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Post by Hamuu on Jan 5, 2009 1:46:07 GMT -5
Nat’s hair skewed slightly as a small burst of air abruptly rushed passed her cheek. Immediately she realized that several inches of Sly’s tail-blade had buried itself in the fridge just centimeters from her face. The andalite continued to stir the gravy as though everything was normal. Of his four eyes, his main two were overseeing breakfast preparations, his right stalk-eye watched over the events in the living room, and the left was staring directly at Nat.
<At a time like this, do you really wanna push those around you away?>
-
Jonas slouched on the car, causing the vehicle to sag horribly close to the ground. He looked at the entrance to the house and then at Terrian.
“You suppose dat’s da fella’ dey been lookin’ fer?” he asked.
OOC: I figure hit or miss on when Ender may reply again. So might as well give you both something to reply to quickly.
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Post by ch00beh on Jan 6, 2009 23:52:48 GMT -5
OOC: I was about to have Ender literally sweep Nat off her feet and kiss her with a snarky comment, but then realized that a joke like that would be terribly out of place. Almost posted!
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jan 7, 2009 1:30:26 GMT -5
OOC: Dammit, man, go with your instincts!
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Post by ch00beh on Jan 7, 2009 1:40:49 GMT -5
OOC: Well I should also mention that my instincts typed out the post to about 5 lines. I need to think about this scene to make it more tasteful. Or something like that.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Jan 7, 2009 2:16:48 GMT -5
"At a time like this? Yeah. I don't really need all the pissing and moaning and fanfare that we're going to get," Natalie rocked to her feet, seemingly not even noticing Sly's tail, and started to walk back across the living room again.
"This keeps happening... One of us goes away, we all get sad, then they come back and we all get happy again. I'm tired of this whole useless cycle. I've lost everybody in this room-" Natalie turned to cast a glare at Rie. "That I care about at least once. And you all keep coming back."
Stalking to the edge of the room, Nat shoved a small desk out of the way effortlessly.
"It's not worth getting emotionally invested in any of this any more. It just hurts everybody who bothers. So tell me, fellows... Why should I care? Because it might be the last time that I see people I love? Because death can come at any moment?"
"Natalie! You know full well-" Zebedee began to say, only to be cut off by said desk flying by his head.
"SHUT. UP. Don't tell me how to handle this. You did the 'go disappear for a while and make everybody sad' thing too! Do you know how much Thyra cried about that? Do you have any-- ****ing-- CLUE?"
Zebedee shrank back, collapsing back onto the couch. His sorrowful smile from earlier had collapsed upon itself, now twisted into some kind of warped grimace. He tried to look up for a moment, but immediately went back to covering his eyes. Tears ran down his arms.
"The only way to not get hurt by you people is to never actually care about any of you in the first place. I wanted to, but it seems that I can't count on you all for anything. I'm always the one left holding the fort, waiting for you all to come back safe and sound. I'm sick of it. SICK!" Natalie moved as if to throw a punch, glanced around herself, and realized that she had no target for her rage. She simply growled wordlessly, and then marched towards the door.
"Get out of my way, Ender. I'm just gonna ****ing go home and go to bed," Natalie didn't look up to talk to him face to face, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. Her mouth was locked into a frown, the right corner twitching slightly.
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Post by Hamuu on Jan 17, 2009 21:50:24 GMT -5
OOC: You realize that if we ever did a large group project and started with the original board back in the war and wrote up till now.... we'd have quite the book series.
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Post by ch00beh on Jan 28, 2009 0:57:48 GMT -5
"It's really great to see you. I thought that you were long-gone by now..."
Ender forced a slight grin on his face. "Long gone? Nah, I got a couple months, I just wanted some ti-"
And suddenly Nat was screaming at Sly and Zeb and everyone. The psychic watched the events unfold, his forced facial expression faltering as he realized what exactly he had put his friends through. He hated himself even more because on some level, he knew it would happen. He didn't have to be psychic to have known it.
"Get out of my way, Ender. I'm just gonna ****ing go home and go to bed."
As she made for the door, Ender grabbed her by the arm.
