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 Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 12:17 pm
Sliding her faux glasses further up her nose, the Hillworth secretary did her best to look busy with the new pile of student transfer applications sitting on her desk. It was a wonder, really, how Hillworth continued to receive so many applications and requests for new students wishing to enlist while the number of student 'disappearances' kept growing higher and higher. But hey, who was she to judge? If she had a snot-nosed little pest, she'd probably sign them up for such a school too!
A wisp of hair tumbled down and began to tickle her cheek, and she huffed at it, annoyed. Eventually, she was forced to set down her stamp and attend to the bits of hair that seemingly decided to rebel from being tied up in the bun she'd fashioned earlier that morning. It wasn't typical of Ursula to have her hair pulled back, as it was by far one of her most enjoyable features to flaunt. After the humiliating experience of being dragged around by it, however, she'd taken a habit to pulling it back. She'd contemplated cutting it in attempts to push away the memory, but ended up deciding against it. No, she needed to remember such things, she needed to remember, so she could learn from her errors and progress further. She would just... avoid having hair on her shoulders, for the time being, less her face continue to permanently burn with embarrassment every time she recalled the event. Out of sight, out of mind, though her hair seemed to be having quite the problem with staying bundled together. Sigh.
She hadn't wanted to show up for work today. In fact, she hadn't wanted to show up for work for her entire probation period, on the off chance she would end up running into the General-King, or he would need to talk to her, or god forbid, make a coffee run for him. But she had shown up, despite her desire to avoid her superior, and she was determined to act as though nothing had happened should the case indeed arise that she had to attend to his desires. She'd ******** up. She was embarrassed by her ******** up. But she refused to sit back and grumble this time, no, she would prove to him that she was no slacker, that she wasn't any sort of failure, and that even during this temporary set-back, she was willing to do whatever it took to keep things running smoothly.
Her bun finally readjusted, she returned to her stamping. That is, until a wayward strand brushed against her cheek.
It was going to be a long day.
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 3:01 pm
It sounded like there was a commotion in the hallway, an argument that had started farther off than Nealite would have been able to hear but certainly didn't stop by the time it reached the office. One party was very adamant they didn't have to speak to the principal about anything seeing as they had only been here a week ago, while the other insisted that in fact there was a loose snake in the classroom that needed addressing or, god forbid, there could be a suspension. A hand turned the door handle and a student was pushed inside to await their educational fate.
It was Khaldun.
The boy didn't look good in the Hillworth school uniform - there was something too informal, too uncivilized, about his face and hair that could not be salvaged even with a necktie and a sweater-vest, Hillworth's normal cure for anything unusual. But whatever it was about Khaldun had been dulled today. His eyes were unusually hollow, lack of sleep painting purple around them. He stood defiantly by the closed door for a minute, before stalking over to the chairs that lined the door to the principal's office. The principal wasn't in. The whole time, Khaldun made sure not to look over at the secretary's desk not far away, or speak a word.
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 3:11 pm
It came at no surprise for her to hear a commotion in the hallways. Hillworth was known for some of their more troublesome boys, so it went without saying that there were multiple trips to the Principal throughout the day.
What she hadn't expected, however, was to discover the student in question entering the office was none other than the Negaverse Lieutenant who had caused all of her grief and trouble the night before.
She watched him move to sit in one of the waiting chairs; Khaldun had been a regular visitor to the Principal's office ever since he was enrolled in Hillworth, so he knew the drill quite well. There had been countless visits, all of which Ursula would find him to be somewhat enjoyable company to keep, as most of the other boys had been far too busy spending their time admiring parts other than her face than to hold a steady conversation.
But today was not a day for enjoyable conversation.
"He'll be out for another twenty minutes or so," she said curtly, moving to glance back down at her paperwork. Her annoyance with her hair had been quickly replaced with a far larger distraction, one that she preferred not to remain in such close proximity with.
A few minutes passed by in silence, her irritation building within. Finally, she shook her head, removing her glasses and setting them down on the desk.
"You're a little b*****d, you know that?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 3:33 pm
"Hn," he grunted indifferently at the time frame. If anything but yesterday had happened, this would have been a lot less awkward. Nealite had double-crossed him, and he'd taken the brunt of the General-King's anger for her screw-up! He very nearly had that star seed, and now he'd have to fight another senshi to have even a chance at another. The time frame was ambiguous, but the truth was that Charonite was not a patient man. And to think, at any time, he could be there watching each fight, knowing each defeat, that once inexhaustible supply of second chances instead being drained to empty...
