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 Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:46 pm
[the trip to the museum 2]
Donat held onto Kumoru's hand with both of his own, not because he was scared but because all the dinosaur bones were so big! He had to look up to see anything but the dinosaurs' knees, and that started to make him dizzy, since there were lots of really tall skeletons!
Fortunately, though, they were just passing on to the smaller ones, since his back was starting to hurt from looking up. The "smaller" dinosaurs looked like cars, only with feet. And they were only bones. There was the tri-ce-ra-tops with the horns and the funny collar, just like he had thought of on the bus and had not remembered the name. And a steg-o-saur-us, too, with things like teeth on its back that were actually plates, like a knight's armor. Or maybe they kept the dinosaur cool; that was what Daddy said the information about the steg-o-saur-us said.
They were all just like from his book. Only huge! Donat felt a giggle slip from his mouth from the sheer excitement of seeing real dinosaur bones.
Serif seemed just as awed by the bones, and but she was not really willing to do anything about the loss of balance resulting from looking up. As a result, she nearly blundered into several people before Kumoru took her hand and pulled her closer. She felt like being quiet in the museum, though, because the dinosaurs looked hungry. Serif was anything but scared of them, but still, it was not a good idea to take chances.
Recognizing the area, Kumoru leaned down to point ahead into the next gallery and tell Donat, "The Baleric Island Cave Goat is in there. You ready to meet him?"
Donat looked at the sign up ahead. "Prehistoric mammals," it said. Donat wondered what that meant. He must be one of them.
"Yeah, I wanna see one," he said with conviction, leaning down a little to ease his posture for his back a bit before looking up at his dad again. No hands on the floor, though, promise!
Catching site of another dinosaur, Serif started to walk off, not doing anything about the fact that her father was still holding one of her hands.
"Come on, Serif, we can come back here in a few minutes," Kumoru told her, tugging her gently along to the next gallery with Donat leading the way.
Donat would not need to touch the goat or anything, so it would fortunately not require as drastic a spell as he had had to cast on himself the last time he was here. It was not a spell that was good to cast on someone else in a public place, especially if the spell's caster wanted to retain a low profile. It would just take a simple spirit-sight spell to allow Donat to see the goat ghost. He could leave Donat to talk to it, then, and help Serif work off some of her seemingly limitless curiousity and energy.
Donat stepped through the archway into the next gallery, and looked around at more bones. The butterflies instantly came back as he saw no sign of any living thing except the other museum-goers, and they did not count.
He wandered over to the first skeleton on the right, that had four legs like a dinosaur, and a big ugly face. Giggling a little, he stuck his tongue out at the creature, and looked down to try to read its name.
As he moved his eyes, however, he caught the slightest glimpse of another creature, standing with the help of wires in the fake sand beside the other big ugly thing. It had horns and four legs, and each leg had four little square toes.
Donat walked over to it.
"That's it," Kumoru told the boy, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Baleric Island Cave Goat, just like you. Those are the bones."
Then he touched his fingers to his lips, whispering, "Sight beyond sight, sound beyond sound." His lips and fingertips glowed faintly with magic until he leaned down to touch Donat's forehead to place the spell on him.
"There you go," he said quietly, figuring this was supposed to be a big thing for the little boy. "You'll see the ghost in a minute, and you can talk to him. Serif and I will be back looking at the dinosaurs, alright? Unless you want me to stay here?"
"Um," Donat looked around, sticking his fingers in his mouth, then crossed his eyes in a vain attempt to see what was on his forehead. Then he looked over at his sister, who was making faces at him. The goat made a face back, then said, "Show her the other dinosaurs, Daddy." He could definitely handle his daddy's magic. And he kind of felt like he should be quiet, which Serif most definitely was not.
"Yes," Serif said, and stuck out her tongue at her brother, and at her dad, too, for good measure, and turned to haul Kumoru back towards the dinosaur hall.
Stupid Donat, rushing her through past all the big monster dinosaurs.
As Donat turned away from his retreating father and sister, and back towards the skeleton... he saw it. The goat. Standing right there beside the bones, on the other side of the bars.
"Hello, bones," he began, all the butterflies making his voice sound a little shakey for some reason. He remembered to nod, though, just like Daddy taught him. "I'm Donat, who are you?"
Crossposted in Donat's journal
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:15 pm
[the trip to the museum 3]
Serif pulled on her cheeks and made a funny noise at the dinosaur skeleton on the other side of the bars. It looked really cool to her, and she would certainly give a lot if she could have plates on her back and a tail with spikes, but there was just something about it that necessitated making a face.
"That's a stegosaurus," Kumoru told her, like she could not remember her dinosaur book. "You're lucky he's a plant eater, because I bet he doesn't like you making those faces at him."
"Yes," the girl giggled at him, then blew a little raspberry. Why did he need to follow her? Maybe she wanted to get lost in the big bunch of people around the T-rex bones. Scampering over to the bar separating the cluster of museum-goers from the huge beast, Serif tried to shove her way in.
"Serif, behave yourself," the mage said, catching her sleeve. Then he turned to the couple people his daughter had been trying to squeeze between and apologized to them.
With a sigh and a pout, Serif felt herself get scooped up off the floor. "Down," she requested forcefully with a squirm.
"No, the dinosaurs look better from up here than down here," the mage replied patiently, hoping he could talk her out of a temper tantrum here in public. He pointed forward and upward slightly at the head of the tyrannosaurus, which was arched over them with its jaws parted.
Serif stopped her fidgeting, actually got quiet, then looked up at the skull of the dinosaur over them. An appreciative smile spread across her features, and then she roared back at the T-rex.
Donat laughed a little at his sister as he walked up to tug on Kumoru's sleeve. "The ghost went away," he said quietly, drawing close to his father and glancing at the people around them. Turns out a couple of them had been watching him while he had been talking to the ghostie, and must have thought he was really weird. Donat decided that he would just let them wonder what he was doing. They probably would not believe in ghosts anyway.
Waving to her brother, Serif made more dinosaur noises at Donat and past Kumoru's ear until he put her down. She would have to ask him about this ghost stuff, though, sometime later. It sounded cool, and Serif would not be left out.
