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 Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:48 pm
If this had happened before, she might have giggled and offered to help him up. But she was still trying to convince herself that no harm had come to her mother's plushie. It was just too much. Aure started to laugh and cry, all at once. "I think she's fine," she choked out, drying her eyes off with the sleeve of her blouse. (Not that it mattered, as she still hadn't managed to get control of herself- though she was trying.)
Once her eyes were clear enough to see- though now she had the hiccups, obviously a rather undignified thing- she said, "Your leg is golden," and then averted her eyes. Too shiny, again. (Was he just made of shiny things? Was he the Antichrist or whatever Grandmother sometimes accused Raziel of being? This would bear thought later.) Instead, she tucked the plushie into her unbuttoned and now dirty sleeve cuff. To distract herself from both the hiccups and the fact that it was now twice that n'Barit had gotten to her like that, Aure began to gather up her papers and put them back into alphabetical order.
She wanted to go home, but damned if he was going to see her give up this contest of wills.
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Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:04 pm
"My boot is golden," he corrected, and with a little growl of displeasure pulled the whole apparatus out, boot and all. The reason for his leg's squeaking was clearly a rather basic metal hinge, in stark contrast to the advanced machinery of his arm. N'Barit appraised the lower prosthetic with a critical eye, just as he had checked Kirkcaldy over, and arrived at the same conclusion. Shaken but intact. He set about trying to get the thing back into his pants leg one-handed, which was at least twice as hard as it looked.
In his arm, Kirkcaldy was beginning to find her limit, and unless something was done she was going to throw a tantrum. She had been quiet for several moments now not because she had no opinions but because she was so shocked she could not formulate a response. It would come eventually. She just needed another minute for her brain to finish processing.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 4:12 am
"That's incongruous." She tucked the papers and plushie back into her bag. "I thought you'd be more of a black-boots type, not gaudy gold. Anyway, need help?" The offer came not from any desire to be kind, but because she knew by now that merely offering would piss him off. Aure thought that while n'Barit was displaying the sort of protectiveness that she approved of in parents, he was really, really weird about it.
She didn't notice Kirkcaldy's impending tantrum simply because she was so focused on finding a way of getting revenge on him. Since he seemed to lack any human emotions other than anger, this might be a little hard.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:24 am
As predicted, n'Barit replied flatly, "No--"
He never finished. It was precisely the wrong thing to say in front of Kirkcaldy. In total fury she screamed, "No!" and grabbed n'Barit's shirt and shook it. N'Barit promptly dropped his booted leg and spread his hand out with the intention of flattening it on the ground, but he was still holding Kirkcaldy. He could not complete the ritual properly with only one free hand.
Then again, why should he? As far as n'Barit could see, he had done nothing wrong. The person at fault here was Aurelius. Why should he apologize or make penance? It was high time Kirkcaldy learned that penance was for slights against the divine and not personal grievances. He grunted and frowned at Kirkcaldy. "Stop that."
Kirkcaldy wailed in reply, grabbed the silver ribbon attached to her bauble, and jerked it. The bauble flew up and would have hit n'Barit in the head had not he deftly caught it with a clang in his metal hand. Kirkcaldy promptly began to try and tug free the bauble but n'Barit held it firmly. After everything he had put up with from Aurelius, he was in a really stubborn mood.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:29 am
Aure closed her eyes and started to press her hands over her ears, intending to block Kay out. Let him deal with it; after all, she had offered to help and he'd refused. Halfway through the motion, her hands covered her eyes and she asked, "What's wrong with Kay?" She wasn't hurt, Aure had seen that when she'd been shouting at n'Barit. "Why's she crying?" It's not like she really cared. Just she would need all the people she could to make her ideals go global, and alienating one of them...
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:48 am
"What kind of a moron are you?" snapped n'Barit. He dearly wanted to pick up his crutch and swipe at Aurelius, but that would mean letting go of the bauble and giving in to Kirkcaldy. The infant was reduced to grunting with frustration as she tried to pry apart n'Barit's immovable fingers. Her preoccupation with the task gave him an idea.
