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 Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 8:29 am
Melvin sat in his new lab (well, more like time shared), and was fiddling around with his new tablet. He'd never owned one before and they had pretty much gotten popular when he was in a pod and not able to really play around with them. Having one of his own was even better than runicing his own laptop (though he still hoped to do that), and he played around with the various menus. Since he was just granted this equipment and budget, he decided to take the day just settling into things and organizing what he was going to do - which had then changed to him dicking around on his new tablet.
For the most part, he just reveled in the fact he had a guaranteed, secured, time share in one of the labs all to himself.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 8:47 am
Rep had no respect for the sanctity of a man's lab, and after asking around a bit, had been directed to where he could find Melvin. The guy had flipped out at Scarentines, and although he'd let him walk away, he had been worried about the outburst of emotion and if he was ok. Finally back from his golem excursion and arranged with the division meeting, he was excited for the arctic base, but not before he got other things in order.
As always, he didn't knock and gave no herald of his arrival other than loudly saying. "Sup Goldilocks." Before his attention seemed to narrow down directly on the tablet.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:04 am
Melvin had not expected to see Rep in his lab, and on his recent high, had forgotten about the more pressing issue he had been stressing over before. The idea that somewhere in Halloween, the creature from his nightmares lived. It hadn't been something he had even began to start coping with. Rin had been kind in soothing his nervousness and strain right after it happened, and while he saw that she too had marks caused by Halloweeners, he just couldn't accept that it was the same. Rin had her attacks, like most everyone, when they knew their were shadows and were armed to fight them. He'd just been a child with no concept of monsters being actually real. Most of all, that monster had changed his life drastically that it felt more personal than any random shadow he met during battle. She was also more terrifying.
When he saw Rep, he was reminded that the last time he saw him, he had screamed bloody murder. It wasn't something he, in all his cool diversions, could easily set aside and have others ignore. Right after it happened, Rin had stepped in to calm him, and being a wreck, it was hard to deny her that things were wrong. With Rep here and Melvin now calmed down, he had more in his arsenal to pretend to others he was okay.
He just had to work around the Sun's keen sense of instinct.
"Oh, hi Tiger. What are you doing here?" He said in what he hoped was his most normal voice ever as he glanced back down with concentration and focus at the tablet screen in hopes of not having to directly look at the red-head.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:41 am
Rep moved over to sit down on an empty chair, crossing his arms in a very I-can-be-here-all-day sort of gesture. He wanted to ask where the hell he'd managed to get hold of the tablet, but resisted, determined to stick to his original intention.
"Wanted to check you were okay after that bug b***h." It had taken him days and days to get round to it and he was pretty embarrassed that it had. "Though I guess Rin had it covered." Yes, still bitter.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:52 am
It wasn't hard to get the tone Rep tried hard to pretend wasn't there but at the same time worked even harder to make sure you noticed. If Melvin hadn't seen it in the shower and on that cliff, he would be sure Rep wasn't carrying anything between his legs with how much of a diva he could become.
Glancing up to look only as far at Rep's bearded chin, Melvin shrugged. "I'm fine. You both had it under control, and I didn't need the entire cavalry." So far beyond fine that it wasn't even funny. Even thinking about it had him feeling sick. He continued to tap things on his tablet to keep his hands from shaking from nerves alone.
Swallowing hard, he continued. "Is there anything else you needed?" Move on. Move on. Move on.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 10:18 am
"Well. You didn't look fine." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, Melvin was damn quick to wave it off, not even so much as a viable excuse. If it had been him he'd at least have covered his a** with a weak excuse - I wasn't feeling well - or something similar. The lack of explanation coupled with how much he seemed to want to wash his hands of it all only made Rep more determined to keep digging.
"Since you say you are fine now, how about you give me an explanation for what the hell happened and who the ******** she was?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 10:28 am
With Rep not looking at this screen, Melvin was more or less tapping the screen over and over, opening and closing the same word file to seem otherwise busy and that the conversation wasn't even worthy enough to address his full attention. It was, as he was presenting or hopefully presenting, just a small, silly little incident that didn't really need to be thought too hard on.
