Malachi's Room | Page 7 | Bedrooms | Guild Forums

bobaTJ

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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:43 am

Dinner Time

"Ow. Ow. OW!," Björn scolded Rabid, thwapping her in the face with a spoon.

Rabid opened her eyes and removed her lips from the man's wrist, licking her teeth before speaking.

"Sorry."

" 'S alright," Björn replied and switched hands, handing over his other as he deftly maneuvered his coffee cup with his stinging left hand, his right claimed as course number two.

Malachi faux-angrily swiped his spoon back from the man, once again digging into his blob of what looked like various bodily fluids but what was, in fact, strawberry syrup, peanut butter, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. He brought the glob to is mouth and went through the tedious process of unsticking it from the roof of his mouth, cleaning his teeth, and wiping his fur clean before going in for a second try.

Skelly laughed at him.

Desiree poked a finger into the goo and brought it back to her mouth, licking her finger clean.

"Eh!" she whined, holding her pointer finger out to her older sister, "Thtikyyyy! THTIKYYY!"

"Then don't use your fingers!" Clematis scolded and dipped the corner of a napkin into her water, washing her baby sister's sticky finger clean.

"Tank you," Desiree nodded and went back to her bowl of vegetables.

Clematis happily returned to her raw chicken, a disgusting sight if you weren't used to it. She cut a piece of with her knife and brought it to her mouth, chewing lightly.

"You alright, Liam?"

"Mmhm," Liam replied, a cup of salt water up to his lips. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, and then gave a surprised cry. It took him a moment to realize that there was a Grunny in his lap.

Shivali, Aloysius, Giuseppe, Poe, and Noni were all sharing a plate of a similar concoction to Malachi's, making rather annoying smacking noises as the roofs of their mouths were attacked. Aloysius gave a happy puff-wag and curled into Liam's crotch.

Ah, a meal with the family...

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:34 pm

Of Birdees, Zombies, and Blindness

Clematis, walked slowly out behind the HQ, a scarf wrapped around her neck more for decoration than warmth. She had a paper shopping bag in one hand and Dezzy's tiny palm in her other.

"Kemmie?"

"Hm?"

"I haffa go potty."

"Oh, Dezzy..." Clematis sighed and took Skelly from her, leading her over to a little patch of bushes.

Skelly clapped his hands over his eyes.

"Cole. Drop. The. Rabbit."

Cole, mouth full of struggling, kicking bunny - his idea of a light lunch - snorted and trotted away from an increasingly irate Lenore teasingly.

"Hff!"

Len stalked after, holding onto her hat as a gust of wind threatened to blow it off. Sadako clung to her shoulder, silken doll-hair whipping Len in the face more than once.

"Cole! I am SO not kidding! Drop the bunny!"

In rebellion, Cole gave a growling sort of happy snort and broke out into a run, heading for the cover of convenient bushes with the rabbit squealing in his jaws.

Dezzy shrieked in terror.

Calm as day, Clemmie lifted both of her hands palm-up into the air, bringing Cole up above the ground. With her thumbs and pointer fingers, she attempted to open his mouth.

Blue streams of electricity crackled between her fingers.

Dezzy continued shrieking, now sobbing with her overalls down around her ankles.

"Shhhh! Shhhh, little one! SHHHHHH!"

"Graazzagh!"

Cole spat out the rabbit and shrieked, wings beating furiously. How dare Tall Electric Thing interfere! The dragon snarled and writhed, snapping his teeth at Clemmie.

Lenore gave a sigh. Screaming. In a bush.

Fabulous.

"Cole, whatever you're doing you BETTER NOT BE DOING IT MUCH LONGER."

Lenore pushed through the bushes, spotted Clemmie, and gave a yelp as she clapped her hands over her eyes.

"Gratuitous child nudity! My eyes!"

With a curious high pitched whine, Cole slumped over and stopped at once. Lenore wouldn't be pleased is he bit off someone's hand when she was looking...

Clemmie dropped the unfortunate zombie-thing and heaved a sigh, bending to help a now-sniffling Dezzy to dress herself.

"Kemmie?"

"Yes?"

"Wong."

The Drow looked down to her little sister's buckles and noted that she'd crossed them the wrong way.

Sorry, honey," she nodded, and then added as an afterthought, "Sorry, Len."

Skelly walked carefully over to Lenore, staring up at her. The point of view was awkward, and he couldn't tell if she had Dako with her or not.

"Well?"

Daring to peek out from behind her hand, Len waved at Clemmie weakly.

" S'alright. Didn't mean to walk in on...um...whatever y'all were doing back here."

Turning to glare at Cole, who was balefully sniffing for his rabbit, she cleared her throat.

"Heel."

Rotten tail tucked firmly between his legs, Cole slunk over to Lenore and crouched in her shadow, glowering at Clemmie.

"Hnff...."

Len glanced down.

"Oh, hey, Skelly...'Dako, your buddy's here."

Sadako peeked out from the hood of Len's jacket and gave a shriek, jumping out and aiming for Skelly but landing face-down in the snow.

Clemmie stood straight and wiped her hands on her skirt, trying to maintain her dignity.

"No problem. We were j--"

"Biwdees!"

"Hold on a second. I'm talking to--"

"BIWDEES!"

Clemmie sighed.

"We were going to feed the birds. Want to come?"

"Yah, pointy ladee! Come fee' biwdees!"

Skelly laughed and laced his arms around Sadako, lifting her to her feet.

"Hello."

Lenore blinked, and stared at Clemmie somewhat suspiciously. She was being invited to do something, with someone her own age, who wasn't a Mishap.

She smelled a trap.

"Really?" she ventured, smiling quite cautiously. "I'm invited?"

Dignity smashed to bits, Sadako brushed snow out of her hair and waved to Skelly modestly.

"Lolo," she said. After a beat, injury to dignity forgotten, Sadako gave a hoarse squeal and flung herself into Skelly, hugging him 'round the middle. "Dako missed Skelly!"

Clemmie blinked and nodded.

"Yes," she replied, "but you don't have to if you don't want to." She hefted Dezzy up on her hip.

Desiree happily played with the bird seed and bits of bread in the shopping bag.

Skelly laughed and patted Dako's head.

"Skelly missed Dako," he nodded, "Dako okay? Soggy?" He gave her a little poke.

"Sure!" Len said, louder and much more energetically than she had intended. "Um. I mean. Yeah, I'd like to..."

Cole growled slightly at the mention of birds. Birds meant flying bits of meat, and dammit he was still hungry. He looked up at Len and quailed at the glare she gave him. Alright....maybe birds were off the menu.

Sadako threw her hair back, adjusting the jacket, hat and scarf she'd stolen from another doll - one that didn't talk, so it certainly didn't deserve such nice things - preening at the attention.

"Sadako is fine. Sadako like snow. She throws it in peoples eyes or down their shirts and they make funny noises," she said importantly.

Clemmie smiled shyly and moved to a stump far enough away from the woods to feel safe. She placed Dezzy down on it and handed her the bag.

"Shhhhh."

Dezzy nodded, removed a handful of seeds, and threw them to the snow.

"Kemmie?"

"Yeah?"

"Hand," the little Zoombini said as she held out her seed-covered hand.

Clemmie brushed it off and reached into the bag, removing some seed-covered frenchfries, and offered the bag to Len.

"Your dragon looks hungry."

Skelly was wearing his usual suit, nothing new, although it had gained a big black patch on one thigh.

"They feel cold," Skelly nodded and then started after the group of girls. Feeling oddly surrounded by estrogen, he plopped down at the foot of the stump.

Taking the bag and fishing out a handful of seeds, Len sampled one herself before scattering the rest into the snow.

"He's always hungry," she said. "He's like Ethan."

Cole, deeply resenting this comparison, flapped his wings in annoyance and blew up a sparkling shower of snow before trudging off, wandering in loose circles and digging for chipmunks.

Sadako gave a derisive grunt.

"They stupid, then," she said dismissively. "Sadako never cold. Sadako better than stupid flesh-people."

"I forget what being hungry's like," Clemmie shrugged and tossed some more bread, "Nobody really ever feels hunry in our family...'cept for Ike."

"Hand."

Clemmie once more brushed her baby sister's hand off.

"Dako has no nerves," Skelly laughed again, "Skelly sometimes wish he has nerves."

"Oh yeah... I forgot you don't eat. That's pretty cool, actually."

Len threw more seeds and watching in delight as birds slowly began showing up one by one to peck at the food, slowly lowering herself down to sit in the snow.

"I miss Ike," she said at random. "Our families should just like...live together. Doll sleeps in the closet anyway, and I could share. We could be a closet-family."

"No-body better," Sadako said insistently. "Can make trouble, can kill, and no one suspects dollies. Skelly is cute. No one expects cute things to be bad."

"It's not that we don't," Clemmie said, smiling slightly, "It's that we don't have to. All except Mum and Ike." She tossed some more seeds out, accidentally hitting a bird or two on the head.

"Hand."

Brushbrush.

"I don't think we'd fit," she responded to the offer, "we don't fit in our own room. That's what Mum says anyway. I think it's fine."

Skelly was confused.

"...what?"

"Oh, well. Still, pretty cool," Len said, concentrating on luring a chickadee to eat out of her hand. She shrugged slightly then, still staring down the tiny bird.

"Well, our closet is always open, iffen you wanna come over sometime."

Sadako blinked. Hadn't she been clear enough?

"What what?"

"I don't think Björn would fit," Clemmie giggled slightly and bent down slowly to get a closer look at a bird.

"HAND!"

The bird flew away. Clemmie sighed. Brushbrush.

"But thanks for the offer?"

"...nevermind," Skelly shook his plush head to try and clear it.

Laughing aloud at the thought of Björn sharing closet-space with Doll, Lenore watched the startled chickadee stumble in the snow and hop away.

"Any time."

Somewhere off in the background, Cole gave a throaty growl of satisfaction as something squeaking was suddenly silenced.

Lenore winced, and shook her head despairingly. Gross.

Ruffled, Sadako tugged at Skelly's arm.

"Did Sadako say something stupid?"

Clemmie gave a startled squeak. She didn't like living things eating other living things, whether it was 'the circle of life' or not. She clapped her hands over her mouth, glared in the general direction of the noise, and then sighed.

"Liam says he's tired of getting animal minions. I guess it's a good thing."

"HAAAAND...oh...nebuhmind..."

Skelly shook his head again.

"No. Skelly just...doesn't understand."

Cringing slightly at the sound of crunching but otherwise unaffected, Lenore stretched out and lay in the snow, looking skyward.

"I wish I could have undead minions," she said in an undertone. Aloud she said, "Well, Cole takes care of it good enough. I hate it when he eats rabbits, though, he always pukes the fur back up. You'd think it'd be great, I could throw it at someone, but no. Too loose'n not slimy enough."

"Oh."

Huh. She thought she'd been clear enough. Cute, itty-bitty little dolls could get away with anything. Sadako had reasoned Skelly already knew this.

Clematis nodded.

"Being a minion isn't all that cool, though. They like to make you go eat stuff you don't wanna eat," she said reasonably, "Liam's a good Master, I think. When he can see."

It had nothing to do with cute little dolls in Skelly's mind. He was still wondering what cute little dolls had to do with having nerve endings.

He patted Sadako's head.

"Dako clearly hasn't seen Chucky."

"Yeah, like carrion and stuff," Len said, warming to the topic. "I bet it'd taste horrible, just like blood'n rot'n stuff!" She hesitated, clearing her throat and collecting herself. "But anyway...um. When are is eyes gonna work again, anyway? Mum dunno why he went blind're else she ain't tellin' me."

Crow hadn't bothered to fill her in with the specifics of Liam's "illness" anyway, though Lenore hadn't broached the subject too often. She didn't like to make her mother cry, after all.

"Sadako seen it," the doll said bitingly, though she snuggled up beside Skelly. "Sadako seen ever'thing. Even stupid dumb unscary movies like the Shining and...and Ju-On. Ju-On really stupid," she added with emphasis. Stupid croaking jerky-moving ripoffs. She was much scarier than Stupid Croaky Woman.

"Not if you're a zombie," Clemmie shrugged, but sobered slightly at the second question.

"Nobody knows. I think Björn knows, 'cos he had this guy over one day, and they were yelling and stuff, but he won't tell anyone. And Liam won't either. He says it's something bad he did."

