2010-05-12 - Tender Loving Care

It took until today for Leo Stenbuck to realize that someone had cleaned his room.

He spent almost the entirety of yesterday in Louise Halevy's room, a large portion of it asleep or resting. Today, however, he's technically back on duty, which meant that - at some point - he had to come back to his own room. Besides, Louise is busy with something. Leo has no idea with what, but it's definitely with something.

Once he actually got to his room and saw that it had been cleaned, however, the slowly returning integrity of his psyche went right out the window again; Leo has spent about the past hour and a half lying on top of the blankets on his immaculately made bed in full uniform, staring vacantly at the ceiling. His Haro sits on the foot of the bed, dozing... inasmuch as a robot can doze.

The door is unlocked. It'd be ajar, but this is the future, so doors are all powered, and go 'whoosh'.

SHIROGANE SPACE THIRTY MINUTES AGO:

"Excuse me...ma'am?" The ship crewman seems mildly perplexed. However, he remembers his place and duty. "It's against rules. No civilians--"

"I am /not/ a civilian."

Standing before the crewman is a young woman barely five-five, her tiny, waif form lost in his six-three shadow. Yet, despite the obvious differences in height and frame, the young woman seems the more intimidating of the two. With a shark's dead-eyed glare, she looks him in the eye, waiting for his response. One wrong move...

"A-and you are..?" he hesitantly wonders.

"/Captain/ Healing Care."

SHIROGANE SPACE NOW:

The hallway of the crew quarters of the Shirogane are particularly quiet; no one wanders the halls, no dull drone of voices humming outside Stenbuck's quarters. It's a proverbial ghost town, making it the perfect atmosphere for napping at this hour--that is if Leo /could/ manage to nap. Can't sleep, Rei's ghost might eat him.

With a soft 'woosh' the door of the quarters open. It becomes painfully obvious in an instant who is there to greet him: green hair, violet eyes, pale skin, wearing a too-familiar gothic Lolita-like.

It's the girl Healing Care. And she's grinning like a cat that found the canary.

Lifting her hands from her sides, the young Captain slowly and sarcastically claps. "Bra/vo/," the girl delightfully states. "Bra/vo/, Stenbuck. You've done so /well/ for yourself these past months, haven't you?"

Stepping in, the door hisses shut behind the young woman, who places her back immediately against the cold steel door, comfortably reclining as she looks toward the troubled youth.

"Tell me what it's like..?" she wonders. "I mean, what it's like to be such a pitiful creature."

Leo doesn't move when the door opens. It isn't until Healing starts talking that he lifts his head off of the pillow to stare dully at the girl in his doorway. He stays that way for only a moment, and then sighs heavily and drops his head back onto the pillow.

A visit from Healing Care. Fan-/tastic/. This is /totally/ what he needs right now, in that, it is proof that God either does not exist or hates him.

Leo rolls onto his side as Healing inquires about what it's like to be so pathetic, and shifts his stare to the wall. "What do you want, Healing," he says tiredly. Too tiredly, apparently, to even include a question mark.

When acknowledged, Healing lifts a hand from her side and offers a frighteningly-friendly smile and wave to the troubled youth. His reaction, however, only causes her further amusement--especially so when he turns on his side and refuses to look at her. Healing Care mock-pouts before her thin lips pull into a thin Cheshire's grin.

"Hum, you're such a changed young man!" notes the girl, finally breaking off the cold door to step forward into the room. Looking about, she takes in her environs; typical room with its share of memorabilia and nostalgia. Eyeing the gun, the young woman's attention drifts slowly toward the pictures; first the one of him with the Atlantis crew, then--perhaps more intriguing to her--the picture of Leo and Rei.

Slowly, Healing's mouth draws into a jagged sneer.

"Ah, what's this!" she wonders, RIPPING the picture off his desk and taking it into hand. "Isn't that NERV's Ayanami girl? Oh my, she is a cute little thing, isn't she?" Tilting her head slightly as she looks to the picture, she notes, "Or /was/? I'm not sure how that girl works."

