|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:02 pm
"Oh, no," Owle said quickly. "Sandwiches sound great. Erm...if you want, I could do a grocery run for you sometime...it's probably a much shorter distance flying there." She was eager to pay Sarielle back for helping Rand, and getting groceries was something she could do.
"Taka," Rand repeated, then ran around behind Taka till he was staring up at her wings. "Are those paper?" he asked curiously. He was always so much more articulate when he wanted to know something...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:11 pm
Taka clapped her hands together in an attitude of supplication. "Grocery run, please," she said to Owle with a laugh. "I'm not this skinny by choice, you know."
A dish towel sailed from the kitchen to hit her in the side of the head.
"Well I could go, but you won't let me," Taka hollered at Sarielle, before Rand scurried behind her to look at her wings. "Paper? No, they just look that way."
She crouched so the child could see them more closely. The wings, though patterned like the paper fan had been, had a waxy texture to them. "If they were paper, I couldn't shower," she said with a chuckle.
Really, maybe children weren't so bad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:49 am
Owle had to try very hard not to giggle at Sarielle's well-aimed dish towel. Somehow she managed not to burst out laughing...though it was going to be a few moments before she could trust herself to speak again.
Rand's eyes widened a little in wonder as the wings came closer to him. He reached up a little hand and started stroking them gently. "Wow," he said. "Pretty." Then, her long hair caught his eye, and he just had to touch that, too...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:40 am
Taka twitched nervously as Rand's fingers brushed her wings; even Sarielle had learned better than to try to touch them. But the boy's small hands were gentle; perhaps even as a child he subconsciously understood her protectiveness.
Wow, kids really weren't-
His fingers had moved from her wings to her wavy hair.
"Sariiiiii!" she yelped, backing away from him like he'd suddenly grown another head.
Okay. They were bad. They were everything she'd feared.
Sarielle rocketed from the kitchen, her original mistrust of Owle back full force. But when the brown-haired woman saw what the commotion was about, she rolled her eyes.
"You're such a prima donna these days," Sarielle told the Herald with a frustrated sigh. You were 10 times worse than Rand ever thought about being."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 8:41 am
Startled, Rand let go of Taka's hair and ran over till he was standing next to Owle again. That was weird. Did everyone do that when you tugged on their hair?
Curious, he turned to pull on mommy's...but she'd turned towards him already, putting her hair out of his immediate reach.
"Rand, you shouldn't pull on other people's hair..."
"Why?"
Uh-oh. He'd learned to ask that question? Sighing, Owle knelt down, and, after placing the jar of salve on the floor, gently tugged on a fistful of Rand's hair. The child immediately moved his chubby hands to the area, a startled expression on his face. "That's why," Owle answered. "People don't like it. Now, apologize to Taka."
Still rubbing his scalp, Rand turned to face Taka and clumsily walked over to her. "Sorry," he mumbled.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:16 am
Taka blinked once or twice without answering.
"Oh for heaven's sake," Sarielle exploded. "He's a little kid. Little kids DO that." Since becoming a teen, Taka had lost much of her "down and dirty" curious attitude. Yes, it had been frustrating when all her clothes came home looking like she'd been mud wrestling...but Sarielle had begun to realize she much preferred that to this new, rather prissy young woman before her. Then again, things hadn't quite ever been the same since the diary...
Taka's expression mirrored Rand's as it had been just moments before. Her usually soft-spoken guardian had just snapped at her. Surprise gone, her face slipped into an icy-eyed mask and she turned sullenly away.
"It's okay Rand," she told the child, but with ill-grace.
It only served to irritate Sari further.
"I think a better apology would be to help Owle and Rand out with a few errands or something," the woman said, putting her on the spot. "Or babysit. Let Owle have a night out, for a change."
Taka looked daggers at her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 5:08 pm
Rand was really confused. People sounded really angry. Why were they doing that? Instinctively, the child moved closer to Owle, who wasn't getting all mad.
"Um, it's okay, really," Owle protested, not wanting to be put in the middle of this. "I'm in your debt, after all, I mean..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:42 pm
Sarielle was aware of Owle's discomfort; she'd have felt the same way, had she been in the other woman's shoes. But Sari was determined to make a point, and Taka was determined to make it difficult.
It was not a pretty situation.
"No." Sarielle spoke to Owle, but it was the brown-haired teen she stared at. "It's not a problem; we're happy to help out any way we can."
"Sure. Whatever." Taka's response was certainly lacking in enthusiasm; but it wasn't her nature to outright disobey. "Get me out of the house, anyway." She paused a moment, then, "I'm not hungry anymore," she muttered, and drifted silently off to her room.
