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 Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:49 pm
"A job... isn't so bad." Ciaran looked up at Zane, instinctively wanting to soothe, to whuffle at the kuppy's familiar hair to make him relax a little, to make him laugh. Anything. But he kept his weapon-battered hands to himself, careful and uncertain -- unsure as he had always been. "I'm sure there's something out there you'll enjoy... I adore being a knight. I wish there was a way to further advance from here..."
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:57 pm
The kuppy buried his face into his arms before slipping sideways and laying down on the seat so that he was closer to Ciaran and unable to be seen from regular view. "But, I don't want to get a job," he sniffled. There was a distinct dislike of anything work related in Zane's mind ever since Kuro had made him clean up his toys when he was a kid. Yes, it still lingered in his mind. But, he also didn't want to go far away to work. He wanted to be with his friends. Alright... one friend. Okay, okay... this friend who was with him. Who'd always been with him.
Might as well get into it now. "Uhm, Ciaran? I kind of had something to tell you while we were out here, away from HyTech," he said, blushing a little bit. Here it comes...
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:32 am
Turning his head, Ciaran looked down at Zane beside him, calm scarlet eyes fixing on the mismatched ones belonging to his -- his! he couldn't think of him as anything else; it was unfortunate -- 'puppy'. "Hm? What would you need to tell me away from HyTech?" The compound was a bit of a sanctuary for the quiet knight, a place of comparative serenity and cleanliness when cast against the cluttered den of his kitsune 'mother'. Most of the time, at least.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:35 am
Zane thought for a long moment, almost losing the train of thought that he was on before sighing and shaking his head. "I was just... wondering what kind of apples are your favorite. You know, Macintosh or Fuji; that sort of thing." The kuppy was blushing and playing with a piece of gum that some previous customer had cleverly stuck to the bottom of the table instead of placed in the wastebasket. Not a question that needed much privacy, but then again, Zaney had a bit of an odd sense of things.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:43 am
Dark brows furrowed, and Ciaran tilted his head, looking at Zane with a quizzical tilt to his head. One narrow ear poking out from his thick, glossy black hair twitched. "That... er, I prefer the green kind? And sometimes the yellow..." He didn't quite get it, but then, he supposed he didn't have to.
But there was a nagging moment of uncertainty...
"Is that really all you had to ask?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:48 am
Caught. Zane wasn't a great faker, and he was an even worse liar. "Uhm, well, you see. I... I just," he started, then trailed off. The kuppy sat up slowly and fiddled with a few napkins that were left on the table. Zane had no clue how to go about this sort of thing. Maybe he should have asked his Dad before he'd come out here. The Hyte tried to remember the stories about his parents. Oh yeah... The passive-aggressive byte that had been sent during Valentine's Day and then his Dad getting his Mom a ring and asking her to gen. And then three grown kuppies later, they were getting married.
Zane sighed. "Ciaran, I'm no good at this. See, I wanted to come out here and ask if you were, you know, seeing anyone." Why was he sweating so much? His paws were starting to perspire onto the napkins and make them damp. It wasn't like they couldn't still be friends, right?
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:09 am
For a moment the knight blinked, uncomprehending -- and then his sturdy, reliable heart practically stopped. It was a breathless moment before Ciaran sucked in a deep breath, looked at Zane -- 'puppy' and 'Zaney' suddenly seemed childish in his head though he wasn't sure why.
"Seeing someone?" Unsure, Ciaran lowered his head, herbivore's teeth nibbling his pink lower lip. "No..." Even a blind man could see where this was going from twenty paces.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:11 am
"Oh... Okay." And Zane, instead of letting his puppy genes of courage or his kitty genes of curiosity take him anymore forward, stopped at that. He ripped up the rest of the napkin to shreds and balled up the remains of the tattered cloth, waiting for his food to come out. It felt so stupid asking his best friend the question, but he had to know.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:16 am
It was like following a string maze, Ciaran thought, a little exasperated. Or getting the truth out of his 'mother'.
"Why do you ask, puppy?" The nickname was back, and he watched Zane destroy the hapless napkin with a dark brow rising slowly but steadily.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:20 am
Zane, sticking to his story of 'just wondering', paused. "No... reason," he said lamely, trying to smile as if it didn't mean anything and catch Ciaran's eye. But, as soon as the kuppy looked up and saw the centaur's eyebrow go up, he knew he was caught and that the other hyte wouldn't let the issue drop until the answer came out. He quickly glanced back down and blurted out whatever came to mind so that he didn't lose his nerve.
"Iwasjustwonderingifmaybeyou'dwanttogooutwithmeifthat'salright," Zane took a deep breath and continued. "CauseIsortareallylikeyouandIhopethatdoesn'tgetinthewayofourfriendship."
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:27 am
There was a pause, and Ciaran bit his lip again, hard enough this time to taste blood. His stomach flipped over and he rubbed both battered hands together. "I... I cannot see why not..." he murmured, suddenly painfully shy again. Didn't help that his lip hurt.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:30 am
Zane was fumbling again, not really paying attention to what the centaur said. He did speak a bit more slowly, however. "I promise that I'll be good and we don't have to make it official like my parents or anything. Not if you don't want to. And... and... I'll go find Auntie Kitsu and ask her if it's okay. And Lance, too. Oh, gosh... Lance." The kuppy groaned and buried his face into his arms. Auntie Kitsu was perfectly nice and would probably say it was okay, but what would Lance think about this?
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:53 am
At the mention of Lance, Ciaran stiffened. His tail lifted and his head did as well, automatically on guard, defensive and quiet, and his stomach clenched. Oh.
"Mother will be fine with it." He looked away, the pleasant mood of the escapade broken for a moment. "And Lance won't be given a choice." His voice had gone flat; the usually expressive scarlet eyes were still.
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:08 pm
The kuppy was half-wailing into his arms by this point. "I don't want to make it hard on you to choose and I know that Lance is your brother and all, but I was maybe hoping that something would come out of us being best friend. I mean, we grew up together, and... and..." The hyte sat up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as the waitress returned with their food.
His pancakes were stacked a mile high and the greasy sausages looked like heaven, but suddenly, Zane didn't feel so hungry. Thanking the lady as she set their food on the table, he shook his head. "I'm sorry for asking. It was stupid. I shouldn't have brought it up."
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 2:20 pm
He'd ordered the damned apple cobbler, and now he was going to bloody well eat the much-coveted sweet. Picking up a fork, Ciaran picked out a cooked apple and lifted it to his mouth, nibbling at it daintily. His eyes hurt, wanting to spill over in a way he wasn't sure he'd ever quite felt, and his chest ached.
"I couldn't ask that of Lance," he said, his voice forcibly steadied, a smile frozen on his lips because he didn't dare to move his face. It was a useless if valiant attempt -- a few tears slid down the knight's dark cheek unnoticed. "He is... not something I can have. But you are." It was simple. "If you want me, then you can have me, puppy."
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