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AZOTH
‘Cause these words are knives that often leave scars The fear of falling apart |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jayspurr
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Post by Orion Alim-Verdi on Dec 7, 2017 15:23:41 GMT -8
Orion pulled a bowl from one of the lower cabinets and set it on the counter. Walking to the refrigerator, he pulled the still full carton of eggs and began cracking them against the counter and pouring them into the bowl.
“Yeah, no we haven’t picked a specific date yet or anything— this just came to mind— Wait, Dad’s doing Hanukah this year? I could have sworn— Oh— yeah I guess we could be up for that.” There was a long pause, and numerous eggs would be cracked in the meantime. “You’re going to have to ask Jazz. I don’t keep up with that.” Another longer pause. “Yeah if you read the text message I sai— Yes.”
A small snort and he fished above to find the cheese grader before going for the cheese block in the fridge. “Well that’s good… I mean… you know what I mean…” He might have been grating that cheese a little too hard into the egg bowl. “I’m sure that’ll be fine, if need be we can hotel it since— yeah? Yeah, I guess maybe…” A pause. “Yeah, that’s an option. I haven’t talked to him in a while….”
Orion trailed off a bit, appearing to listen more than speak, occasionally adding in a ‘mhm’ or a ‘yeah I know’ or even ‘ok’ here and there. He’d fish out a pan and heat it with just enough oil to get things going before starting to dip the— oh fuck he totally forgot to separate out the egg used for the Kalosian toast and the eggs for the cheesy eggs. Eh, cheesy egg Kalos toast is a go. “No I’m fine,” he went grabbing the bread and starting to dip slices into the mess and then set them on the pan. He’d flip them over now and again.
“Oh hey Dad? What’s up.” was said louder than before. “Yep, everything’s great… yep, probably going to come and see you and Mom and everyone… Oh? Huh, interesting… yeah I kinda missed ya not coming in— Oh? Fuck, Dad???” A sharp laugh escaped from Orion, and he nearly dropped the phone that was pressed against his shoulder and ear now. “Poor bastard. Yeah, I figured. So Mom said you’re doing Hanukah this year? Oh— Actually yeah that… heh I guess I should’ve caught that already… Wait what? Oh—no yeah. I haven’t forgotten. I just—” Orion was snickering softly. “Yeah…”
It went on that way a bit quieter after. Occasionally a weird laugh would escape from Orion only to be quieted again as he focused in on trying to cook and talk at the same time. After the Kalos toast was done and he was left stirring the eggs that were almost done, however, Orion slowly shifted the phone to his other ear. “Listen, Dad… I’m gonna have to call you back. Dinner’s almost ready. Yeah, yeah ok cool. Talk to you later.” Hanging up the phone, he put the last of the eggs on the plate. “Come and get it!”
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Civilian
I can't help it, I'm a babbling idiot. Please kiss me quick, 'cause I need to feel it~ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY 🌸 SG 🌸
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Post by Nikolai Laska on Dec 7, 2017 17:00:00 GMT -8
Nik tried to listen in, but it was really hard to follow from only Orion's side, and the occasional shuffle of the box drawing his auditory focus didn't help either. ... O-oh but here was the printer?? Yeah he needed that actually. He got that set up and hooked to his laptop, and set his sleeve design to print out at several sizes before getting back to looking while it started printing.
He found his sketchbook, as well, and set it aside to look through and decide if there were any elements of previous versions he might wanna work back in after all. Not here, not there... Next box.
He actually did find the tattoo kit he'd bought, but where.... Ah! There was the ink, and the rest of the ink. Now shouldn't that be under a few books in the same... yes, there was that translucent wax paper, score. And a fine paintbrush, awesome. Once he had everything, he double checked all his needles and, despite being brand new, made sure they were all extra sterilized.
When Orion called him, he set everything aside and headed in. ...Ah, he realized they'd need to get a dining room table, too, huh? Since Orion's was part of the old apartment and Nik's old place was too small to have one. Eating on the couch sounded great for tonight though. "Looks great, babe." ..Was that cheese on the toast? Huh, neat. He usually thought of it as a sweet dish but savory sounded nice and interesting.
