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 Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:12 pm
Ever since that awkward encounter with the dog, Lloren had resumed her usual distance. It took a while for Axel, master of social situations, to notice it, but eventually he had. It puzzled him. Lloren seemed to be exuberant and goofy around just about everyone else. It was probably due to the whole dog incident, he reasoned. She was embarrassed about the dog incident, and she didn't really want to talk to him in case he brought it up. Axel tactfully decided to never bring it up, but resolved to be nicer to Lloren in any case. While Lloren was usually studying more advanced topics than he was, Axel found himself walking alongside her one afternoon as they left a building. "Hi, Lloren." How are your plants? was the next question that came to mind, but that might remind her of the dog thing. Better not to mention it. Reaching the door to the training grounds first, Axel held it open for her politely. "That was a clever answer you gave in that strategy class. I would never have thought of that."
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 10:32 pm
While Lloren's attention span might not be the best in strategy class, she was always eager to participate and solve problems. It had been one of those more involving sessions, leaving her in a great mood and even eager for more chances to apply her knowledge, imperfect as it were. During class, the various personalities that were part of her daily life didn't really get a chance to interact- but she'd usually chat with whoever had been next to her before and after to socialize. Today, however, there had been assigned seating- and she'd found herself between a wall and Axel, whom she recalled from Shinganshina. Okay, so he wasn't the worst the training compound had to offer. There was a nasty girl that made all of her dorm-mates cry, a guy who indiscriminately killed as many bugs and small animals he could on the grounds, another dude who took off his pants during PE class... Lloren wasn't beyond having reservations about certain people. It was too bad that Axel had to feature among them, considering how much they ran into each other. After all, despite herself, Lloren remembered how Preacher had vehemently protested his clinging until she had been too weak to resist- and then Axel had drawn the bandit-queen into a tight embrace. And then when she tried to suggest against doing that, his reaction had been hostile and (horror of horrors!) Preacher suddenly acted like it's what she wanted. There was something very creepy going on between those two, and Lloren wasn't sure if it was all right to leave it at that. But since then, he'd acted like nothing had happened. Had he perhaps been drunk? Thusly filled with doubts every time she was face to face with Axel, the frizzy-haired trainee couldn't muster up the openness and friendliness she was wont to express. And so, when he proceeded to open the door for her, she froze and managed a faint, not-quite-committed smile and nod of thanks. "Hey." She greeted in return, unsteadily, and passed through the door thanking the world that they would just go their separate ways after- nope. She wasn't allowed respite just yet. Why'd he want small talk, anyways? What was he after? Simply continuing on her way would have been too inconsiderate. Lloren had no intention of harming his feelings, after all. She turned around. "Er... thanks. And naw, I'm sure anyone could have come up with a good answer. Lots of, um, possibilities." She smiled again, but her eyes weren't smiling. They were filled with doubt. troll toll HOW U ALIENATE LLOREN AXEL LOL he's not even a bad guy?!
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Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:49 am
Was it his imagination, or did Lloren look reeeaaallly uncomfortable at his door-holding? Axel's friendly smile faltered. His memories of the bonfire were blurry, and he remembered Lloren's presence not at all. It didn't even occur to him that the bonfire might be the issue. The dog thing seemed more likely. Had the dog incident been that embarrassing to the frizzy-haired girl? Or maybe he just rubbed Lloren the wrong way for some reason. Disappointed, Axel followed Lloren. As soon as Lloren stepped through the door, she smiled and started chatting. Relieved that he hadn't somehow ******** up again, Axel beamed. All was well! He wasn't astute enough to see the doubt in Lloren's eyes. "Anyone but me," Axel said cheerfully. "I've been studying, but I don't think I'm creative enough to come up with anything original." He studied hard, but whenever he was put on the spot to answer some tricky question his mind drew a blank. It was slightly bothersome, but it was what it was. This conversation was going great. This conversation was going excellently well. Given how Lloren tended to avoid him, he didn't think they were going to become friends, but at least she didn't hate him, right? Feeling quite positive, Axel stepped through the door and pulled it shut behind him. Unfortunately, his timing was poor. Just as the door swung shut, an ill-fated pigeon flew into the crack. The doorlock snicked shut. The pigeon's neck crunched. Axel opened the door again immediately, but it was too late for the pigeon. Flump. The dead bird fell to the ground in a sad feathery heap. "I'm a birderer," Axel said, horrified.
