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 Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:05 am
Clenching her fists, Kanth stopped at the doorway, calming herself before she turned and gave him a smile. "Do I honestly need you? You have not given me one good reason as to stay. And you did not even bother to offer me tea." Of course, her favorite thing was tea, but she wasn't complaining - oh wait. She was.
Medusa silently gleed before following Etain happily, her grin unable to be hid on that cute face of hers. "Wat we gon'na dew?" She asked, following close on his heels, very excited that she was now able to spend time with him alone, with no interruptions! Yay!
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:12 am
Michael smiled, short and wan. The skin around his eyes crinkled pleasantly though, softening the expression just slightly. "I don't make tea, my dear. If you weren't offered something, take it up with Tovar. He's here for a reason." And, alright, maybe most of that was to be an apprentice, but that didn't mean Michael couldn't enjoy the perks of having a personal valet. Er. Slave? Er. Student? Er. --Whatever.
Chuckling, he downed a few spoonfuls of the soup.
Trotting down the hallway, Etain cut along at a healthy clip of a pace. He shrugged both shoulders in response. "Iunno. We c'n play in my room if you want. Or outside." He stopped by a rough looking wood door. He lifted the latch and pushed it open, bearing the room beyond for Medusa's inspection.
It was painted a soft, muted purple color with bursts of yellow splashed up on the wall at random intervals. The first smattering had been an accident, but Etain had given his approval so the pattern had continued. "This is my room," the little boy announced, swelling a little with pride. "It used to have lotsa junk innit."
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:16 am
Growling and not liking how Kanth was being talked to, Altessa whirled around the chair legs and pulled a Tyven, opening her mouth and latching on to Michael's ankle with her vicious, long sharp teeth. She held her position, tail lashing back and forth as her eyes shifted to glare at him.
WHOAH. This room was cool! Walking in, Medusa took her time in looking around, mouth agape. "Thys... rawks?" Medusa tested the word on her tongue, then nodded with affirmation. "My room has wahter." Another nod.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:27 am
Etain nodded enthusiatically. The room wasn't large - in fact, it looked just big enough to store furniture in - but it was his and that made it special. There was a bed crammed into the corner under the window, a table at the side with the fish bowl Etian had been talking about earlier settled on top of it. There was a chest of stuff at the end of the bed, a dresser, a rug and little else.
But all of it his.
That's what Tovar said anyway.
"Don't have no water," Etain chirped cheerfully, motioning just briefly to the fish bowl. "'Cept in there."
The bowl of soup jerked, sloshing out over his lap and soaking quickly into the piles of blankets. There was also, alarmingly and completely unexpectantly, the sound of a swift, angry crack of bone and sinew under the weight of the little girl's jaws. Michael drew in a ragged breath as the color drained from his face.
He was a thin man, narrow in the wrist and skinny through the forearms. He was just the same under the leg of those loose comfortable lounging trousers. Slight. Delicate, almost.
The bone of the man's ankle gave way with a crunch under the grip of Altessa's teeth.
"Get out," he breathed, stomach churning. "Get the hell out of my house."
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:34 am
Kanth had no time to react, but as she jerked forward, her breath left her throat. Her outstretched hand dropped with ease, and she straightened herself, striding over to stand near him, her head held in a bit of a haughty position.
"I can heal that for you, but it's going to cost you." A glance to the Bandersnatch girl, and Altessa let go, climbing up on the armrest of the chair to stare at Michael with a slight bit of interest.
Medusa walked over to the fishbowl, pressing her face against it. "Did yew naem et?" She asked, eyes large with curiosity - pretty much the mood she was in all the time. She hadn't gotten to name her previous fish, but others having them as pets, that was kind of cool!
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:43 am
"Goldy," Etain chattered back, his tone of voice thick with appreciation for his own creativity. That was a totally awesome name for a goldfish, wasn't it? Eh, eh? He puffed up his chest a bit and tapped the glass happily. Goldy the Goldfish looked mildly alarmed and swam around the perimeter of the bowl to hide behind the plastic shrubbery. Two seconds later, she forgot completely about hiding and came darting back out again. Ah, the joys of an extremely short memory span.
"What happened to yer fish when they took 'im out?"
Michael braced himself, reaching for the bowl of soup as if he intended to use it to beat off any further attacks. "No," he snarled, sand paper rough. "You are going to get the hell out of my house right this god damn second." His face was ash white, and his foot sat at an awkward angle. "Get. Out. If you want answers so ******** badly, you had best start looking for someone else to give them to you."
He waited less than two seconds before his voice pitched loud and low. The ceiling fan rattled faintly overhead as he shouted. "GET OUT."
In the kitchen, Tovar's head snapped up. "Oh s**t."
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:48 am
"I am not backing down simply because you're throwing a tantrum! I will apologize for my Bandersnatch girl, but you have to understand... I do not back down simply from a threat." Her damn pride was in the way, and she couldn't help it; she was a Rala, and she got that temper from her mother - her mother who was a b***h, but nonetheless, she still had the temper.
Calm yourself... Kanth thought to herself, raising her hands to rub her temples. "Okay, that came out wrong. What do I have to do to calm your temper, oh great magus?" Oh, she still had snark. Oh well.
