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 Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 4:09 pm
The child had silver hair which was a bit odd for a person her age. It wasn't something Claire stopped to wonder about very long however, she really didn't care what color the child's hair was. She was sure it would be a perfect little angel and the answer to her dreams.
Still, she was thoroughly shaken by the way the child had appeared out of the flames. She had always been a very plain, simple person and such a strange occurence wasn't something she could handle easily. To keep herself from freaking out she'd decided that it didn't happen and that it was just an illusion caused by the knawing cold and a lack of sleep.
When she stepped out of the graveyard she forced herself not to look back. Instead she made sure she knew what street she was on, just in case she would ever need to return. Cradling the infant carefully, she began to head back home. It took over an hour of asking directions and looking for familiar streets before she was able to find her way back. When she did her fiance's car was parked outside, indicating that he had already returned home.
She rang the doorbell hoping that he could heart it over the blare of the televison. About a few minutes passed before the door was flung open and her fiance came out glaring at the child in her arms and shouting wildly, "Why the hell did you bring a kid home?"
She stared at him horrified."It was abondoned."
"So you brought it HERE. I hate children, throw the little beggar away and get in here."
Claire was used to her fiance ordering her around and had learned to deal with it along with his nasty temper. This time he had gone too far. Her dreams of her own happy family had shattered before her eyes and she wasn't about to let him get away with it. "No!"
As darted forward she knew she couldn't escape, she had barely enough time to set the child on a hedge before his hand connected with her cheek. The force knocked her backwards and caused her ankle to twist as she had on it. She stared up into his eyes hating him more than she had ever hated some one before. He slammed the door after him and then opened it a few seconds later to chuck a bag at her before closing it again. She realised it was her emergency bag that she had stocked full of essentials in case of a natrual disaster. She was glad to have it, even if she'd rather have her other belongings.
The child slept peacefully on the hedge throughout the whole episode. She winced in pain and limped forward to retrieve it. As soon as she touched it, the child screamed and clawed at her, creating long bleeding scrathes up Claire's arms. She set down the infant sobbing. Her last hope had failed her.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 5:45 pm
The child looked up at Claire with a cold expression in her eyes. When the woman had touched her she had felt a sharp pain on the side of her face and her ankle had throbbed. As if that wasn't bad enough when she had lashed out and cut into the woman's skin with her nails, her own arms had stung with pain. The answer was dreadfully clear, she had felt same pain as the woman. As soon Claire withdrew the pain the child felt ended ubruptly.
Claire looked down at the child, her dissapointment had turned into to sympathy. The child was afraid and however bad it had hurt her in its fear she had to make herself forgive it. Even so, she wasn't about to let it attack her again. She took the large first aid kit out of her bag and withdrew a roll of duck tape. Carefully she rolled the child off its tattered blanket onto a fresh clean one, taking care not to touch it. That's when she saw the letters stitched into the blanket. They read Kameri. A small smile crossed her face,"That's an oddly beautiful name for such a violent child."
Claire unrolled some of the tape and leaned closer to the child. Kameri growled as Claire wound the tape around the blanket trapping her body in the cocoon. Claire picked the baby up once more as it lay pinned in its blanket and started off down the street humming to herself, bag on her back, as she limped along. "I don't know what the future will hold but I'm sure I will know soon enough."
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Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:28 pm
The next few days went by in a flustrating sluggishness. Claire had managed to find a new home right next to the building in which she worked. She spent most of her time burying herself in her work and crying. The changes which she had endured the last few days had made her life barely bareable. Everything felt so lost, so empty. After a few painful trials, Claire found that as long as she didn't touch Kameri with her bare skin the child didn't attack. Kameri was very distant most of the time, she was calm and collected. It wasn't how Claire had expected things to be, the child wanted nothing more than to be alone and ponder things. Claire had thought that Kameri would be her guiding light, but the child wasn't suited for any such comfort.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:05 am
Noel-chan Claire stood amount the trees staring out across the park. She had Kameri bundled up tight on the bench beside her. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind that Kameri was diffrent from most children, emerging from fire had proved that, but she didn't know why Kameri was so strange. It bothered her just how much she didn't understand about the child. For one thing she was extremely violent when touched with bare skin, which was odd for anybody, especially an infant. Pavement Mos was ambling gently through the park. Pave was absentmindedly smoking and looking around. She noticed a girl sitting on a bench and automatically headed in that direction. Mos followed gleefully. It was adventure time! Pave approached the girl and smiled. She looked down at the bundle and recognized the distinctive look of a ToR. "I see you've got a Tear of Redemption there." Pave nodded to the child and tried to make conversation. Mos clambered into her lap and attempted to grab the cigarette out of her mouth playfully. Dragain Dragain had been booted out of the house with Ingina for company. It seems that father and son, also known as Saniiro and Karimaru, had some big secret that they were trying to keep. Dragain had brought herself and Ingina a drink and were now wondering in the park aimlessly. It was then she spotted Pave with a female she had never met before. Prefering chatting to wandering around, Dragain approached Pave while Ingina looked forward to meeting some new people. Xpressionless Astraea smiled warmly as she sun gently warmed her skin. It was one of the few times that she had been truly grateful to escape the house, to walk about in the sun. Being a thin-blooded vampire, she often tried to avoid the sun, but with Ava's increasing mood-swings she found herself seeking to leave the house more.