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2014 10:20 pm
"Whaaat!" Lloren scoffed jokingly, easily moved to empathize even when someone she could not trust said anything self-deprecating. It was easy to forget one's reservations when trying to comfort someone. "You're no lackwit, and we're all individuals here. Everyone has those conditions where their uniqueness brings something new to the table, and that's where you shine, even if you don't see it yourself, see?" She spoke with confidence, as if relaying a truth of the world. Before she could remember that she wanted the conversation done and over with sooner rather than later, Axel promptly obliterated a pigeon. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Oh my god
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWhilst internally screaming at the top of her lungs, Lloren was completely still and silent outwardly, transfixed by the corpse and mouth gaping open. No pun could remedy this. She looked at Axel, hazel eyes clearly filled with shock at what had taken place, and then back at the pigeon. If she spoke right now, it would be screaming- so she kept her mouth shut, fists balled, and stamped forward to crouch down and inspect the corpse. She placed two fingers on its chest- it was not breathing. She then picked it up in both hands and stood up, staring down it in continued abject horror while her mind made a choir out of anguish. "I... can't believe that just happened."
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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 6:11 am
The silence stretched on horribly while Axel and Lloren stared at the dead pigeon. Axel was no animal lover, but neither was he an animal killer. He had never even killed an animal for meat. Hunting was for rich people, and butchering was for ... well, for skilled people. Meat was just stuff that showed up on tables, if you were lucky. Killing animals was beyond his experience, and although Axel didn't particularly care if pigeons lived or died, he felt a surge of irrational anger at the stupid dead pigeon for dying in such a horrifically awkward way. God damn you, pigeon, Axel thought. For one moment Lloren had spoken to him normally. She'd been friendly, even! Now. Well. Now he just didn't know. Terrified of how the frizzy-haired trainee might react, Axel snuck a glance at her as she crouched over the pigeon. To his astonishment (and slight disgust), Lloren picked up the dead pigeon and stood with it, staring down at the feathery little carcass. She looked appalled. And she was probably going to get bird mites or something on her. Ugh, pigeons. Gross. For another long, awkward moment, Axel wasn't sure where to look or what to say. He didn't want to look at Lloren, in case she started shouting at him for murdering the pigeon. He knew full well he would be incapable of mustering up the proper expression of shocked grief when looking at the pigeon, so he kept his eyes away from that too. Axel looked at his feet. He looked at the sky. He looked at the door, which still had a feather clinging to it. Axel sighed.
"I'm sorry," Axel said. He wasn't sure if he was apologizing to Lloren or to the pigeon. Maybe he was just sorry for himself and his s**t-awful luck. "I hope this doesn't tarnish your opinion of me," he added stiffly. It was a dumb thing to say, but the only other option he could think of was to turn tail and run.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:15 pm
In response to Axel's words, Lloren turned ever so slowly to look into his eyes. Her expression was stricken with grief, a rare moment of weakness for the jovial girl Shifting to cradle the pigeon with one arm, she lifted her other hand at the tall blonde, palm vertical as if telling him to stop. She didn't want his apology, as it had probably been directed her way rather than the pigeon's, from the sound of the hopes he'd just articulated. She had no idea why his rep should be his main concern right now, but there were more pressing matters to think about than what that implied. They had to do right by the poor, innocent bird. At first she choked on her words, eyes getting teary. But then she spoke, her voice somewhat shakier than before. "It was... an accident. But we should bury it. I can do it myself, but you can help, if you wish to."
She hadn't meant to ask a loaded question, but there it hung, in the air. That's right. A pigeon burial.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:41 am
Axel felt a little bit bad for the pigeon, but mostly he felt bad for himself. Also, shocked. He was shocked. And he shouldn't have been shocked, really, because if he had learned one thing in training it was that he could always count on himself to ******** things up. Poor Lloren looked heartbroken. For one tantalizing moment he considered wishing her good luck with her pigeon burial and leaving. It seemed like the least painful option. But no. It wouldn't be right to let Lloren grieve over the pigeon he killed. And maybe ... maybe they could bond over this! Or something!!! That was probably an insanely stupid hope, but Axel decided to cling to it. It bothered him to be disliked for no apparent reason. Now that a course of action had been decided on, his spirits lifted somewhat. "Okay!" Axel said brightly. "Let's bury this pigeon! There's a pretty tree I crashed into during trainee, we can bury it there." He marched off, feeling confident that this situation could somehow be salvaged. "Of course, I might have been a little concussed at the time, but I'm pretty sure it was a nice looking tree." What else were you supposed to do at a burial? Flowers and stuff, right. Spotting a clump of clovers with delicate little purple flowers just off the path, Axel jogged over to it. He plucked the flowers, twisting their narrow stems together into a tiny bouquet. Something stung his hand and he hissed, dropping the bouquet. No! Ants! ******** his life.
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