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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:47 pm
A little more strife than was expected.
Ishizuke sat numbly on her bed, staring at the ceiling and letting the final words of what had just happened run through her head. It had been like watching one of those ridiculously bloody kung fu movies that only played at certain hours of the night, and generally when only people who really wanted to watch them were still awake and searching them out. Ishi, a great devotee of such television, could certainly compare the two events. She still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but…it had been horrible.
Listening to the sounds of Nereus and Mercury fussing over the wounded girl downstairs, she sighed and scrubbed furiously at her eyes, ignoring the plaintive wails of Angelique in the next room. How had the entire thing started? She was pretty certain it had been Karenina, with some sort of snide comment at Angelique that had gotten the ball rolling. But it had ended…horribly. It was beyond even thinking about. And it was lucky that Ishizuke had been there, but she should have been able to do more. She shook her head and stared at the ceiling and waited for her brain to register what had happened.
There had been dinner. She had been eating ramen. And there had been Angelique eating a bowl of ice cream, and Karenina suddenly appearing from outside, with a harried look and a lab notebook, smelling not of sterilizer but instead of cigarette smoke and beer. And she had looked at Angelique and said something, and Angelique hadn’t responded. Karenina hadn’t been drunk, she hadn’t smoked. Ishi knew her too well. But it was another night where she had been out on a date, and…Ishi shook her head. The girl was dating a chemist ten years her senior and thought it made her clever. And she had said as much.
Angelique hadn’t answered. Karenina had goaded until the Nobody snapped…and all Hell had broken loose. Ishi had called Angelique off in time, had held the pair of them apart, Ange with her razor-edged fans and Karenina with a pan lid, had gotten between them and kept them at bay, kept Ange from hurting herself and kept Karenina from making a horrible mistake, until Nereus could separate them. It shouldn’t have happened. Words hurt, but Angelique shouldn’t have snapped.
But Karenina shouldn’t have started it.
And Ishi should have been able to stop them before Karenina twisted an ankle and got a nasty slash on her collarbone. She should have been able to stop it. Pressing her fists to her eyes, she squeaked softly and rubbed away the tears that were already threatening, waiting for it all to stop and go away. A pair of feet raced up the stairs, threw open a door, slammed the door shut, and raced back downstairs again. Ishi heard quiet from the kitchen, then the back door opening and slamming shut. Taking one hand away from her eye, she glanced at her clock. A blurry 11:47. Early enough for a cab to the train station, and a train home. That was it. Renna had left.
Footsteps on the stairs and down the hallway. A soft knock, and a creak as her door swung open.
“Ishizuke…?”
“I know, I should’ve stopped it,” Ishi answered, moaning softly and rolling over, pulling a pillow over her head and ignoring Mercury. She heard her mother walk more into the room anyway, heard her cross the carpet and felt her bed sag slightly as Mercury sat down on the edge.
“Ishi, sweetheart…” she sighed softly. “It wasn’t your responsibility to stop them. You did everything right.”
“But Renna’s leaving now!” Ishi sat up and looked at her. “She got her bags, didn’t she?”
“Yes, Karenina left, Ishizuke, but…she was never really here to stay.” Ishi briefly sneaked a look out from under the pillow. Mercury’s expression was worried rather than angry, a thought which gave Ishi some, but not much hope. “Karenina’s gone home again, and she has some experience on her resume. I’ll give her a good reference, and then she’ll be able to get a job doing something she loves, instead of something she only tolerates.” Mercury paused again. “And I think that it’ll be good for Angelique for her to be gone.”
“Are you sure?” Ishi asked softly, turning her head to make herself audible from within the sheets. Mercury laughed and nodded.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s been coming for a long time. Karenina was planning on going in a few weeks, anyways. All the better, really.” She paused and then nodded. “I’m sorry you had to stop that, Ishi. It shouldn’t have been your responsibility.
