#deathsuffers

[tekhearthazenyatta]

[deathsuffers] [msg: Zenjamin] u really fuckgng hiurt me [ 8) ]

[  → Reyes] I know.[  → Reyes] I’m sorry.

[learn-from-the-pain]

[deathsuffers, pre-fall] "Hey uh," Gabe pokes a head through the doorway, expression carefully nonchalant, "If Morrison asks, you haven't seen me." There's a distant /clattering/, and a very distinct snarl of R E Y E S somewhere down the corridor: Gabe doesn't bat an eyelid. "Good talk! Say nice things at my funeral!"

@deathsuffers

Cool and calm as ever, the pace at which the captain looked up from her desk towards her visitor could be described as nothing less than ‘unimpressed.’

“Lie to the Strike Commander?” Ana inquired back incredulously, narrowing her eyes critically. “Hmph, Gabriel – it’s insulting you believe I would do such a thing.”

She paused, sternly frowning at the man as if to reaffirm her point – only to lean forward over her desk, a small mischievous smirk forming along her lips

“But,” Captain Amari continued, resting her elbows on her desk and holding up her chin with her palms, “if you were to, say, go out and buy me lunch”–she slowly swayed her head from side to side as she kept her eyes on him, as if it was only the most innocent of suggestions–“it wouldn’t be a lie to say I didn’t know where you were if you never told me to which restaurant you were heading.”

Another moment was spared smile a sickly sweet expression at Reyes – the kind of smile one only receives upon making a monkey’s paw-esque pact – before she leaned back, closing her eyes and gesturing with one hand to shoo him away.

“But that’s all just hypothetical, of course.” 

[learn-from-the-pain]

[deathsuffers, pre-fall] He's resolutely /not/ looking at the forlorn expression she's making at him. Don't do this to him. "There'll be no feelings in my kitchen, Amari. Morrison's orders." RIP Jack, low-key roasted when he's not even present. "Anyway, I'm immune. Emotional vaccinations were last week. So don't start." He makes the mistake of catching her eye again. "... /Okay/, fine, what is it."

@deathsuffers

It had been exceedingly obvious from the get-go that whatever Ana had come in to persuade Reyes on, it was going to be something as equally unorthodox to oblige as it would be gratifying to do so; that was always the type of situation for which she pulled out this look. And what a look it was—the kind of subtle puppy dog eyes that could make the very animal of its namesake sympathetic to her request, even in a language it didn’t have the ability to comprehend.

She had been keeping it up for a while now—and with impressive consistency, not one iota too over-the-top, or not theatrical enough—but the moment he agreed to hear her out her expression changed to one that was nothing but unabashed, undiluted smugness.

“Gabriel,” Ana began as she placed her elbows on the counter, held her hands above them, and folded her fingers together before using it as an impromptu chin rest. “Have you considered what you would like to do with your annual leave days this year? I was thinking”—she gives a small tilt of her head, as if attempting to make her grin appear even more self-satisfied—”that is might be time to make another visit to Los Angeles. We never did get to properly visit Santa Monica Pier due to the weather last time, you know; I will be taking a prize home from one of those carnival shooting booths one day one way or another.”

Ana laid one hand down on the counter, instead opting to hold her jaw up via the other.

“... I have also been thinking about whether or not we could possibly bring McCree along. Now, yes, I am aware it isn’t standard procedure to be bringing recruits out on vacations with their superiors—but neither were the circumstances of his recruitment. It’s been a tense two and a half years for that young man. All soldiers require leave at one point or another, and the only way he is different in that regard is the fact that he has little elsewhere to go—or anyone to go with.”

Ana finally lowered her arm to rest on top the other before tilting her head back, playfully turning her chin up at him.

“Besides—if he isn’t there, who’s going to be my sharpshooting competitor at the BB gun gallery? You? Not in this lifetime, Commander.”

