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 Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:38 am
Saturday, January 28th, 2006 Happy New Year! I'm sorry I missed it. ( sweatdrop )
Well, I think the euphoria of coming alive has finally worn off of Minnie and she's coming around into her...more finalized self. If you can really call it that.
I keep expecting to see her in a business suit someday.
Yes, I know that sounds completely random. But I suddenly see my own mother in her: somewhat strict, she does it all in the name of being motherly and keeping those around her out of trouble. Chevyo expecially, as he's the resident trouble-maker. Even if she does spoil his fun, I think Chevy still loves her, in that somewhat childish, semi-deluded way that he has. I'm starting to think that maybe he's Minnie's guardian and not mine. After all, I have Kura...I don't need two.
Kiri is, against all odds, more rambunctious than Chevy, and he's the one that's most often under Minnie's strict yet loving paw.
He tries to avoid her at all costs.
It doesn't work.
It could be that he's just so happy to get out of that confining little box of his, but he seems a little resentful that Minnie keeps on spoiling his fun (completely forgetting the fact that he could very well hurt himself, trying to play with those knives of mine in the kitchen; I have yet to figure out how he can get the drawer open while flying, little rat).
I swear, Minnie has some kind of mother sense. If there's trouble, she knows it, and she's off like a lumbering little rocket (hey, she's a bear, and she's young, I can't yet see that much grace in her suddenly animated being).
Oh, and Rufus.
No, not the Turk Rufus, the little winged Rufus with the bobbing halo. THAT Rufus.
Minnie's taken to keeping a close eye on that little scoundrel. He seems to be...plotting. But I don't know what he's plotting about.
Somehow, I think that if he and Arashi got together, I would have more attempts on my life than Hoshi would know what to do with. ( eek ) Not a pleasant thought. Good thing the spariehs are still out at the meadows...
...along with Kura. I wonder if she misses me. I should check on them sometime, let Minnie interact, make sure they haven't gone feral on me.
But I'll leave that for another day. Preferably one where Minnie's not acting semi-paranoid because of all the mischief half the house is getting into.
When the little ones fall asleep (which generally happens at the Sarnin observatory; generally it's Kiri and Chevy, sometimes I manage to drag Rufus along), Minnie's taken to mothering that little cheetah plush I gave her. She loves it, and it shows; it's already showing a few signs of wear (mostly because she is still a baby, even if she doesn't act it, and she accidentally gnaws on one of its ears when she's asleep). Actually, Minnie's taken on quite a few responsibilities. She watches the troublesome ones for me, she puts them to bed, she makes sure they don't get into food fights (you wouldn't think that something with paws could fight with food; I swear, they're using magic on those spoons)...
...I'm glad Minnie's around.
Even if she is something of a terror.
She surprises me, though. Often, actually. Just this past week she really showed that she's more than just an animated plush toy. Much more.
Where I live (while not being confined to the guest room under the observatory, that is), there are lots of trees. I live on a mountain (in my spare time), in a rather thickly wooded area both close to and far from the nearest little town with a market and a library, half on and half off the beaten trail.
But it's in the middle of a forest. There's wildlife around. So I generally try to keep the kids inside, or watch them when they're outside, since I don't have any spariehs to do that for me now (I really should go find them).
But I let Minnie go out with Chevy and Rufus, figuring that they would know better than to go too close to the tree-line (which is relatively close to the deck, but still far enough away that it gives a good deal of space for, say, a summer barbeque). In the meantime, I started tearing into the untended garden, which needed some serious work.
And then I heard a SCREAM.
In two seconds flat I was around the house and ready to take on any comer. It's one of those things you get after years of merc work.
And I just stopped.
Because Rufus was up on the deck, watching with those frightening blue eyes of his, while Chevy cowered behind Minnie, who was facing down a bobcat.
I've seen bobcats before. This one looked relatively young and inexperienced; it probably wandered away from a nearby home to practice hunting on its own while its mother was out. But it was looking rather skittish, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why while I was staring at Minnie's back.
And then there was a growl. A low, deep, throaty growl that didn't sound like a bobcat nor anything else I'd heard in a long time.
The look on Rufus face was one of abject curiosity.
And the bobcat took a step back as Minnie took one step forward.
That was surprising enough. The cat was at least twice, if not three times, the bear's size. And it looked scared. So I moved around to view the scene from a better angle.
The look on Minnie's face floored me. I'd be scared, too, if I were facing down that rage. But she was mad, and she showed it, and she was scaring the fur off that bobcat kitten.
Bobcats, though? They're resilient. As the bear kept stalking forward, the kitten began to stand its ground, its fur rising and its lips curling back into its own personal snarl.
Minnie stopped, spread her paws apart, and began to stomp on the ground.
And the bobcat started trembling. Chevy started trembling. It was a little localized earthquake, complete with that cinematized rumbling sound.
The bobcat must have figured that Minnie was not a cub to mess with, turned tail, and ran for its dear life.
And as soon as it was gone, Minnie turned on her heels and went to make sure that Chevy was okay. All signs that she was even capable of such intimidation were gone, and Chevy honestly seemed to forget the whole incident the minute the bobcat was gone, pomptly moving to tackle the bear where she stood.
Ah, sweet oblivion.
I'll have to keep on the lookout for bobcats from now on. And for more of Minnie's incredibly impressive motherly displays.
Until my pen again crosses your pages,
Yours Truly,
~D-chan Spiroand Minnie (who has a new pen for when she grows and can write for herself)PS: Remind me to get the spariehs back.
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:49 pm
Monday, February 27th, 2006 Well, February has now come and gone, for the most part. A birthday past (happy birthday to me~), Valentine's Day past (happy V-day to all and yay for homemade cards, man)...
...and not much to show for it. Life is calm, and besides the occasional uproar at the Observatory, there's not much to do.
I didn't tell anyone about my birthday. I don't think it's important; Minnie's is more relevant, and hers is still months away. But thinking about birthdays has made me realize how many I've forgotten; the days just melt into weeks and then months, and I've lost all track of time.
Two years. I still can't believe it's been almost two years since I came here.
Kurenai will be two years old in June. So will Kaen (and man, he's huge now; he's really grown, unlike some of my little friends. And most of them are...small. Very small). I'll have to do something this time...I need a calendar or something, I can't forget again. It's...just...
I've never been able to keep dates. Even Minnie's better at it than I am. I've hooked her up with a little schedule book (we went shopping, and she saw it and went nuts. So I bought it; it's about the size of a thin packet of index cards with a cover the same blue as her ribbon), which lives with this journal and an ink pad. And when she hears something important, she'll go and flip the schedule book open, dab her paw in the ink pad, find the date in question, and make a paw print. That's her reminder to herself that something of import is coming.
She checks it every day. Every morning, when she wakes up, she shuffles over and finds the date (she's the only reason I know what day it is anymore, I swear) and looks for a paw print. Her memory is fabulous; just seeing a print reminds her of the reason it exists at all.
For example. I promised her a few weeks ago that I would take her to the sparieh meadows to get the spariehs and take them home again. The way she looked at me demanded a date, so I told her that I would do it by the last week of February. She toddled over, opened the book, and put a mark on the twenty-sixth (Sunday starts the week, after all).
So yesterday, I woke up with a bear growling at me on my chest, patting my cheek and telling me to get up get up get up.
So up I got (at seven in the morning, horrifying hour, but I can't complain too much, it's Minnie) and we snuck out to the sparieh meadows at sunrise.
What a beautiful sight. I think Minnie liked it, too...we just stood there for a few minutes and stared at the colors whisking across the sky: lavender and pink and clouds edged in gold that scalloped like waves across the endless expanse.
I love sunrise. I should really look more.
But as the colors faded into white and blue, we went to find our little (...okay, not so little) sparieh friends.
Kaen very nearly killed us, dive bombing us as he did. He's big!! REALLY big!! ( gonk ) Then Hoshi swooped in, hanging back a few feet, looking for Koe, I'm sure...then Sherbert bowled us over...and then came Arashi, looking as sulky as usual.
