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 Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 5:58 pm
"Boring~" Ginger called out, laying out on the sandy shores of the lake, her hand shielding the sun from her eyes. "Isn't there something else we could go do? Like hiking, or exploring, or tree climbing, or-" Her little tangent was cut off by her brother's reply.
"If you want to go, be my guest. But please stop talking; you're gonna end up scaring all the fish away." The boy said, sitting on the dock, fishing pole in hand. He didn't mean to be so curt with her, but didn't she see that he was busy? He was glad that the family had taken the day off to go out to the lake; it'd give him a chance to gather some fresh ingredients to work with.
Ginger rolled her eyes, sitting back up. There were a few other families out on the beach, her's included. She stood up, heading to the water's edge. Ugh; was there nothing to do here? Her arms stretched up to touch the sky, a few ideas roaming around her cranium. Her eyes scanned the sandy edges of the lake, looking for anything of mild interest. She decided to see just what was so great about this whole 'fishing' thing Mom had shown them earlier, making her way onto the dock and taking a seat next to Zemel.
"So..." she started, her tone suddenly oh-so-sweet. Which notified Zemel almost immediately; she wanted something. "Brother Dear...is that fun?" she asked, motioning to the boy's fishing apparatus.
"Well, yeah." Zemel said, glancing over at his twin. "It's fun 'cause it's challenging." He paused for a moment, then offered her his fishing pole. "Want to try?" he asked, smiling.
Ginger grinned, nodding as she accepted the fishing instrument, holding it awkwardly. "So, now what do I do?" she asked, staring out at the water. So far, it was still pretty boring, but maybe it got funner? Who knew.
"Watch the red and white bobber." Zemel instructed, pointing out the little plastic sphere that floated at the water's surface. "When you see it bob up and down, start reeling in slowly. When it starts to snag, that's when you really start to reel it in."
"Okay..." Ginger said, still not seeing the fun part. She stared at the bobber, trying to will it to start moving, for something to happen. After about twenty minutes, her efforts paid off, and she felt a tug on the line. "I got one, I got one!" She grinned, reeling it in. Whatever was on the other end of the line, it sure was heavy! It took both her and Zemel pulling to reel in their catch. Ginger was sure it was going to be, like, the biggest fish ever! It had to be, with how heavy it was. And, when they finally pulled in their catch, it was Zemel who spoke first.
"Congratulations, Ginge. You caught a tire."
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:48 pm
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Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:23 pm
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:29 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:22 pm
"We got everything?" The blonde boy asked, too busy hovering over a steaming pot of what appeared to be some kind of stew to check. Why was he asking that question right in the middle of cooking? Because it wasn't the first time he asked. "Yes." the split girl replied, busily chopping a slab of chicken into inch-thick slices. She didn't seemed annoyed by her younger sibling's repetitive question; he just wanted to make sure they didn't have to scramble for ingredients. She couldn't very well blame him for that, now could she? "Good. How's the chicken roll-ups coming along?" Zemel asked as he reached for the spice rack above the stove, adding in a little mint to the stew to draw out the flavor. He was smiling lightly; this was the first time him and Older Sister Azubahiel had done much of anything together, let alone cook together. "Good. Seasoning it now." 'Zuba said, smiling lightly. She glanced over and into the pot, looking at it for a moment. "Add a pinch of brown sugar. Makes meat taste sweeter." she suggested as she busied herself. She focused on the newly sliced chicken, coating each slice with a mix of pepper, salt, garlic, and oregano. This was one of the best ideas they'd come up with yet. Zemel smiled; why hadn't he thought of that? He added a small pinch of the brown sugar, hopefully not enough to overpower the overall taste. He wanted a savory stew, not a sweet one. While Zemel worked on the stew, 'Zuba continued with the chicken dish. She had the chicken slices laying out in a row; one for each member of the family, including Circe and Janali. She lightly sprinkled the slices with Parmesan cheese, before adding a slice of provalone and mozzarella to each one. She then rolled them up carefully before setting them into the sizzling pan of olive oil. The blonde boy put a lid on the stew, leaving it to simmer at about the same time 'Zuba put the last roll-up on the pan. "On to the cookies?" he asked, offering a small smile. 