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Post by Tristan Carter on Aug 28, 2016 13:21:24 GMT -7
Tristan sighed as he stood outside the door to Kasty's room. The older of the two had missed the team meeting, then returned later on in terrible condition. It'd been a little while since then, and if anyone knew what had happened, nobody thought that sharing the information would be a good thing, apparently. Of course, there were only so many reasons, and it ultimately probably wasn't important anyway. What was important was that the guy who had provided Tristan with a place to sleep without either a view of the sky with too much light pollution or way too many bugs was in pretty bad shape. He knocked on the door with three soft raps as he thought of what to say. "Hey, Kasty, you mind if I come in?" He shifted his weight as he paused for a moment, the sound of a plastic bag rattling clear and quite possibly loud enough to be heard through the silence. He grimaced as he looked down at his hand and, more specifically, the bag he was holding. He was hoping he'd be able to provide the guy with a pleasant surprise, but so much for that. "I just got back from a store run, grabbed you a few things while I was there." He spoke with more confidence than he normally would without his costume, but it still wasn't exactly the same, and he knew it. Kasty didn't need to deal with a person who was only good for apologizing, though, so Tristan was doing his best to put on the smile he was apparently coming to be expected to wear, albeit a less toothy one. Just because it technically wasn't him that people expected it from didn't make a difference. It was the better face to wear in the situation, and he felt comfortable enough around Kasty to at least give it a shot, however painful to watch it may be. Kasty Doherty |
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Aug 30, 2016 23:01:43 GMT -7
And Kasty was worried he wouldn’t have time to finish all of his class work before the end of the quarter. Sure, by this point he had managed consistently miss every day of class for a straight week and he had succeeded in vastly underestimating what people meant when they said summer quarter was accelerated, but somehow he had managed to finish every single paper, read every passage, and study to a point that he felt confident for the exam. This had never happened before, even when he was a simple high schooler skating by on easy classes. He blamed having a week where he had nothing else to do but watch netflix and stare at the ceiling.
He had just pressed his final Ctrl+S on his final essay with a satisfied grin when he heard a knock on his door. He recognized the voice to be Tristan’s; someone he hadn’t seen hardly at all, let alone spoken to, since he’d come back despite living in the same house and what Kasty would personally consider a mutual friendship of discussions for maintaining one’s sanity.
“Yeah, door’s unlocked.” He called.
Kasty’s room, despite being small, was quite clean. He kept a pretty clean room in general, but since that’s what he’d been doing when he couldn’t stand sitting any longer but didn’t want to go outside and lacked a reason to go down to the kitchen, it was especially so. Kasty himself had migrated to sitting at the foot of his bed, against a pillow he’d propped against the wall. This was his fourth seating arrangement and second time in this spot after the amount of sitting in one place had made said spot uncomfortable.
Closing his laptop, he gave Tristan a smile and motioned for him to either join him on the bed or take his desk chair. “What’s up?”
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Post by Tristan Carter on Aug 31, 2016 0:10:16 GMT -7
Tristan gave an unseen nod as he opened the door to reveal a room that he was somehow even smaller than most Brook closets. This was an exaggeration, of course, but saying that he would've expected a larger room wouldn't be. Still, he had no doubts that Jay was aware of his room being slightly less than larger than life, so he neglected to make a comment. Instead, he reached into the bag and pulled out a large tub of ice cream. "I didn't know what you liked, so I went with Neapolitan," he said as he sat it down. He also pulled out a smaller thing of cookie dough ice cream, spoons, and a bowl, and set it down on the desk before sitting down on the chair.
"There's also soup and stuff downstairs," he said, "since I don't really know what your condition is, and I'm making spaghetti tonight for dinner. Nora's teaching me how to make homemade sauce, but I noticed she offered after I said that Grant said he might stop by later to check on you." He chuckled a bit before looking Kasty over. He seemed to be doing considerably better than he had been before, but Tristan had only managed to catch a glimpse of him when he had first returned.
He sighed for a brief moment before regaining his previous composure. "Anyway, if you need anything, just give me a yell. Alright?"
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Aug 31, 2016 2:27:25 GMT -7
Tristan’s gesture - several gestures, actually - took Kasty by surprise. He wasn’t sure what to do besides smile and blink, and partake in the ice cream.
“You guessed correctly.” He chuckled, taking the tub of neapolitan, a bowl, and a spoon.
