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 Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:25 pm
The tricky thing about energy draining or any type of illegal activity was that it put you out in the open. It was hard to lure a target into a private place, and Ladon wasn't exactly the type of build to lure grown men or even teens to any dark corners of the city. He was a boy, dressed in a bow and rather odd attire, and had to rely on stalking and grabbing an opportunity when he saw it. Sometimes this meant he had to risk a lot.
When he spotted a drunk man stumbling about, he decided that he would have a nice, easy target tonight. He was a little low on his quota tonight and wanted to get another energy orb in before the night was through. Two if he was lucky. Spotting the man, he followed with him through the streets and hoped he wouldn't find his car. He did, and Wolframite groaned. Drunk drivers. Now this guy really did deserve to get his energy stolen. It was times like this that he would rather take a starseed. This guy didn't deserve to live.
Stepping down, he moved up the swaying walrus of a man as he opened his door and climbed in. Moving up, he yanked open the door. "You know, this is what makes me sick. You get drunk and you drive. You could kill people." He leaned in and punched the man in his neck, causing his to gasp and wheeze. It was a nice move when you didn't want some drunk to start yelling like a lunatic. "..and another thing, this car is disgusting. Have you no shame? At least clean it once in a while." Really, it was gross. He could smell aged fast food and he wanted to start lecturing on his poor eating habits, but that would lead to being an alcoholic too and he just didn't have the time.
Reaching out, he gripped the man's shoulder and started to drain. Contact wasn't necessary, but when he was this close, why the hell not? It made things go faster and he didn't want to be on the side of a street longer than he had to.
Why?
Well, the young couple looking concerned would be why. "Hun, are you okay?" They asked, and as Wolframite turned, he jerked to attention. They noticed his odd clothing, and looked to each other.
"Uh…." Wolframite went blank. He did not act. He usually fidgeted and threw out whatever came to mind. This is what he was used to. It also explained why he didn't get away with much at home.
"I'm fine." He said in a rather high-pitched voice. "Just ...helping my dad into the car." Yeah right. Dad. This man had brown hair, not black, and was now passed out in the seat.
They didn't buy it, and looked to each other. The smell of warm beer wafted to them, and they continued to look at him. Then one of them noticed that Wolframite had, seeing as he was done with the energy orb, been holding the man's wallet. While others might have thought he hurt the man, the drunkards massive size suggested otherwise. They went to another conclusion. "You know, you don't need to do that. There are better places that can take you in." She reached into her purse and, finding a pen and paper, jotted a name and address. Wolframite was confused until he was given the paper with the name of facility that catered to people needing to get back on their feet. To the homeless, the runaway children, and, what she was assuming, those who would do indecent things for cash.
He turned red and glared up at her. "It's not that!" He shouted, causing her to step back, thinking he must be a bit on drugs too. "No. No. Dear. I'm sure it isn't. Just, well, they will always be there."
"Jane. We should get going." The boyfriend clearly didn't seem to want to be around this sort of kid and had touched his wallet just to make sure it was there. While his girlfriend smiled, he tugged her away and left the young Captain to glare at them. WTF?! He should take THEIR starseeds and see what they thought then. He was not even dressed slutty! He wasn't even showing skin!
He tossed the paper on the ground and, just to let off some steam, turned around and kicked the drunkard in the side. He groaned, already passed out and drained of energy, but Wolframite felt better that he would have a large bruise and maybe a broken bone. He tossed the empty wallet on the man and slammed the door, grumbling and still pink in the face.
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:44 pm
Lieutenant Painite was on the look out for a good target. She had her trusty sidekick with her, or rather her weapon, Mr. Saddles the hobby horse, but had not brought any of her usual tricks and traps with her. Instead, after a conversation with another negaverser, she had decided to try and build some attachments for Mr. Saddles, to make him more useful in battle.
So on her belt she wore a few metal arms and unrecognizable gadgets, which she hoped she would be able to fasten to Mr. Saddles and use in a fight.
It might have been a bit of a cheat, but hey. If it got the job done, what did she care?
She spotted a drunk man wobbling toward his car, and tilted her head. Did that guy intend to drive in that condition? What was wrong with people these days? It seemed she wasn't the only one watching this man, however, as she saw a small shadow dart out to confront the man. By the way the other was dressed, and the pulse in the air, it was fairly obvious that she had another one of her 'kind' on the scene. That was fine, she didn't mind sharing the stage when she had to.
