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 Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:19 pm
What had possessed his guardian to stuff him into an overcoat and drag him out to the middle of nowhere, where some bunch of idiots had poured a bunch of water on the floor and waited for it to freeze....Melchy would never know.
But nonetheless, Katrina had done it, and Melchy, wearing a jacket reluctantly, was standing on the edge of an ice skating rink, feet cramped uncomfortably in skates that looked like girls' shoes with blades on them and a hat with holes for his ears jammed down over his eyebrows. He was scowling, tail lashing, and looking at the ice with a contemptuous expression he usually reserved for water. Not that ice wasn't water...but it wasn't wet water. Just cold water. And Melchy had decided that he deplored that just about as much as wet water.
"Melchizedek, c'mon now!" Katrina called sharply from behind the boy, standing with a thermos of coffee and looking irrationally pleased with herself. Melchy snarled and turned to look at her, but Katrina gently pushed him out onto the ice when he was off-balance.
Melchy collapsed, yowling, onto all fours, scrambled up, and found his feet sliding out from under him. Two more tries to stand, and he finally managed not to land right back on his butt. Scowling, he tentatively took a step, sliding a few inches. Curious, he tested with his other foot. Slid a bit more. And continued this until he came to some semblance of decent skating. Granted, he couldn't turn, and he had to run into things to stop, but at least he wasn't falling anymore.
Katrina had settled back on the hockey bleachers and was watching with smug amusement. This was obviously the highlight of her day.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:50 pm
Asher rarely dragged her along to anything, believing fully that she could take care of herself (plus, she loved kicking him when she didn't get her way and he wasn't about to return to that time) and Irelia was very put out when he told her she couldn't take her bike.
Decked out in a tawny suede jacket, long brown leggings, and a brown hat with her horns sticking out, she looked like an odd combination of snow-bound girl and ancient viking. Walking to the rink, Irelia scrunched her nose in distaste when she realized that they were about to try shoes on her. None of the normal shoes would fit, Irelia knew that much, and they forbade her to step on the ice without skates.
Not that she really wanted to skate, but Asher had decided this would be their outing for the week, and she didn't want to disappoint him. The people in charge had finally rigged a pair of tiny skates together, about the size of children's booties, and Irelia tested them out on the rubber floor. Feeling somewhat stable, Irelia shrugged, and accepted them as they were, but they felt very strange on her hoofs.
Asher had bought a cup of coffee and leaned on the glass of the rink, watching as Irelia took feeble steps towards the ice. Smiling to himself, he noticed a familiar woman standing beside him. Grimacing to himself, Asher plastered on a shaky smile as he turned to her.
"Ah, we met at the Holiday party awhile ago." Asher was going to add some pleasantries, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
Irelia stepped on the ice, already wobbling on the flat ground as her center of gravity shifted to a completely different height than she had ever experienced,due to not ever wearing shoes. Screaming, Irelia flailed her arms, and fell down on her butt, wincing as the breath was knocked out of her.
"owwwwww. How is this fun?" Irelia scowled at the happy people who whizzed past her.
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:20 pm
Katrina looked up at the man when he addressed her, having to think back carefully to place him. It was made easier when Asher informed her as to their place of meeting, and then she raised an eyebrow for a moment before schooling herself to impassivity again.
"Ah, yes, Calder's lover," she said pleasantly, watching as Melchizedek clotheslined himself on a teen couple who had been holding hands until their collision with the cat-boy. "He's doing well, I trust?"
Melchy picked himself up off the ice, snarling to himself, when he caught sight of someone who looked like she was having an even worse time of it than he was. Interested, his tail flicked and ears shot forward when he realized that it was a girl from the Christmas party, one of Taki's friends. He couldn't remember her name, and he was certain she wouldn't recognize him, but since she was struggling and looked like she was probably the worst ice-skater in existence, he couldn't keep away from her. Drawn to suffering like a moth to a flame, he skated haltingly over and glided to a stop where he could lean nonchalantly against the wall of the rink.
"Havin' trouble?" he drawled good-naturedly, his graceful pose in no way betraying how truly awful at the sport he really was. Smiling smugly, he looked around for a moment, and then focused back on Irelia. "Ye're one o' the...Patch kids, yeah? Friend o' Taki's?" The boy had discovered recently that speaking like a pirate tended to attract a lot of attention, much of it awed, and he was by no means going to abandon that now, not when he was already superior (cough, not, cough) to this strange sheep-child floundering on the ice.
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:36 pm
Asher blinked, then shifted in to an uneasy smile.
"Ah yes, I was drinking. My memories of the party are vague and filled with unfortunate circumstances. Forgive me if i caused you any duress at that time." Asher replied, bowing. Uncomfortable, Asher turned to watch Irelia.
