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 Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2005 8:37 pm
Sylvester
The Office of Thomas Usher, M.D., Barton Town, Gaia
Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 | 4:56pm GST
Sylvester had thought for sure that it was Barton that sucked. He figured he'd missed it the first couple of times he'd been here because recently, this place hadn't done anything but suck. But maybe he was wrong. It didn't seem all that bad right now. In fact, Sylvester felt happy. Floaty, even. He smiled around the strawberry lollipop in his mouth.
Mama patted him on his head and mumbled, "See, that's all I want, a little smiliness." Sylvester had no idea what she was talking about, yet again, and yet again, he didn't care. Mmm. Strawberry.
They were in a plain, boring room. It kinda smelled like dead people. No worries. A little girl was sitting across from him. He smiled again, this time staring directly at her. She turned her face into her mother's sleeve and the woman gave him a dirty look.
Sylvester daydreamed about smiling cupcakes dripping with deep, sanguine icing. They sat in a line and Sylvester was on the end and they were playing that game, Telephone. By the time the gooey cupcake next to him turned to hiss its twisted little cupcake words into his ear, he was so hungry that he caught it by its spindly cupcake arm and flung it up into his mouth. Sylvester could only make out one word before its little cupcake screams woke him up.
Tim.
Mama tapped him on the arm and told him she was going to the bathroom and he shouldn't move. He nodded. Sylvester wasn't going anywhere, but suddenly he was standing up and walking out the door. No one tried to stop him, not even Morry.
He and Mama had been waiting in that boring room for quite a while and the sun was beginning to set. Sylvester sniffed the late summer air and turned his head toward the cupcakes. They hadn't finished their game.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:53 pm
Tim
Scruffy Duffy's, Barton Town, Gaia
Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 | 6:09pm GST
"What'll it be?" The bartender glared with what Tim could swear was contempt. Everyone knew. Tim sighed. Everyone knew he was a talentless piece of crap who couldn't hold a job.
"I got laid off today," Tim said, ignoring the question in favor of his own self pity.
"Hey man, here, on the house," the bartender said quickly. He poured Tim a little bit of scotch and hurried to the other end of the bar, where a woman was frantically shaking a twenty-dollar bill and her breasts at him.
Tim downed the liquor and dropped his head in his hands.
A few seconds later (or minutes or hours even, he couldn't be sure), he felt a light rhythmic tapping near his elbow. He lifted his head and looked into the eyes of one of the strangest boys he'd ever seen. Sure, Gaia was crawling with kitsunes and elves, but Tim had never seen one up close, and he had certainly never seen a kid that looked like a giraffe.
"Hello," the kid said. It was very weird to have some giraffe head looking through Tim instead of at him, and even weirder that nobody in the bar seemed to even notice the kid was there. People just looked from Tim to the woman seated two stools down, their eyes sliding over the seat inbetween.
"Hi," Tim said, wondering if he was insane. He'd only had one drink! And it was pink elephants, wasn't it, not spotted children?
"Is your name Tim?" the kid asked, his voice inappropriately adult and echoey in a way that filled Tim's head. All this was really too much.
Tim rose from the bar and made his way toward the door. He tried not to look like a crazy person, but when the kid got up and followed him, Tim began to shake so badly that several people gave him the stinkeye on the way out. Once outside, he jogged down the block and ducked into an alley. The kid followed him.
"What do you want?" Tim whispered.
"You'll thank me for this." A wild grin split across the kid's face and he lunged for Tim's hand, sinking blunt teeth into the fleshy base of his thumb.
Tim would have cried out, if he hadn't been instantly rendered unconscious and transported to another planet in a flash of pale blue light.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:55 pm
Smerdle
Outside the Doctor's Office, Barton Town, Gaia
Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 | 6:22pm ******** incompetents. All they had to do was watch over one kid, a ******** giraffe kid at that, and they couldn't do it. She should have just taken him to the bathroom with her, but then they probably would have called the cops for child abuse or something. But, he'd said he'd stay put and... ARRRRGHHHHH! He was probably under a bus by now. How could she have been such a tool?
Smerdle stalked down the block, stopping the people who didn't step around her and asking them if they'd seen a small, talking giraffe. Of course, none of them had. Why the hell would they have? Assholes. She sat down on the curb and picked at some imaginary lint on her pants. She wasn't going to cry. Smerdle sighed.
It was nearly a half an hour before she looked up again. Seated beside her was Sylvester, or at least she thought it was. This Sylvester was wearing different clothes than the last ones she had seen him in. He was also staring straight ahead with no expression on his face. It was kind of unnerving.
"Sylvester?"
He turned his head quickly but spent a couple of seconds blinking at her, like he didn't know where he was. "Hello Mother," he said finally. "What a lovely day. I'm so glad to be spending it with you." He leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder.
Smerdle sighed for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day. This definitely wasn't her kid.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:56 pm
Quin
Outside the Royal Chambers, Miirks, Guaxa
Thursday, September 8th, 2005 | 6:30am GuST
Quin was polite by force of habit.
"Excuse me, please."
"You can't go in there."
There were times, however, most of them recently, when politeness didn't come easily for him.
"I have to get in there."
"The Council thinks you've been coming around too much. They told us to keep you out."
Quin's hands curled into fists and his nails would have bitten into his palms if he hadn't kept them carefully trimmed.
"If I didn't come around so much, she would be dead." He stood as straight as he could, but the two men still towered over him. The situation might have made Quin feel emasculated if he hadn't felt that way all the time already.
"Sorry." The guard didn't look sorry.
Quin flushed with sudden anger. He could feel the heat of it scrambling up the back of his neck and he knew he looked like some kind of nerdy kid from some public elementary school he had never attended. He wanted to scream, "YOU'D BETTER NOT TAKE MY LUNCH MONEY, YOU BACKWATER SONS OF BITCHES, OR I'LL KNOCK YOUR ASSES TO ******** KINGDOM COME!" but he hadn't used language like that since the divorce, and he wasn't about to start now.
"Look..."
Surprisingly, they followed his order. They all looked as a bright flash of light burst from the queen's chambers. The guards were so dazed that they didn't even notice as Quin elbowed his way into the room, just in time to see Sylvester and a strange man fall about three feet out of the air and onto the ground.
Quin wasted no time, rushing over to the boy to find out what this was all about. What was he doing here? How did he even know Guaxa existed? He rolled Sylvester over. Unconscious. Quin grabbed handfuls of Bugs Bunny t-shirt, intending to shake the kid awake, when...
"Stop."
The voice was soft but melodic, and Quin wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't also felt an uncomfortable pricking sensation on his arm, like when one of those horribly nonfunctional watch bands gets caught in someone's arm hair. The little metal thing he had met in the copse outside Smerdle's house appeared on his forearm. Morry.
Quin let go of the bits of t-shirt and looked at the man Sylvester had brought with him. A match.
"Find Nan Birrin," Quin said, barely audible.
The guards complied, too stunned to do much else.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:57 pm
Sylvester
A Room in the Palace, Miirks, Guaxa
Thursday, September 8th, 2005 | 7:41am GuST
Unconsciousness wasn't black like Sylvester thought it would be from the movies. Maybe other people's heads did the black thing, but Sylvester's unconsciousness was blue. It had sparkles too, and unemployment.
"No job," he moaned softly. The sound of his own voice startled him awake and he sat up with some difficulty. The room was dark, darker than his unconsciousness, and he was a little scared. No, make that a lot. It didn't smell like his room or his house or the Stationery Store and he wasn't sure he should have been sleeping in here in the first place, wherever 'here' was.
He stumbled off of the surface he was lying on and stood shakily in the dark for a few minutes before he heard a whuffing coming from the vicinity of his ankles. A wet nose brushed against his bare foot, and at the same moment he heard a wooden scraping sound and the shuffle of feet. A door in front of him creaked open and he squinted against the sudden bright light that streamed in. The dalmatian at his feet barked.
"Wha... oh Henry, there you are!" a woman's voice said. "Don't bother him, now." She smiled and moved to stand between Sylvester and the dog, patting the excited animal on the head. "I'm Nan." Before he could respond, she added, "And you're Sylvester."
He nodded, swallowing. "How'd you know?"
"Well, you're dreaming, of course I'm gonna know! Come on. Put on some shoes and I'll show you around."
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:58 pm
Smerdle
Smerdle's House, Outside Aekea, Gaia
Monday, September 12th, 2005 | 11:57am GST
It was a warm day in Aekea, the summer heat not yet faded into fall chill. Chucky was visiting, a not-so-rare occurrence now that he had tired of his current four months of marriage. He had brought along his daughter, Brownie, for her first meeting with Auntie Smerdle, but the infant seemed more interested in crawling around the hardwood floor, terrorizing anything she could get her grabby little hands on.
"I called you over here for a little sympathy, not so you could weird me out with your new acquisition."
"You make it sound like I picked her up deliberately! I don't ******** want a kid, let alone this one!" Brownie looked up from her task of widening a hole in Smerdle's couch to let out a brief screech as if to confirm that she was indeed the Infant Plague that Chucky claimed.
The adults sighed nearly in unison and didn't speak for several minutes, simply staring off into space and wallowing in their own personal miseries, the noon news filling in the background noise. A cloyingly sweet voice piped out of the kitchen, breaking any reveries, pleasant or unpleasant. "Would you like some tea, Mother?" It was perky and happy and probably a whole three octaves higher than Sylvester's, which was saying something since the Tale had a fairly high voice to begin with. Whoever this was had only been around for four days, but Smerdle wanted him gone.
"What the hell?" Chucky said, looking toward the kitchen where the impostor was making his tea.
"That's why I need the sympathy. My kid has been swapped with some sort of alien."
Chucky laughed, but he stopped when Smerdle's expression didn't change. "You're serious?"
"Last week when he ran away, this is what came back."
"And it looks like Sylvester and everything?" Chucky had lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Oh dear!" Fake Sylvester said.
"See for yourself," Smerdle said.
Sylvester emerged from the back of the house, Brownie dangling from his precarious grip. "Someone came in the kitchen to play with me!" FauxVester started to turn her around to coo directly into her face, but instead Brownie flexed her knitted-cozy-covered wings and he dropped her the short distance to the floor.
"Ba-ba-ba-SUK!" Brownie screamed. She didn't cry, instead sliding across the floor to her father's feet in a sort of gimp-crawl.
"Oh dear!" the phony Tale repeated.
"Don't worry about it, Sylvester," Smerdle said. "Just go back in the kitchen and finish your tea."
"Yes, Mother!" the giraffe boy said. He smiled broadly as if he hadn't just dropped a baby two feet onto the floor and skipped back into the other room.
"I'll bet that thing would stab you in your sleep and smile while he does it," Chucky said, eyes wide. "You should get the hell out of here while you still can."
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 1:00 pm
Sylvester
Outside the Royal Chambers, Miirks, Guaxa
Tuesday, September 13th, 2005 | 9:13am GuST
Sylvester missed his mother. Quin and Nan were nice and all, but neither one of them knew how to entertain a kid. Nan thought she did, but she really didn't. Maybe that's why Quin had turned out the way he had.
The up side of this whole trip was that Quin had loads of books that he let Sylvester see whenever he liked. At first, Quin hadn't been too excited about letting Sylvester touch his books, but when Syl had proven that he wasn't going to draw in them or anything, and, to his surprise, he could actually read them, Quin had given him full access to his impressive Guaxan library.
That's what this place was called. Guaxa. Nan kept trying to tell him that it was a dream, but in what dream do you go to sleep again and eat three meals a day and sit around being homesick and not wake up eventually? Sylvester knew she was lying, but he wasn't going to say anything. He wanted to come back someday, after all, maybe bring Mama.
Mama. Sylvester sighed. Vacations were all well and good, but it was hard just hanging around a castle after four nights without bedtime stories. He knew that there was something wrong, he could tell by just looking at Quin, but he didn't know what. People seemed edgy and Sylvester didn't like it. In fact, he was hiding right now, snug behind a tapestry right outside the queen's quarters. Avery, one of her guards, knew Sylvester was there of course, but he wouldn't tell anyone.
Someone was coming. Out, Syl thought. Out of Queen Lisa's room.
"Sir?" Avery said.
Sylvester could barely hear the response. "She's awake," Quin whispered.
And with that, everything disappeared. It was eaten up by blue light and Sylvester was riding on the blue light like a rollercoaster or a Care Bear or Rainbow Brite. Despite this, he was weary. He had done his job and now he was going home. Sylvester lowered his head to his crossed arms and fell asleep.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 1:02 pm
Smerdle
Smerdle's House, Outside Aekea, Gaia
Monday, September 12th, 2005 | 9:17pm GST
"Good night, Mother!" Sylvester said.
"Night, Syl."
Smerdle had reluctantly taken to treating this impostor as her son. She figured if she had caused a cosmic disturbance big enough to warrant the presence of this loony, she should at least play along until she could figure out how to get rid of him.
There was no help coming from Chucky's end. Her once effortlessly crafty best friend was now bogged down with a truly horrendous baby. Smerdle hoped she hadn't acted like that when Sylvester had first arrived.
She was already outside Syl's bedroom door when there was a weird whooshing sound and a quickly fading cry of, "Mother!" She rushed back in, her mind foggy with pale blue light. Sylvester lay just as she had left him, but instead of the adoring gaze of a child who had been acting very strangely lately, she was confronted with the slow breathing of one who is deeply asleep. She had just left, what the hell? Something had to be wrong.
"Sylvester?" she whispered. When he didn't respond, she rushed to the side of his bed and shook his shoulder lightly. His eyes blinked open and he took a few seconds to focus, like he had come back from very far away.
"Mama?" he said softly.
Smerdle couldn't ever explain why a fat tear suddenly rolled down her cheek to splat on Sylvester's faded TMNT sheets, but he seemed to understand. They didn't speak of it again, at least, not until the next time.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 1:07 pm
Sylvester, Jiro, Angelus, and Aido
The Stationery Store
Barton Town, Gaia
He had much better things to do than leave the house, but Shouhin but being a stubborn old goat today. Maybe he had been trapped up in his dojo for a bit too long, but he still have to practice every day. Then Sah pointed out that he wasn't really training no more than cutting himself cause his mind wasn't focused on what he was doing. Sighing heavily, the boy paused in mid step and looked down at his heavily bandaged hands, flexing his fingers slowly and carefully. They were healing as they should, but it was stiff to move them too much. Another sigh left him as he looked up at his big brother Mouu, who had decided to come along with him today. Noticing that he had stopped, he looked down at him, just waiting for him to speak up first. "Are you okay with coming with me?"
