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Keen

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Nov 23, 2016
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Oluremi would have preferred to be literally anywhere else than taking charge of the shop with her mother Ade, but Archard was back in Ilada doing Royal Oricenta things, and Béatrice was at home "taking care of" Arjean. Remi shivered at just the thought of what she was doing to them, but if everything was going well, she was probably just trying to teach them college level math, too stubborn to accept that a two-year-old like them can't do it. It wasn't a hard thing to do anyways, so Remi felt like she had little to complain about. She greeted customers, took their orders, gave them what they wanted, then waved them goodbye. It was just boring.

So now Remi was rocking herself back and forth on her chair, humming to the sound of music coming out of the one earphone plugged into her ear. The other was left out so she could hear if her mommy needed anything, or if a new customer came in. She was reading one of the recent Thor comic books, while Ade stayed working in the back, away from the entrance. A lot of customers got uncomfortable with the way she spoke and how her face looked, even without her asshole smile on. Oluremi was the more approachable looking one, despite looking like she would rather be literally anywhere else. Maybe it was the cute cake earrings she was wearing, or the pink heart sticker she put onto her right cheeks. The rest of her outfit was cute too, with her dressed in a pink shirt with cartoon puppy heads on it in front of a yellow star and blue jean shorts. Whatever it was, she was definitely the one people preferred over Ade. One part of her made her pity her mother, and the other part made her feel proud.

@ReD
 

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere
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Aug 4, 2013
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Kaz was starting to feel exhausted.

He was used to feeling exhausted, but that didn't mean he liked it. The exhaustion would creep in slowly and then all at once. Right now, he knew he just felt tired.

He also knew he was on the verge of a nose bleed. He couldn't always feel that coming, but this time, he thought maybe he could. Kaz decided to be pre-emptive. There was absolutely no way he was going to bleed in one of his favorite stores. Unfortunately, he left his handkerchief at home. It was a little lame to carry a handkerchief, but Kaz thought it made him look less sickly than carrying five boxes of tissues.

he approached headphones person at the back counter. He'd seen headphones around before--knew enough that they worked at the shop and was most likely related to the person who usually helped Kaz with his tailored jackets. He refused to wear an illfitting jacket.

"Excuse me," Kaz said, and then he did something he'd never done before.

He leaned on the counter.

It did actually make him look cooler but Kaz wasn't trying to look cool. He was trying to stay functional.

"Do you sell handkerchiefs?" he asked. And then, he squinted and said, "Is that Thor?"
 

Keen

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Nov 23, 2016
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Remi was so into her music she jerked up slightly when someone spoke to her. So much for keeping a lookout for the store. If anything happened though, Oluremi knew her mommy would be able to handle it just fine. However, there was no threat, because when she looked up, she was met with a boy leaning over the counter asking if her family sold handkerchiefs, then she was asked if she was reading Thor.


"Yes, to both," Oluremi responded, turning off her music so she could properly speak to him. He looked familiar; she could have sworn she saw him around here a few times with Béatrice or Archard. Perhaps that's why she didn't know who he was: he probably worked more with the tailors, not the ones who made the accessories. "I can show you where they are," she continued as she stood herself up from her chair and walked from behind the counter. She then led the boy towards where the handkerchiefs are.


During the walk, she asked him, "Are you a fan of Thor?" She tried to hold back her excitement at the possibility of making a friend who she could talk about comic books with, or at the very least, comic book movies. "Are you excited about the new Thor movie? I've been trying to avoid trailers because nowadays trailers spoiler everything. Also, here are your handkerchiefs" The reason why handkerchiefs still mystified Remi. Just carry some tissues and throw them away, that sounded more sanitary.
 

ReD

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"Thank you," Kaz said, grateful as she led him through the store. He was going to have to buy one from her like...immediately. He could feel the slow rush start to creep up in the back of his skull.

He hated it.