Lorelei toddled beside her mother, a plastic pony clutched in one hand and a slowly melting icecream held in the other. Stopping suddenly a bright smile crossed the red-heads face, her ice cream dropping to the ground. "Ingina...Mos" she squealed in delight, charging off in their direction.
"Lorelei" Astraea called after her, swiftly hurrying after her daughter. As she neared the group, a similar smile to Lorelei spread across her lips. "Hello Dragain and Pave" she greeted them, as she knelt down to wipe the traces of ice-cream from Lorelei's mouth. It was then that she spotted the other woman whom she had never met and the infant bundled beside her. "I'm Astraea" she said as she stood to her feet once more, extending her free hand to Claire. "This is Lorelei" she continued, motioning to the girl who stood clutching the leg of Astraea's pants. "Its always nice to meet another ToR guardian" her smile widening as she said so. Noel-chan Claire smiled up at all three of them feeling a bit overwelmed. She was suprised that they had called Kameri a TOR and herself a guardian. "A TOR ?" she said in a puzzled tone,"I'm afraid I don't quite understand. I found Kameri a few days back, I don't know much at all about her." She blushed slightly, embaressed that she couldn't follow.
A look of curiousity filled Kameri's eyes when she saw the other infants. She was sure they were diffrent from most people, but she couldn't place how. That is except for Ingina, her wings were a bit of a give away.
Pavement Mos looked around. Everyone was here! "Gina." He nodded to Ingina, still remembering the chocolate chip cookies. He looked over at Lorelei. He had met her before, but he didn't quite remember her. He nodded to her anyway. Then he looked down at the bundle. He reached out and poked at it happily. Pave looked around and smiled. "Hi Dragain, hi Astraea." She looked over at Kameri. "Yep. That's definitely a ToR. This here is Mos. I see he's already noticed your child." Pave held her hand out. "Nice to meet you, er...?" She broke off. Noel-chan Kameri was hissing. Claire looked at her in alarm, realizing the potential danger the other child was in. She hurried over forgetting to shake Pave's hand and was instantly relieved to see that though Kameri was a bit annoyed there was nothing she could do about it, the bindings were tight. As long as Mos didn't touch her face, or anywhere else skin was exposed their shouldn't be a problem. But if he did . . . Claire shuddered. "Kamei is quite violent", she warned,"It might not be the best idea to have your child so close. She felt horrible saying it, she wanted nothing more than for Kameri to be a happy pleasant infant who played nice with Mos. Pavement Pave noticed Claire's worrying and picked Mos up. "Don't touch other children." She admonished quietly and set him back down. Turning back to Claire, she smiled nervously. "Sorry about that. Mos is a curious one." Xpressionless Lorelei had watched quietly while Mos had approached the other infant. As a hissed seeped passed Kameri's lips, Lorelei jumped back in surprise. A frown crossed her lips when she had recovered slightly from her fright. She had never met such an aggressive infant before and was quite confused as to how to act. Placing her hands on her hips, she took a tiny step toward the bundled Kameri. "Be nice" she said to the hissing girl, frowning at her. "No make friends when scary" she continued, continuing to frown at the other girl.
"Lore be careful" Astraea said, cautious of how close Lorelei was getting to Kameri. Her cheeks flushed crimson as Lorelei addressed the girl, embrassed that her daughter was acting in such a way. If she thought about it thought, Lorelei would have picked the words and actions up from Astraea herself. She had used them often when it came to Rini, and trying to get her to behave. "I..I'm sorry" she stammered, at a loss for words. "She isn't usually like that" she continued, although she was curious as to how Kameri would react.
