Vigilantes
 Smiley Specialist
he's big enough
Posts: 164
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♦♦♦
Character Name: Levenin Refure
Main Account: Levenin
Status: On Hiatus
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Post by Levenin on Dec 7, 2015 3:21:34 GMT -5
Levenin watched the bottle, nerves still shot. Come to think of it, he hadn’t held it once this whole time, not even to pour himself a drink or two. That would probably explain how trashed Ellie had become. ”I, uh… I don’t think you’re good…”
If he so much as thought about taking it for safe keeping, she’d sloppily deck him right in the face. He was sure of it. Maybe it was just better to do as the Romans and join in, only it was an idea that was easy in theory and harder in execution as Lev took a large swig and nearly coughed it back out. Oh God, it burned so much more than he expected. And the worst part was, there was no way he was going to negotiate anything with Ellie while sober.
His eyes drifted over where her fingers rested. ”No, never,” he said, trying not to stare too intently. ”You don’t really look like it. Or, uhh, act like it… I’m still having a hard time believing you are. It’s so unlike you… Not that that’s bad, just a lot to take in.”
Lev willed himself to take another drink, a pause afterwards. ”I don’t think differently of you or anything.”
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Will Punch Your Butthole
Posts: 114
Preferred Name: Donut
Pronouns: Her/She
Character Name: Ellie 'Evrika' Waters
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Post by Ellie on Dec 13, 2015 1:34:42 GMT -5
"I'm not stupid, like they think. I didn't...I couldn't be a part of that world anymore. If I did..." her voice caught, thoughts straying to dark times before her year of service, to attempts made to escape before she found where to put her feet. She swallowed and took another drink, as if it would banish the thoughts from her head. "I bombed the test on purpose. Ended up in the slums and spent years remaking myself."
She could blame the alcohol for her loose tongue in the morning, though telling Lev helped some of the weight lift off her. No one from her old life knew where she was and no one in her current one had ever gotten close enough to find out. Maybe she'd wanted Lev to find out; maybe that's why she really brought him to that party with her. Despite everything, she trusted him. She cared what he thought and on a level she wanted his approval.
Had she ever really had a friend before? She couldn't remember.
"They're why we have to tear things down. Them and everyone like them. People aren't a commodity. We're all worth more than all of this."
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Vigilantes
Smiley Specialist
he's big enough
Posts: 164
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♦♦♦
Character Name: Levenin Refure
Main Account: Levenin
Status: On Hiatus
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Post by Levenin on Dec 17, 2015 4:38:58 GMT -5
To purposely fail the exam… It was something Levenin wished he couldn’t sympathize with. It was so unlike someone like him— a proper, meek kid from a good family, who aspired to the medical field in order to help the less fortunate. At least Lev could honestly believe Ellie of all people would rebel in such a way. Not that he was happy she’d admitted to it, but it warmed his heart to know. It was exactly the kind of thing she’d pull off. The more and more they spoke, the more in common they shared and perhaps that was a comforting thought, even if inebriation had to be involved to get to this point. ”…You aren’t the only one then,” he said, smiling. ”To fail the Test, that is.”
Maybe the alcohol was starting to get to him as well. That couldn’t be, though. Lev was already an open book.
”I guess it goes without saying how I got here.”
Levenin chuckled quietly before swirling around the ryncol in his glass. ”You know, you talk about tearing things down… But what if those who struggle down here are like us? Who chose to be here? It isn’t easy or ideal, but it was of our free will.”
The man’s smile quickly soured. He forced down a few sips before setting the glass back down to turn his wistful gaze up to the ceiling. Had he drank too much? Levenin certainly didn’t feel tipsy. However, his mind wandered to random thoughts, his mouth spilling them as they flooded in.
”Even the ones up top can’t control that they were born there, right? You can't... choose your family but you can choose your life. And maybe sometimes...” Sober or not, this conversation was beginning to hit him too close to home, though it was him inflicting it on himself now. "Some of us aren't good enough to get anywhere... That's not any fault of the system."
