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Post by Valencia Donahue on May 16, 2007 5:39:01 GMT 1
You’re evil. Rassum-frassum, dadgum it…
As regrettably expected, Stern didn’t give up nor was he deterred by Valencia’s brief statement. She concluded that he was sharp enough to catch her reaction to his statement and he wasn’t one to give up anyways. In the course of Valencia’s lifetime, she learned that practically everything leaves something behind in the world. With that said and can be interpreted on many levels depending on the situation, this was one of the reasons why she wanted to remain out of sight and out of the mind as long as possible. There was no possible way for her to escape certain things from happening to her, but Valencia understood through life lessons that it’s very, very possible for anyone to alter circumstances for the better instead of the worse if one comprehended and utilized what’s available. Words especially.
So you knew that I was at the meeting, eh? Alrighty, that shows me something...
“I can’t help it if I overhear things out in the woods. People go there a lot to do who knows what.”
Valencia wasn’t going to change her strategy any time soon unless she needed to. Stern may want to drag her out in the open, but it’s not like she’ll let him. The Asian left the towel over her head as she began to dig through her belongings as though the discussion was over and done with. Anything to get away and back into the safety of being left alone. Sure, Stern may continue pursuing her, but there must be some time when the hunter doesn't want to keep following the tiger deep into the woods, right?
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Post by stern on May 16, 2007 20:16:13 GMT 1
"I see, people do odd things out there. Like walking around in dress that obscures their appearance and dropping in on people's rally's"
In short, I'm not buying that excuse was the words Stern had just spoken. Her voice gave another facade of their meetings being coincidence, but even if Stern was the type to believe in coincidence, he wasn't the type to ignore body language.
Avoiding eye contact, pretending to do something else, but still hanging on the words around him. When accused falsely people tend to give...more vocal reactions. They do not do their best to run away, that was the move of someone with something to hide. It might not have anything to do with Stern, but he wasn't going to take that chance. After all, she clearly didn't want him to know the truth.
"Come now, you've been watching enough to know I'm not exactly a violent man. I'm not exactly curious of who your watching me for though...the list of my enemies is long but those who would stoop to that game are few. I'm more curious as to what a distant observer has to say.'
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Post by Valencia Donahue on May 17, 2007 1:06:50 GMT 1
Stern here definitely wasn’t one of those other people who’ve interrogated her in the past for who knows what. The tactics that Valencia used were meant to give her time to escape by dodging the discussion at hand, possibly lure the pursuer after her since people do that anyways if they have the audacity to, then gather up as much information as possible since to verbally pursue her would require narrowing down with more and more details. Details mean information. Details are what Valencia has a knack for catching. Anyways, she would’ve responded with a single word to Stern’s question (“Yes”) and make her getaway, but he did something that few have actually done. He followed through with another statement instead of letting Valencia mess with another one-liner. He also got to the point without narrowing down any further.
One thing for sure, he caught onto Valencia’s weakness. She’s too “unaverage” to pass off as an average person hiding things because she refuses to be average enough to do the stupid things an average person would do. Whoa. Catch-22. It’s practically impossible to not leave anything behind, but that’s just crazy.
CTRL+ALT+DEL?
Valencia definitely didn’t want to be cornered or give in again, like that incident with MacMillan where she met the BSoD (Blue Screen of Death), but needless to say… Things were looking pretty bleak. She sat up straight after realizing that what she was looking for wasn’t in her bag, but she still didn’t make any efforts to look at Stern. Blame it on her habit of speaking to empty space instead of other human beings.
So far, I think he only knows about me from that meeting in the woods… Pheh… To think that he’d have better things to do than to pester me.
“Basically, all you want to know is what I’m going to do, huh? In that case, what do you want me to do?”
Okay, Stern was able to drag her out of the woods a little. So?
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Post by stern on May 17, 2007 15:17:38 GMT 1
Valencia dropped the act, realizing that even if she persisted so would Stern. She answered his direct methods with her own, jumping to what she percieved as his point. He was trying to get information out of her, but then again every conversation was pretty much that.
"Oh, I'm not really curious as to what your going to do, but your already doing what I want you to do. Thinking is what I like to make people do. I want to know what you think, and nothing more. You can keep the details of what you've learnt from me secret if you wish, and I'll happily supply you with some more if I find that doing so would aid you. I'm just curious as to what's going on in your head."
Stern was being rather sincere for once...this mostly due to the fact that he was getting near the stage where his plan was nearly unstoppable. What she did would likely have little consequence in the grand picture. What she knew could, but Stern carefully monitered the information he gave out, so it was not anything he didn't want her to know. What she though, however, was something he couldn't simply take. It had little strategic value, but it would give him an idea of how those in Hircine who hadn't fallen in line yet, those who thought before taking thier sides, viewed him.
