everybody talks [open!]

[ace osbourne]

[atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding:0; margin: 0; background-image:url(http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y353/shockwavesyndrome/thisiswar.png);background-repeat:repeat-y;width: 450px;height:600px;] ace had known that one day he was going to get miserably lost. it was a fact, as unavoidable as death because, after coming from a community of just over ten thousand people, the size of myrtle beach was a shock to ace each time he woke. he'd been in town for a few weeks now, but still many times that he set out beyond his small apartment to go to work or get groceries he quickly lost track of the way home and more than once had ended up driving aimlessly through streets until he passed a familiar landmark that could lead him to the safety of his 'home'. today that day had finally arrived, leaving the ex-convict lost worse than ever. he wasn't scheduled to work today, so he'd decided to go to the downtown district and pass the time. things had started off well as he browsed stores, not really buying anything, but he'd taken a wrong turn on the wrong street, and trying to find his old, beaten up car only proved to turn him around even further as he turned corners, walked down alleys, and ended up god knew where from his vehicle. "brilliant. how else can you make it obvious you're a fish out of water, ace?" the young man muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair as he stood on the sidewalk of a low-activity street, eyes drifting over a lone passing car. it wasn't like he was pressed on time, but ace had been tense since coming to myrtle beach, though it was more his situation than location that caused that tension, and he didn't want to attract any more attention to himself than necessary. he knew that he'd have to put himself out there a bit more sooner or later, but he wasn't used to being social. it wasn't exactly like he'd wanted to associate with the scum that filled the prison walls with himself, and after seven years of keeping to yourself it wasn't easy to get out into the social scene, even if you didn't want to avoid questions about where you were from. thumbs hooked in his pockets, ace began to walk again, taking a left down the sidewalk. maybe he'd get lucky and miraculously find his car, or at least some recognizable street. he hadn't realized that he'd walked so far, but getting lost in your thoughts while shopping and having plenty of streets to stroll down was a bad combination. at least he didn't have a shift in a half hour or somewhere urgent to be, he would waste a bit of time finding his way back. before 'the attack', ace had actually been a pretty social guy. he had been popular at his high school, one of the top athletes of his grade (which, seeing that his grade was about fifty people didn't really mean too much). he'd been one of the guys constantly invited to parties, one of the guys that most of the teachers liked to tease and joke around with in class. he'd been normal. and now he couldn't even go out to a club without worrying about people prying too much, like any friendly conversation could instantly turn into accusations of being a monster. the messed up thing was that he didn't even know if he deserved it. he had little memory of what had happened until he came out of whatever haze had taken over his brain during the attack and saw the blood on the walls, his dad crumpled on the floor, and zac lying still in another pool of blood. the image of everything was burned into his brain and revisited him every few nights when he tried to sleep. but he'd been protecting his little brother, right? they'd said he could have reacted differently, gotten help, done something else, but he'd reacted instinctively to what happened. it wasn't like he was about to kill the next person who said 'hi' to him, right? letting his train of thought get away on him like he was doing wasn't smart even when he was alone. it just made him frustrated, get too absorbed in his thoughts, and when he was out in public that combination just wasn't a good thing. he took a corner too quickly and nearly ran into someone coming in the opposite direction. thankfully he swerved out of the way at the last second, avoiding a complete collision. "shit, sorry, my fault- i wasn't paying attention." 752 | most overused started ever. yay! this template was made by ZOE of caution 2.0 !

[waverly shannon]

