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 Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 5:50 pm
The cat messed up. It was the only reasonable answer to all of this. There was no way, with all the hard work Kaelan had been doing -- harder than anything Orien had done, if anyone asked him -- that he wouldn’t be ready for more power, too. Probably well before Orien had!
Kaelan said they should talk to Jett. To let him know that he -- Arawn -- had gained more power. But if that stupid flea bitten talking cat hadn’t run off before they went through the mirror, Orien was positive that Kaelan would have been given more power too.
“We need to talk,” Orien hissed as he stalked his way through the front doors of the antique shop where… where he worked. And Jett owned. He’d caught sight of the man behind the counter, and while he knew he needed to clock in before he forgot, he had more important business.
“There’s been a huge mistake and we need it fixed,” he growled, although there seemed to be a bit of hesitation in his frustration. Obviously it wasn’t Jett’s fault. But he was upset and Kaelan was upset, and Kaelan being upset was the absolute worst.
“Please,” he added after a moment because he didn’t want Jett to fire him for being rude, but!! This was important!! And Jett was the only one who would be able to fix things!
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Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 6:07 pm
Jett had gotten used to Orien’s unique way of speaking. He had a very particular demeanor, and Jett was honestly surprised that he hadn’t scared away more patrons.
He hadn’t clocked in yet so he knew it couldn't be about work.
The mixture of hissing and growling should have said enough, but the fact that he was hesitating–saying please–
Jett wasn’t going to give him a hard time.
“Just you and me in the store right now. We’ll walk,” he said, because they could talk while he was on the clock. He nodded towards the backroom reserved for employees and pushed himself away from the counter. Orien could have clocked in through the computer if he wanted, but there was a fancy time clock back there that didn’t require a password or log in, all Orien had to do was find the card with his name on it.
He doubted that Orien would be this worried for himself, so that really only left one other option.
“What mistake? Is Kaelan okay?”
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Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 6:14 pm
Oh… it was that easy to have Jett talk to him. That was convenient. And he should have known that already. Jett wasn’t really a jerk about things, although he probably could have been more of one. Especially where Orien was concerned. And his attitude. And he was trying to remember to play nice for Kaelan’s sake but--!!
“No he’s ******** not,” he growled again, picking up the pace a little so he could actually walk with Jett towards the backroom.
“He’s been doing all this work and some stupid cat decides to mess with my pen but then ******** off before it could do anything with Kaelan’s. Now Kaelan is probably beating himself up even though he told me it was fine, but he always pushes himself so hard and puts such high expectations on himself. Something needs to be done. Can I just switch pens with him?”
He knew that wasn’t how it worked, but he was desperate and he didn’t want to let Kaelan down.
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Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 6:31 pm
Oh, no one was in jail. Okay, this was already better than he’d anticipated.
“No, you can’t swap pens.” Orien certainly already knew this. He wasn’t speaking in a totally straightforward way so Jett could only assume he meant that a Mauvian had upgraded his pen already. If he were being honest, he was surprised to hear that Orien would have been ready for a promotion already–especially compared to Kaelan.
Orien was brash and rushed into things, and he was unfocused and rough around the edges. Kaelan was diligent and focused and seemed like he cared. Maybe too much. He held back a lot. Orien was more honest, at least; he wasn’t afraid to take action.
Truthfully, Remarque didn’t understand how starseeds worked, or what determined when someone was ready for promotion.
“It might not have been a mistake. Don’t get upset.” Telling Orien not to get upset didn’t mean anything, he already knew that. “There are a lot of circumstances that go into a Mauvian upgrading a pen. How are you two doing, are you eating enough? …I know neither of you have made it to a doctor.” He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and opened the door so Orien could just clock in. He kept an eye on the front door to make sure that it stayed just them.
“Is he still stressing over his classes? Sleeping enough?”
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 8:14 am
“Of course it’s a mistake!” Orien barked in response, but seemed to realize that he was getting mad at the wrong person and looked away as he shuffled his feet and shoved his fists into the pockets of his pants.
“Yeah, of course he’s still stressing over his classes and isn’t sleeping enough,” Orien growled as he stared at anything other than Jett, already feeling the way his ears burned. Thankfully he had enough hair to cover them. As long as the blush didn’t creep to his cheeks.
He’d already forgotten that he was there for work and wanted to focus on making sure things for Kaelan were better. Everything in his life revolved around Kaelan, and when his boyfriend was distressed, it didn’t matter what Orien was doing until he could fix that problem.
Besides, Jett already knew why Orien was particularly against seeing doctors, so he ignored his comment. Although getting Kaelan to a doctor was important. He would have to try to remember reminding him.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 8:32 am
More huffing and shouting and growling. There was no one else to see so Jett didn’t bother making an effort to curb the behavior. If Kaelan was involved, it was impossible anyway; Orien seemed like he was able to reel himself in more often when he wasn’t trying to defend his boyfriend.
Even now, he could see him trying. Working out his energy in other ways. Jett looked elsewhere in an effort to give Orien some confidence that the attempt to hide the color on his face had been successful.
“It’s not always about how much work you’re putting into it. Sometimes it’s about how much power you can handle,” Jett said, and when Orien wasn’t clocking in himself, he found his time card and put it in the machine. It made a churning, electric hum as it stamped the time on it, and when it was done making noise he continued. “Sometimes it’s about what your body is able to handle. And you know a lot goes into that. When are you two free? I’ll see if I can find a Mauvian who can take a look and see what they can find.”
