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 Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:40 pm
"No, no... no, not that one! The one with the red cover! No, the other red! Left! Go left!"
The ever-so-slightly frantic words echoed through this particular corner of the Amityville library; those watching the shelves observantly would see a white tail waving like a flag over the books on the very top. Far too high up for a petite young ghoul to reach, which was why the ghoul in question was standing below, wringing her hands and calling out directions to her familiar.
The Incubator paused next to the indicated book and peered over the edge of the shelf. < This one? >
"Yes, yes, that's the one! Careful, now, careful... aaaaaah!" The witchling yelped as the book in question tipped off the shelf and fell quite a bit faster than she'd been expecting. She flinched backwards rather than reaching out to catch, and the book hit the floor spine-up, pages crunching against the floor. "Oh no, oh no, that was a terrible idea..." she moaned as she scooped the book up and placed it on the nearest table, gloved hands desperately trying to smooth the crumpled pages.
The familiar, for his part, jumped neatly down the shelves, expression unchanging as it joined the book on the table, sitting down right next to his frantic mistress.
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:52 pm
Siddie looked up from the paper she'd been trying to concentrate on. She couldn't quite hear what the voice was saying, but she recognized the tone of desperate worry. She rose from her chair, brushing her skirts down, and went to find the source of the voice.
Rounding a corner, she found a pretty young witch bent over a book, her familiar seated nearby. The familiar's expression gave Siddie a moment of pause; in spite of its mistress's obvious distress, it continued to smile serenely, simply watching its witch. How strange. "Um," Siddie said. "Are you okay?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 9:07 pm
"Oh!" The witchling jumped, then hunched guiltily over the book she'd inadvertently damaged. "I-I'm okay, but... oh..." She sighed and straightened, revealing the book, refusing to look up at the newcomer. "I-it was an accident... the l-ladders were too high..."
The familiar hopped lightly over the nest of crushed pages and stood at the edge of the table, leaning outward as if to tap the other student with his nose.
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 9:19 pm
"Oh, I see," Siddie said, and came closer to get a better look at the book. She bit her lip thoughtfully. "It's a good thing it didn't hit you. It looks pretty heavy." She tried smoothing the pages, turning crumpled corners back again. "It'll probably be okay if you put something heavy on top of it. The weight will press the pages flat again," she offered.
She looked down at the familiar. "Hi?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 9:35 pm
< Greetings, > the familiar said; his expression did not change, but he spoke nevertheless, projecting a calm voice right into the newcomer's mind. < I am Shibey, and this is my Anna. >
Anna hunched over the book again, then straightened with a self-conscious, awkward laugh. "Haha... yeah, u-um. I'm Anna, all right," she said, clasping her hands behind her back and bobbing her head. "Th-thank you for the advice... m-maybe next time I'll climb the ladder instead of having Shibey knock it down for me.?" She glanced up at the nearest ladder with a vaguely fearful look before gingerly pulling another heavy book off the lower shelf.
"Maybe weight it down with this?" she asked, after a moment.
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:06 pm
Siddie jumped slightly, not having quite expected a voice in her mind. It didn't bother her, though, and she offered a friendly smile. "I'm Obsidian," she replied, "but please, call me Siddie, okay?" She kicked the toe of one boot idly against the rug. "If you can find one of the gnomes you can ask them to climb up," she said, "but you know, ew, gnomes."
She eyed the new tome and nodded. "That looks like it'll do it," she agreed. Then she paused. "Did you need the other one for class?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:18 am
"Class? No, not yet..." Sheepishly, Anna tilted the book so the cover was visible - 101 Basic Spells Reviewed. "M-my magic has been, um... having trouble lately. I guess I'm out of practice..." She hurriedly put the book down and closed it very slowly, making sure she wasn't re-crunching any of the pages. Then the other, heavier book went on top. "I guess I'll have to do that another time."