"Yeah," Kaz admitted. "Thor is pretty good, but I've always been more of an Iron Man person myself. Sometimes, the fact that Thor doesn't even come from Earth makes it hard to relate to him for me. Like why even bother caring when you've got all of that power but none of the ingrained loyalty from being here?"

He shrugged, realizing he was rambling, and tried to reign himself back in.

He eyed the handkerchiefs, taking precious time even though he knew he was only minutes away from a nosebleed.

"I am definitely not watching the trailers," he said. "Well....except for the Wonder Woman trailers, because there's barely any of them out there, so I don't feel like I'm really setting myself up for spoilers. I never read too many of her comics anyway."

He picked out a dark set, one that wouldn't show the blood, but had a small red wing black bird embroidered on it.

"you have no idea how hard it is to find handkerchiefs outside of this island," he confessed. He gave her a sort of half-smile. He was unaware of her thoughts, but he had enough experience that he brought up the jest without being aware of them. "Everyone just says, 'ew kaz why don't you just buy a box of tissues' but handkerchiefs are so much more practical."

He was about to ask a dumb question. He was about to say, so you work here, right? But that was obvious and idiotic to point out.

So he said, "My name is Kaz, by the way, but I'm afraid I don't know yours even though I've seen you here once or twice. I usually come in for the tailors here. They're top notch."
 

Keen

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Nov 23, 2016
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"Yeah. Sometimes that's how I feel about the people on this island," she told him. "Like, if this planet got destroyed, Thor can just go back home or find somewhere else." Oluremi felt like a hypocrite telling him all of this. She may not be a part of human society, but she did originate from Earth. Her reasoning could be easily flipped onto her. Someone could tell her that if humanity or Manta Carlos got wiped out, she could just leave and go back to Ilada and not have it be her problem anymore. "But the loyalty comes from him caring about the people on the planet," she continued, trying not to sound all heartfelt and soft. She didn't like how naive that could make her seem.

"I read both Detective Comics and Marvel, but the recent DC movies are..." she trailed off, trying to figure out how to word her feelings. Some were better than others, but there were multiple instances where she bashed the films and got hate back. The idea of starting an argument within her family's shop about whether DC or Marvel had the better cinematic universe sounded so stupid she almost cringed. "The recent DC movies feel so lackluster, y'know? I'm all for a serious universe, just slow down and actually develop the characters. That's what a good writer would do."

Getting so deep into the conversation, she forgot she was still on the job and was now rambling to a customer. Remi tried to tone herself down, which probably made her seem even more apathetic than before. Despite the rambling, she spoke in a way that made her seem uninterested and like she was annoyed with the boy, but it refreshing to talk to someone about comics who didn't feel so aggressive or wasn't online.

"I never tried handkerchiefs before, but they seem better than trying to stuff a bunch of dirty tissues into your shirt," she admitted, giving back a half-smile, so she didn't seem unhappy with his company. "What's the difference between them and tissues anyways? Other than not needing to find a trash can to put them in."

Remi wanted to facepalm. She was an employee, but she forgot to do the most essential thing when talking to a customer: introducing yourself. "I'm Oluremi, but I also go by just Remi. Nice to meet you, Kaz, and I'll be sure to tell my family about what you said." She could just imagine Béatrice and Archard enjoying their egos being stroked as she explained how a customer called them "top notch." Their narcissism was something she envied and hated.
 

ReD

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Aug 4, 2013
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When Remi connected Thor back to the people on the island, Kaz looked thoughtful. He wondered if his own statement applied to himself. He wasn't exactly human, but he'd lived with them for so long that it was hard to think of himself as fully inhuman.

"I suppose your right," Kaz said, after another moment of consideration. "I guess it's a lot like loving an adopted family as much as your home family. It doesn't have to be an either/or scenario."

Then, he gave her a teasing grin as though he were daring her to talk him out of it. She didnt' seem like the person who would, but Kaz liked the jest. "I still like iron man better, though."

While she explained her feelings about the recent DC movies, Kaz nodded in agreement, and then reached a hand up to brush his hair back into place.

