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 Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:05 am
The smells of the bakery were enough to cheer even n'Barit Kinmera's jaded heart. There was just something about baked goods, a staple on his planet, that conjured up nice feelings. He could remember being little and eating fluffy rolls at the school, the insides tearing much like the human confection known as cotton candy in his fingers, but clean and not sweet.
One of the first things he had learned about Earthan baked goods was that people liked adding sweet things. He wholly disapproved. The taste of sugar left a bad aftersense in his mouth, and he hated sticky fingers with a vengeance usually reserved for murderers and witches in medieval trials. Fruit he could stand, but frosting was enough to turn his stomach inside out and leave his face a shade of green reminiscent of his hair. Jelly and jam fillings he avoided, and heaven forbid he ever encounter crèmes or puddings.
The reason he came to the bakery was bread, and sometimes bagels or muffins. Despite the advent of sweet little baked treats, bread was still the staple that made a bakery what it was, and today he was not disappointed. There was an overabundance of the stuff, fresh out of the oven, with all his favorite varieties represented.
Before, n'Barit was content to scrounge in the dumpster for day-olds, but now he had Kirkcaldy and worried over things like freshness and quality. He wanted only the best for his pure little girl. By chance he had been lucky today and picked up enough gold to buy Kirkcaldy something good. Then he could go rummage in the dumpster for himself.
Kirkcaldy sat in his arm as always, alternately playing with the silver ribbon attached to her arm or messing with n'Barit's hair as he browsed the selection. She ignored the other patrons, since she was never, ever allowed to touch them or run around. Limiting her universe to just n'Barit was her way of coping. Every once in a while, though, she noticed something that drew her interest. Today was going to be one of those.
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:48 am
Lavi laughed with pleasure as Ayame looked up at her impatiently, waiting for her to open the heavy[or so Ayame decided] door to the bakery. They'd been planning this trip for two days and had left Ayame irritable from impatience at having to wait, though the grin on her face showed she must be partially glad at having waited.
Lavi reached over the girl and pulled open the door to be bathed in the torrent of smells of wheat, cinnamon and spices. She really did need to come more often, especially now that Ayame was so insistent on going places. Memories of her parents old bakery filled her mind as they stepped inside and Ayame ran to the counter, reminding her of how she had done the same after getting out of school each day and walked ot the bakery by a neighbor. She saw herself in Ayame, somewhat, as the girl put hands and face against the glass to look at the delights within. Just one, if she was good.
It surprised Lavi at how few people where in the bakery today, normally when they went past the place was too crowded to consider venturing inside, though the only others besides herself and Ayame were a man with a young child in his arms....was it an illusionary like Ayame? She shook her head and looked again. Certainly it must be another illusionary.
She sighed and passed her gaze back to the set of butterfly wings before her and a sales clerk quietly laughing to himself as Ayame continued to peruse the delightful looking sweets and breads until she suddenly lost interest and cast her sight around the shop. Ayame frowned, dissapointed for reasons even she didn't know. This place wasn't nearly as special as she'd thought, and by now she could have been drawing.
Lavi stepped up behind her as she walked away and began talking to the clerk, who Ayame had since brushed off as unimportant if not annoying for laughing at her for being curious. She looked over her shoulder past her wings at Lavi and the clerk, dismissed her thoughts of the whole place and turned her attention with a snap to the other two in the bakery. Now these two looked interesting enough.
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:01 pm
N'Barit was just thinking that his timing was unfortunate. The usual crowds were full of unclean heathen filth, but they did offer good cover when he wanted to steal a little something. Stealing in an open empty shop was a lot riskier. With only two other people around the clerk would probably notice.
Unless the little girl hovering around the store caused some sort of terrible distraction. N'Barit eyed her warily, distrustful as always, not prepared to stake his patronage in the shop on her antics. He went back to studying the selection of bread rolls. He would simply buy something for Kirkcaldy and be done with it.
Kirkcaldy was not so dismissive of the other little girl. She recognized something. It was the same feeling as when she met Aurelius. That had led to all sorts of trouble, but despite it all, Kirkcaldy was still interested, and she peered at Ayame over n'Barit's shoulder, offering meaningless commentary only n'Barit could hear. N'Barit mistook it as discussion on the bread selection and replied in kind, continuing browsing for that one perfect piece of bread good enough for his Kirkcaldy and his meager savings.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:21 am
"And this one, a few of those..."
