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 Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 1:41 pm
Suddenly, there came a tapping at the window, a hovering pale head of hair bobbing in and out of view. Usually Christof barged right in, as though Barth's room had inadvertently become his extended game room via ladder, but this time he must have noticed that the Sloth Demon was not alone.
But the time was now. Just... just do it. It was what the ghoul needed and it was what she was going to get.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:23 pm
"You wouldn't think he was. A hugger. But you would be surprised. Admittedly the first time I thought he was trying to crush me to death."
It looked like a fighting game was in the console Calder had flipped on.
"Christof and Riley hadn't either. You, err, you get a controller and, err, is that Christof at the window?" Barth made one come in gesture with his hand, baffled that Christof was knocking at all.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:57 pm
He watched as the "game" started up on the screen, showing two fighters standing on either side of the screen, fist raised, and the title slamming down with rocker-punk music. Calder tilted his head, his face close enough for the glow of the screen to reflect on his confused features. It was all strange to him, but as instructed, he looked around for a "controller", which he guessed was one of the thing-a-ma-gings hanging from a chord from the box. He held it up by the chord, watching it dangle and looked over to Barth. "Now what?" Clearly he was going from the starting point of gaming.
When Christof's head poked up and Barth, refusing to get off the ground (no surprise there) to get him, Calder set his controller down and heaved himself up, walking over to open the window. "Hi Buddy!" he called out, smiling. "Thought Morrigan made you her little prisoner." He was excited to see the Igor only because he wanted to know all the details of his date.
But then he noticed something, and frowned. His stitches were back.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 6:44 pm
The hunchback kept his gaze low, not meeting the Kelpie's eye as he swept passed him as though he didn't exist. He was still as disheveled as Riley had left him, his shirt stained now with not only the old blood from his work, but the fresh crimson of her nails in his chest left unattended, looking and smelling as though he hadn't showered since just before the dance, more than likely, his bare feet hitting the plush, nappable carpet. He glanced only a moment at the video games, eyes narrowing as he debated crushing those as well. Distractions. Things that made him bad. Ignore them. Just do what you're here to do. He was still wobbling a bit as he lurched to the workbench, digging through Barth's miscellaneous half-finished numerous side projects to find what he was looking for- which seemed to be half-hearted and only somewhat developed blueprints he had previously managed to bully out of the Sloth. It would get him started at least.
Ignore the Kelpie. Ignore him or you'll do something you'd regret. He could feel his adrenalin pumping already, but he carefully kept his face blank.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:56 pm
Barth rolled over, trying to catch Calder's eye and communicate a clear ????????????? Across the room and still on the floor, there were only a few things that Barth picked up on, and all of them communicated serious incident.
He was hoping for more things that spelled out good time at the dance, nothing to worry about.
"You're err, missing your shoes," Barth noted, helpfully, then added, "That isn't your blood, is it?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:03 pm
While Barth tactfully didn't directly address the issue that was on both of the boils' minds, Calder was more direct. He hadn't see or smelled Christof fully until the Igor pulled himself into the room and blew them both to scramble in some papers. Confused and a bit hurt he wasn't even flashed a smile, a wave, or just punched in the shoulder as a hello, the kelpie followed behind. The blood concerned him, not to mention he could have sworn those were exactly the same clothes he helped Christof pick out for the dance. It stung a bit that a month's worth of laundry to buy the clothes were not destroyed, and he hoped the shoes weren't lost.
"What's going on, Christof? You look like a werewolf dragged you through the Weeping Forest and then chewed on you for a bit." He tried to catch the patchwork's eye, but he seemed to be darting his concentration elsewhere. "Hey…are you okay?" He reached out to touch his shoulder. Was the boy in one of his trances again like before the dance? If so, he needed to know to perk him out of it.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:05 pm
The hunchback surprsessed the urge to elbow the kelpie sharply in the gut- that would be hitting and that would be a no-no- instead he simply tried to shrug Calder's hand off of his hunch, stabbing a screw-driver sharply into the surface of the workbench as a warning as he shifted to grab a few things from one of the nearby junk heaps that might work for his purposes. He didn't bother answering either of them. How could he have? It didn't matter. All that mattered just then was finishing his gift for the poor Ghoul he had wronged.
Even though she had insulted his Master. You didn't insult an Igor's master to their face unless they were a very bad Igor indeed.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:12 pm
No answer. That's when Barth noticed the other significant change.
"Oh, you've..." he motioned to his lips, then, embarrassed, rested behind his folded arms.
"Don't um," he had trouble with the words, but squeaked them out anyway, "need any help, do you?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:18 pm
He jerked his hand away as the tool was stabbed deep into the wood, standing up and showing that if he went close, he was getting a tool to some tender part of his body. He had flinced in preparation for a hit or punch, but seeing the screw-driver confused him. Usually the boil never used tools and just went for killing him with his bare hands. Something bothered him about the change in punishment.
