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 Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 9:48 am
Chrona was upset.
This was hardly... surprising though, and quite frankly, the normal for him. However, today, he found he was further more upset than usual, though that could have been due to the fact it was a Friday, he had only just stopped rush-flailing to finish all the work he owed and was not only horribly tired but even slightly cranky. Or as cranky as he he could get anyhow. Granted, he still owed work (and they would likely not finish till well past their official leaving time), but at least, they had gotten enough done to warrant a small break.
It also didn't help that Ragnarok had stolen his lunch (and by stolen, he meant that the large Xeric had dragged his tongue all over the meal before asking him if he was going to eat it, rendering it useless in Chrona's eyes). Which had forced the meek koshka out of the storage rooms and out into the horribly bright world beyond to find something remotely edible before returning to work.
Then, of course, there was the people. Chrona did not particularly like having to deal with people, and at this time of day, the museum was quite literally... full of them. He found himself walking as near to the wall as he could in an attempt to avoid children, people and contact on whole.
He really disliked Fridays.
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:00 am
On the other side of the spectrum, there was Maka. An outgoing, friendly and curious girl who liked nothing better than to surround herself with people and relics of old. Places of history, like this one, brought a strange sense of joy to the girl, awoke something in her that nothing else really did. A lust for knowledge, a desire to learn everything she could in hopes that it could somehow make her a better person. That was Maka all round.
She was, at that moment in time, weaving through the crowds of children, yelling mothers and other such folk, in an attempt to reach her destination: one of the newer exhibitions in this place. However, she'd slightly underestimated just how many people would be here. Normally, she would have been and gone by now, taking advantage of getting to places early so that she'd have some quiet time. Sadly, the day had gotten away with her and it had been a choice of going late or not going at all.
Not going at all had really been out of the question.
"Um, excuse me. Sorry Sir. Could I just squeeze through there? Oh! Oh, excuse me, your little one just dropped her doll?"
Finally, she decided to give it up for a moment and inched her way to the edge of the crowd, pausing for a well-earned breather. "I guess It's good the museum is so busy but..." Her eyes scanned the crowd, children running everywhere, groups of students. A tour guide giving a talk on the newest artifacts.
This place was loud!
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:30 am
Finally tired of having to deal with the crowd of people and very much failing at it (social he was NOT), he moved to shove a set of door open, entering an employee-only section of corridors and hallways. He leaned against the doors from the inside for a moment, his head hitting the hardness behind him as he let out a sigh of relief.
At least, if he used these corridors, no one would be able to follow and he'd be able to get to the entrance without having to deal with... everything, really. He mentally frowned at the fact he'd have avoided all this if he'd been able to stretch his hand out of Ragnarok's reach.
Fat chance.
Letting out another sigh, he pushed himself away from the doors and idly began to move down the silent, badly lit corridor (why bother with maintenance of corridors only the STAFF used, after all?), rather confident in the notion he was alone.
Or was he? Surely karma was not going to be in his favour.
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 10:59 am
Perhaps, if Maka had not glanced up just as the pink-haired one was dissapearing from sight, he would have been very much left alone. As it was, however, she did glance up and she did see him leaving the stuffy and overcrowded room. The doors closed, cutting him from sight. She stood for a moment, dithering, hesitant on whether to actually follow the stranger through that doorway.
It might be out of bounds! It might not be safe! That person could have been a thief or...or worse! And yet, her persistent curiosity refused to give out.
Casting a glance over her shoulder at the swell of the crowd, she quickly decided to make a retreat for the corridor. Who knew what lay beyond that door! Some spectacular treasure! Some amazing, unseen, artifcat. And if she got caught? Well...well she wouldn't think about that just yet! Just act. Think later. That was her motto.
And so she had crossed the empty space between her dithering spot and the door in seconds. Reaching up, she grabbed the handle and pushed open the door. Hesitating again, she took a moment to peer inside, into the gloom of the corridor that awaited beyond. There was movement, maybe? Just ahead? The person she had seen entering, maybe? Yes, who else could it have been?!
