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 Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 6:47 pm
Hello, world diary! Dear Diary ...
Dear Diary,
This will be my first page in this new notebook. Kimiko said it will help me with my linguistic skills and my handwriting, whatever they are, so I shall try to write in this as often as I can.
Anyway, I love this pen color! It's so nice and pink, just like this journal. Mom gave me a lock to put on this and a key to open the lock too, so no one can read this diary but me!
So, today Verde and I went to the park and playd on the big playground they had there. It was fun. Did I ever mention how many pretty flowers they grow there? There are lots and lots of big trees, and a pretty little walkway goes through the entire park. There are some wooden benches too.
They plant a lot of tulips and marigolds there, and they are fenced off so no one can step on them or touch them. That's good, because I love flowers, and I hate to see them get ruined! Flowers are the things that help a plant flourish and survive, so crushing them seems like such a waste. Some kid at the playground was poking my flowers, and I think he actually stole one. I'm okay with people I actually know taking my flowers, since they grow back really quickly, but not strangers!
Well, anyway, after we went to the park, Verde and I took a trip to the local flower store. I had 1000 gold with me that Kimiko gave me for allowance last week, so I bought some potted carnations to take home with me.
We planted them out front by the driveway/walkway. It looks really nice!
Sincerely, Mayu.
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Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 6:55 pm
Self-cleaning houses are really, really weird.
Mayu was perched upon the sofa, glancing about the room with her pink eyes. Although she loved visiting the HQ, it was quite boring when the room was empty and there was not much to do for a Legend who was as easily bored as she was. Giving a sigh, she pondered if she should take a visit to the local flower shop again -- she had become one of their more frequent customers as of late, and she did ever so love looking at all of the colorful plants they had in stock.
Karan wasn't sure what made him decide to finally pay a visit to the HQ. Boredom was probably a factor.At home everyone spent their time in groups, and he was the odd one out most of the time. There was curiosity as well, about what was happening to others he knew. He couldn't be the only one who changed, after all.
Steeling himself, he pushed open the door. But there were no familiar faces within. Just a pink girl on the couch that he'd never met before.
Flowers, flowers! Mayu's mind was focused on all of the colorful tulips and marigolds and zinnias that were awaiting her arrival at the quaint little flower shop on the corner. Her thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of the silver-haired boy, and she looked up. Giving a casual wave, she sank back into her chair. Well, maybe she would stay for a little longer; meeting new people was always fun.
Since no one important was present, Karan had half a mind to leave. But the curiosity that had been evident earlier wasn't completely gone. There were traces remaining that showed up at the most random times, evidence'd by Karan's decision to head over to the couch.
"What're you looking at?" he asked blankly, from a few feet away. He didn't want to get too close just yet.
"Nothing, I suppose?" Mayu answered with a small glance, not sure of what to say. Most of the time, people approached with a friendly "Hi". Right. She returned her mind to zinnias and tulips, though kept an open ear. Wouldn't want to be rude, she thought.
So she wasn't going to talk his ear off. That was one point in the girl's favor. Still, the fact that she wasn't sharing her activity put Karan on his guard a bit. Maybe it was a secret. But it had to be something interesting, to her at least, or she wouldn't be looking at it.
Shuffling closer, he coughed, then sat on one arm of the couch. He didn't really want to sit right next to her, but he did want to be closer, so that struck a compromise. "Must be interesting nothing," he ventured, "since you look like you're having fun. Can I see?"
Giving a small laugh, Mayu twittered. "Well, I don't think you can really see inside a person's head, but I'm just thinking about visiting that little flower shop on the corner there."
She thought for a moment, then plucked a blossom off of her branch. Handing the pink flower to the boy, Mayu smiled. She did so like sharing her flowers with people.
The girl had a one-track mind in Karan's view. Wearing flowers on her clothes, and then thinking about going to see them. "You must like flowers an awful lot," he commented.
He was surprised, however, at the token he was offered. Even though Eriol would probably tease him, saying it wasn't manly to like flowers, Karan did as at least a passing interest. Holding the flower carefully, he nodded. "Thanks. How come you don't go, if you want to?"
"Yep!" Mayu grinned and nodded. "I like all plants and animals." She tried not to pass herself off as a naturalist, though it was quite a challenge.
"You're welcome," She gave a polite nod, the continued. "I like meeting new people. And besides, I already went yesterday, I think the salesclerk are a bit sick of seeing me."
"Do you always go there?" Karan was surprised; even if it was enjoyable place going there repeatedly would have to get boring. There was only so much of the same scenery he could stand, which was the main reason he'd even come to the HQ that day. "Why don't you go other places with plants and animals? That'd probably be more fun."
"Well, I'm probably going to go hiking with my mum and sisters in the future, and I don't think there's a zoo nearby." Mayu shrugged. "I can't really think of any other places to go."
"By the way, what's your name?" She inquired, realizing she had been chatting with a complete stranger. Of course, she tended to do that a lot. "Mine's Mayu."
Oh right, the ritual trading of names. Mayu was an interesting enough one. Taking care to be polite, Karan gave his in return. "I'm Karan. Nice to meet you."
Hikes and zoos? Was that all she could think of? "Well, you like flower stores, so what about pet stores? And there's gardens and parks and stuff." He thought a little more, looking out the window as he did. "My sisters go shopping, and to the movies. Or do silly things like tea parties. But I don't know if you like that stuff."
"Ditto." Mayu smiled. "Oh, the park? There's one near my neighborhood so I go there often. I don't think my mom would appreciate me going to the pet store though, she says I'll come back with an armload of kittens and puppies and bunnies." Stopping herself before she gabbed on too much, Mayu sighed and twisted a lock of silver hair about her fingers. Looking up as she heard the words "tea parties", she scrunched up her face in confusion.
"People actually have parties where they just sit around and drink tea? How boring."
Most of what Mayu said was just the same filler fluff Karan was used to from dealing with his sisters and their friends and other people. But the last bit was actually sensical. "I know," he replied, a bit of enthusiasm creeping into his voice. "Half the time it's not even real tea, they're just faking it. Where's the fun in that? You don't even get to eat anything."
