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 Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:04 pm
Archer frowned as he walked down the hall. "Really!" he muttered. Honestly, some people... Preposterous!" His comments did not appear to be directed at anyone in particular, but instead were addressed at a book. A thick volume his nose was buried in so deeply that if the entire Napoleonic army had thundered past him to battle he probably wouldn't have noticed. "Goodness!" His eyes were gleaming with the sort of gleam that he usually reserved for when people offered to make him scones and tea. Whatever he was reading, he didn't quite believe it but was certainly interested.
He paced down the hallway more quickly as he read, and finally he said "Ow! Bloody..." This was not directed at the book. This was directed at the wall he had just run into. He looked around furtively to make sure no one had seen and reluctantly closed the book. This sort of distraction wouldn't do, what if he had bumped into a lady? It would have been a disaster of the highest degree.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:27 pm
Eponine carefully watched and prepared for flight as someone entered the hall. She settled down as she realized two things: one, she had met the man before, a little bit at least- Archer, from England, and two, he was so caught up in his book that he hadn't noticed her.
She continued pounding nails into a strange wooden shape, keeping half a mind on the Englishman.
However, when he suddenly shouted something like "BLOOD," this was too much for her to ignore.
"Eeep!" she squealed, accidentally thumping herself on the finger with the hammer.
Oops.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:52 pm
Archer jolted, turning around at a speed that would singe a crumpet. Someone HAD been around after all! Face red with embarrassment, he saw a girl that he vaguely recognized, a girl with long black hair and soft brown eyes. He felt his blush get stronger. He hadn't just cursed in front of anybody.
He had cursed in front of a lady.
Cursing again, but this time in his head for rotten luck, he affixed a smile to his face and gave her a nervous bow. "Ah... Um... Hullo, Miss." he said cautiously. "I'm awfully sorry you had to hear that. I wasn't aware anyone else was around." He paused and added quickly, "Not that I often use foul language when no one else is around, either!" Before he could make the situation any more awkward, he finally said "...Are you all right?" She was holding a hammer and Archer assumed the worst.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 5:18 pm
As Archer turned steadily redder, Eponine quickly shrunk down and pretended to be as inconspicuous as possible. The Englishman seemed rather... Embarrassed? Why? Perhaps reading was considered a private activity such as bathing or something where he came from?
But most of all, what to do?
Thankfully, Archer made the first move and apologized. Eponine looked up with a quizzical expression on her face as he kept on going in circles apologizing, but there- a direct question!
She put on a shy smile and waved. "I'm all right. I mean, I guess." ...What else was she supposed to say. "How are you?" Wait. That wasn't... "I mean, how are you today- no, I mean..." Circuits buzzed through her computer chip of a brain before she realized she was going around in circles too. "Oh, I'm fine! And how are you?" she phrased, then to make a point, hammered another nail in, and promptly missed. "Ouch!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 5:50 pm
Archer blinked. "Er... Fine? I-" He winced as the hammer it her finger. "Good God! I do apologise, I didn't mean to distract you from... Uh, from that." Realizing that at this moment he was sounding like a bit of a prat, he let his gentleman training take over, striding up closer to the girl. "Here." He offered her a hand. "Allow me to at least take you to fetch some ice for that finger. I seem to have caused you some considerable discomfort." Remembering he didn't know the girl's name, he added "I've seen you around before, I believe, but I don't think I know your name. I'm Archer, Archer Wells from England. And you are?"
Vaguely, he remembered his last meeting with Estrelas. He seemed to have seen her around Estrelas every time he had seen her around LOTUS, come to think of it. He took a wild guess. "Hold on. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but... are you Epaninny?" he asked carefully.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:11 pm
"Oh! It's okay, really!" Eponine couldn't help but feel a sudden rush of happy when Archer offered to get her ice for her finger. No one had ever offered her ice for her finger before! He was practically treating her as if she were a real human being! "It doesn't hurt, really," she added truthfully. Her poly-nana-hard-to-pronounce skin was tough enough. "Just a little tap." Eponine bobbed her head in acknowledgment when he introduced himself. "Hello Archer!" Ah-hah, so that was where the accent came from!
