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 Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:51 pm
Zia Connolly seemed to function in two modes, lately. One was the primped and fashionable Barbie persona used for work, which was necessary to keep up to keep her in luxurious above-the-poverty-line living conditions, and the just plain bitchy. Or that's how most people put it, lately.
Still in her business chic work clothes, she undid her perfectly formed and clipped back ringlets and shook out her hair while she waited at the bus stop, not even caring about the wild springs of lilac being completely loose in every direction, including straight up. She had spent all day being perky and pretty. She was done. And to make matters worse, the stupid thing was late. If it was because of something dumb like a youma attack she was going to cat laser someone in the face.
She was in an extra bad mood today, too. Or, she had been since she ran into Chris and was reminded that she didn't always think the world sucked. But it does, it just sucks so. bad. And for some reason, whenever she played that conversation back in her head, it made her seethe. And she couldn't quite pinpoint why...
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:51 pm
Cameron would always be Cameron, no matter what all his identification now said. No one would ever recognize him as such but he remembered, he knew. How could he forget what he lost? He refused to just throw it away and accept this new life, even if the name he picked was ******** awesome. Who wouldn't want a name based off influential scientists and mathematicians of the past? He originally was going to name himself something like Albert but when given a list of all of them he had picked something else entirely.
Now he was Pascal Lalande, but even after a year of this, he was still quite bitter. He'd lost his placement at Azure Academy, his home, his family (although he'd admit he didn't get along very well with them he still felt a piece of him was lost with them). Pieces of himself he'd never get back, Pascal threw himself into his work in his field of science. He'd gotten a part-time job with assisting an engineer, a necessarity he found himself needing when s**t really started to hit the fan and he found himself without a roof over his head. It was his attempt to regain the life he'd lost and another great way to avoid the fact that when he went to bed each night his skin crawled thinking that deep down inside he was actually Sailor Orpheus.
Life just sucked, and no matter what Pascal did it would always suck. He couldn't escape it. No matter how far he ran, no matter what corner he hid in, he knew it would always come back to this simple fact he'd never escape. Textbooks for his new year at HITS made Pascal's satchel twice as heavy as normally, acting as an extra downer. If his life didn't suck enough, he now had the weight of his world literally hanging off his shoulders. Robotics, chemistry, physics; they weren't light books.
He groaned by the time he got to the bus stop, flopping down unpleasantly on the bus bench. Hair hung down over his eyes while a hang quickly moved to brush it out of the way. It was then he seen her, classy and down up like a well played in doll. She was gorgeous with lovely lilac ringlets shaken over her shoulders to complete the look. Perhaps he had spent so long alone and bitter but seeing someone looked about as pissed off as he felt actually was comforting in a strange, perhaps close to sadistic sort of manner.
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 7:13 pm
"Long day?" Zia didn't sound particularly interested or concerned about her new bus stop companion, but in spite of all of her disdain for the world, it was still common courtesy and it hadn't entirely been beaten out of her. There was something about her job of wining and dining and charming people out of their money that made politeness seem not entirely nice anyway.
She shifted her weight to the other hip, standing there in her expensive heels that made waiting for a bus of all things seem a bit off, but she was still in that icky transition period of financial independence, and her new found independence meant no daddy to pay for car insurance and having to find a new way to get home from work. But either way, her Donna Karan skirt was not touching that bus bench. Ever.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:20 pm
"More like the orbit of Mars around the Sun," he sighed, almost immediately correctly his phrase. "Too long, too long." Another pause, he looked at the woman with a careful eye as she shifted her weight to the other hip. Mm mm, she had quite the body on her he had to say. She didn't quite look like the kind of woman who would be taking the bus, but that was definitely a blessing for him.
"It would be shorter if less people reminded me to smile every five minutes, like the world will end if I don't." He said it matter of factually, giving the woman a charming smile that read with a strong hint of irony. It was a nice smile, a practiced smile. It was a smile that was more business than personal. If it was so simple to die, he would have a long time ago. It wasn't though, and he wasn't about to anytime soon.
