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 Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 10:31 am
It was only under duress Paul had been dragged out of his dormitory. He had wanted to stay in and study, but his study group had been rather insistent--they'd been studying all week and the carnival only lasted so long. They wanted to have fun! ... and there was really no point to studying on his own.
He had not expected to be practically abandoned, but he decided, charitably, that it was all right. He didn't need to really study any more; he had sociology down pat, really. All studying more would have done was stress him out a bit. Throwing beanbags at targets would do for distraction.
You know, if there were actually any beanbags. The man running the booth had vanished to find more; as to where the originals had gone, no one seemed to have any idea. It was just... Paul tipped his head a bit to look at the garishly painted clown target. "Awkward," he decided, turning towards the pink-haired girl to his right. "Have you been waiting long?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 8:07 pm
Vera had also been abandoned; at least, she wasn't entirely sure where Janice had gone off to this time. So the pink-haired girl stood waiting at the same place she'd been when she'd last seen her friend. Just like a lost child. She hadn't been playing the game - not that she wouldn't have done well at it - but she'd paid attention when the man running it had left.
"No," she said, startled into speaking when spoken to. "I haven't been waiting." Purple eyes examined the man next to her coolly as she faced him. "It does seem strange that he'd run out, however."
...That was conversation. Unusual.
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 8:13 am
She looked familiar. Oddly so, but it would be rather strange to comment on it, so he just smiled a bit down at the girl. It had seemed like she'd been waiting, in all honesty, but he could be wrong. There was almost always room for personal error in daily interactions, and anything that got the conversation going was a good thing, wasn't it? In his opinion, yes.
"Well, at least there's that." He'd been standing there for a good five minutes and was definitely beginning to feel irritated. His small smile grew into a grin when he continued, "To tell you the truth, I'm no good at these games anyway. Maybe it's a sign that I should spare my dignity, don't you think?" Perhaps it was. He wasn't as bad as he was implying; he'd maybe get a punch on the cards they'd handed out, but not much more, and by the skin of his teeth besides.
Paul considered the area around them, then offered his hand. "Paul Wyndham," he said, "Might I have your name, miss?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 9:05 pm
Vera wasn't particularly struck by any sense of familiarity from the man she was now talking to; then again, she usually didn't care. It was, to her mind, somewhat curious that he'd chosen to strike up a conversation with her, but people seemed to want to do that more frequently than they used to. It was odd.
"Oh?" she replied, arching an eyebrow. "Perhaps." A hand waved somewhat dismissively at the targets. "I think I'd do alright at this sort of game." And what an understatement that was, even for her. "As for sparing your dignity," she said with a quick flash of a grin, "you are here."
Taking his hamd, she lightly shook it. "Vera Valentine." Paul Wyndham, hm? That was a very...nice name, and the pink haired girl felt a small frission of happiness at talking to him. Another oddity.
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Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 1:06 am
His dignity wasn't stung by her declaration that she'd do better than him; mostly because he knew that was just how he was reading her statement. He'd mentioned something about relative ability to perform and she had responded in kind. Nothing to get stressed out over, he told himself. So he didn't. "Do you like bean bag tosses then? I spend most of my time reading." Paul outright laughed at her comment about their location. It was downright cheesy, the carnival atmosphere. Orange and black and purple, oh my. Sure--if you were five.
"That's a lovely name, Vera. It's nice to meet you." She had a lovely grin, and he wanted to tease it out of her a little more. Only... how to do that? He considered, for a moment, then asked, "Are you waiting for someone?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:13 pm
She shook her head softly, one of the loose ends of her hair falling over a shoulder with the movement. "Archery mostly," Vera said. "But I usually manage to hit whatever I'm aiming at." Possibly a slight understatement; her ability to do just that was almost uncanny and had resulted in her admission to Barren Pines. She didn't normally think much about her time at the school that hadn't really been a school, but it was just about the one year anniversary of it, so the topic was on her mind more often.
That was slightly more melancholy thinking than Paul deserved, and his compliment regarding her name cause a slight flush to spread across her cheeks. "Nice to meet you too." She looked thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Are you?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:35 pm
It was almost his nature for him to reach out and brush the lock of hair back over her shoulder; definitely something he did without really thinking about it. Paul came from a family where expectations were high, but physical affection was common. He rarely thought about strangers and whether they'd appreciate his habit of leading them by a hand at the small of their back, or whether he should ask before doing such things. He just did them, and if they objected, he consciously held himself back.
"I'm very sure I've been abandoned," he sighed, hands in his pockets again. "Almost positive." He tipped his head a bit to the side, considering the crowd passing them by. No sign of his study group. Now, though, he was uncertain he really wanted them to pop back up; talking to Vera was certainly more appealing than listening to discussions about how much his classmates hated Justin Bieber. Then his attention was back to the raspberry-haired girl at his side. "Well, clearly it's a sign. Clearly we were meant to explore the carnival together. What did you think of the invitations the city council sent out? There will be no disasters... do you really think the terrorists will stay away?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:54 pm
It was fairly obvious that Vera did not come from a background where physical contact was all that customary; she managed not to flinch away from his touch only by remembering how much Spinel had seemed hurt by that reaction. It really wasn't the best to have, and Paul didn't seem to mean any harm by it, brushing back her hair.
Like Spinel had done, the first time she'd met him.
"That's not very nice," she replied with a slight frown. Well, Janice had possibly abandoned her for the night, so she could relate. It was rather unusual, though. But their relationship had become a little more strained recently, and it was entirely possible that Janice had...well, who knew. Banishing her frown, Vera smiled again. "If it is, then we can't ignore such a sign." This was said somewhat solemnly, though the effect was largely ruined by the smile. Oh well.
