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 Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 3:51 pm
Running was Myles’ go to escape mechanism and, he found when he was particularly distraught, he could run for hours.
Tonight, he’d run for an hour and a half straight with no direction, no purpose. Just ‘get away’. If he ran fast enough, the wind kept his keeps dry; it kept him too distracted to be upset. There was a knot in his stomach that he had ignored for forty five minutes and a burning up his leg that had started ten minutes ago.
The knot in his stomach was nerves and emotions.
The burning in his leg, he should have paid more attention to.
Though his run had slowed from a frantic charge to a static jog, he was still moving quickly—and when his knee gave out on him, he went down, hard.
Which wasn’t uncommon for Myles, who was used to his lack of dexterity coming back to bite him in the a**. He tried to catch himself and wound up skinning his hands and knees. Which was a shame; these were one of his favorite pairs of pants, but he’d fallen enough that the fabric around the knees were already worn thin.
For a while, Myles considered just laying on the ground. For a few seconds, he did.
Slowly, though, he pushed himself up and forced himself to hobble over to the nearest bench.
Instinctively, he checked to make sure that his phone wasn’t cracked; he’d turned it off to stop the phone calls from his brother and had no use for the phone now, so he shoved it back into a pocket and tried to forget about it.
His breathing was rough and ragged and, now that he was sitting down he realized the black fog rolling into the corners of his vision. He let out a groan and leaned forward, pressing his forehead as close to his skinned knees as he dared.
Now that he was sitting down he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He couldn’t go back home, and he hadn’t burned out all the emotions.
He sniffled, once—loud and miserable—and just sighed and gave into the moisture building in his eyes.
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:02 pm
It had been the sound of someone hitting the ground that made Phact stop in her tracks. Tonight had been a solo outing for her to get back into the swing of things after her back healed. The rest of her newly formed court was either still recovering or forced to still be recovering by overly concerned family and boyfriend. Poor Kastra. But that sounded like it stung. A quick turn and she back tracked until she found a young man sitting on a bench. She could see his knees were red and there was no mistaking that sound. Something had happened. Part of her wanted to leave him alone. If it was a bad break up, she wasn't sure she wanted to be what he lashed out at. But the skinned knees... Biting her lip, she stepped forward and softly reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. "Hey. You okay?" Her voice was sooth. Moments someone had to wonder how much of a dove she was. Other moments it was more like how many. "Did someone...or thing...attack you?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:32 pm
Myles sniffled loudly and sat up straight, rubbing his sleeve against his eyes quickly as he tried to clear them. His face was red, a mixture of running and trying to stuff his emotions back down.
He hadn’t even heard her approach but was already trying to foster a fake smile on his face. “Oh,” he said, voice trembling slightly. “Hey, Phact. No, I just fell down. It’s okay, it’s pretty normal. I tripped on myself.”
He didn’t seem to think it was strange—or really even register—that he wasn’t powered up. Even though that was sort of the source of all of his problems right now. If someone had asked him to describe what he thought his brain looked like right now, he would have told them a pot of melted cheese. Everything was there, it was just a gooey, sticky mess that you really shouldn’t fuss with.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing at his eyes again.
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 5:20 pm
If there could be a more confused and surprised face in the world, Phact wanted to see it in that very moment. Her hand rose off his shoulder and her concern seemed to melt away as red eyes fluttered watching him. "You..." She started to mumble out. That was when reality smacked her in the face. "So clearly you know me and this means I know you in your other form." Turning, the senshi in white took a seat next to him and let her hand begin to softly rub his back. "Care to give a girl a hint or do I have to keep guessing along with guessing the reason you are crying because I have the small inkling..." Phact used her other thumb and forefinger to pretend to pinch the air as her voice rose just lightly at the word. "That the tripping didn't cause the sobbing. And if it did, we need to get you to a doctor." When he apologized though, Phact shook her head. "No apology needed. Just worried."
