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 Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 5:28 pm
__Part 10
Richard DuMont drained the last bit of liquid from his tankard, the poorly made beer leaving a nearly unbearable sour taste on his tongue. Looking up at the barkeep blearily, he slammed the tankard down.
"Gimme another, Frances."
The woman gave him an appraising look, as though trying to consider if he was too drunk to be worth serving another round, and then shrugged and took his tankard to be refilled. On the stool next to him, an equally thin and drawn-out looking man sat nursing a whiskey and glaring at him. Richard sensed the other man's gaze and returned it icily.
"Don't you give me that look, Dan. Don't you even bleedin' dare." He snapped, taking a handful of slightly moldy peanuts from the bowl in front of him and stuffing them into his mouth. Dan turned from Richard with a huff, taking a sip from his whiskey.
"How's your shoulder?" He asked in a deeply uninterested tone. Richard touched the wound lightly, bound in clean linen bandages pilfered from a pharmacy-stolen First Aid kit. At his light touch, the wound flared up into burning pain, making him feel as though his very bones were ablaze in agony. He took a deep breath and snatched Dan's whiskey, downing it in a gulp and giving a sigh as the pain ebbed away.
"It hurts."
Dan glared at him and reclaimed his whiskey glass, slamming it on the bar and signalling for another. Frances breezed over, carrying Richard's seventh beer. Looking at the poorly bound wound curiously, she set the tankard down and poked at the bandages rudely.
" 'Ow exac'ly didja do that ter yer shodder, Richie?" She asked, her nasally voice echoing effortlessly over the din of her other patrons. The others looked over in curiosity, the loud raucuous voices lowering a bit. Richard flushed a dark red and bowed his head in embarrassment, but Dan took up the explaination with relish.
"He says a giant bird with metal feathers attacked him, Franny."
There were vindictive laughs scattered around the bar, which made Richard's temper rise. Slamming his tankard down again, slopping beer over the sides, he stood abruptly and rounded on Dan angrily.
"It's true, an' you know it, ya b*****d! We was at the Deus et Dolor cemetary, diggin' up ol' Madame Juniper-"
"Wossamatter, Richie, couldn't find a live girlie to shack up with then?" someone in the back interjected, causing a ripple of nasty laughter. Richard flushed a deeper red and continued as though he hadn't been interuppted.
"Me an' Dan was diggin' up Madame Juniper to get at that diamond-encrus'ed locket she was buried with, when all of a sudden we heard someone shoutin'. I thought it was some guard that we hadn't bribed to look the other way when we was workin', so I went over to the Gules mausoleum to find out what made the noise, right? Well, it was this bleedin' baby. I looked her over for a sec, and suddenly I'm attacked by this teenage punk and a demon boy-"
"Demon boy? You been hitting the drink too hard, then, Richie-"
Richard grit his teeth hard enough to crack them.
"You shut up! I know what I saw, an' I saw a boy with wings growin' out o' his face and a ruddy tail whipping about! Anyway, I goes to turn around and get back to work when this nasty lil' b***h runs towards me and starts attackin' me, so I push her away, and that demon boy charges at me. When I'm about to take care o' him, this bloody giant shadow bird just swooped outta no where and sliced me open with one of its wings! It made a terrible sound - it reminded me of a bell, but much louder, piercing....it felt like it had sliced at my soul, rather than my shoulder..." Richard trailed off, his eyes wide and distant at the memory of the bird's shrieking cry.
The rude whisperings and laughs that had punctuated Richard's story paused for a second, tense and uncertain, before Frances gave a disbelieving snort that jerked Richard back to reality.
"Yeah, and I'm the bloody queen of England! You've had enough Richie, Imma cuttin' you off. Dan, why don't you bring your brother home, ya know, protect him from anymore shadow birds," she said snidely, wrenching Richard's tankard from him and dumping its contents down the drain.
Dan gave a huff at being dismissed, and grabbed his brother by the shirt collar and dragged him out of the tavern. Richard lowered his head in humiliation as he was dragged out, gales of laughter trailing in his wake.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:23 pm
__Part 11
Lenore sat silently in her playpen, sadly contemplating the pendant Deimos had given her a few nights before. The blood within splashed gently against the vial's sides, leaving a faint scarlet stain on the glass inside. Her entire body was slightly sore from the incident in the grave yard, and the tips of her razor feathers on her right arm were slightly tarnished, as though they had been dirtied. She knew full well the tarnished look was from slicing through human flesh, but she decided to ignore that, shifting uncomfortably whenever she looked at them.
