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 Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:30 pm
He'd been everywhere he could think of trying to find Dem, anywhere he could think of that the Blond used to hang out. He'd turned anytime he smelled cigarette smoke only because Dem said he smoked it sometimes, he'd checked every Guitar Hero game he could find, even watched outside the game store to see who if anyone tried out the Garage Band game... nothing.
No answers on the damned cell phone either...he was furious.
He was cold by now and made his way into a book store to warm up and to -cheer- up, he was sure he might find some interesting new title here to peruse. God he wished he could afford one of those digital books, the idea of being able to cary a whole library under his arm was unbelievably appealing.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 5:16 pm
Ladon was so confused. What was he supposed to do? Where did he go from here? Ever since the ruined third date with Billy, he was lost in questions without answers and now that Paris wasn't talking to him, he had no one to turn to. He had no trusted friends he could talk about this sort of personal thing about, and was left having a hard time thinking and sleeping for the past few days. Billy was sure to want another date, and he just didn't know how to handle it all. The idea of Billy with Paris made his stomach twist and his chest tight, but even more, he wondered how he could find out if Billy was true and how to keep whatever they had going. This wasn't like a normal relationship. Boys. Girls. There was a sort of shared knowledge everyone had. This other realm of other relationships had him completely confused – as if relationships and personal stuff wasn't confusing and uncomfortable enough for him.
By himself and with nowhere else to turn, he had only one option he could think off. Books. There was bound to be some helpful book out there with the knowledge he needed. Something on this sort of thing, where boyfriends and best friends had histories and he was with someone that was a boy too. Okay, it probably wouldn't have that all in its title or even in the index, but he needed something in the general ballpark. He needed to be assured of so much among all his confusion and insecurities. He needed advice!
So, sure he would never see anyone he knew here, Ladon stood in front of the romance and dating help books and stared at titles a very deep shade of magenta. Some of the titles were rather….dirty, and worse of all, this relationships section was right next to the sex books that had way worse covers that were on full display. As luck would have it, it was on the one side that didn't have the blind eye. Lucky.
He tilted his head away from this section, not even want to catch a glimpse of any of it (He'd seen enough!), and continued to look through titles.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 5:27 pm
Zac more or less was marching through on his way to a free computer so that he might look up books by a certain author he had found s fancy too, and to see if there was a new book out yet by his favorite mystery author, Kathrine Dance surely had to at least have a new hardback about her soon didn't she?
He backtracked though when he saw a familiar shape tucked into the relationship section. ".... Ladon?" He blinked. Was there trouble in 'paradise' with his little civilian girl?
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 5:42 pm
The voice was familiar, and he knew it before he even turned around. Stiffening, he stared with wide eyes at the book section, wishing he had at least picked one up to shove his face in and pretend he was someone else. Too late. He was spotted, and by a person he really wish hadn't.
Turning slowly, he gave a nervous smile to Zac, not at all wanting to be here in this particular section of the bookstore. Easing back, he looked around before looking back at the boy, finding it hard to meet his eyes. "Zac." He said, his voice higher than normal. "What are you doing …here?" Not only here in this bookstore, but here in this very section.
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Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 6:33 pm
"I was here looking for research material... he paused looking rather more tired and played out than he normally did.
"... You haven't Seen Sh...Dem have you?" He asked suddenly his brow furrowing both with weariness and with headache. He hadn't even mocked you for the section or the book yet. Clearly that meant something was 'up' as it were.
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 10:14 am
It was a serious distraction, but one that Ladon was grateful for. He had been meaning to talk to Zac about this subject, as plenty of people were creating their own rumors about the missing Negaverse Captain, and he knew that the one person who probably knew the most was Zac. While he had only a feeling about how close they were together – Demy had always perked up and talked about how much he enjoyed being with Zac – he wasn't entirely sure how far their ..relationship went.