Shaking her head, the young woman lifts a hand to her hair and twirls thin, spider-like fingers through her short-cropped wavy green hair. "You sure have a thing for short-haired girls, don't you? First Rei, then that Ralla girl, now Louise... wonder what it means? Wonder if there's some silly Freudian thing behind your turn-ons?

"Hey!" Cheerfully stepping forward, the young woman turns the framed picture forward, whether Leo is looking at her or not. Holding it chest level, Healing Care wonders, "Do we kind of look alike? I think so! Maybe I should change my hair to blue? Would you like it if I talked--" She instantly changes her tone to something loud and mechanical. "IN-A-RO-BOT-VOICE?"

A split-second later, Healing then wonders aloud, "I mean, those are the kind of girls that /turn you on/, right? Subservient, obedient girls who are less like /humans/ and more like /machines/?"

Leo refuses to turn back to face Healing, even at the clattering sounds that herald her touching his God damn stuff. The more she talks, however, the more irritated he gets, even through his insulating layer of despair and exhaustion. Before long, he's scowling at the wall, his entire body visibly tense.

He is so not in the mood to deal with this today, and it shows... even in his voice, when he responds to Healing after a few seconds of sullen silence. "You're awfully interested in my turn-ons. If you want to fuck me that badly, you should just ask first."

If there's one thing that disappoints Healing, it's the fact that Leo refuses to actually look at her. If he's angry or sad or disappointed, she can't /see/ it--and that's terrible. How else can she get her fix of 'using and abusing' her fellow officers..?

"Pft," is ultimately Healing's response, the picture of Rei and Leo practically /tossed/ onto his desk. Wandering over shortly after, the girl's pale, glossy lips are pulled into a smile as she eyes the gun and box of ammunition on the desk. Like a curious child she takes the weapon in hand, turning it about in her delicate, pale fingertips.

"Oh, that's cute," she comments, not even looking toward Leo. "But I think I'll pass. There's no telling who you've been sticking yourself into lately while slapping them around. Hitting girls? Tsk tsk! That's so very unlike the little Leo I first met!"

Turning around the girl makes her way toward the bed and forcibly kneels against it before half-sprawling herself over Leo's side. This way, Healing finally can see his face, her clammy form pressed against his lanky figure. Grinning widely, the girl looks at Leo.

"But you'd probably like that, wouldn't you? Being able to rough me up and have your way, huh? It's just a /shame/ you're just a pitiful human being, though!"

Something presses itself against Leo's skull. It feels rather small and circular. The notable snap of a hammer cocking into place makes it clear: Healing has his gun pressed to his head.

"A tiny, insignificant human being. Holding you creatures' lives in our hands is so...amusing! Humans are so fragile...so easily broken...so delicate..."

Pressing a bit further into Leo, the girl tries to worm herself closer to his face while keeping that weapon firmly pressed into his skull.

"One small twitch and it will all end, like watching a candle by an open window. But...who would miss you..? Anyone? Would Rei? Would that tramp Louise?"

His token jibe given, Leo does his best to just ignore Healing, even when she drapes herself across him. But when she presses the barrel of his gun into the back of his neck, his entire body goes from 'tense' to 'stiff', and a look of obvious fear flashes across his face. Which probably brings Healing about as close as she can physiologically get to being aroused.

After only a few beats, though, the look of fear melts into one of merely agitation. He turns his head to glare up at Healing for another few beats... and then casually, as if totally unafraid of the gun, reaches up with the arm he's not lying on and hooks it around Healing, pulling her the rest of the way over him and rolling her onto her back on his bed.

In the same motion, he, too, rolls, hooking a leg over Healing's body and sitting up so that he's straddling her stomach.

At no point in the process does he try to disarm Healing, or even knock the gun away from his head, and at the end of it he just stares disdainfully down at the girl, frowning. "Ribbons must not have spent very much time on you," he says bluntly. "One of the key rules of gun safety: never keep it loaded."

Ah.

