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 Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:42 pm
Waaaait a minute - the vampiric dead? Like... Marks? No wonder they'd been together. This whole shindig was starting to make Cody very jumpy about the possibilities of Alex's activities today. "Do we have some great big sign reading 'Dead Freaks of Nature Unite' outside? Christ..." the 'unicorn' swore, still glaring at Vain despite the knowledge he was no longer being addressed.
Peregrine... not comforting. Dead vampires? More not comforting. Man, he needed coffee. Or a blanket. Or just a hu--....nope. No hugs. "So... why're you here?" he went on, interrogation on his mind.
Something about the Townhouse made Skittles... either cold, or uncomfortable - which were, theoretically, the same thing. Where had his words gone? Le mot juste had fallen so far away since that long night of writing, not so long ago. That night that had trembled into day and found itself at the revelation of... If things can't change on their own, can't change for the better, there must be something you haven't done yet. Which had, come to think of it, sparked the plan to remove Asteil to some place safer and unknown.
How could he possibly miss Oliver already? Because he needed words, needed some new spark... and couldn't quite find it on his own.
"Shower," he heard himself echoing, now withdrawn into the quieter places of his consciousness but still in part bound to the etiquette of host. "Over this way?" it wasn't so much a question as an invitation, and he moved in that slightly-dazed, slightly-glazed way past the stairs and down the hall.
Hopefully Adrian hadn't been in the bathroom recently. That boy!
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:36 pm
"Drive Marks up the wall," he grinned leaning back. "Mostly to rest for a little while somewhere safe." His purple eyes wandered the walls and watched Skittles accompany Alex on the search for a shower. Poor thing, he had been putting up bravely with the cold water. Vain did not blame him for wanting the comfort of civilities.
"I don't mind answering your questions, but this is not the most comfortable spot. Shall we move and you and interrogate me." He tossed his head.
Trailing his fingers across the wall, Skittles followed Alex. His bright eyes flickered around taking in the sights. He paused, looking at the stairs a sign of wealth in his old world. "You have stairs? Does some lord stay in here?” He questioned forgetting an amount of his fear.
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:46 pm
"Good answer," Cody muttered to the first part of the sentence. Hunh. Yup. Strays. Goody. He was going to have to start putting down the ones that didn't get adopted. They were running out of room, and he was running out of patience. Not that anyone, you know, cared or anything about his ability to put up with them.
Biting his tongue against further sarcasm, the three-eyed unicorn led the way to the common room, one slightly less cluttered and decidedly more modern than much of the Townhouse, even including a tv in its make up. Flopping ingloriously down on one of the two couches, Cody crossed both arms and legs and stared hard at the demon, "A'right, V - how'd you get roped in with Alex and the ******** style="color: tan">"Lord? Hardly," Alex laughed, light and sweet as his voice separated itself from the majority of his thoughts, becoming more airy and whimsical. "Edmund might protest, perhaps, but I think our residents tend more towards the common..." he shook his head in amusement, wings drawn in towards his body to keep from brushing anything but air, "There just... isn't enough space, not on the first floor. Not for everyone."
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:11 pm
Vain eyes had turned to the T.v. with the blank, inquisitive glaze that screamed he was new at least to this peace of technology. Ignoring Cody for a moment, he cautiously moved to the T.v. treating it like a living thing before he touched it. He hmmed, knowing it was made of plastic, glass, and metal.
"Skittles became attached to Alex and roped me into trying to find you. Instead I found your brother and decided resting someplace safe would be prudent." He looked at Cody. "What is this?" He finally asked tapping the screen. Their technology ran to military and medical.
Skittles looked to Alex hearing the change in tone. "Your voice changed, sweeter." He pursed his lips. “You needed money to afford a second floor at home. Mansions, carpenters, and others that built home where in high demand.”
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:08 pm
Okay... primitive carnie.
And it figured. Jesus Christ, when was Alex going to stop doing that? And still the question of what had possessed him to go anywhere with Marks. Eegh. Possessed. Totally the wrong verb for the situation.
Cody frowned in befuddlement as Vain approached the television, observing and narrating the interaction much as an anthropology video in Science 101 is narrated. The primitive has never seen anything more advanced than a rock before, and he is quite confused. First, he establishes that it is not alive, by tapping it and waiting for reaction. Because it does not bite him, he knows that it must be dead, like his dinner, or never have been alive, like a rock.
