ˡᵒⁿᵉˢᵒᵐᵉ ⁱˢ ᵃ ˢᵗᵃᵗᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵐⁱⁿ

"A month? That's longer than I would have thought." Everything that Conrad said was true, but even so, there was a strange feeling in saying so. There was so much left unsaid between the two of them, so much so that it felt wrong to even attempt any sort of small talk. They were well beyond small talk, weren't they? Or was Koda hoping to erase their history? Hoping for a fresh start marked by her departure from town? The thought only broke Conrad's heart a little more; it wasn't because he felt unloved by Koda, no, instead it was because he thought that he had done something to warrant that response from her.

'So do you'. He craved those kinds of words from her, craved that kind of positive attention, something - anything - that made him feel even remotely loved by her, like he believed that he was once... Unfortunately, no matter how badly he had wanted it, the elephant in the room prevented him from fully enjoying it, and that sucked. He still regarded Koda as a safe space, even in the depths of his heart, and all he wanted was to be able to lean into that again. Lean into her. It didn't feel right, for things to be like this between them.

"Right? It's kind of dumb," she replied, softer this time, eyes averting back to the random assortment of returns behind the counter. Part of her looking for the latest Star Wars; the other was looking anywhere but in his eyes. Those eyes. They bore into her, welding holes in her armor. Even a glance could've torn her apart if she got caught in its wake. She didn't need confirmation to know that wasn't his intention; he wasn't like that, different than the darkness that consumed her. The things she'd done, disturbing truths that ate at the hope she had left. He shouldn't be around someone like her; he wasn't safe.

What he'd been up to made it easier. At least he seemed good, or as much as one could under the circumstances. That's all Koda could ever want for him. "No way, look at you, Connie the Conspicious." A smile almost found her lips until his next question swung into her gut like a cannonball. What did I do wrong? Nothing. It'd ever been him. If only she could say that, finding a loss for anything besides silence and a detachment of her jaw from its place, dangling ever-so-slightly open. Koda wished the facts she knew could be laid bare, but wanted to protect him more than her own reputation.

Shawn knew Koda's schedule well enough now that he knew if he was quick he could catch her at the end of her shift for the day. It was weird to feel like he had started to know someone that well or at least cared to remember. But the more he opened up to himself, the more he realized that the list of people he cared about in Cardinal Hill was growing. And after the weird shit that had gone down at the carnival, he found himself feeling a kind of protectiveness over the people in his life he had never felt before. It was seriously ruining his vibe but he was pushing through it. Or trying to.

He pulled into the parking lot just as she was exiting the store and leaned over the center console to roll down the passenger side window. "Hey! You wanna get up to some bullshit with me?" His smile grew as she came more into view. "I talked this guy into selling me these pair of speakers and some records. Gotta go pick em up. Wanna make sure I don't get into some trouble? You seem like great backup. Scrappy," he joked.

Work was, well, work. Koda didn't feel very fulfilled in her current position, but it was a placeholder while she figured everything else out; she needed mindless. There couldn't have been a better job for that, watching movies all day, rewinding them, reorganizing, and trying to tell people what they want. It was easy enough. It was a means to an end, something to pay the bills while giving her time to focus on what she considered her real job. Koda wished she'd gathered more information since returning, instead of being at the forefront of unexplainable chaos and fearing what might be the source. After the stories her father told, she had far too many ideas.

She was already running through her plan for the night as she locked up. Maybe there had been more she missed, or a glimpse of a clue as to what happened to Conrad's father and her parents. The sound of tires on the asphalt drew her curiosity, turning to see who had rolled in too late to snag a VHS for the night. Before she could bark back a 'we're closed', a familiar smile caught her attention and Koda approached the car without thinking. The blonde leaned on the passenger side door where his window sat moments earlier. "Hmm, sounds like you need a sidekick," she mused. Koda knew the answer before she said it, pulling open the door using the inside handle and hopping in without speaking again. "Scrappy's in, but we're getting milkshakes when we're done." While in no position to ask for payment, Koda was giving up her riveting plans for the evening. Besides, they would deserve it after a job well done.

