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 Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:24 pm
Erik took the crayon and began coloring one of the blank pages. He looked at all the brown and black semi-used crayons on the table and then at the nearly unused ones of every other color still sitting safely in their box. Weirdo.
"They can squish you cause they're big and strong," Erik said. "But it doesn't mean they'd do it." He remembered the time he'd ridden on a carriage with his family. It was in the middle of a city, so Erik had thought it was weird. He didn't expect to have as much fun as he did. "Big horses are still nice. And sometimes they let you pet them." Erik smiled widely as he continued to color his horse, remembering the large Clydesdale that had let him pet his snout.
When he was done with the body, still leaving the bottoms of it's legs blank on the page, he reached inside the box for a bright green.
Japi laughed. By Mary's description, she just assumed she was a usual unwed mother. Japi had seen more than her share of those in her life, and once or twice it had actually been by Japi's design. "Sometimes the best gifts are the ones we don't expect," Japi recited philosophically. "I red that in a fortune cookie."
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:45 pm
Lucy nodded her head in agreement. She hadn’t actually touched a horse, but she watched them on TV sometimes, and she could see how big there were. “Ponies let you pet them too!” Lucy added argumentatively, “And they don’t squish you.” She added a flourishing touch to her grey pony as she said the words.
“Look! I named him Gerard.” She said showing a picture of a crooked looking horse with too small of a head.
Lucy watched Erik reach for the green crayon and asked, “Are you going to color the grass? ‘Cause you haven’t finished your pony yet. You shouldn’t color the grass until the pony is finished.” She looked pointedly at the horse on Erik’s paper.
“You’re right about the unexpected bit. I definitely didn’t expect to walk into a theatre and then come out with a child. “ Mary realized that this could seem a little crazy, but it was a story that she still couldn’t wrap her mind around, so she might be crazy for all she knows. “But that’s a very wise fortune cookie you read. We’ll see about it being true. It’s still quite the adjustment!” Mary said amicably.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:09 pm
"Nope," he said. "That's the color for his feet." Erik was tired of all the brown and wanted to do something different for a change. Trees had brown and green, why not horses?
Japi breathed in a very melodramatic gasp. "So you've been there too?" She grabbed Mary's hand and squeezed it excitedly. "Oh a kindred spirit! That's how I ended up with my little Erik." She seemed very pleased with the coincidental turn of events.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:04 pm
Lucy’s jaw dropped at Erik’s words, coloring a pony’s legs green? that was simply not done. “W-w-wait,” she sputtered out. “You can’t color a pony’s legs green! Ponies are green cause then the might be—monsters” She whispered dramatically.
Mary was in a state of shock, not only did this lady not think she was crazy, but on top of that, Erik was from the theatre too? “Seriously? Erik’s from the theatre too? Holy crap what are the chances of that? Honestly! So you’ve seen it? The whole big production and then suddenly a kid, you’ve seen it?”
And once out of her state of shock she delightfully squeezed Japi’s hand back, she wasn’t going crazy!
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:18 pm
Erik stopped a moment to think. "Maybe," he said shrugging. "Or maybe they're magic." He proceeded to color it's legs inside and outside the lines, making it look like fire.
"I did," Japi squealed with a nod. "It was probably my favorite scene ever. Right out of the Phantom of the Opera." She was picturing the moment in her mind, seeing it again as clearly as thought it was happening before her. Then she realized: "Are you not used to that kind of magic?" she looked directly into the other woman's eyes. "I've been so used to the strange that I've stopped questioning any such event." She let go of her hand and scratched the back of her head. "I forget sometimes that others aren't used to it."
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:23 pm
Lucy’s face furrowed for a moment at Erik’s comment, “Magic? Like a witch? Cause witch’s are even scarier than monsters, monsters just eat you, witch’s cast spells and make monsters! I dun like witches.” Lucy looked uncomfortable just talking about witches. A lot of her nightmares consisted of witches on top of the many other monsters in her head. Witches were just even more real.
