Detailed Roleplayers discussion
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Woolfie X Juliana
message 1:
by
Ross
(new)
Apr 14, 2013 06:48PM
Hey there:) I tend to like more supernatural fantasy based stories, but I can and will write about other areas:) Any preferences?
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Ooh, I had a mental image of the movie Chronicle there for a moment, yeah, superpowers are totally fine:)
Call me unadventurous, but I'm a guy who's used to rping guys, but I don't mind either way, although I dunno if I'll rp well as a girl:p
Yes indeedy, and I'm guessing you're not:)
Lol, sure, be my guest, and I can base my character off yours:)
Wow, something tells me you had her ready to go from the beginning:p I'll post my character later coz I'm kind of at work at the moment:p
Well I live and work in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, for a company that publishes comics:)
Not really on a break, just sneaking brief messages when I can:p
Sure we can start, if you have a good idea where you want to begin, I'll be able to rp, but perhaps not at great length for the time being.
((Sorry it's not much:())Aric shouldered his backpack, as he made his way along the path that snaked through the campus towards the general direction of the library. He could feel the initial pangs of another headache coming on, and his steps quickened as his gait widened, wanting above anything else to enter into the solitude of the calm, quiet inner sanctum.
As soon as the front doors of the library swung shut Aric allowed himself a sigh of relief, as he felt the pressure that had been building like an increasingly angry nest of hornets begin to subside. It was infuriating, but he never could understand why going out in public made his migraine worse, but as a general rule he had come to eschew the presence of his fellow classmates and indeed the rest of the student body. As he passed the largely deserted rotunda, he peeled off into the literature section, which he had ascertained by trial and error to be one of the quietest sections of the building. As he entered the familiar layout, his eyes fell on a girl he had a class with, what was her name Sally, Macy, Stacy! Yeah that was her name. Aric liked her, at least from afar; she was one of the few kids from his classes that actually were nice to him. And something else too, somehow, around he, he felt, normal. 'Uh, hu there Stace, whatcha doing?' he asked, pitching hisd voice low, just above a whisper so it would not carry in the stillness.
'Uh yeah,' Aric shrugged, strands of hair from his curly bangs fell into his eyes, slightly obscuring their bright green 'well you know, they were fresh out of dvds, so yeah I figured why not.' He liked her jokey sort of humour, it was the kind of off the wall bordering on snarky way of observing things that somehow tickled his funny bone. Looks like you're into the fun as well, cramming for the pop quiz huh, well you knw that's why it's called a pop quiz coz the questions pop out from anywhere. Generally Aric Sanderson wasn't much of the studying sort, he didn't have to be, he had every answer he wanted right there in his mind, it was weird, but cool as well, the kind of coolweird that you don't share with anyone else in case they start asking you strange questions. Somehow whenever he had a question, whether he was asked by someone, or he saw it written down, as it usually was upon a test paper, all he seemed to have to do was focus upon it, and then somehow, miraculously, the answer would appear in thin air, visible to only himself. One would think that the ability to provide an answer for most anything would get a kid noticed, but Aric had seen what happened to those kids who were really, really good at something, such as knowing stuff no kid of their age could possibly know; idiot savants he had heard them called, he thought that was rather rude.Flipping out his own notebook from his bag, he smiled shyly, 'mind if we maybe study together, if you don't mind.' Talking to girls was not his strong point.
'Hey, uh thanks!' he flashed her a quick, nervous smile, talking to a girl was one thing but actually seating next to one, that was something he was not in the habit of regularly doing. Truth be told, even with his visual impairment, he selected the back of classes, gazing down the receding semi-circular seats of the lecture theatre,keeping an excellent view of the back of everyone's, sitting as far away from anyone as possible. His studious, bookish, introverted look helped immensely with cultivating the loner image, and personally, he preferred it that way.Sweeping his stray hair with the back of his left hand, Aric, cleared his throat, as he fiddled with his square rimless glasses. 'Uhm, uh well, I thought, seeing as it's been about two weeks since the last 'surprise' pop quiz, I figure we start from the next lecture after that and narrow things down some.' A smile automatically swept across his lips, at the delicate bubbling musical sound, and he looked up to see their leggy, brunette computer science teacher. 'Thought she subsisted off the internet, what's she doing in a low tech place like this?' he murmured.
