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 Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:49 pm
Ami was not happy. This was not unusual. She was generally in a state of self-and-external loathing, but today was extra special loathing because it was 100% directed at another person, instead of at the world as a whole.
That person was Stormy, and that person was getting a very pointed rap-rap-rapping on her door.
That person was probably not going to live past today.
Gale would receive flowers and compensation.
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Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:54 pm
Dear God, when was the last time she had written a drabble? Writing comforted her in this uncertain time; it let her pretend there were people to populate her empty room while Nevada took her space. She was just picking up the pen to jot down a new adventure for the personas based off Tuck and Evan when she heard the knocks.
Stormy's immediate thought was please don't be him. Jack had been the last person who had come by and actually knocked, but this didn't sound like the perfectly spaced raps. No, there was a different sort of storm waiting on the other side of that door.
Naturally, she was far too curious to pretend to be out, and she left her journal on the bed to go open the door. "Oh, hey! What's up, Cap'n?" she greeted, blinking with surprise. Uh oh, she looked angry . . . Or was that her usual face . . .
(Hopefully the flowers smelled nice.)
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Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 11:07 pm
"I see you have far more important things to do. Writing journal entries. Very couth," Ami practically spat, each word quieter than the last. Ami was one of those terrifying people that got quieter and short-sounding when she was angry.
"Consider yourself removed from the expenditure, as per silent request." She turned to leave. "That's all."
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 5:30 pm
Despite having bronzed skin, Stormy looked pale. First was the confusion, because she didn't understand how she had done something to annoy Ami in the first place. Wait. Wait, not doing anything . . . oh no.
Was expenditure another word for friendship? Was it because they hadn't been hanging out more?
"W-Wait!" she cried out with a horrified expression. "Cap'n, I don't . . . I don't understand. What did I do wrong? Can I fix it?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 6:46 pm
"Don't play stupid, and no."
Tiny designer flats were already carrying the shorter girl away.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:03 pm
That stung. "I'm not!" She didn't mean to raise her voice, but it was about as unstoppable as a bullet leaving the barrel of a gun. Stormy took a few steps after her, then hesitated. "I don't understand, Miss Ami! Please tell me what expenditure I left," she begged, clearly torn up by the abrupt cancellation of their friendship.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:56 pm
As abruptly as any of Ami's other movements, the life hunter turned back to Stormy, willing to at least address her outcries. "Not showing up to your duties for nearly 3 weeks straight now. I was willing to forgive the absences as I assumed they were injury, but now that I see you're a caravan to your room, I see no reason to continue such childish forgiveness."
She looked at Stormy, clearly not willing to listen to any excuse the other hunter had to throw. "Do I make myself clear?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:11 pm
"Duties . . .?" She was fighting between the horror of forgetting something so important and the confusion of not remembering signing up in the first place. Something in her memory was stirring, but she couldn't place it.
Nevertheless, Stormy felt the cold grip of panic take her. "Y-Yes, clear, but--But Miss Ami, please believe me when I say I don't remember anything about that . . . If I did, I would've gone, honest!" Was it important work? Did she not do a project? Had she caused a backup? She had no idea about any of it, but one thing was clear: guilt was overtaking her from within.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:19 pm
"In. The. Library." Ami put a hand to the bridge of her nose. This was useless. "You're wasting my time."
She could see the distress on Stormy's face. Now Ami was heartless, but she could observe like a top grade scientist. There was clearly turmoil. "What's this about Stormy? Are you pulling some idiotic prank?" She shiftily looked around for cameras, Mark giggling- any sign of something stupid going on. "Well?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:28 pm
Her frustration was only growing, but she knew better than to let it leak much further with Ami as the audience. The assumption of this somehow being a prank threw her for a loop (could people really be so cold to joke about something like this?), but Stormy held her hands up in a gesture of peace.
"Swear on my life, I'm not pulling a prank, miss," she replied earnestly. "Missing work's not a joke t'me . . ." Ami had said she worked in the library, and she tried to wrack her brains until her face was screwed up from concentration; it was stupid of her that she felt ready to cry, but there it was. Just disappointing more people, wasn't she.
"I don't . . . I-I'm so sorry. What did I do? Was it important?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:00 pm
Ami took a deep breath, trying not to lose her cool. Anyone else she would've deserted in a heartbeat, but she was willing to try for Stormy. It was something she was working on- listening.
"Don't cry, it's unbecoming." Poor Stormy, she would never survive in Life. "Do you truly remember nothing? Can you still speak Spanish?" Ami had to gauge if Stormy was still useful to her cause.
Then she would care about Stormy's feelings.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:35 pm
She visibly winced at the advice (it was tiring to hear it from Thane, let alone from someone else) but obeyed, sucking in a breath of air and holding it for a count of five before exhaling slowly. "Yes'm, couldn't forget it if I tried," Stormy replied. "But the rest . . ." There was something there, she knew it, but . . . "It's like at the tip of my tongue, Cap'n."
Then it hit her. "The Tear." Her eyes widened. "I must've lost the memories there . . ." After all her thoughts about others losing memories and quietly judging them, here she was in their shoes at last; it was a humbling, shameful experience.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:58 pm
Ami sighed, realizing Stormy was quite serious. She moved closer, gesturing to the girl's room. "Why don't we sit down for a moment. You sound delusional." She had Stormy's best interests in mind, really, she did.
"The tear? Impossible. I returned absolutely in tact, as did Lex." Ami put a hand to her cheek, thinking to herself. "Though I suppose with the distortion, some could be disproportionately affected ..."
Ami's science was showing.
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Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:10 pm
She was far too elated to be given a chance, despite being called delusional. Of course she was crazy, she was Stormy. She wore Eeyore slippers for casual wear, talked to her stuffed red panda for wisdom, and sometimes thought kisses had healing powers. Nevada had literally branded it Stormy crazy at one point. Yes, she wouldn't mind being called mad at all, because according to one story they were all mad in here anyway . . .
"Possible," she corrected with a saddened look as she settled on her bed, gesturing for Ami to feel free to take the chair at her desk if she wanted. "A few people close to me reported missing memories, Cap'n. Some of them were about me." Her hands came together in her lap, fingers fiddling with one another. "I'd forgotten a few things too, but . . . after a trigger, they came back." Worse than it probably was, she didn't add; the bleak memory of Gale asking her out stood out still in her mind. But when Gale had remembered, everything seemed fine . . . Something was wrong.
"So, um, you didn't come back with chains on your weapon?" Stormy asked curiously. "No lock or anything smoking?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:08 am
"Interesting. So it was a temporary return ... That explains..." Ami drifted off, thinking deeply about Excalibur. It was silent as she thought, almost as though she'd forgotten Stormy was there. "My memories I gave must have been too trivial to even bother remembering." It had explained why lately she'd walk into rooms and forgotten why she'd entered though.
A lock? "I don't think so ... no, not that I can recall." Perhaps it had disappeared too quickly for her to notice? It would've been just like Ami to hold onto all of the important memories and to sacrifice frugally.
Stormy's memory was indeed a conundrum though. How many others had been affected in such a way? More importantly, did it mean there was another way to power the barrier without excalibur? With their ... memories acting as a power source? But no, they would need excalibur as a conduit-
"Perhaps we can perform a small experiment here. Can you recall anything about our duties in the library?"
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