Lactose and Tolerant

Omino

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Jul 9, 2015
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Sometimes, just sometimes, Murphy was thankful for his knack for ending up in unfortunate predicaments. It wasn't that he particularly enjoyed constantly waking up late because all six of his alarm clocks simultaneously stopped working or nearly having to drop out of school because his paperwork seemed to always disappear when it really mattered... but the constant setbacks and sometimes dangerous moments helped him develop a handful of useful skills for adapting to situations on the fly.

This morning's disaster was a handful of men in dark suits claiming that he owed them a significant amount of money and had produced a variety of intriguing tools and weapons when asked what would happen if he couldn't pay. Any normal person might have chanced a call for help in case a helpful policeman or particularly magnanimous and powerful individual might be passing by. Murphy on the other hand, who understood that there would never be that kind of luck on his side, opted for a swift kick to the groin and had fled for dear life. See? Lateral thinking, problem solving, and expedient. All perfectly respectable skills that he could put on his resume!

As he sprinted through the woods that covered the edge of the island he silently thanked Milk for forcing him up at an ungodly hour for daily morning workouts for months before just up and vanishing. He may not be much stronger than he'd been then but at least now he had a pretty good idea of the layout of the area and the myriad of hiding spots the one could duck into to evade pursuers. He frowned and slowed his pace as he approached the clearing where they'd initially encountered a gigantic, angry bear who eventually had become his training partner and... well that was a long story. The circle of toppled trees had been long since cleared away and after nearly a year there were finally some new saplings sprouting from the remnants of the old ones. What caught his attention, however, was the woman standing amidst the natural arena.

Dark skin, and darker hair, just a few inches shorter than he wearing a worn school vest with hands and feet wrapped up in tape... it couldn't be.... "Milk...?" He stopped and stared. She'd been gone for months and he'd been a mental wreck for most of that time. For all the jokes people made about her lack of emotion and lack of social finesse she'd been one of the sole sources of stability in his life for most of his time on the island. When she'd disappeared he felt like the ground had been pulled out from under him and his powers had only made things worse since then. He took a cautious step towards her, "Iz'at... er, is that really you?"

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King

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Milk stretched slightly as she walked back into her old training clearing, the large granite boulder still stretching to the sky, now covered in moss from months of stillness. She had decided she wanted more of a challenge for her normal training regimen, one that her normal spars with the random citizens of Manta Carlos just couldn't give her.

She had heard whisperings of powerful monsters that lurked deep within the confines of the forbidden forest. She decided, quite sensibly in her opinion, to travel deep within the forest, challenging any and all creature that crossed her path.

That had been...several months ago at this point. Milk hadn't changed much in appearance, aside from a slightly more defined musculature. She walked into the center of the clearing and put a hand against the boulder, smirking softly. She hadn't been here in such a long time, a simpler time. She glanced around the clearing, her smirk disappearing as she saw the state of decay. Clearly, Murphy had not been keeping up with his exercises.

She took a small wooden box out from a crook in the boulder, retrieving a fresh set of her workout clothes, replacing them with the near tattered outfit she had first started her training regimen in, along with fresh tape for her hands and feet.

Once Milk had freshened up, she decided to check her strength once more. She stood in front of the boulder, and took a swing at it. The rock shook slightly at the punch, cracks splintering out from where Milks fist met the granite. She let herself smile at that, her strength had definitely improved.

She turned around, dusting off her fist when a figure ran into the clearing, panting. She cocked her head to the side, eyebrow raised. Then the man spoke.

"Milk...?" He gasped, taking a step towards her. "Iz'at... er, is that really you?"

Oh, it was Murphy. He looked different, more fit. Maybe he had been keeping up with his regimen. Milk raised a hand in greeting.

"Hello, Yes it is." She said in her normal monotone, as if she hadn't disappeared for several months.

At least she notified the school that she was taking a sabbatical. Otherwise her disappearance might have caused more of a stir. She began to walk towards Murphy, in her robotic fluid stride. "I see you have been keeping up with your training, good."

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Omino

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Jul 9, 2015
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Training?! Three quarters of a year of absolutely nothing and the first thing she comments on upon return was his training? He looked down at his hands a little self consciously. Sure he'd shirked a bit after she left, and he wasn't putting nearly enough time into weights as he really should be... and he hadn't really been here at all in the last few months....

"I uh... haven't really..." he admitted reluctantly but shook his head quickly. "No, no, wait. Where the hell have you been?! I showed up for training one day and both you and Bear didn't show up. I came back for weeks and waited for you. FUCK! I thought that something had happened to you!"

He punched the rock beside her, wincing slightly as he failed to even make a mark in the moss. He was conflicted. On the one hand he was relieved beyond words that she was safe and to be fair, he wasn't really sure there was anything on the island that could actually kill her once she went into that rage mode she had. On the other, he was livid. He thought that maybe, just maybe she'd learned to look beyond just herself and the school when it came to her impulsive actions. All it would have taken was a single call, a letter, a brief note... anything...

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King

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Milk blinked, slightly confused. Where was she? She was in the forest, where else would she be? Milk did not seem to grasp that the fact that she didn't inform anyone of where she was going was a bad thing. She cocked her head to the side, her normal confused expression appearing on her face.

"I have been training in the forest. I left a note at the school saying that I would not be here. Did you not check the school?" She asked, an eyebrow raised. She did frown slightly at his words.

"Bear was not with me, I told him to help you train. He did not appear for training sessions?"

She sounded genuinely confused, but shook her head at Murphy's punch. "Your form is off Murphy. Do it like this."

She swiveled on a foot and punched the boulder again, knocking off a few more chips as her fist impacted the stone.

"Nothing happened to me. There was nothing I could not handle." She nodded, crossing her arms as she turned back to Murphy.