"Ah dawn..." Dezzy sniffled.

Skelly put an arm around Sadako.

"If it happened to Dako, Dako would be scared."

Briefly wondering if a zombie could be picky with its dining - one might get tired of the flesh of the living or roadkill, after all - Len sighed slightly at Clemmie's answer.

"Oh...well. That sucks. Wish I could help," she said, rolling over onto her side in the snow. Looks like Mum was going to keep on flinching and tearing up whenever Len brought it up, then.

Sadako snuffled slightly.

"Sadako not scared of nothin'," she said, puffing up like a peacock.

bobaTJ

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bobaTJ

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Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:24 pm

A Pleasant Encounter

It was a day with nothing to do, and Crow was perfectly depressed by it. Any other time she would have adored to sleep through the day until nightfall, or go do some casual shoplifting, or a hundred other time-wasting things. But her heart wasn't in it today. She'd been combating a depression of sorts for quite some time now, though she'd kept it to herself.

Wandering the halls of HQ aimlessly, she sighed and walked on with her eyes on the ground.

Liam had been boredly practicing navigating the halls of the HQ. He had no idea how long he'd be blind, or if it'd be permanent, and s he figured he should learn to avoid the roadblocks known as people.

He had run across none.

Preparing for an over-dramatic sigh, he inhaled deeply...and smelled something comfortingly familiar on the air.

"...Crow?"

Finding it hard to summon the energy to lift her eyes from the ground, Crow half-turned without looking up.

"Yeah?" she said, inattentive and rather pathetically unaware to who it was.

Liam's brow furrowed.

"I'm sorry. If this isn't the right time to--" he spun around, an old habit from when he could see...and had been utterly lost, "s**t."

Crow felt a cold knot form in her gut and her head snapped up. Crap. Crap crap crap. Yeah, now she recognized the voice!

"Oh shiiiiit, Liam, I didn't - I'm such a ********, I didn't mean to- wait, wait!"

Crow did a full 360 and stumbled, landing hard on one knee and biting back a whimper as the bone cracked against the floor.

"Stupid, so stupid," she chided herself, jumping up and limping after Liam, catching his arm. "I wasn't paying attention, I didn't realize it was you, I'm sorreeee!"

She was so bewildered by this point, one would think Crow had accidentally chopped off one of Liam's limbs rather than accidentally dismissing him.

Liam's eyes widened and he grabbed Crow's arm.

"Err..."

What was one to say in an event such as this? Frantic girlfriend, no sense of sight, completely lost...

"You're not a ********, I know you didn't mean to, and I know you weren't...didn't. Whatever. You okay?" He'd heard something fleshy hit the floor. He assumed it had been Crow.

Feeling monumentally stupid and eyes tearing from the pain in her knee, Crow managed a nod that she abruptly turned into an assenting noise.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just meeting the daily quota," she said, balancing her injured leg precariously on the heel of her boot. "I didn't mean to blow you off, I was thinkin' and s**t."

Releasing her death grip on his arm and grabbing loosely onto his hand, Crow indulged a moment to look Liam full in the face, feeling herself respond with the usual blush and looking away quickly.

Liam wanted to ask. He needed to ask. After all, what good was a girlfriend if she didn't indulge your mindless curiosities?

"If you're sure," he nodded after a while, deciding that she'd tell him what she wanted to. He desperately wanted to touch her, but feared he'd miss and make a fool of himself.

He squeezed her hand.

"I know you didn't," he parroted, "I've missed you."

...and I'll be damned if I can remember what you look like...Christ...

Wincing at the pain and wondering why it was taking so damned long to heal - for god's sake, she'd nearly chopped off a finger once, that had healed in no time - Crow took advantage of the occasion and leaned against Liam, reasoning it was simply helping to keep her balance and not an invasion of space.

"Doesn't mean I get to be rude," she said sensibly. She smiled then, resting her head against Liam's shoulder. "Missed you too. I always miss you."

After a moment's hesitance, hoping she wouldn't startle him, Crow kissed Liam tentatively.

Liam's eyes widened once more, but that was all the reaction the gesture recieved. He soon returned to his usual state and returned the kiss briefly, lightly.

"Then visit more," he said simply, laughing slightly, "It gets lonely all...alone." He took his hand from hers and snaked his arm around her waist.

Feeling herself blush again (dammit! When on earth was the going to stop?), Crow clung to Liam, still favoring her injured leg.

"I want to," she said, a tinge of stressed bitterness in her voice. "If I could just quit, and stay home and be with everyone again, I'd love to so much. I hate...I hate being alone like this."

She clung tighter to Liam, resting her head against his shoulder again. The stress of life was getting to her. Between the work she didn't want, the isolation, and worst of all Julian not speaking to her...

...it was getting unbearable.

"We need to just. I dunno. Find a desert island and stay there," she said.

"Then quit," Liam nodded, "I mean...how many of you are there...five now? We've got you beat by one, and we live off of one salary."

He caressed one side of her face lightly, simply because he had the urge.

"But I guess that's not realistic. Just know that when thing suck, I'm here." He gave a short laugh.

"I'm always here, babe."

Crow shook her head slowly.

"I can't," she said, voice turning rather high pitched. "I can skip out as much as I want, but I just...I just can't."

She hugged Liam tightly, leaning into his touch. Every angry, miserable, brooding feeling she'd dealt with over the past few months was shifting under the surface and she ignored it, just wanting to enjoy the quiet with Liam for a moment. She smiled imperceptibly at the pet name, finding it funny.

"I know," she said, gratefully. "Thank you, love."

A hot tear trickled down Crow's face and she flicked it away, trying to collect herself. Depression time later. Liam time now, she said to herself.

The funny thing about tears is that they're wet. When someone's hand is on your face, they tend to feel the wet and...

"You're crying," Liam said, face immediately taking on a horribly concerned expression, "Oh, come on. Now you have to spill. What's wrong?" He pulled her closer, resting his head on hers.

Crow wiped the rest of the tears off her face harshly, nicking herself in the process with a claw. The cut stayed open. She growled in irritation, disgusted.

"I'm burnt out with everything," she said reluctantly. "My stupid healing factor won't work when I'm too stressed out, and that with Julian bein' weird with me and being alone and feeling guilty about you - oh, damn."

Her words had tumbled out in a rush, and now she'd really gone and done it. She clapped a hand to her mouth too late, feeling even more stupid.

Liam mouth moved to one side, but he made no other gestures that said he'd understood her. Of course he had. That was beside the point. Instead, he brought a hand up to his neck, blindly undid the laces holding his uniform together, slid it further, unbuttoned it...

The entire process would have looked odd to anyone not knowing his currect circumstances.

Moving on sensation alone, he pulled a phial from a small pocket on the lining of his uniform. He brought it to his nose, smelled it, and then held it out to Crow.

"Drink it. Stop bleeding. Then we talk."

Crow took the phial obediently and knocked back its contents, sucking in a breath as something in her knee crunched back into place and the cut on her face closed. A hundred other little hurts healed over, leaving Crow wondering briefly how she could have survived as long as she had already without the factor, dysfunctional though it was.

"Thanks," she said, pocketing the empty phial and looking down at the floor, certain she was going to be chastised.

Liam, not really knowing what was going on, took the jerk of Crow's arm as something having to do with the phial.

"Would you mind bringing me outside?" he asked, "I haven't see--been anywhere but the room for...for I don't know how long. Months? I don't want to talk in here." He was uncharacteristically calm, feeling the brunt of the humility brought on by his disability.

"Sure...brace yourself, kinda cold out there..."

Crow walked side-by-side with Liam, leading him into the foyer and out the door. The walkway had been freshly shoveled, but Crow kept her eyes down to the ground anyway to look out for slicks of ice, or basically anything that would normally trip her up. Crow took a breath and exhaled it slowly, watching it rise in a pearly cloud and dissipating.

No matter how old she got, that would never cease to entertain her.

Liam's body gave a spontaneous tremor, not so much from the cold as from the abrupt change in atmosphere. Regardless of the absurd grip his boots gave him, he was terrified that Crow would indirectly bring them both down in a patch of ice.

Crow's amusement at her breathing gave Liam a distinct sting of nostalgia. He had never found so much entertainment in droplets of moisture from his own lungs, not since he was 4 or so, but he wished he could see it, at least.

"Somewhere flat," he said suddenly, head bowed as he gave up trying to give the illusion of some sort of sight, "I can't walk much. And don't think you're getting out of talking to me."

"Right," Crow said, scouting out a decent scrap of space to sit on. Hmm.... The conveniently placed park bench under the oak would do nicely, she thought reasonably.

"Bench," she said, guiding Liam down to sit beside her. She picked off an icicle growing on the metal arm rest, biting into it before rejecting it and throwing the remains over her shoulder. It crashed against the tree with a tinkling like glass breaking.

Hands folded to keep her from fidgeting with her hands, Crow glanced over at Liam warily. Why she was nervous she couldn't say, but it seemed right to feel it anyway.

Liam's ears actually twitched back slightly at the sound of the ice shattering, amplified tenfold by his lack of sight. Only then did he sit, arms folded in his lap, fingers intertwined. He kept his head facing the ground. There was no need to look at someone when you couldn't see them, he thought. It was a courtest the blind were generally allowed to ignore.

"Alright," he said, face moving slightly in Crow's direction, but eyes unmoving from the ground, "Commence the gut-spilling."

Crow took a deep breath. Here goes...

"I. Um."

Okay. Full sentences. Sen-ten-ces.

Crow leaned back against the bench, looking upward into the dead-looking branches of the tree. Stringing together words into conversation shouldn't be this hard.

"I never really stopped feeling guilty," she said finally. Keep going. Good start. Needs to go somewhere. "I know we already talked about this, but yeah. I'm never going to stop thinking this is my fault, since actually it pretty much is."

She leaned back further, resting her head against the back of the bench. She abruptly sat up as a splatter of melting snow caught her in the eye, and she continued as she rubbed the water out.

"I've felt like s**t for months anyway. Julian just....stopped talking to me. Since October."

That was the fresher of the two emotional wounds, and saying it aloud hurt even worse.

"I mean, we talk, kinda. But it isn't like what we used to. Like how I am with you," she said, feeling pressure building up behind her eyes and rubbing them again hurriedly.

Liam's expression deepened. What he was hearing had deformed him from a reasonably attractice young man to...well, whatever he really was. He have an angry huff of breath.

He'd never been all that fond of Julian, and he was pretty sure most people knew it.

Don't be an a**. Say something comforting. Think.

"October...?" he asked without wanting or expecting an answer. What was it now? February? Clearly there was something wrong. Liam tensed for a moment, but then slowly relaxed.

"That's a long time," he said suddenly, shifting uncomfortably, "but it's only temporary. I promise you, it's temporary. You and I both know it will be. It always is." It was only half-comforting statement, but almost true.

"I can't know why he's doing that...used to...no more." He rubbed a temple, as if attempting to excite his brain into working again.

"Something will happen, and it'll go away."

He refused to talk about her guilt. If she felt it bad enough to keep talking about, fine, but he doubted his own plight evenly matched let alone beat out her brother's odd verbal abandonment.

"I guess," Crow said. "Could always be worse."

She couldn't currently think of what was worse than what was already going on, but she was certain there had to be something. She leaned against Liam, throwing an arm around him for comfort and resting her head against his chest. Gods, but she was tired.

"Maybe I'll beat 'im up," she said, half-joking and cheering herself up a bit. "That'd get the answer right quick."

Liam half-smiled and wrapped an arm around Crow as he sat, pulling her closed. Once more, his muscles spasmed.

"Nonono," he shook his head, "You are to Julian as I am to Björn. Thusly, we set Björn on him. Scare it outta him or sum'm."

Crow laughed at the thought, to the point where she had to bit a knuckle to quiet herself.

"Holy Christ. We have to do it," she said, giggling a bit. "I'll videotape it."

A second splatter of melting snow landed on her, this time sending chilly water down the back of her shirt, but Crow ignored it. She was feeling...better?....for the first time in ages. A little ice-cold water never hurt anyone.

Liam laughed slightly, unable to help himself. The mental image was rather amusing. His fingers twitched at the vague sensation of the water on Crow's back. He inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly.

"Do you have to be anywhere today?"

"Nope," Crow said pleasantly. "And if I did, I ain't going. You're stuck with me, so ha."

