Jul 17, 2022 18:17:20 GMT -5
Post by Jorey on Jul 17, 2022 18:17:20 GMT -5
Panic, still setting in, still spreading through every single vein in the body of this Saiyan. What did he just do? Why did he just do it? What impulse drove him into doing the thing he did? Was that an attempt to flirt with her? The Saiyan interrogated himself profusely, trying to figure out the cause of his blunder.
What the hell was that, Jorey!? What made you wanna flirt with her? It doesn't make sense! I mean, sure, she has some appealing and adora- I mean...endearing points, but that doesn't mean you actually like her or are interested in her. Wait...what does it mean to be actually interested in a woman? I've never felt that way before, now that I think about it. Hell, I'm still a virgin...Woah...
Jorey's thoughts ended up settling around that one fact he just remembered in his brain. He didn't have a single social cell in his body, or at least he never trained his social cells at all. Due to that, he also has never had a romantic interest or had any partners in his life. He knew he had an attraction to women, but he didn't know how to even flirt with one, or where that flirty stroke came from. Was he breaking out of his shell? Was all of this only a possibility because of Ayu? Such thoughts kept storming his mind like a violent hurricane, but once the eye of the brainstorm finally came through and settled on his mental, Jorey was only able to register one thought, and one thought only.
I needa go out more.
Thankfully, Ayu didn't seem to catch onto that flirting bit. Well, she did smile, and was blushing really hard from it, but it wasn't a response of acceptance or counter-flirting... Was it called counter-flirting? Jorey didn't know, but all he knew was that the brush across her chin wasn't reciprocated or really registered as flirting. That was a relief to the confused Saiyan.
Okay...surprisingly this works out just fine. We good.
On the bright side, however, Ayu was pleased to be able to meet Jorey again in the future. The Saiyan smiled wholeheartedly, embraced by her warm smile and unable to just not return that smile. I mean, how could you possibly say no to that smile? It's impossible. Prove me otherwise. At this point in time, Jorey was trying to figure out what to do about Ayu hearing him say those words, egging her on to keep on reprimanding him about slamming his head into the ground. There was an emotion he hadn't felt before. He wasn't trying to make fun of her, so it wasn't like he was trying to tease her. He wasn't feeling agitated or annoyed by it, so it wasn't like he was trying to push her away. No, Jorey was feeling more warm emotions, those dreaded warm emotions he's been trying so hard to push away his whole life. Those same dreaded emotions he had associated with hope, and tried to bury six feet under his cold, closed off heart. His body tried to naturally reject it, but the immunity he put up over the years was finally weakening a bit. He was infected by this virus now. Even if it was extremely weak, he would still reap the benefits and consequences of being infected by this disease called "compassion and hope."
It felt nice, to say the least, that someone would care for him. When was the last time Jorey ever felt that way? When was the last time anyone cared for his safety? By all technicalities, it would be when he's preforming a search-and-extract mission, attempting to leave a stronghold with very important information. They cared about his safety then, but nothing like how Ayu was caring about his safety and wellbeing at this point in time. It was a nice feeling, and it was something that Jorey kind of wished wouldn't go away. Instead of actually giving her an answer that would reassure the green girl, the Saiyan blurted out a series on nonsensical questions and sentences. He thought he had doomed himself, making Ayu think he was the strangest person on the planet and not wanting to see him again. However, she seemed to agree about it being windy. Inside a building. With no open windows or doors. Jorey didn't know whether she was just clueless and actually thought it was windy inside the building, which he could see happening, or if she was trying to pretend like nothing happened and save Jorey the embarrassment, which he could also see happening. Either way, the reaction from Jorey was the same.
...Just roll with it.
The failures just seemed to keep coming, with him messing up saying something as simple as "thank you." Again, this was going to be a major blow to Jorey's emotional and social state. Fortunately enough, Ayu seemed to save him from this again. What was she, his guardian angel? She was very pleased to hear that Jorey appreciated the offer and that he accepted the handkerchief. Well, at the very least, that was reassuring and pleasing for the Saiyan to hear. He smiled back, his thoughts calming down and centering around one central concept.
What even is going on right now?