Mayu nodded -- it was quite boring, sitting around a table with stuffed animals and pretending to drink imaginary tea. "What a waste of time! I would rather be outside or reading or doing something exciting. Even if I had nothing else to do, I wouldn't be caught dead sitting around eating imaginary food."
"Same here." It was nice to agree with someone about things like that. Feeling a bit more warmly towards Mayu, Karan leaned in closer. "There's a lot of better things they could do." Drawing immediately came to mind, as well as the kite he was building with Xue, and taking care of what DS called his menagerie.
That brought a question to Karan's mind. "Do you have any pets at home?"
"Pets? Well, I have a cat. I'm not sure if you can really call the Talaye pets, because they snapped at Kimiko for doing that once. We also have some koi, and two nightmares!"
Mayu counted on her fingers, wondering if she had forgotten anyone else. "Yep, that's it. What about you?"
"We have Talaye too, but we're not allowed to call them pets." Since Mayu did it first, Karan wasn't too embarassed to count on his fingers. "I have a couple koi too. And a squirrel and a frog and two Pyerls who live outside and a... a something else that just showed up one day I think. No one knows what he is."
To clarify, he added "But those are just mine. Other people have more. Walking trees and flying cats and stuff."
"Ah, I see! You have a lot of pets." Mayu said, perking up at hearing the words "walking" and "tree" together.
"A walking tree? I've never heard of them. How would that work?" She asked, a glimmer in her eyes. Imagine that, a tree that you could take out for a walk! How intriguing!
The walking tree was Ying's, and Karan never understood too much about it other than the fact that it followed her around everywhere unless she locked it in her room. "She calls it a dryad, I think," he said uncertainly. "I don't know how it works, but it looks just like a walking tree- the kind you see at the beach."
It seemed safe to ask a now, so Karan did. "Why've you got all those branches around you?"
"Ooh, neat!" Clapping her hands together primly, Mayu found her mind wondering again and pondered if she could get her hands on one of those dryad things, they sounded fun.
"The branches? I really have no idea." Mayu grinned, showing off her cluelessness with a strange pride. "They are a bother sometimes, my mother wants to chop them off with her axe so they won't be a distraction during my lessons. Though, I think that would hurt ..." Her voice trailed off for a bit, she still had to wince at the thought.
"You mean... they're stuck to you?" That was a new one. Karan had seen kids that looked like different animals, ones with wings and ears and tails, and even fins. But he'd never seen someone who was part tree. "How? Do they keep growing, or..."
With a start he looked to the pink flower that was still cupped in his hands. "Didn't it hurt, picking this off?"
Mayu nodded with a nervous smile. "They're stuck, alright. It doesn't hurt when you pick a flower, but I bet it would if you chopped off one of the actual branches." Although, Karan's question had brought up some interesting thoughts: was there any way to "unstick" the branches, or perhaps just make them smaller without the help of any dangerously sharp cutting utensils? She was going to look forther into this when she got home.
For the first time, Mayu noticed the colorful scarf wrapped around the boy's neck; it was pretty and all, but wasn't it a bit too warm to wear a scarf in the spring?
"Nice scarf," she commented, looking curiously.
Karan's hands clenched the scarf automatically. Despite his doubts he was still very attatched to it. "Thanks," he said, and somewhat more reluctantly he added "you can take a closer look, if you like."
For a change he took both ends and offered them across the couch, emblems face up. The sun side was on top, threads glimmering in the light.
Marveling at the shimmering scarf, Mayu was very much impressed by the detailed work put into it. However, she couldn't resist asking, "Isn't it a bit warm outside to be wearing a scarf?" It did seem a bit unusual, but she should have learned by then that all of the Legends had their own little quirk.
"No." The retort flew out of Karan's mouth before he even thought of it, and once it was out he looked away. "Sorry. I just like to have it with me." Hopefully thoughts of security blankets wouldn't occur to her. Despite his unease at having grown, Karan didn't like to be thought of as a baby. Not anymore.
Quickly he turned the subject back on Mayu. "Do you get food from sunlight? That's what the dryad does, I think."
"Ah, I see." With a downward glance, Mayu looked at her own charm which she had been wearing ever since she was found, and one which she protected with a fierce aggression. Memories flooded back into her head as quickly as they had gone before, and Mayu shook them out of her conscious mind. She didn't want to be reminiscing, not when talking with someone -- that was so rude!
"Um ... No. these branches, I guess, are just for decoration. Pesky little things," she muttered, "I eat food too. Like ... sandwiches and cakes! Normal stuff."
Great, now she had made herself hungry.
That made sense. She didn't look that much like a tree, Karan decided. She was a person, one who had branches poking out, but a person nonetheless. And she wasn't all that bad either. For someone who liked pink, she had a lot more sense than his "sisters."
"Do you have a lot of family at home?" He remembered her talking about a hike earlier on. Of course, her family was probably a lot smaller.
"Well, I live with my mum, and my sisters Miyu and Verde," Mayu recalled, tapping her chin lightly with one finger. "All girls in my house, even the pets! And what about you?" She asked, fiddling with the charm tied to her waist. Talking was fine with her, but after so much of it, she tended to get quite bored.
Karan didn't even bother counting his family members. Math was not his strong suit, and he didn't even trust himself to remember everyone in the house. Even DS forgot who exactly was there from time to time.
"I live with a bunch of other kids," he answered finally. "More girls than boys. Most of 'em are a little older than me, but there are a couple babies too. Oh, and Prana's staying there now too."
But talk of "family" wasn't what Karan had in mind when he'd come to the headquarters in the first place. True, his main goal had been seeing those he'd been missing, and this Mayu girl didn't fall into that category, but the other point was to have fun.
"You wanna... do something?" It wasn't the most eloquent question, but it got the point across.
"Like what?" Mayu asked, looking up. She was getting quite bored with talking herself, and would have left if not for the fact that it would have been rude.