And gaging by how she'd made herself comfortable, the girl had no intention of moving any time soon. Not unless Liam stood and caused her to topple off the bench, anyway.

"Then let's do something," Liam said, leaning his head once mroe against Crow's. Every other day he'd been terrified to leave the room. Now he couldn't imagine anything more he wanted then to get as far away from it as possible.

"Okay!" Crow said, sitting up with a start and jumping off the bench. She then abruptly sat down again. "Hmm. But what."

She bit at her lip, in consideration, noticing neither the cuts her teeth inflicted nor the slowly quickening pace with which they healed.

"Definitely nothing at home, that's dull as hell...could go hunt down rogue squirrels and throw them at bystanders...nah, too messy...hmm."

It could be said that Crow was joking for the sake of sounding silly. And anyone that didn't know that was how her mind really worked wouldn't have been terribly impressed...though those that did might begin to question her sanity.

Liam gave a short bark of laughter and shook his head.

"Nothing violent," he begged, "anyway, my aim's off." He pondered this all for a moment. Hell, what was there to do? He wasn't used to planning, only to following and making sure no children were killed in the process.

"I dunno...what have you always wanted to do?"

A few things came to mind instantly, the foremost being of course jumping from the roof with an umbrella-parachute to see if it actually worked, or shoving someone down an escalator to see if they would fall forever. After a moment's consideration Crow put these thoughts out of her head.

"Well," she said, considering. "Freeing zoo animals was always big on the list. That and pulling fire alarms in crowded movie theaters."

She giggled at that, still considering.

"Or we could just stick around the homestead and make out," she added lightly, distracted by the mental image of fleeing movie patrons so she didn't notice the blush creeping over her face.

"I'm not entirely certain you realize what you just said," Liam shook his head, "but I'd gladly attempt to break the law with you. Or do the latter. Up to you, dearheart."

The thought of pulling an alarm was more than amusing, but would it really hold the same kick if he couldn't see the frenzy?

"Neither am I, but that's just how it's been working out lately," Crow replied, grinning slightly. She fell into deep consideration - pulling alarm ran the risk of being arrested, but even that could have its fun...

"...I think maybe the latter," she said finally, the instinctive blush (how, her body seemed to say, could she dare have the gall to say such things! How!) fully forgotten as she made herself comfortable against Liam again.

Liam's eyes widened again.

"I..." he trailed off, thinking of nothing intelligent there was possibly left to say. Even his wit had failed him, not that he'd had much to begin with. He simply pulled Crow close, sighed, and wondered what the hell the poor girl had just gotten herself into.

He leaned down and kissed her cheek, testing her resilience if noting else. He felt the excess heat and couldn't help but smile.

Don't panic, Crow thought. Couples do this, and anyway you brought it up.

Nevertheless, she'd never felt more shy in her life. Fighting off hesitation and covering it with casual bravado - she was awfully good at that - Crow smiled at the peck on her cheek and moved in closer, kissing Liam's lips.

Liam was surprised, needless to say. Poor Crow and her virginal phobias...

...but, hey. If she felt like using him as a tool to overcome said phobias, he damn well wasn't going to stop her. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

He eventually decided to kiss her back, arms 'round her shoulders.

Taking comfort in being so close to Liam, Crow kissed him again and slid an arm around his shoulders. The shyness was slowly withering away, but it still kept her relatively meek. She wondered briefly if Liam would ever tire of waiting for her to get over herself, and spurred by this thought she kissed him again with much less inhibition.

Liam may have gotten around, but if there's one thing he never was, that'd be a Ladies' Man. He'd never been kissed without alterior motives, and so this was new to even him.

Not that he was going to let Crow know this.

He pulled an exaggerated breath in through his gills, and then pulled away.

"We probably shouldn't be doing this."

s**t on a hot grill, I must be terrible at this, Crow thought, pulling away instantly. Maybe he thought she had cooties. Hell, she thought she had cooties.

"Okay," she said, vaguely embarrassed with her behavior.

It was clearly not her actions that Liam responded to. It was the tone of her voice.

"Nooo..." he trailed off, laughing beside himself, "Don't you dare think what I know you're thinking. It's just...public. Kids...people."

...and I don't want to hurt you.

But he left it as is.

Oh. Well then.

"Oh yeah. Children. Heh," she said, calming down enough to manage a wry grin. "Don't want to make any of 'em cry with horror, huh?"

Crow shifted on the bench 'til she was sitting normally again, brushing her hair back and recollecting herself.

"That's not exactly what I'm afraid of," Liam laughed and then lunged to the side slightly, effectively and proudly clinging to Crow. He kissed her neck briefly, not trying to incite anything.

"Love you."

Crow glowed. He said he loved her. She'd never tire of hearing it.

"Love you too," she said.

Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:17 am

A New Family Member (and the damnable adventure to steal her back from a giant ink monster)

Lots of violence and faerie-tale nonsensicalness~

Click here.

bobaTJ

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bobaTJ

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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:19 am

Practice

Ethan figured that if he was careful and sneaky enough, no one would even notice he was gone. It wasn't going to be a very long practice anyway. Maybe an hour or so, then back home again before anyone even noticed he was missing. He didn't really even want to practice, but hindsight on past events and foresight for paranoia's sake gave him initiative.

So, off he went towards the out-of-bounds forest, knowing he'd been in deep s**t if he got caught, but knowing it was the best place he could be alone. His school bag was in hand, heavy with its contents that he wholeheartedly wished were only books.

Björn's curiosity was, unfortunately for Ethan, one of his strongest mental aspects. It was because of this that he now watched the young man enter the woods from behind a rather large boulder.

He crushed out the cigarette he'd been smoking between his thumb and forefinger and stood, using the rock as a brace. He started into the forest himself then, taking a peculiarly circuitous route.

Winding his way through the thick undergrowth, moldering leaves untouched by snow, and the occasional low-hanging tree branch, Ethan finally came upon a decent clearing and threw his bag idly to the ground. The catch sprung open and a sizable knife slid out, painstakingly wrapped in a bandanna. Ethan glanced down at it, lip curling in distaste, and shed his jacket. The air was still and cold, but at least not the bone-freezing chill that had been gracing the grounds lately. Casting the jacket aside, he dug into the bag, wincing and withdrawing his hand as it made contact with the wrong end of a serrated edge, and simply turned the bag upside down. Five knives fell out.

Ethan looked at them with loathing, and picked up two. The bandannas were removed and he held them, testing weight and balance for a few minutes before he seemed satisfied.

"Hnf," he said dully to himself, looking down at his weapons. Assuming a firmer grip, he slid into a fighting stance and began practicing, weaving a deadly pattern as he moved across the clearing.

One corner of Björn's mouth quirked up at the sight of Ethan's practice. He was currently hiding out a good distance away, leaning against a tree that had initially groaned under his weight and then resigned to bending slightly. The kid was good, sure. Great, even.

This clearly warranted a surprise test.

Counting his steps, feinting from invisible enemies and striking forward, knives flashing in cold glints of reflected sunlight, Ethan caught his foot on a tree root and slipped.

"Anhf!"

Landing hard on his knees, Ethan gritted his teeth and turned the vulnerable position into a crouch, an arm snapping out straight and the knife twisting viciously in the air. He forced himself up again, pausing to catch his breath and wipe detritus off his jeans before continuing. He swung his arms in arcs, slicing and jabbing in almost unnecessarily vicious ways. He knew the force was excessive, but it was the only way he knew how to do it.

He turned his attention to a tree on a whim, slashing at what would to Ethan most likely be level with someone's throat. The knife went cleanly across, leaving an ugly gash.

Björn moved surprisingly stealthily for a man of his size, weaving carefully through only the largest gaps in foliage and using mostly tree roots to navigate, avoiding the dried leaved. It was only by some sort of miracle that he was able to make it into the clearing without breaking a tree.

Or his back.

Then, in one swift and relatively gentle movement (for the likes of him, anyway), he snuck up behind Ethan, pinned his arms behind his back, and shoved him up against the mutilated tree.

"Congrats. You're dead."

"AH!"

Taken fully by surprise, Ethan struggled against his captor, one knife slipping out of his grip but the other revolving out, trying worthlessly to at least scrape at his opponent. He looked over his shoulder, froze, and sagged against the tree in relief.

"You scared me," he said reproachfully, letting the other knife slip out of his hand.

"Well, isn't that the point?" Björn asked, releasing his victim and perching atop a nearby rock, "I highly doubt that any opponent you'll come across is going to warn you beforehand." He pulled out another cigarette and lit it up, taking a drag before speaking.

"Try again. Always watch your back."

Blushing slightly, Ethan picked the knives back up and looked at them as though all he wanted to do was throw them away. The moment passed and he retook his defensive stance, took a deep breath, and began the steps again. He knew every move by heart, but being watched made him nervous and he stumbled, his grip shifting uncertainly. The old, unbidden fear at the punishment for mistakes came rushing back, and he tried to ignore it.

It's only Björn, he told himself. He just wants to see.

Forcing himself into calm, he restarted, the practiced savagery leaching back into his movements.

Björn laughed slightly at the blush, but made absolutely no sound while Ethan practiced. Having an audience was never easy, he knew. He shuddered to think of that one time with the random poison and him and Joe and...

His eyes darted around the clearing, following Ethan curiously. Kid was a ******** ninja. A Slovak ninja, but a ninja nonetheless.

As always, Ethan forgot the rest of the world as he practiced, running through steps and movements, repeating this names to himself as he slashed and cut and jabbed. His breath rose in clouds but he was soaked with sweat by now, smooth transitions between attack and defense never letting him stay still more than a moment. He nearly tripped over the root again but leaped up to avoid it, managing a vicious-looking spin that would have slashed cleanly across someone's face from forehead to chin. He struck out again and again, each move clearly tailored not just for simple offense, but for causing terrible pain.

After awhile, he rested, bracing his hands on his knees and sucking in deep breaths.

Björn stamped the cigarette out beneath his boot before clapping. It was a slow, steady, and almost sarcastic-sounding gesture, however anyone who knew the man would take that as a grain of salt.

"Bravo."

Ethan looked up, a rueful half-smile on his face.

"Thanks," he said, busying himself wrapping the knives up again and tossing them on top of his bag. He looked at them silently for a moment, then turned away. He felt suddenly cold and pulled his jacket back on, zippering it up halfway.

"Don't tell them," he said presently.

Björn nodded, understanding his need and the sudden gesture.

"I won't," he assured Ethan, "Knowing them as I do, they wouldn't care. They might like it." He held his hands up.

"Regardless, I won't tell."

He let his hands drop back to his knees and peered up at the Slovak Ninja, not knowing what else to say.

"Thank you," Ethan said, quieter this time. He looked at the ground, torn up and trampled, and then at his clothes. "Acch. Muddy again..."

Scrubbing ineffectually at a spot on his shirt, he glanced up at Björn.

"Did you learn stuff like this? In the...the Rebellion, I mean. I've heard Liam speak of it before," he said, trying to think of something that would kill the spiraling silence between them.

Björn swallowed hard.

"Nah, wasn't my expertise," he replied carefully, "We had Callers, that's me, Snipers, that's Liam, Footmen, and...ah...Runners. Runners are kind of close." He paused a moment, trying to remember the question.

"Yeah. I know...knew someone who did." He swallowed hard again and inhaled deeply.

Busy putting his weaponry away, Ethan didn't notice Björn's discomfort.

"Oh," he said. He remembered that long-ago conversation with Liam, about people who'd died in this...what was it, really, a war?...and staying dead. "I'm sorry," he said, after a beat. "Was he a friend?"

Björn choked on nothing whatsoever, and the choke almost immediately turned to a gag and a swallow. Well, that had certainly taken him by surprise.

He stood, turned to the side, and clapped a hand to his mouth, gritting his teeth. His eyes fixed to the ground and something in his ears tightened, causing an odd kind of rumbling deep within his head.

Ethan glanced over at Björn, curious.

"What is it?" he asked. Had he asked something he shouldn't have?

"Nothing," Björn said simply, his back still turned. He swallowed and gave a cynical half-grin as he spoke next.

"Yes, he was a friend."

Well, there it went. Björn had never allowed himself to think the poor kid's name, and now he was being asked to vocalize it? Fat chance.

...but he was thinking it.