*she's not here for the books, she's having an affair with the head librarian.*
There, it had happened again, inwardly Aric cursed his asking a question, one reason he never raised his hand in class, or queries anything, not wanting to be faced with the answer even before the question had been voiced. His cheeks felt lightly warm, as he turned back to his book, only to find Stacy looking at him. 'What?' he tried to pass it off.
(( I was thinking something like this http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls3feh... but with slightly longer hair))Had he said that out loud? Aric blinked, considering the way that she was looking at him, almost as though something she had not expected had happened. Too late, he looked away, back down at his exercise book. 'I don't know what you mean.' he mumbled feeling his ears heating up. Why wouldn't she stop staring?. In the near distance the cessation of the low rumble and the resumption of the clacking sound told him that their inconstant teacher was departing, perhaps for home, or perhaps for another location. *She's going to the carpark* No, not again! *Where she will meet Mr. Litvak, whom she will drive home, her husband is not home, and they will-* Pressing his hands to his forehead, he lurched to his feet. 'Sorry, head hurts, bathroom, I'll be back.' he said, not looking at her, not wanting to see the disgusted expression that would almost certainly be in place; why was he spazzing out, why now?!
Aric felt her misery like a slap across his face, and he stopped in his tracks; if this was weird for him, just consider how it must be making her feel, she's confused, not knowing what's going on, you acting out, throwing her off. He turned to her,' hey, uh, maybe it's this place, you uh wanna grab a cup of coffee or something?'She must think you're an absolute certifiable whackjob, talking to yourself claiming a headache, now asking her out for coffee. Holy smokes, was he really asking her out? Did this constitute asking a girl out? Like on a date? No of course not, he told himself, it was just a harmless, casual cup o'joe with a girl, yeah...
As they walked, the early autumn sunshine peeked weakly out at them, and scuttled back under the covers. Aric liked the cold, always had for some reason, and with his hands stuck firmly in the pockets of his jacket, he sneaked a sideways look at her, and swiped at his unruly hair, making a mental not to cut it the next chance he got. He liked her, just being with her was, there was no other word for it nice. But he had no designs on her independence or anything like that. 'So uh, you got any plans for the weekend?' Such a generic, unimaginative question, seeing that it was after all a Thursday, nice going Captain Obvious.
Oh yeah, the party, 'the' party, how could he have forgotten that?Saturday would be the 23rd of September, and that date had only one significance as far as the student body of Glyndebourne College were concerned. 'Oh yeah,Tamara's birthday,' he said, laving the rest of the implied meaning unmentioned; Tamara Parker-Finch's birthday party usually meant lots of booze, and not much underwear, it made him almost physically sick to contemplate it, but nevertheless, it was where the cool kids went, or whoever wanted to be seen as cool. 'Wait might go, meaning she hasn't stuck one of her invites to your locker, or were you thinking of not going?' He blushed, realising what he had just said. 'Sorry, none of my business really.' he muttered, glancing over at the play of weak sunlight against the pine bark.
'Well you know if you wanted, we could, maybe meet and study some, if you feel like it, or we could hang out and stuff.' Aric stopped himself abruptly when he realised he was rambling, which he had been tipped off about by the look that she was giving him. Chuckling self-consciously, he tried to pass it off with a smile, when something hard and fast struck him on the side of his head, collapsing him to the ground, as a chorus of laughter suddenly erupted from the direction of the object, which turned out to be a football.'Good shot Brad1' one of the bigger boys said nudging the one called Brad in the ribs. ' Hey Fassbender, maybe you should have bent out of the way.'
'Heh, heh, good one Carter.'
'Hey, hope you don't get bent out of shape there.'