She had slept for two days after the incident, recovering her energy. The transformation had lasted only minutes, but had taken a long time to recover from. Her memory was only in bits and pieces during her time as that...that thing, but she wasn't really trying to remember it anyway. Crow was acting very cautious around her, something that grieved Lenore terribly. It was the fact that Crow had been injured that had caused Lenore to change. The need to protect someone she loved had caused this whole horrible ordeal...
Crow sat on the edge of her bed, observing Lenore. The child seemed depressed, if babies could even be depressed, that is. She had acted very careful around Lenore since she had woken from her two-day long, almost coma-like sleep, almost afraid to interact with her.
Lest the beast be woken, she quipped dully to herself.
Lenore looked up from her pendant to give Crow a furtive look. Did Crow hate her now, now that her guardian had seen what Lenore could do?
Crow caught Lenore's look, and returned it. The two sat regarding each other for a long time in silence, waiting for one to make the first move. Lenore broke the silence after twenty minutes, stretching out her arms with a pleading look on her face.
"Mama?"
A painful lump grew very rapidly in Crow's throat, making it hard to breathe. She rushed from the bed and picked Lenore out of her playpen, hugging her close and sniffling.
"Oh, my Songbird, what've we gotten into?" she asked Lenore, tousling the baby's feathery hair.
Lenore didn't reply, simply grabbing at Crow and latching on with her strong spindly fingers.
Crow held Lenore a long while, playing with the child's hair and thinking. As the sun began to set, she remembered that Len had not had anything to eat for nearly three days. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed Len's carrying box, a jar of mashed peas, her tea-filled Thermos, and a rain slicker.
"Let's go have some breakfast in the dining room. Maybe we'll see Jizzy or Tori or one of those guys." She said with only slightly forced cheerfulness to Lenore, tucking her into her carrying box.
Lenore lay in her box quietly for a second, momentarily confused by this sudden shift in mood. Then she brightened and nodded. They needed to interact with someone outside of each other, if just for only a few minutes.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:01 pm
__Part 12
Crow spooned mashed peas and milk into Lenore's mouth patiently, ducking from time to time as the child spat out the mushy vegetable goo all over the high chair, herself, and the floor. Having just finished washing all her clothes the previous day, Crow had decided it would be best if she wore a rain slicker while feeding the rambunctious child. Offering another spoonful of the milk and pea glop to Lenore, she glanced around to see if there were any other guardians or Mishaps lurking about.
Footsteps were muffled by carpet as a pair of worn converse shoes traipsed over it and in to the large kitchen. Azumi hadn't even noticed where she had walked herself or the fact that the room was already occupied. Her mind was set on trying to once more get the bawling babe in her arms to calm and stop his racket. Black wolf ears were pressed so close against her head they looked like fluffy hair ornaments and her shoulder was damp from Osso's tears.
Still without noticing anyone was in the same room as her, the werewolf made a bee-line to the fridge when its glory caught her eye and she yanked the door from its suction. A cold air wafted up from the open fridge and greeted the exhausted woman, but her duty was not done yet. Grabbing a bottle filled with a white liquid she gingerly held it and placed it into the child's open mouth before even closing the refrigerator door.
As soon as the bottle was placed, tiny hands seemed to stick to the sides of the bottle and once more peace was restored. With the door closed and peace, Azumi now took the time to gaze around the kitchen, but was startled out of her wits when she saw she wasn't alone.
"Oh!" She gasped, and took a step backwards before wine hued eyes could absorb who the other people where. When she saw it was another guardian and mishap, a sudden wave of stupidity rushed through her as she started to stumble her words a bit as she apologized, "I'm so sorry! I..I didn't know anytum....I mean anyone, was here and....and.... God, you gave me a fright!" The last words came out in a funny little chuckle as she straightened up a bit.
Crow looked up uncertainly at the other girl. She had never seen her before, and it was obviously likewise. Pushing the rain slicker hood off her head and quickly replacing it with her pilot's helmet to hide her unruly hair, she smiled shyly and shed the yellow coat, throwing it haphazardly on the floor.
"Um, hi. My name's Crow, what's yours?"
Lenore glanced up at the intrusion into her dining. She couldn't have Crow wandering off to talk to someone else when there was peas and milk to be eaten. She scrunched up her face and was ready to give a mighty squall of protest when she laid eyes on the mysterious little black and white creature in the woman's arms. A lovely pattern of bones, illuminated by the overhead lights, seemed to glow quite beautifully. Lenore had never seen such a fascinating thing before, and immediately wanted to see it closer.
