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 Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:47 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:48 pm
~A Delicate Gift~Glass Crow The Present
"Jeez, I hope he likes you."
Putting such a delicate creature into a cage was harder than Lenore thought it would be. Especially since the thing seemed terrified of her - nothing like yelling at twitchy insects and chasing them around the room with a broom to liven up a dull morning.
Holding the cage carefully, Len knocked at Rabid's door. After a few minutes with no response, she sighed and set the thing down carefully. Sticking on top of the cage, she gave the door a last look before running off back to her own room.
Lenore Dear Malachi, I was wandering around town the other day and found a little store that sold these things. I saw this one and thought of you - I hope you like it! Love, Len. 
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:21 pm
~Finding The Gift~
"What're you gonna name him?"
"Uhm...I dunno," Ike rested his free hand on his chin, the other acting as a perch for the butterfly...Len's gift to him. He thought long and hard.
"Giuseppe."
"Whaaa...?"
"What?"
"Yanno...after Giuseppe Tartini..."
"Who?"
"Giuseppe Tartini. He was one of the greatest violin masters ever! He's the guy who discovered the...erm...resulting sounds thing...and made violin bows longer to make them better!"
"You're such a band geek," Clemmie giggled.
"Eeyup," Ike sighed, peering at the oddly-patterend butterfly, "I just wish this little guys didn't die..."
The boy turned and watched in something like horror as Liam's hand appeared up the table before him with a small glass orb grasped in its fingers. Ike had no time to react as Liam tapped the orb twice against the table, sucking a great deal of black smoke from Giuseppe. The butterfly went completely limp for a moment, but then Liam crushed the orb in his fist. The smoke returned to the insect, and he returned to his previous state as if nothing had happened.
"There. Now he won't," Liam mumbled and rolled over toward the wall.
"What the...?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:32 pm
~Math Class~
"But I don't wanna go."
"Len, for heaven's sake. It's just math class."
"I can count fine! What th' hell do I hafta go to class for?"
Crow let go of Len's hand and took her firmly by the shoulders, her expression caught between sympathy and sternness.
"And watch your language. Th' guy who teaches it's kind of a stick," she whispered, making Len smile with only slight grudging. Pushing her towards the door, she waved her daughter off.
"See you later."
Len watched as Crow turned to leave, fiddling with the strap of her bag. Sadako stuck her head out and gasped for air loudly, making Crow turn and head back over.
"Leeeen. No Sadako. Sorry." Crow said, seizing the doll. Ignoring the girl's angry protest and the sharp doll-teeth biting into her hand, Crow waved once more and left.
Len huffed and crossed her arms, looking sour, and went inside.
"Dammit."
Ike stumbled, pushed once again by Liam. He clung to the strap of his shoulder bag and whined.
"But, Liam! I don't want to go to class! It's ba'ah laveh!"
"Watch your mouth. You have to go."
"Whyyyy?!"
"Your mum will kill me if you don't, and otherwise you won't grow, alright? You wouldn't want to be a kid forever, would you?"
"Ah...no..."
"Good boy. Now go inside and learn something useful. Ahoj," Liam waved and disappeared around the corner.
"Dovidenia," Ike sighed sadly and turned toward the classroom, contemplating running for a moment. Quickly deciding that that was probably not the best idea, he entered the classroom.
Muttering Rijani curses under her breath nonstop, Len sat down at her desk and didn't bother to look up at who entered.
The teacher, a Siamese twin centaur-creature Lenore loathed already on principle, looked up at her stiffly.
"Pleased to meet you as well," he said.
His brother snorted, waving to Len and ignoring the look the speaker gave him.
Len blushed a slightly darker gray, getting up from her desk and curtsying.
"Sorry. Name's Lenore Adyamaur, sir. Uh. Sirs." She said politely, though it took every ounce of willpower not to grind her teeth.
The teacher nodded once, then turned to look at the new arrival.
"Come in, come in. Have a seat."
Len glanced up at her fellow prisoner of education, then squeaked and flew up out of her chair.
"Malachi!"
"Len!" Ike cried out and rushed to the girl and hugged her quickly.
"Have a seat, please," Naiblo said rather sternly.
"Uh...'kay," Ike murmured and looked to the teacher...teachers?...with surprise. He was certianly not expecting someone so...hard.
The boy chose a desk beside Len and sat down, removing his supplies from his backpack.
I don't like him.
Biting back a retort at Naiblo, Len hugged Malachi back before returning to her seat. Digging out her supplies, she edged her desk a little closer to Ike's hoping Naiblo wouldn't notice.
Clearing his throat, Naiblo turned to the blackboard and wrote his and Istrun's names.
"Welcome to Beginner Math," he said as he wrote. "My name is Naiblo Moonback. I'll be your teacher. My brother Istrun-" he pointed to his brother with the chalk- "is your science teacher. He won't be participating in this class."
Istrun waved again, grinning.
Finishing writing the his name and the name of the class, he began writing down the class' subjects.
"I assume you know at least a bit about mathematics, so we should jump right into it, then. Take out your notebooks and a pencil, please. In this class we will be covering division, multiplication, addition, subtraction, fractions, counting, geometry such as quadrilateral figures, areas..."
Ike couldn't keep his jaw from going momentarily slack. His family had gone to insane ends to help him learn basic math. Sure, he wasn't so great with the multiplication tables once it got to 11 and 12, but he didn't need any help with addition...