"Ender, what the FUCK do you think you're doing?" Nat shouted.
The boy said nothing and just pulled her closer and kissed her.
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Post by Hamuu on Jan 29, 2009 18:19:28 GMT -5
Sly stood in the doorway to the kitchen, his upper body leaning on the frame. Rick had joined his father and the two were staring at the kiss Ender was currently giving Natalie.
“You owe me twenty dollars dad,” Rick said in a low voice.
Sly nodded in acknowledgement, <Leave it to the interdimensional extraterrestrial to lose a bet about human nature.>
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Post by Tout-Perd on Mar 13, 2009 19:02:26 GMT -5
Natalie's hands immediately went up, bracing against Ender's chest as he approached her. She had only started to shove him away when their lips met, and she ceased at that moment. Clasping her fingers into the fabric of his coat, she pulled herself closer to him. Her eyes drifted shut, and for a while, she ignored the world around her. Shifting her grip, she slid her arms around Ender, and broke the kiss off, pulling him into a tight hug. She let her head rest on his shoulder for a moment, sighed, and then drew back.
"Really, I knew it was going to be this way," Natalie murmured, meeting his gaze. She slipped out of his grasp, her hands trailing along his arms until they were only touching his fingertips.
"I didn't want it, though... At least not now, not that we know what's waiting for you-" Natalie gulped, and then resumed talking.
"I've lost friends. I said it earlier... I've lost each and every one of you. I can survive that," her voice was strong, steady.
"But... This is something new. What exactly are you- Are we now? What exactly is it that I'm going to end up losing? This isn't just the passing of a friend, since about two minutes ago," Natalie released her hold on his fingertips, and turned away from him. Her head hung low, her ponytail mostly slipping free of the hair tie.
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Post by ch00beh on Mar 14, 2009 10:29:50 GMT -5
"Just don't think about what you're going to lose. Think about what you've gained," Ender said. He approached Nat and put his arms around her. Her body felt warm against his, and he almost thought she was shaking. The boy leaned his head against the girl's, inhaling the combination of shampoo and sweat from worry in her hair. He held her even tighter.
"I'm still here right now," Ender whispered. As he spoke, his shades slowly floated off his face and folded up before falling into his pocket.
------------
Rie had woken up to all the yelling moments earlier. She had kept her eyes closed and her breathing regular the entire time, not wanting to fully wake up and see that her closest and only friend was back. She had said her goodbye once, why would she want to say it again?
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Post by Beelzebibble on Mar 14, 2009 17:47:48 GMT -5
Terrian gave in. He let go of the seatbelt buckle and got back out of the car. Without a gesture of either invitation or prohibition to Jonas, he crossed the lawn and walked up to the front porch. The door was open. Terrian lifted his bad foot to take the first step onto the porch, looking into the house. At the far end of the hall, Ender and Natalie were embracing. And... there was the kiss.
In this split-second, Terrian's foot seemed to lose all its weight. He tread on the wooden porch before he could stop himself, but, blessedly, without making a sound. With arms flailing idiotically, he dropped off to the side of the porch and hid against a hedge before anyone inside noticed him.
He remembered the duplicate on the night of the Fascere fiasco, chastising him for being "wishy-washy". Here he was again, ducking away out of sight instead of taking any initiative. He honestly wanted to join Ender and the others; it might be his last chance to see the psion, and he felt there ought to be some kind of closure between them. But Natalie... There was just no facing Natalie. He would simply screw up whatever good mood she managed to land herself in. There: that was a pretty unsophisticated way to put it, but so it was.
And Ender and Natalie had just kissed. And now they were speaking softly together. And the idea of going in there and talking to Ender while Natalie hung on his shoulder and stared daggers at Terrian, honestly, put a mildly sickly turn in his stomach. So he sat and waited.
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Post by Hamuu on Mar 16, 2009 11:51:00 GMT -5
As Jonas ambled up, he saw Terrian lose his balance and, with arms flailing about, fall of the porch near the hedge.
“Ha! Ya lose yer footin’ der fella?”
