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Post by Talbot Linsorim on Jun 1, 2006 23:37:53 GMT -5
She was surprised and a little bothered by the thought of them being so forgiving- she could only nod her head, slighly in fear they would change their minds from the kindness to aggression if she didn't agree. She looked directly at Eldran, "I'm sorry," turned and moved towards the closest balcony- she didn't care if someone was with her or not, though she suspected Joseph was right at her side, he wasn't a bad guy. Why had she hurt him? It was those damn genes from her father- that curse. No- it ws her temper, HER temper. If she knew she wouldn't cast to save herself at the last moment she would have happily jumped form the balcony. She shook her head, she had messed up big time- letting her temper and the gene win- if only for a moment. Once out in the open air she closed her eyes for a long moment- listening to the gentle wind sing its song of comfort before saying again, now to Joseph- if he had followed, "I'm sorry."
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Post by Midnight on Jun 2, 2006 0:39:03 GMT -5
As Talbot made her way from the room Joseph followed her silently. Though even if he hadn't the girl seemed distracted enough that she wouldn't have noticed him. When they stepped out onto the balcony, he closed the doors behind him so that they couldn't hear the others and visa versa. Say for the wind she seemed to be listening, to and the stars themselves, the two were sharing a completely private moment.
After a short silence, she apologized without turning. His lips arced into a half smile as he strode forward and leaned over the railing with her. "You know, at the age of eleven, my father dropped my in the middle of the Nevada desert while I was asleep. The next morning I awoke with nothing but the loose pair of pants I had worn to bed the night before and a rifle." he paused with a bitter chuckle, "Keep in mind this was long before I bonded with my friend here. No back then I was only about half way through my marksmanship training. I hadn't even learned how to use my energy yet. Just the basics of what magic was. I woke up in that heat scorched wasteland not sure what was going on. For a short while I assumed it a dream. Then slowly as days passed, I gave up on that."
"Then I began to wonder if I'd done something wrong, and this was my punishment. Oh, and what a punishment it was. Those first two weeks I came inches away from death. I could feel his cold breath on my neck, and see him when I looked over my shoulder. If I hadn't found a crevasse in which to shelter I would not be standing here. Heh, I was out there a year scrounging myself what an animal may call a life. many horrid things happened to me out there. When rescue, if you can call it that, finally came for me, I don't believe I was quite human anymore."
"Heh, in fact, I didn't even recognize the gunmage school's helicopter. At first I thought it was a bird, or maybe death come back to taunt me again." he paused with another bitter laugh, "My father was on board. When I was pulled on, I had the same reaction with him. Wasn't sure who he was. I'd seen so many hallucinations out there. Still, when he handed me a gunmage adept's uniform, I remembered. His exact and only words to me were, 'Every gunmage must know how to survive with nothing more than his weapon. You have just demonstrated your ability to do so. Be proud, you are now on your way to becoming a true gunmage.' It had been a training exercise. Simply survival training, nothing more. Yet...so much more."
Joseph fell silent at the conclusion. In truth he had gotten too lost in the torture of his own memories from those years that he'd forgotten why he began to share the story in the first place. For so long he'd hated the sun afterward...
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Post by jyo on Jun 2, 2006 0:54:07 GMT -5
"I won't make any promises Eldran. But I'll make sure to think about it. But in the future I would choose they way things are said if I were you. There ar people worse then Talbot at going off on you like that." He said as he got up and put an arm around Ziare.
He looked over at Ziare and smiled as he gave her a small hug then he looked back to Eldran. "Well if you would please excuse us there is fun dance to rejoin. You should come on out and enjoy things as well." He said and he led Ziare out to the dance floor.
"So my love. shall we continue our previous dance. Or shall we try the new one we practiced at your place?" he asked leading her into the starting position both dances shared.
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Post by Ziare on Jun 2, 2006 2:10:21 GMT -5
Ziare was happy they were back to dancing it was the main reason for coming or so she had thought. The music picked up a light cheerful tone and Ziare smiled brightly.
"Why good sir." Ziare said playfully. "I would like to try the new one of course."
She curtsied like a lady and smiled mischeviously. And she prepared herself for the exhausting dance they were about to break into.
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Post by jyo on Jun 3, 2006 3:57:20 GMT -5
"Very well my lady." he said taking one of her hands in his as they began a more vigoruos dance and a slightly more intimat one as well as many of the steps had them pressed close together when they were not sperating. jyo noticed Zaire had a natural knack for learning dances. he would have to practice more of them with her later.
