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 Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 6:57 pm
Distractions
503 words [SOLO18] This was the third time he'd caught himself staring out the window today. This wasn't really a good thing – especially on his first day at work in almost 6 weeks – but he couldn't help it. He was distracted. That in itself wasn't completely unusual – he often forgot about things to focus wholly on one other thing – but this was... different. It had started maybe a day or two ago, when he'd been working on his last paper before winter break kicked in. Usually he could plow through papers quickly enough if he put his mind to it, if only just to get them done – but that hadn't worked. No, he had caught himself staring out into the starry sky almost every half-hour, filled with longing and another whole slew of emotions. Normally Xavier was okay with emotions, but this was something else. He didn't even know why he was lovesick. There was no reason, no reason at all for him to be ! He was out of his cast. Bell's birthday was this weekend. Christmas was right around the corner. The snow continued to fall softly, as if Destiny City had been trapped inside a snowglobe, even now. Snowglobe. His mind didn't make the connection. In his mind, he still only had one – while in reality, there were now four of them, each in a different room of his apartment. The one in his bedroom got the most playtime, as he had taken to listening to the haunting melody as he went to sleep. Every time Tempo knocked one off it's chosen resting place, it was panic – even more panic that usual – until he noticed there wasn't even a scratch on the globes. It was only then that he'd calmed down. It was only then that the blood in his veins stopped rushing as if something vital to his existence had just been threatened. Xavier never really noticed he was doing all those things. While he had a hard time letting go of objects, he didn't usually hoard them on purpose, just keep what he already had. Anyone who would have seen the matter of the snowglobes could have easily seen that something wasn't quite right. But Xavier lived alone, with his cat, on the 4th story of an old apartment. There was no one there to see what he was doing. There was no one else to notice what he completely overlooked. “Xavier ! Helll-ooooo, space cadet ?” Came a voice, that pulled him out of his reverie. Damnit, he'd just done it again, didn't he ? “Your break is almost over, big guy.” His boss teased, not seeming too upset... thankfully. “Stop thinking about your girlfriend and come back out, hm ? It's madness in the store.” “Yeah...” He managed, sparing one last look out of the window before finishing his can of soda and heading out of the backstore, still as clueless as he had been moments ago.
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Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:27 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:30 am
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:58 am
The Snow Dancers Of Destiny City
608 words [SOLO19] He had spaced out again. Luckily, this wasn't exactly dramatic. He was at work, sure, but oddly enough there was barely anyone in the video game store at the moment, compared to the hustle and bustle that had come earlier. In fact, the last customer left a few minutes ago. He'd skipped lunch and his break, as had many others, and while that meant free pizza later, it also meant personal complications. Add that to his recently amplified tendency to easily space out unless there was something keeping his attention and you had a very sparse Xavier Avery on your hands. He did have the natural ability to single-mindedly focus on one thing, but this was getting a little extreme. It was the cold chill of the door opening right next to him that dragged him out of his revery – he shivered a bit, and that was when he turned to look at who came in. It was his boss... With pizza ?! Sweet ! ...Covered in snow. His boss, not the pizza. But then he looked outside. Holy s**t. “What the hell ?” He suddenly let out. There was... There was so much snow ! He'd never seen so much damn snow in his life !! When had it all started ?! “You're not taking the bus home, Xav.” His boss stated, shaking the massive build-up of snow on her coat. “The system's completely paralysed. They say we broke a record in snowfall already on the radio, and that this ain't ending anytime soon. At least the pizza's not frozen, eat up boys !” “s**t.” Xavier placed his last game box (that had actually been hovering in his hand for the last 5 minutes) on the shelf before turning to get his part of pizza before the rest of his hungry co-workers got to it. “Think you can drive me home, Jess ? Im closing, and I think you're closing too ?” “Depends if I can find my car under all that snow in four hours.” His boss gave a chuckle. “And if you push.” “Ill push. I think we can forget that I even own a car at this point.” Xavier said in between two bites. “I thought you said your dad was getting it to the garage today ?” Jess likewise asked, after taking off her coat. “In that storm ? Yeah, we can forget about tha-” “HOLY s**t.” And then, the whole store went silent for one second. Two seconds. Then... “No cussing in the store, Chris.” Came Jenn's almost-automatic remark. “No, seriously, look at this ! There's girls falling from the sky !!” “Who spiked your cocoa ?” Was Xavier's witty remark. But then... he looked. Whoever had spiked Chris' cocoa had also gotten to his own, because there were, actually, girls falling from the sky. Dancing their way down, even. “Holy s**t.” Was all that Jess had to say about that. “No cussing in the store, Jess !” Came the reply from a worker further in the back. “I can damn well cuss in my store when there's snow chicks falling from the sky ! Jeez... Never a dull moment.” “Do you think it's one of those terrorist things ?” Asked Chris. “s**t, I can't wait to move back to New York... this town is apeshit man. Apeshit !” Xavier said nothing else, watching the snow ladies dance their way down to the ground and then away from them, thoughtfully chewing on his pizza. Things... had gotten a little more interesting indeed.