"Hmm? Oh sure! Tigg's asleep and we do gotta see if Yuhin's stationary came in or something. I don't mind coming out with you today, Jiro. How are you feeling?" He knew his kid brother was out of it with Khia moving away and everything, so the boy felt rather out of sorts. Khia was his best friend, after all, and though the boy had other friends, he just sseemed closer to Khia. Probably cause they were both violent or something, Mouu didn't know. He just thought they were amusing to watch. Pushing open the door to the shop, he let him wander in first. "We shoulda brought Luc along.. maybe he could have used an outing..."
"But he's gone out shopping with Kali.. there would be no point to it, ya know?" Snickering, he went and found a place to sit down and did so.
Silent walked the sidewalk quietly. It had been ages since she came to the shop. It didn't feel the same anymore. And surprisingly, Angelus wasn't on her arms like he normally would. Looking behind her, she watched the small Tale take his steps.
Angelus walked with a confidence, which was a definite change from the person he used to be. The scars are still evident on his neck, and the memories still fresh, but he learned to put that all behind him. It was time to move on. His blood tingled for an unknown reason. Jiro. He could feel the other tale. Ever since the exchange of blood, he wasn't the same.
Silent finally made it to the shop door and slowly opened it. Angelus followed suit.
"So this is the place?" Redish grey and gold eyes were fixed upon the back side of the Stationary Shop.
"Mhm."
"This is where you were BORN."
Bi-colored eyes shifted to her brother, "yes, mr. lava lamp incubator."
Fai grinned and poked at her gently, "I didn't mean anything by it," glancing around he blinked, "how do we get in?"
"Front door," Aido replied and stepped forward heading along the small alley like way that tracked around the shop to the main street. It felt so odd being here with her, now older, brother instead of her mother; though Chao had promised to meet them at the store later. It felt weird being there at all, there wasn't even a guarntee anyone would be there or that the shop would even be open....
Fai glanced to her and rolled his eyes, first she'd been all restless and ready to go, now it looked like his sister was having second thoughts, how silly, "you have your 'what if' face on Ai, stop worrying about nothing," grabbing onto her hand he quickly led them up the steps and pushed on the door, smiling triumphantly as it opened and the tell tale bell jangled softly as they entered.
Silent was about a foot away from the open door. Thank goodness it didn't hit her. She turned around to see who entered. Brown eyes blinked in confusion and then a smile came to her lips. Chao. " Long time no see."she told the other Tale.
Angelus also turned around to see who was here. He wasn't expecting Aido to come. Not at all. His own brown eyes looked up to his friend in awe. How long had it been since he saw her last? It was so long that he couldn't remember.
" Aido." He whispered her name. He said it clearly but quietly.
Aido's eyes caught Silent's for a moment before darting to the floor, where Angelus stood near his mother. Eyes suddenly bright she darted foward, dropped downwards and hugged her friend fiercely, "Angelus!"
Fai smiled, very pleased with the sudden change in his sister. Coming here had been such a good idea. Smiling to the woman he tilted his head, "hello there Miss," he greeted warmly.
Silent's mouth hung open and then closed. " Well. That was a decent hi. I guess." She chuckled. Her brown eyes went to the male. He didn't look very familiar. She offered her hand. " Hi. I'm Silent. And you are?" she inquired of the newcomer.
Angelus nearly lost any breath he could have used. His wings flapped incessantly.
" Chao... Can't... Breathe..." He hoped she would get the message. He really didn't want her to let go. He missed Aido soo much, but he needed air to talk to her.
"She's spent a little too much time inside I fear," Fai nodded solemnly, he'd said she needed to get out, what, over a week ago? Silly people, never listening to him. Turning back to Silent the redhead grinned, "my name's Fai, her," he gestured to Aido, "brother, it's nice to meet you miss Silent."
Aido blinked and promptly loosened her hold on her friend, slightly redcheeked, "sorry," she muttered, tugging on her scard in embarrasment before grinning at Angelus again, too excited at seeing her old friend to stay embarresed for long, "I just haven't see you in so long. I missed you."
Silent nodded in understanding. " Angelus hasn't had contact with anyone other than myself and his family at home. He needed to come back and by the looks of it, it was a wise choice." She could already tell that Angelus was warming back up to the old ways. Her brown eyes went back to the boy. " A brother? No offense, but Chao never mentioned you. I know her brother Rico, but not you." She didn't want to seem rude, but she was a little lost right now.
Angelus chuckled as she released her hold on him. Within a moment, he had her in a hug. It was only fair. " I missed you too." He didn't really use his telepathic abilities much. Every once in a while he did, but he slowly grew accustomed to talking verbally with others. He slowly let go and looked at Aido. " You're big." He chuckled as he took in the form of his friend.
Today was truly one of the best days of Smerdle's life. Sylvester wasn't sulky or running a fever, nor was he a Crazy Nutjob. Smerdle was so thankful, in fact, that when Sylvester suggested they go to the stationery store, she had agreed even though she had other things to do. Like shop. For food. Oh well, they would just have to get a pizza tonight.
Sylvester hopped along in front of his mother, oblivious to the fact that he had been a Crazy Nutjob at all. He felt great, Morry was being quiet for a change, and he was going to play. He arrived at the door and pushed it open slowly.
"Hey!" he said, without looking around first to see who was there.
Smerdle followed a few steps behind, catching the door when Sylvester dropped it. She waved a bit at the older people in the room before sliding over to a brightly colored shelf to look around.
Fai tilted his head and nodded slowly, he didn't think his mother had even been down to this shop in the time he'd been alive, "Oh yes, uncle Rico is Aemu's mom but I'm her son and, well, I'm something of a recent addition to our family really," he scratched the back of his head and vaguely hopes his mother would arrive soon, it felt weird having to explain his exsistence.
Aido smiled and buried her face in his hair as they hugged a second time, smiling at the warm feeling that unfolded in her chest as Angelus said he'd missed her.
As he let go she sat back on her heels and lokoed down at his comment of her growth, "yes, I suppose so," she looked down back to her friend, "but now that I'm bigger I've gotten to explore more on my own." She paused, "it's much more lonely, exploring on my own. I miss our explorations."
At the sudden greeting she looked up and over to the door and smiled to the newcomer, "hello there."
Silent nodded in understanding. " Around Gaia, one always has a recent addition to the family. Well it was a pleasure meeting you. Have you been around for a long while then?" she asked curiously. She nodded to the woman that stepped in briefly.
Angelus cocked his head to the side. " Explore on your own? We did that anyways with eachother." he chuckled. " It's no fun to explore on your own though." he sighed. He missed their adventures.
Black wings ruffled in curiosity as a newcomer stepped in. A Tale from the scent of it. Angelus' brown eyes scanned the newcomer and then he looked to Aido. " I don't know him." he whispered. Was he gone for soo long that there were more Tale's he didn't know about? Most likely. He watched in observation.
Fai shook his head, smiling when Silent didn't seem too weirded out at his recentness, "I haven't been around long at all, only...a little over a month I think."
"We should go exploring again sometime soon," Aido replied with a determined nod and an excited smile at the prospect before turning her bi-colored eyes back to Sylvester, "I don't either," she whispered quietly in return but dove into introductions anyway s her attention slipped back to the new Tale, "I'm Aido and this is Angelus, who're you?"
Eyes. On him. Sylvester had forgotten how weird they made him feel. He involuntarily shrank back a bit before stepping forward, which resulted in kind of a wacky shuffle.
"Hi, I'm Sylvester," he said quickly to the girl who had addressed him. He watched her for a second, or rather he watched the halo float above her head. Ooo. He couldn't exactly make out their whispering, but that hardly mattered. The girl, Aido, had said something about exploring!
"Have you been? Explorin' I mean. All the other kids I met here do too! I..." He had been about to launch into a story about the time he had spent with his new dream friends, but he had promised them he wouldn't. Plus, Mama was just right over there and Sylvester was sure that she would take him to the doctor again if he mentioned having dream friends at all. He scratched his neck and tried to look innocent, hoping they wouldn't ask about his own adventures.
Aido began to fidget slightly as the new Tale's, Sylvester's, gaze latched onto her halo, just like everyone seemed to the first time she met them. The circlet drooped momentarily before perking up again as Sylvester asked about exploring and even began to launch into his own story about his exploration.
Smiling as she followed along she tilted her head as he suddenly stopped but tried to pick up the conversation again, "it's nice to meet you Sylvester. I love to explore, espically since Gaia's so big and crisscrossed, it's like even if you explore someplace once there's new things if you go back a second time."
Angelus watched on as Sylvester, the animal like Tale, and Aido conversed about exploration. He stepped forward, tired of being the shy one. " Why don't explore upstairs?" he added in. He remembered the last time Aido and himself went upstairs. That was pretty fun. Memories of the backyard ruled out the Shop's garden as a different means of adventure.
He gave a slight bow to the Tale in greeting. " I'm Angelus". His wings raised up in the air and flapped. A black feather fell from the movement.
"That's so cool. I wish Mama would let me go all kinds of places like that."
He turned toward the winged Tale. Cool! "Yeah, let's go!"
"Be careful," Smerdle said distractedly as she continued to browse.
Sylvester nodded to no one in particular. "Can you fly?" He had never seen another Tale fly, though he assumed Tybalt probably could.
Angelus smiled and with a burst of his wings bolted through the air. He came back around in front of the Tale and hovered a few feet above him. " Would you like me to carry you or would you rather follow?" he asked the Tale. He used to hold Aido under her arms and fly with her, but that was when she was a kid like himself. Not anymore.
Sylvester's eyes widened considerably at Angelus' awesome flying capabilities. But, they scared him a bit too. "That is so cool," he breathed. "I... I don't think I want to fly though," he added. He hoped the other boy didn't think he was too much of a wuss. "So, what's upstairs?" he asked curiously.
Angelus smiled in understanding. His brown eyes went to the stairs that led to the second floor. " Last time I remembered we found some interesting rooms." Flying took little energy now. He had enough endurance to fly the whole time if need be. He looked back at the Tale. " You still want to go?"
"Yeah." Sylvester nodded and smiled. He glanced at his mother, looking to see if she was going to butt in, but she seemed preoccupied with the different kinds of paper. Grownups were weird. "Let's go."
Angelus nodded and easily flew up the flight of stairs. He effortlessly lowered himself on the top of the steps. He didn't want the other Tale to feel left out. Looking from left to right. He wondered which corridor they should go down. " Left or right?" he asked Sylvester.
Sylvester hopped up the steps after the flying Tale, excited to be on an adventure.
"Hmm. Left," he said. It looked slightly lighter, after all.
Angelus nodded and started his way down the left corridor. He walked slowly and cautiously. God knows what lay behind the many doors. As he walked, his fingers trailed along the wall. Lifting his nose into the air he sniffed to see what kind of scents lay before them. So many. But he couldn't make out what they were. He looked to Sylvester.
" You've never explored before?" It didn't seem right not to go exploring.
"Just around my house and yard a little," Sylvester said. "Mama's scared stuff'll happen if I'm alone other places and we don't live around other people." Even as Sylvester said this, he knew it wasn't true, but he couldn't think of why. Oh well.
Angelus listened to the Tale. "Silent lets me wander off on my own. We own a lot of land at home and plus the beasts of the land no better than to do anything to me or else they have to deal with my mommy. And they don't like an angry mommy." he commented. His eyes fell upon a cherry wood door. The knob was too high. He looked to Sylvester. He was taller than Angelus. Crouching on all fours Angelus looked to Sylvester.
" Climb on my back and open the door." He instructed the Tale. Angelus was curious to see what was behind the door.
"'Kay." He had never climbed on anyone's back before, but there was a first time for everything. Gripping the door frame, Sylvester rested the toes of his right foot gingerly on Angelus' back, careful not to step on his wings. He took a deep breath and hoisted himself up, turning the knob with ease. As he clumsily jumped off of Angelus' back, he accidentally pushed at the knob on the way down. The door creaked open wide enough for a kid-sized head to peek through.
Several yards behind the two Simple Tales the shadows quivered and Aido''s head poked through, halo dim as her eyes swept over the dark hallway. Having lost the others in a moment of distraction she hoped they would be around here and smiled brightly as she caught sight of them.
The shadows twitched back into place as she pushed through the threshold, feet sliding onto the floor silently as she turned and quietly wandered down towards the others, looking over the doors they passed. For a moment she considered sliping back into the shadows and poking around on her own but-! No! Group exploration! That''s what she''d missed. Focused again she quickly moved to crouch behind the two, watching what they were doing but keeping quiet, not wanting to mess up whatever concentration they might have needed.
Angelus nearly fell on his stomach from the weight but quickly scrambled to stand on his two feet. A scent in the air caught his attention. Looking behind him, he fell backward in shock causing the door to open all the way. Aido nearly scared him to death.
" Aido! You scared me.!" He said to his friend. Brown eyes went to Sylvester. " Are you okay? What do you see?" Three pairs of eyes looked into the newly discovered room.
"Sorry," Aido replied, grimancing, but glad that Angelus didn't seem hurt. She leant forward, "what's in there?"
"It's pretty dark," Sylvester said, after assuring himself that Angelus was okay. He was kind of scared of what was in there, but he didn't want the others getting hurt either. Definitely not. He inched inside, using the tip of his nose to flick on the lightswitch. He turned around slowly, back to the wall.
"Whoa."
The room was engrossed in light. " What the?" He couldn't believe it. What would a nursery be doing up here?
He looked to Sylvester and Aido as if they held the answers.
Aido blinked and sat back then shrugged casually, the nuresery made a bit of sense to her, "well, Linny and Khia both live or at least lived here at one point, right? Maybe it was their's, or Linny's sister's or someone's...."
"Yeah." He hadn't known Linny when he was small enough for a nursery, and he didn't know Khia at all, but Aido's idea seemed like a good one.
Since he was already inside the room, he walked in a bit further, half expecting something to pop out at him.
Angelus walked deeper into the room. A wooden rocker rested next to a wooden crib. It was simple. Not too extravagent. " Makes sense." In a corner Angelus found a couple of wooden blocks. He wondered what else the room had?
Aido stood and followed quietly, running a hand over the top of the wooden cribs, quietly remembering her old crin [and the many times she'd escaped from it] and idly wondered if her old friend had once slept here. Which reminded her...she still hadn't given him her gift.
Giving the crib one last look, and quietly vowing to either drop of Linny's gift or track down her friend and give it to him personally, she continued to wander about the room.