"Actually, I did see him. I was …looking around one night…. near some abandoned buildings." He couldn't say he was patrolling after all. "More like cutting through real quick, but I found Sc – Uh, him there. He seemed rather……off. He said he had been overwhelmed by a lot of things that he wouldn't get into, and that he had to go away. He really worried me. He seemed really….strange. Like, he was still friendly, but it was very strained the way it was done. I really didn't like it, and tried to tell him we were all here in case he needed to talk." It was the only thing he could tell Scheelite at the time. That he didn't have to run off and handle things on his own. However, seeing as Zac was …well, with him (right?), he guessed he would be there for him. Then why run away?
"Do you……know what's going on with him?" He said, leaning back against the Relationships section as he looked at Zac. "I mean…you should know the most about him, right?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 10:28 am
"Pretty to think so..." He said a tad sharply at the thought that he of all people should know the most about Dem, then again Dem had implied that what he knew was a lie... he'd figured out at least PART of what Dem had said was lies, but what he thought he knew about him on a fundamental level like... observational skills, wit... that should have been the one thing he could have been sure of and it wasn't.
"He dropped out, moved in with... Heather... and then he ran away from her when we..." He stopped for a long moment his eyes at first distant, then just cold and business like. "When we had an argument." He said turning to glance more directly at Ladon, he paused to glance over the book in the young man's hand.... and then the section.
It sank home like it was filtered through quicksand.
"... Ah...." He said at last... and then... "... do those actually -help-?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:04 pm
He was very much out of the loop when it came to Demy, and he listened with more confusion than answers. It seemed things were really bad for the boy, and then he just up and left all the people he knew. Whatever this argument was about, it seemed to keep Demy from talking to his best friend. Pity. A best friend seemed just like what Demy needed right now, especially when he felt he was so overloaded that he had to run away from everyone, even his own teammates.
He'd forgotten what section he was in as he held the book, thinking to himself a moment before Zac actually pointed out what he was holding and where they were at. Also being reminded, he looked down at the book and wanted to groan. Instead, he quickly set the book back on the shelf. It probably didn’t have the answers he was looking for anyways. "Ah, well, I don't know." He said, already back to being embarrassed. Ladon usually didn't mind keeping his civilian life and Nega life mixed together, but on this personal subject, he wasn't much of an open person. Especially with recent events and revelations.
"I …was just looking for some advice." He admitted, seeing as he couldn't really deny at this point that he was looking for some relationship help when he was standing here and looking at one of the books. He closed his eyes a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. Just thinking about it gave him a headache. He was utterly lost on what to think. His best friend hated him, hated his boyfriend, and both his best friend and boyfriend had slept together. What did he do from this point on and how did he keep both his friend and new interest without having to decide?
He looked up at Zac, moving past it. "What did you and Demy argue about and who's Heather? His sister?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:21 am
"No...she's one of his... she used to work with us, brown hair, purple fan?" He said trying to stir Ladon's memories of Paragonite without directly saying 'lieutenant' or the mineral name.
He reached up and pinched his nose and sighed as though fighting a headache and loosing the battle.
"...Eh? oh...argument... I..." he started and shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He said in a way that said it very much mattered to him at least.
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:34 am
It seemed they were both having headaches over different things, and he wondered what was bothering Zac. Looking back, he had given a speech to Scheelite about being teammates and being there for each other, so why didn't it apply to Zac? It should, really, but Ladon was still wary of him. Not because Zac was a bad person. In fact, he had helped him a lot to train and get used to his missing eye. It was partly the blackmail and capability to create great plans. It was rather....intimidating. Certainly not a skill Ladon possessed in great abundance as Zac appeared to. Still, they were both guys, teens, past teammates. They could talk like any normal people - aside from some censoring when words like 'lieutenant' and 'Queen' came around.
From Zac's description, he started to piece together the girl he barely meet during Team Enterprise. He hadn't seen much of her around, but when did he ever meet too many Negas? He wondered why Demy would live with her and leave school? Wouldn't his parents, wherever they were, want to know? It seemed like a common trait that most parents didn't. Sad really.
