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 Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 6:32 pm
Destiny City was a fine city... mostly before the sun went down. Renna had only been there for three days, and already, she had a funny feeling in her stomach. It was a major metropolis, but if she ever stuck her head out the door past 11PM, there were far less people walking about than she would expect. If she did see someone, they were usually hurrying past.
Perhaps choosing a moderately priced hotel downtown had not been the best choice in the world. Even over in Baltimore, Renna had heard about the gang violence in Destiny City, but she was from South Africa. She chalked it up to yet another thing that Americans tended to blow out of proportion. When she asked Eden about it, he had brushed off all the rumors as exactly that -- rumors. And her cousin was not one to lie to her, as far as she knew.
Renna only had a limited amount of time to hunt for her lost cousin. Despite her best arguing, her family was not keen on their 17-year-old daughter picking up and relocating. But she had always been independent, and once she got her mind set on saving someone, there was little that could be said to stop her.
Two weeks. She had been given two weeks to stay in Destiny City and try to hunt down her slippery cousin, and then she would be back on the bus to Baltimore. Eden, Renna thought, what nonsense is keeping you away from me now. The two cousins had always been close. Eden, though, was prone to roam. He just never forgot to check up on her when he did... until now. It was this tiny fact that told Renna something was very, very wrong. She could not be satisfied until she found the truth.
On day three of hanging up flyers smattered in Eden's face, Renna was beginning to feel a prickle of desperation. No one had called yet, and when she went back to most of the places where she had hung flyers before, they were either missing or vandalized. Determination set in her brow as she crossed the intersection and bent down a brand new road.
There was a lot of night clubs and bars in this part of town. Renna hoped to get as much traffic as possible peeling across her flyers so she had been stapling them in the center of announcements about bands, parties, and less than reputable check cashing advertisements. On this particular Wednesday night, she was standing outside of a place called The Snake Lounge stapling Eden's face next to an advertisement for carpet cleaning and an announcement about a mix tape party the next night.
"Americans," she muttered under her breath, the roll of her South African heritage flipping off her tongue.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:31 pm
Many months had passed since Proustite had had to look at Marthozite's face. It was almost surreal when suddenly, after his memory had become little more than a dream, the General-King's civilian likeness started popping up all over the place. They had never been close. Proustite was too foolhardy and Marthozite too distant for there to have been any real relationship, but the lieutenant would never forget the day he'd met Eden, or the reasons why he'd revealed himself.
Just in case.
Eden hadn't invited him over for beers or board games, but he had shared his identity just in case Proustite ever really ******** needed him.
If there was one thing Proustite had learned during his stint within the Negaverse it was that, as a lieutenant, he was disposable; a toy for Metallia to play with, and then throw away. If she so chose.
Marthozite had cared. Sort of.
And that was pretty cool.
Proustite was out on the prowl, as per usual, using the glamour afforded him by his power to get into every bar that he wanted. He'd had a bit of whiskey, and he'd danced with a couple of pretty ladies. Evidence of their existence lingered in the lipstick that was smeared across his neck.
As far as Saturday nights went, this one was better than average. He hadn't been ambushed by any psycho senshi, and he was making good on his energy quota. It was outside one of his favourite clubs that Proustite, lifting a cigarette to his lips, discovered Renna.
And she was tacking Eden's face to a billboard already full of advertisements.
He cocked an eyebrow, at once surprised and curious, and hesitated only a moment before approaching her.
"Hey," Proustite breathed softly, unlit cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth, and placed a hand on the wall beside Renna's head. "Are you new around here?"
She had to be, if she was only looking for Eden now. Marthozite had been dead for awhile.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:41 pm
Renna was no stranger to the aggressiveness of men, especially the kind of men who hung outside of a bar with a cigarette dangling from their lips on a weeknight. Out of reflex, she ducked under his arm and took a few steps back from him. Purple eyes fell to the cigarette in his mouth, then the lipstick on his neck. "That's not healthy, you know," she said.
Judging people's risk-taking was sort of her thing.
The comment did not go ignored though. Renna was desperately trying to find someone who knew her cousin. Even if this guy was a dead end, it was worth exploring. "I'm new, yes, but I am looking for this man." She held up a flyer in her arms so that Proustite could see. "His name is Eden. He's missing. He lived around here -- have you seen him before? Even someone who looks a little like him?" A note of desperation wiggled in her voice.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:10 pm
It was impossible to mistake the way that she drew away from him, as though he were some sort of criminal. Proustite had the audacity to be offended, but only for a moment, and then was forced to concede the wisdom of Renna's actions. While he did not intend her harm, he had relieved several men of their energy that evening, and couldn't deny how dangerous he was.
When he considered things that way, all of this was a little bit flattering.
"Yeah, yeah," Proustite nodded, provoked into sincerity by the note of desperation in her voice. He took the cigarette from his lips, looked her in the eye, and then tossed it to the side as though recognizing it as poisonous would earn him some reward. "I know him-- I mean, I've seen him before, sure. Or somebody who looks like him."
Marthozite wad dead.
Proustite didn't have the heart to tell her the truth.
"...maybe I have. I can't say for sure."
Yes, he could.
"There are a lot of guys around here named Eden."
No, there weren't. Stop talking, Jack.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:46 pm
A tiny flicker of joy buzzed in Renna's eyes when Proustite flicked the cigarette away. She had helped him. It was a tiny nugget of joy in what had been a fairly rough handful of days. If Proustite wasn't careful, his bad boy antics were inches away from earning him an interested Renna. She had no idea how to recognize a Negaverse agent. She simply assumed the weird costume was some sort of American club fashion she was unfamiliar with.