Then she saw the Nega get caught, and leaned forward from her hiding place, straining to hear and see what was happening. What was he going to do? Panic, it looked like, and freeze up. He needed to relax! Breathe: let it come naturally. She tilted her head and listened to how the others reacted.
She burst out laughing.
When the others were gone, she moved out of her hiding place, looking at the Captain, though she didn't know that much, with a grin on her face. She shook her head slowly. "So, was it your intention to play a young, reckless man-hooker for that scene, or did that happen by accident? Because if it was on purpose you did a very good job. If not... I think you might need to take a couple more acting classes."
She smiled, honestly not intending to insult. She was just really amused, and often reacted eagerly with jokes when she saw something funny. This ran on the assumption that the other person had a sense of humor about things, as well. Most of the time, they did not.
"Do you have any theatre experience?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:16 pm
Between all the talking, he hadn't heard Painite's laugh, and with all that had happened, had not been paying attention to notice the blimp on his Negaverse radar until she showed up. Having been in the process of stuffing both the cash in his pocket and stomping on the piece of paper again, he jerked to attention when the other showed up. He wasn't very much in the mood for talking, and even worse when a member of his own side had seen him just screw up in such a humiliating way.
"Okay, I don't NEED to be called a prostitute by two people today." He huffed, not wanting to even hear it mentioned ever again. Just the idea of being such an indecent person made his skin crawl. Even worse when they thought he was the sort of one that catered to fat, bloated men. Still flushed, he turned to walk to the nearest dark alleyway so that he could jump back to the roofs again, wanting to gain as much distance from here as he could. However, before he did, he summoned his weapon and, with a flick, slashed the man's tires. If he was still drunk and woke up, he wanted to make sure he couldn't drive.
Deciding that wasn't enough, he went over and slashed the other two. "I don't take acting classes. Why would I take acting classes?" He huffed, finishing with the last two tires and hoping up on the car hood with delicate ease and dismissing his weapon. "Those people were just crazy and needed to stop being so dirty. I DO NOT look like a prostitute." He huffed, as if making the point clear to the entire world. His uniform was anything but dirty.
Stepping down, he crossed his arms. "They left in the end. That's all that matters." He just didn't like that they had the impression that he was some runaway kid who needed a place to stay and catered to anyone who had a fat wallet. EWW!
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:29 pm
"Aw, I didn't call you one! I was just going off what they said. They seemed to think you played one well, and I wanted to know if it was intentional! I'm going to go out on a limb, though, and guess that it wasn't."
She smiled reassuringly, then made to follow him as he tried to flee the scene. She nodded approvingly when the other Nega slashed the drunk's tires, just in case. That made he like him even more, even if he was pouting at her,
"Because acting classes," Painite said, waiting for him now that it seemed that he wasn't going to leave the scene so quickly. She looked up at him as he stood on the car hood, tilting her head to the side, "will keep people from thinking you're a prostitute, unless you want them to think that."
She laughed.
"It's not about looking like one! They saw the scene, a young looking guy, a fat guy, a wallet, a car. They probably smelled that beer, because I smelled it. Peoples minds will go to the easiest conclusion, and, unfortunately, that's the easiest one to draw with how things looked. And you didn't do anything to dissuade them. If you knew how to act, even a little bit, that wouldn't have happened! The basics would help you keep control of things, even when your surprised. Like improv!"
She was getting excited, just talking about theatre. She thrived on it, and any chance to teach, even outside her civilian life, was more than okay by her.
"What would have happened if they had come to the conclusion that you were hurting that guy? Mugging him or something? Or if they had just watched the news and thought you were one of those terrorists? It would get pretty chaotic pretty quickly, don't you think? Scene control, that helps keep variables like that out of the plan. Anyway, theatre is fun! How could you not like it?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:46 pm
"Of course I don't want people to think I'm a prostitute!" He huffed, clearly against anyone even thinking he'd be the type of person to want or delight in anything thing he was a whore. He was the farthest thing from a lady-of-the-evening. Or was it man-of-the-evening? Whatever the case, he was not that!
He flustered more at it being said again, and finally made his way to leave the car and walked past her, noting that she would follow. They should leave the car after all just in case the couple thought something really was fishy and called the cops. Not only that, but the more he was around that spot, the more he was reminded of how stupid he'd been.
While he would have liked to think she was being silly, all that she was saying was very logical and to the point. Yes, things could have gone mess. He should have handled things better and acting had its merits. Instead of letting others think what they wanted, he should have quickly thought of a explanation for them and played the part. Easier said than done.