What made Jorey even more flustered was her reaction to him reassuring her that he wasn't going to hurt himself. When he placed his arms on her shoulders, she reached up to one of them and then patted it with her own hand. The gesture was unexpected to say the least, and it caused Jorey to become more flustered that he already was. Where was this gentle, caring nature coming from? Was Ayu like this with everyone? Surely, that had to be the case. Jorey wouldn't know exactly how to react if he was some special exception. He didn't even know how to react in character to anything that happened today, so how would he know how to react to this? He let the gesture play out, then removed his arms from Ayu's shoulders, as it was time for her to go.
The smile and scratching of her cheek infused within Jorey a sense of hope, hope that he would be able to see her again. It's been cemented in him this time around. She seemed to have an excited expression on her face, which induced feelings of glee inside Jorey. How was he suddenly feeling these things again? Why was he feeling these things again? A part of Jorey was infuriated, but with the way he was now, he couldn't possibly express it. No, he wasn't infuriated at Ayu; he was infuriated at himself for letting himself feel these emotions. Ayu apologized for keeping Jorey long, which prompted a quick response from the Saiyan.
"I told you, I didn't have anything planned today anyway. Stop apologizing for that."
Ayu would then express her hopes to talk to him again, and then said goodnight and left. Jorey would follow up with a gentle smile, waving back at her as she left. She peeked over to see if the Saiyan was still there, waving and smiling at him once more, prompting another wave goodbye from Jorey. When she left and was completely out of sight, Jorey dropped his hand, turned around and left the building.
Upon leaving the building, Jorey immediately felt something leave his body. Whatever had took hold of him before simply wore off, seemingly without a trace, like it was some temporary spell put on him. The Saiyan immediately looked at his hand, the one with Ayu's handkerchief on it, and snarled at it, disgusted by it. With his other hand, he grabbed ahold of the piece of cloth, and attempted to rip it off of himself. However, he was unable to. There was some unrecognizable force pulling back on his hand, and keeping the handkerchief safe, like some sort of forcefield. The Saiyan struggled and struggled, with no one witnessing him struggle to literally rip off cloth from his body. Why wasn't he able to take it off? Did he really care about it that much? What was happening to his cold self? Wasn't he the powerful mercenary, with no emotions at all? In frustration, Jorey gave up and scratched his head furiously. Suddenly, he'd drop his arms to his side, still looking into the sky for a brief moment, then dropping his head.
"Gah...Screw it. It can stay there for now. Can't say it doesn't add to my fashion sense a bit."
Jorey's face grew a little flustered. The piece of cloth meant more than just a piece of cloth; it was a memento, proof of Jorey and Ayu's encounter. It was proof that there was someone who cared for him, looked out for him, and looked forward to seeing him again. That would be the first person in a long time who would feel that way.
Before Jorey could take off, his scouter went off, beeping as it picked up some power signatures nearby the building. In fact, it was on the other side, some distance after he turned the corner. Instead of following it to the corner and peeking through, Jorey leapt to the top of the building, looking down at where those other signatures were. They were fairly weak, much weaker than the people from before that he'd taken care of. Who was it this time? The seemed to be gathering around a window, talking amongst each other.
Tch! What the hell is it this time?
Slowly and quietly, Jorey descended behind them, picking up more and more of their conversation as he descended.
"...and that's why I'm telling you, we gotta do it this way!"
"Don't you know how dangerous this is? And you're still trying to do this from a contractor who refused to identify themselves?"
"Listen, I'm not saying this is the best idea, but we're making bank off of this one assignment. Just one! All we gotta do, is get those papers from that girl with green skin."
Immediately, Jorey knew they were talking about Ayu, and he became even more suspicious about everything. The image of Ayu's grandfather's face flashed before his eyes again, as a suspicion was confirmed. What was even on those papers that was so important to the grandfather that he didn't even care about his own granddaughter being safe? What was so important about these papers that other people wanted them?
Just a random thought, but I'm guessing those papers aren't related to exams or anything like that.
The other bandits continued, unbeknownst that Jorey was now on the same level as them and right behind them.
"What's even on these papers that are so important?"
"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing."
All three bandits were stunned and quickly looked behind them to see who was there. The one in the middle was immediately grabbed by the mouth, and the next thing he experienced was a fist sent straight to the abdomen, taking him out in one blow. Jorey dropped his body to the ground, with an evil smirk on his face.
"Wha-Who the hell are you!?"
"Justice."
