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Author Topic: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]  (Read 1924 times)

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Marakai2.0

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Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« on: October 14, 2017, 09:01:57 am »
Seven years was a long time to be trapped in a cage.

True, this particular cage was massive, filled to the brim with dorms, classrooms, gyms, pools, and a myriad of other things. But at the end of it all, any place  where you cannot hope to simply walk out of could always be defined by a single word.

Cage.

The ATC was one such place, full to the brim with its Pilot Candidates, who's only hope to escape was graduate and become a Pilot, or fail and become TRIM'd. Most of the candidates failed to see what this place truly was, not sticking around long enough to see that walls had replaced bars and chip-locked security doors had replaced a padlock and chains.

But Garza knew cages. He'd been in one before, and after a few years, he was beginning to see the similarities.

The thought of the cage itself didn't bother him, not so long as he wasn't trapped in it by himself. No, the part that bothered him the most was that those he'd befriended were slowly leaving him behind. Soleas had already left, moved on to Stage 5 to live in the Citadel. Matt likely would, soon. Heather had her newfangled Mentor, so that was only a matter of time.

But not Garza. Passive telepathy was a real bitch, hard to silence. For hours on end, he'd hear the mixed voices of the other Candidates echoing around in his skull, their surface thoughts leaking through. True, he had made much headway in blocking them out, slowly building up that mental block that would allow him to tune out everything but what he wanted in his head, but it was taking far too long. These days, that truth infuriated him.

So, he'd be left behind again, until he could master his power. And the big man had no choice but to channel that anger into something constructive.

He grunted as he shoved the weight bar up, hitting his two-hundredth rep at three-hundred pounds, by now his arms beginning to shake and quiver. He could put more weight on, he knew, but he wanted to distract himself, not push his body. He laid on the bench, his shirt long since discarded and his grayish skin covered in a sheen of beaded sweat, eyes glaring up at the weight bar as if hating it could make his life easier.

He shoved forward again, and again. 201, 202, 203.

He'd go for 300, and past that if he could.

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2017, 01:05:20 pm »
Almost four years as a Stage 2 Candidate and even Joelle knew she was testing the limits and patience of her instructors. It was not as if she wanted to be TRIM'd or anything. He subjects were difficult for her though especially as she faced her thoughts constantly flitting to other more exciting ventures such as the next game she was going to compete in or the next thing she was going to build and repair or even what she was going to eat next.

Classroom learning was doable but difficult and yet her time was running out, causing the young woman to stress and struggle even more than usual. She tried to take her mind off her worries only lay awake at night with equations and theories swirling around and around we head like hungry demons wanting more.

Antsy and eager to burn off some energy and nerves, Joelle decided to hit the gym. With a com pad in one hand for studying and a full packet of Coreos in the other, she jogged her way on down there and bounced into the room with a slight thud of the door. At this time of day it was not surprising to find the room relatively unoccuppied but one fine specimen of the male sex certainly caught her attention.

'Mm mm mm-mm mmmm, yum-MMY!' she thought to herself as she drank in toned muscles working hard to repeatedly support the weights testing them. 'Hello handsome!' unaware that her thoughts could be easily heard, Joelle smirked to herself before taking a seat on the recumbent bicycle, cracking open her packet of goodies, and getting straight to work. The former stillness of the room was now broken by the gentle whirl of her machine paired with the crinkling of her package wrapper and her own chewing.

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2017, 01:23:37 pm »
Heated red eyes stared forward, gray fingers tipped with black claws grasping the steel bar in a grip that looked as if it could warp the solid metal.

227. 228. 229. 230. Mm mm mm-mm mmmm, yum-MMY!

Wait, what? That was a second voice echoing in his head, one that sounded oddly...satisfied.

Hello handsome!

He quirked a brow at this, the skin of his face bunching up around the barbs that followed his eyebrows. Surely, it couldn't be him that had that female voice so full of admiration. He was used to shock, and sometimes fear. Not this.

A moment later, he heard the telltale crinkling of a wrapper of some kind, and he decided to see who was sharing the gym with him all of a sudden. With a heave, he pushed the bar back up onto the rack, sliding his massive frame out from under the weights as he did so.

When he sat up, casting his gaze around the room, his eyes stopped on a familiar figure - one that he'd seen a few times before, had even noticed her occasionally sneaking glances at him.

Had drawn her profile out of boredom, a face stuck in his mind after he'd noticed her attention pointed in his direction.

His gaze dropped from her face to the pack of cookies in her grasp, and again his brow arched.