"I don't know," Karan admitted. The idea of doing something, anything, was appealing. But what to do? There weren't any supplies there that he knew of, so playing a game or drawing or the like were all ruled out. When he was little he played with toys that the grownups brought along. What exactly was housed in the building that could be useful? The only room Karan had ever seen besides the main one was the kitchen.
Frowning, he looked at Mayu. "Do you know what's in this place besides this room?"
Mayu thought for a bit. "Paestri and I explored in one of the guest rooms down the hall once.. but we never went farther than that."
She was slightly amused that although this was "headquarters", none of the Legends even knew much about it.
"We can go outside or look around the building," she suggested, giving a small shrug.
So she hadn't gone far either. "I went into the kitchen once, but that's all. Do you think they're hiding something in here?"
Karan's mind filled with possibilities. They were all special after all, so it was likely that a building meant for their use had special secrets. How come they even had such a building anyway? There were so many questions without answers.
"Could be," she murmured, looking around. "It looks like no one's here, let's go explore!"
She loved exploring, whether it be at the park or a museum or ANYWHERE, for that matter. It was so fun! Standing up from her seat, she strolled over to the hallway and pointed off vaguely.
"We can start here, there're tons of rooms. Paestri and I covered area of the third room down and to the left, but that's all. Nothing unusual in there, except for a few clothes hanging on the racks in the closet. Who would keep clothes in here?"
"I don't know. I didn't think people lived here." This was getting interesting after all. If there was anything Karan liked it was getting answers. The truth was important, and if it came from exploring then all the better.
Gesturing at the door directly on the left before the hallway, Karan nodded. "That's the kitchen. It had food last time I was there. I wonder who eats it, besides us."
Mayu pondered. Now this was getting interesting!
"I wonder who stocks the food, too. I've never seen anyone here except for the other Legends, and I don't think they would have enough money to fill up the fridge and all of the cabinets."
That had never even occured to Karan. Someone had to keep putting the food in the fridge and shelves as it got eaten. And old stuff would spoil too, but Karan hadn't seen any moldy food last time.
"Maybe the grown-ups? They brought food before, and toys." Yet something about that didn't make sense. "But then why would they bring food if there's the fridge?" He started to get excited, and moved a few steps down the hallway. "Maybe even the grown-ups don't know!"
"Curiouser and curiouser.." she muttered, then began to walk down the hallway. "Alright, let's be detectives and figure out this whole mystery!"
Indeed, they would be detectives.. just like.. just like Sherlock Holmes and Watson! Solving the great mystery of the Legend HQ once and for all!
"Detectives? Like in stories?" Karan had never met a real detective, he just assumed they were like pirates and knights, and confined to the pages of books.
Of course, that made the prospect of becoming one that much cooler.
"Where should we start? Not the rooms we've already seen. Maybe that one?" Karan pointed to a room on the right, two doors down. The door was slightly ajar, and a thin beam of sunlight streamed into the hallway.
"Ooh, that one looks good." Mayu skipped over, taking a peek inside. Nothing looked unusual.. at least, not yet.
"It's clear!" she whispered in a sharp voice, trying to capture the whole mood of the situation. It had been a while since she had played a game of "let's pretend", but when she did, she could really get caught in the moment.
What did "it's clear" mean? If the room was clear there wasn't really any reason to go inside, since there would be nothing to see in there. "If it's clear, should we try another room? Maybe on the other side?"
"Um.. I meant that there's no people inside," Mayu explained, frowning slightly. Maybe she should have saved the special phrases that she had learned from TV for other days.
"Oh," Karan muttered, running into the room before Mayu could see the embarrased blus creeping across his cheeks. How was he supposed to know? He didn't spend time with the others much, so he didn't know all the "hip talk" they used.
Once he was a bit more under control, Karan looked around the room he found himself in. It looked to him like one of the bedrooms at home. There was a bed, and a small table, and a big dresser.
"Do people sleep here?" Karan asked, not aware he'd said anything out loud.
"I guess they do. There are tons of other rooms like this.. So people must live here, right? Or else why would there be beds?"
She ran a finger down the top of the dresser, then held it to her face for inspecting. "That's strange, there's no dust on this furniture. That means people must come clean it, right?"
"I don't know about that. At home, she sprays the tables and chairs with stuff that's supposed to keep the dust away."
But of course, that meant that someone had to have sprayed everything.
"Maybe we're supposed to sleep here?" Karan suggested uncertainly, sitting on the bed. It was neatly made, and the sheets were clean. It was almost as if the room was waiting for something.
Mayu shrugged, looking over at the bed.
"But.. what if we fall asleep, and someone comes through while we're asleep?" She didn't want to miss anything. "Oh, we could pretend that we're asleep so we can trick the people that come through here!"
"Like Santa and the Easter Bunny." DS said that the magic people who left presents on special days only came if you were asleep. It followed that the magic people who kept the house in order would do the same. The question was whether or not today was one of the special days.
It was a good enough chance to try, Karan decided. He climbed further onto the bed, though it was too hot to get under the covers. "How long do you think it'll take?" he whispered, motioning for Mayu to pretend to sleep as well.
Mayu fell onto the bed gracefully, stretching her arms out. "Really, Santa only comes when you're asleep? He came to our house last Christmas." Perhaps she had mistaken someone else for Santa? There were lots of people with long white beards and red suits out on the streets around Christmastime.
"I don't know, but I hope it won't take too long." She wasn't impatient, per se, but she didn't have a fondness for waiting idly without anything to do. If she had a book, then that would have been a whole different matter.
Karan tried to act asleep, but it was difficult. The only thing that separated sleeping people from awake people was that sleeping people had their eyes closed. But he didn't want to close his eyes, in case he fell asleep. Hopefully just lying down and staying quiet would be enough.
"She says that he only comes when you're asleep. I tried to stay up to find out, but I fell asleep anyway." The memory was a bit embarassing, as Karan had woken up on the kitchen floor early Christmas morning and snuck back to his room. "I hope it's soon too. They have to work hard to keep all this clean, don't they?"
