Keith Richards
Dreamer
Sophomore
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Posts: 146
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Post by Keith Richards on Jul 12, 2008 1:15:56 GMT 1
My hand...Keith stared at his hand, ignoring his surroundings completely. Holding it in the air in front of him, blocking the view that was found from the dingy bus stop. He had no sense of space or self beyond his hand. It was moving on by itself, completely beyond his control. The movement was most apparent in the tips of his fingers, which trembled enough to be noticeable from several feet away. And it consumed him. What could have someone that none had seen even blink in the face of any adversity tremble? Keith's mind sharply returned to the sound of bus hydraulics hissing far to his left. Standing up slowly, his eyes still on his hand, currently hovering in front of him at waist level. The trembling had ended, his hand once more steady. When his eyes lifted and his hand fell away the buss doors hissed and opened. Two steps and he was sliding a token into an overused slot. Five more and he was seated by himself on a bus that surprisingly didn't smell like piss. The bus drove forward two blocks before coming to a grinding halt. It was impossible to tell what the voices outside the bus were saying exactly, but as they approached it became quite apparent what kind of people they were. Loud, obnoxious, boastful, they were teenagers. A perfect way to deal with the returning tremble to his right hand. Step one, piss them off. The first to pass him to find a seat found himself flat on the plastic walkway that ran the whole length of the bus. Tasting the soles of a couple thousand pairs of shoes seemed to have heated up the punks blood. He pushed himself up and stood fast, the bus continued to move forward. The driver either hadn't noticed or didn't care, punks with vibrant green hair weren't his favored customers apparently. "And what the fuck do you think you're doing?" The angry voices was deeper than the tall and lanky body would hint at, it had a smirk forming on Keith's face as he said, "I decided you'd help me. But I needed your attention first." Confusion and then anger formed very well defined lines in the teens face, while Keith took the time to reach his hand into his pocket and lightly grasp his pen. With his eyes locked onto his target he suddenly stood and moved into the isle. Turning to face the green haired teen, leaving his two friends behind him, Keith smiled from the shade of his hood while he once more taunted them, "You do want to help, don't you?" "Yeah, I'll help. I'll help you have a reason to go to the hospital!" The green haired punk shouted loudly, which was exactly what the calm and quietly behaving Keith had wanted. Whatever happened after that point would be seen as self defense. Keith loved his country. Looking quickly over his shoulder to give a back kick a decent aim. His foot landed on the one behind him, on the right him, and pushed off hard. While moving forward with this momentum his eyes went back forward as the green haired punk instinctively raised his arms to block an incoming blow. But Keith's arms went wide. His left hand hooked behind his head and pulled forward and then pushed down. As the body dropped down to the appropriate height Keith pulled his hand out of his pocket, went up, and then crashed down with vicious intent. The pen had been 'uncapped' and once the hard thud of his fist slammed down into his targets shoulder a muffled scream could be heard coming from Keith's thigh. This had the bus drivers attention. The bus jerked to a stop and everyone lurched in different directions. Keith opted to move over his victim in this moment, having the reaction time to grasp onto the back of a seat before the bus driver hit the brakes, and kicked open the door to make an escape before the green haired punk could tell his friends what happened. Being too lazy, and too close to his destination, to run Keith turn a sharp turn after ducking out of sight. Crouched he rounded the bus and stayed to the left side, while the right side was opening to the sidewalk and the bus driver started shouting. Keith slid his hand into his pocket and wiped the small amount of blood that managed to get on his hand, as well as the coating on the blade, before clicking it back into place to look like an average pen again. "Get the fucking son of a bitch!" There it was, and there they went. Straight out of the bus and along the side walk looking for him. Only he just had to slip back on the bus and give a tired grin to the bus driver, who hadn't noticed the blood that was making a trail down the victims back. "Do I have to pay again?" Keith asked as he pushed his hood back, a coy smile shown to the old driver, who laughed and closed the bus doors. Ten minutes later Keith was at his destination, or close enough to walk the rest of the way, and the tremble in his right hand hadn't resurfaced since his outburst of violence. But it had the distinct aftertaste of a temporary solution. However his purpose had been to find a permanent fix, and he was within a five minute walk of it. Keith had memorized his destination from the first time he saw it, and once he saw the door he found that his fix was wearing off. His right hand trembled as he reached out and tapped his knuckles twice. ... On the door of that belonged to Valencia and her roommates.
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Post by Valencia Donahue on Jul 12, 2008 12:20:44 GMT 1
When it came right down to it, Valencia was a reclusive individual whenever she's not busy with college, some strange job, or what have you. She valued privacy and whenever it wasn't available, even the privacy of her own mind worked. But if she was given the choice to seek refuge in her mind or in a physical location, she would pick her secluded apartment where she assumes no one will ever ever find her so s he can ruminate in peace... Well, assume anyways. She's been living with her friends in this apartment for years and despite Ruth swearing that Valencia will be safe from now on, times have been demanding on the two girls who need to pay their monthly rent and figure out a way to have Gladys live with them. In short, Valencia mostly hoped that she was safe more than actually feeling safe. That hope went out the window the day Keith literally showed up on her doorstep.
