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 Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:59 am
Drastic Times... Karma put the car in park and took a moment to get a better grip on her patience. If Youko answered the door to find her glaring daggers, chances were that it would be slammed shut again as quickly as humanly possible. It wasn't anything personal, it was just that experience had led the fox demon to believe that if he might even be remotely responsible for her bearing that expression, any grabbable part of his body would be in jeopardy. "You're on my SIDE!!" Raven wailed from the backseat. "You don't own the car!" Kendall shot back, sticking out his tongue and continuing to trespass one foot over the median of the backseat into Raven's space. "Mo-om!!" Raven yelled petulantly, directly into Karma's left ear, making it ring and twitch. "Kendall....leave your sister alone." Karma grated out, managing to sound some semblance of patient with the boy as he crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. "Tattletale...." the brown-eared fox boy hissed at his sister. "Listen..." Karma began, unbuckling her seatbelt and turning to look at the two imps in the back seat. "Your dad and I have some important things to discuss that involve you two today. You can sit in on it if you want, I don't care...we're not going to keep anything from you, but I want it to be quiet." "We're not allowed to watch TV?" Raven asked, looking crestfallen. Oh to be that age again....where nothing mattered until it happened, Karma thought. "You can watch TV if you want, I guess." she said, opening her door and then waiting for Raven and Kendall to clamber out of the car after her. "But ONLY if you behave. That television is your privelege, not your right. Raven, lock your door." she added as an afterthought, waiting for her daughter to comply before heading up the walkway with the twins trailing after her. "Me first." Raven said, muscling past Kendall as they reached the porch. "No ME!" he protested, grabbing her tail and yanking her back. "I'm older than you!" "I'm SMARTER than you!" Raven retorted. "I'm not as UGLY as you!" Karma bit her tongue very hard as she reached out to ring the doorbell. Amazing....they'd made it a whole fifteen seconds before finding something else to fight over. One fox ear pricked up, hearing the yelling that came up the walk. His two bundles of joy were on their way to his door... Oh. Joy. Before the sound of the bell had even stopped, Youko was pulling the door open, the fox's silver hair pulled back into a bun with a pencil holding it in place. Envy swore he looked like a librarian when he did that... Youko would usually respond with a snide comment about the incubus' kinks. "Karma!" he said, realising that at least she was somewhat in control of her temper at the moment. The twins must not have been awake long. He stepped aside for the whirlwind of children to pass by him, then welcomed her in. "You look like you need caffeine," he said simply, padding back into the kitchen and pulling a couple of cans of Pepsi out of the fridge and leaving the foxcoon to close the door behind her. "DAD!!! Kendall locked me out of the bedroom!" Sighing, he set the cans down, sliding one to Karma as he reached for his wallet and pulled his driver's license out. "Excuse me," he said formally, performing a mock bow and swept off with a dramatic flourish. His daughter was currently banging on the bedroom door, yelling at the top of her lungs about her brother's shortcomings, his gender and likely his parentage when she thought Youko and Karma couldn't hear her. Giving her a gentle push, he knocked on the door. "Kendall Farrell, give me one good reason why th is door's closed." "Because she's a BOOGER!" came the yell from the other side. Rolling his eyes, Youko set one hand on the knob, his license in the other. "Not good enough," he said, loud enough that the other could hear. Shifting his weight against the door to push it a minute bit to the side, he slid the card in between door and frame, pushing it inward until there was a loud *CLICK* and the door swung open. Before he could even say a word, Raven shot past him, pouncing on her brother and threatening his life. He didn't even bother... sighing, he murmured "Play nice," to no one who was listening, and walked back towards Karma. "So... what's on your mind?" he asked, smiling to her. Karma had already opened the Pepsi and was just finishing taking a grateful swallow of the carbonated ambrosia as he returned. Drawing the can away from her lips and swallowing, she heaved a sigh. "We need to do something about those two." She said matter-of-factly. She wasn't even going to beat around the bush about it....her slightly mussed hair and the way her eyes held a haggard look spoke volumes on their own anyway "All they do is fighte except on the rare occasions they're asleep, and I can't deal with it anymore." A loud thud and a squeal from down the hallway punctuated her statement as she swung her head in the direction of the twins' room, flicking her tail irately before shaking her head and taking another drink from her can. "Envy's not here right now, so he's not sleeping. If they want to kill each other, that'll be at least one quiet moment." He motioned Karma to the couch, curling up on one side of it as he nodded. "Believe me, I know we need to do something. Last time they were here, they pissed off Envy to the point where he yelled at them... if you can picture him yelling at ANYONE. I was ready to throttle them both, and the only peace I got was when they went outside." Lifting a brow to Karma, he cracked open the can of Pepsi in his hand. "That lasted all of five minutes, until my neighbor came over saying that my children were trying to murder each other." "Its ridiculous." she said, sinking onto the other end of the couch and hunching over, her ears drooping dejectedly. "I mean, I know kids fight...hell, my brother and I fought like cats, but never this much or this....CONSTANTLY, you know?" Thud! Draaaaaaag. Karma looked toward the hallway again and then back to Youko. "And its not just their differences flaring and causing this, either. They go out of their way to START this s**t with each other. Just this morning I had to break up a donnybrook in the bedroom because Kendall decided it was a grand idea to wake Raven up by farting on her head and yelling 'TIME FOR CARTOONS!' at the top of his lungs..." He tried to keep a straight face. Really, he did. But that stupid Y chromosome just wouldn't let it rest, and Youko snickered softly to himself. "Okay... so we need to do something." He straightened himself up and started to think, his ear twitching slightly. Short of duct-taping them to the wall (which was looking like a REALLY good option at the moment), he couldn't think of anything right offhand. "If we had the extra rooms, I'd suggest giving them each their own.... that might cut down on problems." He looked around his little shoebox apartment, however, and sighed. "But the extra room here is being set up as a nursery. There's going to be a new baby here soon, and he or she will need the space as well." "Right, and I don't have any spare rooms at my place either. I'd sacrifice my guest room if I thought it would help, but its almost always occupied, sadly..." She fell into ponderous silence then, looking down at the open tab of her pepsi can with a strange sort of fixation. "I'd say we should have planned this better, but it wasn't like any of this was planned from the get-go..." she murmured. "About all we CAN do is split them up, and it doesn't really work that way, does it?" She looked over to Youko again, her red eyes glassy and telling tales of exhaust and frustration. That made his other ear p***k up. "Why not?" he asked, looking to her quizzically. "I mean, it's not like it would be forever, and it might give us some peace. Why don't we keep one here and one at your place? That would handle the bulk of the problem, really." There was still the matter of NOT keeping them apart from each other if they didn't want to be... but there were cars for that. Another idea was forming in Youko's mind, and he pondered it for the moment, watching for Karma's reaction. For a moment, Karma's face remained blank, though her bottom lip wandered into her mouth to be chewed thoughtfully. "I don't know..." was her assessment finally. "It would be a quick fix to a lingering problem, I think..." "FREEEEDOOMMM!!!" either Raven or Kendall bellowed in their best prepubescent Braveheart impersonation, followed by another thud that rattled the wall, making the pictures hung there jump a bit in their frames. ".....on second thought, maybe that IS an option." she corrected herself, ears laid back." Wincing, Youko turned towards the sound. "For every picture that falls, SOMEONE is getting their a** tanned!" he yelled, ears pinned back. That stopped the noise... for the moment at least. "It doesn't have to just be a quick fix... I mean, if they were close to each other, then they could see each other whenever they want, and leave when they got annoyed." The fox's thoughts finally organized themselves and began to form a cohesive unit. "Isn't that house behind yours for sale?" Karma thought for a moment and then nodded. "Think so. The idiots who used to live there bred rottweillers that would bark and break the fence slats all the time. I think between Dave and I, we've rebuilt that entire fence since they moved in. Can't say I'm sad to see them go." Her mind was a flurry of activity as she tried to map things out similarly to Youko. "I guess....maybe if we worked out some sort of visiting plan, then. Once they start school, they'll be riding the bus together and probably be in some of the same classes, so THAT won't be a problem, but till then...." Ah yes, things were starting to take shape. "Envy and I have been talking about getting a house for quite some time," he began, going over things in his mind. "If that place isn't in too bad a condition and up to our standards, then maybe we could see about getting it? That would put the twins right next to each other, we wouldn't have to worry about driving htem to see each other... and it'll give us ALL quiet time for a change." He couldn't help the smile that crossed his face, although it was broken when his two 'darlings' raced by, Raven screaming after her brother that she was going to tie his tail in a knot. He reached out, grabbing the back of her pants and dragged her onto the couch, seating her right next to him with a *fwump*. "Daddy!! He took my..." "I don't CARE," Youko snarled, glaring at her. "SIT until you can calm down." He could hear a snicker of glee from the other side of the room and turned on his son then. "YOU. Sit down. right where you're at. Either of you move, you'll wish you COULD sit." Karma gave a glare in Kendall's direction just as he looked to her while arranging his best "Do I really have to?" face. Giving a dramatic sigh, he plumped himself down on the carpet where he was standing, propping his head up on his hands and muttering under his breath about how he was a slave and nobody ever wanted to listen to him. Ignoring him, Karma looked back to Youko. "At this point, I think that would be the best approach. If you guys decide to take that house, I'd be happy to go along with that idea, and it would be nice having you closer anyway." "Closer to where?" Kendall piped up. "Closer to you're already in trouble so don't push your luck, kiddo." Karma told him, though the jibe was not without its good nature...however strained that good nature was. Smiling, Youko nodded, his tail moving to thwack Raven as she stuck her tongue out at her brother. "That sounds good... then we'll be able