/There/ we go. That's the look she was hoping for.

The smile on Healing's pale face only grows bigger as Leo's expression shifts in what appears to be 'fear' and 'human emotion other than grumpiness.' Pursing her lips lightly, the girl just keeps her violet gaze level on the young Captain. Her mouth parts, a soft gasp of air as she begins to say /something/...

But Leo's sudden shift from fear to annoyance catches the girl off her guard; pulled across his body fully, Healing finds herself hitting the bed with her back before she's pinned in place by the majority of Leo's youthful weight. Healing Care blinks once, twice; several times as she stares up at Leo.

The gun remains pressed to his head.

Then, Leo Stenbuck speaks.

Healing Care gets mad.

The gun in her hand suddenly rips away; seconds later she snaps it across Leo's face, pistol-whipping the boy before she throws the gun across the room. "I'm his FAVORITE!" the girl screams. "He created ME in /HIS/ IMAGE! How DARE you imply I am not WORTH his PRIDE!" Healing bucks several times beneath Leo before suddenly ceasing, her head lulling to one side, violet eyes glaring at the door of the young Captain's quarters.

Then, slowly, the girl slides her gaze back onto Leo with a smile.

"So you know, then?" she wonders. "You know the truth about me~? That's good. I hate playing stupid human games anyway." Pause.

"How many times have you had Warrant Officer Halevy in this bed?" she wonders. "When you're screwing around with her, do you call her mean things? Do you hit her?"

Okay, that was kind of unexpected.

Leo reels to the side, his eyes widening, when Healing strikes him the gun. /His/ gun. Underneath the shock, as she tosses it across the room, a well of fury rises up; she better not have knocked one of the fucking diamonds out, that shit is /so expensive./

He doesn't have more than a moment to worry about that, though, because Healing starts bucking around. That mostly just reminds him of Asuka, but he somehow clings to the presence of mind to force his weight downwards, pinning the Innovade girl to his bed.

When she finally calms down, Leo reaches up to wipe a small trickle of blood away from the corner of his mouth, and then turns his attention back down to Healing. Leo may be an increasingly unbalanced young man, but - in all but a few cases - he doesn't really take delight in cruelty.

But right now, the darker part of him is /so/ happy to have finally found a button on Healing that he can push. "I stay in her room, mostly," he tells Healing coolly, reaching out to snatch at her wrists, wrench her arms above her head, and pin them there.

"So," he says, his voice brightening. "His /favorite/, huh? I guess that explains why you two look so alike. And why you're so..." Leo drops his eyes away from Healing's face, to glance pointedly down at her chest. "... skinny."

Meeting Leo's gaze with an oddly calm look, Healing Care just grins up at the young Captain, looking and behaving completely opposite from her previous spat. Yes, he pushed a button; however, will that particular button be pushed again..?

With someone like her, it's hard to say.

Though her wrists are snared and her arms rather forcibly wrenched upwards and over her head, Healing Care seems hardly fussed by the change in demeanor on Leo's behalf. Instead, Healing just grins up at the Martian boy, lips pulled into a jagged sort of sneer as he explains himself.

"Why's that?" she wonders. "Is it because you can't even /consider/ the idea of catching a glimpse of that--" Healing's head nods toward his desk. "--picture while you're boning her? Geesh Leo, you have so many /issues/."

His sudden shift in tone, however, momentarily puzzles the girl, a thin brow arching lightly. Alike?

Skinny..?

Healing Care just laughs.

"Are you /trying/ to upset me?" she wonders, her tone laced with a sharp, poisonous edge. "You idiot. Unlike /human beings/, I have no attachment to...physical characteristics." Smirking, her violet eyes hood sharply. "Breasts, they mean little to me. Sure, I have them--" Albeit /barely/. "But they're insignificant in /battle/.

"You wouldn't see it that way, though."

Tilting her head to one side, the Innovade girl notes, "Because you're too busy thinking less with your head and more with what's between your legs. There's a /reason/ why we're better than you and that tramp Louise Halevy in /every/ way. As far as I know or care, you're just Ribbons' little pet side projects. But, oh!"