Valencia truly wished that she'd never see Keith again, especially after that meeting with Tiao. The moment she opened the door and saw his face, the Asian felt like dying on the spot out of surprise, if not pure fear. She didn't say a single word as she stood rooted on a spot in her t-shirt and shorts. She stared at Keith with her pale eyes and simply didn't know how to react. How did he find her? What does he want now? Is it any different from the first or last time? How many times has this happened already? Why does he keep coming back? What does she have to do to get Keith to leave her be?
I've tried practically everything at this point. Fighting, “love”, sympathy, reason... I even ran away and informed whoever I could about him. What haven't I done yet aside from directly killing him and giving in to his... Wants?
...It's a wonder to this day how Valencia could stay calm after everything Keith put her through.
One thing for sure: Him getting into my apartment? Especially with me here? Over my dead body.
The Vietnamese stunt woman slammed the door as fast as she could before making a dash for the phone. She aimed on calling the cops, her friends, Tiao, and anyone else who'd be willing to pick up the other end before resorting to fighting or escaping.
Yeah, that's right—When I'm not on drugs, I think a hell lot straighter. Meaning... Screw talk, just do.
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Keith Richards
Dreamer
Sophomore
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Posts: 146
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Post by Keith Richards on Jul 12, 2008 12:42:31 GMT 1
How did Valencia react to seeing him? Not nearly as well as he had hoped. The expression she wore for those long moments of simply standing in front of him had his hand trembling hard, and gravity increased on his chest. It was an awkward moment, a sensation he couldn't hope to understand. His body, despite being affected by the unseen, was faster to move than his mind. Just as Valencia went to slam the door Keith was stepping forward, and purely out of luck did the door jam on his left foot before coming close to being closed.
But Keith turned and closed it behind him anyway, despite the fact that the woman he came to see was making a dash into the apartment. Keith turned back toward her, she would easily make her way to whatever her objective was, but he leaned back against the door and spoke in a loud but calm voice, "Valencia, what did you think I came here to do? Calm down."
Head titled forward, shoulders resting against the door, eyes forward on the frantic actions. Disappointment formed in his eyes as he watched her. 'Do I chase her if she runs? Yes, but if I had the presence of mind I'd rather have kissed her before she started this foolishness.' Taking his trembling right hand out of his pullover's front pocket he held it in front of him, waving it through the air in an attempt to gain attention before she called, whoever it was she thought would protect her.
"Use your head, what could I have done other than knock on your door?"
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Post by Valencia Donahue on Jul 13, 2008 8:44:57 GMT 1
Um... Am I dead? 'Cause he's in my apartment.
Talk about role reversal. Valencia had to admit, she was having a hard time taking in the situation with Keith behaving a tad more reasonably compared to the past encounters. I mean, he had a point: You'd think Keith would be taking things to the higher extremes by now. Valencia clutched the cordless phone and was in mid-dial as her attempted rapist tried to calm her down sternly. She tried to compromise the situation the best she could while distractedly thinking about ways for her to get her hands on a weapon or flee through the fire escape. She held up the phone and put her fingers on the numbers. Though futile in this situation, it was a symbolic warning that she wasn't going to take anything lying down—almost a threat.
“Get to the point. Then, get out.”
It's one thing for Keith to approach Valencia elsewhere, but it should be expected that she'll behave much more defensively and aggressively the moment he enters her domain.
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Keith Richards
Dreamer
Sophomore
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Posts: 146
|
Post by Keith Richards on Jul 13, 2008 16:55:00 GMT 1
Anger lit briefly in his eyes as he remembered the exact reason why the sudden symptom formed, the image of two faces lingering in his mind even as his eyes dulled, prompting him to shout at her suddenly.
"Don't act so hostile with me!"
Gritting his teeth Keith looked sharply to the side, looking awkward in his position against the door. He didn't come to be received in such a way, and hadn't expected her to be quite so crass with him. But as sudden as his flare of anger came it had left.
"I don't care that you told the most aggressive, self righteous, son of a bitch in the entire city what happened. But I demand to know if you sent him after me."
Keith turned his eyes from the floor, staring at her with hurt in his eyes. Even he wasn't entirely sure if the pain was real or merely a way his anger reacted to someone he didn't want to crush underfoot. I don't see her wearing the present I gave her either, He thought, realizing it only after he had made his demand of her.
