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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:15 pm
He managed to salvage a piece of tape off of another envelope and roughly sealed the letter shut. He frowned at it, thinking quietly. "I'm not sure. Whenever you think is best?" His grip on the paper tightened slightly. "I'm sorry. All I do is make unreasonable requests. One after another." As the evening progressed, he was feeling less and less regret over his imminent disappearance. The realization that everything he had strived to do had been for naught had been a weighty one, and in addition to that he continued to pester Claire for things she had never asked to be a part of. He closed his eyes briefly in what was essentially an extended blink. Things were just going increasingly poorly...
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:54 pm
"No, no," she murmured, moving to kneel beside the chair again. "They're not unreasonable. If I didn't want to help, Luke, I wouldn't be here right now." Well she might, but then again she could've left after feeling better over Galactic. Either way she was there, and she really did want to help. ...she wasn't sure why she wanted to help, but she did.
"And of course I'll give it to him." She had no idea when it would be best, but.. but she'd figure it out when the time came, right? Right. Maybe. Hopefully...
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:13 pm
He stared at the letter for a while longer before passing it to Claire. "...Thank you." For agreeing to deliver the note, for wanting to help, for ever bothering with him in the first place. As he considered all these things, he began to realize what Claire had meant when she tried to explain the word 'lonely.' 'Lonely' was being isolated deep in the subconscious, unable to speak or even think, let alone convey those words or thoughts to others. 'Lonely' was a crippling existence.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:28 pm
Her hand reached up for the letter as he passed it to her, and she took it carefully. Holding it with both hands in her lap, she looked down at it for a few moments, as if studying the make-shift envelope. Really, though, she was looking past it, trying to think of a good place to hide it where a pokemon couldn't find and shred it. Zeus liked to shred paper sometimes, and she couldn't take the chance of him finding it.. Ah, there. That would be a good spot.
Her gaze traveled from the letter in her hands back up to Luke's face. He looked so.. so... sad. She'd gotten used to Luke not really displaying any emotions at all - besides blushing once, but that wasn't exactly an emotion in itself - so seeing him so... emotional (for him anyway) was disconcerting. Especially considering his decision. She gazed back down at the note again, frowning thoughtfully, then tightened her grip on it slightly and stood up. "Come on," she said in her normal tone and volume, a small smile on her face for his benefit, and she patted his shoulder. "I'm hungry, let's go get something to eat. I bet you didn't eat dinner, either." They both could probably use something to eat, and she'd be damned if she was going to let him sit around here and mope for the rest of his life. Which was, in essence, just a few more short hours.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:47 pm
"Hm?" Oh, dinner. "Ah, sure..." He had passed up dinner in favor of maintaining his guns, and truthfully he was feeling a bit hungry, but was it really all right for him to waste time...? When he was unable to come up with any other matter that required his immediate attention, he chose to cede to Claire's suggestion and stood to move towards the door, holding it open to wait for his company to pass. "Did you have anything specific in mind?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:53 pm
Even if he could think of an excuse not to go, Claire would have insisted anyway - probably by grabbing his arm and dragging him out. She could be incredibly stubborn if necessary.
She murmured a 'thank you' as she passed through the door, waiting for him to leave too and close the door before starting down the hall. "Well, first thing I want to do is put this somewhere safe," she indicated the letter in her hand, "and then.. Well, we can't exactly go out to eat, and I don't know if they're still serving in the cafeteria.." Not that she'd trust half the food they served. "But we can definitely find something easy to make in the kitchen." Like.. like.... hmm. Grilled cheese sandwiches, while easy, weren't exactly filling. "Spaghetti?" There, that was easy. They just needed to boil it long enough to cook through, and then.. there was probably a jar of sauce in the kitchen somewhere. Neither of them needed to be gourmet chefs to successfully make spaghetti.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:23 pm
"All right," he said with a nod, agreeing on both points. He followed, somewhat dazedly, towards wherever Claire was leading. Spaghetti was always good. He had something of a preference towards Italian-esque cuisine, as infrequently as he had the opportunity to consume meals himself.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:31 pm
It wasn't long before they reached her room, and she opened the door and peeked in. Nope, no crazy roommate. Good. She opened it wider and held it open for him to come in too, before kneeling down in front of her dresser. Setting the letter down next to her, she pulled out the bottom drawer and pushed aside random articles of clothing to reveal a relatively small shoebox hidden in the back. The lid was removed, revealing not shoes but a box full of small mementos and items that held significant value to their owner. She pushed aside a few small, downy gold and white feathers, moved a picture that showed a small girl with curly brown hair and hazel eyes standing with an oddly colored Kadabra, and carefully placed the letter inside. She remained there for a moment or two, looking at several pictures before suddenly replacing the lid and sliding the box back into place at the back of the drawer. That done, she moved the clothes back and closed the drawer, then stood and opened the door for Luke to leave first. "Alright, now for dinner." She felt a bit better knowing the letter would be safe there - her pokemon didn't go into her dresser, after all, and even if they did they knew not to touch that box.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:22 pm
He entered the room, quietly pushing the door into place behind him and watching Claire as she pulled the small box out of her dresser. He glanced over her shoulder momentarily, vaguely curious about the contents, and turned his gaze elsewhere when he noticed the items were all of a personal nature. He trusted that Claire would refrain from reading his letter, and so he kept his own eyes away from her business. He refocused when she returned the box to its place, exiting from the book-covered room into the hall. "Dinner it is," he said with a nod, turning in the general direction of the kitchen and starting down the hall. He paused momentarily. "And... Thank you, again..."