“Phantom of the Opera, wow, that’s kind of, yeah, I should have probably figured out that before, with Erik’s mask and all. I thought it was just a fashion thing, but no, I guess it’s a Phantom thing.” Mary eventually worked out of her mouth. Her memory went back the day she watched her performance, watching the beggar woman get murdered by her husband and then to find a child, it’s still a little disconcerting for Mary.
“Yeah, I haven’t really had much experience with the whole magic thing, or at least none that I can remember.” She took her dropped hand and hooked her thumb in one of her belt loops. “I sort of can’t remember two years of my life, and I don’t think I want to.” Her face went haunted for a moment before she steeled it against the few memories that existed.
Mary lifted her face up to Japi with a slightly forced smile, “Lucy’s from Sweeney Todd, it was quite the scene to watch on stage, that’s for sure!”
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:30 pm
Erik laughed his slightly eerie laugh again. "But you're a girl!" he declared defiantly. "Don't you like unicorns and pegasus..es?" He laughed again. "Not all magic stuffs bad, even if it looks... creepy."
Creepy wasn't really a word he would have used, but he was trying to describe what it was that scared her. But he was determined not to let it bug him. He proceeded to draw green fire around the rest of the body of the horse. "Pshhh," he made a little sound effect for the fire as he drew.
Japi was concerned a moment, afraid she'd brought up bad memories, but decided to say nothing since it appeared that Mary wasn't about to show it if she could help it.
"Sweeny Todd, huh?" Japi remarked with a small squeal. "That's a good one. What scene? Erik came out of the scene for Music of the Night. That's my favorite song."
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:37 pm
Lucy continued to look on with horror as Erik drew the green flames around the horse. “Do you like fire? Is that why you’re burning the pony? Is that what happened to your face? Muma says that people have ‘different taste in clothes’ and that’s why I shouldn’t be frightened of people. But it's still a little scary.” She cocks her head to the side, pointedly staring at Erik’s mask. It didn’t frighten her as much, but it was still something she was trying to get used to.
Mary silently thanked Japi for not prying, she had had enough of that. “Oh, Music of the Night is one of my favorite songs from that!” She cheerfully continued, "But Lucy came out of the part of the final scene, where she dies. It was quite the scene to get a kid to, but hey, it was gripping to see. Lucy’s still a little touchy about her neck, though.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:09 pm
"Poor thing," Japi bemoaned the other woman's plight just as much as the child's. It wasn't easy raising a kid that was especially sensitive about something. Especially when it had some kind of reasonable explanation. 'Monsters' were one thing, but the latent memory of such a violent death... Mary was a very brave woman to care for such a girl at such a young age.
"So you're caring for her by yourself?"
Erik stopped his coloring. "It wasn't fire," he said coldly, putting his crayon down. "My face is just like this." He held his mask closer to his face. "But nobody can see it," he turned to look her in the eye angrily. "Ever."
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 9:25 am
“Um, yes,” Mary stuttered out, taken by surprise by Japi’s pity for her. She wasn’t used to people being sympathetic to her problems. “Yes, I’m taking care of her by myself, well, Peter helps, he likes kids, but other than that, I’ve got dead parents and a brother who’s off trying to become famous, so, I’m alone,” Mary’s face was a bit flushed as she raised her arms to rub at the back of her neck. Talking about being alone made her a little uncomfortable sometimes. “Not that I think it’s a bad thing!” She said in a rush.
“But, um, hey, do you still want to look at some books? I could help!” She said looking for a subject change. She only hoped that it wasn’t too obvious.
As Erik’s face grew angrier, Lucy became paralyzed with fear, her face frozen in a state of terror. “I-I-I’m sorry,” She whispered, “I dun want to see it, I’m sorry. Please don’t eat me.” She softly cried out as her eyes filled with tears.
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:26 am
Japi smiled and nodded. "I've probably got more than Lithanus will let me right now," she laughed. "But if you've got any suggestions. Lemme show you what I've picked out so far." She started toward the counter where Peter was holding her books for her, waiting for Mary to follow.
As they made their way in that direction, Japi made one last comment about their previous conversation. "If you ever need anything, I'll leave you my number. Just call me anytime." She didn't expect a reply and timed it so that they would arrive at the front before Mary had a chance for one (unless, of course, she wanted to say something in front of Peter).