The bit about his brother cut off the inner monologue with brutal, axe-murdering efficiency. "That's a television, Bronze Age Boy - what makes you think you've found my brother?"
"Hm," said Alex noncomittally to the first comment, and "I seem to recall reading that in a textbook somewhere. Things are quite different in this world," as opposed to 'this age'. No need to accuse Skittles of being archaic. Gaia was a jumble of histories and cultures anyway. "It's a matter of efficiency here," he explained, trailing his fingers along the wall until they reached the door of the bathroom. He turned the handle and opened it with a bow.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:58 am
Vain knelt, fingers running over the buttons till he found the one marked power. He pressed it with a soft hum, ears perking as static fit first then color and sound. He blinked and looked back. "This television works like a hand held radio?" He questioned fingers searching for familiar knobs to change the reception.
"Why Nicodemus, he answered to Kingsley is named Peregrine and has the relatively same attitude as well as coloring. Dark hair, dark eyes, dressed in a business like attire and don’t forget the loathing of the strange and unnatural. I could make sure Nikii but that involves me touching your soul scent. I just don’t feel like it.” Vain satisfied himself by pushing buttons watching the channels change.
Familiarity with the movement made him smile. His hand left the wall and tapped Alex’s shoulder. “You don’t have to bow, but which part of this room is the shower?” He scuffed his feet, red on his cheeks. “My shower and your world showers must be vastly different.”
When a shower was constant flowing fluid much like a waterfall in nature, which rushed into a circle about the size of a large pool, this ages shower sprouts and knobs where confusing. Unable to find or know the usage of the device to bathe with was most awkward.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:57 pm
The primitive somehow, in his infinite prehistoric naivete, manages to activate the strange not-dinner-or-a-rock-box. He is both fascinated and--'Niki'?--noooo way.
Cody delved into the depths of his mind - not too far, there were some pretty heavy things preferably avoided skulking around down there at the moment - and searched for ways in which he and Pippin might be similar. As would be expected from someone so convinced of their utter and total estrangement from a relative, he came up with but one - genetics.
But what he was really starting to not like about this conversation wasn't the part where his brother was on Gaia, no, it was the part about 'soul scent'. Cody had had far more than enough of analyzation, natural or supernatural. The fewer people looking through his headbones or aura, the better. "How--why'd you find him? Where is he?" he muttered over an infomercial, squishing back into the couch in a sulking brooding manner.
"Not having had to makes it special," Alex shrugged lightly with a smile, moving into the bathroom in that detached grace, a little more at peace in the mundane. "Hot water," he explained, indicating one knob with a twist of hand, "Cold water," he countered, indicating the other with another turning motion, "Towel," he teased, picking up one of the fluffy clothes and holding it out for Skittles to observe.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:06 pm
"Alex was looking for you; Skittles stuck up a friendship and said we would help." Vain shook his head. "I grabbed the wrong scent and found him instead of you at a quaint little restaurant called M'lady Milady's or something of that sort." He continued pushing the buttons. No this wasn't a radio though it seemed to work on the same principle.
Skittles giggled. "I thought that was a dress," he teased back reaching for it. "I miss towels; I miss civilization." He muttered, looking at the shower. It didn't look that hard. Now what was in those little bottles? Shampoo? "What is Shampoo?" They had hair care products but those where listed by what was in it.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:02 pm
Wait, Alex had been looking for him? Try visa versa, all freaking day. Well... okay. Not true (again). But why... Apparently nothing important enough to alert him the moment they came home. They... That's right... "And the parasite? What about him?" He couldn't think of any reason Alex and Marks might share to search him out...
He'd deal with this Peregrine thing soon as he figured out why the name of the 'quaint little restaurant' was so damned familiar.
"You can wear towels too," Alex answered contemplatively, finger tapping his chin in consideration. His gray-eyed gaze drifted and followed Skittles' attention, head tilting to the side in some sort of be-wonderment at the bottles. "Shampoo," he informed the small fox, pronouncing each syllable with exquisite precision, "Is for cleaning your hair. Lather, rinse, repeat - but not ad infinitum."
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:50 pm
"Parasite?" Vain questioned leaving the t.v. for a moment. "I'm guessing that pertain to Marks? He just wanted to find you and drag Alex home. Most likely to get rid of him."
