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 Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:52 pm
Endless grinned slightly. "You're older than she is... maybe not a whole lot older, but still older. Though I was barely what I guess you could call adult when I first settled down here, so I'm not really a whole heck of a lot older than you are either, in the grand scheme of things." He padded after her in the adjoining room. "Though some days I feel like I'm an old codger and some days I feel younger than Atae." He gave a brief snort of amusement. "Though Valefor and Ifrit definitely make me feel young. Did you know that in their before they'd been around for over a thousand years? Gives me a headache thinking about it, almost."
He stepped up to walk beside her rather than behind. "And while we're talking about ages and Valefor... 'Diina had kits a bit ago and they're already teens! Most of them seem to have her energy. It's probably fortunate they don't go on cookie binges the way she does, they'd drive everyone up the wall. And Valefor is taking care of a little angelic kit. A foundling. Atae said Aear was with her when she first brought her home, and I know she's taken her to see Aear at least once. I think he might have been the one that found her, not that I've bothered asking. Cute little thing, she's all yellow and gray with rainbow feathers and on her tails and bangs. Some weird markings, too. Atae said they were the sort that only meant something to the person that made them, so everyone thought maybe they were just on the shell or something, but they're part of her fur so no one really knows what to make of it."
They seemed to have reached their destination by that point so he paused in his talking to sit down. "It's kinda funny, really, when I think about it. I don't generally talk this much around anyone else..." He grinned lopsidedly. "I guess that's one of those things you do without knowing it..." She could ask or make of it what she will. He could talk about some of what he'd meant when he said that earlier without touching on the part he wasn't ready to mess with yet. At least he could now that he'd had a few minutes to calm down.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 10:14 am
"Really?" Liliana tended to go with the impression that most adults she met were older than she was, but now saw a flaw to this notion. She still had so much to learn, that she seldom thought of herself as an adult. But now that her new siblings were hatched... suddenly she felt responsible for them. She wanted to protect them. The full moon was coming and she wondered with a fear in her heart if any of them had inherited their father's condition. "I think Rikku said something about that, being from the same before." She gave a small shrug. "Maybe I'm biased..." Understatement of the year, "... but Daddy's always been the wisest to me. He had nearly a full lifetime in his before, but nothing like thousands of years like the aeons."
More kits... and already teens? Liliana wondered if her siblings would grow quickly or if she would get to enjoy them young for a while first. Would Hemi still be so cuddly as a teen as he was now? She felt her heart sink a little t the prospect of her loving baby brother changing too much. Now the others... well, there were some traits already she wished perhaps that they could outgrow. "A kit? So that's what Uncle Aear's been going on about." Green eyes flicked around the main room, looking for somewhere more comfortable to sit even as she sat beside Endless. There was Tsu's pillow pile of course, but the family all knew that was off limits. A courtesy to Severus' daughter who helped make the Wolfsbane potions for Remus. "I've never seen him so caught up in anything as much as his ship before. You sure he's not been in to check on her more? I was under the impression he was checking on her every other day. He was curious about the symbols too, asked me to look them up, but I couldn't find anything."
Her thoughts drifted over her friend's words. She could not help but smile at the lopsided grin, her tails fanning across the floor behind her. She thought she understood... but at the same time she did not. "Is it funny to bea ble to talk with friends?" Wasn't that the point of having friends? Someone besides family to talk with?
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:03 pm
Endless' smile continued to varying degrees as they continued to talk, but as usual it never grew particularly large. "Valefor is very wise. Though that may have as much to do with her personality as it does with the length of her previous life. Ifrit, for instance, seems to lack wisdom, although he's good for advice on certain things. I think wisdom has to do more with what you've learned from life than anything, but age helps there because you've had more time to learn. If you don't bother learning from your experiences, well... I don't think it would stick much. Experience will teach you more about life than any book can. Sometimes the lessons aren't pleasant, though..." He trailed off, the note in his voice during the last sentence giving away the fact that he was thinking about his own past.
Turning to the topic of kits he came out of his dark reverie with a bit of effort. "Oh, I'm sure he's been over. Atae's mentioned it, I think. I just haven't been around. My restless nature, I guess, I've been out taking walks a lot lately." Liliana appeared to be looking for a place to sit, so he started scanning the room with her. She'd passed over a pile of pillows... personal reasons? Ah well, he wasn't really the pillow type. "So how are you doing with the new kits?..." It had certainly been time enough since their initial meeting for them to have been born. Considering how upset she'd been that night he was a bit worried about how she was holding up.