Midnight and Talbot were not in his thoughts for now. Nor was Eldran though he wanted tommake time to speak with them all again before the night was through
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Post by Talbot Linsorim on Jun 3, 2006 13:12:21 GMT -5
Talbot closed her eyes for a long moment, her mind locking away his words along with all of the stories and pasts she had heard before- she had known one gunmage before him and both tales were similar, though his seemed harsher. Lucretia's emotions, unlike Joseph's, had long faded- she quietly wondered if he too would become a shell to his past as Lucretia had. She spoke softly, "You shouldn't let it effect you so much, Joseph. They way you make it sound- is as if it was more than a father's test to see if his offspring could survive on theie own. "
She didn't look at him or towards him, she was preocupied with her own thoughts, "It's what father's do. Take us out of our element, toss us around, break our hearts, and pick up back up. The methods are different, always- different, but to their children the methods are always cruel because we are unwilling to let go and detach- we want everything to stay the same and be alright."
She shifted slighty, never once looking at him, she was too ashamed of having hurt his hand and for the memories her words pulled from the darkest places of her mind, she rested her hands on the railing of the balcony. Mulling over her own thoughts now.
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Post by Midnight on Jun 3, 2006 18:31:56 GMT -5
Joseph took a long breath as he looked out over the garden. Her words triggered something in his mind. He remembered exactly why he began telling that story. It wasn't from that memory, but from a later memory that was related.
"I suddenly remember why I told you that. It's because regardless of what was done to me by my father, I don't hate him for it. In fact, I have thanked him for it." the gunmage whipped the dried blood from what had been he uninjured hand, then placed it back on the railing, "The reason why is from what he'd said to me later."
His hand slid along the rail and took hers in it. Looking towards her now he repeated the words his father had told him long ago, "Many believe pain to be a burden. They find it a pointless torture that only exists for the sake of itself, but that's simply not true. Pain exists as a tool. It is in this world to make the strong, stronger, and the weak more aware of it. What makes us strong or weak is how we react to pain. Will it rule your life forever more, or will it simply fuel your will, as you carry it out? I never forgot that..."
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Post by Talbot Linsorim on Jun 9, 2006 14:55:56 GMT -5
Talbot did not respond immedietly, her mind had drawn a slight blank- why was he holding her hand? Her gray eyes studied his blue but there was no urge to pull her hand back. A tough of worry struck through her- was he trying to trick her? She listened to his words, "Many believe pain to be a burden....pointless torture that only exists for the sake of itself...not true. Pain exists as a tool. It .... makes the strong, stronger, and the weak more aware of it. What makes us strong... is how we react to pain. Will it rule your life forever more, or will it simply fuel your will, as you carry it out?
She blinked slowly, she understood what he said and what he meant but- why would- She quickly realized he had figured something out and just as easily as he had taken her hand, she removed her own from his grasp. Looking away from him she answered softly, "Pain is what we make it- that is all you had to say," she dismissed this all with that small sentence. But she still had more, something she had also realized.
"Long stories like yours are not disimilar from one I've heard- I have stories that would make your hair curl but this is not about me. Nor will it ever be. We are all writing a story of our own, many are not to be mixed and blended like some sort of fruit smoothie- they have to be carefully layered mixed and set before anything good can come of it," she looked at him now- peeling her eyes from the moon, "you can't make a good recipe with haste-," she smiled, "you understand?"
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Post by Midnight on Jun 9, 2006 15:45:55 GMT -5
Both hands resting on the railing he absorbed her words. Though his silence may have been interpreted as struggling to understand, he knew exactly what she meant. The thought made him smile inwardly. Earlier he had doubted that his attempts at her affection had been for naught. That Talbot was a pinnacle that he, nor anyone else, could ever reach. Her words now shattered any remnant of that conception. She, wasn't ready quite yet for a relationship.
Joseph drew himself back and stood before her, hands firmly, yet comfortably at his sides. "Yes, I do." his reply came in a neutral tone. Then, as a smile arced across his face, he regarded her once more with admiring eyes; his glasses glinting in the moonlight as he c*cked his head. "Though," he added in a lighter voice, "I find it amusing that you comment on my drawn out message, then turn around and give me one yourself. I think I'd like it, if some day we could express our emotions without the use of metaphors and stories."
Turning from her, his gaze lifted to the moon she had so desperately been focusing on. The light cast a full reflection across the surface of his glasses which hid his eyes. "At any rate, one of the reasons I asked you here tonight, outside of the obvious, was to tell you we won't be seeing each other for a while. Tomorrow morning I'll be leaving for Asia." he told her, his voice still light, "Perhaps when I get back we could...go for a walk sometime?"
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Post by Talbot Linsorim on Jun 9, 2006 21:32:57 GMT -5
Talbot nodded, facing the inside of the building. She watched the lovebirds dance, again she was entranced by them, the movements they made were still beautiful and foreign to her- she was happy and content to watch- looking at Joseph from the corner of her eye, "Why not?"
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