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 Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:47 pm
It had been a few days, and as usual when something bad happened, Zia vanished.
She had gone almost a year without pulling her magical disappearing act, but after getting fired and the whole fiasco with Luxor she dropped off the social scene again. There were some hints of her existence. A mechanic calling about a car she'd had towed, a non-informative 'ttyl' text, some things moved around and clothes traded out, suggesting she'd dropped by and left again. Harley, however, had been especially depressed and clingy and spent his days pacing the apartment and laying listlessly in front of the door and had become increasingly joyless each night she didn't crawl into bed.
She had decided that she couldn't avoid real life forever, though. Mostly she missed Pascal, and selfishly had hoped he would just blow off the fact that she dropped off the planet and avoided him and they could seamlessly go back to being irresponsible, coexisting adults.
She didn't announce her grand return or make an entrance. In fact, she just came home and acted like nothing happened, except as quietly and discreetly as possible.
She didn't even see him until she got the urge to go interrupt him at his work bench, slinking up behind him and rubbing his shoulders. "Hey, baby, whatcha working on?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 6:38 pm
Harley had been an annoying mess since Zia had vanished, and while Pascal had been a mess the first night she didn't show up, he still had to ensure his future. This meant he had papers to finish, things to build and a life to live. It helped that Zia had at least made it clear to Pascal that she wasn't dead in some ditch but he couldn't help but think negative things. However, when Pascal got into his work everything else was out of mind.
He didn't hear Harley's little whines, nor did he hear Zia creep in. In fact, he didn't even notice Zia rubbing his shoulders. It was the coo of her voice as she asked what he was working on that got a response out of him.
"I thought it would be fun to build a little robot dog to annoy Harley like he annoys me," he said as if he was on autopilot but after it slipped out of his lips reality began to set in. After that, it only took a moment for things to come crashing down. The touch he hadn't felt in nights, the voice he hadn't heard in what seemed like eons, and then a rage he hadn't felt since he got the 'ttyl' text. Zia was back, and she was acting like she'd never ditched him and the dog.
"Don't baby me," he said with an unpleasant tone, his true feelings expressed by the fact he his knuckles were white from how hard he was squeezing his tools. Normally he would put them down but he wouldn't he turn around to look at her leaning over his shoulders. "You can't just not come home and then send me one crappy little 'ttyl' text."
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 6:47 pm
Zia's brow contorted into something like worry. It was mostly selfish, though, but what about their relationship wasn't. She didn't want him to be mad at her, she wanted to flip a switch and turn off the part where he had feelings that could be hurt and get right to the part where they enjoyed each other's company again.
"It was all I could get out before my phone died," She mumbled. "I knew you'd be mad..."
Except probably not as mad as if she hadn't ditched, which made the entire thing something of a self fulfilling prophecy. "I'm sorry. I'm back now. Please don't be mad."
Look guilty? Check.
Apologize? Check.
Yup, we're all good here.
She drew in close again and started rubbing his shoulders, this time nuzzling the back of his neck in the process.
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:11 pm
"Mad? I'm not mad. In fact, if you could leave me alone I would really like to finish Harley's friend here," he announced as flatly as he could, trying to ignore the fact he could feel Zia against him, and the soft massaging feeling of her rubbing his shoulders. It felt good, he couldn't deny it, and when he began to nuzzle the back of his neck he almost caved but before he could let out a sigh and drop his head back against her he pushed himself forward into the desk.
"Don't you want Harley to have nice things?"
Irony. It was definitely Pascal who argued endlessly over the dog since it arrived.
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:49 pm
"Harley doesn't care about robots," Zia stated with a huff. "I missed you," She whined, slipping her hands under his shirt.
She did get quiet and stop being so childish, even if only for a brief moment.
"I'm sorry, I'm not good at dealing with things. I should've just come home," She murmured, coming around to flop her face against the side of his like a puppy starved for attention.
"I got fired."
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:58 pm
"Well the things Harley does care about aren't around," he mumbled somewhat spitefully, taking a deep breath as Zia slipped her hands under his shirt. Abs tightening as his body straightened defensively, Pascal let out a simple groan. It was hard to be upset when you were stuck between Zia and a hard place. It was her silence that caused him to tilt his head a bit, just in time for her face to meet the side of his cheek.
