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 Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2017 10:59 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 10:51 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 7:40 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 7:42 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 7:43 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 11:16 pm
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 1:48 am
s o l o An Awkward Meal (1688 words)
Rigel looked concerned, his eyes glancing between his son's steadfast hold on the car door and the image of his ex-wife and her new boyfriend waiting patiently near a park bench.
"Hey, Cae, aren't you going to—"
"No," Caelum replied flatly. "I'm not."
"But son, your mom wanted to see you and—"
"Dad, I don't care." He leveled annoyed eyes at his father. "You never asked if I wanted to see them. Which I don't. Can we go back home now?"
Rigel sighed. Yes, he knew he should've spoken to Caelum before making the unanimous decision to have lunch with Fiora and Bryan, the new man in her life. Heck, it stung to even know she moved on so quickly, but he wanted to let bygones be bygones. While he was teetering on the edge of being over their separation, Caelum still seemed reluctant to forgive his mother.
Of course, he has every right to be mad, Rigel thought. Conner and Cae were always in the middle of it between us, and look at how it affected them. Conner's out with his friends more and Cae, well, he just doesn't want to hear anything of Fiora.
"I can't do that, Cae," Rigel said. "Your mother has wanted to see you for a very long time now, and since you refuse to talk to her on the phone, this... was the next best thing. C'mon, it won't be long. We'll stay an hour at most, okay? And you can order whatever you want."
Caelum still wasn't convinced, but he gave in. "Fine," he said, "but I'm not talking to her. I don't want to. I'm only here because I'm curious about Bryan."
"Cae..." Rigel began, but before he could finish, Caelum exited the vehicle. "Cae—!" Rigel cried after him, but was silenced by the slam of the car door. His son shoved his hands in his hoodiepockets and went to meet his mother and her boyfriend while Rigel slumped down lower in his seat.
That boy... Rigel inwardly sighed. I don't know if I should be proud of his courage, or terrified...
Deciding not to give it more thought, Rigel exited the car afterward, and joined the three at the park bench.
"Hey, hey, hey, Rigel, dude, nice to see ya!" Bryan greeted, reaching one hand to give his a shake and the other to clap him on the back. It was awkward to do; Rigel was not used to such hearty hellos, and replied with a nod and stark, "Hi."
To Fiora, who he was a little glad to keep distance from, he said, "Hello, Fiora. Nice to see you as well."
The pink-haired woman clutched her handbag and turned away, replying a terse, "Hello, Rigel," in return.
The tension between the two seemed to go unbeknownst to Bryan, or he was completely oblivious, as he shattered the tension by clamping a hand onto Caelum's shoulder and giving it a shake. "And you must be Caelum!" he said. "Nice to meet you, my boy. I'm Bryan, and I'm your mom's, err, "friend.""
Caelum blinked twice, before pursing his lips. "It's okay," he said. "You don't have to be subtle about it, I know you're screwing my mom."
"Cae!" Rigel admonished, but Bryan smiled and shook his head sheepishly.
"It's okay, man, it's good the kid knows! What's he like, eleven? Twelve?"
"I'm fourteen," Caelum said, shaking the man's hand from his shoulder. "So don't treat me like I'm some kid."
"Oh, no, no," Bryan said, flashing his palms at the teen. "I didn't mean to offend, you're just kinda short, so..."
"A-anyway!" Rigel cried out, trying to distance the topic of conversation from his son. Just a glance to him gave the man the feeling his son would explode at any moment. "Fiora, that restaurant... You know the way, right? Why don't we start walking?"
"Fine," Fiora said.
She began to lead the way, and like school children following their teacher, the three males fell in line and followed in tandem. The venture was a short one; Fiora, Bryan, Rigel, and Cae made their way up a block lined with a multitude of stores, before crossing to an opposing street corner. There, the group came upon a restaurant that was familiar to three of them.
Oh man, I remember this place, Rigel thought. Fiora and I went here for our anniversary once... And when Cae turned ten. He shook his head slightly. Damn it, don't think about those things now, Rigel. You're just going to make yourself depressed.
As if reading his father's discomfort, Caelum touched him on the forearm, but kept his eyes pinned onto Bryan's back.
He really doesn't like him, Rigel noted.
After exchanging words with a woman at the counter, the four were seated near the window, and handed menus along with glasses of water. Silence permeated each of them, but like before, it was Bryan who broke it.
"Maaan, this place is swanky," he said. "Don't got such a nice restaurant where we live in Jersey. Right, hun?"
He elbowed Fiora on the side, and she forced a smile that strained her youthful looking face. "Yes, Bryan."
"So! Cae, you said you're fourteen, right?" Bryan asked.
