|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:26 pm
There are some days in a life that come with unpleasant realizations custom attached to them. They are fundamentally unshakable, and ultimately... one either learns from the realization or goes into denial.
That morning the realization was just how few people he felt he could sincerely call...'Friend'.
Stranger still...that he was closer to some people he knew 'in uniform' than he had ever been to most of them OUT of it.
Audrey...General Linarite...was one of those people. He respected her a great deal in uniform, thought she did great work for what she had to work with, their team included when it had been more unified.
Castor...well... Hell even Tanzinite hadn't taken out Castor... neither had the queen, but that wasn't something you -said- to the queen...or out Loud. He'd like to have a good -sit- down With Castor and see if he couldn't help Linarite with changing his way of thinking. Not because he wanted to infect the Negaverse with Senshi Cannon Fodder, but because it meant so much to Linarite herself.
It was because of Castor in fact, and the secrets revealed to him that he had offered the invitation that he was now...currently starting to regret.
People just did not get to -see- the contents of his room. there were things in there, of a particular theme and quantity that could single handedly remove any respect he MIGHT have in the Negaverse... or School.
He wasn't quite sure which he felt was worse right now, at least in the negaverse he felt he could make up for a panda collection by being 'effective.'... not so much school.
He rubbed his eyes and sighed trying not to think about it.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:11 pm
Friendship was something that was oddly coming easier and easier to Linarite, in and out of uniform. Some of the officers that she'd never really spoken to before, like Serandite, were becoming easier to open up to. Everyone was becoming easier to open up to, apparently! Audrey still somewhat regretted telling Zink about her and Castor...but it was better he heard from her than anyone else! Zinkenite was special, the kid she'd rescued from a closet in Hillworth one lazy afternoon, who'd become Number One to her Negafleet Captain.
Now she was standing outside his door as unassuming as possible in one of her typical outfits: glowingly yellow skirt, a top so blue it blended with her hair, black tights that covered every inch of her legs, and a black long-sleeved top beneath the blue. Even her shoes were slashing yellow and blue, tied with black laces. Everything matched in the oddest way, and that was Audrey! She went through quite a bit of trouble to always match...even when she didn't.
A petite hand reached out and knocked on the door with some excitement. Nobody saw Zink's house. Ever! This was special, and she was reveling in it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:22 pm
"ONE MINUTE!!!" Yelled a hoarse voice from inside the house, VERY not Zink, something leaning towards effeminate but so harsh edged though irritation and...god knew what else that it was almost genderless.
You could hear... trickles of music from deeper in the house, half obscured by talk radio turned up high enough that you could make out the program though the door.
"ZAC... GET THE GOD DAMNED DOOR!!.... ZACHARY GRIFFEN BANTOCK WILL YOU PUT DOWN THAT...." the voice trailed off and something inside the house slammed, heated words were exchanged from within before quite suddenly the door was nearly RIPPED open, swinging inward with a vehemence as though you had just kicked it off its hinges.
"WHAT DO YOU..." the woman started looking furious, her demeanor changed quite suddenly though when her eyes locked on, of all things, you chest.
"Hi!" She said sounding suddenly quite friendly and curious. It was abundantly clear where Zac's height came from, and his face. He looked so much like his mother that he could have been a very young sibling but for a few features. Her Hair had a wave his lacked and faded far more clearly at the ends than his did. Her eyes were a bright green, darker than Scheelite's but reminiscent of fresh pine... she smelled of... alcohol and t-v dinners if only slightly.
Zac stood behind her trying to peer around her looking more than a little desperate that he hadn't beat her to the door, from his hand dangled a Violin that was stained a deep indigo and a bow who had started to shed its horse hairs, if only a few.
"Mother...I said I'd get it..." He said sounding as wound tight as the strings.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:31 pm
Feeling suddenly very exposed, Audrey couldn't say why she wanted to fold her arms over her chest and rush inside the house. Usually she only got that feeling around Hillworth...except she knew she could kick any of those assholes to China and back. You really couldn't kick an old lady's a** unless you were alone in an alley, and doing that to Zac's mom was probably out of line. So instead, the bluenette smiled back and waved briefly. "Hey there! I'm Audrey...Zac invited me over. I hope that's okay!" Her best Parent Smile was on and shining.
This was good practice, really. If she could get through meeting her buddy's parents maybe Elzo would finally let her meet his? It was something that Audrey desperately wanted, especially after hearing stories from Jada about Giovanni Xanis. He sounded like a real treat.
Except not.
Blinking again, she smiled even wider. "You never told me you played, Number One. Now you're definitely in trouble."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:50 pm
The woman's eyes narrowed suspicious for a moment, then widened suddenly with an almost dangerous light behind them.
"Zac?" She turned on her son hands on her hips as he fumbled to hide the Violin behind him turning scarlet.
"Well it... I...its just a ... er... Yes?" He fumbled between answering you and then his mother, he arched an eyebrow at that -look- in her eyes and glanced at you and back.
