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 Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:47 am
This is an RP in which a character sulks about how he's been dumped and his ex has moved on. I suggest that Yushi and Embi not read this, as well as anyone else invested in Ella's relationship with Raa. I'm worried that it might make them feel bad, but this is an RP I had to do to get Quilo to move on, and to cement his friendship with Yaviss and Zuna.  There was work to be done. Food to be found, water to be collected, blankets to be grabbed. Quilo worked in a stupor, picking up everything that was needed and putting it into a stack. He took the stack back to the auditorium, then went back out into the halls to grab stuff. Work. He needed to do work. He needed to distract himself. He needed something to do, something that was harmless. He needed to do work, to keep working, to not stop.
He’d seen him kissing Ella.
Ella. Who was so shy. Who didn’t like to be pushed. Who’d dumped Quilo—she’d never said why, but Quilo had rushed it. He’d asked her out, and then she’d run away, she’d pushed him away, and she only did that after he asked her out—she didn’t push him away when they were friends. It was only after they were boyfriend and girlfriend that she’d wanted nothing more to do with him.
She didn’t like the way Quilo had moved forward, he got it.
So why had she kissed that boy? Or rather, why had she let him kiss her? She’d let him kiss her, and she hadn’t pushed him away. She’d…she’d liked it. She’d like the way he kissed her. He could see that in her eyes, in her face, in the way she held her tail.
She liked the way that boy kissed her, but she didn’t like Quilo. Quilo, who’d known her since they were little—he couldn’t—he wasn’t allowed to—but that boy? He could just—and she wasn’t going to dump him? They’d kissed long, and hard, and with a passion Quilo had never seen anyone kiss before (except in movies).
Supplies were gathered. They were carrying things downstairs into the bunker. Quilo stumbled in, then found the furthest, darkest corner he could find and sank into it.
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:50 am
 Yaviss helped carry supplies around as best he could, but he kept an eye out in the crowd for Quilo. He’d been worried about the hybrid all night, ever since he’d run away from Haunted Hallows sobbing. It was like something really shitty had happened then—or rather, something had reminded Quilo of that shitty thing.
It was one of those stupid stones, he just knew it. Those poxy rocks, the ones that glowed garishly, that made you think of terrible things. Whoever gave those out were assholes who deserved to be thrown to the cannibals outside for doing such an assholish thing like this. Quilo had been super upset. Normally Yaviss didn’t allow him to care about s**t like that, but damnit, Quilo had stood up for him against a damn Naiad, and when a guy stands up for a Goblin, the Goblin maybe starts to feel like he owes the guy—especially when that Goblin is one lapse away from being disowned by his entire culture.
Yaviss didn’t want Quilo to be alone tonight, of all nights. Once he’d delivered the supplies, Yaviss made his way through the bunker, looking everywhere for the hybrid. Finally, he found Quilo in a corner, hunched over and shaking, his hands hidden. Yaviss sat down next to him and held out a clawed hand. “Quilo, give me the rock. Now.” Yaviss was holding gloves—bring it on, a*****e rock!
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:51 am
 Zuna had just gotten done delivering her apology letter to Quilo when everyone was called to the auditorium. Zuna sighed in frustration and made her way back down there to see what was going on. Bad stuff, apparently. People were getting hurt—hell, they were even dying. Zuna bit her lip. Yeah. It was gang violence all over again—just on a way, way worse scale. Zuna was among the first of the juniors to join a group and get to work gathering supplies. She gathered as many as she could carry, and then some. She wanted to help. She wanted to feel good about herself, and the cheapest and easiest way to do that right now was to pitch in and help people out. She hauled the supplies downstairs, depositing them with the rest of the supply dump.
So what could she do now? It didn’t seem like there was much more use for supply hauling down here, or…really any chores at all. Some people were still organizing s**t, but they didn’t need more volunteers. Zuna sighed and looked around for something to do. Her eye caught a flash of olive green, and she turned to see Yaviss, that wretched Goblin boy, sitting down next to an upset Quilo sitting on the ground.
Ah, excellent. Zuna made a bee-line for them.
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:52 am
She held his hand, like he was her anchor and with her hand in his, she could fly to the highest heavens.
She’d never held his hand like that.
She’d never wanted him. She’d forgotten that he’d ever existed.
Someone sat down next to him, and for a second, hope flared in his heart. That hope died out when a rough but familiar voice spoke to him. It was Yaviss—who was apparently now psychic? Quilo bit his lip and handed Yaviss the stone. It was pale pink and blue—Ella’s colors. The colors that had always reminded him of her. When he’d first touched it tonight, he’d remembered her smile, and the way she wore that starry dress, and the way her voice sounded, and the way she ran—
But most of all, he’d remembered that she wasn’t his anymore, and that he would never see her smile or dance with her in that dress ever again.