Kumoru brushed his hair back away from his face as he leaned down towards Donat, smiling faintly. "Did he answer your questions?" he asked, hoping the ghost had decided to get along with his son. Who, in some strange logical way, was the ghost itself.
When the boy nodded in response, Kumoru ruffled his hair a little. It was getting hard to do that, what with Donat's horns getting bigger. "Are you ready to go then? We can look in the store, too, on the way out," he said, directing the comment to both Donat and Serif.
"Toy!" Serif declared, and grabbed Donat's four-fingered hand to indicate she was ready to go, and to bring her brother by force if necessary.
"Hey, you're squeezing too tight!" Donat complained as the girl started pulling him towards the hall that lead back to the front of the museum.
"Let your brother go," Kumoru told the girl, striding after them.
Maybe he could just buy them each one toy, to make sure they quieted down on the way home. Kumoru would have to find some other time to talk to Donat about whatever the ghost had told him.
Crossposted to Donat's journal
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:34 pm
[return and aftermath]
It was clear when Kumoru, Donat and Serif came home that something was wrong. Or... it was clear to the mage, at least. Also, he could hear water running somewhere.
As soon as she was through the doorway, Serif started rattling the bell her dad had gotten her at the museum shop. Maybe Arlyn was somewhere around, and would run away when he heard the noise. Serif thought the bell sounded pretty, though. Grinning to herself, she ran upstairs to her room to play with it more.
Donat was feeling kind of tired after being out and about for so long, seeing dinosaurs and meeting a real ghost that Daddy made come out of the bones just for him. He fanned himself with his new fan, and climbed up into his chair at the dinner table, then yawned.
"That was fun, daddy," he said, smiling a little. The expression quickly faded as he saw his father's face, though. "... Daddy?"
"Wait here," Kumoru told him, trying not to sound as tense as he felt. He swept from the room quickly, and headed downstairs.
Arlyn was in the bathroom rinsing blood off of his hands. It was on his sword, too, which was resting across the top of the toilet beside him. And it stained the carpet in a few places outside the laundry room, too. And it was smeared across the tiles, where it finally mingled with broken glass, and headed out the slightly-opened laundry room door.
The Anima of Revenge turned around as he heard his father and guardian approach, and smiled a little. "I got him to leave. He shouldn't have been here."
Kumoru found he felt surprisingly numb at all this. Somewhere in his mind, the parent was flying into a fit, raging against whomever had apparently broken, insisting that Arlyn should be praised for his bravery, and similarly flipping at the prospect of having to now clean the floor. But the mage, the necromancer, felt he resonated with the feeling of exceedingly calm satisfaction that may or may not have originated from the Anima boy.
It was in his own nature, though, to be cool and collected even upon finding things like bloodstains all over his child and his house.
Kumoru patted Arlyn on the shoulder gently. "Good job, getting him to leave. He won't be back. Thank you." The nerve, breaking into his house like that. "We'll have to clean this up. But after you."
The red-skinned boy tensed and bristled a little as his father picked up his precious blade, but relaxed after a moment. He could trust his father.
Donat crept downstairs, and gave a squeak of surprise when he saw the mess on the floor. "Daddy, what happened?" he asked, his voice wavering ever so slightly.
"Someone broke the window to get in the door," Arlyn said quietly, turning off the sink and drying his hands. "I didn't kill him, but he won't be coming back."
The mage placed Arlyn's sword back into his now-clean hands, then turned to face Donat. "Why didn't you wait upstairs like I told you?" he asked sternly. "Go up to your room and wait there until I'm done cleaning this up and I come get you."
"But- but-," Donat stammered, pointing at the blood and the broken glass. Little tears were starting to appear in the corners of his eyes.
"I can clean it myself, don't worry. Just go to your room. The glass will cut you, too." Kumoru's voice carried almost no tone.
The goat-boy stood there staring at the carpet at his feet a moment longer, then nodded. "Y-yes, Daddy," he said shakily before shooting upstairs like a bolt of lightning.
"You, too, Arlyn," the mage told the other boy. "The glass is sharp and I don't want you to get cut."
"Alright," Arlyn replied calmly with a slight nod, then also headed up to his own room, leaving the necromancer alone in the hallway.
Crossposted in Arlyn's and Donat's journals
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Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:51 pm
Kumoru The police got to pay a visit today, so that I could tell them about the attempted break-in. They are working on finding who it was, and in the meantime, understand that Arlyn attacked him in self-defense. Back at the Tower, that whole city, there would have been a lot of questions, but here, I guess in Gaia, there are all sorts of people and even law enforcement is used to it. They are cleaning things up for me for the omst part. Taking the glass as evidence, and samples from the blood and such. Asked Arlyn some questions, but of course, he did not see the man. They are so slow with everything. I want my house back to normal again. I have all these children now, and I just wish I had some way to protect them better when I leave the house. Arlyn is the only one old enough to leave home alone. Donat is far too friendly to be much good at something like this. If it had been him home today, he would have gotten hurt. I am failing as a father if I cannot keep all my children safe until they can protect themselves. I might be getting another child, too, it seems, though I want to avoid it if I can. I have a soul bottle and an essence from Lab 305, adjacent to the place where I acquired Serif. I am deeply interested in the soul bottle, but I am not sure I can get away with just the study of that without following through on the full experiment, which would net me another child to raise. I was not exactly told too terribly much about these "raevan", either. Perhaps it might make a good guardian? But it could also just be another infant to look after. I have far too many already. I need to work on my magic. Maybe come up with some ways to ward the house.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:20 pm
[ fair-ness] Asahi Kumoru Kumoru seemed in a dazed stupor as he herded his children off of the bus and paid for the tickets. He followed them through the turnstiles and onto the local fairgrounds, where the air was so laden with dust from people walking that the necromancer was sure he would be sneezing mud pies for weeks.
And almost immediately, as expected, his children insisted on wanting to break up and scatter in different directions.Pleased to just be out in the open, Serif took off toddling across the asphalt and giggling until her father's hand caught her shoulder. Squishing her face into an ugly frown, she blew a raspberry at Kumoru, but sighed and settled for walking beside him.
