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 Posted: Fri May 30, 2014 2:00 pm
The message had been sent, but not actually replied to. This had made Peyton wonder if Mikael had even seen it, but she'd headed towards the common room closest to her end of the hall anyways, and slouched down into a chair with a book and a borrowed laptop under her arm. Settled, the teen transferred the items to the coffee table across from her, as well as her heels, and pulled her phone out in a bid to keep herself entertained while she waited. The book was the first in the His Dark Materials series, The Golden Compass. She'd read it, twice now, and was half way through the third. The newbie Life had mentioned he'd been reading, so maybe he'd like this as well. She could let him borrow it, and the second, and eventually the third. There were a lot of books she had access to that he might enjoy, not to mention the library in the basement run by Kostya. The laptop was Dwight's. It was the second time she'd personally requested to use it, and this time she'd asked him to load it up with something nice from Disney. Wall-e, apparently, which she figured was a good gender neutral Pixar movie the young blonde would probably enjoy. She hoped so, at least.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 8:33 pm
Mikael had indeed saw Peyton's message and mercifully showed up on time. He'd been afraid to say exactly where he would be on twitter however, because he had realized over the last week that his father was most certainly on this island with him. He did not trust the man to keep away from him, and had made no move to approach him of his own volition either.
In one hand was his book that he'd been reading, a very dog eared edition of a harry potter novel someone had left in one of the common rooms. When he spotted Peyton he recognized her immediately thanks to their meeting last time and her always distinctive hair. He scurried over to her with a big smile.
"Hello!" he said, all bright eagerness. "I have come!"
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 6:43 pm
When she saw him coming Peyton straightened up on her little section of couch, dropping her feet back to the floor and moving to place the laptop and book on the table they'd just been resting on. "Hey, Mikael!" That bright eagerness was met with a friendly grin, and she gave the couch beside her an inviting pat as she looked him over. Still tall, still pale, but more at ease than when she had first met him. And there was something familiar about his smile, the way it lit up his face. "You're looking well." Pale eyes dropped to the book in his hands, and she pointed a finger towards it. "If you like that one, the other six can be found in the basement library. Room B02." Peyton had plans to reread those after she finished with His Dark Materials and Alice. "They're really good, I highly recommend them." Now she reached for the book she'd set on the table, holding it out to him. "And this one." She offered it out to him, smiling. "I've got the whole set, and you can borrow them. Books come in real handy here, since most of us don't have tv."
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:34 am
He wasn't entirely well he found himself thinking, he was still afraid, still upset, still alone, but it somehow helped to pretend that he was okay, he could almost fool himself. He sat down next to the other hunter, setting his book aside and resting his hands on his knees. "I am doing well mostly thanks to the good people here." He took the book gratefully. "Thank you a great deal." he said with that same smile. "I agree, books are useful for passing the time and I will wish to borrow your books when I am done with this one." His English was still slightly awkward and stilted from lack of recent practice.
It was still strange for him to be in a place where there was no television or music, so used to the modern world where it was so easy to be immersed in one or the other, on this island technology for the most part seemed to be subdued or missing. It was bizarre. "Why is there no television?" he asked.
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2014 11:09 am
Pey didn't mind the awkward English; used to it by now with Kostya and Lucky on the island. "Glad to hear you're doing well." Her smile was gentle as she sat back to sink into the plush couch cushions. There was a slight pause in answering his question as arms rose up and teen feel into a long stretch, but she settled, hands coming to rest behind her head. "Because normal electricity doesn't work here. Al our electronics have to be converted runically to run, and that's not easy or cheap. Add that to the fact that tvs themselves aren't exactly cheap, and you get an island with very few tvs." The second she was a full hunter, and in her own room on the second floor, she was looking into getting one, and a dvd player. Raising her foot up, she gave the laptop on the table in front of them a gentle nudge with her toe. "Smaller things are easier, and cheaper, to set up to run runically, so you'll find more handheld devices." An mp3 player was in her immediate future.
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2014 3:19 pm
Mikael looked disappointed that electricity didn't function on the island, he'd been hoping that television and games would be a possibility at some point but it seemed like they wouldn't be without a lot of effort. "That's a real shame." he said. "Books are good! But not for always." The place was not really shaping up to be a viable place to live long term, even prisons had televisions and entertainment for their inmates.
"I would like to try and get some music player someday. I miss music a great deal."
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 11:49 am
That flicker of disappointment made her want to reach out, but she didn't know him that well yet. Instead she tried for a comforting smile, nodding in agreement with him. "A music player shouldn't be too hard to get, you'll just have to be a little patient. You'll start getting paychecks soon, and leave, and you can go and buy one." She brightened, turning a little on the couch so she was more facing them than simply sitting beside him. "Is there anywhere you've ever wanted to go, anywhere in the world, but never thought you could go there?" Peyton had a list, and she was slowly working her way through it. "We can go anywhere." A pause, then she amended, frowning slightly. "Except home. For the safety of those you care about, you have to avoid anyplace where people might recognize you." It had to be said, because more than anything Mikael seemed to just want to go home, and he couldn't do that. "The first couple times you'll have to have someone with you, someone that's been here longer, but after that you can go on your own." The reassuring smile was pulled back into place.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 6:33 pm
"Paychecks? I have never had a job before!" he sounded excited about this much at least. He'd always had to rely on his mother to pay for the things he wanted. The idea of being able to buy anything he felt like was an almost overwhelming degree of freedom. "That sounds good!" He could listen to any music he wanted, perhaps he could even play again. His mother confiscated his piano music time and time again and refused to let him learn when she found out he'd been taking classes at school. It had irritated him, just because his father did something should never mean that it was off limits to him.
At the question of where he'd go if he could he looked thoroughly overwhelmed. "Anywhere?" he asked. "Anywhere?" There were so many places. And also a twinge of guilt when she amended that he could not go home, not because of the expected guilt at leaving but instead because he hadn't even considered home for a second. He'd thought of grand and wonderful places, vast sprawling vistas and beauty of the sort he'd only ever seen on television.
And somewhere in his thoughts there was a stirring, a deep aching longing for forests where no man trod, ringed with mountains and rushing streams like liquid ice. Breath on the air, the crunch of snow underfoot and a heart thudding as the scent led on and on, patient and relentless. He knew it was his weapon, but that didn't make it any less real, the tug of longing almost physical.
"I think I'd like to go to Russia or somewhere. I don't know. Someplace nice." even though Russia did not sound entirely nice.
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 3:55 pm
Relief was immediate as Mikael perked up at the mention of paychecks, and Peyton couldn't help but grin at him. "Well, you have one now. This is as much a job as it is a life, and you get monthly compensation." She really wanted to help him see all the pros along with the cons. Deus Ex could be a hard life, but by no means was it all bad. Awful as it could be, there were silver linings, things to look forward to. It just took time. Drawing a leg up, Pey clasped a hand around her ankle, the other arm propped up on the back of the couch so she could rest her head on it. She listened, nodding at his question, and waited for that show of disappointment she'd expected from him after being told he couldn't return home. It was a surprise when it never came, but that was good, right? "What part of Russia would you want to see?" Visions of snow covered buildings, the colorful dooms of the Kremlin at night lit by the lights below. It made her think of the Nutcracker, sugarplum fairies, Anastasia and the royal family. And Kostya, of course. Their own resident Russian.
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