[AQ] Posting Frustrations [Demi/Juon]

[Demi]

"Those are good ones. Oh- swim practice-? Ah, you must be on the swim team." She didn't mind his complaining too much, it was at least better than him being a jerk or something. And he wasn't making fun of her height or anything either, so that at least made the guy tolerable for now. And okay, perhaps it was kind of amusing to her that he was so careful with the posters when he took them down.

She nodded lightly at his question about clubs. "I joined Archery club..." She commented, chewing on her bottom lip after a moment. "But I'm not very good at it." She admitted... which was true, but what can you expect? She'd never really tried archery before now, so. "I don't have the best upper body strength, most of my strength is in my legs." Maybe she should try dance or kickboxing or-- do they even have a kickboxing club here? Probably not. Even if they did, she wouldn't join... it was too much physical activity for her. Wait, track. Again, though, too much activity, too much work... too much time and effort. Then again, wasn't archery going to require time and effort?

She pushed that thought out of her head after a moment, though, reaching to take the staple remover, watching him. "Fair enough." She agreed as she turned to pull staples out. "But do you really think ripping posters down would damage anything but the posters?" She asked as she got back to work. "It's just paper... when it's recycled or burned, it'll get damaged more anyway... plus they already damaged the walls by using staples anyway." She pointed out.

"So why are you guys wanting to take them down anyway? 'Cause they're unsightly or something?" She glanced to him, then back to the papers. "Would you rather people join your guys' group or something? The Guardians was it?"

[Juon]

"Oh, archery," he mused aloud; he knew a couple--or, actually, a lot of people--in archery, especially via twitter. Though those people may have been... questionable... they did, at least, seem like a quality club, dedicated to their art and determined to improve, much unlike many of the members of the swim club. "Nothing wrong with that, though," he offered in response, shrugging as he realized that his hands were full of posters, and some were starting to threaten to slip from his grasp. He took a pause to crouch down and set the pile on the floor, starting up a new one as he continued removing staples and collecting the posters in his arms. "I'm, uh, one of the slowest members of the swim team. Doesn't stop me." He had to seriously suck up his pride to admit the fact, but he'd noted that she seemed a bit down about it.

He then shrugged at her following comment, but seemed to make no change to his actions; he was already in the rhythm, anyway. Most of them were held up by only one staple, so it wasn't as terrible as it might've been, anyway.

"Noooo idea what they plan to do with them, though," he sighed. "None of my business, I guess. Maybe they will just burn or recycle them, though." A pause, as he tried to think harder on it. "Maybe they'll return them even, or like... make them into some sort of... "A hand was waved. "Like, the art classes could use them for paper mache, or whatever."

Glancing over to her as she asked why to take them down in the first place, he stepped back for a moment to take a look at the dent they'd made in the wall--it was shaping up to be pretty significant, considering how they started. "Eh, the unsightliness, the fact that they're kind of intrusive... I don't think they were put up with permission, either." A shrug. "Yeah, the Guardians. I mean, I guess they want more members, like any of them, but they're held with such a gross prestige around school, I doubt they even need advertising." His words quite obviously showed that, despite his dedication, he was not the most enthusiastic member toward his faction. "They're can be just as flashy as Faberge, what with the whole cape thing." The cape of which he also refused to wear--those hideous, uncomfortable capes; awful.

[Demi]

Demi nodded in response to his musing, then she blinked as he kind of tried to console her. Huh, maybe he was a nice guy. No, she pushed that thought away. He was probably only being nice because nobody else was around. She made a mental note to not get too comfy... he's probably going to laugh about her sucking at archery later on. That's usually how it started, people would make fun of her behind her back. Then it became behind her back nearby her so she could still hear it. Snickers and giggles followed usually. She frowned at the thought, trying to push it away. She definitely wouldn't let herself get too comfy, no way Jose.

She carefully stacked her papers on top of the ones he set down as they continued, her now silent as she listens to him. Those were at least decent ideas, the paper mache stuff, but she figured they probably would just recycle or burn them.

She remained quiet as he spoke about how the posters were unsightly... she agreed wholeheartedly, hence why she was writing that they were very tacky. They were intrusive, too, and distracted people. Perhaps they were even distracting enough to make people want to take them down instead of studying, as in her case. Okay maybe she just... didn't feel like studying right at this moment in time.

"Probably not." she agreed, they didn't need the advertisement. Hearing about the capes, though, she glanced to him. "Speaking of, why aren't you wearing one? Don't like them?" She couldn't help but be curious. Honestly, she didn't have a problem with the capes, they looked cute. At least, to her anyway.

She plucked a few stray staples out of the wall that she'd left up after pulling posters down, gathering them into her hand carefully. She set them in a little pile on the floor next to the posters, then got back to pulling more down.

[Juon]

"Eugh," he responded immediately toward the idea of why he wasn't wearing a cape. "I can't stand those; way too embarrassing." They stood out too much, was his main issue with them; and the last thing he wanted to do was stand out. He wanted to go unnoticed, unbothered, so that he wouldn't have to care about anything--but, of course, everything always found a way to work against that. But he already assumed that fact, and so his mindset always drove things to, indeed, continue working against him.