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 9:55 pm
Myles laughed, and while it was tired it wasn’t entirely mirthless. He found some faint amusement in the situation—or was just too emotionally gone to process things appropriately. “Oh, this isn’t me sobbing. I’m a mess when I sob. It’s nasty, you’d hear me from across the park. No, this is just.”
His brain screeched to a halt and he stumbled over a few words before he just sighed. “I got into a fight with my brother.” Pieces of the conversation filtered back into his mind and he shook his head as if to dispel them. “He found out I was a Senshi. And he got mad and said I couldn’t do it anymore. He’s got—oh,” Myles sat up straight and fumbled through his pockets, searching frantically for something before he just exhaled and slumped back down. “He’s got my pen.”
For a moment he didn’t say anything and then he cleared his throat. “Oh. It probably makes more sense if you know I’m Caia. The, uh. The cardinal one, I guess. Or was. Was Caia.”
He leaned forward again, resting his forehead in his hand. “We were fighting about it and I ran away and he’s got my pen. And I don’t know if I can go back and talk to him right now. He’s really mad.”
Myles didn’t blame him. He couldn’t blame him. He should have told him earlier, but there was never any guarantee the results wouldn’t still be the same if he had.
This was all just a mess, though.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:24 am
Sitting there with her hand on his back, Phact had to feel her own body begin to tense. He was going through the fear she had about telling her own family. It was way, after years of being a senshi, she had yet to say anything. Injuries had been blamed on other items. Failing grades and nearly leaving school on too much stress. Even when she had moved back home for awhile, Phact's parents had noticed she was being more and more distant. She loved and adored them. She wanted to tell them but...they would never understand that their twenty year old daughter was a warrior woman trying to save the world. A soft light seemed to glow around her as Phact allowed herself to power down. Delilah's form came back to life in her leggings and tunic. She didn't want Chaos to find them if she could help it right now. "Can you blame him Caia?" Delilah offered softly, using the name she knew. It had taken a moment but the senshi of cardinals had flashed before her vision. This was the same bubbly senshi she had chatted with? Amazing how much their powered lives could change them. "I bet he's worried and frightened. Especially if he isn't part of this nightmare." There was no other word to really describe it. No one wished this upon anyone they loved. Once you were dragged into it, you did what you had to do to keep them safe. "Explaining to someone a talking cat showed up in front of you and magically drafted you into a thousand year old war doesn't always go over well. Right there with 'I'm an reincarnated space alien'." No that didn't bother her one bit...yeah right. "But I bet he's also really worried about you. If you ran away in the middle of the fight, I have a hunch his anger is now going to be panic. Especially not having a clue where you are." She phrased the last of her words as a touch of a question. "Last thing you need is the cop coming to find you."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 11:32 am
The truth was, Myles didn’t blame him; he shook his head when she asked.
“The last thing I need is him being more mad at me,” he mumbled; the thought seemed to weigh heavily on him and he slumped forward a little more. “He thinks I’m lying. He thinks I’m crazy, or,” the words were hard for him but he muttered, “On drugs or something. And I’m not—I work really hard not to get into any trouble, Phact. The only bad thing I’ve done in years is sneak out and power up. And waste electricity. And spill food a lot. And,” he drew in what seemed like it was supposed to be a calming breath. “And even after all of that, he still thinks I’m going to go do bad things. Like I want to disappoint him. I just want to help. I just wanted to do something, to be more than I am.”
