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 Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:49 am
Ami frowned at that. Normally she would've given him a sarcastic remark about how nobody liked him, but ... Well if Junpei were here, he would've told her to be nice. It was funny, even with the weapon gone, she could predict things he would've told her, advice he would've given.
"What do you mean?" she asked. As far as she was concerned, Otto had plenty of friends. "Tons of people would visit you. You're well-liked." Well, not liked by all, that was for certain, but at at least well-liked. Even if he was a little grumpy, it didn't mean everyone hated him.
Heck, he even got cupcakes delivered to him. Ami couldn't say the same of her own friends. She wasn't even sure if they'd visited. She wouldn't blame them if they didn't. She was a real a** to them, and knew it too.
She faked a smile and said, "You even have the cupcakes to show it." Her eyes closed and she recited, "I’m sorry now you never saw the flocks, Jane Wayland, But you’re the one to make of them as many as you need." She looked over at Otto and gave him a real smile now. "John Gorham."
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:05 pm
"I am?" He asked skeptically. "I dunno... I always thought my attitude woulda steered'em off." Apparently not. He'd never really let himself think it, but now? Maybe he did have friends here. Good friends. It was a dizzying thought, after thinking the people around him were unreachable; just figments that walked by his bubble, passing by but never allowing anyone to step inside the ring he'd placed around himself.
Cupcakes, secret booze, comics and promises. He had a lot to show for it.
Otto brought a hand to his head, feeling off now.
His eyes glanced over to Ami as she recited something Otto wasn't terribly familiar with. He liked reading, but it was a select few books over and over again. This sounded like a poem. "Wassat from?" He asked curiously.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:13 pm
Ami could sorely relate to the feeling. Her rigidity often diverted people from her, but at this point she'd simply grown used to it. She'd quickly learned that being alone didn't always make you lonely.
Poetry brought a smile to her face though. It seemed that very few people on this island ever took a moment to sit down and read something, reflect on it. So if one person even showed the slightest interest, she lit up like a lamp. Of course, in this state she wasn't a burning sun, but it was better than horsemen. "John Gorham by Edwin Robinson," she said, "It was from his Collected Poems." Ami had a good memory overall, but her memory for literature was outstanding. It wasn't a natural gift though- she spent hours just memorizing lines, pages, titles she liked.
"He won the Pulitzer for it, you know. He wrote An America Dream Gone Awry, but it was so pessimistic that people didn't take to it. So Collected Poems focused on more airy, jubilant themes." It was an oddly astute choice for their situation.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:37 pm
Otto had never read poems. He was home schooled, and while his mother taught him quite a bit, poetry was not one of those things. He wasn't opposed to it. Reading was something he did on his own time, by himself, when he wasn't drumming. From comic books to novels. He didn't feel it made him any more cultured or smart. It was simply a means of minor entertainment.
"Maybe I'll lookit up sometime.." Otto murmured. He wasn't sure if any of Ami's books made it through the first round of disaster that befell the island. All of his had kicked the bucket. They'd since been replaced, of course.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:42 pm
"I doubt you will," Ami said with a sigh. She found that whenever people said they would they never did. She wasn't mad or anything though- Otto wasn't the first to not share in her extreme passion for poetry and the like. It was just disappointing- so far only Tori and potentially Madeline seemed to divulge in literature just as much as she did. Such was life though.
She thought for a moment, and then said, "Otto will you do me a favor?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:44 pm
Likely he wouldn't. Mostly because he doubted he would remember to seek it out. Such was the fleeting mind of a 17 year old. The fact he was even able to think of books at all should have been trophy worthy.
"What is it?" He asked, raising a brow softly.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:47 pm
She took a breath and said, "When we're out of here- the infirmary, that is- would you ..." This was really going to sound like an odd request coming from her. In fact, she was debating taking it back now, but it was too late. The words were coming out anyways. "Will you play your drums at ungodly hours just the same as before?"
It was odd, but Ami wanted some air of normalcy. Even if she wasn't going to be there to hear the drums, she hoped Otto would play.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:54 pm
Really?
Otto blinked slowly, shrugging. "Probably." He responded soon after. "M'not in the same room as before though.. old one got blown up by angry turkey fog."
He fell silent a moment. "Y'mad?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 6:06 pm
Ahhh, so Otto's room was blown. No wonder she hadn't seen him lately. Rather, no wonder she hadn't heard him lately. Was it destroyed like hers was? Waterlogged and all. Funny, before leaving she had almost returned it to its original state. It was missing all the touches that made a room personal, sure, but it was so close to functionin. Just a new mattress.
Now Ami was stuck wondering if she'd ever see it again.
Otto asked a strange question, and a silence hung between them as she puzzled through it. Was she mad at herself? Undeniably. Was she mad at the hunters for not coming soon? No, part of her wished they hadn't come at all, and just let her die down there. Death was far better than a broken best friend and imminent doom to the pods.
Was she mad at the horsemen? She couldn't pick through that one as easily. She hated them, but it was a complicated feeling, not one she could sum up with the simple word "mad."
In the end, just a very tiny statement came from her mouth. "I'm afraid I'll need clarification."
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 7:56 pm
"Oh..uh.. I dunno.. thought m'playin might piss you off if I keep doin' it. S'why ya asked, right?" Otto clarified as best he could, staring down at his lap and fidgeting with the hem of of clothes. It didn't mean he'd stop. Hell now. Timid or not, he still did whatever the Hell he wanted to.
That included playing drums at 3am.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:10 pm
Ami actually barked out a laugh as she realized Otto had completely misunderstood her. Well she did wod it weirdly, and coming from Ami it WAS a bizarre request. Completely out of her normal character.
"Otto," she said, laugh still playing on her lips, "I'm asking you to play." She sighed and stared up at the ceiling, picking her words carefully. "I want... After ee get out of here. I want an air of normalcy, where you play your drums and I get mad."
Words seemed to pour out, so she let them. Her voice was rusty and needed work anyways. "I want to pretend that entire excursion and I want-" Junpei back.
She hesitated, but quickly filled the gap with more words "Want to buy you pound cake again." By this point her eyes had glazed over, lost in memories, but she shook her head and came back to Earth. No point in wishful thinking. Nothing was going back. All she could do was move forward, one step closer to the pods.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:16 pm
Why was she laughing?
Otto frowned, looking away from her and himself as she giggled. A dusting of pink took his paled cheeks as she clarified. "Coulda been more clear.." He mumbled mostly to himself. The teen was embarrassed, but it would pass.
"Sure... I'll raise a ruckus.. specially if you're buyin' me cake."
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 10:28 am
Ami nodded and closed her eyes. Then she lied. "Sure, I'll buy it for you in the future. It'll be my treat." Honestly, she didn't even know if she'd be there to buy it. It would be her own prize if she could.
A second lie. "I think the meds are starting to kick in again- I think this is good night, Otto." She began breathing more slowly, so as to emphasize her point, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep much. "See you in the morning." Was it even nighttime now? Ami wasn't sure. She couldn't tell what was what anymore.
Junpei? You there? she thought.
Of course, he wasn't.
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