I thought Kaen would bite my head off in his enthusiasm at coming home. Really, though, I think Minnie and I are agreed that the meadows are the best place for the spariehs during the winter (which is quickly passing, I might add; I think that the snow will probably be through within the next month. Kaen can stay inside, which will make him so happy, I'm sure). Snow does not make my birdies happy. They'll freeze their little wings off.
I also managed to find Kura, who seems to have become a permanently attached feature of my nightmare sparieh. When I look at them, I see two pairs of eyes staring back at me...it's scary, man. ( crying ) Two pairs of blue eyes, staring at me...I can't tell if Minnie's as unnerved as I am, but she seems to do much better with them.
Speaking of which...they're amazed at Minnie. This is really the first time they've seen her since she spontaneously animated. Kaen was probably best adjusted, since he saw Koe hatch and knew Kurenai since at least the time just after her hatching...maybe before? I'll have to check; her journal and Koe's should still be at home.
Hoshi actually seemed surprised, which is amazing in and of itself. Usually she's very composed, even stoic. I think she's pining for Koe.
Sherbert...Sherbert squawked and squealed and flapped around in a tizzy when she realized that Minnie wasn't the plush anymore...and eventually she managed to calm down enough to meet the little bear. Quite the exciteable one, she is...
...and then there was Arashi. Arashi, who snaps and snarls at me, who is snapped and snarled at by Hoshi, who is a sour-puss like no other...
...Arashi got put in her place by a formerly stuffed bear about an eighth of her size. Remember what happened with the bobcat? It was that again...and it works really really well. ( stare )
See, Arashi has always picked on Sherbert. Maybe because Sherbert is so easy to push around. But we got home, and the spariehs got into the house, and Arashi, feeling right at home again, began to shove Sherbert around.
Minnie struggled her way out of my arms, stalked proudly over to stand between the two spariehs. As Arashi rolled her eyes, Minnie ducked her head and started that growling. It sent a shiver down my spine; she's scary when she wants to be. Even Arashi was struck dumb and skittered a few paces back. Minnie advanced, her paws striking the ground so hard that the floor shivered a bit...
...and Arashi ran. She turned tail and ran.
Arashi.
Tiny terror of the house.
Running.
I applaud Minnie, who was promptly worshipped by one striped sparieh.
But...Valentine's Day was rather strange. Reno got a card from me...and he actually got me a present. A red (plastic xd ) stone bracelet, which now lives in my jewelry box, as I don't usually wear jewelry. But...Reno seems worried that Rufus is out to get me, and I don't care, because I have a job (that I really should start charging for; psychiatry pays well, I hear).
...oddly enough, Rufus seems to need counselling, too.
Which scares me.
Deeply.
Minnie very much likes Reno. I think she wishes that he would unlock the door and play with her more often; so far, they get along. As for Rufus...she doesn't have a set-in-stone opinion, but the fact that he seems to need a little more help than he wants to let on seems to put her at ease. I swear, she's a psychiatrist in training.
What are mothers for? ( 3nodding )
Well, it's late now, and I need to get some sleep.
Until my pen again crosses your pages,
Yours Truly,
~D-chan Spiro (the psychiatrist inna wall) and Minnie (the shrink in training)
...her round ear perks at the sound of the half-fox's deep breathing. Brown eyes peek open, watching the halfling for a moment in her sleep before rising to her paws, leaving Chevyo twitching on his stomach. Padding quietly to the corner, she flips the journal open.
For the past month, D-chan had been reading to her aloud, teaching her to read. She could make out...some words. Not the majority, and not many, exactly, but some. She could pick out the names of her family, as Dani had written them for her: Chevyo had a name that was all one piece, very loopy in her hand; Kurenai's was both soft and sharp, broken into pieces; Koe was small and gently drawn; and the list continued on.
Finding the newest page, the red ink still fresh on the paper, Minnie settles in, gaze skimming across the new words. Some strike her; some do not.
And then there is a word she has seen before: birthday. It takes a long moment to draw the meaning from her memory: the day she came alive. Minnie smiles, happily skimming across the page.
Numbers. Kurenai's name. That birthday again.
The pieces fall together quickly. Minnie nods to herself as she carefully closes the book again, drawing her blue schedule book silently to her side. Flipping the ink pad open, she passes by pages and pages of dates, dabbing her paw on the spongy pink pad.
June. Nosing the photographic log of D-chan's charges open, she finds Kurenai's picture, looking at the numbers.
Seventeen.
A paw print, bright pink, appears on the date in question.
And so it goes, for the next few minutes, pink prints appearing in monthly intervals on scattered dates. As she finishes, the bear closes the log and the schedule book, cleaning her paw on a pink-stained napkin before slinging her way back to Chevyo's side.
Smiling softly, she finds her way back into sleep.
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:33 pm
Friday, March 10th, 2006 Jessie-kat Kat wakes with a start -- judging from the heaviness in her head and the stiffness curled around her shoulders, it's still several hours yet before the time she had tentatively decided on rising for in the first place.
Her body is getting a jump on its roiling anxiety: when she blinks drowsily awake, her hands are already tangled in her hair and her ankles are already crossed, with one striped sock nearly thrashed off at some violent point in her afternoon slumber...
Afternoon... That's right; she'd napped through the morning and probably, by now, for most of the rest of the day, too. But why...? It's been a while since I've felt so tired --
And it's in the middle of sitting up, of stretching luxuriously -- of fluttering her hands to conceal a face-devouring yawn -- that realization dawns for the disheveled dancer.
Kat lunges halfway across the guest room of the Observatory (the oh so sinister, oh so boring, and oh so badly guarded guest room of her oh so hijacked place of employment), trips over her trailing sock, and spills out of her shoes and across the carpet, wailing.
Meanwhile, at the door, there is a steady knock, knock, knock.
The rapping is interrupted only by the ballerina's unearthly shrieking, and behind the door, Reno sighs, one eye already beginning to twitch. The things good Turks put up with to visit their psychiatrists! "Daaaani~?"
When the screaming snaps abruptly to silence, there is the slightest, suspicious pause, and then Reno knocks again, somewhat tentatively. "Hallo, D-chan, yo? I just ditched Ruffie upstairs somewhere, I gave him one of your sudoku thingos, and... D-chaaaan~? Are you in there, yo?"
There's no point in tangling with the dancer for no decent reason, after all. D-chan Spiro D-chan jumps at the sudden sound of Kat's wakening wails, snapping the heavy book closed on her finger so hard that she winces. "Racket racket racket," she mutters, ears snapping back to press into her hair, praying that the unruly softness will dampen the raucous cries.
...and then she realizes that there is another voice, one not raised in shrieking, coming through the door. Rising stiffly, she bounces over the ballerina stretched out on the floor and presses one ear against the door, ignoring the grating wails and concentrating on the voice coming through the wood.
A bright smile flashes across her face, fanged and nearly feral. "Congratulations, Reno, you have pronounced 'sudoku' correctly," she laughs over Kat's crying. "Remind me to take you home and bring give you a cookie sometime. Do you need me for something?"From the pile of junk in the corner D-chan has so suddenly vacated, two whining voices rise from the rubble.
One belongs to a writhing winged fox, pawing at his ears as though begging for Kat to fall silent. The other is a bear, looking distinctly annoyed but not quite at the point of flailing in pain. She trundles out of the wreck of a corner, pausing before the ballerina and pawing her nose. It is...not a gentle motion in the least, but the bear undoubtedly does not think that it is so bad.
She has yet to learn her own strength.
And then she continues, her rolling gait taking her to D-chan's side, where she sits and stares up at the fox.
D-chan grins at the animated plush. "It's Reno," she whispers.
Minnie grins, rising on her back paws and wrapping her arms around the half-fox's ankle. She likes the strange man with red hair; now she just hopes he will come in to visit. Jessie-kat Despite the fact that he is unquestionably hidden behind the richly paneled door from the view of any of the guests, Reno retreats one single step to bow sharply and sardonically to the gleaming wood, and his own smile is something clumsy and unraveling.