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Will Punch Your Butthole
Posts: 114
Preferred Name: Donut
Pronouns: Her/She
Character Name: Ellie 'Evrika' Waters
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Post by Ellie on Dec 23, 2015 12:47:26 GMT -5
Part of her knew Lev would never really get what she wanted, never truly understand her views. He had a softer heart even after everything he'd seen. And maybe after tonight he'd just think she was a bitter little girl lashing out. And maybe she was, on some level, but it was more than that. Her work meant something; it had to. It was all she had lived for for the past five years.
"This many people didn't choose to be on the bottom." She licked over her lips and set the glass down. "I don't...want everyone up there to pay. I don't want to kill. I just want...people to be people. We shouldn't be ranked and valued based on how pretty we can smile or what mods we can afford. Someone like you, who helps so many people without asking for anything, shouldn't..." she swallowed.
"You're good enough, Lev." She shifted closer to him, reaching out to close her fingers around his wrist, grip light. She let her head rest on his shoulder. "You're good enough. When all this is done, you'll be standing, I know it. You just gotta know it too."
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Vigilantes
Smiley Specialist
he's big enough
Posts: 164
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♦♦♦
Character Name: Levenin Refure
Main Account: Levenin
Status: On Hiatus
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Post by Levenin on Dec 29, 2015 4:08:52 GMT -5
Levenin leaned back against the cushioning of the couch, a smile on his face but a sigh on his lips. He downed the rest of his glass, coughing and sputtering as the strength of the liquid took a few seconds to subside. How could anyone actually enjoy drinking this? ”Maybe I just don’t get it,” he said. ”Maybe I won’t ever get it. I don’t think I can understand everything.”
He ran a hand through his bangs, letting it sit there for a moment as strands escaped one by one. ”I’m the worst Vigilante ever. I’m in this for the wrong reason, aren't I?”
He chuckled softly before her touch silenced him. Surprise turned to warmth as he took her fingers from his wrist and clasped them into his own. Now Ellie was certifiably drunk, probably to a point where it’d be the responsible thing to confiscate her alcohol and send her to bed. But for a minute, Lev would accept the rare kindness that it was giving her.
”Ellie… What if we just quit?”
Lev leaned his head against hers, a haze coming upon him from the few drinks he’d managed to swallow.
”Stop the crime stuff for good. Change our names and identities. Move to the Middle Class somewhere together as roommates. You can be a martial arts instructor and I’ll be a librarian or something. And every day we can come home and make dinner, learn how to cook so we don’t burn down the kitchen. Every night before bed, you can teach me steps so I can finally learn how to dance properly. We can just leave behind who we are… Everything we are… And be… happy.”
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Will Punch Your Butthole
Posts: 114
Preferred Name: Donut
Pronouns: Her/She
Character Name: Ellie 'Evrika' Waters
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Post by Ellie on Dec 30, 2015 10:40:45 GMT -5
Happy? That was something she was positive she'd never be again, if she'd ever been. Contentment she'd felt a few times, like right now, but happy? Being happy never seemed to be in the cards for her. She was a tool to be used for other's gain, be it her parents' or the city. The most she had hoped for was to choose the way she was used.
"I wasn't made to be happy." She whispered, eyes closed as she held his hand. The concept of it was something she honestly couldn't even fathom. She wouldn't know what to do without her rage, without a fight. Her life before the anger had been dark; cold acceptance of being a disappointment. She hadn't been hers, just theirs. The anger had let her escape, had kept her warm and safe in the Slums. It was all she'd had for so long; the thought of being without it was terrifying.
"I could teach you to fight." She opened her eyes and held up her free hand, making a shaky fist. "It's a dance. At least that's--that's what I think. My old instructor, at the police academy, said that's why I was a natural for hand to hand; I'd been dancing since I could walk."
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Vigilantes
Smiley Specialist
he's big enough
Posts: 164
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♦♦♦
Character Name: Levenin Refure
Main Account: Levenin
Status: On Hiatus
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Post by Levenin on Jan 3, 2016 22:00:59 GMT -5
Levenin laughed again, though he couldn’t hide the sadness that was hidden underneath. Did Ellie really think that way of herself, that she couldn’t be happy? ”You know… You tell me I’m a good person, that I’m “good enough.” But you… deserve that more. To know that more than me, I mean.”
