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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 7, 2010 22:08:02 GMT -5
Alex trudged in sock feet towards the lobby, supposing he would find someone or other to hang out with- if all else failed, since he'd learned that translation spell, he might be able to catch someone who wasn't from the Dunehelden group. That might be fun.
He got to the elevator, tagged the button, and waited with a stern expression on his face.
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 7, 2010 22:54:47 GMT -5
If Rudeth had decided to pay attention to where he was going about two seconds later, he probably would have quite literally ran into Alex. As it was, he barely avoided doing so, and nearly fell into the wall. He stopped and tried to right himself, looking mostly dignified in the process.
"Hey, Alex!" Rudeth gave him a sheepish grin. "Didn't expect to see you here. You...don't happen to know why Hitoshi barged into my room in his pajamas and started yelling something at Tristan, do you? I haven't seen him that angry since the time we put a rubber scorpion in his sleeping bag."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 7, 2010 23:03:46 GMT -5
Alex turned and smiled wearily at the taller boy. "Hello."
"I- Sort of. I'm not sure if I should talk about it." He nudged the wall with his foot, hoping the elevator would go a little faster in case there were suspicious rumbling sounds to avoid. "Are you busy? Or would you mind going down to the lobby with me? I suppose we don't know each other very well, but- heh. We haven't spoken since Christmas, come to think..."
Alex trailed off, eventually punctuating his sentence with a deep sigh.
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 7, 2010 23:19:29 GMT -5
Rudeth shrugged. "Well, I'm sure I'll find out soon enough, at any rate, but it seems I'm always the last one to know about these things."
Rudeth combed his fingers through his hair in a half-hearted attempt to make himself look presentable. He was still barefoot, as well, though he'd at least been in jeans and a t-shirt instead of his pajamas.
"Sounds fun, I suppose--oh!" Rudeth's eyes widened suddenly. "We have to go to the gift shop. I just realized I didn't get you anything when I went shopping in Thessaloniki."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 7, 2010 23:32:39 GMT -5
Alex felt a little embarrassed, but he smiled through it; he hadn't gotten anything for Rudeth, either, or even thought about it. "That's- you don't have to get me something."
The door dinged, and Alex headed into the elevator. "That sounds like it must be frustrating," he said tentatively, "or are you used to it?"
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 7, 2010 23:46:44 GMT -5
"Yeah, but I even got Jaymie something, and I've known you way longer than I've known him," Rudeth counter. "And he made me sleep on the floor."
He slipped into the elevator behind Alex and, resisting the temptation to hit every single button on the panel, set a course for the lobby.
"Nah. Usually, if it's important, I find out eventually." Rudeth shrugged. "It only really bothers me when it's something about Mom. Like the divorce."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 7, 2010 23:52:24 GMT -5
Alex twitched, almost unnoticably. "They really didn't... you didn't find out about that for a while?"
"Do you like coffee?" You know, they probably wouldn't notice. And no one had told him not to mention... whatever it was this was even about. He could always clue the boy in on the general situation. And buy him Turkish coffee.
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 8, 2010 0:16:00 GMT -5
"I mean, they technically told me before it happened." Rudeth rubbed the back of his neck. "I think they meant to tell me earlier, since I know it had been building up for a while, but then the attack happened and Thrall..." He sighed. "I think that was what sealed it, too. The family all kind of broke at once. My mom tried to keep doing family dinners once a week, but Tristan stopped showing up, and then one week it just sort of...stopped."
Rudeth leaned back against the wall of the elevator and jammed his hands in his pockets to keep himself from fidgeting. "I keep trying to call my dad and talk to him. I really hoped that despite what happened, we could still be a family. He's my dad, you know?" Rudeth smiled sadly. "The first couple of times he acted happy to talk to me, then sort of listened to me talk for a few minutes before saying he had to go. After that, I've mostly gotten his voicemail, or he'll say he's really busy, and he'll call me back. The last time he actually talked to me was Christmas. He sent me a copy of some book on magic he wrote. I gave it to Hitoshi. I think he threw it out a window."
Rudeth blinked and looked back at Alex. "I guess," he said. "I mean, Thrall use to drag me to coffee houses so he could get tea. I got Frappuccinos, mostly."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 8, 2010 0:23:45 GMT -5
The mention of Thrall triggered the rememberance of something in Alex's mind.
He looked innocently at Rudeth. "If I ask you about some things to help Hitomi, can you keep it a secret? It might even be related to what's happened, I'm not sure."
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 8, 2010 13:28:46 GMT -5
Rudeth glanced back at Alex and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure, I suppose. What about?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 8, 2010 14:01:13 GMT -5
The elevator dinged again, and the doors opened. Alex stepped out and looked around.
"Mmh. Oh, this place has a cafe, and it's mostly empty- would you mind if we spoke there?" he said lightly, trying to communicate the need for discretion.
A few minutes later, they were sitting at a little table by a window with beautiful summer sunlight streaming in. Alex had gotten some bread, some sort of spread-thing, and a soda; he didn't want to spoil his lunch with Hitoshi completely, but he was ravenous, and even if it wasn't fresh, the bread smelled delicious.
"So," he began. "Something strange happened a couple of nights ago. I think Hitoshi and I are too close to the matter to really understand it, and Hitomi seems too... freaked out, to be honest. I was considering asking one of the teachers, but it's kind of personal..."