"Well, there are at least ten rooms down this hallway, and there are much more upstairs." She counted quietly, then nodded -- well, as well as anyone could nod lying down. "Yeah, they do have to work hard. Do you think they have days off, or would they come in every day to clean things up?"
It would have been horrible if they were trying to catch someone who wasn't going to show up.
"There's an upstairs too?" Karan was so surprised he slipped into a normal tone of voice, then clapped his hands over his mouth. "I didn't know there was an upstairs too," he said barely above a whisper. That was a lot of rooms. Who were they expecting to use them? And who was this "they" that the two of them kept referencing anyway? Shouldn't "they" have arrived already? Unless they really did have days off.
This was getting complicated. "How do we tell if this is a day off or not?"
"Yeah, they have an upstairs too. It's a really big building when you think about it.." Mayu muttered, thinking.
"I don't know. I guess our plan wasn't that well-thought out." She laughed quietly, narrowing her eyes at the door.
Why did a bunch of ragtag kids need an enormous building anyway? No one really used it, except for the main room and sometimes the kitchen.
"It still might work. We can wait for a while, and if they don't come we can leave." It wasn't as though they had a better plan, and Karan thought that it was a good start, even if they would have to wait a while.
"Okay, that works." It didn't make for a very exciting adventure -- she was hoping to do some detective work today. But they didn't have much of a choice if nothing exciting popped up, did they?
Karan rolled onto his side. There wasn't much to do when you were pretending to be asleep. Hopefully someone would come soon, or else they would have to leave without finding anything out.
Bored, Karan's eyelids drooped. Maybe he should close his eyes, to make sure that they thought he was sleeping. But he would stay awake.
Mayu yawned lazily, keeping her gaze fixed on the open door. She was NOT going to fall asleep during a stake out.
"Maaayu?" Kimiko's voice echoed around the corner. She had noticed the absence of the Legend's prescence around the house and presumed that she had gone to either the flower shop or the headquarters. A nice guess. "Mayu, are you somewhere around here? I found a nice café around the corner from here and I thought we could go get something to eat. There's a sale down at Durem Depot and I thought that you might want some new clothes.." Alright, maybe they weren't there. She stepped into the hallway and peered into the guest rooms -- the girl had been found exploring with one of her friends in there before, so it was a good place to start the search.
Karan didn't hear the calling, however the footsteps in the hallway roused him. Had he fallen asleep? Hopefully not. What if he'd missed them?
Then there was another footstep, and Karan sat up excitedly. "Mayu, I think it's one of them!" he hissed.
Mayu gasped and scootched to the edge of the bed. "Let's get the jump on them!" she said excitedly, happy that someone had shown up. She had so many questions to ask!
Kimiko peered into the room where the two children were, and was immediately tackled by a flying Mayu. She was quite agile when she wanted to be, but was caught off-balance by the girl and toppled over with a loud groan.
Jumping up at the same time, Karan launched himself off the bed and at the figure that walked through the door. It wasn't anyone he knew, so he felt no qualms as the three of them sunk to the floor. Hopefully he didn't hurt Mayu though, since she was faster than he was.
Once the mysterious stranger was pinned down, the questions started. "Who are you? Do you clean this place? What's it for? How come it's so big? Do people live here?"
"Scary attacking midgets!" Kimiko shouted, trying to squirm out of the death grip Mayu and Karan had on her.
"Wait, you aren't one of them!" the Legend said after a moment of sudden realization. "Karan, this is my mum, Kimiko."
She moved to get off of the startled girl and stood up, scratching her head idly. "I was hoping that one of them had shown up.."
"I'm not a midget," Karan said crossly. Who was this strange person, to call him something like that?
... apparently not one of "them."
"She's your mom?" That was a surprise. Karan had never known any Legend with an actual mother. Maybe she was just Mayu's "mom" like the girls at home were his "sisters." That had to be it.
Slowly, Karan stood, freeing the pinned teenager. "I'm sorry, Miss-Mayu's-mom."
Sitting up, Kimiko brushed some invisible dust off of her shirt. "Them? Who are you talking about? And it's okay." she nodded to Karan, then looked to Mayu with a frown.
"The people who come here and clean this house, of course." she replied matter-of-factly, then nodded to Karan. "Yep, my mum!"
"I didn't know you had a mom," Karan said slowly. The two girls didn't look alike in his opinion, but they didn't have to. The baby at home didn't look much like her after all.
"I hope we didn't hurt you. We were trying to catch one of them and ask them questions."
Did kids and their parents have to look alike? Mayu knew that her sisters, compared to her mother and herself, did not look alike at all. The only similarity she had with any of them was with Miyu -- they shared the same silver hair.
"Well, now you know!" she said, shrugging.
"I'm fine. Actually, I've been wondering about this place too.." she mused, tapping a finger on her chin in thought. "Who would get up in the morning and actually clean through this place? I've never seen anyone using these guest rooms. And how would they avoid being seen by the influx of visitors this place gets every day?" They were curious questions, after all. She couldn't help but be a bit curious herself.
"They don't. We found them, didn't we? I guess most grown-ups don't care. But you do." So much for that theory. Or was it? Karan was confused. There were too many questions and too few answers.
Remembering their plot, Karan looked around the room. "I don't think they'll come anymore," he commented.
Shrugging, she remembered back to something interesting that Huni had said a bit back. "Someone said that it was possible that the house might be.. alive."
Ooh, now this was an interesting new theory!
"Well, if they don't really exist, then maybe.. the house can somehow clean itself?" It was a plausible idea, at the very least.
That was an idea they hadn't thought of. Eriol had once been in a house he claimed was alive, but that house was dirty and in bad shape. Eriol even said he fell through the floor.
"Are there that many living houses?" Surely if there was a large number of them, someone would know about it.
"I've never heard of a living house myself, but it could be possible." Kimiko gave a light shrug, standing up from her seat on the ground.
"Did you hear that? The house might be living?" Mayu said excitedly to Karan, stepping out into the hallway. "Do you think we should investigate this?"
It sounded like fun!
"But how?" It wasn't like they could poke the house and see if it twitched, or listen for a heartbeat. "If its cleaning is like healing a cut, it would take a really really long time."
