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 Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 4:09 pm
"Out?"
One.
Two.
Three.
"Ohhhhh." He said, suddenly getting it. "oh." He looked to the side and jumped when he realized the waiter was waiting for their order.
Quickly giving her their order, he handed the menu to her and watched her go.
"I ...never had to say that to my family. I was recruited before anything...." But his parents wouldn't have left him - at least he liked to think so, but no one really ever knew unless their parents told them or they came out and watched how they would react.
"Would your siblings .....still talk to you?" He hadn't mentioned them much either. Had he not connected with anyone in his family?
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 8:10 pm
Ever shrugged just a little, dragging a hand up the back of his neck while he considered. "Renee, maybe, but I doubt my brothers would. Never really got on anyway; I was always weird, and kind of bookish, and, you know, probably gay. And they were all more...physical and asked fewer weird questions and...." He let it trail off and then finally caught on again, eyes narrowed. "How many siblings do you have?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 6:39 am
He only smiled back. "I have two. A older sister name Sophie and a younger brother named Chris. Chris and I never saw eye to eye. He foubd me more of a disappointment as a older brother but we had a strained understanding that westill looked out for one another if we needed it....Chris rarely asked for my help. He enrolled into the Marines last I checked." And he wished him all the luck though worried his family would loose 2 sons.
"I was much closer to my sister Sophie. We confined a lot in each other and she was my best friend. I still feel bad that I left her, but I think she was in good hands. She was talking about popping the question the last Thanksgiving we had at my grandma's house." And he would miss or had missed that big day for her too.
"My family visited relatives a lot. Reunions. Holidays. Summer vacations. Uncles and aunts and cousins and a mess of cousins. I miss the traditions a lot." None of which were present on Deus. He tried his best on Thanksgiving to get everyone together to offset the homesickness and depression.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:43 pm
It was open enough to surprise Ever -- and almost enough to leave him embarrassed, ashamed of his own roundabout answers. So he chewed on it all, dragging a hand across the back of his neck, just a little bit tense now that they were on this subject. Or maybe hearing about Melvin's family smarted just a bit. "My dad kept us...insular. He had a very specific view of how the world worked, and how we were supposed to behave under God's eye, and I don't know why but my mom went along with it." He chewed on that, still trying to be kind, or as kind as he could be. "It was pretty shitty. We didn't much celebrate, or we did but it was more church and less whatever it is everyone else does. No birthdays, really, either, and we never saw anyone else in the family. Or anyone else at all, really. Home schooled, and all that." He shot a quick look up to Melvin, and cleared his throat. "Honestly, when I wanted to apply to colleges, it took a really long time for them to even dig up my birth certificate. I'm surprised I had one. And that they let me go at all." Just a beat, and then he had to end on an upbeat note. "I did like my sister, though. She was smart, wanted to be a vet...but I think I probably ******** that up for her."
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:57 pm
He frowned at the place that he came from. The place his siblings were from, and some that might still be there. These were the things that haunted hunters who left someone behind. Those that thought of those they could never again reach out to, to check in, to help, to just talk.
"I'm sorry you came from that kind of life. That your siblings came from that ...and didn't get a choice in in. I can see why you'd feel unsafe in that place." And if his siblings grew up there and felt devout to the same king of teachings, then it would be harder for him to get support from them.
"I suppose that choosing not to go back was in your best interest. For your own health....and now you are here free to do whatever a hunter is permitted to do." Even if it was still a kind of punch, maybe it was sweeter for him now.
"I hope she did find a way to pursue her dreams. Really, there isn't much of a way to tell. She's an adult. If you managed to go through everything without so much as a birth certificate, then she could have found a way too. She could have found a way out maybe." It was a comforting thought, but only that. A thought to comfort those who couldn't know for sure.
"Is that why you feel uncomfortable now in places like this?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:02 pm
"Uh, no, not exactly." Again, he chewed it over and then gave it up -- shrugging a bit, he leaned back and stretched his legs out under the table, watching Melvin frankly. "That's more because I spent about three years living on and off the streets without a real job or anything. And I did my fair share of pocketing things, when I had no cash. When I cared enough, I guess." His hand still lingered against the back of his neck, shoulders a bit bunched. "I was pretty messed up for a while. Rarely sober. Everything I had fit in one bag. I think security guards can probably still just about smell it on me."
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:10 pm
Living off the streets. Pickpocketing.
At least it wasn't murder. At least it wasn't sneaking into someone's home.
Why had so many hunters come from these places - or was it just why did so many people find themselves thrust into the cruelty of the world?
"That's a pretty long time. Do -" Mel.
He paused, halted in his hounding. It's fine. He's fine.
Mel.
