Private Finished It's a crime we haven't met yet

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Aug 6, 2014
2,626
Philippines
linktr.ee
Gender
magical tree
Pronouns
he/him
Posting Status
Irregularly

The cafeteria was busy today, Raphael thought. There were a lot of students which also meant a lot of the tables were already occupied at the time but nothing really stopped him from doing anything he wanted. After he got his food, he scanned the area for a less crowded table and made a beeline for it.

The said table only had one person on it, a girl he'd guess was about his age if anything. With a well-practised smile, he slid into the seat across from her, "Hi there miss, mind if I share a table with you?"


 
Last edited:

Boop

Little Bo Peep
Nov 30, 2016
1,678
Gender
female
Pronouns
she, etc.
Posting Status
Irregularly
Although it might seem odd for a generally social, friendly girl like Fatima to be sitting alone at a cafeteria table, it was actually her own choice. She usually waited to show up to the cafeteria after most people were well into eating so that they wouldn't be bombarding her with hunger. And when she did show up, she tried to distance herself from the others out of politeness, so they could eat their meals without feeling overly hungry themselves. Besides, the girl could eat a lot. And if she was eating, she didn't need to seek out people for distraction, the food was distraction enough.

But since Fatima was social and did like people, she didn't mind people who chose to come over and sit with her. The horseman had finished the regular school lunch by the time the new boy came over to her and was working on some muddy-looking concoction that might've contained beans or possibly insects. The girl's favourite cafeteria worker was working today. Although most of the food they served at SA was pretty decent to most people, this one lady served stereotypical lunch lady goop that most people other than Fatima found unappealing at best. The young horseman would eat anything, but what she really liked about this lunch lady's food was that since it was in such low demand, the lady eagerly gave her all the portions she wanted.

Fatima looked at the boy she'd never met before and smiled. He seemed like such a cute little kid, even though she thought he was probably around her own age. "Sure, go ahead. I'm Fatima. Are you new here? What's your name?"
 

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Aug 6, 2014
2,626
Philippines
linktr.ee
Gender
magical tree
Pronouns
he/him
Posting Status
Irregularly

"Thanks!" Raphael grinned as he settled into the seat he'd already claimed. His gaze flickered towards the curious case the girl had been working on for just a moment, enough to acknowledge its existence -- he wasn't sure what it was but he won't say he wasn't curious but that might be a question for later. For now there were other things to get out of the way first. Introductions were in order and obviously a cute girl is much more interesting than a strange mixture of what he could guess was a cafeteria goop he couldn't really guess it's ingredents. (That was no surprise for him there.)

"Name's Raphael, but Raphy's good too! Been here a few weeks by now," he chirped, his bright personality never missing for a second. "My pops and I just moved in to the island earlier after the new years rolled in. How about you? Have you been here long?"

 
Last edited:

Boop

Little Bo Peep
Nov 30, 2016
1,678
Gender
female
Pronouns
she, etc.
Posting Status
Irregularly
Fatima grinned back at the overly bright kid, putting aside her fork for a moment to look at him. He was way too cute to seem attractive, plus he seemed youngish. Although Fatima knew that appearances and ages could be deceiving, he certainly acted like he was a young teenager.

She giggled when she heard his nickname, mishearing it as Taffy for a moment. Taffy seemed to suit him well, if first impressions were anything to judge by. Sweet and sticky. "You're here with family then? I umm... don't have any family here..." She didn't feel like getting into that with a practical stranger, so she quickly switched topics.

Thinking back to when she arrived, Fatima realised it wouldn't have been more than a week or so before Raphy had. She also realised that she hadn't been on the island long before New Year's. So much had happened since then, it was almost hard to believe where she'd been just two months ago.

"And lucky you, if you arrived just after New Year's, you'd have missed the awful party where we were human and hostages. I arrived just in time for that party, just a few days after Chrismas. I guessI haven't been here much longer than you. So, wow! Two months - it feels like I just got here sometimes. But a lot of things have happened too. What about you? Have you met many people yet? Or - the cozy cottage was after you arrived, right? Did you go to that?"
 

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Aug 6, 2014
2,626
Philippines
linktr.ee
Gender
magical tree
Pronouns
he/him
Posting Status
Irregularly

"Mmhm! It's just me and my pops though; I don't have siblings and Ma's been gone since before I could remember," Raphael seemed caught by the thought for a moment that he didn't see the discomfort on Fatima's face at the mention of family. He eventually did seem to catch on that it wasn't a good topic for a first conversation and followed after Fatima's lead.