The man gagged again and slumped backward into a brutalized tree, maintaining stability for only a moment before sinking to the ground. His hands pressed over his face, he could feel that his cheeks were wet. Always the reasonable one, he took off his glasses and buried his face in the crook of his arm, chest heaving.

Ethan went cold. Oh. Oh no. What had he done. He clapped a hand to his mouth, horrified. He backed away a step or two, head shaking slowly. He tried to stammer an apology, but the English came out wavering and jumbled. It took effort to stop stammering.

"Forgive me," he managed finally. "I did not...I didn't mean to..."

"No," Björn said finally, lifting his face to the sky and trying to blink the tears away. There was an eerie, half-insane grin on his face, "It's alright." He closed his eyes a moment longer and the grin fell. Years of emotional repression had taught him well. In a moment, he was standing.

He wiped his face with his arm and put his glasses back on, pushing them up the bridge of his nose to hide his now-bloodshot eyes. He did not, however, move from the tree.

Ethan turned, venturing forward with a look of shame frozen on his face.

"Alright," he said, uncertainly.

Björn knew quite well he had to explain himself, but he was not (and never had been) a man of many words. Well, a picture was worth a thousand or something, wasn't it? He reached into intangibility and brought forth a rubber-banded stack of photographs. He pulled a single picture from beneath the band.

It was of two young men very clearly posing for the photographer, flexing muscles that didn't exist. The very short one on the left as clearly a younger, happier version of Liam. The one on the right, however, was taller, freckled, and significantly younger-looking. His hair was a brown mop, bangs tipped with blue, and his eyes huge and quite the same. His Vavvian heritage would be quite questionable, were it not for the gills.

Björn smiled fondly and held the picture out to Ethan.

"That's him."

Ethan took the photo very carefully, looking at it with a vague smile spreading over his face. He'd never seen Liam look so happy, in the short time he'd known him. Wherever....whenever...this had been taken, they must've been happy. At least for a little while. He wondered briefly what the other man's name was, but did not dare ask again.

"Yeah, you think that's funny," Björn remarked lightly, noting Ethan's facial expression. He flipped through the stack a little and pulled one out.

It was black-and-white, cracked, and bent...but still fairly clear. There was a little girl, chubby, with wild hair and freckles and a thin little boy with what looked to be terminal bedhead. Both were grinning and hugging the other. Ah, Liam and Rabid...they could have been no older than five.

"Guess who."

"Sure," Björn shrugged and smiled, "but I can do yah one better." He searched the stack again and pulled out a newer-looking picture containing a child that looked very much like a younger, water-dwelling Ethan (save the streak of yellow in his hair). He was only physically eleven or so, when he was, in fact, not even two and attempting to read a book upside-down. Björn laughed slightly and shook his head.

Murmuring in surprise at the resemblance, Ethan looked at the picture and smiled wider. He had a feeling he was getting to see something very private and personal, and felt rather privileged for it.

"These are wonderful," he said, holding the photo as though afraid he'd drop it and lose it.

Björn laughed. Special? They were just pictures of moment passed, regardless of how precious those moment were. Ink on paper, that's all.

"That's my son. Damon," he said simply, "He's gotta be gettin' on in his years now. Haven't seen him in a while."

Ethan nodded, still looking at the picture. After a beat the word 'son' clicked in his head and he looked up, looking very surprised.

"I didn't know you had a son," he said, before he could stop himself. A surge of new questions were hastily swallowed and repressed, and he looked down at the photo again, blushing slightly at his own daring.

"Nobody does," Björn shrugged, "but I did. Had a wife too." He paused and then laughed.

"I know what you're thinking. I'd locked myself in the closet at that point, if it makes any sense. They left me when Damon was...ah...six or so." He sat down on a rock, still smiling. It was a real, full-blown smile...a rare occurrence. Perhaps it was because he was finally getting all of this off of his chest. Perhaps it was simply insanity. Who knew, but he liked it.

Ethan sat next to Björn on a ledge on the rock, feeling utterly astonished Björn was sharing such intimate details of his life. No one ever spoke to him about such things. Not even Crow or Julian....he smiled slightly, looking at the photos again.

"When was the last time you spoke to them? When they left?" he asked.

Björn nodded.

"I can't remember the last thing I said to them. It might have not been anything at all. I joined the Rebellion, though. Died a couple times. Enslaved. Never saw them again. I'm not even entirely sure they're still alive. Either of them."

He'd died a couple times? No matter how much he tried to reason it out, some things would just never, ever make sense to Ethan. He still wasn't sure what the hell a necromancer was and how Liam was involved in it, but he let it lie.

"Ah...I'm sorry," he said, expression shadowing. He looked up, looking disturbed. "You were...enslaved?"

"Oh, right! You weren't here for that," Björn nodded as he gently took the photograph from Ethan and stuck it back in the stack, "Well, there's this guy...from your home planet. England or somethin'. Anyway, he kinda...controlled zombies and mass-murdered and...eh. Long story short, his spirit ended up in Liam's body, escaped, and enslaved me to do his bidding. I was not so very pretty." He shuddered.

"Try to not think about it. It'll hurt your head."

Ethan felt his jaw drop, and gently nudged it closed again.

"Oh," he managed, blinking. Well then. He was right on that count - Ethan was certain the sudden onset of disbelieving confusion would trigger a headache. He decided to let it go.

"I've been wondering for a while," he said, changing the subject. "The Rebellion...who were you fighting against? I didn't want to bother you with it before..."

Björn laughed slightly and shook his head.

"I dunno...revenge?" he shrugged, "We like to say it was against society, but I guess it never really was. We all had something happen, and wanted to get back at people for it. We all did things we regret...things soldiers shouldn't do. We all died for it, too."

"Oh..."

Fidgeting, overcome with curiosity but almost afraid to keep asking, Ethan looked at the ground and scuffed at it with a shoe.

"What did you do?" he asked, finally. His gaze was still set firmly on the ground.

Björn thought hard. He'd never intentionally killed innocent people or stolen unnecessary goods, and he hadn't even blown up things what didn't need exploding. He did, however, break a rather important rule...

"Eh. Got a little too attached to one of my comrades. Let emotions take over. Not a good idea. 'S what got me hung eventually."

"That's horrible. And unfair," Ethan said, glaring at the ground and his mouth twisting in distaste. Any details Björn had deigned to leave out of the explanation were lost on him. "What, because you were friends? Hnnf. That's just...ergh! How can they find reason to in that!"

Fuming in outrage as though he was the one that had been threatened with hanging, Ethan muttered darkly to himself, kicking at the ground again.

"Nonononono," Björn laughed and shook his head at Ethan, "I let them catch me. I wanted them to catch me. Yenno, wanting to die to be with whomever died." He shrugged.

"Calm down. My society may permanently scar you for being of a slightly differing lifestyle, but I'll be damned if they kill you for making friends."

Ethan blinked.

"Oh," he said, sheepishly. "I see..."

Leaning back against the rock and looking skyward, wrinkling his nose at the phalanx of gray clouds coating the sky as the sun dipped towards the horizon, he blew out his breath in a small sigh. He'd forgotten about the scar Björn had shown him....reflexively, he crossed his arms tightly over his chest.

"What is it like, in that place? Is it horrible, all the time?" he asked. "Mei...Mei...something. I'm sorry, I forgot the name..."

"Mei-Vaar," Björn finished for Ethan, half-rolling the 'r' instinctively, "For people like me it is. Not if you're normal, though. Or female. I have a friend there now. Joe. He was a medic back in the Rebellion. He's living there fine." He snerked. If only the poor sods knew.

"It's not a great place, but it was home. Was." He started to shove the stack of picture back into his pocket, and then stopped. Hmm...

Björn sighed. Why not, right? He removed the picture from the very bottom and unfolded it. It displayed a very serious-looking young man, physically somewhere around twenty, attractive but lanky...scrawny, leaning up against a wall. He had an eyebrow arched above wire-framed glasses and his hair was rather long, hanging down past his shoulder blades.

"Three guesses."

Ethan's eyes widened painfully. No. No way.

"Wow."

It was nearly impossible to grasp that the man in the photo and the man sitting beside him were the same person. He looked so....so...

"You look a bit different," Ethan said finally, marveling.

"That's a nice way to put it," Björn laughed, "That's before the smoking and the drugs and the bulk. Before the branding, too. That's why I got huge, yanno. Looking back, I wish I hadn't. I could live with losing a few pounds." He stared down at a bulging bicep and grimaced at it. He then threw the stack of photos back into intangibility and shoved a hand in his pocket.

Ethan offered no comment other than a grin and a hastily suppressed laugh. A few pounds was a bit of an understatement - if you could crush someone's head with your bare hands, after all, maybe there was a bit of excess involved.

"Feel free to give me some pointers," he said, poking ruefully at his own arm. "I could stand to not look like a sickly emo-kid anymore."

"I think you look fine," Björn offered, "but you could come to the gym with me any time. I mean, I doubt you'll be able to press five-hundred, but hey." Excess was right.

Privately, Ethan questioned his ability to press more than fifty.

"Alright," he said, picking at the lint on his jacket sleeves absently. "But don't laugh at me if I tip over trying to lift the dumbbells. Or anything else, for that matter."

"You know I won't," Björn snickered, "The other guys might, though, but they're easily shut up." He vaguely remembered the second tallest man being something like 6' 1" and 250. It all worked out.

Ethan laughed.

"Then you've got a deal," he said, pulling at stray threads on his cuff and successfully undoing an entire row of stitches. "Those're the kinds of guys that used to beat me up at home."

He grinned slightly then.

"Though one did manage to break his fingers when I ducked and he punched the wall instead."

"Niiiice," Björn grinned, "Oh, speaking of breaking things. Crow alright?" He knew quite well she had some kind of deranged healing factor, but the thought of him accidentally breaking her nose still didn't sit so well.

Preening with pride a little, Ethan blinked in confusion at the question. It clicked after a second.

"Oh, yeah! Her nose? It's fine. She said she didn't mind, she walks into glass doors often enough that something cracking's daily routine."

He'd known better than to ask if the girl had been joking. The enmity between her and glass doors bordered on the sinister.

Björn nodded slightly, an odd half-smile creeping up onto his face.

"I guess that's alright, then. I still feel bad." He stood then and stretched, his back popping in several places.

"We should probably be heading inside."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Ethan said reassuringly. "Yesterday she got into a fight with a pair of scissors that left both worse for wear. Getting hurt's part of everyday life for her."

He glanced skyward again, expressing his distaste at the roiling gray clouds and the specks of snow daring to fall. He picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, ignoring the rattling of metal within it.

"I suppose."

Björn started walking slowly across the ground, breathing in visible white streams...through his gills, of course. Humanoid throats burned in too-cold weather, he was beginning to learn.

"You people need to visit Liam more often. He gets more and more emo by the day."

Kicking a dead branch out of the way, Ethan kept up his stride to match Björn's.

"I will," he said seriously. "I didn't mean to neglect him. We all miss him...and everyone else..."

He glanced up at Björn, smiling vaguely.

"I've missed you a lot. You're one of my only friends. Liam too...I'll try to come more often, I promise."

Björn's lips quirked up into another honest-to-goodness smile.

"Nice to know, kid...even if it is a little creepy," he snickered, "Even though I'm technically only a couple'a years older than you." When they reached the door he held it open for Ethan.

"Oh. And don't you tell anyone about today, hm?"

"I don't think it's creepy," Ethan said instantly. He gave Björn a surprised look. "Really? Huh. Neat."

A few weeks before, he was sure this would have astounded him. But after finding out Julian was only seventeen, the age things at least no longer surprised Ethan. He was rather glad about it. At the question, he nodded.

"I won't," he said faithfully.

"Good kid."

Björn patted Ethan's back in what was probably one of his most affectionate gestures ever (...well...) and heaved a sigh.

"Life's kinda ******** up, innit?"

Pitching forward a bit, Ethan nodded and grinned slightly, hefting the bag of weaponry back over his shoulder.

"A little bit, yes," he said.

Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:02 pm

o.o;;!

Björn and Emerald were sitting outside, the girl atop a fence and Björn crouched on the ground. The girl was barely dressed, wearing only a near-transparent flowy garment.

"So, what's your name?"

"Emmmmmeh..."

"Rrrr..."

"Emeh-roold!"

"Good, good!

Emerald giggled and clapped her hands. She liked being praised by the Big Man whose real name she couldn't say yet.

