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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 21, 2010 4:02:42 GMT -5
Alex hesitated, then shrugged.
"I just... answered the question." He opened his mouth to try to explain something, then buried his head in his hands. He couldn't just sit here while Hitoshi was hurting and try to make this rational. He couldn't keep distracting himself by trying to make this rational. He couldn't keep pretending he was doing something else.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 21, 2010 4:10:43 GMT -5
Hitoshi was quiet for a moment, staring at Alex and wondering if it would be too much to hug him or hold his hand or something, because seeing Alex like that really hurt, and he wanted to do something.
"So...you dated Blaise because you were looking for answers, right?" he asked softly. "You were looking for a comparison. Did you...I mean, did it help at all?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 21, 2010 4:56:56 GMT -5
When Hitoshi put it like that, he felt a lot better.
He wasn't sure all of his concerns were assuaged- no, actually, they certainly weren't- but his perspective on this entire stupid thing had changed. The tension in his shoulders eased, and he looked up at Hitoshi.
"Do you think... you think we could just try normal, for a while? That we could have a week spending time together and with other people and just go with the flow?" His hands dropped to the table, and he shrugged again. "If I'll stop worrying about the future, could you promise me... that if we don't end up together, you're not going to fall apart?"
He pressed his lips together and glanced down, then looked into Hitoshi's eyes nervously. "Because, yeah, I realized, I'm more scared of that than any of the other things."
Selfishness came into it, but that isn't fear. And it isn't like this is a healthy relationship, as far as I can tell.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 21, 2010 5:17:28 GMT -5
Hitoshi licked his lips slightly and nodded. "I promise," he murmured.
Hitoshi's eyes narrowed slightly and the corners of his lips quirked in a positively wicked smirk. "Back on the subject of Blaise, however... What exactly was it like dating him?"
He wasn't sure exactly what he expected or wanted to hear, but he couldn't just not ask about it.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 21, 2010 5:18:56 GMT -5
Alex narrowed his eyes, his mouth somewhere between a smirk and a line.
"'Was'?"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 21, 2010 5:36:27 GMT -5
"Was. Is." The smirk never left his face. "If you'll call the waitress over, I'll pick up the check. We can see if Hitomi and her boyfriend want to meet somewhere nearby for lunch, and if you feel the need to pay me back, you can pay there."
Hitoshi piled the dirty plates on top of each other, then glanced back up at Alex. "I'd still like to hear about Blaise, by the way."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 21, 2010 5:42:55 GMT -5
Alex raised his hat and rearranged his dreadlocks. They'd spent nearly an hour eating, not counting the walk. "Deal. And I would still be happy to go to that museum, in the meantime."
He sighed. "Blaise... if you can wait until tonight, I'll tell you. Right now, I'd rather think about Greece."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 4:54:09 GMT -5
The museum was, for the most part, about as one would expect. There were dozens of exhibits, each more elaborate than the next, with everything from old art and sculptures--none of the more famous ones, unfortunately, but most of the famous Greek art had long since been claimed by American or English museums--to informative blurbs written on the walls, which thankfully were in both Greek and English. Someone seemed to anticipate tourists.
Hitoshi had gotten about halfway through reading the information underneath some art of Poseidon and a river spirit when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Hitoshi jumped back and nearly bumped into Alex when he felt it. He hadn't realized he'd left the stupid thing on vibrate.
He dug the phone out of his pocket, thinking it might have been Tristan with something important to say, only to see INC PIX MSG from HITOMI lit up on his screen. He grimaced. She was probably showing him some souvenir she found.
He opened the message, only to see a picture of his sister in some ridiculous looking swimsuit with a message demanding that he help her choose which one to buy. He scowled. "What the hell--" Before he could even finish the thought, the phone buzzed again, carrying a different picture.
I couldn't care less if you paraded around the beach in the nude. He started to hit send, then as an afterthought, he added: Does Tristan know you're shopping for bathing suits with your boyfriend?
He dropped the phone back in his pocket and went back to looking at the exhibits.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 5:08:48 GMT -5
A second later, Alex took his phone out of his pocket and chuckled. He sent Hitomi a reply: go with the first one, definitely, and put it back.
"Sounds like your sister's having fun. I wonder if this means we can go swimming?" Alex said eagerly.
He was far more interested in looking at what they had of ancient military equipment and things actually used by people than the art, but it was nice enough. He wondered what it had been like, back when everything was made of clay or stone or bronze and something like a cell phone- or even a museum- was thousands and thousands of years off.
Alex wondered if you could replicate a time machine with magic, and an evil little smile crept onto his face.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 5:40:59 GMT -5
"I think she's wanting to go to the beach. She'll probably try to drag everyone along with her." He smirked. "You know how Hitomi is."
Despite everything, the beach didn't sound that bad. He hadn't been swimming in a while, and while the idea of being half-naked in front of a swarm of people didn't exactly appeal to him, the water did sound nice with how hot it was. And there was no way Alex was going to the beach without him, especially not with people like Kemekin and Jaebi and--god forbid--Hitomi's boyfriend running around.
He caught that strange smile of Alex's and raised an eyebrow. That was the same smile he had months ago when he was talking about manipulating Lamadre. He really should have been worried, given, but Hitoshi couldn't help but like the way that expression looked. He smirked at Alex. "What?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 5:57:32 GMT -5
"Hm?" Alex looked up and realized his expression. Ack. Bad habit to get into, that. He blushed slightly. "Uhm. Just some silly fantasy. Nothing."
He walked quickly past a divider and into a room that held three different full sets of Greek armor from different time periods.
