|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:56 am
Finch couldn't help but let a large lazy yawn escape him as he wandered slowly down the street. He'd not been up long and was still adjusting to fact that he was actually awake. "It feels so early..." The vampire complained with a mumble and slight groan almost childishly. "I honestly don't understand how people get up during the day. The warmth of the sun just makes it all the more cozier for sleeping." He added, forgetting he was human and did so once himself, although his situation was far from cozy.
"Not my fault your defective." Raeli commented with a cheeky grin. "I love the light. It's so much more colourful. but then, there's your problem, huh? You need more colour in your life." the corsea added looking up into the darkening sky. It wasn't very late, but for some reason it was getting dark earlier than usual.
"This it?" he asked a few minutes later when he vampire friend took a rather sharp turn towards a house. "Must be... It really isn't such a nice colour is it?" The corsea confirmed noting the un-attractive colour of Genevieve's house.
The pink creature was excited. This was the first time he'd visited a friend that didn't live in the same apartment block. Not only that, but he was eager to start the math lessons... and of coarse we can't forget Dragul. He wanted to see her again, even though it'd been only a day or so since they'd met.
Finch stayed pretty silent. The dark figure glided to the door with long steps, his coat flying out around his ankles. He loved the feel of the cloth being dragged behind by the air. Reaching the door he knocked loud and turned to watch Raeli racing up to float beside him.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:27 am
Genevieve looked at Dragul, newly grown and admiring the clothing which seemed to have materialized with her new form. That part particularly impressed Genevieve, but she made no mention of it. Dragul probably had no idea how she had managed to generate clothing, and asking would probably just raise problems. She did look a great deal different than she had earlier that day.
"I think you're right. Raeli will be surprised," she agreed.
"Do you think Lysander would be surprised?" Dragul asked.
"Probably."
Dragul's smug grin was reminiscent of the grins Genevieve had often seen on the faces of her classmates in high school. Partially a genuine smile, but also a little predatory. The predatory wasn't such a surprise. Genevieve had always known Dragul was naturally inclined toward omnivorism, but she seemed to now have a different sort of prey in mind.
Of course, Genevieve was in no position to pass judgment, she realized as she looked at her forearm, where Andrew had written his brief, uplifting message. No, she was certainly in no position to pass judgment. Not for that.
A knock at the door startled her and she went to answer the knock. She didn't bother to look to see who it was. There were a limited number of options: Andrew or Finch and Raeli. If it was a murderer or robber, they weren't likely to knock. Or so she told herself.
"Dragul," she called over her shoulder before opening the door, "Will you get some paper and pencils out of the drawer in the telephone stand?"
Dragul nodded and obeyed. Genevieve wondered if Dragul realized that Genevieve meant for the corsea to be able to make a delayed entrance to better attract attention. When she was younger, Genevieve had always wanted to do that, but she had never looked attractive enough to warrant the effort. Dragul, however, deserved to get some special attention. It was kind of like her birthday, after all.
Then she opened the door. It was nice that it turned out to be Finch and Raeli on the other side, and not a murderer or robber. She felt a swell of faith in humanity. The day had actually been a very good day, and she was inclined to be in a good mood.
"Hey," she greeted them. "Come in. The place is a horror, but I've been a bit distracted."
Actually, she had spent most of the previous day cleaning, but every hostess has to claim that the house looks awful, implying that it usually looks better, so that the guest can be assured that the house is not as wonderful as it could be and doesn't accept it at face value and decide the hostess is a slob. Or so Genevieve's mother had told her in sixth grade when they were cleaning up for a date her mother had that evening.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:57 am
Finch smiled when Genevieve opened the door and looked down at Raeli. "I was just guessing..." He said finally answering the corsea's question 'This it?' from before. "Just as well I was right." He added directing his attention back to the owner of the house, "No need to go out of your way for us. It's not really what the house looks like that counts. It's the relationships you have with the people who live in it." He couldn't deny though, that a living space tells a lot about the people who live in it.
"Can't be worse than our place. Looks like we live in the dark ages at the moment." The pink corsea said with a smile and nodded in greeting to the hostess. Finch threw the creature a sharp glare as if to say 'Don't even go there. You might give something away.'
