I'm not dead! I'm not dead!
But I have a feeling that some of you are going to kill me if I don't get on with the story now...
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The remainder of the week passed by relatively monotonously. Stories were written, edited, and another edition of the magazine was cranked out.
Athrun and Cagalli continued to eat lunch together, exploring all restaurants in the area that they could eat at within the lunch hour they had. Occasionally they were joined by others, and it was a comfortable lunch with fellow workers, were they could converse without the topic of work being an issue.
It was during one of those lunches that it was discovered Kira and Lacus had a dinner date on Saturday. Kira had began talking to Lacus about whether she would feel more comfortable meeting at the restaurant or with him meeting her at her apartment. The conversation caught the sharp ear of Milly, whose expression was beautifully priceless.
She began to jokingly chastise Lacus for not telling her, when Cagalli heard and immediately went up Kira to deliver her own "punishment" for being so secretive from his own sister. Kira was about to retort with a comment about Athrun when he decided to hold his tongue. There was no point in provoking them too early... that might be counter-productive in this mutual effort on the part of the entire office, minus the two people concerned.
Granted, the girls on lower floors who worked on more minor jobs seemed to hold their share of disappointment every time they saw Athrun and Cagalli walk in together, or leave at the end of the day in stride. It was no secret that Athrun had gained his share of popularity among single women. When he joined the sparely populated magazine book group, the membership mysteriously skyrocketed to never before seen proportions.
Yet despite all these advances, Athrun never strayed from his devastatingly charming ambivalence. He'd smile, nod, say thank you, then leave the room without any further thought. The girls left behind would be momentarily disappointed, but could never really stop staring. He was simply too... Athrun.
Meanwhile, Cagalli was far from oblivious to the young man's popularity. She'd simply roll her eyes and occasionally jestingly poke him, as if urging him to react in some way. With every happy squeal of "Oh, I love that book too!", she felt herself want to throw up a little. It was sad, seeing such desperateness. Did these women have no pride? And why did they have to stick themselves onto Athrun anyways? It used to be Kira, before rumors of something between he and Lacus leaked out. Now it was like Athrun was their new meat.
Cagalli wondered how those girls got any work done at all.
In that way the week flew by, until it was early Saturday morning and Cagalli was putting on a lightweight tracksuit getting ready for her morning run. Opening her door, she found Athrun, who was leaning casually against the opposite wall with his arms folded. Upon her appearance, he nudged himself up and put his arms in his pockets.
"Ready?"
"Sure."
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Roughly 15 minutes later Athrun found himself in a modest looking park, with a pavement path that looped around it. There were occasional benches scattered around the path, and a bean-shaped pond , slightly off center. On the far side of the pond were a few trees, most noticeably, a large willow whose branches dipped into the water below. Along the banks were various reeds, grasses, and other various plant life.'
"This is it. I know it's not big, but it's quiet. I usually do a couple laps around the park, and then head back. Sound okay?"
"Sure." Athrun nodded. No wonder he hadn't found this place. To get here they'd taken a series of turns down small streets. It seemed like this park was carefully tucked away into a more residential area of the city.
Both began at a light pace, not feeling the need to stretch after the walk here already. "So how did you find this place?"
"Uhh, lots of people like to walk their dogs here. I was thinking about getting a dog and decided to check it out. Didn't end up with a dog, but I liked the park."
A chuckle. "I see."
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Miriallia was on a mission... well not really but still. An old friend of hers' birthday had been over a week ago, and she had completely forgotten. Feeling guilty, she thought it suitable to buy a birthday card and mail it, then claim that it might have been lost in the mail or something to that extent.
Dipping into the nearest bookstore, she proceeded to the back where there were two or three card shelves, then began pulling out a few and browsing. Suddenly she heard movement beside her. Turning around, she found,
"Sai!"
Several heads in the quiet bookstores turned towards the sudden source of sound.
"Milly." He nodded, much more quietly than she had. "What brings you here?"
"Card." She responded, holidng up the one that happened to be in her hand. You?"
"Book." He replied, mirroring her movement with the book he happened to be holding. Suddenly, something came to Milly's attention.
"...No glasses?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Contacts. I'll be wearing them for a while. The bridge of my glasses kind of snapped..."
Miriallia smiled. "They look good on you."
Perhaps her eyes were deceiving her, but out of the corner of her eye, for the shortest of fleeting moments, she could swear she saw the faintest of blushes.
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Kira felt a bit conflicted... not really more like stunned. He had simply been walking down the street, when through the large glass pane window of his neighborhood bookstore, he perceived two of his workmates laughing and chatting. He paused his step just in time to see the shadow of a blush on Sai's face.
"Interesting...?"
Oh the things you see on a sunny Saturday morning.