"Yourself?" He asked, not particularly because he cared but because it was habit, common courtesy. Plus, she was hot. He was willing to play cat and mouse with her.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:07 pm
"Ugh, I know!" Zia lifted a hand and let it drop back to her side in the frustration of the entire topic, and imitated (Mostly Chris, but easily other friends and family) in a mockingly high pitched tone. "'Smile, Zee, you used to be so pretty and perky' Yeah well it's not my job to be all smiley and pretty for you assholes; I'm not putting on a show here, I'm trying to survive in this godforsaken pit of monsters and epidemics and terrorists with no fashion sense and keep my shitty job so I can stay in my shitty apartment."
She inhaled sharply, glancing back to make eye contact to the boy she'd just ranted at out of nowhere before turning to glance at the Blackberry that had been slipped out of her purse.
"I mean, I don't remember signing a contract saying I was going to muddle through this bullshit and also look happy about it so a few pussies who are still trying to kid themselves feel comfortable."
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 6:08 pm
Pascal's grumpy face couldn't help but smile for a moment when this woman began to obviously mimic someone she knew. Someone who tormented her with a smile like the world tormented him. Didn't people understand that there just wasn't anything to a smile? Why did they have to smile all the time? He could tell them it took way more muscles in the face to smile than it did to frown but still no one seemed to understand. Except maybe this woman, she seemed to face the same trivial concerns as he did.
"Zee, is it? I think you look beautiful with or without a smile, and you sound awfully lively to me. Whoever that idiot is must be deaf and blind, I feel almost a bit out of place calling him and idiot when he's so unfortunate." He laughed lightly, moving his hand through his hair to push it to the side. He didn't even know this person but it sounded just like everyone else. No one understood just how much the world ******** sucked. What was there possibly to smile all day long about here in Destiny City where you got kidnapped and thrown into space, attacked constantly by monsters and then when it is all over: told to smile. ******** you, ******** you Destiny City.
"My name's Pascal," he said, introducing himself appropriately.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 7:10 pm
"Hm. Flattery," Zia said with a bit of body language that might have seemed derisive and dismissive if she handed suddenly sat down next to him on the bus bench and daintily crossed one leg over the other. "That will only get you everywhere." She smirked, my it was really more of a corner twitch of her mouth than a genuine 'happy smile'.
"My name's Zia, actually, and hi, I'm obviously not complicated," She introduced in a sort of dry joking humor as she extended a hand to shake his. "What's your damage?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 8:55 pm
To be honest, Pascal thought she was going to stand there forever. She didn't look cheap, and this bench wasn't exactly something he would have liked to keep her own. He'd offer her his lap but quite honestly he realized how quick that might actually get the cops called on his a**. It could entirely be worth it though, getting his a** thrown in jail to have hers on him. He sighed mentally, trying to shake the thoughts. She was clearly too hot. He wasn't about to pounce on her like a cat but it didn't mean he hadn't considered the thought. He considered many different paths before stepping down the road and as a scientific man he was bound by logic. He often cursed logic, but clearly it was this very logic that kept his hands to himself and his a** out of jail.
"It's a pleasure to meet you I'mobviouslynotcomplicated." That's right, Pascal had jokes. "Zia's a lovely name, quite unique." He said as he firmly took her hand in his.
Like half the population of Destiny City, his damage was bound by childhood trauma and girls in pleated skirts. He couldn't exactly tell her magical girls kidnapped him and tried to kill him, and then made him a magical boy. He didn't exactly want to get a pity party by telling her he was one of the 48 kidnapped civilians from a year ago. It was a nasty anniversary though, it made his week especially unpleasant. He had no delusions about the father issues, or the mother issues. They were there, but it didn't make him any special. He looked at Zia, glancing upon her crossed legs with a sigh. Yeah, a sigh. His thoughts went back momentarily before crossing to reality.
"You know, the usual," he summed up his life rather averagely. For Destiny City though, most of his damage was average.
"I could give you some sap story about how my father was some abusive drunk, how my mother smiled and denied it all, how kids bullied me constantly until I learned how to kick them all in their smiling faces or about how this city absolutely blows as a place to grow up but how boring is that? Truthful, but it doesn't make much of a story to entertain a lovely lady with." He grinned slyly, a smirk of interest more than a smile of happiness.