Kill him.
"Shut up," Ike said as he took out his notebook and a mechanical pencil.
"Excuse me?" Naiblo turned to Ike with an arched eyebrow.
"Uh...nothing, sir...mister...Moonback...sir..." Ike stammered, blushing slightly and scribbling down the subject names to keep himself occupied.
Naiblo waited a moment more before turning back to the board. He began scrawling a fair amount of basic math problems on the board in an almost sickeningly neat script.
"I'd like you to complete these problems to the best of your ability. I'd like to know how much you've been taught before beginning the lesson."
Ike sighed and rested his head on his hand, beginning to copy the problems down as they were written.
He really, really hated math.
Lenore scribbled down the problems with definite resentment. She could already tell this class was going to try her nerves. Eyeing a division problem, she decided that it could wait and started doodling.
Naiblo watched his students with arms crossed, waiting for them to finish. His eyes caught sight of a rather large doodle emerging on Lenore's paper and cleared his throat.
"Miss Adyamaur..."
Len looked up guitily and started working on the problem.
"Sorry sir." She said. Huh... okay... four divided by sixteen is...
Jeezum, Ike thought as he peered at the problems written on his paper, I didn't think you could divide little numbers by big numbers...
He copied the problem (which happened to be 6/12) over a few more times, as if hoping that it would somehow reveal the answer.
One half, William answered in annoyance, Six is one half of twelve, right? So you have a half of one in each group when you split six into twelve parts.
Ike nodded. That made sense. He scribbled down the answer and moved on to the easier problems.
"I'm done, Mr. Moonback."
"Well, just hold onto your work," Naiblo nodded, "Once Miss Adyamaur is finished, we will correct them together."
Ike nodded and began doodling random creatures on his work.
Unlike Malachi, Len didn't get to have any help with her work. Crow had taught her counting and Julian had tackled the basics of addition and subtraction, but beyond that she was a bit of a hopeless case. Blushing hotly when Ike finished before her, she looked hard at her paper and stared at the division problem. She had the sudden idea to take a quick glance at Ike's paper, just to get a nudge in the right direction, then shrugged it off. She didn't believe in cheating.
"Uh... um..."
Quickly moving onto the problems she figured scould solve, she wrote in whatever answer she thought up for the ones she couldn't and pushed her paper away.
"Done, sir," she said in a small voice.
Naiblo picked up the chalk and pointed to the first problem.
"Alright, then. Read me your answers and I'll put the correct one on the board. Seven times six is?"
Len shrank in her seat a bit.
"You go first, Bah," she said, looking down at her desk.
"Alright," Ike smiled to Len a bit sympathetically, "Forty-two."
Don't make me look like an idiot, Malachi.
"Good," Naiblo nodded and scrawled "42" beneath the problem, "Miss Adyamaur, what is nine minus 3?"
Relieved, Len glanced down at her paper.
"Six, sir."
"Good." He repeated, writing down the answer. "Five plus eight is?"
"Thirteen, sir," Ike sighed, bored out of his mind and only half paying attention.
"What about twelve times six?"
"Uh." Len paused, looking down at her paper. "It's... thirty...five..."
Naiblo shook his head and tapped the problem on the board with his chalk.
"Try again."
Len looked at the problem again.
"Oh, it's...it's eighteen." She said, adding the figures quickly.
Ike noticed his friend's confusion, if that's what it was, and immediately felt bad. How to tell her the answer without cheating? Ah!
He tore out a sheet of notebook paper and wrote twelve sixes on it. He then handed the paper to Len.
"Add them all up."
Naiblo looked down at the boy suspiciously and loomed over him.
"Would you like to teach this class yourself?"
"Uh...n..no, sir..."
Restraining the urge for the second time to talk back to Naiblo, Len did as Malachi said anyway.
"Seventy two, sir." She said, a slight edge to her voice. She smiled at Ike gratefully as she changed the answer on her paper.
Lips pursed slightly, Naiblo nodded and wrote the answer on the board.
"If you're having trouble Miss Adyamaur, feel free to ask me for help," he said with slight stiffness.
Ike smiled back at Len, but only quickly. It seemed quite possible that the teacher didn't much like smiling, and he didn't want to get scolded any more.
"Thirteen," Ike pointed to the board, wanting to cotinue as quickly as possible.
"Good, good," Naiblo said nonchalantly and scrawled the answer on the board, "I seems we should begin learning the basics of multiplication and division to keep everyone on the same level, hm?"
You could teach her.
"Shhhh..."
Lenore waited until both Naiblo and Istrun weren't looking before pulling a grotesque face, wagging her tongue and wrinkling her nose. Embarrassing her friends was not a way to get on her good side. Her face shifted back to normal as Naiblo looked up again, excusing her still-wrinkled nose as simply itchy as she rubbed her knuckles against it.
Certain he'd just missed something rude, Naiblo gazed at Len briefly before erasing the board and writing 'Multiplication' and 'Division' on the board.
"Alright. Miss Adyamaur, could you tell me the difference between multiplication and division?"
Len gulped.
"Um. Multiplication is...uh..." she looked down at the paper Ike gave her nervously. "It's when you take like, ah, y'know, take one number and add it up a bunch of times. Like...like four times nine, you take nine fours and add 'em up," she said, amazed that she'd managed to explain it at all.
"And division?"