He wanted her opinion, and that was all really. She could be working for a number of people, but that didn't really matter to Stern. He didn't play by everyone elses rules.
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Post by Valencia Donahue on May 18, 2007 9:35:36 GMT 1
Then what was up with…Valencia paused that thought, figuring that it lost its relevance for the time being and it was a better idea to tuck it away than to let it interfere with the matter at hand. One train of thought at a time because… Erm… In a way, Stern probably doesn’t want to know what’s going on in Valencia’s discombobulated skull. Really. Trust me. He doesn’t. With the towel still resting on her head, she stared out into the gym, filtering her thoughts and pondering over Stern’s words. More information. And straight from the source so not too much will be lost in translation. That sounds good to her. I mean, here’s the sort of thing you’d hear from one of Valencia’s buddies after the information passed through a series of other people. [RUTH]: “We’ve come to a conclusion after some research…”
[GLADYS]: “…That Stern is a reincarnation of that one psycho hippie who killed a bunch a people in the Haight-Ashbury District!”
[RUTH]: “Yup! THE Haight-Ashbury District right here in this city of San Francisco in the 1960’s!”
[GLADYS]: “Charles Manson!”
[RUTH]: “And it makes perfect sense too!”
[GLADYS]: “The ‘peace’ thing! And that ‘creepy aura’ you keep talking about!”
“Charles Manson… Stern Mason… Cute comparison.”
[RUTH]: “Why yes, we’re made of awesome.”
[GLADYS]: “We should join CSI some day.”And people wonder why Valencia didn’t switch to other resources yet. Odds were that what Stern would say to her would be trimmed down though, considering that he’s pretty meticulous about the way he goes about things. In a way, he was like Valencia because of that and she can’t help it if she says little out of habit and mild paranoia, with the exception being whenever she’s too tired to think straight. Ain’t he the fella to be so sure of lots of things. Tell all the Truth but tell it slant… The Truth must dazzle gradually… Or every man be blind--“I don’t know who you are or what you’ve done in the past to rile up the students who transferred from Varron, who are more than likely to know more about you than I do, so I’m pretty wary. Since you seem like the sort to engage in less barbaric means of handling things, I’m curious as to how things will turn out… In conjunction to what I mentioned prior. I don’t think I’ll be in this school much longer and I know that eventually, it’ll be somewhat similar for the whole lot of us…” Valencia paused momentarily to keep herself from saying too much about her other thoughts sneaking in. “Thusly why I’m also thinking about why such efforts are put into this endeavor to fix up the system unless it means something to you beyond… Helping people for the sake of helping people…” Differences in ideals conflicting… And I recently got bitten by the system, so…“Then there’s the fuzziness from here to ‘the end’.” I know that some things require unwavering trust to get things done without others catching on, however…“I do hope that I’ve said enough and haven’t spoken more than I should.”
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Post by stern on May 19, 2007 23:06:51 GMT 1
Despite her vague answers, there was some useful insight in them. Apparantly, having abstained from judgement at first, her continued insight did not help her in the decision on where he stood, but merely gave her the desire to observe more so as to make up her mind. He would have to make less personal appearance as time progressed it seemed, letting word of mouth overcome this odd persona he was creating.
"I see, I can't argue much fault in your view.....your right though, my reasons go beyond basic illusions of altruism. They are far more personal in reality...then again, I'd prefer to keep them personal. I think I've answered enough on that topic for my end of the bargain there."
"Considering your view on the matter, along with your situation, I see no need for you to actually make up your mind however. After all, your not going to be here much longer, so my talks of the abusive system are likely going to apply to you very little in the future. It's not as though they have something to hold against you after you get out of this place or anything."
Stern was fishing for answers, though merely as a personal test for his own assumptions than a devious intent. He assumed she was working with the Pillars, but blackmailed into it by her general appearance and attitude. If she was willingly working for someone, she wouldn't have the knowledge to call her a threat to begin with and have him dismissed as nothing. If she stayed for some other reason though, there was little reason for her to continue thinking on his position. What did someone who picked thier side care about his? She was still thinking for herself, which meant she was not likely an ally by choice.
~Also means she still has a sense of freedom....must not be involved too long~
"Well, I guess you answered my request, though I suppose I haven't really answered a question you deliberatly asked yet. A deal is a deal, so I guess I owe you some information."