She froze as he named her by 'Epaninny,' and for the first time, she began to laugh clearly and delightedly. "Yes! That's me!" she continued laughing. If he knew Estrelas, he was probably a good fellow! "Epaninny!" It was rather strange hearing that from someone would could speak proper English. "Err! That's what Estrelas calls me- you know Estrelas then? My name's Eponine," she said, and as if struck by her boldness, shrunk back and bit and averted her eyes as she fiddled with the nails on the chicken trap.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:29 pm
Archer looked relieved. "I'm glad to hear it." he said sincerely. "For a moment there I was afraid I had caused you some harm with my distracting rambling." He was impressed. The young lady had just hit her finger with a hammer and was shrugging it off, whether from manners or that she actually didn't feel it. Either way, she was made of sterner stuff than he had credited her for.
A confused smile settled over Archer's features as she began to laugh, and then when the reason was revealed, he couldn't help but chuckle either. "Ah, Eponine." he said slowly. "That makes a bit more sense than 'Epaninny', I often wondered what type of culture such a name could have come from. And yes, Estrelas was one of the first people I met when I came to LOTUS. She's an awfully decent sort of young lady, don't you agree?" he asked amiably.
He frowned as he saw her avert her eyes. He could guess what she was feeling, goodness knew as socially awkward as he was, he had often had the same look on his face. Well, he couldn't be having someone feeling awkward when he could do something to stop it. "Come now, though, no need to feel awkward." he said with a nervous grin. "We're both comrades, right? Fighting for the same noble goal, in the same organization? No need to feel shy at all!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:57 pm
This man was nice and polite! It was probably his culture, right? She had read that England was known for its gentlemen, but she supposed that she had never met one before until now. Eponine found herself smiling a bit. "Don't worry!" She hammered another nail in. then paused as he mentioned Estrelas.
"Estrelas is one of the first people a lot of people meet," she commented, laughing shyly. Eponine thought for a while, then thought a bit more. "Actually, she is my best friend," the girl said suddenly, as if revealing a secret or something. Eponine seemed to regard the prospect happily. For a lonely little robot, having a best friend was pretty good.
But when Archer attempted to alleviate some of her awkwardness, Eponine only shrunk back a bit, tossing her black hair over her face a bit more. What was she supposed to say? Oh yes, may I mention that I'm actually a robot pretending to be human? I've practically lied about my entire past, you know, in fact, I took it from a book... By the way, I think I'm being chased by the Android Destruction Corps... I'm pretty sure they're out to destroy me. I'm only three years old and have never eaten or drank in my life. "..I guess," she said hopefully, but then ducked her head again. "...Nice to meet you, Mister Wells," she said quietly and hammered in another nail.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:13 pm
Archer smiled. "Well then, I'd say you have a wonderful best friend indeed." he noted. He wondered if he had a best friend. He wasn't sure gentlemen were allowed to.
"...Ah. Nice to meet you too, Miss Eponine." he said, puzzled. It sounded like a dismissal and he wondered if he had hit a nerve. "Well... I'll just be off then, shall I?" He walked away down the hall. Some people, he supposed, must be even more awkward than him. In an indecent way, it cheered him up a bit, Still though, if he had hurt her feelings, he had to apologise to the poor girl. He hadn't meant any harm at all, and she had seemed to be a gentle soul indeed. Quiet, yes, but kind. He frowned thoughtfully.
Ten minutes later, he came back with a pair of gloves. They were sturdy, proper gloves that he had purchased in London, along with a lot of other stuff an amateur who had a romanticized idea of amateur police forces would buy. He had rather fancied he could use them for pulling secret messages out of fires and such, but of course, nothing of such a nature had happened although a drunken man had waved a broken bottle at him and garbled something so distorted that Archer only had to assume its message was a secret from even the man who uttered it. He shook his head though, memories were useless. He offered the gloves to Eponine. "I thought," he said hesitantly, "That these might help if you hit your hand again." He gave her a weak smile. "I apologise if I said something before that offended you. I did not intend to do so."
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:39 pm
Eponine jumped up when Archer left, shocked. What? Where was he going? Had she accidentally offended him or something? Wait, did he seem rather cold or insulted when he left?
Eponine continued in this line of thought and started wishing for once that she was Estrelas.
Then he came back- was it a human thing? Maybe it was. Maybe that was his way of excusing himself to go somewhere quickly?
