Angelus' big boots plopped against the hard cold sidewalk. The only type of lighting he had were the street lamps that seemed to be his only companions for that night.
Quickening his pace, he hoped that the shop was still open. Whenever he came by, it was usually in the day.
Mom had sent him to pick up a book for her at one of her 'Book stores'. The stationary shop was along the way so he thought he'd make a quick stop and see if anyone was there.
It seemed someone was. Aiden had been forcefully dragged from bed in the middle of the night because Khalindra had decided that she wanted to go see where she came from once again. Why, he had absolutely no idea. He supposed it had something to do with the girl's mission to learn about who she was.
Or at least learn about the place she came from, as much as she could.
"Daddy, stay UP," she almost demanded, her bright silver eyes looking at her father with a look that simply said to listen to her.
"I'm up, I'm up," Aiden muttered, brushing hair from his eyes. In all actuality, while Khalindra was rummaging through things, Aiden had sunk to the ground and half fell asleep.
"No you're no--" she was cut off by the feeling she wasn't alone with her father after all. Head lifted to look at Angelus and she beamed, "Company!"
As Angelus passed by the first large window of the shop, he noticed that the lights were on. So someone was there!
Within moments, he reached the door and pulled it open in swift movement. The motion caused a small breeze to ruffle his wings.
And, as always, the bell rang his prescence. It never failed. How could one go unnoticed in this shop? He wasn't sure, but he'd ponder the question later.
Caramel eyes scanned the two beings before him. An older man and a little girl. The older man smelled human but the little girl didn't. She smelled like a Tale! She must be one of the recent children to arrive, he thought.
"Um, hello. Are you looking for something? The shopkeeper is usually here but sometimes she does her errrands at night." he stated.
Khalindra beamed at the boy, shaking her head slightly, "Nuh, just...wanted to...uh...." she blinked, searching for how to explain what exactly she was doing in the shop that late. She hadn't even explained to her Author yet.
Aiden opened one half-drooped eye and looked at the winged boy, "She's a knowledge vaccuum. She wants to know everything and anything, therefore, she dragged me out of bed at....God knows what time it is? And made me come here."
It actually wasn't that late, but Aiden didn't to sleep late into the night, or early into the morning. Late afternoon and early evening...Well that was his sleep time.
Shooting a look at her father, unsure whether or not to be insulted or not, Khalindra harumphed.
"What he said."
Her face went back to one of happiness as she moved towards him, "I'm Khalindra! Who're you?"
It didn't cross her mind to ask why he was there.
Angelus looked from the little girl to the man as she tried to come up with an explanation. The human helped her out.
A knowledge vaccuum? Interesting choice of words. "So what exactly are you trying to find out?" He was curious. "Because, if my nose knows, and it does" he tapped his nose. "The most useful information is on the second floor. And that's usually locked." he explained.
"I'm Angelus and by your scent, you're like me. Right?" Some of the Tales companions usually didn't tell the child where they came from so he let his statement be as general as possible.
Aiden decided to take advantage of company and slip back to his nap, laying himself fully on the ground and hoping to heavens that the gypsy child, his princess, didn't walk or sit on him.
"Just...Anything really," Khalindra answered, smiling up to him, "Your nose knows what? And..." she giggled, realizing the usage of words, "Your nose knows! That's funny! It's up in the second floor? Can we unlock it?"
She looked absolutely perplexed at that. Why would someone lock knowledge away? She was brought out of her thoughts by the boy's question and answered him with a nod.
"Uhhuh. Came from that big book."
Angelus couldn't help but smirk at the still body whose chest rose with every even breath.
"You have a scent. Not like a bad one, but a unique one. Some Tale's can smell it while others can, I don't know how you say it, feel it?" He didn't know if that made any sense at all, but it did in his head.
His eyes looked up to the stairs that led to the second floor and smiled. He remembered his adventures when he was younger.
Shaking his head, he looked to Khalindra. "Nope. There's not really a key to it anyways. It unlocks and locks itself when it wants to."
Just saying it out loud made him realize how weird the shop really was.
"Ooh...I never know 'cept the people I met from here...Don't look normal?" she shrugged, "Viddy has blue skin...Mel has orange bright hair stuffs...and Sylvester is a giant plushie..." she tilted her head, taking him in, "You have pretty wings."
