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 Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:29 pm
Zia decided she had enough of the inside of Chester's office and napping on his couch. She would, eventually, have to go home and suffer the consequences of what amounted to mostly avoiding consequences.
So she ventured out into the bright, wide world, leaving the refuge she'd sought in all her lurking and creeping around his place. She tied up her hair, looking like she'd just gotten out of bed and completing her frumpy hyper casual outfit of sweatpants and tank top and sauntered out of his office.
She did stop to check her long dead cellphone before tucking it away in her purse and glanced around. Even like this and even without his company she had a small habit of walking around like she owned the place. That just translated to being very comfortable in Chester's territory, but the semi-guardian was snooty and liberal with terms of 'ownership' and the like. For example, she considered Luxor hers-- she had adopted him whether he liked it or not-- and obviously, as his self proclaimed cat that came with certain privileges she gave herself. So if he owned this and she owned him, she didn't see anything wrong with walking around a closed carnival like she totally belonged there.
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Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 9:24 pm
By the time the hottie wandered out of Chester's office looking like she'd spent the night in there doing... well, not work, Elijah had been up and at the Carnival for hours. To get in some undisturbed practice time, he always tried to get there around day break. It was peaceful with the first rays hitting the rides and the tents and everything he loved so much... but none of that held his attention right now, because that was completely on the purple haired lady who had suddenly invaded his solitary little world.
Balanced on his hands, his ankles by his ears, he honestly gaped for a bit. He had never seen Chester with a woman before... what had the wanker been hiding from him, hmm? All that talk about rebuilding and all that hard work he'd been making Eli do to get things up and ship shape again... and here he was 'entertaining'.
Feeling his arms start to ache, the performer suddenly remembered he was upside down and he unfolded himself from the contorted pose, unbending so he could put his feet on the ground again. Blue braids tumbled around his shoulders as he brushed off his hands, his head tilted and a cocky smile on his face.
"Are ya' looking for someone, sweetheart?" Elijah called as he bent down to grab up his iphone and pause the dance music that had been playing from its tiny speakers. It was obvious right away he was not American, because his accent was from the other side of the Pond.
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 7:41 am
Zia probably would've regarded the blue haired boy as background noise, even in the contorted pose he had to untangle himself from. Circusy settings had a very homey and comfortable feel for her, for some reason, but that also kind of made everything mundane and casual instead of the show it was meant to be.
She stopped when he called out to her, though, and she looked around as if to double check if he meant anyone else.
"No?" She said like a question. She'd just left, after all! But she did have enough sense to realize it was a legitimate question why she would be touring the carnival alone when she was usually just tagging along.
"Oh, um... I was just visiting, but I'm on my way out now, no worries!" She chirped like this was totally acceptable, and wondered if Chester was the wort to invest in any security that could be called.
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:35 pm
Poor thing looked like he had caught her doing something nefarious... though sneaking around with Chester could maybe be classified as that. Lucky b*****d... how the hell he managed to get a girl when he had all the emotional depth of a thimble...
Elijah struck a pose and swept the stranger an elegant, theatrical bow, ignoring the fact that he was dressed the opposite of elegant in his ratty sweat pants and cut up tshirt. He hadn't expected an audience for practice or he would have worn his unitard, but whatever.
"My name's Elijah." He introduced himself, hoping to put her a little more at ease. His wide mouth made his smile huge in his dark face, long fingers sweeping an expressive gesture about him. "I'm a performer here. We don't get, ah... many before-hours visitors. Are you friends with Chester? I've never see you around before."
Already, his mind was going to what he was going to say to Chester first... his fingers itched to open up his phone and start texting him. Silly Man, giving the text-aholic his cell number...
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 2:24 pm
Zia glanced to the side a bit, as if she was double checking no one else was going to pop up and join in. Or maybe it was just being unsettled. She realized she wasn't entirely comfortable acting like she owned Chester's s**t without Chester, a realization that might've been more useful much earlier.
"Oh, I come around sometimes," She said with a shrug. Usually a lot better at being sneaky. But that's what complacency did.
"Oh, uhm.... yeah, we're friends," She said with a nod. It was probably rude to reveal one's knightly activities to their staff when they were unsure of their relationship. "I'm Zee," She said, extending a hand to shake his.
