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 Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:09 pm
((Aubri's hatching. Unbeta'd, so 'ware! Eyes may bleed from bad spelling and grammar. >D))
“Eggeggeggeggeggeggegg~!”
Halfling Elf churred happily while staring at the Sel in front of her, a dreamy look on her face. It had been eleven days since the egg had been found on her doorstep (much to the shock of Diro), and her wiggling mass of blue egged-ness seemed to be wiggling even more; it was if the thing had a back massager underneath it, jumping to the tune of a harsh ringing. However, Halfling Elf was pretty sure that this meant the Jivvin egg was going to hatch, even if Sameil had gotten out of her egg in a different matter. Which involved much less attempts of dancing off tables.
Sighing cheerily and gathering the Sel out of it's little cushion so it was hugged against her chest, the Gaian decided that she would not leave this room for anything until her cute little Jivvin -- Ust, her mind suddenly remembered, you learned the word so use it! -- had hatched. Not even for food. Not even for the bathroom. Although she'd certainly start wishing for a hammer if that went on for a long time, just to help the hatching process a little bit --
"HALFLING! PHONE!"
"WHAT?" Blinking quickly to try to get rid of the vibrating vision, Halfling Elf decided to move the Sel from her chest to her lap. The wavy vision lessened. She also noticed that the harsh ringing from before had actually been the phone from the kitchen. "PICK IT UP YOURSELF."
"CAN'T; NO THUMBS. HAVEN'T WE HAD THIS CONVERSATION BEFORE?" The red head decided that the shouter was Sora; only he would sound that happy about not having opposable digits. Heaving a great exasperated sigh and placing her egg back onto it's rainbow seat on the floor, she ran quickly from the living room to the kitchen on the other side of the house.
"I AM GOING TO GET A BI-PEDIAL THING THAT IS TWENTY BAJILLION TIMES COOLER THAN ALL OF YOU, AND IT WILL HAVE THE THUMBS TO END ALL THUMBS. AND I WILL LAUGH."
"SUUUUUURE YOU WILL. HURRY UP, IT'S BEEN RINGING FOREVER!"
The egg seemed to crack in agreement.
----<{$}>----
"Kimikimikimikimikimi -- what, what? You want me where? Now? But Kiiiimiiii, my egg might hatch soon, and you know that I feel absolutely bereft being away from it, and that I'd be in the room right now if I could afford a bloody cordless phone-- No, I'm not using that as an excuse, I swear --"
Sora snickered from his seat on one of the many kitchen chairs before leaning back, tail swishing idly as he eavesdropped on the conversation. He was the only other one in the room; the many other residents of the house were obviously not hungry, or cared whether or not H.E. heard the phone over the fawning. So Sora had taken the noble way and temporarily abandoned Verde and their game of Snakes and Ladders to see if he could get the stagnating girl to move. And to possibly get some entertainment. Clearly he wasn't disappointed!
"-- Yes, yes, yes, yes, NO I AM ACTUALLY LISTENING TO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, yes, of course, I'll try to be there by tomorrow, he said what? You better have gotten a recording of that --"
"H.E.?" A whispered squeak came from the opening to the meeting room; apparently Verde had decided to give up on the staring contest with the Snakes to join the fun. Sora grinned goofily and waved. Verde smiled shyly back before padding up to the chatterbox. "H.E.?"
"-- No way I cannot believe Mayu did that with Demare isn't that *****, Johan is where? That can't be good --"
"H.E., there's something important you should know." The vampire bat Tala nudged his owner's leg. Sora looked on in amusement.
"-- Maybe you should, you know, try looking for him, or ask Verde, since she's his bond --"
"H.E., the egg hatched. But the Jivvin's not in the room." Having finally delivered his message, Verde decided that the best idea was to trot over to the open-mouthed keyblade master and get out of the way of the soon-to-be-freaking-out owner.
He also wasn't disappointed.
"OhmygawdWHATVERDE, SAY IT ISN'T SO." Hurried goodbyes were shared with her friend before the phone was hurriedly thrown back on it's cradle and another mad dash back to the living room, with the two Talaye hot on her heels. And sure enough, there were shards of what it looked like sky on the ground everywhere.
But no Jivvin.
"Okay. Okay. This is a bad thing," the girl groaned, whapping her palms onto her head. Her Talaye boys nodded. "This is a very VERY bad thing. We have a Jivvin running around. Which, according to a book I read, will bond to the first living, intelligent thing it sees. I will check this room. You two, go tell everyone else to NOT LEAVE THEIR ROOMS AND SHUT THE DOOR. And for the love of the lords and ladies, if you see something blue, DUCK AND COVER. AND CALL ME."
"Right!" Sora snapped to attention, while Verde just nodded vigorously. Both flew off in different directions.
Halfling Elf moaned to herself and began the search.
----<{$}>----
H.E. had finished combing out two rooms and was hurriedly moving to the next when Sora and Verde reappeared, sides heaving from their run.