The fight wouldn't last long at all. The other two bandits tried to put up a tag-team effort against Jorey, sending every single combo and punch and kick his way, all of which were effortlessly dodged. The Saiyan maintained the sly smile on his face, thinking this was the perfect way to destress from all the events of today. Sweeping one bandit by their feet, Jorey grabbed onto their leg, swinging their body above his head and slamming them into the concrete behind him. To the other, he blocked a punch straight to his face, and then unleashed multiple rapid punches straight to the abdomen, traveling up to their face. Once he reached their face, he sent his elbow into the back of their head, sending them straight to the ground. The victorious Saiyan stood over his fallen foes, too weak to stand back up and face him again. Laughing, Jorey stuck out both his hands, charging Ki blasts for the finisher.
"I was gonna ask who your employer was, but even you dunno who they are. Ain't that hilarious. Ah, well, it happens sometimes. I hope y'all enjoy the afterlife. Tell me how your other friend is over there when you get the chance."
As he stuck his hands out, harnessing energy into them, his eye was caught by Ayu's handkerchief. He made direct eye contact with it, as it stared deeply into Jorey's soul. Soon, the smile on his face went away, and a light blush replaced it on the Saiyan's face. He grunted, dissolving the Ki attacks, no longer wanting to harm the bandits. The lone wolf turned his back on the incapacitated Earthlings, his eyes closed and his head a mess again.
"Tch, you're lucky my mood is spoiled. She's be a wreck if she knew I killed someone else."
Jorey looked down at the handkerchief once more. It plagued him, hanging over him like a storm cloud that refused to bother someone else instead of him. Why was it so hard to do some of the things he'd be able to do before with this on him? It was some sort of curse Ayu had put on him, that's for sure.
...No, I gotta stop thinking that. I know what it means to me now. It's not some sorcery, and it's not something Ayu intentionally did to me. There's something up with me, and I'm not sure what the hell it is.
Memories from his childhood began flooding the Saiyan's mind, invading every single corner like roaches invade one's pantry. The thought of Jorey getting soft infuriated him, but at the same time, he somehow felt apathetic to him getting softer. In fact, he saw it as not a bad thing. He couldn't wrap his head around it.
Why? Why now, of all times,...am I hoping to see her again?
The whole situation was preposterous. No amount of calculations or scientific research would make it make sense. It was an anomaly in and of itself, and Jorey didn't know what to do with it. For now, he had to learn how to coexist with it. Sighing and accepting that something inside him was changing. He took to the skies again, in search of something to fill his stomach with.
What the hell was that, Jorey!? What made you wanna flirt with her? It doesn't make sense! I mean, sure, she has some appealing and adora- I mean...endearing points, but that doesn't mean you actually like her or are interested in her. Wait...what does it mean to be actually interested in a woman? I've never felt that way before, now that I think about it. Hell, I'm still a virgin...Woah...
Jorey's thoughts ended up settling around that one fact he just remembered in his brain. He didn't have a single social cell in his body, or at least he never trained his social cells at all. Due to that, he also has never had a romantic interest or had any partners in his life. He knew he had an attraction to women, but he didn't know how to even flirt with one, or where that flirty stroke came from. Was he breaking out of his shell? Was all of this only a possibility because of Ayu? Such thoughts kept storming his mind like a violent hurricane, but once the eye of the brainstorm finally came through and settled on his mental, Jorey was only able to register one thought, and one thought only.
I needa go out more.
Thankfully, Ayu didn't seem to catch onto that flirting bit. Well, she did smile, and was blushing really hard from it, but it wasn't a response of acceptance or counter-flirting... Was it called counter-flirting? Jorey didn't know, but all he knew was that the brush across her chin wasn't reciprocated or really registered as flirting. That was a relief to the confused Saiyan.
Okay...surprisingly this works out just fine. We good.
On the bright side, however, Ayu was pleased to be able to meet Jorey again in the future. The Saiyan smiled wholeheartedly, embraced by her warm smile and unable to just not return that smile. I mean, how could you possibly say no to that smile? It's impossible. Prove me otherwise. At this point in time, Jorey was trying to figure out what to do about Ayu hearing him say those words, egging her on to keep on reprimanding him about slamming his head into the ground. There was an emotion he hadn't felt before. He wasn't trying to make fun of her, so it wasn't like he was trying to tease her. He wasn't feeling agitated or annoyed by it, so it wasn't like he was trying to push her away. No, Jorey was feeling more warm emotions, those dreaded warm emotions he's been trying so hard to push away his whole life. Those same dreaded emotions he had associated with hope, and tried to bury six feet under his cold, closed off heart. His body tried to naturally reject it, but the immunity he put up over the years was finally weakening a bit. He was infected by this virus now. Even if it was extremely weak, he would still reap the benefits and consequences of being infected by this disease called "compassion and hope."