Khaldun shifted in the uncomfortable plastic folding chair. He'd been knocked clear onto the most sensitive parts of his back in one of his recent fights, and it still hurt to sit. He was very determined right now not to look at Nealite, not to acknowledge her because she had screwed him over, but that indignant part of him could not stop itself. His voice could have curdled milk. "No, no, I don't believe I know that. I don't believe I hear that or something like it so often from so many people that it's all becoming like compliments to my ears. Tell me more."
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 3:50 pm
Her eyes narrowed, her fingers now absentmindedly playing with her glasses as she slightly maneuvered her chair to have a better view of the obviously less than stellar feeling student.
"I don't know if I should," she said cattily in return, leaning back in her comfortable office chair while he suffered with one of the dingy gym ones. "I mean, for all I know, he could be right behind me, again."
A cool chill ran down her spine and she stopped her chair bobbing, fearfully hesitant for a moment that perhaps he was lurking behind her. She pushed her chair back slightly, ensuring that she was pressing it against the wall in confirmed relief, before continuing.
"Since he seems to have some sort of thing for keeping up with what you're up to, and all."
The school secretary moved back to rocking in her chair, ignoring her paperwork to stare at the underage delinquent. His mere presence irritated her, reminding her first hand of what a terrible muck up she'd done, and the punishment she'd received for it. True, Khaldun hadn't gotten off the hook much more than she had, but the fact alone she was in trouble stirred a resentful side of her up. Eventually, not having anything more witty to say, she brought back up a sore subject.
"So, did you find a cat yet, Khaldun? I mean, if you still haven't I'd be happy to get you one for your birthday and save you the trouble. When was that again?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:32 pm
"A thing for what I'm doing? I think it was a little more about you and your star pupil complex. Let me remind you." He only had a second of hesitation from Nealite's warning that the General-King could easily appear out of nowhere right here and now, but settled it by remembering that the freshman had P.E. this period. This show was for Nealite alone, and he was pretty confident she wouldn't dare to repeat this. She hadn't ratted him out on any of his previous performances, after all. Khaldun reached back to the hairtie that kept his mess of dreads from going all over the place, and yanked it loose. The bundle of hair was free and gathered around his face like a mop, and he brushed as much as he could behind him. His face had already been full of annoyance, but now he had to screw it up into a look of exaggerated anger. Even his voice was dropped to a comical low in an attempt to make this the perfect mockery. "MISS JOHNSON! I'M SO ANGRY ABOUT YOU I COULD KICK KHALDUN JUST BECAUSE HE'S THERE! YOU'RE A DISAPPOINTMENT AND A DISGRACE AND ON TOP OF IT ALL, YOU'RE A BIRD! A BIRD, MISS JOHNSON, IN A NEST, WHO GETS TWO WEEKS OFF WORK TO SIT ON HER EGGS! LET THAT BE A WARNING TO YOU, MISS JOHNSON: I ******** HATE BIRDS."
Khaldun let the silence hang as he worked to regather his hair into a state of manageable chaos with the hairtie. The sarcastic outburst seemed to be almost therapeutic for him, since there was a little less annoyance on his features now. He'd dropped his eyes again to study his shoes and the pattern of scuff marks he'd yet to polish off. The birthday remark did seem to have hit him hard, but the quietness of his voice was just in comparison to the yelling he'd done. His good hand gathered itself into a tight fist where it was settled on the chair beside his. "Today. Tomorrow. Every day. Why should I have to turn 18 just once when I could do it three hundred and sixty-five times?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:27 am
She had attempted to keep a serious face as he spoke, knowing all too well what he was about to do when he reached back for his hair tie.
Stifling a laugh, one hand moved up to cover her mouth, the secretary silently shaking her head as she hid the grin beneath her palm. Honestly, this boy was certainly a character. It was a wonder how he'd managed to keep a sense of humor when Charonite was constantly on top of him about everything.
"You need to stop that!" She hissed at him, glancing over to pick up a pen to toss at him playfully, unable to hide her smile any longer. "Do you know what he'd do to you if he caught you right now?"
She watched him go silent, and for a split second she almost felt guilty for teasing him about his birthday. He responded in humor, but Ursula had to wonder how much of that was actual humor, and how much was it just him covering up.
"If that's the case," she responded, swiveling her chair back towards her desk, "Then I'll just wait for Christmas to get you anything!"
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:21 pm
He held an arm up to deflect the pen, letting it clatter to the floor. Even he couldn't help but smile a little. Nealite had gotten him screwed over, but she wasn't the one threatening to kill him. The common 'enemy' was still Charonite. When he was out of the picture and they weren't on some mission, she was far more pleasant to be around in Khaldun's opinion. "I don't know; I've never given him the opportunity. It's just our little secret. Anyway, I bet he'd never believe it even if he heard it. Even if I was doing it right in front of his face!"