Mock surprise crosses Healing's face.

"/That's/ right. Your little funtoy would be /dead/ without her pills, wouldn't she..? Then what would little Stenbuck have..?" No pun intended.

/Maybe/.

Agitation flashes across Leo's face as Healing brushes off his taunting. Fuck, she's like the fucking Neo-Borg, she adapted or something!! He glares down at her as she runs her mouth, and at the taunt about 'little Stenbuck', he wrenches her arms upwards and tightens his knees around her torso. Not enough to really hurt; just enough to be uncomfortable.

"For someone who doesn't care about 'physical characteristics', you're pretty fixated on sex," Leo glowers down at the Innovade. "And maybe Ribbons didn't tell you, but..."

Leo leans down to put his face closer to Healing's, and whispers, more quietly, "The reason he made you is to help me. To help Louise. You're our 'guardian'. So... I guess you're the 'side project', huh? Not me."

Maybe she IS Neo-Borg..?

Whatever Healing is (it's Innovade), Leo's taunts fall upon proverbially deaf ears; instead, she just chides up at the Martian youth, grinning brightly in response. This, of course, earns her a press of his knees into her skinny side and a wrench of her tiny arms. Her response?

"Ha ha ha ow stop ha ha OH LEO you kidder ow oh NOT LIKE THAT! NOT /THERE/!"

Passers-by, if any (or Brough Grabbs) probably shrug it off as 'the usual' from his room.

Her laughter, however, subsides with the sudden softness of his voice as he leans in. Arcing a brow in mild bemusement, the young woman listens...

To

Help..?

"Pffffffhahahahahahahahahahahhahahaha!!"

Wide-eyed, the young woman suddenly SHOOTS her neck and shoulders a bit up off the bed, heedless of the pain it brings her wrenched arms. "YOU think I am supposed to be YOUR /guardian/!?" the girl cackles, nigh-manic as she /stares/ into Leo's eyes. "Is that what you /REALLY/ think, boy!?"

Mustering all the strength she can, Healing actually fights /against/ Leo's weight, appearing to try and knock him onto HIS back and reverse their positions as she cackles.

"It isn't MY job to be MOMMY or GUARDIAN or whatever to you two fuck ups! My job..?"

She'll attempt to lean close--so close her lips will touch his with feather-light softness.

"My job is to destroy. Kill. Murder. Maim. Obliterate.

"I /am/ war incarnate.

"I was /bred/ for battle. Combat is what I live and breathe."

Healing's amusement at Leo's claim is a little offputting. He doesn't doubt that she's either an ignorant bitch, lying, or just in denial, but it's still irritating - and surprising - that pressing the 'Ribbons' button harder didn't do the job.

So when she suddenly fights against him, his grip has slackened, and he goes toppling sideways to land heavily on his side. Before he can recover, Healing is on top of him. The closeness is a little weird, but not entirely unexpected, nor are her ongoing jibes.

But the kiss is just out of fuckin' nowhere.

Leo blinks several times in rapid succession, dumbstruck. It isn't the first time she's kissed him; that much he's been pretty sure of since a few days after the Masquerade, after he got a chance to question Nicol Amalfi. But...

Leo's expression of obvious shock stays on his face right up until he suddenly lifts his head off the bed and presses his lips against Healing's, much more forcefully than she did to him.

Sometimes, Leo Stenbuck does things without really understanding why.

Utilizing the moment to turn the proverbial tables on Leo, Healing's waif form struggles against his weight and ultimately wins out. Close then, the young Innovade, the self-proclaimed weapon, dips her face close and all but kisses the young man. It's bold and forward of the young woman, but then...

What about Healing Care isn't..?

Grinning, the violet-eyed girl just stares down upon the young man with a look that's anything but kind, compassionate or sincere; if anything, it's a look that all but seems to read 'you are inferior.' To her, he is inferior. He's just a human that dreams of being /more/, not unlike the mandragora that dreams of being human.

