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 Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 4:21 pm
It was so much easier to be out and about lately. The difference a new mask made was insurmountable.
Chantelle sat lazily at one of the many tables in the cafeteria, sipping milk from a school cafeteria style sippy carton. At least she hoped it was milk, the island didn't seem to have much in the way of fresh produce. The sandwich wasn't enormously appetising either.
The weapon was far off in her room. She couldn't hear him. It was wonderful.
Open on the table in front of her was a copy of Twilight, with highlighted lines and several bookmarks and as always she was dressed like a hot topic sales catalogue.
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 4:40 pm
Melvin had been in his room after being released from the Infirmary, having spent days heavily sedated and pretty much reuining any image of a sanity he had with any of the techs in the Infirmary by ranting about worms and bugs. He hadn't felt good, and even after the meds wore off and he was assured they were gone, he still felt unwell. His appette had been small, and he felt strange and uncomfortable in his own body from the interlopers before. The only upside - at least this time around, people could see the bugs and not just him.
Eventually, even his body protested that he needed to eat more, and he made himself a cup of very watered down soup (thanks for the Grade A cafeteria food) and for once didn't mind it. He was sipping his soup, looking more sickly considering he was wearing a flapper hat indoors, and glanced when he saw some girl who looked much too young to be here reading a book he only vaguely knew about. Some Lifers made fun of it before.
He continued looking at the book title, which offered him little, before he leaned in, "Excuse me? Those books aren't really about vampires and confetti, right?" That's what they were joking about, right? Confetti? Or was it some other art product? Stickers?
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:17 pm
Chantelle looked up from the book at Melvin's comment, giving him a disdainful look through too much eyeshadow. "Gawd, it's not about confetti. It's like, about vampires and stuff. Do you mean that they glitter, because that's what they do. It's because they are killers and its sad and gives them away. Its why they can't live in the sun like normal people."
A long well manicured set of nails was brought to her chest in dismay at this slander of the vampire genre. "They are really wonderful books!"
She held out a hand to Melvin brightly. "I'm Chantelle, I'm a vampire too! "
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:22 pm
Melvin did not expect that, and just sort of blinked at her for a few minutes, before he looked around at the cafeteria of hunters as if saying "Is anyone else hearing this?" and then back at her. "I'm sure you are. That's why every hunter here is cutting you into tiny pieces and then setting it on fire - because every hunter here would not be okay with having a vampire sit at their table." He was more poking fun at the ridiculous idea of a vampire sitting with them, and avoiding the clearly obvious idea that she just wasn't a vampire because that was a dumb idea.
"Oh, glitter. That's what I kept hearing. Why did I think conffetti?" He said to himself, before waving it off. At the hand, he wondered if he should show manners to crazy, but then again, she was a woman offering her hand. It was rude not to regardless of mental states and dumb thoughts. He leaned over, shook her hand, and then released it quickly to address his soup. "So why do they glitter? Do they just...release shiny spores or something?" What? He was bored! Even crazy was more entertaining than focusing on body bugs.
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 5:40 pm
"I'm the good kind of vampire" she explained as if Melvin wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. "The kind that like, no one is going to attack in the cafeteria." She licked a finger and turned one of the pages.
"Yeah like totally, glitter. Its because they are like, made of a stone stuff that sparkles, its what makes them so strong and perfect. Their venom does it. I'm not that kind of vampire. Though my nails sparkle."
She held out a hand for inspection, the nail polish indeed sparkle, black flecked with dark purple glitter.
"What's your name? You look zany. I like your hat."
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 6:55 pm
"Rigggggghhhhtttt. Right. I just should have know you were a good vampire. I don't know why that just didn't dawn on me." While she was treating him as an uneducated moron, he was playing back with light sarcasm. It wasn't always smart to debate crazy, especially fan girl crazy. He grew up with his sister'a friends after all and knew young women with a wild idea in their heads to play out a fantasy was just not something you debated with. He tried before. He failed before.