“It’s fine,” Ishi murmured, removing the pillow from her head completely. Mercury smiled at her, and Ishi risked a smile back.
“Are you gonna be okay?” Mercury asked. Ishi nodded slowly. Mercury smiled and ruffled her hair. “Good girl.”
Standing up, she turned and left, closing the door behind her. Ishi replaced the pillow under her head and stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as she had thought it would be, but…still. It had been a culmination of a lot of small fights and a lot of stress. And…she had to admit, with Renna gone, the house would be quieter. Maybe the trauma of the evening was worth it just for that.

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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:48 pm
Times, they are a-changin'.
Ishizuke didn't bother to be quiet on the stairs and instead tramped down them in the way that always made Nereus wince and mutter about thundering herds of elephants. She hadn't seen Mercury or Nereus yet, because they were at the lab, but when she had woken up, she had noticed the note that Mercury had left on her clock.
Ishi,
Nereus and I have to talk to you. Please be dressed and ready when we come home.
Love, Mom
She wasn't sure what it meant, but it couldn't be something good. Nothing good ever came from two parents needing to talk to a kid. And Ishi wasn't sure what could possibly have happened. She hadn't done anything. The house had been quiet since the night Karenina stormed out. If anything, it would have been Angelique they needed to talk to. Ishi had barely seen her sister since the incident; Ange only emerged briefly for meals, disappearing to solitude in her room as soon as she finished eating. Ishi missed her, but Ange was probably working out her own problems. Which, unfortunately, did not help her solve her own, whatever they were going to end up being.
Nobody was home yet, so Ishi made herself a bowl of cereal and sat at the kitchen table, tapping her feet in a complicated rhythm as she picked nervously at her Froot Loops. What on earth could they want?
A soft tearing noise in the doorway announced Angelique's presence. Ishi didn't even turn around. Recently, Ange had been using her shadow rifts instead of the stairs and walking, like a normal human being, and Ishi could only assume that this, too, was connected to the aftermath of the fight. She had just turned to say hello to her sister when the door opened.
Mercury came in first, shaking snow out of her hair and unwinding her scarf from her face as she did so. Nereus followed, certainly more conscientious about shutting the door and kicking the snow off his shoes before coming in. Mercury smiled at the girls, but it was a brief expression, and Nereus simply nodded.
"Girls," Mercury said and sat down at the table. Angelique moved to stand behind Ishizuke, while Nereus hovered behind and to the left of Mercury. Ishizuke pushed her cereal aside and waited. Mercury continued. "I'm not going to beat around the bush, because this is one of those things that doesn't get better when it's prolongued." Ishizuke felt her heart plunge straight into her stomach, and bit her lip nervously while she waited for Mercury to go on. After a moment, Mercury sighed and did so. "Nereus and I have been invited to be guest lecturers at a chemical engineering convention. The convention's in three days, and it's....an extremely long one."
"How long?" Angelique asked, and Ishi was actually surprised to hear her sister's voice. Mercury sighed and shook her head, and Ishi wondered exactly what was so bad about all of this. Angelique sounded vaguely concerned, and Mercury was...extremely unhappy.
"Three weeks," Nereus answered, and Ishi's jaw dropped. That long? Obviously they wouldn't be staying at home. Angelique needed supervision more than Ishi did, and Ishizuke couldn't do things like shop.
"So we're coming with you?" Ishi asked, suddenly realizing that the entire situation was probably about daytime travel. Mercury smiled ruefully and shook her head. Nereus put his hand on her shoulder and took over her speech.
"Unfortunately, because it would all be daytime travel, we can't risk that," Nereus said. "Instead, a colleague of ours has agreed to watch you for the duration of the conference. You've met him once or twice, Ishizuke. Juno Dagon."
Ishi felt Angelique tense behind her, but didn't understand. As far as she could tell, there was really nothing wrong with Juno. He was cold and distant, but he would probably just ignore her. A slight vibration in her chair alerted her to Angelique's presence, and she glanced up at the Nobody. Angelique's face was set in fury, and she was shaking with anger. Ishizuke had never seen her look like that.