"Hello there, Peter," Japi sang when they reached the front desk. "I wanted to show Mary here my selection so far."
Erik sighed heavily, partly from relief and partly from frustration. "-'m s--ry..." he mumbled. He wasn't used to this kind of reaction. He really hadn't meant to scare her, just stop her from being curious--the only way he knew how--by scaring her. He said nothing more.
Instead, he picked up the green crayon again and put it back in the box and then selected a black one to write his name. E--r--i--k. His lettering was childish, but somehow elegant. He always signed his works, making sure he'd receive credit for anything he'd done.
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:56 pm
At the sounds of voices being directed towards him, Peter nearly jumped out of his skin. He had been dozing off again in one of his fantasy worlds. “Huh, what? Yeah, I’m here, oh,” he blearily said before Japi’s words sunk in. “Oh, hi, yeah, sure man, just let me just look around here and I’ll totally be on that.” Peter fumbled around behind the counter for a few moments before finding a haphazardly stacked pile of books. “Here you go ma’am.”
“Wow, you do have quite the selection!” Mary was floored by the number of books. Since she didn’t have mainstream, mainstream books, people normally bought maybe one or three books.
Lucy relaxed a bit at Erik’s slurred apology, but it didn’t stop her from being on her toes. She had to especially careful around angry men, they tended to be the worst. She looked around at the table for a peace offering. Sometimes if you gave people things they wouldn’t hurt you, but sometimes you don’t want to give things and they are taken anyways. Her eyes finally rested on her newly finished pony.
“Um, Mr. Erik, sir, here,” She said thrusting out the picture, “Have Gerard, he’s a nice pony who likes to color! Maybe he’ll even like to color green fire ‘round ponies too! He’s kinda weird…” She trailed off her hand still extended waiting for Erik to take the picture.
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 9:38 pm
Japi laughed as Peter fumbled about. "No rush."
The two women talked for quite a while about books they'd read and titles Japi might be interested in. Peter made a few suggestions too and in the end Japi ended up with seventeen different titles and the promise she'd be back for more later.
In truth there were few things Japi hadn't read at one point or another, and some of the books she was purchasing were just ones she wanted to reread. But half of them were brand new titles she'd never even heard of. Japi was especially pleased with the titles Mary had suggested on holistic medicines.
Erik looked up at Lucy from his slouched position, then at the coloring page she held out to him. He took it cautiously, wondering what her purpose was, then looked at his own. "Here," he said, sliding it toward her sheepishly. "You can have mine."
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 11:33 am
"Hey, i just wanted to say thanks for your number. I am sort of just shooting in the dark with this whole parenting thing." Mary said after Japi had finished shopping. Peter had already gone off to help some other customers who were having trouble with the difference between new age religion and paranormal books.
"Here's my business card if you ever want something, maybe we could even get Erik and Lucy together again sometime! I didn't hear anymore screaming and that's normally a good sign." She smiled holding out her business card that held the shop information as well as her own personal info.
Lucy looked at the picture that Erik was offering with wide eyes. "You're giving me you magic pony?" She said in hushed awe. "Monsters don't give people presents, you're not a monster at all!" She shrieked in delight.
"Can I name him Arthur?" She asked as she lifted the picture up to look at it. "He looks like an Arthur."
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:46 pm
"I agree," Japi nodded with a smile and took the card. "I'm so glad he can make a friend his own age." She slipped the card into her sleeve, she carried no purse to speak of, after all.
Since she'd already paid for the books, she needed to pack them up for carrying them out of the store. "Mind giving me a hand?" she asked Mary, indicating the books and her sleeves. "I trust you not to let out the secret," she giggled. One of her favorite things in the world was showing off her little magic do-dads.
Erik wasn't sure what to think of this girl. She was scared of him before, but she'd still been nice to him, even then. He kind of liked that. "Arthur sounds fine," he mumbled, a little stunned. He sat a moment and watched her fiddle with the paper.
"Can I give you something else?" he asked shyly, digging in his pocket. His mom hadn't gotten mad at him the last time he'd done this, so he figured it would be okay. He pulled out a small square mirror.
"You promise magic is okay?" He didn't want her freaking out again.
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