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Post by skybright on Dec 27, 2007 0:37:31 GMT -5
Marla shook her head, pushing her hair back from her face. "No . . . not really -- but I'm a pretty good cook. It's, uh, sort of a hobby." She grinned shyly. "I haven't really cooked much for anyone else, but . . . I think it'd be edible."
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 28, 2007 23:20:33 GMT -5
"Well, hey." Nate grinned. "Can't beat that. I just hope you'll have something to work with in the stuff we brought! Handy did the shopping, and, uh... he's got funny ideas about groceries sometimes."
He shrugged. "I'll go bring everything in from the car."
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Post by skybright on Dec 29, 2007 16:49:46 GMT -5
''I can help carry things.'' Marla offered, smiling crookedly. ''It doesn't really seem fair to make you do all the heavy lifting.''
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 29, 2007 21:01:59 GMT -5
"Well, uh..." Nate grinned and opened the connecting doorway between the kitchen and garage, which they had reached as they talked. "I think the light's good enough that I can help myself. I said I'd show you what I can do... watch this."
He gestured with a flourish to his shadow on the kitchen floor, as it solidified and began to move. The dark apparition moved down the steps to the trunk of the car, lifted out two brown paper bags, and returned with its load.
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Post by skybright on Dec 30, 2007 14:05:41 GMT -5
''Oh!'' Marla's eyes widened slightly in delighted surprise, and she grinned crookedly. ''Well, that must be awfully useful.''
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Post by Jordanna on Dec 30, 2007 19:44:11 GMT -5
"Well, only when the Unenlightened aren't around to gawk." Nate grinned sheepishly as his silhouetted doppelganger put down the bags on the kitchen counter, then went back for another armload. "I call him--er, it, I guess--my specter. And that's also sort of my nickname."
He suddenly waved his arms as the specter lumbered back toward the steps with the tire iron from the car's trunk. "No, no, not that!--Uh..." With a fierce frown and a mild effort of concentration, he managed to send it back to replace the tool and pick up a suitcase instead. Then he grinned weakly at Marla.
"The problem is, so far, he's got the memory of a goldfish--which is kind of risky when you're messing with something that's got a few hundred pounds of lifting power. I'm still learning."
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Post by skybright on Jan 1, 2008 15:08:49 GMT -5
''I think it's still awfully impressive.'' Marla said with a smile. Then she raised an eyebrow at Nate. ''You, uh, haven't been able to do that very long, huh?''
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 1, 2008 20:39:36 GMT -5
"About a year." Nate shrugged. "Dad was a late manifester too, and I always sort of wondered... but it was still a surprise. I'm better at it now than I was at first, but--" He hastily stepped aside as the specter tramped back up the stairs with two suitcases.
"But I sure hope there's still room for improvement!" he finished.
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Post by skybright on Jan 2, 2008 17:18:06 GMT -5
''I'm sure you'll get better at it the more you practice.'' Marla said with a smile. ''I . . . I guess it's the sort of thing that takes a lot of getting used to.''
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 2, 2008 21:00:31 GMT -5
"I guess that's true with all mutations," Nate agreed, and grinned faintly. "I think I'd have been a little more alarmed if I'd started hearing what people were thinking."
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Post by skybright on Jan 3, 2008 13:36:21 GMT -5
Marla ducked her head. ''Oh. . . alarming certainly describes it.'' She said. ''I think I'd have been even more frightened than I was if Marcus hadn't already been through the same thing.'' She colored slightly and made a faint gesture towards her blue skin. ''Um . . except for this part, of course. He . . . couldn't keep me from hearing what people thought -- but it at least made it easier not being on my own.''
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 3, 2008 23:56:30 GMT -5
"Yeah, knowing it could happen takes a little of the shock out of it," I guess." Nate idly started emptying one of the grocery bags onto the counter. "It was sure hard on my dad. There was no family history of mutations before him--and the way he manifested, he couldn't deny what he was."
His expression hardened. "At least the Army just let him go. At least they didn't... do the kind of thing there are rumors about."
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Post by skybright on Jan 4, 2008 14:03:07 GMT -5
"I've read about some of those rumors." Marla said quietly, pausing as she pulled cans of tomatoes and beans from one of the shopping bag. She paled slightly. "You don't . . . is it true, do you suppose? That they . . . do things to people? Use them for weapons?"
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 4, 2008 23:50:23 GMT -5
Nate hunched his shoulders uncomfortably. "I don't know. You'd think if they did, my dad would've been a pretty prize catch for them--but they dropped him like a hot rock."
He sighed, staring blankly at the label on the soup can in his hand.
"I don't want to believe it. I love my country, and I loved the army. But if the military I was serving really did do things like that..." He grimaced and shook his head. "Then everything I ever fought for would be a lie."
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Post by skybright on Jan 6, 2008 7:33:59 GMT -5
Marla shivered. "I hate to think of anybody being capable of doing things like that to another person." She said quietly. "Even if some of the things I've heard people think . . . make me wonder."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 6, 2008 23:15:28 GMT -5
"Yeah. Well." Nate shifted uncomfortably, wishing to change the subject, and took another can from the grocery bag.
"You see anything you can use in these groceries?" he asked.
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Post by skybright on Jan 9, 2008 14:55:49 GMT -5
Marla brightened, seemingly glad of the change of subject. "Oh, sure I do! Pasta . . . canned tomatoes . . ." She fished through the nearest shopping bag, which contained grocery items destined for the refrigerator. "Oh, there's some bacon here . . . and chicken -- I could make chicken carbonara . . ."
She glanced speculatively at Nate. "You're not allergic to anything, are you?"
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 9, 2008 20:20:54 GMT -5
Nate chuckled. "Uh, no. Not that I know of--I mean, not food. I had a bad reaction to a sunblocker when I was nine, but I don't think that's in any danger of making its way into dinner."
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Post by skybright on Jan 10, 2008 9:46:20 GMT -5
"Well, I certainly hope not!" Marla laughed and pushed her hair back from her face. "I'm not that experimental."
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Post by Jordanna on Jan 10, 2008 21:55:03 GMT -5
"Glad to hear it." Nate surveyed the items Marla had selected for the night's menu. "What can I do to help?"
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