Post by Fainis the Sadistic Pansexual on Jan 15, 2015 2:00:12 GMT -5
(Continued from this thread.)
Cold sweat ran down Alex's brow as he tailed his foe through the cafeteria. He had never in his life claimed to be a particularly brave or daring man, but it was fact that he had survived encounters with some of the deadliest creatures the UCA had to offer and that came with a certain sense of grace under pressure. But no amount of grace or luck or wit could save him now. His current opponent was one that he had clashed with numerous times before, and never with any success. He knew its habits well, but it was hardly enough to save him. Small in stature, but both fiercely strong and deviously cruel. Familiar to him, yet also utterly merciless. There was no escape. He was already in its grasp. He could struggle and scream all he liked, but, in the end, he would not be able to avoid its cruel bite or sharp tongue.
His foe was named Sam and she had apparently found a table suitably far away from the other beings currently dining in the cafeteria.
Sam sat down and was quickly mirrored by Alex, who took a seat opposite to her. He considered sitting besides her in an attempt to make conversation inconvenient for a moment, but decided against it after realizing that would only put him in striking range. And he would rather her words than her fists any day.
Alex was careful to maintain his pleasant smile, but, in truth, he was fairly nervous. Sam had asked him to eat with her, which, from anyone else, he would merely take as a friendly gesture. But the only times Sam ever wanted to see him alone was when she planned to yell at him. He couldn't recall anything he had done recently to earn that- he had cut back on his jabs at her by at least fifty percent and without his GAAF lab there was nothing for him to accidentally blow up (he hoped)- but perhaps Sam had just missed screaming at him in his absence from his home dimension and wanted to make up for lost time.
At the same time though, he was curious. Surprised, even. Sam had come dressed casually. Well, about as casually as Sam could manage. She had let her hair down, showing off its medium length cut, which ended some distance above her shoulders, and her navy-and-tan patched GAAF uniform jacket was unzipped, revealing the white undershirt she had on beneath it. It was nearly the most dressed down Alex had ever seen Sam and he wondered why. It was unlike her.
Blinking the thought from his eyes, Alex saw that Sam had started eating some time ago and decided to once again follow her lead. While her plate was moderately portioned and occupied by equal shares of protein and greens, his was loaded with fried food and sweets and had apparently drawn her attention, as she spoke up about it after a long, dubious stare and a final mouthful of food.
“Alex, how can you eat so much garbage and stay so skinny?”
The man shrugged cautiously. “Dunno. Fast metabolism, I guess. And I'm not that skinny.”
Sam gazed dully at him. Her eyebrow raised slightly. “Alex, my shoulders are broader than yours.”
There was dead silence for a moment as the thin man looked across the table at her and mentally sized up their respectively figures.
His eyes winded.
“... son of a bitch, they are.”
“You're just now realizing this?”
“Well, excuse me for not paying attention to your mannish figure!”
“I think the problem is less about my masculinity and more about your lack thereof...”
Alex crossed his arms indignantly and sulked for a minute or two, both insulted and impressed by the uncharacteristic jab, but quickly forgot about his sullen protest upon feeling his stomach give a hungry quake, so he dug into his food once more. Sam, a good portion of her plate already cleared, interlocked her fingers and looked studiously out over her hands at him. Her lips pursed thoughtfully and her eyes narrowed in what was almost regret at what she was about to do. She seem to hold back a sigh before decided to speak up.
“Alex,” she said a bit loudly to gain his attention. He looked up with a smudge of icing clinging to his upper lip. “I've seen what Quetzar, Fainis, and Kedos have been up to around here one way or another, but what about the rest of the Five?”
He raised a brow. “The... Five?”
“Oh, right. Sorry. I forgot that didn't start buzzing until after your disappearance. A lot of people began to praise the five monsters that fought Strider in London as hero or guardian figures. Messiahs even. Gave them divine attributes and everything. Wrath, Wisdom, Destruction, Birth, and Strength."
Alex thought over it for a second. “Kedos, Quetzar, Fainis, Drakia, and the Sub-Titan.”
“Right.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Makes sense. Five giant animal who more-or-less have superpowers pop up all around the same time, essentially stop the world from ending, and then vanish. I can see how people got, 'messiah' out of that.”
