hey lads
i planned to post this chapter earlier but warframe convinced me not to.
i also noticed oppaisensei left a review. grand
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The first thing that came into Gunnison's view after he woke up was a frowning, thickly bearded face. The boy's brow furrowed. He didn't remember anyone like that living in his house. Or rather, he didn't remember seeing anyone like that living in the whole block. He would've remembered such a beard if he'd seen it before.
"Who are you?" Gunnison questioned, his voice sounding harsher than intended.
The stranger's shoulders jolted. It was obvious he didn't expect Gunnison to speak. Quite strange, given that he was staring at him at point blank distance. It should've been clear that the boy would have some qualms about him intruding the apartment.
"Well?" Gunnison pressured the man further, while slowly rising from the floor he had been laying on. His head hurt badly, but he would manage. Probably.
"T-the door was locked." The man had a deep and low voice, but the stuttering made him sound more pathetic than threatening.
"A-and I didn't hear you leave after the Calling, s-so I was worried, and, huh..."
"Hold on, what? A Calling? Wait, was there really a Calling?" Gunnison interrupted the man's rumbling, surprised and confused by what he said. It was natural, since the last last time an Intraean Calling had been issued and every inhabitant of the city-state gathered in the Square, the City Lord announced they would aid the Allied Forces in the Second World War. There had been a quantity of drills since then, but Gunnison never experienced a real Calling. And if it was something as serious as it was seventy years earlier... Not heeding its call would definitely have some consequences.
The blond stranger got up from his sitting position and heaved a sigh, looking considerably tired for whatever reason. Gunnison gulped. He didn't notice it before, but the man had quite an imposing figure. He was taller than Gunnison by at least thirty centimeters, and his large build made Gunnison's relatively small body look like that of a baby's. If the man was some kind of criminal after his life, then Gunnison would have absolutely no way of retaliating.
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"Setting the Calling aside, you still haven't answered my question." Gunnison shifted the topic of the conversation (if it could be called as such) to conceal his copious anxiety. He still couldn't believe an actual Calling had been issued. And he would be alive to answer it.
"Well, I'm your, huh, neighbor. Sven. I don't get out much, so it's natural you've never seen me. Haha." Hearing Sven's strained laughter, Gunnison cringed inwardly. More like, he never got out. His neighbor's door had always stayed shut for all he knew. Gunnison idly wondered how he could get food without ever leaving his house. He left at night, perhaps? The image of a bearded man skipping around in the dark with a bag full of groceries popped up in Gunnison's mind. He quickly tried to erase that image.
"Nice to meet you then, neighbor. I'm Gunnison. Thanks for waking me up, by the way." Gunnison introduced himself with a smile, outstretching his hand at the same time. Yeah, he surely didn't want to get on the gigantic man's bad side.
Thankfully, Sven accepted the handshake. Not without a moment of hesitation of course, but Gunnison already suspected that social interactions weren't his neighbor's forte.
"Shall we get going then?" said Gunnison. Sven answered with a low grunt, and motioned towards the door in the living room. The boy followed, taking notice of the door laying on the floor; it seemed that Sven had quickly given up on knocking, and had resorted to more... radical solutions.
Gunnison's parents would probably get mad at him when they returned. The day was getting better by the minute.
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i fuckin did iiiiiit! god, writing is so hard.
as a side note, the 'u' in 'gunnison' is pronounced as the 'u' in 'duty'
yeah well goodbye. ill try to post longer chapters. peace out