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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Aug 27, 2013 17:53:47 GMT -8
"Man, this place is a mess."
Ani smiled as she flashed her press pass to the security guard standing in front of the Ikea building, taking his nod as an acknowledgment that she would be allowed in. She'd heard about the madness that had gone down earlier, and it seemed kind of convenient that the L.A. Times would tell their part-timer that she needed to stop what she was doing now, and get off her ass and go to Ikea. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this had to do with the Fate-Destiny mumbo-jumo, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that she had to be there, on the double.
The man, however, didn't seem half as understanding.
His gaze trailed towards the redhead next to her. Oh, Naos. Her best friend, comrade-in-arms. Kind of like a little brother to her, really, which was nice, considering she'd never had one herself. However, he did not look like her little brother in the least, nor did he look like a journalist of any kind. Which he wasn't, but still. He was Impedio, right? Which meant that she could take him along. Unofficially, at least. Officially, she was going to have to turn on the flirt a little to allow for these circumstances. Ani took a deep breath, flashing the man her widest and brightest smile. She even leaned in a little, batting her lashes.
"Oh, he's with me. Don't worry, we've got this."
The security guard let out a grunt, but waved the two of them in. Yes! Ani stepped over the caution tape, taking care not to trip over her feet as she stumbled onto the ground. They were in. She turned over to make sure that Naos was safe with her, before letting out a whistle.
"Man, the monkey really did do a number on this place."
The Ikea was, for lack of a better word, completely trashed. Couches were strewn all over with their padding thrown out onto the ground, beds were destroyed, and she was pretty certain that was broken glass on the ground. It looked pretty grim. Definitely not the kind of place you would expect any old journalist to be allowed into-- come to think of it, the security man might have been an Impedio contact as well. Man, they really were everywhere. For all she knew she would turn around and one of her flatmates would be Impedio as well. But the Impedio conspiracy wasn't her focus. Right now, she and Naos had some fate-related matters to check out. Assess the damage. Come up with a cover story through sifting through the ruins. Post that one picture she had found on Instagram as evidence that this had actually happened. Ooh boy, she really was going to have her work cut out for her that day. Time to kiss the prospect of sleep that night bye-bye.
"So, where do we begin?"
__________
29th April, 2012, 6:00 pm
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Post by NAOS DIA on Aug 29, 2013 8:45:02 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 420 | Moving to Los Angeles had brought a lot of changes to the young Norwegian boy's life. It had only been four months, but he was an extraverted person who was always excited to meet new people. Finally having the opportunity to make what could be considered actual friends was nice, as he couldn't really name anyone he was particularly close to back in Oslo other than his parents. Mostly due to his parents keeping him in a bit of a shell. While for him his friendships still came with a level of detachment, it was nice to have connections and people he did enjoy to be around.
The person he enjoyed the most, at least from the time they had spent together so far, was definitely Ani. There may have been an age gap between them, but Naos found a kindred spirit in her to some extent. If nothing else, he was having fun and she enabled it. With encouragement like that, why wouldn't he like being with her? When she offered to take him somewhere, he never said no, and he wasn't ever shy about asking if he could tag along.
Thus, there he was standing beside the other Impedio Society member as they waited to get inside of the Ikea. This was exciting for two reasons. One, he got to help investigate a place that had been in a fate-related incident. Two, he had never been to an Ikea before! He managed to keep his excitement contained enough, though, as the man at the door seemed a little skeptical. Naos did consider that he need to think of a better way to at least pose as an intern or something, but Ani seemed to have the situation under control. They managed to get past the yellow tape without much trouble.
"Wow, this is pretty bad," he agreed, nodding as he did. He carefully picked up what looked like half of a broken vase from the floor to glance over. "And a waste of mass production. But at least no one died?"
