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Post by MakiAria on Jul 5, 2006 20:06:18 GMT -5
Gwen watched Alex and Dia walk into the inn. 'Good riddance..' she couldn't help but think. Alex was a great guy, really sweet and smart, plus he was a doctor. But Dia, Gwen didn't think she could handle long bouts of her, even if she knew she shouldn't think that way since she was a sickly girl and such.
Hearing Kai's question made Gwen bust out in a bit of laughter. Flowers? Kai? Those are two words that shouldn't be used in the same sentence. She shook her head at him.
"No, sorry, up the hill sounds great!" she said, grinning to herself as she walked along, a step or two behind Kai.
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Post by Kel on Jul 5, 2006 22:19:35 GMT -5
Cliff looked up, a little startled, almost upsetting his cup before he shook his head. "I ... don't mind," he said softly, looking from Dia to the doctor. "Sit if you ... want to."
He had a hard time talking to people, and that severe social ignorance was what drove most people away. He could already tell that Dia didn't like him, and wrote her off along with most of Mineral Town. But the doctor seemed to want to reach out a hand to him. He wanted to offer kindness, and Cliff wanted to accept it.
"How ... are you, Doctor? Dia?" His voice was so soft and warm.
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Post by Kel on Jul 5, 2006 22:23:00 GMT -5
If Kai could read thoughts, he would have agreed with Gwen! The boy looked indignant for a moment before he started toward the hill, down the path that cut through the Poultry Farm, Gotz's forest, and finally up the hill.
They hit the field of flowers in almost no time, and Kai stood there a moment, watching the flowers wave in the evening breeze. Twilight had set in, making it hard to see him for all the dark colors, but he didn't mind.
He spent so much time alone that he never noticed it before. Smiling a little, he headed amongst the flowers and sat, feeling the spring breeze herald the come of summer.
Sometimes, more and more often lately, he wondered why he ever left Mineral Town. His smile was calm and serene, rather different from the false aviator grin from earlier, as he looked back at Gwen.
"Swimming's tomorrow. You gonna enter?"
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Post by MakiAria on Jul 6, 2006 16:43:41 GMT -5
Gwen trailed slowly alongside Kai, lagging once and again to look at the different buildings of the town and other such things that caught her interest. Sure, she'd seen them all tons of times before, but the small-town buildings had a charm that she couldn't look away from.
As they reached their destination, she squinted her maroon-colored eyes to get a better look at the scene before. The flowers all looked beautiful with the moon shining down on them.
"Pretty.." she said under her breath, more or less to herself.
She made her way up to where Kai was standing, and she stood about a foot or more away from him. She looked over at him, she was surprised to see him look so...well, calm and unlike him. Maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought.
"Swimming?" she retorted, "I don't know, I haven't swam since last summer, but I guess I might as well try. You're entering, of course?"
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Post by Miss Jade on Jul 6, 2006 19:53:02 GMT -5
Alex and Dia took a seat across from Cliff. "I'm doing really well Cliff, thank you for asking."
Dia nodded her head. "I'm hanging in there.."
"So tell me, how's work at the winery? I haven't had time to pay a visit."
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Post by Kel on Jul 6, 2006 21:31:04 GMT -5
"Of course. I gotta show everyone else how it's done." The bravado was back and Kai grinned. "Besides, gives me a chance to show off. I work out when I'm in the city." Was he really like this? He picked a flower and spun it in his hands. "Summer's great. Baked corn and everything. Fireworks."
But then he'd have to go back to the city, right?
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Post by Kel on Jul 6, 2006 21:33:44 GMT -5
Cliff could almost feel the ice from Dia as she spoke and shivered a little before looking back to Alex.
"It's going well. It's just ..." His voice trailed off, as it was wont to do, and he turned his dark eyes away. Something about the doctor got to him and made him nervous. Was it his professional demeanor? It made Cliff feel as if he were under scrutiny all the time.
"How's Elli?" he asked in return. "She sometimes visits me when I'm working. Brings me something to eat." He liked Elli and thought her a very sweet girl, but she had her heart on Alex. To see Dia to protective of the doctor made Cliff's heart sink.
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Post by MakiAria on Jul 7, 2006 10:50:52 GMT -5
Gwen snorted, "Right." she replied, her voice a low monotone. 'This sounds more like the Kai I know.' she thought to herself.
Her eyes flashed a bit at the sound of the word 'fireworks'. That was the festival she just couldn't wait for. Mostly because she was secretly hoping that Kurt would be the one to ask her to the festival. He was working at her grandfather's, so they would always visit whenever she came over to cook for Woody once and a while.
"I love the fireworks festival. It's the best one of the summer, I think," she looked up at him, "Hey, you go back to the city at the end of summer, right? Don't you ever miss this place?"
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Post by Kel on Jul 7, 2006 14:18:04 GMT -5
Kai almost started to say what he felt, but changed his tune.
"This place? Pfeh. Crinkled up old town destined to be a fossil," he snorted, laying back in the grass, arms spread wide. "It's just a place I come back to every summer." But why did he come back? He knew, but he couldn't tell anyone.
Ever.