"BONE!" she said clearly, pointing at the black and white thing.
Juggling Osso a bit, the half werewolf was able to get one hand free and give a small wave and shy smile to this other woman. "'Ello, it's very nice to meet you. I'm Azumi and this," she shifted the babe once more, "is Osso." She blinked once or twice before gazing around for a second.
What to say, what to say....It was during this quick and mad search that she spotted, or rather heard, the other little Mishap in a highchair. "So you're a guardian to?" It was only after she said it that Azumi realized that Crow obviously was, "sorry, obviously you are," she gave another little sheepish laugh before speaking again," I'm a new guardian, I've only had this little one for about a week or less, how about you?" Black pointed canine ears perked up a little to catch any other noises around her, the fluffy and equally black tail wrapping a little around her left leg.
Until the word "bone" was yelled by the other child, Osso hadn't even cared to notice the others around him and his guardian. He had been contently sucking on the bottle with closed eyes, but when the small voice reached his ears, a new thing had captured his attention.
Flicking up an eyelid, a hollow black space gazed around till his sight came upon the small baby some feet away. It was the first time he had seen anyone his own size and now both lids were open and two black holes peered out from behind the bottle. Now being fully awake and curious Osso looked very similar to Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas, a movie he had watched part of with his motherly figure. Pushing the bottle away as his interest in it had faded, the child was able to squirm and position himself so that he was almost just perching in a sitting position in Azumi's arms. Pale blonde strands of fine hair hung in his face as just continued to look at this other little being.
Crow's mouth opened slightly in surprise as she caught a glance of a black tail and wolf-like ears. Deciding it would be rude to ask about them, Crow focused on Azumi's face and smiled again cheerfully.
"It's nice to meet you! I keep forgetting that other guardians live here, too - I don't get out much anymore. This is Lenore. We were just in the middle of dinner, if you'd like to join us." She said, motioning to the rain slicker and their pea and milk goo plastered end of the table.
Lenore gaped openly at the black and white creature the woman had called "Osso". So, he was a Mishap too, huh? Leaning forward to get a closer look at him, she gave a delighted shiver as she got a good look at his face. The beautiful white markings gave his face a skull-like look, accentuated wonderfully by two pitch black holes where eyes ought to be.
"Bone! Bone!" she cried, stretching out her bladed arms and making grabbing motions with her long-fingered hands. She wanted to get to know this one, most definately...
Wine gaze caught the open-mouthed stare as she got that a lot, but never in her life had it really bothered her so she just decided to answer the unasked question,"half Noir Werewolf, at your service," she said with a small giggle that progressed to a slightly louder one when she looked over at the soggy end of the table.
When her gaze returned to Crow was when she decided to reply to the last statments made. "Oh, I actually don't live here, or well...I do, but I don't. Um...You see, I own Cabin like house about fifty miles outside of Durem in the moutains. I still have the room here, but I really only came today to pick up some laundry from last night, that is until this little one started screaming his head off....Again." Azumi looked down at her charge with a fond expression," but dinner with someone to talk to seems perfectly in order.
With that the werewolf walked the few feet to a chair close to Lenore, but out of the mass splosh of peas and milk.
Osso giggled and waved a chubby little arm when he was close enough to this talkative young one. He was still in a sit perch but now on his mother's lap as she had sat down at one of the wooden chairs. Hollow eyes scanned the smaller being, taking in her black hair and gray skin, but it was the blades on her arms that gave him a small thrill. Their shiney surfaces and silver color made him want to examin them more than anything, the dangers or such sharp objects not known in his mind.
Crow's interest was piqued in this mysterious, pleasant new guardian.
"That's cool - I used to have my own place, but it didn't work out so well. Major demon infestation that got a little out of hand on my part," she said conversationally, pointing to her vivid yellow eyes and thinly drawn tattoo-scars that wrapped around her arms, exposed by her shirt's short sleeves. "I was thinking of trying to find a place in Aekea once Len's grown a bit, but this place has sort of grown on me."
Taking a sip of her mint tea, she pulled out her ever-present Thermos and offered some of its contents to Azumi.
"Would you like some tea?"
Lenore's delight in this new Mishap doubled as she got a closer look at his startlingly beautiful features. The white and black contrast in his skin was lovely to look at - it made her feel slightly embarrassed of her own appearance, with the ashy gray skin, feathery hair, and her arm-blades. Osso seemed interested in them, though, and she held them out politely for him to more closely examine.
"Len!" she said eagerly, pointing to herself, "Bone?"