Kameri, however, felt quite diffrent. She was glaring up at all of them with her icey blue eyes. She didn't feel that the other infant had any right to tell her to be 'nice'. Like the other TOR, she had lost all her memmories when she was reborn. But her feelings could not be erased. She didn't believe in good, the world was cruel, and that meant there was bad in everybody. More so than good. She began to drag her sharp nails against the inside of the blanket. If she was going to have to deal with this, she wasn't about to do so bound up.
Xpressionless Lorelei's frown only grew as the girl didn't seemed to respond to her demands. Putting a finger to her lips in a quizical manner, she tried to think back to what her Mummy did when Rini didn't listen to her. Her expression brightened as she remembered that her mother sometimes gave Rini something she really wanted, and then Rini would be all nice and happy. Her jade eyes looked about, wondering what she could offer the girl. Her frown returned when she couldn't seen anything. Clutching her hand tighter around the pony, she realised that was that she could offer the girl.
Taking another step closer to the struggling girl, she held the toy pony out to her. Lorelei adorned her ponies above all her other possessions, but if it would show Kameri that Lorelei was friendly, and would get the girl to be nicer then she would willingly offer it.
Astraea watched her daughter curiously. She knew how much the ponies meant to Lorelei, and knew the girl would be crushed if Kameri rejected her gift. Pavement Mos looked over at Lorelei. She was holding out her pony. Mos realized he had nothing to give the unhappy girl. He searched around in his pockets. TeEmEye, a lot of crumbs, and the rock he threw at his mother. He pulled it out. It was a particularly good rock. He held it out to Kameri and smiled. Now she could have two things to play with. Pave nodded at Claire. "Mos is just friendly, I suppose." She shrugged and looked at Mos, who was now holding out the rock. Noel-chan It was evident that Kameri was struggling with her emotions. Carfully she ripped open the blanket and sat in front of them, wearing the raggedy little dress that Claire had managed to find for her. A battle was going on inside of Kameri and confusion was clear in her eyes.
Her infant self did not remember how Damren had treated her so long ago. Giving her gift and then betraying her in the end, yet the feeling of distrust had not left her. She wanted to play with the objects to touch and cradle them in her arms. Har small, shaky hand reached out to touch both objects. The feeling of both of them under her fingers made a small smile appear on her face. But even so, she could not let herself except them. She drew back her hand and shook her head sadly.
Claire watched her refuse. She knew it would most likely happen but she wished it hadn't. Kameri trusted no one completely and it appeaered that was how things would remanin. "I'm sorry. She won't accept anything, not even from me." Xpressionless Lorelei's face fell the instant her offer was rejected. Tears welled in the corner of her eyes before they started running down her cheeks. She continued to hold the pony out to Kameri, shaking it slightly at the girl. "Please takey" she begged, more tears falling from her eyes, "present to make you happy". She could see in the girl's icy eyes that she was atleast curious about the gifts that were being offered to her, but she couldn't understand why the girl wouldn't take them.
Astraea continued to watch the curious situation play out before them. "Whatever happened to her in the past, must have shattered her trust of people" the vampire woman noted, turning her jade eyes to Claire. "How did you find her?" she asked, wondering it perhaps that might help to shed some light on why the girl seemed so cold and distant. Pavement Mos looked down at his rock. Was it bad in some way? He hefted it and looked at the child. No, there was something wrong with her. If she wanted the gifts, she should take them. He proffered the rock again. "Vi gxui." He told her. She must take it. He looked over and saw how sad Lorelei was. This girl was making everyone sad! He pushed the rock at her and accidentally brushed her nose and cheek with the back of his hand. He was feeling terribly sad that the girl would not take his rock. Pave looked down at the child and up at Claire. "Astraea's right, something happened to her." She nodded decisively. She cast around for a reason to pin on Kameri's distrust. Noel-chan Claire shuddered," I went for a walk a few days back. I wasn't particularly watching where I was walking to and I found myself in front of an old graveyard. Try not to think me horrible, because I'd never seen one before and was fascinated. So I went inside. I paused in front of a grave where I assumed by the burnt stick jutting from the ground some one had been burned alive once. It burst into fire once more and as it died down in its place was Kameri. She was completely unharmed, fast asleep in her raggedy blanket."