Kasty was, indeed, in considerably better shape than he had been a week ago. For one, his diet no longer consisted only of soft foods (and enough ice cream to replace his bloodstream), and he was up and walking again. The tingling in his arms was gone, the hole in his back had closed, and his neck didn’t feel like it was cannibalizing itself out of spite any longer. Just this morning the sword had begun working for him again, which was both interesting and conflicting. He’d opted to let his subconscious mind ponder through that one for a bit before his conscious one took a hack at it.
Once the bowl contained a satisfying mountain range of brightly and artificially flavored frozen sugar milk, Kasty returned the tub to the table. “We should invite Grant over more often. I’ve noticed a correlation between the evenings he’s here and the quality of the meals.” He joked. The rule of ice cream is that eating it waited for nothing, even talking. Thus he was not.
“And seriously, thanks.” He sighed. “I didn’t think people would have my back as much as they have. And the ice cream is appreciated. With this, another evening can end happily, right?” He smiled and spun the spoon on the side of his hand. “Are you sticking around for a chat or do you have to get back to preparing for our possible honored guest?”
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Post by Tristan Carter on Aug 31, 2016 21:20:01 GMT -7
Tristan grinned as Kasty accepted the ice cream. Neapolitan was just the one he grabbed because it had the three basic flavors. If there was any flavor that guaranteed that it would be at least tolerated, it was that. It was comforting to know that his logic panned out well.
"He really does seem to bring out the best in the house," he joked. Having Grant over was enjoyable in its own right, but the lengths Nora went to in order to catch his attention certainly made for amusing entertainment. Even if he wasn't much for conversation, Grant was somehow exceptionally talented at being the center of it.
He raised his eyebrows when Kasty said he wasn't expecting people to have his back. "Dude, how many of us owe you? That alone is enough that it should be obvious that we'd help you out in your time of need, and then add in the fact that we'd want to anyway since you're our friend. You need to have more faith in us, man." He smiled and shook his head before continuing. "Anyway, yeah, I figured we'd chat. It's a little while before we've got to get everything started. There anything you want to talk about, or should I figure something out myself?"
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Sept 1, 2016 20:48:01 GMT -7
A wide smile spread across Kasty’s face. If Tristan had been closer, Kasty would’ve leaned forward to put a hand on Tristan’s shoulder and attempt not to fall on the floor. As he was not, he opted instead to shift to cross his legs and tap his foot to what would be the beat of a cheerful song.
“This, has definitely made me see that.” He rubbed the back of his head. With the lack of support he’d been getting from the Bulwarks, it’d been kinda easy to forget there were others, elsewhere, who still had his back.
“For once, not much has been happening for me lately. Got all my school work done before the quarter ended, read a good book, watched a popular show so I can make proper casual conversation with my peers; weirdly, I actually feel like a fairly normal student. Besides the whole, well,” Kasty chuckled lightly and ate several more bites of ice cream. It made him happy that Tristan was staying around for this reason; sticking around home had not lent itself very well to socializing. “How ‘bout you? Any new developments? You’re a senior, right? Has school started yet?”
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Post by Tristan Carter on Sept 1, 2016 22:48:41 GMT -7
Tristan chuckled at Kasty's description of recent events. That did sound pretty normal. It also sounded boring as could be, considering how he normally spent his evenings. Still, downtime was something that not many in their line of work could claim to have a lot of, so in a certain way, Kasty was pretty lucky. As long as one didn't consider the whole being forced to have downtime because of an injury thing. Luckily, questions were asked before that topic could turn awkward. Too bad the questions were fated to receive awkward answers.
"It started just a bit ago, actually," he said with a chuckle as his nervousness started to show. "Yeah, I'm a senior, but even that isn't big news, really. As for recent events..." He started to rub the back of his neck as he turned and looked out the window. "I've somehow started a relationship. And, like that wouldn't be news enough considering how it's my first one ever, it's with another super. It's very exciting, and new, and I'm completely and totally out of my depth."
He grinned and grabbed his ice cream, having let it sit a moment to let it get just slightly melty, and started to eat. He would've asked Kasty a question in return, but he couldn't think of anything to follow what had been said. It took him a moment, but he finally found his voice again. He decided to use it to make a terrible attempt at humor.
"If word ever gets out about how I'm dating a super, but who I'm dating isn't known, I'm gonna have Sandy tell Giza that it's Aurora. That ought to be fun."