"I read more of the Teen Titans series from DC," he explained. "It's sort of relevent, what with the magical school and group of superpowered teenagers and all of that. But I feel you with the movies. It's like they want to keep the comic book format with the movies, but drop the tongue-in-cheek nature that comes from it. I guess it's kind of like what happens when you try to adapt a story that was supposed to be a manga into a novel. Suddenly, you have to explain where these girls with cat ears came from, and it's hard to do that while keeping a straight face."

Despite this, Kaz noticed that Remi had a relatively straight face. Which was fine with him--he was very similar, not letting a lot surface. The motions of his face were small and subtle, thoughtful indications and expressions of interest. The deeper, uglier emotions like anger and fear Kaz kept hidden.

"That's mostly it," Kaz admitted. "I get a lot of nosebleeds and there's nothing quite as alarming as a sudden wad of bloody tissues."

He flinched, realizing this was a little bit crass, so he apologized.

"Plus, I've always wanted to hand one to a person crying in a movie theater, really dramatic like that," he joked. "I haven't had the chance yet, but one day, I'll be there and it will be super smooth."

of course, Kaz wasn't actually sure if he'd be around long enough for that to work. He tried to ignore the thought but it soured his mood a little bit.

"It's good to meet you Remi, and I appreciate it, your family is really nice, but then again, I suppose it's different being a customer and then having to live with someone," he said, offering another rare smile. This one was more of a I would die working for my family kind of smile.

He slipped his wallet out to pay for the handkerchiefs but he was reluctant to leave just yet. He was enjoying this conversation.

"What time do you work here until?" he asked, feeling suddenly very bold.
 

Keen

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Nov 23, 2016
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Mentioning adoption made Remi want to chuckle. She was adopted in a way, with only her mother Ade and half-sibling Arjean the ones with her blood. Béatrice and Archard just openly accepted her into the family, but since she knew them before becoming adopted she never had trouble integrating into the family. It was a similar situation to how she felt about humans and oricenta, but she certainly had less communication and interaction with humans than her species before the islands. Even now she never experienced the human culture with no other species to get in the way.

"I can definitely understand, cause I'm partly adopted," she responded, figuring it wasn't appropriate to go into her whole life history to someone who was mostly a stranger. "And Iron Man is great. Too bad with all these reboots it feels like all of my fav superheroes are now completely different people." She swore Marvel and DC were having some sort kind contest to see who could reboot their universes the most and fastest. It made her think about dropping out of comics multiple times or torrenting them so she wasn't spending money on something that would get canceled a few months after its launch.

"With the school, I'm not sure why I haven't been getting more into Teen Titans and Young Justice. I've been too focused on X-Men, but I need to get back into DC again."

When Kaz mentioned girls with cat ears, Oluremi raised an eyebrow, but in a more playful way than judgemental. She glanced up at her own ears, which were those of a deer than a cat, but it still applied. "Girls with cat ears, huh? I wonder how I could ever keep a straight face thinking about it. Manga is just so unrealistic." She resisted smiling, just to prove her point further.

Remi's eyes widened when he mentioned his nosebleeds but then went back to their usual pronounced squint. "Are you alright?" She would have continued, but she noticed he changed the subject slightly to be more light-hearted. She supposed it was a stupid question: if you had chronic nosebleeds you probably already went to the doctors at this point. Kaz most likely wasn't in an instantly fixable scenario.

"I'd worry handing a handkerchief to a person crying would end up with them blowing their nose and giving me a dirty cloth. Just find a movie theater still playing movies like Fault in Our Stars or Twilight or something. Lots of people to try that out on I hear." She needed to update her knowledge of what was going on in the movie world. Currently, she was just following adaptions of her comics and manga, but other than that she had to be dragged along with friends or family.

"It was great to meet you too, Kaz. And I usually work after my morning classes and if babysitting my little sibling isn't too difficult with my schedule." She wished she had an easier schedule. Waking up in the morning to get both her and Arjean to school, then coming home to either work, babysit, or both, all the while dealing with schoolwork and accessory making. Free time was practically nonexistent for her. "When do you usually stop by?"
 

