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Post by jernus on Oct 23, 2010 14:46:03 GMT -5
"Huh..." pondered Kage as he finished off the first half of the meaty pizza. "Knowing things without knowing 'em and reading your mind... I suppose that's destiny, isn't it?" After a moment, the giant shook his head, causing his hair to fly around a little. "Nah, that's a load of caca..."
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Post by Mina Izumi on Oct 23, 2010 22:42:33 GMT -5
"You are- You're just..." Mina hung her head and sighed, snagging another slice of pizza to finish off the last of her hunger. "I give up. You're going to drive me insane, but I bet it'll be a fun trip."
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Post by jernus on Oct 23, 2010 23:03:43 GMT -5
Kage shrugged and took yet another slice. He was relatively sure that he had warned Mina about his ability to eat an entire pizza, and it was no empty threat. Grinning, the giant folded the pizza Brooklyn style and chomped away.
"Hey, just 'cause I'm driving doesn't mean I'll pay for the gas," quipped Kage. "You can't expect a homeless giant to provide fuel with today's prices." He had just enough tact to utter such a joke right before wondering just how Mina would react to the fact that the older Tora was, for all intents and purposes, homeless. Sure, Kage lived at the HQ, but he didn't eat there or do any work there. Besides, there was the occasional night when he'd sneak a blanket and several pillows out to go sleep in Plasma Vice Alley.
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Post by Mina Izumi on Oct 24, 2010 9:10:03 GMT -5
"Homeless?" Mina's ears perked. "You're in the clans, so what about the headquarters?" Mina couldn't think of anywhere she'd rather be in the entire city than with her comrades at the Tora HQ. It made her feel like she was part of something big and important, and also lent a sense of security since if the HQ was attacked she'd probably be fine. The hustle and bustle was common and she enjoyed the distraction it provided, perhaps that was just how she was.
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Post by jernus on Oct 24, 2010 13:38:56 GMT -5
Kage finished his next slice and gave a palms-up gesture. Soon after letting the gesture drop, the giant's hand dove into the box for a sixth (or was it seventh?) slice.
"I sleep there," he admitted. "ANd I use the showers there, but I haven't found anyone I can really connect with there. Maybe I'm just a strange person, but it seems like every group I stay with falls for some weird reason. Almost like I'm the cause of the separations, somehow..."
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Post by Mina Izumi on Oct 24, 2010 17:53:52 GMT -5
Mina was slowly getting her brain to accept the similarities. "Well Roland, I'm sure you'll find someone you'll connect with." She offered Kage a smile and a thumbs up. "You can do it."
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Post by jernus on Oct 24, 2010 18:56:46 GMT -5
Kage chewed over Mina's words, along with the crust of nis current pizza slice. How could a practically total stranger believe in him like that? Did he really leave some sort of significant impression on her? Who was Roland? Deciding that all the questions would likely get annoying to the younger-looking Tora, the giant merely reached for another slice before speaking again. This was his seventh, he was pretty sure, for now only one slice remained.
"There'll be water, if God wills it," he replied simply. "I'm not terribly worried about finding a new group, anyway. Not so much as I am with relocating my old one."
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Post by Mina Izumi on Oct 24, 2010 20:07:30 GMT -5
Mina blinked. "It might not be any of my business, but what happened to your old group? Did you get separated or something?" Well, that was actually probably a given now that she thought a bit. The thing was 'how' and 'why.'
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Post by jernus on Oct 24, 2010 20:48:04 GMT -5
Kage gulped down the last of the slice he was eating and grabbed the last piece.
"It's a long story," he answered. "I guess we have enough time, though. You want the short version or the long version?"
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Post by Mina Izumi on Oct 24, 2010 22:18:20 GMT -5
"Either one." Mina said, finishing off her slice and letting out a belch. She didn't take another, she was stuffed already, and morbidly fascinated by the feat of hunger that was typically only seen in Egil.
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Post by jernus on Oct 24, 2010 22:38:57 GMT -5
Kage folded the last slice and devoured it without a second glance, letting out a belch of his own that practically shook the windows. The giant briefly considered helping Mina with the last portion of her pizza, but his distaste for onion alone was more than enough to stop him. Kage reached up and twisted a strand of his hair as he contemplated how to begin.
"Well, it all started when my parents were taken by the Government for being a married couple of two different clans," narrated the larger Tora. "The memory's actually a bit hazy, but I remember escaping from those official bastards before they could shove me into an orphanage." The coin was again extracted, spinning on the back of Kage's hand in neat circles as he continued. "After that, more haze, and then Jeremiah and Joshua came along. They fought a lot, but they sorta patched things up so that they could raise me as their third, if you will." A nostalgic smile crossed the giant's face as the silver piece traveled down his fingers and danced atop his fingernails. "We all avoided conscription... Jeremaih's idea; he said the war was wrong, and that humans shouldn't be fighting their own. A few years ago, the agent on our case finally tracked us down. We all got put into different clans, but Jeremiah snagged me a memento before we parted." Kage pulled the worn black jacket a little tighter around himself. "The guy trying to find us was undercover, and he wore this jacket. Jeremiah stole it from him the day before we were separated..."
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Post by Mina Izumi on Oct 25, 2010 17:56:04 GMT -5
Mina was silent, letting Kage tell his story without interruptions. After all, it wasn't exactly a happy story. The giant's mention of the jacket struck a tiny bit of her memory though, something about Satoru yelling at her for touching his own. She had noticed a smattering of blood on the inside of it and gone to investigate. Too bad she had gotten caught and sentenced to run laps. She smiled, then checked herself and brought herself back to the present. "It's good you've got something to remember them with, does it work as a motivator too?" She was referring to the search that Kage was in right now.
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Post by jernus on Oct 25, 2010 20:11:06 GMT -5
Kage looked down at the tear in his right sleeve and shook his head. He laid the coin on the counter, and it began rolling in twisting patterns between his hands.
"We all hate the fact that we're separated," answered the giant solemnly. "But... I can't find them until I make friends from the other clans. Jeremiah's an Ookami, and Joshua's in Kuma, but I don't really even have any other friends, so..." An odd thing happened in Kage's mind at that moment; something sort of collapsed, and the giant Tora suddenly felt saddened at the ever-present fact that he was alone.
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Post by Mina Izumi on Oct 25, 2010 20:34:09 GMT -5
Mina's shoulders slumped as the mood turned even more solemn. "Well," She said. "You've just sorta gotta get to know people I guess, get into it and all that." Her inner gears were turning, and the words were coming a bit quicker now, though with no less meaning despite the heightened pace. "Even though the Clan war is going on right now, there are always ceasefires, and if you're looking for other clanmembers who may know something, people from every clan wander by or into this place at some point." She gave a grin. "So you probably couldn't be in a better position."
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Post by jernus on Oct 25, 2010 20:46:17 GMT -5
Kage looked up at Mina, and a smile cracked his features briefly. He was rather expecting her to say something sappy, like, "Well, I'm your friend..." but the advice she was giving him was perhaps a much better answer. The giant sat upright again, and the coin began to bounce in erratic patterns between his hands.
"Thanks, Mina," he said finally. "Maybe I should stick around here and collect a little extra pay, if I can convince Cort to let me stay."
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