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 Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 1:25 pm
"Minus the whales and bats?" he asked, giving her a good, firm shake before retracting his hand. "Normal bumps and bruises. Bruised tailbone a nasty encounter with some giant, weird-a** space salamanders, went into a coma for a few days," then there was the part where he met Ares, and that wasn't so bad, "Saw that big battle, watching all those people fight. Die."
He shrugged, sliding his hands into his pockets. He hadn't really been able to afford all the attention to the civilians, so he had neither really had to watch anyone die—but he knew from the stories. "What about you?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 2:37 pm
Natalia sighed and rested her back against the trunk as she looked up at Jett with a sad look in her eyes. "I bounced around to a couple of different outposts and was doing okay for a while, I mean it was no picnic being stuck up in space with no way to get home." Natalia ran a hand through her hair briefly as if trying to relieve some stress in a minor way.
"But I was at that big battle too..." She started before her throat caught again and she had to swallow hard. "And I was one of those people who died." She added softly looking up at him, her eyes hardening. "And then I woke up... and I was at home, in my bed where I had disappeared from 6 weeks prior... but it wasn't my room anymore, it was storage." Natalia informed him, a cold glaze going over her eyes.
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 3:44 pm
Remarque's brow quirked. He found himself surprisingly interested to hear her account of the situation. He had not entirely known what had happened to the civilians that had been returned to their lives. He'd had the luxury of returning with the rest of the Dark Mirror Senshi, where they'd spent some time in Mirrorspace before being returned to their lives. "Storage?"
The concept seemed strange to him; when he had returned, things had been different. He'd powered down, composed himself—and on the way home, stopped for a burger. It had been hard to eat it; his stomach had been strangely upside down as he made his way home. It was difficult to assume some story to tell his mother—but in the end, it didn't matter. She hadn't asked him too many questions, just held him.
And after that, life had gone back to normal. Minus the Dark Mirror part—but his mother had been the same (albeit a bit more worried than usual). His room had been the same. "…What happened, there?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:00 pm
Natalia sighed and rubbed her face before explaining. "Yeah... My parents aren't exactly the sentimental sort, they have their hands full with my brother who is mostly intent on single-handily destroying his life." Natalia shrugged lightly and shifted to a more comfortable spot on the floor so the hard ground wasn't digging quite so much into her tailbone.
"In any case, after I didn't show up for the first week they assumed I ran away, even though I wasn't even 18 at the time, but I guess they figured rebellion runs in the family." She tousled her hair with one hand before glancing up at Jett.
"By the time the 6 weeks were up my room had been converted to storage, though my bed was still in there. My brother ended up finding me, and thought I was a hallucination from a really bad trip. Ironically my brother was the only one to actually believe my story about what happened to me, but then again he probably figured I stole part of his stash and had been hiding in the attic the whole time tripping out... My parents just ended up sending me to therapy."
Rolling her eyes her lips quirked into a sarcastic smile. "So glad everything worked out for you though."
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 7:15 pm
Jett quirked a brow, and while he was taking in her story, he couldn’t help but note, "Now, I'd hold on if I were you. I didn't say everything worked out for me."
He was always watching expressions, so when she suddenly donned her sarcastic smile, he was immediately suspicious. "I had my own issues to deal with. Getting my job back, for one. Settling into a new school after being kicked out of the one I'd worked so hard to get into. Readjusting to life back home—dealing with my mother—had been far from easy.
Sure, he hadn't had his mother just decide 'good riddance' and turn his room into a storage room, but with her already protective nature, she'd smothered him for a good while.
Even that, he hadn't minded so much.
Though he hadn't quite said it, everything had worked out for him—and it's not like there was any point in making a contest about it if it hadn't. "I assume things are all right, now? You've squared things up with your parents? Your room isn't being used for storage anymore…?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:20 am
Natalia laughed bitterly, "There are still boxes in my closet, but I've mostly reclaimed my room." She responded with a small shrug.
"My mother actually got rid of a lot of my things and I've been trying to replace them, it hasn't exactly been easy restarting my life, and a lot of things I used to have are gone, but it's been over a year now, and I have to move on with my life, which is what I'm trying to do." Natalia added as she picked up the pile of clothes that she wanted.
"Now how much for this stuff so I can be on my way?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:03 pm
Jett still watched her, wondering how much bitterness Natalia was harboring from the whole event. "Well, you made it through that, so picking up the pieces shouldn't be too hard, right? I figure the easiest thing to do is just keep moving on."