None of the feelings that Conrad felt made any sense at all, so many conflicting, twisting around each other, contorting and changing with every second that ticked by on the colourful wristwatch he wore. It was so incredibly overwhelming to come face to face with Koda again, but God, it was everything that Conrad had been wishing for ever since she had disappeared. Was now his only chance to find out what he did? He didn’t know whether or not to dive into the subject in order to make amends with Koda, or if he should instead simply enjoy her presence one again…

Hearing that she hadn’t been working at the video store for long made Conrad feel hopeful, Conrad believing Koda as he always did, without second thoughts. Did this mean that she hadn’t been hiding from him? And that they instead just hadn’t met again since she had returned? Conrad knew that he couldn’t get his hopes up, understanding that the possibility of Koda not forgiving him was likely high, if he had really done something so bad that it caused her to leave without a trace, but it was simply in Conrad’s nature to be hopeful. “Well I bet it’s a good gig, not having to wait for the new releases as soon as they come in and stuff,” he suggested.

He deserved the truth. Koda knew that, yet no matter how many times she told herself, none of the words came out. It couldn't be here anyway, or before she knew he would be safe with the knowledge she'd kept at bay. If she'd only found them sooner or had solid information regarding his father, it might've been easier to find the right thing to say. Somehow, she'd tripped over her own tongue and ended up doing her job instead of revealing the cogs hard at work in her chest. Koda looked at him with a softness that she couldn't even fight off. He was Connie, how could she not?

The blonde had been facing her mistakes, the people she left behind without a word, but she'd been dreading this union. His eyes hadn't changed, yet there was more behind, what she'd done flashing amidst a blink. She owed him more than Return of the Jedi, and that's all her empty hands could offer. "Yeah, it's not too bad. We can't take stuff out until it's been here for a month, though, which is kind of lame," Koda expanded without any prompting. Anything she could talk about besides the emotions she'd shoved into Pandora's box that now begged to burst inside her. The shrapnel could be deadly, and the last person she wanted to catch another stray was Connie.

"So do you." A confession she couldn't help. Koda's eyes widened for a second as she processed her own words, but she turned to the counter to take up the VHS to give her expression recovery time. "It's nice to see you," the blonde only said with her back turned, finding it easier without having to look him in the eye. She could only hide there for so long before turning to face her fears again. "Are you still working at the Cauldron and the Cafe?" They'd been locations she avoided in case that'd been the case, though, after this, Koda wasn't sure if she'd be able to anymore. Now that she'd caught a glimpse of him again, she feared it wouldn't be a habit so easy to break, having already felt the emptiness that being without him left behind.

"I probably actually have a couple comics I don't want anymore, but I usually keep them," Davis told Koda. "I like to collect them, though I've got duplicate copies of some that I don't need, like gifts and such. My grandparents are always buying me comics, and it's nice of them, but sometimes I have them already." His grandparents bought him a lot actually; it was like they were trying to make up for the fact that Davis's parents had basically abandoned him. They had though, more or less - Davis hadn't seen them in over a year and hadn't spoken to them in nearly six months, and even then it had been literally a two minute phone call. "It used to be really nice," Davis said when talk turned to his hometown in Sri Lanka. "It's really resorting. That's actually where my parents met. My dad was...uh, 'finding himself' I guess, and my mom was a local. But then a huge storm came through about 13 years ago, and even though they rebuilt everything, it doesn't feel the same, not for me." There was no reason for Davis to ever return to Trincomalee as far as he was concerned; the only thing there for him were heartbreaking memories.