"It seems like a waste," he started, his deep voice like that of grinding stone and gravel, "to push oneself to exercise while eating junkfood." He let out a deep chuckle, before collecting his shirt and standing. "But surely you know that."

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2017, 01:44:07 pm »
"Nu-uh," she replied with a mouthful of choclolatey crumbs. " Swallowing quickly she continued without  missing a beat in her exercise, "I'm burning it all off as I go. It's productive guilt-free binge-eating you see! Besides," Joelle added with far more confidence than she felt, "I'm also studying so double calorie burning and triple multitasking. Pretty ingenious if I do say so myself." She puffed up, smiling brightly at him even as her eyes wandered to glance over his full body twice.

Seeing his shirt in hand she could not help but think, 'Oh honey please don't put that back on, it'd be a crime to all humanity to hide that figure. I bet you're quite popular with the ladies. So unfair to look that good and I'm the only one to witness it.'

"So do you come here often?"

'IS THAT REALLY THE BEST LINE YOU COULD COME UP WITH IDIOT?! WHAT ARE YOU, TWELVE?!'

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2017, 06:48:52 pm »
As she spoke, his eyes continued to widen.

Does she really think it works that way...? he wondered.

"I'm...relatively sure it doesn't work like that. You are consuming far too much from an unhealthy source to burn it off as fast as you say." He blinked once, red eyes closing only momentarily.

As he opened them again, her voice echoed within his mind again, and he couldn't help but to raise a brow incredulously.

"E-excuse me? Oh...uh..yeah. I'm in here quite alot....actually... ." He glanced down at his shirt, his fingers twisted around the material, before his gaze shot up to her again as she berated herself mentally for her own question.

"Uh...excuse me, but...you're....thinking rather loudly. I can hear....everything."

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2017, 07:52:15 pm »
She blinked once, twice, thrice before her breath hitched in her throat and her mind exploded in terror at his admission. 'Abort! Abort! Abort! Run Tink, RUN!!!' her mind shrieked as it fought to drag her out of her horrified stupor. With a high-pitched squeak, Joelle faltered in her cycling causing herself to tumbled backwards in her attempt to dismount while still mid-stride. Com, cookies, and cowardly human all landed with a shark thud.

All she could think to do in the moment was to raise the packaged cookies above her head and declare, "it's all good. I was able to save the Coreos!"

'Maybe the floor will just swallow me up and he won't notice.'

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2017, 07:55:36 am »
Garza's eyes came to squint as he winced, her voice cutting through his consciousness. Usually, he would keep quiet about the things he heard in the thoughts of others, and he'd wanted to do so now, but...

Well, he'd never run into this situation before. The most positive thoughts he picked up about himself were generally simple tolerance. The other end of the spectrum usually was a taste of abject horror. But attraction...?

It was new.

His eyes widened as he watched her flail and tumble off the back of the exercise bike, and he stepped forward to help as soon as she hit the ground. He halted a step or two away once her arm shot triumphantly into the air, cookies in hand.

Even as she pronounced the preservation of said cookies, he couldn't help but smile. "I would think you'd be more worried about your own well being than that of your snacks."

As if her want to disappear would stop him from wanting to help her. Ha. He took that last step forward, and gently grabbed her wrist, pulling her to stand in front of him. Once she was off the floor, he looked down at her face. "So, nevermind the cookies. Are you okay?"

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2017, 08:15:01 am »
"I'll live," Joelle commented once she was on her feet again and brushing herself off. 'Only my PRIDE is wounded. He heard my thoughts! Could this get anymore embarrassing? ...oh god, you can still hear them can't you?'

She looked up at him wide-eyed and extremely flushed as a deep blush crawled up from her neck all the way to the tips of her ears. "Sorry," Joelle apologized sheepishly while chewing on her bottom lip and hanging her head. "I don't mean to do that. I just have such lousy control over shielding. Not of course that that's any excuse for what I was thinking. That was incredibly rude of me."

Swallowing thickly, the young woman glanced back up at him. "You should probably put your shirt back on." Not knowing what else to do, Joelle shuffled awkwardly before holding up her pack of cookies towards him. "Coreo?"

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2017, 08:39:23 am »
"I'll live."

At this, he tilted his head, eyes blinking slowly, though he straightened once her mental voice again filtered through his mind.

"Yes...I can still hear them. But don't be embarrassed. I can hear almost everyone, so don't worry about that." He again tilted his head to the side, a small smile gracing his lips. "Though your earlier thoughts were a bit...disconcerting . But there's no way you'd have known I would hear you, and one's thoughts should generally be private. So, worry not."