"Were you happy The Organization.." It wasn't within policy to talk about Deus off the island in public. "...invited you here or....did you hope for something else to happen before you were recruited?" Someone else offering a helping hand to someplace better.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2017 10:43 pm
Ever shrugged it off, anyway; aside from some jitters around mall security and his general still-living-out-of-one-bag lifestyle, it didn't seem like he was terribly damaged by it. Of course, it was hard to tell. After all, getting him to talk about it at all had been a bit like pulling teeth. "I was working by then. Friend got me a job as an early shift bartender, it was something anyway. Honestly, I'm more surprised when people are around here and left something...bigger behind. Like, why you? Seems like you could have done more out there.."
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Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 8:31 am
"Well, I had to think about it. When I was approached, they didn't give me much time to decide, but I sat and thought about it because I did have a life. I know I'm lucky. My parents were married and loving, my siblings watched out for each other, and we were middle class so we never had to really deal with any major financial hits." He considered the question, because it was one that people did bring up when on Deus. It was personal, because it wasn't just about family, but all the things that had made him cross over from a civilian to a hunter. Why someone who was lucky would give it all away when so many hunters hadn't ever experienced that kind of life.
"I didn't start life seeing shadows when I was born. I was attacked by one when I was in elementary school." He tugged at the collar of his shirt to show the curling scars about his neck, not looking at Ever as he did so. The scars were now outlined by a scar in the shape of a wing. He moved his shirt collar back.
"After that, I wanted to know why I could see them and no one else could. I considered it a disease. Something I caught and didn't want to transmit to my sister or baby brother. To my parents. To my family. I studied a lot. Did what most hunters did as kids and go to therapy. Logical excuses for hallucinations like some kind of walking night terrors. It was concerning to my family to have a mental illness they now had to write down on doctor forms under family history. That maybe it was genetics and as the supplier, they were responsible. They'd jump if my siblings had imaginary friends.
"I never could find what it was. I read people online with similar problems, the same therapy diagnoses, and the same kind of medications. Very small groups. I went into college to study Parasitology because I thought that was the answer. Then before my first year was done, someone came to me and said they have the explanation for everything. They had the answers, and I had a choice. Stay here with my normal, privileged life or go with them."
He looked up from the table. "If I stayed in my normal life, the regret of not knowing the real answer would have drove me insane. The answer I wanted since I woke up from the hospital from my attack and could see what no one else could. The answer no one else could give me. I probably would have drove myself crazy. I would have deteriorated into something else, so it was either worry my family less by a quick death or go quietly crazy and regret every day that I didn't follow that recruiter here."
He reached for the glass of water provided to each of them and took a sip. "That doesn't mean I don't feel guilt and regret at making my family think they failed in providing me the support and love to keep me from killing myself."
"I don't know if it was selfish or a form of mercy to them."
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Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 10:18 pm
It was definitely a downer of a dinner conversation -- overly heady for something to be discussing over chicken fingers which had probably been frozen not an hour earlier. Still, Ever took it in and thought about it, poking his food absently into ketchup and eating in a somewhat mechanical way. Food down, chewed and swallowed, with his mind on something else entirely. "...I never really had those problems. I was always taught that God was real, and my mom at least believed in angels, so I just...I thought the things I saw were wrapped up into that." He licked ketchup from the corner of his mouth while he thought. "I mean, one could argue they are."
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 10:48 am
"Well. maybe it's nice to think that there is a place of things that only give us hope and - nice feelings? I mean if we have demons and monsters, why not that?" It was at least a little uplifting to think about.
He breathed out, not expecting to have started talking so much about his own family or even his scar. He barely knew Ever.
The food had been delivered without him even noticing and so he reached out to get some hot sauce to add to his wings. "If you were a bartender, why don't you try working at the bar on the island? Did you like it?" It was a clear change of subject. "Ever flip bottles like in those movies?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 1:38 pm
"It wasn't that kind of bar, and I wasn't that kind of bartender." It did lighten the mood just a little bit -- brightened Ever's eyes all at once, some amused thought dragging through the seriousness. It was easier to talk about things like this. "I did early shift, which means mostly pouring shitty shots or mixing up the same six drinks over and over again, and half the time it meant I just cleaned the bathroom or threw people out. I'm not sure Rep would be much interested in that." But he paused a little, musing. "Plus, I can't resist flirting with Rep. I'd get myself murdered, fast, either by him or Harrison."
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:36 pm
He dipped a fry into a little pool of hot sauce he made. "...or Jordan." He grumbled, biting the fry before looking up.
"Could always start your own business if you were into that kinda thing."
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:54 pm
"A business of hitting on Rep and getting my a** kicked?" Ever smiled as he said it -- and followed it up quickly, before Melvin could take it too literally, could fail to realize it was a joke. "I'm not actually that into bar tending. I just knew a guy who worked there and he blackmailed his boss into giving me the position. I was just trying to do something more...steady."
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2017 7:35 pm
"That would be a very short business." He pointed out back, lost in thought a moment.
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