"Everyone's -- staying -- in their -- rooms," Sora panted, flumping to the floor with a whine while his companion just leaned against a wall with his eyes closed. Their owner nodded quickly and gave each Tala a fierce hug, falling to her knees in front of Sora.
"Thank you thank you thank you, I owe you guys like an entire hunk of steak each or something, along with whatever the heck you want!" After rubbing the keyblade master's head roughly and getting a playful shove for it, she stood up and asked them to check the kitchen, please, and if they could just hold down the fort there while making sure they didn't die of dehydration? Both of the young Talaye grinned and nodded before hurrying down to their soon to be safety zone.
"And now that they're out of the way. . . " H.E. swore under her breath and swung open a door with a hammer ingraved into it's wood. "Sweetie, just where could you be?!" Scrambling through her work room was no real trouble; she hadn't really had time to start working on some random project, and she tried to keep the room as clean as she could.
It was soon apparent that the new Jivvin was not near her soldering irons or hammers (they had been unplugged and in high places, but there still had been a chance) so she slammed the door with relief and continued onto the next. There weren't that many open rooms on the ground floor, and she was running out of doors. She'd find the poor, most likely scared little thing and stay with it as long as she needed to, give it some food and keep introductions for tomorrow --
She had just begun entering the third last door when she heard the front door slam shut. Whipping her head around, the Gaian paled when a shock of blue disappeared around a corner -- right where the entrance hall was.
H.E. was pretty sure she choked on her own tongue; she ran anyway, hoping that maybe, just maybe, she could stop the disaster that was just about to happen to. . . !
"I'm home--"
"Mama!"
"WHAT?!"
Oh no. After a crunch into the wall, the girl slumped to her knees and stared at the scene in front of her.
She was going to kill Tadrith.
----<{$}>----
It had taken a while for the three inhabitants of the house to drag themselves into the kitchen (the little Jivvin girl was too busy latching onto Tadrith leg's in order to walk, and of course the half-Chaotic Tala could barely get a foot without tripping because of it), but eventually they opened the doors and flopped into a chair. Well, Halfling Elf flopped. Tadrith mostly keeled over onto the tiles, with the blue Jivvin chirruping happily on his back.
"I guess things didn't go as planned?" Sora quiered, looking at the Jivvin-wad attached to the older Tala's side with curious amusement. Verde just sighed.
"No. No, they didn't." The red head managed to lift her forehead off the table and look at the couple on the floor. She deduced that Tadrith had really never had that expression on his face before, so there was at least one bright point to this day.
"Why the hell is there a blue thing attached to me, and won't let go?" Tadrith whined from the floor, and gave a weak attempt at shaking the damned creature off. Anything harder, and H.E. would have a fit and he'd get a smack on the nose; this, of course, was from experience.
"Hell! Hell! Hell!" The blue lump sang, easily keeping a hold on his pelt and feathers. For fricken' sake, it was like a leech.
"STOP SWEARING IN FRONT OF HER." The blazing fury that was Motherly Halfling Elf flamed up, and Tadrith recieved the full brunt of it. Wincing, he clacked his jaw shut. The annoyance seemed to find it amusing.
"Mama! Hell! Mama! Hell!"
"I am not your mom." Tadrith sent his own glare at the blue Jivvin. It affected the damned thing, anyway; it finally stopped effervescencing on his back. And he was not his fault if it was starting to look sad. "She's your mom. See the lady sitting on the chair? Her, not me. Get off."
"I dunno, Tad, you look like you'd make a good mo--" Sora was swiftly quieted by Verde, before any more damage could be wrought.
Luckily, Tadrith ignored them in favor to glare more at the wisp of blue. It's eyes started to water.
"Tad, stop that." His owner looked pretty put out, but she managed to get out of her chair and walk over to the two, and hunch down next to them. Gently disentangling the Ust from his fur and gathering her into her arms, she cooed and pet the Jivvin until the poor thing calmed down a little and stopped making noises to be put down next to Tad again. "According her her, you're her mom. You got bonded together. You can't break the bond, and even if you could I wouldn't let you. It's impossible for me to be her 'mom' now."
She paused for a moment, taking the time to cuddle the Jivvin closer. "I can help you, if you want, but you're the one that'll have to mainly look after her. And you will look after her." Tadrith received another glare, but was silently grateful for it. At least she didn't look like she was going to cry anymore.
"I can't look after it, H.E. It'd die within the week." He gave it a wary look. He did not want to lug that thing everywhere he went.
"You're gonna have to, Tad, and she'll be fine and dandy. Or else I'll tell Puu that you have some Christmas lights that you didn't tell him about." That wrung a flinch out of him. To get that Sprite harrowing him day in and day out. . . He'd seen what the bugger did to Sameil's stuff. Hey, wait!
