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 Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:42 am
Gently was sitting, trying to look like she had been waiting for a while. Hopefully the people who had seen her show up didn't sell her out by mentioning she hadn't been waiting long or something, when her friend did show up. She was sure they wouldn't but if it slipped... then all her acting would be for naught.
She was trying very hard to master her breathing. Teleporting still wasn't as effortless as she liked to pretend it was. She didn't want her targets seeing her getting breathless and momentarily drained, especially when she wasn't teleporting away from a battle. Often, she used to for show, to teleport behind someone and try to run them through with her javelin.
The drain of power, the moment needed to catch her breath, could always be dangerous when she was that close to someone.
Or, in this case, could make it obvious that she had been late for a friendly get together. Fortunatey, so had her companion. It worked out that now Gently could simply pretend she had been waiting there on time, and not have to even come up with an excuse to cover what had really kept her.
Petting a senshi cat in an alley, of course. And talking to it. And it talking back.
Leaning back, she sipped at some water while she waited, which helped her recover. She seemed perfectly normal now, though she still felt tired from the effort.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:04 pm
Zia was rushing, utilizing that running in heels skill she claimed as best she could, double checking her hair in her compact, double double checking she had her wallet in her massive purse she toted around, stopping to freak out about it, and then finding it and resuming her rush.
She was silently swearing at herself for wasting so much time with that negaverser, something she shouldn't have been doing in the first place! There was a certain feeling of guilt ringing the more she went back to that meeting, especially since she couldn't help but feel a bit of fondness for Painite. But now she was rushing back to where she had plans to meet Gently, lamenting the fact she didn't have more mirrorwalking locations around the city.
"Gently!" She called out as she nearly stumbled through the doors, before she had even spotted the other woman. The second she did, though, she made her way over to her table and flopped down. "I am so sorry, I just go tired up at work and things are just... crazy," She spouted off as she put her purse on the table and looked through it to see how badly she had damaged the few files she kept in there when she was digging around.
"Have you been waiting long?" She asked, peeking over the black leather lump and cringing.
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 7:08 pm
Gently stood up when she heard Zia arrive, brightening and offering a friendly laugh. But the girl had already flopped into the seat and Gently sat right back down.
"don't worry about it!"
She had to consider her answer here. If she said she was waiting too long, then poor Zia would feel even worse than she clearly already did. And that would just be mean, really. While Gently loved messign with people she did not like hurting feelings or forcing someone to feel guilty. Humor was supposed to be good natured.
At least with her friends.
"I promise, I haven't been here long. I left it a bit late, too. I don't even have a good excuse! I was just slow today, I'm glad I was here first really. I would have felt really bad making you wait just because I was slacking thoughtlessly."
There, that was a good lie, and it would hopefully make Zia feel better rather than worse. And offer a laugh.
"What's got you so frazzled at work? Nothing world changing, I hope?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:39 pm
"Oh good," Zia said with a groan showcasing her own exhaustion. But Gently asking what had her so frazzled was a little bit of a curveball and she quicky started skimming through her mental files for a work story she hadn't shared, something believable she could use as an excuse.
In all honesty, ever since she had gone back and convinced her boss to rehire her, she wasn't nearly as frazzled and pissed off when she was finally freed, but she had gotten off work hours ago. She was late because of taking time out of her day to roam around the city, jump off roofs and fire escapes, and talk to people she should not be talking to.
"Oh you know," She said, waving it off as best she could. "Just still trying to break in to the boys' club and still having to run around town to get their coffee and dry cleaning."
But, the work subject did remind her of something she wanted to pester Gently about. "How are things going at the paper?" She asked, righting all the carefully organized contents of her bag and setting it down. "Anything exciting?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:26 pm
"Ah ha, I can understand that."
In a way, she could. At the paper she was certainly one of the only girls on the team, and never quite got the same stories or attention the male writers got. True enough, that also tied into the fact that they were all veterans with the place, and she was the newest recruit, fresh from school. Bright eyed and eager, she imagined she had alienated a few of them right off the bat, regardless of gender, just by being there at all.
Still, at least her other job didn't feel that way. The Negaverse had plenty of room for female agents, and she knew quite a few her were infamous and powerful. In her own mind, she was heading down that track as well, and nothing would stop her. Not senshi or those new annoyances, knights.
