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Post by Gidget on Jan 18, 2021 16:48:46 GMT -8
"Why?" she murmured quietly, staying on the couch, away from him and the flower.
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Post by Drake on Jan 18, 2021 17:09:09 GMT -8
"It's... a long story. Short version would be that I had a flower like this back home, on my world... and it's gone forever."
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Post by Gidget on Jan 18, 2021 17:17:53 GMT -8
Gidget stared at Drake for a long moment, before simply murmuring, "Oh..."
Sage had specifically told her to send his regards, but she had a feeling this wasn't the best time... and she felt like a fool, allowing him to choose the gift for her. She was kicking herself, and it was apparent in the way she folded in on herself on the couch.
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Post by Drake on Jan 18, 2021 17:23:44 GMT -8
Drake turned to look at Gidget to try and thank her again only to notice how she was reacting.
"I... I really do like it. Thank you."
He would go sit down on the couch next to and put his hand on her head.
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Post by Gidget on Jan 18, 2021 17:38:53 GMT -8
Gidget flinched, almost as if she expected him to hit her, and stared at him. It was a rare moment: her fear and insecurity playing, and her not hiding it. Or maybe not being able to hide it.
"Why was it so important?"
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Post by Drake on Jan 18, 2021 17:56:56 GMT -8
Drake would respond by give her an awkward side hug for a second before letting her go and scooting to a more comfortable distance on the couch. He sighed.
"I... This world... isn't the first time I had ever been to a new world. A world that wasn't my own."
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Post by Gidget on Jan 18, 2021 18:12:28 GMT -8
"Its... not?"
Gidget looked confused, keeping her distance. It was a little easier for her that way.
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Post by Drake on Jan 18, 2021 19:33:00 GMT -8
Drake shook his head.
"I know I've mentioned how shitty my parents were, yeah? But I don't think I ever explained what happened after I first met my father."
He took a deep breath.
"When I met him, the conversation went... poorly and I ended up challenging him to a fight. At the end of which he had broken one of my legs, and shattered my other leg's knee, and as I lied on the ground he called me weak."
His fist clenched so hard his knuckles were turning white.
"I decided that I was going to gain as much power as possible. Well, it just so happened that shortly after my legs healed I was given one such opportunity. Don't ask me how or why, but I felt something calling me. I left, walking and walking and walking until I came upon some... guardian or something. I fought it, cut of my own arm when it tried to infect me... and then I killed it. But when it died I was... sent flying though what felt like lifetimes of birth and destruction as I flew disembodied through... what I could only describe as time itself."
He shrugged knowing that his story sounded impossible but whether she believed him or not wasn't really his concern. She had asked, so he was telling.
"When I finally escaped I was dumped into a different world, one that was dying. Some kind of... blight. It was infecting the people and killing them. A girl found me, and helped me back to the one last bastion of the human race on their world. While there I found out that, I too, was infected by this blight. So, I did my best to find a cure, Melody... Melody went with me. She had an ability to control plants which we had come to discover that the blight was plant based. We got caught and almost killed if not-"
He took a deep breath.
"I was able to use one of my abilities to super charge her own. With it she was able to stop us from dying and kill off an impressive chunk of the creatures, the Blight infected, that were around us... then she died in my arms."
His voice quivered now and tears start to well again.
"I carried her to the location I was instructed to go to and climbed to the top, only to see the entirety of the world was connected to me... I... believed that meant if I died the world would be set free. So I jumped to my death with Melody's body in my arms... When I hit the ground I saw the world explode and be destroyed, as my life turned out to be the only anchor keeping their world alive... Then I woke up in a crater outside of my home with a glowing green flower, one that looked very much like the one you go for me... I... I think it was Melody. Because the last thing I said before I jumped... was to ask her to not let me go alone. So, she came back to my world with me, in the form of a flower..."
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Post by Gidget on Jan 18, 2021 19:39:10 GMT -8
Gidget sat on the couch in silence as Drake told his story. It sounded crazy, but so did a group of power-wielding kind-of-humans showing up in her world, their own falling apart because of some Boss Battle. It all sounded crazy, and she had learned to just... trust her people, and trust what they told her. She swallowed her doubts and listened to his tale.
"Was that... the girl you mentioned loving?" she asked quietly, her voice barely more than a whisper. She had turned her attention to the glass flower.
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Post by Drake on Jan 18, 2021 19:48:13 GMT -8
He hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"Yes... I... don't know if it was really love or just... the bonding of loneliness... But yes, I did love her at least in some way. But what I had left of her is gone now. Left on our old world. Destroyed yet again."
His fist clenched tight again.
"I swore I was never going to leave her again... and I failed."
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Post by Gidget on Jan 18, 2021 19:52:34 GMT -8
Gidget fell silent again at that, staring down at her hands. It made a little bit more sense, how he had responded that night, why he had gotten so upset. It was pain he was still experiencing... He was still grieving, and he had every right to that.
Slowly unfolding herself, she walked over to her desk and picked up the green rose. She looked down at it for a long moment. Sage had either done something very good... or very bad... And she wasn't quite sure which, yet. Holding the glass figure in her hand, she returned to Drake, and held it out to him, as if offering him a real rose.
"Maybe... you didn't..." she murmured, not willing to look him in the eye. "She stayed with you. Maybe that flower was just... a physical representation of that fact. So maybe this one... can be a physical representation of it, too. I don't know if she stayed in that flower. I don't know how your world works. But I think maybe she stayed with you."
Gidget was quivering slightly. She didn't like these conversations. She much preferred the teasing, joking banter back and forth.
"But if you need something to hold on to... that you can touch and see... then here you go. Here's something..."
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Post by Drake on Jan 18, 2021 19:57:04 GMT -8
Drake watched as his new little friend grabbed the rose and brought it to him. He wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled as best as he could.
"Maybe... maybe you're right... Thank you, Gidget."
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Post by Gidget on Jan 18, 2021 19:58:40 GMT -8
She nodded, looking sheepish as he took the rose from her. She scratched at the back of her head for a moment, and then sat down next to him, careful not to quite touch him.
"I'm... not good with sappy shit. If you couldn't tell. But I... I'm here for you, Drake. You know that. Right?"
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Post by Drake on Jan 18, 2021 20:01:16 GMT -8
Drake scoffed.
"Don't worry, I ain't too keen on it either... you just caught me off guard. But yeah, I know. Thanks... And for the record, I got you too."
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Post by Gidget on Jan 18, 2021 20:02:15 GMT -8
Gidget held her hand up for a fist bump, smirking slightly.
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