Maybe with equipment they could handle it, but with just their eyes it would take forever.
"I.. don't know." Maybe it was a search best left off for another day.
"While you two try to figure this out, I'm going to go sit in the main room." Kimiko walked away, leaving the two kids to their own discussion.
The concept of a living house was exciting, but something was dragging at Karan's mind. When he looked out the window he finally realized what it was. The sun was setting.
"I think I have to go home soon," he said reluctantly. "I don't want to. But I should."
"Ooh, okay. We'll check that out next time we meet, then!" Mayu said happily, certain that there was going to be a next time. "It was nice to meet you, Karan!"
And with that, she skipped off to join her guardian. Clothes and delicious pastries were waiting for them!
Karan slipped out through a door in the kitchen he'd found once before, not wanting to disturb Mayu and her "mum." He'd come to the headquarters in search of people, not questions, but what he had found wasn't all that disappointing.
"A living house, hm?"
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Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 9:42 pm
Hello, world diary! Dear Diary ...
Dear Diary,
Life has been really hectic lately, but it's starting to slow down. Now that I mind being rushed, it's really fun sometimes!
I've been at the HQ a lot lately, and I'm pretty glad. Just a week or two ago I ran into Paestri and we went exploring around the HQ. Also, just last week, I met two new people, Karan and Loki. They were both nice, but a bit weird. Oh well, I'm glad I made some new friends.
We're going shopping again tomorrow, for new furniture and stuff ... Right now I'm sleeping in a sleeping bag in my mom's room, because I can't fit into the old crib anymore. Mum and Miyu moved it up to the attic or something, I guess for if we ever need it again. Though, I can't imagine us getting another baby! The house is so crowded already!
I've also been keeping up with my reading and writing lessons. I can read pretty well now and Kimiko says my writing is pretty good for a beginner, but we have to keep up the lessons so I won't forget this information and I can learn some new things too. I think mom gave up on the cooking lessons after that cookie accident, but I'm not really sure. She still wants me to learn, you know?
I'm starting math and history tomorrow, sounds great (I guess)? Kimiko is really bent on teaching me self defense, but she says we need to get rid of those pesky branches. I think it would really hurt if you just chopped them clean off with an ax, so she's researching right now.
One last thing! It's almost summertime! In about a month, it'll be summer again, the perfect time for going to the beach and lying around in hammocks and camping and even going to amusement parks! I can't wait! It'll be so fun!
Anyway, I should be getting to bed soon. There's nothing to watch on TV, and I finished my book -- we're going to buy a whole bunch to fill up a bookshelf for my room tomorrow. It's going to be great.
Sincerely, Mayu.
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:16 am
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Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 12:55 pm
A shopping trip, part deux. The air inside the furniture store was stale and a bit chilly, and smelled lightly of expensive perfume. The offender was the saleswoman with the silly beehive hairdo leading the two girls about the store in a nonsensical fashion.
Mayu trounced after her guardian happily, often falling behind to peruse the myriad of styles of furnitures the department store held. Modern, renaissance, futuristic -- this place had them all! "Come along, Mayu," Kimiko chirped out over her shoulder, wondering where her daughter had run off to this time. She whispered a quick sorry to the saleswoman and set off into the sofa area, trying to catch sight of the silver-haired Legend. The woman with the horribly outdated hairdo scoffed and walked off in search of other customers she could assist; this job was definately not worth 50 gold per hour with 10% commission. Finally spotting the girl, clad in her usual pink outfit, Kimiko hurried over. "Come on, we need to order this stuff now so we can run down to the bed and bath store and pick up some new everythings!" Mayu instantly perked up at the sound of the bed and bath store -- it was one of her favorite locations to go shopping. The Legend took up interior designing as a hobby, and seemed to be enjoying it very, very much.
"Why didn't you say so?! Come on, let's go! What do we need, bookshelves, bed frames, endtables, that sort of stuff?"Kimiko nodded, laughing at her daughter's sudden enthusiasm. Grabbing the child's wrist, the two dashed about the store in a sort of mad dance. Within half an hour, they had covered the whole area of the furniture outlet and had reserved all the furniture they could ever hope to want for shipping in the late afternoon. The afternoon sun was warm and inviting, and Kimiko managed a loud yawn before turning to Mayu. "Bed and Bath?" The girl eagerly nodded, taking the lead. It was just one of the various locations she had memorized in town, keeping it in the back of her mind so she could return with ease.
The colorful streets were littered, as always, with various entrepenuers trying to get a start on their new businesses. The girl was not in the least distracted by the baubles and jewelry they offered, until a little shiny something caught her in the corner of her eye. She ran over to the stall with a twinkle in the eyes, picking up a small glass box and holding it out for Kimiko to see.
"Can I buy it?"The small box contained several spools of colored thread, an assortment of needles, pins stuck in a pincushion, a small pair of scissors, and a wound-up measuring tape. A sewing kit, in simple terms. "Sure, I guess ... What do you want it for?" Kimiko scratched her head in confusion, wondering what the girl would do with a bunch of materials she didn't know how to use. "I don't know, but it just caught my eye!" Mayu chirped out happily, reaching into her side purse. She still had a good amount of her allowance left, and the kit was only 300 gold! A steal at that price!
Counting out the proper amount of gold, Mayu left it on the counter and said a small thanks, waving to the salesperson as she and her guardian walked away.
Mayu wasn't quite sure what it was, but she had a good feeling about this -- it definately wouldn't end up like the cooking experiment did. No, this time, she was going to do something great.
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 7:34 am
Hello, world diary! Dear Diary ...
Dear Diary,
Am I too trusting? I met this nice guy, Demare, at the headquarters. Well, I thought he was nice, until he yanked off one of my branches. I was right, too; having a branch broken off hurts a lot. It wasn't even a large branch, and it make me keel over.
Back to the point, I'm really sad right now. He had been so nice before too, was it all just an elaborate ruse? Well, whatever, some people are just plain mean. I don't hold grudges, but I don't think I'll be happy if I see Demare again.