Naos's natural inclination was to start at one end and methodically note each and every detail. However, that was probably excess and unnecessary for something like this. And he was just the tagalong. "Is there something you needed to focus on? Everything is such a mess, so it doesn't seem like it was after anything in particular… Well, maybe. We could assess the damage by seeing what it didn't tear up first?" He liked working backwards sometimes. |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Aug 30, 2013 6:55:28 GMT -8
Naos was a good kid-- his family had arrived all the way from Norway and they'd hit it off immediately, and within days of meeting each other they were discussing the potential for pranks and hijinks and adventures galore. Ani had decided that she'd quite liked the boy, and soon he was her de facto partner in crime, kicking ass and taking names from here to the rest of the world. Impedio Society, here they'd come, whether you wanted them to or not. Sure, he wasn't the most normal of kids, and it was an odd friendship considering how young he was, but hey, when you found someone you could relate to on some level without having to keep your secrets from them, you stuck by them no matter what. She watched as he picked up the broken vase, walking up to him and giving him a sharp tap on the shoulder.
"You know, in most cases this would be called destroying evidence. Next time, if you want to touch, you wear gloves." Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a pair of latex rubber gloves, handing them over to him. "Though you're right. We're really just in here to assess the damage, so it should be fine to touch what you want. I mean, we all know what did this, so we just need to come up with a cover story from the damage caused. Though this may be a bit of a problem... Hold on," she muttered, pulling her phone out of her pocket and opening Instagram. She scrolled down until she reached a photo that someone had posted a while back, a girl named jujubee who usually posted pictures of cute dogs. Apparently she didn't own a dog herself, so she went around taking sneak pictures of cute puppies that she saw, and Ani had to say that she was pretty amazed how close she managed to get without their owners thinking she was crazy. However, this once, jujubee had posted a picture of the monkey in Ikea, with the caption 'Stylish, but Illegal'. The Korean girl shoved the phone in Naos' face.
"Okay, this is all over the Internet. A picture of a monkey in a fur coat. And it's not like we can blame the zoo or something, because why would a zoo stick a monkey in a fur coat in the middle of summer?" In the middle of summer! her internal radio blasted, the Panic! At the Disco song coming to mind as she took her phone back and continued scrolling through jujubee's feed. Aww, a cute Pomeranian. Ani giggled as she gave the picture a 'like'.
"Right now I'm thinking that we should say some crazy woman brought her pet monkey into the Ikea to take it to go eat meatballs or something. Pet owner is more likely than letting it loose from the zoo, especially because zoo-goers won't have seen a broken cage. But one monkey, or many monkeys? I mean, you can't really deduce the size of the monkey from this one photo. It's kind of a close-up, and apparently it's now trending under hashtag-stylishbutillegal among the Internet sphere. So if we can maybe fudge the story and say that it was more than one monkey, it might be less suspicious that they caused..." She paused for dramatic effect. "This."
Ani walked up to a ravaged mattress, eyes widening at the sight. "Holy shit."
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Post by NAOS DIA on Aug 31, 2013 21:47:40 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 400 | Ani's tap came with a flinch in the boy's hands. He dropped the vase back down to the floor and tried put on his most apologetic look, but it was hard to make his smile soften. Most people would normally not be so happy about being scolded and forced to wear gloves. Naos, however, nodded in understanding and gladly took the gloves. "Duly noted!" He actually really liked them as, of course, he had the heart of a scientist. Though he wouldn't yet consider himself a mad scientist, he loved the image of one. He did all he could to hold back the faked diabolical laugh as he snapped the gloves unto his hands. Then, he went to carefully studying the image on the phone that Ani had shoved in his face.
It was bizarre to think that the entities they were trained to deal with had a sense of humor, but how else could something like a giant monkey in a winter coat be explained. While Ani was concerned with her cover story, the teenager busied himself with wondering what this meant for the future. Apparently something out of place and hilarious was not out of the question. As his comrade giggled over something else on her device, he started thinking maybe somewhere even fate had a tumblr account that it was pulling ideas from. That would be an interesting twist to discover. It was a silly idea that was far from truth, but it amused him for the time being.
"I agree, you could say more than one monkey. Or more than one animal in general. Sort of like the monkey bit a dog that reacted poorly, and then a chase occurred into the building. You could also say animal control did a really bad job and made the situation worse. Ooor that people hurrying out of the building significantly added to the mess." Naos walked closer to the mattress as he spoke, looking over the way it was ripped up. It was pretty bad. Would even any of that explain how bad the mess was? Sure, some people believed just about anything you told them, but wasn't there a limit?