Hoots of laughter greeted Aric, as he groggily resumed his feet; his glasses had gone flying, and it was with embarrassed gratitude that he received it from Stacy who was glowering at the group of boys. 'Stace, hey Stace, let's go, it's alright, just-'
Although he could not see that well without his glasses, he could feel the sudden explosion of pain that seemed to come from the boys. 'What the, what happened, Stace, what?' he stammered, as his glasses showed him the jocks rolling around on the ground as though someone had given them a beating. Feeling her tugging him along, he acquiesced, following her at a quick walk that was almost a jog. 'Ugh, my head,' he groaned,'jerks, I'm not bleeding am I?'
'You, you punched them?' Aric enquired, rubbing his sore cheekbone ruefully, perhaps he had been nocked out and not realised. 'Wow,' he muttered sizing them up to her in is head and reaching an unenviable conclusion. 'What're you X23 or something?' he snorted with mirth at his own inside joke, and elaborated that x23 was the female clone of the mutant berserker with unbreakable metal claws extending from between his knuckles, as played by the man who played Jean Valjean in the recent on-screen adaptation of the seminal, long running musical megahit. 'Remind me not to get on your bad side huh.'
It amused him, and touched him at the same time, that she seemed ntent on taking care of him, walking closely by his side, and all but holding his hands, as though she thought he would fall to pieces as a result o his recent cranial altercation. 'Don't worry, I'm fine,' he mumbled good naturedly for the third time since they had left the park; he did in fact feel completely unaffected, \that was, apart from the dull ache to his cheekbone. Slumping into the booth farthest from the counter, he raised an eyebrow at her offer to pay. 'Nah, I'll have a Mocha frappe,' he said, handing her the money.
'Grinning, he shook his head, indicating a playful negative . 'Nah, I'm a sucker for chocolate and mocha's the closest you get in terms of coffee.' Aric followed her with his eyes, and frowned as he heard the cashier attempt to work his moves upon her; truth be told he somehow felt what was said rather than heard it, seated as far away from the cashier as it was possible within the extent of the establishment. Favouring her with a consolatory smile, he took the paper cup that she handed to him, and budged up so that she had space next to him. Taking a shallow sip, he savoured, the sweet bitter marriage of flavours, swirling it around his mouth before swallowing with an appreciative little sigh 'I'm fine Stace, wouldn't want a repeat anytime soon though, my left ear is ringing a little.' Deciding to change tack, he said 'so, you've known Tamara a long time then?'
((Oh, Tamara was the girl who was throwing the party remember? And we can change her name if you want to, but she's a minor character really))
Perhaps it would have come across as him hedging his bets, but as he took another sip of freshly ground coffee dusted liberally with chocolatey goodness, Aric decided to put across something he had formulated after having surreptitiously observed her during classes. 'Hey, uhm, I was wondering, since you know, well class isn't really sort of our thing really, sho how about we hang out in the library and maybe study up together?' Had he really used the words 'hang out', 'study up' and 'together'? He reddened slightly, 'of course you don't have to.' he amended hastily.
Taking a steadying sip to placate his uncertainty coupled with the mild insanity of actually asking her to meet him alone once again, Aric was sufficiently glad that she had not laughed off his offer; beautiful girls like her did not, as a rule hang out with bookish guys like him, and as false and inaccurate as he sometimes considered those movie-enforced demarcations, he was very glad in this instance of it's clear falsehood. 'Well great I'm glad that I could help you out like that, uh, not that you need helping out, you're pretty capable yourself, you're... pretty, uhm, I'm just going to shut up now thanks.'Taking a overly large swig of his coffee, he gagged on the bitter aftertaste, and for a brief moment the possibility of embarrassing himself was very real, before he mastered himself, and offered her an apologetic grin. 'Sorry.' he said, but not really knowing what for.
Blinking rapidly, Aric attempted to process what she had just said; she had clearly, and without any speck of ambiguity, called him 'pretty' reflecting his wakward compliment that had come spinning out of the corner of his mouth. He did a quick process of elimination; clearly she had meant it as a joke right, surely she could not have conceivably considered him, Aric Reinhardt Fassbender 'pretty', for while he might not have been altogether hideous, he was admittedly a long way away from what most people would call attractive. Despite this however, and although he knew she had not meant it to be particularly flattering, he still felt a familiar warmth that he associated with pride swelling in his chest.'Uhm, life, yes, well life is... pretty cool I guess, definitely picked up today though, I mean you're a great girl uh, person, I like, uhm being around you.' he added in a slight rush, only now you'll think I'm this complete weirdo spazzing all over you and seek an out to leave well can't really blame you.' He looked at her shyly, completely and utterly at a loss as to what the next move might be.'