He glanced down at his shirt, still tangled up in his fingers. He sighed when he lifted it up, seeing four holes rent in it, where his claws had punctured the fabric.

"...It seems I will need another. But just as well, I need to head back to my room eventually, anyway." He glanced down at the pack of Coreo's she held up to him.

Should he decline? But it would be rude, wouldn't It?

He settled with taking a single cookie, popping it into his mouth and crunching loudly.

"Thank you," he said, using his mental voice while his mouth was occupied. Once it was gone, he resumed speaking normally.

"So... I couldn't help but notice, though. I've seen you a few times, especially in the cafeteria...and caught your gaze more than once."

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2017, 12:47:26 pm »
Joelle had begun to relax a bit as he conversed with her and accepted the cookie. That all went out the window though the moment he admitted he knew she had been staring at him for quite some time from afar. She gasped slightly nearly choking on her own spit before pinching her face up tightly in shame.

"Sorry," she whispered, truly wishing the floor would swallow her whole or even bit by bit. "I didn't mean to stare or disturb you. I won't do it again, or bother you for that matter. I'll uh, let you get back to what you were doing now. Thanks for the help," she added, refusing to look at him as she attempted to back out of the room.

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2017, 05:25:28 pm »
As she started backing away from him, towards the door, he felt horrible. He hadn't meant to embarrass her or cause her to feel ashamed, and he felt ashamed himself for having brought it up.

He was quiet for a moment, and she was nearly to the door before he spoke.

"Wait..." he started, one single word echoing through the otherwise quiet room. His gaze was cast on the floor now, and slowly a reddish hue began to heat up his cheeks, only a few shades off of his eyes.

"Before you go, I do have an admission. I mean...how would I have known you were looking, if I wasn't looking as well? And..well, that isn't all. After I noticed you were watching me, I snuck a glance of my own, every now and then, and...."

Fuck, if anyone else knew this, he'd die. But he wanted to put her at ease. Shame for shame, so to speak.

"Well, I'm surprised you didn't notice, but... I drew your face. A side profile, to while away an hour or so. And I thought to myself, 'What is this girls fixation on me?' while I drew it. Knowing is...satisfying, I suppose."

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2017, 06:04:45 pm »
She froze where she stood at his plea. What he said though was the last thing she expected to hear. He had been watching her? He had drawn her? Joelle's eyes got larger and larger as he continued to admit that he possibly liked her as well. Her mouth fell open before she was able to shut it would a loud clink of teeth.

Feeling flushed, she did the best she could to gather herself before licking her lips and smiling shyly up to him. "Perhaps we started off on the wrong foot here." Taking a few steps towards him she held out her hand to him. "I'm Tink and it's a pleasure to meet you." Joelle chewed on her lip tensely before shyly asking, "do you want to get cleaned up and then maybe meet for food some time?"

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2017, 05:30:10 am »
"Tink. That's an interesting name." He offered a light smile, and took the hand she extended to him, marveling at how small hers was in comparison to his own. He gripped her hand lightly in his own, and gave it a gentle shake.

"I am Garza Ozkai, and the pleasure is mine. And...well, if you don't mind waiting for me to shower, we could go here in just a minute." He released her hand, smiling sheepishly as he looked down at her.

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #13 on: October 16, 2017, 05:38:07 am »
"It's a nickname," she replied a bit sheepishly with a shrug of her shoulders. Joelle marvelled at how his hand just completely encased hers and how gentle he was with her. She had no doubt he could easily crush her if those muscles were anything to go by and yet, she knew she was safe with him. While others had often whispered about the giant of a man, she had always found herself watching him instead. He was beautiful to her and perhaps always looked a bit sad. Then again if people were constantly talking about her  she supposed she would be sad too.

"I would be more than happy to wait for you, Garza," she blushed slightly as his name rolled so effortless off her tongue. "I'm not the kind of girl who turns down offers to food ever."

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #14 on: October 16, 2017, 07:42:01 am »
"A nickname, huh?" Garza smiled down at her, the gentle points of his teeth just visible. "Well, then what is your actual name, if you don't mind me asking?"

At her next words, he smiled again, perhaps a bit wider. "Well, I must say it doesn't show," he said, making a vague, if not awkward gesture to her form. She was small and lithe, yet still athletic and beautiful, he noted, and not to mention quite attractive. "Perhaps those cookies don't have as much of a negative impact as one would think, hmm?"