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Post by Valencia Donahue on Jul 13, 2008 18:02:32 GMT 1
Valencia reflexively tensed her grip on the phone and took half a step further away from Keith when he reacted to her statement. If he didn't get grip, she would've fled the building by then. For a split-second, she wished that she had the capacity to kill instead of putting up a tough front the majority of the time. Keith then collected himself enough to get the point before looking straight at her. She was taken aback more by how hurt he was than what he said, even if the news about Tiao actually finding Keith came to her as a big surprise. She doesn't like hurting people unless she cannot help it, which prevents her from wanting to kill people like her ex regardless of how much she wants to. From her point of view, it was hard to tell if Keith was genuinely hurt or putting up an extremely convincing act to tug at her heartstrings again.
“That description sounds vague enough to be Tiao Lei Shen...”
Stop making jokes, Val. He's the only hot-blooded individual you told aside from Ruth about Keith.
“I told him about what happened after he found 'the scene of the crime' and the recorded footage of us in the library. Heck, he even returned the keys I lost after trying to stab you. But one thing for sure, I didn't send him after you. I'm still surprised that he managed to find you since I didn't even show him the pictures I took.”
Taking a step back, Valencia then realized that Keith must've been a student at Hircine for Tiao to track him down... Unless Keith has a bunch of pictures of himself on his MySpace, Facebook, or LiveJournal. She shivered at the thought that Keith may visit her again in the library. She sighed shortly before continuing.
“At most, I told him that I wasn't going to get between the both of you should you two meet. Whatever that's going to happen was going to happen. I had no plans on assisting Tiao in identifying you or defending you once he did. It was the only thing I could think of doing since I'm smack dab in the middle of all this. Besides, I can't just say that I'm 'infatuated with my rapist' and expect the world to ever treat me right after that. My conscience also tells me that I'll be receiving tons of bad karma if I forgot about the... Good things you've done for me.”
Damn reciprocity.
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Keith Richards
Dreamer
Sophomore
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Posts: 146
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Post by Keith Richards on Jul 13, 2008 18:37:42 GMT 1
Keith did not find humor in her little jab, and his expression became that of someone hearing something he already knew. While he had assumed Tiao would review the footage from the library, it would be the only way to know his face. Keith never put his face in the yearbook, he hated having his picture taken as it always felt like an invasion of privacy, and couldn't remember if he had knowingly let her walk away with pictures or not.
But he had his answer, and his body visibly relaxed as it comforted him. That's fine, stay out of the affair to keep to your principles, as long as you didn't outright betray me. He thought with a silent, but drawn out, breath. But instead of keeping up on the original subject Keith caught onto a word that interested him much more than crushing the skull of Tiao.
Moving smoothly away from the door Keith took a forward step, a luring smile curving his lips. "Infatuated, you say?" The word almost seemed to have rejuvenated him, his dejected and downtrodden demeanor slipped away the moment it was spoken, and compelled him to bring himself closer to her.
Were Valencia to freeze up, as she had been known to do on occasion, with his sudden change Keith would take the opportunity to move forward smoothly. Making the greatest efforts not to break such a trance he would remove his trembling right hand and place it lightly on her cheek.
But Keith knew Valencia well, or so he believed, and wouldn't press his luck if she looked threatened enough to trigger the fight or flee instinct.
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Post by Valencia Donahue on Jul 14, 2008 1:21:14 GMT 1
Did I say “infatuated with my rapist”? I think I meant “having conflicting feelings towards a creepy stalking manic lover”... But that wouldn't make that much of a difference NOW, would it?
Judging from Valencia's pale features, it was very clear that her idea of infatuation was much different from Keith's. By definition, infatuation is along the lines of foolish and extravagant love. Valencia's idea was along the foolish end. Guess which end was Keith's? As predicted, she froze because she didn't know how to react to his response. The sudden change in emotion threw her off-kilter and to satisfy or reject this change would lead to some pretty bad news. He moved closer to her and just as he was within range to touch her face, she mustered enough impulse to pull herself further away and take her eyes off of his face. Valencia dialed the first 3 digits for the landowner and stood her ground beside the coffee table.
“It's just wrong. I may even be using the wrong words for all this—If I could put them into words. Look, is there anything else you want? There is little else I'm willing to offer here.”
...And you're overstaying your “welcome”.
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Keith Richards
Dreamer
Sophomore
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Posts: 146
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Post by Keith Richards on Jul 14, 2008 2:19:48 GMT 1
Keith found that the trance broke sooner than was desired. Moments before his fingertips could feel her skin again she pulled away. It disappointed him, but not because she pulled away. It was a trait he had noticed some time ago. Whenever she was resisting him she would refuse to meet his gaze. It worried him slightly, but mostly he just couldn't understand it.
As though approaching a timid animal Keith took another slow step forward, worry edging his voice as he simply said, "Valencia." Slowly his hand reached forward again, his palm open, fingers curved so they could mold themselves to her cheek if given the chance. And along with the questing hand would come a second question.
