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+---- Thread: [SE] Haters on my back like a backpack (/showthread.php?tid=10937)
Haters on my back like a backpack - Kaisel - 03-21-2025
[say]"FIVE!?"[/say] Kaisel demanded, making the shopkeeper repeat the ludicrous price even though he damn well heard it the first time. He let out a defeated huff, nostrils flaring as he fished in his pocket for the coins. He bunched the coins together and jabbed them into the man's open palm, making the money peck like an angry bird. The shopkeep glowered but still slid the stack of paper forward. Kaisel swiped it up so fast some of the sheets tore, but he didn't give a damn.
Kaisel slid into a nearby table, hunching over one of the sheets while stuffing the rest inside his jacket. It was a nice day—the sun warm, the shade just a little too chilly—but his light jacket kept him comfortable whether he sat in the open or under cover. He pulled out the pen he'd brought with him and began to compose a poem. His parents had bade him do so, but they'd been out of paper to use so he'd had to run this damned errand, use his own funds, just to try a hand at limricks for a beast. Kaisel's age had kept him sheltered, but he'd heard the talk through the town, the hushed murmurs between his folks at night when they thought he slept. Kaisel had been watching, listening, and steadily bristling at the threats that had invaded his beloved city; everyone wore tight smiles these days, forcing pleasantries to bite the bile back.
His grip tightened on the pen as his anger flared, ink blotting dark around the first letter.
Vox, vox, he's swift as a fox
Chicken's for dinner, he's a winner
Purple and beige, violet's all the rage
He seems to have it all, since starfall
Run, run, swift as you can
The dragons are in the man
He probably should have stopped before the last two lines, but comprise is always the answer, or so he'd been taught.
Rayo and/or Dew
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Noe - 03-21-2025
Kaisel wasn't the only one out running errands for one's parents. Noe, too, had been sent out into the city to procure a certain selection of goods - in her case, groceries - for the Carpenter household. It had been a bit inconvenient, it was true, but the alternative was to scrounge for food from the meager selection that remained in the pantry, and Noe wasn't inclined to have to do that.
She was just on her way past a shop when she heard a familiar voice through an open door and, turning, spotted her cousin, who seemed enraged about something. Well, that wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all. So Noe entered the shop breezily, coasting over to where Kaisel had taken a seat at a table, and slid into the chair next to his. [say]"Heyyyy,"[/say] she said in a singsong voice. [say]"Long time no seeeeee."[/say]
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Vox - 03-22-2025
A breeze stirred—a warm, spring breeze, yes, but laced with something odd, something static. The edges of Kaisel’s poem curled faintly as if warmed from within, and the pen in his hand gave the tiniest twitch as if politely requesting he stop writing while he was ahead.
And then—
[SAY]"Kaisel!"[/say] Vox’s voice came like a delighted gasp of a radio signal finding just the right frequency. [say]"Ohhh, what verve! What bravado! What—chickens! I don’t quite understand that part, but I adore it all the same!"[/say]
A shimmer of something flickered across the paper. Ink spots re-formed into spirals for just a moment, like they were being watched.
[say]"And those last two lines, my dear—so sharp, so cryptic! Are they a prophecy? A threat? A bit of poetry improv? I love a wildcard."[/say]
Then, with a brighter crackle—like an applause made of electricity—Vox added, [say]"No-eh! Always a pleasure. You’re glowing today, in that invisible-spectrum sort of way."[/say]
A fizz, a pop, a satisfied hum.
And then nothing at all—except for a faint warmth still clinging to the page, as if the poem had been read aloud to something just beneath the surface of the world.
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Kaisel - 03-22-2025
[say]"Noe!!!"[/say] Kaisel said with warm surprise. Even though they were family, they rarely saw each other, especially since becoming adults. Being cousins they had grown up together, but only during holidays or festivals when their mothers reunited. It had continued even after his aunt's passing, because their father was still part of his family by then, even if it was a bit different then. Koa had always been Kaisel’s role model, but he and Noe were closer in age and had played together often.
The respite her presence provided for his tension was short-lived. Before he could even embrace her, someone else arrived—sort of. His brain felt like it had been dunked into a vat of McDonald's Sprite. Too crisp, his name jolted through his own thoughts, that gut-wrenchingly familiar voice scattering the crumbs of calm Noe had deposited. It was the same one from before—that god's damned broadcast. His hands twitched in response to the pen's trembling and it tumbled onto the table, rolling a half-circle before stopping. Kaisel's open palm now clenched; the only visible betrayal to the fury that nipped at his nerves.