"I'll have you know, yo," the Turk complains cheerfully, "I spent a whole, a whole... five minutes or so staring at that little book trying to figure out how to say it. I deserve more than just a cookie, yo! I deserve at least a brownie."
Abruptly, the bronze knob clatters its telltale warning, and Reno curses lightly, his grin evident even in his voice. "Can't do nothing secret around here, yo! Gimme a sec, I've got sommat to show you."
"WHATEVER IT IS," Kat is squealing meanwhile, as loudly and as highly pitched as her abused vocal chords will allow, "IT STARTED OUT MINE! MINE MINE MINE MINE~~ Mine! MINE! It was MINE I brought it BACK and it's MINE I know what it is don't you think I don't I know I do nothing but a no-good thief it's -- ow!"
The squalling dancer recoils in no small amount of surprise at the patting admonishment of one tiny bear, her cries silenced as swiftly as though someone had kicked her in the face. (The accuracy of this comparison will be left unsaid.)
Kat draws back to perch on her heels, as oddly graceful as any rainbow-splotched, tutu-clad ballerina and, more importantly, as speechless as a broken clock -- and then Kat stares at Minnie, one hand gingerly to her nose and her jaw all but unhinged in disbelief, as the bear goes shambling away.
Briefly, the knob ceases to rattle, and there an equal, if far less startling, silence behind the door. "Did you," Reno starts into the thickly soundless void that is not so much quiescence as it is an utter absence of overwhelming noise, "kill her or something, yo?"
And then he shoves open the heavy door, struggling theatrically against the rich, dark wood, and nervously concealing all the while something fluffy and beige beneath one arm. "Aaaugh~ need oil for these hinges, yo~ pretty much have to pry it open anymore..." D-chan Spiro The fox blinks at the suddenly quiet ballerina, watching as her nose turns a slight shade of red. "Of course I didn't kill her...I think Minnie did, actually," she mutters, staring down at the formerly plush bear. "That was oddly effective."
"Don't get too pompous, or else I might only give you half a cupcake," D-chan chides playfully, wagging a black-furred finger at the door. Even so, she retreats a few steps, lifting Minnie off the ground as the bear refuses to release her ankle.
"...wait, something to show me?" Her head cocks to the side as she balances on one paw, the other leg held out to her side as she allows Minnie to swing from her dangling position. The bear growls contentedly at the new game, deep brown eyes occasionally darting to stare at the door that Reno is having such trouble opening. Something to show? A present? Most of the surprises she has seen were gifts. So does that mean that Reno has a present for Dani? Or maybe for the frilly lady with the shrieking voice? Or...
...or maybe something for Minnie?
With a rumbling growl of pleasure, the bear drops the few inches to the ground and trundles to the door that is slowly coming open, standing before the growing crack between wood and wall and staring up to where she knows Reno's face is, looking patiently expecting with her intent brown eyes and the brilliant blue ribbon around her neck fluffed for ultimate appeal. Jessie-kat Save for Dani's playful words and Minnie's rumbling and Reno's soft noises of dramatized exertion, silence reigns in the guest room. More specifically, silence reigns for the mad ballerina, who remains gaping wordlessly even long after Minnie has long trundled away.
That doesn't stop Kat from staring, though. And stare she does, unabashed, her face reddening from more than just soreness.
"Minnie?" Reno repeats, throwing his shoulder against the heavy door with a muffled thump of muscle on wood. "Your stuffed -- well, not so stuffed anymore, I guess, yo..." A final, immense heave and the Turk stands, in all of his glory, framed by the doorway -- although the image is somewhat diminished, yes, considering that he is slightly hunched over, stubbornly concealing that furry little bundle.
Reno brightens then, grinning widely and kneeling to extend one hand to the little bear -- although his other arm remains secretively curled around a snatch of pale fabric, safely hidden in the loose material of his jacket. "Hallo, Minnie! Did you miss me, yo? I brought you something~" And he awkwardly shifts his free hand to dig animatedly through his nearest (and most convenient) pocket.
Meanwhile, one Kat approaches at a stealthy skulk; she's abandoned her shoes, and they lie some few paces away, sad little green tributes to a combative life long past. Her rainbow socks are trailing, with her toes wiggling in the ankles and the rest pressed beneath the soles of her feet with every step, and as she nears Reno, Kat hunches her shoulders and lifts her hands, eyes narrowed to murderous slits.
She will take what is hers, come Hell or high water~! D-chan Spiro "Yep, that's Minnie," Dani chuckles, watching as the bear toddles off to wait for Reno at the door's opening. "Not quite stuffed anymore...but still cute. Still very cute. Still undeniably cute," she snickers, sitting down on the edge of the nearest bed as Reno throws his shoulder into the door to heave it open at last.Minnie smiles her best smile as Reno leans toward her, rooting through his pocket for something she cannot see but wants to know about. The former plush rises to her hind legs, paws spinning through the air as she tries to grab his hand, see what it is that Reno is after. Dani smiles as she crosses her legs in a distinctly un-ladylike manner: one ankle on her knee, an elbow on her knee and the other wrist draped across her ankle. "So, what is it that you wanted to show me?" she prompts casually, tail twitching to brush across the blankets. One ear twitches in Kat's general direction as the evil ballerina saunters across the floor in loose socks, but no more attention is spared for her than this fluttering acknowledgement. Jessie-kat "Some might even go so far as to say, yo, that she's stuffed with cute." Reno's voice is light and teasing, pleasantly amicable; he's happy now, no matter the quality of his day thusfar.
This has, against all expectations, truly become his place to relax -- even if he's usually sitting outside the door, rather than kneeling inside. The thought causes a smile to creep furtively across the Turk's face, and he smothers it quickly, although without much conviction: traces of his cheer remain, especially at the corners of his mouth.
"Hold on, hold on, yo," he chides the little bear, playfully catching one wheeling paw before returning to his search with intensified fervor. "Where'd I put it, I know it's in here somewhere... were you serious about that cupcake, by the way, D? I haven't eaten since this morning, yo, and even then it was only sommat I found in the fridge, not exactly great..."
Briefly, warily, one stealthy Kat glances to one casual fox-girl, untrusting of attention even so brief. She cannot operate properly under such severe conditions! How on earth can anyone expect a dancer of her calibre to successfully pull off such a covert mission under such heavy scrutiny!? Kat very nearly spits, but then eyes the carpet and thinks better of it.
Onward!
While most people might shout something along the lines of AHA! or EUREKA!, Reno considers himself beyond such pointless idiosyncrasies (despite the undeniable presence of a certain verbal tic that will go respectfully unmentioned). Instead, the Turk hefts from his pocket a small, loosely wrapped package, apparently little more than gleaming cellophane -- and, as he begins to unwrap it, one Minnie will likely be able to catch a whiff of something very sweet...
Meanwhile, Kat takes a moment to collect her senses and interview her muscles, ascertaining that all her members are present and accounted for, before she ATTACKS!
And then several things happen at once.
For one, as Reno whirls to meet his colorful assailant, the beige bundle beneath his arm spills out in a flourish of drab fabric and vibrant, violet stitches for eyes; Kat scrabbles first for the Turk's snatch of cellophane, until the fallen plushie seizes her attention, and then she attempts clambering over the man entirely, squalling all the while.
"MINE MINE MINE THAT'S MINE YOU TOOK IT IT'S MINE MINE I SAY STUPID TURK STUPID NO-GOOD LOW-DOWN THIEF TOOK IT IT'S MINE I WENT AND GOT IT IT'S MINE~" D-chan Spiro "That she is," D-chan laughs, watching as Reno digs through his pocket for something distinctly sugary for the stuffed bear staring up at him with curious brown eyes. "Stuffed with cute indeed. It's nice to see you in the guest room for once," she adds, drifting to her paws and scampering to evacuate a twitching kitsune from the pile of junk in the corner.