"You work here, right? Whatist called... contortion?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 3:29 pm
Somehow, Eli doubted 'Zee' came around all that often. Practically living here more than at his flat, he was sure that baring her being some kind of ninja, he would have seen her before now. But whatever, he felt he had a pretty good idea already cooked up in his head as to what was going on here. And really... he found it more entertaining than anything.
Stepping up, he gladly wrapped his long fingers around hers and gave her hand a squeeze, bowing theatrically over her hand again.
"I'm a contortionist, acrobat, tumbler, clown... whatever you like to call it. I've got moves." He said teasingly as he winked at her. "So. How did you two meet, hmm? Chester is usually so dull... He doesn't seem like the kind to hang out where the pretty girls are."
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 3:55 pm
"Oh, a flexible man," Zia had to return his wink. She couldn't not. "Oh he's not dull, he's very... uh... um. He's very..."
Her mouth formed a straight line as she tried to think of a word that was not 'dull'. Nothing was coming to mind. Her inner thesaurus went completely blank and abandoned her.
"He's just very emotionally restrained?" Well that came out terribly.
"I'm sorry, uh, he's your boss, right? Or are you guys just friends?"
Something clicked in her brain and suddenly she was on the defense. "Oh, are you implying? No, haha, no, we're friends. We're just friends. He's just going through a rough patch. You know with all the uh... stuff."
The entire carnival imploding was clearly just stuff.
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:15 pm
Eli gave her a grin as she returned his playful expression. Good, so she had a sense of humor. That was always an important quality in anyone... that wasn't Chester. He flipped his hand at her, waving off her try at re-describing his boss.
"Nice try, but we both know what he's like." He laughed. "He's sort of my boss, but I guess you could call us mates... sort of. I work for him, he pays me, but I'm too brilliant to be just any other employee." Lanky shoulders rose and fell as he laughed, a cocky grin splitting his face. Taking a step back, he bent over backwards until his palms touched earth and he kicked his feet up, taking a couple of hand-steps before he dropped his feet again, standing up to stretch and twist his body side to side. He made the motion look effortless, like he was naturally meant to move that way.
Stretching his arms up over his head, he grinned again and tilted his head.
"Just friends, huh? Chester doesn't have 'just friends', you know. At least, aside from me. He's way too busy with his workaholic life style. Which makes me wonder again how you two met up. Bar? Grocery store?" Save your life? He wanted to add, but he left it off. If she wasn't involved in... whatever the hell that stuff was, Eli wasn't going to clue her in on it. He'd barely scratched the surface and wasn't exactly happy he had this weird mask that changed his clothes.Carneli sorry for multiquotes, had to fix some spelling xD;
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:56 pm
"Yes, I'm sure you're very special," Zia said as she watched his antics. But in spite of what sounded like objectively disinterested words, she was watching him with interest.
She did love showmanship. So much.
"No, we met--" She stopped. She wanted to argue that she had certainly never been in a bar with Chester, especially given his tendency to crawl into a bottle these days. But at the same time, their partnership of guardian cat and lost knight was not exactly something someone could lay out on the table.
"Um... just... out at night, I guess. Before the terrorist attack." There was a weird pause. "Those things are just everywhere these days."
Her mouth twisted in a funny little way as she tried to parse her embarrassment at the suggestion she was doing something inappropriate or unsavory with one of her charges. "It's really not like that," She continued to insist, her complexion turning a slightly redder shade.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 5:10 pm
The compliment, however deadpan it might have been said, brought another grin to Eli's face. He liked having an audience or even just someone to appreciate his acting. The smile faded, however, at the mention of the 'terrorist attack'. That had not been terrorists, and he knew that quite well. She had probably not meant anything by it, but it was just another reminder of the weirdness that had entered his life. A grimace twisted his lips, but it was only momentary and faded quickly to another little smirk.
"I'm sure. But its not really my business anyway." He said as he bent sideways, wrapping his arm around his leg as he stretched. Unbending, he leaned the other way as well.