She had more then enough coin for whatever she saw fit to get, the prices didn't really bother her so much as she chose several loaves still steaming from their trip through the oven. As she made her selection she placed the coin due onto the table jarring a few loose and a small bag that fell with a silent thump and a clink that sounded of coin to the "welcome" carpet at her feet. She stepped away from it to a far counter of breakfast sweets {like she would pass up a chance to buy a fresh loaf of the incredible cinnamon swirl bread!} and made a few selections there before moving on to the general staple breads.
Lavi continued to debate over the price of a few wheat rolls with the clerk, the sign with all of the prices on it far from ledgeable anymore after so many hands had moved it about. This led to the now simple arguement that was more of a long standing joke between them that tended to lead to a long winded conversation.
Ayame would have nothing to do with it, as boring as it always was, and approached the other illusionary and her guardian, offering the child a thoughtful look before settling her eyes cautiously on the guardian. she fluttered her wings slightly before speaking up, more to the illusionary then the guardian, but one could easily mistake it to be meant for both. "Who are you?"
She stood on her tip toes to try and see the girl better, but the man's arm's left little else to see beyond her shoulders and red hair...a great red, she thought. It reminded her of one of the colors in her new pencil set, yet it seemed....richer. Why couldn't this person just let the girl down so that she could see her better she grumped silently to herself. As she waited on the answer to her question she looked up at N'barit and gave him a sour look, thoroughly annoyed with him already for making it difficult to see kirkcaldy. She wanted to stomp on his foot but then that might hurt the illusionary whom she wasn't annoyed with. Why did decisions always have to be difficult...
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:59 pm
If Ayame thought n'Barit carrying Kirkcaldy was frustrating, the little girl had another thing coming. N'Barit, never happy at being bothered by strangers or children and particularly peeved that he was going to be stuck dumpster diving for his share of bread, turned to look at Ayame with daggers of death in his eyes. It broke the scale on the Stare-O-Meter.
"What," he demanded, quite loudly, quite grumpily, and in a tone that suggested he was a badass biker in black leather with a few of his giant pals behind him as backup. (Instead of a famished-looking teenager with a baby and a crutch dressed in all white.) It was plainly overkill for talking to a child. Apparently n'Barit was trying to scare Ayame into never approaching anyone again for the rest of her life and maybe overturning a few bread stands in the process.
This badass routine was completely ruined by Kirkcaldy who, totally unphased by the characteristically grumpy n'Barit, responded with good cheer to Ayame: "Kee-yay!" She liked the wings, and she knew when she sensed another Illusionary, even if she didn't yet know what it was she was sensing. Her bright smile almost made up for n'Barit's behavior, except that his behavior was, as usual, inexcusable.
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:34 pm
By some means Lavi phased the yell out completely, the lack of who it was directed at leaving her focus on the treats before her. Her shoulder's sagged as she viewed several empty baskets that normally held a few of her favorites, only producing a chuckle from the clerk as he yelled in turn into the back. With a grin Lavi continued down the counter, feeling more like a child then Ayame in the store.
As N'barit's face twisted into a scowl Ayame looked at him with suspicous concern and jumped as he yelled, falling over in surprise and beginning to glow slightly from the shock. She looked up at him with rage in her eyes in front of tears just begging to come out, as if she could possibly do something. The butterfly girl prepared to repeat her question with a yell of her own as she scrambled to her feet. How dare he...She'd tried being nice....fine if that's how this person would play....
"Kee-yay!"
Huh? She had forgotten about the illusionary in her shock, completely prepared instead to have asked again and then to mock his answers. This wouldn't go unpunished, she vowed silently, nerves still frazzled as she let her anger melt away in favor of the obviously more approachable Kirkcaldy. "Ayame!" she stuck a thumb into her shoulder and fluttered her wings. She took the moment to turn up at N'barit and stick out her tongue before looking back at kirkcaldy, returning the girls smile with one of her own. The more interesting of the two first, at least kirkcaldy looked happy.
"Ayame!" she poked herself with her thumb and grinned up at the girl, one eye remaining warily on N'barit. She'd never admit it, nor allow herself to show it if she could help it, but the man had scared her with his shout, what was wrong...she quietly wondered to herself as she fingered the wishstone amulet around her neck, rubbing the soft red stone between her fingers to try to wane some of her fear.
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:24 pm
"Keiyah," answered Kirkcaldy, charmed and smiling.
