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Post by Lucien DeChain on Feb 3, 2013 16:18:20 GMT -8
Lucien listened for the answer, unsatisfied. Apparently the boy wanted to keep his secrets. Well, Lucien was fine with that, a person was entitled to their secrets. He was just concerned for the boy's wellbeing. At any rate, the boy went on to ask about the Crows, and Lucien's head bobbed, nodding yes.
"Yes, I guess you could call it that. Though, 'gang' seems more like an old-world term nowadays." He smiled as he tried to think of what to call them now. Freedom Fighters? First Black would agree with that...
His thoughts snapped back to the present. There were more pressing matters at hand, and one of them, well...
"You wouldn't happen to be hungry, would you? I know of a place we can sit and eat, and I'll answer any questions you have." Lucien was, since starting to eat again, on a very strict diet. That is, small meals multiple times a day, in order to keep his stomach from shrinking or stretching too much. Of course, water helped, but sometimes, a man needed to eat.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 4, 2013 1:26:23 GMT -8
"yeah, that would be cool." Ari responded, genuinely. Hunger was a dull itch but his curiosity, now given the opportunity, would rapidly become ravenous. He gave a slight nod to Lucien and would follow the man if he began to lead, instinctively keeping a safe distance of several feet between them, trailing a little bit behind so he could always keep his eye on the other, while still keeping up to pace.
"so what are you, like, rank-wise? do you guys even have ranks or anything or how does that work?" the boy would ask first, a list of questions already on his mind, with the intent of comparing and contrasting. Not that he sought greener pastures, but… it was tempting to admire from the other side of the fence nevertheless, sometimes. |
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Feb 4, 2013 13:09:38 GMT -8
Satisfied with the boy's shared enthusiasm for food and drink, Lucien started to lead the way towards one of the regular venues. Regular, of course, meaning for the Crows, not for Lucien, who, before about a month and a half ago, didn't eat at all.
As he led on, he noted the position of the boy behind him, always a few paces behind, almost keeping an eye on him. Lucien supposed that was something to be expected, as he was coming more and more under the assumption that this boy was some sort of refugee that hadn't seen the world in a while.
He chuckled at the boy's question, and craned his neck around to reply to him. "Most of us are just Crows. I like to think of it a bit like communism. Everyone's a comrade, except for the high command. And yes, I'm just a Crow." Though, 'just a Crow' was a misnomer.
Eventually, they would make it to a small pub, and as Lucien led the boy in the door, he would wave at the bartender, and, receiving a nod in response, the duo would walk towards a room in the back. In the room, whose walls dulled the noise of the pub-goers, there was a wide booth, complete with red leather cushions on the seats. A large circular table was in the middle of the crescent-shaped booth.
Lucien sat down, and offered a seat to the boy.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 4, 2013 13:29:01 GMT -8
Communism, hmm. The word usually carried bad connotations, but Ari nodded in understanding of Lucien's more positive take on it--namely the term 'comrade'--as he followed the man. He silently analyzed and concluded that it was pretty much the same thing as Rogues, but the attitude was different. No camaraderie, and rather than the communistic notion that everyone helped each other out, everyone was left to fend for themselves. Very, very interesting, the boy thought.
As they approached the pub, Ari was both excited and nervous. In the old world, he never would have set foot in a place like this. Probably wasn't even allowed to due to his age. The teen's eyes widened in awe as they entered into an almost perfect reproduction of a scene of more ancient times, the kind of thing he genuinely believed to have died out. In a matter of moments Ari realized he probably looked just like he felt, and casually jerked his head so that a thick tuft of hair fell over his dumbstruck face. He straightened his back and mimicked Lucien's demeanor, a counterfeit of the casual but confident i'm-supposed-to-be-here vibe that the man seemed to wear so well. He slid himself down onto the red leather cushions after Lucien, hardly able to contain his thrill at the novelty of it. Not even the highest ranking officers in Rogues enjoyed this level of comfort, as far as Ari had observed from occasionally being permitted to step foot in their crypt of a barracks. Even the smallest detail--the pleasant warm hue of the leather seat--threw everything into sharper contrast than he could have expected.