Continuing his walk, he proceeded in the general direction of Lacus' house. It was definitely early for dinner, but she said to come early. Now he just felt kind of stupid coming so early, but... well he though he might buy some flowers or something along the way.
Lost in his thoughts, he almost tripped on the leash that was attached to a rather excitable chocolate Labrador-cocker spaniel cross. The owner, a middle aged woman, apologized to him profusely, before he assured her it was fine, patted the dog on the head a bit, and was on his way again.
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Meanwhile Frisker, quite a suitable name for said dog, was happily bounding on his way to his favorite park, where an increasing amount of people were coming in, most to walk their dogs but a few just to sit on a bench and enjoy the morning air. No others were jogging, except for two obvious figures.
They had pretty much ran in silence, and were on the third lap when Cagalli grew tired of the silence. It wasn't that it felt awkward being silent around him. In fact, he provided some of the most comfortable silence she had ever had the pleasure of enjoying. But the thing was, even if they could be silent together well, they still usually... talked.
"You know, you acting like you don't care makes it all the worse for them. It's like you're refusing to acknowledge their feelings."
Athrun blinked for a minute, adjusting to the sudden dip into conversation. He looked up for a moment, and slowed his pace a bit as if thinking, then sighed. "What feelings? It's nothing but a schoolgirl crush. If someone genuinely had feelings for me, then I wouldn't do this."
"How do you know if it's genuine or not?" Cagalli raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Because I haven't given any of them enough reason to fall in love with me. I don't know the vast majority's names, much less do they probably anything more about me that my name and appearance." He shrugged. "One of the books a girl told me she liked was '100 Illustrated Methods of Medieval Torture', which I haven't even read. I just happened to be holding it. Call be crazy, but I don't think she really liked it, and if she did, I don't think I want to get to know her much better."
By this time, the both of them had completely stopped running altogether. Cagalli had her hands on her hips, head tilted in mock inquiry, chuckling at his anecdote. Athrun was shrugging casually with a hand in his pocket when suddenly...
He felt something securely wrap around his leg. Looking down, a wiry black string seemed to have wound itself around his leg. A burst of laughter ahead of him directed his attention to the hyperactive puppy that the string seemed to be attached to, and Cagalli, who was currently laughing at the literal tangle he was in.
Prompted by the laughter, the dog leaped forward towards the source, thereby winding himself around the blond after several bounding circles around her. Before she had come to realize it, she was also wound into the leash...
Bending down to try to pull a leg free, she found that Athrun was attempting the same thing with a slight blush of embarrassment. A similar hue graced her face, and she tried stepping in and out of the strings getting tangled beneath her, all to no avail. All the while, Frisker continued happily yapping, enjoying the game of tangle-up-the-two-unsuspecting-victims.
A few more laps around them, and soon they were roped together, their legs strapped to each others and caught. Frisker's owner was rushing over now, only recently becoming alert to the mischief her dog had gotten into.
Athrun and Cagalli were both red enough for the ripest tomatoes to be jealous. In addition to simply being tangled into each other, they were joined by their legs, with their hands frantically trying to untangle one another, occasionally brushing each other's hands, turning more red, then apologizing and continuing to untangle, while just getting more tangled, with Frisker running around and yapping, drawing more attention and getting more tangled.
The situation seemed hopeless until the owner finally came, and resolved to simply cut them loose, and buy a new leash. Moments later, a heap of cord lay on the ground, with a very embarrassed pair of joggers, and a conflicted dog. He was very satisfied with his work, yet unhappy that he was now going to get carried home, his movement much restricted.
And both joggers, bearing faces that resembled a stop sign, silently agreed that this would be a good time to head home.
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A few hours passed, until the bright morning sun had begun to slip below the horizon again, painting the sky a series of purplish pinks, and tinting the clouds a vibrant display of orange. In some ways it was always a bit surreal, looking up during this time.
Trying to name all the colors that there were was a hobby of Lacus', and she never grew tired of it. Because every single time she looked up, there was always a slightly different color, and she could always choose and different name. This was what she had begun to lose herself in doing, when Kira came up to her, and told her that they could finally make their way into the restaurant.
She had spent the entire day with the guy, and had nothing to complain about. It had been a comfortable, easy going day with a brief stroll through downtown, and then a sit on a park bench. He had just gone to buy a drink for a moment, and here she was already, zoning off into a world of unnamed colors.
"Lacus?... You okay?"
She blinked back into reality. "Hm?... Yes, just naming colors."
He tilted his head in confusion and mild interest. "Care to explain."
She smiled and pointed up to the sky. "Colors. I'm naming them."
"What have you come up with?"
Lacus thought for a moment. "That spot... next to the cloud that's shaped kind of like a rabbit. The cloud's color is Tangerine Sunset, and the bit next to it is Island Horizon."
