Morning Routines
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Valk - Nerves
She walked down the street, one hand clenched around her bag, the other alternating between swinging with her walk and adjusting her previously orderly white hair. Her eyes stayed still, looking straight ahead, despite the urge to seek the comfort of the ground. Again like every other day walking down these streets she felt like an interloper, an invader in a world she was not allowed in, without the anchoring presence of a friend. Passing the all too familiar third mailbox, she turned right, and stepped into her home. She took off her shoes, and walked straight downstairs. As soon as she passed through the doorway, it looked as if a weight had been dropped off her - her shoulders rose, and there was an authority to her figure, a self assuredness that only isolation brought her. She dropped her bag next to the doorway and took off her uniform as she grabbed her gi off the wall, and started doing her warmup.
Jackson - Morning in the castle
He woke up to the gentle warmth of the sun shining through the window. Standing up slowly, he rubbed his shoulder, and kicked his blanket off the floor, throwing it onto the bed. He found the floor more comfortable after he injured his shoulder all those years ago. Opening the thick tower door, he made his way downstairs slowly where he once would have sprinted, with age taking the role youth once did regulating his speed. Still, as he arrived at the bottom archway, his hand reached up and slapped the top stone, as had every resident of the tower had every morning. Over the years, they had all slowly whittled away at the thick topstone, leaving a noticeable groove in it.
Gremlin - Explosive
The blare of an alarm cut through the silence of the morning in a piercing slice of sound, straight towards the raised bed across the room from it - and yet, the pile under the covers remained unmoving. Slowly, she rolled out of the blanket, falling 3 feet off the bed to land on all fours, in a runner's stance. For a moment, she just remained like that, a statue clad in smallclothes, frozen by the inertia of sleep as the alarm blared - once, twice, and finally, on the third blare, she exploded forward as if sprinting a hundred meter dash, slapping the alarm off and sprinting past the doorway, sprinting down the short hallway to the bathroom, hurrying through the morning routine, then sprinting back to her room to finally don her uniform. Grabbing her bag off the peg next to the door, she stepped out and locked the door behind her, leaving the wind chimes tinkling as she jogged away, like an orderly tornado, leaving everything in the home in order save for the dust in the air.
Mikhail - Cliche hungover detective
It had been a wonderful evening. She had come on time, there wasn’t any awkwardness, the jokes flowed and I had been able to keep myself away from the wine.
”So… tell me more about-” She was interrupted by my ringtone.
“Sorry, give me a second.” It was from the Chief… but it could wait. I dismissed the call, but the ringing didn’t stop. I tried again. I tri-
I was awake. In an empty room. Alone. Save for that goddamned phone. Grabbing it, I half considered throwing it out the window before picking up the chief’s call.
“Howdy Chief,” I blearily said, putting him on speaker as I changed.
“Morning. Need you, get here by 4:00 am.” Pulling my shirt on, I checked the clock and felt my frustration mount.
“Chief it’s 2 in the fucking morning.” throwing the last of my uniform on, I dropped a few pinches of salt in a whisky glass.
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“Inspector’s dropping by.”
“Wonderful.” I dropped the call.
Dialogue
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Valk - Gremlin
“So that’s my deepest, darkest secret...what’s yours?”
“Do you really wanna know?” Her black haired head bobs once. “I guess my secret isn’t anything so distant - it’s you guys.” Her head turned, her black hair falling past her eyes as if in acknowledgement.
“When I’m not around you guys, I feel like a different person. It feels like I can’t exist right. It feels weird to walk, and I feel like everything is wrong. It’s like there’s a way things are supposed to be, but I’m not able to fit into that way. Everything is just off.” I pause, looking out the window, scratching at my hair as I think.
“But when I’m with you guys, that sense is gone. I don’t even really remember it exists, it’s hard to conceive of such a feeling existing when reality seems so right, but as soon as I leave it’s like I’m returning to an incongruent reality, where everything is off by a bit. Or maybe that is reality.”
Valk - Heading To Tourney
“I’m heading out,” I said, putting on my shoes.
“To where?” Throwing on my jacket, I took a moment to think of my response.
“The tourney,” Opening the door, I went to leave.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” One of them called out, just before I had crossed the threshold. “You could get hurt,” my fingers tightened on the strap.
“I know. I’m ok with that.” That was never an issue to begin with.
“Are you sure?” It was one of the few things I was certain of. I had to go.
“Absolutely. You’re ok with me going right?”
“Yes, but we’re-” Another attempt at a feign command.
“I’m going then.” Closing the door on my way out. I wasn’t going to let myself be talked out of this. “I chose this.” I muttered as I walked out the door.
Valk - After Escape, Gremlin
As I neared the door, I braced myself for two disappointed and worried parents waiting for me. They might try to pull me out of the program. Instead, Gremlin was sat in the living room chair, scrolling through her phone. Hearing the door open, she dropped the phone and turned.
“Where have you been all this time?” She asked, her usually bubbly demeanor deadly serious.
“Greevers caught me.” I replied.
“We didn’t receive a mark signal.”
“I didn’t trigger it.”
“You should’ve.” Her tone was disapproving for once.
“There wasn’t any reason to, I handled it,”
“That’s your definition of handled?” She said, gesturing to my torn clothes and shoulder. I felt a blush grow across my face.
“It would have been a wast-”
“It would have been proper protocol.” She replied evenly, her tone rising to just under a yell. “And usually, this is the other way around, you sticking to protocol and me flaunting it - but this is the most idiotic-” She stood up and jabbed a finger into my chest “-thing you’ve ever pulled. Either you pull mark when you have one, or you’re off duty.” Her tone was biting, full of anger and… concern?
“You can’t do tha-”
“I’ll make it happen - I don’t care if it’s a simple insectoid, we’re supposed to know. Not just for saving your sorry self sacrificing ass, but because it helps validate data patterns - so get that through your thick skull.” She put her head in her hands and let out a frustrated exhale. “Christ. Just don’t do it again so I never have to be the one telling you to get your shit straight. I don’t like it.”
“Alright. I’ll pull mark on everything.”
“Thank you.” She sighed, slumping back into her chair. “I don’t want to repeat that.” A moment passed in silence, with both of us just staring at each other as the clock in the lobby ticked. Then abruptly, her face broke into a grin.
“Soooo… new Datamax album dropped while you were out - got a full FLAC, wanna listen…?” And she was back to her ordinary self, as if nothing happened, her frustration forgotten.