"If they screamed or looked worried, I would have just taken their starseeds to keep them from getting to the police." He said with a wave, but he knew that was something best kept as a last resort. Not only did it mean he would have to take a starseed from a struggling victim, but then he'd have to chase down and catch a running victim. That is unless the other was brave and tried to pull him off the first. It could get messy very quickly, and it would either mean there would be lots of yelling or he would have to use his weapon to cut them up a bit before he could take their starseed. It…was not a great situation to be in and he was glad they just walked away. Still, it had been luck, not skill, that did it.
Knowing that she was right, he adjusted the cuffs of his shirt as he walked slowly. "I..I don't act." He muttered, eyeing a low roof he could leap up on. "I'm not…that good at it. Improv or whatever." He muttered more, more or less not wanting to touch the subject. He just proved he sucked at acting. He went deer-in-the-headlights whenever it happened. Wolframite was not a person who sparkled in the spotlight. He was the curtain puller. "It's not like I have time to learn anyways." He just liked to work and be done with it. He couldn't help if he flustered!
With a leap, he managed to get to the low roof, standing on the edge with his hands out to gain balance before turning about. "As long as I can do my job, that's all I need to focus on."
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:05 pm
"So, let me get this straight," Painite said, trying not to laugh as she spoke. She shook her head, tickled by the conversation, but doing her damned best to be serious. She was, after all, very serious about her love of acting, and her belief in the merits of playing a part when it was suitable. It was helpful in gathering more energy, and maintaining a low profile: it helped her do her work without getting into too much trouble.
And it was fun. There was that.
"You would rather kill a few people and cause a scene, maybe get some cops called on you or have others jumping in to play hero, or worse yet a senshi or two, then play a scene and have things go your way?"
She was over exaggerating, just a little bit, but she liked to think that helped her point. Anyway, she couldn't help it.
"You don't have to be good at it, I promise," she said eagerly, hopefully. She walked with him, watching him keenly with big, bright eyes, "you really don't, I promise. You don't have to go out on stage and recite a monologue: but there are things that you can learn in it that really would help. I promise!"
She followed him, bouncing and scrambling up after him.
"I could teach you! You could still do your job: we could use energy collecting as rehearsals! It'll be fun, and informative. Come on, what could it hurt just trying it?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:35 pm
He nearly fell back when she suggested play acting, and caught an exposed pipe that ran alongside the building next to him just in time. "Wait – What?" He wasn't entirely sure she was proposing he start acting, right now, right here, with real people in a real life setting. He was not a improve person. He was not a person who could easily sweep in, play the part that wasn't just natural, and sweep out without anything being the wiser. He was Wolframite. Captain of the Negaverse and a person who pretty much garbled whatever he could to get by and hoped there wasn't anyone watching. He was the guy that forgot his lines. He was the guy who came in when the timing was bad and who forgot where to stand on stage. This is why he did not act. This is why he wasn't in theater.
"I just said I didn't .." he pulled his hand away from the pipe and cringed at the dust. "…act." He dusted it off, frowning before he turned to her. "I can't." It wasn't that he couldn't because he just didn't have the time, it was that he couldn't because he just sucked. She had a point. He'd admit it. She made sense and it was true that if he messed up, he could get a bullet through his brain or thrown in jail to be interrogated by the police. Maintaining a low profile came with part of the job, so, maybe acting wasn't such a bad thing to learn.
He rolled the idea in his mind, but felt he would just fail as miserably as he did with the couple just now. "You saw that. I'm not good." He rubbed his hands together, glad to have the dust off, but more twisting his hands than anything else now. He looked up, wondering if he should jump again to the next roof or ….listen some more.
Thinking it over, he stayed in place. Then, he narrowed his eyes. "You're not going to laugh the entire time if I really suck." Which he did. He REALLY sucked on acting.
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:04 pm
"Oh, come on," Painite prodded, following him. Her voice was wistful and high. She was having fun. "Just because you don't or can't doesn't mean you shouldn't try!"
"That, back there, what I was was you not knowing the basics. I'm saying if you just practiced a littlebit," she said the last two words together, quickly, "and let me help you, you wouldn't have a moment like that. Look."
She was glad they had come to a stop, taking a breath and watching him, a grin plastered on her face.
Then he asked if she would laugh, and she dropped her smile, shaking her head slowly. Meaningfully.
"Of course not! It's about learning, not feeling humiliated. It's just like training. My teammates don't laugh at me when I fail to hit them when we spar, because that's just not what you do. You help!" She smiled brightly, "and believe me, I fail a lot. But that's not going to stop me from getting better."