Quilo would never admit it under the worst of torture, but he felt a tiny bit better handing the stone to Yaviss.
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:53 am
The Goblin wasn’t done, though. He hunkered down next to Quilo. Okay, so…what should he say? He was curious as to what had gotten Quilo so riled up. A casual observer might assume that it was the pressure of the attacks, but Yaviss knew better—this had all started long before anyone’s lives were in danger. That meant that this was a low-stakes battle, but a low-stakes battle could give you the courage to win a high-stakes one.
Besides, seeing a guy curled up like that was painful.
Yaviss turned the stone over in his hands, trying not to touch it with his bare skin as much as possible. There had to be a way to remove the magic from this stupid thing, right? He had to do that. The only other option was to take it away from Quilo and never let him find it. Hm, maybe he could bury it? Magic like this wore off after a while—it was never enchanted to last much more than a few nights, just like a glowstik was not enchanted to last more than a night or two.
Without looking at Quilo, still turning the rock over and over in his hands to have something to fidget with, Yaviss said softly, “You can talk, Quilo. I won’t say a word until you’re ready to stop.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:58 am
Zuna came in early enough to see the exchange of the stone from one hand to another. She recognized it—it was one of those rocks they were handing out at the festival, the ones that made you feel scared and sad. For a holiday that was supposed to be about having fun, that was a colossally shitty thing to be giving out to people—unless you hated children. If you hated children, it was the perfect thing to give people to ruin their lives forever and make them never be able to feel love again. Kind of like those creepy dolls, actually.
Zuna also heard, just barely over the ambient noise, Yaviss’s words. The Goblin was quiet, man. Rather than sit down on the other side of Quilo, though, Zuna took a seat in front of him, her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them. She was in listening mode. Whatever it was that was eating up this loser, she wanted to find out what it was. After writing that ridiculous apology letter, Zuna was starting to feel kind of attached to these two idiots.
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:59 am
Quilo gulped. It was a tempting offer. A really nice one. How could he articulate it, though? Before he could say anything, though, someone else sat nearby—Zuna, the Naiad from earlier this evening. She was sitting there, watching them, every muscle in her posture indicating that she was ready to listen.
Okay, so…people were listening now? Quilo bit his lip. “When I was a kid,” he said slowly, wiping away the snot from his nose, “I met this girl named Ella. And we liked each other—a lot. We were going to be together forever. We were going to love each other forever and ever. We got each other rings and—and everything.” Here his voice broke with a sob. Yaviss’s hand patted him on the shoulder. Quilo blinked. He’d never been touched by a Goblin before—their hands were…strange. Those claws, that was it.
Quilo took a deep breath. “We were dating, and then, this summer, she—she dumped me. I, I don’t know why, she never told me, she just—she told me that she didn’t want to see me anymore, and now, now I don’t have her, or, or anyone, and there’s—there’s no one.” He squeezed his eyes tight, trying to hold back the wave of misery that was flowing through his body now. “I figured, maybe I—I moved too fast—y’know? And that she, she didn’t—didn’t like the pace I was taking. I thought I was moving too fast.
“And tonight…” He swallowed hard, trying to keep back another sob, “Tonight, she kissed him. He kissed her, and she—she liked it, and now I know, now I realize,” he said slowly, “that she didn’t dump me because of something I did. She dumped me because of—of me. She dumped me for—for no good reason! There was nothing I could do! She doesn’t even want to be my friend anymore! It’s all so—I tried to make her happy! I tried to comfort her, but nothing I did ever worked, she never was comfortable, but he just, he grabs her and he kisses her, he doesn’t even ask her permission, and she lets him? I was never good enough for her, I tried, but all he has to do is snog her real hard, and she loves him, not me!”
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:03 pm
Ah, so. Love. Touching this rock must have reminded him of his lost love. Yaviss sighed silently. Okay, so…where to begin?
In your head, as Mom used to say. A good Goblin says it all in her head first, so that she doesn’t have to say it all out loud. Protect the people; guard your Goblinhood. A good Goblin never said everything they wanted to say. It made some of them look vapid and petty, and others look mature and restrained. In truth, in Yaviss’s experience, it was hard to tell what a Goblin was like by what they said.