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Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 10:57 am
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Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 7:41 pm
Dreams And Reality
535 words [SOLO20] He awoke like one awoke from a nightmare – sitting straight up in bed, eyes wide. But it wasn't a nightmare that he awoke from, not really. It was a dream. Those dreams. Really, he was glad for Ainsley at the moment – while he was giving the sisters their space to learn to know one another, it made for the perfect excuse not to sleep over and have to explain just what these dreams were, or just why he'd started sleeping so much, not quite to the point of the first few days after he had broken his arm, but enough to be considered worrisome. Once, there had been a snowglobe for each of the three rooms of his apartment – but now there was twice that, and the night before he had gathered them all into his bedroom, on his desk. It was the best place, the safest place, for them to be – no one came in his bedroom, ever, not even Bell really had, as it was simply much more convenient to go to her house where they had so much more space if they wanted to be together. His bedroom was his cave, and it was within it that he hid his treasures, much like a dragon of myth that hoarded gold. Tempo had knocked one off the bookshelf and he had very nearly freaked out, only calming when he noticed it was still in one piece. Tempo never went on his desk. Right now, though, they served another purpose rather than safety – one by one, Xavier wound them, until they all ended up playing in semi-unison. It was calming, yet melancholic – in a way it made him feel that she was still here with him, that she hadn't been a figment of his imagination. She. That woman. The woman who showed up in his dreams, the woman he could not make out the features of, but yet that he knew smiled so sweetly – the woman whose voice still rung in his mind even now. This time, he remembered her voice, remembered her words, what she had said to them mere seconds before consciousness forcefully removed her from his presence. 'I'll be here soon...' She had said. Her voice had seemed to familiar. Had he heard it before ? He struggled to remember, but he couldn't, couldn't truly pinpoint the 'how' or 'where'. She invoked in him feelings that he had not felt in such a long time. The mysterious woman invoked sadness, yes, but a warm feeling of affection, much like the affection he had so dearly wanted out of his mother when she had abandoned him, abandoned them, him and his dad. The song of the last globe gave its final notes, and he cranked them all again, like clockwork, in a nearly automatic way. And he listened to the song again, and again, and again, as if it somehow would make everything clearer, everything better. As if it would make her come to him faster. It didn't, of course, but that did not stop him. Eventually, however, he trailed back to sleep once more, with the final notes of six snowglobes guiding him there.