to keep these two hellions civil to each other. He pondered this for a moment, glancing between the two. He pulled a coin out of his pocket then, setting it on his thumb and flicking it into the air. "Heads, Kendall stays with you and Raven stays with me. Tails, Raven stays with you and Kendall stays with me." Best to just leave it to chance, really... there would be the tirade of "YOU DON'T LOVE ME!" anyway, so it was best to get the results from an impartial party. In this case, George Washington. Karma said nothing and watched as the coin flipped through the air before pelting to the carpet, ignoring Kendall as he asked "Can I keep the quarter?", having not been paying attention to what it was they were flipping over. The coin, as it stood, landed heads-up. She observed it for a minute and then looked to Youko with a nod. "Guess that answers that..." she murmured. "When should we start?" "Well, they already have things at both places. If we're going to move, we're going to be packing up things anyway, and I'd like to keep a few things of Kendall's for when he comes over." He looked to the boy then, thumbing towards the bedroom. "I'd recommend getting anything you can't live without," he said, smiling. "Because if we wind up moving, there'll likely be a week or two where you can't get to things in boxes." Raven sighed, leaning against hte couch and staring at the quarter on the ground. This SUCKED. "What's going to happen to MY stuff," she said, picking at the fur on her tail. "All my stuff that's still over at Mom's? I'll never see it again because some KEN DOLL will wreck it!" "Why would I want YOUR stuff?" Kendall asked as he padded past the couch to go retrieve his possessions from the room as his father had indicated. "Mine's better AND it doesn't have coonass germs on it!" Immediately after saying so, he made a break for the bedroom, knowing that Raven was going to haul a** after him to beat him severely for that remark. Sure enough, she went to dive after him and made the mistake of trying to climb over the couch to do it. Youko reached and neatly snagged the back of her jeans, making the girl dangle there with her front half dangling over the floor and her legs kicking against the cushions. "LEGGO!" "Physics lesson," Youko replied blandly. "This is what happens when you have no leverage." Karma smirked and reached out to smooth Raven's hair. "Settle." she told her. "I'll deal with your brother when we get home, all right?" Deciding to get the feedback straight from the horse's mouth, she turned a bit in her seat and looked Raven in the eyes. "How would you feel about spending a little time away from Kendall? Would that upset you?" she tried. If the kids were opposed to it, that would make things more difficult, certainly... "NO!" she yelled, letting out a yip when she landed back on the couch. "I want him to go away and leave me and my stuff ALONE." Settling onto the couch with a huff, Raven crossed her arms over her chest. "He's always being a pain in the a--..." "Don't even say it," Youko interrupted, ears pinning as he looked at his daughter. Given that Raven and Kendall seemed to share the same opinion on a lot of things, she assumed she would get a similar answer out of him if asked and nodded. "All right. Well....tell you what, then." she said. "Your dad and I are getting sick of all of this squibbling over everything and its grandmother, so we're going to see about keeping you two apart for a little while, starting tonight." On her wrist, her watch began to beep shrilly, making her look at it and wince. "Actually...starting right now." she corrected herself. "Dave's going to be home soon and if I don't get dinner on, we're not going to eat until--" She was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing and sighed. Too late...he'd probably seen the note she'd left on the microwave. Well, at least he could read, she assured herself. Raven shot off of the couch, aiming for the door and KNOWING that her brother would try to beat her there. "I GOT IT!" she yelled, reaching to the side once she got to the kitchen and shoving Kendall back into the hall. Free and clear! She pulled the door open, grinning. Sighing, Youko threaded his fingers through his hair. "I'll let you know once we find out about the house," he said, getting to his feet as well. "Tried to escape, did you?" Dave asked, grinning at Raven before seizing her up and giving her a bear hug while simultaneously tickling her sides. "Where's your mom?" he asked when he was done, oblivious to their bad behavior...being at work all day was a benefit sometimes. "I'm right here." Karma said, waving idly at Dave from the couch as Kendall scowled at his sister before summoning what dignity he had left and beginning to gather up the armload of toys he'd been carrying into the living room. "We were just discussing some things...I think we have it figured out now, though." Trotting alongside Dave, Raven stuck out her tongue at her brother in triumph. "Hi Dave," Youko said, motioning him to the couch. "I was gonna let her go sometime today, I promise. We just had a few kinks to work out with the kids." He turned then, shooing Raven off towards her room and moving to help Kendall pick up his toys. "Oh? What kind of kinks?" he asked, watching Youko help Kendall pick up his toys. "The 'a nuke could go off outside the window and they wouldn't stop fighting' kinks." Karma informed him, smiling wryly. "Oh -those-...." Dave sighed. They'd discussed this before. Many times. "Found a cure finally?" "Yup." she said, drinking off the last swallow of pepsi from her can and setting it down. "And we're putting it in action tonight. Raven's spending the night here." Kendall, in the midst of getting his Masters Of The Universe figures back in order, looked up from the mess in the hallway in shock. "No fair!!" he announced angrily. Youko swatted at the boy idly. "You were present for the coin toss, this isn't a matter of fair and unfair." Raven, meanwhile latched onto this new form of torment for her twin and climbed up onto the couch, har arms draped over the back as she looked towards the hall with a smug grin. "Sucker," she sneered, ears pinning back slightly. "I didn't know what you guys were tossing over!" Kendall protested. "Kendall, does it even matter?" Karma sighed, moving to help Youko pick up the toys. "Even if we tossed again, one of you would still be here and the other would still be there." "So??" the fox boy demanded. "So are you saying that your room back home isn't good enough? Think very carefully about your answer, because I could always fix you up a place in the closet." she said in a tone that suggested that, at this point, she may only be half-joking. "No...." he muttered grudgingly. "Good." Karma nodded, smiling a bit. "Then you're coming home with us tonight." Rolling his eyes, Youko set th e toys in a duffel bag that he pulled out from the hall closet. "Someone was more concerned with whether he could keep the quarter or not," he joked, ruffling the boy's hair. "Sounds like Ken." Dave said, rummaging in his pocket and producing a quarter, giving it to Kendall. "Here. This one isn't cursed." "Cool! Can we go to the soda machine later?" he asked, his chagrin at being broken up with Raven apparantly shortlived. "We have soda at home." Karma reminded him. "Not root beer!" he protested. "I'll walk you down there after dinner if you're good." Dave offered, ruffling his hair, recieving a sidelong glare from Karma. She didn't mind indulging her kids occasionally, but part of the reason they were so difficult was because they'd been indulged a bit too MUCH as they'd grown and Dave's continually-sunny and agreeable attitude didn't help that much. "Call me in the morning and let me know how things go?" she asked Youko. "If they're all right with one night apart, let's try for two. If either of them starts to get fussy without the other, we might have to replan this." "Sounds good," the fox replied, moving to hug Karma and his son. "Dave, I'd hug you, but your wife would hit me," he said, smirking wryly. This had the potential to work out well... if the twins went along alright with it. "No problem, she hits me all the time." Dave teased as Karma hugged Youko back and waited for Kendall to do the same before moving to the couch to hug Raven as well. "Be good for your dad, okay?" she said, giving her a kiss on the forehead and beeping her daughter's nose. Raven wrinkled her nose in reply, but grinned. "Okay, Mommy," she replied, leaning against the back of the couch as she stood on the cushions. "You behave for mom, you little buttmunch," she said, scowling at her brother. HE got soda later... lucky schmuck. Kendall drew himself up to his full pint-sized height and looked to Youko with so much authority that it was comical on someone so young. "Dad? I give you my express permission to put her in the crawlspace if she acts up." he said, reciting almost exactly word-for-word what Karma was fond of saying to Dave before leaving him alone with the kids. Following this was immediately a large saliva-spewing raspberry in his sister's direction. "All right, enough. Out to the car." she said, giving him a pat on the rear as he grabbed up the duffel bag and complied by running noisily out of the house to bundle himself and his belongings into the backseat. Karma watched him go and then moved to follow after him with Dave in tow. "All right then, see you later." She called to Youko and Raven. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dave!" Raven waved to them, then nearly bounded off the couch, yelling. "WOOHOO!!! MY OWN ROOM!" "Take care, you two," Youko chuckled, then caught his daughter in mid-air. "Not so fast," he said, pulling her up to look her in the eye. "YOU need to clean up that mess first." "But HE did most of it!" she protested, squirming in his hold. "Yup. And he'll have to clean up the mess at your mother's by himself. Move it." Setting her down again, he gave her a swat with his tail, then moved towards the kitchen. Ears flattened, Raven glared after him for a moment before stomping off to the bedroom. This was SO not fair.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:59 am
"How come Raven gets to sleep over and I don't??" Kendall demanded as Karma led him by the hand back up the driveway. Despite the fact they'd worked it out before leaving Youko's, the storm had begun about halfway home when he'd decided that this arrangement wasn't fair in the least.
"Because your dad and Envy want to get a good night's sleep for a change and they can't do that if both of you little hellbeasts are at each other's throats constantly." his mother explained, sounding tired.
"You love her more than you love me!" the fox boy said, giving a petulant stomp of one foot, his face screwing up in the beginnings of a tantrum.
"Kendall Farrell, don't you EVEN play that card." the foxcoon grumbled as Dave unlocked the front door and held it open to allow them inside. As soon as she let him go, Kendall scampered away from her across the living room and into the kitchen, immediately scrambling beneath the kitchen table and huddling there. Sighing, Karma followed after him.
"Come out."
"NO!"
"Now."
"NO!"
"Kendall...."
"NO!!!" He clapped his hands over his ears and squinted his eyes shut.
"One.....two....."
Kendall flinched, squirmed, and then reluctantly wriggled out of hiding. His mom always used the dreaded countdown as a last resort. She'd threatened constantly that if she ever made it to three he was "going to get it". He didn't know what "getting it" meant, but had no doubt it had something to do with being mailed away to gypsies and forced to eat tapoica pudding for the rest of his life.
Needless to say, Karma had never made it to three before.