"Ey Luce!" he called, perking up the Gardevoir who'd been relaxing on one of Nik's beanbags in the front room. "Tell Kara and the others to come get some~"
Turning back to the food, he'd take his own plate and enjoy a few bites on the way to the couch, giving an appreciative 'mm~' or two along the way. After taking his seat, he'd ask, "So what'd your parents have to say?"
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AZOTH
‘Cause these words are knives that often leave scars The fear of falling apart |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jayspurr
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Post by Orion Alim-Verdi on Dec 7, 2017 17:10:25 GMT -8
Orion preened a bit handing the plate to Nik. He would then make up a plate for himself and then left the rest on the island with several forks for the Pokemon. Kara had been playing some board game up in the flex space with the two Ditto whom she was very sure were cheating at this. When Lucy called her down, she’d turn and give up on said game to go and get food. The two Ditto would hang around each trying to beat the other before doing their best to scurry on down after.
Sitting down on the couch with his plate, Orion ate pretty hungrily. He hadn’t even realized he was this hungry until just then but hey the more you know, apparently. As Nik spoke, Orion smiled a bit. “Dad’s doing Hanukah this year finishing up on the 20th… I was thinking maybe we could go up in the middle of it, maybe leave on the twenty second or twenty-third, and get back on the twenty-fourth~?” he grinned a bit. The airports would be a nightmare the day before Christmas, but being home for Christmas would be nice too???
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Civilian
I can't help it, I'm a babbling idiot. Please kiss me quick, 'cause I need to feel it~ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY 🌸 SG 🌸
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Post by Nikolai Laska on Dec 7, 2017 17:32:14 GMT -8
Ah. Nik worked through that in his head, but eventually answered, "Yeah, if you wanna be there that long. And if they can house us or we find a cheap hotel. Might not be able to with this little notice during the holidays, so if we wind up with an expensive stay we might have to trim it down to a few days..." He was thinking aloud as much as explaining, but yeah. "We'll figure it out, though. Good to have an ideal window to work with." They could look at hotels after they ate, too, if need be.
"...It ah.. sounded like there was some bad news in there...?" Unless he misheard?
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AZOTH
‘Cause these words are knives that often leave scars The fear of falling apart |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jayspurr
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Post by Orion Alim-Verdi on Dec 7, 2017 17:41:29 GMT -8
“Actually, though they don’t have a spare room my uncle does,” Orion explained, his eyebrows furrowing a bit. “Don’t know if you remember Uncle Marco or not, but he’s kinda a hermit…” And had been for some time since his ‘accident’ as Mom called it. Orion…. Wasn’t evn too sure what Uncle Marco was up to these days, but he’d let Mom handle the logistics of that and get back to him when she could.
Hm? Bad news— “You mean Dad?” he asked shrugging his shoulders. “Not really bad per say…” he smirked a bit, forking the last of his eggs a bit too hard. “He’s been talking to Azz’s husband lately on hers and Jazz’s behalf … and ya know how Dad is ….” Did Nik? He wasn’t actually too sure how much Nik remembered of Abe Alim.
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Civilian
I can't help it, I'm a babbling idiot. Please kiss me quick, 'cause I need to feel it~ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY 🌸 SG 🌸
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Post by Nikolai Laska on Dec 7, 2017 17:59:08 GMT -8
"Oh? Ah, vaguely, I think" he answered. He was like, 98% sure he'd seen a Marco before. (Or was he thinking of Marcus? Well now he was like 40% sure lol.) Well, they'd be sure not to bother him. They'd only really need a bed to crash in at the end of each day, or maybe a room to hole up in and hide for a while if things got too overwhelming, heh.
As Orion explained the other, though, Nik snorted. "Oh. That kind of 'poor bastard', huh?" Nik didn't remember a lot of Abe, but How He Was in general did kind of stand out, and even just the occasional vague vent from Orion was pretty telling. "...Man. Now I'm just vaguely afraid he's gonna have a field day with my gender stuff." He half-forced a small laugh. "But hey, maybe he'll figure it out so he can explain it to me." And that was punctuated with a slight snort before he went back to chowing this toast.