He took a bite of what was apparently amazing baba ghanoush, savored it for a moment, and continued carefully. "Do you know anything about magical visions, or visitations, rather?"
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 8, 2010 21:07:07 GMT -5
Rudeth tried to communicate with the waitress for a few minutes that he really wanted a cheeseburger, or at least something else that was made out of dead cow, before he finally got the hint that there was nothing with meat on the menu. Eventually, Rudeth settled for a Coke, a pastry smothered in chocolate, and crepes crammed with berries and whip cream. If only they had bacon.
Rudeth paused mid-bite, glancing up at Alex. "Urm--" He swallowed the bit of pastry. "I...uh. Not very much, unless I've absorbed some by osmosis while at Dunehelden. I know my aunt was a Seer, and a little about that sort of thing, but honestly, if you want to know about magic, you'd be better off asking Tristan."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 8, 2010 21:31:35 GMT -5
"Mmmh." Alex ran his finger around the lip of the soda can. "That's... mmh."
"It's actually your aunt that I'm referring to," he said quietly. "Hitoshi, Hitomi, and I- maybe other people, I'm not sure- seem to have had a dream about her, one that I don't think was a dream. It referred to a prophecy she gave when Hitoshi and Hitomi were born- and it occured to me to ask you because, among other things, it mentioned your brother."
He took a sip of his soda and watched Rudeth. "I hope I'm not distressing you by asking?"
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 8, 2010 21:50:18 GMT -5
Rudeth leaned on the table and stared down at the pastry, his eyebrows drawn together in thought. He'd never really given thought to things like that, visions and the like, but...it made sense, in a way. And it made him just a little jealous to think that his aunt would have spoken to Alex and not to him. It was Cassandra that had introduced him to Rogers and Hammerstein, and Barbara Streisand, and Star Wars. He'd been quite close to her, and Alex had never even met her. Still, he was sure there was some reason for it.
"I'm not distressed," he said. "Just...confused. What does this have to do with Thrall?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 8, 2010 22:31:35 GMT -5
"I don't know." Alex looked mildly irritated. "Hitomi said that her mother said she'd meet her father soon, and something about her mother's death, and something about asking Thrall. I'm not even sure if that was supposed to be a metaphor, or..."
He sighed. "And perhaps more importantly, I don't think Hitomi is taking it well. The fact that she hasn't mentioned anything about something like that since the day it happened- and even then I had to ask her- well, she's your cousin. It doesn't exactly signify that she's handling it well."
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 11, 2010 22:34:37 GMT -5
Rudeth stared blankly at Alex for a moment, picking idly at his food. "I...don't think I follow you. What?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 11, 2010 22:39:53 GMT -5
Alex glanced at Rudeth. "Ah," he said, as if Rudeth's reaction explained everything.
"Hitomi had a strange dream, that none of us think was a dream," he tried again. "It involved her mother and your brother- I don't know how exactly, she didn't explain. She's not taking it well. I'd like to figure out what's going on there, and preferably, help her to deal with it. Thus, asking you, since... well, I suppose I presumed you'd picked up more about strange possibly-magical events than I had." He smirked slightly.
"I don't really know what else to do..."
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 11, 2010 23:50:30 GMT -5
"Ah... I wish I knew what I could do to help." Rudeth frowned. "I can try to talk to Hitomi, but I think she'd listen to you more than me. And I basically know just enough about dreams and magic visions to be completely useless when it comes to them."
He was quiet for a minute. "So you think...you think it was actually Cassandra? What did she have to say?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 11, 2010 23:55:09 GMT -5
Alex sipped his soda and considered the question; it wouldn't do to confuse Rudeth with Greek prophecies at this point, and that wasn't why he was asking, anyway.
"Some things about Hitoshi, and how she'd eat me if I ever hurt your family. Metaphorically speaking." He paused. "She also said she had a lot of people she wanted to talk to, but whatever let her speak only gave her until sunrise..."
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 12, 2010 0:34:39 GMT -5
Rudeth gave Alex a dry smile. "That sounds like Aunt Cassandra, alright." Rudeth ran one finger around the lip of his glass, chewing on his lower lip.
"I guess I can try to talk to her, if you think it would help, but I'm not sure what to say."
Rudeth ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "I really wish I knew what was going on with Hitoshi and Tristan. One minute I'm trying to find where the hell my socks went, the next minute Hitoshi's barging in, yelling something about 'who's my father'. I've never even heard anyone so much as mention Hitoshi's father."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 12, 2010 0:37:40 GMT -5
Alex's eyes went wide, and he stared into space for a long moment.
"His father? He was yelling about-"
And everything clicked into place. Alex made a strangled little sound. "He was... he found something from his mother, it must have been, in- in Professor Yogo's things. And he- and the Professor-"
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Post by Rudeth Volkova on Sept 12, 2010 16:26:10 GMT -5
"Professor Yogo? But that..." Rudeth's eyes widened slowly as he put the pieces together. "But that would mean that Professor Yogo... I mean, it can't be, can it? Tristan would have said something, or--or my mom or..." Rudeth trailed off.
"I guess that's why Hitoshi was mad," he said softly.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Sept 12, 2010 16:37:09 GMT -5
"I guess!" Alex slumped over onto the table, leaning on one arm. "I can't say I know how he must feel right now, but- we're all in his class. This is bizarre- it explains so much, but it's bizarre."
He took the last hunk of bread, ripped it in half, and took another bite. "Mm. Do you want to try this, before I eat it all?" he said weakly.
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