"It's not going to be another watch, is it?" he teased back. But pretty soon his expression darkened again. Christmas? If he didn't get a move on somehow managing to get that senshi's star seed, he'd be lucky to get a glimpse of Halloween here. Probably as a lifelike decoration somewhere (or several somewheres) around the Hillworth campus. He exhaled a long sigh. Telling Nealite... he wasn't sure he could say it. That he was scared this time it was going to be over, that he wasn't going to be able to keep up with the General-King's demands. That he was scared of the General-King, but also of senshi, and even some of his fellow lieutenants, that there was no one but himself who he could be safe around. He was alone and empty, and the humor he put between himself and the world was as thin and breakable as eggshell. He didn't trust anyone with his deepest, darkest, most dangerous fears - fears were perhaps the most brutal weapon of all in skilled hands. It stayed inside, on display in a glass case within his mind, something with the power to harm him that was almost never given the chance. Though, there were a few secrets he'd never had an opportunity to hide away, and even Nealite had a few of them at her disposal.
"Miss Johnson," he asked, looking over at her with an expression so inexpressive it was obvious he was hiding something, "Work, 'after hours.' Why do you stay? I mean, even after yesterday..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:56 pm
"You like watches." She told him confidently. While Ursula believed herself to be quite the professional of shoppers, shopping for teenage boys had never proven easy. So, once you found something nifty, you stuck with it! "It will be a snazzy one this year."
His next question caught her off guard, and her head turned back towards him as she set down the file she'd just picked up to review. Her eyes met with his brown ones, and she thought over the question for a while.
There was only a five year difference in age between the two of them, and perhaps that was one reason Ursula found it easy to communicate with the other lieutenant. Still, quite the odd question for a young man who had such a respectable role model to raise him.
She let out a small throaty laugh and then shook her head, glancing away from the young man.
"You phrase that as if there was a choice involved, Khaldun."
Rising from her chair, the secretary made her way over to the terribly uncomfortable gym chairs lining the waiting area and sat in the one adjacent to his, crossing her legs as she made herself comfortable.
"This is no choice, Little Dreads, this is a way of life. We have one purpose, and that purpose is to serve. If we fail... then nights like last night occur."
She paused, contemplating her next words as she absentmindedly rubbed against the still-sore spot where her hair had been pulled.
"But we're still here. So we keep going. The only way you're going to be avoiding the kicks is if you're the one giving the kicks. There is no Plan B to back into, there is no other route to take. The Ne--after hours program is my life, just as much as it is yours. It's not easy but there's no choice to make. You just do what has to be done, and you do it right or face the consequences for your actions."
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:38 am
"Oh. Right." He sounded a little disappointed, as though suspicious there were a little more to the way her world worked than that. But he was surprised when instead of forcibly dropping the subject, she got up and came to him instead.
Khaldun couldn't say the concept of not belonging to the Negaverse was some impossible thing to conceive of, especially having seen most everyone in the world besides himself, the General-King, Nealite, and a handful of miscellaneous others lived that way their entire lives. A handful of times early on in his lieutenant career he had considered the possibility, while paying for insubordination major or slight as he learned the do's and don'ts of Killingworth's temper while generally bleeding out buckets' worth of blood. The truth was as Nealite had said - he could not. He literally could not leave even the times he had truly considered it. Rank and power, the purest and strongest forces of nature, and the Negaverse a means to get and use them! The Negaverse had an addiction quality, less that something was there but that something was not there when he was not Lieutenant Hematite. Khaldun was nobody, a human. The Negaverse itself was all he knew now, and for that reason he did not hate the organization or the power that it gave him in exchange for what was hardly a voluntary service. Perhaps if it were not for Killingworth, the leader and the man who constantly attempted to bend and shape straight-wire Khaldun into something of a paperclip, the teen would never have considered such treason at any point. He was loyal to the General-King the same way interstellar dust was loyal to a black hole - unwillingly, but inevitably outmatched. His hatred of Charonite was simply a more powerful force than his interest in what the Negaverse offered him. It was the core of his resentment, vengeance he could never take on the man that dictated his life and crushed him under heel at every refusal, and later, every mistake.
And Nealite's words, though frank, were not entirely different from his own thoughts about their line of work. It was an interesting new concept she brought up at the same time. All this time he'd been content to dodge the kicks, or otherwise be so low that to be kicked would not be worth anyone's time or boots. Only recently did the approach lose its effectiveness. Khaldun suspected it was having been seen fighting that caused Charonite to put down the threat; prior to then, Khaldun could at least be imagined to be too hapless to take down a senshi, comically so. It was always less work, it was a happy medium when he wasn't caught, and even the lowest rank of the Negaverse was higher than a worthless human being, which had been good enough for Khaldun's petty dealings and revenge. But things were becoming different now. He had enemies more dangerous than schoolyard bullies now, enemies with power he couldn't match now the way he was. He almost raised a hand to brush his scars again, but stopped himself.