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AZOTH
‘Cause these words are knives that often leave scars The fear of falling apart |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jayspurr
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Post by Orion Alim-Verdi on Dec 7, 2017 18:16:47 GMT -8
Orion flashed a bit of a toothy grin at Nik. “Yeah,” was the quick answer to the ‘poor bastard’ question. His features, however, twitched a little as the realization that Nik would probably talk to him at Hanukah. Oh, yeah. Needed to be careful with that, actually, probably. Good to, ah, start thinking about it now.
Then again, he knew Dad could be one of the most, if not the most, accepting of people. He just… also tended to treat them terribly? Whoops? Not Dad’s fault right? Totally Dad’s fault. Haha…. “Just… remember he means well…” Usually. Other times we’ve diagnosed him as a sociopath so… Heh. Yeah that.
Finishing up his eggs, Orion moved on to the Kalos toast. “Think it should go well…” he mumbled more to himself than to Nik, now. Fishing out his phone in one hand, he began scrolling through prices on flights again.
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Civilian
I can't help it, I'm a babbling idiot. Please kiss me quick, 'cause I need to feel it~ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY 🌸 SG 🌸
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Post by Nikolai Laska on Dec 7, 2017 18:33:37 GMT -8
Nik snickered a bit. "I'm excited, honestly. Even if everything is stressful and terrible, you and me in Alola. You and me doing family dinner and meet the parents." He grinned wickedly. "You and me comforting each other over how insufferable everyone was during family holidays. This is like, basically a right of passage for our relationship, right~?" He giggled a bit with a giddy glee. "Plus embarrassing childhood stories from Carmie? I mean that alone will make the whole trip worth it." He winked and briefly stuck his tongue out before snickering a little more.
Finishing his own food, he'd lick his lips before setting his plate on the coffee table. "Delicious as always, by the way~" Shifting his sitting position, he asked, "You about ready to try this sleeve, or wanna settle in a bit more first?"
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AZOTH
‘Cause these words are knives that often leave scars The fear of falling apart |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jayspurr
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Post by Orion Alim-Verdi on Dec 7, 2017 18:42:35 GMT -8
….Orion blinked slowly. You and me— that was just… so so so so so so so nice??? And a right of passage for our relationship. Yeah, yeah definitely. And Auntie’s stories… Why was— why was his face heating up like this, heh??? Welp, welp, yep. He’d finish up pretty quickly with the toast and stretched slowly as Nik spoke. “Good~” he sighed a bit softly standing up and stretching himself out before sitting back down and giving Nik a nod. “Would rather just jump in… do you want me to sit anywhere specifically?” He’d let Nik place him wherever and do his best to sit still. Already, however, his pulse was up in his ears ready to leap out of his throat should it get too painful. Hah. C’mon now.
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Civilian
I can't help it, I'm a babbling idiot. Please kiss me quick, 'cause I need to feel it~ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY 🌸 SG 🌸
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Post by Nikolai Laska on Dec 7, 2017 19:15:03 GMT -8
Hrmmm. "Just here on the side of the couch is good. You can rest your arm on the arm here like..." He'd take Orion's arm and position it. "Here to start. And I'll..." He dragged the coffee table over to be able to sit there next to him on a sturdy surface, then grabbed all the tattoo stuff and set next to him. ..Ah, he did miss-- "Feel free to pull something up on your phone with the other hand, I've got a bit of setup to get through here."
He went and dug a bit more and then made a quick stop by the kitchen, rummaging until he found where Lucy and co had stored the rags. He'd wet that with warm water, then come back and set down the other items he'd grabbed before gently scrubbing that arm just to make sure it was extra clean so nothing would get in the wounds or mess up the ink. After that, he'd get a clear-ish local anesthtic gel and rub over the area. "This should help," he assured him. "You'll definitely still feel it, but I got the strongest numbing stuff I could find."