Raeli followed Finch inside, who was slightly hesitant about entering another person's territory. Strange thing to be thinking of at the time, but that's what was running through his mind. He stretched his arms up and took his shoes off, unsure of if Genevieve meant for them to make their way themselves, or if she was going to lead them. In most cases the second option was the natural one in such a situation so he waited.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:17 am
It took Genevieve a moment to realize Finch's dilemma and then she smiled self-deprecatingly. It had been a very long time since she had entertained guests. Andrew was hardly worth trying to play hostess for, since he never gave warning before appearing and his mother was the scariest hostess Genevieve had ever seen.
"The living room's this way," Genevieve said, motioning to her left and then beginning to walk in that direction as well.
"I've got Dragul looking for paper and pencils and I remembered to dig out some of my math books from high school before you came, not that they'll be much help. No one in my high school understood them at all."
"Please sit down," she said, gesturing toward the couch. There was a battered coffee table in front of it where a short stack of textbooks sat, looking abused. The abuse wasn't Genevieve's fault.
"Dragul should be here soon," Genevieve said, frowning very slightly. It wasn't that difficult to find paper and pencils. Genvieve could see them very clearly in her head. The difference, she supposed, was that Dragul had less use for the materials and was not likely to think about them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:08 am
Feeling somewhat out of place, Finch smiled and followed her directions into the living room. "Well it's worth a try. Raeli has a strange way of understanding languages not long after learning the basics. I still can't believe how quickly he managed to pick up on his friend's musical language." He said with a slight shrug, referring in the last comment to Raeli's dryad friend with a tendency to speak through music rather than words.
"I don't know how people could find it so hard. Thank you for this, Genevieve. I really appreciate it." Raeli thanked her in his best manners. He looked around the living room, his eyes first falling to the pile of books. He was now even more excited. He loved reading anything and everything. "Is Dragul planning on taking lessons too?" He asked when a sudden thought hit him. He half hoped she was, feeling a little strange leaving one of the tenants out. "I wouldn't feel right leaving her out." He admitted finally, more-so to himself than anyone else in the room. He cast his gaze back to the books and wondered what kinds of new things he might learn from them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:11 am
Genevieve didn't understand what Finch meant when he spoke of Raeli's friend's musical language, but she did not ask. She didn't wish to pry, and assumed that if he wished to speak further of the matter, he would say more, and if not, he wouldn't.
Genevieve shrugged in response to Raeli's query. "I have no idea. She seemed interested enough yesterday, but things may have changed since then."
She would give away Dragul's surprise prematurely. The corsea deserved it. As though summoned by Genevieve's thoughts, Dragul floated in carrying a fistful of pencils and and armful of paper. She placed her burden on the coffee table and then looked to Genevieve for a clue how to proceed. Genevieve shrugged slightly. How was she to know?
"It's good to see you again, Finch, Raeli," Dragul said, enunciating carefully, which slowed her speech, or perhaps it was the other way around.
Dragul smoothed her skirt and hovered a little nervously on the opposite side of the coffee table from Finch and Raeli. Genevieve wished she could do something to make the awkward moment pass, but it was quite out of her hands, and she had always been socially inept. So she looked at her marker-tattoo and smiled to herself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 3:00 am
Raeli didn't think too much of the reply he got at first. At least not until Dragul came in. He blinked a few times, surprised that the undera he'd just met the previous day was now a corsea. "You too, Dragul. I must admit I wasn't expecting you to change so much between now and when we met." He commented with a smile and a nod.
"You've grown. That's great! You're looking pretty today, too." Finch said with a smile. He wasn't particularly sure what he was going to do with himself while he was here. The slightly awkward situation seemed even more awkward for himself. Of course being the somewhat stubborn vampire he was, he wasn't going to admit to feeling out of place.
{{Sorry it's so short...}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:43 am
Once the others spoke, Dragul felt more confident and she replied, "Thank you, Finch."
Then she addressed herself to Raeli, grinning, "I just thought I'd surprise you, you know? Did it work?"
She did not glance at Genevieve for reassurance this time. She liked these people, and she felt relatively comfortable with them. She didn't really need instruction for how to act with them. Though, she admitted, she wished that she was more like Genevieve, who had all the right instincts for interaction. She didn't want to slip and do something which would make her seem like the childish undera she had been.
Genevieve watched the exchange and tried not to be too amazed. Dragul was a regular little hostess. Perhaps she would have the corsea do all the greeting from now on. It might have an effect on the door-to-door salesmen and Mary Kay representatives who decided to brave the neighborhood to peddle their wares.
