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 Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 6:35 am
__Part 12
"I'm just saying, this is starting to get ridiculous."
Lenore shrugged, taking a sip of her slushy and spitting a lump of congealed syrup onto the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding Ethan's sneaker.
"People get sick, Ethan, it ain't a big deal."
Ethan made an angry dissenting noise.
"This is beyond being sick! For them to keep pulling that excuse, it's maddening! Something's wrong, they know it, and they refuse to tell us anything! Aren't you irritated at all?"
Swatting Sadako away from the straw before the doll could - somewhat impossibly - try to steal any of her drink, Len shook her head.
"Look. If it was something bad, I'd be able to tell," she said, pushing her hair out of her face. "I have like an Evil Detector."
"Uh huh. And how does that work."
"What your tone, mortal. It's like....hmm. Like a cold feeling, sometimes. Other times when there's somethin' really bad around, it makes me feel sick."
"So basically, you'd be feeling just like they are and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference," Ethan countered dryly.
Len paused.
"Well, shoot."
"Len share with Sadako, Sadako want slushy!"
"You don't have a mouth."
"But Sadako can still bite off fingers. Explain that."
"Point taken. Len, share your slushy."
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 6:49 am
__Part 13
"So."
"Hm?"
"Here we are."
"Yup."
Crow, resting her chin on her hand and drinking mouthful after mouthful of scalding hot tea, gave her brother a glance. He was sitting across the table, trying to read the newspaper and periodically reached up to touch his face, as though expecting to draw his hand away spotted with blood. Crow's mouth twisted and she returned to her tea.
"What was that look for."
Crow shrugged.
"Nothing."
Julian glared at his sister, rattling the newspaper.
"Don't do that."
He rattled it again, giving her a deliberate look.
"Don't do what?"
Crow clicked her teeth.
"Would you just...you know. Quit it. I'm not feeling good."
Julian snorted.
"Yeah. And I'm feeling absolutely fantastic."
"There's no ********' need for sarcasm. I'm just asking you not to be so ******** loud."
"Maybe I'll quiet down if you speak like a civil person and actually say please."
"Fine. Will you please stop being so ******** loud."
Julian glared again.
"Would it kill you to stop using curses every time you open your mouth?"
"What, just because I have the stones to curse more'n you do means I don't get to do it at all?"
Julian gave an exasperated laugh that was more like a sigh, throwing his hands up.
"You're disgustingly crude."
"Someone's gotta be. Bein' crude is usually the job of the guy in the house."
"Ethan isn't. I'm not."
"See? I have to work double-time. ********' wuss."
Julian rapped his knuckles against the table, making Crow glare at him, eyes slitting.
"Will. You. SHUT. UP."
"Come over here and make me."
"I will ******** make you. I will."
Julian yawned.
"Oh. So scary."
Crow growled, fingers dragging down the table and leaving claw marks behind.
"You're such a ******** douche," she said, getting up from the table and walking away, taking care to elbow his head as she passed. Julian struck out and clipped her shoulder with a fist, glaring at her retreating back as she slammed the door behind her. He returned to his newspaper, glowering.
"Stupid little b***h," he muttered darkly, lip curling in disgust.
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 7:18 am
__Part 14
By the time Lenore and Ethan had returned home, there was a full-blown screaming match going on. Exchanging looks with Len, Ethan pressed his ear to the door and winced as he heard something smash.
"You ******** son of a b***h!"
"Zhah, zhah, ebt yeh'alo caalsta blazeh!"
"Yeh'alo?" Ethan mouthed. Tiny. Julian. Hey. HEY. Opening the door quickly, Ethan had to close it to keep from being hit with a mug that smashed against the doorframe. "HEY!"
Crow yanked the door open, looking livid.
"We're BUSY," she screamed in Ethan's face, forcing the door closed. Ethan took a step back, looking astonished.
"Crow, let us in!"
The door opened again and Julian stormed out, turning and cursing at Crow in Rijani. He shoved Ethan out of his way and elbowed past Lenore, making her stumble.
"Julian, what the hell!" she called after angrily. "What were you two fighting about?"
"None of your ******** goddamned business, Lenore," Julian snapped, brushing her off. Ethan grabbed hold of Julian's arm.
"Don't talk to her like that!"
Julian froze, turning slowly to glare at Ethan.
"Let me go. I can ******** break you in half," he said, voice low. Ethan's eyes widened and he let go, recoiling a bit. Julian's expression twisted into a half-sneer and he took off down the hall.
"Ethan?"
Lenore's hand on his shoulder made him jump nearly out of his skin.
"Huh! What...what?" he said.
"You looked kinda funny for a second. What, what'd he say to you?" Len asked, still glaring after Julian.