"Do you always have to avoid my eyes?"
Yes, Keith indeed took the second meaning of the word infatuation. He believed with all his being that Valencia loved him, how could she not?
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Post by Valencia Donahue on Jul 15, 2008 0:15:38 GMT 1
At this rate, I may have to go out the window if he keeps this up...
It always had to be the eyes. The moment Valencia looks away, Keith would usually react adversely and in turn lead to her running towards the closest escape. While he was confused about why she often tried to look away from him, she was just as confused about why it was such a big deal to maintain eye contact. People try to look away all the time whenever they find out that someone's looking at them intently. Sometimes the easiest defense against an influential individual was to break visual contact. She didn't want to further encourage him by calling him influential, so she tried to make it clear that he wasn't as special as he thought he was. Rough, but not as bad as it could've been.
“You're not the only person I do that to. Call it a habit. I don't like it when people look into my eyes or when I look into other people's eyes.”
...Unless I know it'll give them a reason not to.
She didn't need to see Keith to know that he kept advancing. The closer he got, the more she moved out of reach... Dreading his touch as much as looking into his eyes. She dialed the next 2 digits.
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Keith Richards
Dreamer
Sophomore
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Posts: 146
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Post by Keith Richards on Jul 16, 2008 4:46:43 GMT 1
The familiar stab of jealousy, fear, rejection, and the resulting pain and anger swarmed in on his mind at once. As though someone had hit a hornets nest that hung above his head Keith's ears buzzed and his throat constricted. There was, of course, two very simple ways to deal with this. Well, three, but in Keith's mind the options were numbered to two. He could take what he wanted out of her, force her to do what he wanted, force her to love him. Or he could aim all of his pent up emotions in the form of rage in a single brutal act.
"Fine, I won't press," Today, Keith thought in the momentary pause, "But I still have a question to ask before I leave." There was a chill in his voice that would hint at the brutality that the angered wasps would soon unleash.
Keith retreated a step, no longer seeing a point in hearing the soulless machine chime in a timer on how many chances he had to give Valencia space, and took in a shallow breath before exhaling his question with as little passion as possible.
"You plan on staying outside of our conflict, from what I gathered. But I'll ask in the simplest way now to be sure. You couldn't care less what I do with this Tiao," The name was practically spat with venom, "situation, do you?"
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Post by Valencia Donahue on Jul 16, 2008 8:39:04 GMT 1
You'd think that after intentionally risking her life for the majority of her existence, Valencia would be more fearless... Especially incidences where she's only a hair's width away from death itself. Unfortunately, no one is ever that predictable in such an unpredictable world. The Asian's high sensitivity sent a shiver down her spine as the very air in her apartment changed for the worse. Valencia finally found a way to describe Keith's aura after his next set of words. Needles. Thousands upon thousands of them. When he's more tolerable, his presence behaves like a pin art impression toy. When you test his patience just slightly, it's like having all kinds of acupuncture needles pressing against your skin, waiting to hit the right or wrong nerve. And when he's feeling more hostile, his aura's quality resembles practically anything that can issue sharp and precise pain... And Valencia was walking on a bed of nails. Mon Dieu...What was she supposed to do now? Towards Keith it was easy, but now Tiao?! She may be a smidge oblivious to his actions, but she's been catching on to his concern. Even then, Valencia didn't even know what to think of him! Sure, he's nice when he means to be, not to mention he's willing to put his life on the line for her (practically unbeknownst to Valencia most of the time), but... But it wasn't as though she's head over heels for him! She still cannot understand how on earth could a freak like her ever be so desirable by guys who are willing to go to great lengths to prove it. With bated breath, Valencia gave her answer as though being held at knife point. “He should know who he's up against. After I told him that I wouldn't interfere, he should be well-aware of the consequences...” This love polygon got more and more complicated by the moment and as far as she's concerned, at least someone will get hurt badly at its conclusion. Deep down, Valencia's heart ached at the thought of losing someone close, whether or not she reciprocated his feelings. If she wasn't trying to hold her ground, a tear or two would've escaped her eyes. Since she was, her eyes barely watering up was the best she could do.
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Keith Richards
Dreamer
Sophomore
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
Posts: 146
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Post by Keith Richards on Jul 16, 2008 16:39:46 GMT 1
Keith had the consent he had come for, and with that in mind he let the buzzing in his ears grow louder. This was a Keith unlike the romantic, unlike the violent, and unlike the bored. Keith with a purpose was not to be trifled with, and there would be no second chance for Valencia to retract her answer.
Unlike before, when with sweet words and careful movements he would approach and show affection before departing, Keith merely turned his back to Valencia and walked out her door. It was left open, the view of his hood coming up over his head as he stepped into the city that didn't realize what collateral damage he could potentially cause to reach his goal.
Tiao, you've been stripped of the only thing that could have protected you from me.
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