1x1 with scmarshtacky

[Lailic]

Her heart raced. the men came closer to the little forest she was so fond of. She heard them talking about the poison ivy and hoped it would deter them from trying to get in. She didn't dare breathe. Moments later they had gotten back in the car and drive off. She exhaled in relief and her thoughts turned to Alan. She shook her head. If she'd learn anything it was that Alan had no issue taking care of himself. She stood up and stretched were falling asleep. Peeking out through the gaps she determined it was safe enough to leave, at least for a little while. Crawling out she looked around once more to make sure. She looked almost like a mouse peering out of its hole. Slipping all the way out she stood up and brushed off her pants.

[scmarshtacky]

It didn't take Alan long to run the distance, and soon, he was rounding the corner that brought him to the small stretch of woods. Alan couldn't help taking a deep breath of relief as he saw Lailic slipping out of the woods. "You alright? No one else came after you did they?" he called as he made his way toward her. He didn't see anyone else around, and Lailic seemed physically alright, so hopefully he'd detoured the other men for the time being. Alan hoped that his threats would be a permanent fix, though he highly doubted it.

[Lailic]

Lailic jumped looking up at him wide eyed. She hadn't heard him come up. She placed her hand over her face. "Don't scare me like that!" She said looking quite annoyed. "I'm fine and they came and left." She shrugged and looked around. Nothing was really happening the park was pretty much empty of all living creatures. She looked back at Alan her eyes turning cold. "What exactly happened?" She asked looking at him as if he had committed a crime against humanity. She crossed her arms finishing the guarded look.

[scmarshtacky]

"Sorry," Alan apologized quickly as he backed up a step. "I didn't mean to startle you. That's good," he mumbled softly. "Well, not good that they came, but good that they left." Alan paused slightly before answering her next question, trying to think of how best to word a response. "I threatened them and they ran off," he said, deciding on a more straightforward approach. "Didn't hurt them, though the accursed idiots probably deserved it." After he finished, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd said the right thing. From the way she was looking at him, Alan got the impression that she thought he was the bad guy rather than the lot that was chasing Lailic.

[Lailic]

She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. "Congratulations," she growled. "You're now on their radar and that makes my life and yours ten times worse." She clenched her jaw rubbing her temples. "You're superman! Not like you can get hurt. Now I've got to watch you back as well as my own. The only difference is bullets are harder to spot then people." She cursed several times looking like she was about to pull out all of her hair. She sighed after a moment and looked up at the sky raising her arms. "Why?" She asked. "Why me?"

[scmarshtacky]

Alan had to force himself not to flinch backward at her words. He'd imagined various reactions that she might have, but cold hostility was not one of them. "Don't you get it?" he said, finally raising his voice in frustration. "I'm the one that's supposed to be watching your back, and there's no need for you to worry about me. My god, you are being so damned stuck up right now. Can't you just stop acting like the whole world revolves around you and just listen to me for once in your life?!" Alan broke off panting. He was about at his limit for the day, and he wasn't sure how much more of her attitude he could take. "The commander will be expecting you in the next half hour," Alan said gruffly. "Get yourself together and come on."

[Lailic]

Lailic shook her head. "You don't know who you're dealing with! I've dealt with these people my whole life. I know them I know what they will do. You put yourself on their radar. I don't know what you did to scare them off but don't expect to get off as easily next time." She said her voice hard. "I don't think the world revolves around me. Believe it or not but that's been drilled into my head since I was young. With actions. Not words. If only you could see my scars, the demons that haunt me, the crap I've been through. But I forgot your life has been so much worse. I'm sorry for thinking my life is bad." She said softly. Then shook her head and looked down. Kicking a rock she wiped a sole tear off her face. Her moment of weakness gone. "Let's go."

[scmarshtacky]

Alan gave a deep sigh and forced himself back together. He very rarely became frustrated. Just something about the two of them seemed to rub the wrong way. "Can you just agree to stop acting like you're the only one involved here? I've already been through hell and back. I'm not afraid to face it again." Whatever those thugs threw at him, Alan was relatively confident that he could handle himself. "We loners with a tough past have to stick together right?" he said, with a small smile. "Instead of arguing about it, can't we just work together to get through it, whatever 'it' is?" Alan nodded at her prompt to go and set off at a slower walk down the road and toward the CPRA building.

[Lailic]

Lailic followed behind him but said nothing. She was in her own world at this point. She thought over everything he said over and over. She couldn't let him into her life more then he already was. But there was no way to get him out now. She couldn't help but worry what Roberts next move would be. Alan was a superhuman sure but she worried Robert would come up with some dirty scheme to get him out of the picture. She knew he would try something. She knew the moment her father caught wind of what was going on, from the gangs point of view she was involved with him... Her blood ran cold at that realization. Robert wouldn't take that lightly and her father wouldn't either. Robert will be out for blood that she knew for certain.

[scmarshtacky]

Alan walked at a slower pace, allowing the silence to hang over the two of them. He had no desire to break it, and no clue of what to say even if he did want to. Alan let his feet carry him in the direction of the Institute while his thoughts drifted back to the people from earlier. Alan still couldn't help but wonder how Lailic had found herself involved with such a wretched lot of people, but he wasn't brave enough to ask outright. Even harder to comprehend, Alan couldn't figure out why she wouldn't let him help her. He felt as though she was horribly underestimating him, and it was driving him insane.

Before Alan had realized it, they were approaching the large white building of CPRA. Alan stopped and turned to face Lailic. "I've got to stop by Marilyn first. It'll just be for a bit," he stated. "I would send you off to the training area, but it's not an easy place to navigate to, so it might be better if you stuck with me for the time being."