"Don't worry, Ange," Mercury said quietly. "You will be fine."
Angelique spat, turned, and ripped open a hole into space. Stepping through it, it disappeared as soon as she was through it. Mercury rubbed her temples and looked at Ishizuke. Ishi frowned at her. What was that about?
"Angelique does not like Juno. Frankly, neither do I. But you will be all right with him."
"...why wouldn't I be?" Ishi asked, and Mercury shook her head.
"Don't worry. Juno is just a bit cold, that's all. He and I have a bad history, but he's a brilliant scientist and he won't interfere with your and Angelique's lives." Ishi frowned at that, but said nothing. If Mercury said she'd be all right, she would be.
"So we leave in three days?" she asked quietly. Mercury nodded, and Ishi stood up, pushing in her chair. Emptying her cereal into the sink, she shook her head and smiled at Mercury. "All right," she said, masking her nervousness with cheer and leaving the room to go contemplate this. If Angelique was that angry, something was obviously wrong. But Ishi trusted her parents. They loved her.
They wouldn't lie to her or lead her astray.
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 2:53 pm
The dawn of a new era.
It was a long time before Juno said anything to either of the girls who had dropped off with him. He simply looked at them, expression blank, for nearly a quarter of an hour, while Ishi sat frozen in one of the pristine chairs in the parlor, and Angelique stood behind her, clasping the ornately-carved frame of the chair, shaking in what could have been abject terror, could have been utter rage. She was so silent that were it not for the slight tremor in her chair, Ishi would not have noticed her. She watched Juno as blankly as he watched her, unwilling to break the staring contest until the strange man did.
Juno refused to as well, and his eyes remained locked on Ishi's as he finally said something. "So," he said quietly, the single syllable dropping into the dead air like a lead weight. Ishi waited for more, but none came.
"Uncle Juno," Ishi responded politely, and the man grimaced.
"My name is Juno, you will call me either Juno, or Sir." He reached up to flick a piece of hair out of his face, and Ishi wondered how he was possibly a scientist with all that hair. Did he wear a ponytail in the laboratory? She giggled at the idea. Juno frowned. "What do you find amusing," he asked, and his voice was suddenly cold, not simply soft. Ishi froze, and Angelique tensed more, shifting and growling softly. Juno looked at her and smirked. "Stop making such a fuss, Experiment Alpha," he said lightly, and Angelique snarled and started forward, dodging around Ishizuke's chair and lunging straight toward Juno. Juno rose to his feet and spread his hands.
There was a sudden sharp crack, and Angelique stumbled back with a terrified yowl, Clutching at one shoulder. Ishi leaped to her feet to look at Juno, who was standing, motionless with a slight smile and his hands still spread. Angelique sank into the chair, spitting like a cat, eyes wild. Ishi looked from her to Juno.
"What happened?" she asked. Juno smiled.
"Nothing at all. I simply activated the molecules around me to repel the stuff it's made out of. Physics is a wonderful thing," he said lightly. Ishi frowned.
"I thought you weren't...a physicist."
"Oh, I am not," Juno said, voice still oddly cold. "But it's a wonder what the money biotech earns can purchase you. It works beautifully against all Nobodies, but Synths in particular are affected." He laughed, and Ishi was somehow unsurprised by how his voice went when he laughed. It was a high, cold sound, how Ishi always imagined the villains in her books to sound when they laughed. She shivered in spite of herself.
"Why did you do that?" she asked, and Juno waved his hand at the snarling Synth, who was still nursing her shoulder and glaring at him.
"It moved to attack me." He waved his hand again and then looked thoughtfully at Ishi. "And you are the newest in a long line of little experiments, aren't you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ishi snapped, and Juno simply smiled.