She offered him her hand.
"I promise I won't laugh, unless you want me to. Okay?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:22 pm
The sparring analogy more than convinced him, and thinking about it that way, he felt it wasn't such a bad idea at all. She not only promised not to laugh, but she proved her point more than once. Still, he hesitantly looked at the hand, at her and her more than serious [removed](though he could tell she looked more than happy to help), and slowly reached out. Taking it, he gave it a small shake. "Just practice. I'm no expert." He pointed, reinforcing the bullet point that he had no experience and would probably not get this down. Still, if it was one thing he believed in, it was giving it a try. It certainly wouldn't be the most embarrassing thing he ever did for the Negeverse or to improve on being a soldier.
Seeing as he was now following her lead, he waited. "Well, what do I have to do? What are the basics? I don't have to pretend to be a tree or anything like that. Should we …go to the roof or are we walking somewhere?" He wasn't sure how this acting worked out. It wasn't like they were at the auditorium at school. They were on the street. Who did you act with out here?
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:43 pm
Painite nearly exploded with joy as he finally relented and agreed, shaking his hand vigorously despite how lightly he had taken it. She grinned and released him, nodding her head to assure him.
"Just practice! Practice makes perfect, right?"
At his question she pondered things, looking around. Could they find a situation that would work for them tonight? She grinned.
"How about you come to an improv class? And by improv class I mean 'you and me at the theatre when it's closed'. I can teach you just like I would any acting student, except we wouldn't have to hide or try and be subtle about things. Then we can try and find someone to try it out on? I promise it's not like what you're thinking. When someone says theatre, it doesn't just mean acting on stage, or in front of people. It's... a philosophy! A battle tactic. It'll be just like that."
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:04 pm
He waited a moment before he ventured to put 2 and 2 together. "You mean you do this for a sort of living?" Of course. He just so happened upon the one expert actor that had watched him just butcher what could barely be called acting. Which probably wasn't acting but panicking without style. The idea of going to a theater class after hours just seemed worse, and he shook it off. "If its' practice, why do I need to go to lessons? If that's the case, why don't I just go during the day? I really don't have too much time to out and take acting lessons. I'd rather be doing some good on the streets, meeting my quota and keeping an eye out for senshi. That's more useful than that. Can you just… I don't know…….give me a few bullet points to keep in mind?" He really didn't like the idea of going all the way to a closed theater (creepy!) and taking acting lessons.
He was prepared to get ready to leave, but she had seemed so enthused to help him, so he waited. "Can't we just do a small practice? Something simple? That should be well and good for tonight. If we go on the roof, that's more or less a theater stage." She could tell him a few little things, he would be done, she would be happy, and he would be none the worse from the entire thing. Simple.
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:56 pm
Painite winked at him, posing proudly when he asked if she worked in theatre.
"For all you know, I've been acting this whole time," she waved her hands, in a playfully sinister kind of way. She shook her head, though, clearing her throat and calming herself down a bit. She could get overexcited, she knew, but this was fun and she couldn't help the surge of adrenaline.
She had an idea.
"Alright then," she said, nodding her head, "I wouldn't want to cut in on your time. I would rather help you out with your quota than hinder it. Okay, so I'll give you the abridged version."
"Basically," she said, watching him, "the basic rule of improv is to not say no. The basic instinct most people have is to not lie. Not do weird things. Not do things that might embarrass them, or get them in trouble. In improv, those are usually the things that are most helpful to a scene. So in a situation like the one you were in, for example, it's better to assess where you are, what you're doing when you get caught, and let your mind make sense of it for you. The less you think, the better you'll get at covering yourself when you need to. But I think you're right. It's easier in practice."
She hurried to head back down where they had come, or at least near to it.
"Let's go to the street, and see if we can't find a good way to practice without raising any attention, huh? Maybe something simple, like just talking to someone on the street and answering any questions they ask with anything but the truth." She grinned. She had other plans for him, however, but it would ruin the test if he knew.
She believed she had told him everything he needed to know: he would just have to experience and expand on it himself. With her watching and giving notes, of course. She did keep talking as she climbed down, though.
"Being aware of the scene that's been set is very important. Every scene has a moment before: the time just before you walked into it. It's your job to think up what that moment was, cover all your bases, and move on from when you're caught. When the new scene starts."