She heaved a sigh, then offered Siddie a shy smile. "O-okay. Siddie. That's a really pretty name. A-are you a demon, or...? My auntie married a shadow demon."
Shibey, for his part, hopped on top of the two books and sat down primly.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 4:50 pm
"I bet you could get a copy of that at the bookstore in the maul," Siddie mused. "I mean - if it's just basic stuff, you know, they'll probably have it in the Spells and Hexes section. Since the school's here, they have a pretty good selection of texts and stuff."
She smiled back at Anna. "Thanks! No, I'm just a monster. Living shadow, rather than a demon type. My m- " she paused and clasped her hands together a moment, then went on, "Um, never mind. I can't do magic myself, only Shadowcraft. Magic always sounded interesting to me!"
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:08 pm
Anna opened her mouth, about to nervously state that she didn't have enough seeds to go to the bookstore, but then a sudden twist of emotion shot down her spine, tingling. Siddie was...
...
The witchling turned away just slightly. She could feel a pang of discomfort coming from the shadow girl, and something inside of her found that discomfort delicious, fortifying. Wanted more, but she didn't want more-
"I'm n-not very good at m-magic," she stammered, her nervousness more pronounced now than it had been before as she tried to ignore that sense of delight derived from Siddie's pain. She didn't want to feel that way, she didn't! "I'm s-sorry you're not feeling well..."
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 4:46 pm
"That's o - what?" Without really meaning to, Siddie wrapped her arms around herself, gripping her elbows. "I'm not - how can ..." She looked down at her toes and swallowed hard. "Is it that obvious?" she asked.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:52 pm
"Obvious?" Anna looked at Siddie with wide eyes, as if startled just as much. The delicious nononono don't think of it like that!! taste of discomfort curled around her. "I-I, u-um... I'm s-sorry!! I just, I have this... it's a... I can kinda sense when people are feeling b-bad and... it's new to me and I'm not used to it yet, I'm sorry!!"
Shibey's tail twitched to the left.
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Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:23 pm
"O-oh." That made Siddie feel a little better, paradoxically. "I've been - trying to stay cheerful," she said, and twisted a lock of hair in her fingers nervously. "Some stuff happened. I was just. Hoping it wasn't showing to everyone. It's okay." She smiled weakly.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:21 pm
She wasn't mad? Anna relaxed visibly, only then realizing that she'd nervously crumpled up a good portion of her own overskirt into her clenched fists. "I hope, um, whatever it is gets better," she offered as she hurriedly smoothed down her skirts again. It was important to say that; there was something in her that didn't want that pain to end... but she was ignoring that!
"I don't think I would have noticed without, u-um, my power," she added. "You're better at that than I am, at least? My grandma always said I wore my heart on my sleeve. Like an undead?" She tried to work up a giggle at the familiar, terrible joke, but it petered out. The thought of her family was still painful even though she didn't want it to be.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:57 pm
"Thank you," Siddie nodded, sighing out some of the tension that had crept into her shoulders. "It will. I mean, I hope - no, I"ll make it." She was going to fix what she'd screwed up; it was her fault, but - but that meant that she could try to do something about it.
She giggled weakly. "That would get your dress all messy," she pointed out. "And that would be a pity. It's really nice."
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 4:52 pm
"Thank you!" Anna beamed warmly now, and most of the nervous stammering had gone out of her voice. "I guess it's, um, kind of an old-fashioned country style, but I like it. It's what we had at home, and... yeah. What we had at home." Jack, she couldn't keep shying away from every mention like a frightened animal! She just couldn't. Otherwise she'd be shying forever.
"They sent me here because I messed up, but I'm going to do better and show them. Make them proud of me again," she blurted out abruptly, her eyes bright both with intensity and the smallest smattering of tears. "Home, I mean. My family. But I'm going to fix it, I am. Really."
< To deny your growing power would be folly. It is what they wanted, > Shibey pointed out, audible to both girls though only comprehensible to one.
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