"Wow..." Alex's eyes widened as he stood looking up at them.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 6:21:38 GMT -5
Hitoshi hurried after Alex, not entirely sure where he was going. He'd been in the middle of reading something about Helen of Troy (which was as far as he could see just a few snippets from the Iliad) when Alex had wandered off.
Hitoshi stopped a few paces behind Alex, more intrigued by Alex's reaction than the armor in front of him, though he wondered if it was authentic or just replicas.
"I didn't know you were so interested in the militaristic aspects of Ancient Greece," Hitoshi commented idly, though as he said it, he realized it wasn't all that surprising. It felt like something he should have known already.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 6:46:58 GMT -5
Alex was silent for a moment before glancing at Hitoshi.
"It..." He started walking around the case. "This was a way of life for people. It was necessary for expansion, for- it was half their politics, something every free man was expected to do if war came. The Greeks... they survived Persia. They survived the Romans. Mostly, they survived each other."
He realized he'd made a full circle, and stopped. His mouth felt dry, and he didn't know why. "I didn't really know I was either, if it helps."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 7:07:57 GMT -5
Hitoshi stared at Alex in silence, his train of thought rapidly spiraling out in several directions at once. This was yet another weird occurrence he could add to his list, which so far included the Prophecy itself and all of the subsequent strangeness, the fact that he'd been obsessively reading the same section of the Iliad for about a month for reasons he couldn't explain, the fact that he'd seemed to know Alex even when he first met him, and several other things he might not have been remembering at the moment. He doubted it was coincidence that Ancient Greece had triggered something in both himself and Alex, and he intended to drag Alex around as many ancient exhibits as possible to see if anything else strange happened.
Another part of his mind, which seemed to be competing for his attention, seemed to be fixated on the passionate way Alex was going on about the Greeks, and that something about that was really hot. (Yet another part of his brain was trying to determine whether that was another one of those weird probably prophecy-related things, or if it was just because it was Alex.)
He noticed his phone vibrating again and sighed irritably. "Don't tell me she's found another one," he muttered. He glanced up at Alex. "Is she texting you, too?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 7:15:55 GMT -5
Alex blinked and came to his senses, then slipped his phone back out of his pocket.
"Huh. Yeah." He pushed the 'ok' button until the message came up, and then the picture.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 7:27:00 GMT -5
Hitoshi looked down at the screen as the image loaded. There was no message text this time, which was a little strange for Hitomi. Usually even her picture messages contained novel-length texts attached to them.
It took him about three seconds to register what the hell he was even looking at, and he was immediately sure he could never, ever look at Hitomi's boyfriend again. The phone hit the floor with a loud thnk. Hitoshi braced himself against the wall and tried to cover up the redness in his cheeks, and wondered what the hell his sister was thinking.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 7:31:04 GMT -5
Alex flushed, staring at the screen. He heard the thunk and it took a second for his head to move to look over at Hitoshi.
He looked at the phone again, then at Hitoshi, and decided it would probably be better to use his reaction to bribe Hitomi later than to text her back now. Alex pushed the 'cancel' key several times until he was sure the picture was gone and shoved it back in his pocket.
"Your sister is a very lucky woman," he finally managed. "And very, very definitely your sister."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 7:46:06 GMT -5
Hitoshi continued to stare blankly at the opposite wall for several minutes, trying to think of anything that would keep the image from being seared into his corneas. There were fucking mirrors, and why the hell was Hitomi sending out pictures of her boyfriend in skin-tight shorts? Was it her idea of a joke?
He was going to kill her. Somehow. Probably in her sleep. Or maybe he would tell Tristan about her bathing suit shopping outing. Something. But he was going to get back at her.
He tried to concentrate as hard as he could on getting revenge and not on that fucking picture.
He glanced back at Alex and hoped that most of the color had faded from his cheeks. "I'm guessing you got the same picture."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 7:54:14 GMT -5
Alex was looking at Hitoshi with one arm crossed over his chest and the other one covering his mouth with his hand, and it was incredibly obvious he was trying not to laugh.
"You act like that's the first attractive man you've ever seen shirtless or something," he said slyly. "Though I guess running out of the room isn't any... though that wasn't just..."
At about that point he realized he might not ought to mention anything about Blaise, and especially not that, at this point in their day. Instead, he forged on: "I hate to flirt, but you're adorable when you do things like that."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 8:05:19 GMT -5
Hitoshi felt his face go red again. "Shirtless I can handle. That was a lot more than shirtless." He slumped down against the wall and put his head on his knees, then seemed to process something Alex had said.
He looked up at Alex and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'running out of the room'?" he asked slowly.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 8:13:06 GMT -5
Alex looked at Hitoshi, then let his hand drop.
"That depends," he said. "Do you really want to hear stories about me and amusing encounters with other men right now, or would you rather I continue teasing you about this budding sexuality thing? Or," he continued, "we could just go ahead and tour the rest of the exhibits."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 8:20:55 GMT -5
Hitoshi thought for a moment. "Probably not the first one," he admitted. "I would like to see the rest of the exhibits at some point." He winced. "And maybe find a sink or at least a water fountain to stick my face in. That might help."
He glanced back up at Alex. "I am going to ask you about that later, though. When I'm in a more rational mindset."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 8:31:56 GMT -5
Alex sighed. "Too bad. I liked option two."
"I think there's a bathroom up front."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jun 22, 2010 8:39:25 GMT -5
Hitoshi pushed himself to his feet and smirked back at Alex. "You're more than welcome to keep teasing me. I'm sure you can multitask."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jun 22, 2010 8:42:58 GMT -5
"Oh?" The corners of Alex's mouth slowly, slowly curled up. "You like being teased?"
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