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:39 am
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:39 pm
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Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:40 pm
Three Days
537 words [SOLO21] Words. Xavier stared at the collection of snowglobes that had overtaken the desk in his bedroom. He'd gone though his daily ritual of cranking all of them up over and over until he fell asleep – he honestly believed it would let him see her again – but one of the globes hadn't played the familiar, eerily sad song. Well, it had, but there had been something else. No, he could have sworn one of them had just spoken right at him, fuzzy and faded like an old radio. Which one was it ? Which one ?! It took an amazing amount of restrain, but he settled to wind them up one at the time to figure it out. Not the first, the first played the familiar song he loved so much. The blonde teen couldn't bring himself to interrupt it, so he let it finish, before cranking the second snowglobe carefully. The sad song again. When it was finished, he cranked the third. Then the fourth. Maybe he had imagined it ? Maybe he wanted her to be here so badly that he'd imagined her voice ? No, it couldn't be ! He wanted.. no, he needed to hear her again, her song, her voice, her presence, saddening like comforting all at once. The fifth did not play it's song, and he nearly dropped it in surprise, immediately berating himself for his carelessness. There it was ! It was her ! Her voice ! It came and went, in and out, fuzzy, over the familiar tune. Pale blue eyes stared directly at the tiny depiction of the woman in the snowglobe as if her lips might have moved, as if anything could help him decode what she had to say to him. First he only heard tiny snippets of words, nothing he could decode. He cranked the globe again, and thankfully she was still there, he could still hear her – a little more clearly. He cranked the globe, again and again, the tips of his fingers turning a familiar red, but the more he did, the more he could make out. I...want to...help...you... peace...the....world....Peace to the world. This would be so good, so amazing, if things were normal again – or at least, if they were peaceful once more. No one else had to die. No one else would need to suffer. At that very instant, he wanted that peace so badly that the lack of it seemed to create a very tangible ache inside of him. Can you... help... me?“Yes ! I want to help, I want to !” He said, cranking the snowglobe again. Could she hear him ? Oh, she had to be able to hear him, she had to ! “Please tell me what I can do !” Three days... I'll be here soon...“Where ? Can you tell me where ?!” He cranked the globe again, but... the words, her voice, was gone. Only the familiar song remained. He even went to crank all six of his globes again, but nothing. Nothing. She was gone. Xavier sighed. Three days. He'll wait for her. He had to. He would be there when she would need him.
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Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 8:37 pm
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 10:41 am
Aftermath
492 words [SOLO22] Everyone was dispersing, now, and Sailor Themis saw no reason to linger on – so he was among the first to leave, sliding his way away from the gathering of powered beings, the abundance of black on his fuku making it easy for him to slide into the darkness with relative ease. Two crystals. Who could have thought that this would be what it would come down to ? Shattered hopes, a fight bigger than anything he could have imagined, and then two crystals. Two crystals, and he was pretty sure he'd seen two senshi grap them. An eternal for sure, the wings made that easy. The second he had seen a few times – he'd been there when Kurma had showed up, and showed them... space. Space. Another thing to think about. He felt an... obligation to go back, to figure things out, but in a way he did not want to. A quick duck into an alley and a check to see if he was alone later, and it was Xavier Avery that walked out. He saw no need to draw more attention onto himself that he'd already done, especially not when so many from both side would soon also leave to go home. He intended to be gone before that would happen, and hopefully duck under the aura radar, so to speak. It was a win for them this time around. Kaguya was dead, and he felt like he'd actually had a good hand in that victory, even if it was impossible that he had been the only one to think of this. Yet, he'd figured something out, and it made him feel good about himself. He'd done something meaningful for what he felt was the first time ever since he'd been awakened, and the b***h had gone down. And yet, he was sad, and angry, at being manipulated in such a way. He'd honestly thought it was the true princess, their princess, and he'd fallen into it so easily... Too easily. Why did the idea of the moon princess matter to him ? He'd never met her. She was dead, and dead things did not usually return. Nevertheless, princess or no princess, they had to keep pushing through. To do what was right. If they waited for her to return, then they might as well wait forever. They wouldn't get that long, if what he'd seen tonight was any indication. The negaverse was also fighting, which meant that they hadn't done this – or so he was inclined to think – which mean that there was, perhaps, something else out there. There was always something else, wasn't it ? As if the problems they had now weren't big enough... It seemed like Destiny City would not be peaceful again for a long time. For now, through, the only thing Xavier wanted to do was go home, and try to distance himself from the night's event for a bit.
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 3:37 pm
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 5:02 pm
Reserve for new years party
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 5:03 pm
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:10 pm
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