ReD

Sex & Death Everywhere
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Aug 4, 2013
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"that makes two of us," Kaz said in reference to the partially-adopted part. It was as much as he'd ever said about his family and as much as he ever would, but he figured it was a calculated risk to create some sense of kinship. People didn't always remember things like this, but they often did remember the feeling of being less alone, and that's what Kaz was feeling now.

He nodded with the reboots and when she mentioned the x-men, he lifted his eyebrow. "I mean, i think we got lucky with the head mistress here. There's no chance of us getting sent out on missions or anything like that, and honestly, I think it's a relief. Plus I'd look terrible in an x-man costume. All of that spandex, yech."


Since he'd paid, he unwrapped the handerchief from its pocket and folded it while they talked, tucking the corners in as they went.

"Yeah, I appreciate the concern, though," Kaz said. He flinched at Twilight. "Oh god if I went there I would be the one crying from boredom. No shame to people who like that sort of thing, but I just can't do sparkly vampires. I've seen some amazing creatures on this island but to this day, I've yet to meet a sparkly vampire."

Kaz was starting to feel a little bit winded, so he leaned against the counter once more. The action suited him somehow, made him look lean and nonchalant.

He'd folded the handkerchief into a crane.

If he made a thousand of them, maybe he'd get a wish.

"Well, my schedule is much more flexible than yours," he admitted. He wasn't exactly working an after school job aside from some tutoring. He was surprised he still received an allowance from his family. Maybe they felt guilty for how they treated him after they found out what he was.

It'd been a long time but Kaz's stomach still clenched at the thought.

"I tend to stop by whenever the need strikes," he said. "But maybe, if it wouldn't be a bad thing, I'd stop by more often. You know, for accessory advice on what would go best with my future x-men costume?"

He sniffed. A drop of blood hit his hand and he looked down at the paper crane before him.

If he folded a thousand he could get a wish.

But what did Kaz have to wish for, anyway?

He unfolded the crane and dabbed (#stopdabbing2017) at his nose with the handkerchief, trying his best to look nonchalant and unembarrassed. he would do anything to feel normal again. Anything.
 

Keen

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Nov 23, 2016
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"Getting sent out on missions would be awesome," Oluremi said. "But getting killed multiple times and being forced to go through, like, fifty reboots wouldn't be fun. Guess I'll just have to stay content with the school field trips we're sent out on and count myself lucky to not be an X-Men.

"But wearing that outfit... I have to agree. I wonder how my costume would work, considering all the fur... and feathers... and the wings. It seems uncomfortable."

Remi giggled lightly at his reaction towards Twilight. "If I don't meet a sparkly vampire on this island I want a refund. I refuse to believe that eldritch abominations can roam around, but sparkly vampires are too unrealistic for this world."

This was relaxing. It was every day when she got to speak to a customer like this, and when she did have longer conversations with the customers, it was usually formal since they were often older than her. Oluremi wished more customers came in just to chat with her for a bit, even better if they were around her age.

"I think everyone has a more flexible schedule than me. I'm pretty sure if things stay how they are now, I'll look fifty by the time I stop aging at twenty-four. But it'd be great if more people stopped by.

"If you want accessory advice then you came to the right person, just be sure to not show the costume to my maman or Grandy. I think they would cry to see that fashion disaster and lose respect for humanity as a whole afterward. My mommy probably won't care much though." Oluremi then realized that Kaz probably didn't understand who she was talking about. "Uh, my maman is Béatrice, my grandparent is Archard, and my mommy is Ade. Hard for some to know which mom I'm talking about sometimes."

She stared at his crane, impressed by what he could do, but when she saw blood drop from his nose, she flinched suddenly, trying not to point it out. The only sign of her discomfort was that flinch; she was getting better at withholding her emotions. In her attempt to ignore the blood she asked Kaz. "Anyways, are you into fashion? A lot of people here seem really interested in wearing the most high quality of clothing. Reminds me of my old home."
 
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