He chuckled good naturedly, and glanced toward the door. "Oh...and where would you like me to meet you? At the cafeteria, or...?"

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #15 on: October 16, 2017, 08:59:30 am »
Joelle pursed her lips tightly at mention of her real name. "Joelle Tinker," she ground out. "Daddy calls me Joe and everyone else calls me Tink. You can call me either but never Joelle if you want to stay friends." She winked to lessen a bit of the bite to her words but Joelle was indeed dead serious. She hated her first name that was so close to her dead mother's.

Those thoughts were quickly tucked away though as she smiled up at him again. His comment about her form made her laugh without restraint. "I don't know if you'd be saying that still after you realise how much I can eat. I think I'm just immune. But, cafeteria it is then! Say I'm about half hour? Will give me enough time to put my stuff back and you to get cleaned up?"

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #16 on: October 16, 2017, 10:46:29 am »
"Joelle," he murmured, testing the name on his tongue. Listening to the way it sounded, he looked at her for a moment. After that moment had passed, he smiled.

"Well. I think 'Tink' is a much better fit, anyway. A friend of mine called me 'Gurney' before he moved on to Stage 5. Others simply call me 'Gar.' You're welcome to either, if it suits you." That brought him again to the line of thought that had seen him to the weights to begin with - the one who that had dubbed him 'Gurney' had been Soleas.

But the thought of being left behind, oddly enough, didn't sting quite as much as it had an hour or so before. Perhaps still being here had its perks...like this pretty little woman who stood before him. He could use a friend, always could use a friend, and....perhaps, more.

"Oh, of course. If somehow I beat you there, I'll simply wait for you." One edge of his mouth quirked up a bit, and he glanced toward the door. "Well. I suppose I had better get a move on, then. So, I'll see you then, Tink."
« Last Edit: October 16, 2017, 10:50:23 am by Marakai2.0 »

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #17 on: October 16, 2017, 11:42:22 am »
She clicked her tongue at him and winked. "Race ya there!" Joelle laughed like a pixie as she darted out of the room and down the hall. She was actually skipping down the hall in her excitement. Not only was she going to eat but she had finally spoken to her crush. The pair had even admitted the feelings were kind of mutual.

Standing in front of her bedroom door the thought finally hit her. "IT'S A DATE!!!" She flushed in embarrassment as several heads poked out of nearby doors to look at her strangely. "Sorry!" She murmured quietly before ducking inside. 'Oh I hope Garza didn't hear that too. Mmm Garza though, the name suits him.'

Joelle quickly dragged herself from her thoughts and became trying to make herself more presentable. Her long hair was rebraised neatly into a side braid that came over her left shoulder. She hanged her clothes into clean ones and even washed her face before darting back out the door. A bright smile lit up her festures as she was practically beaming with joy. 'Oh I hope I'm not too obvious,' she quietly mused to herself as she finally reached the cafeteria with time to spare.

Marakai2.0

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Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #18 on: October 16, 2017, 12:23:09 pm »
Garza was momentarily taken aback by her enthusiasm, yet found himself grinning like a fool as he followed her out the door. He watched as she sped off - or, rather, skipped off - down the hall.

But that face, that cute wink of hers, was etched into his memory. Perhaps he'd draw that later, or...

He was struck by an idea, just then, as he turned to lumber in the direction of the stairs. Maybe he could show her...

A few minutes later, he found himself on the floor above, freshly cleansed of all the sweat he'd accumulated in the gym. He was already dressed in the mandated gray clothing all candidates were issued, his sketchbook and pen in hand.

As he left his room to head to the cafeteria, he could feel the bass beat of his heart thudding in his ears, pounding in his chest. He was slightly nervous, and he was desperately hoping that it didn't show too strongly as he stepped through the doors.

It took only a moment for him to find her, and he walked purposely in her direction with a smile on his face.

"Well. It looks like you beat me here, this time."

Offline GoblinFae

Re: Just a Distraction [Goblin!]
« Reply #19 on: October 17, 2017, 10:36:37 am »
"This time?" she asked coyly with a wink. Joelle certainly liked the sound of that if there would be more. "Shall we?" The Candidate was beaming as she reached out, easily slipping her smaller hand in his much larger one before gently tugging him forward towards the food line. It felt natural to her and she did not even pay it a second thought as she did so.

Joelle giggled nervously but she could not be happier. Food was sacred and she never would say not to it. The fact she got to share a meal with someone who also happened to be her major crush just made it all that much sweeter. "So do you have a favorite food, Garza?"

 

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