He laughed and reached down with his meaty hand and delicately lifted Terrian by the scruff of his neck. Still holding the multi-man in his hand, Jonas squeezed the two of them through the door. Once again, his body seemed to compress and spill through in the same way a mouse fits through a space much smaller that itself.
“Well, I guess you mus’ be Ender!” Jonas inquired, “Call me Jonas, nice ta finally meet ya.”
As he introduced himself, Jonas made large sweeping motion with his hands, nearly smashing Terrian into the ceiling. Realizing he hadn’t sat his new friend down yet Jonas gingerly placed him down in front of him.
“Sorry, bout’ dat.” Jonas laughed sheepishly.
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Post by ch00beh on Mar 24, 2009 1:43:49 GMT -5
"Oh. Awkward," Ender mumbled into Nat's ear. It was inevitable that someone or something would ruin the moment. The psychic just didn't think that the distraction would come so soon. He had half a mind to teleport Natalie and himself to some more secluded location, but he had enough running for a day. Instead, Ender quickly released Nat from his embrace and turned to face the booming voice. His glasses teleported back onto his face before anyone could see his eyes.
"Yep, I'm Ender. Nice to meet you," Ender extended a hand and firmly, yet nonchalantly, gripped the giant's. He nodded at the other. "Hey Terrian."
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jun 10, 2009 16:00:19 GMT -5
OOC: You know who this needs? Lee.
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Post by ch00beh on Jun 10, 2009 16:17:25 GMT -5
OOC: But Ender said hi to Terrian! Your ignoring is making him emo and want to kill himself. =O
But moreso Nat than Terrian.
/wrists.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Jun 13, 2009 22:29:24 GMT -5
"...Ugh," Natalie started to step away, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back towards Ender, meeting his pained eyes. She brushed his hand away, but maintained the eye contact for another moment. The pain in Ender's eyes... Was it for himself? Unlikely. It seemed almost like he was pleading.
Don't let your own issues with other people drag him down at a time like this, Natalie. The words weren't in her head. They weren't Ender or Sly talking. It was her own voice, her own heart. If this was the way things were going to be, she actually had to care about somebody. Heck, with a fellow like Ender, that might mean that she had to care about everybody.
She cleared her throat, brushed at the corner of her eyes, and turned to face the doorway.
"Terrian. Um... Big guy. Sorry about, well, you guys know. All of the screaming and name calling earlier," Nat brought her hands up behind her head, quickly repairing the ponytail's structure. That'd keep her hands occupied for now. She could greet people now, but handshaking with a stranger and the man that had shot her without warning? Baby steps for now.
"The name's Nat. But I'm pretty sure at least one of you already knows that."
OOC: Ohhh, Lee posted! Ohhh, if only Lee's post wasn't crap!
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jun 13, 2009 23:10:25 GMT -5
Terrian, who had been catching his breath after nearly being smashed into the ceiling, now found the ability to bear himself straight. He even managed to look Natalie in the eye. "What name calling?" Before Jonas had the chance to look at him in confusion, Terrian nudged the larger man lightly in the elbow. "I didn't hear anything."
He couldn't resist adding, still looking levelly at Natalie: "I hope you didn't call me a dunderhead or a nincompoop. I hate those. They're my least favorite thing to be called."
Then he reached out a hand to Ender. "Good to see you again, man. This guy's Jonas."
OOC: Well, it's not like I could have Terrian and Laksha BOTH mopin' about Friendship Concerns in the same night, right?
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Post by ch00beh on Jun 29, 2009 3:53:40 GMT -5
“Yeah. It is good to see you again.” Ender smiled.
- A few months later -
He didn't want to be buried. He didn't want to leave a body behind that Genlab could find. His body was cremated in Sly's lab the day after Rie found him unresponsive in his bed. His hair had become thin and gray; his face lines spread across it. His muscles stopped absorbing the vitamins and minerals that they used to, going down to standard human levels. He didn't die frail, but he definitely wasn't as strong as he used to be. His mind never faded.
Burning the body at 'normal' temperatures didn't get rid of his bones, though. Rie had been the one to put the body in the furnace, and had even been the one to turn it on. But she couldn't bring herself to turn up the temperature. At the revelation that the oven wasn't hot enough, her eye twitched almost imperceptibly. There was almost a tear.
