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 Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:56 am
Beside him sat Delphine Rousseau, up-and-coming ballet dancer at DCBC who had recently returned from a year abroad. During that year, he imagined, she danced across the many western European countries, gaining experience, learning methods, perhaps kindling her own romances in others' hearts, socializing, scandalizing, sharpening her demure presentation.Most would say she had her whole life ahead of her — every new beginning for which she could wish. She could pursue that beautiful, strenuous career in ballet, she could marry and settle down, she could travel the world.
Instead, on this day, she sat in the passenger seat of a 1934 Ford coupe with a teen named Eion Risk, who had no appreciable history, background, affiliations, accolades, aspirations. We have no commonalities outside the Negaverse. He smiled, as if sharing a private joke for himself.
Stuck in traffic as they were, it would be another few minutes before they reached their destination. A lunch bistro, as Eion knew it — the new business started up in the past six months as an offshoot project for one of DC's famous chefs. The name long since gone from his memory, Eion knew the figure well enough for multiple awards. The price at her restaurants reflected those awards. But never was there a complaint for the food, and if there was, critics were quick to write it off as bad taste, uneducated palette, mistaken name, anything. Mimosas there would be exquisite, but pricy in a way he never cared about until recently.
And there was the matter of the competition. Eion adjusted the rear view before he finally sat back in his seat, having just remembered that his back wasn't obstructed. Still, the posh leather sat strangely against his ribs and spine. Both feet and right hand were occupied. He sat his left elbow on the rolled-down window slat and pressed the heel of his hand to his temple. Without air conditioning, the humid weather settled like a miasma. How did anyone perform in this weather?
"Tell me about your year abroad," he said at last, breaking the quietude between them. His hand left the shifter to thumb through his iPhone in search of another song — something classical. Primavera. "What changed you there?" What did you bring back that wasn't gifts and luggage?
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 4:47 pm
When driving around the city on a hot summer day one should always travel in style. The old car the pair sat in was the picture of classic automotive design. A glamorous land yacht that looked all the better for the two youthful figures sitting within it. Conversation had been minimal, Delphine still trying to get a handle on her new companion, but at least in her mind the quiet was amiable. Maybe it's time to consider getting my licence. She'd never really had reason to pursue it. When she'd lived with her parents there'd been a driver, and things hadn't really changed much since moving into the apartment Stroud provided for her. On those rare occasions a ride could not be arranged the city had a decent public transit system. Eion's voice drew her out of her thoughts and she turned her head from the open window to him. Not idle questions, but ones that required a measure of thought before she answered back. "It both was and wasn't what I'd been expecting. I knew the schedule would be intense, between training, performances, and travel, but I hadn't anticipated just how intense, or what that would mean." Her lips twitched. Delphine was no stranger to work or pain, but the year she'd been away had been so much harder than she had imagined it to be. "When I accepted I had been thinking only about the experience. The chance toe travel the world, and to train with world class instructors." And there had been that. "It was very eye opening." She paused, considering her words. "My life here is very privileged, very sheltered. Even doing what we do."
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:48 am
A Delphi spoke, Eion found a parking spot alongside the bustling street. He listened in silence as he pulled in, recounting mentally all the steps to a proper parallel park. Near the wheel wells, reversed in, even out the angle, forward, then back again if necessary to remain within six inches of the curb. All the while, Delphine spoke of anticipations broached, fulfilled, broken. She spoke of some measure of self-awareness — of shelter pared away.
Even doing what we do.
Eion's smile was enigmatic to those who knew little of him. In her words lurked nothing mirthful — she simply spoke her truths as she knew them. He glanced in the rear view, as if looking for someone, and spent a moment in silence. When he moved again, it was with such certain abruptness that he may never have stopped at all. He set about gathering up himself, his thoughts, their actions.
"We're sheltered from human empathy. From the consequences of our actions. We don't see the friends and family fall apart after ripping a starseed. Maybe you did with the European division. Or you saw enough to value human life — that would be more than expected, wouldn't it?" He shot her a look, his venom toward peers coalesce in the sharpness of his stare and the pressed line of his lips. The thought lingered only for a moment before he opened the car door, and with that, broke the seal of their conversation to the drab outside world.
