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 Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 7:18 pm
Quote: The Long Way Home (5) : You're walking home in the dark and soon hear the sound of footsteps following behind you. Every time you turn around, nothing is there. If you try to quicken your pace, the footsteps start running right along with you. No matter how you try to see behind you--if you use your phone camera or if you look in window reflections, you can't see anything...but you know it's getting closer. If you don't run fast enough, you can almost feel a hand on your arm, a breath on your neck... You need to get home, fast. If you can.
He was still several blocks from home, and when he saw a strange looking person…handsome. Beautiful even, clad in an outfit that showed more of his chest than was hidden and with hair that looked like a mixture of the night sky. Or the ocean. Or the reflection of the night sky on the ocean.
In the ocean?
Whatever.
He was illuminated by a street light and Cordell hurried over. “Um…I know I don’t know you and stranger danger and all that but I swear I’m being followed and I’m really freaking out…”
Wait. What if this was a set up? What if he was being herded...now. That was a worrisome thought, and what color was left in Cordell’s face drained away at the very idea.
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Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 8:31 pm
Calder was accustomed to a certain amount of attention, powered up or not. He was a beautiful young(ish) man! Who put a lot of care into his appearance! The only difference was that Calder generally appreciated the attention- the effect if all the hard work he did on himself- and Undine did not appreciate the attention- since the only thing that attracted it was his aura. And anything his aura attracted tended to be less than ideal.
And so when Undine, otherwise alone, heard the soft patter of approaching footsteps, he found himself more alert than intrigued.
His eyes were on the other man well before he started talking, staring and expectant. Someone smarter than Undine probably would’ve gone anywhere else so as not to be approached, but… it wasn’t like the guy was an enemy. He felt and looked like a civilian… hardly dangerous. And it was supposed to be among Undine’s tasks to ‘protect civilians…’
“Following you?” Undine prompted, lifted his attention to appraise the area over the other’s shoulder. He didn’t feel the aura of any agent or youma, and he didn’t… see anyone nefarious around, either. …But he was familiar enough with the ways of stalkers, and someone who seemed frightened probably shouldn’t be left alone to wander home in the dark. “I don’t see anyone,” he admitted. “But… I can walk home with you?”
“Two people is usually a better deterrent to any assault than just one.”
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Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2025 4:48 pm
“...I…y-yeah…following me…” Cordell swallowed hard and it took everything he had not to just break into a run. If this was a trap, if he had just completed the trap and this was the conclusion…
“...You’re. Not just like…working with it? With whoever…whatever it is? This isn’t…just to like… know where my…where I…”
The sound of footsteps again made his knees tremble and his head whipped behind him again, eyes scanning but yet again seeing nothing. <******** it. If you are, fine. But yes. Please. At least I can see you.” Cordell knew he sounded crazy, and in fact was worried that perhaps his mind had fully shattered with this but…honestly. What could he do if that was the case? Nothing, really. He was doomed.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2025 8:22 pm
The harsh and immediate surge of rage that swept through his figure and pulled him rigid was unfair- "You came up to me," Undine snapped before he could think better of it. Honestly, it would've been so easy to avoid him if this guy thought he was a danger, working with- well, whatever he claimed was following him (which Undine still could see nothing of, and for all he knew, this nobody civilian was working with Chaos to approach him and make him drop his guard).
Whatever.
Literally whatever.
With a short 'tsk'ing sound, Undine flapped his hand dismissively. "I'm not working with anyone or even doing anything, so if you want help I can give it. And I am at least a bit more well off in this city at night than someone like you." Just the smallest bit, specifically because of the aura-sensing ability and exactly nothing else. It wasn't like he had a great combat record or anything.
So if it came to a fight- well, they'd all better just hope it didn't come to a fight.
"Go on and lead the way, if you know where you're going. It doesn't have to be home if you don't trust me like that." And Undine should do his best not to take it personally.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2025 8:28 pm
Cordell seemed to shrink in on himself with the reprimand and he shook his head. “...I’m sorry. It just. I’m so freaked out and my…it just. You hear things on the news…I just…I’m sorry.”
Honestly. Maybe he simply deserved whatever was going to happen. He was sure that he must have done something to cause it. It made sense.
“I want help, please. I’m sorry…I…I don’t want anything else to happen…I would…appreciate your companionship…I should’t have…said anything…”
Twisting his head again, Cordell swallowed and let his sleeves fall over his hands to hide the trembling. “This…this way, please. And thank you…” He was no longer able to look the male in the eyes or...anywhere near him, and he began walking, head bent, just hoping that he hadn't lost this promised protection with his absolute stupidity.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2025 8:44 pm
"Mhm. Anyone should be freaked out. This city isn't safe." Which was just- objectively true, and even if Undine didn't have much to compare it to, he still felt fairly confident that Destiny City had to be, like, the unsafest, most hazardous city on the planet. In the universe, even. Why did anyone live here. Why did he, personally live here.
