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 Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 7:22 am
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:30 am
__Part 45
Whistling cheerfully to the music blaring from the television, Lenore was combatting the mass of dust bunnies that had accumulated around the room without much success. Crow was gone for the day, off to work. Lenore, not feeling particularly social, had decided to tackle the immense challenge of cleaning, mostly out of boredom than anything else.
The Sprockets she had enlisted to help, all of Crow's and her own four, were protesting and complaining to no end.
"Aw, c'mon, Len, I ain't programmed for this sort of crap!" Lypiphera complained as she, Bira, and three winged kangaroo rats tried to clean the windows.
Lenore rolled her eyes.
"Would you rather I have you clean the toilet?" she asked lightly. "The alligator isn't going to get itself outta there, ya know."
Lypi gave a grumbling reply in Binary and resumed cleaning the window.
Giving a satisfied chuckle and looking into the bathroom to see how the gator-removal was going, she merely shook her head in amused exasperation as she watched Cheshire, Cole, and Kaye fighting amongst themselves, trying to figure out who would have to get rid of it. The alligator cocked an eye at Lenore, giving a tolerant sigh and snapping its jaws at Cheshire's tail.
"You know, I really gotta wonder how it got in there in the first place," she said to Cole. The dragon unfurled his wings in a shrug, smoke curling from his nostrils in exasperation.
With sudden playfulness, Lenore ran back into the room and slid across the floor, riffing on an air guitar and singing along to the thrashing music.
"It's a shame we have to die, my dear, no one's getting out of here alive, this time. What a way to go, but have no fear, no one's getting out of here alive this time..."
Picking up Maero and Sadako and doing an impromptu waltz, she laughed as she stumbled over her feet and landed on the mountain of dirty laundry.
"Mother happy?" Maero asked, picking himself up off the floor and fighting off the coffee-stained scarf that was attempting to strangle him.
"Huh. I guess so," Lenore said, turning a somersault on the cluttered floor and springing up. "Weird, isn't it?"
"Very." Sadako said dryly, smoothing down her rumpled dress.
Sticking her tongue out at the doll, she gave a jump as she heard loud, pounding knocks on the door. Thinking the blaring music had bothered one of the other guardians, she turned it down quickly and scuttled to the door. Still too short to reach the peephole, she cracked the door open a little and peered through.
"Can I help you?"
"Is Namaa-er, is Sarah here?"
Lenore stiffened with forboding. No one outside of Rijan called Crow "Sarah".
"What do you want?" she said, her tone hardening dangerously.
"Just to see her. Please, I've travelled such a long way. Can I come in?"
Lenore looked around worriedly. The three dragons, the newly-freed alligator, Sprockets, Widdershins, and every other little creature that hid out in the room had gathered to watch. Coatl gave a warning mutter in Nahuatl on the bookshelf, his mad eyes quivering as they rested on her.
This is SUCH a bad idea.
"If this guy tries anything, I'll slice 'em, you burn 'em," she whispered, pointing to the dragons, "and you help me hide the evidence." she pointed to Maero and Sadako, who nodded eagerly. The alligator gave a grunt, clicking its teeth.
"Oh. And you can eat what's left." The alligator gurgled, looking pleased.
"Alright, just gimme a second," Len said loudly, undoing the locks warily. Opening the door and flaring her razor feathers so that they stuck out like threateningly, she looked her visitor over carefully.
"Um. C'mon in....I guess."
"Thank you."
The woman ventured in, careful not to step on any of the gathered creatures who watched her. She curtsied to Lenore as the girl shut the door, smiling.
"Is Sarah here?"
"No, she's at work."
She had to admit, the woman didn't look like much of a threat. She was tall and a little ragged looking, with coarse hair that fell in dredlocks down to her waist. Her eyes had a vaguely animal-like look to them, since they were framed like Lenore's. Her clothes were worn-out; a Rijani soldier's uniform, lovingly patched here and there where they had worn through. Like her clothes, the woman was covered in stitches, too - almost as though she had been sewn together.
"So. What are you?"
The woman smiled again, showing porcelain teeth behind her faded red lips.
"A doll. Sarah's doll. I came from Rijan to find her - may I wait here until she returns?"
Cocking an eyebrow, Lenore shrugged and pulled out a chair for the doll-woman at the dining table.
"Sure. Knock yourself out."
---
Crow returned from the lab late that evening, looking slightly cross as she methodically wiped what looked like snot from her clothing and hair.
"I told 'em- I told 'em- the thing's got a nasty cold, you can't expect me to take it on a test flight when its insides are the equivalent of a giant stuffed-up nose - GACK!"