The group had been in the lab for the first funeral, but felt they needed something a little more official. Ender had no final requests for his ashes. He had never been one for the spotlight, so it was obvious that he didn't want a public funeral. Ender also probably wouldn't want to be kept around in a jar.
The following Monday, Rie took the urn and walked to Zebedee's house. She phased through the door and made her way to Nat's room. She knocked.
When Nat opened the door, Rie's eyes were still changing from pink to white. They changed faster than normal, but not fast enough to eliminate all traces of crying.
“What do you think about launching Ender into space?”
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Post by Hamuu on Jul 28, 2009 23:37:04 GMT -5
Sly gathered up his tools for the fifth time and rearranged them. This time he tried arranging them by size. Before that he had cleaned his ship twice, run the diagnostic test on his virtual reality gear three consecutive times, and even made plans to research a new vegetable hybrid.
“Dad,” Rick’s voice came from the doorway, “You need to come upstairs.”
The andalite turned a stalk-eye towards his son, <I told you I’m fine. I’m just… I’m just experiencing some emotional feed back from the mind-meld with Lee. Now that Ender’s gone…>
For a moment, Sly did nothing before looking down at his tools and picking them up for a sixth time. Rick crossed the lab and put a hand on his fathers shoulder.
“Look, you’re acting like you did after mom died. It’s all right dad, Ender was a good friend and we’ve known him for a while. Human emotions or not, you cared about him like the rest of us.”
Sly put the tools down and grabbed the edge of the counter. <It’s my fault. If I could just ascertained how I keep coming back to life I might have been able to save him. I might have been able to save a lot of people…>
“No, don’t even think that. Science can’t fix everything Dad. You said it yourself, one day you’re going to die and you won’t come back either.”
<It’s the way of things… No one is meant to live forever...>
“See, now come on. Jonas said he was gonna leave today, but I’ve been talking to him and I don’t think he has anywhere to go. Maybe you should have a talk with him.”
Sly nodded, <You’re right. Lets go talk to Jonas.>
As the two were leaving, Sly’s stalk-eye looked back at his desk. Ender’s laptop was still sitting partially opened with a strange black tear drying near it on the desk. It was the second time since coming to this dimension that Sly had cried. The stalk-eye turned back around as they exited the lab.
OOC: Personally, I think it would be cool if Andalites shed black tears.
This should allow Sly a good exit from the topic. I figure he’ll be needed again for the rocket but that way once that’s over Sly is effectively done.
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Post by ch00beh on Jul 30, 2009 16:42:05 GMT -5
OOC: LEE WHERE ARE YOUUUUUU
Also, to explain why Rie is going to Nat (i know I forgot to do this). She still doesn't much like Nat due to the little fight they had over Ender. But she doesn't like anyone, so that's nothing special. She's got a bit of respect for her bff's lover, though.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Oct 11, 2009 17:16:33 GMT -5
"Well..." Natalie had been lying facedown on couch in the corner, her arms out to either side. She rolled over, revealing the tear streaked fabric, and kicked her feet to the floor. She paused for a moment, sitting with her hands limply at her side, and then brought them up to wipe at her face.
"I guess..." She stood up, putting a hand on the lid of the urn. She gently traced its contours with her fingertips, a sigh escaping her lips.
"There really isn't much good to keeping 'him' around here, is there? I guess he probably would be best off... being free, out of where he's been shackled all of these years," Nat let her hand slowly drop, falling limply to her side again.
"I wonder how much happier he would have been, had we just left this world behind. Took a space ship from Sly, left all the fighting and pain back here on earth. You two coulda been free, no more of those other experiments or whatever following you..." Natalie fell back onto the couch, her body without its natural tension, its constant energy. Another sigh parted her lips.
"Coulda, woulda, and shoulda. My mom always called those the triplets that like to hang around after anything bad happened. I guess the come around when something absolutely horrible happens too, huh?" Nat let her eyes close again, almost as if she was trying to go to sleep.
"I'm sorry Rie... Ender..."