It felt nice, to say the least, that someone would care for him. When was the last time Jorey ever felt that way? When was the last time anyone cared for his safety? By all technicalities, it would be when he's preforming a search-and-extract mission, attempting to leave a stronghold with very important information. They cared about his safety then, but nothing like how Ayu was caring about his safety and wellbeing at this point in time. It was a nice feeling, and it was something that Jorey kind of wished wouldn't go away. Instead of actually giving her an answer that would reassure the green girl, the Saiyan blurted out a series on nonsensical questions and sentences. He thought he had doomed himself, making Ayu think he was the strangest person on the planet and not wanting to see him again. However, she seemed to agree about it being windy. Inside a building. With no open windows or doors. Jorey didn't know whether she was just clueless and actually thought it was windy inside the building, which he could see happening, or if she was trying to pretend like nothing happened and save Jorey the embarrassment, which he could also see happening. Either way, the reaction from Jorey was the same.
...Just roll with it.
The failures just seemed to keep coming, with him messing up saying something as simple as "thank you." Again, this was going to be a major blow to Jorey's emotional and social state. Fortunately enough, Ayu seemed to save him from this again. What was she, his guardian angel? She was very pleased to hear that Jorey appreciated the offer and that he accepted the handkerchief. Well, at the very least, that was reassuring and pleasing for the Saiyan to hear. He smiled back, his thoughts calming down and centering around one central concept.
What even is going on right now?
What made Jorey even more flustered was her reaction to him reassuring her that he wasn't going to hurt himself. When he placed his arms on her shoulders, she reached up to one of them and then patted it with her own hand. The gesture was unexpected to say the least, and it caused Jorey to become more flustered that he already was. Where was this gentle, caring nature coming from? Was Ayu like this with everyone? Surely, that had to be the case. Jorey wouldn't know exactly how to react if he was some special exception. He didn't even know how to react in character to anything that happened today, so how would he know how to react to this? He let the gesture play out, then removed his arms from Ayu's shoulders, as it was time for her to go.
The smile and scratching of her cheek infused within Jorey a sense of hope, hope that he would be able to see her again. It's been cemented in him this time around. She seemed to have an excited expression on her face, which induced feelings of glee inside Jorey. How was he suddenly feeling these things again? Why was he feeling these things again? A part of Jorey was infuriated, but with the way he was now, he couldn't possibly express it. No, he wasn't infuriated at Ayu; he was infuriated at himself for letting himself feel these emotions. Ayu apologized for keeping Jorey long, which prompted a quick response from the Saiyan.
"I told you, I didn't have anything planned today anyway. Stop apologizing for that."
Ayu would then express her hopes to talk to him again, and then said goodnight and left. Jorey would follow up with a gentle smile, waving back at her as she left. She peeked over to see if the Saiyan was still there, waving and smiling at him once more, prompting another wave goodbye from Jorey. When she left and was completely out of sight, Jorey dropped his hand, turned around and left the building.
Upon leaving the building, Jorey immediately felt something leave his body. Whatever had took hold of him before simply wore off, seemingly without a trace, like it was some temporary spell put on him. The Saiyan immediately looked at his hand, the one with Ayu's handkerchief on it, and snarled at it, disgusted by it. With his other hand, he grabbed ahold of the piece of cloth, and attempted to rip it off of himself. However, he was unable to. There was some unrecognizable force pulling back on his hand, and keeping the handkerchief safe, like some sort of forcefield. The Saiyan struggled and struggled, with no one witnessing him struggle to literally rip off cloth from his body. Why wasn't he able to take it off? Did he really care about it that much? What was happening to his cold self? Wasn't he the powerful mercenary, with no emotions at all? In frustration, Jorey gave up and scratched his head furiously. Suddenly, he'd drop his arms to his side, still looking into the sky for a brief moment, then dropping his head.
"Gah...Screw it. It can stay there for now. Can't say it doesn't add to my fashion sense a bit."
Jorey's face grew a little flustered. The piece of cloth meant more than just a piece of cloth; it was a memento, proof of Jorey and Ayu's encounter. It was proof that there was someone who cared for him, looked out for him, and looked forward to seeing him again. That would be the first person in a long time who would feel that way.