"Ah...well..." He said seeming to realize she had drawn some unspoken conclusion about you.
"..." the woman stared at you and then Zac and then her face split into an ENORMOUS grin and she launched forward to hug you.
"I KNEW IT WAS JUST A PHASE!! OH YOU ARE SO PRETTY!!! ZAC WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU HAD A GIRLFRIEND!!!" She gushed with volume that var outstripped Zac even at his most furious.
She paused for just long enough to release you and stand back appraisingly. "She...IS your girl friend...isn't she?" She stared at Zac as though she intended to peel his skin off with her eyes if he didn't say yes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:33 pm
Hands awkwardly patted the woman's back, trying not to cough as the smell of smoke enveloped Audrey. It was definitely a new smell for her and not really a welcome one. But it was always good to be nice to the parents of your friends. They tended to let you hang out at weird hours and you could then get into more trouble that way. For Linarite, that meant that she could have Zinkenite's help more and more while they were each other's covers.
It was that idea that had her grinning and tucking hands into the pockets of her flamboyant skirt. "Yeah Zac, aren't I? He's so quiet and cute, isn't he Ms. Bantock? Super shy. I bet that's why he never mentioned he was hanging out with a girl like me. I'm not that shy though." Her mouth never stopped moving as she grasped the arm with his violin in a rather tight grip, smiling brilliantly.
She might have, possibly, been having just a bit of fun.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 8:43 pm
Zac's eyes widened at the exchange and he jaw flapped like a codfish for a moment before trying to smother a wince as Audrey gripped his arm.
"A..R....RIGHT!" He nodded glancing between them trying to re-assemble some modicum of composure.
"S...She's really..." he trailed off and glanced at you as though desperately searching for a positve term that he could actually USE in front of his mother.
"... D...Dominant!" He said and flashed a thin and nervous smile.
"Oh I am SO happy!!" Ms. Bantock said tucking hair behind her ear and preening like a peacock. "So pretty to boot, oh I had NO idea he had such good taste, lovely, lovely!" She crooned and the look in her eyes said she was already plotting the number and gender of grandchildren.
"Ah...we're just, heading to my room." Zink said edging a foot backward only to quickly add "But...we're not... of course we aren't...that wouldn't be...honorable."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:08 pm
Dominant?! Audrey's mouth fell open and she caught herself for a moment staring before bursting into fits of laughter. Sure, she probably looked like a loonie but who cared? Certainly not Audrey! The idea that she and Zink would be doing anything dishonorable sobered her a bit, though the gigantic smile spread across her face like sunrise over the ocean. "No sir. I am a good ol' girl at heart and I refuse to do a thing until there's a ring on it. If you like it then you should put a ring on it, my grandma says. Or maybe that was Beyonce? Same thing, I'm sure! C'mon Z, you promised you'd show me!" Actually he'd done no such thing, but any escape was preferable to having to keep up this sort of charade.
Already though, Audrey was feeling much better. She'd come to visit and clear the air from Elzo asking too many questions about her various injuries, among the fight they'd had about her meeting his parents. It hadn't gone well.
Without really looking around, she just flopped down onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling. It was then, and only then, that the teen realized what she was looking up at. "Oh. My. God." She tried desperately to smother incredulous giggles, sitting up to take a good look at it all.
"You weren't lying about the pandas!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:15 pm
"Oh goddddddd." Zink said and closed the door behind them, he looked tempted to lock it but that probably would have looked like 'hanky panky' in progress so he left it be.
The Flush across his cheeks was nothing short of incredible, but then again neither was his collection. There were fat pandas, flat pandas, grey pandas, rainbow pandas, but mostly black and white pandas in all sizes shapes and materials, Hell even the room was mostly done in shades of grey and charcoal, a deep charcoal rug with light grey walls, few pictures to be found at all.
His bedsheets were at least, this time anyhow... deep blues purples and blacks in some kind of odd Batik bed spread, but his pillowcase had pandas on it again and he looked about ready to curl up in the hood of his sweat shirt and die of it.
"I'm not....that big a collection." He said sounding like he was trying to convince himself and failing, there had to be at least three hundred pandas in that room.
"...Besides the... the first one is at Hillworth." He said like that made any kind of difference at all. He paused watching her. "...At least you look a little more cheerful than when she opened the door." he said with a touch of hopeful as he grabbed the desk chair and perched on the edge of it like a nervous crow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:20 pm
There was a distinct lack of a bright blue panda though, one that would be the color of Audrey's hair. She planned to rectify this immediately but for now said nothing about that, instead addressing her apparent cheerfulness. "Well I was nervous! I've never had to meet anyone's parents before. And now I have two boyfriends! What a special day this is turning out to be." Honey eyes twinkled with mischief as she walked over to the wall, fingering one or two little fuzzy panda feet lightly.
"I think it's a pretty impressive collection though. I sorta used to collect owls, because they had the same eye color that I did. But I only have four or five not...dozens. You really look like you have dozens. I'm sure somewhere is a hoodie with panda ears on it, huh?" She could imagine it, and it was super cute.