But she was sure to point at the ferris wheel and yell until she was sure her father noticed. She absolutely was not leaving until she had been on that thing to see what it was.Arlyn had actually asked to come along, on this first trip in quite some time. The terrifying issue with his periodically trying to disappear seemed to have settled down for the time being, leaving him confident for the moment in his ability to remain solid the whole time.
It had taken some convincing to get him through the gates with his weapon, but ultimately he had agreed to keep the sword sheathed at his brother's request. Kumoru had to wonder whether the child could exist separated from his sword, but at least here it would not be a problem. Arlyn walked along with one hand resting on Donat's arm, head constantly turning towards all the various sounds of the crowds around them.Currently pleased with himself for his great skill at calming his brother Arlyn and bringing the red-skinned child out of his shell enough to even come to the fair in the first place, Donat happily lead him, warning him of anything in his path that might trip him up. With his other hand, he held Bhel's, keeping an eye on the young Fa'e as well - much to Kumoru's delight.
Donat was certainly the peacemaker in the family, and as he grew up, he seemed to be enjoying the whole idea of family more and more. He had certainly jumped at the opportunity to be Bhel's big brother, and Bhel fortunately did not seem to mind this at all.Bhel gaped in wonder at, well, pretty much everything as he walked along beside his big brother. So many lights and sounds and colors... he had definitely not seen anything like it before. So many smells, as well. A lot of it smelled like food, and food that he definitely wanted to try. People were walking by carrying all sorts of things, from fluffy cotton candy in pinks and blues, to stuffed animals that were bigger than the bull Fa'e himself.
Giggling and clasping his free hand into a fist, Bhel flicked his tail and looked up at Donat. This was so cool! Keirro "Ranis? Ranis put that down!" snapped Keirro as she wrestled a dirty bug from Ranis's grip. She placed the child on the ground and finally removed the cricket from the boy's hand. The infant screamed and yelled as Keirro absent mindedly threw the bug towards a family. Ranis watched the poor bug land near the large family and saw the strangest family he had ever laid eyes on. He started screaming at the children and threw a nearby rock at a Blue toddler. Asahi Kumoru With a muffled *plunk!*, the stone found its mark, hitting Bhel squarely in the back of the head. He pulled his hand away from his brother's to rub the spot as he sat down on the ground and started sniffling. That hurt! The bull Fa'e cast one angry glance over his shoulder before bursting into tears.Donat stopped to crouch beside his brother for a moment, then glanced back as well. Someone had gone and thrown a rock at Bhel? Why? The goat whirled around, clenching one hand into a fist as he rested the other four-fingered hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Hey, who did that?" he shouted at the crowd. "Don't throw rocks around like that!"The Anima of Revenge groped at the air for a second as Donat's arm disappeared from under his own hand. Then he took the sheath of his sword in both hands and tapped around with it until he was sure he could turn around without running into anyone.
"What's going on?" he asked, tail lashing behind him. They were barely here and already the little kid was crying? At least nothing had been done to him, so there was no reason for him to react.Serif watched the bug fly through the air, and, ignoring the rock that followed it, broke free of Kumoru's hand to go get the bug. She grabbed it gingerly between two fingers, and gave a happy squeal as it squirmed a little - so it was still alive! And now it was all hers!Kumoru frowned at Serif but let her get the bug for now, as there were more pressing issues to attend to. He walked over to stand behind Donat and Bhel, and tried to comfort the screaming toddler.
"Come on, don't worry about it. Just a bump, right? Let me see...." He tried to be as careful as possible as he brushed Bhel's hair aside to look for a bruise or a cut; the necromancer could not be sure whether the crescendo in the boy's crying was a direct result of what he was doing, though, or if Bhel was just hamming it up. Keirro Ranis started snarling and growling at the child who caught his bug. Meanwhile, poor Keirro was smacking the child's hand and muttering about discipline and her mother. Ranis started to fight with his guardian and she sought to tame her child. "No Ranis! We don't do that! Now we're going to apologize to that family, now!" snapped Keirro as she smcked the infants hand and walked to to Kumo. She already stressed out from waiting in lines at the fair and now this. Asahi Kumoru Kumoru gathered Bhel up in his arms - a bit awkwardly, since the boy was growing like a weed - and stood straight as he saw a mother stepping forward, dragging a little boy in tow. Fortunately, Bhel had quieted his wailing in favor of just sniffling, but he still rubbed his head with one hand. He would have a bit of a bump there for a few days, but he would survive.
I should have seen if someone could come with me to manage the kids, the mage thought to himself as he watched the woman step forward, keeping his own features stern but not angry. Of course, that was just the part of him that had not seen Aylana recently, he suspected, and tried to push those thoughts aside for the time being.Bhel clung to Kumoru's robes and sniffled occasionally. His head still stung where the rock had hit him. The rock was on the ground, so obviously he could not reach it; instead, the young Fa'e settled for grabbing his guardian's ponytail and trying to throw that.Fortunately, the necromancer's hair was long enough that Bhel did not really pull on it, but he still blinked as the jet-black strands of his ponytail flew into his face.
"Bhel," he said gently, his expression cracking to allow the slightest bit of a smile through as he brushed the hair back over his shoulder.The young bull sniffed again and settled for reaching over his guardian's shoulder to play with the ponytail for the moment."You'd better say sorry," Donat said in what he hoped was a sufficiently menacing voice. "And don't throw rocks at my brother anymore." If nothing else, Kumoru had instilled the goat-boy with a strong sense of manners, to the point that they came naturally to him, not as a result of his father standing right beside him.Serif peered closely at the cricket as she set it carefully onto her palm. The little thing seemed a little dazed from its unexpected flight, but it was still in one piece, at least. The girl grinned as the little thing waved its antennae around. Then she cast a devious glance at her blind brother Arlyn.So someone had thrown something to make Bhel start making noise like that? Arlyn stood frowning a little in thought as he evaluated the situation: he only needed to hit back if someone hit him; he had not yet decided whether or not family counted enough in the equation, so Arlyn left them out. He hated noise, and Bhel had certainly made a lot of noise when he was hit, which was kind of like... like hitting Arlyn indirectly....