While that took effect, he took the prints he'd made earlier-- all mirror flipped from the real design-- and held them up to Orion's arm to find what size best aligned the design to his scars, then took that one and set it on the table as he shifted to sit in the floor. Covering that with the translucent wax paper, he took the paintbrush and a particular thin but lightly staining ink and traced the main lines onto the paper. Once that was finished, he took it and very carefully aligned to Orion's arm, pressing it down so those lines would appear on Orion's skin. Not all of them were quite perfect, but he'd make minor adjustments to align to the scars better in the actual tattooing.
And now... "Tell me if it hurts too much worse than this, all right?" he gently urged, then took his fingernails and raked with a bit of pressure down Orion's bicep above. It was hard enough to leave red marks that would take a few minutes to fade, but not enough to break the skin; in another context, it would easily be pleasurable, but the tattoo would almost definitely cross that line. Nik just hoped not by much.
Readying his lining needle and ink, and ensuring he had plenty of paper towels nearby as needed, he'd take a deep breath, then begin a line in the middle of his forearm, where it should be least sensitive. He'd branch out to the wrist and up near the elbow later. "How's that, babe...?"
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AZOTH
‘Cause these words are knives that often leave scars The fear of falling apart |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jayspurr
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Post by Orion Alim-Verdi on Dec 7, 2017 19:31:27 GMT -8
Orion looked through his phone at the numerous songs, videos, movies, and series he had stored up. Eventually, however, he pulled up his plethora of phone games and found a Sudoku to do. His gaze would flick back to his arm as Nik scrubbed it down and applied the gel. “Heh, thanks.” It touched him quite a bit more than he was able to say right then, but just…yeah.
It was more interesting to watch Nik work than play the phone games, really. There was something methodical about it that just inwardly pleased him. Once everything was ready, however, he’d shift just a little. The feeling had his eyes closing briefly before a general “Alright” escaped from him. Weirdly enough, however, he didn’t even feel the first line. Whether from the numbing gel’s effects or his stupid pain threshold just not even registering, Orion didn’t know. “Not bad at all,” he’d answer. That was bound to change, but they’d cross that bridge when they got there
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Civilian
I can't help it, I'm a babbling idiot. Please kiss me quick, 'cause I need to feel it~ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY 🌸 SG 🌸
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Post by Nikolai Laska on Dec 7, 2017 19:42:16 GMT -8
Nik breathed a little easier and relaxed into a smile to hear it. "Good." It... did occur, he didn't want to scare him but should warn him, "Color's worse than lines for a couple reasons, but we'll see how you're doing when we get there."
He'd get a few lines in, mostly tracing his guideline but adjusting a bit by eye as needed... and then recalled what he had wanted to ask about earlier. "So hey. Preface you don't have to, but I was thinking... Talking about something might help keep your mind off this by keeping it occupied, yeah? And... you said at one point you'd tell me about your ex some time, so I wondered if maybe...?"
He'd been genuinely curious for a while anyway, wondering what kind of person had made Orion want to get married in the past. But he supposed now, he was hoping it might help him feel better about Marcie, too...? Like, if he could compare himself to the good and bad parts of Orion's past love and have a metric for how he measured up, kind of, possibly. Like, being able to see that he fit Orion's 'type' more than she did? As stupid as that might sound, heh. He didn't know exactly but it made sense in his head.
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AZOTH
‘Cause these words are knives that often leave scars The fear of falling apart |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jayspurr
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Post by Orion Alim-Verdi on Dec 7, 2017 20:07:22 GMT -8
Orion’s lips quirked a bit as Nik spoke. He remembered color, specifically certain lines on his back, and he was very much not looking forward to feeling it but… it was fine for now. It would be fine. Ow. Ok, he was indeed sensitive in some areas, apparently, but not too much maybe.
As Nik spoke, however, Orion’s lips quirked a little. He wouldn’t have Nik’s train of thought, and instead the first thing that came to mind was ‘maybe not while you’re holding a needle’ But… but he knew Nik wasn’t like that, and even if he was, a needle wasn’t going to do that kind of damage so… Heh. Might as well, right?