"]Azumi's eyes widend a bit when she was offered the tea. "Ooo, I'd love some thanks!" she could already smell it's minty aroma and it tickled her for the oddest of reasons; tea was her favorite drink-green tea at the top of the list and soon followed by mint. With the scent, her fluffy black tail swayed lightly from behind her and she shifted a bit in her chair to get more comforable with the lump on her lap which was Osso.
"I try not to get too attached to homes at times, but I ended up doing so with two of my residents and now I don't want to leave the one in the mountains. It's a bit sticky and a pain when I have to drive all the way down here, but the car ride makes Osso fall fast asleep and let me tell you, that kid can make anyone go insane with his crying," she chuckled once more and lightly ruffled the slightly long, pale blonde locks on her charge's head.
Osso cocked his head to the right when he was pointed at. Too young to understand most things, he could only get that this other's name was Len and that she was saying "bone"...But why was she pointing at him. The babe's mind spun and sifted through all the words he slightly understood...Ah ha! He got it now. Len wanted to know HIS name, but how couldhe tell her?
Osso had yet to learn how to talk and the best he could do was make odd little noises that represented words. Mimicking the pointing gesture, he pointed a chubby finger at the other and said,"nnnnnnnn." After he made the sound, he screwed up his face. No, that wasn't right, so he tried to say it again but still only managed to say,"nnnnnnnnnnn." With a hard sigh he gave up and decided to try and give his own name,"ooo...oooos...Os!" He stated happily though the mindless 'word' sounded more like 'O'-ss.
The bone child was about to try and say Len's name once more, but when he saw that she had extended a bladed arm, he shut right up. Because of Azumi's arm that was put lightly across his middle, Osso leaned forward as far as he could and stretched out both arms. With chubby, bone marked hands, he made silly little grabby motions. Finger tips were mere milimeters from the shiney blades and his face became slightly screwed up with frustration.
Crow gave a laugh as she sipped at her tea again.
"I know exactly what you mean - Len kept me up for four nights in a row when I first started taking care of her. I guess it's just a matter of getting used to each other, that sort of thing." she said, nodding sagely to herself and tracing the rim of her plastic tea cup with a finger.
Lenore drew back just a little, to keep the razor edges of her arm blades feathers out of Osso's reach.The memories of how Deimos had reacted when he had cut himself and its aftermath were too vivid in her mind to risk another accidental injury.
"Os?" She murmured once or twice, playing with the unfamiliar name. Pointing back to herself, she murmured her name to confirm it.
"Len."
She then pointed to Crow.
"Ma."
She then pointed to Azumi, deeply fascinated by the woman's ears and tail.
"Who?"
Azumi nodded in agreement as she sipped her own tea, careful to keep the substance out of the grabby hands of Osso. "Yes...It's a good thing we're semi used to each other now. Now more completely sleepless nights, but because I lack a crib he sleeps next to me in my bed and I often wake up to find the little guy with both hands clinging to one of my ears. How he moves himself onto the pillow is still a mystery to me," she smiled to herself and twitched a black pointed hark.
The bone child blinked a few times as Len drew back her arm and the shinies. A small sniffle crossed his nose as if he was about to start crying again, but when this new person spoke once more his sadness was practically forgotten. Following Lenore's pointing hand, he looked behind him and at his mother and then back to Len. Tilting his head once more the babe tried to figure out a way to tell her who his 'mother' was. A few silent moments passed and after some hard thinking on Osso's part, all he could do was shake his head in response.
Feeling a little silly and sorry for not being able to answer this possible future playmate's question, Osso quickly looked around for something to show Len. It was out of the corner of a hollow socket that her caught sight of his guardian's swaying tail. It was moving and swishing much closer to him now and by leaning as far over to the left as he could manage, and after a moment of grabbing at thin air, his bone tattooed hand came up triumphantly with a fluffy black thing clenched in his palm.
Azumi didn't even notice that her tail had been captured, Osso's grip wasn't really that hard and the werewolf rarely payed attention to where she swished the thing...Maybe that's why she always ended up paying for broken items in stores.
With the now limp tail in one tiny hand, Osso let out a shrill giggle and presented the ebon fluff to Len.
Slurping down the rest of her tea, Crow stared thoughtfully into the murky green dregs at the bottom of the cup.
"Len's wings are really sharp, so I have to replace everything she has about once a week. Blankets, shirts, bedding, everything..." she trailed off, still looking at her tea dregs. She hadn't thought about it since she had first gotten Lenore, but suddenly the comprehension that she was completely responsible for Lenore dawned on her. Staying silent for a moment and staring unblinking into her tea dregs, she gave a sigh.