"But, technically speaking, it's not something you can just join, anyway," he offered then, thinking a little harder about it. "Since you need an--" a pause, as he realized what he was talking about. He looked to her, shook his head, and then returned to the posters. "Err; not important."

Noticing her little pile of staples, he put out the hand that has his little plastic container. "You can throw the staples in here; might be better than almost stepping on them," came his prompting, shaking the little container so that all the staples already in it gave a jingling tink. He then resumed with his staple-removing, noting that they were making good progress; it seemed like the majority of them were down already.

[Demi]

"They're kind of cute..." Demi admitted, in regards to the cape. "They just make me think of... someone walking past and smelling immensely of flowers." Her brows knitted for a moment, then she pushed the thought away. "But I think they can look nice, either way." She shrugged, plucking some more staples out of the wall from posters she'd taken down. Some were stuck pretty far in, which was slightly annoying... but she'd manage. Somehow.

"What- the factions? Yeah, I know." She nodded. "I don't really have any desire to join any of them right now." She noticed his pause, and would bring it up in a moment or two, but first...

"Thanks." She dropped the staples into the little plastic container, then watched as he started to take down more staples and posters. "You need an... a what?" She finally prompted, eyeing him curiously... wondering what he meant and finally bringing that up.

She normally wouldn't give two shits, but... now she was curious. What was it that someone needed to join Guardians? Not that she wanted to join them... there are two other options. Though she couldn't really see herself joining either, to be quite honest... but maybe that was because she wasn't familiar with all of them quite yet.

[Juon]

"Flowers?" he echoed, raising an eyebrow at her. "Even worse," came his comment; he wasn't particularly interested in something like that--rather, he'd prefer some kind of masculine scent, if he had the option, not that he'd ever admit it aloud. Flowers were fine, sure; photogenic, but he didn't exactly want to be one.

A sigh puffed from him as she pressed for further info, despite his attempts to drop the topic. He was silent at first, considering his options; his exasperation regarding this particular topic dragged out as usual, but he decided to just go for it; she seemed like a blunt sort of person, and it seems they'd both decided that they didn't think they'd see each other again after this, so he might as well just go for it.

"You need an egg."

He left it at that; if she knew what it meant, she'd know what it meant--but if she didn't, he refused to explain any further. He resumed his staple removing, pulling down more posters, perhaps with a bit more speed and gusto than before, even if only to continue making distance both from her, and down the hallway; when this was over, it was over, right?

[Demi]

Flowers were definitely worse, that she agreed with him one hundred percent. She was quiet as she thought about that for a few moments... but the small sigh that came from him brought her back to the present. He seemed almost reluctant to even say whatever it was he was going to say. When he finally said it, her brows knit a bit.

"An egg-? Like... a hard boiled egg? Soft boiled egg? Scrambled? Over easy?" DEMI oh my gods. She kind of smiled ever so slightly at her own humor. What a nerd. Then as he continued down the hallway, she stopped so she could dig into her bag a bit. After a moment, she pulled out her own egg... then held it up.

"A... heart's egg?" she asked, looking at her egg. It was a fairly simple design... one she'd stared at every morning, noon, and night ever since she got it. She woke up with the egg on her pillow one morning... just chilling next to her face... and it had startled her so much so that she nearly dropped the egg. Thankfully, she had caught it last second, but it didn't change the fact that she nearly broke it.

At least, she thought she had nearly broken it. Since then, she'd found out that the egg was rather resilient... and despite her poking and prodding among other things... the egg wasn't ready to hatch whatever was within it. (At least, not at this point in time.)

"Though-" She added after a short pause. "Me showing you this has nothing to do with wanting to join a faction or not... just..." She wasn't honestly sure why she was showing him her egg. What was it? Perhaps hoping he would reciprocate the gesture? If he was in a faction, and he said that an egg was needed... this is what he meant, right? She sure hoped so or he'd be confused... and probably not able to see the egg she held. She'd noticed that a lot of people didn't see her egg... but that was beside the point.

[Juon]

He was ready to drop the topic as she started listing egg types, turning his attention further back to the wall, until she eventually pulled out something, and offered just the word he was looking for. His eyes flicked to study her egg, before he turned toward her again fully, staring down at it with a gaze that looked as if he were trying to learn what her would-be self might've been sheerly from the appearance of the egg itself--not that he had any luck with that, of course.

"No, that's--" he tried to brush off her motion about factions, before waving a hand to dismiss the whole idea. "It's--yeah, that. A--yes."

He hated talking about them, hated mentioning them, hated even saying their names--but he paused in his poster-removing, holding up a finger in gesturing for her to wait a moment. He retreated back to his bag, sitting where they'd started at the end of the hall, before pulling out his own egg from within it, turning it briefly for her to see. "My, uh, thing is asleep, so he's just chilling in the egg," he offered, before stowing it away again and returning to where he'd been. "I wish he slept more often, frankly. The things are so annoying."