The audacity of this thing.
He understood though—the reason everyone nodded along to this song even if they despised it. They were afraid. Beneath its gentle veneer, the creature’s presence radiated terrible might. The intrusion was so easy, too easy—what more could it do if it willed?
The pop of Vox's absence was like a seal breaking, air rushing back into a vacuum. It hadn't seemed wrong until it was gone. Kaisel’s jaw had clenched so hard it ached. Now it slackened, and he rubbed at it, feeling his cheek muscle twitch in time with his heartbeat.
[say]"Unbelievable,"[/say] he said it like a swear, the word cutting even if he kept the volume low. [say]"Are you alright?"[/say] he turned to Noe and reached for one of her hands, needing her comfort as much as offering his own.
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Noe - 03-25-2025
Kaisel greeted her with warmth, but before she could do or say anything in return, there was a fizzle of static and Vox's voice materialized. While Kai was clearly startled, Noe was unfazed, tilting her head at the pops and crackles of sound with a little smile. [say]"Aww, thanks, Vox!"[/say] she said, as though she'd simply run into a friend in the market and was now going on her way. Turning back to Kai as Vox dissipated, she raised a brow -
And then knitted her brows together with a frown. [say]"Oh, not you, too,"[/say] she groaned, but didn't drop her cousin's hand. [say]"Gods, Kai, it's just Vox. He's harmless."[/say] She squeezed his fingers, trying to reassure him. [say]"Seriously, everybody is super afraid of him for nothing. He's just a little... different, is all."[/say]
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Kaisel - 03-26-2025
He had taken her response to Vox as the well-practiced pleasantries that were expected of them. He'd thought her nothing more than a masterful actress, one well-versed in poise and formality—the one type of battle he knew he'd never win. This belief persisted—until she frowned at his response. Was she gently trying to remind him to be better? That squeeze against his hands—was it caution, a warning of the dangerous line he walked? The more she said though, the more he strayed from his faith.
Please Noe, don't leave him godless.
He was quiet for a moment, which was how you knew he was serious. His thoughts spun over each other, sliding like fish swimming upstream. Kaisel’s fingers tapped unwittingly on the paper where his poem lay. He went still. He chanced a glance at the poem, loath to break eye contact with Noe—but was that… warmth? From the paper?
Scales flashed as one fish leapt free of the water.
A gentle, false smile cracked through the concern on Kaisel’s face. [say]"You're right Noe,"[/say] Kaisel said with a hollow chuckle. The fingers that had paused over his poem clenched tightly, the paper wrinkling against his nails. [say]"We should not villify differences, should we? After all, who knows who’s listening? They might be impressionable and get the wrong idea; we all have differences."[/say] He winked at her. He knew she was keeping up the ruse—because Vox was still here, wasn’t he? That poem—it was a gateway. And he needed to destroy it.
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Noe - 03-29-2025
Oblivious to whatever ruse Kaisel thought her to be upholding, Noe smiled affectionately at her cousin. [say]"Right, exactly,"[/say] she said with relief. [say]"See, you get it."[/say] Why was it that he could understand, but a certain other member of the family seemed to be so bullheaded about it?
But Noe wasn't going to let her fight with Koa sour her mood, not when she hadn't seen Kai in ages and this was the prime opportunity to catch up. With Vox clearly having disappeared (or, well, seeming to have gone about his business in a crinkle of static), there was no need to continue to focus on the interruption. Instead, Noe changed topics. [say]"Anywayyyy, it's been, like, forever? What have you been up to?"[/say]
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Kaisel - 03-30-2025
He smiled in response to her relief, nodding along. Yes, yes he got it, that's for sure. The paper crumpled further under his fingers as her dragged it towards him, wadding it into a tight little ball between both hands. He feigned boredom as he did so, as if it were a regular event for him to pen a poem to a vile space invader and then immediately trash it.
[say]"Me?"[/say] he asked Noe casually. [say]"Oh just a bit of this and some of that around the city. I'm officially part of the Dragoons now so I've been guarding the entrance from time to time, but mostly training in the yard or helping Lena collect herbs."[/say] He selectively left off the part about fighting at night in the Silk House pits, as he had a feeling as cool as Noe was she wouldn't approve of that, or at least she wouldn't keep it the secret he preferred it be. [say]"Mom is the usual still, you know,"[/say] he waved one of his hands, [say]"cleans the house any time she's worried so I think she's about to polish the stone into glass at this point."[/say] All the while he'd talked he'd pushed and pushed on the paper until it was a neat little ball.
