Cyroa Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 As he thought, he'd been right. Hit her issue dead on. James wasn't exactly surprised at her response. Running away. She didn't take a swing at him though, so that was good all around. She was hurting though, sucks that he was the one to rip that open and shine the light on her worst and darkest fears. "Sorry Erin," he said softly, shaking his head. She'd be ok he knew. He just wondered how long it would be before she was willing to speak with him again, if ever. He grabbed his pack and looked around the library for Erin's things. It only took a few minutes. With a thought he vanished, appearing inside her room. He gently set her stuff down, careful not to wake the Alex. With another thought, he vanished again.
Electra Posted August 4, 2009 Author Posted August 4, 2009 They saw each other for the next few days, in the hallways and in the cafeteria, though they didn't speak. Erin was her normal intense self, generally studying something or hurrying to get to something, so that wasn't unusual. He was a little surprised to see her in the common room two nights after their meeting in the library. She already had the Wii set up, and was doing a solo cart race. She'd gotten a lot better, though she still rarely beat him. Erin herself was a little surprised to find herself in the common room. Part of her wanted to just insulate herself as much as possible, away from well-meaning people who persisted in saying things her equilibrium couldn't afford to hear. Getting through each day was enough of a challenge without having to think about yesterday and tomorrow. But she couldn't just shut herself away, or she'd be in just as bad a position as she'd been before she came here at all. She gave James a little half-wave as he came in, pretending to concentrate on finishing the race. She drove the little cart into a ditch instead, but came in fourth.
Cyroa Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 James came into the room, his guitar in hand, a little surprised to see her. She hadn't really spoken to him in two days, least during the day, though given her workload, that was no surprise. He hadn't seen her at night though but it wasn't like that happened every night either. But to be waiting for him, with the game set up already, that was new. She looked fine, or was doing a passable job at it anyway. It wasn't hard for him to tell though. But she didn't need him confronting her. Once was enough. She's ask when she was ready. Until then, he'd act like it never happened, giving her the space she needed. "Hey Erin," he said without pause. He walked over and sat on the couch next to her, sliding the guitar case to one side. "How's the ginormous workload coming along," he asked as he picked up the controller.
Electra Posted August 4, 2009 Author Posted August 4, 2009 She shrugged one shoulder. "I think I'm getting used to running behind, so maybe it's not quite so stressful anymore. And at least if I flunk out, I'll get a break." Erin switched the game over to two-player mode, picking the Luigi car as her avatar. "But I've gotten in most of my assignments on time, anyway. How's your training coming?"
Cyroa Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 James smiled wrly. "Somehow, I seriously doubt you'll flunk out. You work too hard and have too much together upstairs for that to happen. But if you need or want some help, let me know. I'll happily give you a hand.". It wasn't like James put too much effort into his own homework. And given that it was summer, he didn't really have much work to do anyway. "I was thinking. Instead of working yourself to the bone with all of this, is there some way you can like test outta some of it? 'Sides, it's not like a lot of this stuff is going to come up after school's done unless it's something you wanna do." He shrugged one shoulder. "Eh, ok I guess. It isn't like my powers are hard to use. I naturally know how to use them well. They're fun to use and I do try to make them stronger but...". Another shrug. They both knew where his powers were from now. Making them stronger seemed like strengthening the connection with the source.
Electra Posted August 4, 2009 Author Posted August 4, 2009 "Testing out's an option," she said ruefully, "except I'm not that smart. I only have most of freshman year under my belt, and that was a long time ago. It's started to come back as I do all this studying, but not enough. The only way I'd pass is if Alex fed the answers straight into my head, and I wouldn't even ask, for a lot of reasons." She shrugged again. "Only way to do it right is to do it the hard way. But there's a reason they usually spread all this out over two years instead of three months. Sometimes I can't remember if George Washington or George Washington Carver was the father of our country. You get to talk to Quark yet?" she asked as she started up the first race.
Cyroa Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 He nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. I know the GED thing you can take for the high school equivalency takes about six months to really study for. 'Least I read that once somewhere. Cramming can be rough. I do it now and again but that's for like little tests and stuff. Nothing major. I'm not smart enough to pull it off either." He shook his head. "Not yet. Haven't seen him around. Apparently it's harder to track down a 14 year old kid than I thought."
Electra Posted August 5, 2009 Author Posted August 5, 2009 "I never thought school was that hard, till I tried to take it in one big gulp. I could just give up and take sophomore classes, I guess, but I don't want to do that. I'm practically old enough to be a senior." She shook her head. "Anyway, the last thing I want to think about is school right now. And the last thing you probably want to think about is finding Quark. You ready to play?" she asked, slanting him a challenging look.