"It's a moron," concluded n'Barit at the same time, not even bothering to attach a female pronoun to Ayame. He frowned and glared a moment and proceeded to resume browsing. He had mostly decided on a roll of soft, fresh sourdough, but he wanted to be completely sure there wasn't anything else better.
Kirkcaldy peered at Ayame over n'Barit's shoulder with wide blue eyes, not dismissing Ayame as easily as n'Barit had. "Bessa banna," she said invitingly.
"Not in here," came n'Barit's automatic reply to the mention of bananas. He wasn't really listening to Kirkcaldy, his mind weighing the virtues of wheat and barley.
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:15 am
"Dei is mas?" How had she known what to say to that... she shook her head and looked up at n'barit after he had spoken an instant later. A moron...what? How dare he...why... Ayame could feel her hair stand on end as the man brushed off her presence and insulted her at the same time as making it harder to try and communicate twith the girl in his arms.
She stepped forward and push with all her strength on his leg to try and get his attention if not knock him over, though her little arm's made no difference as she shoved on his metallic leg. She could feel her face redden with embarassment and anger as she failed to do more then barely rock him.
She glared up at him trying to think of what misery she could possibly try to inflict on him, though the torments she could think of would likely gain little attention, without going and getting Lavi whom she noticed was still entranced with the goods behind the glass. How in the world was she staying focused on them so long? Her attention was snapped back to her first interest as Kirkcaldy spoke again. "What?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:53 pm
It wasn't just a bit of rocking him-- that leg was always a problematic fixture-- and n'Barit had to catch himself quickly with his crutch. "Hey!" he exclaimed in upset, but just a moment too late. He started to turn to complain to Ayame directly, finishing the job she had started. He left too much weight on his leg instead of his crutch. His boot twisted in just the right direction to unlatch the leg and it promptly disconnected.
Immediately distracted, n'Barit forgot all about Ayame and swore. "Techt." He whole knee was left standing there, precariously leaning in his pants leg and threatening to come completely out at any moment. The best thing to do would be to pop it back in right now before it fell completely out. Stuffing it into the pants without taking them off was troublesome. The problem was he needed three hands if he intended to balance on the crutch, fix the leg, and hold Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy recognized the clicking noise of the prosthetic. She heard it twice a day at minimum, three times if the leg came off by mistake, as it did once a week with regularity. She also fully recognized that unless they were going to sleeep or near water, this was one of the weekly mistakes. Her eyes widened with curious concern.
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:24 pm
Ayame gasped in surprise and almost ran forward to help hold him upright, though this urge was disrupted as the memory of moments before howled in her mind. She stared up at n'Barit and his awkward stance and gave him a sinister grin of satisfaction, despite her surprise that she had ended up causing him trouble. That's what you get for messing with me she thought, considering trying to push him the rest of the way over. Her gaze settled for a moment on kirkcaldy and the memory of her sister falling over the cliff flashed in her mind, as well as the thought of how pleasent 'Caldy seemed to be. She looked n'Barit in the eyes as best she could trying to convey all of her anger through the stare alone.
With a sigh at releasing him from his punishment so early she hurried up to his side to speak, howver she adamantly refused to offer any sort of apology to the man as despite everything it was quite satisfactory to have disbalanced him so. "What I need to do?" her little voice though sweet was tainted with an edge of her fury, and the whole idea of even helping him left her feeling impatient about attempting to assist him. this was only for the illusionary girl in his arms, no more, no less. If she ever had the chance to not involve Kirkcaldy and get him again...she swore silently to herself as she stashed the plot in her mind away.
"What I need to do to help? Well?" she spoke a second time, not offering much chance for him to respond to her first query as she added more venom directed at him to the words. Maybe she could just snap Lavi from her daze somehow and hav Lavi catch kirkcaldy and just let the man fall... No...she had set her mind to help him despite things, that would be for another time...
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:24 pm
N'Barit was not so conflicted. "You can go away," he said, in no uncertain terms. The leg he could deal with just fine, he needed no one's help. Little brats, on the other hand... N'Barit looked over and Lavi and called out, "Hey! Is this thing yours? Do you think you could, I don't know, control it?" He sneered a little at Ayame, just to add insult to injury.
Kirkcaldy twisted in n'Barit's arm, trying to get a better picture of the problem. "Dyadiiin..." She wished he might let her down, but there was no chance of that so long as Ayame stood near.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 5:20 am
Lavi came out of her flour induced trance and spun around to see what she later decided had to have been one of the oddest things she had ever encountered. A young man with a babe in arms, doing something that looked almost like a short 3 way split between a crutch, a normal looking leg and another that held at a very awkward angle. His face seemed strained as he sneered down at....