Too much of a stretch. Arlyn need not do anything here, except just wait until the situation was over. Keirro Ranis turned his nose up at the family. He didn't have to explain himself. It wasn't his fault that the other boy was blue and looked funny. The boy also looked like a cow. Keirro was obviously frazzled and stressed out from handling Ranis.
"I'm terribly sorry about his behaviour. He's very cranky and I'm trying to get him to socialize more." said Keirro as she switched the fidgety Ranis to her other arm. The infant glared at Behl as if to size up the Fa'e and his guardian. Keirro stuck her her free hand towards Kumo.
"I don't know how you keep yours under control," she commented. Asahi Kumoru "Donat, that's enough," Kumoru told the goat-boy quietly. With his hands occupied holding Bhel, the necromancer could not bow in reply to the woman, so he bowed instead; it was his usual habit to do so anyway.
"Time and patience," he replied in response to her comment. Though he had his doubts about how well his methods would work on Bhel.Bhel was facing away from the woman and the offending little boy, probably for the best, because of the way Kumoru was holding him. He figured he could turn around to see what all the grown-up talk was about, but it was not like it would mean too terribly much to him anyway, so he settled for continuing to play with his guardian's hairWith a sigh, Donat relaxed at his father's request, but still stood with his arms crossed, looking less than happy. After a moment, he turned towards Arlyn, to make sure his blind brother was still there and doing alright.Serif crept as close to Arlyn as she dared, then flung the cricket at him. Before the bug even found its mark, she clapped her hands over her mouth and collapsed in a giggle fit.Hearing the laughter from his sister - and knowing that was never a sign of anything good - Arlyn turned towards the sound and placed one hand on the wrapped hilt of his sword. His lips pressed into a thin line indicating that his patience with her was about spent, he started to draw the blade-
and then something hit him in the face. Something with legs that moved. Immediately he staggered back, into Donat, letting go of his sword with one hand to brush at the spot where the bug had hit him. Oh, gross, he could feel it getting into his hair!
"Serif!" he snarled as he fell backwards onto his brother, frantically swatting at the insect as it leapt out of his white hair and onto Donat.Donat's frown faltered as Arlyn fell on him, and he twisted sideways in an effort to catch him. Then the cricket landed on his nose.
"Gyah!" he yelped blinking and reaching up to rub the bug away even as it hopped into his hair. "Eew!" Ordinarily, bugs were not too bad, but the goat had to admit that having one in his hair was a little gross.
As he flailed, he and Arlyn both collapsed to the ground in a squirming heap.Much to Serif's great delight.Oh, there would be hell to pay for this later.... Keirro Keirro let out a yelp as the two boys fell into a heap near her. She then saw a little cricket bug land on her shirt and she started to grit her teeth as she looked down on the cricket.
Ranis let out a battle cry as he assulted the cricket and then wriggled out of Keirro's arms and onto the writing pile of children. The poor cricket tried in vain to escape Ranis only to be scooped up by someone else. Meanwhile, the little cub started to gnaw and bite whatever he could to instigate. "Ranis!" Keirro screamed as she tried to seperate her Illusionary from the pile. Asahi Kumoru "Eew!" Donat squealed as Ranis lept onto him and started gumming his arm, a bit more emphatically than when the bug had been in his hair. Sheesh, this kid had no manners whatsoever! Trying to pry the boy off or stand up or get out from under Arlyn or something, the goat-boy struggled and eventually managed to wriggle out from the bottom of the pile.Arlyn snarled back at the boy, fanning his wings and lashing his tail as he climbed back to his feet. The other child had bitten him, so now the Anima of Revenge would have to push back. Ruffling his feathers, he started to draw his sword.... Yeah, I should have brought someone else with me, Kumoru thought as he set Bhel down as carefully as possible and leaned down to grab Arlyn's wrists.
"Arlyn, stop," he said firmly. He would use magic if he had to to avoid any issues with the red-skinned boy. "Not here. At least save it for some other day." Kumoru knew enough that the boy needed to hit back, as was his nature, but he could not allow him to cause trouble here at the fair like this. With any luck, he could get Arlyn to hold off on his repayment until some other time... and maybe forget about it, too.Serif giggled at the pile of children as she toddled over to Bhel. He had to think it was funny, too, right? All because of a little bug. Grinning at her brother, she made little cricket noises.Bhel blinked at Serif and sniffled once, then glanced over at the pile of boys, and wiped his nose on the back of his hand, all the way up his arm to his elbow. The corner of his mouth tugged a little, then finally his features broke out into a little smile.
Yeah, it was pretty funny. Kept his mind off of the smarting bruise at the back of his head, too.With a sigh, Arlyn relaxed, taking his hand off of the hilt of his sword as he turned away. He folded, then refolded his wings against his back, a sign that he was still quite agitated, as he said with relative calm, "Fine, it can wait."
He was not one to forget grudges, either. It was in his nature not to. Keirro Keirro pryed the child off of Donat.
"You guys, I'm terribly sorry. Is there any way I can make it up to you and your kids? Usually I have better control over him, but that damn cricket. He always tries to eat them." Keirro sighed. She looked around at the carnival food. The kids could possibly a little hungry.Ranis looked quite satisfied with himself and started to purr contently as he gave the other children a smug look. He flicked his tail like a cat while he snuggled up next to Keirro. He totally showed those brats who was boss. His ears perked up when he hear Serif make cricket noises and he started to sniff in her direction out of curiosity. Asahi Kumoru Donat scrambled to his feet, wiping his arm off frantically on his pants. He opened his mouth to say something, but a glance from his father silenced him, and he instead edged closer to Arlyn, to place a four-fingered hand on his brother's shoulder.Feeling a touch, Arlyn reached up to place a hand on the one resting on his shoulder. It was Donat. He let out a long sigh and tried to force himself to relax. So easily, he was letting this debt go unpaid... but he had promised his brother....
