Versus 3: Eclipse

--All That You Love--

Bra found herself staring at the black gig bag over Nick's shoulder. She'd always wanted to play guitar. Maybe she could make the most of this little tutoring bit after all. She smiled to herself.

No! That was a crazy way of thinking. This guy was the enemy. He was the reason she wouldn't be able to see Goten anymore. Well, actually SHE was the reason she wouldn't be able to see Goten anymore. But it was this man who would hinder her late-night escapes to be with Goten. Oh, this was so confusing!

Nick stood there, looking at Bra strangely. "Um.... My room?"

Bra snapped back into reality. "Oh, yeah. Right this way." She lead him down the hall to the guest room. After he went inside, she stood in the doorway. "So, you play guitar, huh?"

"Somewhat," Nick told her simply. He began unpacking.

Somewhat? "What do you mean?" Bra asked.

"Well, I hate to say it, but I'm not all that good at it," Nick replied.

Bra nodded. Oh no! She couldn't become friends with the enemy! It was something she stood firmly against. If you have an enemy, you destroy him on sight. That's the way she lived her life. Somewhat.... Well, not really. It was more like if you had an enemy, you taught him to fear you. That was a good idea. Maybe if she made this guy fear her, he wouldn't want to stay. And if he didn't want to stay, she'd have to go back to having her original tutor. Now THAT was an ingenious plan!

Now what could she do to scare off this unsuspecting guest? Lifting something much heavier than anything a normal human could lift was getting old. She needed a new tactic. But what? Boy, if she only had the Practical Joker around to help her through these tumultuous times. Oh well. She would have to think about this for a long time. In the meantime, she should just be as polite as possible. There was no telling whether he'd go back to her mother and say negative things about her or not.

"I should probably leave and let you settle in," Bra said. She really had no desire to stick around. Being in this guy's presence was beginning to sicken her already. She'd have to see him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was a nightmare.

"Well, you don't have to leave," Nick told her. "Besides, we haven't gotten acquainted yet."

Why should he care about getting to know her? She had no interest in getting to know him. Absolutely no interest AT ALL in getting to know this Nick Carnage.

"I can't help noticing that you're more interested in guitars than you are in history," Nick pointed out.

It was obvious enough. It didn't take a genius to figure that out.

"Do you play?" Nick asked.

Bra laughed falsely. "Yeah, right. I asked for a guitar when I was much younger, but I never got one. So I left that idea alone." Why was she telling him this?

"That's too bad. With arms like that, you'd be a great metal guitarist," Nick told her.

What was he trying to do? Get inside her head? Bra looked down at her muscular arms, then folded them across her chest. She looked back up at Nick. He was probably making fun of her for being such a muscular girl. She narrowed her eyes at him.

Nick saw her reaction and raised his eyebrows. "Not a fan of metal, huh?"

"Wait a minute. I like all kinds of stuff. Stuff you've probably never even heard of. But metal is one of my true loves," Bra corrected. There was that word. Love. She could say it about music. She could tell her mother that she loved Goten. But she couldn't tell Goten to his face that she loved him. Poor Goten. She began to wonder what he thought when she wouldn't say that she loved him.

Nick smiled. "So, you like that kinda stuff, huh? Maybe I'll invite you to one of our shows sometime."

Bra looked at him strangely. "One of our shows?"

"Yeah. I'm in a local band called Eroder," Nick explained.

He was in a band? She looked him over. Well, that explained the metal hair. Wow. She'd never met anyone who was in a band before. But it didn't make sense. She always thought that band guys were rebels living any way they chose, but living only for the road. She never would have thought that a geologist would be in a band. Then she thought for a moment. Actually, she knew of some bands that made it big where the members held regular jobs before they made it. How else could they have survived before their big breaks?

"You said you're not good at playing guitar, yet you're in a band?" Bra asked. She still didn't want to believe him.

Nick shrugged. "Yeah.... Oh, you must think I'm the guitarist. No, no. I'm the vocalist. I just play rhythm."

Here she stood in front of the lead vocalist of a local band. She was now nervous for some reason. Her mother and her entire family were famous for being the richest family in the world, yet when she was in the presence of a member of a small-time band, she lost her nerve.

What was her problem? He was the enemy. She should have no interest in his band. She loathed this man. Or at least she should. But she couldn't help being intrigued.

At some point during her little self-rant, Nick had pulled out his guitar. She knew what it was. This deadly-looking piece of equipment was the Epiphone Gothic Explorer. This all black instrument was a sure sign that you either played heavy metal or goth metal. That is, unless you were just a wanna-be suck-band that played washed-up pansy rock and tried to pass it off as black metal by using that particular piece of gear (as so many bands do these days). The question at hand was: Was this guy the true form of metal, or was he the flower-power version? If she wanted to find out, she would either have to ask him to play for her or she'd have to go to one of Eroder's shows.

She watched him as he placed the guitar on a stand beside his bed. "You say that you're JUST the rhythm guitarist. You down-play it like it's not an important role, when in actuality it is." She felt like she'd become a rock journalist. An interviewer.

"It IS an important role. But I'm a vocalist and lyricist first," Nick said. "I mean, sometimes I'll put my guitar down during a song and just focus on the words. I don't play during every song. And sometimes it's the other way around. Sometimes I'll step away from the mic and just play guitar during a song. Of course, we don't play a whole lot of instrumentals. That's why I focus more on vocals and lyrics."

Bra could tell that this was something Nick was passionate about. There was a certain look in his eyes as he spoke to her. She couldn't help admiring this man. But how long could you admire...the enemy?

Nick chuckled to himself. "Look at me. I'm chittering like a chimp. I haven't learned very much about you. I know you don't like history and I know you like metal. That's about it."

"That's because that IS about it. I play video games and I build things," Bra told him.

"Don't you do things with your friends?" Nick asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs at his desk.

"No," Bra said plainly.

Nick cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Okay.... You're a popular girl, I'm sure, but I'd like to ask this question. Do you HAVE any friends?"

Bra rolled her eyes. "Of course I have friends," she uttered with an annoyed sigh.

"Well, I just wanted to ask that because you seem like a bit of a loner," Nick told her.

Now Bra was becoming irritated. Was he trying to read into her world? Because if he was, he had no idea what he was getting himself into. She shot him an angry look. "Listen, Carnage. You can be any way that you wanna be. How I'll be, that's up to me."

With that, she left. It was the right thing to do. If she would have stuck around, she may have said something harsh. She didn't want to do that. She actually had to live with this guy for a while. She still wasn't quite sure how to take this fellow. He was nice. They shared a similar passion for some of the same music. But he seemed to be a habitual button-presser. She wondered if he did it on purpose. Unfortunately, after she had time to cool down, she would have to see him again. Her mother wanted them to begin studying today.

--End All That You Love--

--Another episode of Eclipse has ended. This one was a bit weird and maybe a little on the less interesting side. But thanks for reading this episode. And as always, thanks for the reviews.

--What do you think? Is Bra just paranoid? Is this guy deliberately getting on her nerves? Or is it neither? Is she just taking everything the wrong way? Or is she just trying to find reasons to dislike him? Let me know your opinion.

--There's more to come, so please stay tuned.