Look at him for example—he wasn’t saying things right now like “did you really think that puppy love would last forever?! You two hadn’t even hit puberty yet, and you already expected to be married? Yeesh, Quilo, I’ve heard of hopeless romantics, but you are a star-crossed fricking lover to the concept of love!” Nope. He didn’t say that. Neither did he say something like, “well, if she wanted a man to grab her by the arm and kiss her, then yeah, she wouldn’t settle for a prevaricator like you, Quilo. You didn’t move too fast—you moved to slow, get with the program.” Especially if they’d only started dating recently!
He couldn’t say any of that, it would make Quilo more upset, and Yaviss didn’t want to do that. So what should he say?
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:04 pm
Zuna listened to the whole thing the way that Yaviss did—in silence, saving her comments for last. And ooh, what comments she had! She was having trouble picking a comment to start with, to be honest, there was just so much to say, and she needed to say all of it. It was important for Quilo to hear it all, not just little bits and pieces. So…yeah, where to start?
The obvious place, duh. “Quilo, you can’t expect someone to pick you because you’re nice to them,” she said. “Just because you’re nice to someone doesn’t mean they have to fall in love with you. Love may be a game, but it’s one of those really stupidly complex ones like cricket, not a gumball machine at the pizzeria.” She sighed. “Okay, that came across as harsh, I know—I’m kind of a jerk, as you know. But my point is, Quilo—sometimes people put all of their hard work and effort into someone, and they still don’t win that person. It happens to everyone at some point in their lives, except those lucky bastards who get whatever they want first try. It’ll happen.”
She took a deep breath, “And yeah, big-time, majorly, it sucks. Super-duper hella sucks, when you put all of your love into someone and they trade tongues with everyone else. But that’s thing about it—it’s a universal suck, like getting a stain on your favorite shirt, but on a way, way bigger scale.” Zuna stopped. “I have no idea what I’m saying anymore, please, just ignore me.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:05 pm
Well, that wasn’t helpful at all! I mean, it sort of was? Kind of? In a small way? It involved a certain amount of logic, after all, and…yeah, okay…
The fact that people had been experiencing this for…a long time, and everyone experienced it—it didn’t help. Not entirely, anyway. In fact, not even close! It only helped a smidgeon, and even then, it only helped by reminding him how horrible this feeling felt! He hated this feeling, hated it like he’d never hated it before—this feeling even made him hate people, like Zuna for being insensitive, and Ella for dumping him, and that blond—jerk!!—for snogging his Ella! In front of him! Like they were rubbing it all in! Anger was an alien emotion to Quilo, but he felt it now in his veins. He felt it everywhere! He felt it in his head and his heart, and he was just so—!!!
He bit back a sharp response to Zuna and buried his head back into his arms. Yes, thank you, guys. Go away now, let poor, heartbroken, rejected, unwanted Quilo be alone in peace now, please, thank you.
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:08 pm
May Kalad burn the most sensitive parts of your body, Zuna. Yaviss had been ready to say something, something…inspiring about how Quilo was better off without her, when that damn Naiad had interrupted him! And with something trite, the usual platitudes about the universal pain of heartbreak and…bullshit like that. That wasn’t comforting! She’d basically told Quilo that his pain wasn’t unique, so he should shut up about it! Or at least, that’s what Yaviss had gotten out of that explanation.
Gaaaaaaaaah! Now that Zuna had said that, Yaviss would have to go along with it. To not do so would start a fight, which would just make the situation worse by making Quilo upset again! The guy just did not seem like the sort of person who could put up with a fight going on around him. Okay, think, think, think…
Huh. Funny how life works. The answer is in my blood, Yavisss thought, examining his claws. Yes…
So how to approach this without—giving everything away?
“My mom,” he said softly, hoping that no one would overhear him. The last thing he needed was someone to report him to the Baronetcy Council! “My mom fell in love with this guy, Danue. And she…she loved him with all of her heart. He didn’t love her back, though. No matter what she did, he just…he rejected her. He didn’t want anything to do with her at all, ever. She tried for years to court him, but it never worked out.” Yaviss put the rock down on the ground. Thinking about his father, and how his father had rejected the most important courtship gift of all—Yaviss himself—was painful, even if Yaviss had never met Danue. “I don’t know how you feel right now, Quilo, but my mom would. She felt the same way with Danue that you feel with your—with Ella.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:12 pm
Whoops s**t. That hadn’t made things better. Uuuh…
Well, in her defence, it had to be said. The “Nice Friend” idea—the idea that being nice to someone entitled you to their love and to their sexual attentions—was an archaic idea that needed to die a horrible death, and from what Quilo had said, it sounded like he had expected Ella to stick around with him because, what—he had dibs on her? That wasn’t how stuff like this worked, like, at all. Zuna was thankfully way above all of that bull, but she knew enough to know that that really was not how this worked. It was way more complicated than that. Sex might be a currency, but love? Actual love? Ha, no. It was just a really weird happenstance stuff.