'Zuba smiled, shaking her head. "Go ahead. Got to watch." she said, motioning to the skillet. "Make sure it doesn't burn." She was not going to have perfectly good food go to waste just because she wanted to make cookies. She focused on the chicken, trying to distract herself as Zemel got to work on the cookies. Zemel nodded before getting to work. They didn't have time to make regular cookies, like sugar or chocolate chip. But, he did see a pretty cool recipe for no-bake cookies he'd been itching to try... He went to the cabinets, gathering some cocoa powder, oatmeal, and a few other components before getting to the rather-messy task of actually making the cookies. ---- "Hurry! They're gonna be in here any minute!" Zemel said, scrambling to assemble the dinner plates like he'd seen the chef's do on Food Network. Unfortunately, it wasn't turning out like on television, where every plate was picture-perfect. No, in fact, none of them were, but they didn't have time to fix it. 'Zuba merely answered him with a nod, running the plates from the counter to the table that sat in the kitchen. Mother would be in here any minute to get started on dinner; she could be coming any minute. Just as she sat the last plate onto the table top, the kitchen door opened. Her and Zemel looked up, one of them offering a small smile while the other was beaming. "Surprise!" Neither of them had though about how much of a mess they'd made of Mother's kitchen. Whoops.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:04 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:22 pm
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Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:48 pm
Need an extra set of hands? Or less? ((Seven of Seven PD)) Ginger gets busted for cutting up her older sister's book. Insanity and chaos ensue, and she gets face scratches. Ouch. Zemel gets stuck acting as her common sense, since hers seemed to fly out the window. Oh dear.
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 7:41 pm
The sun had barely lifted above the horizon when 'Zuba and Zemel were awakened and drawn from their nice warm beds. They were barely awake as they quickly got dressed and were ushered out into the expanse of the backyard by their mother. Out there, waiting and sitting on a rather large trunk, was their psuedo-uncle Matthias.
"Good morning, young ones." He greeted, nodding to them with a faint smile. Ah, the look of young, unsuspecting pupils in the morning. Been a while. "Biscuit?" he asked, holding a plate out to the two youths. Though, what was on there could hardly be called "biscuits". The hard, round circles were more akin to hard-tack, their hardness proven when he took a bite out of one with an audible "crunch".
"Mnn....no thanks..." the blonde murmured, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He may be half-asleep; but he knew inedible when he saw it. Those looked more like rocks than food. Yuck. Zemel yawned, stretching his arms a bit. "Any particular reason why we're out here so early? My pants are getting soaked from the dew, and it's cold out here." he mumbled, shaking his head a bit, trying to shake his drowsiness away. He rubbed his arms, trying to warm himself. Curse cold December mornings. He could see his breath, for goodness sakes!
"Would like one..." 'Zuba murmured softly, taking one of the "biscuits" and gnawing on it. It was hard, crunchy, and rather tasteless except for a hint of salt, but it was better than nothing. Besides, she assumed that Uncle had made them, therefor it'd be rude not to take one. It didn't taste that bad, anyways; it was tolerable. She listened, chewing on the "biscuit" as quietly she could manage. The cold didn't seem to bother her as much as it was her brother.
"I am quite glad you asked that, Zemel." Matthias said, chuckling a little. Here came the fun part. "You two start training today." He stood up from his seat, opening the chest. In it sat two sets of cheap practice armor, three wooden swords, and three real ones, neatly stacked and placed. "Consider these early gifts in the spirit of the holidays." he said, handing each of them a set of armor and one of each sword, leaving two for himself. "Put the armor on. It will protect you from careless mistakes, for the most part."
"Training?" Zemel said, his expression becoming serious and somber as he saw their "gifts". "You mean as in sword fighting?" He shook his head, stepping back and frowning as the items were held out to him, leaving them in Matthias' hands. "I'm not sword fighting material. I mean, look; barely any muscle there, Uncle." That, and Uncle Matthias was holding out a real sword. Him, with a weapon? He couldn't imagine it.
'Zuba did as she was instructed, putting the armor as the swords laid at her feet. Sword training? It wasn't that she was concerned that she couldn't do it....what if she hurt her uncle or Zemel like she'd hurt Vinny? She couldn't have that! She gave a worried glance to her uncle, who returned it with a reassuring smile before looking to her brother.