While everyone appeared and roamed about, Mouu had been looking for Linny. So far he wasn't seeing him and he frowned lightly as Jiro wandered about. While the boy was off looking bored and distracted elsewhere, Mouu watched him in concern. Lately, a lot of things had been happening to the boy.. Kali had told him about finding him on the roof with Khia.. supposedly Jiro had been carving symbols into his own legs using a chopstick.. why was unknown.. but Khia found him and helped him. Which was good.. but he's been more withdrawn and testy lately. Though Mouu didn't like to pry, he was half tempted to. As other Tales came in and then wandered elsewhere in the store, he blinked and looked at them heading upstairs. "Jiro.. aren't those your friends?"
"Hmmm?" Turning away from what he had been looking at, he noticed someone heading up the steps and he shrugged. They weren't his friends, he supposed. He didn't talk to anyone much on a normal basis but whatever. "I guess... why?" Seeing how Mouu seemed to get a bit too pleased, he feared as he came closer. He knew there was a reason to it! Sighing as he found himself getting pushed towards the stairs, he grumbled as he got the hint. "Fiiine >>" Though he didn't feel like it, he wandered up the steps, muttering how mean big brothers..
Sylvester had never really been small enough for a crib, but he was still small enough for toys. He approached a stripey jack-in-the-box and crouched near it, turning the handle quickly. When it popped open, an old-looking piece of paper popped out along with the required poofy clown head. Sylvester opened the folded paper only to find... nothing on it. How disappointing.
Angelus watched as Sylvester opened the Jack in the Box. He somewhat jumped in surprise but was glad no one else noticed. Looking around the room he found a small writing desk with a bookcase. Walking over, he climbed upon the chair and reached for any book within his reach.
" The Stinky Cheese man?" he said aloud. What kind of title was that for a book.
Blinking Aido wandered back towards Angelus, peering over his shoulder at the book, "'The Stinky Cheese Man', sounds very... odd," she concluded lamely, not sure how else to peg the book's title. Idly she looked over what else was on the table but nothing caught her eye.
With a shrug she wandered over towards the closet, peering inside, looking at the various older baby supplies that were kept inside.
Hearing them talking, he followed the sounds of their voice, noticing the baby supplies and pausing to look at it. Strange, he never had any of these kinds of things so for a bit, he was curious about them. However, it didn't last overly long and he continued on. This must be Linny's old stuff or something. Least that made sense to him.
Making sure he didn't slam into anything with his long robes, he kept his ears perked for their voices. When he heard something like 'Stinky Cheese Man' and he snickered before he was aware of it. If he was heard, then he was heard. But that was a messed up title for a book.
Sylvester pocketed the blank piece of paper he had found as he stood and joined the other two Tales.
"Stinky Cheese Man?" He couldn't read English, but the picture on the front of the book was enough to make him laugh anyway. He heard a faint chuckle, but assumed it was Angelus or Aido.
Angelus didn't need to turn around to know who was in the room with them. He hadn't seen the other Tale in a long time. His own negative feelings about the Tale long since vanished after the incident. He wished to make amends one of these days but Jiro was stubborn. It might not happy today or tomorrow, but Angelus hoped soon enough. His head turned to look at the boy.
" Hello Jiro." There was no animosity behind the tone, but gratitude that the Tale joined the small exploration.
Aido did turn at the slight chuckle, blinking as she noticed that it belonged to Jiro before smiling tenatively, she never had figured out where exactly she stood with the other Tale, and waving a hand in greeting towards the other Tale.
"Hello Jiro," she greeted warmly.
Well.. there went that cover. Ah well, it wasn't anything bad. His eyes rested on the three there. Angelus, Aido and Sylvester. When it came to Angelus, his hatred and anger towards the other Tale had disappeared the longer he remained in his home. Actually he had no problem with him anymore.. but he was a stubborn mule and he wasn't exactly sure how to make the first step in showing that he wished to 'mend bridges' with him. Aido... before, he would have just ignored her. But he had spent a lot of time in self reflection and realized he had been rather babyish in his behavior towards her. It was in the past. It was done. It was over. Stop thinking about it and let it die.
Sylvester he didn't know all that well, but he did remember him from some part. Probably Huni's party. He had spoken to him about that odd thing called a TV, that he actually had to look up as soon as he got home. Allowing a smile, not a calculating, mean or cold but an actual smile, cross his lips, he pressed his hands together and bowed before them. It was his way of apologizing to Aido and Angelus and showing respect to all three of them. "Hello, Aido. Angelus. Sylvester. My big brother told me you three were here..." He then looked around. "Is this an exploring adventure or something?"
Oh hey, it was Jiro. He hadn't seen all that much of the other boy, but he did remember that he had felt a lot dumber than the older Tale. Sylvester nodded in response to his question and waved briefly in response to Jiro's bow.
"That it is." He responded to the question. His smile mirrored that of Jiro's. Hopping down from the chair, he walked towards him. He handed the book to Jiro. " Honestly. What do you make of this?" Angelus couldn't figure it, but Sylvester was right. It did have a funny picture on it. A gingerbread man, but made out of stinky cheese. Brown eyes looked to Aido and Sylvester.
" What do either of you think?" It was now the small mystery among the nursery room.
Aido smiled and her halo glowed softly at Jiro's reaction, feeling some of the nervous tension that had begun to build fall away. She nodded politely to his bow before glancing back to the book in question,
"I don't know. It seems a bit creepy though," she eyed the little cheese man on the cover warily. An animate little man made out of cheese was both bizarre and a bit frightening a prospect to her. What if people tried to eat him? Or he wanted revenge on them for eating his cheese comrades?
Looking down at the book curiously, he held it and turned it over, curious if there was anything on the back. After he found nothing to suggest anything, he turned it back to the front and studied the cover. "It's a rather strange sounding book.. could be about a demon or something like that." A gingerbread man made of stinky cheese? Was it a twisted nursery rhyme or something?
"Maybe we should read it or something?"
Walking cheese men meant one thing... magic. Magic was awesome.
"Yeah. Open it," he urged.
Angelus looked back at Sylvester. An idea came to the Tale's head and for some reason became overly excited. His brown eyes went back to the book. " I guess it won't hurt to read it. Aido, will you read it?" he asked the eldest of the group.
Aido pursed her lips, releasing the bit of shadow she'd quietly gathered from the fold of her long sleeved shirt back to where they came from, having been quite prepared attempt to strike any Stinky Cheese Men that decided to come out if one of the other Tales opened the book.
Glancing to Angelus she nodded a bit, "yeah, I'll read it," taking the book gingerly from him she opened it a bit more, making sure nothing was going to pop up and attempt to...well, eat them or something (she was never, ever agreeing to watch a horror film again if this was how it was going to make her think afterward.)
Glancing about she moved to a more open space and sat down, opening the book fully and glancing at the picture inside. She waited a moment for the other Tales to move closer then began to slowly read its contents.
He had no issues with handing the book over to Aido. It was best to let the eldest of them to read it aloud, though he was curious if anything would come out of it. If it did, he wanted to stab it with a chopstick to see what exactly it was. If it was real or just magic. Really good magic... Moving over with her as she found a place to sit down and knelt next to her, his robes shifting around him as he tried to look at it more closely. The words were weird to him. Probably English.. gah, he still couldn't read that well yet >>.
Sylvester gathered closer to the other Tales and peered at the book. He had never been too interested in reading himself, but being read to was all kinds of cool. He shifted so he wasn't sitting on his tail anymore and waited for Aido to begin.
Angelus also joined the half circle and sat close to Aido as well, making sure nothing would jump out. He let out a sigh of relief as only words appeared on the pages. Angelus sat back and listened the story that would soon come.
Aido took a deep breath and began, voice a bit weak but steadying and gaining a bit of confidence as she went on and stopped stumbling, she didn't exactly have a large amount of practise with reading aloud either after all. Rather early on a dark eyebrow rose as she read about the birth then adventures of the Stinky Cheese Man to their small group.
Several minutes of reading later she read about the Ogre who seemed not to care about the Stinky Cheese Man's stink and ate him anyway and finally stopped as the story ended, blinking and looking at the other Tales for reactions.
This story started off rather weird to him. About a piece of food that walked and talked? A bit disappointing to say the least, but the adventures were slightly amusing.. or maybe he was just morbid and horrid like that.
But then the story was over. Ah, that sucked. Aido had a nice reading voice too. With a slight wrinkle of his nose, he tilted his head a bit more. "Well.. it wasn't about demons or anything.. and it was kind of morbid.. but it wasn't anything bad..."
Smerdle had come looking for Sylvester several minutes before the story ended, having decided that pizza for dinner wasn't such a good idea after all. She found the children easily since Aido's voice carried down the hall, but Smerdle waited there until the story was done before stepping into the doorway.
Sylvester had enjoyed the story immensely, but in order to seem cooler, he nodded. "I wouldn't eat a cheese man," he mused as Smerdle came into his view.
"Hey kid, we've gotta go," Smerdle said.
"Aw, mama."
"Sorry," she said. "We can come back soon."
"Okay." Sylvester stood and waved again. "Nice to meet you guys," he said to Angelus and Aido. "Bye," he sighed, including Jiro this time, since he had met him before.
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:21 am
Sylvester
Smerdle's House, Outside Aekea, Gaia
Thursday, October 27th, 2005 | 10:48am GST
"Sylvester, Sylvester! Get up!"
"Mama what?" Sylvester sat up as quickly as he could. Was something wrong? He blinked sleepily for a few seconds before really looking at Smerdle. She had presents! "For me?" He leaned over and grabbed a small, chilly box, looking at his mother expectantly.
"Go ahead." She smiled really big and Sylvester got a little weirded out.
"What's this for?" he asked.
"It's your birthday!" She smiled some more.
Sylvester narrowed his eyes a bit. "I don't feel old."
"You're not, really. Today is your 6-month birthday!"
Sylvester was still a bit skeptical.
"Come on, it's cool! Just open your presents."
Well, he could hardly say no to that. He opened the top on the little box that was rapidly warming up in his hands.
"Cool, thanks!" Sylvester poked at the lollipop's eyes. "Can I eat it?"
"Yup. Open another one."
Sylvester pulled a sheet-like thing off of a small tank filled with water and three tiny octopi.
"Hey, they're alive!"
"Yeah, you've got to feed them every day. In fact..." Smerdle got up and opened the door. "Warwick!"
A gangly, fox-cat-like-animal strolled into the room. "...you've got to feed him too. Don't worry, I'll do it if you forget." She smiled and scratched the Velah's head. "His name is Warwick."
"Hey!" He waved.
"Hello." Warwick had an accent of some sort, and if Sylvester had been pressed, he would have said the animal was smiling. Cool!
"One more," Smerdle said, handing over a squishy thing wrapped in shiny paper.
Sylvester hugged his new toy. "Hey Mama! When's my next birthday?"
"Not for quite a while," Smerdle confessed. "But Christmas is coming up. I'm sure Santa will bring you more stuff then."
Sylvester nodded and tilted his head thoughtfully. "Who's Santa?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:02 pm
"Stay."
Holding up her hands, Noharu backed slowly away, not turning even the slightest bit away from the Tale. "Stay," she repeated more demandingly.
Onoway's response was this: blink, stare, and 'stay'. "I'm going to find that guy and ask what the hell you are," Noharu explained. Said guy wasn't here at the moment, so maybe he was close by. Mostly, she wanted to ditch this creepy butterfly kid and take off, but her other 'daughter' had become attached to her so that was out of question.
The Tale watched keenly as Noharu vanished outside, the door closing with a light 'thud'. Well then... What to do until she was back? In her arms she clutched a teddy bear with a silver locket and green butterfly wings not all that different from her own.
She dare set it down only to lift up a book and examine it curiously. "...."
Chucky hated taking care of one kid, let alone two, but Smerdle was sick and Sylvester wanted to go out, so here he was. The giraffe boy was half a block ahead of his uncle now, but every time Chucky broke into a jog, the blade-winged girl he held would shriek and slice some new part of his body open.
"Sylvester, wait," Chucky said.
The Tale stopped but didn't turn around. Instead, he looked up at the building they were in front of. "Hey, can I go in here?" he called back down the block.
Chucky stopped in front of Sylvester and put Brownie on the ground at his feet. "Why?" he asked, looking up at the sign.
"It's where I was born." His voice had a 'duh' quality to it and Chucky would have responded with an eyeroll if his gaze hadn't been caught by his toddling child making her way toward the car-filled street.
"Brownie, no!" he said angrily. "Just... go inside then. I'll meet you later." Chucky directed this at Sylvester as he hurried after his daughter.
All right, then. Sylvester smiled as he pushed open the door and looked around. He removed his windbreaker and threw it on the ground near the door before noticing Onoway. He was normally shy around strangers, but her wings were... so cool! "Hey," he said, inching toward her. "Who're you?"
The sudden arrival startled her, obviously. Onoway stumbled back a bit, once regaining her balance glancing up at the newcomer. The place had been so eerily silent only seconds ago, this was quite a surprise. However, one she welcomed.
At first, she provided no answer, scanning the stranger over caustiously before seeming to determine he was no threat. Her eyes shot warily around the room until she managed to locate a newspaper.
Carefully, she ripped out various letters in various sizes and text until she had the appropriate ones. Back to the stranger she went, placing the letters before him in the order: O-N-O-W-A-Y.
Sylvester looked on curiously as Onoway arranged the paper bits in front of him. Wow, it might have helped in situations like this if he had known how to read English. He guessed she couldn't talk. That must stink. He examined the letters, looking for ones he knew. His hand brushed across the table and stopped near the first letter. He knew that one! It was his favorite! And the one next to it was part of the phrase, "Oh no!" which Mama had taught him how to spell since she said it so much when Brownie was over. He'd remembered that one because it meant things weren't going wrong because of him, for a change. The rest of those letters he didn't know at all, but he wasn't sure it mattered. His nickname only had three letters, after all. He decided to try it.
"Ono? Can I call you that? I don't know the rest of these letters, is all. If you don't like it, I could say all the sounds I know or something, 'til I get it right?" He smiled, hoping that he hadn't offended her. He liked meeting new people and he didn't want to make her mad if he could help it.
Ah. So he couldn't read. Well, that was just her luck now wasn't it? Briefly, that blank expression became a thoughtful one. With the question of refering to her as a nickname, she nodded. Noharu called her 'that thing' or 'you', and she had no problem with that.
"I.. can speak," she said, sounding very angry despite not looking it. She'd have to hurry before she either upset or offended this boy. "Forgive me, this is not my voice, I have none of my own. The person I borrowed this from is a very angry one, and that is why it sounds this way."
"My name is Onoway," she continued, barely managing a weak smile. Admittedly, she had already realized though she was far from falling into the 'anti-social' category she wasn't the best conversationalist. "You may call me whatever you wish."