Worried someone might have seen her, she slipped through the space in the door and let it fall closed behind her. Silence and gloom fell over her and now the noise of the other room had been reduced to nothing more than a muffle.
Ah, peace and quiet!
Drawing in a breath, she hastened up the corridor, not sure what she was hoping to find. Not even sure why she was doing this in the first place. The adventure? Yes, quite possibly. "Hello? Hello?!" Her voice echoed and she winced.
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Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 5:54 pm
An echoed 'hello' was not what he'd been expecting to hear. In fact, out of the very long list of things he had not been expecting to hear... that blatantly female sounding 'hello' was quite possibly one of the very last things he'd expected to hear.
As such, of course, he found himself stiffening instantly, his expression pulling a rather awkward grimace as he deeply considered slinking off as quietly as possible into the shadows in an attempt to get away from... whomever it was that had followed him. Had they followed him? HIM?! Paranoia struck him heavily and he remain frozen to the spot, blinking rapidly as he attempted to pull his mind out of second gear long enough to figure out what he should do in such a situation.
It was probably due to that (not to mention the fact the place was gloomy to start with and he had stopped, accidentally, under a broken light, concealing him from view) that caused the girl to finally walk right into his frozen figure, forcing him to stumble forth a few steps.
If anything though, the stumbling finally wrenched his mind out of second gear and into hyper drive for a moment as he pulled away from her. In his mild panic, he had to remind himself that he was UPSET and CRANKY and she should NOT be here and thus, she was obviously going against the whole order of things in general by BEING there, "Y-you... you shouldn't BE here..." he tried to tell her forcefully, offering a glare at her in the darkness.
Granted, Chrona being forceful kind of still sounded like a kicked puppy (amusing allegory given the fact he was a koshka.... and she was, apparently, a kanus). Not to mention that he was not really pulling off that 'glare' he'd set out to do. Still, by gosh, he was trying. Brownie points for that.
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:17 am
She didn't like this. She didn't like this at all. She had a feeling now that she definately, DEFINATELY was not supposed to be here. Well, she'd known it from the start, but it had seemed like a good idea when she'd been back in that crammed, noisy room. Now, the dark, gloomy corridor echoing with the sound of her own footsteps was starting to creep her out...just a tiny little bit.
Maybe she ought to just turn round and head back the way she had come. It wasn't like the door was going to lock her in. All she needed to do was go and turn the handle and step back into the room meant for the public. And yet, peering back over a shoulder, the way back seemed far away and...and she'd feel awfully silly admitting defeat and slinking back like that.
Besides, what about that pink-haired...girl? Boy? Person? Yes, they had to be around here somewhere. It's not like they could just dissapear! As far as she was aware she hadn't passed any doors that he could have snuck off into. Or had she? Maybe she hadn't been paying much attention?
And then she turned back, just in time to see the dark outline of the person she was knocking into. "Oh, oh I'm so sorry, I--" A pause, she held out a hand, maybe to stable him before he could stumble so far that he hit the ground. But...no...now he was panicking? Something? Glaring? No, now he looked angry. Or sort of angry. He held the expression of someone trying to be angry but not quite managing it. Either way, the darkness, the unknown location, the gloom and damp...it all put her on edge and the glare was enhanced by her own feelings of knowing that he was, in fact, correct.
She couldn't even say that she'd stumbled upon the place in secret.
Oh dear...
"Um..." She laughed, a nervous, sheepish kind of laugh that probably made her feel a lot worse. "Yeah, sorry about that. I saw you coming through here and thought maybe there was another...you know...exhibition through here. One less crowded." She blinked and let her hands fall limp at her sides.
"Where ARE we anyway?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:53 am
The first thing that struck him was that she had, in fact, offered him her hand. Technically, when she'd moved her arm out, his first reaction (despite the fact he knew he was right and she should NOT be here) was to wince away from her. The reaction was borne from instinct, really, and it took him a few moments to even realise her stretched arm was not moving, waiting for him to take it.
