â Klein Marth Everett â
Introductions of the Wary
Introductions of the Wary
Klein ignored her comment. "How in the world is that just fine?" He had already kicked himself for being mentally short sighted, so her little comment was just the fruits of his inability to think things through. He knew that she wouldn't be able to understand why he would hide something so important from his family, nor that she would get why he hadn't gone to the doctor: if he went to see one, they may deem him unable to be cured, or have to wait until he got better. Worse still, his family would start worrying about his own health, when he really didn't need them fretting over his well being. It was just an episode, and he would get over it. That was what he kept telling himself. After all, it had only been happening for the past 3 weeks. Klein had kept telling himself that 'Next week, I shall go get this checked out secretly.' But he was constantly putting it off due to family matters and school work.
However, regardless of this, his eyes did harden at her prying. He really hadn't a clue why a girl that he really had a hatred for would suddenly be concerned for his health - after all, he had made his suspicions of her quite clear when he ran into her and stared at her weird. If that wasn't an indicator of his inability to trust her, he didn't know what was until he verbally told her. So when he picked up his pace a little, he his his annoyance in the fact that she willingly wanted to keep up with him. It was as if she felt the need to find out all of his secrets in a time span, then disappear before he could get anything out of her.
The rain kept his cold, constant march down towards the earth, causing Klein to shiver a little from the coldness of its touch. If he kept this up, not only would he have a cold, but a cold that caused him to cough. Not a good way to hide his own coughing problem when he caught a cold that made him cough. He glanced sideways at the lady beneath him - by quite a bit, mind you - and noticed that she had stiffened instantly at his own question at her name. He gave a small smile, and knew that he could expect an answer in his near future. When Klein was younger and meeting people for the first time, those that didn't know what to tell him would always get really nervous - as if his height made him scary or something. However, regardless of the fact that they had gotten nervous, they always gave him an answer.
He turned his full head towards her and looked down as he waited for her response. Klein's pace never slowed, but he made sure to check his peripherals just in case he started veering towards a wall. That wouldn't be good - running into a wall with a stranger, injuring himself and becoming at the mercy of the people around him. That wasn't his job, so he refused to do so. It was then that he saw her turn his head towards him and stared right at him, which was somewhat unsettling, since her eyes seemed to be perfectly clear, and yet clouded at the same time. Odd was an understatement. Klein couldn't help but hate the feeling he was getting when he was looking at her. His emotions churned in a weird way, as if he was supposed to regurgitate all of his emotions, along with his stomach. For some reason, the longer he hung around this woman, the more life made no sense.
"Alva," Her voice was calm and steady, with no hint of lying in it. Klein wasn't sure to be impressed with her honesty, or cautious. "My name is Alva Locke. I'm looking for my brother who hasn't come home yet." Klein's face was a little puzzled as he ran his brain through all of the last names he knew from the area. Locke wasn't anywhere close to one of them, so Klein had two options: He could either trust this foreigner, and assume that she was just from another section of Portland and she was lost. Or he could be even more cautious of her, and presume that her name was a lie to trick him into something. He decided to go with option 1, but he would continue to play this cautiously - option 2 was still a factor.
"And your name? I can say the same thing about you being out here, especially with that, um, condition of yours." Klein's body went through a very weird shift. His blood began to run cold at the thought of telling her his name and why he was out there, because it had just dawned on him: She could be an undercover regulator. Klein knew that it wasn't anything concrete - undercover regulators were people used by parents to scare their children into staying away from strangers. However, over the past few years he had become less certain of their existence, since had seen quite a few students get paired up with others for projects, and then suddenly they were gone.
Klein's guard went up, but he knew it would be no good: if she really was a regulator, she would instantly know if he was lying or not. He gave a heavy sigh, and then looked at her once more, his pace still quick. By the look on her face, and the tenseness of her body, she didn't come off as some professional government agent - she came off more as a scared, cold girl. That instantly made him pity her, and he hated himself for it. Here was a girl that he knew something was wrong with, that she could be a sympathizer, and here Klein was, nearly giving her sympathy. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and also to rid his eyes of the water that now was clogging his vision. Knowing he had a choice, he thought about giving her his alias: Marth. If she was a regulator, then he wouldn't be lying, and he could protect his identity that way too. He nearly did begin to speak, but then paused - Klein had done enough lying for an entire year, so with a sigh, he spoke.
"My name is Klein. Klein Everett." There. He now just told the lady that he didn't trust worth a grain of salt his real name. Afterwards, he wished he had given his middle name - he wouldn't be so annoyed with himself if he had. He coughed once more, noticing that she was looking away after his last fit. He looked at her, and decided he might as well continue with the truth. "I guess I am similar to you, since I'm hunting for my sister - curfew mustn't be broken, after all." He added the last part looking away from her, but eyeing her out of his peripherals. Klein wanted to gauge her reaction to that statement, hoping for some reaction to tell him where her allegiance lay.
If anything, he was just hoping that he could get something more concrete on her. Then he turned the next corner, and saw the store a little ways away. His pace did not quicken much, but it was visible.