"Just another little science project to keep them all entertained. First they take my Synths from me, then comes Leviathan,"
"Wait, Leviathan?" Ishi said, and the name sounded familiar. She had met the boy before, once, a long time ago, she thought.
"Yes. Sable's pet project. And now Mercury goes and finds herself one of these..." Juno laughed. "Just another experiment, yet another pet project in a long line of them." Running his fingers through his hair in a way Ishi had heretofore only associated with women, he looked from Angelique to her and shook his head. "You cannot go out in sunlight, I am correct?"
"...yes."
"Then you will come to the laboratory with me. You and the Synth. It will be nice to run the old tests once again." Ishi felt chilled to the core at those words, but she said nothing as she backed to Angelique and put a hand on her shoulder to hold her back from another violent assault. Juno smirked and flapped a hand suddenly. "All right, go. I've no need to speak to either of you. I will call you when I've finished dinner. Until then, do try to say out of my sight."
Angelique didn't need a single word after that. Grabbing Ishi by the shoulder, she ripped open a shadow rift and dove through, pulling the stunned girl through it. Ishi didn't resist, still in something akin to awe at the man. There was something thoroughly unsettling about him, and she was beginning to suspect Angelique's fears were well founded.
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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:42 pm
The name of the game. "You sit there and look so dreadfully unamused," Juno observed over his shoulder from the kitchen. Ishizuke did not respond, simply stared at her hands and kept quiet. It had been barely two days, and she was already dead inside, to everything. She wouldn't respond to Juno, wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
"And now you're cold and silent as Mercury's Synthetic," Juno said, the slightest sneer in his voice. Ishi looked up then, fixing him with a baleful glare, and Juno smiled slightly. "Perhaps you do have emotion," he said lightly, then put away the last of the dishes he was washing. Slinking over to Ishizuke, he looked down at her and gave her a queer look, something between amusement and cold boredness. Ishi looked away. Juno gave a soft snort that might have been laughter.
"Well, then," he said simply, "let's put all this sullen anger to good use." And he moved to a cabinet and extracted a board and a large box. Ishi watched out of the corner of her eye as he set the board down on a table and opened a box. She frowned at what she saw. She had never played, but the pieces were recognizable nonetheless.
"Chess?"
"Why not?" Juno said. "You sit and do nothing, or you exercise your mind. I've no quarrel with you, perhaps you should come to see that." He shrugged and set the pieces out quickly. Ishi reached out and snagged one from his fingers as he lifted it, bringing it to her face to inspect it in minute detail. It was extremely heavy...moreso than she had realized it would be, and she nearly dropped it before compensating. "They're pewter," Juno remarked conversationally. "Near impossible to break without heat. Put that down here," he added, tapping the square in which the piece apparently went. Genuinely interested, she sat down across from Juno and waited quietly for whatever would happen next.
"So," Juno said, "This is chess. The bright pewter pieces are white, those are yours. Tarnished are black, they're mine. First row is all pawns." He smirked at the word. "They move one square only, an optional two squares on their first move out, and go only forward. They move diagonally to take a piece."
"All right," Ishi said, committing it to memory and not responding otherwise. Juno nodded.
"Central pieces in the back are king and queen. Queen is on colour, King is not. King moves one space only, and only if he's threatened. Don't count on playing your king offensively; it's dangerous. The queen can move forward, backward, diagonal, horizontal, any way possible except the way a knight moves." Juno tapped the horse-head pieces on his own side. "Knight moves two squares forward or backward, one square to the left or right, in an L shape. Works sideways, as well. I'll show you." He tapped the pieces on the far ends. "Rooks move forward, backward, horizontal, as many spaces as you like." Tapping the last piece, he looked Ishizuke seriously in her good eye. "Bishops move diagonally, only on the original colour they're placed." He nodded. "Those are the basics. Think you can keep up?"
"No," Ishi said sullenly. Juno gave her what might have been a genuine smile.