His gaze dropped to it, looking vaguely.... surprised? Awkward? But before he could kick himself into doing anything about it, her arm fell limp at her side.
The surprise melted away back into the apparently perpetual nervous state the boy seemed to cling to, "You.... you don't like crowds either?" for some odd reason, that made him feel better (just slightly, only barely), and he had to once again remind himself that goddamnit, he was upset, and he was meant to be cranky and why wasn't be being cranky anymore anyhow?
His mind was fat to answer that it was very hard to be cranky when the girl in front of him was being sheepish and smiling and laughing and-
Snapping out of whatever thought he had been following, though he wasn't managing to avoid blushing mildly at his own awkwardness, he shifted his weight around, "Uhm... uhm.........." his gaze fell from her; if anything, it was clear he wasn't a particularly social person, "Staff uses these... these hallways to move around and...." why was he even telling her? "You're not staff..." finally his eyes lifted up to greet hers, though only for a second, "Who are you?"
Watch him be determined. Except not.
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:04 am
This one was certainly odd. She found it near impossible to read the emotions on his face. First that sort of half-angry expression, then surprised and then something else. And something else. He certainly was a hard one to keep up with! At least he didn't look angry anymore. Well...not really?
"Big crowds are okay out in the open, with fresh air and everything. You know what I mean? In enclosed spaces, it's too hot, too noisy. I came here for some quiet time. To study. I wasn't expecting it to be so busy. I normally come earlier than this, you see. But...time ran away with me." She trailed, aware that she was filling the silence with her own voice. That perhaps she was just overdoing the friendly conversation just a little bit - considering that she didn't even know who she was talking to.
And then he was shifting awkwardly and she paused, blinking at him, waiting for him to find his voice. Which he did, a second or so later.
Staff only. Well, she guessed she could have figured that out herself if she'd taken the time to think about it. She just really hadn't thought this skinny, runt of a Koshka would actually work here. In this place. This wonderful place!
"Wow! So you actually work here? Really? What are you, a scholar? Researcher? How amazing. Wow!" She was reaching to shake his hand again when she realised that he'd actually not sounded too happy about her being there.
Keep with it, Maka!
Her hand dangled sort of mid-air and the sheepish grin spread its way across her face again. "Oh, I'm Maka Albarn. I'm a student teacher. I visit here ALL the time." She laughed again, a trailing, nervous laugh. "Not here as in here in these corridors. I've never been HERE before. I mean, at the museum. I don't make a habit of trespassing, you know."
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:36 am
He was, again, vaguely considering just.... slinking away from her while she was distracted, and diving for the nearest, darkest, farthest corner, because he really could not deal with this.
She was enthusiastic, passionate, and drawing closer.
Sadly, no sooner had he taken a step back, that his back hit the cool wall of the hallway and he realised he couldn't really draw away from her any further, "No, I'm... I'm..." he worked in storage. He was no scholar, and no researcher, by far. However, he did have a knack for noticing things that others didn't; tiny details, and was able to remember them rather well. He sorted out bones, and he built the exhibits; he organised things and was one of the few responsible for the place on a whole.
Or he was... whenever Ragnarok didn't get in the way of their work. Which was roughly four days out of five, really. Which was WHY they were force to flail rush on Fridays to make up for their lack of decent work during the previous four or so days of the week. Of course, when the pair of them actually got to WORK though, and didn't get distracted, they were highly efficient (the fact that they were able to finish the work of fie scheduled days in one day was a good hint towards this - even if they did end up worn out), "I... I...." he was going to go over there and curl up and diiiiiiiiie now, thank you very much.
Then, she was offering him her hand again and she was smiling and he still had no clue what he was supposed to do. Was he supposed to take her hand? WHY was she offering it in the first place? What was going oooooooon?