"What, you think I'd keep cupcakes from you?" she asks mockingly, scooping Chevyo up and depositing him between her ears before scrounging through books, discarded armor and weapons, and what appear to be wrappers from various types of candy.
Whether it was Dani who ate them all is another matter entirely.
"Here," she calls, extricating a pristine cupcake from its shelter. "You want--"Minnie watches intently as Reno pulls the cellophane-wrapped something from his pocket. Growling happily, she reaches for it with a paw--
--and then the world descends into a scrabbling, screaming chaos.
As Kat makes her attack, Minnie falls backward, performing an oddly adept backward roll as the ballerina pounces onto the plush. For along moment, she remains very quiet, very still, simply examining the scene with an unnerving calm... ...and then she moves forward and reaches out to pop Kat on the nose again.
Dani stares at the scene, mute with astonishment. Chevyo, sparing only the briefest glance for the raucous disturbance, flutters down to snitch Reno's cupcake. Jessie-kat Although Kat's attack is abrupt and unexpected, and although she makes up for her lack of skill with abundant, overwhelming enthusiasm, Reno is not a Turk for his dashing good looks alone.
There's the briefest scuffle, in which Kat believes for one squalling moment that she may have the upper hand -- and then she finds herself sprawled on the floor, fingers vainly extended across the carpet for the disheveled plush, with things that feel uncomfortably like boots planted on either edge of her tutu.
"That," Reno decides calmly, "wasn't nice, yo. I wasn't talking to you." He widens his stance ever so slightly, indulging in a smirk upon sight of the mud now streaking the dancer's skirt -- Reno knew he hadn't cleaned his boots this morning for a reason! "Don't interrupt when grown-ups are talking, yo."
"MINE~" Kat is nothing if not persistent, and she takes up her cry immediately, even while pinned and so undeniably outdone. "IT'S MINE IT'S MINE IT'S MINE IT'S -- ow! Owowow~" One hand shoots up to clutch her nose, and Kat glares daggers at what she can see of the little bear, emerald eyes watering.
Laughing, Reno steps away from the ballerina, judging her to be rightfully punished -- by now. He certainly wouldn't want to find himself at the working end of that paw! "S'a good girl, Minnie, yo~! Here," and there is a dramatic tearing away of the cellophane, revealing what appears to be a deceptively large chunk of...
...well, something consisting of several other somethings dried within an inch of their anonymous lives. Held together by molasses and honey, from the scent of it.
"Trail mix~!" Reno announces in sing-song, as he kneels to present the sticky bundle playfully to Minnie. "At least, I think, yo. I had a bit earlier, so it isn't poisonous or anything..." He glances sheepishly to Dani, before snapping his fingers and nodding toward the little tan bundle of cotton-stuffed fabric. "Oh! And that's what I wanted to show you, yo~"
"It's mine," Kat whines, as though this fact needs further statement. "Mine mine mine." Jessie-kat Although Kat's attack is abrupt and unexpected, and although she makes up for her lack of skill with abundant, overwhelming enthusiasm, Reno is not a Turk for his dashing good looks alone.
There's the briefest scuffle, in which Kat believes for one squalling moment that she may have the upper hand -- and then she finds herself sprawled on the floor, fingers vainly extended across the carpet for the disheveled plush, with things that feel uncomfortably like boots planted on either edge of her tutu.
"That," Reno decides calmly, "wasn't nice, yo. I wasn't talking to you." He widens his stance ever so slightly, indulging in a smirk upon sight of the mud now streaking the dancer's skirt -- Reno knew he hadn't cleaned his boots this morning for a reason! "Don't interrupt when grown-ups are talking, yo."
"MINE~" Kat is nothing if not persistent, and she takes up her cry immediately, even while pinned and so undeniably outdone. "IT'S MINE IT'S MINE IT'S MINE IT'S -- ow! Owowow~" One hand shoots up to clutch her nose, and Kat glares daggers at what she can see of the little bear, emerald eyes watering.
Laughing, Reno steps away from the ballerina, judging her to be rightfully punished -- by now. He certainly wouldn't want to find himself at the working end of that paw! "S'a good girl, Minnie, yo~! Here," and there is a dramatic tearing away of the cellophane, revealing what appears to be a deceptively large chunk of...
...well, something consisting of several other somethings dried within an inch of their anonymous lives. Held together by molasses and honey, from the scent of it.
"Trail mix~!" Reno announces in sing-song, as he kneels to present the sticky bundle playfully to Minnie. "At least, I think, yo. I had a bit earlier, so it isn't poisonous or anything..." He glances sheepishly to Dani, before snapping his fingers and nodding toward the little tan bundle of cotton-stuffed fabric. "Oh! And that's what I wanted to show you, yo~"
"It's mine," Kat whines, as though this fact needs further statement. "Mine mine mine." Jessie-kat When her oh so coveted plush is extended to her, no apparent strings attached, by a person whose merest glance is enough to send her away wibbling pathetically in her shiny boots, Kat does the only thing that any respectable member of a long line of plushie-enchanting ballerinas would do:
She stares. And opens and closes her mouth a few times, floundering clumsily for the words that have all scampered away to hide in the dark, shadowy recesses of her mind. She also makes a noise that might be easily compared to a rat caught in a meat-grinder, as she slowly lifts her hands... and then she snatches away the prairie dog plushie, hissing her defiance.
"MINE MINE MINE IT'S MINE IT'S MINE I GOT IT FROM THE SHOP I DID MINE MY VELVET MINE MINE MINE! STUPID TURK STUPID THIEF TAKE MY VELVET IT'S MINE~"
Meanwhile, munching happily away on his well-earned cupcake, Reno settles back with folded arms to silently observe these amusing goings-on. Several times throughout Kat's tirade, he draws breath as though to interrupt... although each time he seems to think better of it. Best leave this disaster to the resident mommy --
-- and he smiles again at the thought, smearing icing on his nose. D-chan Spiro Dani sighs as Kat launches again into her meaninglessly nonsensical schpiel, ears pressing into her hair as she turns away. Chevyo, too, buries his face in the half-fox's bushy mane, wailing piteously at the shrill cries as Dani digs through her mess of assorted items...
"Ah, there you are."
The half-fox trots back to Kat and stuffs a full bar of chocolate into the ballerina's mouth, dusting off her hands as she takes her seat on the edge of the bed once more. "Anyway. Did you really take that velvet from her? How did she get out to get it in the first place?"Minnie stares at Kat as she goes back to her gibberish, sighing deeply in that oddly mothering fashion she has. Well, so much for that attempt...perhaps a stern paw really is the best way to control wailing ballerinas...
...and then comes the chocolate bar. Minnie gapes at this for a long moment, a few crumbs of her trail mix bar falling from her mouth onto the carpet. There's something she never expected...now, will this work any better than peace? Jessie-kat The movement concise and vaguely avian, Reno tosses his head at Dani's interrogation, shoulders quirking irritably. "I didn't take it, yo," he snaps, finishing off his cupcake and dusting his hands. "I found it in the kitchen cupboards. It reminded me of Minnie, yo, so I thought I'd bring it to you. So much for gratitude, yo."
"Gratitude!" Kat shrills, although her voice is quieter and lower-pitched, now that she has been presented with chocolate -- a messy treat which is, by now, smeared all across her face, and somewhat diminishes the image of righteous vengeance that she is obviously going for. "You took my Velvet and you expect gratitude! Filthy Turk, filthy good-for-nothing Turk I can't even believe I'd ever --"
"Hnf," Reno snorts, folding his arms and glancing away. "Dunno how she got out. ...Possibly," a sly glance, "the same way you do, yo." D-chan Spiro "I'm not ungrateful that you brought it back," Dani chirps defensively. "I'm glad you thought to show me! It's been a while since I've seen another Velvet, even one that has yet to be animated like Minnie.
She laughs at Kat's vengeful muttering through a bar of melting chocolate. "Be nice, Kat, he's my client. If you chase him away, I'll have no way of getting blackmail fodder!" She winks playfully at Reno as she speaks, her only indication that blackmail is not her only reason for listening to him.