"The paper? Well. It's sort of strange how new and exciting things can start to feel like the 'same old', you know?" She leaned forward, actually interested in explaining rather than just flitting through conversation. It was something she liked about Zia, she didn't find it hard to talk to her even when she was being serious. Those moments were few and far between, but still.
"You know. We get these breaking headlines in and have to redo the whole front page about some terrorist attack or strange happening or missing person. It seems to happen so often that we expect it. The odd day now is when we don't have to print one of those stories, front page or not."
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:31 am
"Ah," Zia wrinkled her nose a little at the mention of terrorist attacks. Part of her, probably mostly just the cat part, always felt an urge to have an outburst at that word. Her babies had been accused with that word, her Queen had been accused of that word. She didn't like it.
However, she had started to take her cues from her brother. 'Terrorists' and city destruction had become the bane of his existence, she she tried to pull a few words from his rantings on it just in case she needed to feign any anti-senshi hatred. Just in case.
"Yeah, the city does seem to be in tatters, doesn't it?" She said, her mind wandering off topic a little and then she waved her hand as if she could direct it back to her forgotten train of thought, "Oh, but I guess you've got a first hand look," She said lightly, though, the implication was there. She didn't want to bog Gently down with unpleasant conversation about the same old stuff she dealt with at work all day. she could only imagine how much she'd want to bash her head in if the subject went to mergers and buyouts.
"Hey! Can we get some service over here!" The outburst was of only mild surprise to Zia. Her quiet and polite public demeanor was barely a memory after all these months dealing with delegating 'life' with a second soul. Zirconia was hungry, damn it.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:17 pm
Gently listened patiently. She knew the role she had made for herself. She wrote about these terrorists, covered their breaking news stories with all the detached obliviousness any civilian in the city might have. That way, she could slam senshi under the excuse that she simply didn't know better.
Though she totally did. She even knew some of the stories she covered were actually caused by the negaverse. But the word terrorist, or gang, covered a whole manner of sins in this city.
She smiled at Zia's thoughtful effort to move the subject along. That was sweet of her, at least, and she relented. It was safer not to talk about it, just in case she slipped out of her character there and let her own, real opinions slip out.
Like how much senshi sucked and should all go home or, better still, meet the business end of her javelin.
Lifting her eyebrows, Gently decided not to let Zia be the only rude, out burst capable person in the place. What kind of friend would she be if the waiter only hated Zia and not the whole table? So she waved her hands.
"Yeah, I'd love some food and attention over here, please!"
The waitress moved to them, looking skeptical. Gently smiled brightly at her, like they were just playing all along. It wasn't clear if the waitress was buying it.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 5:56 pm
Zia gave the skeptical waiter and a cheeky grin and placed her order, though, she had to wonder just how long their drinks would take, and how much spit would be in them.
Oh well.
"Sooo, Gently," She said, leaning on the table and supporting her chin in her hand. "What have you been up to, besides the exciting world of print journalism where terrorist attacks and missing persons are no longer exciting?"
She figured touching base with a friend left personal lives as fair game, and if Gently had anything juicy going on, all the more better.
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:41 am
Gently looked very thoughtful for a moment, like her life was either so very complicated that she had to go through a mental notebook to find one specific thing to talk about or, more likely, she didn't have much to share and was straining to come up with it.
Really, most of her favorite stories and exciting incidents happened when she was powered up, and she didn't quite think Zia would like to hear about how she drained energy off of a bunch of people in a massage parlor, or how she stabbed a senshi.
She smiled.
"There are a couple plays and productions I'm looking to audition for in the coming weeks, so I'm working on some monologues. I think I've been behind the stage too long, and I would love to be on it again for a spell. It'll be fun, assuming I land something." She chuckled, not counting her chickens before they hatched.
"I've made a few new friends, one who is particularly interesting..." A boy, to be specific. She even blushed a bit mentioning him, but knew that was just being silly. They were friends and, when powered up and hunting, colleagues. she wasn't sure why she was bragging about just meeting him, and it made her surprisingly bashful.
"But mostly it's life as normal."
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:45 pm
"Oh, Gently, that's awesome!" Zia gushed at the thought of her friend being on stage again. It went without saying that any production Gently was acting in, Zia would be buying tickets and spreading them around.
She'd been slacking a little on this whole supportive friend thing due to being strapped for time, but if Gently was going to be on stage instead of behind it for a while, she figured it might be time to pick it back up.
