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 Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 1:42 pm
 ✖ And the French Bring Food ✖
[Wherein Vivi attempts to bring cheer to Aphismet and the injured Rivener in the hospital.]
*
The room no longer smelled of latex and gauze, and so, Vivi thought, she had done her job.
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 2:18 pm
✖ Solo: Know Your Audience ✖ "What would it take to get you to perform again?"
Vivi lifted her eyebrows and looked up from her afternoon coffee to the woman who sat across from her. It had been a quiet lunch, pleasant and free of incident, and Vivi had enjoyed the company of her friend and the light salty breeze that drifted past their table. Jaime, formerly a sister-acrobat at Cirque Augustine, was one of Vivi's favorite friends with whom to pass the time. She was generally a sweet woman, funny in a lofty sort of way, with a strangely attractive but singularly goofy smile.
"I mean it." Jamie failed to pull out that smile now; she leaned forward and gripped her coffee cup with both hands. Her eyes were serious and her wide thin mouth was perfectly straight.
"Cheri, who told you that I was resistant to such a cause...?" Vivi inclined her head inquisitively, her dark eyes filled with curiosity and confusion. Jamie drew in a long breath and relaxed back in her chair, pushing her unnaturally stained-brown hair out of her eyes.
"Oh, thank goodness," she said with a shaky exhalation, passing a hand over her brow in relief. "You know, it's just a little thing, but I need someone to fill in for me at the festival this weekend, and I couldn't think of who to ask. I rolled on my ankle and I don't feel up to doing what's in my contract. It'll be child's play for you. It's just -- it's just a thing, you know?"
"My, of course, cheri. I would never let you suffer needlessly. But, do you not have an understudy who would take your part?" asked Vivi with some amusement, suspicion written plainly across her face.
Jamie made a guilty gurgling sound.
"Out with it." The Frenchwoman laughed fondly, her breath spinning the steam that rose from her cup.
"Look. It's just -- I want to get the people -- our people -- I want us all to get back on stage from time to time. Stay sharp, you know? Because..." Jamie hesitated, and then blurted the rest out in a rush: "Because, I want to start gathering everyone and do an Augustine Reunion!"
Vivi blinked. "You?"
Somehow, mightily, Vivi retained a neutral expression. When she had attempted to get 'their people' back together numerous times after Clive's murder, Jamie had been singularly resistant to the idea. Positively, invincibly obstinate. Vivi had been the only person Jamie'd deigned to see from Augustine-- even Shepard, even Granny Maplethorpe had been nixed from the proceedings!
It had been quietly assumed by practically everyone involved, that it had something to do with the fact that Vivi was the only one in Augustine with a truly good alibi.
"Jamie, I..." Vivi began, but was cut off by an imperious swoop of the other's hand.
"Don't. I know how it's been. I know how everyone's been so isolated after... after we got shut down." Jamie's gaze did not quite meet Vivi's. "But I want us to ... to try again. And I think if you and I started doing things together, then, well, people will see. There's a lot of us around this area, Durem and Gambino especially, what with all the fairs. People come to these things, you know? We gravitate toward each other at these things. When I took on this job -- I saw Michel! And Celeste! If you do a show or two, Vivi... everyone's always interested in what you're doing..."
Vivi stayed silent, studying the other's earnest, pleading face.
"What do you say?" Jamie pressed eagerly. "Just a few shows -- fill in for me and show off a little. And we'll get to work on a reunion. Don't you want that, Vivi? Don't you want an Augustine reunion?"
Vivi made a faint sound of assent, and slowly took a long drink from her cooling cup of coffee. A chance to perform, Vivi would never turn such a thing down. A chance to help Jamie -- that, too. But, to try to lure out old performers...? To dispel that heavy suspicion that had torn apart the circus, to effect a reconciliation...
People come to these things, you know...
What people?
Michel and whom else?
... the murderer... it had to be one of them, after all...
"Of course I do." Vivi smiled a sweet, untroubled smile. "An Augustine Reunion! There is nothing I long for more."
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Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:12 pm
✖ Strangers in the Park ✖
[Wherein Vivi and Shepard exchange glances with strangers in the park.]
*
"I think she liked you," Vivi teased, her smile broad and genuine.
"I think I liked her," Shepard laughed, amazed.
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Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 8:26 am
✖ Meta Solo: Understatements ✖
"Mon Dieu," said Vivi, eyebrows raised, as she bent over the morning paper. Beside her, Shepard all but sank into his first cup of far-too-early coffee and made a herculean attempt to appear interested. Shadows had sunk under his eyes like smears of eyeblack and his hair refused to pick a direction in which to rebel. The thin cotton of his t-shirt hung off his slouched shoulders with as much disinterest as the look he now gave the flattened newspaper under Vivi's hands.
She, bathrobed and ponytailed and fresh-faced, continued reading the front-page story and left Shepard to his beverage, letting the silence stretch until she finished the article and repeated: "Mon Dieu."
"Hmm?" Coffee hadn't yet given him verbiage, but he could manage a noncommittal sound.
"Lab 305," Vivi murmured, turning a page in the paper. "It has been frozen over."
"Mm." That made sense. It had been cold recently.
No, wait, what?
Shepard blinked, pressing the heel of one hand into his eyes as he leaned over the table to get a look at the article. "Frozen over?"