Ethan shuddered, then shook it off.
"Nothing. ******** attitude problem," Ethan muttered, turning to the door and trying to open it. Crow opened it after a few moments of dealing with the knob's incessant rattling, expression icy.
"What," she said, coughing.
"Other people live here," Ethan snapped back, pushing past her.
Crow shrugged, ignoring Lenore as she tried to speak and going into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
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Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 12:44 pm
__Part 15
It was dark out, and Julian was still angry. He walked the streets, pushing through the crowds and ignoring everyone, muttering under his breath now and again. The look on his face curbed any annoyed comments from passerby, and he sneered at them. Disgusting things. They were beneath him. They all were. Just like that little b***h sister of his. What right did she have to pick fights with him? Him? After all he'd done for her! All he'd given up!
"Miserable little thug!" he spat, ramming a fist into a wall as he passed it. His knuckles split and a spray of blood flicked onto the sidewalk as he pushed his hand through his hair, ignorant to the injury. He was so furious, he felt blinded by it. The sickness had gone from him, so had the cold. Good. He was tired of being cold. He was tired of being unwell, being insulted, being talked down to. He was in control. That b***h had no right to speak to him, none at all. If anything she should have been on her hands and knees begging forgiveness.
"Heh," Julian managed, lips twisting into a smirk. He'd teach her. He'd show her how very in control he was when he took her by the throat and twisted until her breath stopped. "Heh! Ha! HA!"
The thought made him laugh harder and harder, until he had to stop and lean against a lamp post like a drunk. He'd kill her. Perfect!
...wait. Wait. WAIT. NO.
"H-huh?"
I won't! I WON'T, STOP IT. Stop thinking like this!
"Hh...hnn...n-no. No. No, no..."
Julian straightened, putting a hand to his head and feeling dazed. The laughter had stopped, the anger gone and the cold coming back to replace it. He blinked and looked around, disoriented. He was in unfamiliar neighborhood, in a part of the city some distance from home. He'd been walking so long he'd lost track of time. Starting to shiver again, Julian blinked and rubbed his eyes.
"That's weird...I should've been home by now," he said to himself, looking around again. Hadn't he just been on the way home? Crow would be worried that he was out so late. He didn't even remember coming out this way. "Huh! Must've taken a wrong turn or something..."
He went in the opposite direction, heading towards home and wondering how on earth he'd gotten so turned around. He didn't notice the stain of blood on the sidewalk that was very much his own.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 9:52 am
__Part 16
The next few days between the siblings were distant. Neither would speak much to the other, but when they did a fight always followed. By Thursday afternoon, Crow was so sick of her brother's presence that when he sat down next to her on the couch she got up and moved all the way into the kitchen.
Lincoln was on his last nerve.
"Look," he said, poring over his cookbook on the counter and chewing on a bit of radish. "Whatever's got you two in a knot is starting to drive the rest of us crazy. Ethan's talkin' about clearing out for a bit just to get some peace."
Crow spit into the sink, ignoring Lincoln's disgusted protest.
"Whoopty s**t for Ethan," she said coldly. "No one's beggin' him to stay."
Lincoln slammed his book shut, ears flat against his head.
"He's family!"
"He's a foundling. Just like you. Just like Lenore. ******** are the ones that showed up here. I just got stuck with you. I never wanted...I never asked to be saddled with you."
Lincoln looked askance at Crow, the hurt starting to show on his face.
"We...I. You're stuck with us?" he asked, trying to keep his tone level.
Crow shrugged, picking her teeth with a claw and giving her brother a sidelong glare.
"Pretty much," she drawled.
"Fine," Link said icily. "Guess you won't mind if I leave for a bit, then."
"No one's stopping you."
Very hurt, Lincoln slunk out of the kitchen and gave Julian a passing glance.
Julian, wrapped in a blanket on the couch again, gave Link an indifferent look before settling down to sleep.
Lincoln slammed the door behind him, and brushed a hand roughly across his eyes as he stalked down the hall, shoulders hunched.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 10:25 am
__Part 17
"Are you crying?
"No. Leave me alone."
Len perched on her rock, looking out at the lake, then down at the sand where Lincoln was sitting with head bowed down.
"Link. Look at me."
"I don't want to hear any psychobabble crap about how she didn't mean anything, Len. She meant it. She was being mean, and she really meant it."
Len's tail twitched in agitation, sending an beaten feather drifting onto the sand. She resisted the urge to scratch where the new feather was already growing in.
"Lincoln," Len said, pitching a smaller pebble into the water and watching the ripples. "I ain't gonna make excuses. She's been a real b***h to everything that walks lately. But that doesn't mean anything..."