Oh, she could talk! He was a little scared by the tone of her voice, but far too curious about the mention of 'borrowing' it to really be worried. "You really got your voice from someone?" he said, nearly leaning in to examine her, but catching himself at the last minute. "Does it hurt? Can you talk with anybody's?" He left little room for answers to his questions, and certainly didn't realize he might have been disturbingly overenthusiastic until it was too late. He stopped his barrage of questions and leaned back on his heels.
"Sorry. I'm Sylvester," he added as an afterthought. "Nice to meet you."
This time, when she smiled, it was for real. There was a small glint of amusement in her eyes. My, my, how curious this Sylvester was! "Yes, that's right on both accounts. I can only use someones voice if they agree to let me, though." Except Noharu's. It had been the only one she could speak in when she'd first arrived.
Far as she knew, though, Onoway was mute. "It doesn't hurt." And she couldn't see why it would, really. "Nice to meet you as well."
Neat. "I can't do anything cool like that," he said, already mostly used to her borrowed voice. Well, he could do things, but they weren't intentional and he didn't really want to get into it, seeing as he wasn't sure what he did himself. He sat down on the ground, suddenly tired of standing up. "Did you come from here too?" he asked.
"Oh, I'd hardly consider it cool." Of course, her voice was as angry as before, but she was frowning now. It wasn't so much of lacking her own voice that bothered her (though it did), but having to use this one was...enough to make someone never speak to another. "Besides, I'm sure you can do many 'cool' things." To his question she nodded. "Yes, that's right. You're very smart."
"Nah, I just watch TV. Not cool at all," he said, choosing not to respond to her comment about his smarts. He sure didn't feel smart. Of course, she could be being sarcastic too, but he really hadn't had much luck identifying sarcasm in anyone except his mother and uncle.
His eyes lit up. "Has anyone else let you try theirs?" he asked. "You could use mine! If you won't get stuck talkin' like a boy, that is." He wondered if she would be able to talk like him any time she wanted. She could answer the phone like him and get people all confused in general, not even on the phone. He still thought it was pretty cool.
"TV...?" Blink. Interesting. She'd have to meet this TV one day, and find out just why it was such an interesting past time to watch him or her. "My sister has offered, however her voice is so soft one can barely hear it, and she sounds frightened all the time." Onoway didn't know yet if she could only sound like the person did when she was allowed to 'copy' their voice, for lack of a better word.
Quite frankly, she'd rather sound angry and have to explain that than if she had her siblings voice and made it seem like someone was about to beat her to death with a bat or something.
When she spoke again, it was indeed in his voice. "Thank you, that's very nice." Depending on the person her sometimes over-baring politeness could really get annoying. "This one is much better, even if it's for a boy. At least it doesn't sound so angry, hm?"
"That's really something," he said in response to his voice coming out of her mouth. "And it is... nicer." He never thought he would be saying that his voice was nice, but there it was. "Do you fly?" he asked, eyes drifting to her wings for the first time since he walked in. "I met someone else who could, but it seems scary."
She couldn't help but sound cheerful--she seemed to have various ranges of tone with this voice--and look it, too. It was nice to not sound like Noharu anymore!
Onoway shook her head. "No," she answered thoughtfully. "I'm not certain if I ever will. You see, my wings are very light. They're not strong enough. Perhaps in time they will be." Suddenly remembering the winged-teddy (otherwise known as 'Flutter) she'd placed across the room, calmly, she collected the stuffed toy.
"Are you afraid of heights? Or crashing?"
"Heights, I guess." He hadn't even ever considered crashing. Not good. "I kinda just don't ever want to leave the ground," he clarified. "It might not be so bad in a plane or something, but just hanging there," he raised his arms and flopped his neck like a ragdoll, "I wouldn't like it."
He looked at her wings again. "Well, they may not be strong, but your wings are pretty. Shiny, even."
"Thank you." How many times had she said that? A lot. "I find your appearence very interesting, and..." Now what was that word again? "Cool," she finished quickly. Yes, cool, that was a good thing.
"I'm not all that interested in flying, anyway." Or at least, not right now. She'd only been alive for such a short time! That seemed like something that needed practice to learn, and currently tending her plants took up all her extra time.
On to more important matters, "Tell me, are there more of us? More from this place?"
Sylvester smiled. "Yeah, there're a bunch. The one who can fly, his name's Angelus. And Aido and Jiro and Viddy and Lyris... yeah lots. I met them all here, and they all came out of there." He pointed at the closed Study door. "Mama said it was scary when I was born, so I try to keep away from there. But none of the other kids are scary, so I guess it's all right."
"I see..." So that was quite a few, and she'd safetly assume there were more. That would make them all the same type of...something. Like her sister was an 'Eden'. That meant she needed to try and meet more of her own kind! Hopefully, they'd be just as interesting. "I'm glad for that. I hope to meet all these people with the names you speak."
As if fate was slapping her across the face, the loud voice of Onoway's own 'mother' called from outside, "Onoway, get your a** out here!"
The Tale frowned. She couldn't even take the time to walk back in here? Ah, well, probably for the best. She was a bit much to handle for someone easily scared, and Onoway wasn't sure how much yelling her new friend could take. "Can you come here again sometime?" she whispered.
Sylvester heard Noharu's call and quickly turned toward the door. Was that Ono's mother? He swallowed. Well, she'd better get outside then.
"Yeah," he said, a little quieter than before, as if he didn't want the owner of the voice outside to somehow hear him through the door. "Too bad I don't know my way around or I could meet you somewhere else, but I'll tell Mama I want to come back a whole lot until we're here at the same time again." He grinned.
Onoway smiled back, and seemed ready to say something else, but before the words could even begin she was cut off.
"Onoway, NOW."
Though she'd been with her but a brief time, she knew better than to test Noharu's patience for very long. Muttering a near-silent 'farewell', she nodded quickly and hurried outside.
Sylvester waved goodbye to Onoway as she left and stood up, grabbing his coat. He hovered by the door for a few minutes until he thought Ono and her mother had gone and then started to push it open, getting a face full of it instead.
"Ow," he said from the floor.
"Sylvester?" Uncle Chucky said.
"Yeah."
Chucky peered around the door. "Sorry. Brownie won't get near this place without screaming her head off. We've got to go."
"I'm coming," Sylvester said as he stood again.
"Did you have fun?"
"Oh yeah! I met Ono. She's got wings and talks just like me!"
Chucky sighed. He shouldn't have gotten the kid started.
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Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2005 5:13 pm
Sylvester
The Office of Cheryl Kinney, M.D., Durem, Gaia
Saturday, December 3rd, 2005 | 12:47pm GST
Sylvester looked up at Doctor Kinney as she placed a pair of cold, hard plastic glasses onto the top of his nose. Into one side she slid a black thing, and after that she said, "Okay, honey. I want you to tell me what shapes these are. Right here." She was over by the wall now and she pointed to a row of blurry blobs. There was another row below that, and below that one was the end of the chart.
"'Kay," he said. Doctor Kinney had a cut on her wrist, hidden under the long sleeve of her white coat. Several, in fact. They ran up her arm like stripes on a candy cane. Mama had brought a whole box of candy canes home the other day. She said Santa had given them to her. Whoever this Santa guy was she kept mentioning, he must be pretty nice. The candy canes tasted good, but he would bet Doctor Kinney's stripey arm would taste better. He gasped at the sudden turn in his thoughts.
"What is it, honey?" She quickly crossed the room and touched the glasses. "Do they pinch?"
Pinch? No. He could feel Morry's tail brushing against the base of his ear in some sort of distraction tactic, but it wasn't going to work. He suddenly remembered how happy he had felt after... Tim? Who was that? Oh well, it didn't matter now.
"Could you come closer?" He'd barely said it at all. If she wanted to hear him, she would have to come closer. She stepped forward and he grabbed her wrist, turning it over and gently pushing back her sleeve. Nice, neat little cuts. He began to hum to himself as he picked at one of the scabs.
Several minutes later, Sylvester shuddered. Doctor Kinney was across the room, writing something in a pale orange folder.
"Well, Sylvester, it looks like we're going to have to get you some glasses." She smiled.
"Mmm hmm." Not again. What had just happened? That was disappointing. He clenched his fists, feeling very angry for a moment.
"You can go out to meet your mom now." She rummaged through her pocket briefly before holding a red lollipop out for him. On his way out of the exam room door, Sylvester made a grab for the candy, his hand brushing against the doctor's for a second.
There was a flash of something sweet, well, it was sweet if you liked sucking on pennies, but Sylvester thought it was wonderful. Candy canes. He took the lollipop. "Thanks."
Sylvester headed down the hall toward the waiting room, unwrapping the candy as he went. There were people all around him that he couldn't see - an elderly woman, a little girl and her father, Uncle Chucky... Uncle Chucky? He raced around the corner, not believing his uncle was really there, but hoping he was, since it would stop Mama from worrying so much. And... of course, he was just imagining things. Mama was there and she was reading, but there was no Uncle Chucky.
Smerdle looked up. "You done, kiddo?"
"Yeah."
"All right. Let me just pay and then we'll be out of here."
Good. This place was freaky. And that Doctor Kinney? Sylvester didn't think he liked her at all.
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Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:03 am
Rhea skipped happily up to the shop, her wool-mittened hands turning the doorknob before Elysia could even get to the front pathway, hands filled with bags. The little girl had been excitable all day, and always relished a chance to get away from the house. Elysia had brought her to town to buy Christmas gifts, and she figured that they may as well stop by the Stationary Shop on the way home...you never knew who'd be there.
"C'mon Sizzla! It's cold!" she shouted from the doorway, her breath lingering in the air in front of a pair of rosy cheeks. Holding the door open for her mother with as much strength as she could muster, the pair made quite an entrance into the Shop.
Elysia put the bags down on the ground, just inside the door, and proceeded to pull off her winter protective gear: gloves, scarf and hat...and of course, a winter coat. She would rather deal with summer heat than the frigid cold, and she liked to pile on the layers when she had to deal with the elements. "Alright...I wonder if anyone's here? Well, we'll take a look around and see. Rhea, we should find you a nice journal here while we're at it. I'm sure you'll want to learn to write soon..." she said, nodding to a shelf packed with empty books.
"Hey Sylvester!" Smerdle said, struggling to keep up with the Tale. She wasn't carrying bags, but she did have a homicidal baby strapped to her chest and the band-aid-covered hands of someone who had pissed said baby off before. "You sure you don't want to wear your hat?"
"Nuh uh," Sylvester said. His ears were a little cold, but they were almost there! He hoped someone else was in the shop, and he hoped they weren't bleeding. Strange things had been happening lately, and he wasn't quite ready to repeat them.
He stopped at the entrance to the shop and waited for his mother to catch up before pushing open the door and stepping inside, only to have his new glasses fog up instantly. "Cool," he said softly. "Mama, I can't see."
Smerdle waved briefly at the woman and little girl already inside before pulling off her son's glasses, wiping them off, and putting them back on his face.
Elysia had just finished taking off her coat and hanging it on the edge of a shelf when she heard people come into the shop. Turning, she saw a little...giraffe? and what seemed to be his mother...who wasn't a giraffe at all.
"Hello!" Elysia said, waving at the newcomers. "Nice to meet you! Come here often?" She extended a hand in greeting, as was customary for her.
Rhea had been perusing the journals that she could get at...those on the lowest shelves, when she heard commotion coming from the front door of the shop. Peeking her head around the bookshelf, she saw a young woman, and a funny looking kid come walking through the door. Her eyes grew wide as she realized just what he was. "No way!" she shouted as she jumped out from behind the bookshelf. "Are you really a giraffe!?" Her eyes were bright with excitement, and she was practically bouncing up and down, ready to ask questions. "That is SO cool."
"Hello," Smerdle said, taking off her glove and shaking Elysia's hand. "We don't come here as much as I'm sure Sylvester would like, but we're around." She smiled and started to remove her coat, careful not to jostle Brownie.
Sylvester looked around quickly for the source of the voice, calming when he saw it was someone close to his age with no visible claws or sharp teeth. "Not a real real giraffe," he said. "I came from here." He took a step closer. "What's your name?"
"Yeah, Rhea's always excited to come here. Most of the times that we're here, there's someone new to meet..." Noticing that the woman had a baby strapped to her chest, she offered a hand to help. "Here, let me get your coat for you. Looks like you've got all kinds of things to worry about! I'm Elysia by the way...You can call me Sizzla. That's what everyone else calls me anyway. What did you say your name was? And who is this little one?" she asked looking down at Brownie.
"What'a'ya mean, you're not a real giraffe? You certainly look like one...though you're much more civilized of course! I like your spots!" She shuffled a bit closer to the boy as well, wanting to take a closer look at him. She was infinitely curious about new people, and this kid would really take the cake for her meeting of Tales so far. Rhea thought that so far, he was the most interesting of all!
"I'm Rhea," she said, giving him a little bow. Last time, the bow had been appropriate for meeting Jiro, so she figured she'd do it again and see what happened. She wasn't too fond of the handshake, though she knew that Sizzla used it as her form of greeting. She thought of just running up and hugging his long neck tightly, but she resisted. She wanted to make friends, not scare the other Tales away. She was learning quickly what NOT to do. "Rhea Medea Arshan-Marvel. Nice to meetcha. Did you come from the Tome too?"
"Nice to meet you, Sizzla. Everyone calls me Smerdle. Well, it is my name, but not my first. Long story. Not that long, but I'm still not going to tell it." She grinned and let Sizzla take her coat. "This is Brownie," she continued, gesturing toward the baby. "I'm taking care of her for a bit since my friend is out of town."
"I'm Sylvester." He would have shaken Rhea's hand, but then she bowed and he thought it was pretty neat so he bowed a bit too, careful of his glasses. "Thanks about the spots. I don't think about 'em much." He poked at one and said, "Yeah, I came from the Tome. Mama said I'm six months old!" He extended his arm. "You can touch if you'd like."
"Nice name. Good to meet you Smerdle! No need to tell the story...My nickname's got quite a story behind it as well, but of course, there's no need for all that explanation," she said, and then looked down at the white and crimson-haired baby. "She's very pretty," Elysia commented. "Is she a handful? She looks like she might just be..." She gave a laugh, and looked over to where Rhea was introducing herself to the giraffe Tale. "Looks like they're making friends already. Did you get him from the Study?"
"A pleasure to meet you Syl-vester!" she exclaimed, happy that the bow had been appropriate. He seemed to like it enough to bow back, and she broke out into a wide grin. "Yeah, I'll bet you're used to the spots. I've just never seen anyone like you." She paused, giving him another look-over. "Six months! Wow, you're waaaay older than me," she said, instantly respecting the Tale based solely on his age. "I'll bet you know a lot more than I do about this Gaia world I was born into. Do you like it here? What do you do for fun? Are you a veggie-eater?" The last question was meant to be 'Are you a vegetarian?', but Rhea couldn't remember quite what the word was.