His hair flew about first, tousled by traffic wind. He slammed the door, circled about, and stood with his back to Delphine's side with fingers searching only minutely for the handle. Before him, noontime bustle coalesced like so many bees about a hive — the line was thick and waiters buzzed around with parties in their wake. He tugged on the handle and let her free of that timeless cage.
"Do me a favor: teach Aelius about perspective. He needs it; he has none of it. Not even enduring what he did."
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:34 am
There was an abrupt and altogether shocking amount of venom in the his words and the look her shot across to her as he stepped out of the car. It was startling, garnered a widening of bright eyes before the dancer had schooled her features into the benign calm she hid behind from day to day. She didn't know what to do with his anger, or if she should do anything with it at all. Regardless of it having been her words that had sparked it, it didn't feel like it was directed at her. And then, just like that, the anger was gone and Eion was the hard-to-read youth he'd been from the start, steepng around the car in impressive heels to open the door for her. She thanked him as she stepped out, sensible clutch in one hand. The request shown a little insight on puzzling moment before, and she nodded to him. "If he's capable of learning, I will do what I can to teach him." Not just this, but any lesson he had yet to learn. Smile returning, she gestured toward the line of folks waiting to be seated. "Shall we go an enjoy the time left to us this afternoon?" They could have a few drinks, and hopefully Delphine would learn a little more about her very enigmatic teammate. Of the ones she'd been introduced to upon her return, Eion seemed the hardest to read.
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Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:01 am
If. It's always an if. Eion followed her, expression neutral, hands at his sides. He surveyed the gathering with a blasé disinterest; the only issues they posed was a punctual one. How much time would it cost him to be seated and share a few drinks? An hour? Ninety minutes? They couldn't afford to stay long, not if Delphine wanted to be driven home in Stroud's car.
He nodded lightly to her invitation, and soon enough, a waiter ushered them to a pair of barstools. Menus appeared before them quickly, with a drink menu decorated in textured paper with an origami flower tucked into a cut corner. The rest of the menu was decidedly plain, if dated — laminated cardstock with a template better suited to a florist's shop than a restaurant. Despite this mismatch their food and drink scored many an award that displayed on the wall, covering the place like so many scales on a lizard's hide. Eion liked it for that — like their pleasant time was protected by these many commendations.
His attention lit on the menu. Drinks, she said. They hadn't time to eat. Mimosas, she suggested. He settled on a bellini — one of their specials, he noted, with their wines supplied by one of the local vineyards on Destiny City's outskirts. The bartender would be by shortly.
"I looked you up when I heard you were returning," he admitted straightforwardly. He crossed an ankle over a knee and looked to her almost reluctantly. his shoulders shifted with a restlessness, and his hands constantly wandered his crossed shin, as if searching for something to do. "You've been with us for a while." He closed his eyes for slightly longer than a blink. "Nearly three years. Two spent at your current station. That's a long time to survive with our employer, fickle and cruel as she is. You spent one year on extended leave.
"But that means you spent a year with us as you are. Three hundred sixty-five days. Was it all spent meeting expectations? Or did you pick up projects along the way? Troublesome understudies? Or plans for productions of your own?" At last, an elbow found rest on the table, and his chin sat on the heel of his hand while fingers formed a cage over lips. He watched her, waited, half in interest and half braced for invariable disappointments.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 5:01 pm
It didn't surprise her to hear he'd looked into her. He seemed to have the same attention to detail and demand for information their General carried. Traits he'd come to them with, or learned under her pale thumb. How didn't matter so much, but Delphine found it familiar and comforting in a way. Their server returned to them to take their drinking orders before she could answer, then slipped away again once he had them, heading to the bar to place them. In truth she didn't find Stroud or Schorl cruel, least not to her, but she could acknowledge that the same couldn't be said for every agent under her care and lead. Delphine sought to please the older woman, and did everything in her power to grain her attention and approval. To be the favorite. A goal that held no real challenge when it had been only herself and Quartz under Schorl's rule, but now there were more. Helios posed no threat, the other's, she wasn't yet sure. "Truthfully a lot of my time was spent in seeking out the opportunity to go abroad, and then preparing for it once I had gained the temporary position in that dance company. Especially in the months leading up to my departure." The year prior to time away seemed like such a long time, and in her mind that time had flown by. Between dance practice, her energy gathering quota, training, keeping company with Ian or Stroud...it just didn't leave room for much else. Their sever returned to place drinks on the counter top before them and Delphine thanked him softly, smiling as he took his leave. Finger wrapping around the base of the flute, she lifted the glass to her lips to sip at her drink. "There are plans to use my standing within the DCBC to get close to those that frequent the productions there. Rich and powerful men and women that have influence over the city. To do that I need to continue to climb through the ranks to principle." Delphine was not by nature a leader, but she was obedient, competent.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:57 am
A year to spend a year. Eion seized his glass, inspected his company with a certain restraint, and downed a few sips. More and more as he moved through the Negaverse, expectations were tempered with realities — that those who think ahead, plan ahead, perform great feats were as few as the half-youma of their world. He met but few, having only a childish litmus in which to test their deep waters.