"Why can't Sameil look after it? She's at least the same species!" Tadrith complained, trying to ignore Sora's snickers by mentally counting backwards and not meeting his owner or the furball's eyes. "Or Chino or Diro or Kiisha or heck, one of the Marubells --"
"Tadrith." He winced. "She's. Bonded. To. You. Not Sameil, not Diro, not Bell, or anyone else. You." She put the Jivvin down, and the little blue thing crawled back over to him and snug into his side with a questioning churr. Tad didn't reply.
Halfling Elf sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Look. I don't like this any better than you, and this is mostly my fault because I wasn't there when she hatched. But she thinks you're her mom, Tad. Don't deny her one just because we screwed up."
". . ." The black Tala scowled for a moment, before sighing gustily. "Fine. But I won't like it."
"Thank you." The red head scratched his forehead. "And no letting her out of your sight. If you need to do something private, then bring her to me and I'll look after her for a bit. But no more than two hours."
"But--!"
"No buts! She's a baby, Tad. Babies need attention. And she will get more attention then she needs. Right?"
Tad garumphed. Halfling laughed.
"Think of it this way. You'll be getting a bigger bed."
"Finally. At least I'm getting something good out of this."
"Can I see her now?" Sora came out from around the table. "She's cute."
"Whatever," Tadrith muttered, and the Keyblade master romped over to greet the newcomer, Verde not far behind. EEEEEEEND.
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 5:24 pm
((Post with Tovi, Aubri, and Tad. Look ma, Aubri gets a name! About three weeks after she's hatched.))
Today was not a good day.
Well, to be honest, yesterday hadn't been such a blast either. Or the day before that. Or the day before that.
Yeah, Tadrith's month had been pretty crappy. And it was all because of the thing. Which was currently clutched to his back between his flapping wings and chirruping happily around streams of 'funfunfunfunfunfunfunfun'. Ugh.
The black Tala sighed moodily and landed smoothly onto his snow-covered rock, the Jivvin squealing with delight. It immediately pounced off his back with a 'wheeeee~!' into the snow, and almost dissapeared because of it. Groaning, Tad leaned over and pulled it out by it's ruff and placed it on less deep snow.
"Go do whatever the heck you do. Romp. Whatever. Just don't go too far and get lost." Or else Halfling will have my hide. It could've been worse; at least the bugger was blue instead of white.
"Kaykay!" The Jivvin sang before hopping to and fro.
She wasn't all that happy about the snow but at least she had fur. Hatter spent too much time complaining that the show as cold and got into her shoe so she was glad that she didn't have that problem.
Snow also meant that she had to dig for flowers rather than just being able to see them. She'd found a few as she shoved snow aside but so far it hadn't been anything fun.
With Tadrith moping about on his rock, it was actually the Ust who noticed Tovi first; with a inquiring chirr, she hopped over to the Pink Tala as fast as she could. Which really wasn't that fast.
"Hello!" She yipped a few feet away, continuing her fight with the snow. No white stuff was going to take down this mighty Ust!
Tad, of course, looked up the moment he heard his 'charge' speak. Seeing his friend brought his mood up several notches; grinning, he flapped over to her and landed in front of the blue Jivvin, blocking her view of the puffball. "Tovi! How are you? It's been such a long time; if I had known you were going to be here, I would have brought the presents." He waggled his eyebrows.
"Hey! Hey!" The Ust protested, hopping around her Mama. "Wanna see too!"
Tadrith muttered what sounded like 'whatever'.
She tilted her head and looked around Tad at the blue thing. "Hey ... is that one of those jiv.... things?" Hatter had a few of them around but she'd never really gotten to play with them.
"And you know i don't need presents"
"Um. Yeah. I guess you could say that," Tadrith intoned, placing a paw gently on it's back so it was pinned but not hurting. "You know, I gotta look after it for a while, no biggie." It started to squirm. Tad pressed a smidgen harder, and it stopped with a pout.
"Of course you need presents, every girl deserves 'em! Not to mention I promised, and I never go back on promises--"
Suddenly the thing started wiggling harder. "Wanna say hi, Mama! Want up!"
Tadrith froze.
It did NOT just call me that in front of Tovi. NO WAY.
"It's not 'mama', it's 'Tadrith', remember?" He said through grit teeth. The blue wisp of a Jivvin persisted in it's calls of 'mama'. Probably just to spite him.
She giggled. "So you're a mommy now? Guess that means i should leave you to mommy duties?" She couldn't help from laughing again. Tad as a parental figure was cute though it seemed that he didn't like the idea himself.
"You shouldn't squish it down in the snow like that." She stepped though the snow and nudged his paw off the little jivvin with her nose.
Tadrith pouted. "It's not like I want to be a parent. This was totally by accident!" He did lift his paw up when she nudged it, though, and the Ust sprang up happily.
"Thanks!" It piped, and rubbed it's head against Tovi's nearest limb. Then it proceeded to romp in the snow some more.
"It kinda gets annoying," Tad confided, watching it out of the corner of his eye.
"But it's so cute." She watched the little blue thing bounce around. "It's a learning expierence, you should thank it and take good care of it." Scrunching her nose she looked at him. "What's it's name?"