"Not exactly graceful, is she?" Asher chuckled.
Irelia looked up at him, and scowled briefly.
"Help me up would you? You're not winning brownie points with your affected speech with me; Though you will if you teach me how to stay above the ice without breaking my bones."
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:21 pm
Aware that she had made him uncomfortable and oddly satisfied by that fact, Katrina shrugged in answer to Asher's apology and turned her own gaze to the ice and the children.
"Mine's no better," she answered after a moment, in response to Asher's comment on Irelia. "Beg your pardon if it's touchy, but yours is the curly-headed one, yes? Are those ram's horns?"
Melchy snorted at Irelia's speech, understanding the words even if he weren't one to use them (Katrina was no idiot or slacker when it came to vocabulary or eloquence). “Ain’t a put-on, love, it’s how I talk,” he said, tossing his head arrogantly and flicking his tail from side to side in affected irritation. But all the same, he leaned down, steadying himself with one hand on the wall of the rink, and reached out to the girl. “C’mon, then, stand up.”
Investigating her quickly, his expression flickered through confusion and amusement when he saw her feet. "Can't wear reg'lar skates?" he asked, tone surprisingly bland for the expressions that had been warring on his face a moment ago. "What, y'have hoofs or somethin'?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:41 pm
Irelia grabbed the boys hand, and tried to pull herself up, her skates flailing around her. Finally, she gained a bit of composure, and dropped the boy's hand.
"Yes i have hooves. And they would be perfectly fine to "skate" on this blasted surface but the stupid people in charge won't let me on the ice without skates. If I break an ankle, ohhhhh I am so suing them."
Irelia grabbed on to the ledge of the rink, hanging on for dear life. She ignored the boy's way of speaking, laying on her slight british accent even more thickly.
"Whoever created this sport should be dragged on to this ice and shot."
Asher nodded at Katrina.
"Yes, she's mine. I'm not entirely sure how she came about with the ram's horns, as she's definitely female. I do fear that she's part devil, due to her tendency to kick people and her fiery temper, but she's not evil. Just... impatient."
Asher chuckled.
"Is that your boy helping her up? We best watch them, she goes from being a perfect lady to an unholy terror in a snap."
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:56 pm
Katrina laughed wryly, turning and looking at Asher with an ironic smile. "How convenient. Mine's just an unholy terror." Her eyes flicked back to the children on the ice, and she nodded. "Mine's the cat-boy, yes."
And then Asher's comment about Irelia possibly being part-devil struck her. "Well," she said decisively. "That's...an unpleasant thought. Least I know mine's just black cat. Though that's no trivial issue shipboard." She shrugged after a moment and made a soft humming noise in the back of her throat before taking a sip of her coffee and watching the children again.
"Weird, that," Melchy said brightly. "I has claws, but can' say m'feet are any different than normal 'uns." He didn't miss the change in her accent, and his expression shifted to slightly amused, though it changed to a full-out grin after a moment. "I agree with that'n," he said, miming cocking an old-fashioned revolver and holding it at the ready. Then he laughed easily and took a step, wobbling and immediately clutching at Irelia's shoulder for stability.
This was probably not a good idea, Melchy realized as he felt both his skates sliding out from beneath him. "This'll end bad," he said in a surprisingly calm ironic tone, and then he yowled, lost his balance completely, and toppled forward into Irelia.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:15 pm
Irelia watched in horror as the boy toppled towards her, clutching at the side even more tightly than she was before. But even as she did so, her grip loosened, and she was hit by the sudden bulk of the boy. Hitting her horn against the wall (imagine breaking a nail at the hilt, times it by ten, and that's how smashing her horn felt) Irelia let out a weak cry, and fell to the ice, sliding around like a dazed and drunk sailor.
"Owww..." Irelia mumbled vaguely, prying her arm out from under Melchy.
"That hurt." Irelia checked her hand for blood; finding none, she sniffed surrepitously, trying her hardest not to actually cry but finding it a hard battle. She had taken the brunt of the fall, and found herself in an oddly submissive position. Why, some people might get the wrong idea and think she was a girl.
Poking Melchy in the back, Irelia growled, tears spilling over,
"Geroff."
Asher started towards the divide between the ice and the warm area where him and Katrina were "chatting", but held back before hitting the ice and running over to Irelia. She was fiercely independent, and had never ran to Asher to get her cuts fixed, always administering the antiseptic and bandaids herself.
"I'll go get her if i see blood." Asher said calmly, and waited to see if Irelia would get up. It wouldn't do to act like an old biddy when Irelia was more than able to deal with her own bruises.
He wasn't callous, he just didn't want bruises of his own.