N'Barit lifted his hand up and Kirkcaldy reached after it, half-climbing n'Barit's shoulder. That allowed him to free up his other hand and reach across to grab the crutch with a satisfied smirk, using his head to keep Kirkcaldy from falling off and touching the ground. Having been thoroughly outmaneuvered, Kirkcaldy gave a little squeal of frustration. She pulled on the ribbon with one hand and made a little fist with the other, pounding n'Barit on the shoulder.
Now he had what he needed. Crutch to ward off Aurelius, bauble to occupy Kirkcaldy. N'Barit sneered at Aure, daring her to try something now that he had his crutch in hand again and could defend against her.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:41 am
His sneer was lost on her, as Aure still had her eyes closed and covered by both hands. Once she heard n'Barit stop moving, she dropped her hands and looked at him. And it was indeed a funny sight, with Kay half up his arm. "Do you want it calculated in the imperial or metric system? Imperial might take a little longer, because I don't use it very often. Only when I'm writing a dissertation."
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:13 pm
N'Barit tried to keep up the sneer, but... what the heck? He stared blankly while Kirkcaldy squealed and squirmed and continued digging at his fingers. It was pretty clear he had no idea what Aurelius was talking about. He just sat there, confused, pointing the crutch in Aure's direction. It somehow ceased to be threatening.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:47 pm
She continued, smiling with sadistic glee at n'Barit's confusion. "Of course, I should probably be giving it to you in scientific notation, as the sort of idiot I am is small enough to require it." Confidence was quickly returning, that much was obvious. "So? Any preference?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:02 pm
Having no idea what she meant, n'Barit could not answer. He was lost at the word metric. He had no idea what Emperial had to do with it. He had never even heard of scientific notation nor did he know why he would want something in it.
Rather than ask and reveal the sheer depth of his ignorance, he completely ignored her question, hardened his grip on the crutch, and demanded, "Go away."
"Nyieh!" Kirkcaldy punctuated his demand, entirely focused on her own frustrating situation with the bauble.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:29 pm
Aure shrugged. "Oh, I'm much too messy to go to the library now. Katan won't be here for a bit, anyway." She scooted over to the opposite wall and pulled out a notebook and pencil. Calculating her stupid moves versus her smart ones ought to reveal a decent account of how much of an idiot she was.
But then, how did she know which moves were smart and which were stupid? This might be harder than her hypothesis had originally predicted. The blue ballpoint pen tapped out a tattoo on the feint-ruled paper as she contemplated this.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:41 pm
With Aure out of his immediate way n'Barit was able to redirect his attentions to Kirkcaldy. She was just figuring out that no matter what she did, she could not make n'Barit let go of her shiny bauble. Tears streaming down her face, Kirkcaldy gave up. She flopped down on n'Barit's lap and let out little gasping sobs.
Just like that, n'Barit released the bauble and handed it to her. Kirkcaldy stared at it, not wanting it any more, too upset. She pushed it off n'Barit's hand. It fell and rolled on the ground, coming to a stop at the end of its tether.
"Oh, come on," said n'Barit, putting down the crutch and hugging Kirkcaldy reassuringly. "You're not hurt, you're fine, so stop crying. You can't get anything by throwing tantrums and weeping." It was a sweet little Hallmark moment, if a tad hypocritical.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:50 pm
Aure marked that down, as if it were very important. "Actually, you can. I did when I was little. My grandmother was scared to death that I'd break." She smiled sunnily at n'Barit.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:54 pm
N'Barit snorted and glared at Aure anew, annoyed that she had effectively interrupted his moment with Kirkcaldy. "Well if your grandmother was such a weak leader than she deserved to be defeated." It was as close to a compliment of Aurelius as n'Barit was likely to make. He continued more derisively, "It's a reflection on the weakness of your unclean society." He teased Kirkcaldy's chin with his finger, cheering her in spite of his angry words.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:21 am
Aure couldn't argue, seeing as she had a smudge of dirt under her left eye and her entire outfit was a mess. So she tilted her head to the side and folded her hands around the pen again. "I've calculated it to be about three, to the negative sixth power," she said. "In imperial measures. It's exactly 3.14 to the negative third power in metric." She shrugged and doodled on the pad of paper. Kirkcaldy was cute.
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