The pain kept spiking with each exhale. Felt like it went away with each inhale, but that's just it's cruel tease. It's a pain that somehow feels...familiar to other times. Våkne. Opp. Tord sat up quickly, running a hand through his hair, wincing quietly. opening his eyes, staring around his room. Paul was looming over him, blinking, then smiling, crossing his arms. "Well, someone finally woke up." He said. His voice was calm and cheerful. /Too calm./ /Way too cheerful.../ Tord just stared at Paul for a half second, before shaking himself out of his thoughts. "How long was I out?" "Just a few hours." "Specifics, Paul." "Ten hours." Paul said simply, turning around and walking off. Tord sat there for a few seconds, before sighing, rubbing his robot arm nervously, then standing up, stretching, crossing his arms over his chest, looking around, his eyes locking onto a mirror. ... 'Ah...god..damn it, Paul...' He couldn't really assume anything...could he? He couldn't prove anything, especially if he couldn't remember anything. He exhaled slowly, putting on his long blue trenchcoat with his name tag on it. Of course, it said 'Red Leader' instead of his name. He sighed quietly, running his hand through his hair, walking out of his room, putting his hands behind his back, glancing over at Paul, who had been leaning on the wall, noticing Tord and smiling. "Ah, you're ready to work, I assume." "Pray tell, what work do I have to do?" Tord hummed, glaring Paul down. Paul didn't see the sentence as a challenge, instead, took out a clipboard and handed it to Tord. There were many bullet points with stuff to do. 1.) Reset cameras in the security room. 2.) Restart power 3.) .... For some reason, Tord couldn't read the third one, it was messed up and blurry. He didn't look at Paul for help though, just nodded quietly. "Let's get to it, then." Paul grinned, grabbing the clipboard back from Tord, who paused. "Let's?" "Yes sir." Paul nodded, putting his hands behind his back and offering a smile. "I'm going to be coming with you, since I'm your second in command, and we work together as well as two peas in a pod." He said, smiling more. "...Sure." Tord muttered quietly, already walking off before Paul could say anything. He usually doesn't mind doing all this work. But now? Ever since this aching never went away every time he's around? Ever since fear started spiking horribly? He didn't want to be around Paul longer than he had to. He'd wish he knew what happened. What was happening. He'd wish he had actual work to do that wasn't around Paul. Because everytime he was with Paul... The aching pain got worse. And he couldn't just numb that out. And if it continued this way... something worse is going to happen. Tord walked- noticing Paul was beside him by now, eyeing him with a soft grin. Tord's breathing hitched just once, and he looked away quickly, looking towards the ground instantly. A beat. "What were you doing in my room, anyways?" Tord muttered. "I wasn't there the entire time." Paul hummed, looking forward, still grinning. "I didn't ask when you got in there." Tord said, stopping in his tracks and looking over at Paul- who slowly came to a stop, looking at the ground, before clearing his throat. "I wasn't doing anything. I came in there before you woke up to make sure that you knew what you had to do." "It was written down on a clipboard. If it was put on my desk, I would've seen it, and I could've remembered." Tord said simply, staring at Paul. Paul just stood there, is arms crossed- fingers tapping his arm. Tord's body stiffened. Usually, Paul answers quickly to things. Is he thinking? Did Tord put him in a corner? Make him actually think? Make him try to...come up with a lie...? Paul looked away, chuckling softly. "Now, now, sir. There's nothing you need to worry your pretty head about what I was doing. I was just being nice and being concerned about you." He hummed, his voice sounding genuine. Tord blinked, his gaze slightly softening, though his body remained stiff. Maybe he just didn't know how to word it. That had to be it. Tord didn't want to look at Paul like he was a bad guy without putting all the pieces together. That didn't seem fair. Not even if every gut instinct was telling him to scream at Paul, to take care of this jolting pain that kept swimming, kept gnawing. Slowly swallowing. Tord sighed, looking at the ground and continuing to walk. It's just a bit longer before Paul's going to need sleep, right? He can't always be following Tord around and dragging him places. Right? Right. He can't. It's not good. Especially if he's /so/ concerned about whether Tord's sleeping or not, and wanting him to go to his room because of it. He sighed quietly, glancing at Paul. "Hey." He muttered. Paul glanced over. "Yes, sir?" "Why do we have to reset the cameras in the security room, anyway?" Tord asked.
(continued) "Because half the cameras aren't working, I thought 'why not do a full reset on them?'." Paul hummed. Tord stared at him for a few seconds before slowly looking away. "Okay.." He muttered, looking at a wall for a half second, then sighing again. "Paul, did you write down the work 'I have' to do?" He asked, looking at Paul again. "Please tell me the truth." Paul went quiet again. Tord kept walking. "It shouldn't matter. It still has to get done." 'Work that has to get done that you wrote down, you could've done it yourself.' Tord swallowed down the words, and nodded instead, continuing to walk. ... The quicker this got done, the better it would be. Tord glanced towards Paul for one last time. He'd gotten closer, staring at Tord with that smile that never met his eyes, his hands behind his back. Tord stared at Paul for a second, swallowing, deciding to ignore it and look back at the ground. This is fine. This is fine! Everything's fine!