As he stood there, refusing to look at her, brown ears folded back angrily, Karma crossed her arms over her chest, looking down at her son. "Are you about ready to stop acting like a little pain in the tail and let me explain?" she asked.
"Fine." was the sullen and grudging response as he gave a melodramatic huff, as though making it quite clear that his prepubescent time was very valuable and that he was wasting it talking to her.
"Now look...this isn't a matter of anyone loving anyone else more." she began, already knowing that it was likely falling on deaf ears. If there was one thing being a parent had taught her, it was that children had this uncanny ability to detect a voice of reason in the immediate vicinity and tune it out completely. Yet someone could whisper a bad notion three blocks away and they'd pick right up on it.
"You and Raven have been together since you were born. When you were little, you two had no problem with each other and your father and I were very careful to keep you two together all the time. Because its important brothers and sisters stay together, right?"
"Not MY sister." Kendall grumped.
"Right." Karma said, agreeing with herself and pretending she hadn't heard his remark. If they stopped to argue, they'd never get to the point. "But as you two started to get older, its like somebody hit a switch. We literally CAN'T keep you two in the same room without there being namecalling and pinching and shoving."
"It isn't my fault she's an annoying buttface."
"Kendall, let me finish, all right? Then you can make all the peanut gallery remarks you want." She was met with silence and kept talking. "You two are driving us nuts. So we're going to try separating the two of you for awhile, that's all. It isn't because your dad and Envy love Raven more and it isn't because Daddy Dave and I love you more. We love both of you exactly the same...very much."
"Then how come she got more presents on our birthday?" Kendall demanded, throwing a curveball at his mother and making her try to repress a growl of frustration.
"Because we had a hundred dollar budget for each of you. You asked for new video games and got two for forty dollars each and a new set of controllers. She asked for some toys that didn't cost as much. Video games are expensive, Ken. You know how much it would have cost if we bought you as many video games as we bought her action figures? About four hundred dollars. And would that be fair?"
"No." he agreed under great duress.
"Right. So don't bring that up anymore." she said with a nod of her head. "Anyway, the only reason we're separating the two of you is to give you a chance to cool down. I know that being with one person all the time makes you get sick of them...I get sick of Daddy Dave sometimes too."
"She does." Dave chimed in from where he was getting a cup down from the cupboard to pour himself a glass of Mr. Pibb. "She makes me sleep in the car."
"Dave!" Karma snapped, turning her head to glare at her husband. Sweet merciful crap....if he wasn't going to help, why didn't he keep his damn mouth shut??
"You do." he said, looking to Kendall with an innocent expression. "She said she only does it till the lion she has on mail-order comes in so she can feed me to it."
"Are you going to contribute or are you just going to make it worse?" Karma demanded, even as Kendall laughed at the quip.
"How am I making it worse?" he shrugged, getting his soda out of the fridge. "Look at him, he's laughing. That's better than he was a few minutes ago."
"But you're not--" Karma cut herself off and bit her lip, exhaling a frustrated sigh. It had to be something in the Y chromosome. It just....HAD to be. Forcing herself to ignore Dave, she looked back to Kendall. "ANYWAY...." she continued. "This is just for a little while until you guys calm down. You can see Raven again in a few days."
Kendall was quiet for a minute, taking this in. "What about her toys?" he asked, after giving the situation what had appeared to be great thought.
"Her toys will still be here when she gets back." Karma informed him.
"And her bed?"
"That too." Noting the look of deep-seated pondering on her son's face, she thought she had an idea of what he was getting at. "And....I guess she doesn't necessarily have to know if you camp out on her side of the room while she's not here."
Well, that seemed to do it. Kendall's eyes brightened immediately and without another word, he fled the kitchen, brushing past Dave as he went and nearly making him slosh some of his soda out of his glass.
"Crisis averted?" Dave inquired, looking after Kendall a moment before turning his eyes to his wife and straightening his glasses.
"Maybe." she sighed. "I just hope after all of this, it helps some. I don't LIKE having to separate them this way."
"Well, its quiet now. That's good, at least."
"Yeah...good for -us-." the foxcoon muttered, pulling out a chair and sinking into it at the table.
"Good for them too." he offered, crossing the kitchen to pull out a chair across from her. "Hell, when I was growing up, if someone offered to let me stay away from my brothers, I would have kissed their feet."
"Yeah but its different for them." she protested. "I mean....your brothers were all younger than you. They were born at the same time...they've -always- had each other."
"And its no wonder they want to take each other's faces off." he shrugged. "They're kids. They'll bounce back."
"Or they'll get traumatized and grow up hating us."
"Oh is THAT what this is all about?" he asked, looking up from his soda, his eyes twinkling from behind his glasses.
"No that's NOT what this is all about." she said with a firm shake of her head. "They're going to hate us when they're teens no matter what. I've resigned myself to that. I just don't want to make any mistakes between now and then that'll make it worse."
"Can I say something without you hitting me?" he questioned, setting the glass down.
"What?" she grumbled.
"No matter what they do, you're going to blame yourself. First time Raven comes home with a hickey, first time Kendall wrecks the family car, you're going to be sitting here just like this wondering where you went wrong."
"Me and every other mother, what's your point, Dave?"
"My point is, they're just like you and me. They're going to make plenty of stupid mistakes on their own that they can't blame anyone but themselves for, and they'll be so caught up dealing with those that one time when they were both little that we forced them to spend a few nights apart from each other isn't going to be a big deal. I mean, what did your parents do when you were little and you fought with your brother?"
"Swatted me." she shrugged.
"Same. Do you hate them for it?"
"Sometimes. Depends on how bad it got."
"Right....and have you ever done that to the twins?"
"No?" she gave him a look then. "Why would I put them through the same s**t I went through?"
"So when our kids are sitting at the cafeteria lunch table in the future, swapping stories about how much their parents suck, don't you think Raven and Ken might end up losing that spitting contest when the worst they can come up with is 'mommy and daddy made us spend a few days apart because we were annoying the living s**t out of everyone around us'?"
"They wouldn't say it like that." Karma snickered, stifling the immediate burst of laughter behind one hand.
"That's what everybody else would hear." Dave smiled, picking up his glass and taking a long drink.
"Quiet...or I'll make you sleep in the car again." she smirked, shaking her head. "Please.....you couldn't come up with anything better than that? There's so much of your junk in that car you can't even SIT in it let alone sleep in it."
"There's always the trunk."
"Right. With the boxes of comics and your jumper cable collection? I don't think so." She smirked, and then pushed back from the table. "I'm going to go make sure Kendall's all right." Her hand was caught as she turned to go and she looked to her husband questioningly.
"He's fine." he assured her, standing and running his fingers through her hair. "You, on the other hand, are cranky and need a nap." Karma's eyes narrowed, but the smirk didn't leave her face.
"Oh? You gonna tuck me in?" she asked, leaning in and kissing his nose.
"I think I'd better." he teased. "Can't have you getting out of bed and watching the grown-up late shows, can we?"
"Smartass." she grinned, giving him a playful shove backward. He caught her wrists and nuzzled her neck in response.
"Let's go." he whispered, leading her out of the kitchen and down the hallway.
* * * * * * *
In the twins' room, Kendall was oblivious to what his parents were doing as he busily carted every stuffed animal off of Raven's bed and transplanted it onto his own. By the time he was finished, there was no room to actually lay down in it...but that was fine. He didn't plan on sleeping in his bed tonight anyway.
All the time, Raven was constantly insisting that he not touch her stuff, not get his germs on her bed, not play with her toys because he'd break them. But....HA HA on her! She wasn't here!
Without waiting to be told, he wriggled out of his clothes and fetched a pair of pajamas from the dresser drawer which he quickly put on and then snapped off the bedroom light before bounding into Raven's bed and climbing under the covers.
Ahh...the taste of success. And if Raven ever found out, he was going to tell her right to her dumb face that mom had TOLD him he could. It was nice having the upper hand for once.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:00 am
*RING!*
*RING!*
"I'll get iiiiiiiiiiit!" Kendall announced, his yell accompanied by the thudding of his sneakers across the carpet.
Karma, in mid-step to answer the phone, paused and let her son get it instead. Why not? Maybe he'd scare away a solicitor...she remembered what a big deal it was to be allowed to answer calls at that age...it was almost as important as being allowed to help make dinner.
A moment later, the foxboy pounced on the ringing contraption and tore it off of the hook as though his very life depended on it. "Hello??" he asked with much greater gusto than necessary as his mother remained nearby, ready to take the reciever. Having not yet attended school and being too young to get phone calls, she had no doubt it was for her or Dave.
"Uh huh, she's here." Kendall drew the phone away from his ear and handed it to Karma without further ado before sauntering out of the room to go back to watching Batman on the TV as though nothing had happened. He'd done his good deed for the day.
"Hello?" Karma asked, watching him go with an indulgent smirk which dissolved as quickly as it had formed as the voice on the other end began to speak. "Mom..." she said, blinking. She wasn't sure if she'd meant it to sound surprised or pleasant, but it sounded like neither as the word spilled from her mouth and then fell flat. It had sounded simply like an acknowledgement. "No, I was just--how did you get this number?"
Her mind raced as she turned away from the living room and retreated quickly into the hallway where Kendall wouldn't have to listen. Not that there was much to hear on her end. Karma hadn't spoken to her parents in years...after she and Dave had moved in together, they'd wanted nothing to do with her. Her calls had gone unreturned, her letters had been unanswered, and she had simply given up after a time.
They knew nothing about the kids...she hadn't bothered trying to tell them, because at that point, she had decided it was drama they could all do without. The questions, the infighting, the snide remarks....none of that was worth Kendall and Raven having someone to call Gramma and Grandpa.