"You will learn. Sword fighting is good for a young one as yourself; builds the body and the mind." the dark-haired fae said calmly, smiling at his nephew. "It is about time you two learned." He looked to his young students. Zemel had the right sense of determination and the "gaurd" instinct for sword fighting, and 'Zuba....'Zuba had the raw power and the cold demeanor about her. Perfect. They'd either work exceptionally well together, or clash horribly. It could go either way.
"Now, let us begin. Pick up your wooden training swords."
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 4:12 pm
Hell. This was definitely Hell. The boy's arms burned, muscles screaming in protest at him. No more repetitive swings, they screamed. No more clashing wood against wood. No more. Zemel's training sword hung loosely in his grip, his arm hanging limply at his side as he watched his sister and uncle have a go at it again. This was definitely his sister's sport, not his. He wanted to quit. He wanted to go inside and curl up on the couch or something. But he wouldn't. He'd already started, so he'd see this hellish torture out until the bitter end.
"Good. Very good." Matthias said, swinging at the split-skin spawn again. She'd caught on rather quickly; he was impressed. The training swords met again, and with a flick of his wrist and a turn of his hand, Matthias disarmed the girl. "Very good, but you must keep a better grip on your sword, Azubahiel." he said. He then looked to Zemel, motioning him out onto the "training grounds".
'Zuba nodded, picking her sword up as she waited for further instruction from their mentor. She looked at Uncle Matthias' shirt, at the rip. She'd managed to make a hit. Just once, though. But once was enough; the cloth had caught on her sword and torn. She felt an odd warmth in her chest, an emotion she couldn't quite identify. She was glad she'd landed the blow, that she'd temporarily bested her uncle, her teacher.
Zemel groaned as he was summoned forth again, walking to stand next to his older sister. Whatever they were going to do now, he could almost guarantee he wouldn't enjoy it. He glanced up at the older girl, who offered him a reassuring smile. That made him feel a little better, but not by much.
"You have both had one on one teaching." Matthias said, his tone calm and unhurried. "Now, I'd like to see a mock fight between the two of you so I may see what your strengths and weaknesses are from a spectator's standpoint." He stepped away from the two, looking a bit too amused. "You may begin when you are ready."
'Zuba readied her sword, slipping into the starting stance they'd been working on. She smiled; this would be fun. "Ready." she said, shifting her grip on her sword a bit. She knew Zemel was still having trouble with this; that's why she'd let him call when to start and would do her best to go easy on him.
Zemel gripped his sword nervously, his stance and poise awkward. "Ready. Start on the count of three?" he asked, pausing as he got a confirmation nod. "Three...two...one..." he counted down slowly, bracing himself. "GO!" He lurched forward, making a shaky upwards strike at his sister.
'Zuba blocked his strike, countering with a swing in his direction. She gripped her sword tightly after almost losing her grip as the wooden practice swords met again. This went on for a good five minutes, neither of them landing a serious hit.
*This isn't so bad.* Zemel thought, smiling a little. Actually, it was kind of fun, despite the aching muscles. Maybe this wasn't as bad as he had originally- The blonde fell as his sister's wooden sword swung well above his, clocking him square in the head.
"Oh my...." the split spawn trailed off, dropping her sword as she hunched down by her brother. "You okay?" she asked, worried. Crap, she hadn't meant to actually hit him! He was still awake, that was good! She glanced up as her uncle knelt on the other side of the boy.
"Zemel, are you alright?" Matthias asked, his tone calm. Maybe he should have gotten them helmets as well. He helped the blonde boy set up as he looked to Azubahiel. "Go get an icepack. It will help stop the swelling." he said, watching a moment as the girl ran back into the house before going back to tending to the boy.
Stars. He could have sworn he'd seen stars there for a moment. "Oww..." he whimpered, gripping his head. Not so bad? Could he have been more wrong? The throbbing in the side of his head confirmed his first assessment; this was hell.
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:55 pm
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:07 pm
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:06 pm
A flurry of gold and chocolate brown whipped around the backyard, cartwheeling and somersaulting about nonstop. Ginger was keeping her word; she'd already said she wanted to be an "acbat" when was little. So an "acbat" she was practicing to be. She hadn't had any formal classes yet, but she'd been reading books and looking at videos of gymnast practice meets. Yeah, she'd sprained her ankle quite a bit, twisted her wrists, bruised her back, hit her head too many times to count, and other various injuries that made her mother groan, but her hard work was paying off. She had been growing more and more agile as time dragged on.