"I guess, but it follows me everywhere! I have no privacy." He stuck his tongue out childishly, and paused at her question.
"Ehhhh. . . It doesn't have one yet."
"Well yes children do tha.... you haven't named it!?!" She stared at him. How could he let some cute little thing like that not have a name.
"Well, it doesn't need one, does it? It answers to 'thing' pretty well." Tad couldn't meet her eyes, though. Stupid guilt. "And I keep telling Halfling to name it, but she says that's 'my' responsibility as well."
The Jivvin seemed to see something in the air; it leapt up, scrabbling at the sky, before flopping down to the snow again. It paused a few moments before hopping back up and continuing it's romp, seeming to be perfectly happy. It was so weird.
She glared at him before reaching up to poke his muzzle with one paw. "Then you should name ..." She looked at the little thing. "Her."
"Right now?" He did not whine that. Tadrith did not whine. "I'm not good at making things up on the spot. And how do I know if it -- she -- would even like it?"
Sighing she stepped though the show to the little blue thing and poked it with her nose. "Do you have a name?" Sometimes things like that had names that no one else knew. That would be easier on Tad if it did. "Or is your mamma being a meanie and not giving you one?"
"Hey--!" Tadrith bound after Tovi, but stopped behind her and looked at the Jivvin.
She blinked golden eyes up at the Pink version of Mama. "Mama say Thing!" She boasted, puffing out her chest.
"Well that's no name for a pretty little girl like you" She glared over her should at Tadrith. "you need a real name"
Tad laughed nervously. The Ust tilted her head to the side. "Thing not good for Mama?"
"No, it's not good for your mamma." She reached out and patted the little blue thing on the head. "Got to have a real name"
The Ust chirred at the patting happily, but blinked up at the pink Mama. "Thing not real name? Mama call me Thing!" She replied, looking around Tovi to see her Mama. Tad just blinked back at her.
She looked back at Tad after a moment. "You really need to give her a proper name"
Tad winced again. "Not getting out of this, am I? Alright," He sighed and crunched through the snow so he stood beside Tovi, and lay down in the snow. "Oi. Come here." He beckoned her with his paws, and the Ust happily complied. Unfortunately for him, that's when she started squirming with happiness.
"Hey! Hey, calm down, stop that --" He'd pin her again, but Tovi hadn't seemed to like that, so he threw a desperate look at the pink Tala.
She giggled and nosed the blue thing. "Don't squirm around like that, it makes your mamma cranky" Of course Tad couldn't deal with a little girl. Silly boys.
The poofball immediately stopped wriggling as much from Tovi's order, but she was still quivering with joy at being in the snow and near Mama. Tadrith rolled his eyes and put both paws on either side of her face so she stopped moving entirely, and stared at her.
"You really need to tone down the volume. Geez." He could practically feel the sparkles bouncing off his forehead. Orange clashed with gold, and he paused for a few moments. ". . . Aubri. I guess. It doesn't sound that stupid, anyway." He looked up at Tovi. "It does sound okay, right?"
The newly dubbed Aubri chirped happily, and wriggled her face out of her Mama's grip. "Au-bri! Au-bri!"
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 6:26 pm
((A day or two after Tad's punch-down by Tovi. Aubri snoozes. Tad and Halfling talk over her head like adults (wtf, since when were there adults in that house?)))
"So. Her name's Aubri?"
Tadrith looked up from the Ust that was nuzzled into his side to his owner. He had just been staring at the little blue blob with utter concentration on his face, as if she was a puzzle that was missing a piece and he was wondering if he wanted to actually look for it; he was also pretty sure that the girl had seen it, so he snorted gently at her. No reason to wake up the energy pack.
"So what if I did? Are you gonna say it's stupid?" He retorted, giving her a mocking glare. Halfling just laughed.
"No, I was just wondering what took you so long. The boys had bets going on, you know." She sashayed from the doorframe to the pair, and knelt in front of Tad. "How do you spell it?"
The half-chaotic Tala wrinkled his nose. "You always ask the stupid questions. Never, 'why'd you pick it?' or, 'wow Tad, that's the best name I've ever heard, can you pick names for all the new kids?' -- which I could never do, since my time is precious because everyone wants a bit of the Tad-meister, and I would never ever get enough names at the rate you pick the buggers up you loser -- but 'how do I spell her name?'" He sighed dramatically at her grin. "You spell it with an 'I' at the end. A - U - B - R - I."
"That's a cute way to spell it, Taddy; I didn't know you were so feminine." Winking slyly at his squawk of rage, she reached over to gently scratch at the sleeping Jivvin's crown. The little squirt murred happily and snuggled closer into her 'Mama's side. "Had any success in dropping the Mommy, pops?"
"I hate you. And no," he huffed at her stuck-out tongue, "I haven't. It's be easier if you stopped the idiots from calling me it constantly."