"At least you admit it. Now, then. White moves first." He tapped Ishi's central pawn. Frowning, Ishizuke selected a different one and moved it forward a single space. Juno nodded but said nothing, simply moved one of his own pieces. Sitting forward, Ishi regarded the board thoughtfully. It was complicated but didn't seem impossible. She would likely pick it up quickly...though for what purpose, she was unsure. Juno's smile was unnerving, even if it wasn't a dangerous one. Pushing her pawn forward again, she looked sharply up at him.
"Your move."
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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:21 pm
Defying expectations. The laboratory was excruciatingly boring. Ishi, who had been informed by Juno that she was far too inexperienced to be assisting in laboratory work, was curled in the relative comfort of the lab's break room, nose buried in a book on chess strategy that she had snuck from Juno's bookshelf. The book itself was almost as excruciatingly boring as the laboratory, but not quite to the level that sitting there without anything to read at all would have been. So Ishi sat and read and absorbed. Juno destroyed her in chess, something she should not have found surprising but nonetheless couldn't seem to shake her irritation about. She wanted nothing more than to beat him and see that stupidly smug smile leave his face. So she read, voraciously.
Although at the moment, she couldn't bear to hear another word of the boring introductory chapter, and glanced at the clock. Past five-thirty. Significantly later than Juno had told her he would be. That made her go a little cold inside; he had taken Angelique, who had looked for all the world like she would rather have died, and Ishi was truly worried about her sister. If Juno did anything...
He had given her directions to the room in which he would be working, in the case of a dire emergency, and Ishi was quite certain that she could get there. Plus, fear for her sister counted as a dire emergency. At least, to her it did. So she stood up, set the book on the chair, and started off, nearly counting paces in her effort to get to where she needed to be without getting lost.
When she swung open the door to Juno's laboratory, she found a surprisingly mundane sight awaiting her. Angelique was sitting quietly, face set in the same stormy scowl that had been lurking since they were left with Juno, but otherwise completel unharmed. Juno, his hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, was bent over a microscope, murmuring under his breath. He looked up when the door opened, raising an eyebrow at Ishizuke. "Yes?" he asked, expression somewhat masked by his goggles. Ishi shrugged.
"It's a while past when you said you'd be out."
"Disappointing," Juno answered, leaning back over the microscope and then turning to make notes in a small book. "If something is not wrong, you should not be bothering me," he pointed out. Ishi scowled at him, but he didn't notice and looked over his shoulder at her. "Genetics work is not something I want a youth dabbling in."
"What're you doing, anyways?" Ishi shot back, scowling. Juno shrugged.
"It's really not your business."
"Don't see why not," Ishi said, and Juno looked very carefully at her.
"If you do not cease and desist immediately, I will quite probably glue your mouth shut until I am done working," he said levelly, then turned back to the notebook. Ishi scowled at him but said nothing. She had so truly been expecting him to be doing something horrible that she was completely thrown off by the fact that Angelique was safe and nothing bad was going on at all. But....she supposed there was really nothing she could do about that. She sighed and went to sit on the floor near Angelique. Juno ignored her and kept right on working.
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:47 pm
Children of the night.Ishi, in a bout of nocturnal wandering, meets another nocturnal girl...who is quite possibly stranger than Ishi is in every way possible. Nonetheless, they hit it off well enough...if only the meeting hadn't ended in disaster for poor Ishizuke, it could have been the beginnings of a new friendship. As it is, Ishi's not going to want to go out alone for a long time.completeNocturnal Wanderings
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Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:33 pm
The aftermath is sometimes worse than the event itself. She had seen murder. She had almost been attacked, had been rescued, and had seen a murder. The murder of her attacker, yes, but murder nonetheless. Ishizuke took a deep breath, choked, and once again crumpled over the toilet, emptying the contents of her already-empty stomach into it as she tried to get herself under control. The night had started out badly, gotten better, and gone...downhill. She had seen the Undead, and she had seen a murder.