Vivi seemed just faintly concerned and curious as she folded the pages over again, orienting them to Shepard's view. "It is not a very informative article. Unmeltable ice seems to have grown over the building somehow, with people within. It must be a Raevan -- perhaps being born? Or becoming a Sigel?" She shrugged lightly, combing her fingers through her bangs.
"Weird..." Shepard offered, squinting at the text. "They probably have something in place for this kind of thing, right? Dr. Kyou, or whatever his name is."
"Mm." Vivi nodded, turning her attention to the state of her tea and brioche. "I am certain it is not serious. Mssr. Zeke would probably have rung us if there was a problem with our tanks, n'est pas?"
"Pro--bably." Shepard spoke through a jaw-splitting yawn, sinking deep into his chair and stretching his long legs beneath the table. He set down the paper and reached for his coffee mug, peering inside and making a face when he saw that it was empty. He rose with it and ambled slowly, imprecisely, to the coffee maker and poured another cup.
Silence fell, punctuated by the soft thin sound of turning pages as Vivi immersed herself in another article. Shepard shook out the sports section and sat, draining his cup and processing scores, schedules.
"Hey," he said, still half-absorbed in his reading. "You don't think ours'll do something like that when it's born, do you?" He looked up, the faded green of his eyes meeting Vivi's. "Like freezing over the building."
Vivi smiled then, her own gaze becoming warm, affectionate.
"Well. If you wake up one morning to the most achingly brilliant of dawns," she said, "I suppose we will know."
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Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:36 pm
✖ Sounds of Summer ✖
[Wherein Shepard hears beautiful music.]
*
"What is the song the Shepard hums?" Vivi asked, late that night.
"Just something I heard at the shore," he said.
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:53 pm
✖ ORP: Spooky Harvest ✖
[Wherein wacky Halloween hijinks ensue!]
*
"Well, that was something," said Shepard, climbing into the car.
"Something rather brilliant," mused Vivi, her mind on her new acquaintance.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:28 pm
✖ Many Different Hells ✖
Wherein Vivi and Shepard are confused.]*
"Did she seem thinner to you?" asked Shepard, but so lowly he thought it might still have been a thought. Either way, Vivi did not respond.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:35 pm
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:17 pm
✖ Making a Stop ✖
Wherein Vivi meets Basil and Genie.
*
"Well, that one was a ********' weird one," Shepard said on the drive home.
Vivi paused. "I think he was ill..."
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:18 pm
✖ Sweet on You ✖
Wherein Valentine's Day brings very special kisses.* "A thousand, thousand times I will kiss him!" said Vivi.
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:29 pm
✖ RP: Break ✖
There was the sound of something intangible cracking at all its edges, quiet but triumphant. Light was stealing its way into him, oozing through the cracks, slowly approaching him, touching him.
He gasped. His fingers trembled. He took in his first deep breath.
The light was whispering.
His eyelids fluttered, then opened. The light shone softly in his eyes, its home.
He was awake. He lived.
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Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 11:58 am
✖ First Blush ✖
Wherein a very young frei meets a wandering, lonely sigel.
*
He watched the flicker of Eiry's wings, the ghostly tint of his hair, the paleness of his skin. The light grew all around them as day began. Everything became more intense in color and vibrancy. But Eiry stayed the same. The frei was afraid he might disappear before he ever learned how to help.
His hand tightened its grip.
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Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 11:58 am
✖ Jailbreak! ✖
Wherein everyone meets, but not as they expected.
*
"Ces, Ces," he kept saying.
So she called him Cesc.
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 10:36 am
✖ Solo: Firsts ✖
Rhedefre doesn't remember the first time he met Vivi LaCelle, or the first time he met Shepard Ryan. With Vivi, he has a bare sort of memory, a warmth around the edges, an idea that she was there when the first light of day shone strongest. He knows that when he saw her, he felt joy. But memories of his first day become ever more fuzzy as he grows, and although he knows the stories -- he knows them, and very well -- he can't recall almost any of the details anymore.
For Vivi, that memory is a clear one, the clearest that can be. Her Cesc! His scent, his first smile, his innocence! She will never forget first touching him, first kissing the softness of his face.
And Shepard Ryan, he remembers that first day. He'll grin when he tells you about how nervous and irritable he was, how his hands were unsteady and his body felt both hungry and nauseous with anticipation. That day, he remembers, he stood and sat and stood again and could not find a way to make himself useful until Vivi returned with a boy --- a boy, he'll laugh saying, when all he expected was a girl -- all pink haired and wide-eyed and gentle. He remembers wiping his hands off on his apron and introducing himself more formally than he ever does, then laughing and pulling the kid into a hug: Welcome, mate, it's been damn long enough.
But for Rhedefre, his first clear memory, the kind with more than just vague feeling and color, but real clarity in detail, was a little later. He cannot say just when it was, but he remembers sitting in the living room with Shepard and Vivi, his hands folded and his brow knit, trying his hardest to speak well as they encouraged him to try despite his mistakes and failings. And eventually, not knowing how else to prompt the conversation, Shepard cleared his throat and asked: "So, whaddya like so far, Rhede?"
And Cesc thought and smiled and said: "The both of you."
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 10:38 am
✖ Little Mouse ✖
Wherein there is sweetness and mice.
*
"Your first slumberparty!" said Vivi. "Did you have fun?"
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