"How long do you think they take to grow up?"
Lenore smiled as Osso offered the fluffy tail to her. Tails had been a source of fascination for Lenore - though after the fiasco with Deimos she had learned to be careful with other people's body parts. Running a thin finger over the soft black fur, she gave a suddenly delighted squeal and grabbed hold of it.
Hard.
Azumi listened as Crow talked, trying to think of how hard it would be to have to replace everything every week.
When pointed ears caught the question, she gave a little smile and looked down at the two interacting babes, still not noticing that Osso had her tail,"oh, I'm don't think anyone can ans-Hm?" Sentence was cut short when she felt something similar to a pinch.
Looking about she spotted the two little trouble makers had her fluffy tail and even though Lenore's grip was much stronger that her own charge's, the strength of the child couldn't fully penetrate the thick, warm, black fur...Though if it had been Azumi's ears that were grabbed, that would be a different story.
With a funny little chuckle, the Noir made her tail tip twitch back and forth. The movement gave the appearance that the black fluff was alive and wriggling to be free of it's little captors; though Azumi didn't mind that much as long as no fur was yanked out.
Osso gave a multitude of shrill giggles and squeeks when the tassle started moving in his and Len's hands. His free hand happily fist slapped Azumi's arm that was still around his middle. And his slightly shaggy/longish pale blonde locks fell a little over his hollow eyes, veiling his sight at times, but even so, he still continued to shriek with laughter.
Smiling as the two little ones were occupied, Azumi once more gave her attention to Crow. It was almost at that moment that an idea suddenly popped in to her head,"hey, Crow, have you even thought of creating or perhaps finding something to just put over Len's blades? Like...A heavy leather, the kind they use for welding gloves, and just making a sheath like protector?" The werewolf grew a little excited now at the thought of this.
Crow smiled as she watched Lenore laugh and grab at Azumi's tail, being more playful then than Crow had ever seen her be.
"I have thought of trying to sheath them with leather and that sort of thing, but the metal her feathers are made of are so sharp that it just frays and wears away. It's metal that's been all magicked up, and nothing I do magical or mundane can dull them." She watched as Len flapped her arms like wings, making the feathers clap together slightly and emit a dull ringing sound.
Oh, what a delightful thing that was attached to Osso's mother! Len grabbed at it happily, taking care not to pull at the fluffy fur - after all, it seemed Azumi knew full well what she was doing, and could remove it from her grasp anytime she liked. Looking up at Osso, she wondered briefly how he could see if his eye sockets were seemingly empty. His hair obscured those mysterious holes charmingly, the dying evening light making it shine a dull gold. Lenore gave a little sigh and felt rather surprised with herself as she felt something like affection bubbling up inside her.
She paused in her playing, momentarily confused. Was this the same kind of feeling she had for Crow?
...No, this felt like something else...
Osso let his high giggling die down a bit when he no longer felt his new friend playing along with the fluffy tail. Stopping his waving of this new toy, he titled his head to the side as if always did when confused or questioning something. "Nnn?" was said as he tapped her hand, wondering why she had stopped. Osso blinked once from behind the strands of blonde as he waited to Len to do something.
Azumi was no longer paying too close attention to the babbling young ones, but was aware that they still had her tail. She nodded her head absentmindedly as Crow's response to her idea floated into her ears. "Hmm...." she said allowed, biting her lip a little as she searched for some other idea, "maybe metal on metal could work? Though I'm not sure if it would be comfortable or where you could eve find a blacksmith to create something for those blades.."
Crow gave a non-commital shrug and toyed with her empty cup.
"They can cut through anything - cloth, leather, flesh..." she trailed off at the unwelcome memory of the graveyard, but abruptly snaped herself back to reality.
"I suppose I'm just going to have to live with it until she's old enough to understand not to try to slice at me with them."
Lenore let Azumi's tail slip from her grasp, looking at Osso uncertainly. Ignoring the fact that they had only known each other for a few minutes, she pondered the curious feeling that welled even higher in her chest as her eyes lingered on the boy's wonderfully macabre face.
What on earth was she feeling?
Azumi nodded and was a little put down with not being able to help this new friend of her's. "Seems that that's really the only possibility, I guess...Sorry that I couldn't help," she offered a smile and then glanced out the kitchen's window. The sun was already setting and dark clouds were drifting about lazily,"do you think it'll rain?" she said while still looking out the window.