"What lofty goals." His attention returned to his fingernails. What was the purpose of that climb? Ostensibly she would answer 'to gather influence', just as the participants in Zenith yearned for the prizes, but what plans had she that justified using that influence? Even the average masses drawn into the Zenith courses had designs that utilized such prizes, or would come up with such designs in the moments afterward. So what was Delphine's angle? Why want the influence?
Eion long guessed that motivations to gain rank in the Negaverse revolved around power and influence — the ability to perform more impossible feats and compel others to bend to one's will. Most bodies weren't at stake in those developments. Perhaps Ceraskia simply aimed upward because that's what was expected of her. He would not learn the answer on that perfect summer afternoon.
"You came up with that idea on your own, didn't you? Or did she decide your usefulness? She has a habit for it." Broomite. "She has a habit for all of us."
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 11:02 am
Delphine felt her shoulders rolling in a small shrug as she brought her mimosa up again for another delicate sip. It was sweet and cool and just the right ratio of orange juice and champagne. Refreshing and light, which didn't quite match the cryptic and careful mood of their conversation. "Reaching principle has been a goal of mine for many years now, before out lady took an interest in my dancing." With a small lick of her lips she set her glass back on the counter and half turned to better face her companion and teammate. "Stroud came to me offering the keys to achieve that goal, and I accepted eagerly." Delphine had been noticed, desired, and collected. She was very aware of how she'd come to stand at their mistress' side, and not only alright with it, but pleased to be there. To be of value to someone that affluent and dignified. "The goal is mine, and we discussed what might be gained from that position together." Means to make civilian desires work for the Negaverse and what they were trying to achieve. A delicate, pale finger traced the round base of her glass. "And you? What caught our lady's eye in your case?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2018 8:18 pm
How picturesque it must've been for a sponsor to slip out of the ether, to spot one's endless toil and effort and talent and call it for all that it was, to offer that path to pinnacle on a carried little with so little to ask in return but participation. Kill people and success will be hers. Sap years from strangers' lives and receive room and board for her tenure in the Negaverse. Answer to beck and call, only to be mysteriously esteemed in civilian circles. How different her life had been from his with their shared general.
How deeply, poetically, painfully different.
His reflection wore on his face while she plodded demurely through her answer. Words picked and plucked and carefully feathered against one another to form a blasé, vanilla backstory each softened his gaze until Eion wholesale looked to his drink, too pretty and sunrise bright to echo inner sentiments. Soon he became aware of how unfit he was for such a place, for uplifted moods and social mores and adult bodies with other adult bodies commingling over social calls, for tables newly lacquered with mother-of-pearl inlays, for rooms too bright to exist inside of a cavern. This was her world, not his — a world where wearing faces and playing games and acting roles each fed this girl with such glittering determination that she stoked a career with it.
And his story differed so vastly that he considered never telling it. But as he finally raised his gaze to meet her, as fingers deadlocked around the throat-delicate stem of his glass, he spoke with chilled control. "Bad behavior." Eion blinked and thick-lashed eyes settled on her hands, his lips haunted by a ghost of a smirk.
"My father disappeared. He was still training me — teaching me how to accept his iniquitous business practices. How to cheat people out of years of their lives and call it their benefit. I wouldn't heel. He wanted to profit off wrecking human possibility, scalping it and turning their charnel houses to fuel. He was teaching me that last tactic when he vanished, missing to this day.
"I don't know how she heard about me or if the foster system matched us. But Mother enjoys my drive for how she can use it against me. For how she can turn my mind to her own whim. I don't like it.
"Or her." He raised his eyes to Delphine, gaze clarion.
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