She smiled, proud of herself as she flipped off the picnic table and rolled across the yard before bouncing back up to her feet to somersault over to the tree. With a bit more work, she could be one of those street-acrobats she'd seen on television! She could already picture it; her jumping and flipping about Durem, limber and graceful and-
Her thoughts were interrupted by a little black dustbunny, which sat right in her path. The blonde girl flailed backwards, falling backwards to avoid trampling the fluffball. Chocolate brown eyes narrowed at it, meeting it's creepy white eyes. "Hey! Watch where you're going! I almost squished you!" she chastised, her tone quite indignant. Ugh, she could already tell she had grass stains on her new tights. Stupid flushball....what did it have there?
Toguki hopped forward, completely unperturbed by the child's tone. The little black dustbunny dropped something wrapped in parchment into her lap before bouncing off. His job here was done.
Ginger arched one blonde eyebrow, opening the parchment. Inside was an old, aged brass key, same as the one Nataya had been wearing around her neck lately. But this one had a gingerbread man shape on the end. Odd. The blonde girl looked at the parchment, reading the parchment that had been wrapped around the key.
"Use on thin air, huh?" she said, her tone skeptical. If this was someone's idea of a joke, it was a lame one. Still, may as well try it, just to prove it was wrong. The girl pushed herself to her feet before holding the key out in mid-air, turning it as if it were in a lock. And that's when the air in front of her opened up and she found herself falling through the gap as it closed up behind her, disappearing without a trace.
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:50 pm
Ginger let out a yell of surprise as she found herself falling through a purple sky, pale blue cotton candy clouds parting for her as she made her descent. "Oh my gosh!" she squeaked, squinting her eyes shut. Any second now, she was going to slam into the ground and that would be it! Suddenly, she felt herself slowing up, and eventually floating. She opened her eyes as she landed gently in what looked like snow. Though, it felt wierd....grainy.
The girl tasted some of it experimentally, smiling. "Sugar!" she exclaimed, surprised and a bit happy. She glanced around, standing up and brushing grains of sugar off her dress. Where was she? She looked up, seeing the rift where she'd entered close up. She sighed, before glancing around. She was in a snowy clearing, fudge and toffee trees circling around it. In the distance, she saw what appeared to be a small village.
"Well, might as well." the girl said, before making her way towards the twinkling lights in the distance. Maybe someone there could tell her where she is and help her get back home. She glanced around as she walked....was everything here made of candies and cakes? Even as the ground transitions from snowy to grassy, it was still edible; the grass looked like it was made of sugary strings. Cool!
After walking for about fifteen minutes, she found herself at the edge of the village. Her warm brown eyes widened; everyone here was toys! She saw dolls and teddy bears and all sorts of other toys walking about. She made her way to the center of the village where most of the dolls were bustling about, chatting and going about their everyday business.
"Oh my gosh! Another little visitor! Welcome to Doll Kingdom!" Ginger heard the greeting just as a tall, willowy pullip doll pulled her into a hug. "We just have to show you everything! C'mon, we'll get something to eat at the cafe and you can tell me all about yourself!" The girl didn't seem to have much of a choice as the doll literally dragged her over to the cafe for cookies and mocha.
"So, your name's Ginger, huh? That is such an awesome name!" the doll, who'd identified herself as Rayne, chirped, munching on a cookie. "And you fell in here? Poor thing! Did you get hurt?"
"No, not really." Ginger said, smiling as she sipped on her mocha. "So, you sure you don't know how to get back?" she asked, looking up at the doll.
"Sorry, can't say I do." Rayne said, sounding apologetic. "Maybe someone at the castle can help you back? They've got some useful people there who could help. Maybe Josh or Nataya could help you get-"
"Did you say Josh and Nataya?" Ginger interrupted, her eyes lighting up. "Nataya, purple hair, carries around a giant plum, always really nice and helpful?"
"Yeah, that's Nataya. You know her?" Rayne sounded surprised. Did all the visitors know each other? Cool! "She's not at castle often. She hangs out with me and the other dolls most of the time. She's such a little sweetheart."
"She's my sister." Ginger said, smiling. "I'll wait for her here, then. She can help me get back home." She didn't seem as worried now; it was only a matter of time before Nataya came and showed her how to get back home. But, in the mean time...
"Can we get more of these cookies? I'm starved."
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