So—what now? Well, she really wanted to say that this Ella clearly liked bad boys, so Quilo should find someone else, but the “other fish in the sea” argument only worked with fishermen and biologists, as the old saying went. So she had to figure out a better way to say it… “People…are gonna value you for the way you care about them, Quilo,” Zuna said slowly. “Heck, I hated you at the beginning of the evening, and by the end of it, I started to like you—speaking of which, sorry for acting like an a** all night—but…yeah, Quilo. The way you treat people, the way you act all nice to them even if they don’t deserve it, that’s gonna earn you friends your whole life. And you’re gonna find people who love that s**t, who need someone who loves them like that.” Yeah, okay, Zuna had a pretty good idea where she was going with this now… “And some of those people? Are gonna rock your world. You won’t be like this forever. It feels bad now, and it’ll probably never feel better? But don’t give up on love just because of an ex-girlfriend, okay, dude?”
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:14 pm
Quilo listened to Yaviss the way he hadn’t been listening to Zuna. Zuna sounded like a cliché, but Yaviss…
Something in Yaviss’s voice made this story personal. Of course, it had happened to Yaviss’s mother, but he could detect a faint current of…hurt in the Goblin’s voice. Yes. Hurt. This guy Danue hadn’t just hurt Yaviss’s mother, but Yaviss himself in some way. There was no indication that he’d ever met Danue—so why the hurt? Was it a Goblin thing? With a jolt, Quilo, a boy who loved cultures and studying the way people thought and acted, realized he knew nothing about Goblins. They were short? They came from Above? They liked their foods dangerously spicy? They had tails and hooked claws and funny ears and they had sharp teeth, but he knew nothing else.
He was certain that what Danue had done to Yaviss’s mother carried serious consequences or overtones in Goblin culture, but he didn’t ask. Yaviss didn’t strike him as the sort of person who liked to share this kind of thing.
Soothed by the anecdote, Quilo was ready to listen to Zuna’s…stuff again. And somehow, her words made his heart feel even lighter. “I forgave you a while ago,” Quilo said softly, voice cracking. He took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. “So what you’re saying is that I’m still loveable?”
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:16 pm
Yaviss’s story had soothed Quilo. He could tell by the way the hybrid had held himself, held his back and his arms and his legs. He looked less tense, less pained. There was still a curve to his posture that implied extreme agony, but it had lessened a little, as though he was starting to heal. Good. It was important to heal. It was important to let the pain of loss leave you, lest it consume you whole and destroy you. Yaviss didn’t want the world to consume people, especially someone like Quilo.
Quilo was just…well, even as the Blue Idiot there said, he was a nice person. s**t like this shouldn’t happen to a nice guy. “You are definitely worth loving,” Yaviss murmured. “If it makes you feel better, my mom did find love again eventually.” His saliva tasted bitter with that lie. Okay, it wasn’t entirely a lie—his mom had found love. Just not romantic love. Yaviss had three younger siblings, all of them the children of Ellis NacEstra’s close friends. Mom had given up on love, or at least on romance, and she’d thrown herself into her family and friends instead, seeking out their support. Sometimes Yaviss wondered if that was why his relationship with his mother was so strained—he was a constant reminder that Danue was not there at her side.
Sobering thoughts. Yaviss was glad that he’d never fallen in love. And from the way things were unfolding in his teenage years, it looked like he’d dodged a bullet on that front!
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Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 12:18 pm
Oh, thank the Queen, she’d managed to actually make her point without upsetting Quilo any further. That was a relief! It really was, she’d been actually afraid there that she’d make a mistake! “Thanks, Quilo. I wish I could say that I wasn’t acting my real self this evening, but yeah, no, I’m kind of like that all the time. I can say that it’s not something I’m proud of—and that after tonight, I’m going to work a lot harder on not being such a colossal a** to people.” Zuna stretched her arms across her chest and shifted position into the ready pose of one of her favorite martial arts.
“That is absolutely what I’m saying, Quilo. One girl picking someone else over you does not reflect on you in the slightest. It reflects on her tastes, nothing more. What you need,” she continued, “is someone who understands that and who values it—someone who knows what they’re getting into with you and who wants to get into that. And someone who really, really loves you.” Zuna grinned. “Someone who freaking rocks your world. When you find that person, well—at that point, I become useless for advice, this ain’t my area of expertise. But you know you, and you know people—if they want to be bagged by you, and you wanna bag ‘em, then bag away, rockstar.”
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