My. Björn attracted all kinds, didn't he? Eri gave a slight smile as she watched them. Hoping that he wouldn't mind a third wheel to his little lesson, Eri walked closer.

"Hey."

Not exactly eloquent, but it got the job done.

Björn looked up to the woman, gave her a mildly interested look and a twitch of the lip, and stood.

" 'Lo, dear."

"Who are thi'?"

"Erishi."

"Who? Eh--"

"Rr."

"Eh-REESHUH!"

"Close enough," Björn chuckled and crossed his arms.

"What's up?"

"Not too much." She gave a nod to the new person. "Yes, I'm Erishi. It's nice to meet you."

"Teaching, Björn? I wouldn't have expected that from you." She smiled slightly up at him, gently punching him in the arm. "Cute."

"Eeeeh," Björn 'said', brushing his arm off as if someone'd spit on it, "Not cute. Necessary. She's one of us now." He turned to the girl and she peered back, eager.

"What did Liam teach you?"

"Mmph," Björn said, turning back to Erishi with a brow arched.

"What's been up?"

"A very good word to know." Erishi grinned at the woman. "I can see why Liam isn't getting full tutoring duty. And what is your name, missy?"

"Not too much," She added to Björn. "Draco's watching Shammi, so I get some time to... Think."

"Ehm-roold!" The girl repeated and slid off from the fence, beginning to run hilly-nilly through the grass. She was a bizarre young lady, that was for sure.

Think? Well, come to think of it, Erishi was acting pretty sane...

"Is something wrong?"

"Cute girl." Eri nodded towards her.

"In a way." She carefully tapped her temple. "Since I've been alone in here, my programming let up. And I've been remembering things. I remembered who I was, before I was me. If that makes any sense at all."

"It does," Björn nodded, brow furrowing in concern, "Do you wanna talk about it?" He cracked his neck suddenly. Three straight hours of looking down was not good for the spine, let alone a lifetime.

"LALALAAAAAAAAAALA!"

When Björn cracked his neck Eri crawled up onto the fence that Emerald had been sitting on. That at least got her a little closer to him. "It would be hard. I didn't like remembering it too much the first time. I don't think... I'd be able to tell you. You wouldn't like me as well." She gave him a very slight smile.

Björn actually laughed and shook his head.

"There's not a goddamned thing you can tell me that would make me like you any less." He knew rapists, homophobes, psychopaths, and necrophiles. You couldn't get much worse than that.

When Björn laughed Erishi smiled herself. "Thank you. That means a lot to me. I think, out of all the men I've know, you're the one who's been the nicest to me."

Well. That's strange. Björn knew quite well he was a condescending a*****e.

He decided to not voice his opinion.

"...well?"

"Just... It's old things. Really old things. I think I was, like, four. My country was at war with itself, and my... Father was a solider working for the central government. Things were going well for our side at first, but the opposing forces started to cause more trouble. And the worse things got, the more my parents fought. One night, he hit her, and then came into my room." She shrugged slightly, not looking at him.

"I was to little to stop him. My brothers didn't understand why I got so quiet. One night, my Mom came into my room after Father had. She looked at us and left. Things just kept getting worse outside, and one day our block came under fire. Father deserted and came for us, but we were surprised by an enemy mech. And then my parents died. My oldest brother managed to throw the mech off our trail, but I never saw him again. And then my other brother left."

She had been looking at her hands while she spoke, rubbing her palms together. "But, I think what's worst is how I remember feeling. I remember that I was happy when my parents died. Because he hurt me, and she let it happen. So they deserved to be crushed."

Björn looked deeply disturbed and, oddly enough, maybe even a little sad. He fell into a squat and took Erishi's hands in his, looking up to her.

"Christ, I'm sorry. But don't say that. They may have deserved it after all."

There was a look of slight surprise as she looked down at him. "Thank you. Björn. You're very nice of you to say."

It took Björn a moment to realize something new.

She'd said her father "hurt" her. Not that he hit her, as she had said with her mother, nor any other form of the term. He knew people well enough to know what that meant. He propped himself up on one knee, feeling vaguely homicidal (and, god damn it, he'd kill that b*****d again if he could), and pulled Erishi to him, hugging her gently.

"I'm sorry any of that had to happen to you. If I had a choice, it wouldn't have."

"Oh-" When Bjòrn hugged her, something inside of her seemed to snap. You knew things really were bad when he offered comfort. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and, since she couldn't seem to help the tears that filled her eyes, tried very hard not to cry loud, at least.

Oh, jeez. Emotions. He hadn't dealt with his own or those of people he cared about in a very long time...

...and now he had a woman crying on his shoulder.

He gave a short moment of deliberation. Well, Eri knew him rather well. She clearly knew that hugging was a big thing. He wanted her to know he was here for her, after all. He gave a little sigh, leaned in, and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"It'll be okay."

Oh, my. Blinking fast, she pulled slightly away so that she could wipe her eyes dry. "Thank you." She said again, scrubbing at her face with the palms of her hands.

"I'm sorry. That was weird." Eri wasn't trying to make eye contact with Björn. "I'm just not used to... All of this. I don't particularly like feeling very much."

"Don't worry about it," Björn shrugged awkwardly, already stuck back into his usual shut-down state, "Emotions suck, but we're stuck with 'em. Just gotta...keep going." He brushed himself off and stood again.

"I'm always here for a rant, if you need it."

Clearly, she hadn't reacted at all positively. Personal boundaries crossed, mental note added, personal bubble expanded.

Urk. Even in a somewhat sane form Erishi still failed at the whole 'interacting positively with people' game. She studied her hands. "I'm sorry." She apologized, rubbing her hands together again. "I... Appreciate you an awful, awful lot."

Corny as hell, but that's just how she was now. She would make sure not to bother him in the future, though. "S-So." She took a deep breath and looked up at him. "What've you been doing, besides teaching Emerald?"

Björn heaved a sigh and dropped to the ground.

"Let's see..." he trailed off, "Liam's blind, Rabid's genetics are going psychotic, and I've lost my everloving mind to emotion. Things could be better."

Well, there wasn't too much that could be said to that. "And here I am, bothering you with my little problems." Very carefully, she reached out and patted the top of his head. "You're strong." Eri's voice was laced with admiration.

"No problem is any more of less important than any other," Björn shrugged, "But thank you. And besides, it takes my mind offa my own s**t." He untied his hair then, allowing it to floof the way it tended to, before slicking it back again.

One could say he was a bit OCD about that.

". . . Your hair-" Now she really smiled, clapping her hands. "Your hair is so... fluffy." She visibly resisted the urge to pet him like a cat. "I think I'm jealous."

"Ugh," Björn voiced rather unattractively, "I hate it. They tortured me as a kid about it. 'Sides, it doesn't exactly fit the image...giant afro."

He gave his ponytail a little tug and sighed.

"I'd rather have your hair, regardless of natural colour."

"Unless you know of a way to swap scalps, I think we're both just destined to be disappointed. Ever tried chemically straightening it? I tried giving myself a perm once or twice, but it didn't stick. I don't have the right kind of hair, I guess." She picked up a strand and looked at it. It had finally grown out long enough to do so after her last botched shearing job.

"Nah, but I know someone who coul--HEY," Björn said, turning to face Erishi fully as a thought dawned upon him, "Straightening? Perms? What do you take me for?!" His tone was not so much angry as amused and surprised.

"OO! BUH-FLEE!"

"FLY!"

"BUH-FLEE-FLY!"

Björn rolled his eyes and turned back, waiting for his answer.

She blinked, surprised. "I... Take you for a very nice man who hates his floofy hair...?" Hopefully that was the answer he was looking for.

Björn snickered.

"Alright, that's acceptable, I guess. But I'm not one to maul my God-given appearence." Frankly, he was just tired of people ragging on him with stereotypes on his sexuality. Fussing over his hair would certainly count as one of those stereotypes.

Emerald suddenly appeared, holding out the pointer of her right hand with the left hand as if she was presenting a gift.

"Ow."

"What?"

"Buh-fleefly bite."

Björn inspected the small, bleeding pinprick in her finger. It was welling up, all white and sickly-looking.

"It was probably a wasp, hun. If it's black and yellow, then you're supposed to stay away."

"Blat? Yeloo?"

"Black," Björn said, pointing to his hair, "Yellow." He pointed to a mismatched fleck of paint then, yellow against the wooden fence.

"Oh. Dank you, Bid Man."

"No problem."

Emerald skipped off again, singing some absurd song she's probably just made up.

"Your god given appearance is a nice one. Mine makes me just another one of the crowd." She smiled at Emerald. "She's a cute kid."

"Standing out in Mei-Vaar gets you branded," Björn replied absent-mindedly, still peering after Emerald. When he turned back to Erishi, however, he seemed to have snapped to his senses and completely forgotten that he'd said anything at all.

"Yeah, she is. Kind of odd, though. Refuses to wear clothes, hates fans...you know. The usual alien stuff." Not that he'd ever refused to wear clothes on Gaia.

"Everyone has their own little weird things. I hate clowns, won't wear toe socks, and can't go near dumpsters. I bet you have your own weird things too." She picked at her fingernails before drumming out a beat on the fence.

Björn stared off into nothingness for a moment, thinking hard. Did he really? Huh. He guessed he did.

"Sure, I guess," he nodded, and went over said 'little weird things', trying to come up with what he'd be willing to say. Found Hemmingway uplifting? No. Listened to Beethoven? Nuh-uh.

"I loathe firearms," he said absently, "Which is odd, considering my profession." He then added: "And, you know, the whole girls-hitting-on-me thing. That could use a little work."

"Eh. People can hate lots of things about their job. I don't like blood or being hurt, but you gotta do what you gotta do." She shrugged slightly.

"It's your own fault, you know." Eri smiled at him. "You're too nice. And good looking. And strong. Add that up together, and you're just catnip for women."

A rare, genuine smile crossed Björn's face. He looked either touched or homicidal. It was sometimes hard to tell with him.

He was too kind to asked 'what the ******** is wrong with you, have you gone insane again?', and also too humble to ask 'really? why?'.

He stuck with a quiet, "Thank you."

He hadn't been complimented in a good four years...well...twenty-something, if you counted his days dead.

His reaction made Eri smile more. "It's true, too. I'm not that great at lying yet." She hadn't had the need for it before. "But, if you want girls to stop hitting on you, you should start calling them really bad names. It usually makes them back off."

"Trust me, I do," Björn chucked slightly, "The guys too. I don't need any of that s**t." He cleared his throat randomly then, as if to cover up...something. Even he wasn't entirely sure what.

"Good for you." Eri wasn't going to comment on the cough. "I think I might have to do that now. Guys can be very annoying." Especially certain red headed short men.

Björn smiled and nodded.

"I can see your point," he shrugged, "but they're not so bad all the time." He moved back and rested his elbows back on the fence rungs.

"Depends on the man." She shrugged, leaning over to look down at him. "You'll never be annoying. Too nice. And you've never hit me. Or hit on me."

"Why, thank you," Björn laughed, looking up to her, "but people will gladly argue. And, c'mon. You know quite well that gay guys hit on girls. It's like a game." He paused a moment.

"Hell, I was married."

"You were married?" She was surprised somewhat by that. "Hmm. Interesting."

And then something else seemed to click in. "I should have known. The best guys always are."

"Hnn-whaa--?" Björn voiced, suddenly confused. Oooh, so she hadn't known after all...

"Sorry, sweetheart. Doesn't mean I won't do whatever you tell me to. You've got me whipped."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't have you any other way than the way you are." Eri laughed at him, grinning. "Besides. My luck only has me around gay men or very abusive ones. I think I'll just say 'Ixnay' on romance for the future."

"Psh," Björn laughed, "I'll be your big gay boyfriend." He grinned to Erishi and patted her knee.

"Whee!" Eri clapped her hands together. "I'm the luckiest girl alive, then. All of the boyfriend with none of the painful side effects."

Björn cocked his head to one side.

"Pain...ful...?"

"You know, being yelled at or hit or violent sex. All the parts of a relationship that suck." Erishi tended to find winners in the personality department.

"Oh," Björn nodded, turning slightly pink. He'd always had issues with any mention of sexual...anything. Regardless of placement in the conversation.

"Well...you don't have to worry about any of that with me."

"Hehe." Eri attempted to cover the smile on her face with a hand. "Sorry. Didn't mean to embarrass you."

