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 Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:44 pm
Fiero was surprised that Envy was actually listening to him. He had grown accustomed to outright denial from her that she could be anything but what she was. On one hand, it was as well that she accepted she was a potential hazard, because to deny that was to invite trouble, but Fiero firmly believed that a person could take charge of their own destiny and become what they wished to be. Within reason. He could not become a bird, no matter how hard he might wish it, but he might learn to sing like one.
Sing. Ah, yes. Envy had asked if she could learn to sing. That was an interesting question. He didn't know the answer to that one. He supposed she could learn. She was not so old and so far developed physically that her speech organs could have completely withered from disuse, which had occurred to him at some point, though he'd not mentioned it to her for obvious reasons.
"I not know," Fiero signed truthfully. "Is difficult to say yes or no. You need teacher. You need safe teacher. Maybe Wind-L?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:00 pm
"No. Not want to hurt Wind-L. Not want to hurt person Envy care about. We ask Korea when we get home? Maybe she know? She in big school." Korea seemed to know what to do, at least to the uninformed Invidia.
Invidia decided she had been in the cemetary for long enough and floated out of the depressing place. "Where we go now? Play ground?" Invidia hadn't been back there since she was an orb. She wanted to try the slide now that she could climb up herself.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:17 pm
Fiero considered the matter briefly. He doubted Korea would be able to shed much light on it, but she might know someone who could. Her university, though large, was not in session properly at the moment, and so there were fewer people to ask, but she might still be able to find someone who could be useful.
"We ask Korea," he agreed. "After play ground."
"Maybe Envy join rock band and call scream music?" he suggested playfully as they walked. "Only voice like Envy's in the world be very famous."
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:58 pm
"Rock band? Like what Wind-L listen to?" Envy had this strange vision of being on TV in one of those music videos with lots of make up. "And Envy be famous?" That just sounded....strange. But right now she was concerned with getting to the playground.
Once they finally got there she floated over to the slide. "Envy slide alone. Not need Fire-o help now. She a big girl now." To prove her point, the younger orb-born climbed up the ladder and slid down. She looked to Fiero to see what he had to say.
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Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:24 pm
Fiero grinned at Envy's reaction to his joking suggestion. He could see it happening, and he would buy tickets to every one of her ear-splitting concerts and suffer in full-support of her endeavors. Korea might be more practical and just buy the cds and never play them. She was much more practical, and sometimes he envied her practicality, but mostly he preferred to go at things full-tilt.
When they arrived at the park he was still smiling to himself at the thought. She was more gothic than any human could hope to be, without even trying. Such a moody, difficult performer she would be, though. The thought amused him immensely. Her announcement that she didn't need his help to slide startled him out of his thoughts.
"That's right," he agreed amiably, settling comfortably onto a bench to watch. "That was a very good slide."
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:12 pm
Envy played on the playground for awhile, enjoying herself despite the random stares she got. She felt more comfortable with Fiero around. Normally she stuck close to Wendell when they were out but with Fiero she felt she could still be at a distance and be safe. Finally she floated over to the elf and sat with him.
"The sky gets dark. We go home? Sleep. Then go to amuze park?" She blinked curiously at him but with the hint of an eager child still buried in those magenta eyes. This would be a new experience, she had never been to an amuzepark.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:17 pm
He had been watching carefully as Envy played, making sure that she was safe and that no one took undue notice of her. There weren't too many people of playground age at the playground, since dark was falling, as Envy had pointed out, but those weren't the people who worried him anyway. He was more concerned about older people who tended to make playgrounds their after-dark place to lurk. He'd seen them before while out on walks, and he had also been watching for their slinking, slouching arrival, ready to suggest they go home when they arrived. They had yet to arrive though. Envy had very good timing.
"Home and sleep," Fiero answered. "Amuse park tomorrow: sleep good."
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:26 pm
Envy nodded and lead the way. Strangely enough she could see very well in the dark. She thought it must be the banshee in her that allowed for such good night vision. She found Korea's home quite easily and moved silently through hallway. If Korea was asleep, she didn't want to wake her up.
Like a good girl, Envy brushed her teeth before bed; braided her hair, and put on her nightgown. She kinda looked like a ghost, albit a funny ghost with little black birds all over her nightgown. "Good night Fire-o." She bade her friend pleasent dreams, silently hoping she had the same. But it was not to be.
Later that night......