Davis noticed the way Koda kind of evaded the question, and he understood the desire to keep things to yourself; he was doing the same thing after all. "That was probably kind of cool but also kind of hard," he said, leaving the topic open for more discussion if Koda wanted to but not pushing. Not wanting Koda to feel awkward, Davis asked, "So do you want to do this now? Or we could do it later. We could meet back here, or you could come to my house if you want."

While Koda listened, she tried to remember what was being explained, but the details would most likely end up as a jumbled mess inside her head later on. Not to mention the fact that his face was such an easy one to look at. She'd actively had to look away to actively listen instead of getting lost observing his seemingly perfect features. While she wanted to learn, there seemed to be mountains of information that Koda was already behind on. Her head spun slightly, but part of the turn was due to her own ideas and questions about the hobby she'd been curious about. "How did you learn all of this? Did you read them all?" The blonde's eyes widened at the thought, feeling as if she had started in the negative. "I'm gonna need the help, I think I am going to need you to explain it to me like three times." She wished she were joking, offering a smile to hopefully keep from upsetting him. David didn't seem the type, yet she felt the need to soften her own insecurity about her lack of knowledge. And maybe one day she'd understand it enough to be a part of his own campaign once it came together.

Her eyes lit up as he explained. She'd only snagged what she could along her travels, dreaming of a collection like he seemed to have. While moving around, as Koda did growing up, most things in her life were temporary. The only ones she had now had been obtained in the last few years, and even then, she never thought twice before sharing her favorites with others. "I'd love to see it someday." A bold statement, but Koda didn't think twice before saying. Her smile widened and her eyes grew with it as she held her newfound reads to her chest excitedly. As he explained where he had grown from, she softened again. She felt a pang in her chest knowing that the same couldn't be given in return. "Sounds like one of those meetings in the movies," the blonde commented. How she'd seen so many by now and could reference a similar scenario in a handful in her rotation. "Strange how places that used to feel so familiar can change," Koda sighed, giving him a glimpse into where she'd come from. "I was born in Ireland, but it's not the same, not anymore." The place had changed as much as she had, and they hadn't grown in the same direction. "Well, if we reconvene at your place, I can bring drinks," she suggested with an arch of her brow.

The blonde looked off into the distance, an index finger pressed to her lips in thought, just for a moment. She couldn't help her theatrics. "Yeah, not a bad look for you," Koda finally confirmed. A smile was creeping back into sight. "But fine, fine, no tights. A loss for us all, truly." Laughter trickled out moments later. They were unlikely friends as they'd snuck in on each other's sanctuary in the forest, but she didn't mind sharing it with him. Moments where Koda could laugh so freely were fleeting, and she wished to soak them up while she could. "Actually, it might look pretty good. Wonder if I could do mine like his too," she joked while also taking a moment to actually consider the task. It wouldn't be easy, but curiosity always killed the cat. "Then we'd need to learn how to ride a motorcycle, too. I think I could figure it out." Koda is one of those people who thought they would be able to do just about anything they put their mind to. The consequences rarely occurred to Koda when they didn't extend to those around her. So far, it'd been less ideal than she hoped, yet she wouldn't start to listen now. A poke at her life outside of the safety of their trees made her eyes slide down on the toes of her sneakers as they dug into the damp dirt. "I dunno, it kind of found me, I guess." That wasn't a lie, not really. "I moved away for a bit, but I guess I missed it so much that I came back. What about you, though?" Koda did her best to shift the conversation away from her backstory. She could only hope he didn't dig for more details that the blonde couldn't give.

There was no radio show tonight, not when everyone in town would be at the fun fair anyway, so for Orla this was a perfect night off. Walking through the entrance of the carnival, she could instantly feel the electricity and excitement coursing through the air. Times like these were when she could truly feel her magic. She made a beeline for the snow cones, ordering the classic choice of bubblegum before sprinting to the game section.

Whac-A-Mole had always been her favorite. Link always said that it was because of the aggression that was always just waiting to come out, and Orla couldn't even deny that. She had tunnel vision and didn't even notice Koda until she grabbed a mallet. Tilting her head, she smirked at the other. "Highest score will pick the next game?"