After a moment though, he finally raised his hand (extremely hesitantly, and it was obvious that had she moved and inch, he would have likely jumped three feet away from her) and put it in her open one, "I just.... work here," he said finally, trying (and failing) to not blush of a storm, his hand still in hers, "Chrona..." he murmured under his breath, "Just Chrona..." the stones and cracks on the floor were apparently, HORRIBLY interesting, what with how he was looking at them.
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:49 am
She blinked, waiting for him to extend on that 'I'm...I'm...' and the 'I...I...'. But after a moment she realised that he really wasn't going to give her any more information than that. Oh well, he was the sort of geeky, quiet type. The type of person she could imagine working with other quiet, geeky, intelligent people. She was immediately curious about what he did and had a terrible feeling that she wasn't going to find out.
She was aware that they were both very different, complete opposites in both looks and in personality. This one was clearly awkward and not very good in social situations where she thrived and flourished. However, she felt an undercurrent of intelligence there in that awkward little head of his. An intelligence different but just as potent as her own.
And then he had taken her hand and she felt as if that had closed a deal on something, as if it had sealed away this odd little friendship that had germinated and was now blossoming right before her eyes.
"Nice to meet you, Just Chrona." She laughed, gripping his hand a little tighter. "I take it you're not going to elaborate on 'just working here'. It must be fascinating, being surrounded by such amazing things. I wish I could spend more time here, you know? But the days are too short and there's far too much to do." She paused and glanced further down the corridor.
"So...what's up there?" She blinked. "Another exit? Maybe we shouldn't hang around like this in dark corridors. What if someone catches us? Could look bad."
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:27 am
He blushed even further, if possible, as she teased him, and he looked right about ready to correct her and tell her that no, his name was Chrona, nothing more, nothing less, no 'just'. It took him a few moments for him to realise that she knew this and that it was, thus, her attempt at vague humour.
Chrona did not really understand 'humour'. He was bad at it, at best. But then she had gripped his hand tighter, and he was having a difficult time trying to decide if he was going to have a heart attack, or if he was going to get punched now. For some odd reason, he couldn't stop thinking that the punch was going to come any minute now. Any minute. Or maybe he had fallen asleep on the job and Ragnarok was going to wake him up by ticking his claws into his mouth and pulling on his lips. Either or, he wasn't quite sure yet.
Had Maka been able to take a peek into his mind, she'd have realised that... well, Chrona was pretty much insane. Mostly due to a past that he rarely, if ever spoke of. That same past that cause him to not so much as bat an eye when there was news of a murder, racial or not. That same past that made it easy for him to handle the dead mummies that others seemed so creeped out by, and the same past that made him rather unemotional about blood.
Once, a kid had done something vaguely stupid and had managed to hurt himself on one of the exhibits. There had been a lot of blood and a lot of people had pretty much freaked out; at the time, Chrona had decided that as much as he did not like dealing with people, he disliked dealing with people freaking out even more, and thus he had been the one to carry the child out and get help. When he had returned, he had gone back to work, blood soaked and all, which had creeped a few of the other employees out. However... he had not really seen the point of leaving; it had been Friday then too. Usually, people just found him creepy.
Her voice brought him out of whatever reverie he had sunk into, and he only just realised that she was STILL holding his hand in her and somehow, once more, managed to blush another seven shades of crimson under his fur. He didn't, however, let go, and seemed almost reluctant, "Uh... uh... well, this... it links the exhibits behind the scenes. And it carries outside too, without having to go through the corridors," he looked horribly embarrassed as he looked away from her, "I don't know how to deal with crowds... so i use these often. The others think they're creepy," he thought they were just fine. Though had he been the one in charge of constructing them, there would have been more corners, "The exit is down that way..." and now... she was going to pull away from him. He just knew it. And the scary part was that the notion was making him vaguely sad.
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:46 am
Perhaps it was best, then, that Maka couldn't see into his mind or thoughts. Who knew what would have happened if she had realised the full extent of the awkwardness of those awkward words and expressions.