"So tell me, just how much do you hate taking the bus?" He laughed with amusement. Clearly she was out of place.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 5:29 pm
"No it's not, it's my mother trying to be unique," Zia snorted with a roll of the eyes, folding her hands on her purse on her lap. She had always had a certain disdain for her name, but it could've been worse, she guessed. Zirconia was not exactly a proper name either and her brothers' mother had given them all biblical names.
"Pascal is interesting, though. Are your parents into science."
She quirked an eyebrow at his story he 'wasn't' going to tell but decided not to harp on it with the way he finished. Besides, she did so want to talk about how much she despised the bus.
"OH it's terrible!" She announced. "It's never on time," She checked her watch to double check. Yep. Definitely late. "It's filthy and there are the most low class people on bored it is absolutly torturous. But I can't afford car insurance and I'm certainly not going crawling back to my father for anything. You know he's dating a woman my age?! And in the meantime my car is simply rotting away in a parking space."
Really, it was practically a war crime.
She did pause for a moment and hope she hadn't offended him though. She didn't want to offend her kindred spirit who was absolutely adorable, even if he was too young for her tastes. "Not that I meant present company in that whole... rant. You seem perfectly normal!"
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:04 pm
Pascal nodded. It wasn't necessarily true but he couldn't exactly tell her that he picked his own name because he was really into science, now could he? It sort of defeated the point of changing your identity when you went around and told everyone you changed your name. Plus, how would you explain the fact to someone when there wasn't even proof of your previous identity relating to this one? It was best just to nod and agree, it was just a small white lie that protect his life.
"I am quite into science myself."
He'd love to go on and continue to talk about himself but he left his manners in check, allowing her to reply to his question about buses. He couldn't help but be amused by just how much she hated buses. He thought she looked a little overdressed and classy for a bus but this definitely proved this theory correct. He, on the other hand, was quite accustomed to buses. It wasn't the best mode of transportation but it was definitely better than mirrors, definitely better than traveling through a mirror. ********, he really hated mirrors. So much that he smashed the mirror in his bathroom and removed it from his apartment so that there was no way anyone was going to peak through or pull him through one anytime soon.
Paranoid? Yes. Rightfully so? Most definitely.
"Don't forget it is always early when you would have been there on time," he laughed. It was so true though. Either late or early but never on time.
Was Pascal offended by what she said? Nope, he assumed he couldn't be all that torturous if she had willingly sat down on the bench next to him to talk to him. Did he have a bit of an ego? Perhaps, but after all he'd been through if he didn't he may as well be laying on the ground defeated.
"Well thank you, although how normal is a person truly when we cast aside our facades? I'd like to think I'm not filthy or entirely torturous company to be around though."
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:43 pm
"Oh!" Zia clasped her hands together gleefully, though the sciences weren't her forte, she still enjoyed staring wistfully up at the planetarium and was an excellent chemistry student in school. "What sort of science?" 'Science' was so vague.
"I hate it!" Was all she had to say on that bus dilemma, and she flopped against the bench back and twisted the strap on her purse since it was currently the only outlet for her rage. Her car was so nice and smelled like her perfume and wasn't full of people. Even the dog hair on the back seat seemed so trivial.
It made her wish mirrorwalking didn't have such a stigma or she might use it more freely. A mirror was the best way to get across town.
"I think you are excellent company. Lately it seems like everyone thinks it's a puzzling project to approach me in a way that's not completely asinine or insulting. Obviously all you need to do is be adorable, interesting, and tell me I'm pretty!" She quipped, leaning over to nudge his shoulder with hers.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:02 pm
Pascal couldn't help but find it cute how excited Zia seemed to get learning that he was a science man. Her question delighted him, it wasn't very often that someone asked past that. Science was such a huge spectrum, but typically no one looked into it any further than science. You know, those horrible classes you sat through in junior high. General sciences, but how often did they expand on the good stuff?
"I'm so glad to hear a pretty woman like yourself would ask such a wonderful question. My studies major in robotics and astronomy but I have growing interest in particle physics and molecular physics." He'd be lying if he said the interest wasn't related to his doomed life as a DMS of the DMC. Over the year, he had been overly eager to find a way to change it, and his way was science. He was positive that science would not let him down, that there just had to be a solution for it.
Finishing, he glanced to see if the bus was there. Nope, of course not. He didn't linger on the road, looking softly at Zia as her shoulders pressed against his.