Besides his friends and family and business and the acceptable cost of living- but was that worth the trauma? No, surely. And Undine's Knight experiences were arguably more mild than most... He really should get out of here.
"What are you doing out roaming around at night, anyway? If you keep up with the news, you know it's not safe. Should've at least called an Uber or something." Not that that was safe, either. ...But probably safer than walking, maybe. Even Undine, who could pull on this Knight power, absolutely wouldn't be out if he could help it. He wasn't much into the 'patrolling for evil and monsters' bit.
The evil in this city wouldn't be snuffed out from anything someone as pitiful as Undine could do.
But he was surely just a little less pitiful than this guy. "Stop apologizing. I said I'd help and I will. Just... keep your eyes open in case there really is something out there." Because there might be, and then this guy wouldn't have been freaked out over nothing.
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2025 7:02 pm
Cordell winced and shrugged. “Um. My boyfriend kicked me out. Well, my ex…I guess. He dumped me and told me to leave and I was walking home but then…I would have called an uber but my phone is still there…and my wallet. And…everything else? I…didn’t have any time to grab anything, really.”
His voice grew quieter as he spoke, more timid. Ashamed. “But I…I can get home on my own if this….” Cordell shook his head, shutting up at once. Stop apologizing. He could do that. Easily.
“I just…kept hearing footsteps and couldn't see anything. At first I thought…maybe it was him coming to apologize but it wasn’t…a good feeling. I swear I felt breath on the back of my neck at one point…”
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2025 7:20 pm
Undine didn’t know this guy. They weren’t friends. Whatever happened to this stranger was his own business, and Undine didn’t have any right to get involved. He definitely didn’t have any right to get involved just because of some additional third party that he didn’t know anything about-
Well, no. That wasn’t quite true, was it? Because Undine did know a bit about this additional third party. He knew that it took a real particular kind of person to kick someone out in the middle of the night with no phone and no wallet. A real particular kind of person who wouldn’t care if someone they were (or had been) romantically involved with had something terrible happen to him on the notably dangerous streets of Destiny City. A real particular kind of person- Undine was familiar with this kind.
He’d managed to keep walking up to that point, following just a pace behind the other man, as they were headed to- wherever.
“You have personal possessions that are being withheld from you?” Undine demanded, stopping in his tracks and grabbing for his new friend to pull him to a stop as well. He wouldn’t lie and say he knew the legality exactly, of what you were supposed to do if your items were in someone else’s house that didn’t want you there…
But legality didn’t matter.
“We should go get them! You really left this guy’s house without your phone? Both of you are stupid! Or maybe he’s just cruel. Which is worse. Where does he live? We’ll go peacefully. Retrieve. Your things.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2025 7:26 pm
Cordell stiffened when he was pulled to a stop and looked up at Undine for a moment before letting his eyes drop and shrugging. “I was…going to try to maybe go in the morning to get my things…I…he really…I don’t…I mean…”
His hands were hidden in his sleeves, but in order to stop them from trembling, he began to pick at the skin around his thumbnails. “I really…I appreciate it! I do…I just…I don’t want to see him again tonight…maybe by tomorrow he’ll have cooled off and we can just…get on with things. It’s not the first time he’s done this…and he never really…means it for long. At least…”
Cordell’s shoulders sagged slightly and he shrugged. “...He loves me. And I just got him angry again…that’s all. It’s not…that big of a deal, really…”
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2025 8:30 pm
No one could be this stu-
Except, they could be. Personal experience reminded him that, yes, people could be so naive. Calder was not generally in this position, but he had friends who were- are. And even though Undine was not the gentlest in tone or action, he could… moderate himself to a degree… for someone in such a precarious situation as this man was. But he should probably get a stronger read on what was going on before he volunteered too much more of himself.
“Listen. I’m sure he does love you, and it sounds like you love him, but it’s unacceptable to send someone out in the streets at night with no means to protect themselves or call for help.” Where he had been holding the other’s arm quite tightly, he released it now, pulling his hand back to himself- not wanting to seem too aggressive…
“We need only go for a moment, and you don’t have to see this guy if you don’t want to. He and I will exchange some words-“ A little toss of his hair, here. A particular cant of his head. “I can be very persuasive. We’ll get your things back, and that’ll be the end of that. I’ll make sure you get home.”
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