"Do you mind?" She picked up a squishy one that looked rather fresh and new with little wear before heading back over to the bed and hugging it somewhat self-consciously. "Thanks for letting me come over though. I needed a bit of an escape, and the girls have been grating on me lately. I can't exactly go to Aree's all the time." Never mind that Aree was not very happy with her right now.
Nope. Never mind that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 9:24 pm
"...." He watched her hug it with an odd moment of sympathy crossing his face. He remembered all to well his first squeeze on Mr. Tenebrous, the arguments that he'd watched, being dropped off at his aunts...
"You can keep that...if you like." He said quietly. "...That's Lady Obfuscate...but you can give it a new name if you want." He added glancing away quickly, he didn't answer about the hoodie, but that was answer in and of itself.
"I mean it's eye color is a bit dark but... their good for bad days." He rubbed the bridge of his nose and then carefully ran his fingers over the neck of his violin.
"...I didn't realize I you didn't know either...I guess I'm a little to used to people hearing me complain about sheet music." He said with a clipped nervous laugh.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:22 pm
Turning the panda in her arms, Audrey soberly examined it from head to toe. "Lady O, huh? She needs a nickname because I can't say Obfuscate too often or my tongue might tie in a knot, but Lady O seems fitting. Maybe I'll make her a little hat so that she can be like Jackie O. She was a lady. But not this chubby." Fingers pinched panda cheeks with a delighted grin before she was hugged again close to the petite girl's chest.
Eying the violin, she laughed. "Z when we hang out we usually have things a bit more pressing to talk about. Like how I'm a traitor to the 'verse, I have a thing for the wrong sort of guy, we have a quota to meet, one of my best buds with purple hair is insane and scary, that sorta thing." It was the most codified statement ever, but her chin jerked towards it. "How long have you played? I'm a bit of a musical failure which is amusing. It's all numbers anyway, right?"
English and rhythm, two things that Audrey was absolutely terrible at. That, and apparently being a good Negaverse officer. Not that Zink would ever tell her that, oh no. That was just everyone else.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:36 pm
He lifted the violin and tucked it under his chin and gave a small shrug.
"...Almost as long as I have played chess I think..." He flashed a small smile that vanished ghost like. "I used to hate it... then I realized I could... hear the notes I didn't JUST have to look at the paper, drove the teacher a little up the wall because you -must- do it by the book." He rolled his eyes.
"But... I do everything by the damned book... so this is the one thing I sometimes don't"
He brushed the bow over the strings and it thrummed out a sad handful of notes, the instrument sounded almost wistful, though if it was just in its tuning or some comment on the young man playing it, it was hard to say.
Those few notes hummed onward into something more familiar, it was almost evident in his face when he sought for the notes to make the sound more complete... recognizable as a little tribute to 'Florence + the Machine...Howl'.
He let it drop again and shrugged. "Sorry...not trying to show off...much."
He propped one foot on the rung of his chair and thought for a moment.
"Well...two things in what you last said that we at least have in common outside of quota..." He gave a soft humorless chuckle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:19 pm
Eyes lit up at the song, recognizing it. It was one of the few things that reminded her of Tanz and weren't savage serial killers or animals at the zoo. Yes, the woman would probably be flattered to be compared to an alpha wolf. But Audrey didn't like that, so it didn't matter. "That's really awesome. Probably like how I just see numbers. All the teachers in school went batty when I was kid because I could just look and do long division in my head. Eventually they realized that I wasn't bluffing with a calculator and was brilliant." Modest? Audrey? Not when it came to this!
"No reason to not show off something you're proud of. That's part of your problem, Z. You never show any real pride, and I know you've got stuff that you're proud of. You're capable and smart, and I like you." A pause, Audrey grinned very widely. "That last is the most important."
Flopping back on the bed, it occurred to the teen that she spent a lot of time moving around on people's beds like a fish. Z, Vicky, her own when having extended discussions with Elzo. No wonder she never got vertigo, her blood was use to the rush! Thinking of two they might have in common was easy but she played silly anyway.
"So you're a traitor too? And your best bud has purple hair and is totally insane? What a small world."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:25 pm
He laughed, it was a rare sound but pleasant... he had a nice voice when he wasn't snarling or in pain.
"Seeing it in numbers is brilliant too, I have only so much of a head for them, I wish I had more. I..." He rubbed the back of his neck
"I'm just not good -enough-..." He sighed. "The only thing I have ever been good at was destroying things... like My Mother's marrage...hell even my Cou...even Beth's mother's death was MY fault."
THe last part was said quietly though and to the tune of a radio being switched on to a random station, the words mingled with his and it might take a moment to sort that out.
"...I'm not as strong or able as you...or Tanz...or anyone else. I'm just a -thinker. That will only cary me so far....and god HELP me I want to go further than I think it will take me." He looked frustrated, like he had dreams that he knew would forever be out of reach.
He stopped himself and glanced her in the eyes... "You're right though... it is the most important part to me. It... means a lot to be... liked."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