She didn't see anything too different when it came to her, though. She guessed she was just special inside rather than outside. At least she had a scent!
"Poo. Wanna try it?"
Nothing could stop her on the quest for knowledge! REALLY!
Angelus chuckled and nodded in agreement. There were very few Tales who could pass for normal.
"I know Viddy and Sylvester. Sylvester a giant plushie?" He thought about it. "Yeah. I can see that." He smiled.
Scrunching up his forehead in confusion, he took a glance at his wings. Sometimes he forgot they were there. His wings were a part of him now, they didn't feel awkward like they did in the beginning.
"Try it?" He took another glance up to the door. "Sure. But don't be too surprised if it's locked. Huni says that door can be a bit finicky at times." he noted.
Looking to the human, he nodded towards him. "What about him? Is he a sound sleeper?" He really didn't want to get in trouble again.
"Daddy gets 'bout five hours o' sleep, has four kids 'n' is a med student. He'll sleep through...uh...." she couldn't think of a good thing for him to sleep through, but that was all right. She had made her point.
Holding out her hand, Khalindra waited for the boy to take it. Despite her search for knowledge, she was still shy and nervous about certain things. Not the bravest girl in the world, it'd be good to have something to cling to.
"'N' If he does wake up, if somethin' bad happens, he can scare it off. Daddy's good at scaring monsters away."
Five hours of sleep, four kids, and a med student? He was surprised the guy was up at all at this time of night. "I bet he'd could sleep through an apocolypse." he chuckled.
Angelus looked at the reaching hand. This was a first. Slowly, he took her palm into his and gave it a small squeeze. He gave her a warm smile.
"That's a Dad's job." His mom was one of the monsters in the closet, but she gave up that life a long time ago. It didn't mean she couldn't pop up in the oddest places. Damn her vampiric abilities. But he was slowly honing in on his skills as well. Hopefully soon enough, he'd be able to scare his mom by appearing in odd places as well.
"Ready?" he asked Khalindra.
The hand was a definite comfort, and the blonde nodded enthusiastically with her previous vigor restored, "Uh huh...But what's an apoc...oh....lips?" To her, it quite frankly sounded like chicken pox on someone's lips...Didn't sound too appealing, especially when she'd seen the chicken pox at the hospital where her father visited.
"I'll protect you!"
...Okay, it was a false show of bravery, but hey, she had pride, didn't she?
Angelus bit his bottom lip in as he thought of the many different ways to define 'apocolypse'. "Well, um, it means, like, the end of the world." How else could he say it? There was no beating around the bush. He should have used a different analogy, like a parade of penguins playing cymbals down a street.
His forehead quickly smoothed away the worry lines when he heard what she said. "Thanks. I appreciate it. And I'll protect you to. Deal?"
"End of the world? That mean we'll all be space people?" she giggled at the thought and then nodded solomnly, "Deal. We take care of eachother, yes?" the flutter of her dark blue dress as she gave a little jump sent a small spray of light from the silver specks on it.
Definitely going through the princess stage, "So...Upstairs," she smiled then, "Let's go!"
It was then that she started to pull him in the direction of their destination.
Angelus nodded. "Yup! Space people! Not like fire and doom, but like craters and aliens. That sounds much better." He quickly grabbed onto her idea.
"Deal. We take care of eachother in case of anything." Angelus noticed how her dress would shine in different angles of the light.
"Upstairs we...Umph!" Before he could finish his sentence, she quickly made her way towards the bottom steps. She was much stronger than she looked.
She giggled as she started up the stairs, careful not to trip over the long dress that she had and refusing to let go of her new friend's hand. So long as she was holding that hand, nothing bad could happen. Nothing!
He had the pretty wings, after all. And he was bigger than her.
"You been up here before?"
Angelus made sure to watch his step as he was pulled up the stairs.
At her question, he nodded, still looking down at his feet. "When I was your age, I went with a few friends of mine. We kind of sneaked up here though. It was an adventure." Man did he miss his adventures. What was life without a little adventure from time to time.
He finally looked up to notice that they were only a few steps away from the door. It had definately been a long time since he was up here. He wondered if the claw marks were still on the walls?