Did she think that he meant, what he thought she thought that he meant? Almost instantly Aric found the heat rising in his cheeks once again; what was it about her that made him act like such a fool? 'No, no it's not like that, I, I didn't mean...' he stumbled over his words as the spilled forth from his mouth, like clumsy blundering pieces of idiocy that he was pelting her with. Swallowing, he took a deep breath and began again.'What I mean when I say I like to be around you Stacy, is just that, well, you make me feel comfortable, no not in that way, I, we, this is the longest I spent with anyone from our school, as you know I tend to be alone, well the reason for that is, well people make me nervous.' This was mostly true, for some reason when he was around others, a nearly continuous stream of information, personal and random spilled out upon him, and it had been due to his ardent desire to avoid this mental barrage that he etched his role as a loner. Even being one on one was sometimes painful, but with her, somehow, there was only calm, like that of two radio waves humming at the same frequency no interference, no dissonance.
'It's not that I don't like you, I mean who knows, maybe you're a lovely girl, but well we just kinda met, and I'm not the kind to say stuff I don't mean you know.' Carefully he looked up at her. 'I'm sorry if I upset you, I don't know how to talk to people really, I didn't mean to offend, but if you want me to go away, just say so and I'll go.'
She had been worried that she had caused him to feel uncomfortable? Preposterous! The smile that spread across his face like butter over bread for home made sandwiches was free and easy. 'I would like that very much.' he said in response to her tentative offer of friendship, heartily glad that the awkward potentially damaging misunderstanding hadn't impacted too badly upon what to all intents and purposes had appeared to be the beginning of a rather promising acquaintance with the possibility of blossoming further into a friendship. Aric felt this bubble like sensation filling him up inside, that he wanted to do something, show her something, prove something. He did not know what, but he knew he had to. 'Hey, are you hungry? I thought I could get you something, you know, only fair coz you got the drinks.'
The smile melted off his face with the slowness of dripping molten cheese. 'Stace?' his voice shuddered with uncertainty, mantled by a sudden fear. 'Stace are you alright, Stace, ohjeezmygod!' I t was just as well that they were currently seated of otherwise Aric might had a rather problematic time of it, but as it was her sagging into herself, like a paper doll receiving the briefest sprinkling causing it to go limp. Whatever awkwardness he might have felt with his arms around her, and whatever response her sudden reaction would have triggered in the other customers, Aric did not care. Bracing her with his left arm around her waist, he cupped her chin. 'Stace, come on Stce, snap out of it! Ohmygod!' Resting her against the side of the booth he dove into his back pack, and retrieved his water tumbler. Wincing slightly, he splashed her , hoping to jolt her back to her senses.
Hey sorry it's almost midnight here, and I'm not going to be online tomorrow coz of other commitments, I'll write my part the day after OK. Not to worry I have not forgotten this rp, and I very much would love to see it continue, so bear with me:)
'Hey, it's OK,you're alright!' Aric babbled away reeling off the sort of coaxing calming words that automatically leapt onto his tongue as he tried awkwardly to remedy her inexplicable episode of sudden fainting incoherence. 'Hey, over here!' he called loudly, snaping his fingers, as a pony-tailed waitress came running over, her ample bosom bouncing as she came. 'Uhm, I wanna order a large hot chocolate, three slices of cake, whichever ones I don't care, oh and milk and syrup mix OK?'Not pausing to receive what manner of response, he turned and looked intensely back at Stacy; he had not known here the order had come from other than it had formed before his mind's eye when he was considering her. 'Oh, make one of those cherry cheesecake, uhm coffee dream, and rhubarb crumble?' he called after her, suddenly obtaining the exact type of confectionery seemingly swimming in her eyes. 'You're gonna be alright OK?'