He might have said something else but she finally admitted everything to him. He sighed and dropped the tools on the workbench.
"You what?" He said, finally showing some concern. "You should have come home. Why would you run away from me when you should run to me?"
Concern and rage mixed between the two, Pascal tried to balance things by turning around to at least face her.
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:05 pm
"I don't know..." Zia admitted with a shrug, suddenly looking at the tools she'd been trying to entice him into putting down. "I guess it's just what I do."
And it was, considering she had screwed herself out of two living situations before this for something similar.
"I mean, I guess. When I was rooming with Mags I didn't... well after--- ah." After Orpheus cornered her in an alleyway and scared the daylights out of her, but she hadn't talked to Pascal about terrorists or anything like that, and that would just raise a whole new set of questions, she was sure.
"Anyway. Tommy was screaming at me and then a terrorist showed up and bled all over me, and all over the inside of the Impala," She added, and reached into her heavy tote bag to pull out the evening dress she'd left in. Even in black certain spots were tinted dark red.
"I know I ******** up, I'm sorry," She almost whined like a child as she pulled her hands out from under his shirt to fiddle with her fingers. "It's not you, I promise I just... don't know how to... do things."
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 9:39 pm
Pascal could only sigh at all her explanations. Did he really come to expect anything else? He knew Zia was like this, but maybe he hoped that after all this time, that things would change. Maybe not entirely, but at least a bit. He hoped he had meant enough, but maybe he didn't. Well, at least she came back home but he did still have her dog. It was a toss up but he tried to keep things somewhat positive.
If anything, being fired was a legitimate excuse. However, as Zia spoke more, his face grew from a larger frown into a bit of concern. He didn't like the idea of Zia being out on the streets with all the 'terrorists' and it was one of the main reasons he hadn't slept at all the first night. He didn't know what had happened to her and she could have just as easily been killed by the very things they had experimented on. Maybe finally someone had caught up to her and stolen her starseed. It would have been the end.
Slowly, it all caught up to him and he wrapped his firm arms around her and held her tight.
"I am sorry you lost your job, and I am glad you're safe. I don't know what I would have done..." he said, stopping himself into elaborating further.
Good news, maybe he wouldn't have to risk his life with her driving in the Impala now.
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 10:22 pm
If Zia could read his mind, she would've insisted this was an improvement. She had never gone back home the first time, and only showed up to pay Magiore the rent she owed him.
This time she had come back after a few days! Progress!
She buried herself into his hug, though, and clung to his shirt. "I didn't mean to make you think I was leaving for real. I don't want to leave you," She murmured, nuzzling her nose into his neck again.
Well, not right now, at least. Zia had been feeling incredibly restricted and claustrophobic in her commitments to him, but after avoiding him she realized she missed him more than she felt stuck, which was something she was going to have to tangle out later.
"I'll do better next time."
Oh god, please don't let there be a next time.
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Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 10:27 pm
"Next time?" Pascal asked, not entirely pleased about the thought of this happening again. It made him wonder about the things that Zia had done while she was gone, and while he knew there better not be a next time, he didn't want to think about what she did this time. His imagination was great enough to make little robots and that meant it was a nightmare enough to dream up scenarios where she was ravaged by several 'terrorists' and none of them were Sailor Orpheus. How embarrassing would that be? He'd want to kick his own a** for ruining his own trust in Zia.
Of course, to make this less about his feelings he quickly turned things around as his fingers ran through Zia's locks.
"If you say next time one more time I think Harley is going to suffocate in sorrow."
Harley knows. Next time Zia leaves, Harley will successfully be abandoned in another state. There will be no following him home, sucking up to him, eating half a pineapple and olive pizza (after sulking over the fact the pizza man wasn't Zia) and then sleeping so close to the door that had Zia come home in the middle of the night she would have probably killed herself falling over him.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 7:36 am
"Oh he'll get over it," Zia said with a grimace and an unconvincing tone. She wanted him to get over it. In fact, she wanted someone else to take the stupid dog so she didn't have to be guilted into being there for him.
Harley needed someone consistent, but if she wasn't consistent, that was okay.
