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 Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:23 pm
Lysithea was out for her quota. She still had one in spite of everything, and…that was fine. Besides, she had to be a good influence on Ceelia, right?
The night was cold, it was January after all, and she was anxious to just make her quota of energy and get home. The winter was always more dreary on the other side of the Holidays, the snow seemed like a menace and the cold seemed more biting than refreshing but.
But it wouldn't be around forever. Spring would come again and the warmer weather would come with it.
Lysithea wore a small smile and let her feet carry her where they would, moving towards the fountain that she enjoyed in the park near her apartment, though when she saw the blonde sitting there, his face illuminated by the gentle glow of his tablet, she blinked, frowning slightly. Well. So much for some solitude…but at the same time…this was a good thing, wasn’t it? She could get her quota…and not have to get near anyone that was unsavory.
“Excuse me! I don’t mean to bother you, but would you be okay giving up some of your energy, please? It won’t harm you, I promise, it might make you a little sleepy, but that’s all…and I would really appreciate it!”
There was no real need for violence…well. Unless he refused…but…even then…there was no need for violence.
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:24 pm
Normally, Malcolm wouldn’t have been out this late. He had a lot on his mind, and sometimes he just needed a bit of fresh air. He hadn’t meant to stay out so late and, honestly, he hadn’t even realized how dark it had gotten.
He had a wave of inspiration and he was riding it.
He startled at the voice, and all of a sudden he was aware of the time, and the chill in the air, and–
He paled, because she might have been dressed in black but he knew her.
Even bundled up as he was, his blood ran cold. Instinctively, he drew his tablet a little closer. He’d forgotten how to breathe and his heart was in his throat; he couldn’t even choke out an answer.
She was so polite, but–she didn’t recognize him at all, did she? He stared up at her–wishing, hoping something would trigger, while he sputtered for words.
“What are you going to do with it?” he blurted.
…She looked so happy. She wasn’t attacking him, and he’d heard that she’d tried to protect Malus.
He didn’t want to think the worst of her. He wanted to believe that she was still in there, that she could come back to them.
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:34 pm
Oh…the poor thing looked terrified. Lysithea felt a sudden pang of guilt and hesitated, taking a half of a step back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you! You must have been very deep in your…game? Were you playing a game?” Make conversation. Calm him down a little and he would be willing. It made sense to her, that was how you gained trust…if you got them to trust you, you would not only get yourself a willing donor…but perhaps even someone who would be an asset to the Negaverse.
Perhaps.
“What am I going to do with it? Just hand it in. It’s used to protect the city, you know! If you’re afraid, I won’t take it from you, don’t worry. It really doesn’t hurt though, you know. If that makes you feel any better. I wouldn’t hurt you.”
Wouldn’t hurt anyone if she could help it.
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:53 pm
“I was writing,” he said, because he wasn’t very good at lying. Not like this. He didn’t have an excuse ready for her, and–had he ever had to lie to Cambria?
“It’s just a hobby,” he said, because–technically, he had lied. He’d lied and said he was okay when he wasn’t. He’d lied and hidden what he was writing. He hid when he was insecure, and he felt like hiding now.
He didn’t answer yet, he didn’t know what she was capable of or how she was going to do this, so he tried to play it safe. He couldn’t text someone for help, not without it being painfully obvious. He stalled for time as he tried to figure out what he was going to do.
“You’re not–not one of those terrorists, are you? Because I–I already had my fair share of trouble, and that did hurt. I don’t think the scars are ever going to heal.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:59 pm
“Writing? Oh! That’s neat!” Lysithea’s face lit up for a moment and she looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but his last words stopped her. “You…you were hurt before? Are you okay now? I mean, you mentioned scars but…are you okay?” There was genuine worry in her tone, but after a long moment as she hesitated, wanting to move closer she frowned slightly.
“I’m not…a terrorist. I’m not sure who hurt you, but I promise that I won’t. I’m not a monster, and I’ll never be.” Lysithea hesitated and moved a step closer finally. “I’m Lysithea, and it’s nice to meet you! I promise that your energy is going to a good cause…and um. I’d like to hear about what you’re writing if you’d want to talk about it?”
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 5:27 pm
His breath caught, because this was his friend–or a version of her–and she was asking if he was okay. He could have cried. His eyes felt hot enough, wet enough.