'Never had any-' Aric felt his facial muscles tense with sudden newfound resolve, as he regarded her carefully. 'Well that settles it, I'm going to take it as my unofficial duty to take care of you, make sure you're alright.' He did not for a second pause to consider how she would feel about this, nor indeed did the thought that what he was attempting to do turn out to against her wishes cross his mind. 'It, it's not that I pity you or anything,' he said hastily seeing the loo she gave him, 'I just, well, I wanna make sure you're alright is all.'
Rather than feel himself infused with pity for her, if Aric had to put a name or a definition to the cocktail of emotions he was currently experiencing, he might have called it responsible. There was something almost brotherly in the way he had just recently come to regard her, and truth be told he was rather relieved not to have been the victim of anything more intense. Not having spent such an extended period of time alone with a girl before, he had little natural clue as to how to react, the manner in which to respond, and somehow, just by looking at her, he felt... somehow, impossibly, that he could read her, that there was an uncanny symmetry between them that put him both at ease, and set him on edge, and it was with a soft giggle of relief that he looked around at the tray that slid onto the table before them. 'There you go, eat up, not that I'm trying to fatten you up or anything, oops sorry!'
The grin that his mother had called the sunshine smile spread across his lower face, as he gently declined the proffered fork .'Well you can call it a slip of sudden gallantry, that or overdoing the restoring a girl's blood sugar levels.' Pretending to make a face, he caved in to her insistence, and sliced off a small triangle of cheesecake and slid it easily into his mouth; his eyes shutting as he savoured the forkful. 'Mum always did say cake was the best for most things, cheesecake doubly so.'
Aric looked slightly guiltily at the slices of cake he had purchased in a sudden rush of foolish gallantry occasioned by concern. 'I guess we could always get a take away.' he suggested lamely. As it so happened, the cafe did indeed do takeaways and moments after the request was made, the three remaining slices were concealed in a neat white paper box.' So, uh, how're you feeling, good to go or like you could pop?' Smiling slightly at her expression, he leaned towards her ever so slightly. 'I was, worried about you... what happened?' His voice dipped into a whisper. 'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.' he added as a get out clause if she wanted one.
His initial reaction was that he had somehow gone too far, intruded too deeply and pierced something that was deeply and intensely personal; probing another's feelings, even however slight, he could tell, was always a dangerous undertaking. There was a sense o confusion in the air around her, a contradiction he could not fathom. 'I-i'm sorry, I didn't mean to-' he began, only to be cut off by her sudden confession; sadness shrouded her all of a sudden, like clouds simultaneously conspiring to obscure the sun, and as if it was some sort of instinctive reaction, Aric found himself hugging her. 'It's OK Stace, I'm here.' he mouthed softly.
Masterfully quelling his initial reaction, which had been to release her, move back slightly and consider her with a mixture of shock, outrage while all the time attempting to gauge hpw much of what she had said was actually genuine, Aric subtly decreased the space of his hug, drawing him closer against her, and her into him. 'Hey, I'm not going to let anything happen to you OK, I promise.' Inside his mind the unasked mental question was looping and darting, attempting to find a way through the deliberate wall of internal white noise that he had erected to prevent his strange capability to pluck out the answer to the question 'What has her father done to her from thin air.
'But Stace, please, I...' those four, inadequate words hung embarrassed in mid air, buffeted by the impact of her sudden departure. Rejecting the flood of emotions tangled up with words clogging his mind, he leapt to his feet, and forgetting everything, raced after her, managing to catch a sight of her on the street, as she ran full pelt away from him. 'Stacy!' he called, his voice rising upon the breeze that swept her away from him, leaving him the subject of more than several scrutinizing stares. Torn between the impulse to chase after her and to desist, the answer to the question why she had done such a thing inched tentatively into his mind 'Oh, Stacy,' he groaned adding his embrace with her sudden appeal to him for safety. He cursed himself for not getting her number, true they weren't very recent friends much less going out, but still. 'Damn it!' Stuffing the packaged cake into his backpack, he rose, and, ignoring the stares that had followed him in, made his way back home, his head a whirlpool of confused concern.