"Who? That was..." s**t. What was she supposed to say? "....that was my son. Yes. Yes I DO have a son. Quite awhile now." Her ears drooped in dejection at the explosion on the other end of the line. "I didn't think you'd care." Pause. "Well, you make it pretty damn obvious you don't. How? Mom, you haven't talked to Uncle Tommy in almost twenty years because you're still mad at him for marrying Aunt Cathy and he's your brother. How am I supposed to know I was any different?"
She peered out of the hallway and into the living room to ensure Kendall was still enraptured by the glow of the TV screen before slipping back into the shadows again with the reciever to her ear. "Look, mom, if you just called to fight with me, I'm going to hang up. Yes you are. Mom...mom, stop." She vented a long sigh through her nose.
She couldn't hang up, because she would just call back. And then Kendall would wonder who kept calling and why he wasn't allowed to answer the phone anymore today. "Look, he's right in the other room. I don't want to--Kendall. And Raven." She felt her stomach turn a sour flip within her. "No his name is Kendall Farrell. Raven is his sister."
Karma held the phone away from her ear as the verbal explosion ranted and raved. When it had quieted a bit, she brought it back and listened. "They were twins." she explained. Her eyes widened a bit. "No, I'm not going to let you talk to him. Why?? because--" she caught herself and quieted her voice. "--because you're being irrational. ....I know you're his grandmother, I'm his -mother- so I think I win. So maybe I am. You're being immature too."
She leaned up against the wall and squeezed her eyes closed, suddenly just wanting to crawl under her bedcovers and curl up as tightly as she could. God, she hated this....even on a phone line hundreds of miles away, it was just like being back home again and what she'd run away from in the first place.
"I don't think a visit is a good idea at all, no." she said in a voice that sounded strangely mechanical and sedated. "Well, given this present conversation, would -you- say so...? Well, how do you think *I* feel?"
She pushed off of the wall and began to pace in the hallway. "Look, this is--mom, listen. This isn't going anywhere. I think we should both just get off the phone for awhile and try this again later. No I don't want to talk to dad about it. You know damn well why I don't want to talk to dad. ......I DIDN'T say you were forbidden, I just said I didn't think it was a good idea right now. Dammit, DON'T put words in my mouth!!!"
She drew in a soft gasp, realizing that had been a lot louder than she'd meant it to be. Hot tears of frustration puddled at the rims of her eyes as she realized that, even if he'd been trying not to eavesdrop, Kendall had likely heard it. And there would be questions to answer now...great.
"Mo-om..." her voice broke. "Mom...look. I need to go. Yeah. I'll be here. Yes, I'll answer. Bye."
She punched the power button on the handset and glared at it in her hand like the phone was to blame for all of this. Shaking her head, Karma straightened up and wiped at her eyes with the heel of her hand before slinking out of the hallway to hang it up.
"Who whuzzat?" Kendall instantly asked, making her flinch as her son peered over the back of the couch at her.
"It was just..." she trailed off and then continued on her way to hang it up. Kendall's brown ears perked as he blinked. Just...who? Had it been someone bad? He'd heard her yell on the phone before, what was the big deal? Scrambling off the couch, he grabbed the remote in both hands and clicked the power button to silence the TV before padding into the kitchen after Karma.
"Mom?" he asked, blinking as she stood in front of the now-cradled phone, arms folded and staring fixatedly off into space, her own ears folded back in a defeated manner. "Mom?" he asked again, tugging her shirt. "You okay?"
"I'm okay, sweetie." she said, not feeling okay in the least as she reached down to put a hand on Kendall's cheek gently and forced a smile.
"Who was on the phone?" he asked, his eyes inquisitive as he seemed nonplussed by the hand on his cheek. When she didn't answer, he tried to guess. "Did daddy get another ticket?" That was the last time he could recall his mother throwing a fit over the phone at someone....Daddy Dave had been driving too fast and a policeman had seen and had given him a ticket. Kendall had thought that was pretty cool, until it was explained that wasn't a movie ticket, it was a ticket that meant they had to give the police money and promise not to go fast anymore.
"No." she said, shaking her head and sighing. She'd thought it would be a b***h to explain to her parents that she had kids of her own now, she hadn't taken into account how much of a b***h it would be to explain to Raven and Kendall that they had grandparents she hadn't told them about. "That was my mom."
"YOUR mom?" Kendall asked, eyes widening. Well....obviously even moms had moms and dads, he'd just never really thought about it before...
"My mom." she nodded in agreement, flinching under his gaze and then looking to the pantry for a distraction. Spotting the obnoxiously-yellow canister of Quik powder, she headed toward it gratefully and plucked it down. "Have a seat, kiddo, and I'll tell you all about it over some chocolate milk. How's that?"
"Okay!" Kendall said eagerly, climbing into a chair at the table and sitting, watching as she went about the motions of preparing the Quik. Usually the Quik was strictly off-limits unless it was a special occasion, so his focus was, effectively, moreso on the chocolate milk than it was on what his mom was about to tell him.
It was just as well, Karma supposed, spooning in the powder into two glasses of milk and mixing both. She'd much rather be half-ignored as he guzzled chocolate milk while she tried to explain this than to have his full attention on her while she felt like she was under interrogation.
And here she'd thought the worst of her parenting problems were over the day Raven first proudly proclaimed she'd used the potty all by herself....oy.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:01 am
Dear Diary,
Quote: I guess I should have been expecting this to happen. Its not like my mom and dad ceased to exist just because I decided not to include them in my life after a certain point, but god dammit, why now?? Its difficult having to sit there at the table with your kid and tell him that, yes he has a grandma and grandpa, but that there's a perfectly good reason I don't want him and his sister to meet them. <********, I shouldn't HAVE to do that. Why the hell can't I have parents like on the TV? The gray-haired kind that are old-fashioned fogeys and offer advice and reason that I never want to take? And I KNOW what's going to happen now....they're going to come here, they're going to act like totally different people around the kids, the kids aren't going to know what the hell my problem is and think I'm some sort of ungrateful monster, and I'll be the bad guy. Why do I know this? Because they used to do it around my friends all the ******** TIME. Except its a lot easier to explain to your friends that your parents are two-faced than it is to try and explain that to a pair of eight-year-olds. But I'm exactly in the situation I didn't want to be in -- after I told Kendall, he, of course, wanted to meet them. Sure. What kid DOESN'T want to meet his grandparents? And then to rub salt in the wound, mom calls back a couple hours later, trying very hard to sound like she had calmed herself down because she's dying to talk to my son. So they're coming to visit now. <********! ******** GAHH!! This'll be great. Just great. I feel like I just won some sort of lottery for people who have done terrible awful things. Dave says he thinks it'll be fine. I know that's what he'd like to think, and I hope he didn't take too much offense when I told him he was full of s**t. ....and having looked over all of that, I think I'm overdue for some sleep. I'd like to say this will look better in the morning, but....feh.
--Karma
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:02 am
"So..." Jean said, folding her hands on the tabletop and casting a look over at Kendall who was currently sitting in a circle with a group of other children and listening to the librarian read a storybook. Karma had decided early-on that her best defense during her parents visiting would be simply to stay busy. It would leave less time for there to be awkward and nasty conversation if they kept moving and followed an agenda.
Dave had offered to stay home and keep her father busy, which had been valiant of him. However, Karma knew that 'keeping him busy' likely consisted of the two of them sitting in silence and either staring at the TV or sizing each other up with dirty looks....Dave being the man who had "ruined" his daughter and all...
She hated feeling like she was hiding behind Kendall, but she'd spent much of her time doing exactly that. When he was there, her mother remained pleasant. However, now that she was filling out his enrollment forms for a summer school preparation course and had sent him off to keep himself occupied, it was just the two of them.
"Who's the father?" Karma's pen stopped in mid-stroke and her eyes flicked up at the brown anthro fox seated beside her.
"A friend." she muttered, returning her eyes to the form and filling out the date of Kendall's last tetanus shot. How can you even ASK something like that? her mind demanded to know, though she kept that query to herself.
"Ah." a thin bloodless smile curved the vulpine's lips. "Does David know?"
No mother, he's happily unaware. Human features, freckles, and gold eyes run in his family. Be a peach and don't tell him please. "He knows." The pen stopped and jittered a bit over Kendall's social security number as she tried to remember it.
"And I take it our granddaughter is with this...friend?" she pried. Karma felt her jaw clench.
"Yes." she answered, doing her damnnest not to let her annoyance show. That's exactly what her mother wanted....an excuse to leap off of the equal ground they were currently on and grab back the upper hand that was rightfully hers. "She's his daughter, why wouldn't she be?"
"His daughter. I see. Is that how this works, then? Each of you keeps a baby and calls it even?"
"Nobody's keeping anybody." she explained, drawing from her inner reserve of patience she'd been saving up for when Raven and Kendall became teens. "They fight, mom, this is the only way to keep ourselves sane. And he's moving into the house for sale right behind us, so it isn't like they can't see each other whenever they want."
"That isn't right." Jean said sternly, eyes narrowing behind her glasses. "All kids fight, Karma, you don't just break them up into separate households that way."
"They don't mind it." she replied, filling out the emergency contact number.
"You don't give them much of a choice, do you?" when Karma remained silent, Jean sighed loudly with disapproval and cast a look in Kendall's direction that radiated such melodramatic sympathy, it made Karma want to toss her cookies.
She saw nothing wrong with her son. Not a damn thing, in fact...he was listening to the librarian, ears perked, eyes shining, laughing at the appropriate parts in the story with the other kids. Aside from constantly fighting with Raven, he'd given no indication of being unhappy or a problem child.
"I've raised three kids, Karma. I'd like to think I know what I'm talking about."
"If your definition of 'raised' is that they grew up and left the nest, then yes. You raised three kids." she said through pursed lips, looking back to the form.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Jean demanded, keeping her voice low so she wouldn't disturb the nearby tables, though her ears laid back menacingly. "Because if you're implying I didn't know what I was doing, then--"
"I'm not implying anything." Karma interrupted her. "All I'm saying is just because you've successfully raised a kid doesn't make you an expert."