Hollow eyes watch as the tail fell from Len's small hand and Osso just become so confused. Questions flew at his mind as he looked back up at the other. Was it him? Was there something wrong with him or something? Or maybe there was something behind him...With that thought he looked over his shoulder, but only saw the kitchen door and nothing unusual. Facing Lenore again, Osso tried to understand what she was doing or thinking or something.
Leaning forward he patted Len's arm, being careful of the blades no matter how much he wanted to examine them, "Ennn...Llll-lll..." Once more the bone child tried to say Len's name, thinking that maybe he could get her to play again if he did. "Llln...Leeeh...Leehn....Len!" Finally! Finally the simple word sounded from the blonde boy's mouth and he gave a triumphant little smile for his work.
Lenore felt her face grow very hot as Osso said her name and touched her arm. Feeling even more confused than ever, Lenore could think of no other explaination than that she had very suddenly become ill. How else could she explain why she was feeling so peculiar?
Making a noise halfway between a whimper and a giggle, she tugged hard at Crow's arm.
"Sick," she said firmly, not taking her gaze from Osso's charmingly empty eye sockets. Perhaps they ought to be going now, before Lenore gave poor Osso whatever she had contracted to violently!
Crow looked at the window, examing the sky.
"Red at night, sailor's delight - Red in the morning is a storm warning," she murmured, remembering the old mariner's forecasting rhyme. Looking out at the angry dark clouds and seeing no hint of red, she gave a nod.
"Yeah, it'll probably be a bad thunder storm - look at how the wind's blowing through the trees," she said, watching the branches flail in the strong gusts. She gave a small jump as she felt Lenore tug at her arm, clearly wanting attention.
"Sick'? Oh, Len, are you feeling okay?" she asked the baby in concern. Quickly wiping up the pea glop that now threatened to eat away at the table top and gathering up her rain slicker, Crow smiled at Azumi.
"I'd better go before she does the Exorcist - projectile barf thing; she's only been sick once but she can aim pretty well. I'll see you guys later, maybe?"
Lenore gave a sigh of mingled regret and relief as she was carried out of the dining room. She would have to be careful around Osso from now on - she couldn't help but think that hearing his sweet little voice saying her name had contributed to her illness.
Azumi chuckled a little at the Exorcist note and bowed her head as they left,"hope she feel's better." Wine hued gaze watched until the pair went through the kitchen door and when they were alone, she gathered up Osso and rose from the wooden chair. The werewolve's ears failed to hear Osso speak his first real word, but just as she was about to start babbling a little herself, her charge started up his well known wail.
Osso let loose one of his loudest cries yet when he saw his new friend leave. What had happened? Was she alright? Did he make her go away? Such big questions were running through his small mind, even though he was around the same age as Lenore. Clinging to his mother, the bone child let her shrill wails die down to racketed sobs on her shoulder.
Not wanting to wake everyone up, Azumi left her laundry and just headed right out to her car parked along the curb. The Jetta's winsheild was already being light sprinkled with misty little drops of new rain. Shoving her key into the door, she unlocked the rest and piled the sobbing little babe into his car seat. It was only a few minutes later that bright headlights could no longer be seen as the car disappeared.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:19 pm
__Part 13
Crow carried Lenore back to their room considerably more cheerful, humming and smiling at the fact that she'd made a new friend. As she stood in front of the door and fumbled with the key to unlock it, she suddenly notice a piece of paper pinned to the wooden surface. Pulling it off and reading it casually, she suddenly gave a start as she absorbed the note's contents.
"A quest?" she asked Lenore incredulously. The Mishap gave a burble and wiggled her fingers innocently, licking a bit of pea-glop off of her lip.
Crow gave a sigh and unlocked the door, removing her helmet and ruffling her wild hair.
"Ooooooh boy."
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:42 pm
__Part 14
"The babysitter'll be here soon, Len. So, what do you wanna watch? Ju-On, Ringu, or Jaws?"
Crow browsed over the pile of DVDs with mild interest, waiting for the Mishap to pick. As she waited for a response, she looked over the crinkled and slightly stained note she had read enough to know by heart. Len acting like a kid? Jabir and Maggie might as well have asked for a flying golden pig with reindeer antlers singing a Spanish lovesong in soprano.
Come to think of it, that might have been easier.
"C'mon, Len, just pick a movie."
Lenore made a shushing noise, poring over the movie selections. Ju-On was too dull, Ringu was hardly scary at all, and Jaws...well, she had seen it enough times to know it from opening to ending credits. Sorting through the haphazardly stacked pile, she noticed a dented case she hadn't seen before. Removing it from the pile and staring at the jacket art, she gave an almost girly, gushy giggle.