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:29 pm
The door was closed behind them with a click, and Claire walked beside Luke towards the kitchen. She didn't exactly love the food here, but it wasn't bad when you made it yourself - she still preferred going out to eat around town, but that was out of the question for the time being. When would they feel safe going out again? Hopefully soon, but that wasn't any concern tonight.
Her stomach grumbled, making her face flush slightly at the noise. Yeah, dinner would be wonderful. When he paused, however, she halted as well and turned to look at him, eyebrows raised slightly. He'd been saying that a lot tonight.. "You're welcome, but.. for what?"
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:26 pm
He locked his gaze on an indistinct place on the floor ahead. "For helping me with all of this. You say it's because you want to, but..." But who would want to go through all this trouble for a person who wasn't even truly a person? For someone who would very nearly literally disappear without a trace?
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:43 pm
"But what?" Her lips curved into a smile, noticing that he preferred to stare at a particular spot on the floor. How many times had she done that lately? Way too many. "Of course it's because I want to. Lucas is my friend, and I want to help him. And, well..." She hadn't put much thought into it before, but it was the same with Luke. They were the same person except not, and it was strange and weird and still crazy, but there it was. Trying to help one could potentially help both, and so far tonight they'd only succeeded in (hopefully) helping Lucas and inadvertently hurting Luke. If she could help Luke, even if it wasn't doing anything for Lucas, well.. that would make her feel a bit better about the whole thing, and she hoped it would make him feel better, too. Again, she'd be damned if he was going to mope and be depressed for the rest of the night. "You're my friend too, Luke, and I want to help you. And I think, right now, what would help you is some spaghetti," she finished with a smile, reaching over and putting her hand on his shoulder, and then spoke in a gentle tone. "Come on, I know you're hungry." Not as hungry as she was, but still. It was hard figuring out what to say to him exactly, but she knew standing there talking wasn't getting them any closer to food.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:56 pm
All he could think to do in response to her words was stare as though she had spoken them in a foreign language. Lucas as her friend registered without a hitch. Luke as her friend, however... The words seemed almost an oxymoron when put together. He raised his hand to his mouth thoughtfully, almost disbelievingly. "...Thank you," he murmured, making how many times now? He cleared his throat. "Anyway. Dinner." He resumed his progress down the hall.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:16 pm
"You're welcome," she replied gently, but chuckled quietly as he suddenly cleared his throat and started walking. Oh, it was so very obvious when Luke was uncomfortable with conversations. But she didn't comment on it and simply walked in silence.
It didn't take long for them to reach the kitchen, and she went in first and held the door for him to enter as well. It was empty, thankfully, and she felt a bit relieved. It might be awkward for anyone else to be in there. "Good, we have the whole kitchen to ourselves," she commented, though he'd probably already noticed. She just felt like she needed to say.. something. Anything. Crap, now conversations would be hard.. She didn't want to ask him anything that could make him feel worse. Crap. "Could you look for a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce please?" That asked while on her knees sorting through a cupboard of large pots. They didn't need one too big.. Ah. She pulled one out and started pouring water into it, not exactly sure just how much to put in.. Oh well, spaghetti was a very forgiving food. As long as it had plenty of water to boil in, it'd be good.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:26 pm
He nodded once to indicate his acknowledgment and proceeded to sift through the cabinets for the named items. He found a number of boxes of spaghetti, all different kinds and in various states of consumed. He pulled down a box of penne and a box of gemelli to complement the nearly-gone plain spaghetti pasta, setting them aside for Claire to use when she needed them. The sauce proved a less harrowing task; it seemed someone had recently bought in bulk, leaving a few unopened jars shoved in a corner. He retrieved one and set it with the pasta.
"Anything else?"
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