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 Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:06 am
It was a long week after his promotion. He sent in paperwork and gathered boxes from new shipments and recycling before he set to work on packing. With Rin's boxes still unpacked, it only left his things but soon the room for one person became smaller and smaller with the more he packed. It was probably a blessing he rarely had money to buy anything since he would have had no room for it. But not now. Despite the churning in his stomach and twisting feelings he had since leaving Dr. H's office, a new place made him feel hopeful and better. It was what he and Rin had talked about ages ago. A place with a big bed, lots of room, and a big bathroom just for them.
Well, for them and whoever they wanted to share with.
He hadn't seen Horace since the ship and hadn't talked much at the time. The loading of boxes up dollies to his new room kept them busy and it took a good hour of moving his and Rin's things upstairs before they were done. Melvin gathered some change up and got soda and some snacks from the vending machines and set them on a box he was going to use as a temporary table. The room was much larger, even moreso without much of anything inside. He'd need a lot to get it comfortable.
Melvin sat on the ground atop a blanket and drank a bottle of water. "Thanks for helping."
He looked about before having himself up and looking at the labeled boxes before he opened what he could out in a nearby shelf. "Can't believe I can finally leave the common bathrooms now. Kinda surreal."
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Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 6:59 am
Horace laughed, flopping down on the floor too. "I bet! I can't wait until I get a nice place, too. The communal showers aren't bad, but lately I've had a hard time finding time when not many people are around." At first, he'd avoided the busy time because his scars felt too new, too fresh to be seen. He hadn't even wanted to look at them, much less let anyone else see. And, after a while, it had simply become a habit to go at less populated times when he could. "I bet you're itching to try it out, Melvin." He waved his hand at the other man. They were both sweaty from the move and could use shower. "Also... just... how did you get so much stuff?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:12 am
He sat there, looking at Horace. "This isn't all my stuff." He pointed to a pile of boxes nearly labeled of what was inside. "That's all Rin's things. I had to clear out her apartment and didn't have room in our old room to unpack. Guess it works out biw though with moving. Gives me room to put everything where it needs to go."
He continued to put a few books and albums on the barren shelf. The apartment was furnished but until he could clean everything, he would wait. The bed would need inspected, cleaned, and new covers. Once he could afford a mattress,he'd buy a new, bigger one.
"I have another blanket of you want to lay it on the bed and rest."
He continued emptying out the box. "What would you do with a bigger room? My old room is free. Probably could move out of that bloodstained room."
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 7:00 am
You gonna leave her stuff pakced until she comes back or put it out?" Horace swallowed the questions about Rin for now, and watched at Melvin moved around the room. Horace was pretty certain Melvin liked his things just so, and probably preferred to do it himself, but.. "Do you want me to help you unpack or anything? I'm not tired enough to lie down - I'm not a geezer." He laughed and stretched his arms up slowly, feeling the muscles in his back pull a bit. He hummed thoughtfully at Melvin's offer. "Nah, I'd decided not to move until I rank up enough to get my own shower. Like... a bigger room just isn't worth having a window, you know? And I haven't really done anything to deserve a nicer place yet, anyway. Thanks for the offer, though." But a private shower was worth an awful lot. And, eventually, Horace could install a kitchen iin his room; maybe Jan could come over and cook for him.
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Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 5:24 pm
He paused from fishing more books from the box. "I'm going to ask her where she wants everything put when I talk to her again." He said, as if this was an obvious and simple answer.
Looking at a few book titles, he started putting them on the shelf. "You can help me put stuff away. I....really don't have much of a plan yet. This place is a lot bigger than our room before so I think there will be a lot of empty space until it's fully furnished. I still have to do a lot of cleaning, but want the boxes out of the way first. Have to see what space I'm working with." Which seemed to almost be too much.
"Never really had a room this big before. Had my own room growing up and then a dorm. Never even got to have my own apartment."
