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 Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:45 pm
When you were a Zodiac, you knew just about everything about the others. For instance, Elke knew where Topher lived. She knew his parents were likely not home, and she knew he was probably playing pool in the back of his house because it was four o'clock on Friday afternoon. That was why she got dressed in normal people clothes (pulling on the shirt she had taken from Grayson for good luck and also as a windbreaker; she had to roll the sleeves four times to get her fingertips to poke out) and hopped on the bus.
It was kind of crowded, but she whiled away the time texting her brother. She did not indicate that she was going to give Topher the older brother speech, even though she was technically a little sister and if you read certain kinds of books she was supposed to think Topher hilariously handsome. Then she was supposed to try and steal him.
Only not really, because Elke thought of Topher like a brother. A slightly more distant brother than Grayson, of course, just like all the brothers who weren't Grayson. They were her Zodiac brothers, but Grayson was the brother of her soul.
With a pensive look on her face, she hopped off the bus and hurried the rest of the way to Topher's house. She adjusted her backpack (it was shaped like a teddy bear!) and knocked on the door cautiously.
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 12:05 pm
Elke couldn't have been more right. The house was completely empty save for Topher would was currently in his Billiards room, still in his comfy black pajamas. It was how he spent his time when he wasn't doing school work or fighting off the impending doom that was around them. Even Zodiacs needed a day off. It gave him time to think about what he was doing in life. Of course his team was priority but there were other things that were just as stressful yet not as much of a gamble. Of course, he had no idea of the lecture that was bounding up to his door. It was only made apparent when he was thrown off guard by the bell ringing, cue striking the red billiards cloth instead of the ball he was aiming for and leaving a dark indent in the table.
Well, that was unexpected. A grumble once again broke the silence in the room as he bent over the table, wiping off the thick, black chalk mark from the cloth with his thumb.
"I'll be there in a minute!" He doubted that his voice, even at the top of his lungs, would reach the door that was quite a long ways down the hall way. It was worth a try though. Topher quickly broke apart the pool cue, hanging it beside the numerous others before he shuffled down the hall to the door. A quick look through the mail slot and it was obvious as to who it was.
He fumbled with the lock, nearly opening the door with the chain still on. Thankfully, this time, he was able to catch himself and open it without any mishaps. Any frustration in his expression from being interrupted from practice was replaced by a wide smile. "Didn't expect to see you today, Elke! What's the occasion?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:12 pm
She waited around, texted Grayson to tell him that she had gotten to Topher's all right, and then ignored the resulting 'what are you doing over there' text message to kick her heels against the ground. Hmmm. How did they do this in movies?
Topher answered the door, and she spared a moment to look at his pajamas, and then at his navy hair, and then she nodded firmly. "I haven't seen you since the meeting," she said cheerfully, "and I'm on no-patrolling for a bit so I decided I would come visit you!" She held up her right arm in its shiny black brace, then linked her hands behind her back again.
"Can I come in?" This, of course, was a rhetorical question; he stepped aside and she stepped in, watched him close the door. "So, what are you up to?"
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Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 3:42 pm
"Well...I'm just practicing for a competition later this month. Dad finally fixed the crack in the table leg so the pool table isn't shaky anymore," he said with a laugh as he went to close the door.
It had honestly been so long that he didn't quite know what she expected. There were probably so many questions and things that they had to talk about. Possibly asking how she was doing or how Grayson was getting along seeing as they hadn't spoken in sometime. However, his blue eyes were focused on her arm or at least where it had been before she placed it behind her back.
"Good god! What happened to your arm?" Topher looked over her in concern as if he was checking for more injuries. No wonder she was on a no-patrol order. Had the lack of contact been so bad that he didn't even know what was going on with everybody? Virgo being off patrol duty sounded like something he definitely should have known. Suddenly, everything in his house seemed like a hazard for her. Everything looked just that much more dangerous. Even the table edges looked sharper than normal. Still, Topher put on a smile and gestured towards the back room. "Would you like to sit down? The chairs are more comfy there than in the kitchen. Besides, we need to catch up and stuff!"
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Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 11:35 pm
With a firm nod, she took her shoes off and set them down beside the door. It was rude to wear heels in someone else's house, especially when they were the vice-captain of your space guard of interstellar badasses (this was a description she had picked up elsewhere in the Zodiac, names unnamed). "That's a good thing," said Elke; normally, this would be where she talked about her blog. Or about photography. Or journalism. But she was quite silent, just staring around the room as if searching for a threat.
Finding none, she smiled again at his question. "Some stupid Lunar I was protecting punched the ground too hard. I sprained my wrist--or, I guess, he did, only I took it for him. And there was a monster with claws and that was no good either..." As they proceeded towards the back room, she continued to chatter away; the specter of those four minutes of utter silence still hovered, though. Four minutes where Elke had been completely out of character for Elke Arma, but quite in-character for Soldier Virgo.
"So, I am not supposed to patrol." Then she smiled, settling gingerly on one of the chairs and crossing her ankles. "I heard you are going to Prom with my brother," she said, and now she was Elke-serious--which was to say, comedically serious.
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Posted: Mon May 10, 2010 1:42 pm
Topher was still inspecting the room for anything that could possibly jump out and make her injure herself further. He seemed totally distracted as he tried to discretely make sure there weren't any nails poking out of the old leather chair before she sat down. Having her injured in his house was not on the agenda today for the vice-captain. Even with all the supposed dangers hidden and put away, the atmosphere was still different. Elke would have started rattling off by now and they would have probably been locked in a stalemate about him wearing a lot of blue plaid in his lifetime by the end of it but no. It was weird to say the least.
As if on cue, lucky enough for him, she broke the silence first. "Well, at least it's just a sprain and it didn't break. I hope it doesn't hurt too badly!" Topher sighed as he leaned against the pool table. He was glad to have an external ability. Taking pain for someone else sounded, well, painful. Too painful for him to handle at least.
His eyes narrowed at the mention of prom, fingers drumming on the wooden frame of the table. "I figured you would have by now..." Well, of course the news probably would have gotten to Elke first. Whether or not Grayson had actually told her or she forced it out of him was the real question. Considering how recent of a development it was, it was pretty easy to go with the latter. He knew how they worked. They were closer than any of them. Even for zodiacs they were close but Topher doubted Grayson would just let that slip after such a short time. "Elke..," He gave her a very knowing smile as he continued, "Does your brother know you're here to talk about this? He normally warns me beforehand if he knows something's going on and I know I didn't get any text messages this morning."
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Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 6:22 am
"My wrist doesn't hurt at all," said Elke in a tone like she was reciting an old, often-memorized riddle, kicking her feet (ankles still properly crossed). She didn't see why she wasn't supposed to patrol. Oh, right--lack of remembering the buddy system. She really didn't know what everyone was talking about, 'the Zodiac would be crushed if you died'. No one Zodiac was that important--except the Princess, obviously, the Princess was Everything.
She pursed her lips, staring at him. "Yes?" It was her prerogative if she wanted to visit the vice-captain, even if it was to give him the Don't You Hurt My Brother talk. And she had told him she'd gotten to Topher's house okay. So he did know where she was. Elke gave Topher a look, the kind of Elke look she specialized in saying I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.
Her expression turned solemn again. "I looked it up on the internet. I am supposed to give you a threatening Talk about how If You Hurt My Brother I Will End You." Another look. "And I will. I will also end you if you wear a navy suit to prom because that is Tacky."
This caps-riddled speech was interrupted when she realized she had just called the XO of the Zodiacs 'tacky'. "Tacky is not bad it is just not good," she clarified.
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