"And the other one would be for softening? Conditioner?" He tried pronouncing it and failed. They sounded funny but it was familiar now. Except the ad but it didn't sound like anything to do with cleaning. "Soap? Bar or liquid?" He was use to both of them but he didn't want to grab the wrong thing. Soap stung when it was in the eyes.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:00 pm
Oh, right. He was talking to... someone he didn't know. Who Marks didn't know. Who Alex didn't really know either, for that matter - which meant that he wouldn't get the nuances of any of Cody's favorite names for the psychotic Ravnos. ...Enh. He was just so used to everyone he ran into knowing an uncomfortable amount about... well... everything. It was sort of new - and not unwelcome in the least - not to have that happen again. "Yeah... That's... uh... why?" he ended up mumbling, the last question mostly to himself.
To his recent experience, Marks absolutely hated spending time with Alex, but seemed to forget about that fact pretty easily... which made things complicated, especially when Marks stopped chasing the bird away just to get on Cody or Oliver's nerves. Okay... maybe the b*****d had gone with Alex specifically to annoy him. It was a stretch... but not a big one. "You don't plan on ever going out of your way to make any sort of contact with him again, right?"
"Bar," Alex said, voice colored by lamentation, "There aren't many girls in the house." Which meant, by his standards, that the male-dominated household was more inclined towards the less refined of cleansing materials. Alex's preference ran counter to many of the other residents, but soap was soap when you got right down to it.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:10 pm
Skittles set the towel down reaching for the bar that must be the soap. He took it and a hint of lament same to his voice. "It smell funny. Jasmine and oranges.." he stopped with a small regretful sound. Jasmine and oranges had been a favorite scent. Sandal wood as well. It was soap though so it would do.
He place the soap down, wiped what clung to his fingers on his pants, and pulled on the Obi belt tied around his waist free. The vest like shirt bellowed open showing a rather large scar in the mid of his abdomen about the size of a large closed fist.
"Marks? Perhaps contact in the future, but out of my way to? No. If I do, Skittles will have a baby sitter and I will be trying to get him drunk." Vain grinned. "The b*****d hates me. I keep making him slip up and reveal more then he wants to." It was enjoyable.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:17 pm
"Mass production cares not for our delicate sensibilities," Alex murmured, clearly still in his whimsical place.
That light-hearted skimming above the surface of deep thought skidded and sunk into harsh waters the moment he noticed the large scar, a reminder of the terrors Skittles had hinted at before. An unbidden frown creased over Alex's face, his current detachment from the harder thoughts making it near impossible for him to conceal the slightest emotion and thus absolutely impossible to deny concern.
But it would be rude, unwanted even, to comment after it, and thus he ignored it as best he could, "There are a couple Townies about your size, I can borrow a change of clothes?" he suggested, slipping backwards out the door, focusing on Skittles' head more than that monstrous mark of brutality.
Healthy choice of lifestyle, Cody thought on the subject of avoiding Marks. "You really sure you wanna get in that head? Just look what it di..." did to Alex.
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:55 pm
Skittles grinned. "Pleeeeseee I been wearing this for a weeek." He stripped out of his vest, turning around as he began to peel of his pants. The scar was on his back as well hinting that what made the front went out his back. That scar had been how he dead, pinned onto a pole like a butterfly in a collection. "Umm..I'm taking off my pants now." They where half pulled down his hips already.
Vain looked at Cody. "You don't like Marks do you? Sure he's an a**, and he nearly got Alex gutted today pulling a stupid stunt. There has to be a reason he that way though. I feel like finding out and maybe trying to change it."
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Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 11:57 am
"Leaving~" Alex sang out with a slightly laugh, closing the door quickly in exit. And then... and then stopped. Paused. Frozen outside, forehead resting gently on the door and lips parted slightly in thought. Terrible things... pain, violence, tragedy... and they don't happen for reasons, so it's useless to blame... so what can you do but feel them, feel them and feel sorry that they should ever have had to happen? Alas that worlds hadn't found peace yet.
Slowly, the bird's fingers unwrapped from the doorknob and he flitted through the house in search of some decent change.
"What gave it away--What?" if it had been possible to spontaneously combust at that precise moment, Cody would've been a bonfire. If Marks had actually done something---it was time to actually do something back, instead of just glaring at, threatening--f*cking hell!
"You can't change the past," he snarled at Vain, standing and pacing, arms crossed and head bowed in thought. Death was too good for the ********... something else...
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