He would just wait. And break her heart. And then even looking at him happy made her feel guilty that she just happened to be more independent than them.
Pascal was quickly being filed in the same boat, but she meant it when she said she was going to try harder.
But she ignored that for now because here, there was contentment. At least for a moment. The hugging, petting, fingers being run through hair. It was a good moment, and she decided to indulge in it until one of them ruined it.
She did. She ruined it. Of course we did.
"So if I don't have a job, and you're going to school, how are we going to pay for everything?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:03 am
Pascal could sense the guilt in Zia's tone and he cast a look to the loveless dog. He felt comradery with the mutt at this moment in time because they had both been cast aside in Zia's world. With the guilt he heard in her voice for Harley, he could only hope she felt the same about him. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Zia and it just wasn't something he was going to ask.
She was trying, right? And then she tried a little too hard and asked the question he'd been avoiding telling her since they'd met. How did he have money for this piece of crap apartment? He certainly didn't have a fulltime job that would be necessary for such things and that left a few options. He had a lot of money left from the bank account he "robbed" from himself after his life being stolen, his school was thankfully paid by scholarships and bursaries, but even with that out of the way it still wasn't enough to just use the money he had set aside. It wasn't responsible. So he got a loan, and did some odd jobs for university studies for cash. He hoped if he worked hard enough his work with his professor would become paid.
"Um... uh... loans and university studies... mostly. I have some cash aside for rainy days..."
If she checked in the right drawer, in the right place, she'd find the files he kept on all that stuff. He kept it hidden for the most part because there weren't just files in there on Pascal Lalande but also files for Cameron Reid. Where the money for his rainy day fund came from those Cameron Reid loans but he would never possibly ever be able to admit that without being charged for fraud. So, he was prepared to lie his a** off if she ever found them and tell them that his friend had absolutely no ability to keep things so he was holding onto them for him. It was viable enough. If that didn't work he would improvise it. Hopefully that situation never happened.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 9:25 am
Zia's head and eyes rolled back with a long and pained groan. Loans was an awful, dirty word. She did not trust loans. This was probably because she had a tendency to broker shady ones that ruined people's financial lives when she was working.
"So debt, lots of debt," She wailed, pushing herself up and sitting on his workbench.
"What university studies?"
She worked in finances, she couldn't help but harp on this. Her brain was rushing with all the terrible things that were going to happen, what could happen, and what probably would. Especially in this economy and market.
"Maybe if I beg really hard on my knees or something, Tommy will give me my job back..." She pondered.
"I guess I could type up a resume and start looking, but there's no way I'm going to be making that commission. I didn't even finish school."
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 10:34 am
The loans weren't that bad since only half of them were in his current name but he couldn't exactly tell Zia that. However, loan money was still loan money and he understood why Zia didn't like it. It was exactly why he didn't bother to tell her earlier. The university studies he thought was a safer topic so he ignored the loan issue and moved straight onto that.
"A lot of thesis studies in the spring, and the psychology department pays pretty well for their groups."
Whether there was more for him to elaborate on or not, Pascal cut himself off when he heard Zia mention begging on her knees to Tommy. His face shifted unpleasantly and his fist hit the surface of his workbench.
"TOMMY IS A DOUCHE," he declared. "You deserve better than that."
With Zia's last words, there was a small realization there.
"Why don't you go back to school? The new semester starts up soon."
Living in debt wasn't that bad, and since she lived with him she wouldn't have to get an evil loan.
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 11:00 am
"Well not veyr many people like their boss."
Zia's mouth angled down into a very unamused frown. "That''s not funny," She said, giving his arm a light shove. She didn't like being teased with the prospect of going back to school. She couldn't go out of state like she has originally hoped for, and even if she somehow managed to muster up the effort to finish her degree, what would be the point?
To die in an alley or be eliminated by Zirconia but with a small, pitiful accomplishment next to her name and a lot of student debt? She was sure she would die before graduating anyway, making the whole endeavor sad and pointless.
"Maybe if I go talk to my dad..." Another viable option, though an unpleasant one even if just going on the small snippets she had shared with Pascal on her not entirely pleasant relationship with her father.
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