"This will be my first aventure!" she beamed as she stopped at the door, reaching tentively out to open it. Her hand paused just above the door knob and then she looked, slightly nervous, at Angelus.
"D..do you wanna open it?" she tried to hide her nervousness though it was hard to hide when her silver eyes reflected it so perfectly, "I mean, um...You want the honor of opening it?"
Nice save....Not really, but she was still little.
Angelus looked at her oddly. "Your first adventure? That's not good. You and I are going to have to change that." he smiled and nodded.
Looking to the knob, he remembered opening the door before to a whole new hallway that looked much different than the shop downstairs.
He nodded and went up a step further than Khalindra. Using his wings to shield the girl from any 'surprises', he slowly turned the knob.
To his surprise, the knob made a familiar click that signaled that the door was unlocked. Slowly, the door creaked open on its own.
She beamed at him, hiding all traces of the previous nervousness, "Yes!" She was liking this boy! He gave her adventures and he had pretty wings. Two very good points for him. Almost as many as Armel now!
That was special. If he gave her a book he'd be #1!
At the click of the door, Khalindra peeked from behind the boy's wings, "It's almost like it...wants us to go in?" she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"Nothing'll eat us, right?"
Angelus looked from end of the hallway to the other. It seemed like everything was okay. Stepping off the top step onto the wooden floor of the hallway he made sure the coast was clear.
"It must be because we originated from here." he replied to her question.
At her statement, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Um... I'm not the right person to ask. But the last time I was up here nothing ate us. That's a plus, right?"
Looking at the walls, he noticed the familiar claw marks that Jiro found.
"Must be," she agreed, clinging to his hand once more as she stepped into the hallway with Angelus, eyes looking back and forth to make sure nothing would jump out and try to eat them. Even with his assurance, she wasn't quite convinced nothing would eat her.
Then her eyes caught the claw marks, "Wh...what's that?" she pointed to the claw marks and clung tighter.
Angelus looked at the marks and sighed. "From what I remember, my brother, Jiro, told me one of the Tale's had done this when he was much younger. I don't think you've met him, but I have. Only briefly though. His name is Khia." he explained to her.
He wondered if the child's play room was still up here?
"Oh. Nope. I haven't met yet," she said, instantly relieved. If it was another Tale, like them, it wouldn't hurt her. Or, she hoped it wouldn't hurt her. Angelus was still alive after meeting him, so it had to be okay.
"You have a brother?" she took a few more tentative steps, still looking around her warily.
"He doesn't seem so bad." He smiled. Boot clad feet made their way towards another door down the hallway.
"Well, not blood, but yes. Jiro. He's also a Tale. Due to a....situation in the past, he gave me a blood transfusion. That's why my wings are streaked with red. And we also have a psychic connection. When I was younger, I was able to talk to others using my mind but that trait has faded. I can talk to animals though." He added.
Caramel eyes scanned the numerous doors down the hallway. Now where was that nursery?
"Oh." She didn't know what a transfusion was, or what psychic meant, but she wouldn't bother him by asking. Oh, who was she kidding? Of course she would! She was on a quest for knowledge! "What's a tra..trans...fusion? And...Psychic?"
Khalindra stopped at a door and pointed to it, "Wanna see what's behind that one?"
"A transfusion? It's when a person doesn't have enough blood to live so someone else donates their blood." Unconsciuosly, he fingered the choker that covered the scars on his neck. No matter how much time would pass, the memories would always be there.
"Psychic? Well, that means I can talk to Jiro without speaking out loud. We use our thoughts to communicate." he smiled. "It's a pretty nifty trait." He chuckled. It had its good and bad. He could hear Jiro's thoughts and so could he.
Looking back, Khalindra stopped at one of the doors of the hallway. "Sure. How about you open it up and see what's inside."
Her? Open the door? Ahhhh...That didn't sound like a very good idea, but....Oh well, she wouldn't chicken out, she was supposed to protect him too, right? Reaching out, Khalindra reached out, grabbing the knob, and turned it slowly.
"How come you didn't have 'nuff blood? IF I had been around, I would o' give you some of mine," she turned her head to look at him with a small smile before pushing the door open.
Well. What luck. It was the play room and not a big scary monster.
Angelus stayed close by in case anything happened and luckily nothing jumped out of the room, so it was safe.