Eponine stared at the gloves uncomprehendingly, then slowly pursed her mouth in an O shape. But Archer seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, so she hesitated before speaking.
"Oh! No, you didn't offend me!" she exclaimed, waving her hands about her face. "I was wondering why you just got up and walked off!" She exclaimed, flushing. "I'm really sorry. I hope I didn't offend you either." Eponine ducked her head again. Communication was so complicated!
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:15 am
Archer flushed with embarrassment. He had misunderstood then! Feeling rather ungentlemanly for having left without apparent reason, he said "Oh, well I'm certainly relieved!" He let out an awkward grin. "No, no I wasn't offended at all. I misunderstood your meaning, my sincerest apologies." There he was apologising to her again. At this rate she'd think it was the only thing he knew how to do. "Do take the gloves at least though." he insisted. "I shall not have a lady put on a brave face when I can offer something to assist her." Quickly now, say something that doesn't refer to one of the many social slip ups you seem to be making today, Archer... "Um. So what are you building, anyway?" That should be a fairly safe topic, right?
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 5:49 pm
Gloves? He was giving her gloves? Eponine didn't know what to do. Humans wore gloves. Robots didn't, unless if the role called for it. And she had certainly never seen such sturdy gloves. Eponine in Les Miserables had no gloves... Eponine in LOTUS didn't wear gloves- But what was the harm in pretending for a while?
And how to accept them?
"What is the polite way to say thank-you?" Eponine ventured. The Englishman knew so much about the right way to do anything! It was slightly intimidating, that he knew what to do all the time, or at least she thought so.
His next question made Eponine grin shyly with a bit of embarrassment. "Well... It's... Umm...." She sighed. "It's the door to a chicken trap.
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 7:37 pm
Archer smiled weakly. "Well, sincerely for preference." he joked. "But one can say thank you any way one wishes. As for the polite way, gentlemen tend to send letters or bow or offer tokens of their gratitude. I'm not quite sure how a lady would go about doing it, although I do believe that being graceful about it is involved somewhere." He was not quite sure how to gracefully thank someone, but ladies had to do just about everything gracefully. Gentlemen just had to be polite.
The Englishman looked at the chicken trap door with considerable surprise. "My word." he said. "Are they in need of capturing?" He hesitated, and then in a move he felt he might regret, he added, "I could probably outrun a chicken if you require assistance." Archer hadn't even been fully aware that LOTUS HAD chickens. He disliked animals, except possibly cats, which he could tolerate on the basis that they didn't expect too much of him.
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 8:13 pm
Sincerely? Well, what to know! In the Theatre, she had been carefully instructed to always present a happy face for guests. In the Theatre, she had always been instructed to obey the emotions of the stage. In the Theatre, she had always been instructed to not care about how she felt on the inside and only care about how she looked on the outside... Sincerity in manners, now that was a new concept!
"Thank you," she said, testing the phrase. "Thank you, Mister Wells!" As for the gracefully part... Eponine fluttered her hands about like she had seen the Cosette robot do before. She supposed it was supposed to be some sort of charming or innocent gesture, but robots were not born with those kinds of instincts. "Thank you!"
Eponine stifled a giggle at Archer's surprise. "Well, not a lot of people are supposed to know," she admitted. "And... Well, you see, we kind of left the pen door open last week, and the chickens got out and right now, they're running around the place." Well, a lot of things could outrun a chicken. It was a matter of outrunning and catching a flapping, squawking ball of randomized movement that was the problem. "Oh! Thank you for your offer! If you ever see any chickens, I guess you could... You could catch it and bring it back to the pen!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 12:33 pm
Archer looked a little confused at the theatrical hand fluttering, but he had to admit is was very graceful. He smiled. "I assure you, Miss Eponine, it was my pleasure." he said warmly.
"Ah," said Archer gravely, "Secret chickens, I see." The thought of waking up to find a chicken on his bed, or worse, in his suit closet, flew into Archer's head. It was not a welcome prospect. "I shall be sure to catch them if I see any." he assured her and also thought he would be sure to check his room especially thoroughly in case one had indeed clucked its way into his sanctuary. "However, I do wonder if you could clear something up for me... Why are the chickens secret?"
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