"Oh! What about an advertisement photoshoot or commercial with a giant ape that went terribly wrong? Come to Ikea, you'll eat bananas for our products! Pick bananas? Smash bananas? Maybe it was mangoes..? I forget the expression." |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Sept 3, 2013 19:32:03 GMT -8
Ani giggled. Oh, you had to give him some credit for his imagination, implausible as a lot of what he spouted was. "That's all great and all, though, but we have to go for an angle where we can't really lay the blame on anyone. See, the problem with suggesting that animal control came in is that someone will come up with a question like 'what did animal control do, and why didn't we get anyone in for comment'. Basically the fewer organisations we involve, the better. It's easier to pin the blame on one unknown person and make some name up rather than blaming a large corporation that might be able to say something against it. You," she said, leaning in to ruffle her friend's hair. I would have liked the ad campaign though, but so far I'm leaning towards one woman. Maybe multiple animals though," she grinned as she continued to trudge through the ruins, glancing around to examine the damage.
"Boy, this is kind of crazy. What do you think? Multiple animals is definitely the way to go. Not sure if we can pretend that the monkey was smaller than it actually was though... Maybe we'll say it was an orangutan, but the picture doesn't lie. Then again we can just chalk the sizing down to people being fooled by fear. Or something. Now that," she said, waggling a finger in front of Naos' face, "Is Lesson two in deception-- assume that the audience is idiotic." She continued walking onwards, stopping to pause at the furniture section. Wow, the monkey had really outdone itself. Strewn sheets, scratched posts, et cetera, et cetera. It had spared several things though, and it was then when Ani walked up to a rather fancy-looking bedside table and sat herself down on it.
"Man, I feel like we're going to be done here fairly soon. Let's make this exciting for ourselves, won't we? I mean, destroying evidence or not... I'm not sure whether it really does matter. Basically the whole place has fallen to shit and we've been allowed in, so... Hide and seek, maybe? Or we can go to the cafeteria and have an eating contest to see how much of their leftover food that we can finish. I'm sure they won't miss anything."
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Post by NAOS DIA on Sept 8, 2013 8:49:46 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 413 | This was becoming an interesting learning experience for him. It was nice to spend time with someone as skilled in their field as they were enjoyable to be around. Though he had really just wanted to tag along, he was taking notes on what he was being told. It made sense, after all. The less people you involved, the less risk of backlash. It kept everyone safer. Still, there was something to the idea of causing that kind of mess that made him want to laugh again. He resisted, of course, but one could really build up an interesting media storm if they wanted to. It was hard to say if knowledge of that would ever be useful to him in the future, but he would keep it noted.
The thought was interrupted as she ruffled his hair. He looked up at her and nodded. Assume the audience is idiotic, hm? Well, honestly that wasn't going to be too hard for him to do. He was already good at doing that for just about anyone he met, because when you were a high schooler too smart for your own good it was often enough unfortunately true. Perhaps idiotic wasn't always the word. Ignorant was the nicer term, because they couldn't always help that.
"I would definitely go with multiple animals if that's the case," he agreed. "A monkey of any other size couldn't have done this much damage alone, I would assume. That's too much for even an idiotic audience. This place is so big that people could have easily missed other animals that might've been here, though. A monkey in a coat is more likely to catch your eye than anything else. We could find some things that at least look like they were damaged by other animals for makeshift proof."
The job that originally looked like it was going to take awhile had been simplified. Which led to a few interesting suggestions from the woman. At first, Naos made it a point to shake his head at her. "Ani, I am surprised. This is supposed to be work. You're the older person, so you should be the good example. What would our comrades say?" He was intentionally overacting the part of a concerned associate. However, it was a poorly done distraction. There came a pause in those words where he touched his finger to his nose. "Also, I call not 'it' first." Tag and then raiding the cafeteria? Yes, please. |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Sept 9, 2013 5:13:39 GMT -8
It was true that you could stir up shit, frame anyone you wanted with the right thing being said at the right time. However, one of the principles that she tried to live by was to treat others as she would like to be treated. Ani wasn't a mean-spirited person, even if her work was shady to say the least, and besides, making a mess out of a situation could mean that you would be in for a whole lot of shit sweeping, which meant more work for her. However, if they did need to create a media storm to distract from one of the Impedio Society's doings, then, well... Sorry press, there were bigger things at hand. Like, you know, trying to prevent an apocalypse from happening, a giant war resurfacing, and shit hitting the fan. No big deal.