His hand reached up to his choker again as he remembered what happened. "A...really bad person from my mother's past came and took me away. My mother is a vampire and the one who took me away was the one that made her. He wanted to get rid of me to get her back. But thankfully Jiro, Akiya, mom, and Aido found me and stopped him. But he bit me and took a lot of my blood. That's why I didn't have enough."
He gave her a genuine smile, grateful for what she said. "Thanks. I'm sure you would have."
Looking past her a smile came to his lips again. Stinky Cheese man! The book laid at the same spot when him and his friends left the room.
"Oh...I'm sorry!" she felt the need to do something, anything, to make him feel better and immediately gave him a quickl little hug before bounding into the room. Nothing scary popped out and...Was that a BOOK?
Silver eyes lit up with pure joy as she rushed over to the book. She couldn't read yet, but that didn't much matter to her. There was a lot you could learn from pictures.
"Oh it's a book! A book Angelus!"
Stating the obvious, but there was no mistaking the happiness something so simple brought to the gypsy child.
"Oh!" He wasn't expecting the hug, but he returned it happily. "It's okay. It's over... for now." He whispered the last part under his breath.
He chuckled as he watched the expression of enthusiasm run across her features. "I see that. And it's not just any book. It's the Stinky Cheese Man. When I came here, me and my friends found it and Aido read it to us. It's a pretty funny book. How about you take it home and have your dad read it?" he offered.
She smiled, "Or...Maybe you could read it to me?" she looked at him hopefully, cocking her head to the side ever so slightly. The girl was never one to pass up the opportunity to have something read to her, and they were there and...While Aiden read to her every night, she was certain he was too tired to do so TONIGHT.
"Armel said he'd teach me but I haven't seen him in a long time."
Angelus had to look behind him to make sure no one else was there. Was she asking him to read her a story?
Slowly, he took the book from her small fingers. "Sure. I've actually never read to anyone before." he said shyly.
"I could help you if you want. Maybe we can do a little tonight." he smiled at the excited girl.
"Really?!" She gave a little bounce as he said he'd read to her...and then her eyes widened even further when he said he'd help her learn, at least a little, how to read. This was turning into the best day of her short-lived life!
"Oh! Thank you!" she bounced again, obvious excited, and looked around for a place to sit.
"You're welcome." he smiled at the bouncing girl. If he kept looking at her he was going to get dizzy. Shaking his head, he looked around the room for a chair.
There was only a rocking chair and a foot stool. "How about over there?" He pointed to the rocking chair and foot stool.
Giving a small nod, the blonde made a beeline for the foot stool and sat herself onto it, looking up at her new friend adoringly. Anyone who would read to her was A-Okay in her books. That meant he should get the rocking chair because he was doing the reading.
Daddy always sat in the rocking chair at home. Granted, she sat on his lap - but he was her daddy. There was a difference.
He couldn't help but chuckle at her antics. Making his way to the Rocking chair, since the footstool was now occupied, he carefully sat upon its wooden frame making sure his wings didn't get in the way.
"Okay. Ready?" He opened the book and laid it flat on his lap so she could see it was well. Turning the book on his side, he made sure that they could both see it.
"Here we go. Once upon a time there lived a... What's that word?" He pointed out the word Baker.
"I can help you sound it out if you want." he offered.
Khalindra leaned over to look at the book and squinted at the word, "B.." she looked a little frustrated, "I know that's a B...And bees make...buh...Buh...k...er? Bucker?" she looked up at him then, definite hope shining in her eyes.
Did she get it right?
Angelus was surprised at how well she was doing for her first time. "Almost! But the a makes an a sound, just like the letter itself. Now try again." He said in excitement.
She was soo close!
Khali beamed, "Ba...ker..? That right?" the only reason she knew about the 'er' sound is because she had asked her daddy how to pronounce the second name he'd given to her younger brother. Alexander. Er. Errrr.
Angelus smiled and raised his hand up for a high five. "Good job! You got it right! You're doing really well for your first time Khali." He smiled.
The gypsy girl giggled brightly and let her smaller hand touch Angelus's in a return of the high-five. She was beaming and smiling so hard that her cheeks were starting to hurt, "I got it right!!!!"
It was amazing the little things that made her so giddy.
The room was filled with laughter as both Tale's read from the story book.