Oh yeah, we went shopping again yesterday morning, and we bought a bunch of furniture for both me and Verde. We also went to the Bed and Bath store, and we bought new bedding, sheets, pillows, everything! We also bought some new lamps and things for the kitchen and things for the bathroom ... It was fun. Now I have a real bed, and I don't have to camp out in Kimiko's room anymore! Yay! I also got this little sewing kit thing, but I haven't gotten the chance to use it yet. I need to find some fabric.
Anyway, Kimiko's hollering at me right now. She wants me to go somewhere with her, I guess. I'll write tomorrow!
Sincerely, Mayu.
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 7:36 am
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 7:43 am
Dear diary.. MAY 13, 2OO6 May 13, 2006. Saturday. Sunny. So yesterday, last night, to be exact, Mayu comes home crying. She wasn't sobbing or anything, but there were tears rolling down her face. I think she locked herself in her room or something all night, and she stole my laptop too. With Wi-Fi! But that's besides the point. Anyway, so we talked after she finally let me in her room and she told me about this kid... Demare. Apparently, she met him at the Legend HQ. From how she described him, he sounded weird, but whatever. He spazzed or something, is what it sounded, then turned out to be pretty friendly, and they went outside. There was a bunch of filler talk in between here, fireflies or something, but what basically happened is that he keeled over again but told her he was fine. Asked her if he could touch one of her branches, and pretty much snapped the thing in half. It did seem a lot shorter when she came home last night. After some time lost, we tracked down this Demare by talking around. It was a real headache but we got his phone number from this nice lady who was the guardian of a kid Mayu met. Anyway, so we called them this morning. Scheduled a meeting for the time of A.S.A.P. at her house. I dragged Mayu over by convincing it was a shopping trip or something. She was really freaked out when she saw that it was Demare's house, got all shaky and everything. We chatted for a bit and figured out what happened (he was like, bipolar or something, I dunno) and that was the end of that. Well, it wasn't, actually. I wish it was. So I suggested for them to go to the park because we had gone through all the trouble to walk to Barton in the first place. Well, we took the trouble of walking to Neko's house, we hitched a ride on the GaiaTran to Barton. They went to the park, and I used my super ninja skills to stalk them, right? Not because I'm an overprotective guardian, oh no! There was a robber or something who stole Mayu's purse and charm. Instead of calling the police, they took matters into their own hands and chased after the guy, silly kids. They caught him too, which was pretty impressive. (They linked arms though! Grr!) After that, Mayu helped him across the street cause he was limping, I guess. They got ice cream (Mayu paid), and then this big furry dog came up and stole Demare's so Mayu gave him hers. She's too nice sometimes, I swear. So that was as much as I got in of their trip before this guy decides to so rudely run me over with his bike, exposing me to the rabbit..s. Grr. So I run back to Neko's house, we chat, they come back 7 and a half hours later. SEVEN AND A HALF. This freak storm blows in, shutting Mayu and I inside their house for the night. So we stay at their house overnight, which was fine, but the power kept spazzing. After dinner, Mayu and Demare went upstairs while Neko and I looked through the house for candles. I guess they went to the library or something, because we passed by there later. He was right on top of her. Not very good on my happy list, of course. Said he fell.. riiiight. We left them alone after that, and I didn't see either of them until the morning. Had to rush out of their house to catch the bus, which I felt a bit bad about. Ah well, they were nice people. Best keep an eye out for that Demare, though.. Kimiko.
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 2:48 pm
Hello, world diary! Dear diary ..
Dear diary,
I'm happy.
I wasn't quite so happy when Kimiko dragged me over to a certain someone's house yesterday morning, but I'm in a great mood now.
We went to Barton yesterday. We caught the public bus pretty early in the morning, and went all the way to Barton Town to visit Demare's house. Of course, Kimiko didn't tell me we were going to his house. I was pretty mad at her for that, since it was just a day after he had broken my branch (It's almost back to its original length now, by the way.) and I didn't really want another one of them snapped off. He and his mom explained the situation though, so I'm not mad at him at all now. I actually.. kinda.. like him.
He has two souls in the same body (Imagine that, having to share your body with a completely different person!) and his other side, Demian, pretended to be him when we were leaving the headquarters and snapped my branch. I'd glad that it wasn't him who had done the deed, because he was so kind to me at the HQ. Also, his real name is Clare. I'll write about him using that name now, so I don't confuse myself next time I see him.
After the whole problem was explained, I didn't want to leave just yet so we went to a park (Kimiko suggested it) near his house. It was pretty nice from what I had seen, and I want to go back sometime if I ever visit Barton again.
Anyway, on the walk to the park, I was almost robbed! This man just came running up to me and snatched my purse, then ran off in the opposite direction. I started screaming and we chased him down the street pretty far until Clare suggested that we fly.
Flying is nice. I kind of wish I had a pair of wings instead of these branches now, ha ha! It feels great to be in the air, you get this weightless feeling when you soar. I've never been on an airplane before, but I think it would be better than just sitting in a machine and letting it do the flying for you. He seemed to get really tired after just a while, though, so I guess it gets very stressful to stay up in the air for long periods of time.
We caught the thief, and the police took him away after a nice man was kind enough to lend me his cell phone. We went back to get my sandals (Luckily they weren't stolen, I dropped them at the beginning of the chase to gain speed) and amazingly, we ended up right across the street from the aforementioned park.
We had strawberry ice cream before going in. I paid, because Clare was kind enough to help me get my purse back from the thief and I had to repay him somehow. I guess we were just having bad luck on that day, though, because a big furry dog ran up to him and stole his ice cream after he had had one lick of it. I gave him my ice cream after a good laugh.
Then, we found out that Kimiko was spying on us. She fell out from behind a big trash can, and looked so embarassed that she ran away. Am I really that hopeless that I need an adult to look after me everywhere I go? I hope not. She didn't show up again though, and we finally saw her at Neko's house when we got back from our trip to the park.