"Ishizuke, are you all right in there?"
"Fine, Juno," she said quietly, coughing and closing her eyes as her stomach twisted again. "I'm just fine." She had seen a murder of someone, had seen a vampire...she had seen a vampire murder someone. She wiped tears and sweat from her face with a shaking hand, stopping and regarding it briefly. She was shaking like a leaf...
"As a non-parent, I am strongly inclined to say, 'Fine' and simply walk away, but I believe the generally-accepted course of action for a guardian in this case is to knock on the door, wait for you to open it, come in, and ask you what's wrong." Juno paused. "I will not, however, demand to come in. I can assume you will leave when you are done, unless you fall unconscious, which seems unlikley." Another brief pause while Juno, master of tact and sensitivity, considered what to say next. "Though if there's anything you'd like to tell me, particularly if it should be reported to the police, I'm willing to listen."
Ishizuke almost smiled at the behaviour. Juno was actually making an attempt? That was...strange. Taking a deep breath, she glanced over at the door and shook her head. Standing up and flushing the toilet for what felt like the millionth time, she turned on the faucet and stuck her head in the sink. The cold water felt good and washed away the tears. When she retreated out from the spray and grabbed her toothbrush, she looked thoughtfully at the door.
"It was just a strange night, Juno," she said. "I...got lost and almost got hurt, but someone helped me."
"That is possibly the most unconvincing lie I have ever heard, but in the interest of not starting a fight, I'll leave you with that," Juno said simply. Ishi heard him starting off down the hall and sighed as she picked up her toothpaste. She hadn't told Angelique about the incident either, in the interest of keeping the Nobody from exploding in her face and never letting her go out alone ever again. She would get over the trauma, she supposed. After all, it had been a rescue, no matter what else it was. And for that, she supposed, she was greatful. For the taste in her mouth....not so much. But at least that, unlike the memories, could be brushed off.
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:42 am
Too good to be true. "Ishizuke."
"Hmm?" Ishi wasn't thinking to respond, and when Juno had, alarmingly nonchalantly, said her name, she hadn't even bothered to look up from her newest book on chess strategy. Juno hadn't played with her since the day he taught her how, but when he was ready to do it again, she would be prepared. Suddenly realizing exactly who was talking to her, she snapped her head up, jerking it around to fix Juno with her right eye, in a way she had slowly been learning not to do under Mercury's quiet reminders. She was not a bird, she was a girl. But Juno just seemed to elicit the response. "What?" she said dead coldly, watching with something like pleasure as his expression went from mild interest to the same blank one he tended to wear around her. Juno sighed, shook his head, and tapped his lower lip with a pen as he regarded her.
"Your condition is called photodermatitis, I am correct?" he asked. Ishi, sick of him (he had been asking after her condition for the past day or so, and he continually repeated questions, so he was beginning to sound like a broken record) and his stupid prying, gave a curt nod and returned to her book. Juno got up but didn't leave like he tended to when he had asked a question to his satisfaction. Instead, he came closer. Ishi, looking up from under her hair, watched his knees approaching with a mild sense of foreboding. Juno leaned on the kitchen table barely a foot away from her, and Ishi began to grow uncomfortable with the view she got from under her bangs. Looking up, she glared at Juno.
"What?" she snapped. Juno shook his head and looked at the little notebook he was carrying, tapping the pen against that instead of his lip. Ishi watched this until she got tired of it and then grunted. Obviously Juno was trying to make some sort of a point. "If you're gonna talk to me, do it," she said grumpily, wondering for the nth time that day where Angelique had got to. She never saw the Synth anymore, and wondered briefly if Juno had killed her. She wouldn't put it past him. Juno looked up at Ishizuke, back at his notebook, and then back to her, smiling in a way that made Ishi accutely uncomfortable.