He smiled as her palm touched his in excitement. "Want to keep going? I know it's getting a bit late, but we can do a bit more if you want. How about this sentence."
His finger trailed under the sentence as he read. "The baker made a son out of stinky...What about this one?" He pointed to the word cheese. This word was a bit easier than baker.
"Yes!" she exclaimed, giving a small bounce on the stool until he pointed to the new word. Baker was easy because she knew some of the sounds. But...She didn't know those sounds!
"K...hee...see?" she looked up at him, blinking her eyes. It made no sense to her, and the tale looked absolutely lost.
"That's not right, is it?" she looked crestfallen, but looked back to the word.
"K...hee..z...?"
"Almost! Sometimes C sounds like K. But since it's next to an h." he pointed out the ch part of the word. "It makes a chu sound. Now try it again using the chu sound." He helped her along.
"And there's only one e at the end so don't drag it out. We'll do the first part and then the second. Okay?" he smiled at her. "You're doing a good job so don't worry." he nodded.
"Oh. Weird." she smiled at him once before going back to the book, "Ch..ee..z? Is that it?"
That sounded a lot better than 'Kheesee' or 'Kheez' to her. But why would someone make a son out of stinky cheese? Things didn't make sense, but hey, she was READING.
Angelus smiled and raised his up again. "That's right! See? It's not too hard. Reading can be a bit finicky at the beginning, but it gets easier as long as you practice." he nodded.
The little girl beamed yet again, tapping her palm to his before looking back at the book and wrinkling her nose, "Why would someone make a son out of CHEESE though? Specially stinky. Wouldn't it...like...Smell?"
Duh.
A flush touched her face, "I mean..."
Having the read the book before, he'd elaborate on it.
"Yes it would have, but the baker was so desperate to have a son that he used what he had. And since he was poor, he didn't have a lot of options. But the thing is, the stinky cheese man is not a good son. The book tells the story of how he left the baker and ran away. He was rude and snotty to a lot of animals that he passed. And at the end... well, you'll have to read it on your own." He smiled. He didn't want to give away the ending! What fun was that?
"Oh. He can have my brother and sister!" She really didn't like the new twins. They, or at least the girl, was loud. The boy was slightly more tolerable because he was quiet, but...Meh.
"Kids are fun," she agreed, "But I don't think I want them. Daddy says we'll give him a...heart tack. What's a Heart tack? Is that what pins your heart to your chest?"
"You have a brother and sister? I just have a much older sister. I don't see her though." he chuckled. "But my mother and I have a lot of pets though!" He loved animals and his mother felt the same way.
"I think your dad meant a heart attack." he chuckled. "A heart attack is when your heart starts to beat very fast and then it stops. It's not a good thing."
"You know, you remind me of my friend Rhea. She likes to ask questions too. I think you two should meet. You'd both get along well, I'm sure." He nodded.
"Uh huh. I have two sisters and a brother 'n' they're all younger than me. They take daddy's attention 'way from me. I don't like it." she pouted a moment, and then her eyes went wide.
"Do people die? I don't wanna kill my daddy!" she looked positively frightened until the tale changed the subject.
On to better subjects! Yay! "Maybe! I wanna meet everyone. Is she like us, then?"
"I bet they would need a lot of attention since they're so young."
"You won't kill your dad! Don't worry." He gave her a hug to comfort her. "I'm sure he'll still be around for awhile." He nodded in affirmation.
"Yes she is. She has cool tattoos on her back and arms. She's really nice." he smiled.
The girl hugged Angelus back, a relieved look coming over her small countenance, "I hope so. I'd miss him because he's nice even if he's a party pooper sometimes...And NEAT! Tattoos. Daddy has a tattoo. He said I'm not allowed because I wouldn't like the needles."
She blinked, "And I'm too young. When do you stop being 'too young' to do things?"
So many things she was too young to do.
"Yup. Tattoos. Well, she was sort of born with it. Your dad must be cool, not a party pooper if has tattoos." He nodded.
He thought about her question for a bit. When did one become too young to do things? "I'm not sure actually. When you realize what's right and wrong? When you're old enough to know what can and can't be done. I'm not sure. I'm still too young to do things, so I guess it all depends on that person." he tried to answer her question to the best of his abilities.
Reply