It wasn't working as well as he had hoped when Rep kept pressing.
He just needed to answer the questions in little, short detail and he could move on.
"I don't know who she was. She just burned me, and it spooked me." He took deep breathes, trying to steel him from the thought of that green woman physically touching his golem, and he resisted the urge to touch his arm, only glancing at it in a quick flicker before looking back at his tablet. "I overreacted."
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:00 am
"Except you don't over react to anything or maybe I'd believe that. You are all about control, being in absolute like, aloof control of your senses and s**t. The world could be ending and you'd just be a bit ruffled cause you weren't sure what to do. You don't break down. And that was a break down, I'd know them, I get them enough."
He could dig in his heels when he had to. "That burn looked a lot like the swirly on your neck."
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:26 am
Melvin would have smiled to be told that he a handle of things in almost any situation no matter how crazy, and while he was panicking during battles, he at least liked that he gave the appearance of calm and cool. However, it did not serve him well when making a comparison to when he didn't act in such a fashion, and it wasn't helping his I'm Fine case any.
And Rep just didn't let it go, pulling out a tidbit Melvin didn't even think Rep noticed before. Without thinking, Melvin touched the side of his neck where the mark was, his hand touching the fabric of his turtleneck, and he felt even worse, even more sick, at the comparison that Rep was making. The old dog's instincts were good, and he was sniffing too close to fact.
His eyes simple stared at the table screen, breathing deeper and deeper and feeling his vision pull away into that distant look when you thought too hard.
He only ever spilled to Rin because he was so fragile and near sick that, with her there poking and prodding him soon after finding out that monster was alive, he just gave up and admitted it as his own brain tried to process out loud. He had a few days since then, and he tried to keep what little control he had in keeping quiet.
Rep was close to getting near a theory OR a conclusion, and despite his desire to keep him from drawing lines, he just didn't know what to say to detour him.
Instead, he was just quiet.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:41 am
Silence was practically a confirmation as far as Rep was concerned, Melvin was too sharp not to be evasive if he had to be, and even the almost subconscious way he reached up to touch his neck set off warning bells in Rep's head, add that to the distant stare and he was aware that he was probably treading close to walls he had never even been certain were there.
"You are always telling me off for denial." he said.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 11:57 am
His fingers dug into the soft fabric of his turtleneck's collar before he slowly dropped it and resumed his now pointless task of poking his tablet in hopes of Rep thinking he was too busy and leaving. It wouldn't work, and Melvin knew it. Rep was set in his chair and driving his point to the finishing line if he had to run all day.
The lump in the Lifer's throat felt like a fishing bobber that wouldn't stay down, and there was that horrible acid that warned him he might be sick again.
He remembered his psychiatrist offering his trash can that one time - way back when.
"I'm not in denial. I'm telling you the truth when I say I don't actually know her. She's just...a thing I didn't expect to see." He didn't know what she was, what she was called, or what she was even classified. He knew nothing about what she was aside from the fact that she was still alive, and she made his life miserable ever since meeting her.
His voice grew small. "....can we talk about something else?" He didn't want to be in this room anymore, and he had half a mind to just slouch in his seat and hide behind his tablet like he did with his sister's magazines when he was younger and his parents pressed about why he had left Henry McDerbison's party early when really he had been terrified of the basement they would be having their slumber party at. He didn't like talking about when he was worried or afraid because it made people worry and they had no way to possible understand or help. Because they would think he was touched. He'd handled it on his own before - he could handle it all on his own.
It was like Rep pointed out. He was cool and in control.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:07 pm
Rep was normally respectful of other people's feelings, when they felt pressed too far he'd recede, give them space, let them give him information at their own pace, it had worked with Jordan, a simple willingness to listen and share his own experiences while expecting nothing had been all it took. With Melvin that didn't work, he'd tried, gave and gave and gave until he felt like he was running out of bartering material, there was almost nothing the life hunter didn't know about him at this point and he took so much of that knowledge and kept it while grudging every single tidbit he gave back. Rep's patience was fraying, and it didn't help that now he had an edge of jealousy on his side, sure he'd made his peace with Melvin during the bizzare status effect, but now there was the issue of Rin.