"Yeah?" Link asked sharply, looking up. His eyes were rimmed in red and his face was a grimace. "How the hell d'you know? She said the same thing about you."
"I know," Len said. "I know. I've known her much longer than you have. Much longer. And she would never say something like that and really mean it."
"Bull."
"She risked her life to save me, once," Len said quietly, picking meditatively at the beads on her bracelet. "I was taken from her. And the people that took me, the man...he...."
She paused, shivering a little.
"Point is. She risked everything to save me. And she did. And she got hurt, really badly. She did bad things. All to get me back safe'n sound. And I can tell you, the person who bitched you out this afternoon and the person that saved me ain't the same at all. She's goin' through some s**t right now, but when it's through she'll be alright again."
Glancing over at Lincoln, not really that surprised to see the skepticism on his face.
"You'll see," Len said quietly, pitching another pebble. "You'll see."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:13 am
__Part 18
"Ethan. Ethan."
"Mnn. Hn? What?"
"Perhaps Mister Adyamaur would like to offer some input about the Alternate World Overlap theory, Donelley, considering how very interested he was while you were speaking."
Ethan winced and sat up.
"Oooh no," he muttered. Nen rolled her eyes, tapping her pen to her lips.
"I tried to wake you up," she muttered under her breath as the professor ascended the stairs to lean beside Ethan, the rest of the packed lecture hall fell silent except for a few smothered laughs. Ethan dared a look up, and cringed under his teacher's glower.
"Um," he began, looking towards Donelley. The boy, a kid with blue scales covering most of his face, was trying to mouth the words in an attempt to help. "Well. Uh. Donelley was..."
Gods, I swear sometimes, Ethan....he was talking about the inter-world theory and how pocket dimensions are possible because of the way alternate worlds overlap. AWO theory is that all worlds have mirror-images in different dimensions and all exist in the same plane!
"GNNK!"
"Mister Adyamaur. I'd prefer it if you didn't have a seizure in the middle of your stumbling answers."
"Y-yes sir. Um. Donelley was saying about the...the. The inter-world theory, and how pocket dimensions are possible because of the way alternate worlds overlap, and AWU theory is that all worlds have mirror-images in different dimensions and all exist in the same plane?"
"Is that a question or a statement?" the professor said.
"Statement, sir," Ethan said, blushing badly. The professor eyed him suspiciously, then descended the stairs back down to his desk. Ethan sighed in relief, leaning back in his seat. Nen jabbed him in the ribs with her pen.
"Ow! Nen..."
"You're welcome," Nen said, doodling on her notebook again. "That's the third time today I've had to save your a** during class."
"The telepathy thing will never cease to freak me out when I'm not expecting it."
"All the more reason why I should do it more often. Why the hell d'you keep falling asleep? You're the model student in this class," Nen said dryly.
"It's been a rough couple weeks at home," Ethan said, looking at his notebook and wincing at the small wet spot of drool that made the ink run. "They fight for hours and so loudly..."
"Who?"
"My family. My...eh. The people I live with. A brother and sister."
"Hmm. Sucks to be you."
"Yes. Yes it does. They've both been sick and they've been acting perfectly beastly lately."
"Did you just say 'beastly'?"
"I did. It called for it."
"Hmm."
Ethan stretched, peering over at Nen's notes and copying them quickly.
"Anyway," he said, pushing his glasses up and rubbing his eyes ruefully. "It's been getting worse, lately. And I think I'm coming down with whatever they have...I feel so tired..."
Nen clucked her tongue.
"You look pasty and sickly," she said. Ethan snorted.
"Says the girl who looks like she's never seen the sun in her life," he said with a wry grin, half-sliding out of his seat when Nen pushed him.
---
"Another fantastic four hours of pure boredom," Nen said, yawning as she and Ethan left the lecture hall and headed out towards the cafeteria. "I swear, I don't know why I bother to come here..."
"Because you're desperately in love with me and the only way you dare get close is to conveniently take all the classes I do?" Ethan offered, throwing himself into his chair at the rickety old table by the window. Nen nodded solemnly.
"You've got me figured out perfectly. I must have you," she said in a monotone. "Come run away with me to the countryside. We'll make babies."
Ethan laughed, though the joke spurred a memory of Crow and the others laughing and, well, not trying to outscream each other. He fell silent, brooding a bit.
"Huh! They've managed to strangle your pleasant disposition I see," Nen said, leaning over the table to look at Ethan closer. "You do look a bit ill, y'know. Maybe a couple days away from them'll do you good."
"Maybe," Ethan said, rapping his knuckles on the table sullenly.
"Come stay with me," Nen said abruptly. "I won't b***h at you or scream....unless it's your name and we're in bed togeth-mnf!"
