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Post by Isaac Winters on Jan 12, 2011 15:11:57 GMT -5
"I do?" He looked down at the red sauce on his jeans and shirt. "I feel like a pig now, though in my defense those were probably there from when I was distracted by thoughts of my dreams." He grabbed a napkin and wiped up the spots, though there was still a little bit of a stain. It would wash out though, nothing to be too concerned about. Besides, he wasn't a kid of Aphrodite who actually cared too much about how he appeared.
Gail seemed distracted though, and as he took her plate and started to finish off what was left of her pasta she asked him if she could vent to him about things dealing with taking care of Nick. Isaac debated telling her no, but it wasn't like she was going to go all goo-goo eyed and start talking about Nick's body and his eyes. She was confused about her feelings, and he knew that because she'd told him earlier. Chances were her venting would be related to that. Besides, if she did start mentioning things he didn't want to know, he could always ask her to change topics. "I don't mind at all. You know I'm a good listener, and I'm always here if you need me," he said, giving her a smile. Gail was one of his closest siblings. It made a lot of sense too, because as far as age went they were practically twins.
Isaac's promise to always be there was something he hoped Gail knew he meant. Unlike her mortal family, he would never abandon her. Only death or a quest that forced him out of camp could keep him from being there for her. And that in itself could be part of the problem with her feelings about Nick. She doesn't want to feel for him, only to have him leave her as soon as he doesn't need her help anymore. There wasn't even any reason to think yet that Nick shared Gail's feelings, not any that Isaac knew about at least. He could try to find out, but first thing would be to figure out what Gail really felt for Nick.
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Post by Gail Atrova on Jan 17, 2011 11:53:54 GMT -5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gail sighed, running a hand through her short blond hair as she did so. She knew Isaac was a good listener, and he was always there for her when she needed him. And quite honestly, she needed an outside opinion. This whole thing with Nick was driving her crazy, and she felt she was a little bit too biased to really be telling herself what to do. Isaac was the person she trusted most in this camp, and if she couldn't tell him then who could she tell?
She took a deep breath and managed a faint smile at her brother. Gail began to explain. "Well, this whole debacle started when he got back from a quest. He broke his ribs, as you very well know, but... I was the cause of it. We dueled before he went on that quest and I injured him right where he broke his ribs. If it hadn't been for me, he wouldn't have gotten hurt, so... so I've taken to making sure he gets healed properly because it's only logical I repay him for what I did." See? At least this part all made sense, except for that last tidbit. There was a part of her, a part deep down that she hadn't even known had existed, that was screaming that this was a lie. She wasn't doing it because she was guilty, but because there was something else there.
But on top of that, there was another part of her that was playing the devil's advocate. Whilst one portion of her said that she was around Nick because she felt something for him, the other part of her was adamant in claiming that she just needed someone to cling onto. She wasn't strong enough to stand on her own - she never had been. That was what was driving her crazy, essentially. "But now that he's healing and getting better, I... I don't know what to do. Part of me thinks I should just leave him alone and stay out of his way, but... for some reason I just can't do that. I feel too much for him, and I don't know what it is." Gail sighed her frustration and put her head in her hands.
"There's something wrong with me," she grumbled in frustration. Perhaps she really was going insane - maybe she needed to be locked up in the infirmary for a while, or maybe sent to an asylum. Because whatever this was, it was tearing her apart. But the funny thing was, was that in her heart, she knew she wouldn't exchange this for anything.
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Post by Isaac Winters on Jan 20, 2011 21:55:02 GMT -5
Isaac listened to Gail talk about Nick. Even before she finished, before she made the statement about feeling too much for Nick, Isaac began to wonder if her problem was something very familiar. It was something they'd talked about before, emotional baggage from their pasts. He couldn't trust people, not easily, because of his father, because he thought his dad had broken his promise to always protect him and always stand by him. Meanwhile Gail was always worried that people would run out on her, because her family had moved without ever telling her where they went, effectively abandoning her. She expected everyone to leave her eventually. Isaac, however, had never seen her act once like she doubted him when he said he'd always be there for her. He'd always hoped it was just that she'd grown to believe him at least, if no one else, when he said he would never leave her. However, Nick was another story.
He tried to take everything she'd said into consideration, his mind trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. There wasn't a lot of logic to this, but when it came to Gail there were pieces to her personality and thoughts that could shape how she was viewing things. Though, admittedly some of those were things that also shaped Isaac's own point of view. They were traits they both tended to share, ones they'd gotten from their mother. He wasn't any better at understanding emotions that she was, and he certainly couldn't say for certain what she was feeling. Still, the peices could be thought about at least a little logically when taking Gail's own point of view into account. From everything she said, he thought it might be love. He couldn't be certain, but it would definitely make sense. And love was, as seen with his dreams and their conversation about his family, probably the least logical emotion out there. Niether of them would be great understanding it, but it didn't mean they weren't capable of feeling it. It just meant they'd be horribly confused trying to understand what they felt and why.