"Aw, Sora and Verde are only poking fun. But I'll tell them to stop since you finally got your butt in gear." She pat him on the head, and Tadrith nipped at her fingers in mock anger. Giggling quietly, the girl smoothly got to her feet with a bounce. "I gotta go help cook supper now. Any suggestions?"
"No tacos." He commented flatly, and H.E. snorted in amusement.
"No tacos," she affirmed, and started to walk towards the door before stopping again. "Tad?"
"Yeah?" He asked, letting his flopping tail finally wrap around Aubri. To, you know. Keep her from getting sick and making him look after her even more.
"Thank you. I'm really, really happy that you finally decided to take this seriously. Even if you needed a huge shove from a certain pink thing."
Tadrith had the decency to blush. "Yeah, well. Go make supper; I'm starving."
She flashed him the peace sign over her shoulder and ran to the kitchen. Tadrith didn't need to see her face to know that she was grinning.
Sighing, he curled around his blue puffball and closed his eyes. It would still be a while before supper was served.
"This is all your fault," he muttered without any of his usual bite before dosing off to sleep.
Aubri just churred.
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 8:40 pm
Aubri and Naomi -- pg 783 start
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 8:42 pm
Sameil and Mjedan -- pg 833 start
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 8:43 pm
Aubri and Rusty, pg 847 start Aubri scurried into the Center, eyes roaming happily around the area to see if there was anything new in her play-place. The door slammed behind her with a loud whumph; there was several muffled curses, and then it swung open again, allowing the black Tala standing there to enter the building. Scowling, he shot the Ust a half-hearted glare, and made an attempt at rubbing his nose to stop the aching.
"Aubri. Doors. Not for slamming." Tadrith stated flatly, before shoving the door closed and making it rattle in it's frame. "See? You hurt the door, and then H.E. will cry. And the door will try to slam you back," he added thoughtfully, "and when you're stunned, it'll eat you."
Aubri gave her Papa a look of pure terror. He stared back. Then she grinned and pounced on him, causing them both to fall over.
"Ack, ack, you're getting too big for that, gerrof!"
"Okay, Papa, I'll make sure the brain-sucking-chopping-stunning-eating doors won't get me!" She nuzzled him, hopped off, and bounced into another room. Maybe there were people in there~?
"Don't call me that!" He shouted back, before heaving himself up onto his own paws and following his charge-thing. Well, he thought wryly, if people hadn't known they were in the house, they knew now.
Rusty rolled his eyes and pulled his large black wings tighter around him. He dropped his head down onto his paws and tried very hard to ignore the sounds of the whatever it was in the hall... don't they know there's jivvins in here trying to get some peace and quiet? He'd gotten into the habit of not talking out loud anymore, considering the only other being he ever talked to anymore was Luke... Telepathy was enough in this case.
However... he probably didn't realize that it was easier to hear general telepathy through walls that it was to hear muttering...
Aubri turned stock-still in the room that she had just skipped into. There had been a voice. In her head. That was so cool!
"Okay, what the hell was that," Tadrith complained mildly, blinking and looking around. That had to be the weirdest feeling ever. He automatically did not like it. But, before he could skedaddle away with Aubri, she had weaseled to the other side of the room and running into the next, shouting, "Voice-in-head! Voice-in-head! Are you here?"
Rusty cringed and sighed inwardly. He'd forgotten to not put his thoughts out there. Luke liked hearing them, and Lily just ignored him. She kind of ignored them both, but she knew they almost prefered it that way.
He sighed again. Was there a chance of getting away from the child jivvin screeching it's excitement through the hallways?
In the library... He was sitting the the corner, partially curled around a picture book.
Aubri happily yipped in reply and turned towards her tag-a-long. "Papa, I'll be in the library!" She chirped before disappearing with two shakes of her tail. The black Tala scowled and stalked after her. No way was he gonna leave the kid with a person who spoke in your head! She was going to get brainwashed! And h-- H.E.'d get really worried!
Meanwhile, Aubri zoomed towards the library. Just as she was about to charge across the threshold, the Ust cut her speed in half -- learning early from her Papa that running in libraries was not a good thing, since the books would dog-pile you and then take you to their underground lair -- and curiously peered around, looking for the person that talked in her head. "Hello~?"
Rusty jerked his head up as the young jivvin stepped into the room. His spirit fell as he saw how truley young she was, and all hopes of easy going conversation melted away. He resigned himself to her.
why do you make so much noise? What does that get you?
"To find you!" The Ust replied, padding over to him with a happy smile. "It worked!" She sat down in front of him, oohed a bit at the fact that she could see through one of his legs, and then looked at the cover of his book. "What'cha reading?" She slurred, attempting to talk like her dad. "Your wings are pretty. Can I talk with my head too?"
Back at the entrance of the library, Tadrith cautiously stuck his head through the doorway. Maybe he should get some tinfoil. . .