Screams.....blood....a flash of steel. Envy woke up with a gasp, shaking and covered in sweat. Tears ran down her cheeks as she chocked back her sobs. She couldn't cry here, not here with Fiero and Korea. She buried her face in her pillow and tries not to cry or at least to cry silently as the horrible dreams ran through her head like a movie. Constant and never changing, always the same horrible dream.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:48 pm
Korea was still awake at ungodly hours paying bills. She really rather hated bill-paying, but it was a necessary evil. She didn't want to live in a cardboard box under a bridge. Next semester she'd be moving in with Ewan, but her lease on the apartment was for the entire summer, and she'd opted for a monthy payment plan. By two in the morning, however, she could go to bed, and had done so, taking no time at all to fall into a deep, exhausted slumber. She was getting too old for late nights, was her last thought before unconsciousness claimed her.
Fiero, on the other hand, had fallen asleep hours before, bored with watching her figure out bills and not about to turn on the television and possibly wake Envy. He was used to being up until eleven or so in the summer, and rising with the sun. He had mentally remarked on how adorable Envy looked in her nightgown with her hair braided. She looked very strange, but also adorable, if one got past the dark skin and magenta hair and eyes.
Her pre-bedtime ritual was very sweet, and quite unlike anything Fiero had ever experienced. When he was Envy's age, he'd been living in Korea's dorm room, keeping a college student's hours as best he could and without any set routine. He thought it might be relaxing to have some sort of ritual like that to perform at the end of the day. The hair-braiding, at the very least, was practical for someone with long hair. He would sometimes braid his hair in the daytime, but it had never occurred to him to braid it at night to keep it from snarling.
Fiero's sleep was disturbed, however, when his sensitive ears picked up a sound which did not fit into the usual nighttime sounds of the apartment. He recognized the sound of someone stifling sobs and could tell easily that the noise was not coming from Korea's room. Envy, then, or a very strange cat burglar. He was willing to wager it was not a cat burglar. He floated to the room Envy was staying in - his room, really - and opened the door without letting the latch click or the hinges squeak. It was his room, after all, and he was familiar with its peculiarities.
His eyes were not as good in darkness as Invidia's, but they were pretty good. He lost color vision, rather like a cat, in the dark, but he could see well enough to recognize Envy's form on the bed as she cried into her pillow. Cautiously, knowing it could be bad if he startled her, considering her unique vocal abilities, he approached and laid a tentative hand on the lump in the blankets which was Envy.
"Envy," he said softly, without any particular urgency, "Wake up."
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:58 pm
The little bundle stirred suddenly as Fiero touched her. Obviously she wasn't asleep. She looked up at the elf a pitiful sight. Tears stained her pillow; her eyes were even redder and her cheeks shone with the wet carress of tears. She turned her back on him and buried her face in the pillow again. She was ashamed, ashamed that her tears had been seen and that she had disturbed Fiero.
She wanted to apologize but those horrible visions still ricocheted through her head. She just wanted one night of peaceful sleep. Just one. But every night was the same. The dream of a man and woman screaming, a knife blade cutting through something, blood spilling everywhere. Her own hands covered in blood as the knife then came at her. She always woke up before that last part. This was the other part of her curse. To always be reminded of her crime.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:05 pm
Fiero thought about trying to be understanding, but he had no idea what was going on in her head, except that she'd apparently had a bad dream. He doubted she was going to be particularly forthcoming about it. Dreams were private matters, anyway. So he wouldn't ask what she had dreamed, but he could still make himself useful to her, and see if he couldn't maybe cheer her up a bit.
"That wasn't a request," he said, leaning over her rather like an older brother leans over his younger sibling to be annoying. "I was going to make pancakes, and I realized that we only have the from-scratch kind, which is quite beyond my cooking skill." Plaintively he added, "I think I could starve before morning."
Then he backed off to give her some space. He had not turned on the bedside lamp or opened the curtains to let the moonlight in, and so he had to watch carefully to determine if she stirred or if she replied. He guessed it would be difficult to read her signing in this lighting.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:11 pm
Envy shrunk from Fiero for a moment as he leaned over her. As if she were afraid he'd hurt her for what she had done. But she realized he didn't know and was asking for food. Food that he couldn't cook. Envy knew how to make pancakes. And apparently he wanted them now. Well why not, she was already awake.