"Yeah, definitely. Just look at this-- it looks like it's been squashed." Ani gestured towards a footstool that was now smashed into a million pieces. "Maybe an elephant sat on it? Though that isn't going to be likely. I feel like someone would be more likely to see an elephant than a monkey..." And then her eyes lit up. She whirled around, facing Naos with a wide grin on her face. "Oh my God I think I have it. Perhaps more monkeys than one, all of them wearing the fur coat, three or four maybe. That way people can't deny that they did see the first monkey in the fur coat, but they don't all have to be the same one. I mean," she said, pulling up the Instagram pictures under #stylishbutillegal, "Look... The monkey looks kind of different from various angles. We can easily pass it off as multiple monkeys. The smashed footstool can be when a few monkeys sat on it at once. What do you say?" she asked, again shoving the phone in Naos' face. Aww yes, she was so smart sometimes she stunned herself. Ohoho. But now they were done with that, time for some fun and games. Who said that all work and no play made you a dull child? Nope, you could throw the two in a blender and watch everything go to hell!
"Okay. Sounds like a plan," she chuckled as Naos said he wasn't it. "Rules-- we stay on this floor. Nothing that could kill us. We go until one of us decides we're hungry, and then loot the free food. No going for free food before the other person gets there, because that's inhuman and cruel. Three... Two... One... Fly, you fool, fly!"
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Post by NAOS DIA on Sept 11, 2013 5:01:07 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 241 | The mess around the place was impressive. Naos laughed at the idea of an elephant sitting on some of the crushed furniture, but he didn't take the suggestion very seriously. That would have definitely been more noticeable than a monkey for a large number of reasons. The most obvious reason being… well, it was an elephant. They were large and there's not way one could've gotten into the building very easily. He did, however, nod along eagerly when she brought up the photos of other monkeys. To him, it was certainly the same creature. However, to an idiotic audience, it could've easily been multiple monkeys. He doubted that anyone who questioned the story would be taken more seriously than the actual newspaper. That was just how the world seemed to work.
His grin widened from ear to ear when she went over the rules. "Rules acknowledged!" The boy confirmed. He would try to follow them for her, but he wasn't going to be making her any direct agreements or promises. He was in it to win. Even in a case like this he was going to make use of his few physical strong points, as he was quick and he was a decent climber. The countdown began, Naos readied himself and then took off to hide. Over a coach, past a few book shelves, to the ground, and then he rolled under a bed. All in all, he felt rather confident. |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Sept 11, 2013 6:14:17 GMT -8
"Hey, you never actually agreed to them. Stop that, I know what you were thinkin--" But before she could finish her statement, Naos was off, bounding over a couch and then disappearing into the distance. Ani closed her eyes with her hands, counting out loud. "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four..." She paused. Okay, she was going to have to allow him some space to run and hide. Ten seconds? Hardly enough for an IKEA of this size. Besides, she was damn good at this game. Just ask her parents. She was amazing at disappearing any time they realised that she hadn't finished her vegetables as a kid. She was a total natural. "Three. Two. One, ready or not, here I come!"
With that, Ani began her hunt. It was only common sense that Naos would have run and bounded somewhat far away. She trudged through the ruins of the IKEA, clicking her tongue. Yup, definitely multiple monkeys here, she noted as she saw the numerous scratches on a couch. Or at least she was going to have to pretend that it was multiple monkeys, because damn this one fur-coated bastard had done a pretty amazing job, she thought as she glanced past a bunch of ravaged bookcases. Ani raised a brow. Speaking of little bastards, what was that under the bed over there?
