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Post by nintendonut1 on Sept 25, 2010 22:58:34 GMT -5
It was took a bit of time, but finally the noxious gas of the industrial park began to clear... much to the Fusion who called himself 'Fredd' for now's disappointment.
As they finally reached the edge, stepping through twisted wire gates, broken long ago, the western expanse of Dimensional Island laid out before them. To their right stood the dusted mountains leading up north, to their left stretched out a seemingly endless wasteland of sand, and just ahead laid the dark shapes of a modest little settlement, framed by the sunset.
"Aha..." He couldn't help a grin. See, he knew they'd find it eventually. "That the town you're looking for?" he asked Mallory, jacking his thumb towards the settlement.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 6, 2010 17:13:02 GMT -5
Mallory's condition hadn't gotten much better as they walked around the Industrial Park. She was still shivering and cold to the touch, and her face had gotten rather pale. Their progress had been impeded a fair bit as every now and then, a stray breeze would cause Mallory to lose grip of the letter she was holding and she would have to scramble after it. By this point, the letter with the name "Warren Shire" written on the front was rather grimy and dirty.
Mallory looked up as Fredd pointed toward the distant settlement, and her eyes brightened. She nodded.
"Yes, that's it! Thank you so much!" She rather roughly and suddenly hugged Fredd, which, due to their height difference, meant Fredd got his face stuck right between Mallory's breasts, likely to the Fusion's chagrin.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 7, 2010 12:52:11 GMT -5
Crono had worked his way closer towards Mallory in the walk. She was looking worse and worse, and he was beginning to think it was far more than a simple chill given her condition. He'd pulled his sword out of his sheath after only a short time, deciding he'd rather have it ready in case anything showed up. Mallory's condition meant it was somewhat likely he'd have to be quick about putting himself between her and a monster. They were lucky with the path Fredd was choosing, they weren't having to go through any dense areas that would provide easy hiding for monsters.
Mallory's condition had also meant the walk went slowly, passing hours rather than the maybe one it should have taken. Crono was grateful when they got out of the suppressing air that factory had carried. For himself, and definitely for Mallory. She had to be sick and going through the chills, right? Then again, were chills supposed to take this long? He didn't know anything about natural illnesses. Ayla was rather good at it, Marle seemed to have a natural knack for it, Lucca could quote you an entire book on obscure diseases, and Robo could have taken her temperature... he was none of them. Hell, Magus would have been better at figuring this out than he was.
When Mallory embraced Fredd, Crono was surprised at her sudden burst of energy. He stumbled back, possibly casting some doubt on how well he'd move in a real battlefield. She then smooshed the poor teenaged appearing Fusion's face into her chest. Crono seemed to hold back a laugh and turn his head, suddenly worrying about Mallory's reaction to that. He let out a cough and spoke without looking at the pair.
"I don't think you should deliver that just yet, though," Crono said, "You really need to see a doctor..."
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Post by nintendonut1 on Oct 9, 2010 19:48:15 GMT -5
"Good, good. Alright, no need to get mushy, I was justMMPH."
If Fusions were physically capable of blushing, you could damn well bet Fredd would be doing so. The hug by itself was bad enough, but really!? RIGHT in her chest!? Was that really necessary!?!
He gasped when he finally broke away, raising up his hands to distance himself from her. "Okay, okay!! Personal space, learn it!! Seriously!" He grumbled, regarding Crono's words. He knew her ailments needed no doctor, just time to fester, is all... "Nah, no need right this second. She came all this way to deliver it, might as well follow through on it."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 10, 2010 0:05:08 GMT -5
Mallory flushed red at Fredd's reaction to her hug. She hadn't meant to intrude on his personal space like that. She looked a little guilty. "...I'm sorry."
She looked between Crono and Fredd as they both brought up their points. "U-Um... I don't even know if this town has a doctor, anyways. Apparently, this used to be an old mining town... and then everyone just kinda up and vanished. Only a few people live here now."
She gave another shiver as a chill moved up her body. "It won't take me long to deliver this! And it's only a day's run from here to Void City... I think. I mean, it is for me..." She appeared embarrassed at that last comment.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 11, 2010 22:33:29 GMT -5
Crono gave an annoyed look at Fredd's reaction. Then Mallory apologized and mentioned the place didn't have a doctor. What kind of town didn't have a doctor? Honestly, even the destroyed future had a doctor... well, a machine that functioned as one. Didn't do anything for the hunger, though. He noticed Mallory seemed uncomfortable with the situation and rubbed the back of his head. It wasn't like she couldn't still deliver the letter, right? So what was the proper way to handle this? He looked at Fredd again and then glanced back at Mallory.