"Ayame! No don't.... Leave that man alone now, let go of that! Come here now!" It was more the man's sneer that brought about the reaction then his tone, what in the world had brought this on...no sense jumping to conclusions...
Ayame shivered with anger. She'd offered to help and all she'd gotten where a few caustic words and yet another of those nasty looks. No, she couldn't let this go... .She took the few remaining steps and grabbed at the prosthetic intending fully to take it and cast it as far across the room as she could pull it, ignoring the fact he had just called out indistinctly to Lavi.
She paused and looked about as Lavi called out. Reluctantly she released the leg and backed away a few feet as Lavi approached her, scolding herthoroughly. She didn't deserve to be fussed at, this man did not her! Before she realized it Lavi had a hand clasped on her wrist. A captive once again..she sighed and looked up at Kirkcaldy inapology...maybe they wouldn't get to play...
Lavi looked the man over as she pulled Ayame back, her eyes falling for a moment on kirkcaldy, an adorable child, she thought. "Are you alright? I do apologise for Ayame's actions..." She glanced down at the prosthetic and grimaced. "Can i make it up to you somehow?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:36 am
Of course, not that Ayame got the chance to grab n'Barit's prosthetic, because while he certainly was in no postition to reattach the thing with Kirkcaldy and the crutch occupying his hands, he had been without a leg for some ten years now (give or take a reality) and he was quite accustomed to balancing on one foot, with or without his crutch.
So while Ayame imagined herself some brilliant thief, n'Barit saw her coming towards him again and, rather than let her get near his leg again, converted his crutch into a barrier by dropping into a crouch and holding it out by the crossbar at arm's length. It was a smooth, fast, practiced motion. Twenty years and two lives of combat training had taught him a thing or two. There was no way Ayame was getting near him a second time, and now he was sitting on his detached leg, so if she thought she was going to take it, she would have to pull it out from under him.
"One more step and I will knock your head off," he growled, knowing this would be her last warning. He would hit a child when it came down to it. It was how he had been raised.
Throughout this, Kirkcaldy fought back a rising fear. Being in n'Barit's arm all the time, she could tell when he was just being mean for show or getting really annoyed and angry. This was one of the latter times. To make it worse, in his haste to protect his prosthetic, n'Barit had taken hold of Kirkcaldy rather tightly to ensure her security during the trip downwards. In his anger, he had not yet released that grip.
Kirkcaldy's lip trembled. She was on level with the other little girl now and tried to plead silently with her eyes for Ayame to stop bothering n'Barit. Please, please, you're hurting me, leave dyadin and me alone, she thought mutely, but all she could do was look at Ayame unhappily.
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 6:19 am
[seeing as gaia finds my posts tasty, heres another shot at getting my post to you.]
Ayame stare at the crutch in dismay and then up at n'Barit as he spoke, only to let her gaze slide away to Kirkcaldy. The look on Kirkcaldy's face shocked her, brushing aside her animosity[sp] like it was little more then dry leaves, in it's place only sorrow at what she had tried to do and the problems she had inaderdantly caused the little girl in his arms. She opened her mouth to try to speak, apologise to the girl she had been trying to interact with before she'd allowed her temper to let her get side tracked, but could find no words.
She felt tears well up in her eyes and, thoroughly embarassed, turned to Lavi and began sobbing into the folds of her dress, confused and ashamed.
Lavi closed her eyes and sighed, placing one hand on the butterfly girls head and ruffling her hair slightly. The way Ayame had been acting lately truly concerned her, though what to do about it....
She shook her head and returned her thoughts to the issue at hand,
"I'm terribly sorry...is there...anything I could possibly do for you...Ayame has been...acting oddly ever since she found her twin. She only seems to have steady emotions when she's with her sister now...and...well it's been a while since she's been able to see her...oh why am i bothering you with this, if there is anything at all i can do for you...for the trouble, please, let me know."
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 7:37 am
N'Barit almost tried to take advantage of the situation and ask this woman for food or money, but any donations from those hands would be unclean. N'Barit noticed the store clerk getting upset by this commotion and decided enough was enough. Any minute now they would be thrown out-- or worse. "You and your kid can go away," he growled, glaring still at Ayame. If he could just get the little girl to back off, he could go about rettaching his leg and leaving. He no longer cared about buying any bread.
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