"Naos, I've got you." She grinned, walking up to the boy and giving him a little kick. Easy, too easy. "Dude, I'm disappointed. Under a bed? You couldn't have thought of anything more original? I thought you were ingenious. You can totally do better than that. Now it's my turn. Close your eyes, count to ten, and..." As soon as Naos was done counting, she sped off, rushing into the distance. Too bad the curtains were on the floor below, or she could hide behind those. So instead she walked up towards a pile of shredded wood pieces, a giant heap of them in fact. Otherwise known as what had once been a wardrobe. "Aha!" she muttered out loud, pressing the button on her pendant to shield herself from any potential splinters, before diving in and covering herself with them. Abuse of magical artifacts, indeed.
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Post by NAOS DIA on Sept 11, 2013 7:54:12 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 379 | Naos couldn't help but laugh at even the little kick. He had known it wasn't the best hiding place in the world, but it wasn't the worst. While he was a little bit surprised she had found himself so easily, it did occur to him after a moment of that he really shouldn't have been surprised at all by it. Neither of them were average, so that would just be his sign to up his game. "Alright, you found me! Go and hide while you still can."
Even in counting, he was trying to think about how he could turn the game in his favor again. The boy covered his eyes with his arm and started counting in his native tongue. She wasn't brainless so it wouldn't really help a lot, but whatever he could do to throw her off of her game seemed appropriate. "En, to, tre, fire, fem, seks, syv, åtte, ni, ti!"
When he reached ten, he immediately whipped his head in the direction he had heard her run and he listened. For a moment he even held his own breath so that he could perhaps pick up on whatever sounds she could have been making in her hiding spot. It didn't help more than lead him in the direction she had originally ran off to, deciding that he could eliminate the other routes for the time being.
Then he realized he could make this game a lot easier for himself. Pausing just a bit more, he pulled his old glasses from his pocket and slipped them on. She wasn't some sort of elemental person, but he held on to the hopes that he could pick up on her footsteps. It wasn't cheating, it was using his resources! He was taking a bit longer in his search if only because he was then peeking in any available space that was on the path. Thankfully, a lot of the furniture had the doors smashed in or knocked off. On one hand the mess made the search more difficult, but on the other it did help in a way.
Finally, he paused at the heap of wood. It was smashed in, yes, but it was suspicious. He put his glasses away and knocked on the side. "Anyone home?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Sept 11, 2013 9:07:14 GMT -8
Neither of them were average would have been the understatement of the year. In fact, it was arguable that they were both among the top of their game. All the training that the Impedio Society had put them through would have taught them to be stealthy, be discreet, to look out for each other but most importantly to look out for themselves. You never knew what kind of situation you could end up in, where the hunter became the hunted. A reversal of roles was more than likely to happen anywhere, any time-- which was why you had to have each others' backs, and to stay alert and watch for surprises. Counting in Norwegian? Really? He could have tried so much harder.
Though she had to let out a giggle when he knocked on the side of the wood, asking if anyone was home. With that, she burst out of the pile of splinters, a wide grin on her face. "You took so much longer to find me. Now this is a hiding place." Maturity and intelligence? What was that, something to eat? She didn't need that when she had fun. "As for counting in Norwegian? Weak, man. You could do something else to try to throw me off, couldn't you? I thought you'd know better than that." The Korean girl smirked.
"Yes, that was a challenge, by the way. Okay. Time for me to count, and I'm going to do it in English this time. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five-- fourthreetwoone here I come!"
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Post by NAOS DIA on Sept 15, 2013 0:33:21 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 252 | Alright, Norwegian was out. It made sense that she would figure it out. Rather than be upset that she caught on to what he was doing so easily, the boy wore a large smile and nodded. Oh how he enjoyed being around people who weren't easily fooled. Well, usually. It led to a whole different set of potential problems, but at the moment those problems weren't an issue. "If you want something more difficult, then something more difficult is what you shall have," he shrugged. He was more than willing to provide her with what she wanted.
When Ani started counting again, he hurried off to a direction they had yet go to. Unfortunately, it was just more living room furniture. Naos was thanking his mother's insistence that he keep up his yoga routine in this predicament. He wasn't all that strong, no. In a fistfight he would be down in no time. However, he was at least very flexible. This made fitting into a tight space pretty easy actually. When he came across a rather small chest/coffee table, he gave it a moment of consideration. It was small, but he could fit if he tried. And thank goodness that he could, because he found himself quickly slipping in when Ani sped up her counting.