When Barth gestured at his face, Calder turned about and caught on. "Why did you sew your mouth shut? I thought you were having fun. You liked eating, and you even made out with Morrigan. Did the date not go well? Didn't you like her? If you're a bad kisser, then you just get better with practice." He wasn't sure what was going on. Oh, and here he was being ignored. PAPER! The boil probably just needed paper.
Moving with measured steps (his leg was still healing), Calder looked about before finding a notebook on a table, flipping past some pages of idle ideas for inventions and found a fresh page, before finding a pencil and coming back to set it on the workbench. "Can you say what happened? You look like a mess."
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:28 pm
Christof turned to frown at the paper as though it was some disgusting thing, his mind reeling. What was allowable and what wasn't anymore? Everything he did was blurred. His breathing quickened, eyes narrowing and brows furrowing as he glanced from one concerned face to another, finally shaking his head, hands trembling to reach for a tape measure but fumbled and dropped it with a clatter.
Finally he exhaled, nervously picking up the pencil to carefully write:
Was bad. Now fixed. Will be a good Igor.
He wanted to rant and rave about how this was all Calder's fault. How his "Lessons in Kelpie ways" had enraged not just his Master Creator, but Riley as well... that she had almost.... almost made him Spare Parts. His free hand went up to scratch at his freshly replaced mark, the black ink-like discoloration now blood red. Ranting would not fix anything though. Beating up Calder wasn't going to set everything right again.
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:39 pm
"What did he say?" Barth asked Calder. He wasn't willing to make the long journey to the workbench, but was still...concerned.
The date couldn't have been that bad, could it? He had seen ghouls do some pretty terrible things to the opposite sex, admittedly, but Morrigan's intentions couldn't have been...unless she'd gotten him into a particularly malevolent contract. But contracts had to be reported to the school, didn't they?
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:49 pm
The trembling hands didn't go unnoticed and he watched, wondering if Christof would continue to give him the cold shoulder. It was with relief that he actually wrote something, but reading it made no sense to him. As if the meaning would be clearer to him, Calder picked up the paper and read it closer to his face, but he only gave Christof a perplexed stare.
Seeing as Barth seemed to know Christof better, Calder was more than willing to read what was written. "Was bad. – Now fixed. – Will be a good Igor." He said, pausing between each statement. He looked back at Christof. "Who said needed to be fixed? That you're bad? You seemed happy and fine to me at the dance." The boil even was coming to him for kissing advice which only thrilled the kelpie with his daring exploration of new and exciting things. Christof had been living life!
Watching him grab this and that, the kelpie set the paper back down with the pencil to set Christof back up for speaking. "Did someone hurt you? Are you hurt? You're still wearing your clothes from the dance and have blood." He was looking at the shirt, and how Christof scratched it. Having been around the boy when he undressed for the dance, he knew what was there. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked up at Christof. "Did Riley fix you?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:58 pm
Christof glowered at the paper again, but this time he did not write anything, wobbling to his feet to go search for that iron stove front he knew he had seen somehow miraculously appearing in the heaps of random crap about the room. Last he saw he had carefully put it in the pile of metal parts in the corner, but by the looks of things someone had rooted through it, rending his organization useless. Where was it...?
Why couldn't they just go back to their Video Games or whatever it was they had been doing?
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:14 pm
"Oh," Barth said again, "Bad? ...Your mouth?"
That was the only thing Barth could think of, with it restitched. He hoped Morrigan hadn't had anything to do with it. More meddling made everything complicated.
"Is it...permanently, then? I'll um, miss- I mean, it will be less- err, I liked it. You being able to talk."
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Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:23 pm
There was no answer. No denying and no confirmation, and the fact that Christof LOOKED at the paper and yet refused to right insantly frustrated him. How was he supposed to know how to react or feel when the other boil didn't tell him anything? True, he was now clammed up for a reason, but there was other ways to speak. The Igor had been gesturing and writing all his life to make that point clear.
As for Barth, the boil was still on the ground, which only made Calder want to go over and stomp a hoof on his back. What help! What assistance! Was that they way he reacted when a friend was clearly troubled? "Of course it was great to hear you talk." He said, trying to back up Barth's rather choppy concerns. "We liked that. I liked that. I though you did too. I know....you were just giving it a shot, but you can't say you hated it. I mean........." His brow creased. "........really, did you?" It was almost a personal stab to the heart if Christof did. Calder really thought it would have been one of those things that the Igor would have loved, would have changed his life, and would have opened him up to other, better things. It was sad to see him sewn up again. Silenced.
"Come on, Christof. Tell me something. Why are you covered in blood? Are you hurt? Where you hurt? Are you going to be hurt?" The boy had been shaking as if he was in a panic. "And what in blue blazes are you even looking for?"
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