WE CAN WRITE WHAT WE WANT TO WRITE, WE GOT TO MAKE ENDS MEET BEFORE WE GET MUCH OLDER

ACE/PEPPER <3 , 768 , MINUS THE GUYXD, STILL GETTING USED TO HER, THIS MIGHT SUCK

even her dreams were normal, average in comparison to others. people spoke about dreams having hidden messages but what did it mean if you were sitting on a log, eating an apple? nothing. it meant nothing, it could indicate hunger or a lack of nutrition but waverly doubted both of those as she was brushing her teeth and had to hunt for a moment to find the little dixie cup that she filled with water, rinsed her mouth and smiled into the mirror. she was not particulary happy with the reflection looking back at her but it did not matter at this point as her daily routine was finished and she was beginning to run errands for the day. these thigns were located on a list that was somewhere in the vincity of the living room but there was no promises on that one. she walked out of the bathroom, running a hand through her blonde hair and strolling into that very room in order to find the list of materials that she had to get. the walls needed to be painted, a task that sounded daunting but necessary as the new apartment was bland and she was allowed to add a little color to it. normally, waverly would just leave it alone but she was trying to be more outgoing, more friendly and open—not that she wasn’t all the time, but more so now that she was in this new town. pressing her lips to her hand and then to the picture on the tv stand of her and a young boy, waverly ducked her head away, grabbed her keys of the counter and pocketed the small piece of paper. the rest of the stuff, purse, wallet, phone was unneeded as she had her debit card and her phone number was not that popular to begin with. occasionally the girl would get a message from her family or a friend or two but it was rare as everyone was busy and the girl could be considered an afterthought.

strolling down the street now with a smile on her face, waverly tried to keep her thoughts positive, tried to see the outlook of the day that was ahead. she had a day off work, no classes, was able to get out of the house and was successful in getting the glass bowl that was now in her hands. she had forgone the bag, something that would turn out to be a mistake in the end but for now, as she strolled, her hair blowing in the wind, it seemed like day was going to be a good day. her strides were extended, ready to continue on with the activities which included her next location which would be the grocery store in order to get some kind of food for dinner. it would be a frozen meal as waverly had no idea how to cook anything other than pasta and that dish was getting a little old for her tastes. turning the corner sharply, she watched a blur of a figure move around her but she still got startled with the onset collision and the glass bowl slipped from her hands and crashed to the ground, shattering. ”noo!”

[/b] she spoke out loud, the instinct to reach for the bowl lost in her more verbal shock. rushing a hand through her hair, she looked up to the person that she had nearly collided with and shook her head to his apology, ”no no, I was lost in lalaa land, a nice place but often well..distracting..”[/b], which was basically her own head. she had too many thoughts, too many things to remember and now the glass bowl that was shattered on the sidewalk was just another thing to add to the list. ”shoot though…”[/b] she said, tilting her head down to look at the mess on the sidewalk and using her foot to lightly kick the visible shards of glass into a small pile. ”what am I going to do now…my mother is going to have my head for sure..”[/b] she mumbled, looking to the person, not blaming him at all but confusion and worry flashing in her eyes. she realized that she had been selfish, worrying about herself and the bowl and had yet to ask how he was. they had nearly collided and though their bodies never met, the way he turned his body, or the sound of glass breaking could have frightened him, ”dearie me..”[/b], using yet another old fashioned phrase, ”are you okay hon?”[/b] she asked with a raised eyebrow and a lick of her lips.


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[ace osbourne]

[atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding:0; margin: 0; background-image:url(http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y353/shockwavesyndrome/thisiswar.png);background-repeat:repeat-y;width: 450px;height:600px;] if he wanted a semi-normal life from this point on, ace knew that he would have to become more social. exchanging words with others only if they were co-workers, customers, or random people he nearly crashed into on the street was not enough to be 'normal'. it was once a word he'd scoffed at. who wanted to be merely normal? society thought it was good to fit in. standing out made you weird. ace had once loved to say that he could stand apart from the crowd, be outgoing, be smart, be athletic, push himself away from others in whatever morally right way he could because being merely average wasn't good to him. it meant you didn't push yourself. at least... it had. now he would give anything to be normal, knowing full well that that was something he would never truly be for the rest of his life. there was nothing normal about having 'murderer' stamped on your past for the rest of eternity. but he could appear it. even if he wasn't, others didn't need to know that. myrtle beach was a far way from his hometown, that had been one of his factors considered when choosing his new location. it was, hopefully, far enough away that his name was, at most, something mentioned on the evening news once or twice seven years ago. no recent newscasts about his release, as had been splashed all over the six o'clock news for the weeks before and after his release back in his hometown, nothing whatsoever that would set him apart as anything more than another newcomer to a growing city. here others knew only what he told them, and that was something that ace intended on taking full advantage of... once he got rid of his paranoias and actually put himself out there into the real world a bit more. one step at a time, right? so what if this first step was taking a couple of weeks... or months? he didn't want to mess up and have to relocate again. from what he knew of the city so far, which was basically it's location, population, and scenery, he liked it here. finding somewhere new to live would be a pain. noo!” the sound of shattering glass made ace's head beat faster, feeling worse than he normally would for the other person's lost property, its exact worth impossible for him to know because he'd only gotten a quick glimpse of it as he swerved around the corner. he'd swerved against the wall, trying to avoid her, and ended up with his back pressed against the cold bricks as he glanced a the shattered glass on the ground and then back up to the girl. ”no no, I was lost in lalaa land, a nice place but often well..distracting..” he was more than a bit startled with her response. he'd more been expecting a scathing 'you asshole!' or something of the sort. after all, he still believed the near collision was his fault and she had lost property because of it. he knew very well that there seemed to be, these days at least, more people in the world that would yell than take some of the blame themselves. "if i hadn't been moving way too fast, though, your la-la-land location wouldn't have mattered." ”shoot though… what am I going to do now…my mother is going to have my head for sure..” the twenty-four year old frowned, matching the girl's gaze at the fragments of glass at their feet. he felt terrible, really he did, even moreso knowing that this wasn't just her property but, from the sounds of it, her mothers. he didn't want to be the reason a family member became upset with her. ”dearie me.. are you okay hon?” she had an interesting way of speaking. only a few sentences out of her mouth and already that was clear. not that ace minded at all. as long as someone didn't actually say "omg, that was like, totally the best party ever! okay, ttyl!" he had no issues with others expressing themselves in any way they chose. seriously, though, the teenagers who actually spoke in chatspeak... they needed help. "yeah, i'm perfectly fine," he assured her once remembering the girl probably actually wanted an answer. "what about you?" he offered a small smile with the words before crouching down towards the ground to begin to pick up some of the larger shards of glass. "look, it wasn't your fault, really, so why don't you let me buy you a new... fishbowl?" he guessed, having really no idea at all of the real original identity of the shattered glass. from the quick glance of it that he had gotten before the near impact, a fishbowl seemed to be a fair assumption. why she was randomly carrying a fishbowl along the street was something he couldn't begin to guess at, but who was he to judge? "that way your mother can't get mad at you." it wasn't as though ace was swimming in cash... definitely not at all, but he could find the money from his last paycheck to repay her. she could insist however much she wanted that it wasn't his fault, ace knew it wasn't smart to get lost in his thoughts and look what had happened. he wanted to take responsibility for the part he'd played in the near-collision. 900ish? give or take fifty? | <3 this template was made by ZOE of caution 2.0 !

[waverly shannon]

WE CAN WRITE WHAT WE WANT TO WRITE, WE GOT TO MAKE ENDS MEET BEFORE WE GET MUCH OLDER

ACE/PEPPER <3 , 918, MINUS THE GUYXD, STILL GETTING USED TO HER, THIS MIGHT SUCK

waverly was already a social girl by nature, she smiled at strangers, she nodded her head even when she got odd looks and she spoke like she was out of the eighteen hundreds sometimes. it was hard to think that this girl was even born into the right era with her way of speaking but her pure mannerism helped her to assimilate into the conventional idea of society. she had a job that was pretty basic but it involved talking to people a lot, it involved being open and being social, speaking about her day and their day and giving advice about the workplace as she was a hotel receptionist. she answered phone, made eye contact and was all around a helpful girl and she rarely got frustrated or mad which made her perfect for the job that she picked. she was level headed and content, she was easy to get along with and always seemed to have a smile on her face but that did not mean that the girl was rainbows and sunshine all of the time. she had her dark days, mostly one in particular where she cowered in her room, hidden under the covers and tried to force herself to sleep the day away without answering the phone, texts or emails from anyone who had a shred of concern for her whereabouts. her mind had wondered too far out of the reality of her walking and she ended up nearly colliding with someone but the momentary return back to earth that was caused by the blur passing by resulted in her bowl to drop and shatter to the ground. her eyes slowly rolled over the scene before her. making their way down to spot the glass shards across the concrete and let out a low sigh. she was not sure if she was actually upset and took a moment to process her feelings before giving a shrug and looking up to the person who she had a near collision with, giving them a reassuring smile but not actually taking anything into his features. ”I think we were moving at the same speed and therefore, they blame could be put equally on both of our shoulders. i also have butter fingers and get scared far too easily, a little too much information? quite possibly but that was waverly for you—an open book.

she saw his reaction, noting his face falling from the once surprised to a full on frown and she shook her head, ”no no don’t think for a second that my mother’s murder charge will be your fault. I swear, she has been out to get me for years..”