Though, really, the fact that it might be one of her reasons is hardly cause for celebration.
"So you think she gets out using an evil turncoat sarnin?" Dani chuckles, swinging her legs back and forth over the edge of the bed. "I'd be surprised, unless she has a supply of chocolate that she doesn't steal from me."Minnie sighs again as Kat's ranting continues, however muffled it may be by a gooey mess of sugar in her mouth. Well, it seems that ballerina's only respond well to the strict paw.
It is with this conviction firmly in mind that the animated bear trundles over to sit before Kat, glaring up at her face...
...and sneaking occasional glances at the plush. It's hard to ignore something so like herself, after all. Jessie-kat But alas, Reno's feelings are most injured now, and Turkish feelings are delicate (if highly secretive) things. The young man can't help but pout, tightening his arms across his chest and staring sulkily at a distant wall. This wasn't at all how he had planned for this to go! There was supposed to be playing with Minnie and talking with D-chan and flaunting his discovery...
The line of the Turk's shoulders stiffens slightly upon mention of blackmail.
He moves quickly on from this, replying with dizzying swiftness to Dani's rhetoric. "I dunno, yo. She does have one of the dragon thingos, I think. A green one --"
"SO-CHAN~!" Kat gleefully interrupts, clapping her hands. "Good ol' So-chan-chan! I hope he bites you," she adds vengefully, tossing to the Turk a narrow, emerald knife of a glare. "I hope he bites you hard. And they're poisonous, y'know; one bite could kill a man. Over a long, long, agonizing time." A wild improvisation on her part, of course -- and a thorough lie -- but honestly, how many other people will have worked closely enough with Draconics to realize it?
Reno, meanwhile, refuses to give the ballerina the satisfaction of knowing that her little flappy-winged pet has already bitten him... although with her final words, he shifts uncomfortably, rubbing his thumb across his wrist. A long, agonizing death? Well, it isn't precisely what he'd hoped for... Clearing his throat, Reno settles silently down to the very important task of trying to lick the icing off his nose.
Still murmuring fiercely to herself, busily hacking apart the block of chocolate and battling valiantly against tenacious dollops making their homes behind her teeth, Kat cuddles the little beige plush against her chest with every shift of movement, uncharacteristically meticulous in shielding the soft fabric from any trace of staining chocolate.
She glances up, however, once Minnie approaches her again. Purely defensive now, the ballerina snarls uncertainly before the creature's unrelenting glare, tightening an arm around the stuffed prairie dog while she shoves the rest of the chocolate unceremoniously into her mouth. "'Uggah aah!" D-chan Spiro "...don't tell, but I think she's lying," Dani whispers laughingly to Reno, watching the way he touches his wrist at the insane ballerina's words. "She's very good at improvising, as I've learned. You'd be surprised how well she can hide her attempts at teaching Minnie plushie animation methods."At the mention of her name in conjunction with the ballerina from Hell, Minnie's head snaps up and her little round ears swivel forward, as though she is startled and rather offended to think that Dani would ever think that she would be in league with Kat. The very thought! A respectable bear and such a dissheveled wreck...! The very thought!! Minnie pouts, glaring sternly at the ballerina that continues to act (and fail to truly be) threatening. "So, besides the plush that you saved from the cupboard, is there another reason for your visit? Do you need the Psychiatrist in the Wall again, or was this a purely social visit?" She smiles as Chevyo begins to purr in her arms, burrowing deeper into her soft, fuzz-covered shirt.
"Be civil, Kat, or else I won't share my chocolate cupcakes with you," she threatens as an after-thought.Threats now? How many ways are there to keep people in line? Jessie-kat Nervously, not quite entirely trustingly, Reno glances sidelong to the amused fox-girl. It's a long, thoughtful moment before he whispers back, "...Kay," giving his wrist one final, anxious touch beneath the cover of his shirt cuff. "Whatever you say, yo. Wait a sec -- plushie animation methods?"
He doesn't quite sputter. "She didn't... Minnie, did she, yo? That's not why...?"
Meanwhile, when one relentless regard does not fade sheepishly away (as it properly should, upon proper application of this respectable dancer's most dire intimidation!), Kat narrows her eyes, planting her hands on her knees and hugging her plush tightly to her stomach, lest the Turkish Plushie Thief decide oh so cruelly to strike again.
"Ah 'ed," Kat begins menacingly, "'uggah aah, 'oo oo'ed ahr. Eh eye ocklate ahn eye Onnie! 'Uggah aah!" Even with Dani's absent, if nonetheless authoritarian threatening, the ballerina does not yield, hissing impressively... or so she thinks... and beginning to puff up.
Reno spares a curious glance for this odd defensive method, and then shrugs it off, returning his (yet indignant) attention to one Dani. "Purely social, yo," he sniffs, vainly stretching his tongue for the tip of his nose, where icing still remains. "Mostly I wanted to see Minnie, yo, make sure I wasn't just delusional." D-chan Spiro "Yes, plushie animation methods," Dani repeats calmly, watching as Minnie turns up her nose to Kat and trundles over to Reno, rising to her hind legs as though begging to be picked up. "And no, Minnie is not one of her evil experiments. Minnie is a Velveteen; she was brought to life because of my wishes to give her life, not by any arcane rituals performed by an insane ballerina. From Hell," she adds.Obviously, nothing can get through that thick ballerina skull. Giving up for the time being, her interminable patience nearing its limit, Minnie huffs and toddles away to Reno, staring imploringly up at him with outstretched paws. Now she needs someone to make her feel better about her failures in keeping Kat in line, and red-headed Turks have proven to be good sources of that in the past. "Fear not, Reno, you are not delusional," she chuckles. "Minnie was once inanimate, she is now alive, she was not animated by an insane ballerina." She falls silent for a moment, pondering something...
...before turning an insidious grin toward the Turk.
"You know what?" she asks. "I want you to go upstairs and get ready to move. I'm going to take you home and make you a real meal. When was the last time you had a real meal?" Jessie-kat Kat chews. Kat swallows. Kat folds her arms around her plushie, glaring knives at one little bear as she goes shambling away, and then Kat clears her throat, suddenly all sophistication and candied grace borne of her lot in life. It's not a lot, she thinks inanely, but it's my life.
"My experiments," Kat interrupts, stiffening her shoulders and continuing to puff up by slow, gradual, and utterly annoyed degrees, "are not evil, monsieur and madame. They are, in fact, perfectly ethical. Aren't they, Bonnie? Aren't they ethical?" Kat takes a moment to coo to her stuffed prairie dog, smoothing the soft, beige fabric.
For a long moment, Reno is silent, staring across the guest room at one ballerina who is, beyond any doubt, absolutely barking mad. "...Kay," he murmurs after that long, disturbed moment, as he absently bends down to pick up the begging bear. "Hallo, Minnie. Does Minnie need a hug, yo? I think Minnie needs a hug."
And, content in the knowledge that he has already asserted himself in everyone's eyes as a bleeding heart perfectly capable of murder, Reno hugs the little bear, as promised. "S'a good Minnie, yo. Is she really from Hell?" This last is directed up to Dani, and with reasonable concern. "How d'you know, yo?"
...and then, with the treacherous smile and worrisome words of one D-chan Spiro, there is silence in the guest room.
Reno manages, "Two years. Rude's sister's. She made some kind of stuffed turkey thingo. What, yo?"
"Yeah," starts Kat quietly, beginning to bristle. Considering that she is, after all, an insane ballerina, she's beginning to sound remarkably sane... and perhaps somewhat familiar. "Yeah. What, yo is right. Since when have you ever -- you're a hostage, you're not -- a dinner guest! This isn't -- sensible! This is downright insensible! You've always done this, always been so -- so -- not seeing!" D-chan Spiro Dani blinks in utter astonishment as Kat begins to speak clearly and coherently for the first time all day...perhaps for the first time in many days! The sudden change is not wasted on the half-fox, who gapes unashamed at the ballerina as she states the ethical nature of her plushie experiments, cooing to her prairie dog by the end.