The trick was to not breathe or make any sudden movements, though he had a hunch that she would find him soon anyway. He needed to start thinking about his next hiding spot ahead of time, hmmmm… |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Sept 15, 2013 7:16:58 GMT -8
"Give me a challenge!" Ani yelled as she walked through the halls, calling out so that Naos could perhaps hear her. She'd been too good at this game as a kid-- probably why she had been told a couple of times that she might have made a good hunter, but it wasn't really her style nor her cup of tea. She generally liked people, and even though some of them had to be destroyed for the greater good, she didn't exactly want to be the one to dirty her hands. Nope, she could be involved in some other dirty business. Namely the kind that tarnished the freedom of the press, but hey, that was once again another technicality.
Some things just had to be done for the greater good.
Where the hell was this kid, though?
Ani paused in her tracks. Nope, no sign of him-- he was too smart to hide under another bed, too good to hide behind something. She had a feeling that when she'd asked for a challenge, she'd gotten one. The girl frowned, taking a seat on a chest. He had to be somewhere.
"That stupid kid..." The Korean girl muttered as she pulled out her phone. The thought of texting him to find out where he was did briefly cross her mind, but she decided against it. She'd find him later. Instead, she pulled out the 'Message' section, and sent a text to a couple of people saying:
Oh my god I swear. This job. #whatamidoinghere
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Post by NAOS DIA on Sept 17, 2013 11:22:55 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 278 | Naos didn't really think he was giving her much of a challenge just yet. As he waited, he continued plotting the next move in his head. He could always count in binary next time. Then for the hiding, there was always the vent. She said that they had to stay on that floor, but she hadn't said anything about crawling through the ceiling of that floor. Though he kept thinking, he found himself actually surprised that she wasn't finding him.
The longer he stayed inside of the small chest, the more he felt somewhat victorious without having to try terribly hard. However, he hit the wall of it going on a bit too long when he heard her sit down on the chest. And then he was trapped in a rather uncomfortable position. Had she given up then? Or was this a cruel joke? The only thing to be thankful for was his lack of claustrophobia. He didn't want to speak up right away. After all, he was winning. It probably wasn't worth it, but that wasn't what was important. He held in a laugh and continued to wait.
If only waiting was less boring than it seemed, he probably could've stayed there much longer. Instead, he finally found himself trying to pull his cellphone from his pocket. It was a process trying to not make any noise while doing it and he probably failed in that sense. However, he did manage to get it out either way. Just yelling out that he was right underneath of her was too easy, so he decided to send her a message.
It's dark in here! You're taking too long. #trapped! |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Sept 21, 2013 8:37:01 GMT -8
Man, I know right? Maybe I should have been a babysitter instead.
Ani typed the message out in response to one of her friends, heaving a loud, dramatic sigh. She could call or text Naos, but to do so would be to admit defeat and she just knew that he would rub his sweet, sweet victory in her face if she threw in the towel. No, if she was going to let him win, she was going to make it long and painful. A cackle escaped her lips as she imagined Naos curled up in one of the washing machines for hours, the only thing saving him from being spun round and round and round the fact that IKEA's plumbing didn't actually work from the storeroom. (Seriously though, the makeshift toilet seats all had 'toilet is not actually functional' on them. It was great, though you wondered whether anyone had actually tried to use the bathroom there.) But she heard a knock from underneath her, and then the rustling sound of a person. A... person?
It was then when her phone went off once again, and suddenly all was clear.
The girl let out a giggle as she leaped off the crate, realising just what, or well, who was inside it. "Maybe I should go look somewhere else," she muttered, knowing that if Naos admitted defeat, she would at least get to retain some of her dignity. "I don't know who could possibly have told me that he was trapped, lost and alone. There are so many places where a Norwegian Dia could be," she muttered as she gave the crate-table a sharp kick, though not one that would actually hurt Naos any. Nope, all she was doing was teasing him, playing with him a little, shaking things up.
Hide and seek, after all, was dirty business.
