Strangely, Hector knew exactly what Ibai was talking about. In his lonelier days, he’d often pondered the nature of companionship himself, and indeed, he’d reached a similar conclusion. There was something different about the approval of others, of strangers. It vindicated one’s existence, perhaps. That was what he’d come to believe, anyway.
But he certainly hadn’t expected to be reminded of that now of all times.
Hector still didn’t know how to respond, though. No one had ever been so direct about asking for his friendship before, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about becoming someone’s token black friend, let alone an aberration’s token black friend. His gut told him there wasn’t much harm in it, but even still...
Garovel spoke up in his stead. ‘We would love to be your friends.’
Hector gave the reaper a look.
Ibai’s eyes lit up. “Really?!”
‘Sure, why not?’ said Garovel. ‘You seem like a nice enough fellow--and not a bloodthirsty psychopath. People who aren’t bloodthirsty psychopaths are my favorite, you know.’
“Is that so?! Well, that’s just wonderful!”
‘Oh, and I’m sorry that my buddy here is so quiet,’ said Garovel. ‘It’s nothing against you. He’s like this with most people. He’s super shy, you see.’
“Oh! Shy! That explains it! Aha!” He gave Hector an even bigger smile, somehow. “I was afraid that you hated me! Wow! That is such a relief, then. Whew.”
Hector could only wonder where Garovel was going with this.
‘We heard all about you from Chergoa. She’s my sister, as it happens.’
“Wow, that’s amazing! I’d love to talk to her and Emiliana again! They were so nice!”
‘I’m sure they’d like that,’ said Garovel. ‘By the way, how old are you?’
“Oh, I’m thirty-five. Why?”
‘Ah, no reason. I’m curious to know how long aberrations have been around. I wasn’t familiar with your kind until very recently. It’s just that the last aberration we met was only about twenty years old or so.’
“Ooh, what was he like?”
‘Not nearly as pleasant as you, to be sure. He hurt a lot of innocent people.’
“Aww... I’m sorry to hear that. I suppose I should have guessed. What happened to him?”
‘My buddy here killed him.’
Ibai looked to Hector again. “Did you, now? Hmm. Was that difficult?”
Now there was a question that Hector wanted to answer. “Not so much so that I wouldn’t do it again.”
Ibai’s smile waned for a second, but then he broke into a laugh. “You’re kinda scary! I bet you’d get along with Uncle Mel!”
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
"Hector could only where Garovel was going with this."
ReplyDeleteI can't help but wonder if there is a mistake in that sentence.
Hector could only [wonder] where Garovel was going with this.
ReplyDeleteWhat made Ibai think that Hector can be friends with Melchor?
ReplyDeleteAhahahahaha
The Darksteel, and the Darktide... uhm... same name... I think it can happen.
I intend to edit, but ended up deleting my post.
ReplyDelete-_-
I don't know if that's what Ibai really mean to say, or just sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteGot it, thanks.
ReplyDeleteYep, fixed now, thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou totally ruined my attempt to be a smart and/or jack ***. Why! Why do you hate me.
ReplyDeletejk :)
Hector and Ibai are like polar opposites.
ReplyDeleteOpposites attract.
The forces bringing them together called destiny could bring forth great camradie or great conflict
Ehem. Badass Hector is badass. Also: Squee. That is all.
ReplyDeleteMissing letter: "People who aren’t bloodthirsty psychopath[s] are my favorite, you know.’"
ReplyDeleteI love when Hector's badass. The last really good one (off the top of my head) was when he was talking to David over the phone.
Or, generate enough power to light a certain underground castle. ;P
ReplyDeleteIt'll get weird if Ibai starts plotting to make it happen. xXx
ReplyDeleteDark twins powers activate!! :p
ReplyDeleteHm, Garovel thought Geoffrey was twenty or so? He told Desmond he was sixteen, guess he looked older than he was.
ReplyDeleteForm of.... an eagle!
ReplyDeleteGot it, thanks.
ReplyDeleteHe told Desmond he was nineteen, actually. :)
ReplyDeleteI am only scary untill I kill what is scaring me.
ReplyDeleteAfter so much time being quiet he finaly says something... And it's terrific
ReplyDeleteReminds me of his days as a wanted man, that kind of replies would've made bad guys shit their pants and beg for forgiveness
No wonder Mel chased him around. It's love!!
ReplyDelete"His gut told [him?] there wasn’t much harm in it..."
ReplyDeleteBest page ever. Love it!
Yep. Fixed now, thanks.
ReplyDeleteRoughly how many people did Geoffrey kill? I just want guesstimate fuel to compare aborations power.
ReplyDeleteI think somewhere between 1 and 5 thousand. A high school is a lot by itself, and we was strong before.
ReplyDeleteI hope they can end up getting along, and that Frost isn't just going to make them friends and then kill Ibai. That would make me sad.
ReplyDeleteHector is as sweet talker as ever, lol. Great people skills there.
ReplyDeleteOr a perfect pevert. :D
ReplyDeleteI think that they would probably get along if Melchor could believe that Hector didn't want to kill Ibai. As a side note, I wonder what Hector's name is going to be if he ever gets a proper servant title from the servant community. His existing one seems almost bland, and doesn't really say much about his power, although admittedly his power is more or less unremarkableness incarnate. Exactly the standard solid materializer package, with only one known quirk that only screws with one guy.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I just thought to wonder is why most nations would even bother with a conventional military, given that even a few month old servant (more powerful than normal, but still only a few years old equivalent) was able to deal with an entire nation's military, while going out of his way not to hurt anyone no matter how tempting and convenient they made it. When you start thinking about Rainlord and higher level servants, especially in groups, it raises some serious questions about how world governments figure their own mortal armed forces could hope to stand up to anything stronger than other servantless world governments, which aren't even at the big boys' table in terms of military might. Especially when you consider that one of the big factions has no real reason to maintain a masquerade when all it does is let the other start wars over misunderstandings that they could prevent.
Of course, that faction doesn't seem to be very strong on adapting its methodology to fit its changing circumstances.
I wonder if Garovel is doing this to expand Hector's comfort zone for his own good, to mess with Hector for his amusement, to be nice to someone who genuinely is trying to be nice to him, or to avoid antagonizing the soul-eating abomination who would be impossible to take down the same way as Geoffry.
ReplyDeleteNow that I think of it, it raises an interesting question about Ibai's power, whether he can get in or out of a strongly soul-empowered container or whether it requires a normal space path to be able to get there through the void.
I am fairly certain that the room he was stuck in was soul empowered and he totally bypassed it when he decided to leave. Otherwise he could have just broken out using his shadow thing.
ReplyDeleteRight. Now that I think of it, so was the room that he "rescued" Chergoa from. Stupid question.
ReplyDeleteI wish you had said spider. Would have been hilarious.
ReplyDelete