"Dragul, if you're not interested in lessons, don't bother those who are," she said softly. "Finch and Raeli do not have infinite amounts of time."
Dragul looked marginally chagrined. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be a distraction. I just thought since you hadn't started the lesson yet...I'll go find a book."
Dragul couldn't read, but she enjoyed looking at pictures. Lately she'd been poring over an Audobon book, Picture Guide to North American Water Fowl. Genevieve had no idea where the book had come from, but Dragul seemed to enjoy it, and that was good enough.
"Don't sulk, Dragul," Genevieve said.
"Who's sulking?"
Genevieve turned back to Finch and Raeli and knelt on the floor on the other side of the coffee table. The sofa was the correct height to use the coffee table, but there was limited room on that and she didn't want to be that close to other people if she could help it. Besides which, it just felt more normal to be sitting across from people than to be sitting beside them.
Don't worry about it. I don't mind.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:23 am
"It did." Reali replied with another nod. She'd really changed a fair bit since the day before. "We might not have infinite amounts of time, but it's not like we have to leave any time soon..." he commented, watching the other corsea find a book to read. A sudden strange curiosity struck him, as to what was in the book. He shook his head and brought his thoughts back to the present situation... and the text books.
Finch watched Dragul for a few moments longer than Finch, feeling a little sorry for the creature, but he also saw Genevieve's point so he said nothing. "We have all the time in the world." The vampire muttered without thinking, referring to the fact that he couldn't die easily. "It's only you're time we're wasting..." He continued getting himself comfortable on the couch.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:20 am
Genevieve thought she might have been a bit harsh with Dragul and regretted it, but what was done was done, and she couldn't well take it back.
"To be honest, you'd really have to work to waste my time. I'm 'between employment opportunities' at the moment. At least, that's the box I have to check on job applications." This was accompanied by a wry, self-deprecating smile.
She placed the stack of paper and pencils on the table within easy reach and said, "I know this is probably a stupid question to ask, but you do recognize Arabic numerals, don't you? And understand their values?"
She felt she had to ask, because she wasn't quite sure if Raeli would recognize Arabic numerals, which were what most people just thought of as numbers. She wasn't actually certain if he could read, but decided not to ask that. She didn't want to be offensive. She was also certain that he knew the value of numbers, but she wanted to be sure, to know how basic she had to start with the pair. She included Finch unconsciously.
Dragul sat, after a fashion, in a rocking chair which Genevieve usually scorned. Genevieve mistrusted its ability to support weight. Since Dragul had a tendency to hover, she assumed that its ability to bear weight would not be an issue. The ribbon-y tendrils which formed her lower half curled around her, almost like jellyfish tentacles or mermaid hair.
Dragul was very interested in mermaids. Genevieve had brought hom a storybook full of fairytales from the library and they had read them together each night. Well, Genevieve had read them and Dragul looked at the pictures. Her favorite was the one about the Little Mermaid, because she sympathised with both the main character and the sea witch.
She also was fascinated with the idea that they didn't have legs, though they did have something attached there, as opposed to the anatomically unusual tendrils Dragul had. She though, maybe, she could be a mermaid like the sea witch. After all, she did have fins and Geneveive said she looked like she'd thrive in wet places.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 11:59 pm
"Arabic... numerals..." Raeli repeated having no idea what she was referring to. "If I know what they are... I'm not aware I do..." He admitted trying to remember if he'd ever heard the term before.
"He does know them. I had to explain them two him because his curiosity was sparked when he caught me paying bills. He knows a few roman as well." Finch informed Genevieve. He was glad he'd already managed to explain a few basics beforehand. He wasn't sure how well Genevieve would have coped if the corsea had known nothing at all.
Raeli was confused for a few seconds before it finally dawned on him what they were talking about. "Oh! I never knew what those were called. I know most of the values. I get a little stuck every now and again, but it doesn't take long to figure out what it is." He glanced over to Dragul again, not for a reason in particular. At least not for one he was aware of.
Finch slipped soundlessly off the chair and slunk up beside Dragul. He didn't want to leave her alone, and he didn't really have anything to do with himself anyway. "So, Miss Dragul, How are you liking your new form?" He asked softly and somewhat childishly, "Or have you not lived in it long enough to know?"