Kicking the door open, she choked on her complaint mid-word as she stared at the room. Lenore, in the middle of cooking a dinner of pancakes and microwave lasagna, waved merrily at her mother from the kitchen.
"Hey, Mum! Your doll came to visit!"
Crow merely continued to stare as the doll-woman leapt up from her chair at the table and raced to the girl, picking her up and hugging her as she twirled around.
"Namaa! Namaa, it's me! It's Doll! How have you been?"
Crow, squashed against Doll's body, gave a muffled reply as she hugged the woman back. Wriggling away so that she could breathe, she craned her neck to look up at Doll's face.
"Cripes, where've you been for the past seven years?!"
Doll smiled and bounced in excitement, beaming at Crow in utter ecstasy.
"I've been killing people!" she said happily, though suddenly puzzled at Lenore's choked-off swear of shock and Crow's suddenly pale face. Looking around the room, confused at the dead silence as everyone stared at her in stunned shock, she blinked innocently.
"What?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 9:27 am
__Part 46
"I do not see why you are so perturbed by this, Namaa. Killing is not a sin in Rijan."
"No, it's just a federal crime everywhere else in the world. Doll, sweetie, lovely, you can't just go around snuffing people when you feel like it!"
"Yeah. You might run out of places to hide the bodies."
"Len, you're really not helping things."
"Sorry."
Walking around in the snow on the Tree House Isle, Crow, Doll, Lenore, and Sadako were deep in conversation. What with Doll's homicidal habits over the past seven years coming to light, a few awkward questions were bound to be raised.
Shaking her head in exasperation as Crow tried yet again to explain to Doll why killing wasn't such a good idea, Len lifted Sadako out of the snow and trudged off into the sunlit, snowy forest. Sighing with pleasure at the peaceful quiet, she walked on for a few minutes before hearing voices that didn't belong to Crow or Doll. Sneaking through the trees to find the source of the sound, she looked at the group of unfamiliar people intently.
"Hello?" she said tentatively, hugging Sadako to her chest tightly.
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:40 pm
Rolling a ball of snow in what seemed to be a five foot diameter around small and thin tree was the tiniest mishap. Her small Alphonse doll was leaning against the tree idly. Humming a song happily, dressed in her winter jump suit she made good work of her 5 inche tall snow ball. "I'mma make a snowman! Imma make a snowman!" She squeeled almost gleefully.
Baxterfullous watched her from his blanket covered perch, reading a book. Nest to him was a large red wagon that had a basket and a few books inside. The sleek black cat looked up from his book, looking over Len with his cold blue eyes he finally spoke. "Hello there."
Aphrodite blinked looking up from where she was rolling, gasping she waved. "Hi!"
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:51 pm
Huh. Okay. Insect-child and talking cat-thing.
"Um. Hi there."
She waved to the girl and her companion shyly, unconsciously beginning to twist Sadako's hair in shy nervousness. She was never any good at meeting new people...
"So...name's Lenore. Nice to meet you."
Trudging through the snow to investigate the beginnings of the girl's snowman, she smiled as politely and nicely as she could, more to ease her own discomfort than trying to be social.
"What's your name?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:06 pm
Aphrodite blinked a biut smiling up at the girl before her. Taking note on the shiny wings she had. "My name is Aff-or-dite." She said quite proudly, more so the time it took to get herself to pronounce her own name right. " That's unca Bax, he's teachin' me about magies."
Turning his attention back to his book, the pages turned themselves, it didn't seem like a fiction, it looked more like a spell book. "It's pronounced Mah-gick Aphrodite." He spoke offhandedly, but in no way harshly. Looking up from his book once more. "My name is Baxterfullous." A small nod, a the faintest hint of a smile in his cobalt blue eyes.
Aphrodite blinked and blushed, she didn't really like making mistakes. Shrugging it off she looked at her small grey doll Alphonse. Discarding her snowball, she toddled her way over towards the doll that leaned against the tree. "This is Al, he's mah bestest best fend." She picked him up with ease, despite the the doll and the mishap were the exact same size. "He has a brudder too, his name is Ed." She toddled her way over to Lenore. "... But he wanted to stay with Bergie, Ed says he wanted to protect her like Al protects me and stuff! He's a nicey nice." She smiled looking up at the raven Mishap.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 8:20 pm
"Aphrodite - what a pretty name."
Feeling resonably less shy, Lenore gave Baxterfullous a grave nod and completely serious curtsy.
"Pleasure to meet you."
Untangling her spindly fingers from the protesting Sadako's hair, she set the irritated doll on the ground and gave an apologetic shrug. The doll gave a sniff and scuttled off through the snow, giving Al an analytical look before disappearing through the trees.