"What's his name?" he asked, wanting this information for the future, when he would get his revenge on the little boy. Perhaps when he was older.Kumoru was about to speak when Arlyn asked his question. He allowed the Anima time to ask it, then told the woman in reply, "One of mine caused trouble as well. No need for reparations."
A moment after he spoke, the necromancer realized how stern his voice must have sounded. To try to break whatever tension may have remained, he forced a small smile and added, "Children will be children. I should get mine along and let them take out the rest of their mischief on carnival games." He shot a brief glance over his shoulder at the girl among his group, who was still snickering over the little spectacle she had helped to cause. "I'm sure they will do well at the games today."Bhel watched his father and brothers from behind for a moment, then toddled over to hug Donat's leg and to peer at the strangers. Keirro "Here. Take this." Keirro handed Kumo her business card and about 12 tickets that the kids could use for games.
"I need to bring Ranis home. My name is Keirro. Call me if there is anyhing I can do for you. I'm so embarassed about Ranis's behaviour."Ranis glared at Arlyn, but remained quiet. His energy was spent for now and he was quite content to observe the other children until he started to doze off. Asahi Kumoru "Keirro," the mage repeated as he accepted the card and looked it over before tucking it away into the pocket of his sleeve. "Thank you. My name is Kumoru," he said with a bow. "And I wish you luck in taming that child."
Kumoru was glad that none of his own were quite like that, though he was almost certain that this whole experience had left him with more than a few grey hairs. He would definitely have to be careful taking all of his crazy little kids out at once in the future.Seeing that the situation had diffused, Serif wandered back over with her brothers, giving Arlyn a wide space, and clung to her father's robes. As Keirro and Ranis left, she blew them a raspberry and waved."Ranis," Arlyn murmured, committing the name to memory. He held the sheath of his sword in a white-knuckled grip and started digging his nails into his brother's arm, too, without realizing it. One bite, plus the embarrassment. And... he had thrown a rock at one brother and bitten the other, as well. When they met again, sparks would fly, Arlyn swore it.
And Serif would get it, too. Just on principle.Donat carefully ruffled Bhel's hair and started to take the boy's hand again, then winced a little as Arlyn started digging his nails into his arm. "Hey, Arlyn, calm down now, he's gone," he said, messing up his older brother's hair as well before going on to take Bhel's hand. "We can play some games now. That'll be fun."Things were returning to normal, and this made Bhel's mood improve. His head had stopped smarting, too, which meant he was well on the way to forgetting all about it.As she left, Kumoru turned back to his children and divided up the tickets. Thank goodness the number was divisible equally by four, else the mage might have had another bout of anarchy on his hands.
Once the tickets were handed out, he herded all the children towards the carnival games, swearing to himself up and down that he would never do this alone again.
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:44 am
[ un-fair-ness 1] Asahi Kumoru Having just about recovered from the previous day's... events... Kumoru picked up the receiver of his phone and held it between his jaw and shoulder while he scoured the front of his refrigerator for Aylana's number. He searched for a full two minutes before he realized the number was tacked to the wall right beside the phone. Perhaps he had not fully regained his sanity from yesterday's trip to the city fair with all four of his kids after all.
He dialed the number and waited as the phone rang. He was fairly sure Aylana would want to come with him. Or at least the necromancer dearly hoped so.Serif was using her newfound ability to talk to the utmost extent as she bounced around the kitchen, begging her father to take her back to the fair. She had amassed a surprising number of tickets the day before, and had actually taken Kumoru seriously when he had told her that they could go back tomorrow. The girl really had her heart set on one of the enormous stuffed animals available as carnival prizes at one of the shooting games, and Donat had offered his mystical and amazing counting abilities to tell her that she only really needed about thirty more tickets to get it.Donat, in a vain effort to help his father out, chased Serif around and told her to be quiet while dad was on the phone.Perched safely out of reach on one of the kitchen table chairs, Arlyn huddled up and tried to ignore the mayhem around himself. He frowned and shuffled his wings a little, folding them up around near his ears in a vain effort to block out Serif's joyful wailing.
He secretly wanted to go back to the fair, too. On the off chance that that Ranis boy was there, so he could exact his revenge. Or just to get outside. Even the surly Anima had had to admit, it was wonderful going out the day before.Bhel wandered around the kitchen as well, sucking on the arm of a small stuffed animal he and Donat had managed to win jointly the day before. His brother had said that he could have it all to himself, and since then, Bhel had gotten the idea that he had done all the work himself. Not that he could voice these thoughts yet, but he was still feeling mightily proud of himself.
He could stand to miss the fair again, except he had only gotten the smallest of samples of the food he had smelled there. The bull was clearly hungry enough to eat yesterday's plush prize; he needed him some funnel cake or something!Shoving one finger in his ear to block out the nose, Kumoru shut his eyes and whispered, "Please pick up please pick up please pick up," like a mantra to guard his sanity as he waited for Aylana to answer the phone. Krista_Darkangel_Silme Having just finish giving Cielra a bath Aylana decided it was time to change clothes once again. Placing Cielra into her playpin she chuckles as the kitten play with her light pink summer dress. Turning she shakes her head as she loosk down at her simple vneck shirt and jeans. They were soaked from head to toe as if she had gotten into the shower with them on. Chucklign she slips into her room to change into something else. As she was pulling off her top the phone started ringing. Walking over she picks up the phone " Hello Aylana speaking." tossing the wet clothes into the hamper she opens her closet looking inside. Being a nice day she decided she would take Cielra out, and with that she was going to be comfortable. So a pair of lowrider jeans, and a shirt would do. Asahi Kumoru Kumoru himself had forsaken his robes for the day in favor of a pair of cargo khakis, and a navy shirt that read "Keep Out of Direct Sunlight" in white across the front. The heat generally did not bother him too much, but these clothes were at least better suited to chasing children all over the fairgrounds.