“I don't,” growled Sam. “Kedos and Fainis are responsible for killing thousands between them and Quetzar nearly scorched London to the ground trying to save it. And that's not to mention how much damage was done by the Sub-Titan's burrowing and Drakia's scaling buildings. Between the five of them, they probably did as much damage as Strider. Maybe even more.”
Sam caught Alex grinning broadly at her. Her angry voice turned to ice. “What?”
“You said, 'Sub-Titan.'”
She blinked. The corners of mouths drew back slightly into a frown. She realized where he was going with this and was already annoyed with him.
“You used my name for him instead of yours. What was it again? Subterranean Mole-Type Titan?” He giggled as he caught the glare she was sending him. He might suffer for this, but it was worth it. Sam was so rarely truly caught off guard, so he relished it when she was. “Sam, seriously, what were you thinking? That's a terrible name! No one wanted to say it!”
“Oh, like your names are so much better,” she finally muttered bitterly.
“They are! I haven't even thought about that, 'Subterranean Mole-Type' nonsense since I came up with, 'Sub-Titan.' Now that's a nice name. It rolls off the tongue clean. Or Subsy! See? That's even better.”
It was Sam's turn to sulk as Alex laughed and patted himself on the back. His chortling faded as she shot daggers across the table at him, making it clear that she did not share in his amusement over the subject. He pursed his lips indignantly. “Oh, come on, Sam. You're just upset that no one backed you up on your name. Not even Teach, and you two were always right with each other on most things. It was kinda creepy actually. Like if you had a sex change operation and aged fifty years.”
His face grew somber and he leaned forward very seriously.
“Sam. You're not a gender-confused time traveler, are you?”
Sam answered him evenly and almost immediately. “No. If I were, my first stop would have been to your parent's place thirty years ago to talk them out of ever having a child.”
Alex faked an offended gasp and clutched his chest dramatically. “Sam! That's low.”
He dropped the act before long, chuckling and shooting Sam a grin as he broke character. "Well, I don't know the full story, but something bad went down with Draks and she was burned to a crisp... and survived. Which did nothing for her sanity. She seemed to be doing a pretty good Fainis impression by the time they decided to retire her. And I think the Sub-Titan was retired as well. Not sure why though. Maybe they just got bored of him? That sounds like something the UCA would do."
Cupping his chin in his hand, Alex hummed thoughtfully. Sam was being an unusually good sport today and he couldn't but enjoy it. Feeling bold, he decided to creep out onto a limb and hope he didn't fall.
“You know, you look good with your hair like that. You should leave it down more often. Why do you dress in full uniform anyway? We're not exactly still on the Platform, you know.”
Sam stopped and looked at him hard through slitted eyes, making Alex fear that he had misread her behavior and overstepped his boundaries, but then she seem to deflate. “I guess it's something like a security blanket. This place is insane, Alex. I'm sure you don't see it, not like I do, but there's so little that we can control now. It's no different than if we were in a giant dollhouse. And we're not even the toys that the child bashes together and pays attention to. So if there something, even something as tiny as what I wear, that I can still decided for myself, I'll do it.”
Alex felt his jaw go slack. “Sam, I think... I think that's the most nonliteral I've ever heard you be.”
Her nostrils flared angrily. “Alex.”
“Oh. Er, sorry. I guess I'm just surprised. You usually don't seem to have... uh... you know, feelings.”
Sam sighed. “You know, Alex, I give you a hard time, but this is something I've always admired about you. You shrug things off easily. Maybe not the little things like how people treat you or how tiny and girlish your shoulder are...”
“Hey,” interrupted Alex feebly, unsure what she was trying to say.
“But huge thing like the Aberrations or this place... you take to them like water. Alex, I'm honestly not sure to do here.” A slight glow of embarrassed color came to her cheeks. “Do you know why I ask you to sit down with me? It's because I was scared to be alone. You and Oscar are the only things left from what my life used to be and I'm not sure if I could survive here without you. That's also why I went along with your ridiculous Halloween plan.”
Alex frowned. He... hadn't realized that Sam felt this way. Now that he thought about it, it was her that was most out of place. He had the monsters here to thrill over and Oscar had Ranger, but Sam was not left with much to do besides realize just what sort of situation she was in. Alex folded his arms and shifted his legs anxiously, searching for what to say.