[/b], giving him a playful smile before looking back down at the shards. she could not glue it back together because with her luck, there would be a shard missing and it would never look the same and her mother would be able to tell a mint condition and a glued back together glass bowl. it was a hard loss but it was one that waverly would deal with on her own and she did not want the guy to have complete blame on his shoulders. ”please don’t look like kicked puppy, really it’s okay.”[/b] she said giving a nod before lightly kicking the shards into a pile, or the pieces that she could see. there were smaller pieces that were hard to catch but she did her best to clear the sidewalk of the obstruction before picking her head up, meeting his eyes as he began to speak. ”oh good, I’m tickled pink to hear that with no sarcam intended and the tone of her voice left no suggestion of such. ”little distraught but the mood is picking up.”[/b], honesty came from her mouth because everytime that she looked at her feet, she was reminded of the fact that her mother’s present was in ruins but meeting someone new was a bonus in her books. ”no no I could never put that burden on someone else. it was cheap to be honest…”[/b] she grinned, trying to lighten the load of guilt that seemed to be resting on his shoulders.

she finally looked him over and she felt a small blush creep across her cheeks. he was not a bad looking guy in the slightest, exotic in eyes and skin color but he seemed to have a darker past than just his skin color that waverly read in his eyes but she was not going to pry or even suggest for them to sit and have a hear to hear. ”my mother wasn’t completely expecting anything, it was just going to be shipped to her…and would have probably been broken in the process of such.”[/b], again honesty. giving her head another shake, the friendly girl put her foot down, quite literally and said, ”no, I refused. please. that thought is sickening to me. by the way, I’m waverly, an average name for an average girl—or that was the idea that was put in her head from the start. her stomach began to rumble with the coffee sitting there and nothing to filter the harsh liquid, ”how about…”[/b] she thought, trying to think of a way to satisfy both her hunger and his guilt, ”I am thinking….a hot dog. does that sound good?”[/b] she asked with her eyes leaving his in order to find a kiosk that would sell that particular food that she was suddenly craving the more that she thought of it.



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[ace osbourne]

[atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding:0; margin: 0; background-image:url(http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y353/shockwavesyndrome/thisiswar.png);background-repeat:repeat-y;width: 450px;height:600px;] ”I think we were moving at the same speed and therefore, they blame could be put equally on both of our shoulders. i also have butter fingers and get scared far too easily, the girl's refusal to let him take the blame for their little 'almost collision'' told him a lot about her character after only a few sentences of their conversation. there were a lot of girls, or supposedly women, who would not only let him take the blame but push it on him to make themselves seem to be the better person. she was more genuine than any of those girls would have been, definitely something that ace liked about her right off the bat. fakeness was not attractive in a personality, and though he didn't think that she deserved blame when he knew he wasn't paying attention to his movements, he liked that she wasn't trying to milk his guilt for all it was worth. ”no no don’t think for a second that my mother’s murder charge will be your fault. I swear, she has been out to get me for years..” 'murder charge.' the phrase made him tense, eyes darting to hers for a moment. such phrases made him uncomfortable. anything that reminded him of his past, really, made him uncomfortable, and what would remind more than a reference to murder? for a moment the ridiculous thought passed through his mind that perhaps she might know, she might recognize him from the paper or a recent newscast and the familiar stab of fear that always hit him whenever he thought he might be recognized came again. after a moment of hesitation, though, he realized that there was humor in her tone, not accusation, "at the very least, i'd consider myself an accessory, and that'd be a lot of guilt, so try not to let her kill you, okay?" ”please don’t look like kicked puppy, really it’s okay.” he couldn't hold back a smile at the comment, despite still feeling terrible for ruining her property. "most people don't describe a guy of my six foot four stature and general appearance as an innocent, lost puppy," he pointed out. he intimidated most people he came across these days, based on height and look alone and an innocent lost puppy was the sort of image that people would run towards, not be wary around. what was there to dislike about a puppy? ace had never had one himself, but as a boy he'd tried begging his father and step-mom to bring one into the family... always unsuccessful. probably for the best, in the long run. "i might get get my eyesight checked, if i were you." oh good, I’m tickled pink to hear that. little distraught but the mood is picking up.”, despite this not being his normal habit, interacting with other people in general, and the destruction of her bowl ace had to admit that he was quickly relaxing around this girl, something that was truly rare for him these days. something about her mannerisms, her smile, the words she chose... it was refreshingly different from most of the girls, and even guys, he saw these days. ”no no I could never put that burden on someone else. it was cheap to be honest…” it was a self inflicted burdan in ace's mind, but he knew that he could probably argue this all day and perhaps not get anywhere closer to his way, so he gave one last attempt, "it might have been cheap, but if you're forced to buy it again it'll just be twice as expensive, and we can't have that terrible of inflation." ”my mother wasn’t completely expecting anything, it was just going to be shipped to her…and would have probably been broken in the process of such. he had no way f knowing if she was lying or not... but still, if she still wanted to give her mother a gift and ended up having to pay for something again that was extra cost for her because of him... ”no, I refused. please. that thought is sickening to me. by the way, I’m waverly ace sighed in defeat, though the smile still lingered on his lips, taking note of her names which, to him, was rather unique. he'd never met a waverly before, only had faint recollections of ever hearing of it as a name. "ace osbourne at your service," he introduced himself with another smile. his name was one of the few things that he hadn't left behind in his old town, though it had been considered at one point. changing his name would be changing far too much of himself. besides, there were probably lots of ace osbournes throughout the world if anyone got nosy... right? ”how about…” she thought, trying to think of a way to satisfy both her hunger and his guilt, ”I am thinking….a hot dog. does that sound good?” the agreement was considered for a moment. personally ace doubted the value of the bowl could match a single hot dog, but if it was the best 'deal' he would be able to make, he'd best take it before she refused to let him even pay for that. "deal." no clue | <3333 this template was made by ZOE of caution 2.0 !

[waverly shannon]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][/style][atrb=style, width: 525px; border-bottom: 20px #555258 solid, bTable] YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH ENOUGH and warred with yourself, it's time that you won [style=height: 317px; width: 250px; margin-right: -520px; font-size: 8.5px; font-family: tahoma; text-align: justify; line-height: 1; text-transform: lowercase; overflow: auto; scrollbar-base-color:#555258; color: #000;]there was no denying that waverly was thoughtful in just about every aspect of her life and it was showing in the tone of her voice, though persistent, it still held a friendly aspect to it which allowed people to approach her with ease. she gave a smile his direction regardless of the fact that the bowl was now shattered and she had no idea how to repair it and thought of replacing it was even more daunting than gluing every single piece back together. sighing, she shook her head to his continual insistent that the collision was his fault and she was going to continue to want to split the blame, or take more of it because he had moved out of the way in time, she had just been spooked by the sudden movement that he had caused when actually stepping aside. she began to lightly kick at the glass pieces, collecting into a small pile and trying to push it aside to keep anyone from actually stepping on the pieces and injuring themselves which made her heart bleed in the mere thought of someone cutting their foot on the mess that she had made. kicking the small shards to the side of the sidewalk, cleaning it up to the best of her ability, her eyes searched his for a moment. her eyebrow raised as could have sworn that she saw his irises darken and his muscles tense beneath the fabric of his shirt, ”no no, don’t dwell on that thought for one measly second..’