"It has to be important if it might had added to Demy leaving. It seems really overwhelmed right now, and I thought you two were the closest anyone could get. If he can't talk to you, then he's really in trouble, and I didn't like that ...look he had when I met him. Was it something you two can agree on that you can't forgive and forget?" He said, looking about. "Maybe right here isn't the best place to talk about this. Do you want to walk down the block?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:53 am
"He COULD talk to me if he'd pick up his god forsaken PHONE!" Zac snapped in a moment flaring temper that had becoming increasingly common with his lack of sleep. Yes he normally was irritated at -something- but he liked to think he kept it under wraps better than this.
He paused and took a deep breath and stilled himself, reached up to twist the small braid in his bangs in scowling contemplation, then his eyes lit up.
"...You are curious, that's a good part of this... isn't it." He tilted his head and eyed Ladon like he was balancing scales in his head.
"I'll trade information for information, I'll be as clear as -you- are." He flashed a tight and humorless smile.
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:59 am
Ladon jolted a moment at Zac's outburst, but it seemed this was all part of the major argument he did not know much about. Demy wasn't taking his phone calls was a big deal, but it said more when he wasn't even bothering to keep his phone in case Zac called. They were partners! Didn't they work together? So why go solo? Why taking all this into his own hands and just dealing in privacy – which really wasn't dealing as it just seemed to make Scheelite more feral the more he was away from his team and friends.
Always the worry-wart, Ladon was baited by the lure of knowing more about this. He worried for Scheelite, and he didn't want to see him do something stupid that could endanger his life and the image of the Negaverse in any way. One wrong move and Scheelite could wind up as one of the nameless graves in the Negaverse graveyard – and Ladon didn't want to see that.
Chewing this offer over, he narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Okay. A trade. What did you two fight over?" He asked, trying to get the first question in before Zac could, or so he hoped. If Zac would be vague, then it gave him free right to be just as unclear as the other. Even trade, though he again pointed out. "If we can't talk about it clearly here, we should at least go to the corner where no one will bother us." He said, pointing to the end corner where three comfy chairs were clustered in a remote corner for reading and where they could talk to each other in privacy.
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:05 am
A flash of irritation showed in Zac's face at the first question being laid on the chess board before he could even act on it. He should have seen that coming and he had failed... he berated himself and glanced at the chairs before moving towards them wordlessly.
He chose one and made himself comfortable and waited on Ladon to follow before he answered.
"We fought about the nature of our... " He paused, a heavy pause like the word was hard to say. "Relationship." he said hesitantly. That hesitation alone carried with it implications of great magnitude, Zac after all didn't like being touched, there had been 'the hug' during that meeting with Linarite too, where Dem had reached over and pulled him close... could it mean?
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:12 am
Ladon took the seat across from Zac and listened, glad that no one in the store was bothering to sit down right now and be a nuisance. It seemed, for now, if they kept their voices level, the café located on the other side of the bookshelves would drown out their voices from passing eavesdroppers. It was perfect enough that if they needed to slip out a needed word relating to the Negaverse, they could without too much worry.
As it was, this wasn't the case of Nega-related words being slipped, but just being clearer. The word 'relationship' was highlighted with the implication that it meant the type that wasn't just about friendship. Still, Ladon wasn't one to just go on assumptions. He liked being clear and sure since he didn't want to be a fool later and think something wrong from this point on. It also might have been the fact he too had started a 'relationship', and he wanted to know. Leaning in, he looked at Zac. "Relationship? You mean you two are together – as boyfriends?" Just to be sure. If Zac was offended, then Ladon would just feel like a moron, but he wanted to be very clear. Zac and Demy were together or had been. He wasn't sure how serious this agreement had been.
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:25 am
A flush spread across Zac's cheeks and his eyes blazed, he looked affronted rather than offended and looked away for a long angry moment.
"That's -two- questions." He snapped. It seemed that talk of such personal things rather threw him off his game.
"We tried it... I" he started and paused like it was a question on par with 'how do you break security on the hope diamond'
"it didn't work... he needs too much from me just as a partner, we have too many duties we have to keep up with, I have a task that's keeping me from giving him the attention he wants, and he hates it besides. I can't even make him see reason on it... and if you want to know that task I fear it will cost you dearly in answers, it's too important." He shook his head and calmed himself again.
"And you? Who has you reading books on relations? Tate trouble or someone new?"
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