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Post by Valencia Donahue on May 28, 2007 2:08:22 GMT 1
((OOC: Please pardon the tardiness…)) The lights were on, but nobody was home. Valencia respected every ounce of privacy Stern wished to have because that was the sort of privacy that she wished to possess as well. Unfortunately, what he mentioned afterwards in continuation to the fact that she’ll be graduating soon triggered some rather unhappy images in the depths of her skull. Some of those thoughts were regrets that she could’ve done more interesting things when she was in high school, the rest were… Well, we’ll just leave it at MacMillan still controlling her future because who knows what will happen after or even mere days before graduation. The possibility of still being… Stuck… With no… Bloomin’… Way out. To Valencia, it totally stinks to imagine that out of all things that should have little to no tangible control, someone managed to get his hands on it and that very thing was... You know. A different film reel slipped into the projector and it replayed the scene out in the woods when she first caught sight of Stern: "I'm the only one here who has something that will defiantly protect us from blackmail if we try this, and therefore beyond approach by administration and Pillars themselves, making me a choice figurehead for our organization." I’m beginning to think that my mind is the perfect example of the Pavlovian theory regarding classical conditioning. Bloody bells ringing in my head…And we end with Stern admitting that he didn’t provide much information. Valencia pondered for a minute or two because this was one of those moments where you’ll get the right answers if you ask the right questions. What she said prior “wasn’t enough”, so she had to think a bit differently since practically everything he said had to go through a filter. Then again, there were several ways of looking at this. One way was through a sieve. Impurities get left behind while the finer particles go through. Another way was through a colander. What’s actually needed, like food, it kept while water, what isn’t needed as much, goes through. In other words, asking exact questions will be like using a sieve, asking so-so questions would be like using a colander, so in the end, it’s all a matter of interpretation as usual, knowing what needs to be known, and knowing where to look. Well, since I have little in terms of background and this was an event of chance, looks like I’ll just have to—“For a while now, my friends have been pondering something… ‘Cute’. You see, they think you’re a reincarnation of a psycho-hippie. Technically, a freak murderer, but that’s beside the point. There’s very little I can ask… For instance, I can’t ask too much about how you’ve become inexpugnable to adversity because quite frankly, there isn’t much about you to go off of.” So, you’re safe from blackmail and like I’ve said some long time ago to Charlotte, you’re at top of the chain…“Everyone is probably wondering as much as I ‘What the hell is going on?’ and there really isn’t much beyond that but the inevitable and to wait. I have been contemplating--” Valencia’s cell phone gave a muffled chime in her bag, telling her who it was by its tune. “I have been contemplating… ‘What is there to ask?’ ” At least, what could be put into words anyways. Darned block from the brain to the vocal cords…“This may be the silliest thing I will ask, but what are you willing to tell me that isn’t known yet by the general populace orbiting you? Opposing, supporting, and otherwise?” Sure did let you down in terms of intellectual hopes, huh? At least I’m not stupid about it.
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Post by stern on May 30, 2007 14:14:53 GMT 1
"You'd acyually be suprised how littel the general populace asks questions....and when they do, it is often the same ones over and over....no one has even bothered to ask how order will be maintained if I get my way, what position I intend to keep myself in after I'm done, or why I'm so opposed to the schools practices. Most people are more interested in the who and what than the why."
Stern found the humor in the comparison to a murderer in multiple ways. It had been so long since the word cute had been used in reference to him, he had actually forgotten the exact date. She did, however, give solid proof that she was at the meeting in the woods. In revealing that she dwelt on his safety from reprisal from the school, she also showed his assumption of blackmail was also true.
She was a spy, and working for the Pillars. It was certain now.
"You might want to answer that."
Stern nodded down toward Valencia's bag, indicating that she should not worrt about manners and to answer it. Stern did not plan on using his remaining time in gym effectively anyway, so it was not as though a quick phone call would be much of an annoyance.
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Post by Valencia Donahue on May 31, 2007 0:28:34 GMT 1
Valencia’s eye twitched when Stern mentioned how no one asked him about the things he mentioned. In fact, she twitched a few times in other places as well. Indeed, she was pretty surprised and felt like hunting down all the morons who’ve ever asked him questions and beating them silly with a limp noodle. Sure, some people may have sorta asked the why, in the form of “Why are you helping complete strangers?” and the like, but he had a right to privacy in keeping more personal reasons to himself and people might as well assume that he’s either being a Samaritan or helping them help him reach his own goal. But anyways, Valencia thought that those questions were asked already and was hoping to refer to her network instead of, say, asking Stern outright like so, outta the blue.
Must… Not… Misplace… Rage… At least he had a point that people were focusing on the wrong things like his identity, I suppose. I mean, I do that all the time and here I am pondering frivolous things about his past. Silly me.