“I dunno about that... about me fitting in, I mean. I was here by myself for a while, so you and Oscar couldn't have known this, but I spent a lot of time just hidden away in my room back then. Didn't talk to anyone, didn't do anything, and if I did poke my head out, I was usually chased right back by Kedos or Fainis. And, when you get right down to it, that's all I can really do: run and hide. And talk a lot, I guess... nothing useful like you, Oscar, Mara, her scary husband and their friends, or Vesica can do.”
“You can adapt. I don't know about your new... 'friends' here, but I do know that the best Oscar and I can do is root ourselves and try to resist change futilely. To try to hold off the inevitable. But you ride change. Like a big wave. Why do you think we said we needed you at the GAAF? Because you were the first person to stop trying to keep the Aberrations from sticking and start to help the world make room for them. I won't pretend to agree with you there, but that's what you did, and still do, best. So stop whining.”
Alex pursed his lips, trying to figure out whether to be flattered or insulted. “Oh. Er, thanks.”
“Did I say that was a compliment? That's just the sort of thinking that built this place. Take away all the fighting and the UCA basically becomes a big zoo for giant monster. And isn't that just what you would do if you had their power and resources?”
Alex shrank back. “Uh... I guess.”
Sam sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I'm sorry, Alex. That was uncalled for. I'm just upset and you're the only thing I can take it out on right now. I did mean what I said earlier though. You aren't like me or Oscar.” She diverted her eyes from him. If she was a different person, Alex would have sworn it was in embarrassment. “And in some good ways too.”
“Heh. You aren't going soft on me now, are you, Sam? That almost sounded like something nice.”
“Well,” mused Sam, her near permanent scowl lifting for just a moment behind her hand. “We can't all be as one-faced as you, Alex. Some of us like to express more than one emotion occasionally.”
“Yeah, that doesn't sound like the Sam I know at all. Do I need to make sure that's not a latex mask?”
“Try it and I'll break your sternum.”
Alex smirked. “Never mind. She's back.”
(Same deal as the other one. Not specifically meant to be an open house, but feel free to join.)
Cold sweat ran down Alex's brow as he tailed his foe through the cafeteria. He had never in his life claimed to be a particularly brave or daring man, but it was fact that he had survived encounters with some of the deadliest creatures the UCA had to offer and that came with a certain sense of grace under pressure. But no amount of grace or luck or wit could save him now. His current opponent was one that he had clashed with numerous times before, and never with any success. He knew its habits well, but it was hardly enough to save him. Small in stature, but both fiercely strong and deviously cruel. Familiar to him, yet also utterly merciless. There was no escape. He was already in its grasp. He could struggle and scream all he liked, but, in the end, he would not be able to avoid its cruel bite or sharp tongue.
His foe was named Sam and she had apparently found a table suitably far away from the other beings currently dining in the cafeteria.
Sam sat down and was quickly mirrored by Alex, who took a seat opposite to her. He considered sitting besides her in an attempt to make conversation inconvenient for a moment, but decided against it after realizing that would only put him in striking range. And he would rather her words than her fists any day.
Alex was careful to maintain his pleasant smile, but, in truth, he was fairly nervous. Sam had asked him to eat with her, which, from anyone else, he would merely take as a friendly gesture. But the only times Sam ever wanted to see him alone was when she planned to yell at him. He couldn't recall anything he had done recently to earn that- he had cut back on his jabs at her by at least fifty percent and without his GAAF lab there was nothing for him to accidentally blow up (he hoped)- but perhaps Sam had just missed screaming at him in his absence from his home dimension and wanted to make up for lost time.
At the same time though, he was curious. Surprised, even. Sam had come dressed casually. Well, about as casually as Sam could manage. She had let her hair down, showing off its medium length cut, which ended some distance above her shoulders, and her navy-and-tan patched GAAF uniform jacket was unzipped, revealing the white undershirt she had on beneath it. It was nearly the most dressed down Alex had ever seen Sam and he wondered why. It was unlike her.