It wasn’t like a starseed was a book to be read, or a machine to be tinkered with, but he didn’t want to give Orien any reason to stress more. They were still new to being senshi, there was still a lot to learn and adjust to. They’d get there, but he didn’t want them to make themselves sick on the way.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:36 pm
Orien scoffed, clearly not believing what Jett was telling him. How could he be able to handle something more than Kaelan? Kaelan was perfect. He could do anything. It was the cat’s fault for picking the wrong person to test out first. This wasn’t fair. They had to do something!
“I don’t know. Probably after work,” he grumbled and-- oh, had Jett already clocked him in? Oh… right he was supposed to do that when he got there. But he was too distracted by making sure he had a way to make Kaelan feel better.
“You better find a good cat, though. Not that one from before. They were garbage,” he growled, even though he clearly had more power because of its help. It didn’t matter! It made Kaelan feel like he was less than the perfect, most wonderful person that he was.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:56 pm
Jett leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest. He doubted that Orien had met enough Mauvians to properly determine who was garbage or not, so it was easy to understand that he was really just worried about Kaelan’s feelings in all of this.
It wasn’t something to get too worked up over, but then–he supposed that if anyone else had been getting stronger around him and he was the one left behind, he probably would have been upset. Probably would have gone out and done his best to catch up and surpass them, but…
He didn’t want to see Kaelan being reckless, that would only make Orien worse.
“I know good cats. But I need you to prepare for the fact that Kaelan might just need a bit more time. This isn't something that comes naturally to everyone. Cats don’t usually make mistakes.” He didn’t want to tell him that Kaelan might not be ready, especially when he knew Orien would hear ‘Kaelan’s not good enough’, so he spoke gently, but firmly.
“Just be ready to support him. He’ll get upset if you’re upset. He might need to get a little confidence, might need to practice a little more. Maybe you can head into Mirrorspace and see if that helps stabilize him.” He doubted Orien had taken the time to visit Mirrorspace given his upset now. “We’ll get him there. Don’t stress out about it. I’ll clear my schedule and we’ll find a Mauvian tonight, all right? A good one. We’ll get this all sorted out.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 9:03 am
Orien bristled when Jett warned him that Kaelan might just need more time. How could Kaelan need more time? He’d done so much! He deserved more power, more magic than he did! He would gladly give his magic to Kaelan if he could.
“You better bring a good one,” he growled, but…
He shuffled his feet awkwardly and shoved his hands farther into his pockets. Jett was being accommodating and didn’t tell him to shut up or get over it or whatever. He was just telling him things he should watch out for.
But Kaelan not getting more power? That was just wrong.
“Thanks,” he mumbled as he dug his toe into the floor to get rid of a scuff mark there. After a moment, he lifted his eyes to narrow at Jett.
“You’re not like other adults we’ve dealt with,” he pointed out, although he’d clearly forgotten that he was an adult now, too. Legally at least. “I don’t get it. Yeah you can say you want to help us but…”
It didn’t make sense. No one could actually care that much about those who were practically strangers.
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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 10:09 am
Sometimes, Orien spoke in a way that made him feel very old. There couldn’t have been too many years between them, but their lived experience was different enough that Jett didn’t huff about it. He lived a comfortable life these days. In his youth, his hardships were manageable. He’d had someone to look after him. Well, someone that helped his poor mother look after him.
It was how he’d come into even owning this shop, anyway.
So, he was doing his best to pay it forward–and it was for the good of the Dark Mirror Court, anyway.
He shrugged. He wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it, not when he knew it would just make Orien uncomfortable. He struggled to understand kindness or altruism and expected that there was always some hidden demand or expectation of payment.
“I can say I want to help you, or I can just do it. One of these days it’ll sink in. Anyway, you’re helping me, too. I know how hard you two have been working to gather energy. I’ll have to show you around Mirrorspace one of these days. You can reach it now, but we can wait until Kaelan can do it, too. If you want to wait. I’ll bring a good Mauvian tonight” he sighed, trying not to sound too exasperated. “One that can give bad news kindly, just in case.”
It wasn’t that Jett didn’t think Kaelan was capable, it was just that starseeds were so complicated. You couldn’t just run diagnostics on them and get a simple solution to fix all their issues.
“I have faith in you two. You’re both doing so well already.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 1:14 pm
Orien clicked his tongue when Jett warned him again that there might not be anything they could do to fast track Kaelan into getting more power. No matter what, he believed in Kaelan, and knew there had to be something wrong with that cat from before. Obviously a mistake.
But he was grateful that Jett was helping them. He didn’t know where they would be if it weren’t for Jett giving them a chance. Granted, from his understanding of things, it was better that the Dark Mirror Court found them before anyone else did. Things could be a lot different for them, and Orien was already happy where he was.
And he was excited about the future, even if he tried his hardest to look annoyed and bored by everything.
“Yeah, whatever. It doesn’t matter until Kay gets to do everything I can,” he huffed, but took a step back because he didn’t want Jett to change his mind. “I’m… gonna start work,” he mumbled, knowing Jett had already clocked him in and feeling a little guilty about just standing around.
It was fine. Things would be fine and Kaelan wouldn’t feel so down on himself once he got more power too.
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