Before Jorey could take off, his scouter went off, beeping as it picked up some power signatures nearby the building. In fact, it was on the other side, some distance after he turned the corner. Instead of following it to the corner and peeking through, Jorey leapt to the top of the building, looking down at where those other signatures were. They were fairly weak, much weaker than the people from before that he'd taken care of. Who was it this time? The seemed to be gathering around a window, talking amongst each other.
Tch! What the hell is it this time?
Slowly and quietly, Jorey descended behind them, picking up more and more of their conversation as he descended.
"...and that's why I'm telling you, we gotta do it this way!"
"Don't you know how dangerous this is? And you're still trying to do this from a contractor who refused to identify themselves?"
"Listen, I'm not saying this is the best idea, but we're making bank off of this one assignment. Just one! All we gotta do, is get those papers from that girl with green skin."
Immediately, Jorey knew they were talking about Ayu, and he became even more suspicious about everything. The image of Ayu's grandfather's face flashed before his eyes again, as a suspicion was confirmed. What was even on those papers that was so important to the grandfather that he didn't even care about his own granddaughter being safe? What was so important about these papers that other people wanted them?
Just a random thought, but I'm guessing those papers aren't related to exams or anything like that.
The other bandits continued, unbeknownst that Jorey was now on the same level as them and right behind them.
"What's even on these papers that are so important?"
"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing."
All three bandits were stunned and quickly looked behind them to see who was there. The one in the middle was immediately grabbed by the mouth, and the next thing he experienced was a fist sent straight to the abdomen, taking him out in one blow. Jorey dropped his body to the ground, with an evil smirk on his face.
"Wha-Who the hell are you!?"
"Justice."
The fight wouldn't last long at all. The other two bandits tried to put up a tag-team effort against Jorey, sending every single combo and punch and kick his way, all of which were effortlessly dodged. The Saiyan maintained the sly smile on his face, thinking this was the perfect way to destress from all the events of today. Sweeping one bandit by their feet, Jorey grabbed onto their leg, swinging their body above his head and slamming them into the concrete behind him. To the other, he blocked a punch straight to his face, and then unleashed multiple rapid punches straight to the abdomen, traveling up to their face. Once he reached their face, he sent his elbow into the back of their head, sending them straight to the ground. The victorious Saiyan stood over his fallen foes, too weak to stand back up and face him again. Laughing, Jorey stuck out both his hands, charging Ki blasts for the finisher.
"I was gonna ask who your employer was, but even you dunno who they are. Ain't that hilarious. Ah, well, it happens sometimes. I hope y'all enjoy the afterlife. Tell me how your other friend is over there when you get the chance."
As he stuck his hands out, harnessing energy into them, his eye was caught by Ayu's handkerchief. He made direct eye contact with it, as it stared deeply into Jorey's soul. Soon, the smile on his face went away, and a light blush replaced it on the Saiyan's face. He grunted, dissolving the Ki attacks, no longer wanting to harm the bandits. The lone wolf turned his back on the incapacitated Earthlings, his eyes closed and his head a mess again.
"Tch, you're lucky my mood is spoiled. She's be a wreck if she knew I killed someone else."
Jorey looked down at the handkerchief once more. It plagued him, hanging over him like a storm cloud that refused to bother someone else instead of him. Why was it so hard to do some of the things he'd be able to do before with this on him? It was some sort of curse Ayu had put on him, that's for sure.
...No, I gotta stop thinking that. I know what it means to me now. It's not some sorcery, and it's not something Ayu intentionally did to me. There's something up with me, and I'm not sure what the hell it is.
Memories from his childhood began flooding the Saiyan's mind, invading every single corner like roaches invade one's pantry. The thought of Jorey getting soft infuriated him, but at the same time, he somehow felt apathetic to him getting softer. In fact, he saw it as not a bad thing. He couldn't wrap his head around it.
Why? Why now, of all times,...am I hoping to see her again?
The whole situation was preposterous. No amount of calculations or scientific research would make it make sense. It was an anomaly in and of itself, and Jorey didn't know what to do with it. For now, he had to learn how to coexist with it. Sighing and accepting that something inside him was changing. He took to the skies again, in search of something to fill his stomach with.
[EXIT THREAD]
Word Count: 2,416
Total Word Count: 20,757
Total Word Count: 20,757