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:20 pm
Melchy didn't need to be told twice. The boy was never a big fan of looking stupid, and being that close to an unknown person--an unknown girl--made the cat-child accutely uncomfortable. He had scrabbled back and was sitting thoughtfully on the ice, watching Irelia with mingled concern and sheepishness. "S'ry," he mumbled, not looking at her. She was crying, and this fact just increased Melchy's discomfort severely.
"You hurt?" he asked, inspecting himself for any massive cuts he might have sustained from skates or horns or claws...though he generally managed to avoid making himself bleed...
He paused a moment, licked his lips, and then removed a white handkerchief from his sleeve and indecorously spat a globule of bloody saliva onto it. Making a disgusted face, he put his ears back and studiously avoided Irelia's gaze. "Bit m'tongue," he said, then smiled sheepishly, revealing fangs that could certainly cause bleeding if they caught the inside of the mouth the wrong way. "You 'kay, though?" he asked again, either not hearing the first response or repeating himself to be courteous.
Katrina had watched the painful collision with a mildly concerned expression, but she made no move to get up to help her own child. When Irelia inspected herself, Katrina glanced at Asher to see what he was doing. If he could handle any problems his girl had, then Katrina would leave it at that. Melchy was quite adept at taking care of himself.
All the same, in an attempt to seem more like the parent she still didn't consider herself, when Asher stood, she followed him. "If mine attacks yours or vice versa, I'll intervene." She answered Asher's rationalization with her own. "Melchizedek can very well handle himself."
And unlike Asher, it would be safe to say that Katrina was callous. If there had been copious blood, she would have gone. But piracy and callousness often went hand in hand. C'est la vie.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:22 pm
Irelia nodded, and swiped at her eyes angrily. No way was she going to appear less than amazing, and crying was not helping her in any way.
"I'm fine." Irelia said stubbornly, groaning as she moved her body off the ice. She was going to bruise something fierce.
Getting to her feet, Irelia wobbled in a straight line and held on to the rail again.
"This isn't particularly fun," Irelia watched the laughing people race past her, and a look of determination came in to her eyes, "I don't know about you, but I really dislike being awful at anything."
Asher relaxed as Irelia got to her feet, and leaned back against the railing.
"Hmm, Irelia seems to be less concerned with fighting and more concerned with standing at the moment. We probably won't have to pry them apart unless they're on solid ground."
Asher chuckled. Though Irelia sometimes did like to surprise him with being more ornery than he expected.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:22 pm
Melchizedek flicked his ears and tucked the handkerchief into his pocket, watching Irelia and frowning slightly. "Hate bein' bad at stuff," he agreed, nodding emphatically and then frowning a little bit at Irelia's wobbly clinging.
"Stayin' on yer feet's easier if ye're act'lly movin'," he offered tentatively, skating away from the wall a bit, then coming back and offering Irelia his hand. He knew it was doubtful, since he had already successfully proved that he wasn't the best for holding onto. Tail out behind him for balance, he stood very quietly. "If ye get goin' y'find it easier t'stay up then if y'don't," he repeated, clarifying. "Promise I won' fall on ye again," he added.
Katrina sat down again as soon as the conflict seemed to be resolved, smiling at Asher. He wasn't actually a bad man, when you got right down to it. He had just..........left a rather bad first impression. Katrina almost chuckled in response to the man's own laughter. "Melchy'll turn tail if it looks like a fight. He won't get into anything he knows he can't come out of as the winner."
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 3:40 pm
Asher laughed. "Remind me to never lay any bets on him in a fight, then."
Irelia nodded, and clutched at his hand, slowly letting go of the safety of the wall, and on to the cold, slippery confines of the ice.
Moving slowly, Irelia wobbled a lot, but found that the cat-boy had been right. It was a lot easier to stay up when you were moving.
Eyeing his long tail, Irelia wished hers was longer, for added balance.
"Oh. I forgot to tell you my name in all the confusion. I'm Irelia. I'd shake your hand but I'm barely staying up as it is."
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Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:11 pm
"Well, if he's actually started fighting, you win when you bet on him," Katrina answered with a smile. "He's a spitfire, just chooses his fights carefully."
Taking Irelia's hand tightly but not enough to be painful, Melchy carefully matched her stride for stride. He was so absorbed in moving his feet the same as hers so neither of them fell, he almost missed her introduction.
"Eh," he answered dismissively, gesturing expressively with his free hand. "We're holdin' hands as is. Th'name's Melchizedek, c'n call me Melchy, if y'so please," he said, bobbing his head. "I'd bow, but we'd both fall over agin."
Chuckling, he loosened his grip on Irelia's hand but stayed close. "See 'f y'can get it wi'ou' me now," he said. "That way if one of us is gonna fall, we c'n let go an' won' take th'other un with us."
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