...something strange is going on... Minnie is happily lifted from the floor and hugged, growling pleasantly as she burrows into Reno's arms. She glares at Kat from across the room only briefly before going back to enjoying her cuddles. It's so nice to be loved. "I don't know if she's really from Hell," Dani mutters. "I suddenly have my doubts, though." But she musters a bright smile as she nudges him in the vague direction of the door. "Then go get ready. Make yourself reasonably presentable, I have critters living in my house that you want to make a good impression with. I'll make something nice."
She falls very silent at Kat's words, though. "I may be a hostage, but I can still be friendly, as Reno has yet to hurt me.
"Completely forgetting about that kidnapping thing, of course, because man, that was painful."
"Maybe I am insensible...but how would you know what I've always done?" she asks distantly. "How am I 'not seeing'? Who are you, Kat?" Jessie-kat Dani certainly isn't the only one gaping at Kat. Although, once gently nudged, Reno moves vaguely (and somewhat aimlessly) in the direction of the door, he can't seem to take his eyes from the ballerina -- and when she begins to furiously address his Shrink inna Wall, the Turk glances between the dancer and D-chan, lost and bewildered.
Absently, he hugs Minnie again, seeking reassurance from the little bear (who had once, not too long ago, been an inanimate object) that his entire world has not just crumbled into madness.
"You've never been seeing," Kat huffs, curling into herself. As though on after-thought, her dark, floppy hat tumbles from her head, releasing a wild flood of tangled orange hair. "Never ever ever never. Didn't see when I moved away, didn't see when I thought I was in love, didn't see me right in front of your face. Couldn't see through the skirt, through the viking hat, through the feather, whatever. Never see, never ever never ever. Not you, not Maru, not no one.
"You're all so not seeing."
Meanwhile, although he feels a few paces behind the rest of this brimming disaster, Reno pitches a valiant attempt to defuse a situation that seems to be spiraling dangerously out of his control: "Y'know, hostage is such a strong word, yo..."
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:34 pm
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:35 pm
Friday, March 10th, 2006 Jessie-kat "Cabin fever," Kat repeats, her voice best described as a dark, seething grumble. "Don't talk to me about cabin fever. Don't even start about cabin fever. Do you know how -- how damn cabin, cabin feverish I am? I mean, having to stay locked in there with you, and with Maru -- before she disappeared..."
The dancer pauses, her hands not quite wringing, to glance nervously at the surrounding forests. Could her sister be out there somewhere, right this moment... watching them? Waiting to help them away? Certainly not, Kat chides herself, and the thought leaves a tangible trace on her outward expression -- the slightest ripple of visible relief. She would have come out by now.
Kat hesitates for a moment, fumbling for the thread of her trailing words. "...I mean, trying to stay hidden, trying to stay secret, not act like me...?" It's a faltering, uncertain attempt; her memory is very obviously slacking, and she glances ruefully toward the Observatory at her friend's jaunty reply. "Uh. Huh. Why do we have to wait for him? I'm hungry now~"
Almost there, almost there, another eight steps, another six, almost th--
The thought does not so much trail off as it combusts, clapped in the steel jaws of despair. Reno stiffens as Rufus speaks, one eyelid beginning to twitch in a steady rhythm alongside his heartbeat, and his voice is strained when he replies with forced cheer, "Kay, sir, strange noises outside, I'm on it. Was just heading there myself, sir, it's no trouble at all." His stride doesn't so much as hitch. Five steps...
But then Reno knows that he has been caught.
His movements slight with guilt and painfully concise with the sort of layered reluctance that could suffocate small children, the Turk turns to wearily regard his President, noble resignation writ bold in every line of his face. "Yessir," Reno sighs, while he shakes a metaphorical fist at his improvisational talents for jumping ship this early into the game. "I am wearing a tie, sir."
Now that he's facing him, Rufus might also notice a fact even more disconcerting:
Reno's shirt is buttoned. The entire way to his collar.
After a short moment, he disengages a hand from somewhere beneath Minnie to uneasily finger the startlingly claret tie in question, and while his discomfort is almost as obvious in that nervous gesture as his heart-wrenching sufferance, Reno manages a ragged smile. "Ha, ha. So how do I look, sir?" D-chan Spiro "If you hadn't made that amendment, I would have been hurt," Dani sniffs. Even so, the tiny trailing question in Kat's voice dims her smile and turns her gaze back toward the Observatory, where she hopes that Reno is hurrying, as she has no idea how much longer she can keep Kat's from taking a bite out of the nearest thing in sight.
This, unfortunately, happens to be Dani.
Somewhere in her mind, she curses Keiei's brilliance and high-tailing it out before the impatience began to set it.
"I asked him to come with us," Dani explains carefully. "So that means that we're entitled to be polite and wait for him. You know?" she adds self-consciously. "He should be out soon...and if not, I'll have to send Kaen out to get him. I hope he took the time to freshen up, Kaen won't much care for him if he looks normal."
And then, just to take her mind off the disturbing thoughts of being eaten by a ballerina (from Hell), the half-fox turns her attention to the prairie dog plush in Kat's arms. "So tell me more about Bonnie," she pipes conversationally, smiling down at the stuffed animal. "Are you going to let her animate on her own or...?""Dare I ask why you're wearing a tie?" Rufus asks slowly as Reno turns toward him, eyeing the Turk and realizing with an almost visible start that Reno looks presentable for once in his career. "Actually, let me rephrase that? What has possessed you today that prompts you to look like a respectable member of society?"
Yes, there is scathing humor in his voice. But, at the same time, if Reno listens closely, he might actually hear some note of curiosity, some slight sharp note in his words that belies a lingering resentment that something out there is so important that Reno will shed his usual slopiness to impress.
He has to see this something.
"...you look impeccable," Rufus admits, tapping the eraser against the page. "What bothers me is that I don't know why." Minnie huffs at Rufus' prying as she is disturbed by Reno's fidgeting. Her glare tells him to leave the pompous pretty-boy and get going; who knows how long Dani will stay, being the semi-impatient half-fox she is. A warning growl rises in her throat as her gaze darts to Rufus, beginning to paw incessantly at the nearest patch of fabric she can reach to urge the Turk on his way to the door. Jessie-kat Oh, if only Dani knew how truly scrumptuous she appears to the nigh-starved ballerina.
She has, after all, never had the opportunity to partake of that exotic meat, fox -- and now that a nice big hunk of it is drifting around, talking to her, well... never mind the fact that Kat hasn't eaten in the past forty-eight hours... helpfully, her stomach grumbles, tuning her in to its opinion.
Kat pauses, briefly removing an arm from its tight embrace around her plushie, to align it thoughtfully along her hip. She watches her friend bumble her way through nervousness and self-consciousness, and she thinks to herself:
Lemon marinade...
"Um," says Kat, shaking herself briskly from her reverie. (Those particularly observant among the nonexistent audience might notice that she seems to be drooling. Just a tiny, tiny bit, at the corners of her mouth.) "Bonnie," Kat repeats, attempting to anchor herself in the here-and-now. No use floating around in La La Land!
The dancer pauses, glancing again toward the Observatory, before she answers vaguely, "I was gonna, yah. I mean, you force your will on something, make it animate... they tend to go evil, you know? Case in point: the godzilla plushies." Kat shudders... although she's smiling.
Scary, her.
The hand previously occupied with nervously smoothing the bright tie moves instead to nervously pull on the lobe of an ear. And if he'd fidgeted before, Reno fidgets all the more now that he has caught the glare of one little bear -- damn, not another mommy dearest! Isn't D-chan enough?
"Erm," murmurs Reno, glancing guiltily across the lobby to stare out the window. He taps the heel of one de-muddied boot against the toe of another de-muddied boot, rolls his knuckles over his nose, and generally acts like a very tall schoolboy who has, yet again, been caught doing something he shouldn't.
"Why is such a strong question, sir... I mean... do I really, do I really need a reason? I've heard some people, you know, like Tseng, they wear ties all the time, sir." Tseng is also a ninja, so he could have avoided this whole situation, but we won't get into that.