"More of an expert than you." Jean said icily. "There's more to kids than changing diapers and wiping their nose when they cry. How are you going to deal with them when they're teens? What about when they decide to run away from home one day and all they leave is an insincere ungrateful goodbye note and their spare keys to the Honda? You don't know because you never count on facing that, do you? You have no -idea- what its like."
Karma wondered if she'd ever wanted to hit someone so badly before and was aware her grip on the pen had tightened to a white-knuckled chokehold. "Because, believe it or not, I can look back on it now and see where you went wrong and take special care not to do the same with my kids." she whispered. Whispering was all she COULD do...if she tried to speak, she was going to scream. And if she screamed, she wouldn't stop.
"Raven and Kendall are happy. And between Youko, Dave, Envy, and I we intend to never let things get that bad to where they'd NEED to run away. You came here to visit your grandchildren...fine. Visit them." She scanned over the forms, ensuring she'd filled out everything that needed filling out before lifting her eyes to glare at her mother. "But do NOT tell me how to raise them."
There was much more she wanted to say, but Karma refrained as she rose from the table and strode across the library to turn in the sheets at the front desk, leaving Jean by herself at the table. The argument wasn't done, of course...Karma was sure they would clash many more times before her mother and her father went home again, but for the moment, she'd won. Hopefully that streak would continue to hold out for her.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:03 am
From where he sat on the outskirt of the circle of kids, Kendall grinned as the librarian finished her reading of Journey To The Mushroom Planet. Sure, most of the kids there were two, maybe three years younger than he was, but it didn't matter to him. He and Raven had both decided long about their seventh birthday that being read stories at night was for babies and would noisily protest when Youko or Karma would venture into their room with a bedtime storybook in hand.
Secretly, though, he'd missed them. Raven had been the one who'd initiated the idea that bedtime stories were stupid, and rather than be teased relentlessly about being a baby, he'd found it easier to agree.
As the children dispersed to return to their respective parents, Kendall soon found himself sitting alone on the carpet....but not quite alone. Turning to his right, he found a human boy about his age with blonde hair sitting nearby, absently toying with the fray of the carpet they were sitting on.
"Hi!" Kendall greeted. The boy lifted his eyes, staring at Kendall for a long moment before lowering them back to the carpet.
"Hi." he muttered.
"My name's Kendall!" When the other boy didn't answer, he squirmed a bit. "What's yours?"
"Dylan." And that was all he offered. Kendall's ears perked a bit curiously.
"You come here a lot?"
"No." the other boy said, plucking a piece of yarn from the carpet and toying with it between his fingers with intense interest. "My brother's got some dumb paper to do for school and mom said take me with him."
"I'm here with my mom and gramma." Kendall said, puffing up a little with pride. It wasn't every day he got to meet his gramma for the first time, after all. Dylan seemed unimpressed and looked at Kendall again for a minute before starting to pick the piece of yarn apart, separating it into three separate fibers.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" he asked.
"Nothin'" Kendall replied with a shrug. Nobody had ever commented on anything being wrong with his eyes before....not even Raven and she was a champion when it came to finding things to make fun of him about.
"They look all weird."
"That's cuz my dad has yellow eyes and my mom has red." Kendall explained, grinning.
"Its still weird."
He felt his grin slip a notch as he wondered what this other kid's problem was. So his eyes were two different colors. Big deal. It wasn't like he had three of them or anything.
"You live near here?" he tried, thinking maybe a change of subject might be good for their conversation, such as it was.
"Why?" Dylan asked, looking suspicious. Kendall shrugged.
"Just askin'."
"Maybe." the human boy said cryptically. He muttered something under his breath then about school and classes, making Kendall's ears p***k again.
"Are you going to school too?" he asked, making Dylan flinch.
"Not like I WANT to." he grumbled.
"Mom signed me up for something that's like school they're having here during the summer." again with the displaced pride. How was he supposed to know it just wasn't considered cool in the least to be looking forward to school of any sort? "Are you going too?"
"Uh huh." Dylan replied grudgingly.
"Cool!" the foxboy chirped. "Maybe I'll see ya!"
"Whatever." the blonde child piped a moment before a taller boy in his late teens wearing a Nine Inch Nails T-shirt and sporting a wirey unkept goatee, approached the two kids.
"Dyl, let's GO." he said impatiently, reaching for the boy's arm as Dylan shrank back and swatted at his brother. "I've been lookin' for your skinny a** all over this shithole."
"Don't TOUCH ME!!" Dylan demanded, hugging himself to keep his brother from taking his hands and scrambling to his feet, his face screwed up in a look of angry embarrassment.
Kendall blinked as he watched the blonde human boy storm out of the library a few paces ahead of his teen brother who followed after him, muttering angrily and, as the foxboy watched, reached out and gave him a swift smack on the rear that made Dylan stumble a couple of paces, though he didn't trip over himself.
Wow....just wow. If that was what having a big brother or sister was like, Kendall was glad he only had to deal with a sister the same age as he was. No wonder Dylan was so grumpy.
"Kendall..." He turned to see his mother approaching him and eagerly got to his feet, straightening his shirt as he did so.
"Where's gramma?" he questioned, noting Jean's absense as he offered Karma one of his hands which she took without hesitation and began to lead him away from the story corner.
"She went to see if she could find a book for herself." the foxcoon replied, lying through her teeth. Frankly, she didn't know or care where her mother was at the moment. Most likely, she'd gone out to wait in the car after their spitting match at the table. "How was the story?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.
"It was cool." he said agreeably. "It was about some guys who built a spaceship for a contest and went to a place with some aliens."
"Aliens, huh?" Karma said, her eyes skating the immediate area for Jean and not seeing her. She supposed that really shouldn't have made her feel as relieved as it did, but..... "You want to check out any books as long as we're here?"
He thought it over for a moment and then shook his head. "Nope." he replied. "I got books at home."
"Yes, because Calvin and Hobbes is such enriching reading material, right?" she smirked.
"I like Hobbes!" Kendall protested, though he was smiling. Karma smiled back as they headed for the exit, deciding that if she WAS raising him wrong, then there was a hell of a lot to be said about people who raised their kids the 'right' way....and not much of it was very good.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:04 am
Youkochylde *Thud*
*Thud*
*Thud*"RAVEN!" Youko's ears were flat as he glared towards the bedroom door, which was currently VERY tightly closed. The fox had his hair pulled back into a ponytail that was starting to come loose, the silver strands tickling his face and annoying him even more as he finished wrapping the nick-nacks fromt he mantle and shoved them into a box. *Thud*
*Thud*
*Thud*"Raven, STOP IT!" Sighing, he moved to open the door, stopped by the fact that the knob wouldn't turn. In all the time the kids had been here, he could only remember the door being locked once... and that was when the twins had hit the button by mistake while playing and couldn't figure out how to UNlock it again. Knocking on the door, he leaned against the frame, glancing to the 'Trespassers will be Eaten by a Dragon' sign that was taped to the front. "Raven... you have to come out at some point, you realise." "No I don't!" The foxcoon girl was laying sprawled on her bed, surrounded by packing boxes that were still open and empty. The baseball in her hands was flying up towards the ceiling, hitting it with the *THUD* then falling back into her hands. "YOU move, I'm staying right here." It made sense, really. She'd just keep the door locked and then she could stay. Looking around, she sighed faintly. This was THEIR room. No place else would be THEIR room, and she didn't see why they had to move. Still, Youko had been adamant, and was about halfway through packing up the house in preparations to take over their new residence, right across the block from Mom, Dave and Kendall. It wasn't that the house was bad... it was kinda cool and had its own backyard, unlike the apartment they were currently in. And the back fence that seperated their yard from Kendall's was just made up of wooden slats. There were even TREES back there, perfect for climbing. All in all, it wasn't bad. But as she looked around the room that she and her brother had shared since birth, Raven sighed and felt a bit depressed. Youko could have had the door open in seconds... being a thief for most of one's life had its advantages. But the fox knew that this would likely only cause more problems. If Raven wanted to lock herself away, he'd let her. But it wouldn't stop the fact that they needed to have everything on the truck in the morning. "You know..." he said, crossing his arms over his chest and talking to the door. "You're going to have your own room there. Granted, there'll be a bed for Kendall and he'll have some of his own stuff down there... but the basement is being finished and we're putting in that purple carpet you liked so much at the store. That whole downstairs is going to be yours... and you can play your music or DDR or whatever, without having to worry about me yelling at you for shaking the light fixtures." One grey ear perked up. That didn't sound so bad. Warily, Raven moved to sit on the end of her bed, staring towards the door as well. "It'll ALL be mine?" she asked, still not quite willing to give up on the mood she'd been in. "All yours. We're getting paint to match the carpet, the bunkbeds are getting sold and we're going to get you a new bed to go in there." Money was tight... but thanks to Envy, they'd been able to figure out just what they could sell to make Raven's new 'domain' into a perfect habitat for a juvenile foxcoon, instead of a rampaging ground for a pair of toddlers. "If you want to hang posters, you can... if you want to hang pictures or whatever, you can... Envy's going to give you his old TV for your games, so that you don't have to worry about me kicking you off to watch movies anymore..." This was just sounding better and better. Reluctantly, Raven looked tot he boxes, and the books, toys and clothes that she'd been SUPPOSED to be packing for the past two hours. "Can I keep people out when I want to?" Youko leaned his head back against the frame, nodding although he knew his daughter couldn't see it. "Have I ever come into your room when you don't want to be bothered?" "No..." "And I'm not going to start now. I use my room as a place to escape from things at times, and I've always told you that your room is the same way. When the door is closed, I don't come in." They both also knew that there were exceptions to that rule. Once when a bottle of painkillers had gone missing, Youko went on a frantic search for them, afraid that the twins would wind up getting into the bottle... he'd found them, nestled in with Kendall's Legos, and was VERY happy to hear that they were picked up by mistake. Kendall had been scraping together his toys and hadn't noticed the small bottle that rolled into the pile after being knocked off the table. Still... there WERE circumstances that Youko would invade privacy, and both twins had been told early on that it was just best to avoid raising his suspicions. "Daddy?" Raven asked, winding her arms around her legs tightly. "Why did I come here and Kendall stayed with Mommy?" The girl's ears flattened slightly, and she was running through many scenarios in her mind. What if her mother hated her and sent her away? Or what if Kendall had said all kinds of nasty things about her and they thought it was best to keep her here?" "You're here because you and your brother fight like cats," he began, sighing softly. "You're driving us both nuts, and we figured that until you two learn to appreciate each other's company, you needed to be apart for most of the time. That's why we're moving to live behind them, so that you two CAN see each other whenever you want... and you can visit your mother whenever you want. But this way, you both have the option of LEAVING when you're annoying each other, instead of being forced into each other's company all the time." "Oh..." Raven reached out, picking up one corner of Kendall's blanket and fingering it gently. "So it's not because Mommy hates me... or because you hate Kendall?" That made the fox blink. "No, of course not, kitling. I love you both very much, and it hurts to see the two of you fighting all the time. I wish you could get along, but if you can't, then your mother and I will at least make sure that you both have a place where you can be happy and get away from each other." Pulling hte blanket from the bed, Raven started to fold it, making sure it looked neat. After about ten minutes of silence, she heard her father's voice in query on the other side of the door again, and she stopped to reply. "I'm okay, Daddy. I'm just packing." Smiling to himself, Youko nodded and started to move away from the door. "I'll be in the living room. Lunch will be soon." "Call me when it's ready?" Raven said, her voice coming through the closed door. "Will do, kitling."
