@deathfromreach.bsky.social Gallagher would be knocking on the door to Bones' quarters, the ODST hoping that the older one would be there. "Aye, it's Gallagher. I need ta ask a favor of ya."

- MSGT Jameson Kard - 19th ODST Shock Trooper Battalion - Cutlass Squad - Old Man "𝓗𝓲𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓮𝓬𝓴, 𝓭𝓻𝓸𝓹 𝓪 𝓯𝓮𝔀 𝓫𝓸𝓭𝓲𝓮𝓼, 𝓴𝓮𝓮𝓹 𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓶 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓸𝓷."

𓆙Serpentine𓆙 Finally got this account back

Once again, they were face to face, inches away from one another. He could feel her breath on his lips. Gallagher leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers, his gaze locking onto hers. He wanted to jump into it, take the charge and go, but this back and forth? —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

getting even closer. She wanted to, and she was impulsive enough where she might just close that distance entirely. For a few moments longer, however, she just wanted to see what Gallagher would do.

"Of course, curious to ken if you can figure me out by just looking at me." There was no mistaking the way that Gallagher was looking at her. He already felt a certain way about her earlier in the evening and it was coming back to hit him full force. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

reaction the accuracy of my imagination?”

"Oh were you now?" By now, his glass was still full, but had been put to the side, as Tora now had his full attention. He was on his knees, one hand cradling her hand and the other reaching for her elbow. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

behind a short sip of port.

He cradled her hand in his, gently moving his thumb against the tattooed lines on her skin. Gallagher lifted her hand up to his lips, pressing a couple kisses into her knuckles. "Was there any other thoughts on your mind that you'd be willing to share with me, lass? —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

from the glass. As she sipped her port, she took notice of Gallagher’s moving hand. Her free hand soon moved to meet his.

"I figured that would be your reply." He smirked at her and picked up the bottle, pouring more of the alcohol into her glass. Once he had hers filled, he would refill his own glass, finishing off the bottle. With all of the alcohol consumed, Gallagher was feeling warm as well, —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

was succeeding in warming her, which was a pleasant feeling. It was almost like the whiskey in that sense, just without the burn she was not fond of. As a result of both the warming effect and probably too much alcohol in her system, the flush on her face had spread as a lighter shade to her neck.

"Having more to show off would be fun, yeah?" As far as scars went for him, he knew he definitely had a couple here and there. Small ones from getting nicked, nothing major. "Scars can have some good stories too. I ain't got nothing to really share in terms of scars. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

between her shoulder blades. Not that he could see that one, yet.

"Aye, I wouldn'a mind helping out with that. Maybe you could continue what you got going on up here," Gallagher made a gesture towards his shoulders and down his arms. "And do something similar down your legs, knees and feet, perhaps." —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

would match her existing scheme.

Gallagher leaned back a little bit with his glass in hand as she removed her shirt. His gaze was drawn to the ones on her collarbones and moved down her shoulders, are and eventually her hands. "Simple and elegant, I see. It suits you well. I imagine the ones on the hands were fun to get. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

intricate lines. Some were straighter, like the ones just beneath either ends of her collarbones, and some curved into crescent shapes, like those on her shoulders and hands. With her shirt off, Tora set her hands on her knees to keep her tattoos open for viewing.

"There's a story behind this one down here. I lost a bet that involved getting a tattoo, any kind of placement but it had to be of whatever the other person said you had ta get." "And I, just for the hell of it, said that I'd do a tramp stamp, cause it'd stay mostly covered up. But well . . ." —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

port before setting the glass down beside her. “Very nice,” she cooed, folding her hands on her lap. “You have more than I do.” Which was not too difficult a feat to pull of. Her tattoos were all relatively small and simple.

Gallagher lifted his glass to take a whiff of it before sipping on it as she spoke. He did have to wonder though when she'd mentioned being unrelated to her parents, it did catch his attention. Part of him had wanted to ask for clarification, but given how she'd switched topics, —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

can’t see.”

"Well, I'd say it probably comes from having had tall parents. Mum's pretty menacing when she wants to be, and I remember my Pa was pretty big fer his height." He paused for a brief moment before continuing on. "Ah, me Mum's Irish and me father was Scottish. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

so damn tall?”

"Thank you. I like to think I ken how to make a lovely lady like yourself satisfied." A soft grin pulled across his face as he took a other sip of the port, lowering the glass to speak again. "I will admit, I've got myself a fair bit of experience. An I can tell you ken how ta kiss." —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

you’re not a bad kisser.” The delivery was a slurred tease, but she meant it as a genuine compliment.

He watched her as she poured out the port, and for a brief moment he wasn't sure if she had it— but she managed. Gallagher reached for both of the glasses, handing one of them to Tora as he settled down onto the floor with her. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

they did not rush, of course. With the glasses poured, Tora finally made the wise decision to seat herself before she lost all semblance of balance. There was a familiar pounding in her temples trying to remind her to drink water, but she opted to ignore it for now.

While she was put in charge of getting the bottle open, Gallagher strode across his room to retrieve a set of more appropriate drinkware for this. He turned on his heels once he heard the POP and returned with two stemless wine glasses. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

her smile. “I think I remember liking it.” More than whiskey, at the very least. With the bottle open, she gingerly moved it to the center of the table before moving the bag of assorted poisons to the floor.