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Post by ch00beh on Dec 13, 2009 21:36:37 GMT -5
"We were made for combat. Even if we left, we would still find something that needed fighting," Rie said distantly. "Or maybe something that we would just want to fight."
Rie took a couple steps into the room, gauged Natalie's response, and decided that she wasn't unwelcome. She made her way to the couch and at on its arm clutching Ender's urn tightly.
"There's nothing to be sorry about. He was happy with what he got." Rie smiled at Nat for a brief moment before turning her gaze to a blank wall, her face going back to a neutral expression. "Earth wasn't a prison. Just a... game, I guess. I only think we should launch him because he would want to go out in style. I don't know what he actually wanted. He was the mind reader, not me."
Rie looked down at the urn in her lap. "Even if we wanted to escape the other experiments, he wouldn't want to run away when his friends were in danger."
The girl sat silently for a moment before getting up. "Come. Let's get the others."
***
Rie had gone straight to Sly's. She seemed to have walked in on a conversation involving Rick, Jonas, and Sly, but she didn't particularly care. Only thoughtful melancholy kept her quiet until the end of the conversation.
***
It only took about half an hour to find a rocket. It took another half hour to set it up in Zebedee's backyard. The device was small and sleek, about the size of a model rocket from a hobby store, yet able to deliver half the payload of a conventional human space shuttle. It was something completely expected from Andalite technology.
The rocket had a small hatch open in the side, and Ender's urn was clearly visible inside. Rie sat from a distance, staring intently at the silver object. Strange that someone who could touch the mind of any person and any machine on Earth and beyond could fit in such a small place.
The girl was vaguely aware of the others roaming about the backyard. Zebedee was knelt in prayer near the urn. Sly was losing himself at a computer display, finalizing the proper trajectories over and over again for the rocket. Nat simply paced back and forth at the edge of Rie's peripheral vision. There may have been others, but they weren't in the girl's line of sight.
Enough time. Rie stood up, not bothering to brush the grass off her pants. It would be best to get this over with. Quickly. Just like the first time. The girl almost wavered as she made her way to the rocket. Memories flooded into her mind, and they were brushed away with blankness as quickly as they had formed.
Silently, she closed the hatch and made sure it was locked. This was enough to tell everyone to back away. Sly initiated a count down before disconnecting the computer and walking off. The rocket seemed to understand this, as it had begun counting aloud.
“Ten seconds to launch. Please clear the area. Eight seconds. Seven.”
Rie was the last to back off to the designated “safe” zone. Her eyes didn't break contact with the device. She didn't want to turn around, so instead she just slowly stepped backwards. Five seconds left. The rocket's fusion engine had ignited, indicated by the bright, almost blinding glow at the device's exhaust nozzle. At this point she probably should have turned around to sprint away, but she didn't want to. She continued stepping back slowly.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rie was vaguely aware of Nat's voice.
“Three,” the computerized voice said. Nat was running towards the girl this point.
“Two.” Rie... smiled. She was still stepping back, but she was still too far inside the blast radius.
“One. Blast off engaged.”
“Goodbye, Ender,” Rie said. The rocket's engine completely ignited. Fire and smoke forced its way from the bottom of the machine, forcing it up towards the sky. The dangerous wave of energy traveled across the ground, scarring the grass. Traveling towards Rie.
As the fire nearly engulfed the girl, Nat tackled her from behind. This snapped the ghost out of her trance and turned her basic survival instincts back on. She phased Nat and herself out of the current plane so that they would both fall into the ground, safe from the fire above.
A moment later, the two emerged from the charred earth, with Rie pulling the still ethereal Nat behind her. They phased back to the physical plane. Nat promptly slapped Rie in the face, hard enough to knock her to the ground. “What the hell were you doing?!?”
Rie looked up, watching the rocket's bright ascent. She then looked back at Nat, the hint of a smile on her face fading back to a lack of expression. “Nothing.”
OOC: In retrospect, burning Zebedee's grass was a bad call. Oh well. We're done here. I think I'll lock this. If anyone has a burning (lulz) desire to reply after this, PM me first.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 13, 2009 21:49:37 GMT -5
OOC: Brilliant. Saying anything would just ruin this scene.
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