"I dunno." Medusa gave a shrug, all smiles. "Mebbe they gave hem tew another kid that needed hym moar." Raising her fingers, she waggled them at the fish, saying hello.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:58 am
Etain nodded cheerfully, hopefully. "Tha's good--" His voice trailed off absently, the muffled sounds of arguing going on somewhere overhead leaking through the ceiling. His smile slipped and he frowned. Just slightly. Just oh so slightly. "Glass man's angry," he whispered at length. "We should go play outside. House doesn't like when 'e's angry."
Tovar took the stairs two at a time, the sounds getting louder as he went. He could distinguish every angry word as the house rattled and groaned, furniture shifting slightly in the general direction of the upstairs bedroom.
"--This is my goddamned house and you'll leave when I ask you to, you b***h. Get the hell out or I swear to christ I will make you."
Tovar burst in through the door, chest heaving slightly. He looked wild-eyed from Michael to Kanth and back again. Michael glanced away to the window, the color returned to his cheeks from the yelling. Tovar moved forward with a jerk, skittering round where Michael sat and dropped quickly to his knees. They banged hard on the floorboards.
"s**t," Tovar breathed, fingers hovering over the twisted shape of Michael's ankle. He glanced quickly up, searching Kanth's face. "What the hell happened? What did you do?"
He didn't touch the other man though, not even to examine the fractured bone or the swelling that was quickly settling in. It was like the two had a long, painfully established barrier between them that both were pointedly aware of.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:03 am
Kanth was stone cold. She'd been called worse, and the magus really had nothing on her.
"He, apparantly, didn't know how to handle a Bandersnatch. They're rather different than unicorns." She allowed herself a small smile, and Altessa leaned forward ever so slightly, still staring. Why wasn't he fearing her yet...?
"Glass man?" Medusa blinked, curious and confused at this proposal, though moved to follow Etain.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:09 am
A dawning realization peeled slowly across the younger man's face, starting in on 'horrified' soon there after as he put two and two together. "Oh," he murmured, glancing at Michael who was turned away as much as he could manage without twisting his ankle an odd way. "Oh s**t." Michael kept his eyes averted, staring hard at the dusty window pane and doing his best to absolutely ignore Altessa and the niggling feeling of wrong and danger! that seeped off the little girl. He only glanced around when Tovar looked to him again, features thin and drawn like a nervous dog's.
"Just... just get them out of here," Michael growled, his fingertips ghosting over the lower half of his face. They trembled slightly. "Get them out, Tovar."
Shaken, Tovar nodded and scrambled to his feet, looking back at Kanth and Altessa. There was a distinct, pleading look on his face. "Please, can we go back downstairs?"
Etain skirted out of the bedroom and back into the hall, slinking down to the front door and letting them both out into the cool air and the fairly enjoyable atmosphere of the small front garden. "Just for a li'l bit," he assure Medusa as he pulled the door shut behind them. "'Til he gets alright again."
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:13 am
"Very well." Glancing to Altessa, she glanced to the door without moving her head as the girl moved away, hopping to the floor with ease and ambling through the door, though remained in hearing distance.
Kanth glanced to Michael with slight interest, though remained quiet after that, moving to leave, as well.
"Is he sick?" Asked the worried Medusa as she drew up beside Etain, her hands pressing together in a nervous, contemplating gesture. She waited for an answer; she was always so lost, and never knew what to do.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:19 am
Tovar hesitated a moment at Michael's side, hands fidgeting at his sides. "Michael, do you--"
"Just get them out," the older man growled."
Tovar pursed his lips and hurried into the hall after Kanth and Altessa. He closed the door quietly behind him. There was an almost tangible relaxation of the house's atmosphere and, somewhere, the furniture stopped scraping across the floor as if drawn like bits of iron to a magnet.
"Just. Uh. Downstairs," Tovar motioned dully, taking the lead back down to the ground floor.
Etain stooped on the front step, knees to chest as he pulled up bits of grass enroaching on the garden bed. He nibbled on it. "Dunno," he muttered, shrugging awkwardly and looking back over his shoulder at Medusa. "Y'just...y'just can't touch 'im. He breaks easy. Somethin's wrong so 'e..." he hesitated, searching for the right words. "'E gets sad s'mtimes."
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:22 am
Nodding, Kanth let out a slightly relieved sigh, following Tovar with ease. Altessa fell behind Kanth, now reverting to all fours as she clambered down the stairs.
"Oh. He MUST be sad if he don't gyt hugz." Medusa stated, sitting down next to Etain and slouching as he did, glancing around for a lake or pool or pond of water. Something. She was beginning to feel hot.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:25 am
"No hugs," Etain agreed morosely, stuffing the rest of the grass into his mouth and chewing. "I think we c'n go back now," he remarked absently, glancing at the front door. "Just didn' wanna get squished by furniture."
Tovar stopped in the doorway of the kitchen to look Kanth and Altessa over briefly before his features screwed back up with worry and his breath came out in an awkward rattle of air. "You should leave. It's -- he won't talk to you today. You shouldn't have... You should leave. I'm sorry."
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:29 am
Kanth moved to the doorway, opening it before stopping and turning around. "You are most welcome in my house, Tovar." Kanth gave him a sad look. "I have magic that even mages like him don't know about. As well as experience." And possibly age, but she didn't mention that.
"Could you tell me... just how exactly I ******** up in the first place?" Her eyes shifted to Altessa, and Altessa stared right back, though sighed after about a minute.
Nodding but not really understanding, Medusa stood but slumped all the more as she saw Kanth in the doorway. "I think eye hafta gow..."
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