"BONE!" she cried in delight.
Crow glanced at the movie Len held in a death grip, giving the child an odd look as she noticed the rosy blush coloring the girl's cheeks. Prying the case from Len's hands, she gave it a quick look before smiling and setting up the DVD player.
"Alright then, The Nightmare Before Christmas it is."
As the movie began to play, Crow's phone gave a shrill ring. Answering it eagerly, Crow's face fell into incredulous annoyance.
"So, you can't come because your fish died, and you still want me to pay you? ....I don't care that she was a gift from your late grandma. But - ....No, I don't care that she was a rare Fiskan Gelatinous Diamondfish, I need someone to take care of my baby while I'm out of town! .... If you're going to be rude, I suggest you get-" Crow bit her lip and slammed the phone down.
"Stupid jerk hung up on me." Glancing over at Lenore furtively, she watched as the child was completely engrossed in the movie opening credits. She couldn't miss the movie premiere, but....
Kicking her door open and running out into the hall, Crow looked around frantically, praying for help.
"Anyone up for an evening of babysitting?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:51 pm
Wolf ears pricked as they caught the sound of Crow's frantic call from the hallway. Walking backwards in her own room, she leaned backwards and raised a brow to her newer friend. "You in a sticky-wicket, Crow?" she asked, giggling a little by the way she said her question.
"Mama!" cried Osso from the barren bed in the equally barren room whose floor was only covered in a few empty boxes. The bone child huffed as looked over to where his mother was, curiosity of who she was talking to getting the best of him.
"Hold on dear," replied Azumi as she turned her head towards the boy.
They were both only there because Osso hadn't been sleeping and so Azumi, in desperation, went on the long car ride down into town and just 'magically' ended up at the HQ.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:03 pm
Crow gave a delighted squeak and nearly fell to her knees, praising every god in the universe for conveniently-available werewolves.
"Azumi! Man, am I glad to see you! I've got a date tonight, and Len's sitter called and cancelled because her fish died, and I need a replacement for the night. Everything's all set for food and stuff, and I need to get going in about ten minutes, and please please please could you watch Lenore for the night? I'll be back around two, and I'll pay you and everything!"
Crow tried to take a deep breath as her rapid recitation sucked the air out of her lungs. Her date was waiting, and she could hardly bear to wait for Azumi to reply. Nearly flailing in desperation, she gazed up at Azumi and clasped her hands together pleadingly.
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:11 pm
Azumi laughed at Crow's antics, "of course! I've got Osso here and I'm sure I could make it into a nice little playdate." When she heard about the payment she just waved her hands in front of her self,"no, no, no! There's no need!"
Osso now recognized the other voice from the hallway. It was Crow, which ment Lenore was also here! Wait... The boy's expression went to worry, 'was she still the way she was when she left after their first meeting?'
"Osso, dear, do you want to go see Len?" Azumi asked happily as she disappeared into her room again. Tail swishing back and forth behind her as she scooped the babe in to her arms.
"Len!" He threw his arms up, trying to mask a little bit of the worry inside of him.
The Noir came out with charge in arm and walked over to Crow,"well, I'm packed and ready!" She laughed; Osso the only thing she brought on this little escapade to the HQ.
((g2g now x__X. I'll be on tomarrow and respond ASAP!))
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:25 pm
Crow was happy enough to cry. Her first date in nearly a year would go off without a hitch - when she got back, she was going to shower Azumi in praise and movie theatre popcorn.
"Thanks! The emergency numbers are next to the vampire pumpkin's cage on the window sill, and there's a couple jars of Pea and Milk mash in the mini-fridge next to the Tezcatlipoca skull. I'll call a little later to check in, and okay I'll see you later bye! Bye, Len, be good!"
And with that, Crow grabbed her pilot's helmet and ran out the door.
Lenore glanced at the the two new arrivals dismissively, not wanting to miss a precious macabre second of this delightful new movie.
When she realized who it was, all thought of the movie disappeared in a flash of suddenly gushy giggles and a curious fluttering feeling in her stomach.
"Osso?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:42 pm
"Len!" Exclaimed the bone child happily. He waved a chubby hand in her direction, though it was practically covered by the long sleeves of his little dark blue hoodie.
Hollow eyes looked from his friend and soon almost all of his attention shifted to the movie she was watching,"Ack!" He thrust a finger at the movie when he saw Jack Skellington.
Azumi waved and watched as Crow ran out the door. With her foot she closed the door behind her and then smiled to her newest charge,"'ello Len, dear. Yes, Osso, it's your favorite movie!" She said in smiley reply to her son's pointing hand.