"Hello, Aylana?" he began when he heard the Fa'e answer the phone. "It's Kumoru. Are you busy today? I was wondering if you might like to come with me to the fair and help look after Bhel."Serif let out a rather emphatic squeal as Donat managed to capture her. She kept on making noise until her older brother dragged her bodily from the room, and distracted her with a toy."Well, and some of the other kids, too." He allowed himself a weak but hopeful grin. Just as long as he did not have to keep tabs on all four of his children in public by himself, like yesterday. Krista_Darkangel_Silme Aylana chuckles as she pulls a brush through her hair " Sounds like fun, is it alright if I bring Cielra and Drac along? Drac was planning on hanging out with her baby sister." turning as she heard a knock on the door she smiles pulling the phone away for a second " Drac its open sweetie." Letting herself into the apartment Drac smiles waving to her mother for a moment " Sorry I'm so late, Ren was asking me to help her setup the new dining room to her apartment. I lost track of time. Who you on the phone with?" leaning against the doorframe she brushes at the hem of her jean dress as her tail brush the floor. Aylana shakes her head then chuckles " Kumoru, he your little brother's guardian. He wants to know if I want to go the the faire. You wanna come with us?" placing her brush down she slips pass Drac making her way towards the kitchen. Drac chuckles then nods " Sure I'll come, sounds like fun. Beside you need to get out on a date." laughing as her mother turns red she winks as she head toward Cielra in the playpin. Aylana rolls her eyes as she gathers her some things together " Its not a date Drac, were just friends. He said so himself." looking away from her daughter she place the phone back to her ear " So do you want me to come there, or would you like us to meet you at the faire?" Asahi Kumoru He could not quite hear all of what was said on Aylana's end, but Kumoru was reasonably sure he caught the word "date". Seriously, he thought. This is all for Bhel's sake, not my own. ... Well, for the sake of my sanity, as well, but certainly nothing like a date.
"It would be easier if we met you there, I think. Save you a bus ride, I'm sure," the necromancer replied, grasping his ponytail with his free hand and twisting the hair around his fingers. "Just meet us by the gate, I suppose? I'm in normal clothes instead of my robes today; let's see if you can find me." He smiled a little to see what Aylana would say to that. It was not often anymore, really, that he went around dressed like anything but a mage. Krista_Darkangel_Silme Arching a brow Aylana shook her head for a moment " Normal clothes? Hmmm okay that I can't wait to see. Alright I guess I shall see you there then." hanging the phone up she finishes making the last bottle. " Drac think you could get the diaper bag together? I'm gonna finish up these bottles." Drac pick Cielra up out of her playpin chuckling " Sure mum, come on Cie lets got get everything ready for you." going into the room she picks up the diaper bag placing a few diapers as well as a jacket into it. " Mommies gonna have some fun while we go off and play. How does that sound?" making a face at the little one she giggles. Cielra squeels with laughter as she smacks at Drac's blue hair. Asahi Kumoru The necromancer nodded and hung up on his end, then glanced down at Bhel.
"Let's get ready to go then. Your mom is going to meet us there, Bhel. You can see your mommy again!" Kumoru felt quite pleased with himself, that he was able to keep Bhel in such close touch with Aylana.
Crossing his arms like he tended to do when he wore his robes, Kumoru peered down at the young Fa'e a moment longer, then started to head over towards the other room, where Donat was playing with Serif.
"Just about time to go, guys. Aylana is going to meet us there."Donat looked up from playing with his sister and grinned. "Miss Aylana can come! Awesome!" He could still remember her from his little adventure in the woods from his younger days, but he was sad he had not had a chance to see her since then.
"Dad, can I bring my skateboard?" he asked with a hopeful smile. Maybe he could show off the bit he had taught himself, even if he could not yet do any amazing tricks."Hm, probably a bad idea," Kumoru told the boy, staggering back a bit as Serif decided to grab his leg. "Too many people there. Maybe tomorrow, I'll see if we have time to go to the empty parking lot and you can practice more there. More space.""Aw, okay." Donat supposed the fair was enough fun, even if he could not bring his skateboard. After a moment, he scrambled to his feet.
"I guess I'm ready then, if I don't have to get the skateboard. Want me to get Arlyn, and we can leave?" Without waiting for an answer, he ran to fetch his blind brother from the kitchen.~~~~ A little over half an hour later, Kumoru herded his children off of the bus and onto the hot asphalt of the fairground entrance once again. Trying to keep himself between Serif and Arlyn, and holding Bhel's hand so the boy would not just run off on his own, Kumoru led the odd bunch over to wait by one of the portable concrete barriers meant to funnel people towards the ticket table.
"Let's wait here until Aylana gets here," he told the children, hoping he would be permitted to loiter there until the older Fa'e arrived. Krista_Darkangel_Silme Pulling up to the parking lot Aylana smiles as she turns off the car " Were here. From the looks of this place its going to be fun." glancing toward Drac she chuckles " Mind getting Cielra out for me while I look around for Kumoru?" when her older child gave her that look she shakes her head as she climbs out of the car. Drac chuckles as she turns in her seat " Alright let get you out of that thing." unhooking the seat belt in the carseat. Cielra giggles at Drac lifts her from it. Grabbing the diaper bag she place it over her shoulder. Standing she closes her door as she leans against the car. Drac stood there with Cielra in her arms watching her mother. Aylana was a few feet from the car looking through the crowd. When she spot her son she waves to him then looks up at the others. She knew the oldest had to be Donat. The other two kids she didn't know. It was Kumoru that took her by surprise, she never seen him in anything but his robes. Standing there she pulls on the hem of her shirt. Giving him a smile she jumps as Drac bumps into her then walks pass her. Shaking her head Aylana follows after her daugther then smiles " Hey everyone." her eyes didn't leave Kumoru for a moment before she holds her hands out towards her son. " Hey sweetie, how my big boy?" Distract herself with her son for a moment. That would work, or at least that what she thought. Asahi Kumoru Recognizing his mother, Bhel squealed and came running, tail windmilling behind him. He chattered some baby-speak, but no real recognizable words came out in the mixture. It was easy enough to tell by his face that he was glad to see his mom, though."Hiyas, Miss Aylana!" Donat called, waving excitedly with a four-fingered hand. Then he turned to his brother and took the Anima's hand. He lead the red-skinned boy forward, closer to Aylana, as he told her, "This is my big brother, Arlyn. I don't think you've met him, unless he's gone and gotten lost, too." The goat-boy giggled.Arlyn looked a bit taken-by-surprise as Donat brought him forward. He was definitely not the most social creature to walk the face of Gaia, and he knew he hardly looked it, with his sword with him all the time. But... well, Arlyn figured if Donat liked this Miss Aylana, she must not be bad or anything.