Aric blinked away the sleep from his weary eyes as the alarm on his bedside table gave its customary strident admonition. Stumbling out of bed, he ambled over to the bathroom that he shared with 5 other guys all of whom were living in their own separate rooms on the same floor. He had set his alarm early; he had ascertained by careful observation, the waking habits of his floormates, and had devised the optimum time for him to conduct his necessaries before the morning rush began. The fact was that there was another toilet facility to the far end of the house, but he preferred this one, as it was the most compliant in terms of function. As the shower warmed around him, waking him up bit by bit, he ran over the scenario in his head once more; why had she run off like that? Had it been him, ought he to have supplied her with a more reassuring answer? Loath to blame her, and inexplicably concerned for the girl he had just met for a brief, blissful few hours, Aric threw on his backpack, zipping up a package of cake, just in case, and padded off in the direction of the college, hoping against hope to find her, to apologise, or whatever, to show her that he wasn't some disingenuous flake who would pretend to care, so that maybe, just maybe, she could perhaps, begin to trust him, just a little, possibly.
((Not being a bother at all, I'm assuming they bump into each other at college, or at least Aric tries looking for her))
((Ahh I kinda thought maybe she'd be avoiding him, coz she was uncomfy about the day before but not sure how to explain to him, or even if she wanted or could explain:))
If he was honest with himself, she had been the reason he had not been able to sleep a win the previous night; something about the previous evening had not felt right, perhaps he had approached from a wrong angle, whatever that meant, he might have come on too strong, and what had made her blurt out that admission like that? 'Don't let my Dad kill me' that had been what she had said, and that, more than anything else propelled him into the entrance hall of college, his mind set on one thing, must find Stacy. The possibility that she might not want him to, had not crossed his mind. It was clear to him that whatever it was, there had been some sort of connection formed between them, so much so that she had been comfortable enough for at least a heartbeat to spring her startling plea upon him. Now Aric was not what anyone would have called heroic, he was not the type to stand up to the bully to face them down in order to defend an innocent victim; he was much more likely to be the one either hoping he wasn't seen, teetering on the edge, wanting to do something, but never quite sure what. The bell shrieked, but he ignored it; where would he go if he wanted to be alone? If he wanted nobody else to find him? 'The lake!' Turning, he darted quickly out of the southwestern exit, casting a nervous glance behind him before making his way along the edges of the school building, like spider-man clinging to the walls almost, sliding into the shadows.He had lmost given up on finding her, when he saw the tell tale ripple of her hair; she was scrunched up on the opposite end of the short pier that reached out into the lake, her feet dangling several feet over the lazily shifting water. 'Hey, uh, hope I'm not bothering you,' he said hesitantly as he gained some measure of self-confidence. 'Just wanted to find out if you were OK.'He was about to turn and leave when her voice made him turn back.
'No, don't, please don't.' He did not know what exactly made him say those words to her, or indeed the next sentence he would utter, but if he had been asked about it it later, perhaps in a calmer setting, he might have said that he had done so because he could see no other way around the issue that was quite literally staring him in the face. 'Someone like you, as special, sweet as you should not be thinking about, stuff like that.' He couldn't even bring himself to mention the d word; death had about it, a certain grim finality that Aric certainly did not like in the slightest; he had been 5 when his mother had passed, anyeurism they had said later, could not have been helped, he understood that, not back then, back then everyone told him that 'Mummy had gone away, that she loved him very much, but that she had to go someplace special'. Their words had told him one thing, but the scary part was, that just by looking at them, he had known the truth, he could somehow read it upon the air, the atmosphere around the house had been dark with misery for a long time, and even years afterwards, it lingered like smoke stains.Now when she turned to look searchingly at hi, he saw it there again, that haunted look his father had often given him, the look that would have caused any other uncomprehending child to ask 'What's the matter Daddy?' But they shared the look in a sort of knowing, helpless silence. 'Look, I know you we don't really know each other, but I know sadness, and loneliness, and I know that I cannot allow myself to stand by and watch it devour another person, like, like it did my Daddy.' He took a few steps towards her, tentative at first, as though approaching a skittish stray cat. 'Whatever it is, you're not alone Stace.'