Isaac's look darkened momentarily when she said there was something wrong with her, his protective side showing. "There's nothing wrong with you, Gail. You like him, but you don't know how much. And honestly I think you might be scared the feeling isn't mutual, that you might like him more than he likes you." It was logical, even if her feelings weren't in her eyes. Actually, Isaac wasn't sure that her feelings were logical in his eyes either, but he didn't really know Nick so he couldn't judge him. Geez... I've got one sister dating and another with a potential guy. Isn't this the point where I should be threatening to castrate them if they break my sisters' hearts? Those thoughts aside... "Whether or not you're doing this out of guilt, I wouldn't be surprised if you are worried about getting close to him. I know you worry people will leave you. Sometimes I wonder if you worry about that with me." His eyes went sad when he said that. He really hoped she knew he'd never leave her, and that he meant it. He wouldn't blame her if she had her doubts, but it would still hurt a little.
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Post by Gail Atrova on Jan 22, 2011 20:52:39 GMT -5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sometimes the intuity of her brother scared the crap out of Gail. Maybe people were much smarter than she gave them credit for. Granted, Isaac was her brother, and therefore he was a son of Athena, but still... she'd never guess that he knew her that well. The pair of them had spent so much time together at this camp, and as far as Gail was concerned she practically considered him her twin brother. He was pretty much the only person she trusted with her life implicitly - the one person she knew would never leave her. Not willingly, anyway, like so many others had. Gail blinked, her mind going back to her mortal family again. She remembered pulling up to this camp, and her father didn't even get out of the car to help her with her bags. He didn't even look at her when he said, "Good luck, kid. Don't come looking for us."
Yet she had. And when she had, she'd found that they had left her. Because that devil of a woman that her father had married her found out about her parentage. Her father... he hadn't even stood up for her. Kevin dropped her like a stone when he found out - he couldn't be seen hanging around with her in those last few weeks at home in New York. Gail could never figure out what she did, but then... there had to be something. Something about her that drove everyone else away. Except Isaac.
Gail shook her head and frowned at her brother. "I do like him," she said, rather quietly looking down at her lap, where she now had her hands folded and was twiddling her thumbs. "But he most certainly would never be interested in me. This feeling, whatever it is... I don't think it's mutual." Gail hated to admit it, but she really did have feelings developing for the son of Zeus. Yet, these feelings... they were causing so much turmoil. She just didn't know what to do with herself these days. Spending time with him only added to her fear of being left, or added on to whatever this was that she had for him, but... it wasn't like she could stop. If she did... she knew it would be devastating.
She sighed and looked at her brother. He knew her so well. Too well, really. But he was Isaac - her most trusted confidante. "Sometimes you scare with how much you know about me," she chuckled before looking away for a moment. Isaac then questioned why she thought he would never leave her, and Gail just shrugged. There was no real logical explanation to explain why she just knew he would never leave her. "I know you would never... I trust you, Isaac. You're my brother." She offered a smile at him, however meek it was.
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Post by Isaac Winters on Jan 26, 2011 15:17:57 GMT -5
Isaac gave her a goofy grin when she said that she liked Nick, then went on to say that he would never be interested in her. Her feelings for him certainly hadn't skewed Nick's chances at winning her over if the feeling was mutual. She was fairly certain it wasn't, but who knew what Nick really felt aside from Nick himself? The smirk stayed on Isaac's face as he said, "Don't be so sure. No one can know what Nick is feeling but himself... and anyone he might share his secrets with." Isaac certainly didn't know if the son of Zues had any close friends. He knew there weren't any known siblings aside from Thalia, who'd become a hunter of Artemis and was hardly ever around. That didn't say Nick didn't have a close friend, but Isaac wouldn't know who it was.
Then there was the comment about how he scared her without how much he knew about her. "You do realize you tell me pretty much everything, aside from the things that should be saved for another female. Side note, please don't ever tell me those things. I'd rather not know." The last two sentences were said in a slightly joking tone though. To be completely honest he knew all the stuff about biology and puberty and all that, but when it came to his siblings he'd rather not think about those things. It was like thinking about how your parents technically had to sleep with each other in order to produce you, although that was not true in the case of children of Athena, but Isaac could still see how it was a disturbing thought and not one that you really wanted to have.