"How would you like to be cured of photodermatitis?" he asked, and Ishi's heart stopped. Or at least...she felt like someone had suddenly frozen everything in her. Staring at him in disbelief, she gaped, mouth open, nothing sensical coming out. Juno watched her for a while, but when Ishi said nothing, he continued on. "I think I can produce some prototype drugs that will alter your genetic code and fight the ultraviolet allergy," he went on, and Ishi blinked in astonishment. There was no way this was happening. Juno wouldn't do something like that. He was evil. Angelique insisted it, and everything about the way he moved and acted was evidence. Mercury and Nereus hated him. He must be evil. But she couldn't help gaping. Was he really asking her about this?
"How...?" she began, faltering and completely unsure of how to go on. Juno gave another of his slightly unpleasant smiles.
"It's simple, really. The genetic code is not a difficult thing to play with, particularly not in the case of allergies of this nature. What say you?" he asked. Ishi didn't say anything, just kept staring at him. This wasn't happening. There was no way. Juno was not a nice person. This couldn't be working or happening. But here he was, saying the words. Something was up. She glared at him, but Juno didn't react to it, simply watched her with blithe interest. Eventually, she gave up and looked away, refusing to answer. Returning to her book, she listened as Juno shifted and opened his mouth, then eventually stopped whatever it was he had been about to say and stood up again.
"I'll give you some time to think on it," he said, and then turned and left. Looking up from under her hair, Ishi watched him go, mind abuzz with the possibilities. Could this really be happening?
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:54 am
Would you change who you are, if you could?Ishizuke goes to Jamie for help making a decision she didn't know she'd ever have to make. That's what friends are for, right?in progressA Friend in Need
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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:22 pm
Something doesn't seem to fit. "What are you watching?"
Peering over the kitchen table into the living room, Ishizuke was rather alarmed to find Juno with his eyes fixed on what appeared to be some sort of a....cooking show. What? She frowned and slipped off the chair, slinking over to stand behind the couch and watch it briefly. Juno glanced over at her and raised his eyebrows. "It's a cooking show," he answered simply, then turned back to the program. Ishi just...stared. She couldn't even begin to fathom that Juno Dagon, probably one of the most heartless creatures she had ever met short of a creature who literally possessed no heart (like Angelique, but even Ange was not so cold as Juno...), could possibly watch food television. It was for...women? She didn't even know. Juno was not the type, though.
"You watch cooking shows?" she asked incredulously. Juno glanced up at her again and snorted.
"If you haven't noticed, my activity outside of laboratory work is culinary," he answered. "It so happens that until the cable network comes out with something more geared toward science that isn't either moronic or geared to popular culture instead of those who understand the art of experimentation..." he trailed off, realized he had gotten distracted, and then shrugged. "Until they come out with a science channel not made for children or idiots, I will watch culinary programming instead."
Ishi blinked and shook her head. It was probably one of the strangest things she had ever seen....and she had seen a lot of strange things in her life. She just could not believe what she was seeing. It was Juno sitting on the couch and watching food programming. But…..he did have a point, she realized. When Juno wasn’t working in the lab, reading one of his books (the man read textbooks for enjoyment…and corrected them. It terrified Ishi), or asleep, he was in the kitchen. Initially, Ishi hadn’t realized he was doing it for enjoyment. Kind of….a revolutionary concept.
“What’s she making, anyway?” she asked, and Juno glanced briefly at her again.
“Some sort of Italian dish. To be honest, I haven’t followed much. The recipes tend to get complicated.” He shrugged, then suddenly looked sharply up at Ishizuke. “Have you given any more thought to my offer?” he asked, and Ishi suddenly went cold. Why did he have to ask her something like that? The last thing she wanted was to have to think about that again. She didn’t want to. It was…scary, to be frank. There was some element missing.
“Yeah, but…I still don’t know,” she said vaguely. Juno frowned slightly, but then shrugged and turned away.