One corner of the Vavvian's mouth and nose crinkled up.

"No problem. I know someone used to do that to me all the time."

"It's good for you. Builds character." She hoped that was a good nose crinkle. "Besides. Red's a good skin tone for you. Looks cute."

"Rrrrgh," Björn half-growled and lunged forward, tipping Erishi off the back of the fence and catching her with his other hand.

"Meanie."

"Wa-!" Eri let out a half strangled sort of cry when he pushed her, but was replaced by a sigh of relief when she was caught. She couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Guess I'm just not that nice of a girl." Björn said meanie. Tee hee.

Björn smiled again and simply held Erishi where she was, looking her over. He seemed to be back to his comfortable, friendly state. The embarrassment and shock from his first attempt at physical affection seemed to have disappeared.

He propped the woman back up then, laughing slightly.

"You kind of remind me of someone."

"A good somebody, hopefully." She leaned over to look at him again, smiling. She made sure to have a decent grip on the fence, just in case Björn tried to tease her again.

"A wonderful somebody," Björn nodded and smiled up at Erishi, "Long dead, though." He gave a sad sigh and shrugged. People died in wars. It's what happened. Hell, they'd been promised death their first day in.

"I'm sorry you lost him." Carefully, Eri reached down to give his shoulder a squeeze. "He must have been very special."

"Way to jump to conclusions," Björn laughed, but didn't tug away from the touch as he generally would have (although saying he didn't twitch would be a lie).

"I could show yah iffin you wanna see." It was a simple offer that he didn't expect to be accepted. People didn't want to see old black-and-white pictures of friends any more than they wanted to see pictures of your ugly baby buck-naked in the bathtub.

"Of course I do." She scooted closer and leaned over his shoulder.

Björn looked to Erishi, brow furrowed. Was she serious, or just being kind? He couldn't judge very well from her facial expression, and instead reached out into thin air and brought out the same rubber-banded photographs he'd shown to Ethan.

The first he came upon was of a rather familiar face, if not long gone, frowning slightly and arching a brow at who ever the photographer was. This was clearly a younger Björn, scrawny and floofy and emanating smoke below the frame from what must have been a cigarette.

"Here. Laugh at me while I find it," he replied, holding the stack of photos with one hand and shoving a cigarette into his mouth with the other, lighting it quickly and making sure Erishi wasn't downwind.

He would need a smoke for this.

"Awww-" Eri cupped the picture in her hands and cooed at it. "Why would I laugh? Look at you, all little and cute and fluffy." She pulled her head back slightly and gave him a look. "You've been working out since these were taken."

"Mm," Björn nodded absently as he continued rifling through the photos. Some were rather inappropriate, as pictures taken among men often are, and so he simply skipped over them.

"I didn't start bulking up until they branded me. I had no reason to before then. I think I'm...three there. Far before the branding." He snorted with laughter at one of the pictures and quickly shuffled it away, hoping Erishi hadn't seen it.

She hadn't, but his laughing made her very curious. "Hmm. Interesting. Cute, in any case." She edged a little closer, trying to get a glimpse at the pictures.

Unluckily for poor Erishi, Björn had just found the picture he'd been looking for. A heavily-freckled your man, looking somewhere between seventeen and nineteen, giving his usual confused-looking smile. His hair nearly fell over his eyes in a way that could only be described as innocently adorable.

"That's him."

Björn took a deep drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke from his gills.

Perhaps it was for the best, after all. Once Björn had found the picture she gave a very predictable response: "Oh-" He was adorable. Someone you wanted to give hugs and cookies. Pair that up with Björn, and that made a very attractive couple.

"He looks very sweet." She chose her words carefully, hoping not to upset him.

Björn smiled at the reaction. Typical.

"I wish you could meet him," he said absently, "but, yenno, no more head on his shoulders." He shuddered and gave a trembling exhale. Ah, that day had sucked hardcore.

"I just don't have much luck in love, I guess."

Well, there wasn't much to say to that. Very, very carefully she leaned down and gave him a brief hug to the shoulders before sitting back up. "I'm sorry that I couldn't have met him. He must have been wonderful for you to love him so much."

Björn laughed slightly, smiling fondly as he took the photograph back and shuffled it into the pile.

"God, you have no idea," he said, voice catching slightly as he leaned back against Erishi's legs. He realized he may cry, and soon found he didn't care. He wanted affection, damnit. Twenty years of Hell and a year of war had passed since he'd last been shown any kind.

He cleared his throat, fending off tears as he put his cigarette out between two fingers and shoved it into his pocket.

There had always been a little bit of Eri that had been worried that Björn really didn't like her. She'd tried to be careful about touching him, so he wouldn't go away. But she could hear that he was in pain and decided, consequences be damned, she was going to attempt to comfort him.

"I'm sorry. I know it's not enough, but I am." She leaned down and rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him from behind. Knowing that she probably couldn't hurt him she squeezed as hard as she could, as if the force of her hug could let him know that she cared.

Björn tensed up at the first moment in the hug. He wasn't used to such things, and especially not from women. He relaxed soon after, though, and reached an arm behind him, wrapping it 'round Erishi's back.

"Thank you," he said, voice oddly quiet and light. He gave a short sniffle, indicating that he was, in fact, crying. Whether it was because he was touched or forced to remember, who knew.

Björn crying in public. Jeezum. Must be a sign of the endtimes.

She would have given just about anything to make him not cry, but knew firsthand that there were just sometimes that you had to. "Anytime. If you ever need me, I'm here for you. Like you too much to let you hurt, if I could do anything to make it not hurt so much."

Something in Björn's chest twisted. Whether or not she already had, Erishi's most recent statement touched him deeply. Not even his own family had voiced such concern. Maybe they were afraid to.

He gave a final sniffle as the tears dissipated and turned in Erishi's grasp, lifting her chin with a finger.

"Means a lot to me, kid."

He wanted to say more, and yet somehow knew he'd never be able to bring himself to.

"I'm glad." She replied, very slightly smiling, her eyes soft. "Just remember that people care about you. Don't always try to keep everything on your own shoulders."

Björn laughed slightly.

"I don't think that can be helped, hun," he said honestly, "It's been too long. I just..." He trailed off.

"It's hard."

"I know. But try a little, okay? No one that cares about you wants to see you hurt. We like you too much." She hoped none of his other friends would want him to hurt, anyway.

Björn nodded but knew quite well nothing would change. While his friends and family didn't want to see him hurt, they also didn't care what was wrong. Aside from Erishi and Ethan, they'd all shown this fact at one point or another.

Emerald approached again, peering curiously at the two before her.

"Bid Man an' Eer-eh-ee-shee mates?"

Erishi gave a very surprised sort of snort. What could you say to that? "No, no, Emerald. We're just good friends. Like brother and sister." She was slightly red in the face, though. Cute kid, but kids did often ask funny and embarrassing things.

"Oh," Emerald said, plopping down next to Björn and laying her head on his shoulder.

"Ehm-eh-roold think should be. Ehm-eh-roold fin' Bid Man mate. Bid Man need make babies."

Björn had gone dramatically red in the face.

"Thanks for the thought, Emmy. It's very kind of you."

"Ehm-eh-roold know."

Carefully leaning around, Eri's suspicions were confirmed. The flush on his face made her start to laugh. "Isn't she just the sweetest thing? So concerned about you!"

"She barely understands English, and shes already desperate to get me laid," Björn snerked, ignoring the heat in his face, "Smart, smart little girl."

"Lay-eed?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Em-eh-roold nine!"

"Nineteen."

"Hmph."

"Well, of course she's a smart girl. She's hanging out with you, isn't she? And besides..." Eri pulled back and gave him a very long look. "You would make a good baby daddy. Just look at your hair. You've got nice hair."

"Nnnngdh..." Björn mumbled, unable to for complete words (let alone sentences), "Tell that to my son. He hated my genetics."

"Well, of course he hated them. A boy couldn't appreciate your amazing hair. If I had been your daughter and had gotten that floof, I would have been amazed. Though, I probably would have gotten your jaw, too. And that would be very scary." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Shut up, you," Björn said suddenly, the red in his cheeks disappearing, "My jaw looks perfectly fine on me, and that's all that matters." As if to check his own statement, he ran his figners down his jawbone.

"Of course it looks fine on you. You look dashing. Masculine. A gift to all who see you." She rolled her eyes at him. "But on a girl it would be ratter unflattering."

"HEY!" Björn cried out, lunging at Erishi all of a sudden with a grace and speed unnatural for someone of his size and apparent age. He successfully knocked her from the fence and fell to the other side, catching her in one arm and keeping them both from hitting the ground with the other.

"I don't appreciate your sarcasm, young lady."

For the second time that day she was off the fence, but still kept safe from the hard ground. For a few seconds there was a look of surprise and a dash of fear on her face, but it quickly let up. She didn't think he'd let her get hurt.

"I... I think you need to lighten up." She said, breathing a bit hard from the surprise. "...Old man."

Björn half-smiled and laughed slightly, feeling Emerald's frightened eyes peering over the fence at him.

"I think you have to get used to surprise," he said simply, "if you plan on sticking around." He didn't move from his position, a kind of lopsided one-armed pushup, and simply looked Erishi's face over a moment. He didn't realize he was doing it at the time.

Even if the person looking at her wasn't into girls, having someone looking at her from that close still made a blush rise up on her cheeks. "Guess you'll just have to surprise me more to make me used to it. 'Cause I think I'll be stickin' 'round."

Björn smiled, wishing that he did have some kind of attraction to this woman. She was sweet.

"Good," was all he said before propping her up once more, "I think I want you to."

bobaTJ

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bobaTJ

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:23 pm

Sometimes It's Okay When You Kill People. <3

"]After Pathos' return, Eri had taken up wandering from home in earnest. And long sleeved shirts.

Arms crossed and head down, Eri shuffled about, apparently not caring for her destination. She looked to be in though, which was surprising enough, but she also looked worried.

It kinda sucked that once you found a nice place to belong, some a*****e decided to screw with it.

Björn was in no more of a hurry to get home than Erishi, although certainly not for the same reasons. He just couldn't seem to stand being around people who didn't give a damn.

At least outside he'd have a chance to run into Ethan or Erishi.

He was reflecting on this thought as he crushed a cigarette butt into the ground with the heel of his boot, and then looked up.

Sad Erishi?

Catching movement from the corner of her eye the woman skittered slightly to the side, away from Björn. Keeping her eyes to the ground, she muttered a sort of apology, crossing her arms even tighter across her chest. She was so wrapped up inside of herself that it would have been surprising if she had even realized that the person she skittered from was a friend.

Not cool.

"Erishi," Björn said, standing and looking to the woman, "What's wrong?" He made no move to touch her, knowing full well how she may react.

"Huh?!" She jumped into the air, turning slightly. It took about a minute of starting before she apparently snapped out of her mental state enough to recognize him.

"O-Oh! I-I'm sorry, Björn. I... I didn't see you, there." She finally let her arms loose to twine her fingers together and to smile up at him. "S-Sorry. I was just... Thinking."

"I noticed," Björn said, brow arched. Something was very not-right. First off, Erishi was not meant to be a sad Erishi. Secondly...well, Hell. He knew he didn't have the friendliest-sounding voice ever, but she'd freaked...

"What happened?"

"W-What would give you the idea something happened?" She tried to make her grin bigger. "Nothing happened! Everything is normal."

To prove her point, she practically tore her hands from each other and flapped her arms. While she probably intended this to make her look like her normal, strange self, it showed what she was trying to hide. One of the sleeves on her shirt tugged up to show a large, nearly black bruise on her forearm. It wrapped all the way around her arm, and was perhaps a little larger than her own hand.

Huh. Thought so.

Björn reached out and caught Erishi's arm, holding it firmly and somehow lightly. Well, sonnuvabitch.

"You're gonna lie to me about something like this? Huh?"

If he sounded angry, he was. Just not at her.

"Who the ******** did it?"

"I-I'm sorry!" She tried to twist away, attempting to push the sleeve back into place. Eri was incredibley glad that she'd worn long sleeves, because if that one bruise had made him so mad, what the rest of her looked like would only make him more angry.

"N-No one! I... I was clumsy. I... Ran into a door?"

"Sweetheart, I know what abuse is," Björn said simply, "Now either you tell me who did this, or I'm doing my own kind of investigation."