[learn-from-the-pain]

[deathsuffers, pre-fall] Leans in. Leans in closer. Puts his chin directly on top of her head with the smuggest cat smirk imaginable (second only to Ana's). "Hey, /best friend/." [ gabriel PLEASE ]

@deathsuffers

As she often did on mornings like these, Ana had the earbuds of her clunky, old music player already in as she watched the newest recruits train on the grassy fields, her arms crossed; after all, why listen to the obnoxious, grating shouting of drill instructors - or, in this case, the footsteps of an approaching commander - when one can listen to the voices of singers that have been dead for half a century?

Just as the drums began to really kick in for the chorus, Ana jolted as an unexpected - albeit light - force came down upon her head, to which her immediate reaction was to reach up and grab at the back of the unknown individual’s neck. Her fingers, of course, were greeted by the sensation of an all too familiar knit cap.

“Gabriel,” Ana scolded - although she could only maintain her indignation for so long, as always. “Is it really so difficult to warn an old woman when you’re about to remind her she’s the shortest, non-Swedish friend you have?”

She gave a huff, leaning her head to the side and tilting it upwards to address him.

“Although I can’t fault you on your timing,” she remarked, holding up her music device so that Reyes could view the current item on the playlist - “Doom and Gloom” by the Rolling Stones, one of their mutual favorites from the band.

“Either that,” she continued, that all too characteristic half-lidded smirk creeping onto her face that signaled an in-coming quip, “or the song simply summons you on command.”

[learn-from-the-pain]

[deathsuffers] “ Where were you when I needed you? “

> [ [Five W’s](https://learn-from-the-pain.tumblr.com/post/169787904900/rpmemesandmusings-rp-sentence-starters-5-ws) // accepting ]She gave a deep sigh through her nose upon being asked the question - her jaw was clenched too tight to do so through the mouth.“Unavailable,” Ana answered tersely, eye lowering just as she also lowered the small, handheld tranquilizer gun she had had aimed at him. “As much as I would might like to think otherwise, even if I had ever returned from that mission my presence would still be unavailable to a degree; I was not in the mental state to help anyone in need at the time.”This had been the third time Gabriel - or Reaper, as most other people seemed to prefer to call him now - had approached Ana, and consequently the third time she had instinctually drawn her sleep dart at the immediate sight of him. It had been only in the first encounter in which she actually shot him with it, but she had only needed to try it once to learn it was apparently ineffective on a man with a dead circulatory system - but that hadn’t made that gut reaction to defend herself with it any less potent.“But I recognize that I did not handle the situation well regardless, and let down a lot of people despite that never being my intention. I suppose in that respect I do owe you an apology,” she continued, turning up her chin to properly view his face - what looked back at Gabriel was not a look of sympathy. She appeared to be speaking with an honest conviction, but - despite the way her chest heaved with breathes obviously deepened by the horrendously intimidating understanding that for however many rifle syringes she would need to incapacitate him, he could accomplish the same in in one shot - _this_ was explicitly a look of angry indignation.“Do not for a minute think I will excuse, empathize with, or _God forbid_ accept your current actions - your bloodshed, your _murders_ - because of that, however,” Ana declared unblinkingly, fist clenching around the weapon she had pointed at the ground upon which they stood. “I could very easily not say anything in the logic that your wrongdoings have cancelled out mine - and it is very tempting, I will not lie to you - but I would like to think I hold myself to a higher standard than to fall for such petty, faulty mental mathematics.”She gave a long, tense exhale, and turned her head to the side for a moment. When she looked back to him after having apparently collected herself, she still appeared just as furious as she did before - but that wasn’t the only emotion in her face.“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, Gabriel.”Her eye lingered on the devoid sockets on his mask for a moment longer before turning her head downward yet again.“I’ll give you this much,” Ana muttered through her scowl in the accompaniment in a low, bitter chuckle, all the while one gloved finger raised to her face to reach under her eye patch, motioning as if to perhaps wipe away an unseen tear. “It turns out you really were right about the importance of being honest with the occupational therapist.”