At her nails, he just glanced. "Yeah, that's sparkly all right." It was also gaudy as hell, not to mention he just locked those fingers to turn her book page.
While he tried to piece together how vampires were made of glittery rock these days and why rocks would need blood, he turned when he was questioned. "Zany? I'm not ..Zany." He said zany as if it was liking him kooky or weird.
He touched the tassel to one hat as he frowned. "I'm Melvin Wood. Life division." He leaned back but couldn't see any jacket. "What division are you?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 7:17 pm
"Yes, I'm a good vampire but I am also a bad vampire, I'm bad because I'm dangerous." She exhaled airly. "I'm hoping for someone to be my Edward or Jacob someday."
"You so are zany." she said with a dismissive hand wave. "Only a zany guy would wear that hat. What do you do for a living? You look like a lumberjack." She gave him a small and cheeky grin.
"I am in Death division because I'm a goth. It's totally cool and stuff, the best division. It's symbol is even scythes! Its all grim reaper and awesome and moody. Life isn't very cool, it sounds like a health drink." The way she spoke felt as if rather than just the eager expressions that accompanied it, there should also have been emoticons.
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Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 2:57 pm
He could feel brain cells popping like balloons at a carnival the more he listened to her. It reminded him of kids in middle school he would mentally make fun of and make wise cracks about to his friends. People who thought their lived were hard and too complicated in order to feel more important and special than other people. They created a fantasy about themselves to be special instead of, say, getting an actual talent or skill.
"I'm not a lumberjack." He said in a dull yet firm tone, as if he could combat the zany she had thrown at him. "I'm a researcher for the Life division and I'm currently studying artifacts. Life is a tree and sounds like a health drink because it is about health. We manage the infirmary and also preform medical research among many other things. If you get infected with a monster bite or hurt in a spar, we take care of you to get back on your feet. We also provide information for many departments through experimentation,"
He tried to think how this would work for a goth girl. "We're like Frankenstein. Mad scientist and all that." Though not so much crazy but professional.
He thought they were cool at least.
"I'm wearing the hat because I have a bad haircut." He lied.
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Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:20 pm
"Ooooh artifacts." she said, sitting up attentively. "Is that like cool rocks and stuff? I used to go to a shop that sold them, said they were magic." She seemed suddenly very taken with what Melvin had to say. "Oh so like, Life is like the opposite of Death. I don't know what Death do, we like, are really gothic. I don't think we get hurt much though so that's good."
She beamed at him for the comparision to Frankenstein. "Oh Em Gree! Like actually making wild and crazy things. That sounds like a lot of fun!"
She squinted at the hat. "You should take it off, no haircut is like, worse than that hat, unless you like, have a comb over under there."
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Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 5:35 pm
Despite that not being wholly true, Melvin sort of liked anyone being excited with his work. So often when a Lifer tried to tell anyone not in their department about their projects, all you got were a lot of blank stares and polite "Oh, that sounds nice." These were always said in a automatic tone and just there for filling conversation.
He could play it up a bit. No harm in that.
"Yes, exactly like magic, but better. We go into the most protected ruins of Halloween to recover the items we research and they have some really amazing, ancient, powers." He said this as if he was telling a story to a child. OOooooo. Magic and ruins and dead gods. Ooooooooo.
"I have one myself. I a lot of hunters go in teams to get their own." He informed her.
Then he wanted to drop his head against the table at her clear lack of her own department's purpose. "You are research just like Life, but more tactics and fighting. Life is healing and research, but more medical. Life and Death share similarities and sometimes our work crosses over. Think of it this way, Moons and Suns work on the field, but Suns are offensive and Moons are Defensive. Now Life and Death work in the background to help arm the Moons and Suns. We give them the items and information they need. Death is more of the offensive, while Life is more defense. You work on tactics and fighting, and Lifers work on support and medical. However, we all do so much research that I often get confused if it's Life or Death working in a certain department." He confessed.
"And then there are Mists. Who do everything. You should really speak with your other teammates and also your Leads, but only if your Leads don't want to murder you or find you a nuisance. We have a lot of stick-up-our-a** Leads here." Sometimes he wished he had Allan or better yet, that Dr. Stephan was promoted. Ohh. How he wished.