He popped that ball of paper into his mouth and began to chew on it like a cow with its cud.
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Noe - 04-05-2025
Noe ignored Kai's destruction of the poem. After all, that was his prerogative, right? If he wanted to destroy a masterpiece after penning it, well, that was on him. Still, her eyes flickered to the paper that he slowly wadded into a smaller and smaller ball, and her nose wrinkled as he popped it into his mouth. Gross.
[say]"Cooooool,"[/say] she said, pointedly looking away from where Kai now chewed on his poem. If she didn't watch, she could pretend he wasn't acting like an actual cow. [say]"Congrats on joining the Dragoons! I bet Koa's thrilled."[/say] She'd never been interested in joining up herself, but she'd always thought that her brother would have liked to have family in his ranks. Maybe this wasn't as good as having a sister to boss around, but it had to be the next best thing, right? [say]"And Lena's a sweetheart! We went shopping together last season and it was a trip."[/say]
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Kaisel - 04-06-2025
He forced the paper down with a strained gulp. [say]"There,"[/say] he said, exasperated. [say]"Now we can speak freely again."[/say] Though, he had particularly top secret he planned on discussing, it made him feel better all the same. He hiccuped.
He brightened at her congratulations and nodded along with it. [say]"Thanks Noe! Yeah, we're gonna have so many adventures together, I bet. I'll bring you some souvenirs when I go on missions and defeat monsters!"[/say] He hiccuped. [say]"Look, can't you tell I'm getting strong already?"[/say] Kaisel pulled up his shirt sleeve and flexed for her. He hiccuped again. Also, his muscles looked the same honestly. Which, wasn't to say that Kaisel hadn't always been fit, but he was by no means going to sell any tickets to his gun show at this rate.
Shopping was not nearly as interesting as super dangerous and super cool Dragoon missions, but he tried to match her excitement all the same. [say]"Say less girl. This fit you got on? 8."[/say]
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Noe - 04-10-2025
Noe wasn't sure what Kai was on about, but she nodded all the same. He had to be a little crazy today to be eating poems and talking about being able to speak freely. Was there someone trailing him? The girl snuck a look around, searching for anyone looking suspicious, but came up empty.
The thought of Kaisel and Koa going off on missions together left a sour taste in her mouth; she missed her brother, and even though he'd made an ass of himself recently, it still hurt to know that he'd go on adventures with their cousin and yet not think twice about his sister. But she didn't want to hurt Kai's feelings, so she pasted on a smile. [say]"They better not be, like, monster eyes or anything weird,"[/say] she told him, rolling her eyes. Knowing Kai, that was probably the kind of souvenir she could look forward to from any missions he went on.
As for his muscles... Noe nodded along. [say]"Totally impressive,"[/say] she told him, giving a thumbs up from across the table. Which was to say, relatively average in her book, but hey, she wasn't going to tell him that - especially not when he was kind enough to compliment her in return. Noe preened under Kai's (forced) enthusiasm, tossing her hair over her shoulder and fluttering her lashes. [say]"Thanks! It's new,"[/say] she told him. [say]"I was waiting all Deepfrost to wear it."[/say]
RE: Haters on my back like a backpack - Kaisel - 04-11-2025
[say]"Well, there goes that idea,"[/say] he complained jokingly when she specifically requested no monster eyes. Adding threatrics, he threw his hands up in exasperation and rolled his eyes in turn. He even tried to flip his hair, but there wasn't much to do so with. Grinning, he said more seriously, [say]"I meant when we go to distant cities, dummy — is there anything in particular you would want? I figured snacks and anything cute."[/say]
Whether or not he recognized her compliment for being mostly put on or not, he didn't reveal, because either way she had given him what he was looking for, attention and approval. [say]"I know, right? I'll be busting out of my shirts soon, I bet."[/say] Maybe he'd need to go shopping with her next time.
He paused for a bit, just taking in the moment, leaning against his hand and staring at her with a growing smile. [say]"I missed hanging out with you Noe,"[/say] he said softly, full of thoughts and memories. [say]"I have to get ready for guard duty, but we should make our own plans instead of waiting for the next holiday to come around."[/say] He got up from his seat and squeezed her shoulder lovingly before walking back down the street. He lifted up a hand in farewell behind him as he went.
[FIN]