"Um..."
Ike looked to his friend and, trying his best to explain division as best he could without speaking, tore another piece of paper out of his notebook, scrawled a big 2 on it, and tore it in half. He then wrote "1" on each slip of paper.
Division was...well...dividing, right?
Naiblo frowned at Malachi, brows knitting together.
"Mister Devreaux..." he began, looking a little irritated.
"Division is the opposite of multiplication," Len said quickly and clearly, trying to distract the teacher. "It's... it's like subtraction! You take a certain amount of a number and subtract it a lot of times by another number."
Naiblo turned his frown to Lenore, who cringed slightly.
"A bit...vague, but yes, you've got the gist of it." he said, writing a few sample problems of each on the board.
Ike cringed at the teacher's harsh tone and swept the paper pieces into his shoulder bag. He was trying to help...why was that so bad?
]Len sank in her seat, feeling horribly self-conscious and guilty. Not only was she bad at math, she'd gotten poor Ike in trouble.
"Hey, sir," she said to Naiblo, hardly believing her daring, "Malachi's just trying to help me."
Naiblo arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"Pardon?"
Len took a deep breath. She refused to be intimidated by a guy who was half-horse.
"M'sorry. He's just trying to help is all. I'm not good at school," she said quickly. She felt heat rise in her face as she said it, but as much as she didn't want to admit it, it was true... she felt quite dumb at the moment.
Naiblo pursed his lips again but declined to comment, though it was clear he hadn't taken kindly to being talked back to. Though, she was catching on with the boys help, it seemed. He turned to the board and finished writing.
"Try your hand at these, then pass them up to me once you're done. And Miss Adyamaur," he added, looking stern, "you raise your hand if you wish to speak. Once class is done you can come up here and clean the board."
"Yes sir."
Ike began writing the problems down on his paper, planning to stay with Len once class was through. He could try and put his new powers to use...although that would probably also get him in trouble.
Oh well. Len was his best girl friend.
Scribbling down the problems, Len tackled them one at a time with resenting determination. It was a slow process, and more than once she had to erase a lot of work and start over. But she refused to ask for help - Ike had given her a head start, and she'd rather eat her eraser then ask that unpleasant teacher for help.
Six times six is...oh... dammit! Dammit! Okay....six plus six is twelve...
She really, really hated math right now.
Instrun couldn't help to interfeer at this point. He knew his brother well (they were together for over 20 years now) but he was starting to get on his nerves
"It's good for kids to help out eachother ya know"
"This is my class Instrun and they should learn how to solve problems alone" he replied without taking his eyes off his students
"If you taught them how..."
"Are you insinuating I don't know how to teach? Mind you I..."
"... went into college 2 years before any other student. I know, I was there remember?"
"But seriously Nai they're just kids and you haven't exactly told them the steps to solve the problems. You can't expect them to know everything"
Naiblo refused to reply, turning his head away from him brother in discomptempt
Taking that as a positive sign, Instrun addressed to Lenore, noticing the problem she was trying to solve
"I know a little trick to make multiplications easier. 6 is 5+1 right? Then just do 6x5 + 6x1. It's much easier to remember" he winked
Ike peered up at the teachers. Huh...he'd never thought of multiplication like that. Then again...you had to know how to multiply to do it that way.
He hadn't while learning.
Len looked up shyly at Istrun, then back down at the problem.
"Okay..."
Scribbling down the figures on the paper, she worked out the answer and looked back up. She'd actually figured it out.
Cool.
"Done, sir." She said, writing the number 36 with a flourish.
Ike peered over at Len's paper and grinned upon seeing her correct answer.
"Good job," Istrun smiled.
Naiblo simply snorted.
Feeling quite triumphant, Len handed Naiblo her paper. She mouthed a quick thank you to Istrun, smiling.
Naiblo accepted the paper and looked it over.
"Good, good... well then. Mister Devreaux, Miss Adyamaur, I believe that's enough for today. Your homework," he paused and took two fresh papers off the desk and handed them to his students, "is due next class. Nothing too hard, just a review of what we went over today. Class dismissed."
Lenore spraing up and grabbed Malachi's hand, ready to sprint from the room.
"Miss Adyamaur."
Oh. Right. Sagging slightly, Len went over to the blackboard and started to clean it off with the water bottle and rag Naiblo had pointed out to her. As the teachers left (Istrun she waved goodbye to, and Naiblo she made a very unpleasant face at when he turned away), she scrubbed away at the board.
"Well. Fun class, isn't it?" She asked Malachi wryly, sneezing a bit as she inhaled chalk dust.
"Hm," Ike nodded and stole the water bottle from Len, wetting his own tail and beginning to scrub the board with it. It covered more space than one of those stupid rags.
"I really don't like that guy."
Len grinned and finished cleaning her part of the board.
"A real charmer, he is. I can see how learnin' stuff like multiplication'll be useful in real life, though." she said mildly. "Next time somebody attacks us we can just bore them to death."
Laughing to herself, she tossed the rag onto the teacher's desk, ignoring the puddle it began to form on Naiblo's papers.
"Thank you for helping me," she said, looking over at Ike shyly. There was a self-conscious grin on her face as she spoke. "I promise I won't get you in trouble again. I'll practice n' stuff."
Scooting back to her desk, she crumpled her homework as she shoved it into her bag.