Kameri sat on the ground and crossed her arms defiantly. Lorelei was crying and begging in front of her, yet she gave her no heed. She hardened her heart and turned away, refusing to do as much as look at them. That's when she felt Mos's hand brush her face. His emotions washed through her. She stared at him a few momments before making up her her mind and taking the objects from their outstreched hands. Kaeri murmured a few sounds that sounded remarkabley like a thankyou. Pavement Mos was excited when she took the rock from him. He started babbling and smiled. "Mi frapi mia patrino kun la roko!" He giggled and pointed at his mother. Pave shrugged. "Sounds interesting." She nodded. "Maybe something to do with death. That seems like what happened to Mos." She looked down and caught his words to Kameri. She lifted her pant leg and looked down at the purple bruise. "And it hurt, Mos." Mos giggled and poked the spot on her leg. Dragain Ingina stared at Kameri with her steady blue eyes. Her thoughts reaching secretly into her mind. Ingina heard weird and horific things in the mind of this new girl. She turned to her mother and tugged at her shirt. She whispered, "Home." Dragain sighed and waved goodbye to Astraea, Claire and Pave. "I'm sorry," She apologised, "But Ingina seems to want to go home..." She nodded at Ingina who waved goodbye to her friends with a smile. Dragain smiled and walked away, pushing the stroller across the road.
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:14 am
Things had changed since that day at the park. Kameri was even less trusting than before. Claire knew it was because Mos had touched her just when she had started to let down her guard, but Claire didn't blame the little boy. How could he know how much trouble it would cause?
Kameri sat in a corner leaning against a wall. She was deep in her thoughts, her eyes glazed over and a single word came from her lips,"Damren." The infant looked confused, the name wasn't one she recognized. Why had she spoken it aloud?
Claire stared at her. The look of suprise on her face quicky turned to horror as she remembered where she had seen that name before. Kameri's first word was the name that was on the headstone in the graveyard where Kameri had appeared. There was some connection between her and this man long dead. But what was it? She knew she had to find out and to do so she was going to need to pay another visit to the graveyard.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:24 pm
Claire was glad that she had memmorized the street in which the graveyard was. Without the name of it and a map she would not have ever found it amoung the may twisting streets. Kameri was bundled up and fastened to Claire like a shoulder bag. As much as Claire wanted to leave her at home she knew it wasn't safe. Their tiny home was crammed between offices and was old and run down. Anybody could easily break in and snatch the infant. Secretly she thought that it would be a blessing, but she was responsible for the child and could not risk such fantacies.
Claire was barely getting by at this point the majority of her possessions now belongs to her old boyfriend. Kameri was dressed raggedy little dresses from second hand shops and Claire only had a few diffrent ill-fitting outfits.
When Claire arrived at the spot where the graveyard should be she was alarmed to find that in its place was a house. She ran up the steps of the home and knocked hurriedly on the door. An elderly woman opened the door.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 4:11 pm
"Excuse me was your house here a few days back?" Claire asked the woman, desperately wanting her to say no. She knew before the woman even opened her mouth what the reply would be. These buildings were farily old there was no way that they could have been built within the last few days.
"Of course. Why do you ask?" the woman replied briskly.
"I visited a graveyard a little while back and I could swear that it was here." Claire mummbled it softly feeling like a complete idiot.
To her suprise the woman smiled sadly,"She won't die will she? She won't ever leave me be."
"Who?"
The old woman shook her head refusing to say the name of the person she spoke of,"She won't let me die, if it isn't by her own hands. If only they hadn't come. I might have died and been spared this fate. At the time I was glad to see them, foolish it was. When I heard her laughing I knew she wouldn't let me go not ever."
Claire stared at the old woman, believing that she was insane. All of a sudden the woman spotted Kameri on Claire's side and began to shake visibly,"You found her. That's how you know. You found the demon."
Claire began to back away shocked at the look the old lady was giving the infant. The woman closed the door but Claire felt unable to leave. Her palms sweat and her heart beat rappidly in terror. Then all at once the lady reappeared holding a battered old book. It was shoved roughly into Claire's hands. "It's hers, the day they burned her the ink left the pages but I believe it still has a story to tell. I've kept it all these years. Will you let me go now . . . Kameri." The woman toppled forward down the steps, dead before she hit the ground. A smile smile played on Kameri's face that went unnoticed by the terrified Claire. In a small dangerous rush a bit of Kameri's past had been restored to her and that woman let free. The poor old woman would have been trapped forever if she hadn't remembered her and so that much wasd allowed. The memmory Kameri regained was the one in which she held the knife in her hand, her attempt at killing that woman for reasons she did not remember.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:09 am
The rest of the day wasn't any bettter. Claire spent a good deal of it being questioned by the police until finally it was decided that the woman had definitely died of natrual causes. The whole ordeal had left Claire pale and trembling, she felt sick and depressed. Barely kowing what to do after the experience she headed straight to bed.
Kameri sat in a corner completely forgotten. She looked strangely calm. The memmory confused her a bit, yet it didn't all toghether disturb her as it should have done. She felt it best not to think about at the momment.