Reaching out with her hand at his offer, she made sure to ask permission first. "Can I? Can I hug you neck?" The request was innocent, but she wasn't sure if he'd think she was weird.
"You hear that? You're pretty," Smerdle said to the disgruntled toddler. Brownie squirmed and folded her arms, continuing to ignore the adults. "Yeah, a handful is probably the nicest way to put what she is," she laughed.
"Yup. I like all kinds of veggies," Sylvester answered, unfazed by Rhea's questions. After all, he liked to ask questions too, so why not answer some for a change? "Gaia's cool enough. For fun I mostly watch TV. But that's only really fun by myself. I also play in the yard or here," he added. "Me'n some other kids played upstairs once. There was a big baby bed with a jack-in-the-box and all sorts of other stuff, all scratched up." He had stood on his toes to emphasize the 'big' part, but dropped again by the end of the sentence. "It woulda been really scary without the other kids there. Maybe we could explore sometime?"
At her question, a smile spread across his face. Could she hug him? Well, sure! No one had ever asked like that, they just did it, usually picking him up in the process, a side effect he really didn't enjoy all that much. Just his neck? Okay! He couldn't remember a time anyone had wanted to hug it, although Viddy had pet it all those months ago. It was just a stupid neck that was so unbendy that he couldn't even reach his face half the time. But if it made her happy... "Sure!"
Aww. Smerdle couldn't recall Sylvester ever getting asked to be hugged before and it was, much to her dismay, adorable. "I came here for wedding invitations," Smerdle told Sizzla, smiling. "Not mine," she added quickly. "The Study was disturbing, but other people have different opinions, so I guess it's not the same for everyone. Has Rhea met any of the other kids from here?"
"Most of my kids were pretty well-behaved as babies, but I had one that was just a nightmare! She definitely was a handful. I can relate to that," Sizzla said, trying to get the toddler to break into a smile by making stupid faces at her. But of course, she got no reaction. "Tough cookie, she is," she said with a grin. "Actually, Rhea has met a few other Tales...We went to the Halloween Festival, and she got to meet Angelus and Chailyn. And just the other day we were here, and came across Jiro and his guardian Akiya." Sizzla shifted her weight to her other foot, looking around to see if there was somewhere they could sit and talk. "Wanna sit down somewhere? I know you've got an armful, and you're probably ready to take a load off..."
Rhea looked at the tall boy with glasses, a grin forming from ear to ear. He was answering her questions, and she appreciated the gesture. Some of the other Tales she'd met had backed off immediately once she'd started in on the questions, but Sylvester seemed more than happy to answer her inquiries. "I don't like too many vegetables really," Rhea said, nodding. "But I can see how you would like them. I've read about giraffes in books before, but I've never seen any up close!" She listened intently to what he liked to do, trying not to interrupt him.
"TV?" she asked, only having seen a television once...when it wasn't on. "I've seen a TV before, but Sizzla says it'll rot my brain, and I don't want that, oh no!" She said, shaking her head adamantly. She lowered her voice just enough so Sizzla couldn't hear, and held a hand up to deflect her voice while she whispered to Sylvester: "But I'd like to see this TV sometime. Maybe you can show me?"
Looking toward the back of the shop, Rhea wondered what could possibly be upstairs. "Do people live here? Maybe that's why there was baby stuff up there...But why was it all scratched up? Did you see anyone up there? We should definitely go exploring sometime! I don't think I'd get scared," she said, her voice sounding wary, but her face showing enthusiasm for the idea.
And then it was the moment Rhea had been waiting for...Ever since seeing this kid, she'd had this prodding urge to hug his neck. She didn't know why, but if he let her, she'd be more than happy to give it a squeeze. After he gave her permission, she ran her hands over his spotted coat, and up to his neck, where she tried to get her arms around it, to no avail. She was much too short for that...unless he helped her out a bit. Her cheeks reddened a bit, and she stood on tiptoe to "whisper" something into his ear...the ear that was quite far from where she was standing. "Can you bend down a bit...I'm kinda short," she said, hoping he'd oblige. It was a bit embarassing, but Rhea didn't care. She wanted to give into the hugging urge!
"Oh, that's good that she's met some of the others. He knows Angelus and Jiro, and he'll have to meet Chailyn too, once I tell him she exists. He mostly just knows whoever we've run into here." Smerdle looked around, choosing one of the armchairs near the one Huni had occupied the morning Sylvester had been born. Brownie stood up on Smerdle's lap to peek over the arm of the chair at the two Tales, but quickly sat again when she saw what idiots they were being.
Rhea's little hands on his fur felt funny, mostly because they were rubbing it half the wrong way, but it wasn't that bad. His ears pricked up at her request. Oh! He should have thought of that. Silly. "Yeah, sure," he said, trying to think of the easiest way to accomplish getting closer to the ground without the risk of losing his balance. Aha! Flicking his tail out of the way, he dropped to the floor, crossing his legs in front of him. "'Kay," he added, just to let her know he was settled.
"Yeah, we've run into a few people here. The Halloween Festival was fun, because Rhea got to meet a few people at once. It's been pretty hectic since she's arrived...I'm not used to a kid who's constantly curious about everything!" Sitting down in the chair next to Smerdle's, she gave a large sigh, her body relaxing as it hit the soft chair. "I hardly get a chance to sit down anymore, so this is nice. Rhea likes to drag me around when we get out of the house...It's quite a long walk to get here, and it's even worse when you're trying to keep up with an energetic little kid who likes to run! Do you live around here?" she asked, curious about where most people on Gaia lived. Gambino seemed to be full of tourists these days, all of them heading for the casino. At least her house was far enough away that the bright lights of the island city didn't disturb her.
As Sylvester moved into a new, more reachable position, Rhea stood back to watch him fold his legs underneath him, dropping down onto the floor. "That was very graceful, I must say," she said, giggling. "You're ready?" she asked, getting confirmation before wrapping her short arms around his neck. She gave it a squeeze, quite strong for a girl her age, and then released him, smiling happily. "Thanks! That really made my day!" She followed the hug up with a few more petting strokes of his spotted coat, and then plopped down in front of him, indian-style. Now that they were both sitting, they could be more comfortable. "So, what else do you like, besides TV? Do you read books?" Rhea thought that maybe they could find some other things that they had in common. "Do you like games?"
"We live a little outside Aekea, actually. But we used to live here, so I'm kind of attached. This week we're staying in Barton though, so it's fairly close." Smerdle leaned back in the chair, stretching her legs out in front of her.
Rhea attempted to wrap her arms around him again, and this time it worked! He held still for a moment, but then put his hand on her back and pat it a few times so the hug wouldn't be terribly one-sided. As she settled down in front of him, he leaned back on his arms, waiting for her to get comfortable and listening to her new questions. "Books are okay," he answered. "I can't read a lot of the ones we have at home, but one time I was in a place where I could read everything! It was awesome! Mama reads to me here, mostly." Hmm. He played games with Morry, but no one was supposed to know about her. "I've played tag and stuff. Hide and seek," he said. "But not much by myself. How 'bout you?"
Getting comfortable, Elysia pulled off her coat one sleeve at a time. Finally sitting back in her chair, she nodded to Smerdle. "I haven't spent too much time in Aekea...New things are popping up around there every day it seems. I'm a bit intimidated by urban sprawl. I used to live in Durem, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to raise all of the kids there. It can be rough sometimes..."
She went on while picking bits of lint off of her sweater, in an unconscious habit.
"But my oldest son, Kappa, he lives in Durem, and he loves it. Maybe I'm just getting old," she chuckled. "But I dunno. Living in the city doesn't appeal to me any more. What do you do for a living?" she asked. "If you don't mind me asking of course..."
Rhea appreciated Sylvester giving her a semi-hug, but she knew he was doing it to be nice. She had only asked to hug him, and had wanted nothing in return. It wasn't every day that you can say you've hugged a giraffe!
"A place where you could read everything?" A quizzical look crossed Rhea's face. "Where's that at? I think I want to go there! There are still some books that I think are hard to read...but I'm getting better at the reading thing...I really like hearing about things I've never seen before. It makes me want to experience everything!"
Games...did she like games? Come to think of it, Rhea had never played a game before...Maybe now would be a good time to start...
"Well, the only kinds of games I know are word games...But the games you're talking about sound fun. I've never played anything like that before...Do you think we could play some sometime?"
"It's still a bit rural where we are," Smerdle said, tugging at Brownie's little knitted poncho... thing. The toddler held on briefly, then let her aunt pull the piece of fabric off of her arms. "I suppose we were lucky. I'm sure no one wants to live where we do, but it's warm and it doesn't leak, so I can't complain. Most of my checks that don't go toward food, go to the cable bill. Sylvester's kind of a pop culture fanatic." At the question about her work situation, Smerdle ducked her head in embarrassment. "I act," she half-muttered. "Not so much anymore, but a few years ago I was on a soap and some commercials. Now it's mostly voiceover or jobs completely unrelated to acting. Those are definitely more common." She smiled to herself, suddenly finding fiddling with Brownie's clothing to be the most interesting thing in the world. After a couple of seconds, she looked up. "What do you do?" she asked. "If you don't mind me asking," she chuckled.
"Well..." How to describe Guaxa? He didn't even know where it was. "Um, the place I read the books wasn't here. And they weren't in Gaia letters. I don't read those too good," he answered. "If I ever find it again, I'll take you!" he said happily. Actually, he wasn't even sure that was possible. Coming home was kind of a huge blur. Oh well, he'd at least try.
Word games, huh? He'd probably stink at those. But hide and seek..."Yeah, sure. We could play anytime!" He looked over at his mother to make sure she didn't look like she was leaving. "Even now!"
"Living in the country would be nice...I live in a pretty secluded area of Gambino, but I still get a good deal of traffic around there. It seems like people are constantly coming and going. I can't even imagine what it'll be like in ten years." She stopped, checking out what Rhea and Sylvester were doing. They still seemed to be having a good time, so she turned back to Smerdle, glad that this new meeting was going well. The last playdate they'd had had been a bit...rough.
"I'm glad to see they're getting along. We met Jiro and his guardian last time we were here, and they had a time of it!"
When Elysia heard that Smerdle was an actress, her eyes lit up. She was always curious about the profession. "What soap were you on?" she asked, not really knowing any of them well enough to pick her out. "Commercials sound like they'd be good money. Seems like a good profession to me."
Shaking her head, she continued..."I work in publishing actually. I run my own music magazine, but now that I've got so many kids to look after, I've outsourced some of the work so that I'm not crazy busy. I also run a shop of my own, out of my house. I kind of stumbled onto it. I picked a gem up off of the beach one day, and a couple of days later, it had hatched into a creature that I call a Fury. Now, I find suitable guardians for the Furies. It defintely keeps me busy."
"It wasn't here?" Rhea asked, not quite understanding what Sylvester meant. "How did you find it?" Excited at the prospect of seeing this fantastic place, Rhea nodded furiously. "Please! If you ever find it again, make sure you tell me. I'd love to go."
Looking around, she saw that her mother was busy talking. Surely they had time to play a little game. "Can we really play now? We should! What are the rules?"
"It's called Glory's Peak. Still on the air, I think. I was the kid-sister type, so thankfully I didn't ever have any of those silly love scenes. I never kept up with it after they killed me so I have no idea what's going on now." She listened to Elysia talk about the Furies with interest. "Gems, huh? I've heard of some weird things coming out of the most ordinary objects lately. I mean, I've lived in Gaia all my life, I guess I just never paid attention to stuff like that before. Now it seems like every other kid came out of a book or an animal or a piece of food. Not that I mind, of course," she added.
Sylvester scratched at his arm for a second before answering, "I don't know how I found it either, really." He laughed. "It was a weird place."
He briefly glanced at Smerdle again before looking back at Rhea. "We should play Hide and Seek. I think Mama would be worried if I ran around a lot, even though we're inside. You don't have to run as much in Hide and Seek." He might have rolled his eyes, but he didn't really mind his mother's inconsistent doting, at least not yet. He sat up straighter before launching into an explanation.
"Okay. The first thing we've gotta do is pick who's It. That's the person that does the seeking. The other person hides and the It person counts to some number. I guess we pick one. Then the It person says 'Ready or not, here I come' and finds the one that's hidin'. And if the It person gives up looking... well, I don't know. My uncle's real good at finding me." He bit his lip. "That's it. Did I miss anything? I probably did. D'you have any questions?"
Elysia couldn't help but laugh as she pictured this poor woman being "killed off" on TV. "Are you serious?" she said between giggles, "You were the kid sister type and they killed you?! That's really unfortunate. I hope you didn't mind the loss of your job!" She chuckled again, and gave an "aaahhhh" of satisfaction, as if she'd just heard a great joke.
"I don't think I've been in Gaia all my life...I just sort of woke up here one day...That was about two years ago, and I can't remember anything of what came before I got here," she said, replying to Smerdle's thoughts of babies coming from inanimate objects. "I've seen so many strange things since I've been here, but I'm not sure if I saw them before I came here either. It's been fairly normal for me to adopt children of questionable background. I even have a son that grew from a piece of fermenting sushi. It's been...quite an experience."
Rhea listened to Sylvester explain the game with rapt attention. She wanted to be sure that she played the game correctly. It was important to Rhea to be upstanding when playing games, and she made sure that her behaviror was always good sportsman-like. The competitive flame within her suddenly lit up, and she rubbed her palms together in anticipation.
"Okay, we'll be quiet. I'm sure we won't be loud enough to bother your mom or mine. They look like they're enjoying each other's company at least...So, who's It?" she asked. "I can be It first if you want. But if I can't find you, and it's been a really long time, you should just holler out. OR, I can say, "Sylvester, come out come out wherever you are! I GIVE UP!" She gave a nod at the end, just for enthusiasm's sake, and grinned widely.
"Wait, how long do you think I should look for you before I ask you to come out? I wouldn't want you to have to hide forever..."
"Nah, I didn't mind losing that particular job," Smerdle said with a grin. "It was a mutual decision. They needed someone to kill for November sweeps, and I thought the place was weird. Too weird to stick around. I'm happier with the voice overs and stuff, even if I don't get a regular paycheck." She nodded.
"Sushi? Really? That's certainly interesting." Smerdle couldn't really imagine her food coming to life, and luckily she didn't have to try for long. Brownie had dozed off after listening to as much of the boring adults as she could stand, but now she twitched in her sleep and awoke with a sharp cry. Smerdle yanked her hand away from the baby's back, just in time to avoid the blade-wings as they sliced through the air. "Ha HA!" Smerdle laughed with triumph. She looked to Sizzla apologetically. "Sorry," she said. "It's just I avoid them so rarely." She sat back and reached into her pocket, offering the baby her house keys to play with.
