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 Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 9:11 pm
Many of the students had been gone on a train ride so Lilith was easily able to take a small leap of absence without anyone even really noticing. Where did she go? No one was really quite sure but some people speculated that it probably had something to do with "Steve". She hadn't just disappeared, before she left she asked Bartholomew to take care of her precious follyjox. Today was the day though. Today was the day Lilith was going to get her follyjox from its pet-sitter. She hadn't seen the sloth avarice in quite awhile and even if she wouldn't admit it to anyone else, she quite was looking for to curling up in the demon's lap and taking a nap.
Ignoring the sign on the gate that said to keep out like it didn't even exist, she walked straight into the dormitory as the tail of her outfit trailed behind her in the eerie breeze behind her steps. She hadn't been here much prior, but she smiled a little as she thought about how often she'd be making a trip over here, or maybe even just staying. She walked down the hall of the demon dormitory, her boots barely making a noise as her soft steps tapped against beautiful velvet carpet.
She looked at all of the doors as she passed by them, mentally noting whose each belonged to. As she passed by she thought about how nice it would be to finally see her precious follyjox against after it had been so long! These thoughts made the time fly by and when she finally got to the door she wanted, the young necromancer gently moved the soul orb from both of her hands to just one. She used her free hand to briefly brush the hair out of her eyes and then to gently tap her knuckles against the door before waiting for a certain demon to answer.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:45 am
There was a long pause, then a mechanical whirring noise as the door creaked open ominously of its own accord.
Mostly of it's own accord.
Barth was lounging on the couch, partially upside-down, with a game controller in one hand and a remote controller in the other. The remote was pointing at the door. He was absorbed in the game, which was making a lot of unhappy sounds, as if the person controlling the player was doing a very poor job at it.
He looked casually at who was standing at the door, then dropped both controllers and nearly fell off the couch.
"Lilith!" he squeaked.
He amended his posture, propping his head up with one arm and adjusting his coat so it was slightly open, doing his best to look suave and casual. Then said in a much less squeaky manner. "I didn't err," he cleared his throat, "know you were attending this school."
Barth had not been in the dorms very long. He had moved out of his old apartment and into the current housing, then almost immediately shipped out to Christmas Town. The room looked a lot more...swanky than his apartment had been. Of course, he had been in charge of decorating the apartment, so the only thing in there had been a rope he'd glued to the ceiling and waist-level piles of junk. Barth's mom had taken the helm of the dorm, and now it would be classy if Barth hadn't also been using it as a garage.
The room also looks relatively clean. Someone else must be taking care of Barth's chores.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 1:19 pm
The door opened and much to Lilith's surprise, Bartholomew hadn't been standing behind the door, not even slouching behind the door. Without much wondering how it opened, Lilith's eyes moved around to the room, narrowing down on the couch. Instead, he was on the couch... if you could even call his position on the couch. She couldn't help but smile a little at this sight as she walked into the room, closing the door gently behind her. She pushed back against the door, leaning her back against it as she looked at Bartholomew.
"You never change," she said softly as she adjusted her soul orb in her hands.
She moved from the door to the couch in a smooth movement, the tail of her outfit trailing softly behind her. She looked down at Bartholomew and then took up a seat next to him, crossing one leg over the other and putting her hands and orb on her lap. "I transferred," she replied, taking a pause and then leaning forward to Bartholomew. "Did you miss me?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 1:50 pm
Without looking at it, Barth surreptitiously found and poised a long finger over the remote on the floor. A gear and pulley device had been jimmied over the doorframe.
Lilith managed to shut the door on her own, though. He relaxed and answered her question.
"No, err, the Mudds are very reliable sorts." You could rely on Barth, for instance, to ignore most assigned tasks completely.
"I was drafted into the school," he said, self-pity evident. "and killed by a dragon. And a Ninja. I'm alright now, though. I destroyed a robot, I think that counts for something. There was so much hiking. You would not believe the amount I have missed you." His expression wobbled meaningfully. He hesitated, then fiddled with a button on his coat.