"i didn't even know…" the boy began, unsure even where he was going on that train of thought. "i didn't know stuff like this even still existed." He turned to Lucien, but the man wouldn't likely see the boy's wide blue eyes, the sheer disbelief and delight glimmering in them, because of all the hair. |
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Feb 4, 2013 13:58:05 GMT -8
The boy's awestruck expression was lost on Lucien, who, in fact, couldn't see his face at all. His voice, on the other hand, and the wonder held therein, Lucien admired, while admitting to himself that before joining the Crows, he wouldn't have expected such a place to exist either.
"Yes, it's quite a place, isn't it?" He chuckled, turning to glance at the busy pub. Although he had invited the boy here in order to respond to his questions, of which he seemed to have many, Lucien still had a few things on his own mind.
"Can I ask for your name?" He asked, his tone a bit more curious than serious. He turned back to the boy, wondering what kind of person he was. As far as had been already said, the boy was quite a mystery to Lucien.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 4, 2013 15:55:20 GMT -8
"i'm Ari," the teen stated, giving a light shrug as if to imply it was a matter of little importance. He reached up to remove the strands of hair from his eyes and once again fixed his attentive blue-grey stare on Lucien. His hands met on the table-top, elfin fingers twining together thoughtfully as he pondered what to ask or say next.
"so… what do you do, in Crows?" he asked, not even sure what he meant by it. What were the man's duties as a Crow? Hobbies in his spare time? Interests within or without the organization? He decided not to get any more specific, though, to leave it open-ended enough for Lucien to answer whichever way he saw fit. In the meanwhile, Ari's gaze flicked back over to the lively scene, reveling at the rare… normalcy of it. Everyone seemed to be getting along well enough. As far as he could see there was nothing terribly crude or violent about these people at all, i.e. they didn't get their kicks out of kicking the shit out of each other. Quite amusing, if anything. |
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Feb 4, 2013 17:31:57 GMT -8
Lucien noted the name, Ari. Maybe shortened from something else? As his mind floated through the possibilities, he nodded slowly. At any rate, it did seem to fit the young boy aptly.
As Ari asked his next question, Lucien thought of how he might answer it. It was a very broad question, after all. Though the slight man was not long-winded, he could explain things with detail.
"Personally? I tend to do more surveillance and reconnaissance than anything else. There are others that are trained more as footsoldiers and the like, but I'm not really the right type." He chuckled. "And, well, let's see..." He rose his eyes up in thought, bringing his hand to his face. "We're constantly in the process of rebuilding things. I guess I do a bit of carpentry and woodworking, too."
He wasn't quite satisfied with the short explanation, but, then again, he wasn't going to openly share everything with this boy. For all he knew, he could be trying to infiltrate. So, Lucien thought, keeping to common knowledge is probably best.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 5, 2013 1:40:45 GMT -8
Ari lifted his hands to rest beneath his delicate chin as he listened to the man speak, leaning forward with his elbows dug into the table. Every so-often his gaze would tentatively drift back to the dimly-lit throng of pubgoers in the other room as if they might have suddenly disappeared. Nothing changed; everything seemed pretty alright. This and other minor strains of culture shock buzzed distractingly in Ari's peripheral thoughts, his attention divided between Lucien and the rest of the world that went on, seemingly no matter what.
"so is there a lot of fighting? like, war? with Barker or anyone?" Ari asked. Lucien had mentioned footsoldiers at some point, and the boy's head was filled with tense imagery of guerrilla warfare and heroes for a few moments before something trivial across the room stole his attention again. His stare would return to Lucien after another moment to await the answer, genuine curiosity apparent despite the more obvious lack of concentration. |
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Feb 5, 2013 16:26:10 GMT -8
{OOC: Takes place after War Drum, I'm assuming...}
The boy seemed interested in these things, Lucien thought. He was glad, since he didn't get a chance to share his knowledge with people very often. After all, more than 90% of the people he knew were in Crows, and the other ten percent knew everything he did. Sometimes more.
"Uh, yes, in fact. We recently went to war with Mr. Barker's forces. Other than him, we don't have many enemies, save for the small independent factions that appear every once in a while." He replied, rather straightfaced. The young man had a mixture of emotions run through him as he thought about the war, and how many they had lost.
He raised a hand, and motioned for a bartender to come over to the table. One appeared fairly quickly, and politely asked, "What can I get you two?"
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 5, 2013 21:31:24 GMT -8
ooc: whups yeah i forgot to specify when this takes place. i think my canon of events gets a little bit skewed from the actual 259 since i do so much writing off-site, but for the sake of keeping things simple we can just say this happened sometime after War Drums.