He watched her with fascination... then he licked his lips and opened his mouth to talk to her. "I assume so. I don't know anything about you so it's hard to tell what you can and can't do. Both my brother and I can do it, but my brother and I don't really look like anyone else... aside from general form on the most basic level..." He sighed and looked her over once then turned his attentions to the book at his paws. "The velveteen rabbit... it's a book written for children. I'm studying the pictures."
"Really? That's so nifty!" Her eyes shined with glee. "Maybe the plants won't suck my brains out with rar-roots when they pop out!" She paused, thinking, before tacking on, "and Di~ro would think it cool so there'd be no staring."
"Brother?" She asked, before blinking and getting distracted by his description of the book. "Rabbits! Cute and fuzzy! What's velveteen? Auntie says claws aren't good for books, so I can't look without her. Can I see?"
He stared at her with his eyes narrowed for about thirty seconds.... then.... "you're strange."
Then he pushed the book over to where she could see it and started in on his own little question answering monologue. "Rabbits aren't the point I don't think. I think it's about perceptions and desires... but I don't know... I can't read. But I believe velveteen is a kind of material. My brother asked Lily and that's what she said. His name is Luke... we were born from the same egg... " He paused a second before shaking his head at her in dibelief... "You mean to tell me that the plants try to eat you?"
Aubri just grinned.
"Papa says they will!" She stated in a huffed tone, as if it was obviously true because of the source of the information. "Papa's guarding the door right now." Her ears twitched at the snort she heard from behind her, but she continued on. "Luke! Cool cool~ I can't read too! Well, 'cept Aubri, but that's 'cause it's my name. What's yours? Was it squishy-tight inside your egg?"
"Rusty. And I can't remember what it was like in my egg." He looked over at her quizically. "Can you?" Why was she intriguging him so? What was he feeling like he should answer all her questions?
"Rusty? Wooooah!" She looked at him with sparkling eyes. "Rusty!" She flopped onto her back and peered up. "Yup! It was very. . ." the Ust paused for a moment, before making wild gestures with all four paws. "Yup. Very very like that!"
Once again, Rusty just stared at the little blue female with a confused look on his face. It crossed his mind that Luke would have found the little girl in front of him amusing... but apparently Rusty's sense of humor was in need of a tune up. He pulled the book back over to in front of him with a frown. Deep down inside he had hoped that she could read... then he could hear the book again. He flipped the page and looked at the next pictures of the little rabbit as he stood there lost in the woods.
He suddenly realized that he didn't know her name... he didin't really care since he didn't really care to know anyone's name... but circumstance demanded that he be polite.
"What do they call you?"
The little Ust giggled before flipping herself over and shuffling closer to her new friend. "Silly!" She pipped, coming to a stop in front of his forepaws and beating a small tattoo on the floor with her claws. "'M Aubri! I told you!" She looked down at the picture book with curiosity. "The rabbit looks lonely. . ."
Tadrith had finally progressed into the library, and was doing his best to sneak around without being seen. He'd swoop in, snatch the crazy kid, and run away before both of them could be brainwashed. It was perfect!
Rusty sighed and mentally chastised himself. Apparently she'd already told him her name and he hadn't paid attention. Bad bad bad manners. He could almost hear Lily now, telling him to always listen when he was spoken to.
And it wasn't bad advice really. "he is lonely. He looks liek the other rabbits, but he's not the same... he's fake. Made of material and not real fur or bones or veins or anything." He glnaced up at her. "It's a very good book. You should read it."
"I'll get Papa or Auntie or Uncle Sora and Uncle Verde to!" She assured, before realizing what Rusty had just said. "But you can't be a fake rabbit. Rabbits are rabbits!" She looked at the picture again. "How can he be fake if he's a rabbit?"
"he's not real... he's a toy that came to life and since he's a toy he's made of... of... " he flipped a piillow over with his tail. "like this. Like the way this pillow feels, not like fur." He frowned at her. "haven't you ever read a pretend story before?"
"But he acts like a rabbit. Why can't he be a rabbit?" She tilted her head to the side at his question. "Pretend?" Weren't all stories real?
Sneaking behind a bookshelf was harder than it seemed. No matter what he did, Tadrith always seemed to have a body limb sticking out. He scowled at his protruding tail, which flopped gaily on the floor in reply, before heaving a somewhat quiet sigh. At least now he was closer. . . And that weird guy hadn't been doing any mind tricks. Or maybe he was just focusing them on Aubri? Crap crap crap crap. . .
"pretend is different form reality." He glanced over to see the black furred creature crawling around behind the bookshelf. He chose to ignore it at first, however the flicking of the tail and the obvious attempt to remain concealed began to iritate Rusty. Why did that other creature get to stay out of sight when he him self was forced to sit out here in the open and answer stupid questions. "pretend stories are about things that don't really happen. A toy is sometimes just a toy... fairies don't always exist... sometimes people write things to make themselves feel better, or to feel entertained. Sometimes.... Oh for Gods sake! Quit sneaking around!" He glared over at Tad. And then he forgot to open his mouth. you're making me nervous.