"Anyway," Smerdle said, "Running your own shop sounds really interesting! Publishing too! I should really get out more."
"Yeah, you should be It," Sylvester agreed. He wasn't sure exactly how good he would be at hiding, seeing as how he was rather...cumbersome, but he would try his best. It was different when you played against an adult. They were all huge!
"That's a good thing to yell," he said, smiling back. "We should just play down here so I can hear you if you yell it," he added. Plus, the upstairs was much more fun for exploring than hiding in, and since Rhea had already agreed to exploring at some point, they could do it later. Exploring and playing were probably best left separate anyway.
He quirked his head when she asked how long she should look for him, but quickly straightened when he felt his glasses start to slip. Good question. "I don't really know. It's supposed to be fun, so I guess until you're not havin' fun anymore. A couple of minutes?" he ventured.
"Hey, whatever works, you know? You've gotta get by somehow. At least it was a mutual decision." Elysia thought back to the first time she saw Kappa, and she smiled. "Yeah, it was interesting...and very unexpected. You could say he was my first adopted kid. He's a good kid though. Right now, he's talking about moving in with his girlfriend. They get so old so fast!"
Gasping as she saw Smerdle barely miss getting cut by the baby's blade wings. "Damn, that's frightening! I'd probably get cut all the time! What's her name? And where did you find the little bundle of joy?" She laughed slightly, still eyeing the deadly wings.
"Running the shop gives me something to do, and it helps me meet people. I really don't get out as much as I should...I'll bet I'm in as much as you are! I like being at home though."
"Okay. Just downstairs then. We don't need to go too far. I'm afraid I won't be able to find you!" Rhea nodded vehemently, truly believing that Sylvester might be able to camoflauge himself somehow. "I'll yell that out after it seems like it's been a long time. Or, if you get bored, I guess you can just come out."
Then, the little girl closed her eyes tightly, and to enforce the point, she covered them with her hands. "Okay, I'm readdyyy! Go hide! And be sure to say when you're ready..."
Smerdle smiled. She couldn't imagine Sylvester ever growing big enough to want to leave home, let alone have a significant other. And really, were there any Tales tall enough?
"Oh yeah, I like staying in too, it's just that when I do come out I feel so out of the loop. Lately, I've only been here or at my friend's pawn shop, and sometimes I just feel I should be doing more. It's just a... quarter-life crisis or something, I'm sure." She chuckled.
"Way to bring down the conversation, huh? I don't know what gets into me sometimes, honestly." Brownie suddenly threw the keys on the ground and looked up at Smerdle expectantly. "Oh, and you," she said, picking up her keys and returning them to Brownie. "Her name's Brownie. She's my best friend's daughter, but he's kind of out of town at the moment. I think he told me he found her in the garbage, but he could have just as easily been kidding. He mentioned there being other kids like her out there. Well, not exactly like her, I suppose, but from the same place. Like Rhea and Sylvester are. She's not so bad most of the time, but she does like to use those wings. There's not much force behind them yet, or I would probably be missing fingers."
Sylvester waited until Rhea covered her eyes and then waved his hand in front of her face briefly. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it just seemed like the thing to do. Then he tiptoed away toward the back of the shop, slipping into a room he'd always wondered about.
Boxes. Well, the dream of a room full of candy or toys was shattered, but that didn't make it any less of an excellent room to hide in. Eventually, he found two fairly large, empty boxes stacked on top of each other. Perfect. He propped the bottom box open a little, but then thought better of it and closed it gently, instead going back over to the door and yelling, "Ready!" This game would really benefit from him learning to throw his voice. Sylvester rushed back over to his box and got in, carefully closing the lid and hoping he wasn't seen.
Quarter-life crisis eh? Elysia could feel that...times had not been so easy for her either. But once she arrived on Gaia, her life had become much more pleasant. Maybe it was because she had more things to occupy her time...Who knew? But still, she couldn't complain. She was pretty happy being a homebody too.
"Well, since we both like staying at home, maybe we could switch it up sometime...Perhaps we could hang out at each other's houses every now and then. You know, if you ever feel like getting out, but feeling homey at the same time. I'm just as out of the loop as you are, I'm sure." She smiled, totally honest with her invitation. Smerdle seemed cool.
And hey, maybe Elysia would get a new friend out of this trip to the store too...Most adoptive parents were pretty good people, and all the Tale authors she'd met so far had been quite pleasant.
Looking at Brownie, Elysia made another googley face at her, hoping to crack a smile from the serious kid. "Well, it's good that you've avoided them so far...Those things could slice off a chunk of a leg or something! God knows what she'll do with them when she gets older...I wonder if she'll be able to use them to fly? Do you know if she can?" Elysia was almost as full of questions as her young charge.
At the first mention of Sylvester's readiness, Rhea slid her fingers apart a bit, scanning the room through "Finger-Vision". Seeing that he wasn't immediately spottable, she quickly began examining the front room of the shop, looking behind shelves and display tables. Not finding him, he checked behind the front counter. Glancing to and fro, she put a hand on her hip. No spots. No Sylvester. "Syl---vesss---terrrr! Where arrreeee youuuuuu?!?" She was just teasing him at this point. If she got more desperate to find him, she knew the trick to use...
She turned to the doorway at the back of the shop--the one open to the back hallway. Scanning into the dim light of the hall, she noticed a few cracked doors...Perhaps he was in one of those rooms, she thought. First, she'd try the door on the right.
Putting her fingers in the crack in the door, she slowly pulled it open, her eyes adjusting to the things inside. A squeal of fright came from Rhea's lips as she looked up to face a very scary creature!
It's head looked like it had dreads like her mother!
And it was TALL!
And SKINNY!
"Eeeek!! Oh Sylvester, you scared me!" the little psion shouted as the creature plopped down directly on her head. Realizing what it was, she laughed heartily.
"Of course," she thought from beneath the pile of brooms and mops. "It's the supply closet..."
Standing up again, propping the mops and brooms back up against the wall, she stepped out of the closet and shut the door. No one needed to play hide and seek in there...
Walking across the hallway, cattycorner to the broom closet, there was another open door. It was her next target.
"Oh, that would be fun!" Smerdle said. With her best friend wandering the country somewhere, Smerdle was at a definite loss for things to do with herself.
Brownie looked up from bashing the keys into Smerdle's leg and smiled back at Elysia, managing to fill the expression with a surprising amount of false sentiment for one so young. That, combined with her fairly sharp teeth, made quite a negative impression.
"Stop that," Smerdle scolded. "Well, she weighs as little as other kids her age I've held, so the wings must be fairly light. If she ever learned to fly, I'd fear for Gaia."
Sylvester sat in the dark box, accompanied only by the sound of his own breathing for several minutes. He finally shifted his weight. Maybe this hadn't been the best place to hide.
"Eeeek!!"
What was that? Sylvester stood up and pushed his box open with the top of his head. He heard a clatter and then laughter. If someone was laughing nothing bad could've happened, right? He could see the open door from his vantage point, so a minute later when a shadow fell across the floor in the hall, he ducked and the lid fell a few inches, jostling the box on top. Oh great. He smiled and squished himself up as small as he could get in the bottom of his box.
"Hey, any time you wanna hang out, I'm free..." she said, laughing. "I have no life. I'll give you my number before we leave." Elysia was pleased to turn back to Brownie to see her smiling at her. "Aww, look at that! A cute face! I didn't think it was possible!"
Obviously, Brownie was not happy.
"Yeah, I'd be afraid to know what she'd do if she could ever fly. Looks like she might have plans on wreaking havoc on the world..." Sitting back in her chair, she looked around the shop, no longer hearing Rhea and Sylvester's voices. "They must be playing hide and seek now...I wonder how that's going? They seem to be having a good time together."
Rhea walked in through the open door, looking right...and then left. Nothing. The room was dark, but lit enough from the light of the hallway for Rhea to be able to see. She started moving around the room, searching behind boxes and bags and shelves. But Sylvester was nowhere to be seen.
"Sylvester-r-r-r, are you in here?" she asked quietly, moving around to the other side of the room to search further. Not thinking of looking between two boxes stacked on top of one another, Rhea stopped and closed her eyes, picturing Sylvester in her mind...
Pushing her thoughts outward, focusing on Sylvester, Rhea called again. But this time, it wouldn't be heard out loud...Only Sylvester would hear the voice, ringing through his head.
Sylvester! Are you here!? Come out come out wherever you are!
She hoped it'd give him a bit of a scare. She was only trying to have a little bit of fun...She rarely used her powers, as she was still getting used to them...but at least the headaches were going away.
Havoc. That sounded pretty cool. Brownie looked down at her hands and flapped her wings slowly. Maybe she should try this flying thing.
"Yeah, they certainly do," Smerdle said. Sylvester had never really been one for running around with others, preferring to stand around and ask questions, but Rhea seemed to be bringing out an childish activeness in him. "He plays around the house by himself," Smerdle added. "I didn't know he knew the rules to Hide and Seek. It's funny the things he picks up when I'm not paying attention."
Not more than a minute after he ducked back into his box, Sylvester started to hear rustling and nearby boxes moving around. Oh, he was certainly found out now! But then the scuffling moved away and Sylvester heard Rhea's voice. It was quiet, but still in the room. Then there was nothing.
Had she left? He didn't dare look out in case she was waiting for him to slip up.
Holding still and waiting... Sylvester had never been very good at it, unless he was sick. But...
Sylvester! Are you here!? Come out come out wherever you are!
What was that?! Sylvester made an squeaking sound and shot up out of the box, but all he saw was Rhea standing still and facing the other way. Come to think of it, the voice had sounded like hers. And who else would be asking him to come out?
"Rhea! That's so awesome!" The box above the one Sylvester was hiding in, which until now had been precariously balanced on the lid he held propped open, fell to the floor with a loud clatter.
"Yeah, kids tend to pick up stuff you'd never imagine. Rhea's a little thinktank if you ask me. She's always asking questions about things, and if I don't know the answer, she'll go look it up in a book or on the Internet. It's as if she wants to know everything there is to know. Let me tell you, she's got more wrinkles in her brain than I do," Elysia said. Suddenly, she remembered something she wanted to ask Smerdle, and all the other guardians she'd come across so far. "What was Sylvester's question? You know, in the tome?"
Giggling, Rhea spun around on her heel to see Sylvester pop out of the two boxes. It had worked! "Hey, there you are!" she said, pointing at him and giggling to the point where she almost had to sit down. She was pleased that her telepathy had worked. It was something she'd been working on, and it had been getting easier as the time went on. "I think it's cool too! I just learned how to do it not long ago..." she said, slipping off into her inner voice.
I wonder how far I can project? Can you hear me clearly? she asked, curious about how far she could push her mind. Maybe I could try my mom...Or your mom! she suggested, now wanting to try it out more. She was surprised that it had worked, and now she wanted to test out her newfound telepathic powers. She'd never actually tried it on a living person before, but she'd spent many hours in her room, thrusting her thoughts at stuffed animals who would never react.
"But guess what?!" she said out loud, before they could finish talking about telepathy. "I found you!
"Sylvester used to ask a lot more questions," Smerdle said. "Not that he still isn't curious, I just think he gets most of his answers from the television these days. Probably not the best source of knowledge," she admitted.
She sat up straighter and glanced at the Study when asked about Sylvester's question. It still creeped her out, thinking of her experience in there. Sure, it had left her with a sweet little boy to take care of, something she hadn't thought herself capable of, but she had never been as scared in all her life as she had been in that room. "I... it was 'How did you know it was me?'" she answered. "I wrote something about blood... 'It's in your blood.' An old lady on the street told me to, and I didn't think to ask why. I never saw her again. It was the strangest thing." Smerdle stared ahead for a moment before Brownie punched her leg and muttered some baby-curse. "But I'm thankful, of course. If I hadn't had such a strange day, I wouldn't have Sylvester now." Smerdle pulled Brownie's hair away from the toddler's back. "What was Rhea's question?"
Sylvester laughed and half-climbed, half-stumbled out of his hiding place. "Yeah, you found me," he said. "But that was too cool to keep hiding!" He came to stand at her side again. "I could hear you just fine. I don't know how Mama would react though..." He grinned. She would probably flip out. Hey! "Can you do it to Brownie?"
Elysia nodded. Kappa had been a huge fan of televison the first time he'd seen it, but Rhea had been nothing like him. "Rhea's not a huge fan of television...I think she can see through the transparency of things...I dunno. She seems to get most of her answers from books...and she's learning how to use the computer now too. I'm afraid I may have started an obsession with the Internet..." She chuckled, knowing that she herself was an Internet junky.
"Interesting question and answer..." She said, a finger tapping her chin. "Do you have any idea what it means? I have some idea of the meaning behind Rhea's question and answer...but there are causes left to be discovered." She paused. "Her question was 'Why does my head ache?' And the answer: 'It's all in your mind...just a figment of your imagination.' Strange, isn't it?"
"Before Rhea came, I had been getting horrible headaches, and I'd been having strange, but very vivid dreams. In them, I looked like an older version of Rhea, and I was looking out over a very strange technicolor landscape. I had these dreams on several occasions before I came to be Rhea's guardian...I can only think that it was meant to be," Elysia said, shrugging.
"Awesome! I was hoping that you'd be able to hear me loud and clear. That's a good sign. I've been trying to make it work, but I haven't been able to try it on anyone yet." Rhea giggled at the thought of mind-speaking to the toddler with the deadly wings. Hopefully she wouldn't freak out. After all, those blades looked sharp.
"Yeah! We should try it!" She exclaimed, hopping on her feet a little bit. "I'll bet it'll scare her!" Rhea ran to the stockroom doorway, and poked her head around the other side, looking down the hallway to where the adults were talking. "It looks like they're busy...We can just walk up there and talk to her....Or maybe I can do it from further away. I'll just have to try it out I suppose."
"That is strange. But interesting too. I didn't have any dreams, but that woman did seem to know about the Tome beforehand. I hope they don't all have some sort of Grand Purpose," Smerdle said with a bit of a scoff. "It would be nice if they could just be normal kids. Or as normal as any kid is on Gaia."
Brownie tucked a wing close to her body and lay back on Smerdle, bored with the adults yet again.
Sylvester peered around the doorframe too, but pulled his head back in the room before speaking. "We could go out into the hall a little bit and pretend like we're just walking slow or something," Sylvester said, excited about possible Brownie-torment. It wasn't like the head-talking hurt or anything, and it was unlikely Brownie would even remember it when she got older. "Do you need to think a lot to do it, or can you walk around and look normal?" He had been so shocked by her voice in his head that he had failed to notice if it seemed to take any effort.