Work was boring, her mind was everywhere except in the present, and she couldn't fight the urge to hit something. The boxing gym was closed, not that anyone would be there with the carnival running through town. In fact, it only made more sense for her to go there instead and try to find another way to drown her concerns for the coming days. Things were off in the town, sure, but Koda's own mind terrified her far more.

She'd been busy pounding a mallet into the heads of rubber moles when lightning itself walked by. Orla had that way about her that made the hairs on the back of the other blonde's neck stand up. For a second, she just watched until she caught the corner of her eye. A smirk curled into place as the challenge left Orla's. "Deal, and they have to buy the next round." With that, she pressed the button to begin a new game, and the countdown for the two to begin their target practice began.

"A third cat? What are your other two cats named?" Xander had thought a lot about getting a pet but he figured his trailer was too small of a space for a cat or dog to live peacefully and he was worried his hours didn't allow for proper care of a pet. Still, he loved hearing other people talk about their pets and he was always happy to be around animals. He glanced down at the kitten in question before they started on their walk. The day was cool but the sun was still out and Xander revealed in the way it hit his face. He closed his eyes for a moment just to feel it before he directed them back to the main street.

"I'm glad I stumbled on you today," he told her after a moment of silence, glancing over at her before he paid attention to the sidewalk. It was a nice turn to his afternoon and he enjoyed the walk beside her, feeling like it was one of those movies moments. He found himself a little sad when they got to the vet, wishing the walk had been longer but he figured it was silly to be selfish. "After you," he said as he opened the door for her.

He wouldn't be the usual type that she'd go out with. Not that handsome, charming, and a million-dollar smile wasn't her type, but she had bad luck with the good guys. Koda wouldn't let herself worry that Xander would suffer the same fate. They had fun, he'd never pushed for anything more, and any time together was enjoyed by her. Most people didn't have the same light that made it so easy to be around. "Perfect, I'll plan the whole thing." One day, anyway. Right now, they were both planted in Cardinal Hill, but they'd spread their wings soon enough.

The blonde gave a brief glimpse of shock, realizing she hadn't talked about her fur children during their visits. Most of the time, she was busy anyway, having better things to do than discuss her cats. "Teeny and Lou," she said, like the proud parent she was. "They both kind of found me, like this little guy." Koda gave the kitten a scratch behind the ears as she cooed down at him, her lips pursing. Her eyes stayed down on their newfound friend until Xander broke the silence. It brought a smile and her attention back to the taller man. Most of the time, she preferred doing things on her own, but even she found herself smiling over the heroic firefighter saving the girl in the tree. "Me too," the blonde confessed.

They were there quicker than she expected, still feeling unprepared to give up the creature, though it was in their best interest. She stepped through but waited for Xander on the other side before approaching the front desk to explain the situation at hand. The duo was left to wait while the kitten was taken back for assessment, as neither was the rightful owner. "You think he's alright back there?"

Noise was a close friend of Conrad's; it always had been really, but as of late, he had come to rely on it all the more. Nothing helped to tune out Conrad's anxieties better than an overwhelming amount of noise, which was exactly why he was making the trip to the video store. He'd recently gotten into the arguably problematic habit of only being able to fall asleep with a movie playing in the background, but he'd pretty much exhausted all of the videos that he owned himself. His mood was positive as he walked into the establishment, completely unaware of the fact that he was about to be reunited with more than just the films that he hadn't watched in some time.

"I'll be right with you". The words were simple, the sentence was short, but they hit Conrad right in the chest, and they did so hard. That voice was a voice that he'd never forget, not only because of its importance to him, but because he heard it each night in his dreams. Not that he had admitted that fact freely to anyone. In all honesty, no matter how many times he had thought of hearing that voice again, the reality of the situation completely stunned him. It couldn't really be her, could it?