Feeling a little restless and still a tiny bit uneasy, the vampire pulled a yo-yo that belonged to Raeli out of his pocket and began to play with it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:56 am
Genevieve supposed she oughtn't to have mentioned Arabic numerals ata ll, but it was one of those things she couldn't help, and she wanted to be certain that Raeli's education was as thorough as he might wish it to be. She didn't want to be found lacking as an instructor. It was a pride thing.
"That's good. It makes my life simpler. So, let's start with the basics. Addition, which is basically counting." As Genevieve spoke, she pitched her voice so that it would carry to the corner where Dragul had curled up, where Finch was, so that he might "accidentally overhear" the lesson, should he choose to.
Genevieve decided to begin with addition because that was how she remembered beginning in math when she was in elementary school. Or was it kindergarten? Probably elementary school. Hers had been a public school education, and kindergarten was a euphemism for daycare in her district. It wasn't the sort of place, she recalled, where one learned much of anything beyond shoe-tying and hand-raising. Children were expected to come pre-potty-trained, obviously.
Dragul was, at first, startled by Finch's ability to slink, which was a skill neither she nor Genevieve possessed, though she could float, which was just as soundless and unnerving to human beings, she had found. She closed her Audobon book and looked up at him and smiled toothily before remembering that her teeth were not really the sort of things people liked to see displayed.
"I like it. It's nice to be taller," she said slowly, pronouncing her words carefully. "It's a little strange though."
She watched him play with the yo-yo and asked, unable to help herself and held hostage to her curiosity, "What's that?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 6:28 am
"Addition." Raeli repeated under his breath righting the word on a piece of paper so he'd know what was being done on it. The corsea's handwriting was incredibly neat. Possibly neater than most humans, even. Just in case the pink creature wrote down 'counting' in brackets beside 'addition' in a smaller font.
"I was told... counting is when you increase a value by one, or if you wanted, increased a value by another value. Is that right?" He asked remembering back to the last time he'd learned something about math.
Finch smiled and nodded while still playing with the yo-yo. "I bet both you and Raeli will soon be as tall as I am. I'm a little jealous really. I grew up incredibly slowly... Well physically I did. Mentally I grew up faster than anyone else I knew. You'll get used to it in time." He said before catching the yo-yo one last time and holding it out to Dragul.
"I didn't know what it was myself, until Raeli told about it. Apparently it was a very popular thing at one stage, but I have a tendency to ignore new fads. It's a yo-yo. You're supposed to let it fall and flick it back up when it reaches the end. It took me ages to work out." He explained with a smile as he studied the toy in his hand. For such a simple looking object, it was quite complex.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:36 am
"That's right," Genevieve agreed. "Addition has you increasing values by any number greater than zero. For now, we'll just use multiples of one." She decided that fractions and decimals could definitely wait for another time. And she continued from there, explaining about how each number, when added to another, came up with a certain result. Etcetera and so forth.
She did not comment on his neat handwriting, though it impressed her. She had always thought her own handwriting was spiky and unattractive, but she had never been the sort to be jealous of another's neater writing. She was simply impressed.
Dragul listened for approximately half a second before returning her attention to the more comprehensible topic Finch had introduced. She studied the yo-yo as though she expected it to bite her. She wasn't sure what to do with it until Finch explained.
"Why?" she asked. And then, "What's a fad?"
Perhaps she could learn something from Raeli's lessons, too, even if it wasn't math. Math sounded boring to her. She could count, of course, but she didn't see any reason to do anything else with numbers. She didn't see any reason to do anything with a yo-yo either, but it looked more interesting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:40 pm
Raeli listened carefully, scribbling down notes and solving problem while he did. He caught on pretty quickly and understood everything he was told. It was almost fascinating to him, the way people worked things out. However he did have to admit that he wouldn't want to learn about such things every day like Finch told him happens in a number of schools.
"I never thought little symbols could be so complex." he commented after filling yet another page with work.
"A fad... is something that a lot of people get excited about. They think it's great for a while, but eventually they get over it." Finch explained hoping his definition was simple enough for the corsea to understand. "As for why you'd do such a thing, I wouldn't know. I guess because it's somewhat entertaining. There are lots of people out in the world who can do strange and wonderful tricks with a yo-yo." He added after a brief few seconds of trying to come up with an answer. When he thought about it, it was pretty sad that someone would spend all their time learning these yo-yo tricks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
