Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Nov 24, 2012 23:03:39 GMT -5
"Zach, okay," Ian nodded. "So you know 'of' Sonra. And 'forbidden' or not you know what she is..." The boy extended his pinky and index finger in the traditional sign of the evil eye. It was the closest thing he knew to sign language for "demon." He dropped it with an apologetic grin, but his look of curiosity persisted. "You saved me from those nymphs," he reminded him. "That tells me you're a great guy, I believe that. Also tells me I'm not the only one, the only human, who's been 'over the rainbow' you know? If that's what you are. Seems like I'm introduced to a new species every day since I met Sonra. Or she met me. And the sisters too, if you know 'of' them too."
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Post by Ninmast on Nov 24, 2012 23:10:53 GMT -5
As Ian prattled, the other boy slowly massaged the side of his head. Finally, he interrupted the American right in the middle. "Damn, you don't shut up, do you?" He moved to push himself away from the table. "You're giving me a headache. I'm starting to regret pulling you out of that pool." And he turned and walked for the trash can, depositing his empty cup in the receptacle.
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Nov 24, 2012 23:44:05 GMT -5
Ian rose sharply from his seat, realizing his mistake. He'd been running at the mouth, saying too much too fast, and it had turned Zach off.
"Hey," Ian called out as he hurried up behind him. "I'm sorry I got carried away. It's just..." The boy's gaze darted off briefly as he checked himself from doing it again. He began again slowly. "Life is a little weird and... Yeah, a little scary for me right now. I believe you could help me, even more than you did at the hotspring. Will you?"
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Post by Ninmast on Dec 1, 2012 16:02:54 GMT -5
Zach stopped and sighed, then finally turned back to Ian and held up a finger. "Rule number one. Unless you want trouble for Sonra and for you to be hauled off to a nuthouse, don't talk about stuff like demons and nymphs and rainbows like you're a bloody loudspeaker. I always figured that was fairly obvious, but you don't seem very big on self-preservation."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Feb 24, 2013 23:19:29 GMT -5
"Would anyone believe me even if they heared?" Ian thought on it. "But you're right, I guess. Better to be safe." He peered around at the crowed of mall rats. No one seemed to be watching or listening, but Ian had by now learned not to take things at face value. And he wanted to protect Sonra. Someone might be crazy enough to take such loose talk seriously, and then where would they be?
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Post by Ninmast on Feb 24, 2013 23:40:26 GMT -5
Ian had hardly turned to look about before Zachary's hand closed about the front of his shirt and suddenly the American was slammed against a pillar hard enough to knock the air out of him. It probably would be a moment or two before enough sense returned to him to notice he was being pinned a foot off the ground by the boy's one hand that still clenched his shirt.
"If you want my help," he replied sternly, "you'll shut up and listen when I give you advice. It isn't a matter of whether or not someone who overhears you believes you. If they don't, you ostracize Sonra and get yourself locked away as insane. The ones that would believe you? Even worse. This is not a dating sim or a manga you're in the middle of, American. It's real life, and there are real consequences to flapping your jaws. So shut them or you're on your own. Are we clear?"
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Feb 25, 2013 0:02:49 GMT -5
"Yeah, okay! Will you stop making a scene?" Ian wanted to kick the guy for manhandling him but knew better than to try. His thought's were focused on how many onlookers Zach's bravado was accruing by the moment. He hoped no one called security. Maybe someone already had. One chubby-looking otaku was already filming the boy's throw-down on his cell phone. Ian saw others drawing their phones as well. So much for keeping a low profile.
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Post by Ninmast on Feb 25, 2013 0:23:56 GMT -5
"What, now you're afraid of making a scene?" he replied, and with one quick motion, still with that same left hand, he had flipped the boy over and Ian had landed on his back.
Zach glanced over at the otaku and leveled his finger at Ian. "The American mocked my Street Fighter score," he told the fat kid with seriousness that belied any doubt. Apparently a definite otaku, the boy nodded in quick understanding, as if arcade ranks were truly serious business. But then again, Ian was in Japan.
The boy in the unmarked uniform hauled Ian back to his feet by his collar and got him by the arm. "Come on, friend, we'll settle this the old-fashioned way."
He led Ian toward what was perhaps the loudest part of the mall: The arcade, full of lights and sounds and raucous shouting. And then right through it and, without any consideration for legality or trespassing, right out a Staff Only door into a back alley behind the mall. Again, he released Ian, pushing him around in front of him. He held his arms out to either side of him. "Better?"
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Apr 10, 2013 22:28:29 GMT -5
"Yeah, fine," Ian said, glancing about the alley, still a little shaken by being manhandled by a demon. Well, maybe not, but judging by his strength Ian was sure he wasn't human, which helped explain his sensitivity about knowledge of Sonra's true nature. All the more reason not to antagonize him, Ian thought. "So what's the score here?"
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Post by Ninmast on Apr 19, 2013 16:49:48 GMT -5
"That depends on you," Zach answered as he returned his hands to his pockets. "You haven't gotten through all your chatter long enough to tell me what it is you wanted from me."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Jul 18, 2013 2:35:56 GMT -5
"Just... Advice," The word was too simple he felt. It'd had more weight in his mind, but hearing it out loud diminished it, and he knew Zach wouldn't take to it without further, concise explanation. Ian chose his words carefully.