[/b], returning back to her old fashioned speech once more and not even batting an eyelash to how strange that people thought that she sounded. she saw the smile on his lips and returned with her own, tilting her head to the side as he spoke and her eyebrow raised just a little higher with a highly quizzical expression on her face now, ”oh?”[/b] she asked, not thinking it had anything to do with his appearance but more the look in his eyes that was hidden beneath the dark hues.

giving a small chuckle, her hand reached up to cover her mouth in an attempt to hide the teasing smile that could not stopped. ”really…six foot four?”[/b] she asked, finally noticing that her head was tilted up just a little in order to meet his eyes. she was not a small girl, towering at just a little under five foot eight herself but he had a good six inches on her and waverly was rather confused as to why she had not noticed this before. ”well….”[/b] she spoke while tapping a finger to her lip, ”you are sure lacking in the innocent look, but the statement still stands..”[/b] she said, enjoying the idea of comparing him to a puppy dog because of the sheer irony of the phrase to his appearance. she did not feel the least bit intimidated by him but a human with a knife to her neck would not be intimidating until the action to slit her skin was taken because that was when the threat became real and that was when people’s true intentions showed. anyone could threaten to end someone’s live but the person that did it was the ones that intimidated the female, not the ones that verbally threatened it. he hardly seemed like the kind of guy that would purposefully end the life of another and she quickly let his comment roll off her shoulders as she grinned to him, ”yet you nearly knocked into me..”[/b], teasing in all intent and purpose. she knew that he had spotted her before and therefore, his eye sight was just fine but she could not resist the chance to give her own teasing words thrown back at him. she did not mean to offend and she was slightly

sometimes, waverly wished that she could speak normally and it was not even the influence of books that gave her this old fashioned way of talking. she had no idea where she had picked it up but there was not a time that she could recall where an old fashioned phrase or word was not used in her everyday speeches, and it resulted in countless of strange looks and quirked eyebrows. she glanced down at the bowl, trying to remember the price that she had just paid for the item but the only thing she could recall was that the number made her giggle because it was the same as a year that had passed. the range was between the nineteen dollar range and an unknown amount of cents, but either way, it was nothing that was not able to be replaced and most likely with something a little more expensive, in which she would have a tighter grip on it. ”well, maybe this is the world’s way of saying that I should have paid more for my mother’s gift? so I thank you actually for opening my blind eyes..”[/b] she grinned but she could still the look on his face held guilt and she was unable to stop it from reflecting in her own eyes. waverly was feeling guilty for making someone else feel guilty, it was a vicious circle that had to be rectified and when no answers came to mind, her stomach made the decision for her.

she nodded to his name being given while her stomach growled at her once more, demanding in the noises that it was making. her stomach lining was probably eating away at itself with nothing but a coffee and handful of some kind of chocolate in her stomach. ”unique, moreso than my own namesake. I like it, it suits you..”[/b] she said rather boldly before her gaze gave up on trying to meet his gaze and instead returned to flitting around their small and rather boring surroundings for something to satisfy the hungry feeling that was growing in the pit of her stomach. ”oh dearie me..my last name was never given, let me start again..”[/b] she said with a clearing of her throat to make her name have a clear prounconcation. ”waverly shannon..”[/b] she said and accompanied her words with a small courtesy while grabbing at the edge of her shirt to be something of a skirt or a dress hem. her smile faltered when he had agreed to buying her the hotdog, feeling slightly guilty for even suggesting the payback since waverly still did not want him to think it’s his fault, ”but this is a friend…accompanying another friend to get food, not payback for the cheap little bowl. deal?”[/b] she asked, holding out her hand for the words to be sealed in what waverly thought was a binding agreement.
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THIS POST IS FOR AMAZING AND TALENTED PEPPER WITH HER CHARACTER, ACE

[/COLOR]. THIS POST TURNED OUT TO BE 1118[/B] WORDS, WHICH IS BECAUSE YOU NEVER GAVE ME A LIMIT. MUSE METER IS FULL[/B] AND WAVERLY IS WEARING THIS WITHOUT THE GUY[/URL][/COLOR]. ANYTHING TO BE SAID ABOUT THIS POST IS SORRY FOR THE WAIT AND THEY ARE SO CUTE..[/B][/div][/center]

[ace osbourne]

[atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,padding:0; margin: 0; background-image:url(http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y353/shockwavesyndrome/thisiswar.png);background-repeat:repeat-y;width: 450px;height:600px;] every decision and action, from big to small, had the potential to have a huge impact on one's life. the obvious example in ace's life would be killing his dad, though it could be argued that that wasn't really a choice when it had been a fit of rage, something that he still felt he'd had little control of once it had taken over him. if not for that, his life should be pretty great right now. he'd be in university to become a doctor, he might have a girlfriend, a social life, things a normal guy of his age would have. he'd know more about the bars and clubs in town than their location, and he wouldn't have to feel so awkward and tense when meeting new people because being social wouldn't have ever become out-of-practice for him. the decision to stick around and 'talk', though, instead of immediately leaving the moment apologies were muttered, could change a few things, too. of course, at this point that was just a suspicion with ace, but he'd already spoken more to her than he'd spoken to pretty much anyone else one-on-one, and what was more he was comfortable doing it. it could just be a sign of him adjusting more to freedom and being out in the 'real world', but her company definitely had something to do with it, too. she was warm, friendly, and as far as ace could tell she was genuine, all attractive qualities in people that he would prefer call his company. ”no no, don’t dwell on that thought for one measly second..’, every little mention or murder or violence set ace on edge and sent waves of guilt running through him, even if others didn't notice (which he hoped they didn't, because questions were not going to be given answers). he could be an eighty year old man, but he would always have what he'd done trailing after him in life, stuck on his mind like a tattoo that would never be able to be removed. not something he exactly wanted to dwell on... so he took her advice, letting the topic, however joking it had been to her, drop to move on to less morbid thoughts on his end. ”really…six foot four?” he let himself grin genuinely at her smile and almost surprised tone, as though she hadn't noticed his height. he barely noticed it himself, if he were telling the truth. he'd become accustomed to towering over many people, at the very least being an inch or two taller and angling his head slightly downwards when speaking to others. there were few disadvantages to being tall, other than attracting attention and occasionally having to duck down to enter a door or vehicle. his height, he suspected, came from his father. from pictures he had seen back as a teenager, his mother was of an averagish height, but his dad had been only about two inches shorter than ace was now. "six foot four, six foot five... really six foot four and a half, so it could go either way unless you want to be 'proper' about rounding," he shrugged. he felt tall enough saying he was six foot four, he didn't want to have to add a nonexistent half an inch and make himself even more of a giant. ”well…. you are sure lacking in the innocent look, but the statement still stands..” ace merely chuckled, a single 'heh' sort of sound falling from his lips. ”yet you nearly knocked into me..” "...okay, one point to the bowl girl," he relented with the grin still in his lips. he'd never been very good about making sure his words couldn't be turned back on him, but at least this was all in fun. ”well, maybe this is the world’s way of saying that i should have paid more for my mother’s gift? so i thank you actually for opening my blind eyes..” "then the world sure has a shitty way of teaching lessons." as though ace hadn't realized that already through his last ten years of life. in his mind he was debating ways to pay her back... somehow sliding a bill into her pocket, acting as though she'd dropped it on the ground, all 'sneaky' forms of delivering the money that he still felt he owed her. unfortunately he didn't really think any of them would work, which made the hot dog option the most reasonable. ”unique, moreso than my own namesake. i like it, it suits you..” he raised an eyebrow at her, not really agreeing with her interpretation of his name. "my name makes me sound like some sort of fight pilot," he pointed out. for some reason the name 'ace' had always reminded him of something to do with the military, some hotshot pilot that was hailed a hero... he wasn't sure why, but it did. "waverly's plenty rare," he corrected after a slight pause. "i've never met one before. honestly, i can't say i've ever heard of one before today. i'd say that's pretty unique." when he thought of non-rare names he thought of jane, kaitlyn, courtney, melissa, etc. waverly wouldn't be hitting the top 10 most common names any time soon, would it? ”oh dearie me..my last name was never given, let me start again.. waverly shannon..”"pleased to meet you, miss waverly shannon," he greeted with a grin once more, bending slightly at the waist into a quick bow to answer her curtsy, finding himself truly enjoying this random encounter. ”but this is a friend…accompanying another friend to get food, not payback for the cheap little bowl. deal?” there was a moment's hesitation, simply because of the 'f' word, before ace's grin widened. "deal," he confirmed glancing around as though thinking of which way they should go before he remembered that he had absolutely no clue of where he was, let alone what direction the two of them should head in. "er... you're going to have to lead the way, though. i've got to admit, i'm new to the town, and completely lost as it is, so i have no idea where to go." no clue | <3333 this template was made by ZOE of caution 2.0 !