But like the mandragora, he will never be anything greater than what he /is/.

And it becomes evident, the way the young Martian suddenly chooses feelings over rational behavior; leaning up, he forces his lips into hers, briefly surprising the Innovade girl before she rips her mouth free and shoves Leo's back harshly against the bed.

"I am /not/ like your little pets," she venomously states, fingertips digging into the young man's shoulders as she looms above him. Violet eyes shimmer, going golden, an array of colors--an experience too familiar with the young man. She speaks to him on a higher level.

<"And I am not your little guardian pet. I am meant to /help/ you, but with your behavior and your...audacity as of late, my interest has dwindled considerable. Very little is keeping me from killing you by 'accident,' you know. Your self-destructive behavior will /not/ set you on the path Ribbons has laid out for you.

"Do you /understand/, Leo Stenbuck?">

If there's one thing Leo hates, it's a cocktease.

He lets out an oof as Healing pushes him back into the bed, and just stares up at her as she snarls at him... and then her eyes start glowing. An instant later, Leo arches his back and squeezes his eyes shut; when he opens them again, they're glowing in a manner much like Healing's.

When Healing speaks to him using the power of ~*~quantum brainwaves~*~, however, he doesn't seem to understand; he just squirms uncomfortably, reaching up to clutch at his forehead, grimacing. The information /gets/ there, but Leo's brain apparently does not yet know what to do with it.

"Stop it," Leo growls, still clutching at his head. "M-my head... stop it! Just... say what you came to say, or whatever, and leave me alone!"

Seeing Leo squirm in pain brings the Innovade immense delight.

Oddly enough, however, the young woman's expression remains callous and cold, incredibly stern as she glares down upon him with wildly dancing amber eyes. His pained response only causes her to dig her fingers deeper into his shoulders, her waif arms tensing tightly as she does what she can in her power /not/ to just exploit his pain and suffering.

<"What's the matter, Leo?"> wonders the girl through quantum thought.

<"I thought you were /special/ and unique? You can't even control this? You don't even know how to respond or react? It /hurts/? You're still painfully human; it's almost disgusting.">

Healing Care's eyes fade back to violet, her fingers relenting from his flesh. Sneering, the pale-faced Innovade moves upon him, laying her head upon his chest. "I say 'almost' because you and that girl have a purpose." With a hand flat upon his chest, the girl is less like a woman and more like some fat and happy cat sprawled on its favorite bed.

"Maybe one day you too can find it and become better than human? But as long as you keep up your silly little whims and screwing every girl that gives you an inch, or losing your shit and flipping out...you'll never be anything more than a pathetic human.

"You'll always be the same as /everyone else/. Do you /want/ that, Leo~? I know you don't.

"I know you want to be better than them. Don't you want to see the people who pushed you around and threw mud on your face /suffer/ beneath your superiority..?"

Leo regains control of himself almost immediately when Healing's eyes stop glowing. His follow suit in short order, but he keeps a hand to his head, his teeth gritted; he has a headache now, even if a sort of minor one. He stays that way as Healing rests her head on his chest and - for lack of a better word - sweettalks him.

It doesn't seem to be working very well... at least not until Leo suddenly throws his weight upwards into Healing and reverses their positions again, rolling her over onto her back and weighing her body down with his. And if it's the sweettalk doing that, well, it's obviously not having the intended effect.

"Get to the point," he glowers, his face pointedly within Healing's personal space, as is... basically inevitable, given their current position. "I'm not in the mood for this shit, Healing."

A startled yelp escapes Healing when suddenly Leo turns the tables, using his weight to all but buck the young Innovade off and send her flopping back. Once again she finds Leo upon her, his weight surprisingly harsh against her tiny form. For a brief moment she has trouble breathing, a gasp escaping her before she just grins.

"What more point need I make, Leo~?" Healing Care sweetly wonders. "I am here trying to /help/ you by giving you good, /sound/ advice. It's something you have sorely been /lacking/, it seems." Canting her head to one side, the corners of Healing's lips twitch and curl playfully.