"But. . . But. . ." The little Ust's eyes began to water, and she gazed at her new friend with heart-break all over her face. That was, of course, before her Papa was called out on hiding behind the bookshelves, and Rusty spoke into her head again. She turned her head to blink at her Papa curiously, but it lacked the usual bouncy energy that usually radiated off of her. "Papa!"
Tadrith winced when he was addressed, and slowly eased out from behind the bookcase, as if it was completely natural for someone to try to smush themselves behind them.
"Who said I was sneaking around?" He asked cooly, flipping his ears with elegance, trying to keep his hide from twitching from when the Jivvin-thing talked in his head. Which, last time he checked, was a Tadrith-Only zone. But he'd stand the weirdness if it meant that Aubri wouldn't become a mindless zombie. "And you're the one making me nervous." The black Tala sashayed over to the two. "For all I know, you're trying to take over Gaia with your brain-washing abilities --" Readying himself to paw his charge so she was underneath him, Tad noticed that her eyes were all watered up, and immediately stiffened.
"And you made her cry! Who the heck makes a baby cry!" Now he snatched her and pulled her to his chest, where she complained that she was not a baby, but certainly not as boisterously as she usually would have been. Which was just not right; Tadrith was so used to having his ear talked off that the slightly toned-down voice made it sound like there was no noise in the room at all.
Rusty frowned and pulled his book back into his chest. He curled his tail protectivly around himself and glared at the black Tala. He made an effort this time to remember not to talk in his own head. "I didnt do anything to her." Aubri hadn't seemed like a threat to him... so talking to her had been easier that talking to this other creature... but she called him dad...
"I didn't do anything to anyone. I was just sitting here reading. She came up and started bothering me ... not the other way around. I didn't even say anything to try and make her cry." He knew how this ended... this ended with the father creature grabbing the blue one and dragging her from the room talking about what a freak and mean spirited creature Rusty was....
And so, with practiced patience, Rusty waited for it.
Tadrith looked suspiciously at the large Jivvin, and stuck his head out slightly in order to give that really good 'I'm ticked off' impression. He then started tilting it side to side. Veeeery sloooowly.
"Really," he commented flatly, before looking down at the Ust between his forepaws. "Aubri?"
"H-He told me what 'pretend' is, Papa," she muttered, looking down at her paws. The black Tala blinked, blinked again, and then did his best to keep back a snort. He almost choked himself in the process.
"Ohhh. Well. That makes things different." He paused for a significant moment, ignoring the guy-with-a-metal-arm (Sameil would have a field day if she saw that) and pondering on what to do next, before pushing Aubri out from under him, putting a paw on her back, and squashing her to the floor. The Ust, use to this type of treatment and knowing what it meant, immediately went limp, and the sheen in her eyes was replaced with excitement. Ignoring the fact that they could get brain-washed at any moment, Tadrith flopped down in front of her. He'd determined that any attempts would get bounced off his awesome-shield now, anyway.
"Aubri. You know the stories that Elf tells you? About the sun being blocked of by gas and sh-- er, stuff, and oh-zones being blown up and people burning and then freezing? Those are pretend. They're just there to freak you out." He took his paw off of her, and then hauled himself back up to his feet. "Everything else you hear, you can find on this weird planet thing we call Gaia. Pretend's a pretty rare word to hear." Shrugging, he decided to attack the next problem -- the other Jivvin. "And you! I agree that this kid was probably annoying the heck out of you, and that she cries at the drop of a hat. But, that is not the problem right now." He was quickly gaining confidence now that the mainly-green Jivvin wasn't in his head anymore. "You did not apologize. And she is a lady, no matter how twerpy. You apologize to ladies if you make them cry." He nudged the kid forward a bit before imposing himself behind her like a menacing black shadow. "And if you tried to brain-wash them."
Rusty was tired of all of this. She hadn't been annoying him... on the contrary, she'd been keeping him company while Luke was away... and he really hadn't meant to hurt her feelings. And even then, truth be told, he might have appologized had he not been told to. Being forced to do something always made him not want to do that very thing... even if he had originally wanted to in the first place. Luke was always berating him for this particular fault...
Rusty simply stood and glared at the Tala. "You can't appologize for things you haven't done." He picked up the book in his teeth, making it impossible to talk through his mouth... so the next half of his statement wrapped itself in it's own form of irony as he telepathed it. and as for the brainwashing I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. he turned to walk away, but the small shred of Luke in him made him turn back and look at Aubri, and then back at the Tala... This went badly. I'm not a bad guy... I just look like it. But that's all done because everyone's so stubborn, we all think we're right. So I'll think I'm right and you think that you're right, and we can all get along by being alone. He sighed and then took himself over to another section of the floor before plopping down again and opening his book.
