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 Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 4:02 pm
Virell absolutely hated to cook his own meals and, if possible, simply did not. Because of his aversion to working in the kitchen, all the food he ever purchased was prepared and ready to eat at home--or, better, he'd just go out to eat.
Going out doubled as a method by which to be fed--and a chance for company. Today, he wanted Senshi company, only without all the hangups of being powered. He'd invited Carlee to join him for lunch, on his dime, in exchange for her opinion on a project he'd been working on. He'd already ordered--a drink for himself and appetizers, his usual deal, and had his laptop sitting on the table next to him.
Social media was a great distraction while you were waiting for real company; he'd taken a seat in back to give them a little extra privacy but made sure he knew both where to find the restaurant and where to find him. Now, he was just waiting, strangely anxious while he waited for her--and her opinion.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 8:12 am
Carlee showed up only a few minutes late. She had been struggling to find some way to hid the bruises that were still far too visible on her neck, and finally she had just thrown a scarf around it and went into the restaurant, giving her customary grin when she saw Virell. “Hi!”
The teen removed her jacket and set behind her on the chair, but kept the scarf firmly around her neck. “I’m sorry I’m late…I…I just am late…and I’m sorry…” She grinned brightly and plopped her bag on the table, pushing it towards the blond. “Here is your cookie order! I made a great mix for you, I hope you’re happy with my choices! I only got the best for you!”
…Seriously, the only cookies he got were the ones that were her favorites. No nasty lemon flavored ones for Virell, no sir.
“So uh…what did you want to talk about?”
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 8:48 am
"Oh! You are so sweet, thank you!" he said; he pulled his wallet out--an ornate thing that look like it was picked to match his outfit. "Let me pay you for those now, before I forget."
He pulled out a few bills and handed them over before he gestured to his computer. "I wanted to talk about this. I've been working on a project--just, a little something because..well, I don't know," he suddenly seemed a little shy. "I was having a hard time finding people to power up with, and I just...I thought it would be nice if there was an easy way to connect with people. I wanted to set something up--here," he opened the computer and started loading it.
"Oh! And order something, I don't want you to go hungry," he said, sliding over a menu. He flashed a smile but couldn't help but eye her scarf as he did so.
"It's a little toasty back here, and I've got an extra seat. Do you want me to hold your scarf and bag over here?" he asked, already making a little room next to him.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:00 pm
Carlee took the menu and the money and grinned, pocketing the payment for the cookies and glancing at the food choices. After a moment, Carlee shrugged, handing her bag over and giving a sheepish grin. “I mean…I don’t mind keeping the scarf on…I’m a little chilly still…and it’s…it’s a nice scarf…”
She shrugged and sighed, finally unwrapping it, not looking at Virell as she handed it over. Maybe he wouldn’t notice the bruises on her neck…maybe she could lie about them again…she didn’t want him to worry. Didn’t want him to worry at all.
“I think your idea is gonna be neat! Sometimes it really is hard to find people to patrol with and it really is always safer with other people around…you…you have a better chance of not getting hurt when you’re with a buddy…or two. Or maybe three, even…”
She flashed a smile and her eyes went back to the menu. Mmm…maybe soup sounded good. Soup and a nice sandwich.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:45 pm
Virell did not miss the bruises on her neck; he glanced at them for just a second before accepting both the bag and her scarf. He placed the neatly next to him and though he stole another glance at her neck he did not draw attention to his observation.
As much as he wanted to accept praise for an idea, he was still a bit hesitant; afraid of rejection and making a fool of himself, it had to be perfect before he could show it to just about anyone. He trusted Carlee though, and it was a good step.
His computer loaded, he turned the screen to her. It seemed like a small demo; there was a neat little layout and a few sample profiles along with a ‘create your own profile’ set up. “Try making your own profile, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. But then it should give you some options, so I’d like if you can test that out when you get a chance? All the features aren’t up yet—It will have GPS-slash-navigation and a few other features but I haven’t moved off of programming the profile and search features yet.”
He kept the computer angled away so the waitress couldn’t see the screen when she arrived; Carlee still had time to order but he figured it would be a good distraction while she was waiting for her food.
The light from the computer only served to highlight what he’d thought he’d seen earlier. It wasn’t in his nature to keep quiet about such a thing so he cleared his throat and asked, “Carlee, though. Before you get to all that, I really must ask. What have you got going on there, on your neck?”