"Wanna go outside and play?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 7:07 am
~Rabid's Newest Plot~
The WFP
Most RPs will be posted within, along with the plot.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:44 pm
~!Finished Classes!~
Click Here
Ike returned to his room hours later to see his mother shoving a gigantic trembling Santa hat into the closet.
"Secret Santa time again?"
"Secret Santa time again."
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Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 3:16 pm
~A Visit~
It was unsurprising that along with being fed up with a working life, Crow was very lonely. She'd come very close to considering quitting her damned job, now that it ate up almost every bit of her time - she hadn't seen her family or friends in what felt like weeks. She was certain someone could have committed murder in her house and she wouldn't have known about it unless she tripped over the body.
Given her record, that was probably the only way she would find out.
To give herself a break, she'd treated herself to a day off today. And her first stop was, in her opinion, the only thing worth doing anyway.
"Liam? Rabid? Hello?" she called, knocking on the door.
"Rabid, no. Liam, yes," came to singular reply from where else but the couch, "Come on in. It's open. As usual."
He shifted uncomfortably and once again obsessively checked to make sure his legs were still there. He wanted desperately to see Crow, but he wasn't exactly in the physical state of feel comfortable with...ah, screw it. He wanted to see his...
...girlfriend?
Pushing the door open and restraining herself from bouncing inside, Crow made an immediate beeline for Liam. She wanted to touch him, a hug, a kiss, something, but knew in the state he was in a sneak-attack of physical contact might startle the living daylights out of him. She contented herself to perch on the arm of the couch and look at him.
"Hey," she said, half-reaching out for him anyway.
In his odd state of not-quite-seeing, Liam smiled and reached out for Crow, hitting an arm and following it to a hand. He intertwined his fingers in his, and used his free arm to move closer.
"Missed you."
Delighted at the contact, Crow held his hand and slipped off the couch arm, comfortably close to him.
"I missed you too," she said. "So much. I hate not getting to see you..."
Realizing the sugary sap that practically oozed out of her words, Crow grinned and decided she wholeheartedly didn't care. She was happy, goddammit.
Liam maneuvered behind Crow a bit, wrapping his other arm 'round her shoulder and resting his head on her shoulder. He closed his eyes and sighed again.
"This sucks, yanno that? I mean...not this...the whole...big scheme of suckiness." After speaking he leaned up slightly and kissed her on the cheek.
Liam was never one for physical displays of affection. He hadn't the slightest idea as to what was 'wrong' with him.
Smiling at the kiss, Crow rested her head against the couch and looked up at the ceiling.
"I know. Life sucks in general, that's the point I guess," she said. "You're only allowed so much happiness before something either kicks you in the teeth, stabs out an eye or lays a pox upon your household."
She paused for a second, grinning slightly for no reason at all.
"I mean, I guess so. Some people's lives are made of of fluff and sparkles, the bastards."
"Psh. Fluff and sparkles," Liam snorted, "This could totally be considered fluff and sparkles, were I not a crip. I've decided that God or Fate or The Great Eel...whatever. He-slash-she-slash-it hates us. Lots." He removed his arms and reached arond Crow's waist, hands meeting in the front.
God damn it, he must be delirious. Craving physical contact that didn't involve the exchange of bodily fluids? Huh...
"This still qualifies as at least sparkles," Crow said, leaning against Liam and resting her hand on top of his, enjoying the close proximity more than ever. "And..heh. Of course God hates us. I can name three divinities offhand who would like to smite me just for breathing."
"Thass okay," Liam laughed slightly and patted the nearest appendage, which happened to be Crow's stomach, "We're all undead and stuff. We automatically fail at life." He kissed her cheek again and sighed again.
"Wish I could see you."
It wasn't just a cheesy sentiment either. He really did. He couldn't completely remember what she or anyone else, for that matter, looked like.
Crow laughed.
"Twice undead for me," she chirped. "It's like I have a restart button. I fail and win at the same time."
Her smile faded slightly as she looked at Liam's face, at his eyes. For the thousandth time she wished she could do something to help him...
"I wish you could too," she said. She brushed a hand down Liam's cheek, fingers trailing. "But...I mean, you can still...hear me. That's something, right? I guess..."
Liam made a strangled sound and rather quickly raised one of his hand's to catch Crow's, clenching it as gently as possible and pulling it away.
"That's a lot," he nodded, eyes flickering to one side as if he could actually see, and then trailing back, slightly off-centre, "but I don't know how long that'll last either."
Realizing she'd done something she shouldn't have, Crow blushed slightly and withdrew her hand.
"It'll last long enough," she said firmly, distracting herself from dwelling on her mistake, whatever it had been. "By then if anything else starts we'll have some way to help you. I know we will."
Her blind optimism aside, Crow wondered what state Liam would be in by the time they figured anything out. If anything could be figured out.
Liam, realizing that he probably had given teh wrong impression in his hand-removal, tightened his embrace to try and compensate. He had the gnawing urge to be snarky and ramble on about drug dealers and murder in response to the optimistic babblings...but, no. Not with Crow.
"Thanks, love," he said, "I know you will." He knew she wouldn't but, regardless, nuzzled the side of her neck, eyes closing again. If he could just try and picture her...Christ, it was hard...
Blushing hotter at the pet name on principle alone, Crow ignored the fact he was only humoring her optimism. Sometimes denial wasn't such a bad thing...