“Fine,” he answered. Ishi took a deep breath, went to add something, and then stopped. It wasn’t important. She needed more time to think, and Juno would not guilt her into making a rash decision. She lingered briefly as the host of the show (who was really…quite pretty, and Ishi wondered if that had something to do with Juno’s interest in the program) put whatever it was she was making into the oven, and then she returned to the kitchen. Sitting down, she picked up her chess strategy book and began the last chapter.
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:59 pm
That's the way of the world, dear.Juno's son comes to visit in a panic, and Ishi remembers him from their last meeting. Still working the trauma out of her system, she has rather a hard time getting along with him, no matter how upset he is. And somehow, his and his older brother's threats just don't seem to make the situation better. Neither does Juno, but that's to be expected.completeThe Sun Goes Down Alone
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 9:18 am
What the hell are you doing out this late?Ishi meets a small child who probably shouldn't be out...but that's not the most pressing of problems.in progressLate-Night Encounters
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:21 am
We knew that it would come to this eventually.Ishizuke is up early and in a foul mood, and the last thing she wants is for anything to be bothering her. Of course, this isn't going to stop Leviathan from doing whatever he wants, and nor will it stop Ishizuke from defending herself if she has to. And Juno has to separate them.completeWell Excuse Me for Breathing!
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:04 am
Even in the worst of times, we crave company.What was intended to be nothing more than a walk through the park changes when Ishi lets her curiosity get the better of her and goes to see why someone's using glowsticks in a park at night.in progressAn Evening Out
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:19 am
So it begins. "Juno....I've made my decision," Ishizuke said softly from the steps down to Juno's basement laboratory, reluctant to come any farther in without permission...or with permission, for that matter. Juno disliked interruption in the lab. At the moment, though, he was merely reading, and set the book aside to raise his eyebrows at Ishizuke. Ishi took a deep breath and swallowed, fighting the urge to take back everything she had just said. She suddenly felt like she was making a huge mistake.
"And it is?" Juno asked quietly, his eyes never leaving Ishi's. Ishizuke considered the two answers. She had thought long and hard about it...long and hard, and she was still worried that she had just dug herself into a hole. She wanted to retract it, but...she couldn't. She wanted to say no.
No.
"Yes," she said, lifting her chin and trying to resist the fact that her stomach felt like it was turning inside out. "Yes, I accept your offer. I want to be cured," she said softly, looking away when Juno's expression moved from his typical mild disinterest into a grin that would have sent most sane men scrambling for shelter. Juno's smile was that of a man who would have laughed while giving orders to slaughter thousands. And Ishi had just put her life in his hands. She wanted to run, to take it all, back, but...
The cure. The promise of a cure...she couldn't bear the thought of almost having it and then letting it slip by. She needed this. It was offered, and she couldn't let the opportunity pass. This was the only chance she'd get. This was her chance to be...normal. And she couldn't let that slip away. She looked back at Juno, whose expression was calmer and much more pleasant, but still housed some of that same strangeness that always made her uneasy. Smiles just didn't fit on his face.
"You're certain?" he asked. "It will likely be painful, and the method is untested. I am phenomenal at what I do, but there is always the possibility that something could go wrong."
"I trust you...with genetics," Ishi said, the qualifier as important to her as it was to Juno. She would never fully trust him. Not when his sons were so...strange, and when Angelique feared him...when Mercury hated him with every fiber of her being. But even Mercury conceded that Juno was a brilliant biologist. Nobody could do what he did. Rook and Saint and Angelique (and even Leviathan, she was beginning to suspect) were Juno's doing. He was a brilliant man...if perhaps slightly cracked.
"Excellent," Juno said, and another unpleasant smile lit his face. He turned away from Ishizuke and picked up the small ledger he kept on the laboratory counter. He scrawled a few notes before looking back at Ishizuke. "I'll need some time to prepare, but I think we can begin tomorrow," he said. He didn't smile.
Ishi nodded mutely, and fled.
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