"Between /you/ and Louise, I'd say she's the one who has her shit together. You, on the other hand, have steadily become the /laughing stock/ of A-LAWS. Not a very good impression to make--not to mention by proxy /Ribbons/ looks bad. Right..?"

Her grin grows, her body squirming lightly as she continues.

"If you want to be like 'us' so badly, you'll /listen/ for once."

That's about when Healing gives Leo a push, attempting to get herself out from underneath him and back onto her feet.

"Stop screwing everyone and get your /act/ together already. Playtime is /over/. Is that anymore clear and concise for you..?"

As he is wont to do, Leo just glares down at Healing while she says her piece. He doesn't speak, or move; he barely even blinks... but when Healing pushes up at him in an attempt to get up, he suddenly - and violently - pushes back, forcing her down into the bed, his hands snapping up to grab at her upper arms just below the shoulder.

For several seconds, Leo simply lays on top of Healing, breathing a little heavily, holding her in place. Even when he eventually speaks, he doesn't relax his grip. "I'm not going to argue with you," the young man says slowly. "And even if I tell you not to come bug me again, you won't listen."

"But if I find out that you've been harassing Louise like this, there's going to be... consequences," Leo warns. "Understood?"

That--

...wasn't expected of Leo.

The sudden shove with vicious force knocks the wind out of Healing's lungs, violet eyes going wide as she's shoved into the mattress of his bed. Gripped fiercely at the arms, she sits there with muted surprise upon her youthful face, wide-eyed as she looks at Leo above her. What is he /doing/?

Then he speaks. Healing Care /grins/.

"Of course I won't listen; not to you, or anyone," she notes. "I see you've got the right idea!"

But when he mentions /Louise/, that's when Healing's grin grows /just/ a bit more.

"Is that supposed to /scare/ me?" she thinks. "Or just /intrigue/ me?

Because, really," the Innovade continues. "If you're sincerely trying to scare me straight, it /isn't/ working. Besides..."

Looking to the door with a listless sigh, the girl drolls, "We're /friends/, that girl and I."

"Sure," Leo says shortly, disbelief evident in his tone. "Friends. Right. Whatever. Fine. Just make sure it stays that way." He tightens his grip on Healing's arms and, as before, wrenches them further upwards as he speaks. "I don't know what the fuck your problem is. Maybe you get off on giving me a hard time. I don't know."

"But Louise doesn't deserve shit like that. So make sure it doesn't happen, or else," Leo growls. After a beat, he adds, "And the same goes for... others. Don't be such a bitch all the time. It 'makes Ribbons look bad.' And you're not getting up until I'm sure you understand what I'm saying to you. Get it?"

Shaken like some insolent child, Healing's head bobs lightly in response, a raspy gasp slipping past her glossy lips as she's wrenched and jostled about. Immediately after the girl snarls, violet eyes hooding dangerously as she stares Leo dead in the face. How /dare/ he treat her this way, she thinks. How /dare/ he act so high and mighty. Her problem? What's /his/ problem?

Oh. Right.

/Everything/.

Potential anger turns to amusement when he gives her an ultimatum. "Ohh, you've changed so much since that time when we first met," she notes, her gaze falling to the side as she's held firmly into place, sure to not go anywhere.

"But." But?

As Healing looks back, her eyes resonate again, flickering wildly with an array of colors.

<"Don't you talk to me like that,"> she warns in his mind.

<"The more you threaten me about your little /TOY/ of the week the more interested I am in making her life a living hell just to /spite/ you. Do you understand /me/? Rest assured I have more interest in your delicate little snowflake than you're aware of. I have no intentions of fucking around with her until she breaks.">

Not yet, anyway.

<"Now let me go.">

Leo convulses slightly when Healing brain touches him again, slumping against her for a moment as the extremely unpleasant sensation washes over him. His grip on the girl's arms slackens, and, after a few seconds, vanishes entirely...

... but only because, in a surge of frantic motion, Leo wraps his hands around Healing's throat and starts to squeeze.

