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 Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:40 pm
Christof was very aware of body language. Her pale complexion had reddened slightly- a sign of a rising heartbeat, on top of the stiffening. She was nervous, obviously. But by what?
Alright, so his upgrades had been... drastic. He was fairly certain he had lost whatever 'charming' factors he had had in his... old set of parts. Part of Master's plan, he was certain, whatever that was, ultimately. A clawed finger slipped out from under his jacket accidentally to thoughtfully tap at his vest as he thought, and he quickly brushed it back away again before motioning forward and politely leading the way.
Maybe... she was flattered he had been dreaming about her? But why had he been dreaming about a stranger? Why hadn't he been saving Mistr- ah. Yes. Maybe it had been transference. But... then why hadn't it been Miss Sin or Miss Morrigan or any of the other lovely ghouls he was rather fond of? It had been a fairly nice dream, in the beginning, all things considered. But most of his dreams had been turbulent lately. Understandably.
Perhaps spending so much time 'speaking' with Mistress, he had begun to pick up some sort of strange, psychic ability? Perhaps he had foretold her coming to meet him because she had been thinking about him just enough?
He glanced over his hunch to make sure she was still following, brows furrowed in deep thought as he calculated her expression.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:57 am
As she followed him, Xiu's expression had changed slightly, but only so that her nervousness was a little more subtle. Still, Christof would probably still be able to pick up on it considering the telltale signs: light fidgeting and a gaze that darted to the patchwork and then away.
If he remembered what happened in the dream...then what else did he remember? Did he remember having her strapped to the chair, and nearly sawing off her arms before--
--Wait a minute. It wasn't until then that Xiu finally realized something. All three of the characters she had encountered--her captor, her rescuer, and the giant monster--had all been able to see her. Then in that case, that meant that all three of those characters had been Christof. They were all some part of him.
About time that she figured that out.
Her feelings were even more conflicted now. In the end, he had saved her from himself, and then died at the hands of another part of himself. Which of these three characters was the real Christof? Or...was he a mixture of all three?
"D-do you remember much of the dream?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:56 am
He held up two fingers just a bit apart, indicating "Small" before scratching the back of his head in the nervous gesture of awkward teenagers everywhere. His pace slowed as he juggled the handle of his shovel into that mysterious third appendage to steady it on his shoulder as he pulled out his notebook again, carefully and thoughtfully writing:
Wasn't nec. bad dream.
Started ok. Went bad.
Parts with you in where good?
His face was still scarlet with embarrassment.
Maybe sensed we would meet? IDK.
Don't dream about ghouls often.
My project was finished.
Would you like to see my project?
He generally wasn't a show-off sort, really. At least not until his creations were complete, but he had been building for weeks now, even before his Upgrades. It was coming along but still had far to go but that did not quench his excitement.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:52 pm
She was a little relieved by his answer, but this relief was quickly replaced by a mixture of shock, anxiety, and confusion. W-what did he mean that parts with her in his dream had been good? The parts she had been in entailed...
...She was hoping he wasn't talking about that. Still, she offered a shaky, "oh?" and a weak smile. "Er, I...I'm sorry to hear that your dream ended up turning into a nightmare." She supposed the nightmare part for him was at the very end, but did that mean that everything that happened before then was considered "okay"?
The thought made her shiver a little.
She broke out of her thoughts when she realized that he had written something else. "Your...project?" The Baku read aloud, tilting her head in confusion. What project would that be?
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 7:34 pm
He nodded, shuffling to a fresh page as the corners of his mouth twitched up in an anxious smile as he offered the notebook out to her once again,
Tricky, but good challenge.
Will be useful.
Not as nice as I imagined but
Slowly coming along.
He shifted, looking somewhere between self conscious and proud, or at least faltering between the two. The school was already back in sight again, and he motioned for her to follow.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:18 pm
Xiu smiled when the school came back in view, emitting a quiet sigh of relief. She would have to take note not to wander off again next time! After her experiences, she wanted to return to her dorm, take a shower, and mull over her thoughts for a while. However, it seemed that Christof wanted to show her his project.
What could it be?
Nodding as he gestured for her to follow, the Baku hesitated and then hurried after him, tail flicking nervously around her. "What is this 'project' anyways?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:07 pm
He perked up immediately, motioning for her to follow him towards the pathway that lead towards the undead dorms. Thankfully, towards the rear, not towards the doorway- he wasn't luring her into his bedroom. He did, though, lead her to what at first looked like more overgrown shrubs until he began to toss sticks and foliage away to reveal the dull colored blanket underneath.
The thing had gotten too big to keep in his dorm, save for when he was working on specific parts, but thankfully as of yet no one had tampered with it in its hiding spot. This girl seemed trustable, after all, and he had been itching to show off his work. It was unfinished, that much was clear, barely a framework that looked a bit like an old rusted bicycle he had retrofitted and glued and bolted and taped and spot-welded into something that... almost... but not quite... resembled a motorcycle in progress.
It was nothing like the thing he had so boldly ridden in his dream, but still the hunchback beamed at her with expectant pride as he flipped the blanket off in a flourish, despite the fact it looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:34 pm
When Christof revealed his project, the ghoul blinked blankly for a moment or two, taking the creation in. It was...a...a motorcycle, perhaps? A work progress, it seemed.