"Hello," he said flatly, shying away a little and tugging his hand out of Donat's so he could hold his sheathed sword with both hands.Serif clung to her father's leg, and, after a moment, blew a raspberry at Aylana."Hello, Ayla- Serif! Cut that out and be nice!" Kumoru prodded her with one finger, both to try to remind her of what few manners she might have picked up, and to get her to let go of him so he could walk."No!" Serif told her dad, to use what was by far her favorite word."Sorry about Serif, I'll just have to cut back on her game tickets or something until she decides to act at least a little bit civil," Kumoru told Aylana with a slight sheepish smile. Then he added, "Although if nothing else, she makes me feel a little better that Bhel still isn't talking yet." Krista_Darkangel_Silme Wrapping her arms around Bhel she hugs him close, looking up she chuckles " Hello, she reminds me of someone at that age." looking over her shoulder she chuckles as Drac sticks her tongue at her " This is Drac, my second adopted daugther." standing she chuckles again " Thanks for asking me to join." Drac smiels at Kumoru then towards Donat " Yea thanks, you two can go off alone anytime. I'm sure me and Donat can watch them young ones Right?" she winks hoping they could. Looking down at Cielra she chuckles as the little girl looks over the others with a curious look. Aylana blushes as she looks back down at her son. She was wishing she could hide at this point. Asahi Kumoru "Yeah, I'm good at helping Arlyn, and he and I can both take care of Bhel, and you can just take Serif, Miss Drac," Donat said, his voice carrying a touch of pride and a tone that showed he had obviously missed what Drac was getting at. "Dad told me I did a good job yesterday helping him not go crazy when we came here."Bhel hugged his mother back and grinned. He had not been allowed to bring the stuffed animal he had won yesterday to show Aylana, but by this point, he had forgotten all about it. The bull was, however, thoroughly excited about the idea of playing games with his mom. He liked the one where you throw the beanbags to try to knock the clowns over, and tried to tell his mother by miming throwing something.Kumoru did his best to follow up on Donat's ignorance at what Drac had implied, and backed up the goat-boy's statements by saying, "Yeah, Donat is quite a good big brother for Bhel, and it still amazes me how well he gets along with Arlyn, too. Sometimes I wonder if he'll grow up to make a better father than myself." He laughed good-naturedly and ruffled the boy's hair a little.It was hard to see, but Donat blushed a little even as he beamed at the praise from his father. "I'd want someone to help me take care of a girl like Serif, though. She's fun but she has more energy than me!"Serif giggled impishly, then toddled forward a little as she noticed Cielra. "Who's that?" she asked, pointing at the kitten. A fellow girl in this whole mess of boys and grown-ups! Perhaps Serif could get to know this other girl better, and they could be partners in crime. Krista_Darkangel_Silme Drac chuckles as she takes Donat's hand " If she anything like Cielra, I think we will do just fine. Come on lets go ahead and get some ticket for the games." she tugs at his hand hoping it will cause the other kids to follow. Cielra spots the girl but squeels as she hears the word games. She knew that meant time to play. Mewing she claps her hands together as she hugs close to her older sister. Aylana chuckles shaking her head, she hugs Bhel close before she kisses his nose " Go on ahead sweetie. Me and your guardian will catch up soon." looking up at Kumoru she bites her bottom lip then mouths sorry as she stood " So um...like the clothes..never thought I see you not in a mage robe." Asahi Kumoru Games? Serif was totally there. She had all her prize tickets from yesterday stored up in her pockets, so it would only be a matter of time before that big neon pink stuffed rabbit would be hers. She had not seen it up close, since they kept it in the back of the prize booth, but the girl was reasonably sure it was like, at least three times the size of her brother Arlyn. Meaning it would be excellent to throw at him.
While she worked on getting the last twenty-eleven tickets for it, she could also figure out a way to actually accomplish the throwing.Kumoru quickly handed Donat a few bills as the kids started to leave with Drac. Was she really going to just up and go with everyone right now and leave him with Aylana?
"Here, Donat, take this and don't spend it all on games, okay? Keep some handy in case you or someone gets thirsty and you need a drink. It's hot out. And, uh, be careful!""Sure, Dad," Donat agreed as he headed off, leading Arlyn along, too. "Later!"Arlyn tripped a little as they all started moving out, but quickly fell into stride beside Donat again. The point of the majority of the carnival games escaped him - how was throwing random stuff fun? - but Donat always offered to help him, so he figured the best way to reciprocate was to play along with it. Maybe today, they could take a break from a lot of gaming, though, and try some of the food. Especially if it would get him away from Serif, since she was so set on playing all the games so much.
"Donat," he asked, refolding his wings against his back. "You said yesterday you saw candy that looked like a big fluffy ball of pink? What's pink? Do you know if it tastes good?"
Being blind, the Anima felt like he was missing a lot at this fair thing. His brother did his best, but still....Wait, why did he have to leave Mommy when she was right there? Bhel whined a little and tugged at his mother's arm. She was going to come, too, right? Krista_Darkangel_Silme Aylana chuckles as she looks down at her son " I will join you soon, I promise." touching his nose she makes a silly face " Think you can be a big brother and help watch Cielra?" she wanted Bhel to bond with Drac, beside she also knew Drac wouldn't let this go. She get the boy to come with her. Drac pauses looking at the other kids before looking back towards Bhel. She was hoping he would join them, if not she would figure out later how to get him to join them. She wanted her mother to have fun, not deal with little kids. Cielra mew waving her fingers towards Bhel. Wasn't he going to join them. Pouting she mews alittle then pushes at Drac's arm wanting to go to Bhel. She wanted him to come with them. Asahi Kumoru "Go on, it's alright," Kumoru assured Bhel, gesturing towards the others. "I need to ... talk to your mommy for a bit, but you two can play together later, when we're done."