"Yea."
"You're a freshman in high school?"
"Yea..."
"You in any clubs?"
Caelum shook his head.
"Oooh, boy. You should really consider doing so, son! Back when I was your age, I was on the football team. Great time with those boys... You should consider football, would put some meat on those bones."
"Yea, sure."
Rigel could feel Fiora's eyes burn holes on the side of his face from Caelum's unsatisfactory answer. Bryan, once again, seemed oblivious to this.
"Good, good!" he said. "Now, what are we gonna eat...?"
When the waitress came around, the four relayed their orders; Fiora chose a simple caesar salad, Rigel asked for a plate of spaghetti, Caelum couldn't deny himself a burger, and Bryan, with the largest appetite of all, ordered a steak, baked potato, steamed vegetables, fries, alfredo pasta, a bowl of soup, and an extra basket of bread. He was a messy eater, slapping his tongue after each open mouth chew, and gorging on whatever he could get his hand on; be them from his own plates, Fiora's, to even Rigel's or Caelum's. Despite this, he ended up only eating a third of his food.
"Ahhh, that was great!" Bryan sighed. When Rigel turned to take out his wallet, he added, "No, no! Fiora and I got this. Put your wallet away, Rigel."
Sheepishly, he did as he was instructed, and then figuring it was all right, rose to leave. Caelum, sighing a little, joined.
"So since we're done, Cae and I are just gonna go," Rigel began, but was stopped by Bryan.
"Oh, wait, wait!" Bryan said. "Don't go just yet! Fiora has something she wanted to tell both of you."
Fiora blinked, and then began to shake her head. "Oh, don't worry about it. I don't—"
"C'mon, hun, tell them!"
Tentatively, after exchanging glances, Rigel and Caelum took their seats.
"What is it?" Rigel asked.
"Well," Fiora began, but she silenced herself for a lengthy moment. Her leg bounced impatiently and she twiddled her thumbs, thinking hard on her words, before looking between her son and her ex-husband.
"I'm, um—"
"She's pregnant!" Bryan suddenly burst out saying, smiling widely. "Can you believe that? She's going to have a baby! My baby!"
Rigel looked incredulous, while Caelum just pursed his lips and shrugged a shoulder. "Well, congrats," he said.
"There's more," Fiora said, before leveling her gaze on Caelum. Then, for the first time since their separation, Fiora spoke to her son. "Caelum, I know we're not on.... good... terms, but I—we—want you to be involved in the baby's life. The same with Conner. We want you to recognize them as your sibling."
Caelum huffed. "But, like, it's not," he said, eliciting a frown from both Rigel and Bryan. "It's your kid, with him. I don't want anything to do with it."
"Cae—" Rigel said, but was cut off by Bryan.
"Listen here, you little s**t!" he spat, surprising all three of them. "I've been trying really, really hard to be nice here, but your ******** attitude is getting on my nerves. Who the hell do you think you are? Huh? That baby's gonna be your sibling, whether you like it or not, so cut the s**t and accept that!"
Rigel expected a response from Caelum, but suddenly, the boy launched up from his seat and shot a fiery glare at Bryan. Then, without provocation, he slammed his napkin and marched out of the restaurant without another word.
"Cae!" Rigel called after him, before exchanging glances with Fiora. "S-sorry, Cae, he... He's a little moody right now. Maybe we can discuss this when he's in a better mood... I'll, um, see you guys. Thanks a lot for coming down here."
Rigel rushed after his son, and caught up with him halfway down the block.
"Cae! What the hell was that?" Rigel said to him, frowning. "They were just asking something of you—"
Caelum jerked around to his father with tears in his eyes. Rigel was shocked to silence, feeling awful for yelling at his son.
"Cae," he said gently. "Is... something wrong?"
"Yea... Yea, there's a lot wrong!" he shouted. "First, you didn't ask me if I wanted to have lunch with her. Then, that... that Bryan guy tried to be all buddy-buddy. s**t, I want to have nothing to do with him! And then, they're gonna have a kid? And they want me to be a brother to it? What the hell! Dad, when I said I wanted to have nothing to do with them, I meant it. I really meant it!"
Rigel sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Cae," he said. "I should've asked you. I didn't mean to upset you. Next time... Next time, I'll ask. Let's go home, okay?"
Caelum sniffled and lowered his head, tagging along after his father to cross the street and return to the car.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:50 pm
s o l o Hero's Dilemma (1055 words)
Rigel was never good with one of the those Serious Parenting Moments. In fact, it'd go as far to say that the man was afraid of confrontation. So when his son agreed to sit down with him at the kitchen table and actually give him some explanation, Rigel was enthralled it didn't take more pressuring.