"Yeah, wouldn't it though? Very few of my kids are what you'd call "normal". Most of them have crazy powers or have grown up from gems and pieces of food. It'd be nice to have a kid who just likes to go outside and play."
Glancing toward the back hallway, Elysia could see the giraffe Tale and the pison peek their heads out from the storage room, and then quickly duck back in. "Look," Elysia said, motioning with her head toward the pair. "They look like they're plotting something," she commented with a sly smile.
After watching Sylvester peek his head through the door, Rhea plotted, wondering just how close she'd have to get. "I can do it pretty easily," Rhea said, addressing his concerns. "I'll bet we could just walk up there, and I could do it without being obvious. Let's just try walking over there, and I'll try to talk to her when we get a bit closer, okay?" She nodded, looking giddy. This would be a fun trick...
"Ready?" she asked, stepping out into the hall and looking toward the front of the shop. "I am when you are..."
Smerdle leaned back in her seat and peeked out of the corner of her eye at Sylvester and Rhea. "Yeah," she said to Elysia. "I wonder what."
Brownie sighed, not paying attention at all. She was tired and she just wanted to get home and play with her Idle Thoughts. Sylvester was stupid, adults were stupid, Sylvester's new friend was stupid. She poked a finger into her own leg and made a quiet peeping sound for fun.
"Okay. I'm ready," Sylvester said. He stepped out into the hall just after Rhea and tried to look like he wasn't being sneaky.
"Do they look like they're plotting something?" she asked Smerdle jokingly. "One can only wonder what these kids come up with." She turned her head toward the pair as the walked toward the front of the shop.
"Hi Mom!" Rhea said, waving to Elysia as she half-skipped toward the chairs where the pair of women were talking. "We just finished our game of hide-and-seek. It was pretty fun! Sylvester had a great hiding spot. I couldn't find him for the longest time."
Before she got all the way to the women, she focused on the baby with the murderous wings, pushing her thoughts outward. "How about you? Do you like hide-and-seek Brownie?" she asked the baby, her inner voice sounding a bit scary--on purpose of course. She smiled as she finished her sentence, wondering how the kid would react...Rhea was always curious if people would try to talk back to her. She thought that anyone could use telepathy with lots of practice. It was a matter of tuning your mind to a different frequency. And if someone even tried to talk back, Rhea was sure she'd be able to pick up some of their response, even if their psionic abilities were minimal. All people give off brainwaves...it was just a matter of finding them.
Smerdle quickly nodded to Elysia before smiling at the kids. "Hide and seek is a pretty fun game. I'm afraid it's not too fun for me now, being so big and easy to spot, but I used to play..."
Brownie had stopped poking her own leg and her eyes had been barely open for a couple of minutes now. She was far away from dreaming, but suddenly she heard a voice in her head and snapped awake. It was like some sort of demon, some sort of scary, scary demon that she shouldn't be afraid of. She was Brownie, after all, and she wasn't afraid of anything! "No!" she said, out loud and probably in her head too. "No no no no no no no no!"
"What's wrong with you?" Smerdle said, pulling Brownie's arms away from her face and trying to look her in the eye.
"Nooooo!" Brownie ended the shriek by biting down on Smerdle's forearm. Luckily, it was encased in sweatshirt, so she didn't do much of anything. She flopped back against Smerdle's lap, crossing her arms and huffing angrily.
Sylvester gazed on in awe as his cousin flipped out. So that's what an insane baby looked like. "Brownie?" he asked tentatively.
She fixed him with the evil eye and stuck out her bottom lip. The Shattered knew Sylvester had something to do with this.
"Yeah, it gets harder when you get bigger," Rhea agreed. "Sylvester's pretty tall, but he managed to fit between two boxes!"
She giggled as Brownie broke out into a hissy fit, turning to look at Sylvester and see his reaction. "What's wrong with her?" she asked the giraffe Tale, trying not to bust out laughing. Rhea was a dead-giveaway. She was gonna be the kid that got everyone else in trouble.
"Well, she certainly doesn't look happy," Elysia said, focusing her attention on the baby, but seeing Rhea and Sylvester out of the corner of her eye. It was them, wasn't it? "Are you okay Smerdle? Man, she can bite!" she exclaimed, checking out the baby-sized bite marks on Smerdle's sweatshirt. "Looks like it's about nap time."
Oh right. He was supposed to be acting innocent. Sylvester smiled a bit too big and said, "I don't know, Rhea."
"I think so," Smerdle said, glancing at Sylvester. "Nap time. We should go home."
"Mamaaa." It wasn't a very long whine, but it was there. It looked like their plan for some fun at Brownie's expense had backfired.
Rhea snuck a smile to Sylvester. "You really have to go?" she asked, with just a tinge of whininess. "Well, we'll hang out again sometime. You're really fun Sylvester!" She reached up and petted his neck one more time--for good measure.
"We should get home too. It's getting late, and it's quite a trip back." She turned to the other woman and smiled. "Anytime you want to get out of the house, give me a call. We'll go out and have a night on the town or something," she laughed. "Or if you guys ever want to come swimming, the beach is right out the door." Elysia picked up their coats and ushered Rhea into hers, zipping her up tightly. "It was lovely to meet you both. It's been a really pleasant afternoon." She gave Brownie a light tap on the nose, and Smerdle a pat on the shoulder.
"C'mon Rhea, ready?"
"Yep." she answered, turning back to the pair. "We'll hang out again soon, okay?"
"You're fun too," Sylvester said. He doubted he would ever get another chance to play such a cool game of Hide and Seek. When she pet his neck again, he held still, not knowing how to reciprocate. He supposed just letting her do it was enough and he smiled a bit in response.
"See you soon!" Smerdle said. She waved with her free hand, now that Brownie had resettled, but didn't make the toddler do the same like other parents. Not that she was against puppeting kids around when they were being sulky, she just didn't want to open herself up to injury.
Sylvester waved like his mother and nodded at Rhea. He was sure they would have a chance to hang out in the future. It had to get warm again someday, right? "Bye!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:24 pm
It had been while since Nalira had been in the Stationary shop, and she had a great feeling of freedom when she was there. She gently nudged the door open, moving her walking cane skillfully infront of her frame, moving forward at a slow, yet steady pace.
She stumbled slightly, placing a hand in front of her to feel for a chair. She smiled as her hand came in contact with fabric, falling heavily into the chair she had found, coughing slightly as dust rose from her heavy impact.
She ran her fingers through her dirty, blonde, man-cut hair, sighing heavily. A feeling of relaxation fell over her, her breath becoming slow and deliberate. She yawned, placing her cane next to the chair, sinking tiredly into the chair.
Although she lived with Lemonlime, the Stationary Shop had alway felt like home. It was, afterall, where she was born. She closed her eyes, resting her head on her hand, yawning once more. Lemonlime would probably be worrying right now - she kind of left without saying a word. Oh well, she'd explain when she got home.
Sylvester was very excited. Today was the first day ever that Mama had let him come to the Shop all by himself! Sure, there had been that one time he'd been inside for a while without her, but she'd dropped him off, so it wasn't the same. The same with that other time when Uncle Chucky had been just outside when he'd been meeting Onoway. Didn't count. This time he had left Mama and Brownie all the way at the pawn shop and had gotten here all alone. It was almost too much awesomeness to handle.
Pulling his hands from his pockets, Sylvester pushed on the door. Maybe Onoway would be here now! That would be fun. Or Rhea, even! Fun! Or Jiro, or Viddy, or Tybalt, or Angelus, or Aido - man, he knew a lot of people.
He stuck his head inside first and said, "Hello?" before inching his way in, blinking at the change in brightness.
Nalira jerked awake, her head snapping over to the door. She stood, crouching down to pick up her can, standing upright and running her hands over her clothes in a desperate attempt to straighten them.
She coughed into her hand, swinging the cane in front of her once more and moving over to the door, placing her hand on the doorknob. She tilted her head, closing the door and listening for the comforting click that reassured her it was closed, scratching her head.
"Uh, hello?" She asked curiously. Had she heard someone, or was it part of her dream? No, she wasn't even dreaming to begin with. She could sense someone, a distinct aroma. She turned her head to the smell, smiling.
"Oh, hello there." Although she didn't know who was standing there, she knew it wasn't someone she knew - she had memorized everyones smell so she could identify them. She offered a polite smile, her oversized-canines visible when she smiled.
"Oh, hi!" Sylvester said after the girl had closed the door and stopped in front of him. She didn't seem to be looking at him. Well, she was looking at him, but not at him. "I'm Sylvester." He waved his hand a little, knowing that it wouldn't make a difference.
The Tale looked around. There was something strange going on here. Something in this shop was making him twitchy again. He hadn't been twitchy for a long time, even with that whole eye doctor thing. He fiddled with his coat, finally deciding to take it off and hang it on the rack by the door. Not noticing her teeth, which would have normally made him nervous, he said, "You wanna sit down?" It was a strange thing to ask someone he didn't even know, but he suddenly didn't feel so hot.
She smiled, nodding her head head at his question. She moved over closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. She pulled her cane from her side and placed it infront of her body, swinging it gently.
"Sylvester? That's a really loverly name. I'm Nalira." She stated politley, advancing forward. She stumbled slightly, but it was nothing major, more like tripping over her feet. She listened for the comforting clunk of her cane hitting the chair, and let out a sigh of relief when she heard it.
She sunk heavily into the chair, letting out a satisfied breath. She turned her head around to where she assumed the Tale was, but could never be fully certain, he could have moved or sat down already.
"I'm assuming you're a Tale?" She asked tenderly, raising a hand to the back of her neck and rubbing it gently.
He followed a little behind and waited for her to sit before he took the seat opposite. He had caught her name, but her question flew over his head and around the room a while as he settled himself. Finally, he answered, "Y...yeah. I came from in there." He started to point toward the Study, then dropped his hand to his lap when he realized the gesture wouldn't help. "Nice to meet you."
Sylvester took a deep breath and looked at Nalira, really looked, for the first time since he'd entered the shop. She seemed normal enough, minus that scar over her eye and the whole blind thing. Maybe that's what had caused it? He inhaled in preparation to ask, then decided that wasn't the nicest subject to start grilling her about. He fidgeted and lifted his hand to scratch at his forearm, when suddenly the twitchiness stopped. What the...? Wow. That was weird.
"How'd you get that scar?" he blurted, excitement over the abrupt departure of his discomfort overwhelming his usual sense of tact. He sat back in his chair, eyes wide with embarrassment. "Sorry," he added quickly. "You don't have to answer that if you don't wanna."
She smirked at his abruptness, chucking under her breath. She seemed to be looking above him, although she wasn't really looking, she was thinking. She placed a finger on her lip, intruiged by the little Tale. She then moved her hand to her scar, fingering it tenderly.
"What? This old thing? I'm not really sure. I was born with it when I came from over there." She gestured over to the Study, before laying her hand in her lap. She lowered her head, staring almost through the young Tale.
"So, uh, what do you look like?" She asked cautiously, biting her nail gently. It was an unusual question, yes, but under the circumstance it seemed perfectly normal. She wanted to atleast imagine what the Tale she was conversing with looked like.
Oh good, she wasn't mad. But then again, if he'd had any scars, he wouldn't have been mad if someone asked about them. Scars were awesome! Receiving them... well that wasn't, but he didn't need a scar that badly.
What did he look like? "Giraffey," he said, lacking a better explanation. Remembering Rhea's nearly obsessive desire to hug his neck, he said, "You can touch if you want." He didn't mind really. Being petted on was kind of fun.
She smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. She usually touched anyway, but it was good to have permission prior. She moved forward, taking a seat next to him. She looked over in his direction, tenderly putting her hands forward and resting on his skin.
She ran her fingers up his neck, smiling. He was furry, and unbelievably soft, causing her fingertips to tingle. She ran her fingers all the way up his neck, gently stroking his face to determine his features before resting on his nose. She withdrew her hands, leaning against her chair and simply staring forward for a few moments, his face swimming before her. Realizing she was still in company, she turned her head back around, grinning.
"You're adoreable." She complimented, gently ruffling his hair - or, fur on the top of his head.
Seconds after she touched his neck, Sylvester closed his eyes and held perfectly still. The twitchiness was back but much fainter this time, and it stopped once her hands were gone, resurfacing briefly when she tousled his hair. At her compliment, he ducked his head and blushed, though it wouldn't show much through his fur.
"Thanks," he muttered, politeness taking precedence over little-boy-compliment-cooties. Seeing her grin, he smiled too. "D'you come here a lot?" he asked. "Everyone I've ever met was from here and all of them were small 'cept Aido. Linny too, but I haven't seen him in a looong time."
She frowned, shaking her head. "I don't come here as often as I'd like to. It's almost like home - ah, is something bothering you?" She couldn't see him twitching, but she could sence tension. She rubbed the back of her neck gently, biting her lip - hard enough to cause her nerves to twinge yet soft enough not to draw blood.
"I hope I'm not bothering you." She muttered softly, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. She reminded herself not to smile as much for her oversized canines were clearly visible and prone to scaring people. Of course, she wouldn't hurt anyone, but still, she could understand their fear.
"Oh no," he said hastily. "Keep going!" Please. "I like hearing about other people. My family's boring." He laughed a little to himself at this, and was relieved it didn't sound forced. It wasn't forced! Nalira was cool! There had been a lot of weird things going on lately, most of which he was sure he didn't know the half of, but the one plaguing him now certainly took the cake. Sylvester shook his head sharply for a second and looked toward the Study. He sat up straighter and forced himself to relax. There was no reason Nalira had to be uncomfortable too.
Nalira raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. There was something wrong, and whether or not he was going to admit to it, she just knew that there was. She shrugged her jacket further up onto her shoulders, averting her gaze.
"I hate taking about my life. Tell me a little more about yourself and your family." She insisted, giving a forced smile and looking down, pulling her hands together and shifting into a more comfortable posistion.
"I'd love to hear."
Well, now he'd done it. He opened his mouth to... do something... change the subject, actually talk about his family, he didn't know. All he knew was that amid Nalira's shifting and shrugging, he saw something. It was tied around her neck, and it was very red and more than very captivating. He was twitchy and itchy and all kinds of unpleasant-feeling, but still, whatever that thing was around her neck was beautiful.
"What's that?" he whispered. He leaned forward as if he was talking directly to the vial, which he probably was at this point.
Nalira rose a hand tenderly to the vile. She stroked it gently, letting out a sigh, leaning her head back. She closed her eyes, gently tugging at the vile, the rope snapping from her neck. She held the vile in her thumb and index finger, shaking her head.