"I'm pretty sure that making a little lady cry is a reason for an apology --" Tadrith started, before stiffening at the return of the Voice in Head. "That! That is brainwashing potential right there!" He hissed, jerking Aubri even closer to him. "You need to put some tin foil on your head or something, I swear! And I'm not the stubborn one, you are." He huffed before standing up and stalked towards the door, after making sure Aubri was sticking to his side like glue. "If you want to be an ungracious, evil, brainwashing Jivvin-thing, then fine. Huff in your little corner." He stuck his nose in the air and padded through the door. Calmly. Yup, no running with tail between his legs!
Until he realized that Aubri wasn't with him anymore.
"Aubri!" He hollered, looking over his shoulder. "Come on! We're going! Leave the mind-poker alone!"
"Yes, Papa!" She called from in front of Rusty, before looking at him curiously. "You don't look bad," she commented, poking an ear towards him. "You look like Rusty."
"Aubri!"
"Coming~!" She yipped back, and flashed a grin at the older Jivvin cheerfully. "I'll see you again, okay?" The Ust promised, and then scrambled towards her black Tala with a flick of her tail. The two disappeared around the corner, their bickering hanging in the air long after they left.
Rusty just sighed and and nosed his book open. He commited Aubri's name to his mind and made a promise to himself to catch her sometime without her 'father'. She had intrigued him, and kept him company... she was a good kid.... Aubri. he'd remeber that for sure
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Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 11:14 am
((Wherein Aubri is clumbsy, and meets the other twin. And eats feathers.))
Aubri bounded into the Center, slamming the door open wide and closing it gently with her tail. It had been such a long time since she'd been able to come over to the Center, and the first to come without Dad --er, Tad. It was so strange! From what she remembered, everything had been a lot bigger; seeing the rooms as she flicked her gaze over them, a slight unease washed over her. But that quickly removed itself as she grinned wildly and flapped her mosty-useless wings (they'd get bigger, she was sure of it).
"Anybody here?" She called out, nearly knocking over several pieces of small furniture while prowling out the Center.
Luke came padding around the corner at the sound of the voice. He'd been here at the center for a few hours now, and it had been unusually quiet. He found himself anxious to discover who the voice belonged to, and was delighted to see Aubri. He'd met Aubri once in the library... or rather, Rusty had met Aubri once in the library... but what happened to Rusty, also happened to Luke.
He smiled down at her. "Hi there." He swished his long tail an dfolded hiw fairy-style wings back down on his shoulder blades. "How are you today?"
Aubri blinked at the Jivvin before grinning wildly, bounding over to him and knocking over a stool in the process. Ignoring it for now (she'd pick it up later! Honestly!) she plopped herself down in front of the new Jivvin and grinned again.
"I'm good! What 'bout you?" She tilted her head to the side, noticing his wings, and gasped. "Your wings are so pretty! I wish mine were like that; they're kinda tiny right now." She sighed melodramatically, just like her Dad always did, before looking curiously at the Jivvin. His colouring looked familiar, but she really couldn't put her paw on how.
"I'm Aubri!" She introduced, tail twitching from side to side. "It's nice to meet you~"
He grinned.... all his teeth showing at the same time. "I'm Luke... and I do believe that you've met my brother... Rusty?" He asked it as a question, and padded over to the knocked over stool. He righted the peice of furniture and came over to sit right in front of her. "I have to admit that I like your wings better than mine." He shrugged. "I love the feathery look, and alas, alack... I don't have any feathers." He exteneded a wing for her inspection.
Aubri screwed up her snout in thought while Luke fixed the stool before brightening. "Rusty! Rusty was nice~ His leg was so cool! It's nice to meet you, Luke," she added, remembering that politeness was best.
She quickly grinned, though, and jumped closer to inspect his wing curiously, moving a paw behind it to see it through the shimmery skin. "But yours are see-through! Mine just poof. And then leak." She turned her head to her own wings and plucked out an irritating, loose feather. "Phee?"
Luke just laughed. "you'll grow into them, and they'll grow into you. Trust me on that." He smiled down on her. "And as for that it's nice to meet you as well. You're much prettier than I imagined when my brother first told me about you." He stood up slowly and stretched.
"I'm afraid that I must be on my way now. I need to go and meet my bond at the house, since I promised her earlier that I would." He suddenly bent his front legs in what was supposed to be a bow, but probably looked strange coming from a four legged creature. "We must talk again, my friend."
Aubri blinked at the compliment before smiling and sketching a bow back (actually, they were pretty fun; she'd have to try doing it again~).
"It was nice meeting you too, Luke! Say hi to Rusty for me. Oh, and your Bond!" Whatever a 'Bond' was. But it still sounded cool. She waited as he left the Center, waving her tail in farewell, before turning around and trying to take the most direct route to the kitchen -- which was over a couch. She sighed after sprawling over the floor, the attempt at getting her wings to assist her over not working as well as she hoped, but quickly got her gangly legs under her and continued to the kitchen.
Luke was right; soon she'd be flapping everywhere, just like Dad. But for now, she was off to hunt down some pineapple.
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