Cyroa Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 He nodded slowly. "There's a certain positive quality to doing something the right way, not half-assing it. Show's you're willing to put the effort in and all that. People like that. Shows good moral fiber and stuff," he said vaguely waving his hand. That wasn't something that matter to him of course. There weren't really too many people in the world whose opinions James cared about. Most, well, he could care less for a multitude of reasons. But he nodded at her. "Yeah, I hear ya," he said in agreement. He held up his controller, grinning and ready. "Of course!" As soon as the game started, he swerved and slammed into Erin's car, laughing as he recovered and tried to speed off.
Electra Posted August 5, 2009 Author Posted August 5, 2009 Erin's cart spun out, but she was getting a lot better at maneuvering her cart without breaking the remote, and soon she was nipping at his heels again, second place to his first. "I'll get you one of these times," she promised, even as she dogged his cart all the way to the finish line. "I'm getting close now, and I haven't broken one of these stupid things in ages." She gave the controller a slightly disgusted look. "At least I'm finally getting my permit soon, as soon as the school gets some kind of identity up and running for me. Driving a real car is way easier." She slanted him an amused look. "Maybe you'll let me drive your car sometime."
Cyroa Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 He grinned. "Yeah, won't be long now." Even now, he was using every trick he could think of, every one he'd picked up over years of playing, just to beat her this game. Pretty soon those tricks wouldn't work anymore. Not that he minded. It was still fun to play. "Well, yeah. Real driving is way easier than this. Though you're not allow to smash as much stuff in a real car," he said with a laugh. He glanced over at her while the game was resetting. "A permit? Pfft...whatever." He wasn't exactly overly concerned with laws. He blinked. "My car? Yeah, I don't know about that one. I'll happily take you for a ride," he grinned with the likely lame offer. "But I don't know driving it. Though...I might have something for an alternative," he said thoughtfully.
Electra Posted August 5, 2009 Author Posted August 5, 2009 Erin gave him a skeptical look at that. "I'm a good driver," she pointed out. "I've got hundreds of hours of drive time. Not my fault this place won't take my word for it. I wouldn't wreck your nice car. Maybe you're just chicken." A grin tipped the edges of her mouth as she made the absolutely juvenile insult.
Cyroa Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 He just nodded. "I'm sure you are. Learned the hard way I bet. But that's still not a great reason." He paused and broke out laughing at her attempt. "Chicken? Nice try but that's not gonna work. I'd have to be damn insecure to buy that one. I'm a lot of things. Insecure is not one of them" He chuckled and shook his head. He paused in thought for a moment. "Though, maybe I can find a compromise while you're getting that whole permit/license thing."
Electra Posted August 5, 2009 Author Posted August 5, 2009 Erin shrugged. "Worth a try," she said unapologetically. "You never know who might fall for that one. I went and looked at the car they use for driving lessons here. It looks like someone's already run it into a tree... or maybe run into it with a tree. But hey, if it drives, it drives. I could beat it in a foot race on level ground, but then I could beat your fancy car, too." She was still trying to needle him into it, but he'd been needled by the best, and her skills were no more than amateur.
Cyroa Posted August 6, 2009 Posted August 6, 2009 He chuckled, still amused by the attempts. "Erin, I bet there are some planes you could outrun. No challenge there." He grinned. "My car might have some boost to it and can haul, it's not nearly as important as how cool it is." He wiggled his eyebrows. "And we both know it's very cool." "The school's got a car you can practice with? Didn't know that. I was thinking of getting something for that very reason; for people to practice in, bang up, take out, whatever. Guess I don't have to now. Though maybe we have to look into fixing the one we've got if it runs that bad."
Electra Posted August 6, 2009 Author Posted August 6, 2009 "I think the idea is that we don't bang up the car," Erin pointed out dryly. "But it's not like it's anything you'd want to be driving. It's one of those two brake pedal deals that we probably can't take out without Summers. I have a feeling he's going to suck any possible joy out of driving lessons in that thing. Oh well." She leaned back against the couch, queued up another race. "At least I'll be whipping you on MarioKart."
Cyroa Posted August 6, 2009 Posted August 6, 2009 He listened to her description of the vehicle and the activity. "Well that just sucks. Where's the fun in that?" He sighed, actually feeling a little bad for her on that. Driving was supposed to be a blast after all! "Tell ya what, maybe this weekend we'll grab some of your fellow "driver's ed crew", go out and get something that doesn't suck that bad to practice on. 'Sans Mr Grumpypants. I'll spring for something. Not super extravagant mind you, but not the dorkmobile you've got. 'Sides, if nothing else it'll keep you away from my car for a while," he added with a laugh. "And you haven't beaten me yet!" He immediately lept off to the races!
Recommended Posts