Huh? You’re gonna interrupt my philosophical musings for such debauchery?! All for something as mundane and debased as asking that?! Hehe, my imitation of Lucius aside, that is a very good question…
“Well, not really as of the moment…”
“Huh? But there’s a lot of good-lookin’ guys!”
“Yeah, well…”
Surely good looks can’t be the only thing Ceylica looks for…
“I’m sure I can find introduce someone to ye, Morg!”
“There’s no need… It’s already really kind of you to buy a movie ticket for me.”
“Sheeeeesh! Yer as humble as a monk after dinner, Morg. Buying a movie ticket’s like, the least I could do after everything ye done for me!”
“Well…”
“So, how about ye tell me yer type?”
“Kind, capable, and smart.”
“How about in terms of how they look?”
“Bearded or not, older or younger, long hair or short, both are fine. As long as they have a nice face and aren’t out of shape. Also, this should go without saying, but proper hygiene. You’d think it’s a given, but apparently not with what you see these days.”
“Good taste, good tastes.” Ceylica nods vigorously, arms crossed, and eyes shut. “But, ye sureee, that’s it?”
No, there is one more thing… Though, unlike the others, it’d be a little shameful of me to admit it.
Ode’go leans in. “Not to intrude on your girls' night out, but if you’d like, I could walk away and let it be a little secret between you two.”
“That’s very sweet of you.” I shake my head, sending a signal to Ode’go. “It’s just. Hm. Well, I’ll just go and say it. I think I might like men who are a little bit pathetic.”
“Pathetic?” Ceylica’s amusement reaches its zenith. “But ye said ye like them capable and smart!”
“Yes, but I kinda like when they don’t act on it all the time, you know? When they’re a bit pathetic, it makes me, hm, well, it makes me pity them, and I like to think as a result that they become a bit dependent on me. But at the same time, I don’t want to do everything, you know? I don’t want to parent someone; I just seem to like the idea of someone needing me to help them while still being more then capable to do everything on their own. That’s what I mean.”
Was that too much? When it comes to these types of secrets, more often than not, it’s always up in the air whether I told more than necessary…
“MORG, COME ‘ERE’!”
Suddenly with an arm around my shoulder, Ceylica tugs me closer, bringing us right against each other. Between the difference in height, I end up pressed against her side, my head reaching up to her chest at most.
“Ah—”
“Thank ye fer telling me ye secret!”
And yet, for its almost violent nature, the gesture feels more like a act of camaraderie then anything else, like some alien sign of a new bond formed.
“We’re gonna be great buds, ye and I!”
With an open heart, and a clear smile, I nod eagerly, “Hehe.” I let out through a slightly strained breath, “I can’t wait
"Actually, while we're still on the matter of relationships. Can I ask how you and Ode'go met?"
"Ye, of course! Hell, it'd be me pleasure to say."
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At once Ceylica motions to explain, resting her knuckles upon her sides.
"Well ye see, it all started when he tried to kill me mum. It must've been five years ago. He was employed by some baddies to go assassinate her, but me mum being me mum, simply punched him and sent the poor lad through the ceiling!"
"Oh, so that must be where your strength comes from."
"Nah" she shakes her head. "Me mummy's a demon and all, but papa was also a great martial artist, so it'd be unfair to not give him credit." Turning to the side, Ceylica briefly avoids eye contact. "And funnily enough, he met me mum while trying to kill her too!"
To have a demon as a parent in a Age where the Great Seal still persists... If my estimations are correct, that'd land Ceylica's mom as a few hundred years old. And on top of all that, to have someone strong enough to contest them...
"Is your dad a Inheritor?"
"Yep." She agrees significantly. "Hier to Emdęn School of Martial Arts!"
The Emdęn? The Emdęn? One of the most renowned Schools of Internal/Inner Martial Arts? But that'd mean...
"I'm sorry to bring it up, I'd hear—".
"What'd ye hear, that the Emdęn are all dead? With little in the way of hiers or successors?"
For a moment, I think I spot a almost fiery glare, as if impromptu for anger. The idea of it comes as wrong, when I see the anger to be
"Pity the poor, hungry, and friendless Morg! The Emdęn still have me, and while I still suck air and me cuts still bleed, I'll make sure to continue our ways!"
"So she says". Nudges Ode'go "But hard-working Ceylica here hasn't studied the manuals in years...
Almost uncharacteristically, the faintest of blushes colour Ceylica's cheeks.
"Hehe..."
With hurried action, as if looking for escape, she coughs twice, and flicks the catboy on the forehead, having found solace in doing so.
"But ye, after Ode'go got his ass whooped. Me mum patched him up, and offered him the choice to live as my bodyguard instead. So fer the past five years, we've just been bondin'!"
"What can I say". Shrugs Ode'go. "I just fell in love with her magnetic personality, you know?"
"Aw, that's sweet."
"Hehe, that it is."
The sound of students becomes more and more intense. With the advent of another minute of walking, the once barely audible sound becomes a full-blown commotion within earshot as dozens of teenagers lined up in pairs, groups, and in some cases alone, enter within our view.
“Hoy, hoy! Come get your bloody treats here; Porixum, our signature vampire dish, a piece of coagulated BLOOD ON A STICK, is on sale for a limited time only! Salted or sweet! Glazed or not! THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS! URGHH, I JUST LOVE yelling ABOUT FOOD!”
“Wow, he’s enthusiastic,” I comment, treading upon the stone path between open stalls and strong smells.
“Ye, Re—Jeralt sure knows how to run his mouth.”
In consideration of Ceylica’s sudden cutoff, I lift an eyebrow. “He changed his name?”
“Jeralt’s his stage name. It’s like his wrestler alter ego.”
Walking in silent for a few more moments, we cross a few students propping up cameras, training them on various segments in the road.
Come to think of it, maybe Re—Jeralt really is holding a wrestling event here…
“Mind the waiter!”
“Oah.”
Ceylica tugs on my sleeve, pulling me out of harm’s way just in the nick of time.
We settle into a right turn as she does so, the sweet and pungent smell of a Crilandese dessert stall whiffing past us. But now, all at once, we see it. Black, red, gold; the colour of the school’s cinema. A small, almost inconspicuous place. Distinct by its design, the larger-than-life retro lettering, unimposing by how it looks to be little more than a double door with a single sign above it.
“As they say, it’s not about the size but what they do with it, eh?”
Says, who, Ode’go…
“Let’s see it, then!”
Oop!
Smacked on my back, the force of Ceylica’s hand is enough to send me forward. Just so my feet uncontrollably spur a few steps, moving ahead right as the door sways open for me—letting me view the cinema in its full glory. The small area we are now in holds a single counter. Wood, the primary material of choice, makes up the floor, ceiling, and any nearby furniture, embellished with a mix of dark and grey blemishes. And what’s more, equally retro posters decorate the walls, their edges tinged with black; movies ranging from a few hundred years out, to recent, on them.
“Alrighty!”
Ceylica moves forward in an almost rough half-step. “I’d like every snack ye have on display!”
“Alright… Oh, just kill me already.” Some emo student replies behind the counter, lethargically pulling out every food on exhibit and shoving them into small cardboard containers. And as he does so, Ode’go gestures to me.
“Right.”
I’d almost forgotten.
Allowed the luxury of convenience, I pull out my keycard and swipe it at an E-Reader on the counter. A high-pitched sound then rings, signalling my ticket being processed. Fresh off the thrill of newly acquired food, Ceylica hastily follows, with Ode’go, doing so too. Thus, with us three in tow, food distributed among us, we enter through the furthermost left door, stepping into a dark corridor of infinite possibilities…