Kira squinted a bit looking up and seemed to take a moment to focus his eyes. "Looks pretty good to me. What about that area under the cloud over there? The big one?"
The young woman accompanying him slided her gaze over to where his finger was pointing. "What about that one?"
"Have you named it yet?"
"No. Not yet."
"Can I?"
"Sure, if you'd like to, be my guest." She smiled, happy that he was taking part in her little mid evening activity.
Kira paused for a moment, as if thinking hard.
"Gradient Clyne."
Lacus blinked. "Clyne? My last name?"
He nodded. "Yeah... The cloud is a pale pink like your hair, but the bottom is a strikingly clear blue, like your eyes. And it's a gradual blend of colors, so it's a gradient. The colors don't match perfectly, but that's what they remind me of."
She smiled. "And why not my first name?"
He shot her a quick grin. "No color's good enough to have your first name attached to it."
The very flattered young lady let out a soft laugh. "I see... Now why aren't you a poet?"
Another grin. "I can only do this for you Lacus. Only you."
And with that, the two set off towards the restaurant, both feeling considerably more content than before.
Cagalli sat down at her kitchen table, pulling out her laptop and getting out some notes. It was time to start writing... Truthfully though she had confidence and pride in her writing, and did enjoy it, she still had a tendency to procrastinate.
It really was a horrible habit, often causing her to be up until the wee hours of the morning still writing. And her work would probably be better if she wasn't running on more coffee than sleep, but she simply couldn't get herself to focus otherwise. She'd tell herself every time, that this time she was going to get started, and break the habit.
Never happened.
In fact, now that she was facing her laptop, she thought about it. She still had all day tomorrow... And she was pretty hungry too.
Strolling into the kitchen, she pulled open the fridge and studied the contents...
It was decent. Not enough to make a gourmet meal, which she wasn't capable of anyways, but at least she could throw together something simple. A salad and maybe some sort of grilled chicken?... Grabbing a bag of frozen chicken breasts from the freezer, she dumped them in a bowl in her sink and went to turn on the stove.
...Funny.
It didn't seem to be... turning on.
She went across the kitchen, and tried flipping on the light.
...Funny. The electricity seemed to be working at all.
Which meant it might be-
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"A blackout." Kira sighed, returning to his seat, after going to inquire what happened. All off the lights in the already relatively dim restaurant had suddenly blacked out leaving practically everyone in darkness. The management had brought out some candles, but for those that liked to see what they were putting in their mouths, it was a bit unpleasant to say the least.
Some would call it romantic. Others would call it unsettling.
In fact, those "others" had already pulled out their cell phones are were using them as make shift flashlight, pointing it their plates before taking careful bites.
Lacus didn't appear to mind. She could eat either way. Kira however, was taking it a bit harder.
"Something wrong?" She asked, growing concerned.
"Ah... no." He shrugged.
She paused a moment. "You know, this doesn't ruin the evening or anything. I'm still having a lot of fun."
"Yeah... I know. But it's just unexpected." He shrugged. Looking up for a moment, he caught the reflection of the dancing candle flame in her eyes and smiled. "But it's not bad. Not at all."
A pause as he reflected for a moment.
"You're still here."
She smiled, a warm and genuine smile, not unlike the darting candle flame before him.
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Cagalli frowned, relatively miserable. She didn't have enough cash to go out, and couldn't cook anything... She was hungry, which left her nothing to do but write with whatever remaining battery was in her laptop.
Ugh.
It was as if some divine conscience was forcing her to write. She had still tried to hold off though, digging around for candles and lighting them for light. Her arms folded, the lazy writer now glared at the computer screen for a while. She wasn't sure how good this would be if it was forced writing...
A knock on her door commanded her attention elsewhere. Welcoming the distraction, the pulled open the wooden barrier to reveal...
"Athrun?" She seemed surprised. What was he doing here in the middle of a blackout?...
"I don't suppose you have any candles you'd be willing to lend me... I don't have any and I assume at least the whole building's blacked out." He sighed, as if reading her thoughts.
"Uhh... Yeah, I do, I'm just not positive where I put them." She admitted, a bit sheepish, then head towards the kitchen and began to pull open drawers at random.
Athrun stood at the door, taking a sweeping glance of the apartment. It was basically exactly the same as his, just furnished in a different way. Noticing the open laptop, he smiled. "So... how's the article coming along?"
Cagalli paused for a moment, and weighed her words carefully. "Uh... slowly?"
The other writer present smiled to himself a bit. Knowing her, she probably hadn't started yet, but he was not going to criticize. To each their own. Some people couldn't write until they were nearing the deadline, when they'd suddenly feel a burst of inspiration and churn out the most amazing flow of words almost effortlessly. Pacing yourself often meant nothing in the world of writing. Inspiration could come and go like the tide.