"How about you go and get that delivered real quick? We can talk about that day's walk afterwards, okay?"
The spiky red-head glanced back at Fredd. He wanted Mallory to go deliver the letter so he could talk to Fredd. Alone, without having to worry Mallory further. If the Fusion could read human body language as Crono made his suggestion and forced smile, he'd realize the teenager wanted to "talk" with him.
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Post by nintendonut1 on Oct 12, 2010 2:02:33 GMT -5
The Fusion raised a brow, wrinkling the slight brim of his hat. What was the weirdo giving him that look for?
...oh. Well, GREAT. He wanted to "talk." Just wonderful. He was tempted to sneer back in response, but kept himself in check. If hadn't been so worried about giving himself away too early, he would've already snapped this annoying little prick's neck and moved on with his mission, taking the girl with or without force. But his past failures had introduced to him a concept he disliked, and that was caution. But, if it got the job done, it got the job done.
And so, he nodded to Crono, waving Mallory off. "Go on, then, take care of business," he encouraged, waiting for her to be out of earshot before facing Crono, acting as if just noticing the stare. "...what?"
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 12, 2010 21:23:10 GMT -5
Mallory nodded to Crono and Fredd, and then turned away from them, heading into the town. The description of "ghost town" was pretty accurate, as it turned out. Not that the town was haunted or anything, but it was sure spooky. The house she was supposed to head to was supposed to be one of the less dilapidated looking houses here.
She managed to find it fairly easily, mainly because it was rather... unique looking compared to the other houses here. It looked like a madman had built it. The entire thing's structure didn't seem quite stable.
Apprehensively, Mallory approached the front door. She very carefully knocked, and waited for someone to answer. She didn't have to wait long. Answering the door was a bespectacled white-haired young man with rabbit ears.
"Um... 'Warren Shire'?" Mallory inquired. She gave a little cough. The man nodded slowly. She handed him the letter. "Um... this is for you."
Warren carefully opened the letter and pulled out the actual note inside. His eyes widened behind the thick lenses of his glasses, and he looked up at Mallory with tearful eyes.
"Oh dear, what's wrong, mister?" Mallory asked. Warren flinched away from her and held out the note. "...Oh. I'm supposed to repossess your stopwatch...?"
At those words, Warren threw himself at Mallory, grabbing at her clothes and sobbing uncontrollably. Mallory flinched.
"Oh, please don't cry, I'm so sorry I have to take your watch... please stop crying..."
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 13, 2010 1:20:55 GMT -5
Crono fell for every bit of Fredd's attempted misleads. He wasn't exactly a rocket science (that was Lucca) or better than average at reading people (that was more Frog and Magus). He also didn't run around not trusting people, so Fredd seeming clueless meant Fredd was clueless.
"Letting her run around in her condition isn't exactly 'protecting' her," Crono said with an annoyed tone of voice, "Do you have any idea how bad this could be?"
He was of course operating on the same misconception as before. Fredd had saved her and wanted to make sure she got where she was going safely. Technically he'd done that, but Crono didn't even have the ability to think he'd stop caring about her once that was done. Plus, wasn't he still sticking around? So he clearly had some continued reason to be near her. It wasn't to be said Crono was seeing anything romantic between them. Right now it was more a sort of armed escort thing.
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Post by nintendonut1 on Oct 13, 2010 18:39:29 GMT -5
Fredd rolled his eyes. "She'll be fine, worry-wart. She's... prone to it," he made up facts about her on the spot, just to get this kid out of his hair. "She gets chills sometimes, but she's a tough cookie, so it's really no big deal," he urged, hoping that would settle the issue neatly.
He took to watching her do her delivery. The half-rabbit kid wasn't ALL that surprising to see. When one saw talking dogs, imaginery friends, and a walking skeleton in a robe, it was hard to be surprised by much of anything else. "Looks like it's going smoothly," he spoke sarcastically.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 13, 2010 22:12:25 GMT -5
Mallory was still trying to pry Warren off of her. Whoever this rabbit boy was, he obviously was more than a bit torn up over her taking this watch.
"Um... look, maybe we could talk about this, but first I need you off of me...." She grabbed Warren by the shoulders and added a bit more force to her shove in order to throw him off of her. Warren fell back into the dust.
"Ah, sorry!" Mallory bent down and offered a hand. Warren only scooted away and continued sobbing.
"Please stop crying.... please..." Mallory begged. "You're making this harder than it has to be..."
Warren stood up and shook his head several times as Mallory stepped closer.