Crow, following Lenore's tracks through the soft snow, lead Doll by the hand in exasperation.
"Okay. So, why is killing bad?"
A pensive look crossed Doll's face as she tried to remember the answer.
"Because if I do not properly bury the evidence, there could be uncomfortable questions raised by those who find it?" she supplied, an innocent, almost child-like smile on her face.
Crow stared at Doll for a second before clapping a hand to her forehead.
"That's...oof. Alright. We're making progress."
Hearing Crow and Doll coming closer, Lenore cocked her head to one side as she regarded Baxterfullous.
"That's my mum and Doll. Is Aphrodite's mum around, or are you here guardian?" she asked, eyeing his book with interest.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:48 pm
Aphrodite blushed deeply, only her mother said her name was pretty. "Thank you Len-ore." She smiled up, rather shyly. The tiny wasp mishap blinked, seeing the two new woman comming. She flew up from the floor and decided to sit on Lenore's shoulder. "Oo.. she looks like Sally." She comment looking Doll over, blinking she looked up at Lenore from her shoulder perch. "Is it okies if I can I sits here Len-len?"
Baxterfullous quirked a brow. "No, I'm not her gaurdian. Catherine's working right now, and I'm just merely baby sitting... Ususally I'm teaching aprhodite but I thought it be nice to just be outside since it's not too cold." Another page turned by itself, he blinked seeing Lenore eye the spell book. "It's a book of shadowcraft if you're wondering," Of course she was, heh. " ...It contains very powerful shadow magick, it's also very old." He spoke quietly, almost a bit amused by her seriousness.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:02 am
"Sure, sweetie. Go ahead."
Adjusting her shawl to make a comfortable nest for Aphrodite, Lenore perked up and sidled a little closer, trying to see the book's title.
"That's cool. Jabir an' Maggie said I'm aligned with Shadows - but, I'm not really sure what they meant. They didn't really go into detail..."
Stowing her hands in her pocket to resist the temptation to snatch the book, she glanced at Aphrodite.
"Are you teaching her that?"
Fighting their way through the snow, Doll and Crow wandered over to the three, Crow grumbling complaints under her breath. Doll followed behind, innocently waving to Baxerfullous and Aphrodite.
"Hello! My name is Doll, and I ki-"
"Doll, honey, why don't you go find Sadako? Way, way over there?" Crow interuppted quickly, pointing at the scuttling tracks the plaything had left behind. Doll beamed and nodded, hiking up her skirt and jogging into the trees merrily.
"Oy gevault." Crow muttered, pinching the bridge ofher nose to stave off a headache. Noticing the new company, she waved with with weary politeness.
"Hey."
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:46 am
Aphrodite smiled, cuddling Lenore's shoulder. Happy to meet someone new, clinging tightly to her doll she nuzzled him too for good measure.
"No no.. I'm not treaching her that." A small chuckle left him. "This is for myself, those books are what I'm teacher her out of." His tail flicked towards the few books in the large red wagon. 'The Fundamentals of Magick', 'The Great Wheel', and 'A beginner's guide to herbs' were a few out of the pile. Judging by the titles it was assumed that they were all very very low level. He raised his eyebrows at the new company. "Hello."
"Hello Len-Len's Mommiee." She waved at Crow and she waved to Doll. "Byebye Len-len's Mommie's Dollie." Seeing 'Doll' going after the scuttling Sadako.
Baxterfullous blinked, his fur stood on end for a moment at the surprising sight of the one called Doll. Shaking off his surprise, he collected himself. Remembering Lenore's comment of being aligned with the shadows. "You're alignment is shadows... hmm just like myself. Being aligned with rhe shadows is meaning you will have the ability, maybe sometime in the future, to manipulate the darkness around you and use to your advantage. I won't go into deep detail, though, but in the most simplest explanation to possibly give you... you'll be very good at sneaking." The faintest glint of a smile appeared in his cobalt blue eyes.
Aphrodite blinked listening. "Uncah Bax wants to try to see what's my align-ents fore Jabi and Mags do.... buh mama said that I should wait till I'm old enough. So untils den Baxies teaches me about the world and what magick's gotta do with it." She smiled, being so young she absorbed the knowledge like a sponge. "Uncah Bax teachies me to read and writes." She was so proud of herself, quickly she then blushed. "I sorry, I didn't mean to talk like that." The word brag was something new to her, so she didn't know really where to say it, though she knew the feeling.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 12:06 pm
Leaning against a tree, arms crossed over her chest, Crow looked Baxterfullous and Aphrodite over with mild interest. She couldn't help but smile a little as Aphrodite rambled - she was adorable. She waved back quietly, looking over her shoulder to make sure Doll wasn't killing anything.