"So yeah, anyway, I got to hear stories of that fiasco! We weren't here until the week after but it was talked about in most of my classes on my first few days. People sure did freak out over their powers getting nulled!" Raphael probably wouldn't if he had to be honest. He grew up believing he was normal but apparently there was a thing as dormancy when it came to abilities.

"As for the cottage... we just moved in so Pops was really just like 'son, it's too early for vacation; help me groom the apartment first, you're gonna make your old man sad'," he said, mimicking his father's theatrics before he'd started into chuckles.

As his chuckles died down, his expression turned thoughtful, recounting the people he'd met over the past couple of months. "So anyway, yeah I got to meet lots of interesting people by now. I met this little goblin, a really nice ghost girl and OH-- I also met this other Horseman, it was super cool! Know anything about them?"

 
Last edited:

Boop

Little Bo Peep
Nov 30, 2016
1,678
Gender
female
Pronouns
she, etc.
Posting Status
Irregularly
It wasn't so much her family that bothered Fatima as it was the circumstances surrounding their death, but she did appreciate his skipping over family talk, so she didn't say anything more on that topic. She was curious what it was like with just one parent. Though she knew that most people would've had only two parents and even single parents, the young horseman had never really interacted with any families other than the cult, which would be considered rather large for a family.

She nodded at his comments on the New Year's Party, which she also didn't intend to get much into. Fatima had only really brought that up as part of gauging timing. She had definitely not enjoyed being human, although it hadn't so much been her powers gone missing that had upset her, but more all the other things that humans found necessary. She didn't think she'd ever forget how awful it had been to sleep. "Yes, well, apparently there's lots of things that non-humans don't really realise count as powers. Different biology and stuff. I think it probably affected people who only had their powers nulled the least, actually."

Fatima giggled along with Taffy. His bright personality was somewhat infectious, and she was not gonna stop calling him by his accidental nickname in her head. She had a feeling he wouldn't mind even if she said it out loud really. When the boy started mentioning people he'd met, she wondered if she knew them. She didn't recall meeting any goblins, and there were plenty of nice ghost girls. She wasn't even put off by his meeting another Horseman, except...

She looked suspiciously at him when he said other Horseman. At first, Fatima thought he meant other than her and just assumed he'd heard it mentioned, but why would he ask if she knew about them if he knew she was one? And if he'd meant more than one, well he hadn't said that.

Taking in his age, his circumstances, Fatima felt suddenly uneasy. Yes there were other horsemen here, from other sets, and she'd met them. But someone so young made her think the cult was somehow active again, and that was just deeply unsettling to the girl. She was struck speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say. Her discomfort and slight beginnings of fear would be plainly visible on her face, in contrast to her easy chatter of just seconds before.
 

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Aug 6, 2014
2,626
Philippines
linktr.ee
Gender
magical tree
Pronouns
he/him
Posting Status
Irregularly

Raphael seemed thoughtful at her comment about the party incident. Well, she had a point honestly. Some non-humans probably couldn't deal with being well.. human. There was a lot of biology going on and necessities were different along with that. For a moment, he started to wonder now if he was actually just doing things by routine or because he really needed them. He shook the thoughts away: ponderings for a later time. "I guess you're right; must have been really strange for some others who got affected," he nodded, a rather thoughtful look on his face, though his demeanor made it look comical.

As their conversation moved to his question, it was as if a silence dropped on them. It wasn't like the mood just shut down but it was more like... the longer Fatima seemed to consider whatever was going on in her mind, the heavier the air seemed to grow. The smile on his face seemed to falter the same way as the dread seemed to crawl into Fatima's features. It was obviously not a good sign but Raphael couldn't tell what made her suddenly clam up. He'd said a few things with that last sentence but he couldn't pinpoint what could have made her look at him like he had done something so atrocious.

Raphael honestly tried to smile but it wasn't hard to miss the way the corner of his lip twitched with the effort, "Hey, you alright? Is something the matter? Did I say something bad?"

 
Last edited:

Boop

Little Bo Peep
Nov 30, 2016
1,678
Gender
female
Pronouns
she, etc.
Posting Status
Irregularly
For a moment, Fatima was too overwhelmed by her own sudden change in mood to reply to the boy. She didn't want to voice her suspicions out loud as if by not speaking she could make them untrue if they were accurate. She not only did not want her fears confirmed, she also kind of just wanted to stay ignorant of any further cult activities. She was in the process of dealing with the fact that they had all been killed and she had no family anymore, and now there was someone who could possibly another Horseman. But - she had to know. Besides, there was a slim possibility that either Taffy wasn't a Horseman at all or he was from some other set that had nothing to do with any cult.