"Why, err, why are you swinging by, though? I thought - err, you had that new beau, and the League of Exes thing....? I didn't really do well at that, Claire kept calling me about it but I think I missed meeting whats-his-name entirely."
Avoiding getting into a fight with Lilith's current squeeze may or may not have been accidentally on purpose.
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 2:36 pm
Lilith's face studied Bartholomew carefully as he explained his situation. The experiences he went through sounded absolutely dreadful. She could barely even imagine what it was like and she couldn't believe her poor little sloth demon had gone through so much in her time away. She seemed to smile sweetly when Bartholomew expressed just how much he had missed her, his expression showing a good part of it.
"I am pleased to hear so. I missed you too."
She had barely even seen "Steve" since the whole fiasco that he had started trying to go on a date with her, and it certainly wasn't giving the raven mocker any pumpkin points. At the rate he was going, it was probably going to have to jump through a few more hoops before she'd even allow him to see her again. After all he put her avarice demons through, he could have at least called her after their date. Maybe she shouldn't have told him she was a guy, even if she wasn't being serious.
"You did wonderfully," she said as she ignored the topic of her beau, her hand touching his leg affectionately. "You would fight for me, and that alone is enough."
She got back on track, away from the business of that raven mocker and after pulling her lingering hand off of Bartholomew's leg, she replied. "Actually though, other than spending time with you, I came to pick up my Follyjox that you said you'd look after for me. I've miss him greatly and now that I'm all settled back in I thought it would be about time to pick him up."
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:25 pm
He smiled at the affection, looking like a very puffed up, pleased, and fluffy bird.
And then she told him why she had dropped by.
Oh.
Oh, right. Where was that Follyjox. He liked follyjoxes, actually, along with a lot of other gooey pets. They held a special place in his affections. He and Lilith's follyjox, who he remembered as being very warm and very friendly, had hit it off immediately. He just hadn't seen it in a while. But he'd been away.
"It's probably around here somewhere," he said hopefully. He whistled. "Here, err, whatsit. Good Follyjox."
There was a distinct and poignant silence.
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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:27 pm
Lilith smiled as she watched Bartholomew call out for her follyjox and nodded when he said he was around somewhere. She took a minute to carefully adjust herself on the couch by crossing uncrossing her leg and sitting more in an upright manner while the sloth retrieved her follyjox. After she was finished getting comfortable, she looked around hopefully to see her little follyjox come out, but it was quiet -- really quiet. Why hadn't Bartholomew said anything? Her attention quickly turned and focused back on Bartholomew, her blue eyes watching him and watching him.
"Did you find him?" It wasn't much of a question. She assumed he had found the follyjox and the necromancer expectantly held her arms so Bartholomew could give her follyjox back to her.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:20 pm
"Doesn't, err-" Barth rolled off the couch. "...look....that....way."
He checked under the couch, then got up slowly and poked aimlessly behind the other furniture. Then his closet, then in his chest of drawers. He whistled, hoping to hear a scurry of paws. Nothing.
Then he began to examine the junk piles.
"Ah, here," he said, finding a white tentacle peeking out from the clutter. He stooped to pick it up. ...It stayed limp.
He dropped it. "No, false alarm, just a sock. ...Must have, err, escaped. Sorry." He really did look sorry.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:40 pm
Lilith's arms drew back and her lips curled in a displeased fashion. What did he mean it didn't look that way? How long did it possibly take him to find her dear pet? She made a small sigh and with no follyjox to hold in her arms, they wrapped themselves back around the orb in her lap until the orb was back in her hands and off her lap.
She watched the sloth demon roll off the couch as he investigated under the couch first before moving around and checking other furniture. He checked his closet, and in his drawers -- he even whistled. No sounds of paws tapping over the floor, nothing. His last resort seemed to be looking into the junk piles he had scattered over his room and when he said 'Ah, here,' the necromancer's face lit up, only to be absolutely crushed when he said it was a false alarm and then began to apologize saying it... escaped? Her follyjox wouldn't run away!
"No... he couldn't have..." she said. "Here boy!"