People could assume that this would involve explosives.

"I...." Letting her head fall down to rest on her chest, she gave a sort of laugh.
"Pathos came back. And, well, I never have been good at telling people 'no'."

Pathos...Pathos...AH! Short guy at the circus thing. Right.

"Did he beat you because you said 'no'," Björn asked carefully, "or did you say 'no' to a beating?"

"He... Just likes to hit me, I guess." That's just how he was. He probably got off on it. "I don't want to think about what he'd do if I did tell him no."

Because that scared her.

"I'm going to ******** kill him."

End of discussion.

His statement had a very surprising effect on her. "No! Please don't!" She grabbed onto his arm with one hand. "Please, don't."

"You're... You're a very good person. But, please don't. I... I don't want you to do bad things for me. I'd never forgive myself."

Björn laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound at all, but moreso the sound effect that played after the hero in a film died.

"I'm a horrible person," he said simply, "and I woldn't be doing it for you. If I was doin' it for you, I'd call the cops. This is all for me."

He was already speaking in future tense. This was probably not a good sign.

Visibly cringing at his laugh, Erishi dropped her hand from his arm and hugged her chest. "E-Even if it is for you, I told you, so it's my fault. I-I'd know, and, and please don't! He'll just get tired of me in a few weeks and leave. He always does."

"And then he'll come back," Björn said simply, already walking toward the HQ, "He always does."

"But...!" Chasing after him, Eri grabbed onto the back of his shirt, mind racing for any way to stop him.

It wasn't Pathos she was worried about, of course. But the just the thought of being indirectly responsible for more blood on Björns big hands made her feel ill inside.

"Please, just... Just not right now! Shammi is there, and she shouldn't have to see! She's too little! I'm... I'm supposed to protect her from seeing things like that!"

Björn continued walking, completely unaffected by the frantic woman.

"Then you and her can go hide out for a while. It won't take long. She'll never know the difference. Hell, she might like it."

"But... But...!" She stammered out, still trying to hold him in place. And then, she let go, arms falling to her sides.

"Okay." Eri said, staring at the back of Björns feet. "Okay."

"You'll thank me tomorrow," Björn said simply. In the door, up the stairs...that was all. He stood before Erishi's door, looking to the woman for a moment.

"You wanna go and get the kids out?"

"Yes." He would KNOW that something was up. But, she didn't care. She was tired. "Please.. Please don't come in until they're out."

"What's up with you?" Draco asked when she stepped in. He was seated in a chair facing Pathos, tail twitching.

"Please get Shammi for me." He was watching her. She could practically feel his eyes on her. "Take her out to play."

"Uh, Okay..." The dragon boy raised his eyebrows and picked up the girl. He shot a look over his shoulder at her before walking out. He raised both eyebrows at Björn and decided, very smartly, that he really didn't care to know what was going to happen. "Let's go outside right quick, Shammi."

"Bj?" Shammi peered over Draco's shoulder at him, watching the large man until Draco high tailed it down the stairs.

"So..." Pathos smirked very slightly, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Just what do you have planned?"

"Pathos." Erishi whispered, looking at her feet.

"What?"

Slowly, she raised her head to look at him. There was a smile on her face. "No."

"You dirty whore-!" Pathos was on his feet in an instant, lunging at her.

As Shammi passed, Björn gave a little smile and a wave. The kid wasn't supposed to see her mother get hit. Even more incentive.

At the sudden sound of new feet hitting the floor, however, he lunged into the room and once more gave that hideous laugh. He approached Pathos easily and plucked him from the ground by the back of his shirt.

Pathos took being plucked into the air very well. Swearing heavily, he twisted his shoulders and attempted to disengage Björn. "Sonofabitch, put me down you ******** f*****t!" The small man snarled, twisting his body in every imaginable way.

"You never have been very PC." Eri observed.

Something in Björn's head snapped. Somewhere in his subconscious, he remembered being held to the ground with a scalding metal brand pressed into his flesh. His nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed, and he slammed Pathos back against the wall with excessive force.

He could say nothing. He was far, far beyond words.

"Fu-" The small redhead managed to get out before things in his chest just started to snap. One lung was gone, right off. The other didn't seem to be in the best of shape. It was to be certain, he wasn't going to be walking this off.

"J-Jesus Christ, is that all you've got, you ******** puss?" Pathos forced, smirking again, his lips colored by frothy blood.

Björn cocked his head slightly to one side, an eerie half-smile creeping up onto his face. If at all possible, his voice had deepened and lowered.

"No."

He paused before speaking again.

"But it was enough to kill you, wasn't it?"

He raised his free hand and placed it against Pathos' chest, pressing all his weight into it.

No time for any more profanity, or taunts. Something of that weight pressing down on already splintering bones didn't bode well. His spine splintered, his ribs cracked and punctured the remaining lung and his heart.

Pathos gave a very surprised sort of blink as the last bit of bloodied air was forced from his lungs. His lips pulled into that infuriating smirk for the last time, seemingly mocking the world from his death.

And if Pathos knew what was coming next, even he would have taken a bit more care with his words.

Well, that was that. The guy's chest was purple and flat as a pancake. He was most definitely gone.

Björn gave an unusually happy sigh, as if something had suddenly been lifted off his chest. He removed his hand from the body's ribcage, laughing slightly at the imprint it had made, and holding it up as if it were a dead cat.

"What do I do with 'im?"

"Umm..." Eri blinked at him once or twice before shuffling into the kitchen and bending down behind a counter. She rustled around for a few moments before ripping off a garbage bag and trotting back to Björn. Eri shook the bag open and held it out.

Björn gave a short snort of laughter, folded the poor sod in half (all the while ignoring the disgusting crunching and rolling of shattered bone), and dropped him into the trash bag.

"A little word of advice: don't drop him off in front of the HQ. Go frame some hobos or something."

He grimaced and looked toward the floor then. Bodily fluids were never a fun thing.

"Get me another one uh those and I'll clean this up for ye. Some bleach would be good too."

"I could always ask Draco to help me with some target practice. He's always looking for an excuse to set something on fire." She flinched at the crunchy noises and held the bag very gingerly. She sat the bag by the door, tying it very securely before going to find cleaning supplies.

"Okay. If I rip my hand off, though, you have to help me put it back on, okay? That's the only thing he was good for." Eri said as she returned from the bathroom with a bottle of bleach and a scrub brush, and then going to the kitchen for another garbage bag.

"Yeah, no problem. May hafa have Liam do it, though. My fingers aren't excactly the most nimble."

He started cleaning the floor then, glad that all muscles hadn't relaxed before they'd shoved him in a garbage bag.

...granted, that bag was starting to smell a little funky.

After all was said and done, Björn stood, sighed, and nodded.

"I don't think it'll leave a mark," he said simply, and then added, "Do you mind if I commandeer your shower?"

"Commandeer all you want. I won't even spy on you." Eri said a bit faintly before walking back to the bag. "... Shouldda double bagged him." She muttered before picking the bag back up and making her way out.

She couldn't exactly remember how high of a tempeature it took to burn bones, but knew that if he was given the chance, Draco would willingly try. She dumped the bag off in the woods before going to find him.

"Drake. I need you to burn something in the woods."

Draco looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

". . . Pathos."

"Oh. Right then. I'll be back in a bit." Draco grinned and waved at her.

"Am I the only one who had any reservations about him dying?" Erishi sighed, letting her head fall down to her chest.

"Yes." The dragon said simply. "Gareth told me a lot about him. You probably would have been dead soon, and he really wouldn't have cared." Draco gave Shammi a pat on the head before walking off in the dirction Eri had came from, whistling something that sounded suspiciously like the Andy Griffith song.

Eri sighed and scooped Shammi up, placing a kiss between her two horns and returned to her room. Shammi's nose crinkled as soon as they entered.

"Bweach? Ewwi hurt hersewf again?" She asked, giving Erishi a very dark look.

By the time the two women got back to the room, Björn was already half-dressed and partially damp.

"Shirt's got blood on it," he said simply, "Didn't want it to soak in." Into his flesh, that.

"Hi, Shammi."

"S'okay." Eri nodded at him. "I don't mind. Sorry I don't have anything that'll come near fitting you.

"Hai, Bj!" Shammi waved happily, curling her tail around Eri's arm. Then, she looked around. Someone was missing. Looking at Björn with a small frown, she asked: "Meen man go 'way?"

"I don't expect that anyone does," Björn snickered, and then turned back to the chameleon girl, "Yep! The mean man went away. I scared him off."

A bit of an understatement, but hey. The kid didn't need to know he was a murderer too.

...now if she'd just stop calling him "BJ"...

Shammi clapped her hands together. "Good! I not wike him." Shammi nodded very seriously. "He make Ewwi sad."

Very carefully, Eri reached out and grabbed Björn's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you, Björn." She said very quietly.

"Mm. I didn't like him either."

A slight, sincere smile suddenly appeared across Björn's lips. He placed his other hand over Erishi's for a moment and nodded.

"No problem."

"I suppose... That if you don't mind having a little more blood on your hands, I won't mind that I help put it there." She looked up at his face and gave a somewhat sad, but relaxed smile. It was going to be nice, at least, to not have to worry about randomly being hit.

Shammi gave a somewhat confused burble, giving them both weird looks. Adults were strange things.

Björn smiled lightly and wrapped an arm 'round Erishi's waist, heaving a sigh. Sure he cared. He never liked killing people.

But, hey, that guy was an a*****e.

"Good."

Eri responded by hugging him with her free arm, leaning forward to rest her head on him.

"Thank you."

Björn heaved another sigh, chest rising and falling dramatically. Words danced at the tip of his tongue, very nearly making his brain begin to bleed. No, he couldn't. It wasn't right. She'd know what he meant by it, but still, it just wasn't r--

"I love you, ******** style="color: indigo">That was nice! Wait... What? Oh, s**t. What could you say to that?

"Well... I... I guess I'll have to choose who I hang out with more carefully in the future, so I don't leave you, then." She patted his back once, still leaning against him. "I love you too. You're too good not to."

Well, that was a bit of a shock. Suddenly, Björn's cheeks started to hurt.

It took him a monent to realize that he was grinning. Ah, and what a nice grin it was, too. Not at all frightening as it was generally made out to be. He could think of no proper reaction. Nobody'd told him they loved him in...

...

...three years.

"Thanks."

Just from his tone of voice, Eri could tell that something was up. She looked up at him and caught that smile. Seeing him smile made the last of her worry disappear. She smiled back up at him.

"See? I keep telling you you're good. That smile proves it."

Björn tried to stop and found he couldn't. Ah, hell, who cared? The damage had been done.

"How does a smile make me good? I'm sure Ted Bundy could smile."

"Probably." Eri smiled up, eyes going over his face like she was trying to memorize his smile. "But your smile makes me feel like things are right. And you make things right. So, your smile matches you."

"You're too sweet," Björn said matter-of-factly and reached up, running his hand briefly though Erishi's hair. He was suddenly noticing that he was in fact, bare-chested and she was, in fact, leaning against him.

He blushed slightly.

"Mostly just to you." Which wasn't entirely true, but she did have a special brand of sweet just for him.

And then he started to blush. Which just made her grin grow. Now that was an image she was going to sear into her mind. "Awww."

Björn looked away suddenly, and then down to the floor as he shoved his hands in his pockets and laughed slightly. Ah, nothing got much more embarassing than this.

And then he blushed harder.

"GOD DAMNIT."

He turned away.

Even though she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't help but giggle more at him. "Sorry." She covered her hand with her mouth. "You're just... Too cute, you know?"

Björn took control over himself once more, removing most of the smile with quick tongue-prods to the cheek and a few deep breaths. WHen he turned back around, however, he was still smirking lightly.

"No, I don't," he answered honestly, "This only happens around you. And don't let it go to your head."

"You must just be lucky, then. Most people don't tend to get red faced around me." Eri rested her free hand on her other hip, opposite a very confused looking Shammi.

"I won't let anything go to my head. I know I'm lucky you're my friend."

Björn nodded slightly and stooped, leaning over to Shammi's height.

"You look very, very conufused, little one."

Shammi gave him a look, then her a look, and then back to Björn. Finally, she seemed to know what she wanted to say. "You all weed." She proclaimed, giving both adults a very strange look.

"Weird?" Björn asked, "How so?"