He was quiet for a few seconds and then added, “He doesn’t understand that. I couldn’t just stand there and let him tell me what a mistake all of this is. I can’t argue with him—I clam up. I just freeze when I get yelled at. And then I run, which,” he gestured to his knees, “Usually winds up just like this. And then I’m lost and far away from home on top of it all.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:08 pm
"Call me Delilah." She offered softly, taking a moment to lean forward so she could get a better look at his knees. Even though it looked as if this was not his first time hitting the ground, the raven haired woman had to wince. Skinned knees hurt. "Well at least you aren't lost anymore." Delilah offered, slipping around so she was now kneeling in front of him. "I know where we are and I can take you home if you like." She offered before adding in. "Or to get a cup of coffee and just chat until you feel a bit better." She was offering the simple items before adding it. "If you want to have some space, you can stay with me. You are upset Caia and I'm sure your brother is too. Maybe some time will help you both calm down. But we do need to let him know you are okay. Even if I need to call him for you, the last thing we need is him thinking anything else bad about this life. If he believes the media, we already have an uphill battle ahead of us." "Hey, it's okay. Sometimes when people don't want to listen, we can't make them. We can only wait until they are either ready to listen or until they realize they made a mistake in how they handled it." She wouldn't go into how she wished she could shut up some people so they would think before opening their big mouths. "You said he took your pen?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:24 pm
Myles nodded. “Yeah, he’s got it.”
Concern knotted in the pit of his stomach and he only hoped that Jeremy wouldn’t do something like break it. He swallowed and lifted his eyes to meet Delilah’s. “I’d like that a lot. I don’t drink coffee but I think I really, really want some chocolate milk. Are you—are you seriously sure, you wouldn’t mind if I crashed at your place? Just…a night or two, I don’t know. I hadn’t really even thought about it. It might take him a few days to calm down. He burns himself out pretty quickly, but he’s good at giving the cold shoulder. He’s a good guy,” Myles insisted tiredly. “He really is. I’ve always looked up to him. He’s always looked out for me. He just…is really set in his ways. I don’t know I don’t want to talk badly about him, I love him. I’m just…mad. And upset. He said no one that would encourage me to do something so dangerous was a friend. But,” his eyes had strayed while he talked and only just now met her gaze again.
“But I don’t think so. The Senshi I know are all good people. And they look out for each other. But he talks about it like everyone involved are just a group of hooligans looking for trouble.”
For a few seconds he lingered on the thought and then said, “You know, you’re really nice. And—Oh, I’m sorry—you don’t have to keeping calling me Caia, I’m Myles.”
He held out a hand and noticed the bloody scratches on is palm; embarrassed and quite sure it was just plain rude to offer a hand in that condition, he immediately retracted it. “Myles Fischer.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:38 pm
"If you are okay mixing your own, I think I can handle the chocolate mix request." Delilah felt herself smile at this. When was the last time she had chocolate milk herself? Oh yea...years ago because it upset her stomach. Weird how adding chocolate to milk did that but ice cream and chocolate sauce was heaven. "And yes I'm serious. We have to help each other out when we can. So as long as I don't wake up and find you climbed out a window, things will be alright. Because he is right that some of this world is going out looking for trouble. You just have to know who to avoid and who to trust." Eyes caught the scratches on his hand and Delilah felt her head slowly shake. "You are also getting a bath and some hydrogen peroxide. I'm going to hope those just look worse than they are Myles Fis...did you say Fischer?" It had taken a moment but the name finally clicked in her brain. Delilah knew that last name. Knew a man who had a brother he fretted over. Knew the man was a cop. "Myles, your brother. He wouldn't happen to be Officer Jeremy Fischer would he?" A brow rose as she looked at his face for any clue or visually key that could be telling.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:47 pm
Myles was easy to read; he looked confused and impressed and worried and excited and then confused. “Yes, that would be him,” he said slowly; lying wouldn’t have benefited him anyway. He seemed keenly aware of just how badly he lied, and considering his lack of sharing the total truth was what had gotten him in this mess he wasn’t really willing to make it worse.
“…He hasn’t arrested you before, right?” he chanced hesitantly.