But then he heaves an impressively mighty sigh, too wearily resigned to life, the universe, and everything to even hush Minnie.
"Dinner, sir." Reno stares very fixedly at the top of one velvet's head. "I was invited to dinner, sir. So I thought I should... dress up a bit, sir. Oh, did you finish your soducko thingo, sir?"
Oh, yes -- quite the valiant evasive maneuver, even if it is rather spoiled by a second doubtful glance, threaded through with belated suspicion and not just a slight trace of something very much like hope. "...Erm, impeccable, sir?" D-chan Spiro Dani freezes as she hears the rumbles from Kat's stomach. Bad news. Baaaad baaaaad news for her. Hastily rummaging through her pockets, she sighs in thin relief as she pulls a small hard candy, still in its wrapper, from her pocket. "Here; this might tide you over," she chuckles, offering the jawbreaker to the ballerina holding the velveteen so cockily with one arm.
"It's a good idea to let Bonnie come around on her own," Dani agrees, tail flicking in a manner that might be considered defensive as she fidgets around the ballerina. "But what's this about godzilla plushies?"
Way to go, Dani; out of the loop again. Rufus spares a glance to Reno's tapping boots, noting idly that they are free of mud for the first time in his memory. "Dinner," he repeats incredulously. "Where are you going to dinner that prompts you to make yourself so presentable? And who are you going with?"
There's the flash of suspicion; his eyes turn cold and calculating as his fingers tent before his face. "Yes," he says quietly. "Impeccable. Which is a word I don't use every day, especially not for people like you." His tone is somewhat scathing, but at least the man is honest. Completely ignoring the sudoku remark, Rufus stands and draws his coat from the back of his chair, stuffing the sudoku book under his arm. "Well, I can't say I trust you to keep yourself from flicking paper napkin holders across the table; I'll be accompanying you." BUSTED.
Minnie very nearly groans as Rufus makes his way toward them, pawing more insistently at his shirt and staring imploringly up at the Turk, begging him to just get out while he still can.
Of course, how likely is that? It's his boss, after all.
With a resigned sigh, Minnie settles into Reno's arm again, some small corner of her mind grumbling that if someone gets hurt, it's not the bear's fault. Jessie-kat The jawbreaker has barely a moment to adjust to its new surroundings -- that is, Dani's hand -- before it's swiftly snatched away, snapped from its wrapper, and popped into the mouth of one maniacally grinning ballerina. "F'ank'oo," Kat wheedles, her breath whistling around the candy.
Wisely, she takes a moment to eagerly attack the jawbreaker, breaking it into a myriad of pieces, before she starts to speak again. Death by asphyxiation would be dramatic, and certainly interesting, but not quite... bizarre enough.
"Godzilla plushies," Kat starts. She wheezes for a moment, swallows whole a shard of candy, coughs spectacularly, and then begins again, "Pink godzilla plushies. I made myself a golem, right, but then a bunch of people took it down -- stupid people... but it laid eggs, and plushies hatched, and they almost tore down the Observatory."
She nods toward the tower, and indeed, there are cracks evident to the trained eye, near the edges of the massive windows... not to mention the mayhem and destruction of the furniture within. Although, Kat thinks darkly, tightening her arms around Bonnie, some of that could always be blamed on the Turks...
"I dunno where it'll be at, sir." It's an honest enough answer; Reno shamefully averts his gaze even more than it had already been averted, staring unblinkingly now at the worn carpet. "But it's with... friends, sir." The hand thusfar unoccupied with anything but nervous fiddling now flutters up to press first against his nose, and then to partially conceal his face.
Headache headache headache...
"Shrink friends, sir. And yes, sir." Reno chances a glimpse of Rufus's face, and then looks down again, something in his gut boiling with resentment for that cold suspicion. Minnie might notice the hand still supporting her slowly tensing into a fist, but otherwise, the Turk gives no tangible reaction to any of his boss's words...
...let alone those threaded with scorn.
"Yes, sir. Great, sir." And Reno turns on his heel and starts again for the door. D-chan Spiro "You're welcome...?" Dani manages, staring at the place where the jawbreaker had been a mere instant before, her gaze gradually traveling up to fix on the crunching jaw of the ballerina. "Don't kill yourself, please, I have cour don bleu to make and I can't do it unless I have ravenous people to tend to."
"...godzilla plushies," she repeats. "Pink godzilla plushies. From eggs. From golem eggs. Homy." She stares at the cracks in the windows, suddenly realizing why the furniture was in such disarray when she first arrived. "Eesh. How'd that go? Badly, from the looks of it. That must have been one angry mommy golem."Rufus very nearly falters in his stride at the mention of 'shrink friends.' He recovers quickly, though, moving smoothly past the Turk and holding the door open for him. "Shrink friends," he repeats coolly. "Like the psychiatrist downstairs sort of shrink friends?" Minnie whines softly as she pets Reno's clenching hand, snuggling closer to his shirt as she casts her venomous glare at the man now holding the door for them. That...
...that...
...her vocabulary has no word for it.
But Minnie knows that he is something and that something is not pleasant, and someday she will learn the word and it will immediately be associated with that cold-eyed pretty-boy. Jessie-kat "You'll manage," Kat replies cheerfully, once again beginning to pet the head of her stuffed prairie dog, smoothing the beige fur and working out bits of loose fluff. The jawbreaker goes crack.
"Well." She glances back to the tower, and then takes an abrupt, close interest in the pale underside of her wrist. "Well. The mommy golem, see, someone set it on fire, so it wasn't around anymore. But the plushies, they, ah. They took over the Observatory, and then there was this show-down..."
Never mind that she never gets to finish her story.
Before he reaches the door, Reno hesitates, watching this gesture of -- dare it be said? -- politeness with narrowed eyes. "Yah," the Turk replies, shrugging the most aloof shrug known to any man's musculature. As he ducks past Rufus, Reno is simply radiating insolence -- although there are no words, nor gestures, it's there, nesting in his shoulders.
Damn those shoulders.
"How many shrinks do you think I need, boss?"
At once, Kat's head lifts. Emerald eyes dart across the vast expanse of wind-caressed meadow to fix upon the opened door of the Observatory -- widened in enthusiasm, and the desire to see clearer --
-- and then, at once, they narrow to knives.
"Oh, no," Kat hisses, beginning to puff up. "Oh, no." D-chan Spiro "Considering the fact that Arashi's a cannibal and loves chicken, you're probably right," Dani mutters. "But it won't be the same, eating without my ravenous guests. That would just be eating with my normal ravenous family...which isn't all that fun, sometimes, considering how much Arashi hates me."
There's that paranoid look again.
"...should I pity that mommy-golem? Because I sorta do right about now," she mutters, glancing toward the door as it comes open...
...and she watches as Reno stalks out, followed a moment later by a pale-haired man dressed in white.
"Perfect," she sighs. "Wait just one moment, please," she begs quietly, already striding across the lawn even as she speaks."Oh, look, here comes your psychiatrist now," Rufus states amiably, walking past Reno to meet the stone-faced half-fox. "I don't trust Reno to keep his manners, so I'll be joining you--"
--his head snaps to the side as her hand shoots out, striking him sharply across the face.
As the half-fox stalks past, he remains completely still, face blank, eyes distant and lost.
That was unexpected.Dani pauses in front of the Turk, eyeing his tie, his buttoned shirt, his de-muddied shoes, his hunched shoulders. "You look great," she says quietly, offering a soft smile...
...before grabbing his neck and pulling him down into a forceful embrace.
"We won't let him spoil our dinner, right?" she whispers. "If nothing else, we'll sic Kaen on him. I bet the quadrapedal birdie could take him.Minnie squeaks as she is gently squished between one Turk and one half-fox, wriggling out of the squeezing space.
But she smiles as she huddles down into Reno's arm.