A hand stretched out in front of her, and Vera wobbled it back and forth. "Who can say? They might be inclined to strike because of that." There were probably Negaverse agents who'd think that way. Vera didn't know any of them, but that hardly meant they didn't exist. "On the other hand, making that kind of promise implies there's a way to back it up."
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:44 pm
He missed the reaction to his touch; he had been looking out along the rest of the crowd, just casually, because you usually didn't see people gathered like this anymore. Maybe people really did believe the city council's promise on the lack of disasters, or the policy on throwing all the pretend senshi and Negaverse officers out truly was successful. It could be any number of factors, but at any rate, the place was crowded and he wasn't sure he liked it.
"But it's what happened," he said, turning his gaze back to Vera; she really did have a lovely smile, one that said pretty clearly to him she did agree, even if her words rang somewhat sarcastically. "Oh well. It allowed me to meet a new person, which is surely an experience to be valued."
The crooked smile was back; his eyes darted down to watch her hand, traveled back to her face. "That's true," he said, "especially those senshi--they seem to be out to destroy whatever they can, don't they?" Ridiculous, he thought, to try and ruin the world they wanted to rule. If he were on their side, he'd function rather differently. Or so he thought. "Well, I hope they don't have to prove it. It'd rather mess up chances to do an event like this again, don't you think?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 12:02 pm
She looked at him curiously, purple eyes solemn as she pondered the statement. "Not everyone would think so." Then again, not everyone would have struck up a conversation with a stranger the way he had. That sort of thinking was almost entirely opposite Janice's; Vera's thoughts slithered to a halt as she mentally shook herself. Janice wasn't here, and she should really stop comparing Paul to the plum-haired girl who was, truth be told, probably Vera's only friend. It wasn't fair to him to keep doing that.
Another eyebrow quirk and another thoughtful look crossed her face as Paul implicated the senshi as the major trouble-makers. That was interesting. "They do seem to do more harm than good," she agreed after a moment. Which was true; senshi abilities tended towards large scale property damage, whereas most Negaverse agents could only hurt their opponents. "No wonder they're called terrorists."
Vera let out a small 'mmm' of agreement at his question. She didn't think the senshi would just randomly start something unless provoked, which meant that the chances of the city having any sort of event like this in the future relied on Beryl showing restraint.
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Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 8:06 am
"Humanity's only interesting so long as it's different," he theorized. Some people wouldn't have spoken to a girl standing near them in a crowded marketplace. This was true. Paul, however, did, and he definitely did not regret speaking to Vera. It was the most interesting conversation he'd had in a very long time.
He ran a hand over his hair, peeked around. Other senshi's powers seemed to be much more destructive than his own, which just cleared a space for him to operate when he needed it. He had heard of a senshi who uprooted streetlights, had fought one who apparently called jewelry to her--and most senshi were cowards, too, unwilling to fight. At least, not as much as he was.
A glance down at his watch reminded him of the advancing time, but he wasn't quite ready to go. "So, how have you been enjoying the festival?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:37 pm
"I suppose," she replied with a one shouldered shrug. It wasn't really something she'd ever thought about; but if that was how he felt, then Vera was a little pleased at the thought that he found her interesting. Most people didn't. Most people found her to be unsettling, or were scared off by Janice (Vera was quietly grateful Janice wasn't here).
Vera didn't have a watch - just a cellphone she was determined to ignore. Eventually she'd have to leave, but not right now. "It's alright," she offered in reply. "I haven't looked around much." It seemed fairly typical for such things, as far as Vera knew. "Better now," she added on with a shy smile.
"And you?" Maybe he'd found something more interesting than the usual carnival skill games.
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:22 pm
Paul's smile widened a little bit--he might have been trying for amusement but it just came off as earnest, the kind of look an idealistic young medical student should have. It was the kind of smile that someone who would be terrified of Vera's friend would have, if you thought about it. It was, to put it simply, a nice-guy smile.
"My classmates and I looked around before they all vanished," he said, "it's fairly impressive for a first try. Next year they'll probably have more rides... the lines this year are rather long. It's impractical--they'd get more cash flow if they did..."
He did like her smile, he thought, falling silent for a minute. His expression smoothed out a little, the smile fading. "Yes," he said, beaming at her; "It's much better now."
Unfortunately, though, it was the season for midterms; he frowned and looked at the watch again. "I should be going, though. I have a midterm tomorrow--nose to the grindstone, and all that." The tone was definitely apologetic, and he did look quite sorry to have to go. Sincere to the bone.
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:02 pm
She nodded her head, pink hair bobbing a bit in the back as she did so. "That would be nice," Vera said. She hadn't really paid much attention to the rides themselves, but he was right - the lines did seem to be a bit on the long end. "More people showed up than they thought, I suppose," she added on, looking thoughtful. Was it because there had been that promise of no terrorist activity? People hadn't been feeling very safe lately, and that was bound to have an economic impact.
Paul smiled at her again; he seemed to like doing that, and honestly, Vera didn't mind. He had a very nice smile, one that seemed genuinely happy and pleased. That sort of emotion wasn't one she encountered often. In fact, the last time she'd seen someone that pleased at the prospect of being around her, it had been Spinel.
Wondering how the other corrupted senshi was doing nearly made her miss his next remark. "Oh, midterms. DCU or Sovereign Heights?" He had to be at one of the colleges; she'd not seen him around Meadowview (not that it meant much), and he seemed too nice to attend Hillworth.
...Hopefully he wouldn't be too weirded out by the fact that he'd been having such a nice conversation with a high school girl. She was a senior, true; nearly 18, even!
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