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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/09/2015 1:28 AM

She jerked at him, trying to wrest him up from his seat, but he stood firm. For such a scrawny kid who couldn't fight worth shit, he wasn't as weak as he looked.

“Ch-Charlie? Is everything okay?” Elliot. Oh god, she'd forgotten about Elliot. She turned to face him, an explanation on her lips, but Faber beat her to the punch.

“Your sister and I are just having a philosophical conversation, that's all,” he said. His light sing-song voice had a hard edge to it this time though, and the look on Elliot's face said he didn't buy it.

This gave her the opening she needed. “That's right, Elly. My... friend and I are going to continue this conversation outside.”
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/09/2015 1:30 AM

She hauled him to his feet, which wasn't an easy task considering he was the taller of the two. She dragged him out the door with her, not even bothering to look back. She'd deal with Elliot later; right now she needed to get Faber to leave. The busker stumbled once, then kept pace with her. When she reached the sidewalk and turned to face him, she found him looking almost as angry as he felt.

“Explain why I shouldn't just get you arrested,” she said, crossing her arms and glaring at him. Faber glared back, smiling thinly, though the effect was somewhat ruined by his adjusting the strap of his guitar.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/09/2015 1:30 AM

“Easy. I'll be gone before they get here.” Charlie had to admit that he had her there. If he wanted in, she didn't know if she could honestly stop him. He could jump right into her house if he wanted, and all the locks in the world wouldn't keep him out, or hold him in for that matter.

Much as she hated the idea of relenting, the thought of constant visits from Faber was worse. “Alright, what do you want?” she asked, although she already knew the answer. She just didn't want to admit it.

He didn't launch into his spiel about Akala again. Instead, he said, “I don't know how they found him, but I'm afraid it might have to do with this.” He held his hand out, palm up, the fragment resting in the center of it.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/09/2015 1:31 AM

“If they got him, they might come after us too. I can track you. Maybe they can track me. I thought... I thought if we looked for him, we could fight them on our terms, at least. I don't want to be helpless when they come for us.” He grew quieter and quieter until he was whispering. His hand, outstretched, was shaking ever so faintly.

He hadn't said 'if'. She wondered how much he knew. She knew that if she asked, she would regret it; but if she walked away, what then? What if he was right about the whatever-it-was that took this Akala fellow? He could have been lying, but it was such an outlandish thing to lie about, and all he had asked was that she go with him to 'help', whatever that meant. Even if he was that desperate for her company, there were other, easier ways.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/09/2015 1:37 AM

Charlie took a deep breath and heaved what was probably her biggest sigh of the month, maybe even the year. “I'm just not going to get out of this, am I?” she said. “Fine, I'll bite. What happened to him?”

“That's just the thing, I don't know,” Faber said. Her acquiescence didn't comfort him in the least, apparently, which made her wonder why he went to all the trouble of coming to find her in the first place. “But I can't find him anywhere anymore, and I've jumped all over the place... As far as I could go. Still nothing."

Charlie frowned. "Look, doesn't your hot-cold radar work with the other fragments? You only sense me because I'm carrying one. Maybe he just lost it somewhere. Your friend could be fine."
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/09/2015 1:42 AM

For her own sake, she hoped Faber's friend was fine. A part of her was still looking for a way out of this grand quest to who-knows-where. But Faber was shaking his head. "Akala wouldn't lose it. His family's been keeping their fragment for generations. They all had the same name because they made that promise." Charlie quirked an eyebrow at that, but she figured it was just an explanation that Faber had butchered. He went on, "And even if Akala did lose it, I should still be able to sense it. I can't. It's just... gone. Whatever got to it can just erase them, somehow."

"And you're proposing we go looking for this shard-eating abomination," Charlie said, suddenly feeling very tired, "Of course you are. Look, if it's going to be storytime, you might as well come back inside I feel like I should be sitting down for this."
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 12:45 AM

Without even bothering to check to see whether he was following, Charlie headed back inside. She wasn't worried about him trying to leave. She'd been trying to get him to go away this whole time, and part of her was still clinging to the hope that he would do just that. It was just seeming less and less likely now, especially since she had agreed to do as he'd asked.