And then Mallory did something very out of character for her. Her face tightened in anger and she smacked Warren in the face, sending his glasses flying.
"I told you to stop crying!" Mallory cried. She immediately drew back and covered her mouth with her hands before reaching out a shaking, tender hand. "Oh god, I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me..."
Warren's shaking stopped, and his expression was rather harsh as he looked up at her. "You shouldn't have done that."
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 13, 2010 22:18:39 GMT -5
The angle of course meant that Crono's back was turned to the encounter between Mallory and Warren. In fact, he hadn't even seen the rabbit eared young man. Crono gave Fredd a very scrutinizing look as the green skinned humanoid insisted that Mallory was prone to things like this. They'd all had to introduce themselves back there, meaning Fredd did not know Mallory prior.
This, of course, meant Fredd was lying for some reason. Thinking too much tended to make Crono's head hurt, but a quick replay of the events of that day gave him no way to think of a good reason. Actually, hadn't his name seemed suspect? The way he'd tripped over it? If it hadn't been a case of someone being badly sick, Crono may have let it slide. Unfortunately for the situation at hand, Crono sometimes had a sense of misguided justice (that was known for stumbling onto the right path). Crono glared at Fredd.
"Why are you lying about knowing her? Do you want something bad to happen to her?"
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Post by nintendonut1 on Oct 13, 2010 22:29:05 GMT -5
Fusion Edd could not hide his next twitch. This guy was asking WAY too many questions, and he was running out of excuses. This was bad. This guy could jeprodize everything. Maybe it WAS time to take him out of the equation. Perhaps while Mallory was preoccupied, he could dispose of this brat real quick...!
He then jumped at the girl's brief, yet fierce loss of control; ooh, so she DID have some fiestiness in her! What a surprise! Still, he didn't like the glare on the rabbit-boy's face; something told him she would need rescuing. Again. She had better been worth all this trouble.
"If you're THAT worried about her," he growled to Crono, stalking past him and hugging close to the walls as he crept closer to the scene, ready to jump in when needed. "...I suggest backing her up. Her client doesn't seem too happy to see her."
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 21, 2010 21:06:18 GMT -5
Mallory took a couple steps back, and started thinking back to her training. These kind of things were supposed to be regular with her kind of job, but on the other hand, she hadn't exactly been too good at the whole fighting part of this job. It was kinda why she had to beg Kash not to fire her every time paycheck time came around.
Warren took steps forward to close the distance Mallory had made. He bent down to pick up his glasses, and stuck them inside his waistcoat.
"You see, I have a seal on me. That seal made me the sniveling idiot you were talking to just a moment ago. But, because you lost your temper, I'm free for the next ten minutes," Warren said. He reached into his waistcoat and pulled out his watch. "Y'know, I'm very fond of this watch. I'm not very fond of the people who keep coming after me to get it!"
Warren moved forward much more quickly than Mallory could track and punched her, sending her flying. She hit the ground rather roughly.
"Wait, can't we talk this out?" Mallory cried. Warren picked up a loose piece of lumber from the ground and started walking toward her.
"Now why the bloody hell would I do that?"
Mallory gulped. She was weighing her options in her head. From her current position, that pretty much amounted to kicking this guy in the groin so she could get to her feet and try to "negotiate" for the watch. Did rabbits even have testicles? Did rabbit demons even have testicles? And why was she wondering about that when she was about to die!?
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 22, 2010 16:03:34 GMT -5
Crono had put his hand on his sword at Fredd's change in stance. Was this going to turn into a fight? He really didn't want to get into a fight he didn't have to... his eyes widened as Fredd spoke, and his reaction might be worth note to the Fusion. He didn't even question the words, instead quickly turning to where Mallory and Warren (he wasn't blind to details, he remembered the name from the letter) were having their... exchange. Crono turned in time to see Mallory fly, and the expression on Warren's face plus her body language meant he'd done that to her on purpose. Fredd was a problem, but the one doing direct damage to Mallory was a larger one.
If Fredd could sense magical energies, he'd realize some suddenly swirled up around Crono. He'd sheathed his sword a second earlier, and now he had a very faint yellow aura. It seemed electrical in nature, falling under "air" or a nonholy "light" in some worlds. Crono was speaking very softly until the very end...
"Ti nala...LIGHTNING!"
And then out of the clear blue sky a single lightning bolt shot down, hitting the ground directly in front of Warren. During the ensuing reactions, however short they may be, Crono had regained his battle stance and his sword was drawn yet again. He did seem to be waiting for the reactions, though. As for how Lucca was going to react... Crono never thought that far ahead, really. So much for keeping cover in an unfamiliar "era", though.
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