His legs shook out of shock and anticipation as he made his way towards Koda's voice, only slowly, and the second that she rounded that corner and made eye contact with him, it felt as though time itself stopped for a moment. "Hi Connie". Oh how he had dreamt of hearing those words leave her mouth once again. Despite how much pain her abrupt departure had inflicted upon him, Conrad immediately softened at the sight of her. He only wished he knew what he had done in order to immediately try to make it right with her.

He was everything someone like her would be bad for. The secrets that stuffed her envelope full that it'd overflown into the world of the person she almost let in. She always knew, really. Connie had been good from the moment they met, too good, the kind that if she gripped too hard would crumble into her palm. People like that shouldn't be around the likes of Koda, and it'd been obvious once his bloodline was revealed. Then it all made sense. What could've been got farther out of reach and another's well-being placed before her own. While she came back to keep an eye on the town she'd grown fond of, it'd been the boy standing like a scarecrow that sealed the deal. How could she protect him while off looking for answers? The same ones that seemed to lead back to the place where it all started anyway.

She got into routine with ease but conveniently kept curiosities about their inevitable reunion at bay. Now that the moment had come, there was no plan, no idea where to begin, and she'd settled somewhere unknown. This wouldn't be the circumstance Koda would pick to see him again, but if she'd learned anything by now, it was that nothing ever went how it should've in her mind. He could've yelled at her, told her off, in fact, he should yet she knew him better than that. Even after what she did, Conrad offered her kindness like he had the day they met, and it melted her stone-cold heart.

"Uh, fuck, I don't even know," the blonde confessed, giving an awkward glance to their surroundings as if the videotapes could give her advice in this moment. "Not too long." A white lie. Koda didn't know the timeline, but it might've been a little more time than she wanted to admit. He wouldn't understand her reasoning or hate her if she explained the nasty truth, that's what the blonde told herself anyway. "You uh, lookin' for something specific?" Stupid. For someone who never did their job, she picked quite the time to start. He must've had questions, but she didn't have the right answers. Koda tried to put off the unavoidable by keeping things focused on the present. "I think someone just brought back Return of the Jedi if you want first dibs."

They were different, but Koda did her best to make it feel like they had common ground, besides the fact that they worked the same dead-end job. She knew the reality of barely making it by with their wage, and penny pinching when it got close to payday. Unless the other had a drastically different hourly she expected they experienced a similar struggle. Life wasn't as fun when reality set in, but Koda found this like movies to gush when possible, finding any whimsy the world allowed. "Fuck, that's a good one," the blonde remarked with a nod. She'd seen it at a friend's house, but realized she needed another watch herself. A few steps in the right direction had already been taken when she finally asked, "Want me to snag it for you before someone else does?"

In Koda's small world, it felt like meeting a celebrity; anyone who could hold their own like that in the ring was worth something. She hadn't been a fighter, not like that. Before she'd even turned sixteen, she was being etched into a killing machine. Miriam didn't need to know any of that, nor would it be so easily shared from the blonde who kept her past behind lock and key. Koda wasn't a stranger to the city she'd come to call home, and the kind of people that it acted as a safe haven for. It was people like her parents, like who she was supposed to be, that jeopardized everything that made Cardinal Hill special. At Miriam's glance, she wasn't blind, a smirk pulling at her lips as she stood with her shoulders inverted and a slouch of her spine. "The best kind of person to be, a chara." Only a glimpse into the history she tried to leave behind from a place she loved more than anywhere. An insinuation that she was born and raised in the States wasn't unjust with her lack of accent and general appearance. Nothing about Koda gave away where she was born, but it made the explanation easier when only saying she moved away and keeping the gory details under wraps. "Born and raised in Waterford," the blonde expanded on her origins. "Didn't get to keep anything besides the memories, though." Nothing about her exposed her roots, but she feared that in most situations, it might've been for the best.