"Nen we're in public in SCHOOL don't say such things oh my god" Ethan said, blushing ferociously. "Fine! Fine! I'll think about it, just don't SAY that!"
Her mouth covered by Ethan's hand, Nen gave a muffled laugh, looking pleased with herself.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:39 am
__Part 19
"Why don't you just get the ******** out of my house?"
"I don't have to go anywhere! Besides, this isn't your house, this is a charity shelter! You came here because you had nowhere else to go and-"
"Well maybe if you hadn't dumped me here like an inconsiderate shithead I wouldn't have to live off charity!"
Julian slammed his hands on the table and rose, his chair tumbling to the floor.
"I'm GLAD I'm dumped you here," he shouted at Crow. "I was free of you for seven ******** years! YOU are the one that called ME and brought me here!"
"As I recall, you were sent here as the lackey messenger boy of some-"
"DON'T BRING THAT INTO THIS!"
Ethan, Lenore and Lincoln watched the fight wearily, pushing away from the table. The siblings were blind to them, focused wholly on screaming at one another.
"How long d'you think this one's gonna last?" Len asked Ethan quietly.
"Who knows," Ethan said, shaking his head slightly.
"You ******** b***h! Why don't you just crawl over to Liam and ask HIM to protect you from now on?"
"Maybe I should! He's a lot more ********' reliable than you are, he doesn't b***h about it when he kills people."
"I've done more'n my share of killing you ungrateful little-"
"COME OVER HERE and SAY IT to my FACE, you spoiled nasty littel rotten ******** and Crow jolted, and looked to Ethan. He'd stood, face set in anger and looking between them for a moment before shaking his head in disgust and heading out the door. It slammed so hard behind him a picture frame flew loose of the wall and clattered to the floor.
"Hh...hnn," Crow said, blinking. Julian sat down, looking at his ******** him," he said, glaring up at his sister again. "Do you see what you do?"
"What I do? He left because of you!"
"Why don't you just go and-"
Len took Lincoln's hand and left the table, shaking her head slowly, and quietly left the room with him. The siblings didn't notice.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:42 am
__Part 20
Ethan sat outside, turning his phone over in his hands, and shaking his head, muttering angrily to himself. Nen had said she'd come as soon as she could, but that could mean hours for all he knew. It was too dark to walk to her apartment, and anyway he just wasn't in the mood.
"HNNNNNNGH," he said, muffling a scream in his hands and then pushing them violently through his hair, knocking his glasses askew.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:44 am
"That bad, huh?"
The voice seemed to come from nowhere. Some had clearly been spying.
...and said voice was rather distinct.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:47 am
"DAH!"
Ethan slid off the stair he'd been sitting on, landing on the next with a thump. He winced, sure he'd bruised his tailbone, and then just sighed.
"If it was a normal argument I wouldn't even care," he said, rubbing his temple where the beginnings of a serious headache lurked. "But it's beyond that. It's like they seriously hate one another. Sick or not, there's no excuse for some of the things they've been saying..."
He looked around.
"Where are you? I feel like I'm just talking to myself."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:48 am
"Right here," Liam nodded, suddenly appearing on the step Ethan had been on.
"Who? Crow n' Julian?" It wasn't something he wanted to think, but it was clearly the most obvious option.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:52 am
"Hey," Ethan said, polishing his glasses wearily with his shirt. "And yes. Crow and Julian. They're being monstrous to each other. I can't take another one of those fights..."
He leaned against the step, resting his head beside Liam's feet.
"I have to go. I'm staying with a friend and I'll be back in a few days. I just can't stay there anymore," he said. "I'm not sure I even want to come back. I mean. I'll still come and visit you and all. But..."
He covered his face with his hands, resisting the urge to scream again.
"Aside from the fact I think I'm getting sick too," he said tartly. "Tired all the time and a chill I can't shake off. I'd rather just clear off and stay away for a while."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:55 am
Well, ********. Liam's heart jumped up into his throat, and he had to resist the urge to throw a massive hissy fit.
"Oh, I know what's happening. It's more of this s**t. It starts up looking completely innocent, and then KA-BAM, we're in the middle of ******** nowhere armed with a weasel and a frying pan, trying to fend of hordes of Satan's minions. It's like there's some huge sadistic writer out there controlling the ********' universe. EURGH." He dropped his head suddenly between his knees.
"Maybe you'll be safer with yer friend, or it might be another one of Its terrible...plot points. Nngh."
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 12:01 pm
"Your view of the universe if comforting," Ethan said dryly, sitting up and looking at Liam. "So it's an almost 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' thing, isn't it."
He sighed, then winced as he heard a distant door slam.
"That'll be Julian," he murmured speculatively. He shook his head, looking up and down the road and wondering what Nen's car actually looked like.
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