This was supposed to be more quality time for Bhel and Aylana; that was why the mage had invited her and not anyone else. But... maybe it would not be all bad for him to get more used to spending time with kids his own age, too. And get used to babysitters.Bhel snorted, then sniffed and wiped his nose, and finally went to follow Drac and the others. He kept his chubby arms crossed, and kicked with his hooves a little at the hem of his long grey skirt, but promptly snatched Donat's hand as he joined the group.
Fine, but he would need to play lots of games with Mommy later.Kumoru turned his attention back to Aylana as the others moved off, and brushed his hands over his khakis a little. "Hopefully he'll let himself have fun and not stay cranky," he sighed. Then he glanced down at his clothing and said, "Oh, thanks. The robes are kind of a point of pride for me, but I don't wear them all the time."
He chuckled a little. "I mean, it's not like I wear them when I go out grocery shopping." Wait, that was a like. "Grocery shopping on weekends," the necromancer amended. "Er, after three or so in the afternoon." Okay, so he did wear the robes grocery shopping. Pretty much all the time recently, now that he thought about it.
"I just thought this would be cooler," Kumoru finally said with a small shrug. He still looked enough like a mage for his own liking, since he always kept his hair long and well-cared for.
Idly, he twisted his ponytail around his hand. "Anything in particular you want to do until our children are returned?" Krista_Darkangel_Silme Drac looks over the games as she gets a stroller for Cielra. Setting the little kitten in it she smiles " So where does everyone want to go?" standing she looks at them each. It didn't matter to her really where they went, so long as they gave her mother and Kumoru some time to hang out. Cielra chuckles as she looks toward the other children. Giving a small wave to Bhel she tries to reach towards him, she miss playing that game with him. So seeing him again she wanted to let him know he was her friend. Asahi Kumoru Serif crossed her arms and surveyed the aisle of games, looking for the one she had been playing the day before. It took her a moment to remember the place, but once she had located it in the rows of stalls, she immediately ran for it, as though Drac and the others were not even there. Supervision what now?Donat had been about to suggest the beanbag game that Bhel liked, but then Serif started running away.
"Wait, Serif! Wait for us!" he shouted. Then he glanced quickly at Arlyn's hand, held in his own, and quickly told the other boy, "Stay with Bhel. Sorry, Dad needs me to keep track of Serif, too." Then he let go of the Anima's hand and started running after his sister.As he lost Donat, Arlyn hunched his shoulders a little and groped at the air to try to find Bhel. After a few swipes, he found the toddler's tail, and held onto it.
"It's just me, Bhel," Arlyn assured the bull, and edged a little closer to him.Bhel watched Donat run off, cocking his head to the side and blinking. Then he felt Arlyn grab his tail. The young Fa'e glanced over his shoulder at the Anima, walked around behind him, and picked up the tufted tip of Arlyn's tail in his own hands.
Make a circle like this? Bhel was confused.Arlyn tensed a little, then laughed.
"Fair is fair."
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:45 am
[un-fair-ness 2]
(( ** reserved ** ))
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Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:48 am
[ un-fair-ness 3] Asahi Kumoru ... "But I don't want Serif to come back," Arlyn insisted. "Just Donat. Serif can get lost forever."Within a few moments, though, Donat came back through the crowd, dragging a giggling Serif with him. He waved to Drac and gave her a sheepish smile, telling her as he got closer, "Sorry, she has too much energy. Don't buy my sister any cotton candy or anything or we'll never be able to keep track of her."Bhel waved his fingers slowly at Cielra, then turned as Donat came closer. Making an excited sound, he tugged urgently on Arlyn's tufted tail, and pointed.The red-skinned Anima turned at Bhel's urging, not that he could see anything. He shied a little closer to Cielra in her stroller, though, as he realized that Serif was back, too.
"Let's play games now, but keep Serif away. She makes it hard for me to play."Krista_Darkangel_Silme Drac chuckles before she shakes her head looking at Serif " She reminds me of myself at her age." shaking her head she was hoping she was wrong, because if she wasn't. She had a huge feeling that she would be going insane by the end up the trip. Cielra took the chance when Arlyn came closer to her stroller to place her small paw on his arm. Purring she pats his arm a few times before looking towards Bhel then the other little girl. Mewing her ears twitched before she looks up at her sister then Bhel. So many new people, this was going to be a great day in her eyes. Asahi Kumoru Serif giggled and ran to Drac, attempting to grab her hand. "Play games now!" she insisted loudly, and pointed off in the direction she had run off before. Then she glanced over at Arlyn and blew a rather ladylike raspberry at him.The feathers on Arlyn's wings where they joined his back stood up a little, and the bristle on the end of his tail got a bit bristlier, too. He largely ignored Cielra's hand on his arm as he grasped the hilt of his sword in one hand and the sheath in the other. Tail lashing, he tried to put the kitten's stroller between himself and his sister."Y-yeah, let's go play games!" Donat said hurriedly, walking over to rest a hand on Arlyn's shoulder. As long as they were all occupied with ski-ball and throwing beanbags at bowling pins painted like clowns and such, things would likely be calmer.
"Arlyn, calm down, please," he went on more quietly to his brother. "There are lots of people here and-"Arlyn ignored Donat in favor of blowing a raspberry back at Serif. Krista_Darkangel_Silme Drac rubs at the brim of her nose before she lifts Cielra from her stroller " Come on lets go watch the boys play a game." Holding her hand out toward Bhel " We'll have to find a place for you two to have fun also. Making a ride, if they have any." she was hoping so, she wanted them all to have fun. Cielra purrs wrapping her small arms around Drac's neck. Looking around her tail moved rather excitedly as she spy on all the people. So the things walking around her were people. Mewing she glances down at Bhel giving a small wave to him. She like being this high up, she could see everything. (( ** in progress ** ))
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