If the follyjox was anywhere in the room, he'd hear her calling and come running.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:48 pm
The tentacle wriggled.
It was a little smooshed, now that Barth was looking at it properly, but maybe he had made a mistake? And it had only been sleeping?
Some of the clutter tumbled away. The follyjox dragged itself out from under the pile. It looked emaciated, and was drooling, and its eyes carried an uncanny and unnatural glow. It could barely stand. It looked up at Barth with a rattly hiss.
"Oh," Barth said, picking it up gingerly. "Here it is. ...Looks a little hungry."
The follyjox's skin was room temperature, and patches of blood and dirt muddied its fur. Its muzzle was stained a deep red. The blood belonged to something else.
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 11:57 pm
Lilith turned her head to Bartholomew who seemed to be carrying something towards her. She wondered what it was. It had tentacles, and a cute little nose and such a marvelous little soul... Lilith's face changed. It was her follyjox! Bartholomew had found him! She put her orb down on the couch beside her and held her arms out to receive the animal from the sloth demon. He felt a little warm against her arms and definitely needed a bath, but it was her follyjox! It seemed a little too happy to leave Bartholomew, even trying to bite him on the way to Lilith. Or maybe it was just like Bartholomew had said and the follyjox was just hungry.
"What did you let him get into?" She inquired, trying to wipe the red stuff off of the follyjox.
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 12:07 am
"You know, I'm not entirely sure. I've err- been away. Like I said. Drafted. Looks like he did alright for himself, though."
Barth sat down on the couch, looking at the follyjox curiously. It did look unfed. In fact, if he thought about it, it probably hadn't been fed since he left for Christmas Town. ...Or even before that, really. Most animals, he assumed, could scavenge for their own food, but this one didn't look like it had.
He did a quick time calculation in his head.
"It err, is alive, anyway. Isn't it?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:34 pm
Lilith was busy staring at the cute little follyjox in her arms while Bartholomew was talking. She had mostly tuned him out in way of snuggling the dirty little follyjox in her arms as she inspected him for damages. It didn't take her long to notice that the little guy now seemed to be missing the corner of one of his ears and her eyes went to the sloth demon. Strike one. He hadn't even taken care of her follyjox and went away instead? Strike two.
She listened to the sloth demon's concerns about something that really should never have been an issue. How alive her follyjox was. How silly was that? Her follyjox certainly couldn't be dead, it was moving about. It took a moment but she held out the follyjox so she could give it a better inspection. There was something different about it, other than it being dirty and missing the corner of one of its ears. Something important changed. It wasn't big, it was something she had overlooked. The soul was missing half of its life! It wasn't dead, but it wasn't quite alive...
"I can't believe you would do that," was all she said to Bartholomew.
Now she would have reacted worse but it was partly her fault for leaving it with a sloth demon in the first place and her beloved follyjox wasn't dead. It was just undead now. Lilith didn't mind how it looked. She still loved its soul, and the follyjox still loved her but it didn't take long for the undead follyjox to suddenly squirm out of Lilith's arm and stare at Bartholomew. It growled. It hissed. It slowly moved towards him. Oh boy, it looked hungry. Lilith didn't try and stop it, no. She smiled.
"I believe you better find him something to eat before he tries to eat you. Better hurry. Who moves faster? I'm going to go with the follyjox."
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 5:38 pm
"Do? Err." He hadn't done anything. But that was the point. And the reason Lilith was upset. Although he couldn't see souls, he was good at recognizing the difference between a live minipet, a dead minipet, and those that fell into the middle categories. He had seen his fair share of each.
As it came growling towards him, Barth reached out and patted it affectionately.
"I didn't mean to let him go so long. It just err, slipped my mind."
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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 6:07 pm
The follyjox didn't take kindly to being patted by the one who caused his downfall and immediately snapped at the sloth demon, biting his hand as hard as his little jaw could. It shook its head and tried to rip off a piece of the sloth demon, growling while doing so. This caused Lilith to giggle just a little as a small smirk fell on the necromancer's lips.
"I guess he found something to eat on his own. I must say I'm a little jealous."
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