He touched his hat again. "I'm not going bald. I'm not that old." He huffed, wondering if she took him for a geezer. He was in his twenties. His PRIME. "I just don't like it, and I haven't had hair this short since I was a kid. I used to have really nice hair." He frowned, lowering his hand.
"How do you like the island so far? Been on any missions?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 7:35 am
Chantelle listened intently to everything Melvin had to say about Life division, completely enthusiastic about the idea of mad scientist work. She took the time to intersperse his talk of protected ruins and ancient powers with suitable oohs and ahhs.
"That's amazing, I don't have anything like that!" Her expression dropped a little as she got a small lecture on what it was that Death actually did. She was at least glad she'd ended up in one of the background divisions. "Life sounds more fun." she admitted. "I don't like fighting at all, or tactical stuff. But I like, I guess I like research. Especially books." she patted her own book to illustrate. "So maybe I can be useful like, at least in that."
At the mention of her teammates she looked a little sad. "My teammates can be like, a little mean. Otto is like a bit grumpy, Mister Obadiah is always busy. And like, I think my Lead is one of the want-to-murder-you kind of ones. I've been told to leave him alone."
She did smile at his protests about the hat though. "Nothing wrong with short hair! I mean I like guys to have it like, on the longer side but there's nothing wrong with it. There's plenty wrong with that hat."
She shook her head. "And no like, no missions. Not yet. The island is...well I don't like being rude but it's pretty terrible here, and the only reason I've like not gone home is because I can't."
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Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:29 am
Melvin suddenly realized who her lead was and laughed. "Oh, I forgot about Caelius. Oh right, you are boned. Don't bother with him. He has the temper of a wet cat and will throw you into a portal without even saying anything. He's all colorful words and scythe slicing. He doesn't care if you live or die either. Don't think for a second he cares either, because he had thrown people into deserts with no briefing or warning and nearly got entire teams killed. Usually other Leads have to run in to clean up his messes. I don't get why he's even there, but this island seemed to be based on who has lived the longest and who has the strongest weapon." He theorized out loud.
Wiping at his eye from his little laugh, he looked back at her and frowned. "Yeah, I can't go home either. If I knew I'd get so little out of here sometimes, I would just head back home. Don't be tempted. It's hard, but I was told that your family pays the price if that happens. It's the only thing keeping me from sending a letter." Which tore at him each day.
Now quickly made somber by that note, he touched his hat and frowned. Then, slowly, he took it off. What was there was just a short buzz cut of light blonde hair. He looked back at her. "Still think it isn't bad?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:35 pm
"He like, doesn't seem that bad. He's strict and scary, pretty too. But like, yeah I guess he can have a short temper. I wouldn't like, want to mess with him really. I'll leave well enough alone." she nodded.
"And yeah, people told me if I ran away I'd get killed by monsters and my family too. It's pretty horrible. I guess I'm stuck here no matter what so I want to try and make the best of it, even if a lot of people here can be mean and it uh, seems kind of dangerous."
She eyed his hair with a single raised brow. "Nothing wrong with it. Like, quite handsome even."
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Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 6:23 am
He was flattered by the compliment. "Handsome? I don't get called that much." Usually dweeby or nerdy, but handsome was - well, it was rather nice to hear once in a while.
Puffing up a bit but reminding himself he sorta kinda was with someone in a committed relationship, he continued. "Most are all bark and no bite, aside from general Hunter weapon bite. There are a few who could send you to the Infirmary. I'd watch out for Rep, and a few other Suns. They pack the most punch with their weapons and tend to own people during spars. They have a hard time with restraint too, but you should spar. It helps a lot and you won't feel as if everyone is dangerous when you feel comfortable defending yourself with a weapon. As for mean people, a lot of people are a*****e pricks. Without TV, all they have to get off is yelling and starting s**t on Twitter."
"What is your weapon by the way?" He always wondered if they'd get more guns.
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