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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 7:30 am
"Ask her? Do you talk to her often - how?" Curiosity laced his tone. Horace had always assumed Rin was dead, and that Melvin was trying to bring her back. He rather thought Dr. Morris would appreciate the stubborn romance of it. Melvin would try to bring her back, somehow, and Horace could support that, in a way. It was like when the other hunters spoke of alternate realities where the same people ended up in love over and over and over. It smacked of fate. If it was possible (and who was Horace to discount anything in a world that now contained monsters and impossibilities he'd never dreamed of), then Melvin must have felt obligated to try. Horace unfolded his legs and moved to stand near Melvin. "Okay, just direct me where you need me to put stuff." He pulled over a book and flipped open the flaps. "I've only ever lived with my grandma, communal dorms is kinda different. Not bad, just different. This is technically your own apartment, I guess. You should repaint." Something pretty, something bright, Horace thought.
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Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 3:10 pm
There was a moment of silence as he pulled out a pair of Xenomorph book ends. "She comes around from time to time. I talk to her and we catch up. I'm still here for her - and we are working things out best we can. It's complicated." He admitted, choosing with is diliberation his words. Too many people had judged him with harsh skepticism and flat out criticism that he fears telling Horace too much would end up with loosing another close and treasured friendship, a friendship he needed and relied on, just like with Rep. He didn't think he could handle that again.
"The books and photo albums go on the shelf. Tallest to shortest. The I guess by color if it works." He set the book ends on the shelf.
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 5:11 pm
"If she comes around, why can't she stay? Nice bookends, by the way." He made a mental note of them, wondering if Melvin had seen Prometheus, too. Horace made a face at the organizing scheme. He did his books by genre and then by author and then by series. But these were not his books, so he dutifully did as told. "You keep photo albums? Like of home or-?'
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 6:02 pm
"She - She has a hard time staying here. It's - It's really complicated. She's...tired. It forces her to be sent away for days. I don't get a lot of time to talk to her, and when I do....when I can see her after days or even weeks..." He rubbed the spine of a book and glanced at Horace. "Kinda want to do more than just talk." He turned and set another book on the shelf.
"Thanks. I was surprised I could even find them, but there is a guy who sold them at a merchandise store. I want to go back there again. Wish we could get a po box set up to order things online. Xenomorphs are hard to find in stores after all this time, but with the new movie, it sparked a large revival and a new wave of art." He smiled, happy to be talking about something else.
"From home. I didn't know what to pack when I knew I had to say goodbye, so grabbed the essentials. Photos. Clothes. Allan. Whiskey." He reached in and fished out a photo album. "I only got the ones I had with me at my dorm that my mom insisted I bring with me in case I got home sick. Never thought I'd really need them as much as I do now."
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 5:58 pm
Horace snorted. "I can understand wanting to do more than just talk. I hope you find a permanent way soon - if you think I can help, just let me know. I'll do pretty much whatever." He didn't press further for now, well aware that Melvin was more than a little skittish discussing his sex life, even if Horace was wildly curious. Was it like... having sex with a ghost? Didn't Melvin get ice crotch? "A P.O. Box would be nice - I wonder if there's a way to reliably maintain one. Probably, but every leave you'd have to go to it to pay the fee - kinda limiting. The new movie was interesting, even if I like the first three best." He shelved another book, ungracefully trying not to bump into Melvin. "Should find a dvd player sometime and watch those again." He hummed lightly, resisting the urge to pull out a photoalbum and flip through it. "I didn't take any photos of home; I guess I should have, but I think my grandma is better off without me, anyway. You should runic a camera and make new ones for here, too. Or find a way to print from your phone." Hattie was addicted to selfies, Horace thought fondly. Almost absentmindedly, he pulled out his phone and took a quick picture of Melvin. Nothing was going to replace the picture of him and Jan as his phone's wallpaper, but it was good to have pictures of friends.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2015 6:15 pm
"I borrow the DVD player some techs have at times to watch the movies. Uh...Um...Wait a moment." He looked around the room, moving around the boxes they brought up before he started to open one with the boxcutter he brought along. Popping it open, he moved some figurines aside and then fished out a box set of the entire Aliens collection. "I have all of em. I haven't gotten Prometheus yet." As for Aliens vs Predator, he did not acknowledge it's existence. It DIDN'T exist.
He beamed as he was about to hold it up before Horace lifted his phone and took a picture. Too stunned to stiffen up, he watched him take his phone away. "Been....thinking about it really. Just don't think I'd be any good taking pictures..............don't have many people to take pictures of."