"I am not sure she went this way, Namaa!"
"Keep lookin', Doll. She's out there somewhere."
"Okee dokee!"
Cradling her head in one hand and sighing, Crow shook her head despairingly. How could something so sweet and innocent be a merciless killing machine at the same time?
Lenore grinned and wandered over to the wagon, crouching down in the snow to look at the books more closely.
"That's really cool, Mr. Baxterfullous. I've been trying to practice manipulatin' shadows and stuff, but nothing ever really happens. I'm better at Air stuff - yanno, like making breezes to help me fly better, stuff like that."
Nodding attentively as she tried to keep up with Aphrodite's fast-paced words, Len gathered her long skirt around her and sat on a root that jutted out from the snow.
"Wow, he's teaching you all sorts of things." she said kindly, quirking an eyebrow as the girl blushed. "Nothin' to be sorry about - it's very interesting."
Re-emerging from the trees, Doll brushed the snow off her skirts pleasantly.
"I couldn't find Sadako, so I brought you this," she said to Crow, holding out an utterly confused-looking badger by the scruff of its neck.
Taking the badger and struggling to turn her look of perplexed astonishment into something like a grateful smile, Crow put the addled creature down in the snow.
"It's a badger!"
Crow didn't respond right away.
"....I can see that. Thanks, Doll."
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 3:53 pm
"Shadows need to be talked to, it's sort of a need in order to manipulate them." He shrugged another page turning. He looked to Crow and then to Doll his brow quirked.
" Oh okies!" She didn't feel so bad anymore. She cuddled her doll, nuzzlzing Al happily. She giggled, whipsering something to Al. "Len, Al says your very pretties." She grinned happily. "I hope when I get bigs I get pretty like you."
Baxterfullous once more looked amused. "A badger, how lovely." He shrugged, Doll reminded him of a homunculos his father made many centuries ago. He looked to Crow, he gave her a sympathetic look. "Are you alright?" He asked quietly. Despite the fact he looked like a cat, he gave this presence that seemed... odd.
Aphrodite squeeked a bit afriad of the beast, she hid behind Lenore's dull feathers.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:06 pm
Blushing with pleasure at the girl's sweet remark, Lenore gave her a rare smile.
"Thank you, Al. You too, sweetie."
Looking back at Baxterfullous, she nodded in understanding.
"I didn't know that - I'll remember it, the next time I try to practice."
Crow gave Baxterfullous a look laden with wry acceptance that she was surrounded by insanity, and shrugged.
"Hey, it could be worse. Coulda been a wolverine."
Doll beamed at the backhanded compliment about her badger, brushing off snow that still clung to her dredlocks and worn-out shirt.
"Why, thank you, mister cat, sir! I could find you a raccoon, if you'd like. Mayhap a fish, instead - Namaa used to keep cats all the time, and goldfish. Of course, neither tended to last very long in her care..." Doll trailed off, looking thoughtful.
"I suppose that's why she made me - I cannot die, nor do I eat her other pets. How novel! I never thought about it that way before."
Crow sidled up to Baxterfullous, sliding down to sit near him. Removing her woolen cap, she pointed at the book he held and then at her head.
"Please hit me as hard as you can." she said dryly, watching as Doll tried to recapture the badger as it desperately tried to waddle back into the woods.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:36 am
Baxterfullous stared at Doll for a few moments, no words able to come to his mind. Honestly now she reminded him Domidora, an aunt, that really wasn't a aunt, but talked and acted about the same. Thinking about that one eyed buffoon made his head hurt.
Aphrodite blinked, clinging to Al. Wolverine? She closed her eyes really hard, her tongue sticking out as she tried to place an image to the word.The only image that came to mind was a short disgruntled man that came from Canada. " ...hmm."
The sleek black cat blinked, a bit surpised at the request. Shaking his head he then looked down at her, once more with his sympathetic gaze. "...At least she's trying to make you happy." Somehow, though the only words he could muster beneath his cold exterior, were warm even if they lacked that elegance in his typical speech.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:12 pm
Sighing, Crow nodded a bit grudgingly.
"I know - she's a good girl. Some of her habits are just a little....iffy, that's all."
Lenore gave an appreciative snort of laughter and shook her head, watching the badger giving Doll a merry chase around the clearing.
"C'mon, sweets, let's go look for my doll, before she kills something," she said to Aphrodite, creeping out towards the messy tracks. She folded her wings back carefully, to prevent getting caught in the outreaching branches of the bushes and trees.
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