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:05 am
Youkochylde This wasn't so bad... Raven moved around her new 'room', setting things here and there. The furniture was mostly new, the old bunk beds having been sold to make way for HER stuff. The bedroom set was white, and with blankets and pillows and such that were shades of purple and pink. There was a double bed... with a canopy! There was a nightstand as well that held a small lamp, an alarm clock and Raven's diary. Against one wall was a dresser and mirror, a high chest of drawers and a small vanity with a white stool that had a purple cushion on top of it. The basement area was HUGE, making up all of the area beneath the house. Only one small part of it wasn't 'hers', a small room near the stairs that housed the laundry room. Against another wall was a second double bed, nightstand and chest of drawers for Kendall... Youko said that he didn't need as much furniture because he had most of his stuff over at Mom's. It was the same over there, most of Raven's stuff having been taken out and brought over here to give her brother more room for his things. This way, they each had their own space, with room for hte other should a sleepover occur. What amazed Raven though was how NICE it looked down here. When her father had told her she'd be staying in the basement, she'd immediately had visions of cinder-block walls, spiders and gloom. Instead, the place was carpeted in a dark purple, the cinder walls covered with drywall and painted a paler lilac to match. There was a ceiling fan in the middle, and partial walls had been set up to seperate the sleeping area from the main room that housed a small entertainment centre with a television, an older VCR and DVD player, her video game systems, a small couch that Youko had salvaged from somewhere, a plush chair to flop in, and a couple of beanbags. There was also her stereo, which was currently playing loud enough that thought was only an option, not a requirement. It was great!! After arranging her books on the shelf near the television, she looked around and grinned. Everything was in its place. Raven had a few strange quirks... cleanliness was one of them. Youko would joke that one of these days she was going to wash the dark off of her fur with how often she bathed and washed her hands. Even now, that clean streak was apparent, in the almost meticulous way things had been arranged... WITHOUT her idiot brother to mess it up. It wasn't that Kendall was very messy... it was just that he messed up HER way of doing things. Finally, she flopped down on her bed, pulling the small locked diary close. Youko had gotten it for her when she finally learned to write, saying that she could write anything she wanted in there, and that he would never read it. He also promised that he would TRY and make Kendall promise not to read it either. Picking up a red gel pen that she'd bought JUST for this occasion, Raven opened the diary and began to write. Raven Dear Diary - I'm in my new room! It's great down here and I can play my music as loud as I want. Daddy doesn't even yell when I play DDR anymore because I'm not shaking the house. I think I'm going to like it, so long as KEN DOLL doesn't screw it up when he comes over. He can keep his nasty boy stuff over on HIS side of the room. There was a bit of excitement last night. Envy and I watched Jaws 3D (STUPID effects) and Daddy was passed out in bed asleep from moving everything. The cel rang and then Daddy came flying downstairs. Apparently the little Fa'e girl that he was telling me about was having her baby, so he went off to be there for the birth. I guess that means they really need to get the nursery done, huh? I guess they'll be home soon, but until then it's just me and Envy. At the moment, he's upstairs, sleeping on the couch because he dozed off. I should wake him soon, and see if he's hungry because it's almost lunchtime. Or maybe I can make sandwiches for us. Or maybe I can sneak into that cheese and summer sausage that Daddy bought... Ritz crackers, here I come!!
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:06 am
Youkochylde ((Cut and pasted to both the GMFC journal and the Fa'e journal, since it deals with both of them.)) Youkochylde The Ball was fabulous... and BUSY! I barely had time to do or see anything for longer than a second or two before being swept off again into a throng of people. I found the Fa'e Table and GMFC Table once each... then proceeded to get lost amidst the sheer number of people that attended. Raven decided to stay home that night, opting for the relative freedom of being able to do pretty much anything she wanted (or whatever Envy would let her get away with) rather than being 'shoved into a dress and made to act normal'. Her exact quote, I swear. Nozomi was pretty good for the most part, but seemed to have issues with being around so many people. I can't really blame her, she's still just a baby. We left early and I brought her home to relax instead. I would have liked to stay, but there comes a time when we put our own preferences aside in regards to our children. Raven took her almost immediately, saying that I looked like someone who'd been through a wringer. I kept an eye on them both, but she seemed to do well with getting Nozomi out of her dress and into a bath. That was one of the things we realised early on that we'd forgotten... a baby bath. Still, the kitchen sink serves that purpose for the moment, until I can get off my behind and go get a real one. At some point, I'm going to manage to get a camera near these two when they're around each other instead of Raven immediately handing the baby back to me and bailing for Parts Unknown. (Read: Her bedroom, where the door is closed.) I think that tomorrow I'll leave Nozomi with a babysitter and take Raven out for a day of 'just us time'. Since Nozomi's arrival, she's been holding up well, but I feel awful for not spending as much time with her. I'll ask her what she wants to do, and no matter what it is (within reason), we'll do it. Hopefully she'll like that and it'll give me a bit of time with her by herself instead of worrying about if Nozomi is going to wake up fussy.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:07 am
Youkochylde Drac with a relucant Devi latched under her tail walked up to YOuko's house and knocked. She'd seen the note posted in HQ on her way home and thought that maybe seeing Omi would cheer Devi. That and she knew how much others could be needed to help with a new baby. "I GOT IIIIITTT!" From the sound of it, they were going to be greeted by Youko's daughter once more. Sure enough, the little foxcoon girl threw the door open and grinned at them. "Hi, Miss Drac," she said politely, having remembered the names her father had given her for their previous visitors. "Hi Devmani." Turning then, she motioned them in, politeness gone as she yelled at the top of her lungs. "DAAAAAD!! COMPANY FOR YOU!" There was no sign of the fox at first, but a rather active bouncy-chair in the livingroom suddenly revealed a purple hand swinging to the side from it, the chair turned towards the television where Grover was relaying the concept of Near and Far. "Come on in, I'll be down in a second!" Youko's voice filtered through the house from somewhere upstairs and Raven turned back to the pair at the door. "We're in the livingroom watching television, c'mon in!" Devi gave a shy wave from behind Drac, still mostly hidden in her tail. "Umm, thank you Raven." Chuckling a bit she walked through to the living room, smiling. "Omi, hello sweeite." She wiggled her fingers over the baby's stomach as Devi watched. Omi seemed overjoyed to see them, grinning from ear to ear as she let her legs kick and sent hte chair bouncing back and forth again. As soon as she saw Devi though, she stopped, staring at him in wonder. Was that... the blue one? She looked down at her hands, then seemed to try and peer around him towards where his legs used to be. Oh this was no FAIR! He could get rid of his blue?? Maybe she could get rid of the purple too... Raven plopped onto the couch, curling up as she watched them. "Are you going to be taking care of Omi today? Daddy said that we were going to go out and do stuff if he could get someone to watch her. He's been kinda having second thoughts, but I think he'll trust you two." "Yes, definately. Decided Youko and company needed a bit of help anyway. Hehehe, atleast with Omi there're no flying hooves to worry about. He was a terror during teething." Devi gave her a scathing look and turned his attention to Omi. He really wished he could laugh and smile and tell her hello but th loss of his voice took all that away. He settled for giving her a little kiss on the forehead and tickling her tummy a bit. Normally, Omi would have responded with a squeal or at least a giggle or two. This time, however, she barely reasponded at all. All she did was lift her arms up towards Devi, whimpering softly. Something was wrong here.... what had happened to the other boy? As if seeing this for the first itme herself, Raven leaned over, looking at Devi curiously. "What happened to your legs?" she asked, ears pricking up. "Raven, dont' pester people," came Youko's voice from the stairs as he emerged from his bedroom. The kitsune was freshly showered and was braiding his hair over one shoulder as he smiled to Drac and Devi. "Hi there you two! How are you doing today?" Devi gave in and smiled, picking her up carefully. His still pointed ears drooped a bit. Before his mum could answer for him though Youko came in. "Hello Youko. Honestly, we've both been better, but Devi wins the prize." She gave her son a gentle hair ruffling as he tried to hide behind his mum again. "He turned human when he didn't want to. Lost his voice too. I really just wish that I could find a way so this didn't happen to him." She smiled a bit sadly before collecting herself. "Well anyway, shouldn't you two be heading out?" She grinned at the father-daughter duo. That outting should be interesting. Too bad she didn't know how to use a camcorder. "You two get yourselves together and Devi and I will take good care of Omi, ok?" Nodding, Youko looked with concern at Devi before smiling to him. "You're still one of the few people I would ever trust with Nozomi, Devi," he said, ignoring the boy's physical issues at the moment. Raven let out a whoop the moment Drac spoke and ran to her room to get her shoes. "YES!! And I get to decide where we're going!" The girl was practically vibrating at the door anxiously for Youko to get there, and took off out the door the moment he got close. "We'll be back soon, Drac," Youko said, moving to nuzzle Nozomi before heading out after his daughter. "Everything you should need is out already. Formula on the counter, baby bottles, diaper changing stuff is in the cabinet in the livingroom, and if she needs a nap, her room is upstairs, first door on the left. Just make sure it's not dark in there and she should be fine." He paused, fidgeting for a moment before putting his worry to rest and moving out to the car.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:08 am