Walking over she set Osso down on the couch in front of the TV before walking around turning on a few lamps and seeing where everythingwas located so that her tail wouldn't break a thing.
The blonde boy smiled and then pointed to Jack again,"Ack!" He told Len.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:06 pm
Lenore felt the warmth creep into her face with shy clarity.
"Ack?" she asked Osso, puzzled. What the heck was an "Ack"? Turning her attention back to the movie briefly, she watched as the main character, an impossibly tall and thin skeleton, sang forlornly as he wandered through a graveyard. Nibbling her lip in thought, she turned back to Osso and pointed.
"Osso!" she said, pointing to the singing skeleton. After all, the two looked almost completely identical, so perhaps Azumi had decided to name her charge after such a lovely thing.
Turning to look at Azumi, she pointed at the mini-fridge, which sat next to a jade-tiled skull with a c**k-eyed stare that wandered over the room.
"B'ekfast!" she demanded, her stomach grumbling slightly to accentuate her desire.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:21 pm
Osso shooke his head and giggled,"no no no! Ack!" He once more pointed to 'Jack'. Hollow eyes then went to his mother as Len said something about breakfast; he was hungry as well and a small rumble from his stomach made it clear.
Wine red orbs followed the little girl's pointing hand and she nodded to show she understood. "You guy's hungry?" she asked even though she knew the answer.
On almost silent steps, the Noir werewolf made her way over to the mini-fridge and crouched down to the thing's height. Before opening the door, she looked at the strange jade-tiled skull and tilited her head. What a strange artifact..Mayan, she was almost sure, were the skull's creaters. Shaking her head a little, the werewolf went back to what she was doing and retrieved the pea and milk mash and set the cold container next to the skull. She wanted to let it warm up a little, since that was what she always did for Osso, and out of that strong habit it never occured to her that perhaps Crow did something differently.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:40 pm
One of the skull's ivory-inlaid eyes swiveled to examine the pearly green contents of the food jar next to it, and then fixed both on Azumi.
"The birdie likes its mash cold, tzopelic," it said with a hollow voice that creaked with age.
Lenore smiled as Osso tried to clarify things. Glancing back at the screen and listening, she tried to pick out the word "Ack" as the characters talked.
She heard it a couple times, and played with the word as she tried to mimic how she thought it sounded.
"Jaaak, Jak, Ja...,Jack!" she smiled again in triumph and pointed from the screen to Osso.
"Not Ack, Jack."
Crow had often been baffled by Lenore's skill at expanding her vocabulary after playing with a word for mere minutes - the child spoke like a precocious toddler already, though talking in more than a few broken sentences was still a bit beyond her. Momentarily distracted from her newest vocabulary conquest, she glanced over at Azumi and made a slightly pouty face.
"B'ekfast."
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:11 pm
Azumi let out a short scream/yelp and almost fell backwards when the jade skull spoke. "Jeezus, don't do that!" she pointed a stern finger at the skull. Most would think her weird for this, but if that damn thing talked than it could probably here as well.
"Jjj...JAAaa...Kk..Jaakk..Jjjack-Jack?" Osso said the name out loud, but he was still questionable to whether he said it correctly or not.
"Very good you two!" Exclaimed Azumi as she praised the both of them. She was now standing in front of the couch with the still cold mash. In the time it had taken Osso to sound out his favorite character's name correctly, the Noir had realized what the skull had told her and was able to find a clean spoon.
"Now who's hungry?" she asked, wine eyes looking from len to Osso and then back again.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:23 pm
The skull gave a wheezy laugh, yammering in Nahuatl as it cocked a dizzy eye at Azumi.
"You're on the other side of the rabbit hole, I'm thinking now, eh tzopelic?"
The skull gave a cackle sharp as the crack of a whip, suddenly falling silent as Azumi moved away.
"Yush, is Jack, not Ack," Len told Osso solemnly, though her features were lit with another smile. Really, she had never been so relaxed around another Mishap before. Toying with the blood pendant 'round her neck, she wondered why she had thought friends would be an annoyance she didn't want. Being in Osso's company was a delight!
As Azumi came forward at last, Lenore made grabby hands for her breakfast. The delectable scent of spiced peas mixed with milk drifted out of the mouth of the jar, making her stomach grumble even louder. Humming along to the unfamiliar tune from the movie, she looked up at Azumi and smiled.
"Glop!" she cried, naming the strange mixture with the word Crow referred to her favorite meal as.
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