He stayed where he sat, curled up on the bench; he didn’t try to move away. He didn’t really have anywhere to go, but he couldn’t run--not when they’d spent so long looking for her. He wanted every second he could get.
And then, just a bit, he scooted over, as if to make room for her.
“I’m Malcolm. Um–the news calls them terrorists. A few years ago, a man attacked me. He had two swords. He was mad, I don’t know at what. Maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He wanted energy, too. For the Negaverse, or something. I tried to run.” Okay, that part was a lie, but if he talked quickly enough he didn’t think she’d catch on. “I just wanted to go home. He had swords, the scars never healed. He broke my arm. I was in the hospital for–it doesn’t matter, I’m sorry. No, I’m not okay. I’m trying to be, but it’s hard. Everything keeps going wrong. So I write about things that have a happy ending, because I don’t know what else to do. I need somebody to live happily ever after, but it’s not going to be me, and I don’t know if it’s going to be anyone I know.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 5:41 pm
Oh.
Lysithea hesitated and sat down next to him, hesitating a minute before resting a hand on his shoulder and rubbing it lightly, trying to be friendly. “I’m so sorry that you had to go through that, Malcolm…I won’t take your energy. I won’t make you think about that happening again, I’m sorry for even asking…I wouldn’t have if I would have known…”
She would never want to bring up anyone’s trauma…and the fact that Malcolm looked so sad...
Lysithea wished she was bold enough to offer a hug…but honestly, she felt she was pushing boundaries just by touching his shoulder.
“I’m glad that you made it out with just some scars…I’m glad that you’re able to write about happy endings…is it like…fanfiction or something?” She chewed a hangnail for a moment and hesitated. “...Do you um. You do kind of sound like you need a hug…I…I am a hugger, if you would like one…”
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Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 6:51 pm
The touch could have made him squirm–should have, she was in the Negaverse. He thought he could feel her in there, he thought there must be something of Cambria.
And she was offering to hug him.
What a Cambria thing to say.
He laughed, not quite full of joy but with enough of it that it didn’t sound completely pathetic. “You make me think of a friend. I think the Negaverse did something to her, too. I’d like a hug. Please. If that’s not weird.”
He wanted to cry. He wanted to just open himself up and spill out everything, to tell her that she was his friend, that he knew her, that he missed her.
But he couldn’t chase her away. Michel was probably doing something absolutely terrifying, and Malus had already run into her powered. They all had a plan, and Malcolm just wanted to help. He didn’t want to chase her away, he didn’t want her to reject him.
“I don’t write fanfiction anymore. I’m published. I’ve never really told anyone about it before, though. I should have. But then they would have asked to read it and then they would have known how pathetic I was.”
He was pretty sure anyone who’d met him knew already, but. He just didn’t know if he could handle criticism from anyone he cared about, so it was better that they stayed in the dark. He couldn’t disappoint them if they didn’t know.
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 3:27 pm
How could a hug ever be weird? Lysithea sighed and gently drew the male into her arms, tucking him against her and holding him tightly. “Hugs are never weird. Hugs are perfect. I think..hugs could help the world if people just allowed them.” For some reason, this hug felt familiar in a way, not to her mind of course, but her arms fit very nicely around Malcolm and it just felt nice.
“You’re published! Oh s**t! That’s awesome! I want–” Lysithea broke off and gave a sheepish grin as the rest of his words managed to puncture her mind, but then she went on a bit more slowly. “...I want to read them. I mean. I could use some happy endings in my life if you’d let me know the titles? If not, it’s totally okay, and I understand I just…” She shrugged and tucked her chin atop his shoulder. “Happy endings are really nice. And I promise I wouldn’t ever think you were pathetic. I think being published is…amazing honestly.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:33 pm
Malcolm’s face turned a bit red when she said she wanted to read them. He didn’t talk to people about things like that, he didn’t tell them.
But, there was so much that he regretted not telling Cambria before.
“Yeah, um. I write under a pseudonym. Please don’t tell anyone. I have literally never told anyone. I get stage fright and all nervous and I’m really afraid that I’ll disappoint people, so it’s just safer to pretend to be someone else. I can pretend to be all the things I’m not when I’m online, and nobody gets hurt from it. Um. Here,” he said, and reached into his pockets to fish around for something, anything.