"What about yourself? I have no doubts that your looks aren't all there is to you."
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:25 pm
"Oh, baby, stop, you're getting me hot," Zia joked, even fanning herself with her hand. And then she laughed, "But seriously, that's amazing. Is your brain ridiculously overloaded with all that dense material?" She would leave out her personal interest in astronomy which was probably not very scientific and more based in the fact she was a space faring cat who had been to the parallel universe versions of half those planets she stared up at from this tiny rock. "I love astronomy. It's all so hyperbolic and mind boggling at every turn. The universe doesn't know how to tone it down, it just makes your massive home a speck of dust against it's own light source."
But she made a scoff at his statement about being more than good looks. "It doesn't matter. My boss doesn't think I'm suited for anything more than arm candy and sweet talking people out of their money," She sighed. "Never mind that he writes sales contracts with verbiage you could drive a technicality semi-truck through! He makes the sale, I proofread his s**t, he gets credit. I make the sale and write his bullshit, he still gets credit."
She was full on frowning now; Apparently Pascal had managed to ask about another rant she'd been bottling up in her arsenal. "I can do all kinds of magic with numbers, but why bother wince at the end of the day I'm just a coffee fetching pet."
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:55 pm
Pascal caught the joke, but part of him wished he could live in denial. How nice would it be to think he was actually turning a girl on while sitting on a bus stop bench? Props to the man who could, props to the man. Pascal wasn't that man, although his ego would like to think as much. Zia was simply too classy of a gal to seduce on a bus stop bench, although Pascal couldn't help but think of the irony in that consider her clear hatred for buses. It would only be passed by seducing her on the bus itself. Definitely.
He took a deep breath, mentally smiling at her interest in science. The universe was a strange place and although he loved astronomy a lot, things weren't the same after he got back from The Surrounding. He seen things differently, and he knew. Things many people said wasn't true was fact, and he hadn't a bit of evidence to prove it otherwise. Do you know how much as a scientist that burned Pascal? He hated the universe for months, hating how it worked and how it would ******** him over like this. However, how could he stay so mad at something he loved? He couldn't. He had rekindled his love with it, in time, after the wounds had healed.
"Passion and a lot of free time," he laughed. Basically that's what any skill took though.
Good feelings weren't meant to stay long though, Pascal knew this. He'd been doing so well too, and then some dipshit he didn't even know had to go and ******** things up. That's right Zia's boss should expect a mechanical dog stealing his newspaper every morning now and then burying it in his front yard. That could be a fun project. Pascal actually considered it briefly until deciding perhaps that was a bit too far. Maybe after he got to know Zia better, yeah? He had no doubts he wouldn't, he was determined. Something had to ******** go right, right? Right.
"You could always sweet talk him out of his money," Pascal suggested. "Clearly he'd approve." He also had a suggestion about fetching him some coffee for his crotch but Pascal didn't really want to think about such an unpleasant thought, oh the horror. He'd have to pity the guy at that point, and simply that wasn't on his day calendar.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:45 pm
Zia beamed a bit, purely unironically, no matter how hypocritical it seemed considering how much she had utterly refused to at the beginning of this conversation.
He did make her feel better, and he was easily the most interesting person she'd met all week.
"It's good to have to passion about something," She said in genuine admiration. It was like the sudden realization that was why she had suddenly tried to run away. All her passion for life, both in the form of Zia the business major with endless potential and Zirconia, royal guardian cat, had gone out like a light. And there was no more left.
The sound of the approaching bus was a relief, but it did have a mix of disappointment their solitary time at the bus bench was at an end. Well mostly. Zia had no intention of settling in and was taking a short ride that she probably could've walked in this time if it wasn't for her uncomfortable heels. Bus time was for survival, not chatting.
"Look who finally decided to show up!" She said sarcastically, but before she stood up to climb those few steps, she did squish him into a hug. Not that was not appropriate, but Zia had somewhat forgotten appropriate personal space bubbles. And he was adorable and she wanted to do more than hug him but playing with his hair might've been misconstrued as stalkery and possibly insulting. Besides, hugging provided the opportunity to slip her business card into his pocket as long as he didn't panic because some random chick at the bus stop was groping him or anything.
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