Endless brooded for a moment over her last question. Brooded quite obviously. "I told you about my father Lily... and to be honest he's not the only one who's picked me up and dropped me over the course of my life. I was a wanderer before I got here, never stayed in one place long, because... either I was afraid or I was betrayed. Soot probably quite literally saved my life by befriending me, though if Soot wasn't a little kit and I felt the need to watch out for the puffball I don't think I would have stayed. Needless to say I've had a hard time trusting people..." He sighed a bit, one ear up and one ear down and a look of too many emotions to decipher on his face. "Everyone in that house, and a few people outside of it... it's like the longer I'm here the more pieces of myself I find. But even though I like everyone well enough... Soot, Atae, her father Raensu, and you... are probably the closest I've ever come to actually thinking of someone as family. Heck, Lily... most of the stuff I've told you about me and my past I haven't told to anyone else. Ever." He grinned again, though it seemed uncertain, almost shy. "So for me it is a bit weird to be able to sit and talk with someone and actually feel comfortable doing so..."
He looked around the room one more time and stood. He wasn't really in the mood to be walked in on if someone should enter the building. "Why don't we try one of the side rooms? There's a couple of reading rooms with cushions and such."
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:54 pm
She nodded, letting Endless's opinions about wisdom sink in. It made sense after all. Age could not be a determiner of knowledge or wisdom -look at Tien. The kunkun was one of the oldest in the family, not counting befores, but it surely carried no wisdom despite all the experiences it had -though it did seem adept at retaining knowledge on languages (vocabulary at least) and its many 'pelae' throughout Gaia.
As Endless confided in her the winged female felt... well she could not place a paw on how to describe what she felt. Awed. Overwhelmed. Honored. Her chest tightened to see him brooding like that, & she wanted to make it better. Even more when he looked so lost within himself. And seeing him shy... Liliana spoke no words, gently turning to her friend and nuzzling him lightly. What could she say to that, that would not make light of it, that would hold it to the level it deserved? She could think of nothing. So she said nothing, just lent her body for what support it could give.
"Side rooms?" Her thoughts were still heady with the depth of what he had just told her. "Sure. That sounds good."
Liliana stood, giving a little stretch. She unfurled her wings with a light shake then pulled them aginst her back once more. "Cushions, right?" The witch did not feel like transmogrifying something if she did not have to right then. Keeping close to Endless she padded down the hallways with him. "Oh. Right you asked about the kits. They're doing great. Aiden's pretty playful, Nahanni seems afraid of everything, Ayako's sweet, Katsumi's well... difficult, & Enue can be a downer, but Hemi..." She smiled sweetly, thinking about her affectionate and loving baby brother. "It's hard not to love Hemi, he loves everyone so."
The crimson female grew silent, her tails making the slightest swishing sound as they brushed the floor. "Endless..." I'd never drop you. I'm sorry for what happened in your life. Thank you for trusting me, for being my friend, for being you. I want to help, to do something to make you smile... She lifted a gold tipped paw and looked at the underside with a tiny sigh of indecision followed by a sheepish smile as her eyes batted back up. "You should meet Hemi sometime."
gah, how dumb could she be? A flicker passed over her face, indicating that although what she spoke was true there was more she wanted to say but somehow could not -as if she did not know what to say. Which she did not.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:13 pm
Endless watched her expressions from his peripherals. He could tell what she was thinking, or the jist of it at least. He smiled, one of those rare full smiles that almost seemed to make him light up, and he hugged her again. "...Thank you," he said. Just a simple thank you that probably said more than he could really express.
They reached the door to a room he frequented when he came up here to read, so he poked his head inside. Nobody appeared to be present so he pushed the door the rest of the way open and indicated for Lily to preceed him. "And I'd love to meet Hemi sometime. Maybe you'd like to meet Seer too? Maybe they could have a playdate or something. She could use some friends her age. She's a sweety. Bold and quite the climber, but a sweety."
He stretched out one of the cushions, giving an audible sigh of relaxation. He'd been wound pretty tight lately... he hadn't really noticed until Lily had walked in and he'd started relaxing in her presense. He looked up at her with one of his little grins. "So how have you been lately?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:06 pm
His smile warmed her and as she selected a cushion for herself Lily too was smiling from it. "A playdate sounds like fun. I know my family will be happy I'd take any of the kits out."
She settled into a cushion not far from Endless much like she would situate herself on the chairs in the library at home. Her tails curled lightly around her back legs and across her belly, wings resting lightly against her back, front paws together in front of her. Sadly, this was for Liliana relaxed. Unlike her baby brother she could not simply flop any where.
The coolness of the mythril symbol on a chain around her neck startled her momentarily as it fell against her leg. She was acustomed to it against her chest. "Me?" Strange as it was, she really did not view anything she did as being anything interesting to note. "I guess no more than you'd expect, really. Potions lessons in the morning, checking in on Edward to see how he's healing, homework, looking for Edward's brother, and now that the kits are hatched -more time with family." Crimson shoulders gave a small nervous shrug, thinking how boring that must sound. Of course perhps she should mention coming to help Edward with Roy Mustang when he was hurt. Some sense of decorum decided that was not fitting to speak of. Besides, she was disappointed that the flame alchemist could not be more of the father he should be to Edward when her friend needed him so. "If I wasn't learning so much I'd say it was monotonous." A silly giggle escped her. "This is nice... I like this."