She smiled as he touched her, trying to push the usual worry out of her mind. It wouldn't do to be anxious right now, she'd have plenty of time for it later.
"Maybe, maybe not," she said, voice slipping in volume. "Who knows."
"What's wrong?" Liam asked, half-grinning. His eyes had gone, but that only made his ears proportionately better.
Or so the books said.
"You okay?"
He pulled away slightly, just in case he'd done something wrong and mentally cursing himself as if he had.
Crow made a small sound that was half a squeak.
"Wrong?" she said quickly, ignoring the crack in her voice. "No, no, nothings...I mean, there's not...no."
Feeling like an idiotic fourteen year old struggling with a schoolyard crush, Crow forced herself to behave normally. It wasn't much of a step up, but it was something.
"Nothings wrong. I just...I don't usually...touching," she said, ending feebly. "You're the only one that's really ever this close with me. That's all."
Oh, smoothly handled, you dip, she said to herself in exasperation. He's gonna think you're a moron or a prude. Yeesh.
"Yeah-huh," Liam nodded and snickered, "Same here." Well, mostly, anyway.
Without having to pin her down and put a gun to her temple.
Deciding that he had to keep up his usual personality, crippled or not, Liam tried to make things worse. He reached up and placed two fingers to the side of Crow's jaw, angling her face properly before going in for a kiss.
...and, glory of all glories, he didn't miss!
Crow froze, feeling her heart rate jump up to an alarming speed. Well, that had been unexpected. She forcibly reminded herself she had instigated their first real kiss, but that had been ages and ages ago....
But if this was what he wanted to play at, she'd go along with it. She had to get over her phobias sooner or later...after all, what if sooner or later he wanted to have...
Oh. Oh dear.
She hadn't thought of that. That level of relationship was, she was certain, completely beyond her ability to handle.
Blushing ferociously, Crow decided to focus on what was at hand. It was only a kiss, after all. She fell into it, one hand gripping his arm but not daring to reach any higher.
Liam had never planned to give such an impression. Alas, though, it was probably very much a part of his character.
Now determined to break Crow's goddamned phobias (for her more than himself, really) Liam reached up to tangle his fingers in her hair, caressing the side of her face with his thumb.
He tried to be loving and not sleazy. He really did. He just hoped he was doing a good enough job.
The niceties were at first lost on Crow, took distracted by her own bewilderment. After a bit, when she realized this is the sort of thing couple, y'know, did, she started calming down and realized she was...kinda enjoying this.
Cautiously, as though afraid she'd scare him off, Crow slung an arm 'round Liam's shoulders. She broke the kiss for a second, unable to look at him directly.
"I do love you, you know that, right?" she said, perfectly aware she was still blushing.
Liam stopped for a moment, completely awestruck. He sighed happily and half-smiled, something generally not seen on him.
"I know. I love you too."
His heart tweaked and he felt heat rise to his face. He bowed his head for a split second before kissing Crow again, briefly.
And then he felt something wet slide down his cheek. Ah, jeez...
Smiling, realizing kissing really didn't embarrass her anymore and feeling like she'd made some good progress, Crow dared a look at Liam's face. Her heart jumped and came to a dead stop for a second, rhythm interrupted.
She'd made him cry. Oh. ********. Hell.
"I'm sorry," she blurted. "I didn't...I didn't mean to."
Huh?
"Oh! Oh, no!" Liam laughed slightly and wiped the tear away, willing the rest, if any, to go the Hell away and never come back, "It's just I've...no...I've never..."
He couldn't say it without sounding like an absolute sap.
"Trust me, you've done nothing wrong."
The last person to tell him they loved him had been his mother, after all...and she was...well...
Regardless, crying made him seem even more effeminate than his face already did, and that was rather unsatisfactory.
"Okay..."
Looking unconvinced, Crow shrugged off the alarm that had risen. Maybe she'd poked him in the eye or something, that's all.
"You don't sound okay," Liam said, smiling, and lifted Crow's chin, "Stoppit. I said you didn't do anything wrong. It's just..."
He paused, gathering some immense amount of courage and dropping all of his remaining dignity.
"I've never been loved before is all.
"I know, I just thought I did something..." Crow trailed off, looking at Liam in astonishment. She had the nagging feeling that had taken some effort on Liam's part to say. In instinctive response she hugged Liam, head resting against his chest and clinging.
"I didn't know. I'm sorry. I mean, I'm not sorry - er, oh, ******** it, I'll just shut up," she said, refusing to let go.
Liam hugged Crow back, so absurdly happy that he was beginning to scare himself. He rested his head on her shoulder and (for the love of God and all that is holy...) started crying once more.
Suddenly, the door creaked open, allowing the hallway's noise to fill the room. Ike peered in and gave Liam a confused look before smiling and waving.
Liam waved back and made a shooing motion with one of his hands.
Ike giggled slightly and slinked out the door.
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 8:09 am
Another Night at Home
"Liam, we can't keep this up," Rabid whispered to the young man she was sharing teh couch with, a blanket tugged between them.
"Do what?" Liam whispered back, also unable to sleep.
"This. Any of this," Rabid heaved a sigh and gave an exaggerated wave of her arm to display their surroundings.
Directly below them on the floor and within the pentagram was Björn. Atop his ample frame were Clemmie, Dezzy, Ike, and Skelly, all curled into little balls of child and shivering from the cold.