The park was... an interesting experience. We went to the playground first, and this cute little kid came up to us and started gnawing on Clare's leg while talking about a monster. I think he was pretending to be a superhero.
This group of weird girls came over and started harassing us too, so we ran away and into the woods. The woods were nice, and we even saw a pair of deer. They ran away, though, I was a bit sad about that. Clare was talking gibberish or something, he was saying something about me being cute. (Maybe he needs glasses or something?)
Well, whatever he was talking about, I bet he was joking or something. After the deer left, though, we went to see a tree. And not just any tree, but a cherry tree! Like a big version of my branches! They were a nice sight, but made us strangely sleepy. We dozed off after finding a nice spot beneath the tree, and woke up in a whole new place.
We were kidnapped by two strange people, a man and a woman. The place we woke up in was a cell, and we broke out by bashing the glass door in. I was knocked out again by the man, and woke up in another cell. This one was easier to get out of, though, with iron bars for a door. I picked the lock with a screw that I had saved from the glass cell, and went back to the spot to find Clare. I got my payback on the man by chucking a sandal at him, and then I went off to get Clare's dagger while he took care of the man and the woman.
I don't have much to say about the whole kidnapping part because I was knocked out for a good part of it, but it was something that I wouldn't very much like to go through again. We went back to Neko's house after the whole ordeal (It was around 7:30, I think). We were about to leave when it just started raining and thundering for no reason. I didn't even see any rain clouds in the sky when we were outside!
We couldn't even get out of the front door, so we stayed over at Neko's house for the night. She made this thing called tacos for dinner, and I have to ask Kimi to make some for us too. They were really good!
Kimiko and Neko went off to get candles since the power was going on and off, so Clare and I went up to the library. They have a big house, to put a library in. There were so many books there...
Clare has a cute little brother. We acted out "Little Red Riding Hood" for him because the power went off for a while and he got scared, and he fell asleep while watching us. It was so cute! I didn't get to see any of his other family members, though. I'm not sure if that was good or bad.
So after the whole Little Red thing, I suggested watching a movie. I was curious about Ringu since I had heard Kimiko talking about it some time before, so we started to watch that. We figured out that horror movies are very bad for me. At a scary part in the movie, the lights decided to go off again and I pretty much went insane. It didn't help much that Demian decided to play a prank on me, either.
Clare made me feel much better, though, and we shut off the movie to go downstairs and get some ice cream. It was getting pretty late at that time, so we finished it off quickly and went back upstairs to get some sleep in. I guess I must have fallen asleep while hugging him good night though, since I found myself hugging him the next morning instead of in the guest room where Kimiko had slept.
I didn't really want to leave his house just yet, but we had to catch the bus back to Durem so we said our goodbyes. I gave him my phone number, and Kimiko gave them our address (I think), so hopefully they can come visit us sometime or we can go visit them again. I'd like to see Clare again and apologize for my mom.
It was, in a word, great.
I really do hope I can see him again. He makes me feel... oddly happy.
Sincerely,
Mayu.
P.S. This has been the longest entry I've written so far. It takes up three full pages, front and back!
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 2:49 pm
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Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 3:49 pm
Another failed lesson. "Alright, it took me a long time to get to this but we're finally going to start martial arts!" Kimiko said with an impish tone, large smirk on her face. After calling around to various academies around the city, the teenage girl had simply given up and decided to teach her daughter herself how to kick a** like a champion. Her own parents had put her through classes this intense, and she had turned out, for the most bit, fine. A crowd was gathering on the patio, and Miyu pushed open the sliding door with one hand while balancing a tray carrying glasses of iced tea with the other. Placing the tray on the patio table, she found herself a nice seat and leaned back; the hilarity was just about to begin. "Are you sure about this? I don't think you're a qualified karate instructor!" Mayu stated with a shaky tone, her guardian was looking scarier by the second. Inching back slowly, she bit down on her lip and resisted the urge to run. It was her pride at hand! Imagine the humiliation she would suffer if she was smacked down by her mother!"Alright," the girl sighed, flicking back a piece of black hair gracefully. "First thing you gotta know is how to block." Screw the traditional way of teaching karate, she wasn't about to go through all of the rules and blah blah blah first thing. She would cover that later, if she remembered. "Learn how to read your opponent's moves, and dodge with the right movements to avoid getting hurt. Here, punch me." Tapping on her jaw lightly, Kimiko grinned a cheshire cat grin. "Don't hold back!" Blinking, Mayu gave a dumbfounded stare. "You sure?" She asked timidly, watching her guardian with a nod. "Alright, here goes nothing!" She said, throwing a punch. It might have actually hurt, had Kimiko not put her hand out to stop it. She gave an amazed look, and decided that she was going to listen a lot more closely to what her mother said now. "You see, it's all about the right movements!" Kimi laughed, dropping her hand to waist level. She fell back for a second, thinking. Then suddenly, she lunged out and flipped Mayu to the ground. The group gathered on the patio laughed uproariously, and even the caged nightmares had to give an amused chirp. "You know, I think we'd better think of some way to take your branches out of the equation before starting lessons again, I almost poked my eye out doing that." She huffed, then gave a smile. Reaching her hand out, she pulled the stunned girl up. "That ... That HURT!" Mayu said, pouting. Her frown soon turned to a laugh however, and she chuckled. "Yeah, I think the branches really hurt my aerodynamics. And I might break one if these continue..""Alright, you figure out a way to shrink these branches or something and we'll start these lessons back up. You gotta know how to fight back in case another robber steals your purse or something, y'know!" Kimiko flexed her arm, then skipped back into the house. The crowd followed cheerfully, leaving a pondering Mayu in the backyard. At least they left her a glass of iced tea ...
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Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 6:09 pm
Needles are pointy! After glancing down at her tattered purse and over at the sewing kit she had purchased a few days ago, Mayu had officially decided that it was the perfect opportunity to learn how to sew. The needles looked intimidating, and she wasn't quite sure how the whole thing worked, but she was quite determined to learn.