"I'm sorry about that," Sarielle told Owle, handing her over the sandwiches. "But she really needs to stop being so self-centered."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:37 pm
((Eep! I'm sorry...I didn't mean to be away from this guild for quite so long. Sorry to have kept you waiting.))
"It's okay," Owle said hesitantly. She accepted the sandwiches, offering Rand one first. The child looked as though he'd never seen food before the way he poked at it, and turned it over and over in his hands, marveling at it. Soon, though, hunger overcame his innate curiousity, and he took several big chomping bites from the sandwich. "I just..." I just don't have a real home because an angel tried to kill me and probably succeeded and I don't want him to find out I'm alive. So I can't have anyone babysit, cause they'd be babysitting in a pile of rubble... "...well, my living situation isn't the best right now...and I'd hate to make anyone else spend a while there, even if it were just to babysit for an hour or two..."
Rand, completely oblivious to the conversation, satisfied his immediate hunger and began exploring the rest of his sandwich. He only had one mouthful left, but he was intrigued by the way it came apart into different neat bits, and was still trying to decide whether to spread the last of them out on the floor and play with them or eat them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:42 pm
"I see." Sarielle did see. She knew what it was to work hard; she knew what it was to still come up empty-handed. And she knew, god how she knew, what it was like to exist day-to-day, hand-to-mouth, in squalor. She lived, for now, on her friend's bounty; the rather beautiful house she and Taka shared did not belong to her.
With one half of her mind, the woman - who, as far as looks went, could probably have been Taka's biological mother - watched with an amused half smile as Rand enjoyed his sandwich to the umpteenth degree.
"Well," she continued, turning her attention fully to Owle, "if you ever need some place to bring him, look us up."
Sarielle was surprised, even at herself. She had been determined not to like Owle; she almost hadn't answered the other woman's mental plea for help. But now that she saw her without Azruael's overshadowing presence...she understood the rather hunted look that had flashed across Owle's face as she spoke of her "living conditions."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:52 am
Owle stared for a moment, her mind trying to make sense of what had just happened. Did Sarielle just...yeah, she had.
In the moment of silence, Rand decided that sandwiches were tasty and devoured the last bite.
"Thank you," Owle said finally. She looked as though she might embrace the other woman, were she less restrained. She hadn't forgotten the initial suspicion she had felt at the first mind touch, or the hatred that had been in Sarielle's eyes that day in town...even despite all that, this total stranger was offering Owle so much.
"Thank you," she repeated, not knowing what else to say.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:30 pm
Sarielle only nodded, picking at a few insignificant crumbs while she avoided Owle's eyes. It was an awkward moment; but she was glad she'd made the offer.
Off in another part of the house, a door slid closed with a petulant bang. What on earth had happened to that bubbly little girl Taka used to be?
"I'm...sorry she's acted this way," Sarielle said, still avoiding eye contact. "I really...We don't seem to be quite on the same page anymore." Strange how that admission hurt her, though the slight line between her brows betrayed very little. She had been the last person to want a child; but Taka had come, after that bleak night, and Sarielle had always been glad for it.
"Um, let me know if you'd like another," the grey-eyed woman said sporadically, changing the subject without warning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:06 pm
"It's alright," Owle said. It seemed the only thing to say. She didn't know what it was like, to have someone just drift apart from you like that...but she could imagine how it must hurt.
Like having your best friend suddenly afraid to look you in the eyes...like knowing what you did to him was too horrible to ever obtain forgiveness. Except in Sarielle's case, it seemed undeserved.
She didn't notice Sarielle's lack of eye contact. She was trying to look everywhere else in the room.
"I...no, it's okay. Rand and I should probably be heading back, anyway. I don't want to trouble you any more than I have already."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:50 pm
Sarielle smiled, though it was clearly a little strained. "I didn't mind at all. In fact, it was rather nice to get to put my herbs to use again. Haven't had much need for that hobby lately."
She busied herself with what little cleanup there was, thoughts clearly turned inward. She didn't say goodbye, but it wasn't deliberate rudeness, or a snub. She didn't see the plate, the crumpled napkin, the crumbs she'd collected. She was seeing a bright-faced little girl coming inside with her jar full of fireflies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:02 pm
"Hopefully we won't need it again," Owle said, smiling a little to try and lighten the mood. "But if we ever do, you'll be the one I'll ask."
"Come on, Rand, it's time to go home," Owle said, taking the child by the hand.
"Aw, now?" Rand grumbled, but he let his mother lead him out. There were so many new things here, and he hadn't even gotten to see what was behind all the doors, yet. Before he left, though, he turned around and waved enthusiastically. "Buh-bye, Miss Sarielle!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