How difficult would it be, with all the constantly unfulfilled expectation there was for him anyhow, to become the one kicking instead of kicked? He liked to think he was rather good at it when he took his aggressions out on the hopelessly non-compliant citizens of Destiny City.
He watched her face carefully while she spoke. Khaldun saw Nealite's head-rubbing, and wasn't so stupid as to not be able to understand why. But as far as he was concerned, she'd simply been introduced to his little fragment of reality where you were damned if you did and damned if you didn't. He'd seen Charonite mad before, certainly every shade of angry he thought possible, but the Charonite who'd ripped into them following the battle had been a dangerous new level of batshit crazy.
"You're right. You're right. I just wondered - well - yeah, maybe things get a little better when we're not bottom-ranking... I guess I haven't been feeling so great since that run-in with the dust girl. Or, uh, light show girl. Or the boss." Gingerly he brushed his thigh with one hand and had to hiss between his teeth and recoil. What had really haunted him was the memory, whose significance kept digging deeper every time he turned it over in his mind. Oh, and the countdown to his imminent death. He spoke absentmindedly. "Between everything going on I don't think I'll be sleeping for a week or two. Can't pretend like I can't fight, any more. How about you? - Oh..."
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:30 pm
She'd watched his reactions as she spoke, and it was clear that the teen had a lot on his mind. While teenagers did tend to angst over rather stupid things, Ursula had known Khaldun long enough to be certain that he had little to angst over. He was a Negaverse lieutenant, one of the greatest honors to be bestowed upon an individual, and with that honor came little need for worry.
What intrigued her more than the boy's worries was the fact she found herself slightly even concerned over it. Was it his connections with the General-King? Or the fact he was little to no competition for her in her quest for ultimate power? Maybe it was the fact it was easy to con him into siding with her, to make him execute her plans while she sat back and watched? Why did she give a s**t how this boy felt, and even after that find herself wanting to cheer him up?
Shaking her head, she reached over and tugged on one of his many dreadlocks out of the tie, giving him the best version of her own 'look'.
"You're thinking way too much into things, Little Dreads." came her eventual comment, dropping the dreadlock as she rose from her chair. "Things will get better, the further we all progress. Until then, you best put aside your questions and focus on keeping your a** out of the fire. Save them for when you can actually do something about them."
Sauntering back over to her desk, she reached into her top drawer and pulled out a pad. Plucking a pen from her jar of writing utensils, she swiftly jotted down something on the paper before ripping the top sheet off.
"Here," she told him, moving to offer him the slip. "Hall Pass. In exchange for a bit of help this afternoon. I have some errands that need attending to, and it's not as if you have anything planned, right?"
She was offering him freedom from detention with Killingworth. A rare offer, but with potential high costs.
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Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 4:53 am
"Ah, not that name again," he moaned piteously in response to 'Little Dreads'. As soon as she let go of the dreadlock he tossed his head as though it were an automatic reaction, his wild hair caught up by gravity and forced back for a brief time.
"The fire's getting hotter," he replied with a hint of uncertainty, speaking to her departing back as she returned to the desk. He was sure she'd noticed as well as he had that things were no longer happening in such a predictable pattern. Khaldun was partial to finding and exploiting patterns - he didn't like the changing circumstances. There was really no one else he could dare to have asked that question of but Nealite. "I'm trusting you on this, then, Miss Optimist. I'll keep my mouth shut a little while longer and things had better get better, finally..."
As Nealite approached him again, Khaldun looked up at her for a few seconds while pretending to contemplate the offer in a completely exaggerated manner. He then snatched the slip as though it were made of pure gold. Killingworth was the last person he wanted to see today; having to carry all of Ursula's junk was a godsend in comparison. He flashed her a genuine smile, a rarity coming from him. "Deal. I don't know where you keep all this stuff, but deal."
Like a bird released from an open cage, the teenager leapt up practically and flew across the small office space toward the door to freedom. It swung, though he caught the door on its way and hung on while he stopped in the doorway. Khaldun paused, looking over at the secretary, and appeared as though he were about to say something. However, whatever it was remained unspoken when he changed his mind at the last second.
And then all that was left was the heavy click of the shutting door and the muffled sound of a pair of regulation Hillworth uniform shoes squealing their way down a hallway.
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