She sighed wearily and answered the phone, turning herself away from Stern and listening intently to the voice on the other end. If people stared at Valencia long enough, they would’ve noted that she slowly began to straighten her posture and sat up with a more… “Dainty” carriage. Habit maybe? What happened next would’ve blown people’s eardrums into the next century if they’ve known Valencia long enough, but not quite long enough. Her “accent”… “Accents”.
“Vhat? Doncha nuu that the gonnegtions arren’t kwait vhat they ieeused to ve? Hnn… Non, Ai berieve that you need to geeve it crroser look. Nien. Nyet. NON. Frrom the REFT. Zee it nuuw? Goot. I’rr… I’rr zee eef Ai khen make eet ezier. Sérieusement. Ai nuu jzuu khen do it. Just thank outta tha box. It ain’t that bad, now ain’t it? Kyoot, eh? Aye. See? Now yer gonna think yer crazy like the whole lot of us too. Ennehow, I thank I need ta cut this short and I hope you get whatcha need all easy-loike. It’s not ev’ryday that Ai khen help yer like so. I bid you adieu and wish you luck in your endeavors. Ciao. Ta. Toodles!”
That probably hurt your brain, didn’t it? And here most people thought her eloquent vocabulary was enough to butcher skulls… Talk about verbal versatility… Throughout the whole conversation, Valencia shifted positions and postures as if she was in her own little world and when the call was over… The Vietnamese lady said something unpleasant in her native tongue, massaged her temples with both her hands, and wiped her face with the towel that was still draped over her head. To some spectators, it might’ve appeared as though her talk hurt her brain too, even if that wasn’t the case. Valencia put the cell phone away and turned herself towards Stern, still avoiding eye contact as usual. She paused for a moment to recall what they were last talking about, then continued.
“So, Ai… Ehn… I believe… Would I be correct in assuming that you’re willing to provide the answers to the questions people have… Neglected to ask? Or should I be the one to figure that out since you’d probably prefer that the general populace be in the dark until the time is right?”
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Post by stern on May 31, 2007 16:12:55 GMT 1
Stern's eye's narrowed as the conversation went on, as if he were in actual pain listening to it. He was a talented linguist himself, but he couldn't pull that off. He was both in awe of the ability this girl possesed but at the same time disgusted over the butchery of the english language.
He snapped back to reality as he was finally addressed again, and seemed as though the physical pain he had endured began to go numb.
"Well....You only really answered one question....so how about I answer one of those. I think it would be useful to know of all those who are keeping away from picking a side at this point, what is the nagging question you'd want to know about me.....though in that case if you do choose to ask one, you may be the only one to get an honest answer."
Stern was entirely serious about an honest answer being given. he wouldn't lie, but might not necesserily give all the details. Seeing as it was Stern, it was equally possible he could give three answers and all be euqally true and terrifiying. It was now up to Valencia to ask her question, which she had to weigh the risks of an imperfect answer with the knowledge she would give him by asking.
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Post by Valencia Donahue on Jun 3, 2007 1:25:55 GMT 1
Dang this guy is careful…In short, Valencia has no idea what’s going on in Stern’s head at the moment. For all she knew, what’s assumed was that her ambiguity was interpreted in any and every sort of way aside some her relations to the Pillars… Until she realized that Stern was watching his words more carefully, if there was a change at all in that aspect. Remember the beginning of the “chase” where the amount of information given will determine how much would be received? And how varying amounts would either make people give more in attempt to bait ‘em out or make them more conscious of themselves and defensive? At this point, most would slip up and chat away with Valencia since the level of security would be (for the most part falsely) established by how talkative things were getting. Not Stern. Nope. Dang he’s sharp…“I can’t help it if you ask me what’s going on in my mind and what’s going on is a myriad of questions. You really didn’t ask me much else, if memory serves.” No, really. The conversation thus far in a nutshell: {Stern}: “What’s going on in your mind?” {Valencia}: “Lots of things.” {Stern}: “I can tell you stuff if you want.” {Valencia}: “What are you willing to tell me?” {Stern}: -=tells=-{Valencia}: “Okay, in detail now?” {Stern}: “Nah. Pick one.” {Valencia}: @$#% U.See? But Valencia possessed the civility to not resort to mental or spoken expletives. Now the question is… Which question to ask? Especially since it appears that Stern was a man of his word, even though he admitted not quite being of his word to others. Gee, way to feel special. - 1: “How will order be maintained?”
- 2: “What position will you (Stern) be in once in power?”