No, in actual fact, Maka probably ouldn't have been spooked off or scared. She wasn't the type. She could deal with things like that, deal with them in a manner that perhaps a lot of other people couldn't. Her upbringing, if compared to Chrona's, was certainly very different. It was actual rather normal in the grand schemes of things. Yet, she had nothing in her to look down at others if they had led worse lives than what she had. She also wasn't really in the habit of enquiring about a person's past unless she knew them well.
And, well...she didn't know this pink-haired one very well, at all!
She liked him, though, and for now that was enough.
"Interesting. So you know your way around this place, right Chrona? Care to lead us out? Preferrably to somewhere less quiet?" She smiled, and as expected, released his hand to give him the opportunity to take the lead. "But, um, stay close, okay? I don't want to get left behind and end up lost. I might never get out!"
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 12:41 pm
Well... he wasn't about to tell her he was insane. Not just yet. He figured she'd notice sooner or later. And then she'd run for the hills. That was the norm anyhow; he only really had one friend, and he wasn't.... entirely sure if their unconventional relationship could be called friendship (though he did know the large unruly xeric cared, in his own... warped way).
He grimaced vaguely as she released his hand, obviously disappointed before logic told him that he should, in fact, have let go of her hand hours ago (.... well not hours, but still), "Uhh..." his ears flopped down against thee sides of his head; it was true he could technically lead them out, but.... he kind of wasn't all that good at that whole 'leading' thing. Mostly because now, he was horribly scared of doing something wrong and causing her wrath.
Though really, he couldn't specifically pinpoint why it mattered. Aside from the obvious physical hurt that accompanied wrath usually, "Uhm... okay..." he murmured, and then moved to finally walk ahead. Unfortunately, it was clear he wasn't really all that good at being in front because he kept looking behind him to check if she was there and... was he walking too close? Too far? Wrrrrrrrywasthishappening? Chrona was not going to last to the end of the corridor that was just up ahead.
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 12:48 pm
Smiling encouragement, she stepped after him.
The light here was poor enough that she had missed his blushing, though she could tell from his voice that he was often feeling awkward. Perhaps, she thought to herself, he was working too hard. The stress of his job keeping him from relaxing with friends, enjoying his hobbies and...well...whatever else he did with his spare time.
Sensing he still wasn't exactly happy leading the way, she made sure to keep as close to him as possible without getting her feet in a tangle.
"So, are you supposed to be working right now? You said you worked here and you're here so..." She trailed off for a moment, picking up the thread a couple of seconds later. "Do you work here every day? I haven't seen you around before. Like I said, I come here quite a bit. Do you work behind the scenes? Something like that? Hey, you could show me what you do, maybe?"
And then, somewhat randomly she asked, "Is there much further to go? This place is starting to get creepy!"
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:29 pm
She was close.
In fact, she was very, very close. And he was likely going to die still. Because he felt vaguely sick, but then again, he was blaming that on the fact he'd had no food in practically 24 hours, and he going on very little sleep. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the girl beside him. That would have been weird; not that the situation on a whole wasn't though.
He was, however, getting disturbingly used to her being there, even with such a small period of time having passed. He had also noticed that she had stopped following so much as she was now... simply walking at his side, for which he was grateful, if his small sigh of relief was any indication, "A-actually, I'm on a break... Ragnarok uhm... took my food, so I... I was going to go see if I could find something else," actually, the large Xeric had drooled all over it. He had kind of drooled on Chrona too, but he had been trying to forget that part.
Erg.... Xeric drool.
He grimaced at the thought though, unable to help it even as they finally reached the doors and he pulled on them, opening them, "They open inward," he told her rather randomly, then paused when the light of the outside finally illuminated them, "No, we're here now... you can leave through this," then a pause of hesitation, "I don't think it's creepy...." it was clear though, that now, he had no idea what to do. Or if she was going to leave now.
Quite posibly.
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