Shivali slept between the couch and Björn, breath wheezing through Noni's fur. Poe and Aloysius lay curled near the stove, relishing whatever heat was left. Even poor Aloysius was forced to retreat atop the fish tank, which seemed to be the only empty space.
The personal belongings of all six members of the family no longer fit within the drawers of the bureau. Baskets of clothing and toys littered the ground, and even the bookcase's lower levels were stocked with what was definitely not books.
"It started of with just me and Ike, and look at us now."
"We don't mind, Rabby. Really."
"I know...and that's what worries me. You shouldn't have to live like this. I mean, one salary isn't going to pay for eight people. And what about next year? Who knows what'll happen then."
"Next year Björn and I will have jobs, and we'll live in a nice house across town, and everything will be alright again."
"Yeah, alright," Rabid sighed again and snuggled beneath the blanket, pressing her leg against Liam's to try and draw some kind of comfort.
She wasn't trying to fool herself, though.
She wouldn't get in any sleep hours tonight.
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:08 pm
It Will Never Be
Ike hated thinking about him. He loathed him. He loathed everything he stood for.
Regardless, he had crossed the poor squirrel boy's mind.
He felt like he was going to vomit, curled into a corner, hugging his knees and sobbing quietly. Oh, and that ache...THAT INFERNAL STINGING ACHE!
"Noooo..." he moaned, not quite knowing that he had.
It was unavoidable. Lenore was his best friend, oh yes, more than a friend to him...
...and yet she and that p***k. The insufferable skeletal b*****d...
It was impossible to think that they weren't "together" by now, like Mum and Julian or Liam and Crow...
Sure, common sense said that it wasn't serious. They were too young to understand love and too young to have it last too far...but GODS...
He moaned again. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't. No, he'd wake the family up, and then they'd ask what was wrong. He'd have to tell them, then. He didn't want to tell them. He was...
...ashamed. Yes, that was the right word.
Oh, he fantasized a lot. Not in the way the boys on TV did with the weird wriggling under sheets and stuff, no, just holding hands. Or maybe kissing.
Hell, anything more than friends.
He groaned, gave a convulsive sob, and finally allowed for a half-scream.
Nobody woke up.
Gods, it hurts. It hurts so bad...
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:50 pm
The Whipped-Cream Incident
Malachi had felt the need to disappear for a while, and so had given his mother a quick goodbye, put on his jacket and scarf, and run out onto the HQ grounds in the inches-deep snow.
He now sat on a fence post he'd mostly cleared, playing his violin in fingerless gloves with numbed digits. He hadn't taken his rosin with him for fear it would freeze, and so he had to be rather gentle with his bow.
Reid yawned widely, pausing in his aimless trek through the snow to shake himself and stretch his wings briefly.
The firefly wasn't usually one for snow and cold and all that, it made him feel sluggish and a bit out of sorts, but he'd been increasingly restless all day and when his mother had caught him glowering at his piano for no apparent reason she'd suggested a change of scenery.
When he'd given Chao a 'are you insane, it's snowing outside?' sort of look she'd simply thrust his jacket, a scarf and, for some insane reason, an umbrella at him. And then she'd bribed him with hot chocolate if he came back in cold and damp.
So, here he was, dragging the umbrella along behind him and leaving a trail to follow back once enough time he'd gotten properly chilled.
Looking around Reid tilted his head as a faint melody caught his ear.
After waiting an extra moment to make sure that he wasn't imagining things the firefly abandoned his umbrella, took to the air, and headed towards the direction he was fairly certain the music was coming from.
As per usual, Ike didn't notice. Regardless of how soft the music, when he had his eyes closed, that was all he could hear. Otherwise, of course, he would have attempted to snatch Reid out of the air.
But no, he simply sat there, upper body moving with the strokes of his bow, eyes closed tight.
It was a mistake to, upon sighting his friend, momentarily forget about Ike's violin and his music which had led Reid to his best friend.
Reid gave a joyous cry of "Ike!" and sped towards his friend, and it was only at the last second that the firefly recalled that violins happened to be delicate, musical instruments and should not be sent flying.
It was too late to stop though and Reid barely managed to avoid both his friend and the precious instrument by way of a bit of impressive flying.
Sadly, he still managed to clip the fence with his booted foot in the process. A moment later, Reid found himself crash landed in the snow, missing one boot and a little dazed for his trouble.
That woke Ike up. He quickly and expertly laid his violin and bow on the fence and ran to collect Reid's strewn boot before rushing to his, breaths coming in painful, visible puffs.
He hadn't realized how cold it was.
"Reid!" he said, speaking unnecessarily loud and articulated due to his numb lips, "Are you okay?"
Reid muttered something unintelligible into the snow as he picked himself up, wiping the clinging snow from his face.
"M'fine, m'fine," the firefly replied once he'd cleared his mouth, shaking himself to try and get the snow off before it could melt and get down the back of his jacket and pants.
Despite being abruptly much more cold and uncomfortable than he'd been a minute ago Reid grinned widely and finished what he'd set out to do in the air. He tackled Ike as well as he could without a proper running and/or flying start.
Ike giggled and almost immediately lost equilibrium, toppling backward atop his own calves. His knees creaked and protested rather violently, but he didn't care.
He popped his lips once before speaking.
"It's been a long time!" he cried and squeezed Reid, then pulling back up to a kneeling position.