[learn-from-the-pain]

[deathsuffers] Gabriel--Reaper--stands before her in a haze of smoke that curls off of him like flames licking up wood. "If you think you can kill me, Ana," he rasps, "you're welcome to /try/." He hasn't so much as made a grab for her, nothing- a shotgun hangs loose in his hand, but never raises. Reaper's breath is audible from here, a harsh, steady rattle when he doesn't speak. "But don't forget /he/ gave up on us both."

@deathsuffers

“I would prefer not to,” she managed to state in a voice that sounded surprisingly fearless - but he would know it was anything but. The Ana Amari he knew would be saying that with an upright, cool confidence had it been fully backed up by those military-grade nerves of steel; instead, she was slouched over the rifle she had aimed directly on him, tense muscles as stiff as wood, and an uncertain look in her eye as it again and again scoured his mask as if desperately looking for something readable or - barring that - familiar. She was clearly afraid of him and what he might do, but then again she should be - he had her cornered in an abandoned gas station, after all.

Still, there is nothing saying one who is fearful must necessarily be timid, and that’s something he had never seen her been - not now, not ever.

“I can’t speak for what Jack might have or have not done to you - I wasn’t there,” she finally responded, having taken a much longer moment to carefully choose her words in acknowledgement of his second statement. She couldn’t help but slowly, lightly curl her trigger finger over and over as she spoke, as if fighting every instinct not to take the shot in favor of speaking to him.

“But for myself?” It was subtle, but there was an audible, newfound certainty in her voice as she spoke the words, her brow seeming to furrow in her regained self-assurance. “Jack did everything I would’ve wanted him to. Ignoring the order to fall back was incredibly risky on my part - but I put myself and only myself in danger in the hope of saving a greater number of people. He already warned me to retreat, what else might’ve he done? Risked more lives to save my one?”

Ana paused with a troubled look on her face, again fruitlessly studying that mask as if it could even offer her a reaction - it didn’t. She shook her head.

“You know that isn’t what I would have wanted, Gabriel.”

[learn-from-the-pain]

@deathsuffers (x)

Gabriel rolls his head back to look over his shoulder at her, puts on his best Look How Good And Endearing I Am Ana Please Cook For Us smile. “I don’t know, Ana,” he says, sweetly. “When were you planning on feeding us?”

Gabriel’s expression alone was enough to cause a single eyebrow to shoot upward, and upon hearing his comment Ana - with the most incredulous, pursed half smile one ever did see - tilted her chin up and began slowly shaking her head back and forth as she approached his desk from where she had been standing in the doorway.

“As you will recall, Gabriel Reyes”—uh oh, his full name - she was pulling out the big guns—”It was your turn to supply us with a meal this evening,” Ana retorted as she pulled up a chair with its back to the desk and proceeded to sit down on it backwards, her arms folded across the top of the backrest.

“All the covert ops special training in the world is not enough to let you sneak past this responsibility,” she continued as she reached over onto his desk and stole several peanuts he had set out in a bowl, proceeding to shove a few into her mouth and point accusatively with the remaining peanut still in hand. “You better get cooking, or fork up enough money to take us all out for hamburgers again.”

[tekhearthazenyatta]

[deathsuffers] "i don’t have to know everything. just what you’re comfortable telling me." gabriel's hands are warm over his.

He turns his wrists, runs his thumbs along the back of Gabriel’s hands. “Thank you,” he mutters, even as his brows are pulled together in a pensive frown. “I…am not sure ‘comfort’ is the correct metric here.” He tries to laugh–but the sound draws out the misery that was lodged in his chest, eyes shining. He lifts Gabriel’s hands, guides them to his face–

“If I share too much, it is a mistake wholly my own,” he says, calm tone in contrast to intermittent tears. “I trust you not to pry.”