"I said--" he chokes out through gritted teeth; his eyes are glowing once again, too... but even through the special effects, it's easy to tell he's sort of rocking the Crazy Eye. "-- to /stop it/ -- I didn't give you -- /PERMISSION!/"

Smirking to herself as Leo's grip on her arms loosens up, the young woman shrugs her tiny arms a bit, shaking off his hands. Once 'free,' the green-haired Innovade turns slightly, the beginning motions of getting up and off his bed to, presumably, take her leave--

Only, Leo Stenbuck /snaps/.

In an instant the young man wraps his larger hands around her tiny throat which, in turn, startles her. She gasps, the air in her throat almost instantly sucked back in as he cuts her breath down to a struggled gasp. Beneath his vise-like grip the young woman seems to frantically struggle, hands clawing at Leo's wrists as he flips out at her.

Her eyes, however, remain vividly gold.

<"And HOW do you think I am supposed to STOP if you are /trying/ to kill me??"> she wonders in his mind. Fortunately, a combat mongerer like Healing Care usually carries a backup plan with her. And what does that entail? A hand going up her skirt.

A FEW HOURS AGO:

"Hey, that's a nice collection~!" Healing observes to one Michael Trinity's sweet-ass blades collection, while discreetly pocketing one on whim. Fortunately the Trinity boy wouldn't notice, as he prattles on about blades while Healing pretends to be interested.

NOW:

With a distinct SHHK a blade snaps out of a grip, a shaky hand thrust forward and placing the cold steel dangerously hard against Leo's neck. One wrong move could cause her arm to slip--it's bad enough the lack of air to her lungs makes it hard to breath and thus her hand a bit shaky.

"G-get...o-off...m-me, NOW!!" the girl barks in a strained, hoarse voice.

Teeth clenched together and bared in a snarl, it takes Leo a moment to comply, even with the knife pressed against his throat... and then, suddenly, his grip slackens again, and he pitches himself sideways off of Healing, rolling onto his side and propping himself up with one elbow.

For another moment, he just stares at Healing, face flushed red, literally trembling with anger. He didn't... exactly... mean to do that; it just sort of... happened. Struggling to control his breathing as he is, it's another few moments before Leo works up the presence of mind to hiss, "Get the fuck out of my room."

Once she can /feel/ his hands relieve her throat does Healing Care feel a bit less agitated.

Watching as the Martian reels aside and onto one elbow, Healing gasps for air, lifting a hand to rub at her red throat with her pale fingers. Already has the creamy pale skin begun to turn an ugly shade of yellow and blue. Though he didn't mean to do it, Healing perceives it as some personal slight. It makes her angry and disgusted.

Only barely does she bite back the urge to gut him like a pig then and there.

With a hiss of steel the knife sinks back into its grip. Healing offers nothing more than a 'tch.'

Kicking her feet off the bed, the young Innovade hops to her feet. Once grounded, she turns and faces him, oddly cheerful as she looks to the young Captain. "Well, it's been fun~!" she chimes. "It was /really/ good to see you again, little Leo~!"

Stepping forward, Healing laces her arms behind her back as she bends forward...to offer a ginger kiss upon Leo's forehead. When she pulls away, she's smiling. "It was a great discussion. Maybe if you play your card's right /next/ time I'll do you a little favor, hmm~?"

With a wink the violet-eyed girl steps back before she spins on her Mary Jane heels and marches to the door. "I'll tell Ms. Halevy you said hello if I see her!" Healing chimes as the door hisses open. "We're such great /pals/, you know! Ha ha ha!"

The door hisses shut behind Healing Care.

Leo remains seated on his bed, his back to the wall, when Healing gives him a kiss on the forehead, and then well after she has departed; he's still furious, for reasons he's not entirely sure of. He /is/ sure - more than ever - that Healing Care is a /fucking psychopath/.

"Somehow," Leo eventually mutters to himself, in a bit of perfectly mundane prescience, "This is going to come back to bite me in the ass."