It had first began with Caelum walking out on the lunch with his mother and her new boyfriend, but now, his son was sporting a black eye that he, as the teen put it, "Got from falling down the stairs and punching himself in the face." Rigel didn't want to doubt him, but even he could see through such a weak, weak lie. Especially when he obtained it overnight, when Rigel was awake. He surely would've heard his son fall and curse aloud, right?
Right?
Caelum looked pensive as he clasped his hands together at the kitchen table, holding his gaze on the corner of the room as he looked as if he were debating something. Rigel didn't want to break his concentration, but the musts of a father pushed him to disturb his son's thoughts.
"So, Cae," he began, drawing Caelum's eyes to him. "What's on your mind?"
"Nothing, dad."
"Nothing at all?"
"Yea. Nothing."
"Then... why did you agree to talk if there is nothing on your mind?"
"'Cause you wanted to, right? I thought you had something to bring up with me."
"Uh, yes... and no?" Rigel drew a breath. "Well, to begin with, even though I know you felt uncomfortable during the meal last week, it wasn't right for you to walk out the way you did. Your mom called later to express her disappoints about your attitude. Is something troubling you, son? The last time you acted like this was when we moved here. Then you warmed up to the city, but it seems your... distress... it's come full circle."
Caelum's brows knitted together. How could he explain to his father his frustrations regarding a cosmic war that he was a part of? A war that has existed for centuries, millenniums before either of them was even a teardrop in the coursing river of time? A war that seemed like there was no end in sight?
Caelum had been sitting on his thoughts for a while, and found himself at odds on how to approach them. He wanted to be a hero, to save the people who couldn't save themselves from the forces of Chaos, but what worth was it? In the long run, the innocent was always going to be in a state of trouble, and the senshi were going to have to fight—and sacrifice—their lives in order to maintain some semblance of peace. It was as if everything was for naught.
And why did he have to keep it a secret? Didn't his dad deserve to know everything about him?
I'm not going to henshin up in front of him, Caelum determined then and there. At the same time, even if I be honest with him... he's probably gonna think I'm talking about some video game or something. What am I to do? What am I to say?
"Cae."
The boy's attention was brought back to reality. Rigel tut-tutted and ran a hand through his hair.
"Then there's your black eye," his father continued. "I'm sorry, but I just can't believe you "punched yourself in the face." It just doesn't sit well with me. I know we agreed you wouldn't sneak out at night anymore, but you have, haven't you?"
Caelum dropped his shoulders. He did promise that, but it was better to fess up here than drag his name in the mud some more. "Yes, dad, I did. F-for a few nights. But I didn't stay long, just an hour at most!"
Well, that'a s lie, but...
Rigel sighed deeply. "Honestly, son, what am I going to do with you? Conner—"
"Don't bring Conner into this."
"Ah, then... I just never expected anything like this from you. Both of you, but especially you." Rigel averted his eyes. "Was I that bad of a father?"
"Dad—" The teen didn't like to see his father be so hard on himself, and came close to comforting him. But Caelum felt if he went further with his feelings, he might reveal everything to Rigel.
I'm sorry, I can't say anything. I just... can't.
Caelum cupped his face in his hands, and sighed. "Dad, there's so much stuff I want to tell you," he said. "I want to be honest, I want to be. It hurts so much holding all these things in, but I can't. I just can't. Please, you have to trust me on this."
"Caelum, I'm allowed to worry. I am your father, but..." Rigel relented. "Okay, for now, I'll trust you, but in time... Whenever you're ready, you can tell me."
"That's the thing, dad... I don't think I can ever tell you."
"Cae..."
Red eyes held onto red eyes that were filled with an unspoken concern that rippled throughout the teen's body. As if Rigel was silently saying, "Cae, I don't know what you do and I know you won't tell me, but please, whatever it is, come back to me alive." His father cared so, so much, and again, it threatened to have the boy be honest. It danced on the tip of his tongue, but nothing was said.
Rigel dismissed his son with a small wave of his hand, and Caelum rose from the table and returned to his room. After shutting the door behind him, the teen took a deep breath, and headed to the top drawer of his desk. He withdrew his henshin pen and held it tight in his hand, a twitch in his finger to snap it in two.
If it wasn't for this, I wouldn't have to make dad worry, he thought. If this were gone, I'd... I'd have a normal life. I could concentrate on school, on being there for Conner and dad, on making more friends, but... but...
Caelum swallowed hard and threw the pen back into the drawer, slamming it shut.
I can't do it. I just can't do it. He looked to his room's door dolefully. I'm sorry, dad. I have to be there for everyone... Not just you.
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Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 3:52 am
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 7:49 am
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Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:28 pm
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