[Demi]

Demi watched him turn and stare at her egg, and for a split second, she felt self-conscious... like he was judging her would-be self just by looking at the design on the egg. It made her want to hide the egg away again. She had been nervous ever since she'd gotten the egg as to what kind of little guardian character would hatch from it. What if she didn't get along with them? What if they were weird? What if they embodied Demi's weaknesses? What if they were a horrible person... character? Demi tried to push those thoughts out of her head.

"Right." Demi nestled the egg back into her bag as he held up a finger. She paused, then watched him retrieve his own egg. She blinked, looking at the design on his egg. It was much more intricate than Demi's own egg and once more she found herself feeling very self-conscious. "Ah... is that so..." She commented. She turned away from him, then grabbed a couple more posters... they were almost all taken down... they'd made good progress. "Are they? I wouldn't know... mine has yet to hatch..." She wondered if her guardian character would be annoying, too. Probably. Most things were annoying to Demi after all.

[Juon]

Juon lived most of Demi's fears--not that he'd ever voice this, and of course not that he knew that she carried him. It was for reasons like that that he didn't even like anyone to ever even so much as meet his Guardian Character--he didn't even like to meet his Guardian Character. It was something he couldn't fathom that he'd wished for, something he thought was awful to the point where he couldn't believe that he was supposed to want this.

Needless to say, he wasn't the best advocate for educating or selling people on the idea.

"I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it's not too big of a pain in the ass, when it does," he offered rather simply, turning back and continuing to pull down posters--he was now self-conscious, too; choosing to not look her in the eye for the time being. Even just his egg at all made him anxious; he felt as if it gave away a lot about him at first glance, which was something he didn't particularly care for. "They usually are."

Taking a step back, he nodded to himself as he stared at the wall, which he decided in that moment was... cleared enough. The stack of posters he'd pulled down went halfway up his shin, a bit messy and strewn, but certainly salvageable. "... Not too bad. The Guardians should be happy with this, I guess."

[Demi]

Demi just-- wasn't sure if she'd get along with her guardian character, whether she'd even like her guardian character, whether her guardian character would like her... it was all a convoluted mass of anxiety and worries for her anymore, that egg. It made her wonder some things, though... like what others' characters were like. What was Juon's like? The egg was so intricate and pretty looking, he probably had a beautiful guardian character. Probably one that was kind and extroverted. Maybe someone to look up to, even.

She pushed some of the thoughts out of her head as he commented keeping his fingers crossed. That caused a slight smile to appear on her face and a small short breath to escape her nose in a slight snort. "Thanks, I can probably use all the fingers crossing I can get." The smile disappeared soon after. "Mm... thanks for the vote of confidence, there, senpai."

As he mentioned the Guardians, she once more imagined him in a cape and the idea of it just... kind of made her snicker. She faced away from him for a moment so she could... well, laugh at his expense. It wasn't so much a laugh, but... more like little uncontrollable giggles that escaped her. She couldn't help herself-- the image was a bit too much, and after the anxiety and worry that she'd felt moments ago, it just kind of bubbled up from her chest and spilled out of her mouth at such a simple and silly idea.

[Juon]

"Confidence does help," he muttered absentmindedly, without realizing the words had exited his mouth. The number of those who had more successful relationships with Guardian Characters, he'd noticed, were those very... confident, self-assured. It made sense, though, considering the nature of the things themselves; but he didn't linger on the thought for very long, particularly when--

She started giggling?

Frowning immediately, he hadn't a damned clue what she was on about; had he said something funny? Was something weird written on one of the posters? Was there something strange underneath? Did something get on his face? What was she laughing about?

All he could do was stare with a grimace as she continued in her fit of giggles, too afraid to ask why it was happening for fear of hearing an answer he really didn't want to know. Because he could just feel in the depths of his gut (or, maybe just the depths of his pessimism--he couldn't tell the difference anymore) that it was definitely at his expense.

Either way, he picked up the stack of posters that had been set to the floor, adjusting himself until they were in his arms comfortably. "... Anyway," he started, trying to snap her out of it. "... I'm going to take these back. Thanks for your help, I guess."

[Demi]

Demi tried to control the giggles... but it took her a few moments. She hadn't even heard his comment about confidence. She ended up having to put her hand over her mouth to hide the smile, just, giving him a small, curt nod. "Sorry." She ended up saying, once the giggles quelled. Her hand dropped, then she let out a heavy sigh. Wow, that felt really good to just... giggle. It was weird, though, because it wasn't something she did very often, so it felt foreign.

Pushing some hair out of her face, she looked to the stack of papers. "Do you need help carrying them?" She finally asked. May as well offer, seeing as she felt a little bit bad for giggling at his expense. Only a little bit though.

She moved to take part of the stack from him, whether or not he agreed to her help. "I still think you should've left a bunch to draw on though..." She shrugged. "It's kind of stress relieving to scribble on them... you should try it some time." She added. Not that he seemed the type to do such, but... hey, it never hurt to suggest it. He did look like the type that could use a stress reliever though.