But all of that was forgotten as soon as Gently mentioned meeting someone particularly interesting and blushed on top of it all. Zia pounced on that like a starving lion.
"Who?" She asked, ignoring the waiter that had arrived to set their drinks on the table. "Someone special? A boy? A girl?! What's his name? Is he hot? How did you meet?" She shot off the rapid progression of questions before gripping her glass to make sure she wasn't going to knock it over in all her excitement.
"Details, woman!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:18 pm
Gently laughed, grinning and shaking her head. "Well, I don't know anything yet, obviously, but if I do make it into anything you'll be the first to hear about it, definitely."
Plays always made her excited. They had a way of revitalizing when things felt too run down. When she, herself, felt too run down. They were her favorite thing to do, even more than her job with the negaverse. Maybe. Actually, that was a toss up for her, as she adored trapping and hunting senshi and knights so much. But plays didn't come with injuries or failures.
Unless it was a particularly bad night, anyway.
"A boy, she said, with the same cadence she had implied a girl with, though she was grinning broadly. She blushed again and shook her head. "His name is Matthew and yes he's hot. We met..." at work? No. Well, yes, but not at the paper, so that wouldn't work. "We just ran into each other at the used game store. And he's sweet! Handsome as hell, good gamer, athletic." She was gloating, clearly, and was probably doing it on purpose, judging by the grin on her face.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 6:46 pm
"I'll hold you to that," Zia said in regards to the plays, tapping a finger on the table for very mild emphasis.
As far as Gently's new guy, she was actually rather content to hear her friend gloat. One, romantic relationships were inherently juicy stories Zia ate up like candy and two, well, she really wasn't in to them that much herself and didn't find Gently's particular brand of bragging offensive or unfun to listen to. A tame date with the museum curator was about as exciting as Zia's love life had ever been since high school prom. Not that she minded.
"Oo. Sounds like you bagged yourself a winner," She complimented sitting back to inspect her drink she's been half ignoring.
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 12:53 pm
Gently chuckled and shook her head, waving her hands with uncharacteristic modesty. It seemed she had hit her limit with gloating and getting the attention that came with the seeking. Her cheeks were colored a soft red.
"We're going to have to find you a nice boy toy," she said, looking at her pointedly and with a crooked grin. She nodded her head, liking the idea even as it came out of her mouth.
It could turn out to be fun, or a complete disaster. Wasn't that the way things like dating websites worked? Tons of replies and none of them good. Yes, Gently wanted to make Zia date, just to see the kind of guys that popped up.
What could be more fun?
"I'll help you, if you like. Out of the goodness of my heart. You should find someone who makes you happy, even if it's just for a little fun," she lifted her drink, grinning from behind the rim of it.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:29 pm
"Oh, I'm sure," Zia laughed, before mockingly placing a hand over her chest. "Out of the goodness of your heart."
She was certain her love life was little more than a trainwreck waiting to happen. She never fancied herself the type to play girlfriend very well and even less with the addition of a secondary personality. No doubt a very entertaining trainwreck, but nonetheless.
And then there was Iouri.
"Actually, I'm seeing someone," She said, waving off the whole point as moot. "Well, I mean. Not seriously, I guess," She added when that suddenly made her feel overly committed. Their first date had plenty of awkwardness to spare, and while she would consider having dinner with him again, it really wasn't much of a 'relationship' to speak of. Zia had given up on anything with passion or spark to be absorbed into her obsession with her career a long time ago.
"Besides, boy toys are for people with lives," She added jokingly. Well kind of.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 11:54 am
Gently laughed and nodded her head, getting the distinct impression that Zia didn't want to talk about it any more than she really did. She nodded her head, though, glad to hear that there was someone to at least keep Zia's attention.
Boys should be fun, Gently decided. Most didn't want to be serious, anyway, and though she was sure she had it in her to be a serious girlfriend, it seemed she was not capable of meeting boys who were likewise set.
So why not just have fun?
"Are you saying you don't have a life? That's so sad. Maybe we'll have to work on getting you one of those instead," she teased again, shaking her head. Gently's life was mostly work, and then her real work. The Negaverse.
Glancing at her watch, she frowned at the time. Sometimes she loathed her scheduled lifestyle, and how she needed to stick to it as closely as possible. There was always room for improvising, but even the extra time she tried to slip in for unexpected events was slipping away from her.
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