Youkochylde Raven was bounding almost the moment they stepped out of the car. Youko had asked her for ideas of what to do today, but she knew EXACTLY what she wanted. Surprisingly, it hadn't been a movie or a trip to the arcade... or even the miniature golf that she'd expressed interest in a few times upon passing the place. Instead, they were now standing in front of the Build-A-Bear Workshop, and Raven moved to cling to her father's hand excitedly. This was going to be FUN! She'd heard about the place on the radio... and while she had a lot of plushies that had been given to her over time, she didn't really have any that SHE had picked out. Today was going to be different... and the little foxcoon was nearly vibrating by the time they walked in the doors. Everywhere she looked, there was something new. This was more than just a bear store... it had games and a little snack bar, as well as live 'shows'. It was a place where they could likely spend the whole day and never be bored. After they'd taken a moment to orient themselves, Raven worked free of Youko's hand and darted towards the wall of different limp plushie bodies. There were bears, cats, rabbits, foxes, raccoons.... just about everything one could think of! She walked up and down along the wall, eyeing each one in turn. Finally, she settled on a medium sized silver-furred koala bear with fuzzy ears that tickled her cheeks. Once that was done, she took it over to the table where boxes of stuffing sat, as well as a little bin that held small, red satin hearts. Perching on the bench, Raven hummed to herself, tucking the stuffing into each arm and leg. She could hear Youko behind her, offering advice, but for the most part, he just kept quiet, letting the girl do what she wanted. The kitsune was glad that they'd been able to get out for the day, and was now VERY glad that Raven had suggested it. He sat cross-wise on the bench next to his daughter, just watching. Once the bear was stuffed and ready, one of the shop's workers sewed it tightly shut. NOW it was starting to look like a real bear! Picking up her prize, Raven hugged the koala tightly, then padded over to the clothes. "Daddy, what do you think she'd look good in?" Looking up at her father, Raven seemed almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices she had. "I don't know, sweetie," he said, peering into bins of shirts and pants and skirts, all bear-sized. "Maybe she'll like some of the same things you do?" He held up a pair of denim shorts, setting them over the bear as he smiled. Raven nodded, setting the shorts aside for the moment. Smiling, she reached into a bin and instead pulled out an India-print skirt that would go down and nearly cover the bear's feet. She looked at it skeptically for a moment, then slid it on, happy with how it looked. A few bins later, a black tank top was added, as well as a loosely knit poncho that was made from an olive thread that shimmered when the light hit it. It draped down, the tassels matching with the skirt, and Raven seemed to like the effect it had. A pair of sandals was stitched onto the feet to keep them in place... and a daisy added behind one ear. After that, it was on to the accessories, where a bracelet and earrings were added. Finally, Raven held up the finished bear, beaming proudly. "Very bohemian," Youko said, grinning as he picked up the bear and looked her over. "if you like her outfit that much... maybe we could find you one like it?" He lifted a brow, looking down at his daughter, who was now giving him the ' OhpleaseohpleaseohPLEASE' look. Laughing softly, he nodded to her. "Alright. Next stop, the mall." After they paid for the bear, Youko realized that they'd already been here a few hours. It hadn't really seemed that long... and he was looking forward to the mall trip as well. Connie, as the bear had been named, was now tucked securely under Raven's arm, and she held a bag over her other arm that held a pair of pajamas, a car seat, a bear bed and blanket... and numerous other things that the bear 'needed'. Once at the car, they got the 'seat' set up and Connie was placed inside. The trip to the mall wouldn't be that long, and as they pulled out of the parking lot, Youko smiled to hear Raven talking softly to Connie in the back, and telling the little bear all about what they were going to do.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:09 am
Youkochylde "DADDY!!!" Youko winced, ears dropping back as he prepared lunch for Nozomi and Raven. "What is it, kitling?" he called back, knowing that this particular pitch of wail meant that Omi was getting into something she shouldn't. "Omi tore Connie's flower off!" Oh lord... Youko sighed, putting down the sandwich parts and immediately headed to the livingroom. Connie had become Raven's favourite toy and companion... taking the place of a diary and managing to follow the foxcoon everywhere. "Let me see, honey," he said, reaching gently for the bear and the flower. "You have to keep Connie away from her, you know... she's too little to understand how special your bear is." Raven was barely listening, nearly in tears as she followed Youko to the kitchen. "You can fix her, right?" she asked, bare feet padding against the floor. Since the day Raven had made Connie, Youko had begun to notice that the girl's tastes were changing. Where Raven had always been content to knock around in jeans and t-shirts, now she was taking more of an interest in how she looked. The crinkled and long flowing skirts had become a staple, brushing the tops of the girl's feet when she walked. Unless she was outside with her brother, she was usually dressed in them, as well as the shawl-type drapes that she'd managed to acquire a collection of. It seemed like just yesterday that he was putting her hair in pigtails... now Raven refused to put ANYTHING in her hair unless it was a barette to keep the shoulder-length silk out of her face. Youko half wondered if this was his high-school hippie phase coming back to haunt him. "I can fix her," he said, pulling a needle and thread out of the utility drawer. Within a few moments, the flower was stitched back behind the ear of the bear, and Connie was declared 'good as new'. Raven beamed, reaching up and clutching the bear tightly. "Thank you Daddy!" she yelled over her shoulder as she spirited away the bear back to the safety of her room. That was the one place Nozomi was NOT allowed in the house, no matter how much she wailed. A child-safe gate stayed at the top of the basement stairs, Raven able to get past it easily enough. "Anytime, kitling," he said in reply, knowing the girl was too far away to hear him by now. Glancing to Omi, who was staring at him innocently from where she sat on the floor, he just shook his head with a smirk. "I really hope you two don't wind up fighting... you're both stuck here, you realize."
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:10 am
Youkochylde Youko had just finished tying the last bow in Nozomi's hair. The toddler was sitting in between his knees on the couch, toying happily with the bounding little star that she'd gotten from Hoshi, the Starkeeper Fa'e. Raven was nearby as well, curled up on the carpet with a few of her dolls and was meticulously combing through their hair, trying to get the hang of braiding. More often than not, however, she wound up with knots. There was a jingle of keys near the door, and the foxcoon's eyes immediately shot up to the clock. Seeing the time, she sprang to her feet, bolting for the door as if the world's largest cheesecake was on the other side. "MAIL'S HERE!" she yelled, giving out the ONLY warning that anyone in her way would receive. Snickering, Youko set Omi down to crawl off, eyeing the girl as she made her way right for Raven's toys, ignoring her own. This was becoming a habit... "Cable bill, electric bill, phone bill..." came Raven's voice as she walked back to the livingroom with the stack of envelopes. Youko just rolled his eyes, sighing as he realised that the mid-month bill avalanche was, indeed, due. "What's this?" Raven said, lifting up one brightly coloured envelope. "Who the heck is Ryousei Gingitsune?" "GIMME THAT!" Youko snatched at the envelope, eyes wide as he looked over the addressed name and groaned inwardly. Inside was a colourful card and a money order that slipped out to land on his lap. Raven snatched it up immediately, looking it over and letting out a whoop of glee as she saw the number. "LOOKIT!" she yelled, waving the piece of paper at the poleaxed kitsune. "Who sent money? It's like a couple hundred dollars! Do you KNOW how much this could buy?" Crawling up onto her father and perching on the arm of the couch behind him, she peered over his shoulder. Frowning, she tried to read the cursive writing and got no where fast. However, judging from the whine that came from Youko, the happy-looking card could have been a pit viper. "Who's it from and what's it say?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. Letting the card drop onto the couch, Youko leaned his head back and looked up at his daughter. "It's from your grandparents," he said simply, already making a mental list of the Flight-Of-The-Bumblebee cleaning spree he'd have to go on. "They're coming to visit this weekend." "You have parents?" A narrowed gaze answered her. "Yes, smart alec, I have parents. And they were born AFTER the Stone Age." he reached up, swatting at one of Raven's ears lightly. "I need you to go and pick up Omi's room if you can," he started, holding up one hand to fend off the retort. "It's the ONLY room I'm going to have you do. You keep your own room clean enough, but they're going to expect Omi's room to be spotless. I have to clean the rest of the house." As Youko slid from the couch to get started on a 'to-do' list, Raven just watched him. "I should go grab Mommy's video camera, just to prove that you DO clean house occasionally." "Ha, frickin' ha," he shot back, hurling a throw pillow at the girl. "I clean... I just do it when you and Omi are asleep, that way it lasts longer than an hour." Raven caught the pillow easily, giggling as she slung it back at him, then darted off to the bedroom. Grandparents could be fun, she realized. They bring presents and spoil grandkids rotten. If she played her cards right, she could make out like a bandit this weekend.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:10 am
"I don't wanna!" Kendall protested as Karma led him through the parking lot and toward the front steps of the library.