“His name was Klaus, we called him Klanky sometimes to piss him off,” he snorted softly, apparently still laughing about that. “We met in jail,” because of course, apparently. “He’d been a career con man among some other fucked up shit up to the point they finally threw him in… such a fuckin’ asshole at first…” And yet here Orion was trying very hard not to grin to himself. “Nobody said anything but he basically ran the place in terms of….a lot of things… You want somethin’ done, he’d give you the connections for it… with this steep ass price because fuck….” Orion took in a slow inhale and exhale. “But he could be … unexpectedly nice sometimes.” For a moment, he was quiet, as if perhaps he was going to stop there. But then, of course, he didn't.
"He... really knew how to work people," he started again. That was probably not the best thing to say about him but... there it was. "He knew how to make ya mad, sad, glad, had, shad, fad, whatever. But... he also really..." He paused trying to think of the word without going overboard. "He could.... bring out the best and worst in people..." A wince -though whether it was from the needle or the next thought, who knew- "I became his man... the one who could do anything -no matter what- and it'd get done..." His stomach tightened, but he went on. "And he loved me for it, said I was everything he could want and more... And it was nice, really nice... We-- I-- did some really fucked up shit just... to hear him say I did a good job." He fell silent for a minute, some part of him vaguely reminiscing, and the other part vaguely aware of how fucked up he sounded.
"He had a lot of people around him...." Orion snorted softly. "A metric fuck ton... but ... he always managed to make me feel ....special I guess for lack of a better word. I never felt like just someone who'd fade from his life..." Orion gulped, and a weird laugh threatened and died instantaneously. "Think he was like that for a lot of people, but hell if I cared."
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Civilian
I can't help it, I'm a babbling idiot. Please kiss me quick, 'cause I need to feel it~ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY 🌸 SG 🌸
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Post by Nikolai Laska on Dec 8, 2017 3:20:23 GMT -8
Oh...? Nik didn't really know what he was expecting, but most of this... wasn't it? ...Ah, he felt like he might... very vaguely remember Orion cracking a joke back when they met about 'being under' some dude in prison, but he guessed he either forgot or just didn't expect it to be the same dude or something. Hm...
The had, shad, fad, whatever earned a brief laugh from Nik, during which time he made sure to pull the needle away to be safe. ...Ah, it would have been better to do that in one clean stroke but he could probably resume it cleanly enough, so still better not to have risked pressing harder or having his hand shake while laughing.
On the bright side, the linework overall was going really smoothly. Between the scars and the guidelines he didn't have to think too much about placement too much, so his own brain being able to kind of zone out and focus on Orion's story put his hands in sort of a zone. The thicker lines on the front side were already almost done, though he still had some finer lines and the whole back side and color would be 90% of the time if not more so that wasn't saying much, but it looked like a lot of progress.
But... actually, gears turned a bit, and his whole plan to feel more reassured about himself wound up backfiring horribly. Chewing the inside of his mouth, he pulled away from the end of the latest line and dabbed away a bit of excess ink and blood seeping back to the surface before starting the next line. He wanted to ask, but... but better to hear the rest first, even if it would eat at him in the meantime. "So what happened?"
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AZOTH
‘Cause these words are knives that often leave scars The fear of falling apart |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Jayspurr
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Post by Orion Alim-Verdi on Dec 8, 2017 5:48:32 GMT -8
So what happened? Orion should have guessed that was the next question, but apparently not as he found himself pausing. “We… kind of had a falling out after the jailbreak,” he admitted a bit slower than before. “Think the minute I tasted freedom again, I didn’t want to have anyone over me for a while,” he chuckled a bit softly. “That and he wanted to get out of the country, and I wasn’t ready to leave.” Orion had stayed in Era for almost a year after that, right? Something like that, hell if he could remember specifically anymore. A softer sigh escaped from him after. “I don’t… even really know what he’s up to or where he is,” he mumbled a bit more to himself than to Nik. That was… probably for the best considering where people like them ended up, yeah? Heh??? “Ow ow ow ow…”
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