She needed this: a pause in the constant motion her life had suddenly become. Needed to sit still for a while with no expectations.
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:01 pm
Endless tilted his head to look at Lily with one eye - he'd laid it down and currently felt too lazy to pick it up to look at her - and hmmed. "Sounds... busy. Though I guess playing with Hemi must be fun." He sat up slightly. "Though really, Lily, I think you need to take more time to do a little something just for you once in a while. Read a book that has nothing to do with your schoolwork, or something." A moment of silence passed while he looked contemplative. "Maybe keep a journal or something so you can write down things over the day that interest you and you can go back and look into it some more? Or even just for your thoughts. I did that once, for about a month, just wrote down at least one thought or even just a smiley face for the day. It was kinda interesting at the end of the month to "see where I'd been", so to speak." He frowned slightly, but it disappeared quickly. "I lost it or I'd probably have kept at it."
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Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:34 pm
"Time... for me?" She looked so stonded an perplexed at the notion that she had too look funny. Or adorable. Her ears lifted and fell over all at once, her crimson head canted to the right, green eyes half hidden by a brow crinkled in confusion. "A book not for learning?" Even when she read The Lord of the Rings there had been a purpose. She batted the mythril pendant that Edward had said might be titanium, wondering if the books' metal and his scientific research metal were really the same thing. Maybe she could read some of his alchemy books? See where the differences & similarities of Transmutation & Transfiguration were? But that too was learning, though not potions.
"I... don't know about a journal. Trelweny keeps a dream journal. Or at least sometimes. Sometimes she says she would rather not remember." She watched Endless thoughtfully, wondering at his frown. "Would you start one up again? Maybe... maybe I'll try one if you are too."
Now why had she said that? Liliana was not certain. She still felt overwhelmed that her friend had said such wonderful things about her. Confused about taking time for herself and reading for anything other than knowledge or learning or schoolwork. Emotions were hard.
Being busy or lost in a book or studies was so much easier.
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:19 pm
Endless laughed. "Not to read a book for something other than learning, if you want to learn something, Lily... just, read something you want to. Find out something you want to, just not necessarily something that someone else asked you to or told you to for class. It just needs to be something that's just for you." He rolled on his side and pawed at her shoulder, for the moment acting very much like a kit. "That little saying about all work and no play isn't a joke. You wear yourself out on a regular basis trying to do everything you're asked, from what I've seen. And not just physically. You need to goof off once in a while, even if your version of goofing off is something like reading history books."
He tilted his head at her, which wound up with him looking at her basically upside down since he was on his side. He looked quite silly with one ear folded under his head where it wasn't visible and the other sticking lazily out to the side. "Start a journal again?... I might. Hadn't really thought about it again before today. But whether I start one or not, do me a favor? Make sure it's something you actually want to try before you do one. You have enough to keep up with without having to worry about that every day just because I suggested it."
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:05 pm
Liliana turned he rhead to better see him as he pawed her shoulder and nearly giggled at how like Hemi he was at that moment. Then when he looked at her upsidedown... an amuzed grin spread across her maw. Endless looked so relaxed and completely endearing with his ears like that. She leaned forward and nuzzled at his throat, giggling softly. "Sure thing, Endless." Lily murmured, her throat just above his, her words falling into his 'lazy' ear. Giggling again she drew back, laying her head on her paws with a gentle smile on her face. Her tails swished in gentle sweeps across the cushion and it looked like she was so relaxed she might fall asleep that way.
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:31 pm
((Or they can just take a nap again.
They do that a lot. XD))
For that moment at least, Endless was content and satisfied with the situation. He'd made Lily laugh, and that had made his day. No need to mention the strange thrill that went through him when she nuzzled his throat; must be because he was a bit ticklish there. Yeah.
He too was comfortable enough that he might fall asleep. And why not? He enjoyed napping with Lily, and if she didn't have anywhere to go for a while there wasn't any harm in it. "D'you need to be anywhere, Lily?" he asked softly. "'Cause a nap sounds good right now and I'd like you to stay if you can..."
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:06 pm
Need? No. Now that she really thought about it, Liliana did not need to be anywhere. She had planned to check on Edward in the afternoon... but Endless was also her friend and she wished to spend time with him too. She had missed him.
"No." Lily answered sleepily, scooching closer so that she could snuggle into her friend. "Nowhere I need to be but here."
Her ears fell limply from relaxation and she gve a sight that was mostly a yawn. "A nap sounds wonderful. And you're comfortable to sleep with, Endless..." Green eyes drifted closed.
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:19 pm
Comfortable to sleep with? It was a slightly odd way to be described, but not a bad one. "All right then..." He yawned. "I'll see you when I wake up then."
He curled up against her, yawning again, and closed his eyes. Endless thought with a touch of amusement as he drifted off that Lily was comfortable to sleep with too.
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