"Ken? I want you to get used to the routine, now..." his mother replied in about as patient and pleasant of a voice as she could muster in her going-six-directions-at-once state of mind. There was so much going on lately that she'd nearly forgotten the preparation program she'd signed Kendall up for until two days ago. "You're going to be starting school for real this fall and I don't want to get any calls from the teachers about you running around naked on the playground yelling like Tarzan." She had meant it to be funny, but Kendall didn't laugh.
"How come ARKIE doesn't have to go??" he demanded to know, trying not to look down at the red Mario Brothers lunchpail he'd picked out for himself at Target the other day. He should have known there was a catch...those nice new crayons, pencils, gluestick, backpack, and other things...and not once had he heard his mom complain that things were too expensive.
"Because Arkie's too young for school." she sighed, rolling her eyes as the fa'e in her carrier grabbed for one of her ears, missed, and got a handful of hair instead. This didn't seem to bother him much as he gave a joyful squeal anyway and yanked on it. "I wouldn't--stop it, Arkie. I wouldn't have expected you to go to school either when you were just a baby. Actually, you should have started school a long time ago, kiddo. We need to get you up to speed."
There was a long discontented silence between them, the only sounds being their sneakers on the pavement and Arkie's muffled babbling as he continued to try and eat Karma's hair. "When he's your age, he'll go to school too, okay?" she said, reaching down to smooth back her son's hair as they walked.
"What if everybody hates me?" the foxboy asked sullenly, looking like a prisoner being dragged off to execution.
"Nobody's going to hate you."
"What IF, though?" he pressed.
"Well..." Karma's ears folded back slightly. Why did kids always come up with the worst curveball questions? "If everybody hates you, then they're not really worth having as friends in the first place, right?"
Kendall smiled a bit, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Dad says you learn how to answer questions like that from sitcoms." he said, shaking his head a little.
"Yeah...well....tell your dad that he has room to talk when he stops taking relationship advice from Adam Carolla." she said, her statement half drowned out by the happily babbling and squealing baby strapped to her chest. Bringing Arkie into a place as quiet and stoic as a library made her feel like some sort of suicide bomber. Except, instead of dynamite strapped to her chest, she had one of the loudest noisemakers known to man. And instead of shrapnel she would be bombarded with dirty looks.
"Is Raven gonna be there?" he asked suddenly. Frankly, Karma would have thought he'd have asked that a lot sooner.
"Youko was supposed to have signed her up for the same program, so maybe...but its likely you guys will be in different classes. It could be that way in real school too." she explained, shouldering open the door and letting Kendall go ahead of her. "BUT you guys will get to have lunch, ride the bus and walk home together, right?"
"Do I have to?" he groaned. Now it was his mother's turn to smile as they walked past the checkout counter, past the kids' section, and to the sectioned-off study area in the back where a bespectacled young woman in a simple denim skirt and blouse was standing before a whiteboard.
The name Ms. Haughton was written in neat block letters in blue marker and she was in mid-discussion with her gathered 'class' of seven young children who all turned their heads curiously as the pair drew near.
Oh gods, they're all younger than Kendall... Karma noticed with a wince. What a way to get started, she thought with a sigh. But the pamphlet HAD said "Open to all children ages 5 to 10" as she gave Kendall's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"Oh! Good morning!" Ms Haughton smiled to Karma. "And who do we have here today?" she asked, shifting her smile to Kendall who blinked, startled, and smiled back.
"This is Kendall." Karma said pleasantly, trying to sound confident. "Kendall Kitsune." she clarified as the lady reached for her attendance sheet and looked it over.
"Right. Kendall." she nodded in approval, tapping his name on the list and setting it aside. "Well why don't you come on over and sit with us, Kendall?" she said sweetly, gesturing at one of the empty seats. "We were all just getting to know each other a little better since this is our first day!"
The foxboy looked up at Karma warily as she nodded her encouragement.
"Go ahead, sweetie."
As Kendall dropped his lunch pail and backpack on the back table with the others and padded over to sit down, Arkie made an unsuccessful lunge after him, squealing and yelling in his own native language of gibberish, wanting to go visit the other children.
"Oh, no you don't...you're not old enough yet." Karma smirked, restraining him as the other kids giggled a bit. When he persisted, the foxcoon made a hasty and embarrassed retreat from the study area to leave Ms. haughton to her teaching. If Arkie was going to start acting up, he'd only get louder if she let him.
"Kendall? Would you like to tell us a little about yourself?" Ms. Haughton inquired once Karma had gone.
"Uh..." he faltered, squirming in his seat a bit. No, he didn't want to talk to a roomful of strangers, what kind of welcome was that?
"Don't be shy." she smiled. "Everybody's been taking turns since we started."
Yeah but *I* wasn't here for it... Kendall found himself suddenly jealous of the other kids because they'd all had a chance to get to know each other a bit, and now they were all looking at him like he was some kind of alien.
Oh well...
"My name's--"
"Oop! Stand up so we can hear you better?" she interrupted gently as Kendall sighed, and stood up before trying again.
"My name's Kendall. I don't like being called Ken Doll because only my stupid sister calls me that." he stated, sitting down again. Ms. Haughton blinked, this clearly not what she had had in mind.
"You have a sister?" she prompted, trying to get him to elaborate more without embarrassing him.
"Uh huh." he nodded. "Her name's Raven. She's my twin."
"Oh! You're a twin!" she declared, clasping her hands together and smiling. "You're very special, Kendall!"
"Izzat like being Jewish?" one of the other little boys inquired, blinking cluelessly.
"That's when two babies are born at the same time. DUH." a girl sitting beside him corrected.
"Jenny? No hurtful words please." Ms. Haughton said gently. "But Jenny's right, class. That means Kendall has a sister that has the same birthday he does."
"My cousin has the same birthday as me!" one of the others offered. "Am I a twin?"
Kendall's ear twitched a bit, listening to the teacher field questions about what twins were and weren't. She was a nice lady, he'd give her that, but was this what school was going to be like? He didn't know twins were THAT uncommon...and if he'd had a choice he would have been born all by himself.
Maybe he and his mom could negotiate on this whole "school" thing when she came to get him.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:11 am
Youkochylde "Why isn't she in school yet?" "Ka-san, I..." Youko started to reply, then got cut off once more. His ears flattened to his head as he narrowed his eyes. "And does she always run rampant like this? You really should... Raven, dear, stop jumping on the couch... should get her into a program or something." The youko vixen was moving around the livingroom, Nozomi cradled in one arm as she 'tidied up a bit' and picked up toys here and there. All Youko could do was stand to the side and watch Hurricane Juri move through the house. "Ka-saaaan..." he whimpered, tail moving behind him as he tried to figure out some way of telling his mother to stop it and just VISIT for once. "Give it up," came the voice from behind him as his father padded through to the kitchen. "I've been trying to get her to slow down for almost forty years." Muttering softly, Youko crossed his arms over his chest and turned to watch the aging human male move off. "Big help you are," he snarled. Youko's parents were amusing to most... but still frustrating in their own way. His mother had been strict when he was growing up, but now seemed to throw that to the side and let her grandchildren get away with murder. His father, meanwhile, was still the 'sucker' that could get conned into anything by a cute pair of child-eyes. People had warned Hayaji Ginsen that falling in love with a kitsune was a disaster waiting to happen... and others had warned the headstrong vixen that she could do MUCH better than falling for a human. Still, they'd managed to make it work for forty-two years so far. They'd managed to produce a 'litter' of half-breed kitsune over the years, six boys and three girls. Some appeared wholly human, others like Youko took after their mother more. He was dreading a family reunion by this point. Raven and Omi, meanwhile were having the time of their young lives. The foxcoon girl had been vanquished from the couch, and had instead run to her room to grab a book. "Ba-san, can you read to me?" she asked sweetly, using the term her grandmother had instructed her to. "Why of course I can, kitling," Juri smiled and moved to sit on the couch with Omi alongside her. Raven eagerly camped at her feet, dropping to sit in the boneless manner that can only be achieved by small children. As she started to read the adventures of Gulliver to the two, Youko moved to head after his father. The two men were close... and Youko was grateful for both of his parents. It didn't mean that they didn't drive him crazy at times, it just meant that he loved them. "Since when does she read to kids?" he asked half-jokingly, leaning against the counter to p***k an ear towards the livingroom. Hayaji was putting the final preparations on dinner, the man having taken the opportunity to finally cook for more than just two. "Since she became a grandmother," he replied, shoving the roast into the oven. "Between you and Tadashi, she now has four. And where is this grandson we're hearing about?" "Kendall is with his mother," Youko replied, sighing as he turned back to his father. "The two of them fight like cats, and we thought this would help matters. Since we've seperated them, they seem to get along much better, and can still see each other whenever they want. Kendall lives right across the block," he added, pointing out the window towards the backyard and the house that was on the other side of the fence. Nodding, Hayaji washed off his hands and leaned against the counter. "Maybe we could invite him and his mother over for dinner?" he offered, smiling faintly. "There's going to be plenty." Nodding, Youko started to relax a bit more. This wasn't so bad, after all. He'd been expecting a lecture but had been pleasantly surprised when the visit had gone generally without a hitch. Other than the typical 'Mom-rants' that happened here and there. "Why isn't the place more clean... Why don't you dress UP once in a while... Have you met a nice girl yet?" He'd heard them all. "I'll ask Karma," Youko said, moving to head to the door. "Ka-san! Can you handle the girls for a few minutes?" One hand waved from the couch as Juri continued her story. It was mom-ese for 'get going, I can handle this'. Youko grinned to his father then, and moved out to head towards Karma's.
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