The little Banshee sat up a little, wiping her tears with her nightgown sleeve, then nodded to him. She slipped out of bed silently and made her way into the kitchen. She turned on the little stove light so she could see then set about work. Searching for what she needed proved to be simple. Eggs, flower, butter, sugar, and something to cook with. She turned on the stove for the pan to warm as she mixed everything up.
Despite acting like the little happy housewife, Envy still had a haunted look in her eyes. Like she was constantly scared something was going to happen. Small noises frightened her but once she concentrated on the actually cooking of pancakes, she seemed to calm down. "Almost done Fire-o. You have pancakes soon."
Once cooked she served them then sat across from him. She sighed a bit before she finally signed to him. "Envy wake up Fire-o with crying. She is sorry. She try to cry softer next time. No wake Fire-o."
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:23 pm
Fiero almost flinched, himself, at Envy's reaction to his nearness. He would never hurt her deliberately. He had to qualify that in his mind, because he knew he had hurt Korea a great deal, and though the breach in their relationship seemed to have been mended, he worried she could not forgive him. He would never, ever do anything to make someone look at him like that again.
He didn't particularly want the pancakes, but it had been something to say. It should have given her something else to think about, at least a little bit. He doubted that his ruse had been effective, though, since her eyes hadn't lost their haunted look throughout the cooking process. He had to concentrate ridiculously hard to undestand her signing, as he'd anticipated. Between the lighting and his own half-awake state, it was a wonder he could interpret what she was saying at all.
"Pancakes good. Envy eat pancakes? Good night snack. Very good with peanut butter."
While she finished making the pancakes, he had gone to the cupboard above the refrigerator and pulled out a container of peanut butter, which he then spread on his pancakes and rolled them up like very skinny eggrolls or very fat joints. Not that he knew what a joint was, but the comparison was apt, and Korea had made it before. The peanut butter melted on the warm pancakes and dripped onto his plate and dribbled down his chin as he ate the pancakes he hadn't really wanted anyway. He probably should have grabbed milk to go with.
"Envy, is okay to cry. Everyone cries when dreams are bad. Your dreams are very bad, no?" It was the closest to prying he would get. Any further information he got from her on the subject would have to be voluntary.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:29 pm
Envy shook her head to the offer of pancakes. She really wasn't hungry and she had already eaten what she normally did during the day at dinner. She just sat there and watched him. Then....he asked about her dream. Was it bad? There was no comparrison. But should she tell him? Would he hate her? Wendell always told her she would have to just accept who she was and not care what other people thought. Even if those people hurt her. She had seen him use this logic against others at school and most just turned away. Would Fiero turn away?
"Not.....dream. Bad yes. But not dream. Is memory. Memory of when Envy was....a bad girl. Did a bad thing. Hurt people. So she is punished for being bad. When sleep, always see bad memory." That seemed safe enough. It didn't reveal details of her horrible crime but would explain her crying fits at night. Tomorrow night she would definately keep quieter. She didn't want to wake him again.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:40 pm
Fiero, hands occupied with sticky goodness, opened his mouth to respond and discovered that mode of communication was impossible, too, unless he got the peanut butter off the roof of his mouth, his tongue, his throat, and probably his teeth for good measure. So he held up one finger to indicate that he was trying his very best to reply, but was not really succeeding, and then he went to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk. It was all but empty, but there was enough to serve. A little self-conscious, he took a swig directly from the carton, knowing there was not enough left for anyone else to get any, anyway, and hoping Envy wouldn't be totally repulsed. He knew it was a bad habit, but he couldn't help it. Milk tastes better that way.
Once he could talk, Fiero cleared his throat and said distinctly, "That sucks. What jerk decided that forcing someone to remember the worst moment of their life was an acceptable punishment for anything?"
He wiped his hands on a dishrag, which was better at removing peanut butter than paper towels were, because paper towels only stick to the peanut butter, and do nothing to get it off. Then he grinned and asked, "Should I find whoever it is and punch him in the nose? He might at least think of others. I mean, it doesn't bother me other than the obvious fact that someone I care about is miserable and crying in the other room and that bothers me because I'm not a total d**k, but there are people who would be bothered for other reasons."
He took a last defiant gulp of milk to wash down the decisive bite of pancake he had taken at the end of his speech and made a shot at the kitchen garbage can with the carton and missed. He'd never been able to do it, though Korea could make it without even looking. Some things were'nt fair.
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