"Here's your boot." He thrust the clothing toward his poor, dampened best friend.
"Way too long," Reid replied immediately with a firm nod, returning the squeeze and grinning up at his furry best friend. His stomach was reflecting his suddenly upturned mood; glowing so strongly it was actually lighting up the dark cloth of his jacket.
"Thanks," Reid replied, taking the offered boot. He looked at it briefly before shoving it back on, shivering almost violently as the snow that had gotten inside immediately soaked through his sock.
Suddenly feeling much more aware of how cold and damp he'd become in the last thirty seconds Reid shifted and shuffled over until he was right next to Ike and could learn against him, using his furry friend as a temporary heater.
Looking up to his heater again he tilted his head, "how've you been?" he asked eagerly.
Ike smiled and wrapped an arm around Reid, trying to make them fit a bit better. He was certain he was being used for warmth, but what did it matter?
"Ugh," he groaned suddenly, "There's eight of us now. We've got two new sisters. And then Liam can't see or walk and Björn won't talk and Mum is having weird things happen and--ah, the same as usual, I suppose. You?"
Reid whistled, "eight? Wow..."
His face tilted downwards in concern, "Li-man can't walk or see? That sucks, is he sick or...?"
Weird things, Reid could relate with weird things, "eh, one of my sisters', Aiai, dropped off the face of the planet for a few months and Mum got sick and this other version of her showed up (and it was really, really confusing) and she brought two more siblings who stayed with us for a while. One of them was part skunk, he was pretty fun. They just left 'cause Ai finally came back--" the firefly paused, considering, "so I suppose just more of the same with us as well."
Ike smiled and nodded, but sobered immediately upon realizing that he had been asked a question.
"We don' know," he shrugged, "He just kinda slowly stopped working. I think Björn knows, though...and Dezzy says there was a man with green hair at our house, yelling at Liam. I dunno. Things are...weird."
He heaved a sigh.
"I missed you."
Reid 'hrm'ed softly, looking up to the sky in thought.
"I hope things get better," he offered, quietly, after a moment of silence, leaning a bit more against Ike to wordlessly try and offer his best friend more support.
He smiled lightly, nodding, "I missed you too."
Ike got that funny feeling in his chest against and wriggled a bit.
"It's cold out here," he said, "It's snowy and my butt is wet and it's cold. We should go do something. Wanna go do something?"
"My everything is cold," Reid grumbled in return.
"Well, except my arm, you're a great heater, by the way," he said with a grin and stood up, shaking himself a bit and stretching his wings again. They tingled and stung a bit as pins and needles crept up them.
"Yeah, let's go do something," he replied, holding out a hand to help Ike up.
"Okay!" Ike grinned and cried enthusiastically, taking Reid's hand and rising to his feet. He almost immediately bolted for his violin.
"I just gotta take this back upstairs to--I know this place right down the street and Mum lets me go to as long as I bring her phone, and we could go there! C'mon!" He hadn't the slightest idea as to why he was so excited, but he was, and that was all that mattered. He looked back to Reid, giving him a 'come on' kind of wave and started back for the HQ.
Reid couldn't help but grin and laugh warmly at Ike's enthusiasm. It felt so good to be around his best friend again.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he replied, hopping into the air so he wouldn't have to trudge through the snow again, he flew quickly to catch up to Ike.
Ike laughed, seeing Reid's flight, and simply picked up the pace. Once inside the HQ he kicked off his boots to leave in the corner and pounced up the stairs happily, beginning to shed his wet snow clothes.
Within moment he was inside his room, throwing various articles of clothing on the floor and snatching up his mother's cell phone.
"Mum, I'm gonna take my allowance and go out with Reid, okay, bye!"
And he was out the door again.
Reid left Ike at the intersection of the hall, landing and dashing to open the door and shed his wet clothing.
Chao looked up from her place by the kitchenette, "oh Reid you're hot co-"
"Later Mu!" Reid called, streaking past her and shedding his boxers as he dove at a pile of clean laundry and hurriedly threw on a dry set of clothing.
Chao blinked, "where're you-"
"Out with Ike! Back later! Loveyoubye!" he cried over his shoulder, pulling on his dry set of shoes and stumbling out the door as he tried to tie his laces and run at the same time.
Ike met Reid in the hallway, still a bit damp but not caring, and started for the stairs again.
"It's, like, three seconds away," he explained as he ran, nearly completely out of breath, "and it's really warm too. They have a fire and everything."
"Awesome," Reid replied with a smile and a nod, taking to the air once again and flying next to Ike as they headed downstairs.
The pair reached the...whatever-it-was in no time. Ike assumed it was a cafe, but one could never be quite sure. The wave of warmth when he opened the door was shocking, but he simply stood there and held the door open for Reid.
The inside of the building was most definitely what would be considered trendy. The walls were crimson with gold trim and the rug was quite the same, all bathed in warm light from the hanging lamps and, as promised, fireplace. Against the far wall was a counter a green-skinned man stood behind, and attached to that another counter holding various complicated looking contraptions.
"C'mon in."
Reid landed and grinned as he walked through, nodding his thanks to Ike for holding the door.
He paused and practically hummed in contentment, turning his face towards the fireplace and just basking in the warmth of the place for a moment.