She hadn’t taken her hand back yet and that gave him comfort, though Lev was almost asking for her to retract it for a swift punch to the face. It was something he’d noticed slowly over time— emotions and feelings were a weakness to her. Not so much she was weak but that she hated showing them, at least anything besides anger and defiance. And yet the woman had to deal with him on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis, so that made Levenin her overly expressive foil, he supposed.
”I guess that means you don’t wanna do the suburban couple thing then, huh?” he asked before shifting his weight back upright. ”How about just… a dance? No one’s watching. I’ll try not to step on your feet and if I can do that, we’ll work on my fists later. Okay?”
Levenin went to face her, smiling and feeling the tipsiness begin to take hold. He stood first, doing the gentlemanly thing and being the one to help her stand despite being unstable himself. Dancing in a cramped living room while inebriated? Not the worst idea he’d ever had.
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Will Punch Your Butthole
Posts: 114
Preferred Name: Donut
Pronouns: Her/She
Character Name: Ellie 'Evrika' Waters
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Post by Ellie on Jan 6, 2016 12:16:13 GMT -5
Her throat tightened at his words about being good enough and she didn't trust her voice to argue. He was wrong; Ellie wasn't near 'good' enough for much of anything. She was strong and talented at fighting, she could plan a theft or a murder, but that wasn't good. She didn't hold any delusions about being a good person; she was just willing to do bad things for the right reasons.
When he stood and offered her a hand, she actually laughed as she took his hand to be pulled up. She stumbled, off-balance thanks to the alcohol, before righting herself. "Sorry, you're just not my type." She teased and reached up to flick him on the nose. She glanced about the apartment as if to double-check that no one was watching. "Okay. Let's dance."
Taking one of his hands, she placed it on her upper waist to make things easier with their height difference. Then she placed her hand on his shoulder while the other took his free hand. "Don't look at your feet. Look at me." She advised before starting to move in slow, careful steps, both for his sake and because she was waaaay too drunk for this.
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Vigilantes
Smiley Specialist
he's big enough
Posts: 164
Preferred Name: Nama
Character Profile: ♦♦♦
Character Name: Levenin Refure
Main Account: Levenin
Status: On Hiatus
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Post by Levenin on Jan 8, 2016 3:01:22 GMT -5
He hadn’t even drank as much as she did-- not anywhere close-- but Levenin found simply standing upright was a challenge. Every movement made him feel like he was losing balance and swaying uncontrollably. At least she couldn’t tell, since Ellie was much further gone. He giggled before tightening his grip around her hands again.
”I know.”
Earlier when they’d done this, he remembered being so nervous, so afraid. Maybe it was the crowds watching their every step or his inexperience with anything proper. Now, Lev couldn’t recall why this had been so frazzling. The height difference still made trying to keep eye contact on her face awkward, but all he could focus on were his steps-- and it was sort of fun. Levenin kept as slow and steady as he could, failing to lead again but glad that he wasn’t crushing her toes by accident as he followed along.
At least until he did just that right after thinking about it.
Levenin rested his head against her shoulder, bursting into laughter and breaking form. ”I’m sorry! I c-can’t!” he managed to spit out between gasping for air. ”I’m so bad at this! I can see why Mira never dances with me anymore.”
Lev thought about grabbing Ellie instead and swinging the both of them around. That was dancing in its own way. If only he wasn’t feeling so lightheaded from laughing at his own incompetence with a simple two-step.
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Will Punch Your Butthole
Posts: 114
Preferred Name: Donut
Pronouns: Her/She
Character Name: Ellie 'Evrika' Waters
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Post by Ellie on Jan 8, 2016 11:51:03 GMT -5
Even drunk, her feet found the steps simple enough. Blessed be muscle memory. She was leaning more of her weight on him than she'd probably admit, though, in an effort to not fall down. When his foot found her toes, she let out a surprised yelp. Any anger at having her toes squashed was completely lost however, when he started laughing. It was infectious and soon she was snorting as she gripped his upper arms.
With a grin on her face, she got her arms around his waist and hefted him up so his feet were a few inches off the floor. When she tried to twirl them, though, the alcohol seemed to catch up with her, tripping her and sending them crashing sideways onto the couch. That only served to make her laugh harder though.
"No dancing after ryncol. New rule." She gasped out once her laughter had subsided into mostly just giggles. She brushed her hair out of her face, "Who's Mira?"
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