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 9:11 pm
Carlee took the computer and nodded, putting the information in the boxes when prompted to. She ended up ordering a sandwich and soup and was quite excited for when they got there, and honestly she thought that things were going really, really well, and thought that Virell hadn’t noticed anything amiss, and was just about to make a comment of how nice the graphics seemed on this program when…
Well. When he mentioned her neck.
For a moment, the brunette just stared at Virell, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open, trying to think of some plausible lie to give him. Finally though, she almost seemed to wilt, shrugging again. “Well. I mean, it’s not…I just…”
Maybe…he would buy the whole hickey lie?
“I keep trying to pass it off as a hickey but…I just got into a bad fight with a corrupted senshi…uh…someone who is a senshi like you and me, but they work for the Negaverse…they’re bad.” Her voice had fallen to a whisper and she leaned closer to him, so as not to let her voice carry and to show just how much of a secret this had to be.
“I mean, it’s just…I think this thing your making is going to be really, really helpful…maybe to avoid things like this happening again?”
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 9:39 pm
For a long moment, Virell just stared at her. A few thoughts passed through his mind; he was worried about her, first and foremost, but he had a lot to process. He leaned in to meet her and converse with a bit more privacy, replying, “I hope it’s going to avoid things like this. Carlee, jeez…”
He reached across the table to move her hair so he could see the bruises better. “That looks awful—do people seriously believe you when you say that’s a hickey?”
He paused. “Do you even know what a hickey looks like?”
His brow arched and he shook his head before reaching for his hair. His hair had been braided neatly and thrown over one shoulder; he moved it away from the base of his neck to reveal a splotchy purple and red mark. “This is a hickey. And not even the worst one I’ve got.”
He gave her a few seconds to look it over and then lay his braid back down to cover it. “Come back to my apartment with me, I’ll teach you how to cover that up with makeup. You can’t keep walking around with a scarf—it was really obvious that you were hiding something. I’ve got some extra makeup—it’s not my skin tone, but I think it might be yours. It’s the good stuff, too. Not that drug store stuff.”
It was bad enough that she’d been assaulted; he didn’t want her to have to worry about hiding it, too. His lips were pursed tightly and his brows knit when he met her eyes once more. “…Are you okay, though? They didn’t hurt you any worse than that?”
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 8:26 am
Carlee sighed. “Arias didn’t believe me…he said I was silly and it didn’t look like a hickey at all…but…I just…it was the only think I could think of…”
She glanced over, frowning slightly as Virell showed off his hickey. It was…gross. “Oh…”
Well…maybe her dark bruises really didn’t look anything like that…well…no wonder Arias had reacted with such alarm…but…
She perked up a little nodding. “You can help me hide them? It’s really too hot to wear the scarf inside…and I’ve been staying with my brother because I don’t want my mom and dad to see and get worried…I really appreciate this, Virell…and I’m okay…h-he didn’t really hurt me worse…”
He did scare her a lot. And she was having a lot of nightmares about that pink haired corrupt. Nightmares of him dragging her to some dark place…filling her with darkness.
Nightmares of her being the same way, long haired and evil…hurting those she cared about.
With a shudder at the thought, Carlee reached over, taking a drink from her glass of water. “I really, really think…this project you’re working on is going to be really good for everyone, Virell…”
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 11:07 am
Virell nodded. “I hope so. When I get a little more time I’m going to finish it. You know, it’s probably a really weird offer, but if you ever need any help or anything, you can let me know. I’m busy, but not that busy.”
A soft smile formed on his face. “You’re really lucky to have a brother that looks after you like that. But yes, you finish eating and we’ll make a detour to my place. I’ll teach you how to hide things like that—not that you should be getting into trouble, if you can help it. When I was your age I was getting into trouble but,” he shrugged. “People weren’t trying to choke me out. You’ll have to tell me about this guy so I know to watch out for him, okay?”
Virell wasn’t against running away from a tough fight—rather, he’d prefer to get out of there before he got messed up. He could cover up a lot of injuries with makeup, but even the best of it couldn’t hide some things—and if this guy was bad enough to beat up a little girl, he didn’t want to imagine what he could look forward to.
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 4:31 pm
Carlee smiled sheepishly and nodded. “Thank you very much, Virell...I’m really, really glad that I met you and I’m even gladder that we’re friends!” This was okay. She would get the bruises covered up with makeup, and that would make Arias stop worrying, and she was getting a wonderful lunch and…
And it was just turning into a great day, no matter what had been going on lately...she had to just look to the future, and that was exactly what she was going to do.
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