Warily and with a great deal of trepidation, the redhead spoke, "I'm okay. I mean, I think - um it wasn't -you didn't. It's... whatever it is is not your fault. um Did you know I was a Horseman? No, you wouldn't've asked... So are... you a Horseman too then? Are you... do you know... how did you... get here?" Fatima's speech was vague and stumbling. She was torn between wanting to know if the cult had been reactivated, if and how deeply this seemingly sweet boy was involved with it, and wanting to forget the whole thing and just hole up on the island. She had a deep-seated fear of just going back to the way she had been. She was trying to find herself, but not by being the cult's toy and/or weapon again.
 

Hyper

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Aug 6, 2014
2,626
Philippines
linktr.ee
Gender
magical tree
Pronouns
he/him
Posting Status
Irregularly

When Fatima started stammering, Raphael began to figure out what was wrong until she finally said the key word. Horseman. That was... an odd reaction. Well, no odder than John's honestly. They both didn't seem to be enthusiastic about the meeting as he was. Honestly it was hard to pin down which part they were upset about. He didn't have any problems in his childhood that could have made it all that bad. Or well. except for the fact that... his mom died giving birth to a Horseman apparently? And that there were those cult guys that harassed them for a good part of his school age.

As Raphael's mind seemed to fall into that thought, he figured it might have had anything to do with the freaky cultists. John had an equal dislike for them he remembered. It occured to him that... maybe these two had closer contact wiith them unlike him? Well, John was a Horseman himself but Fatima... we she dropped the reveal on him somewhere with her stuttering. That couldn't have been a fluke.

Raphael raised his hands reaching to Fatima across the table, trying to pacify her. "H-hey okay uh. Breathe, okay? It's hard for me to understand what you're asking when you're all... fidgety and stuff," he spoke in a rather hushed manner. Trying to calm a girl down was so not his thing. "So um. I guess neither of you guys are as happy to hear it as I am but I guess I have to answer... yes?" His words were careful and said in a measured pace so he could gauge the reaction on her face.

Before she could react further, he continued his response. "My dad moved in with me here after a scout found me. Back home there were some shady guys harassing and threatening us for some reason I didn't really know until like... a few months ago? Pops didn't tell me nothing about all this horseman stuff and he seriously won't tell me anything else when I ask. Something about some stupid thing he did with those guys before I was born but he won't talk to me about it. I can't really push him that much because it brings up Ma into the conversation and Pops goes catatonic when it's about Ma."

Raphael eventually paused to breathe, it came out more as a defeated sigh, "But yeah I just.. I kinda thought you guys could help me with that stuff instead."

 
Last edited:

Boop

Little Bo Peep
Nov 30, 2016
1,678
Gender
female
Pronouns
she, etc.
Posting Status
Irregularly
Fatima fought down her urge to run away from this conversation and stuff her face with candy. She wasn't quite sure if Raphael's explanation was better or worse than she had expected. And it was a little confusing. She did pick up her fork again and eat some of her goop both to calm herself a bit and to give herself some time to consider what the boy had just said.

Apparently there had been people harassing him, but he didn't seem too familiar with them, and he said he was with his pa, so they hadn't killed his family. Even though he didn't say where his mom was, it didn't seem to her that she'd been killed by these shady strangers either. The young horseman also had no way of knowing whether he was another summoned horseman like her and John, or if his parents were actually his parents. So he wasn't necessarily from the same set at all.

Fatima sighed, still on edge and definitely concerned, but less outright afraid than she had been a moment ago. She didn't know how to clarify her fears. From the way the boy talked, he was even more of a newbie to this than she was, and she was pretty sure he wouldn't know exactly how he came into the world. But he certainly didn't appear to be involved with the cult himself, unless he was a really good actor. She just hoped that those people wouldn't follow Taffy here and that if they were a part of the cult that had escaped being killed, they'd hopefully be an offshoot that didn't recognize her.

"You... do you know which horseman you are?" It occurred to the girl that if he was another Death or Famine then there'd be no reason at all to worry because that'd mean he was from a different set of horsemen. Well, maybe she'd still worry a bit, but she was afraid of the cult because they'd been her family and might convince her just to be a toy again, not because she was afraid of any physical harm.

"I think we're all a bit different, though. Even if you're another Horseman of Famine, that's the one I am, I don't think I'd be able to help you much. I mean - I was raised by a cult and I've known what I was practically since I was born, but I just know what they've taught me about my purpose and now that's - well it's all screwed up. I know my own powers, but I can't really help with different ones."