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Post by NAOS DIA on Sept 25, 2013 10:28:38 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 337 | With the text message sent, Naos was quiet for a moment. He held his breath and listened for any sort of reaction from her. He heard the giggle and then the movement, hoping that was a response to what he had sent rather than to something she happened upon on tumblr. Though he had been waiting for some time before he sent the text message, he figured that she would pick up on the clue given to her pretty quickly. It was Ani, after all. He was going to give her that much credit.
However, her reaction wasn't immediately what he had assumed it would be once she realized he was in the table. She didn't open it and declare that she had found him. She didn't tell him to get out either. Instead she started muttering about going elsewhere followed by some more voiced introspection. It may not have been what he was expecting, but he knew exactly what she was doing. His first decision was to call her bluff and sit tight for however long he needed to in order to solidify his victory. Thankfully, that decision was easily reconsidered. He was already feeling successful and the sharp kick to the table was the end of it. She definitely knew where he was, and even if it didn't hurt the kick was a bit loud from the inside.
"Alright, alright! I'm here, no more kicking," he admitted, finally lifting the lid and pushing himself up. "But I still win, I could have been in there forever and then you'd go eat all of the free food without me." Naos nodded firmly as he spoke, but found himself laughing right after. Although funny, he could see that scenario as somewhat probable. Which actually made it that much more entertaining for him.
Eating was starting to sound like an even better idea, the more he thought about it. He found his eyes curiously wandering to the other doors in the room. "Actually, which way is the cafeteria?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Oct 1, 2013 4:01:19 GMT -8
And now the kid Dia had come out of the woodwork. Quite literally. Ani grinned as she watched Naos pull the cover upwards, giving him a little bow. "Wonderful hiding job. I had absolutely no idea where you were at all." It was evidently a lie, but she had a good feeling that Naos would just play along anyway. One of the things she liked most about this friendship was how well they played off each other, and how they were actually on the same wavelength with most things-- the Impedio Society was full of many people far too serious for her liking. "Gold star for you," she chortled as she ruffled his hair again. Ani really delighted in teasing her closest friends, but that was just part of her charm. At least she was nice most of the time, right?
But then Naos mentioned the wonderful c-word. Food. A grin curled up onto the girl's lips as her eyes met his. "Where is the cafeteria? I don't know. You tell me where the cafeteria is," she grinned as she began walking, heading in the right direction. Of course they were going in the right direction: they were following a bunch of signs that said "To Cafe". One would have thought that Naos' intense training had included some basic skills like following signs, but apparently not. "It's not that far from here. I would know, I've been here before." Her rented flat was decked from top to bottom in Ikea furniture, after all. And she'd come back so many times asking for a return or a refund.
What could she say? She liked milking the most out of every dollar that she could. It just meant that she had more money to spend on things later. As they passed by a row of clothes hangers, Ani paused. "Do you think they'd miss one or two if I just nabbed them?" she asked as she picked them up. The girl opened her large bag and stuffed some of them in. She shrugged. "They're just $0.99 a pack after all. It'll save me a journey to come back here." Maybe she'd leave some money at one of the tills to satisfy her conscience. Yeah, that worked. Besides, the cafeteria was just ahead. She definitely had the time to sit around pondering tough moral decisions.
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Post by NAOS DIA on Oct 7, 2013 9:11:29 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 340 | This Dia was not a modest one. He was happy to return Ani's joking praise with his own acted out victory stance. He saluted proudly and then waved to a nonexistent crowd. However, he broke into a laugh again the moment she ruffled his hair. If his hair was a bit less lifeless, then he'd worry she was messing it up. However, he hardly cared.
Having never been to an Ikea before, Naos found the revelation that when Ani was talking about a cafeteria she actually meant a cafeteria fascinating. The signs that said cafe had been passed off as a special category at first. After all, a furniture and decor store… with a whole actual cafe area? It was big, so he finally figured why not. However, he really had to wonder what sort of food a furniture store would have to offer. Gingerbread houses? Meatloaf shaped like refrigerators? Duvet-like omelets? Even more excitement than before lit his smile.
