quite settled into her, as she stood on the sweet spot between the protective awning and the open sky, "See?" She murmured, eyes endlessly searching his face, "There's nothing bad out here."

"You don't need to be scared for me, Kole."

At last her hand raised, shaken, nervous, but all too willing. Sensations still felt strange, sometimes feeling like she was underwater in this new existence, but the feeling of her damp hand sliding over his cheek to hold his jaw was all the same, exactly as she remembered from their countless embraces that marked her memory like scars. It was how she would have liked it, too, to never forget.

If she had, after all, this wouldn't be possible. She would have been truly dead.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment, The Rooftops, Evening
Acceptance | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "I'm on the edge of crying all the time, 'cause I can't human."
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She was right, and Kole knew that. He only had trouble accepting the truth. There might have been a compromise to make, for no matter how much she desperately wanted to be outside he was so unwilling-- even now --to allow her to tag along. These assignments alongside the Sith Empire were nothing short of deadly, and no matter how much metal Lyn could claim to be made of, he couldn't let her find herself in someone else's sights. Even as an Android, a Replicated Man, he knew how much those bullets and stabs stung- the abdomen scars he so desperately tried to hide from her were always a stark reminder of such a thing.

​"I know." Kole muttered, though. He lied. He id, and whether it was the truth or his own perception of events hardly seemed to matter. There was a subtle grin that appeared across his own face, even more so as Lyn's seemingly human hand had risen up to take hold of his face. "I'm sorry." He furthered regardless. This pain he felt only needed to go away, and maybe a mere smile on her face was enough to cure it.

 

[Lynnori Cruz]

Bastion, Kole Harper & Lynnori Cruz's Apartment Building, The Rooftops, Evening
Trials | Interacting with [member="Kole Harper"] ~ Void ~ "And I should have taken her advice."
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His smile led to her inevitable grin, a little half-hearted, "Just..."

"Don't break our kitchen anymore."

Our kitchen.

She could compromise.

"You don't need to tell me everything," Her thumb lightly trailed over his cheek, pressing against his warm, equally synthetic skin, "Just enough. And we'll work on the rest." Reasonable was not something Lyn expected to be, or even expected to offer to others. It just wasn't something she did, prior to Kole. In this instance, however, between them? The fear of what might happen if they didn't resolve this was more than enough to put her in a whole new headspace. She was scared of never leaving and terrified of actually being forced to.

With that final comment, her voice fell silent, the back of the jacket now slightly dewy from the rain's spray. Her free hand pulled it closer around her diminutive frame, a sharp exhale to leave her in the cool evening's air. That was all she had, for now.

 

[Rakaan Horne]

Bastion, Kole & Lynnori's Apartment Building, The Rooftops, Evening
Right | Interacting with [member="Lynnori Cruz"] ~ Time in a Tree ~ "Right."
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Kole had only found himself capable of offering nothing short of a few nods. His head had moved, and barely so. His reaction had been entirely through expressions and mannerisms, as not a word escaped those sealed lips. There was that grin of his that persisted, too. He had found some level in comfort that she seemed to not demand all the answers, but at the same time there was some lingering doubt considering it was even mentioned. How long was it going to take before those questions as to where he truly went in the late hours of the night, and early hours of the morning were. The Sith were definitely more formal than anyone else he worked for, and so it was certainly going to seem more difficult to prove.

The Android had reached outwards, his palms grasping at her shoulders- over his own coat that she happened to be wearing. It was too cold for Lyn, and the last time he ever saw her truly cold was moments before she became a corpse. He could move on from that now; she was alive, and she was here. Kole stared into those all too beautiful eyes of hers, and it was for some moment of contemplation whilst her hand rubbed against his stubble.

There was some degree of discomfort in the moment. Their previous conversation had been... rough, to say the least. He figured, even if uncharacteristic, that there was a chance to leave it all behind. To focus on the now, and not the past.

Both of his hands had shifted in their placement, shuffling dangerously close to her torso in an attempt to dig those palms of his beneath her arms. It was in that moment he made use of his enhanced level of strength-- identical to the HRD Lynnori's --to lift her from the ground. Kole made steps out into the rain, hoisting Lyn up off of the ground as the rain poured down on the both of them, but it was Kole that was going to feel more of it considering his current attire. He had a smile that grew larger, almost as if he struggled to contain a laugh.