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:28 am
He was appreciative that they were just going to try something simple, safe, and quick. If he took to it, he might try and work some way into taking more lessons, but with the way things were, he had already dropped most of his after school activities in order to have more time for patrolling or just to get homework done so that he could go to bed early and, when his mother assumed he was asleep, head out for an early patrol. As it was, most of his time was spent doing just that, but while this might be taking a little bit of time from that, if it improved his performance as a Negeverser, then he was willing to give up that time to test things out.
Hoping down from the roof, he followed the girl and nodded as she spoke the main points of acting. It all seemed very complex to him and he was already feeling hesitant and nervous. Under thinking was not something Wolframite excelled in. He tended to over think everything. Maybe that was his main problem. He thought too much, but just thinking that didn't seem like a bad thing. What was wrong with thinking things through? He'd always been taught to think before he spoke or act. Always. He rarely just reacted unless he was in a fight.
Maybe you should think acting is a fight. She did mention it was like sparring.
Working with that, he followed her. "Okay. I guess that works." He looked about for people that he wouldn't be afraid to talk to – which was rather hard this late at night. It was then that he spotted two men, one smoking and the other talking, in front of an apartment building. "How about them?" The pair didn't look like gang members or indecent people.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 4:03 pm
Painite was glad that her new acquaintance was giving up his resistant streak and going along with her little theatre game. This would be an excellent little warm up exercise, she imagined, though he was likely biting off more than he could chew.
In fact, she was going to make sure that was the case.
It wasn't about being devious or mean, or putting him in a position he didn't want to be in: it was about teaching him how easy it was. Even with just the few things she had told him in his mind, he would be able, she hoped, to handle the exercise with little trouble. And if he did get into some, she would do her best to help him out of it.
Either way, it was going to be fun.
Of course, that was the way she looked at training, at energy hunting, at being who she was. Her work, as a Negaverse agent or as a Reporter for the local paper. Everything in her life could be made enjoyable, and nothing a grind: so long as she kept the right perspective and always took the time to enjoy the small things. Failures, getting hurt, and other risks to her personal or mental well being would always be there, but it was simply better for her to focus on the good things than the bad. It was taking the easy way out, focusing on the bad, since that was natural.
Pondering this, she nodded at her companion when he pointed out a couple of people.
"Alright, go up to them and just talk to them, and don't give them a single truth. Okay? Simple stuff. Whatever they ask you, just make it up. I'll be here, hiding."
And of course she wasn't. The moment he had drawn his attention away from her, she scooted off down the street to find a police officer. She told him she had witnessed a strange looking boy, having powered down now to do this part, talking to some adult men on a street corner. That was enough to send him in that direction.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 11:03 am
Seeing as he was acting, he debated if he should change into his civilian outfit, but reconsidered. The whole point of this acting was so that he could get away without suspicion while in his uniform. If what the other officer said was true, he could easily walk up to someone and leave without raising any notice. If he did, then there was no point in these acting lessons and he would resume just surprising people and talking as little as possible.
Still, consciously walking up to someone while in uniform put him on edge, only because there was enough publicity about strangely dressed characters labeled terrorist walking around. If someone sounded the alarm, he would have to teleport in an instant as far as he could. At least he had that escape – though he still preferred starseed stealing. Still, he was sure there would be times when teleporting and taking out people would be irrational just as the officer had mentioned. He had to learn some finesse.
Walking over, he was at least glad it was just two people on the street and at worst, they would think he was strange. They did. The moment the both of them noticed, one man grinned at his outfit while the other raised a very confused eyebrow.
Breathing deep, he went down the list of what the lieutenant had said to him and smiled. "Hi." He tested, guessing that was a place better than any to start.
"..hhiii?" One man said, taking a inhaul of his smoke as he looked down at him. Smiling, he pointed with his cig at the direction of the boy in a 'get a load of him' gesture.
"What's with the digs, kid?" One asked, a brunette with a just-rolled-out-of-bed look that seemed fashionable these days. Ladon felt it was sloppy.
"Digs?" He tested, wondering what he was getting at.
"Your outfit. What the hell are you wearing?" He corrected, causing Wolframite to frown.
"This is…" He paused when he was about to say uniform. "…a costume." He tested, knowing he should be lying with everything he said.
"Costume? It's not Halloween. What are you dressin' up for?" The smoker asked, his attire more modern, with sleeked back, black hair and sunglasses propped on top.
Ladon chewed his lip, before perking. "Acting. " Why not? He had no other ideas why anyone would dress this way.
"Acting huh." The smoker said, not too sure he believed it.
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