Kimiko was nowhere to be found, and neither Miyu nor Verde knew how to work a needle and thread, so she had decided to take matters into her own hands. After stealing her guardian's laptop, she had surfed on the 'net until she had a variety of sites to refer to as she learned how to sew. The needles were pointy, she had found, and had a box of neon-colored band-aids close at hand on the nighttable just in case she pricked herself.
Now, first thing she had to do was learn the different types of stitches. She had found a scrap piece of fabric, check. She had threaded the needle with some effort, check. (Pink thread, too!) Scrolling down the page, Mayu found the instructions for each of the beginner stitches. They looked simple enough, that was for sure. Poking the needle through the swatch of fabric, she tried her hand at the running stitch, backstitch, and various others. She was moving along at quite a fast pace as well, until she accidentally pricked her index finger and stopped to survey her work. It was horrible -- the stitches all uneven, and the "line" she had been sewing in was nothing but an illusion.
Wrapping a lime green band-aid around her finger, Mayu threaded the needle with a contrasting color and began to work on perfecting her backstitch, slowly and steadily. It took her quite a while to conclude that she had done a good job of keeping the small stitches even and in a neat line, an hour and a half in fact.
Her fingers each had a band-aid wrapped around it tightly by the time she gave up sewing for the day, and stored the kit in a nice place. As for the swatch of fabric that she had sewed upon for practice, that was hung up upon her wall as a small reminder of her first attempt at trying to sew.
Glancing up at the analog clock, Mayu threw down her supplies and ran down the stairs; it was dinnertime. Behind her, an open notebook held a few scratchy notes on what she had learned.Mayu's Notebook Running Stitch
- - - - - - - - -
Using the needle, move the thread across the fabric in an up and down fashion, leaving a space between each stitch. Good for decoration, though not a very strong stitch.
Backstitch
------------
Poke the needle through the fabric before the space you want to sew.
----- * And then bring it down next to the last stitch you made. Repeat until desired length. This is a stronger stitch and useful for sewing pieces together, etc.
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Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 7:59 pm
A series of events. It was once again another boring day in the Misaki household, the residents mulling about on the hot, sunny day. The glasses which they clutched in their hands were filled to the rim with freshly-squeezed-and-mixed-lemonade, thank you very much, and the air conditioning was on full blast. However, the terrifying intensity of the not-yet-Summer heat wave made the flowers droop, the grass yellow, and the beings drowsy. "When is this stupid heat wave going to be over?" Miyu whined, sprawled out lengthwise upon the sofa. The television was airing a few good movies, and she was avidly flipping through the channels so she could watch all three movies simultaneously. She had perfected the skill of channel surfing over the past year, now able to watch three shows at the same time with completely different plots."Whining about it will do you no good!" Mayu said, brushing Verde's hair with a small hairbrush that the two girls had snatched from Kimiko's bathroom after the girl had left to go grocery shopping. They were both perched upon cushions on the tatami floor, and by the looks of it, playing beauty salon."No good," Verde nodded, hair wobbling behind her."Meh. When did Kimiko say she would be back, anyway? I'm starved, and I don't want to order out."At the elf's words, the elegantly crafted front door flew open. Kimiko loved her dramatic entrances, and would find a way to make one with everything she did. Stepping into the living room, she dropped several bags onto the floor, and skipped into the kitchen where she began to pack away vegetables, fruits, and other foods into the already crowded refrigerator. The children dashed over to the bags with interest, immediately forgetting their dilemma and picking through the purchased items. One bag was filled with items exclusively for Mayu, which she carried off happily. Another was for Verde, and yet another was for Miyu. The last two were for the family pets, and the Talaye nosed through the variety of squeaky toys and yarn for the cat to find two large bones. Gnawing upon them happily, they went away to their own business as well. Padding up the stairs and into her room, Mayu dumped the contents of the bag out onto the striped pink rug which was fashionally placed upon hardwood flooring.
 
 
She squealed at the cute little doll and immediately went to place it on the nightstand, and hung the lantern and wind chime up around the room. The chime tinkled as a light wind blew through the open window, and Mayu hung the lantern up by her reading area to give it a more oriental feel.
The thing that had attracted the girl's attention the most, however, were the two fans. Hanging up the powder blue fan besides the cherry blossom emblazoned one that had been given to her a long time ago, Mayu returned to examining the rose-patterned fan which lay open on the floor.
It was a cute little thing, having lace edging to give it a more sophisticated air. Snapping it closed, the silver-haired girl ran down the stairs happily, two steps at a time.Verdandi mewed at the sight of her Legend companion, pawing up to greet the girl with a friendly nuzzle. She returned to batting about a squishy mouse filled with catnip soon after though, the little gray eyes and large ears were oh-so-appealing to a little cat as herself.Miyu nodded slightly in approval before returning to her newly acquired novel. She had a weakness for horror novels, and engulfed them readily.Grinning, Mayu began to mock-swordplay with the closed fan, twirling about as pink petals were shaken loose from her branches and fell about her in a snowflake effect. She had the insatiable urge as soon as she touched the fan, but had controlled it until she had gotten herself to a more open area.From the kitchen, Kimiko gawked. She had heard of Japanese war fans, and tessenjutsu ... the ancient art of war fan fighting ... and Mayu's movements seemed so fluid and similar to the descriptions. She looked magnificent, and for a split second, she swore she remembered a passage from a legend she had been read to many years ago. "The maiden led the makeshift army in battle, wielding a large tessen as her weapon ... The enemies were over- over..." The voice drifted off lazily, followed by a snore.
"Papa!" The young Kimiko protested, wanting to hear more of the story. "Papa, wake up! What happened then?"
A mansion, marble floors, a large stairwell ... two boys, one with disshoveled hair and a basebll hat, another with neat straight hair and large framed glasses.
The library, the library! Where was the library?Snapping out of her flashback, Kimiko dropped the box of pasta she was about to place in the pantry and rushed over to Mayu. "That was amazing!" She crooned, "You know, we should start working on your war fan fighting skills. Of course, we'd need to balance that with martial arts..." She mused, humming a happy tune as she retreated back into her own little world. Mayu groaned, this was going to be a long day indeed ...
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