1x1 (For PartyPoison and Echelon)

[Red1823]

"My name is Allaina, though you may call me whatever you like," she replied to his introduction. Her voice was as usual: dull, slow, soft, boring and sounding bored. She had faintly noticed him bowing out of the corner of her eye and wondered why he would bow. This was now, not hundreds of years ago. She remembered his question then, the one she had been hoping he wouldn't ask. It would likely aggravate him, she decided, but Allaina did not answer him. Instead she went on, "You plan to leave soon, right? You'll surely find someone else who will be much better company to spend the rest of your life alone with." She took a slow, careful step away from the door, raising her head, forcing herself to look directly at him.

[Never & Rush]

∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴
Cameron
∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴

As Cam listened to the girl speak, his eyebrows went up and he gave her a curious look. "What if I wanted to stay? I might just appreciate your company more than your abruptness annoys me." IF she was going to say it as it was, so would he. Nothing in hiding the truth, at least not anymore. "You could possibly be the only other human left, and you expect me to just leave? It would be suicide to travel alone. Who knows what has happened out there. I'm still questioning how I'm alive." Cameron kept himself in check, then fixed the girl, Allaina, with a hard look. What was with her? The question rested on the tip of his tongue, begging to be asked, and in turn letting Cam's own rudeness loose. It wasn't something he liked, in fact he would wish it gone if he could, but Allaina seemed like she was trying to piss him off.

[Red1823]

Allaina let her gaze fall back to the cracked street, tracing it's winding crevices. "Still being alive is suicide, really. Unless we've been kidnapped and used for some test. In that case, this is a mere fabrication and you can't really die. If it is real, then we should eventually be killed by some sort of nuclear explosion or lack of food, unless we move very often," she let it drop then, looking back over her shoulder at the books calling her name from their neatly arranged places on the shelves. With a quick glance back at Cameron, she turned and half-stumbled back into her new home, taking in the sweet smell of the books hanging in the air. Until now, she hadn't realized that she'd carelessly shoved aside the need for food, but it still didn't matter. She would either fail the test, or die. There was no problem in either. She really hoped it would come soon, so she could escape this person who for some strange reason did not want to leave her. Allaina partially sat and partially crumpled into a sitting position by the unit where she had left her favorite book, continuing her reading from the beginning, having forgotten where she'd left off.

[Never & Rush]

∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴
Cameron
∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴

"You're an optimist, I see" Following his sarcastic tone, an impatient noise came from Cameron. "You're telling me you don't want company? Being alive doesn't have to be suicide. Didn't you ever learn that team work leads to success? That has to apply somehow, now that the world has freaking ended." When Allaina had gone back into the store, he followed her. If it annoyed her, all the better. She was being overtly mean, in his opinion. As she read, he walked towards her, "Hey, you want to live, right? We can help each other out. Somehow we survived." Then he knocked his foot lightly against her book.

[Red1823]

"No respect..." Allaina muttered, turning her back to him, ignoring his other comments. People weren't capable of understanding that she doesn't want company, she doesn't want to work together, she doesn't want to live. There must have not been anyone else who was like that, since nobody had ever heard of it, nor could they grasp the concept of it. Perhaps she wasn't even a person. Allaina paused and looked up from her book, surprised that this had never occurred to her before.
He was still standing there when she pulled out of her thoughts and brushed some stray black hair away from her face. "Obviously you're staying, so if you want teamwork we first have to compromise. You won't f*** with my books and I'll shut up to leave you in charge. Deal?" she reasoned, merely attempting to get him to stop annoying her.

[Never & Rush]

∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴
Cameron
∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴

The beginning of a smile came to Cam's lips, and he shook his head a little. "You will thank me later. Trust me, I have a feeling you wouldn't have hung out here long anyways." Then he twisted around and walked halfway towards the door, ready to look once more for anything he needed. "One little flaw with your plan, I like other people's opinions, at times. So it'd be nice to hear yours, or just talk to someone. You act as if people are gross things to push away. You're one too, so suck it up and embrace the company." Then he picked up a stray book, flipped through it for a moment before a disgusted look crossed his face. "Half of these things are boring and unappealing. You won't be able to hide in them forever." Once last glance her way and he dropped the book back onto the ground. It was unusually entertaining to push her buttons, as she had pushed his.

(Sorry, I got distracted drawing with my new mouse. xD)

[Red1823]

She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, biting her lip. Allaina stood, slowly turned with her book still held tightly in her hand and walked fluidly to him. Without looking at him she bent to pick up the book, as she stood back up and walked over to where the book rightly belonged, she said, "Think what you will of them but they're all I've ever had and all I ever will have. You can't fill that place." Brushing the dust from the floor off of the book, she set it down, but did not pull her hand away immediately. Instead her fingers lingered on it's paper surface for a moment, longing to pick it back up. She did not though and placed the book she held already next to it. "You have made it clear that you don't approve of my opinions, so why bother listening to them? Also, why would I embrace the company of someone so rude as yourself? Why suck it up and accept that I'm a person also when I don't feel like one?" she interrogated, whirling around to face him. "How can I accept that I am one when no one would even bother to acknowledge that? Aren't most real people paid sufficient attention for their whole life? What do you become when you don't have that?" she finished, only then realizing that her voice had progressively risen to a shout. Allaina put one hand on the shelf behind her, leaning on it for stability, and her face in the other. She had never done such a thing before and was ashamed.

[Never & Rush]

∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴
Cameron
∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴

Cameron stood, eyes wide with surprise and curiousity. The yelling didn't faze him much, but her words were the surprise. "Everyone is human, whether they get attention or not. It doesn't matter what you feel, it's what you do." He informed her, using as even of a ton as he could pull together. Inside, he wanted to show the hurt of her words. Now, after her calling him out on it, he felt bad about what he had done. In no way did he have the right to do that to her. "I'm truly sorry. I, I just thought it was weird how you were acting." For a moment Cam stood, then his head bent and he was looking down at the ground, short black hair brushing against his forehead and the top edge of his eyebrows. "Please, forgive me. You are right, I'm being rude. It was wrong." How many times had he told this to someone? More times than he would ever be able to count. Did he mean it? Cam wasn't sure.

[Red1823]

Allaina could not find the words to reply to Cameron's apology. She was too upset with herself. She had never even hinted at anything to someone, let alone screaming at someone about it. Her hand slipped from her face and she took a deep, shaking breath, moving forward to brush past Cameron. Continuing out the door empty-handed, she walked down the street, fighting back tears. She paused to glance around, contemplating things she could herself with, but nothing seemed right, so she continued on.

[Never & Rush]

∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴
Cameron
∴ ø∴ lll ∴ ·o. ∴ ₪ ∴

Watching the girl stumble away made Cam's face show more of the surprise he felt inside. Then he hurried after the girl, wanting to make sure she was okay. It was the least e could do for having been so mean to her. "Allaina? Come back, what's wrong? I didn't mean it," He called, clueless and thinking it was still about him being so openly rude to her. Or was it the shock of what was left now, finally sinking in? Or maybe something she admitted, a voice chimed in from his head. Cam could almost hear a smirk on the voice's imaginary face, if that were possible and he wasn't going insane.