Aric could feel the mountain of guilt that pressed down upon her, threatening to crush her beneath its incredible invisible weight, and it broke something in him to see her weighed down by her self-recrimination. Blame he knew was a terrible thing, exacerbated further by the conviction that one truly was to blame. His father, after his mother's sudden demise, had used it as a weapon, a rifle he had picked up in his previously unsteady hands and aimed at God. But when he had shot the deity enough times, he turned it upon himself 'Should have done something to save her, could have helped her, fuck, fuck, fuck! Oh fuck! Aric had been too young to fully understand his father's pain, although he felt it nevertheless, somehow he always knew, he could always tell, just by observing, somehow the answer would become apparent, like they did during tests, answers springing eager and ready from his classmate's minds. But he had tried to push it out, tried to reject everything, and it was on account of the headaches he would experience, that he was the 'special needs kid', a label he was never able to shake through elementary and middle school. It had gotten more manageable with time, and when his voice had dropped, but he knew the feeling all too well.He knew something of the spectre of self- condemnation that haunted her. Swallowing, he said, tripping over his words as though his tongue was made of sponge. 'Look, I don't know what happened, and I know I can never know, never really understand what it was like, but I do know, that whatever happened, you never meant for it to turn out the way it did. 'Something nagging at the back of his mind rose to the surface. 'Those boys, yesterday... that's what happened wasn't it? No, no you're not crazy OK!' He took a few steps over to her, his arms out by his side, readying for something, a hug perhaps. 'Maybe you were mad, maybe scared, but however you felt you never meant for it to happen it just did, well guess what, you're not alone...' he paused, wondering if by divulging his own peculiarity he would earn her ridicule, but plunged ahead anyway. 'I can see stuff where I ought not to be able to, if I ask myself something, I get the answer just like that. I can hear people's thoughts, sounds crazy huh? I thought I was stark hollering cuckoo at first, I dunno how, but I can, and I'm not insane.' Staggering suddenly at the weight of his revelation, Aric gazed at her, frightened to death of her reaction.
He had been grasping at straws, that much she had to know. From what he had said, and the manner in which it had been said, it would have been immediately plain to her that he knew little to nothing about her predicament. Unbeknownst to her however, was the fact, the undeniable fact that his ignorance of her plight was exerting considerable pressure upon himself; the question was on the tip of his mind, like one standing before a strange, unknown door, with one's hand firmly upon the doorknob, every sinew bent in the natural action of turning said object, and by so doing break the thus far unmolested barrier and the truth beyond that was withheld from his cognition by the mere plane of wood and metal and mechanism. By forcing himself not to ask the question, he was allowing her the option, of either locking the revelation from her side, denying him the exposition of the truth, or she would respond to his inquiry, and turn the knob on her side, admitting him, and he fervently hoped that she would, for both their sakes.He was half prepared to receive whatever had happened the day before, that rather bizarre occurance with the boys; he was the intruder here in her realm of private self-reflection, and should she choose to administer some form of subtle rebuke, he girded himself to accept it. What he had not permitted himself to anticipate, was the sudden closenss, the hug which he reciprocated, limply at first, then with mounting warmth and it was with a tinge of disappointment that he let her retrieve himself as she divulged her story, her sad story... Oh poor Stacy! Poor, poor girl, to have had that hanging over her. Aric tried to ppour everything he had into the hug, he could feel her, shuddering like a lost little bird, her sobs sucking in deep breaths of emotion, and all he could do was hold her, because he knew that words had no place here, what she needed was to know that she was not to blame, that someone did not think she was a monster, that someone could forgive her, and perhaps as a result she could maybe, just maybe learn to forgive herself. 'I don't know how we got what we have or who gave these abilities to us Stace, but I do know this, you are not a curse, nor are you cursed. I know maybe it's easy for me to say, but I do not believe there is an ounce of bad in you, and that with God's help, and who knows, mine maybe, if you want, we can maybe start to figure stuff out, you and me.' A thought suddenly leaped into his mind, and he said 'I, I mean, not like you and me against the world or nothing, like we have to run away from people, no, we can do whatever we want, you can, live your life, and not have to be afraid, because you shouldn't be afraid, not, not of yourself.'