"Blood. My blood." She whispered, shaking her head. She pocketed the vile, shuddering at the thought. She let out a trembling breath, offering the Giraffe Tale a polite smile.
"Don't worry about that. It was just, something I was given when I was little. Nothing important." She rubbed her nose nervously, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. She wasn't sure how he would take that information. She rubbed the scars on her arm subconsciously, rolling her shoulders.
He watched her as she pulled the rope off of her neck and slid the tiny container into her pocket. Her own blood? Not again.
All at once, the twitchiness stopped. Completely. It was as if some band of skin cooties, upon hearing whose blood it was, had instantly lost interest and vacated the area.
"Oh," he said. Well, that was a weird present. But he supposed it was none of his business. All right. She didn't like talking about herself. He could think of something to say. Right?
"Have you ever heard of Santa? Mama's always talking about him like I should know who he is, but I've never heard of him before." It might have seemed like a leap in the logic of the conversation, but now that he felt better, he was honestly curious.
Sylvester might have no longer been bothered by the presence of Nalira's blood, but someone else was. Montmorency peeked out from behind Sylvester's ear and went briefly non-camouflagey in annoyance. The lights on her head flickered for a moment before she silently ducked back into his hair.
Nalira laughed softly under her breath, flashing him a toothey grin. She pulled her hair back from her face, sitting forward. She coughed into her hand, chewing on her bottom lip.
"Of course I have. Who hasn't heard of Santa? On Christmas eve, Santa rides through the sky in his sleigh, pulled along by his nine reindeer. The one at the very front is named Rudolf, and he has a red nose to light the way.
Then Santa leaves presents for little Tales alla round the world. They wake up on christmas morning and open up their presents. He's a very friendly person." She smiled, reaching forward and gently ruffling the Giraffe Tale's hair.
"If you've been good, he'll give you a present. But if you've been bad, you won't get anything." Nalira didn't believe in Santa anymore, but it sure was fun telling the tale of jolly old Saint Nicholas.
Reindeer in the sky? Did they fly? That was pretty cool! No wonder Mama talked about this Santa guy a lot. And presents? Yeah, Mama mentioned that. Presents were awesome! But there was one thing Sylvester wasn't clear about.
"How does he get in? Santa, I mean," he asked. "Does he break in?" He had obviously been watching too much Law & Order.
Montmorency ducked close to Sylvester's scalp as Nalira ruffled his hair again. Despite being metallic, she was the same temperature as he was and she clung to the hair nearer to his ear, so it was unlikely she would be felt.
Nalira laughed under her breath, moving forward and grabbing the younger Tale's hands in hers, giving them a gently squeeze. This was more of a friendly gesture then anything.
"You could say that. You see, what happens is he comes down through your chimney. Although he is rather large, he is magical, and can easily shrink himself to fit through. Then, he takes presents out of his big sack and places them under the christmas tree. It also helps if you leave him some milk and cookies, for the rest of his journey.
Nalira leant back a little, her hands still in Sylvesters. It was nice to tell stories, and always gave you the best feeling when the people around you got excited. Nalira couldn't help but grin at the questions being asked.
"Aw, cool!" Sylvester said. Honestly, any reason to have cookies lying around the house was a good one, but a big, magic guy who falls into your fireplace needing them, that... was kind of weird actually.
"Does he know where everyone is?" he asked. "My cousin is staying with us instead of in her own house. Is she going to get anything?" He wouldn't mind if she didn't, actually, but he wanted to know just how magic this guy was.
Nalira pondered for a moment, moving her hand from the Tale's to scratch her ear. She clicked her tongue gently, frowning slightly. She flicked her hair back from her face, rubbing her chin gently.
"Has she been a good girl? Santa only brings gifts to girls, and boys -" She quickly added. "- who have been good all year. If she's been good, then yes, he'll bring the presents to your house instead of to hers." Nalira finished, nodding and flashing the giraffe Tale another grin.
Nalira leant back, releasing Sylvester's hands and sinking into her chair, yawning and shifting uncomfortably. "Have you been good this year?" She asked, smiling to herself, moving her head to gaze in his direction.
"Well, I don't think so. She screams all the time," he said with a little more drama than was probably necessary.
When Nalira let go of his hands, he clasped them in his lap before putting them on the armrests and leaning forward. "I've been good! At least I think so. There's some stuff I don't remember. But if I'd done something really bad, somceone would have locked me up, right?" His words may have sounded silly, but he was, for a moment, completely serious. He shrugged. "I guess if I've been good, Brownie's been good too." He smiled, still happy about the presents he didn't have yet. "I wonder what I'll get?"
Nalira smirked, throwing her arms behind her head, leaning back. She curled a strand of hair around her finger, letting out a little hum, thinking carefully about what she was going to say next. It was always good to think before you spoke -- it keeps you out of trouble. Unless, of course, you think for too long, then people get irritated and think you're being ignorant.
"Well then, screaming isn't that bad, I suppose. Then again, I suppose it's up to Santa, isn't it? If he thinks screaming is bad, she won't get any gifts." She replied, trailing a finger around her lips, chuckling at his comment. "I don't think anyone could lock you up, you're too cuddly and nice for that."
Nalira dipped her hand into her pocket, searching around the interior for a while before pulling out an ice lolly. She flicked a bit of lint from the surface, smiling and extending her hand, holding the lolly between her thumb and index finger.
"Would you like a lolly? It's lemon flavoured. It's been in my pocket, but it's still alright -- and to prove that it's not poisoned, I'll even eat one with you." She flashed him a toothey grin, waving her hand gently infront of him, indicating for him to take the candy whilst taking another lolly from her pocket with her free hand, popping it in her mouth.
Candy! "Yes, thank you," he said, reaching out and taking the formerly linty lollipop out of Nalira's hand. As long as it wasn't a meat-pop or anything, he would eat whatever. He unwrapped it quickly and ducked his head, throwing the candy up into his mouth the rest of the distance he couldn't reach. Mmm.
"Thanks," he said again, smiling. "You know there are some moms that don't let their kids have candy at all? I've never met any in person, but I saw some on TV." He knew she probably didn't watch TV - after all, where was the fun in just listening to it? - but it was really his only reference for other people's experiences outside of his house and the shop. He glanced around as he continued to suck on the lollipop and wondered when it would ever get warm again. Winter might mean presents, but warmer was better.
Nalira nodded slowly, savouring the flavour of the ice lolly which bought her time to think of what she was going to say next. That didn't sound at all fair, afterall, lollies were definitely one of Earth's better creations.
"Well." She said carefully, clicking her tongue. "Although that sounds horrible, some children can be elergic to sugar. A sad fate indeed, but I'm sure they'd rather be safe then sorry. Then again, maybe their parents are just protective of them. It's natural to want your children to have beautiful, white teeth, instead of ones filled with cavities." She shifted once more in her seat, still not able to find a comfortable posistion.
Nalira, on the other hand, prefered winter. She loved how the sun illuminated the snow as it drifted silently from the heavens, falling onto the earth in a loving embrace. She loved how the ground would become covered with untainted, soft snow of the purest white with small ferns reaching from the blanket to greet the world. It was beath taking.
Sylvester kept looking out the window, only turning back toward Nalira when his lollipop was nearly gone. He sucked in a breath to speak, and managed, "Did--" before he heard a soft tapping coming from the vicinity of the door. He turned back to see his mother standing outside the shop, holding his cousin Brownie on her hip. No fair.
"That's Mama. I'd better tell her she can come in." He jumped down from his seat and opened the door for them.
"Oh," Smerdle semi-whispered. "I can go if you're talking."
"Nah, you can stay and look around, if you want. But I don't want to go yet or anything."
Smerdle nodded and followed Sylvester back over to where he had been sitting. He glanced up at his cousin to see if she was going to make a racket as usual, but instead of wailing, Brownie smiled and brandished... a brownie? Well, that was kind of cannibalistic.
Nalira blinked, confused at everything that was happening. She heard an unfamilliar voice, and registered that the young Tale had said it was his mother. She have a nervous wave, smiling with her mouth closed in an attempt not to scare the woman. Her canines were abnormally large, afterall.
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, sitting there in silence, not wanting to interupt their conversation. She fiddled with her fingers absent mindedly, her thoughts wandering elsewhere. She hummed gently to herself, closing her eyes, waiting to be spoken to rather then speaking out of place.
Smerdle stopped behind the sofa, looking over at the fidgeting girl sitting nearby. The only Tales she had ever met that had been as old as Nalira were Linny and Aido, and she'd only seen the latter very briefly. Sure, Sylvester had grown some since he'd first appeared, but he was still a little boy. Maybe this Tale could answer some of Smerdle's questions! Then again, she did seem a little overwhelmed, and there was something else wrong that Smerdle couldn't quite put her finger on. Besides, this girl seemed like Sylvester's friend, and Smerdle remembered what it was like to have meddling parents of her own. It would be better if she just let them be.
Sylvester hopped back up on the couch. "Mama, this is Nalira. She's from here too!" He looked back at Nalira. "Nalira, this is my mother. But don't worry, she won't bother us talking. Right, Mama?" He said the last part through gritted teeth, as if he could push Smerdle across the room by adding a little gruffness to his tone.
"It's very nice to meet you, Nalira," Smerdle said, hiding a smirk at Sylvester's pushiness.
Nalira looked over her shoulder, giving a curt wave in Smerdle's direction. She propped herself up onto her knees, pushing her hair away from her face. This posistion could, perhaps, look rather uncomfortable from a spectators point of view, but it wasn't, not really. Atleast not yet.
"Hello Sylvester's mum .." Nalira winced, smiling weakly and shrugging. She didn't know what else to call Smerdle, so that would have to do do. It sounded kind of cheesy, but there wasn't much else she could call her -- afterall, she didn't know her real name.
"I don't think she'll bother us, Sylv." Nalira stated, a little too happily, shortening Sylvester's name partly because she couldn't be bothered completing her sentence, and partly because it was far too long to say all the time. Besides, it suited him.
"Oh sorry! You can call me Smerdle if you'd like," Smerdle said with a chuckle. "I'll just stay over here." She hoisted Brownie up higher on her hip and made her way over to the journal section. The Shattered toddler turned in her aunt's arms to give Sylvester the evil eye as always. Why did he get to have all the friends?
Sylvester smiled at Nalira's shortening of his name. He had always been eager to have a nickname, but unable to come up with one he liked. "Would you like to come over sometime? he said, his voice pitched so that Smerdle couldn't hear. "We got a big yard and toys and stuff. It would be fun!"
Nalira smiled politely at Smerdle, nodding once more before looking back to Sylvester. Nalira grinned, nodding happily, clasping her hands together. She hadn't been over to someone's house in a long time, it might be nice to break out of her shell.
"I'd love to.. I mean, if it's alright with your mum." She whispered shyly, cocking her head in Smerdle's direction and waving her hand in the air lamely. "I wouldn't want to intrude, or anything." She fiddled with her fingers half-heartedly, sighing to herself.
"She won't mind," Sylvester said confidently. "Mama, you won't mind if Nalira comes over some time, right? It wouldn't be an intruuusionnnn?" He dragged the last word out, partially because he chose that moment to lean over the back of the sofa, and partially because it was a fun word to say.
"Oh, that wouldn't be an intrusion at all," Smerdle said. Sylvester knew a lot of kids, but none of them had ever come over before. Maybe Brownie would even include herself in the fun. She really needed more friends. Or any to begin with.
As if she knew Smerdle was thinking about her, Brownie chose that moment to start squirming. She wasn't crying yet, but she was whining softly and flailing her wings around, barely missing Smerdle's arms and hands. "I think we're going to go outside. It was nice to meet you, Nalira," Smerdle said quickly. She flung the door open and managed to make it through unscathed, an armful of squirming baby held out in front of her.
Nalira blinked, laughing quietly under her breath. Somehow she felt lucky to be an only child. She waved to Smerdle and Brownie, grinning and turning back to Sylvester, propping herself up on her knees.
"Well, that's good. I'd love to come .." She exclaimed, clapping her hands together happily. She flashed him one of her toothey grins, extending her hand forward to ruffle his hair.
"What are we going to do when I visit, then?" She asked curiously, rocking back and forth excitedly. She'd only been to a handful of people's houses, three to be exact, so it was natural that she was a little excited. Right?
Sylvester didn't want to admit his house was kind of boring... but it was. "Well, we've got a big yard," he said. "And some octopuses that don't do anything." He nodded. "But outside is the most fun."
The door to the shop cracked open and a piercing baby scream made its way inside, followed by Smerdle's exasperated voice. "Sylvester? I think we'd better go soon." Brownie shrieked again. "Ow-how! Sorry guys." The door swung shut and Sylvester made a face at it.
"I guess I should go." He slid off of the couch and brushed off his clothes. "D'you got a phone?" he asked, unsure of how he was going to contact her.
Nalira smiled, nodding. Well, damn. She winced at the skrieking 'Brownie', pulling a face. She shook her head, running a finger over her ear tenderly. She was almost certain she'd never forget that sound. "Geez, do you have to put up with that all the time?" Nalira asked sympathetical. "What? Oh, yeah, I have a phone." She dove her hand into her pocket, searching around for something to write on. She pulled out a small lolly wrapper, shrugging.
She reached off to the side, feeling around and grasping the first pencil she could find (they were in a Stationary Shop, after all), scrawling down her number hastily, handing it to him. "Ring us some time and we can arrange something." She stood, slowly, brushing herself off.
"Well .. I'll guess I'll see you around sometime, hm?" It was more of a statement then a question, but before Sylvester could answer, she pulled him into a gentle hug.
"She's quiet most of the time, but the only time I'm sure she's not going to wail is when she's asleep," Sylvester complained. He took the wrapper and stuffed it into his pocket, but before he could respond to her rhetorical question, he was being hugged. He wrapped his arms around Nalira, gingerly hugging her back. "Yeah, I'll see you too." He rushed out of her arms and to the coat rack where he grabbed his jacket and slid it on before jogging back over. "It was really fun to talk to you," he said sort of breathlessly from all the rushing around. "Do you want us to walk you home?" He didn't know how she had gotten to the shop to begin with, but it might be lonely getting back.
Nalira listened to him rushing around, rubbing her nose awkwardly. "Oh, no, I'll be alright. Mum whould be picking me up soon, anyway." That was only half true, it would be a couple of hours until she arrived, but there was no need to worry the young Tale.
"It was great talking to you, Sylv. You're a really great individual." She said happily, moving to the door and opening it politely, giving him a curt wave.
"Okay!" he said cheerfully, standing in the open door. "See you soon." He touched her arm in farewell and slipped out, meeting up with his mother and Brownie down the block before starting on his way home.
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:25 pm
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