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 Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:17 pm
He knew he probably wasn't making the best impression he could have, but Aurostibite was determined to do better.
Which wasn't that easy, considering Ilmenite was now not showing any leniency in the slightest, hopping from one rooftop to the next with a practiced sort of ease and grace, despite his gangling figure. Aurostibite leapt after him, his chest feeling tighter by the second, until he was hardly able to draw breath.
And then the general finally stopped, and Aurostibite jumped the last few rooftops, trying to not show the fact that the stitch in his side felt enormous and he was surreptiously gulping as much air into his lungs as possible. Straightening, ignoring his pink face, Aurostibite said "Where are we, if I might ask, sir?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 12:31 pm
The 'sir' got a blink, a kindling of something pleased and amused and horrified all at once in his expression. Ilmenite had always been a 'sir' kind of guy -- but on the delivering end, not the receiving. The sharp, vaguely-military air of his father had instilled a stilted edge of something polite. Years on his own had slowly worn it down to the faintest echo of what it had once been, only the sir and the ma'am lingering.
So he blinked down at Aurostibite for a moment, his own breath a little ragged, though in this case it wasn't experience that made him pant so much as the cigarettes. In his pocket, he strummed fingers against the pack and reminded himself again that, well. Cigarettes didn't actually help. They just made it worse.
He still wanted to smoke one.
"Uh. I don't know, give me --" He turned in place, slowly, his eyes catching on the looming shape of a church not too far off. He nodded toward it almost immediately. "North Presbyterian. So we're in the northeast corner, I'm guessing."
The why suddenly clicked, Ilmenite's eyes resettling on the Lieutenant. "You've got a curfew?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 4:51 pm
There was a slightly awkward silence.
Aurostibite stared up at Ilmenite, wondering why he looked so odd all of a sudden. Had he not shown him enough respect? Was the "sir" enough, or should he have referred to him as "General Ilmenite?"
But after a moment, Ilmenite spoke again, and Aurostibite felt some of the tension in his shoulders relax a little - but only a little.
"And, er...what are we doing in North Presbyterian?" he asked, frowning a bit - but his face immediately colored red at Ilmenite's next question, a scowl he had not meant to show crossing Aurostibite's face.
"No," he said, a bit stiffly. "I live alone - I don't have a curfew."
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Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:30 pm
Ilmenite was being mean. He knew he was being mean. So, at long last, Ilmenite's expression softened some, his chin tipping up, taking in the Lieutenant. All things considered, he really hadn't done that badly, so the mockery could slip aside, the goading, the prodding. He could play at least a little bit nicer.
"We're this way because this was the way I needed to go. Might as well head back toward home, if I'm leading you around, hey?" But he smiled, finally, and it wasn't the shark tooth smile, wasn't the smile it had been.
"That's probably enough. You look a bit worn thin. Want me to take you home? It would only take a second..."
General. Teleportation. It made his eyes light up a bit.
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Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:36 pm
Awkward.
He'd only been a Lieutenant for a few weeks, and here he was making an enemy out of a General, a General who had taken time out of his probably busy schedule to give him a bit of a go-to guide. Aurostibite was feeling properly ashamed of himself, at least until Ilmenite's expression shifted a little, and the smile was actually somewhat genuine.
He hoped.
"Er," said Aurostibite. "Yes. That would be very kind of you."
Hopefully the next time around he would be able to be less of a fool of himself and actually be a proper lieutenant. If there was even a next time, that was, but he wasn't going to go there just yet.
"Thank you, General."
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