But it didn't have to start with anything big, like her packing her bags and setting off to who-knows-where. She just had to hear him out. From the sounds of it, she wasn't even sure that he was all too clear on what had happened.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 12:45 AM

She opened the door and belatedly remembered one of the reasons why she'd left. Elliot was waiting for her, staring wide-eyed at her and her companion. Evidently he no longer knew what to make of Faber after her earlier outburst, but he looked more worried for her than anything. “It's okay,” she said, and hoped she sounded convincing. She was too tired to tell for sure. “This... Faber's not a friend, but we have some business to talk about.” She gave him a look to urge him to leave them be for a while.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 12:46 AM

That wasn't the right thing to say either. The frown on Elliot's face only deepened. His gaze moved from Charlie to Faber and he said, “I don't know what this is about, but my sister's a good person. If you do anything to her, or try to take her away...” He did an admirable job of sounding calm and resolute, though his voice broke at the last word, and he couldn't continue. He had to settle for giving Faber a long, plaintive look, before scurrying away.

Charlie watched him go. Only after he was gone did she wander over to the living room couch and sit down. Faber didn't move right away, and she glanced at him, raising a brow.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 12:46 AM

“Cute brother you have,” he said with a nod in the direction Elliot had left in. Charlie gave a weak chuckle at that.

“Yeah. Sometimes I don't know how we're related... Oh god, I'm going to have to figure out what to do about Elly if I have to leave.” She closed her eyes and tilted her head back against the backrest with a groan. She couldn't leave him alone with her folks. Well, okay, that wasn't true; she could, if she wanted to come back and find that no one had looked after him properly since she left. She didn't know if he would blame her for it, but it wasn't something she could put her baby brother through.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 1:54 AM

“I hope you have some ideas. If I have to leave, it'll be your fault, so it's the least you can do.” Not that she expected anything right this minute, but it would be nice to make him feel a little bit guilty. It would be nice to get some revenge for what he was going to put her through, and all that.

Faber didn't answer, though he did finally take a seat opposite her, hunched forward with his hands braced atop his knees. Even curled up, he looked gangly, maybe even moreso; all she could see of him was limb and more limb. His face was more gaunt than she remembered.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 1:54 AM

“Start from the beginning,” she said. “Tell me everything. I don't really want to hear it, but maybe we can figure something out if we go over what you have.”

“I don't---” he began, then stopped. She heard him take a deep, shuddering breath. “Alright... I met Akala in this cavern...”

It wasn't a long story, though Charlie often had to stop Faber from getting absorbed in the details or going off on a tangent. She had the impression that he wanted to talk about this about as much as she wanted to hear it. She also learned that he had absolutely no knack for storytelling, even aside from his tendency to derail himself. There weren't so many events, but it took a long time for him to get them out, and it was almost full dark by the time they were done.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 1:55 AM

They wrapped up not a moment too soon either. Just as he said, “That's just about it, I think. Then I came to find you,” Charlie could hear the turning of keys. Shit. Her mother was home.

“Hide,” she hissed to Faber, who looked at her in alarm. He had been watching the door with complacent expectation when he heard the noise, but he was too confused to move quickly. Charlie shot up and dragged Faber to his feet, shoving him unceremoniously into the closet.

She had just enough time to plop herself back on the couch before her mother made her way in.
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 1:55 AM

She had the urge to say something in greeting, though that was just her nerves talking. She tamped down on it as best she could. Doing something like that was the surest way to tip her mother off about there being something wrong since nobody in this house ever greeted anyone else anymore. Charlie pretended instead to be lounging around, waiting for her mother to say something or leave.

“Don't you have anything better to do?” Ah, there it was. Classic mom. Normally the words would have irked her, but normally Charlie wouldn't be hanging around in the living room this time of day anyway. “Get off the couch. I've had a long day at work.”
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Re: Fellowship of the Travelling Shards [Self; L]

Postby crow » 01/13/2015 1:56 AM

Today, Charlie was only too happy to comply, though she had to put up a show of reluctance for consistency's sake. “Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, waiting until the last possible moment to move away. “You're the only one who has problems. I get it.”

“Don't talk back to me like that. You can start complaining once you get a job and have some kids. Otherwise I don't want to hear it.” Her mother sat in the space that Charlie had vacated, fumbling for the remote. The TV came to life, playing the theme song of that one medical drama she liked so much.
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