Just like that, he had done it? His stupid collection of loosely strung out platitudes and insufficient worlds had conveyed meaning enough to elicit just such a depth of response from her? She had bent, like a reed in a storm, every fibre of her very being screaming at her like the voices of a million demons, like a chorus of doom pulling her down ,down and still further, past her breaking point, and all he had done was hold her, he knew that now. His words had washed upon the beach of her her misery, but he knew that deep inside it was his presence, his refusal to be put off by that which everyone else, herself in particular, feared about herself, whether they knew it or not. 'For the longest time, I couldn't look at people, couldn't look them in the eye, I was so afraid that if I did, my mind would be flooded by all this crazy rush of sights sounds, information in all its forms, walking in a crowd was like, is like standing in a field of steroes and subwoofers turned up to max, all this info, all the noise, you know when they say 'you can't hear yourself think', well that was exactly how it was. But by being alone, or with a few people, I somehow learned to tune it down, it's not easy, but I will promise you this Stace, I am sure as hell not going to leave you alone to cope with this, because you should not be alone. When I was on my own, I allowed myself to think I had beaten it, that I had won, but everytime I cam back, I knew I hadn't, I had just run away, left it all behind because I could not cope.' A smile flickered across his face. 'So if caring about a beautiful stranger is crazy or insane, or whatever, the yeah I am nuts.'Lifting hos left arm he allowed his hand to sift through the long dark hair. 'I may not have the answers Stace, hell God knows we might never ever find them, but all I know is, I want to find them with you, if, if that's alright?' It was ironic, he had spoken like something out of holy book or some such, as though fate or kismet or whatever unseen force had brought them here, together in their inability to be one of the rest, and he had shattered the magic by tripping up and sprawling flat on his face. 'I know you feel like it's hard to care again, how it's better that way, so that it won't hurt as much, or not at all. Maybe you're scared of your emotions, but I know you have it in you to be in control, and I will do what I can to help you climb that mountain OK?'
It was only when she mentioned the l word, that Aric was hit by the sudden, staggering realisation; had that been the emotion swelling in his chest, growing ever more irresistible day by day, the force that had robbed him of his sleep and had driven him through the halls of the school like some demented seeker, hellbent on going the distance to find the source of his preoccupation. 'I, dunno, he began lamely, already sounding nothing like one of those figures from stories and films, the guy always equipped with the right thing to say, the handsome type that made women smile with the consummate ease of a clueless kitten. The more he looked at her, the harder it got to form the words he knew were swimming around in his mind, the more arduous it was to frame the meaning he wanted so desperately to convey to her as they stood, his arm around her waist, her face filling his little world.'I don't know if what I feel, is love Stace, but I do know this, I will deny you nothing, I will do anything if it means seeing you happy. I look at you, and, and I see a star, a light, shrouded by accusations as false as the sun is hot.' What the hell was he saying? Was he even making sense? Or was he, as he suspected tangling his tongue further and further into the cat's cradle of inadequacy that was his very existence.
'See, the reason I, love, well, I guess it's because it';s such a common word, that people use, but they don't know just what it means, but if it means helping you see how wonderful and beautiful you are inside and out, then... I love you Stacy, I think I loved you from the moment I saw you across homeroom.' He shrugged. 'I didn't expect you to notice me, I mean, why would you? I'm a- 'her finger placed vertically across his lips stopped him, and what happened next, even he was not sure. He only knew that it was salty, with a slight fringe of sweetness, and that she was crying. 'Oh Stacy, Stacy, Stacy...'
((Not at all, just getting in the mood, finding a moment, and going with it as far as I can :))
((Hey there, just a little note to say I'll be flying to England tomorrow, so I'll be a little while in replying, hope you don't mind, I'm gonna be on holiday for two weeks, but I'll rp when I can))
((No I'm back now, and it was really, really good:D Still in something of a holiday mood at the moment actually lol, how have you been?))