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Sept 5, 2016 16:51:10 GMT -7
“Oho.” Kasty, who had unfortunately taken a large bite of ice cream just before the need to speak arose, said wide-eyed to Tristan’s tale. He swallowed. “Congrats, man, and good luck. I’d offer you advice, but,” he chuckled awkwardly, “you’ve beaten me in this race. At least the fact that the city is still standing means relationships between supers can’t go too wrong, right?”
Kasty nearly choked on his ice cream at Tristan’s quip. That was a success in its own right, he guessed while he coughed to clear his throat, even if even he could tell that was a terrible idea.
He raised an eyebrow at Tristan. “Giza tried to drown me and then cut off my hand because he thought I was associating with Aurora too much. You- you know what hornet’s nest you’re poking if you try that, right?” He took another bite and spun the spoon in his hand. “If you’re actually going through with that, just, give the super community, and maybe all of downtown, a bit of warning beforehand. And try to lure him away from populated areas.” He was joking, mostly. “In all seriousness, though, how’re you liking it? Being in a relationship, I mean. Not the opportunity to bring upon the wrath of Giza.”
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Post by Tristan Carter on Sept 5, 2016 18:16:31 GMT -7
Tristan grinned sheepishly at Kasty's surprise. He was proud of what he accomplished, sure, but it didn't seem like anything worth the reaction he got. "I certainly hope not," he chuckled quietly, "not that we'd be particularly good at destroying absolutely everything. Not quickly, at least." He grabbed at the back of his neck absently as he looked down at the ground. "Of course, I'd prefer if it didn't come to that, obviously."
The reaction at his joke turned his nervous smile into a sly smirk. "I'm fully aware, my friend," he laughed as he looked back up. He took a bite of his ice cream before speaking, his lack of concern obvious. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm considerably more careful than you are. Jokes aside, I'm pretty good at getting away if need be, and I have people who would have my back if it came to that. As for keeping the fight out of populated areas, that'd be even easier than kicking his ass. I'm exceptionally talented at making people be where they don't want to be."
His small bout of totally warranted arrogance over, he ate a few more bites of ice cream before sighing happily, his answer decided upon, but a slightly raised eyebrow betrayed his true curiosity. "Both are fun, but the relationship is considerably more stressful. In a good way, though, if that makes sense. But, on the subject of Giza..." His voice trailed off before he let out a real sigh and decided that being blunt was probably the best way to go about everything.
"He wasn't the jackass who did this to you, was he?"
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Sept 7, 2016 0:21:59 GMT -7
Ksaty didn’t like that look in Tristan’s eye. Regardless of the validity of Tristan’s claim to safety, this plan was very much not. He really hoped this was just a joke and he wasn’t going to go through with it. Maybe if he let it drop without supporting it or outright rejecting it Tristan would forget.
Kasty was about to ask Tristan who the fortunate super was when he turned the unasked question back around to him.
“Huh? No, no.” He waved dismissively. “It was Gilgamesh, actually.” He trailed off, rubbing the back of his head and smiling awkwardly only because he didn’t have another befitting facial expression in stock. The last week had given him time to recover from the, shock, was the best way to describe it, but it still felt uncomfortable to talk about. Like a rude family member who continued to show up uninvited at inopportune times and had since claimed the couch as their domain. But, he’d decided he was going to talk about it to anyone who asked, and Tristan asked.
“I got into a fight with him and, well, it didn’t end well.” He chuckled.
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Post by Tristan Carter on Sept 7, 2016 15:58:15 GMT -7
Tristan looked back out the window as he realized just how awkward the subject was. Judging from what he had heard about Gilgamesh, he was pretty sure that he was the guy that had almost attacked him that day in the docks. He ended up not following through with it, which left a pretty good impression on Tristan. Hearing about how he was the one who left Kasty in the condition he was in, however, led the teen to reconsider that stance. He wondered if he had just gotten lucky that night, or if it was just more likely that Kasty had been terribly unlucky.
Either way, it was somewhat less than important at that moment. Previous topics all but forgotten about, Tristan debated on what to say next. If his friend had ended up in the condition he did, would trying to attack the winning party do anything but make it worse? Probably not, so he decided against commenting on it then. He could always discuss it later, after he made a decision with a clearer state of mind. The atmosphere in the room also warned against asking for real details, either, so he thought it best not to pursue that subject either. Instead, he was willing to bet that it would be best to try and lighten the mood, or at least get the ball rolling in that direction. Clearly, Tristan knew just what to say.