He had wanted to reassure that he wouldn’t climb out of a window or give her any trouble, but all he could think about now was how Phact—Delilah—could have known his brother. She didn’t seem the sort to get into trouble but he was already in the mood to expect the worst so he just held his breath while he waited for her answer.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:56 pm
"Arrest... arrested!" The very idea that she would be arrested caused Delilah to nearly fall backwards on her behind and maybe seem a bit more shocked than she should have. She might be sneaking out at night to beat the heck out of people who wanted to kill others but ignoring what she had to do as Phact, Delilah was pretty proud to say she stayed out of trouble! "No! Nothing like that!" She realized quickly that she might have scared him with that bit of a reaction and quickly tried to compose herself and explain the truth. "Your brother and I met at the Fall Festival. He covered my back during the monster bat attack. He also worked my case when my last place was robbed last year." But it did make sense why he might have not taken the senshi news well. He was a cop. He was a man who made it his mission to protect others. Explaining to them that they couldn't protect people against the Negaverse... "Your brother is a good man. A bit of a flirt and hard headed but I know he adores you Myles." Delilah added softly, her hand coming out to rest on his knee above the cuts. "If you want, I'll let him know you are with me and not to worry?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:40 pm
Myles recoiled just a bit with Delilah’s initial reaction, but rather than seem scared he seemed relieved. “Oh! Okay!” he insisted, nodding. His eyes were still a little wet, but the conversation alone was at least enough distraction to dry up whatever emotions were trying to leak out. A soft, tired smile appeared on his face and he nodded. “I’m sorry to get you involved. I didn’t know you knew him. Please don’t tell him how pathetic I am.”
He seemed like he was deflating rapidly and slumped a little more. “I don’t trust my ideas right now. I don’t want him to worry but…do you have to call him right now? I…”
He fumbled for his phone. “…I turned my phone off. I just. I’m afraid to talk to him right now. I don’t want to make it worse. He’s a good guy, just…man. I hope you don’t ever see him mad. Especially when he’s got a gun.” After a second he shook his head. “I mean, I don’t think he’d shoot someone when he’s mad. I mean, I startled him earlier. He thought Caia did something to Myles, so he had a gun at me. I had to power down just so he could see that I was okay. Guns scare me. I always get tired after I get scared. Or upset. Or cry. Or run for a long time.”
His head flopped onto his shoulder. “…I’m really tired right now.”
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:59 pm
"Do you have enough energy to walk or do I need to call a ride?" Delilah asked, seeing the shock and confusion pass from his face and the wave of exhaustion cover it. It was all hitting him now and she could see it. Rising to stand, Delilah offered him her hand. Part of her wanted to march to the police station and give Jeremy a piece of her mind for pulling a gun on his brother. How dare he scare the life out of the kid. But the truth of it was she knew why he did it. To protect themselves, no one could ID them between the two forms unless it was revealed. She would know Caia was Myles now just as he would know her. One of the few...It was something Delilah protected and there were several she regretted ever letting learn her name. But you can't show up to a dinner party as a senshi. "You have every right to be scared by guns. Powers or not, those things are deadly." Delilah felt herself shiver. "I've been stabbed, sliced, punched, hit with magic and to be honest, the idea of being shot still scares me more." What she was avoiding answering was calling him now. Delilah already knew that calling Jeremy while Myles was like this would end badly. No, first step was to get Myles home, something to drink and into bed. After that...she would do what she needed to. Nasty habit. Sitting around doing nothing didn't go over well.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:23 pm
“I can walk,” Myles insisted; he took her hand and begrudgingly pushed himself up to prove it. He took a few tentative steps, taking caution on one ankle. It was sore but he could support his weight and that seemed to be good enough for him.
He chanced a smile and thanked her again before he gestured for her to lead the way. “Do I want to know who’s been stabbing and slicing you, though? I think I’ve gotten pretty lucky, all things considered. But, I think it’s because I do most of the damage to myself so no one has to.”
He seemed to be careful no to touch anything with either of his scraped hands and was as mindful as he could manage with his knees. The pants were ruined but he still seemed like he was intent to avoid any further damage.
Keeping on different topics was easy; it was a good distraction from the problems. He was tired, though, and it was showing more now than it had been earlier. Even just talking seemed to be a little too much energy, but he tried.
Sleep would make things easier. Tomorrow would be better.
Things would work out. Probably.
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