He smiled back when she told him she trusted him. She knew he wouldn't leave her. Now if she could only believe that about other people. If Nick really does like her, he isn't going to leave. Or he won't leave right away. If she thinks he is going to leave, though, she might leave before he can. Ok, so maybe he was trying to play matchmaker just a little bit right now. It was kind of a bold move in his part, because he could only guess Gail wouldn't appreciate it if she realized what he was doing. "Do me a favor," he said, biting his lip before he continued. The look in his eyes said he was trying to tread carefully. "If it's not too much for me to ask, give Nick a chance. You'll never know how he feels if you don't try to find out." He paused again, and tried to figure out what he wanted to say. "Don't let your past get in the way of a chance at something. I don't want you to look back and regret that you never tried to find out." He wasn't sure if she'd regret it, but he knew that he would if he were in her place.
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Post by Gail Atrova on Jan 30, 2011 12:49:20 GMT -5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gail rubbed the back of her neck, wishins that being a daughter of Athenna automatically meant she was smart with everything. But it seemed that one of their biggest problems was love. They could read a book about Halley's Comet and understand it perfectly, but put them in front of someone cute from the opposite gender and they immediately started to goof up. Or, at least, they had absolutely no idea as to what they were doing. It was like floating in an ocean without a boat. Or even a floatie noodle. In all honesty, to Gail, this not knowing something really sucked. This had to be what normal people felt like all the time.
But Gail smiled and even let out a little laugh about what Isaac said about girl things. "Trust me, that conversation would be just as awkward for me as it would be for you. Don't even worry about it," she said jokingly. But it was true, she realized. She did tell Isaac everything. He was probably the person she was closest to, even closer than she felt with Nick sometimes. But that kind of close was different with Nick than it was with Isaac.
But almost immediately afterwards, Isaac made it difficult again. Gail bit her lip - she couldn't even sense the little matchmaking that was going on right now. Because no, she wouldn't appreciate it in the slightest sense because Gail didn't want to be put in a situation where she could be left vulnerable. Isaac probably understood this, but... still. "It isn't that easy, Isaac," she murmured, twirling her finger around on the dark wood of the Athena table. "Giving him a chance... you know what that could mean. What it could do to me when he leaves." It wasn't even a question of "if he left." Gail was convinced that Nick would drop her like a stone the instant he was healed enough to be on his own all the time. He wouldn't want her around. She was probably too boring, or there was something else wrong with her that he wouldn't want her around for.
"It isn't just my past, Isaac. If it were that, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be making such a big deal about this. There's just something wrong with me. I mean, if there weren't, I'd still be with my dad in Manhattan. Letting Nick... Opening up to him... I think I would regret it if I did, anyway." She smiled. "Any girls that I need to know about, Isaac?"
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Post by Isaac Winters on Feb 4, 2011 22:23:41 GMT -5
He laughed when Gail joked about how having a girl-talk type of conversation with Isaac would be just as awkward for her as it would be for him. There was a lot of truth in that. Still, she shared almost everything with him. To be honest, though, he shared almost everything with her too. They were practically twins, which to be honest they weren't far from. Isaac was a few months younger than her, but other than that they were basically the same age.
He wasn't too happy with the things she said next though. It was his own fault really, for asking her to give Nick a chance to prove himself. Something like that would always lead to her remembering how her dad had left. Her family had dropped her like a stone. She was convinced that was her fault, that something was wrong with her. Whatever was wrong with her, whatever had scared her family away, would just lead to everyone leaving her eventually. Everyone but me. Because I somehow managed to convince her that I'm not going anywhere. I don't know how I did it, but I did. He didn't know how to make her see, didn't know what he could do to convince her that she hadn't done anything. There was nothing wrong with her. And that was half the reason he wanted her to give Nick the chance. As little as he wanted to admit it, Nick could do something Isaac couldn't. Nick could prove to Gail that she was wrong. Not everyone was going to leave her. No, because I'm not leaving her....
"Hey," he said, moving so that he forced his face into her field of vision. "There is nothing wrong with you, Gail. Your dad left you by his own choice, not because of anything you did or anything wrong with you. And I know that doesn't make it better. It honestly sucks that he would do that. But his actions mean nothing when it comes to what someone else is going to do." He just wished he could make her see. He didn't want her to sit there thinking everyone was going to leave her. What happened when something happened to Isaac? Not that it would, but if it did where would she be? Would she become a hermit, shutting herself off from the world because even he had abandoned her? He didn't know, but he didn't want to ever find out either. How do I show you? Sometimes I wonder....
He let her change the topic when she asked if there were any girls she needed to worry about. "None yet," he said. Then again, love was a problem for both of them. Isaac could look at a girl, especially some of the girls in Aphrodite cabin, and they were absolutely beautiful. He certainly didn't want to spend his life as a bachelor, not that sixteen was an age where he was in any danger of that. Still, that was the problem with appearances. Something could look beautiful outside, but it could just mask a dark inside. He wanted a girl that was beautiful on the inside, and you couldn't judge that without getting to know the girl first. So far, he wasn't close enough to any girls to know if they were what he was looking for.
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