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Omino

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Jul 9, 2015
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Murphy could feel himself shaking slightly as both relief and rage subsided as a wave of doubt washed over him. Had he misunderstood his relationship with Milk this whole time? He'd assumed that they were close friends after they'd dragged each other, bloody and beaten, to the hospital nearly a year ago but every time he expressed something that upset or worried him she just breezed over it like it didn't matter.

Perhaps it was selfish of him to expect people to care about him. After all, why should this island be any different than everywhere else in the world? Maybe it would be best if... no, nononononono, he was NOT going to panic spiral here. Not again.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, shutting out everything around him and began to count slowly 1...2...3... Milk perceived things differently than others, often going about things in a well meaning but very blunt way...4...5....6 she didn't often pick up on social cues that others did, he needed to make how he felt and why he did clear...7...8...9... Milk DID care, she'd even told him as much so it was only fair that he at least try to open up...10.

Upon opening his eyes he'd calmed significantly and Milk was just turning back to him, crossing her arms in the stance she usually took while lecturing. Well, here went nothing.

"Milk, it's not about something happening to you... well, not just that at least." He motioned around them. "You are my closest friend on the island and the fact that you didn't just contact me directly but rather left a message for me to find made me feel like you didn't want me around or at least didn't think it was important I knew. I've had a lot of problems with people abandoning me because of my 'gifts' and I thought that maybe you'd finally gotten sick of me as well."

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King

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Milk cocked her head to the side as she took in Murphys appearance. She could tell from his stance that he was upset, though she wasn't quite sure why. She would find out as Murphy began to speak.

"Milk, it's not about something happening to you... well, not just that at least." He motioned around them. "You are my closest friend on the island and the fact that you didn't just contact me directly but rather left a message for me to find made me feel like you didn't want me around or at least didn't think it was important I knew. I've had a lot of problems with people abandoning me because of my 'gifts' and I thought that maybe you'd finally gotten sick of me as well."

The bone manipulator frowned. She hadn't realized Murphy felt this way about their friendship. She frowned and put one of her hands on his shoulders.

"I did not know you felt that way Murphy. I am sorry." She said in her normal monotone, though Murphy had been friends with Milk long enough to know that she was sincere in her words. She was quiet after that. Milk had nothing more to say, so she said nothing else, as was custom for the stoic woman.

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Omino

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Jul 9, 2015
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"I am sorry." No emotion, no further explanation or continuation... even knowing her as well as he did Murphy struggled to communicate with Milk. Every time he tried to open up to her all he got was "Oh." or "I see." While he appreciated her brevity and apparent lack of judgement, it often meant that their conversations were largely him talking to himself.

She wasn't simple, or at the very least not stupid. Her way of thinking was just significantly different than that of most. Given what little background he'd been able to pry out of her she'd spent a lot of time alone with little chance to socialize with others in a way other than fighting which in turn caused her to focus more on efficiency of any given action rather than relaxing and moving to the flow of conversation. Huh, it was just another kind of combat when you came to think about it, using words instead of blows... hey that might work.

He rolled his shoulders and began practicing the exercises she'd shown him, going through several cycles of the familiar movements before speaking again. "Hey Milk, have you ever had trouble communicating with people here on the island?"

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King

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Milk nodded to herself and began to oversee Murphy's movements, making sure he was doing them correctly. When he did, she walked over to pick up her log, the large piece of petrified ironwood sitting just where she had left it months ago, moss growing over the hunk of rock. The woman put her hands over the log, bones piercing through her palms to dig into the rock and let her get a grip. She hefted it over her head and walked back to Murphy, sinking slightly into the dirt with each step and leaving footprints as she did so.

It was a very heavy log.

She began to do squats next to Murphy, watching him to make sure he wasn't going to hurt himself.

"Hey Milk, have you ever had trouble communicating with people here on the island?"

She paused at his words, cocking her head slightly in confusion.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

She did often have trouble communicating. People talked in such strange ways on this island. It was quite odd.

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Omino

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Jul 9, 2015
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He paused for a bit, trying to find a way to put his idea that would make sense to Milk. "Well, I've been thinking a bit and I...well what I mean is... I think I can help you get a little better at it. If you're interested that is." He added quickly. A few light steps took him back to the massive boulder that she'd had him punch over and over for moths at a time. "I'm not sayin' that I'm a great orator myself but maybe I can help ya figure out social cues and innuendo that sometime gives you trouble?"

He gave the rock a few test strikes before donning the fighting gloves she'd given him and began to beat a slow but steady beat against it. The idea was a foolish one, he was graced with few social graces himself but he'd heard people talking around the island. People calling Milk 'simple' and 'dull'... that annoyed him. Sure she wasn't the most talkative person, and maybe she didn't place the same importance on empathy and social etiquette that most people did but that didn't make her STUPID.


He punched the boulder harder than he should of and glanced off of it, feeling one of his knuckles jamb painfully into one of the cracks his teacher had put there. No, he wasn't the best option for what he was trying to do but he'd be damned if he didn't try.

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King

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Milk cocked her head to the side at Murphys idea, stepping back to watch his form as she thought.

"I'm not sayin' that I'm a great orator myself but maybe I can help ya figure out social cues and innuendo that sometime gives you trouble?"

It would be useful to be able to understand the strange things the people on the island said. Milk had noticed people using words like 'thick' to describe her with whispered tones, among other things. It was strange. Why could people just not say what they meant?

Milk continued to think, watching Murphy punch the rock. She only spoke again when his fist glanced off the boulder, stepping forward to correct his form.

"Like this. Shift your shoulders and follow through." She said in her monotone, helping guide Murphy into place before she continued. "Yes. I would like to understand people better. I accept your offer."

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