Blinking the thought from his eyes, Alex saw that Sam had started eating some time ago and decided to once again follow her lead. While her plate was moderately portioned and occupied by equal shares of protein and greens, his was loaded with fried food and sweets and had apparently drawn her attention, as she spoke up about it after a long, dubious stare and a final mouthful of food.
“Alex, how can you eat so much garbage and stay so skinny?”
The man shrugged cautiously. “Dunno. Fast metabolism, I guess. And I'm not that skinny.”
Sam gazed dully at him. Her eyebrow raised slightly. “Alex, my shoulders are broader than yours.”
There was dead silence for a moment as the thin man looked across the table at her and mentally sized up their respectively figures.
His eyes winded.
“... son of a bitch, they are.”
“You're just now realizing this?”
“Well, excuse me for not paying attention to your mannish figure!”
“I think the problem is less about my masculinity and more about your lack thereof...”
Alex crossed his arms indignantly and sulked for a minute or two, both insulted and impressed by the uncharacteristic jab, but quickly forgot about his sullen protest upon feeling his stomach give a hungry quake, so he dug into his food once more. Sam, a good portion of her plate already cleared, interlocked her fingers and looked studiously out over her hands at him. Her lips pursed thoughtfully and her eyes narrowed in what was almost regret at what she was about to do. She seem to hold back a sigh before decided to speak up.
“Alex,” she said a bit loudly to gain his attention. He looked up with a smudge of icing clinging to his upper lip. “I've seen what Quetzar, Fainis, and Kedos have been up to around here one way or another, but what about the rest of the Five?”
He raised a brow. “The... Five?”
“Oh, right. Sorry. I forgot that didn't start buzzing until after your disappearance. A lot of people began to praise the five monsters that fought Strider in London as hero or guardian figures. Messiahs even. Gave them divine attributes and everything. Wrath, Wisdom, Destruction, Birth, and Strength."
Alex thought over it for a second. “Kedos, Quetzar, Fainis, Drakia, and the Sub-Titan.”
“Right.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Makes sense. Five giant animal who more-or-less have superpowers pop up all around the same time, essentially stop the world from ending, and then vanish. I can see how people got, 'messiah' out of that.”
“I don't,” growled Sam. “Kedos and Fainis are responsible for killing thousands between them and Quetzar nearly scorched London to the ground trying to save it. And that's not to mention how much damage was done by the Sub-Titan's burrowing and Drakia's scaling buildings. Between the five of them, they probably did as much damage as Strider. Maybe even more.”
Sam caught Alex grinning broadly at her. Her angry voice turned to ice. “What?”
“You said, 'Sub-Titan.'”
She blinked. The corners of mouths drew back slightly into a frown. She realized where he was going with this and was already annoyed with him.
“You used my name for him instead of yours. What was it again? Subterranean Mole-Type Titan?” He giggled as he caught the glare she was sending him. He might suffer for this, but it was worth it. Sam was so rarely truly caught off guard, so he relished it when she was. “Sam, seriously, what were you thinking? That's a terrible name! No one wanted to say it!”
“Oh, like your names are so much better,” she finally muttered bitterly.
“They are! I haven't even thought about that, 'Subterranean Mole-Type' nonsense since I came up with, 'Sub-Titan.' Now that's a nice name. It rolls off the tongue clean. Or Subsy! See? That's even better.”
It was Sam's turn to sulk as Alex laughed and patted himself on the back. His chortling faded as she shot daggers across the table at him, making it clear that she did not share in his amusement over the subject. He pursed his lips indignantly. “Oh, come on, Sam. You're just upset that no one backed you up on your name. Not even Teach, and you two were always right with each other on most things. It was kinda creepy actually. Like if you had a sex change operation and aged fifty years.”
His face grew somber and he leaned forward very seriously.
“Sam. You're not a gender-confused time traveler, are you?”
Sam answered him evenly and almost immediately. “No. If I were, my first stop would have been to your parent's place thirty years ago to talk them out of ever having a child.”
Alex faked an offended gasp and clutched his chest dramatically. “Sam! That's low.”
He dropped the act before long, chuckling and shooting Sam a grin as he broke character. "Well, I don't know the full story, but something bad went down with Draks and she was burned to a crisp... and survived. Which did nothing for her sanity. She seemed to be doing a pretty good Fainis impression by the time they decided to retire her. And I think the Sub-Titan was retired as well. Not sure why though. Maybe they just got bored of him? That sounds like something the UCA would do."