Taking his phone out, he lifted it up and took one of Horace before walking over. "Just have a few here and there on my phone." He moved closer to show the one of Horace he just took and then flicked it over. Rin came into view, arm deep putting dirt around a blooming flower bush. It had been when the greenhouse was just getting finished up.
He glanced up, a little bashful. "Uh...no recent pictures. Just these few I have on my phone and the ones in the albums."
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 10:13 am
"Ooooh, nice." Horace didn't actually have any dvds on the island - most of his entertainment was no electric although one day he hoped to runic up a netbook at least. Maybe one of those $250 models that came with 250gb of storage. Alllll the movies. Idly, he wondered if Jan liked cooking shows - maybe not. Jan was rather particular, after all. Maybe shows about art. He grinned just in time for MElvin to take the picture. "Take pictures of everything. Places and moments are fleeting, but you can always have pictures - like physical memories." He leaned over, looking at Melvin's phone. "Rin, right? She's pretty. The albums pretty much all your family? Any pictures of little kid Melvin?" Horace's grandmother hadn't been big on pictures - maybe she had one or two of him tucked away somewhere, maybe. He didn't have one of her.
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 6:04 pm
His thumb lingered over the screen of his phone, hovering over Rin as he stared at her looking back at him. He hadn't seen her in so long that he often wondered if he was forgetting her image completely. Even her voice was missing aside from the few voice messages he listened to over and over.
"I should have taken more pictures. That's true." He never had been the type of man who took lots of pictures and that was now something he regretted.
Looking up at Horace, he blinked a few times before he looked around, pulled back into the current reality and his thoughts. "Oh, yeah. Let me see..." He got up, dazed, and went to the shelf to the photo albums he brought out. Taking them both, he walked over and sat on the bed.
Cracking he first one open, he started to flip through it. "Uh...here is one." He said, pointing to a picture.
It was of a young boy, 8 years, tan, with buzz cut blonde hair. He wore a blue t-shirt, cargo shorts, and flip flops as he raised up a hockey stick. A few other boys his age were around him, and they stood on the street raising their own taped up hockey sticks. Their faces scuffed up, and they were flushed in the face yet showed proud smiles.
"We played a lot of street hockey growing up. We didn't get much traffic on our street." He explained.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:17 am
He watched Melvin carefully, noting how out of it the other man was. Horace coudln't imagine how it felt to lose someone and yet be continually teased by their possible reappearance. It made shivers crawl down his spine. Horace was sympathetic, but he didn't know what to say - he didn't even know entirely what was going on. Plopping on Melvin's bed, he grinned at the picture. "Aw, you were cute! Hair's a lot longer, now, though. Do you do any sports on here?" MAybe Melvin could start a hockey league or something. Sometimes Horace felt as though entertainment on the island was sorely lacking. He leaned bank onto his hands and looked up from the picture at Melvin. "How are you gonna bring her back?" he asked quietly.
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2015 11:51 am
"No....I don't. I kinda stopped donig any sports. I did fishing with my family. Some swimming later on. Then I just focused on getting into college. I don't think anyone wants to do much on the island than to get laid and kill each other. I don't think anyone would be interested in it much." He flipped through the pages of the album.
Melvin grew older with each passing page. The kids grew less. The shorts and t-shirts switched over quickly to large, baggy hoodies that the blonde was sumbermed in, his hair still short but growing out a bit more, looking pensive and more annoyed. There were no longer any pictures of him playing hockey. There were pictures of two other children smiling. A older girl with bright, curly blonde hair and a younger boy with spiked, blonde hair.
"That's Sophie. My older sister. That's Chris, my younger brother." He said pointing to them both. Another picture showed a packed kitchen where people were moving around. "That's my Aunt Denice. That's Carren, my cousin. That's Jacob, my Uncle on my Mom's side. That's my grandmother. Oh, and that's Ralph." He said, pointing everyone out and lastly the black lab that's head was poking up over a counter. "This was during the Fourth of July."
He continued flipping pages slowly, not looking at Horace. "Why do you want to know?"
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