He bet Melvin told Rin everything. Her incessant probing and brash questions, her curves. Everyone ******** spoke to women didn't they? All it took was the bat of an eye, the promise of some unspoken reward later, it made that jealous rage he carried around stir in him, slithering around the concern he felt.
"Maybe you didn't know her but you sure as ******** recognised her. And we could talk about something else. but you know what? This time I don't want to, I'm sick of you ripping out all my issues, making me feel inadequate and broken while keeping whatever it is you have going on to yourself. What do you think I'm going to do with the knowledge? If I ******** wanted to hurt you I'd use Tracey."
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 12:22 pm
Melvin wanted to be angry at the harsh tone that was suddenly thrown his way, as if Rep had any right to be angry, before he just chalked it up to Rep being Rep. Anger was what Rep did, and as much as Melvin wanted to flair up in anger, he didn't have anything to back it up. It wasn't in him to be boiling over in rage. That sort of attitude got him beat up as a kid, before he learned that he could hurt and keep himself safe with his words rather than his feeble fists. He couldn't win a fight with anger, and it was always comical now to think of anger as anything as pathetic when it was applied to him. Everyone else could pull it off. He didn't feel it fit him right.
Instead, he just felt targeted, and he finally did sink in his seat more before Rep continued to persist. At this point, he knew he wasn't going anywhere.The door was WAYYYYY over there, and he'd probably be stopped or followed. There was no way he'd bring this conversation outside this room.
He's just one person, and he's your friend. You told Rin after all.
That was different. I didn't meant to with her. I was puking in the bathroom and couldn't think!
Well, it's either you tell him or Rin. Saliva could feel Melvin considering and huffed. Melvin! You've already told him personal things before.
One thing. I told him ONE thing.
And has he spread that around.
I haven't found out yet.
Melvin could feel Saliva crossing her arms and finally breathed out and leaned forward, setting his head down and setting the tablet down, crossing his arms so he could just enjoy the darkness from covering the sides of his face. It would be easier, he felt, if he didn't have to look at Rep.
The Sun should have known better than anyone that it wasn't the threat of physical damage that even hurt as much as words did.
I don't want to do this. I don't want to talk. I don't want to be here.
"I met her when I was 12......in an abandoned house..."
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:13 pm
Rep didn't expect Melvin to concede, in all the time he'd known the other man everything, every single thing he knew about him had been a fight to get out of him. It was like playing tug of war with a very stubborn dog and Rep just didn't have the persistence to win most of the time. When he started to talk Rep fell dead silent, a considerate sort of quiet very few people got to hear, when he was in all seriousness, interested in every word the other person had to say.
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Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:32 pm
When Rep said nothing, he waited. He didn't dare look up just yet from the sanctuary that was this dark space that meant he didn't have to look at anyone and they couldn't look at him. His father used to say that cowards and liars didn't look a man in the eye. Well, he was saying the truth so he guessed he was the other.
No, Melvin. This is good. Just keep going.
This isn't good, Saliva. None of this is good.
Seeing as Rep was quiet, he breathed out. He already had this story memorized, it was saying it that bugged him the most. There was a vulnerablity in letting something only you knew free into a room for anyone to hear. Then it wasn't a secret anymore. It was something worse.
"We thought it was a smart idea - my friends and I - to check the place out." He had such stupid friends. Stupid friends who really weren't there for him in the end, but what did you expect from a bunch of stupid kids.
"I fell through some floorboards and was stuck in a room. I hurt my legs....and she was there."
She, because as he told Rep, he didn't know her. She was only a she because of her form, but even then, she was a thing to him. This entity of nightmares.
"..and she got angry........"
His hands squeezed around his head a little more to keep out all light as he more or less spoke to the surface of the tabletop. It made what he was saying feel more private and contained when in all reality it was out being listened to.
"...and so I got that mark....and got to see monsters all my life since..."
And that was that. His first chapter in being a hunter and being a miserable little kid.
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