Either that or you let weakness consume you, and all-be-damned if Jett was going to be associated with weakness. The Surrounding had been life changing for him, sure, but it had made him more rather than less. It had opened doors for him that had previously been sealed shut. What had happened at the Surrounding might have been hard at the time, but now?
Now, he might even consider himself grateful for it all.
Life was good, now—better than ever. There had been hardships like he could have never imagined, but things had all worked out.
"Come on, bring those to the counter," he said, extending his hand to help her up. "I'll ring you up, give you a discount."
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:27 pm
"Moving on is the only thing I can do at this point, I can't change the past or make my parents believe me, or get back the time I lost." She shrugged then took his hand to pull herself up.
"I appreciate the discount, I don't have a whole lot of money, though I've been trying to get a job, but there aren't many jobs available right now." Natalia responded with a slight frown. It seemed like she was happier now that the conversation had turned back to normal. It was still difficult for Natalia to think about the Surrounding much less talk to someone about it, even if that someone had been there with her and believed her.
Natalia examined the clothes again hoping that it would be within her limited budget to afford all of the pieces to make her costume.
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:12 pm
At the register, Jett reached for the clothes, glanced through them, and then offered an indifferent shrug. Of course he'd rather Natalia think he was doing her a favor when, in fact, she was doing him one. These clothes were near to unsellable; they weren't in good enough condition to sell to the average customer, and not old enough or important enough to sell to a museum.
"Say," he shrugged. "What, is twenty reasonable to you?" he prompted after glancing through the pieces she'd selected. No single one stuck out to him as being particularly valuable, so it sounded like more than a fair deal to him.
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:18 pm
Twenty dollars for a pile of clothes was a pretty good deal, buying bolts of cloth would have been way more expensive and would have taken longer to work with, as it was she was happy to have most of the work done for her already.
Natalia smiled at Jett, "Sure, that price sounds reasonable to me." She responded as she fished her wallet out of her purse.
"I don't suppose you know of any places around here hiring do you?" she questioned as she pulled out a twenty dollar bill and placed it on the counter next to the pile of clothes.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:15 pm
Jett took the money with one hand and snagged a bag with the other. Sliding the twenty into the cash register, he then scooped the clothes carefully into the bag and presented it to Natalia.
"Depends on the sort of thing you're interested in, I suppose. There's all sorts of shops around here. Fast food joint just down the road, little fashion boutique across the street. Coffee joint, pet store, craft shop that opened last...week, I think? Nothing really big, but a bunch of small shops around here. Boss is actually looking to hire a little more help around here--not that I need it," he clarified, "But this gig comes with a bit of required knowledge, so unless you've got a passion for history or an eye for antiques, probably best to stick to something else. Did you have a preferred job you were thinking about looking for?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:32 pm
Natalia shrugged lightly. "I do like history, but most of my research and knowledge has been focused around the gyspies and their plights, I doubt there are many gypsy artifacts here." Natalia replied with a shrug. "The only thing I could think of being useful here would be repairing clothing and jewelry." Natalia added thoughtfully. "But I'm sure I'll find something." she added with a smile.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:52 pm
Jett simply laughed; he didn't particularly care if he was rude to someone, though he always made sure to censor himself just a little better when he was working and dealing with a customer. For that reason, he didn't mind continuing the conversation. "I'm sure you'll find something, too. Though, if you like dealing with clothing and jewelry, you ought to take a look at the craft store."
Arts and crafts weren't really his thing, but he figured they could use someone with a creative mind over there. She'd probably have a better luck finding a job there than here, at least; they had people—professionals—to restore jewelry and clothing if need be, but the craft store? What would they care?
"They gave us some flyers," he mused, opening the drawer beneath the desk, fishing around, and then pulling out a folded sheet of paper. Unfolding it, he glanced it over, reading, "It's open pretty regular hours, and it says they offer some classes. Maybe if crafts are your thing, you could offer to teach something, too. Here," he said, handing the colorful sheet over to her.
The craft store wasn't something he'd ever consider going to, though he had a tendency to stash papers until the desk needed to be cleaned out, and then busy himself with the task on particularly slow days. He didn't know if it would be the sort of thing she was interested in, but at least it was a reminder that he needed to clean out his desk.
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