"Anything that helps get that pole out of his a** is a good thing in my book. When he's being all up tight and working over time, the rest of us have to as well. Do I look like I'm meant for hard labor?" Eli spread his arms theatrically, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. "I'm an entertainer, not a construction worker. Though... there has been a bit less of that lately. He's been spending all his time in his office like some kind of recluse."
It was sort of odd, that... he was normally more of a hands on kind of man, going to far as to test equipment himself to make sure it was safe for the rest of the crew. Spending so much time indoors was actually very unlike him.
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Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:07 am
"Does calling them terrorists bother you?" Zia asked as her head tilted along with his contortion, taking note of the grimace. She'd been looking for it, after all the entire statement had been targeted to gauge his reaction.
She crossed her arms and snorted, "I promise, I don't know anything about Chester's a**," She teased. She didn't really opine that he worked too hard, but that was because she was really good at invading his work and pulling him away from it for her own selfish needs.
"Oh, anyway," She cleared her throat. "Have you seen his injuries? He really shouldn't be out of the hospital, much less working. Don't guilt him about it," That sounded vaguely like an order. Even more so when she put her hands on her hips in an authoritative manner.
"He already pushes himself too hard, he's going kill himself at this rate."
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Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:16 am
"Lets just say I'm far too familiar with those sort of attacks." He said as he lifted a leg behind him, grasped his ankle with a hand and drew it up high over his head. "I was working opening night... and there was a few scattered things to clean up afterwards. The carnival is totally safe now though!" The performer rushed to add, forgetting for a moment that it was a bad thing to imply the carnival was still full of monsters. Luxor made sure, frequently, that it was monster-free, for which Ys was eternally grateful because it meant he didn't have to deal with it.
Wait... what? The young man dropped his stretched at the mention of injuries, actually turning serious for once.
"Injuries? What injuries? He's been in the hospital?" There was a mountain of concern in Eli's voice and though part of him was worried about Chester as a friend, the greater part of him was worried about Chester as his boss. If his boss got too hurt to run the carnival, it could be closed down and Eli would be out of the job he loved so much... "What happened? Stupid bloody wanker..."
The performer was going to have to have a serious talk with Chester about these nightly activities, and possibly, as much as he hated it, start going with him on them. Someone needed to be there to make sure the man didn't kill himself. He was bloody serious about that 'job' of killing all the monsters.
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Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:36 pm
Zia quirked one eyebrow at the shock. "More than once, apparently. He showed up at my place of business after getting his clock cleaned by one terrorist which opened wounds from a previous nega attack."
She was usually mindful of the fact that when speaking with normal civilians, senshi and negaverse officers alike were just 'terrorists', but she did slip a bit, there.
"He shouldn't be out of the hospital, but he a stupid, stubborn son of a b***h so I think it is best to let him sleep and stay inside," She said with a nod like she had the right to be authoritative.
"So you'd better not bother him about work!"
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Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:58 pm
More than once? ********... he had really been oblivious, if he had missed seeing Chester that messed up. Though... the word she used was a bit odd and it made his orange eyes narrow as he studied her in a new light. His pose remained relaxed, hands on his hips, but he was avidly searching for some sort of sign as to why a seemingly ordinary girl knew a word like that.
In fact... "What makes you call it a nega attack?" He said as he shifted slightly, rolling on the balls of his feet. "I should probably go check on him... you know, make sure he's got everything sorted out. You're a totty, but you don't know the place like I do. He can fill me in on what he needs done for the day and I can take care of it."
It was probably best, anyway, to get this 'straight from the horse's mouth' anyway... even if Chester didn't know anything about this bird being part of a faction, he still wanted to look him in the eye when he asked. Turning, he sidled around her as he made for the office. If Chester wasn't there, he'd look for him at home, whatever it took.
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Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 7:24 pm
"As much as I'm enjoying this dance, I'm not sure if you're the partner I want," Zia countered his questioning of the use of the term 'nega'.
But worse, he was not listening! And Zia, bossy princess she was, did not suffer such disobedience without a fight.
She shapeshifted, and fast enough to be a blurred shadow a smaller, feline form darted ahead of him and quickly realized a human girl's form again, one hand extended so the flat palm made contact with his chest.
"No. Luxor needs rest and is going to be retired for a few nights." She looked him up and down with near scrutiny. "Are you anything useful?"
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