"The girls in the city are all built, you know?" He smirked. "Implant here, tuck there, drained everywhere. They look like a cracker could kill 'em. Here, though, the ladies fill out those bathing suits with somethin' natural." He thought about Popuri in her little pink two-piece, Mary in that frilly blue one-piece. Even Gwen got a once-over in his head.
"I don't miss this place any other time of the year."
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Post by Miss Jade on Jul 7, 2006 18:27:16 GMT -5
"Elli's doing great. I don't know what I'd do if she wasn't there to make sure things at the hospital were in order. I sometimes get so caught up in my work, that I forget to live!" He said with a chuckle. "Tell me, how's Duke and Manna doing?"
Dia felt something in her stomach twisting and turning. This was a new kind of sickness she had never felt before. She slightly wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, excuse me...I-I think I'll go to the bar and get something to drink." She darted up from the table and headed toward the bar. Alex's eyes watched Dia carefully, he relaxed a little once he seen that she made it to the bar safely.
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Post by Kel on Jul 7, 2006 19:14:53 GMT -5
"They're fine," was all Cliff said. In reality, Duke was drinking as much as always while Manna gossiped in the Square. Cliff didn't like it much, but didn't think it was his place to really say so. His dark eyes watched Dia a little before he turned back to Alex.
"Don't you think ..." he started, wondering how to phrase it. "I think it looks like you and Dia are ... together, Doctor. I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea about you. I wanted to tell you. I hear the ladies talking at the Square sometimes when I pass by on my way to the church. They think ... you're not just a doctor to Dia."
Cliff hadn't wanted to say anything, but he feld he needed to.
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Post by MakiAria on Jul 8, 2006 10:45:20 GMT -5
Gwen, who was sitting down as Kai answered her question, bolted straight back up to her feet. Her eyebrows furrowed, her arms gesturing around as she spoke.
"Oh really? Sheesh, is that all you ever think about, Kai? You're worse than your cousin, I don't think Dan would ever say anything like that in front of me! And I know Kurt wouldn't either... " her voice was raging, but the last sentence was under her breath for her to hear.
She walked a bit away from, calming herself down before speaking again, "You know, if you love the city so much, why even bother coming back here? I mean, why have the company of a real and true woman, when you can have a bunch of twigs who can't even stand up straight?"
Okay, maybe not so calm. But she was pretty offended by what he had just said to her. Besides, not all the girls in Mineral Town were flat chested, just look at Eve and Karen, they had the most natural beauty out of all them.
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Post by Kel on Jul 8, 2006 20:14:24 GMT -5
Kai rolled his eyes in the darkness, the gesture hidden. Up he went to his feet, brushing off his rump as he slid the ever-present bandanna from his head.
"That's -why- I come back, Gwen," he told her, looking at her across the heavy twilight. "They're not real. Their chests are bigger than their heads and they look like they've had one or two ribs removed or something."
Kai closed the distance between them, but didn't touch her, looking at her with dark, half-hidden eyes. The moon had started to rise over Mother's Hill. "If I didn't want the company of a real and true woman, why would I come back? Why would I leave all of those ... imposing skyscrapers, bustling activities ... if there wasn't something here that I treasure even more.
"And Dan would veil it with flowery words like he always does," Kai added, raking a hand over his short-cropped hair. "I'm a little more respecting of people's brains. I lay it all out." Luckily, she couldn't see the color climb into his face in the twilight, and his skin was a little dark so that helped.
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Post by Miss Jade on Jul 8, 2006 20:23:56 GMT -5
Alex listened closely as Cliff spoke. He dropped his head a little. "I know...I know" He said softly before continuing. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that. I trust you because I know you're not one to gossip, you'll keep this just between us. That’s why I respect you." A smile crossed Alex's mouth, because he really did mean that.
"I know that Dia's behavior is extremely childish and because of that, nothing could happen between us. I've just been justifying it because of her sickness. Yet I know that deep down inside, that her sickness is no excuse to be so rude and cold. It's just that the doctor side of me worries for her so much, and I fear that if I tell her about her behavior, she might try and make herself more sick just for more attention. I just couldn't live with myself if she became even more sick, or worse, if she died." Alex paused for a while.
"I just keep telling myself that maybe one day she'll change. But that's just me putting off telling her. I just need more time before I tell her." Alex looked Cliff straight in the eyes. "Now Cliff, I don't want you to get the impression that I'm asking you to tell Dia about her behavior or anything. I just needed someone to lend a listening ear.”
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Post by MakiAria on Jul 8, 2006 21:08:33 GMT -5
As her eyes softened at the words, Gwen's mouth parted slightly, surprised and dumbfounded, her cheeks were flushed a bit at their closeness. She took the tiniest step back from him, just to balance herself, closing her eyes again. Her pale lips creeped up into a small smile, her lids opening to reveal her dark eyes.
"You know, you never cease to surprise me, Kai," was all she said.
Blowing out a low breath, she shook her head a bit. Reaching up to put a hand behind her head, "Sorry about blowing up at you, I'm not used to hearing that stuff, I guess.." she said softly.
She looked up at the slightly-dull moon above them, as well as the flowers in the field before them, "You know, I would think that this," she gestured to the sight, "would be what would keep me coming back here, if I only lived here for the Summer."
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