As he had been mulling it over, he watched her sort through the bottles and reach for the port. His gaze dropped to glance over the bottle's label, not even thinking about it's placement, and then back up to her. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Gallagher. They could be completely uncivilized and treat the port like the last two bottles, or they could almost treat it as intended. At least that way Tora could take it slow, and delay her inevitable surrender.

Gallagher glanced over the bottles that they had, lifting a hand to press his knuckle against his mouth. "Good question ." The vodka, he knew they could finish off relatively quickly, since that had more of that then the whiskey. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

before her. They already had two open, and could always see if they could finish one of them off, however… “You think we should try something new?”

He had a couple banners of his division that he was in hanging on the wall. Several small photographs of what appeared to be squad mates, and some of family members were sitting next to a scrapbook. Looked like he was working on a project with them and had been for a while. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

always interested to see what homely touches those with the liberty to apply them out in place. She did not stare around for long. After Gallagher had placed his bounty down, Tora lifted her bag and did the same.

"Just wanting ta make sure, is all. Sometimes it can sneak up on ya." Once everything had been collected between the two of them, Gallagher would start leading her down the corridors and over towards his bunk. He was aware of her leaning on him for balance, —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

against his side for balance.

When she'd slipped, Gallagher was quick to jump out of his seat, half forgetting he was decently inebriated himself, and stumbled somewhat upon landing onto his feet. "Careful, lass. Wouldn't want ya to hurt yourself. Are you good to walk?" —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

a near-fall to put a dent in her mood now. “Whoops,” she snickered. With on arm still braced on the table, she stooped to pick up her bag of pilfered alcohol.

He had been very much enjoying this back and forth game of flirtation and competitive drinking. Gallagher leaned in as her lips touched his, a hand moving up to cradle the side of her face as he kissed her. He melted into her, a soft hum rising in the back of his throat as he deepened the kiss.—

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

listening to his voice, or maybe she had just been that competitive over their little drinking game. Whatever the case, the distance between them did not last. Tora inched forward that last bit, right up until their lips touched.

The two of them were now face to face, close enough that if he were to act on impulse, he wouldn't need to have to move much further to get to her. He was drawn into her, he could feel her breath and smell the alcohol on it as well. It was almost intoxicating. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

hearing all Gallagher had to say. At first, her response came as a soft hum. “Before we get going,” she started, her voice soft despite the slurring, “there’s one thing on my mind I could share. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to wait for everything at once.”

"Aye, you can count on it being private, lass, it'll be under lock and key. I wouldn't have offered if it wasn't." His gaze levelled with hers, his eyelids half lidded and an unmistakable smirk played on his lips. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

your bunk has better privacy than one in a packed barracks?” There were a few too many drinks in her for her to be subtle. “Because it would be really hard to tell you about all the things on my mind with eavesdroppers.”

"Aye, it would be. But covering our tracks just helps to ensure we get away with it too. Wouldn't wanna leave these bottles sitting around out in the open, now would we, lass?" Reckless and impulsive were definitely words that fit well with where his thoughts were headed, but he didn't mind it. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

would probably be the responsible thing to do, wouldn’t it?” None of what they had done had been responsible, nor were the countless thoughts and ideas swimming around in Tora’s head. Not that she cared to be responsible. She didn’t need any alcohol to be on the impulsive side.

"Either way, I'd like to listen to whatever it is you're thinking about. I'm real good at doing that." He couldn't stop grinning, he was vaguely aware of her gaze on him, a part of him hoping she'd move a little closer. "I know I can keep going all night if I wanted to and I'm tempted to too. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

any room to talk. Her balance was already suffering the consequences. Tora would be lucky to make it out of her seat without a predicament.

"I've had my fair share of practice too, hell, some of the benders I've had ended with me half dressed and soaked to the bone. Oh, I have some stories." It was at this point that his words were starting to have a little bit of slurring at the end of them. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Recovered from the burn of the whiskey, her gaze returned to Gallagher and she grinned. She was going to regret her recklessness in the morning, but she wasn’t one for thinking ahead. “So, do you…” There was a pause. Tora seemed to lose her train of thought entirely.

"Aye, you did say so after all, I remember." He chuckled and moved to pour the liquor into her glass as well, right up to the rim. "Don't wanna get left in the dust here now, do you?" Gallagher grinned and winked at her before he downed his shot, placing it back onto the table. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

offer it to Gallagher. “Don’t think I’m out of this yet. I’m supposed to be keeping ahead, remember?” Her smirk returned, and her flushed cheeks had gone a shade darker since her last drink.

"It's taken a long time to let that anger go, but I managed to do it. I'm just glad I've been able to start mending things." Gallagher's attention shifted back to her as she readjusted her positioning against the table. He didn't think all too much of it, and went to pour himself another shot. —

𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝@cqcodst.bsky.social · 7mo ago

first half, I mean. It’s good you and your mom made up, though.” Tora’s smile had lessened some, and her expression had softened. Her arms crossed on the edge of the table, and she leaned against it to avoid any drunken swaying. “I haven’t reached out to my parents since joining. Probably should.”