- 3: “Why are you opposed to the System and the school’s practices?”
[/I][/li][/ul] The funniest thing was how much they were all more-or-less intertwined and Stern seemed particularly interested in the inner workings of the garden-variety “neutral”. If Valencia felt silly enough, she would’ve outright asked what’d be something that’d throw the wrench into Stern’s works, but she didn’t feel like it. Huh… Well, some questions look like they’ll answer themselves within a few days of making observations. This is like flipping a coin and hoping it’d land on its side… Almost impossible, but the chance isn’t there if the coin isn’t flipped. I’ll just make do with whatever I can get…“Tough choice… Things would be pretty weird if you managed to get rid of the administration somehow, by finding someone else to replace MacMillan (since he’s got pretty much everything), further brainwash the folks inhabiting this school, and reestablish a system of order involving unusual means of strength, whatnot, or whatever to enforce the place when Hircine was generally okay to begin with unless you got yourself into trouble…” Why does that sound like something a Communist regime would do…? Okay… What we have right now might be more comparable to a Communist regime, but you get the idea.“But anyways, why are you opposed to the System and the school’s practices? Granted, it has its share of quirks, problems, and flaws of many sorts…” Like the blackmailing, but people don’t really know about it outright, save for whenever it’s a “public secret”… And the Pillars, but they’re just doing their jobs…“It’s just that… I don’t know what went on at Varron to make a more educated assumption about your motives. Pretty much what I do know is that the System didn’t work too well over there and over here, people are saying that it works… ‘Too well’? So… Just simply, why?” Why bother with searching for something he’d want to hear? He’d be better off talking to himself if that was the case.“I do apologize if I wasn’t able to express myself thoroughly enough.” Some people don’t mind being kept in the dark, but only as long as there’s a way to “see”… And to be honest, I was in the dark for a really long time until something gave me a reality check.((OOC: ::takes a cleaver to grammar:: ))
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Post by stern on Jun 12, 2007 20:05:10 GMT 1
(((Sorry for the delay...this'll be the fourth time this is deleted if my connection goes out again)))
Stern smiled a bit. This girl was smart in her questions, choosing the one that would that could possibly yeild the answers to all of the questions. This was, unfortunatly, the one Stern disliked answering the most, and concidentally the one where he had to use the least specifics.
"Oh, my reasons and actions that led to the current state of affairs started long before Varron. Though I doubt of those involved that anyone but the principal knows the truth behind it...."
Stern rambled on, clearly trying to answer "around" the question than answering it. In the end, Stern knew he was just going to end up giving more information than he had to if he continued this way. That could lead to even greater discomfort in the end, so he decided to bite the bullet and get to the point.
"The truth is, like those who truly follow me, I have experienced the worst this system has to offer.....anything you have gone through is nothing compared to what I endured. This system is good in many ways, but it's flaws lead to more trouble than what it solves, the only difference being this system has to power to hide them if it wants to."
Stern's word, though not giving the details, were truthful and gave the basic reason behind his actions. He knew of all the good the system did, and all the bad that the majority of those who were against it knew. He had also experienced the worst though, that which other people aren't allowed to see or know of. Being one of the few to have survived that, he was obligated to do something about it for those who didn't.
Stern noticed the time now, and turned away. The game was over for now, and Stern was confident that, on the whole, he had come out the victor. what she did with the information she was given would likely work in his favor eventually. He was, however, headed to the showers for now. Stern was amazed that no one ever asked why he alsways left for them early, but he assumed that was because they weren't ready to deal with him should he get angry after watching him exercise.
"This has been enjoyable miss, and hopefully I have been able to make your decision a little easier, regardless of what it is."
Stern walked away, not looking back. He had already fallen behind his usual schedule indulging himself, so it was back to work. Afterall, he would have time to rest when it was all over.
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Post by Valencia Donahue on Jun 13, 2007 8:09:18 GMT 1
Hmm… Figures.
What Stern said was kinda vague and even sorta predictable if you’ve read enough stories to assume that most large people with an unknown agenda has beef with the power they’re opposing, but with enough pondering, connecting, and luck, finding answers shouldn’t be too hard for Valencia. It’s just a matter of looking at things from different angles, what with the colander and the sieve for instance. But dang, did Stern know how to still keep things quiet after all they’ve been through. Whether or not him leaving was coincidental or not, Valencia probably won’t know. However, she nodded respectfully when he made his exit and once he was a considerable distance away, she removed the towel over her head and picked up her cell phone cogitatively, murmuring to herself as she punched some numbers in a casual manner…
“Before Varron… And the principal knows-ish… And so on, so forth. Let there be light.”
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