Unbothered by her teasing, he happily hopped out of the chest and followed her in the right direction. "Lead the way, then!" He could follow the signs now that he was aware, but it was easier to take in the sight of everything else with her leading the way. At least until they stopped at the row of hangers.
"One or two what, Ani?" He shrugged, followed by an incredibly conspicuous whistling of a tune. That was his not-so-subtle way of telling her he wasn't going to tell, so she may as well go for it. The boy wasn't a bad influence, all things considered. However, he wasn't going to stop someone from looting if he had no logical reason to do so. In fact, if it saved her a trip later, then it made enough sense to him to just take them. It was unlikely that such common and cheap items would be missed. However, he did eye the ceiling for a moment while he waited for her to take what she wanted. "The security cameras aren't working, right?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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Post by ANABEL BAILEY on Oct 18, 2013 17:44:57 GMT -8
Okay, so maybe one set of clothes hangers was underdoing it. (Was underdoing even a word? There had to be a word to describe the opposite of overdoing, right?) Maybe she could have grabbed a million clothes hangers and sold them on eBay, using low prices and well-placed hashtags to gain a large profit. But Ani generally did try to be a principled person. She did enough shit and told enough lies when it came to the IS that she felt like she had to find some way to maintain some sort of good karma. If she was going to live a large part of her existence lying through her teeth, then she sure as hell had to have something to account for if she ever made her maker. It was for a good cause, and she knew that not everyone was going to abide by her principles, but fuck if she was going to do things differently.
Naos wasn't the same. Close as she was to him, she knew that he lived life to the beat of his own drum. Which suited her just fine, because she lived life by the beat of her own, but how he felt about certain issues were a far cry about how she felt in return. So she shrugged, taking three or four stacks of the clothes hangers and stuffing them into her backpack. "Yeah, I suppose. I'll drop the money off in front anyway. You never know." There, that would help her sleep that night. She chuckled at the little whistle. "Either way, you saw nothing at all."
Now they were done with that state of affairs, it was time for food. "Onward, the light brigade!" she exclaimed, storming towards the cafeteria. Okay, now the idea of stealing food was a complete contradiction to what she'd been thinking earlier. But-- well, if they didn't get to the food, it was going to go bad, wasn't it? Besides, humans were all hypocritical to some extent or other. With everything she preached and valued about honesty, she was one of the biggest liars of them all. And she was quite certain that anyone would bend the rules for food.
They reached the cafeteria in a matter of minutes. Ani leaped over the counter top in a swift motion, grabbing a tray in the process. "I feel like a lunch lady now," she giggled as she grabbed one of the ladles. "So what would you like for your high school lunch today, kid?"
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Post by NAOS DIA on Nov 8, 2013 8:01:54 GMT -8
There's a gap where we meet, where I end and you begin.
April 29th
tag | Ani
words | 317 | Any hesitance that Ani might have shown in the actual action of taking a few packs of clothes hangers was met with a total indifference. Naos just stood there and patiently waited for her to make her move, glancing around at the building's security cameras once more. Logically, no one would truly be at much more of a loss because they lacked a few sets of hangers. While he knew that stealing was basically wrong, he also didn't particularly care himself and at the time didn't see the need to be driven by more socially acceptable behavior. He wasn't going to judge Ani based on a trivial standard either. He nodded, agreeing that he had seen nothing at all.
That was done, on they went. He allowed the woman to lead the way still as he contemplated whether or not 'light brigade' had any cultural reference beyond its historical one. Either way, he enjoyed it. The smell of food left behind in the area filled the air when they reached the cafeteria. It wasn't at all what he had been expecting, but it was fascinating that Americans even had food available in their house wares and furniture stores. For a moment he imagined someone just getting lost in the large store and living off of it, and he let out a quiet laugh to himself.
"Alright, let's see what they have in this place. Hmm…" His eyes scanned the menu available. Naos couldn't really say he was fond of school lunch, as fascinating as that was to see every weekday. He had grown up eating a strict and heathy diet. His move to Los Angeles meant the prompt crash of said diet with various greasy and deep fried foods, but he would never really get used to things like processed chicken compressed into rings.
"Swedish meatballs! I wonder how Swedish they really are. Have you tried those?" |
electric has gangnam style and back to neverland |
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