As time passed both of them slowly healed. Kameri rarely even thought of it anymore but the hint of a past she did not completely know had left her slightly more hopeful. She was hoping to fill the empty spot in her heart. She could speak in bits and peices by this time and was getting along a bit better with Claire. Claire was still very fragile about some things after the experience. Yet when her work began firing extra people she knew she had to get over her troubles to keep her job. She suceeded to the point where she was choosen for promotion right before all the people in her old status were fired. Her old job had been proclaimed 'useless' and she was very glad she had gotten out of it when she did. The promotion was only slightly more money than she had made before with harder work and less time spent doing it. The bonus was enough to fix up her little home and get Kameri some decent clothing.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 6:05 pm
Kameri sat in her usual corner. Claire was at work and probably wouldn't be back for another hour. It wasn't that Kameri was fond of Claire or even missed her at all it was just that when Claire was there she was rushing fratically from place to place filling the house with different noises. A kettle whistling on the stoves or the chimes hitting toghether when she went in and out the front door; all the sounds had become conforting. They made things seem more tangible.
They were doing a lot better financially than they had been when they first arrived but they were still were not so well off. Claire was working hard just to make ends meet. She couldn't afford to hire a babysitter for Kameri, not that Kameri wanted her to. All of Kameri's clothes were simple little outfits bought from used discount stores. Today Kameri was wearing a little dress that matched her light blue eyes. It was little more than a shirt with a ribbon tied around the waist. Kameri was strangely facinated with the ribbon she took it off the dress and teld it in her tittle fingers tightly. Then she let it go. The ribbon paused in the air for a few seconds before drifting back to the ground. Kameri smiled to herself it would be her secret she just had to make sure that Claire didn't find out. She head the tinlkling of the chimes as Claire oppened to door, Claire was home earlier than had been expected. Hastily Kameri tied the ribbon back around her waist. As Claire walked in she looked up at her blankly as she always did, as if nothing had happened.
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Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 1:19 pm
It was a sunny sunday afternoon and Claire had the day off to do whatever she pleased. She looked at Kameri who was sitting in her usual corner and frowned. What could she do for the poor infant? She decided it would be best to bring Kameri a long it would be good for her to see the outside world for a little while. She hoisted Kameri into her old beat up stroller and took off down the street. A small outdoor market was there for the weekend and the tents were filled with assorted goods. Claire wanted to get Kameri something to play with that the child would accept. "Kameri I want you to pick something that you want here tell me to stop when you see it."
The infant had no intention of actually doing so. She refused to accept a gift from anyone but then she saw something at one of the stalls that she could not pass up. "There." Claire paused and looked to see what Kameri was pointing at. It was a light blue length of silk rope tied up like a ball of yarn rith a white ribbon around it. Claire was suprised by her choice but bought it all the same. It wasn't all that cheap but it was affordable. Claire handed it Kameri and the infant hugged it tightly to her chest as if it was very precious. Claire smiled she'd pay anything to see that look in Kameri's eyes it was well worth it.
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:35 pm
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:45 pm
"Serkan", Kameri mumbled the other infant's name. Just days before she had gone with Claire to the Halloween Maskerade. Serkan was a truly tormented being like no one Kameri had met before. Kameri was drawn to her, for they were both oddly alike. Claire also saw the similarity and forbid Kameri to ever go near the other infant again. Kameri was not to be stopped. One day when her power grows strong enough she plans to over throw her guardian.
Her ball of light blue yarn hovered in the air for two seconds before falling back to the ground. Kameri sighed to herself dissapointed by the small amount of progress she had made. Each momment was a strain, and she practiced often enough, she should be better by now.
The limits of infancy had been bothering Kameri a whole lot. One day she was going to be stonger than all of them and when that day came her guardian would realise who was really in charge.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 11:38 am
Claire slammed the door hard into its frame. Her day at work had been absulotely exhauting and stessful to the point that she thought she might lose her job. It was the kind of day that made her hate everything. Including the little home she could barely afford and the responsibility, Kameri, that she really couldn't. She sighed to herself. She needed some nice warm tea, and then a whole lot of sleep.
As she headed into her room with the tea in hand she was shocked to see that Kameri was not in her usual corner. She searched the house thinking sarcastically to herself, "just what I needed to make this day perfect." The truth hit her qall at once. Kameri wasn't there. Claire had always felt burdened by the responsibility but when it came down to it, she loved the child. What could have happened? She checked the door, it was locked. What had happened was made evident when she brushed up against the dog door, and the flap moved. Kameri could have easily fit through it. Now because of Claire's carelessness she was doubtlessly alone in the harsh world outside.
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