"Weed." Shammi insisted, shaking her head.

The door opened, and Draco burst in, grinning heavily and looking only slightly charred. "That was so totally awesome! He was all: FOOSH! Fire everywhere! If you need cleanup ever again, you totally call me!" He started stripping off his jacket and walked towards the bathroom, still giggling.

"Okie. Ewwyone weed." Shammi decided.

"Ergh," Björn grimaced, "Charred flesh. And I didn't get to see it." He straightened out and stretched, figuring he wasn't going to get any better answer out of the toddler.

Giggling could still be heard from the bathroom. Eri shook her head at it. "I wind up with other people's weird kids. And, apparently, if you want off anyone else we've got someone to help clean up."

"Off?" Shammi blinked.

"Er, make them run away."

Björn wondered idly at what age it would hit Shammi that, hey, the big guy killed the little guy.

"Well...I guess I should be going."

It would probably be some time. Eri was going to shelter the girl as long as she could.

"Okay." Very carefully, Erishi dropped Shammi onto the couch. She turned back to Björn and picked up one of his hands. Erishi looked at it for a few moments before placing a kiss on the back of his hand. "Travel safe, okay?"

Björn laughed slightly.

"I'm going down the hall," he said, "but thank you." After a moment's thought he leaned down and kissed Erishi on the temple.

"See you."

And he was gone.

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:49 am

WTF.

Ike opened his eyes bright and early in the morning, as per usual, to find them obscured by something poofy and white.

His hair?

Well, his hair had never been long enough to...

He reached up and tried to brush it away, hitting a bit of snout instead.

"Mum, have y--GNN!"

His voice sounded strange. Deeper.

"MUM! MUM! LIAM! HELP!"

Rabid rushed to her son's beside, immediately bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"Awww, my little boy's all grown up!"

"MUM. Shut UP and GET MY FEET OUT OF THE HEADBOARD."

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Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:28 am

The WFP!

Click Here!

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:32 am

PoD3

Click here!

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Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 2:00 pm

Because Depression Isn't Cool

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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:31 pm

The Voice That Won't Stop

They don't treat you very well here, you know.

Björn, half-blinded by the water in the shower, spun to see if someone was in the room with him. It took him quite some time to remember the voice in his head. He sighed then and went back to washing the soap from his hair.

"Yeah, I know."

Why don't you do anything about it?

"Because your idea of 'doing something' constitutes murder."

Why, yes, as a matter of fact it does.

"And I can't do that. She lets me stay in her house even though she doesn't like me. That's something worth respecting."

'Her'? You mean...the Vampire?

"Charlotte. Yeah."

Expendable.

"No. She's not. Once you've taken over the world, then you can talk about murdering my roommates. Until then, you can just shut the hell up."

Oh, what little you know! You speak as if I have no control at all! As we speak, I have already claimed a good half of your soul. What part wasn't already mine, of course.

Björn stopped a moment before giving a slight laugh.

"You're a biproduct of my temporary insanity. You can't steal souls."

Did L'Adrien ever tell you about William?

Björn's eyes went wide. Very wide.

"...no. It's impossible."

I'm afraid not.

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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:40 pm

Death is Imminent

Liam sat on the couch, Emmy's head in his lap and facing Crow.

"So, yeah. It'll be kinda weird. Siblings-in-law and whatnot."

Rabid snorted, leaning her head on Julian.

Crow lounged on the couch beside Liam, picking absently at the upholstery.

"I suppose," she said. "At least technically it isn't incest."

Julian, reading a dated medical journal with half a mind, just rolled his eyes and slung his arm around Rabid.

"He's not even technically my brother," Rabid said matter-of-factly as she snuggled against Julian.

"I might as well be!"

"True."

It was quiet with no kids but Emmy around. Really quiet. All of the others had pretty much moved on with life, but Emmy had refused to leave the house. Poor thing.

"...hey, did anyone else hear that?"

"Hear what?" Crow asked, looking up. Julian just shrugged, giving the room a cursory glance for anything suspicious.

"Am I crunching too loud?" Jeddeth asked from his corner, clumsily pushing the drooping hood of his sweatshirt away from his face.

"Depends. What are you crunching?"

"...nothing."

"Nah, it wasn't you," Rabid said quietly, standing and peering about the room. Huh.

"You shouldn't be crunching anything, young man," Liam said, craning his neck to look at Jeddeth, "You're not a monster any more. Bones and wood do not--"

Hellis bolted from the hallway then, breathing hard and looking frightened. There was a small cut on his forehead that probably would not have been noticed had it not been for the blood. Liam immediately rocketed to his feet.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Hellis only gave an ascending squeal, pointing back toward the hallway.

Crow bolted up, alarmed at the sight of blood, fishing a old handkerchief and pressing it to Hellis's injury on instinct. Jeddeth reacted on instinct of his own and put himself in front Julian and Rabid, teeth bared in defense. Julian pushed him patiently aside, getting up and looking to the hallway.

A hand met Julian's face. A large one, sitting there like some kind of deformed facehugger.

"...Björn?"

"Hardly." The voice was and was not Björn's. Although it had the same distinct tone, it was slightly more pitchy and strangely...British?

...oh, <******** style="color: blue">William, you let him go."

"Only if you ask nicely."

Rabid immediately moved to hide behind Julian. Well, crap. And she thought they'd gotten rid of him!

I suppose I've had this coming for a while, Julian thought. There was distinct fear, of course, beneath the resignation that he'd brought what he knew would be a messy, painful death upon himself. Yup. I am a class A idiot.

Jeddeth hissed, lips curling over his teeth and ready to spring. Crow held him back and looked up at Björn-that-wasn't. ********. ******** style="font-size: 9px">"Long time no see."

"Years."

"Mm. I would have liked it to be longer," Liam nodded as he ever-so-slowly reached around into the back of his uniform.

"That's just how you are, too! So disrespectful. You wouldn't be what you are today if it wasn't for me!"

"You still owe me a foot and a half."

"Hardly. Height doesn't matter when compared to this body," Björn-that-wasn't said simply, dropping his hand from Julian's face to give an elaborate sweeping arm movement, "It's hard to get used to, I must admit, but it will make things quite a lot easier."

"You're a douchebag, you know that?"

Björn-that-wasn't took a step forward and to the side.

"What have you got there?"

"Nothing," Liam said quickly as he removed a hand from behind his back and transferred something from that hand to the other. He knew he was risking his life, but hey.

Hellis whimpered and scampered to Jeddeth, crouching a bit to hide behind him.

Julian wasted no time in backing away a reasonably healthy distance, trying to take Crow with him and met with silent, though rather violent, refusal. The girl stood with her hands locked around Jeddeth's arm to keep the kid from doing anything stupid. The boy had been on the brink of going feral before Crow hissed a rare order to stay put, so he made the best of the situation and warded Hellis, waiting for his next command.

"Ooooh, I know what you're thinking..."

"Do you."

"Oh, yes. You're me, remember."

Crap.

Crow always disliked admitting she was scared, and even moreso when it showed how frightened she really was. She had no doubt Björn...no, no, William...would draw out their deaths for as long as it kept him amused. Wishing she knew what to do, she just shrank back a step, then two, until she found herself behind the increasingly-agitated Jeddeth.

"I wouldn't do that if I were y--"

Too late. Liam had already flipped open the three soul orbs, which immediately began draining soul from the body.

"It's your funeral," William coughed before being completely removed, all three orbs snapping shut.

"...his eyes..."

"s**t!"

Hellis shrieked.

Looking on in bewilderment, Crow looked to Björn uncertainly, wringing her hands in long absent paranoid distress.

And somewhere outside, coming closer, a dog barked, and a low tired voice hushed it.

Liam choked and nearly dropped the soul orbs, having to take a moment to place them on the coffee table before approaching Björn, whose eyes had suddenly gone from their soulless black back to brown, pupils dilated horribly.

The larger man held up a hand to stop him.

"...um..."

Björn's chest heaved and he leaned back against the wall, sliding down to the floor with his eyes closed. This wasn't how he'd imagined it at all. Not with people around. Not for such a random reason.

But here it was. He was dying.

"AH!"

The cry escaped Crow before she even realized, and Jeddeth grabbed her, unwilling to believe the threat was gone. Julian cursed, having already seen Vavvian deaths before and knowing what was going to happen. The voice outside faltered, and there was the sound of someone running onto the porch and a weak, hesitant knock on the door that turned into a pounding as they worked the knob and entered.

Crow's heart jumped into her throat as she met Ethan's stricken face.

Emmy suddenly leaped to her feet from her hiding place on the couch and rushed to Ethan, grabbing his arm.

"Ethan! Help! HELP!"

Oh, s**t. Ethan too? Björn's nose had started bleeding, so he reached up and wiped the streak away, clutching something beneath his shirt and leaning his head against the wall. He choked and grimaced, a bit of blood bubbling up between his teeth. He opened his mouth, trying to breathe, and found that he could no longer.

Ah, Christ, not in front of Ethan...

And then he went suddenly still, hand falling to his lap.

Ethan, pale and expression dazed in shock, stumbled forward a step, only able to focus on what was directly in front of him. Everything else was white noise, and he couldn't make sense of Emmy's words, anything. He could only focus on that one thing.

Too late. Too late. No, no, no...

He staggered forward, feeling both heart and mind break cleanly in two.

A sudden spasm wracked Björn's body and he purged, blood dribbling from eyes, nose, and mouth. His lips pulled back and he certainly seemed like he was alive to someone who had not seen a Vavvian die before, but he most certainly was not. The spasm died as suddenly as it had arrived, but the trembling muscles convulsed again. More blood, this time erupting from the scar tissue running in straight lines up Björn's forearms.

And then nothing.

Hellis screamed and rushed forward, throwing himself at the limp body and smearing himself with brackish black blood. Liam stepped forward to pull him off, but received a swift punch to the face. Emmy buried her face in Ethan's shirt, sobbing uncontrollably.

"...what have I done..."

Crow gave a terrible shriek, half-muffled as she clamped her hands to her mouth and turned away, unable to bear looking. Julian's head bowed down as his sister clung to him, and Jeddeth cringed, crouching down on the floor, not understanding.

Ethan, swaying, felt tears leak out of his wide-stretched eyes, head empty of thought as his legs give way. He landed hard on his knees, mouth working soundlessly.

"Get off," Liam requested quietly of Hellis. When there came no response, he kicked the young man hard in the ribs. So hard that he toppled to the ground, holding his side, "GET OFF!"

"DON'T DO THAT!"

Liam ignored Rabid's plea and placed a hand on Björn's already-chilling shoulder and disappeared in a burst of air, returning through the front door not a minute later.

"Nobody go in the shed."

"THE SHED?!"

"SHUT UP!" Liam shrieked, pointing accusingly with tears standing out in his eyes. Hellis continued to be a quivering, suffering mass of flesh and tears on the hardwood floor. Not again. He'd lost him again. Forever this time.

Shuddering violently, Crow pressed herself against Julian, who held on steadfastly in a pure loss of what to do. Jeddeth, making himself as small as possible, looked at the blood with a strangely sick expression on his face.

Certain if he tried to speak he'd only scream, Ethan rocked back into a kneel, wishing Emmy would get off. He should have come sooner. He shouldn't have left. He shouldn't have come at all.

Emmy didn't leave. She needed someone to hold onto, and the only person who'd let her do that was now only a puddle of blood on the floor.

"What do we do? What do we do?"

"
"Fix it!" Emmy yelped, lunging for the soul orbs on the table and mercifully leaving Ethan alone.

"DON'T TOUCH THOSE!" Liam shrieked and snatched them away, "He's not in here any more." Lower lip trembling, he held the orbs up to the light. The swirling black masses almost seemed to mock him as he took them outside and buried them.

Back inside, Rabid fell hard against Julian.

"What do we do?"

Julian shook his head, starting to tremble from the shock. He tried to speak but no sound came out, so his only answer was the vaguest of shrugs. Crow looked to Ethan, the mask-blank expression on his face making her highly uneasy.

"Ethan?" she said, voice quiet. Ethan's eyes flicked up to her, hollow and gaunt. He looked away again, brushing Emmy's solidified tears off his shirt almost in annoyance.

Liam looked to Ethan, and then back to Crow. He shook his head and moved to her.

"Don't."

He figured that conveyed the message well enough.

"...what do we do?"

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