"Could've been worse, though, right?" He asked, chuckling nervously. "At least you didn't get yourself killed."
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Sept 8, 2016 22:04:47 GMT -7
While Kasty was one to appreciate irony - if you get hit over the head with something enough you start to see when it had good form - to this, he wasn’t quite sure how to respond. His default, a returned nervous chuckle, caught halfway in his throat and again it sounded as though the ice cream was trying to settle in his airway.
“A-actually,” He tried to say before the issue in his throat had been fully resolved. He stopped and turned into his elbow to cough out a failed attempt at a response.
He felt like he’d said his lines a good number of times by now, but he still was never quite sure how to start. Once he’d recovered, Kasty sighed and straightened his posture, looking Tristan in the eye. His eyes kept wanting to find corners to stare at, but he forced them back whenever they tried to shy away. He wasn’t going to hide from this.
“Truth be told, I was supposed to die. My sword, it kills its wielders by getting us into a battle we’re not able to win after about a year. That year came for me last week and the sword told me Gilgamesh was supposed to kill me. It sure as hell felt like I died. I honestly don’t know how or why I’m still alive.”
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Post by Tristan Carter on Sept 8, 2016 23:11:32 GMT -7
Tristan blinked in surprise as Kasty pointed out the irony in the attempt at humor. He looked down at the floor for a moment before standing up and moving to sit beside him. He placed a hand on Kasty's shoulder and gave a forced smile that did nothing to hide his concern. "Hey man, if you ever need anyone to talk to, you know where I'm at. I can't say I've ever been that situation before, but I'm willing to listen."
He paused for a moment and started to frown as he really thought about what Kasty had said. "Wait a second, you said the sword told you that you were going to die? I think a slightly more in depth explanation might be needed for that, though." It didn't exactly make sense. The sword was capable of that? And how would it know in first place? Tristan was suddenly very confused and he was pretty sure some clarification was in order.
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Sept 11, 2016 17:27:40 GMT -7
Kasty gave Tristan a wide grin that attempted to say he shouldn’t be worried. “Thanks. Glad I can count on you.” He felt like he should make some joke or sarcastic quip as a balance to all of the sappy thanks he had been giving, but he decided against it on the basis of precedence. He leaned forward to place his empty bowl down on the nearby table.
Kasty thought he caught a bit of edge in Tristan’s word choice. Surprise, perhaps? He was pretty confused about the sword’s whole schick himself, so similar sentiments from Tristan weren’t unexpected. He nodded. “I’m not quite sure how it knew.” He cast a glance at the long sword, presently set up against a corner of his room. “It seems to just know stuff like that. Though, it’d never done anything quite like that. It gave me a full-on vision of my death, and then actually spoke to me. It was…” He trailed off. Disconcerting, terrifying, weird as all hell? Any of those would fit. “Unsettling, as an understatement.” He decided on.
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Post by Tristan Carter on Sept 11, 2016 18:02:40 GMT -7
Tristan blinked at Kasty as the explanation was given. He thought about what was said then and what had been said before, and then he slowly climbed to his feet. He looked down at the floor as he finally caught a very important detail. When he turned to face his friend, his face was blank. "So what you're saying is that you had advance warning that you were going to die and you didn't bother to say anything?" His voice was calm and quiet and he paused for a moment, clearly still thinking things through.
Suddenly, he swung his fist directly at Kasty's face.
He wasn't particularly strong, even with Grant's training, and he was aware that he was likely to hurt his hand more than the person being punched, but he didn't care. It was less to actually hurt Kasty and more because he was so calm and collected about it and it didn't seem like he realized what he did wrong and Tristan needed a surefire way to fix that.
"Are you fucking stupid?" He asked, the anger in his voice clear even though he kept it quiet enough that people wouldn't come running. In a house full of supers, yelling was quickly responded to. "You fucking thought you were going to fucking die, and to didn't bother to fucking tell any of us? Do you realize how pissed off I am right now? I feel insulted as hell, and you know I'm not going to be the worst. I'm not nearly as close to you as Sam or Grant, I'm sure you're aware of this. How the fuck do you think they're going to feel when they find out that you didn't tell them goodbye, that you thought you were going to die and they would never see you again?"
He turned and took a few steps away before turning back. "Why? I suggest you have a damn good reason, because I'm demanding to know why and you know they will too. And everyone is being told. If you don't, I fucking will. They deserve to know. They deserve to have known from the beginning."
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