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 Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 10:14 pm
Madison looked startled. "Hey, really? So you're from California too? I guess I should've, like, guessed... your voice, and all." She waved one hand, but leaned in a little further, curious now. "I was kinda looking at Cal Poly for college... or, um, well. My parents were, anyway. I didn't really care that much." She heaved a sigh.
"I was really kinda dumb."
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 10:55 pm
"Yeah. I don't think about it too much, really," Jordan sighed. "Can't miss it too much if I'm not thinking about it. Some days I'd really like to see blue sky and a sunny beach though. You know?"
He leaned on the edge of the table. "I was about halfway through sophomore year. Education." His smile was a little sheepish. "I know, I don't look the part."
She received a steady serious look for her comment. "Well, I know you're not stupid," he said.
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:17 am
"Was," she said, with a wry grin. "I've gotten better, I think? At least a little bit. But I was so busy trying to be... normal. Because normal people can't see monsters, right? So, like... I tried to make it work. And I was okay with being that way. I'm not now, though. Which is good, because this is so not high school or even college."
She shook her head. "Kinda funny, though. I might've had a class with you if things had stayed the way they were..."
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:44 pm
"I tried pretty hard to be just some guy, for much the same reason," Jordan said. "Guess I kind of figured that if I never drew attention to myself, maybe the shadows wouldn't notice me either." He shrugged. "Not really logical, in hindsight, but when you can't do anything about it ... " His thumb touched the band of Ferros's ring.
He smiled slightly, wryly. "Probably wouldn't have looked twice at each other, either, huh. I prefer it this way."
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 4:58 pm
... !
A faint blush colored Madison's cheeks again, and part of her mind set off trying to analyze the meaning behind that statement. "T-thanks," she said, grinning at him a little shyly. "I like it better this way too. I mean, uh, there's a lot of stuff I miss, but now I'm, like, keeping that stuff safer than it was before I got here? And I don't have to see the stuff I don't miss. There's a bunch of that, too."
Her expression shifted to something more curious. "I wonder if we'll ever get to go back to where we came from? Like, for a mission or something. I'd love to, like, clear out this haunted house in my old neighborhood..."
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 5:32 pm
"Yeah," Jordan agreed. Then he chuckled as something occurred to him. "And hey, really takes all the worry out of looking for a job after getting out of school, huh?"
He considered the question. "Maybe eventually. When we're not trainees any more. Although I think it's less likely that we'd be sent back to areas we know, simply because of the risk of being accidentally seen and recognized. I don't know if we just disappeared, or if some kind of cover was set up; either way, it'd be dangerous to take the chance of someone who's thought you were dead for years spotting you." He shook himself, gave her an apologetic half-smile. "Sorry," he said quietly.
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:17 pm
"Oh... yeah, I guess," Madison said with a sigh. "Yeah. I guess I wouldn't really want to walk by my house without, like, being able to go in. Or see people I knew. Yeah... that'd be awkward." To say the least.
But she wasn't going to let the looming threat of awkward silence take hold. "Okay, how about I'll tell you where it is, and you can go beat them up for me? I'll, like, do the same for any creepy spots you know about. Sound good?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:53 am
Jordan laughed. "I can do that. We'll trade monsters. You get the one in the south server room - heck, I'd be a bad choice for that one anyway, collateral damage and all. You'll be better at precision things, I'm sure."
The change of topic was just as well; the trend of their conversation had been getting depressing, and Jordan figured that they got plenty of depressing elsewhere.
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 2:51 pm
"It's a deal," Madison said with an answering grin. "You think so? Kouki's pretty, uh, nimble I guess, but there's four of him. Four! Uh, not that there's anything wrong with that," she added, quickly, at the grumble in her mind. "But man, handing someone who, like, can barely use a kitchen knife four swords right off the bat? Talk about crazy."
We cannot help being four, Kouki said, primly. And a little huffily.
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 6:36 pm
"Considering that most of them are pretty impractical to look at," Jordan said, "I count myself lucky to have been picked by the large blunt object." He laughed, then sobered a bit more, recalling something. "I don't think I ever got a chance to apologize to Kouki for picking him up that time," he said, and looked directly to the beads that were Kouki's unsummoned form. "Sorry about that."
Good, Ferros said, satisfied.
"Ferros wanted me to be sure to do that," Jordan added.
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 10:35 pm
"Oh - that was you who brought him back? Thank you," she said, earnestly, meeting his gaze with her own. "I wasn't totally sure, and everything kinda turned into a blur... maybe my brain just got rattled too hard when I fell or something."
Thank you, Kouki echoed, tell him that. We... were not in our right minds, and were angry. But we missed you.
The unexpected gentleness in her weapon's tone brought a lump to her throat. "Kouki says thank you too. He... missed me, and wanted to make sure he found me again. It would have been harder without you..."
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 4:23 pm
The memory was still a sharp one: Madison falling hard, lying far too still. Jordan banished it and nodded. "Ferros wasn't very happy with me at the time, but he forgave me. I just figured if you woke up and he wasn't right there it'd be a bad thing." He ran a hand though his hair, faintly embarrassed. "I know I'd get pretty freaked out if I couldn't find Ferros."
He looked out at the murky depths outside the observation post again. "When we first woke up - before going to the cove, I mean - could you feel him missing? Even though you didn't know yet?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 4:40 pm
"Thanks, Ferros," Madison said, leaning out a little to look at the ring before glancing back up at Jordan, faintly embarrassed. It was kind of awkward trying to talk to something that was there, but wasn't. "Before? God, I can't... it's kinda hard to remember, I guess? I know I didn't always have Kouki in my head, but it, like... feels like I did? Like I can't quite get what it was like to not have him. Uh."
She settled back in her chair. "I remember that the weapons they gave us early on felt wrong, though. Like... not a gun, that was wrong for sure."
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:22 pm
"Yeah." Jordan looked down thoughtfully at the ring. "The bat felt more like what was supposed to be there, for me. But still not right. I can't really recall what being alone in my head was like. I know intellectually that I was, of course, but I don't actually remember."
I don't either, Ferros put in.
"Huh. Ferros says he doesn't either. Makes sense, I guess."
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 5:28 pm
"I can't think of Kouki as being one of the freaks, either. I mean, he like... showed me what he used to look like, I guess? And I guess he looked like them, or like a really huge snake with four heads, but I dunno. Not the same." Madison shrugged.
On this point, Kouki was silent. Present, but silent.
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