Ike stepped in and closed the door behind him, wincing slightly at the jingle of the bells on the top. He stood for a moment, waiting for the heat to replace the cold, and then walked past various tables containing even more trendy, staring people and waved to the man behind the counter. He pushed a gold coin into a slot in the side of the contraption against the wall and picked up a nearby mug.
"Whaddya want? Hot chocolate? Tea? Coffee? I dunno what that is..." he spoke, reading the labels above black nozzles.
Reid didn't answer for a moment, too caught up in getting warm again now that he'd moved a bit closer to the fireplace.
After registering that Ike was talking him he looked over and blinked, rubbing at his hair a bit self-consciously when he couldn't quite remember what Ike had said, "er... what, Ike?"
Ike turned to Reid and laughed slightly. He should have figured.
He was near sweating, himself.
"Want some hot chocolate?"
"Sure!" Reid replied, smiling and bounding over. Once he was next to Ike he looked up and tilted an eyebrow at the strange contraption.
Ike placed the mug beneath the proper nozzle and pressed what would appear to be the beverage's label. He smelled the chocolate in the steaming liquid as it filled Reid's mug.
He then held it out, along with a couple gold.
"There's whipped cream over there," he said and pointed to the other end of the contraption, moving to get a mug himself.
"Thanks," Reid said as he took his mug carefully, taking a whiff of the hot chocolate and smiling as the warmth and aroma washed over his face.
Taking the gold with his other hand, and making a mental note to someday return the favor of paying for a drink, he wandered over to the other side and eying the second contraption, as if trying to figure out how it worked just by staring at it.
After half a second Reid shrugged, figuring that hot chocolate was more pressing and slipped his money in then pressed the label for whipped cream.
The first tuft of whip cream ended up plopping on his shoe before he hurriedly placed his mug under the correct nozzle.
Ike laughed and approached the machine beside the one Reid was fiddling with, giving his ultra-light and ultra-sweet tea some whipped cream.
Hell, why not?
When he released the button, he saw where some of Reid's had landed. He laughed again.
"Having trouble?"
"Of course not," Reid grumbled, valiantly ignoring his shoe as he removed his mug now that he was sure no more whipped cream coming out.
But when he gripped his mug he found that some of the whipped cream had been smeared on the side. Sighing he glared at the fickle contraption and set to licking off the whipped cream from his fingers and the side of his mug.
Ike had gone to get a napkin for Reid's shoe, and returned to see him...cleaning up. The squirrel boy stopped and stared. He got that funny feeling in his chest again, and this time...somewhere else?
He gave a strangled squeak and dropped down to wipe off Reid's shoe.
He was afraid he might be catching a cold.
Reid looked over and tilted his head curiously mid-lick when he saw that Ike was staring? Huh, maybe he'd gotten some of the whip-cream on his face too?
The firefly then spent a moment trying to clean up around his mouth and looking cross-eyed down his own face.
At Ike's squeak he looked back over, giving his friend a concerned look, "Ike are you okay? And, hey I can get..." but Ike was already wiping off his shoe. "Er, nevermind then, thanks," he said with a smile.
"No problem," Ike said, folding the napkin. He was a little hesitant to look up. When he did, though, Reid was doing nothing to incite the funny feeling, and so he smiled and stood, tossing the napkin away.
"Let's sit," he said, mustering as much self-control as he could.
Reid nodded and made a beeline towards the fireplace. He almost sat down right next to it, only to remember that his best friend was covered in fur and would probably roast in his own skin if he followed.
Not about to give up Ike's company, even for the warmth of the fire, Reid straightened, looked around and retreated back to a table a ways away from the fireplace instead, looking over to Ike and asking, "is over here okay?"
Ike smiled and nodded, taking the chair beside Reid and moving it closer until they were almost touching. He sipped his drink, received a glob of whipped cream to the snout, and licked it off.
He simply watched Reid, waiting for him to say something. Even if he didn't, that'd be alright.
Reid sat down once Ike took his seat. He rested two of his forearms on the table's surface, lacing their finger together while his other two hands supported his warm mug.
The firefly contented himself to simply sitting for a moment, enjoying the calm of the cafe and watching the fire as he idly licked away at the layer of whipped cream that topped his drink. He figured that, this way, by the time he reached the warm, chocolate-y liquid beneath it wouldn't scald his tongue.
When he broke through and the liquid was still steaming the firefly glared at it and blew softly, trying to coax it into being a tolerable temperature for consumption.
Ike goggled, eyes wide, with his lips still stuck inside the mug. He then realized that he couldn't quite breathe and pulled away, once again licking whipped cream from his face.
The funny feeling had returned doubly. He whined a bit and wriggled in his seat.
Reid looked over at Ike's whine, blinking in concern at his wiggling friend.
"Ike? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Ike smiled, "I'm okay. I just feel funny. Not, like...sick-funny. Just funny. Like adrena...adr...when you get excited."
Reid cocked his head, "that's better than sick," he replied, a bit of the concern in his expression disappearing. But still... "excited?" he repeated, what was exciting about this place?
The firefly looked around and finally pointed questioningly at Ike's tea, "is the tea that good?"
Ike looked down at his tea and laughed, shaking his head.
"Gods, you're awesome," he snickered.
Reid snickered and puffed up his chest a bit, smiling as slyly as he could manage (though the expression was ruined by the way his lips would twitch every few moments from the laugh he was containing).
"I'm glad you've finally realized that," he replied and a chuckle escaped before he could stifle it by drinking his cocoa.
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