Small independent factions. Ari inwardly cringed at the casual mention, purely out of instinct, even though he knew it wouldn't be Rogues that Lucien was referring to. He'd have already known about any previous incidents, if there were any. But still, he felt vaguely vulnerable. A forged smile appeared briefly on his face until Lucien looked away. Ari also directed his attentions toward the approaching bartender.
"uh, just water is fine. thanks." the teen requested. He shifted his gaze down to the table after that, pondering, feeling it was wise to probably change the subject. But to what? He busied himself circling his thumbs for a few moments, and then alas, lifted his head again with an inquisitive squint of his eyes.
"do you have any special powers?" he asked, referring to Qi, of course. Having only recently discovered that he had one, he was naturally curious about the subject where he never had been before. Even in school, being surrounded by the 'gifted', the phenomenon slipped beneath his notice.
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Feb 5, 2013 23:47:10 GMT -8
Lucien looked to the bartender after Ari requested 'just water', and nodded, saying "Water, and a green salad."
The bartender nodded and walked off, as Lucien heard the boy's question. He didn't turn back to face Ari for a moment, while he inwardly decided whether or not to divulge that information. In the end, it seemed a bit too personal for it to be spoken of, when the duo had just met, out of random circumstances.
He turned back to him, as if he was just lost in a confused thought, and on his face was an expression of such. "Special powers?" He repeated, slowly and methodically. "What do you mean?" His eyes grew curious as he fake-interrogated the boy.
Whether or not he was getting better at this lying thing, well, that remained to be seen. But, at least he wasn't giving the boy information that could potentially become a weapon.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 5, 2013 23:58:08 GMT -8
"like, a Qi or anything. some people have them." Ari clarified, thinking to himself that he probably should have used the 'official' term for it right off the bat. The boy bit his bottom lip after that, flicking his gaze off to an arbitrary corner of the ceiling as he tried to think of an example, but found himself at a loss. Decidedly it was a little more confusing now that he'd even brought it up, but he was still curious. Perhaps if Lucien was a Qi-possessing individual or knew a thing or two about it, he could impart an enlightening word or two to the boy who had only recently discovered such an ability. The source of its power was still unknown to him, as well the extent of its effects. |
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Feb 6, 2013 13:12:09 GMT -8
Lucien tried his best to keep his facade, but it was near impossible to keep everything away. So, when his eyebrow lifted at the mention of the word Qi, he went with it. Or, tried to, anyways.
"Oh, Qi... Right, that thing." He raised his eyes in thought for a moment. "I don't think I have one..." His gaze settled back upon Ari. "It's like an extra muscle, right? That only some people know how to flex. I can wiggle my ears..." He, indeed, wiggled his ears for a few seconds. He laughed after a moment.
"Do you have a Qi?" He asked, hoping that his performance was enough to keep the young boy satisfied. If not, there might be trouble, and Lucien might actually have to use his Qi.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 6, 2013 13:29:10 GMT -8
Extra muscle… didn't know how to flex. Ari's face lit up at what he realized was kind of a perfect analogy. The corners of his lips pulled back a little as Lucien wiggled his ears, affording a quiet laugh from the boy. The grin faded, though, seemingly lost in thought.
"i didn't think i had one, either," he began, pressing his small palms flat against the table as he explained. "but i guess i do? i just don't know enough about it, to… i don't know how it works or how to control it." The boy lifted his hands again and inspected his palms as if searching for some unknown source of power.
"i don't really know anyone who has-- well, i know one but he doesn't really seem to know anything about it either." Ari said, his form stiffening slightly the moment he did. He sat frozen, hoping that small detail would't be enough to draw any suspicion to whose company he kept. No matter, i can make up anything, he assured himself. He cleared his throat and continued, unfazed.
"i just wonder if there's some sort of trick, or if it's different for everyone."
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Post by Lucien DeChain on Feb 6, 2013 13:51:24 GMT -8
The boy's explanation was interesting, to say the least. And, while Lucien did want to help, he also wanted to keep secrecy. Though, there was a few ways to do that.
"I think, well, what I've heard... It's different for everyone. But, it takes a lot of practice to get it right." He suggested, trying to support Ari. But, he was also slightly curious about the boy.
"What kind of power do you have?" He would ask, with genuine curiosity.
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