"So... what's on the menu for you?" He made another effort at conversation, peeking into the kitchen where the search of candles didn't seem to be making much progress.
"Uh... nothing." Cagalli admitted again. "The power blacked out before I could prepare anything. I figure I'll just have some fruit..."
"I made baked ziti before the power went out. If you want, we can split it." Athrun offered.
"That would be great... heh, that way you won't owe me for candles... Ah HA!" She pulled out five candles triumphantly. Still in the originally wrapping no less.
Athrun smiled a bit. "There's an odd number."
Cagalli frowned, apparently seriously trying to solve this dilemma. "Well... What's the equivalence rate between candles and bananas here? I still owe you bananas, right? I think it's just two now, but then the food... No, that doesn't work out because there's still an odd number of candles, even if I were to give you two...AGH!" She threw her hands up in exasperation, almost flinging the candles out the nearest window. Athrun made a quick grab for them, catching them just before they left her hands.
"How about we just eat together, so we don't split the candles, and I give you food. We'll count this night as split even."
Cagalli pretended to think for a moment. "I'll get the forks." She flashed a quick grin. Athrun smiled amusedly, then went back to his place to fetch the food.
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Minutes later Cagalli was happily helping herself to delicious nourishment. Wonderful... Athrun however, was holding back laughter at the random bits of sauce that were landing on the front of her shirt and sides of her mouth.
"Slow down.. You're going to choke." He managed to suppress a laugh into a chuckle. "There's plenty you know."
Cagalli swallowed a large bite, and took a gulp of water. "I like Italian." She regarded him for a moment. He seemed to be lost up in the night sky, staring out of her window and looking at it intently. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she called his name.
He jumped at the sound of his name. "Sorry. I zoned out."
"Anything interesting?"
Athrun pointed at the bright full moon. "What color would you say that is?"
Cagalli studied it a moment. "Sterling Ivory"
"Are you sure?"
She regarded him a moment, then looked back at it. "Sterling Ivory sounded fine to her... but it wasn't so much ivory as it was... maybe a white?
"See? not so easy." Athrun smiled at her obvious efforts as she glared at the sky. Her expression was one of puzzled concentration, as if she thought that by staring at the moon for long enough an answer would just pop into her head.
Finally, Cagalli smiled and took a bite of her food again. "Can't think on an empty stomach."
She then turned to look at the sky again.
Not a bad night.
"Hey Athrun?"
"Hm?"
"I don't care if this night's even, I owe you."
"No, this is for the taxi that you ended up paying half for anyways."
She grinned. "You caught on?"
"Only after I hung up my jacket." He admitted, shaking his head in disbelief. "That was a good one, I had no idea."
"Mm... I learned that one from my dad. He'd always go out for formal dinners, and would argue with business friends over who should pay the bill. That was one of the tricks."
Athrun appeared interested. "One of them? What are others?"
Cagalli shot him a mischievous look, "Well I can't tell you that. If I did then how would I use them on you?"
A pair of blue eyebrows raised challengingly. "I'd like to see you try."
"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." She smiled.
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Let the games begin!
The name for the dog, "Frisker" came from absolutely nowhere...I swear. However if I do get a dog, in which I hope to soon, I will probably name him or her that, now that I think about it. Just for the fun of it.
Ahhh yeah late late late update. I wanted to make this chapter longer, and kept trying to think of how much more I could put in... but finally gave up. Good news is that I have the rest of the stories all planned out now. In fact, I've written the final chapters. I just need to fill it in now.
There's just the issue of me running into some difficulty trying to upload "Matchmeddling" at the moment, but I'm hoping to be able to have it up by the end of the day, at the very least.
Thank you to my lovely reviewers. Please pardon the late updates. The issue of tuition at my college is really starting to push me and so I'm finding myself pretty occupied in trying to get a student loan.
AC 4 EVER AND EVER, Kathya, Swt. Harmony, The Angels' Princess, CagalliandAthrungirlforever, 3fi-pina3, Life Is Death, takai love, Garowyn, Tetsuni, PINKSISA, asucags, i Mel-chan i, jackie-88-ac, gseedlover, Fukari, RoGuE-WhItE-DrAgOn, psychoanalyst, The Jackle, IYGU, XxbuffyxX, Siriuslyblacked, xfangirl obsessionx, Kitty-Kat90013820, Cari-Akira, Kandida, ANONYMOUS-gsd, Kazumi Kairi or Kairi-chan, outlanders, X-19A Infinite Justice, Rayar, Kintora, Akatsuki Will, ChirpyChippy, thousandbirds, ovp, meowmeow, MyouseiSeed, stuntsheep, ChildO'God, daisukiasu'n'caga, animemistress419, Princess Ashes.
I'll update as soon as possible!
Periodic-Prose