But when Proustite mentioned that he might know who was in the photo, Renna just about lost her cool. "You recognize him?" she said quickly. Her eyes grew serious and then glazed over in a fine sheet of water. The teenager was close to crying. "Don't play around with me. You think you know Eden? Eden is not a common name. He is South African. He would sound like I sound. He has a really steely gaze. He worked at a school in this city. Is this the person you know? Where did you see him?"
In her panic, Renna had reached out a hand and was gripping Proustite's forearm. She became aware of her actions and gently released him. "Please, anything you know -- everything, really. Just tell me." Renna flipped over one of the flyers and fished a pen out of the pocket of her jacket to take notes.
Then wide purple eyes glanced up at Proustite not too much unlike a puppy.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 9:00 pm
Were those tears in her eyes?
Alarm flashed like lightning across Proustite's features. Suddenly, fiercely glad that he had not told this girl the truth about Marthozite's fate, the lieutenant struggled under the weight of the situation. Jack had always been a smooth talker. He was usually confident and carefree, but incapable of being so when Renna was so obviously invested in finding Eden. Whoever she was, she cared for the General King, and would be devastated, probably, when faced with reality.
"I'm not playing," he told her earnestly, and did not pull away when she gripped at his arm. Comforting people had never been his thing. Jack was good at kissing women, and loving them. He couldn't handle it when they cried.
"Oh, I dunno," Proustite tried, heart warmed by the way she'd started taking notes, and wracked his brain for a good lie. "I might of bumped into him at the gym once or twice? We didn't talk much. I didn't get a real social vibe from him, you know?"
He cleared his throat, rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck, and wondered aloud, "What is he, to you?"
She was a little old, to be Marthozite's daughter.
A kid sister, maybe?
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 10:31 pm
Hope was a thin string connecting each of Renna's ribs together in a patchwork. She was petrified to breathe too hard, to do anything that might shatter the bubble of apprehension. Her pen over the pen scribbled gym. "What gym?" she asked quickly. From what little Proustite had said, she felt like he was talking about her Eden. This was helped immensely by her desperate desire to believe this was true.
"He's my cousin, okay," she said quickly. "But what gym?" He didn't answer quickly enough and so she said again, a bit louder, "What gym?"
Eden had been missing for six months, and this was the first glimmer of hope that someone knew where he was. Even if this guy was full of s**t, Renna was treating it like fact. She was just that desperate.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 10:47 pm
Usually, Jack was pretty full of s**t. But, he wasn’t lying this time. Not really. There was a profound difference between neglecting to tell a hopeful girl that her missing cousin was actually dead and manipulating her into believing otherwise. While a member of the Negaverse, Proustite was only a lieutenant, and not wholly alienated from his humanity.
And he understood what it was, to care about family.
“Uh,” Proustite hesitated, and then decided to give her a real address. “UR Fitness, on the corner of Cameron St.”
It was his gym. A little part of Jack hoped that he’d see her there sometime. And then he remembered that she would only recognize him as Proustite.
What a dilemma.
“My brother Jack spends more time there than I do,” he drawled, after a moment, “We’re twins. But people tell me I’m the better looking, of the two of us. He might know something I haven’t been able to tell you.”
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 10:54 pm
The name of the gym and the street were both unfamiliar to her, but Renna scribbled them down fervently. "Okay, Cameron Street." She pronounced it like Cameroon. The name of his brother was also copied down. Her pen froze. "What was your name? Phone number? It's really important that I follow up with you. My cousin has been missing for months, and if you've seen him -- hey, how long ago was the last time?" Renna wasn't exactly a cop. Her questions fell out of order.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 11:04 pm
Proustite hesitated. He had not stopped to consider the wisdom of sharing his civilian identity with this tenacious young woman, and did not know what to tell her when she asked for his name.
“My name’s Kyle,” he answered, at last, and rattled off some random digits. They might have belonged to his grandmother, or one of his ex-girlfriends. Jack couldn’t remember.
“It’s been longer than a couple of months since I’ve seen him.”
Honesty.
It felt a little strange.
“I hope that you find him, honey. I would help you more, if I could.”
He wondered if there was somebody else he could get, to reveal the truth.
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Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:50 pm
Her pen continued to bob, taking down "Kyle" in her slanted scrawl. "Kyle...?" She paused. "Last name?" Though she was frustrated he was being a touch evasive, Renna would do anything to learn where Eden was. This was the first thing that even smacked of a lead of any kind.
A couple months... Still, a couple months was shorter than the last time anyone else had seen him. April. April felt like worlds away.
"Here, take my information," she said, passing a flyer to Kyle. "It's on the form. Please call me once you talk to him."
If he didn't, Renna would be calling the number he gave her. A lot.
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Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 5:22 pm
Of course she'd want his last name. Proustite blinked his surprise, and rifled mentally through all of the surnames he'd come into contact with over the years. For some reason, none of them seemed suitable. They were either too long or too strange or too normal to be believable.
In the end, clearing his throat and fixing his hair, Proustite told her;
"Swagger. Kyle Swagger."
What the ********, Jack?
"Yeah, sure," he nodded cooperatively, and took the paper that she offered him without further ado. While Proustite wasn't personally prepared to tell Renna what had happened to Eden, he could see to it that somebody else would. Why anybody would care that Marthozite's cousin missed him eluded Proustite, but the possibility was there.
The Negaverse was ******** weird. Proustite wasn't going to pretend he understood how it worked.
If it was him, he would have wanted to know the truth. He empathized with Renna, and decided he'd spread the word.
"I'll let you know if I see him again."
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