Cupping his chin in his hand, Alex hummed thoughtfully. Sam was being an unusually good sport today and he couldn't but enjoy it. Feeling bold, he decided to creep out onto a limb and hope he didn't fall.
“You know, you look good with your hair like that. You should leave it down more often. Why do you dress in full uniform anyway? We're not exactly still on the Platform, you know.”
Sam stopped and looked at him hard through slitted eyes, making Alex fear that he had misread her behavior and overstepped his boundaries, but then she seem to deflate. “I guess it's something like a security blanket. This place is insane, Alex. I'm sure you don't see it, not like I do, but there's so little that we can control now. It's no different than if we were in a giant dollhouse. And we're not even the toys that the child bashes together and pays attention to. So if there something, even something as tiny as what I wear, that I can still decided for myself, I'll do it.”
Alex felt his jaw go slack. “Sam, I think... I think that's the most nonliteral I've ever heard you be.”
Her nostrils flared angrily. “Alex.”
“Oh. Er, sorry. I guess I'm just surprised. You usually don't seem to have... uh... you know, feelings.”
Sam sighed. “You know, Alex, I give you a hard time, but this is something I've always admired about you. You shrug things off easily. Maybe not the little things like how people treat you or how tiny and girlish your shoulder are...”
“Hey,” interrupted Alex feebly, unsure what she was trying to say.
“But huge thing like the Aberrations or this place... you take to them like water. Alex, I'm honestly not sure to do here.” A slight glow of embarrassed color came to her cheeks. “Do you know why I ask you to sit down with me? It's because I was scared to be alone. You and Oscar are the only things left from what my life used to be and I'm not sure if I could survive here without you. That's also why I went along with your ridiculous Halloween plan.”
Alex frowned. He... hadn't realized that Sam felt this way. Now that he thought about it, it was her that was most out of place. He had the monsters here to thrill over and Oscar had Ranger, but Sam was not left with much to do besides realize just what sort of situation she was in. Alex folded his arms and shifted his legs anxiously, searching for what to say.
“I dunno about that... about me fitting in, I mean. I was here by myself for a while, so you and Oscar couldn't have known this, but I spent a lot of time just hidden away in my room back then. Didn't talk to anyone, didn't do anything, and if I did poke my head out, I was usually chased right back by Kedos or Fainis. And, when you get right down to it, that's all I can really do: run and hide. And talk a lot, I guess... nothing useful like you, Oscar, Mara, her scary husband and their friends, or Vesica can do.”
“You can adapt. I don't know about your new... 'friends' here, but I do know that the best Oscar and I can do is root ourselves and try to resist change futilely. To try to hold off the inevitable. But you ride change. Like a big wave. Why do you think we said we needed you at the GAAF? Because you were the first person to stop trying to keep the Aberrations from sticking and start to help the world make room for them. I won't pretend to agree with you there, but that's what you did, and still do, best. So stop whining.”
Alex pursed his lips, trying to figure out whether to be flattered or insulted. “Oh. Er, thanks.”
“Did I say that was a compliment? That's just the sort of thinking that built this place. Take away all the fighting and the UCA basically becomes a big zoo for giant monster. And isn't that just what you would do if you had their power and resources?”
Alex shrank back. “Uh... I guess.”
Sam sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I'm sorry, Alex. That was uncalled for. I'm just upset and you're the only thing I can take it out on right now. I did mean what I said earlier though. You aren't like me or Oscar.” She diverted her eyes from him. If she was a different person, Alex would have sworn it was in embarrassment. “And in some good ways too.”
“Heh. You aren't going soft on me now, are you, Sam? That almost sounded like something nice.”
“Well,” mused Sam, her near permanent scowl lifting for just a moment behind her hand. “We can't all be as one-faced as you, Alex. Some of us like to express more than one emotion occasionally.”
“Yeah, that doesn't sound like the Sam I know at all. Do I need to make sure that's not a latex mask?”
“Try it and I'll break your sternum.”
Alex smirked. “Never mind. She's back.”
(Same deal as the other one. Not specifically meant to be an open house, but feel free to join.)