Glancing towards the patchwork, she noticed the expectant look on his face so she took a step closer, keeping her arms tucked in to her chest lest she accidentally tip the whole thing over. Well, considering that she really didn't know much about motorcycles herself, this was quite impressive!
"It...it's looking good!" She chirped, turning to offer a small smile to the boil, "How close are you to finishing it right now, do you think?" Though she had to note that it looked rather...fragile, right now. Would it really run, she wondered?
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:59 pm
His expression fell, brows furrowing with a pained look as he shifted from foot to foot before huddling down over his notebook.
Still lots of work.
Never built something
like this before. Lots of
books. Master Barth has
given advice and lent me
tools. V. nice of him.
He glanced up at her over the edge of the notebook through the curtain of his ratty hair before scribbling down a footnote before offering it out for her to read with a shy shuffle of a boot.
Can take you for ride when
it is done if you would like.
She was very pretty. And very nice. And had shown an interest in him. These were rare things in that combination. The dream was fading, but the fact he had dreamed about her at all had to mean SOMETHING, didn't it? Yes, he felt. Or he really was mad. Maybe a bit of both, but he could at least try to look on the bright side, right?
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:14 am
"I...I'm sure it'll turn out well," She assured him, turned back to examine what he had so far. She wasn't sure what kind of parts were needed to build a motorcycle, but she knew it wasn't going to be an easy task. And to build it from scratch too? "It was indeed very nice of...um, Barth to have helped you!" There was a slight hesitation on the sloth demon's name, simply because she wasn't acquainted with the boil in question.
She looked at him with a curious tilt of her head when he pulled the notebook back to write down something else. Reading over the new note, the Baku stared at it for a moment before turning her gaze to Christof. Was he...was he serious?
The little Baku tried to reason with herself in her head. On one hand, the Christof--or rather, the three parts--she had seen in his dream had been...well, one of them was gentlemanly enough, but the other two had terrified her. That being said, the patchwork that stood before her now seemed to be rather...innocent, really. Where was the harm in accepting the offer?
"If...if it's not too much trouble, I-I suppose..." She trailed off uncertainly, gaze flickering from the boil, to the ground, and then back.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:44 pm
The hunchback positively beamed, patting the contraption proudly before returning to his notebook,
Master Barth is smarter
than he looks! Lots of help.
No trouble at all! Will contact
you when it is safe to ride.
Do you have Interweb?
I am not good with the phone.
He then scribbled the word "patchworkigor" down on the bottom of the page before tearing it off and handing it to her as well as the notes to read, accompanied by an embarrassed expression. It was like giving a ghoul his phone number willingly! And he didn't even have to do any of the ridiculous things Calder had always suggested. Alright, maybe a few, but he must have been getting better at it. Practice made perfect, after all! Mistress would be pleased with him, certainly.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:49 pm
Looking at the boil's face, Xiu was glad that she hadn't refused. That being said, with a shy little foot scuffle he had done, who would have been able to say no? Though she was clearly still a little conflicted inside, she reached out to take the paper, skimming it quickly before looking back up.
"U-um, yes, I do. Mine isn't so creative though--it's just XiuYing." She paused, remembering how Christof has spelled it earlier before she quickly added, "X-i-u-y-i-n-g. Do...do you want me to write it down for you?"
Honestly, the Baku was so confused by this point that she was just going along with everything. She was still paranoid--especially when he called the parts of the dream with her in it good--but the last thing she wanted to do was be mean, especially since he was treating her so politely. Maybe his dreams had just been a...a one time thing! Just a random dream with absolutely no meaning at all!
Yes. That's what she was going to believe, even if her gut told her that that was probably not the case.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:31 pm
He shook his head, scribbling it down himself gleefully. Victory! He had gotten a ghoul's contact information! Perhaps his dream had been prophetic after all? His chest felt warm and fluttery, the tiny wing pinned down under his coat suddenly subconsciously expressing the emotion with a furious fluttering of it's own, but he flinched and gave it a slap to quiet it, and a wince as the delicate appendage was promptly crushed.
Flushing, he gingerly pointed to the path that lead back around to the other dorms, instinctively starting to sign a question in his excitement before returning to the notebook before he embarrassed himself further:
Do you need help finding your way
back to your dorm?
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:44 pm
She glanced over her shoulder to see what he was pointing to before reading the message. Was he...offering to walk her back? It really wasn't that far, but she wasn't sure if it would come off as rude if she were to refuse. If there was one thing about Xiu, it was that she could rarely say no to someone.
"I, um..." What was she supposed to say? "I...I don't want to impose? I-I could probably find my way back myself, though...um, if you're returning to your own dorms and are going the same way..."
Awkward. It was a simple yes or no question, but Xiu had overthought it and made it far more stutter-filled and uncertain sounding than it needed to be.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:57 pm
She was nervous again. That would not do. Fidgeting, he rubbed his hunch where the fluttering wing still throbbed before holding up one large clawed finger before rushing to toss the blanket and other coverings carefully back over his device-in-progress before picking up his shovel to catch up with her again. He'd walk her around the building at least, that would be polite, and then part ways again.
He didn't want to scare this one away.
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