"You've saved me once already from one of the dangers of this... other world of yours. What Sonra and her mother are supposed to rule. They've welcomed me into it for reasons I still don't understand, other than... They trust me. I want to be worthy of that trust but I'm still way behind on understanding everything about demons, and spirits, and flower girls, and how I'm supposed to fit in as just... Me. If I can."
The prospect that he'd never be able to fit in frightened Ian. As did the notion that he might not be able to live up to Sonra's trust, or ever earn Zach's. Ian's sadistic sensei might teach him what he wanted to know, but Zach could give it all to him straight. If he felt like it.
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Post by Ninmast on Jul 18, 2013 8:40:39 GMT -5
Zach stood there for a moment, perhaps considering his own response, or weighing Ian's request. The moment stretched out and the superhuman youth allowed him to slump against one wall as his eyes rolled over a more mundane version of the sign at the front entrance to the arcade, present back here only to mark which store this particular door led to.
"Just advice," he repeated after some time, long enough that Ian was probably starting to wonder if Zach was going to provide anything at all. "Fine, I can give you advice, not that you seem the type to pay any attention to it. Here it is." His gaze fell sharply back to Ian. "Don't. Trust. Demons. No matter what they say, how polite they seem, how nice they smell, how pretty they look, or what they offer. You can't fit in with their world. It is as alien to this one as another planet, and they as another species. You can't understand how they think, how they reason, what they desire or their views of the multiverse as a whole beyond the most superficial of levels."
He pushed himself away from the wall and pulled his arms out just to throw them up. "Of course they trust you. Why shouldn't they? You think your feeble little human mind holds any secrets from them? The least insightful of them would know the moment you bore them any ill will and snuff your life out like a candle wick. The one thing you have to remember is that you aren't dealing with a house full of pretty girls that are crushing on you, regardless of what they look like. You're dealing with a house of extremely powerful extradimensional immortal spirit beings with their own goals, their own agendas, and more than a few of them with an appetite for dimwitted little boys."
That last bit was an obvious and deliberate slight against Ian, if Zach's piercing glare was any indication of it, but before the human could get half an opportunity to get angry about it, Zach had him by the collar again with his left hand, though he didn't lift him this time, just closing in face to face. "And one other thing: Theirs is not my world. That was your freebie. Now you know. If you value your face in its current configuration, don't make that mistake again."
So Zach had very strong, very negative feelings toward the whole affair, enough that Ian's assumption that Zach was a demon was incredibly offensive to the young man.
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Sept 20, 2013 21:14:14 GMT -5
The boy got the message.
For once, Ian’s gregariousness failed him. All his eager chatter suffocated under a cloud of renewed doubts and fears. He nodded solemnly.
“Okay,” he said, evenly. “Okay.” It was all his stilled tongue and stung heart would permit. Anger at Zach flared in somewhere inside him, but shined no brighter than a tarnished penny and was defeated by the simple truth that Ian had asked Zach for his advice and he’d dispensed it with extreme prejudice. But prejudiced or not, the truth still hurt. The ball was in Ian’s court. He didn’t have the heart to pick it up.
“Thanks,” Ian said, once Zach let him go, and he bowed slightly to show respect to his baleful senpai. Whom Ian still felt secretly sure was tied to Sonra's world, one way or another. They both were.
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Post by Ninmast on Sept 23, 2013 12:07:26 GMT -5
Figuring, perhaps, he'd done his good deed for the day, Zach said nothing else, only putting his hands back in his pockets, turning around and walking off down the alley, leaving Ian to find his own way back to the food court.
By the time he navigated back to the open area, he was able to spot Sonra immediately. She was looking incredibly worried, glancing around, tapping her foot, tapping her fingers, checking her watch, repeating it all over again. Apparently, she'd been waiting for Ian for some time. He arrived in time to see her slump, sighing in resignation, apparently deciding she'd been ditched, and stand from the table before shouldering her purse. She was turning to leave, but Ian could still catch her if he wanted.
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Oct 24, 2013 14:05:11 GMT -5
Ian hotfooted through the crowd to catch up to Sonra. ‘Damn it,’ he thought. ‘I completely forgot about her! Stupid, stupid!’ He dodged and wove past cliques and strangers who gave the hurrying foreigner looks that were either confused or disapproving. Ian wanted to apologize but hurried onward. ‘No, she’s leaving!’
Finally he was within earshot and he threw up his hand to wave as he yelled, “Sonra!” She turned to him just as he came to a winded halt beside her. “Hey!” He huffed with a nervous smile. “Sorry I’m late. So Sorry! I just, ah… Ran into an old friend.”
Ian wasn’t sure what else to say. He’d tried explaining who Zach was once before, after the nymph mishap, but now it felt like he wouldn’t have wanted his presence to be known. Fair enough, but there was a risk. He could downplay his tardiness with Sonra, but he’d be in for it if Ayako inquired at all about his day. If what Zach had said was true, his thoughts really were as easy for a succubus to read as an open book.
And if he knew his sensei, who was almost as vindictive as she was voluptuous, Ayako would certainly NOT tolerate being lied to. The image of Ian’s teacher menacing him with a kanabo like a spanking paddle flashed across his mind, inwardly horrifying him and worsening his anxious demeanor before Sonra.
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