He had a receipt from a local cafe; it didn’t have any personal information on it, so when he pulled out the pen he always carried, he wrote down his pen name.
“I have a couple books. They’re not all good. I mean. I tried my hardest on all of them, but if you look up the name, there’s a website with all of the information.”
He hadn’t wanted to break the hug so he just stayed in it; it hadn’t been really comfortable to write his name or pull out the receipt, but he was determined to hold onto this–to her–for as long as possible.
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:48 am
Well! She sure hadn’t expected to get something new to read out of this, but she gently slipped the receipt into her subspace pocket and continued the rest against Malcolm, feeling a very surprising amount of comfort resting against him. It…was odd but just. Really what she needed.
“I know that you’ve had bad experiences before but. Do you um. Want to be friends? Can I meet you here again sometime? I can tell you what I think about your books and things like that…if you…if you’re interested, that is! But. No pressure, I promise.”
She already managed to coax his pen name out of him…she didn’t want to put any extra pressure on him. “I just…it’s nice to have a..uh. Real person as a friend. Not that my other friends aren’t real! But. Normal, I mean. A normal person. Plus, you give really nice hugs.”
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:07 am
He considered this offer for a few seconds; if it had been anyone else, he might have lied or come up with some excuse to get out of it. But…this was Cambria. Or–sort of. It was Lysithea, but she seemed like Cambria.
Or, maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to see.
But, she was complimenting him, saying nice things. Said his hugs were nice. He doubted she knew how special she was to him. “Oh, um. Thank you. I’d like to be friends. But only if you don’t say mean things about my books. If you don’t like them, that’s okay! I just get really–I’ll cry,” he said, because, fine. She should just know. He’d probably try to put up a brave front about it. He was very protective of his books and his characters and if someone he cared about so much, someone he respected so much said something bad about them, he knew it would mess him up.
…Even if she didn’t understand who she was to him.
“Um, I have an email. If you…ever want to meet up again, you can just message me? I don’t really have a set schedule but I check my emails often. Maybe I can bring some snacks next time? I know this really good food truck.”
Evan was trying to win her back with food, right? So he could bring it right to her!
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:11 am
“I wouldn’t say anything mean, I promise! I’m…I don’t like when mean things are said about me, and I’m not really a fan of saying them about others either. Unless it’s in retaliation but…that’s um. A whole other story. But! Yes! I would love to email you! And I love food trucks! There’s this one I like to go to, it’s full of mac and cheese and just…cheese.”
Lysithea sighed happily, snuggling a little closer and closing her eyes. She could almost…it almost.
Well. It almost felt familiar. And she wanted to keep it.
“I go there way too much, and it’s just so delicious…I could bring you something from there maybe? I…Mac and cheese is my favorite food. I think it’s just the perfect comfort food!”
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:19 am
Malcolm froze. “What–is it Snack and Cheese?” he asked, suddenly very enthusiastic. His heart was fluttering and he was hopeful. If she was going there then she had to remember something, right?
“That’s what I was going to bring you. It’s got so many good things. And if you email the owner with a special request he can put it on the menu for you when he’s out somewhere, he only needs a few days to get supplies.”
Or he could just text Evan and ask him, but he knew Evan would know all of Cambria’s favorites–those usually stayed on the menu permanently now, as if the cheese alone could summon her from the darkness.
…He wondered if it worked at all.
He hoped so. She was here, now, talking about mac and cheese and he just wished, so hard, that it was a good sign.
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:24 am
Lysithea nodded, grinning. “It is! I…I go there all the time! It’s my favorite place to eat!” And she worked there, but as much as she wanted to tell Malcolm, she wasn’t quite that…stupid.
“The owner is really sweet, and he almost always ends up giving me way more than I paid for! And trust me, I pay for a lot. I love that place so much.” She laughed and finally, finally drew away from the hug, feeling strangely cold without him against her. “You have very good taste, Malcolm! I honestly can’t see myself not liking your books if you visit my favorite food truck!”
Not that those two things had literally anything to do with one another, but still. It made her happy. And that was a good feeling to have, and something that seemed all too rare nowadays.
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