Maybe it won't be so bad, after all. Jessie-kat "Oh, no," Kat repeats, with slightly more conviction. If she had sleeves, you could bet she'd be rolling them up -- she might not like Reno, but Dani does, and anyway, Kat draws the line at any megalomania that isn't her own. "Oh, no."
Never mind that Rufus gets what's coming to him.
Without the ballerina's involvement, unfortunately.
No matter the few paces of distance, Kat knows immediately what has happened, when it happens -- the very instant that the President's head jerks to one side, the dancer flings herself enthusiastically into the air, gently using Bonnie as a sort of makeshift pom-pom.
"YAY~! GO D-CHAN~ GO D-CHAN~ IT'S YOUR... well, actually, it isn't, but..."
While the windswept field does briefly explode into a cacophony of one dancer's joyousness (and unwavering support of violent means in these violent times), Reno remains silent. Save for the slightest self-conscious stirring, he does not react at all to Dani's approach...
...at least, not until she yanks him down into an impromptu embrace.
There is the briefest moment in which the Turk stiffens against her touch, hands clenching to fists and jaw setting. But it lasts little more than a heartbeat -- and then Reno sags against his psychiatrist, relaxing fully into her arms.
"You shouldn't've," he murmurs, "shouldn't've done that, yo. I don't think he knows. Take Minnie." Despite these words, Reno makes no move to pull away, and would most likely protest if D-chan did. Ah, sweet hypocrisy! "She helped me tie my tie, yo. Talk about... talk about talent."
"YAAAAAAY~" Kat continues distantly, unabated. She punches one fist into the air, crowing victory over the vanquishment of an opponent that she had no part in.
But that's what cheering squads are for, right? D-chan Spiro Dani grins a small, secret grin as she hears Kat's distant cheering. She feels quite satisfied, all of a sudden, having released her anger on that pompous ShinRa president. Sure, she offered him an ear to rant to, but his sheer arrogance in these situations sends her blood boiling and puts her in a blind rage.
As has been seen.
"Keep her for a while," she says quietly. "She likes you. And even if she can be a pain sometimes, she's good emotional support, you know?" the half-fox gives Reno a few consoling pats on the back, still supporting him, making no move to pull away from him or even push him away.
"...wait...where did she learn how to tie a tie?" Rufus, meanwhile, is not a happy camper.
His eyes lose their distance, shining bright and close and icy with a deep-set rage as one hand twitches in the vague direction of his reddening cheek.
It never makes it, though.
In the next instant, the president of ShinRa turns, drawing the short-barrel shotgun smoothly from nowhere and pointing it at the half-fox's head. Dani stiffens at the touch of cold metal rings on her scalp. "Reno," she says quietly. "If I die, take care of Minnie. Please." Jessie-kat "I don't know, I just --"
He knows something is wrong when Dani stiffens. Again, his hands tighten into abrupt fists, tangling perhaps uncomfortably so in Minnie's fur -- it's always the by-standers that get the worst of it, he thinks, and almost starts laughing. Reno knew something like this would happen. He knew.
But he didn't do a single thing about it.
"Sir," the Turk starts slowly, keeping the bear in his arms safely tucked against D-chan's chest, and mostly out of sight... but he can't do anything to stop her from hearing. "Remember that question you asked me, sir? I told you I wouldn't, and I meant it. I don't lie to you, sir. But I swear to you, if you do --"
A thought for Minnie.
"...anything... I will hurt you. I will hurt you. Very, very badly, Rufus; do you understand me?"
Sadly, it takes a slightly longer period of time for Kat to realize that something is amiss.
Her cheering sputters and fails in her throat; something wicked starts to glitter across eyes like knives of emerald. Sparing attention for nothing else but this, the ballerina begins creeping stealthily across the field, her socked feet scarcely deigning to whisper in the grass.
About time she came in handy for something. D-chan Spiro Rufus watches the Turk contemplatively, finger resting still on the trigger, unflinching and utterly motionless; he does not tremble, he does not let the gun waver, he does not let his finger twitch on the slender curve of metal.
Those cold blue eyes simply watch.
And at Reno's words, he smiles faintly, contemptuously, before pulling the shotgun back and letting it slip back into the nothingness from whence it came. "Forgive my curiosity," he drolls acidly. "I just wanted to see how you would react. Find where your loyalties lie."
The president of ShinRa shrugs stiffly as he retreats a few steps, examining the scene before him. "ShinRa will be leaving the Sarnin Observatory soon," he states calmly. "So you're free to leave now. Please, don't come back; you distract the hired help."Minnie does whimper as Reno's hands tighten in her fur, but it is more because the tension around her is literally palpable on her tongue and she is too small to do anything at all about it. She looks between Reno and Dani--what little of them she can truly see between the shadows and the embrace-- with frightened brown eyes, pleading for some explanation, for some resolution, for help...
...and then the situation calms, and she melts in Reno's arms, breathing shallowly now that the frightening pain in her chest has passed...yet...the helplessness still weights down on her.
Will she always be so helpless to save those she loves? As the touch of the gun disappears, Dani releases a thin, relieved sigh, hugging Reno just a bit tighter as her ears p***k back, listening intently to Rufus' words.
She considers for a long moment before drawing in the breath to speak.
"Where are you going to go now?" she asks quietly. "I've heard that ShinRa collapsed; so you have no headquarters to go back to.
"Reno still needs his Psychiatrist in the Wall.
"You can stay at my house, for the time being, if you'd like.
What is she trying to get herself into...? Jessie-kat Well, Reno has an answer for that, even if he can't properly breathe and even if his heart hurts and even if his mouth tastes like bile.
"They lie with you, Rufus," the Turk replies promptly. "Just not when you're being a p***k for no good reason. With all due respect, sir." When Reno looks to his president over the head of one D-chan Spiro, there's something like apology in his eyes, even if he knows it isn't going to make a difference.
It never does.
He wants to add something scathing. He wants to snap back something like, I'm not your damn experiment, or go run your loyalty tests on a SOLDIER or two, but, while the words are there, Reno can't find it within himself to say them.
He squeezes Dani just the slightest in return, before he pulls resolutely away, turning the entirety of his attention to the bear in his arms. "Shh, Minnie. Shh, shh, it's okay. Everything's okay now, yo."
Even the gravity of the half-fox's offer is lost on him -- there's nothing now; Reno has nothing to give anyone now... not after that. "Shh, shh. It's okay, Minnie."
Meanwhile, Kat does not quite curse, although she does stomp one socked foot in the grass.
"Mexican stand-off!" she whines, and then corrects herself, "I mean, Turkish stand-off, so sorry. Not fair. Wait, wait, what's this now?" And she bounces up to listen attentively to Dani's words, her head put curiously to one side.
There is a long, long silence.
"Wot d'you mean, they can STAY AT YOUR HOUSE?" Kat points furiously at Rufus, trembling from floppy-hatted head to rainbow-clad toe. "Like, like a SLUMBER PARTY? You know he just tried to KILL YOU, right? Right? Hello? Earth to D-chan? Come in, D-chan?" D-chan Spiro Dani offers the Turk a few more consoling pats before he pulls away to tend to the animated plush. "What do you say?" she asks, grinning boyishly at Rufus as Kat makes her screeching assessment of the half-fox's mental health.
"Yes, I know that he just tried to kill me," Dani agrees easily, nodding slowly. "But Reno really does need his therapist, and I have large quadrapedal magic-weilding birdies to protect me if worse comes to worst. Kaen's pretty big, after all, and not easily swayed by power and megalomania, unlike some sarlings I know."
It's a friendly jab, and it's obvious that Rufus hears, though he does not react in any way besides keeping his eyes focused on her face.
"But no, it won't be a slumber party," she snickers. "It'll be...a temporary base of operations. The place is too big, anyway; might as well put some people in it, right? The doors have locks and bolts and taloned guards, so it should be safe enough, I figure."
"Besides," she murmurs, finally paying her full attention to Rufus as she steps boldly toward him, staring him in the eye even as she is forced to look upward, inwardly hating the fact that he holds an inch of height over her. And to think, if she'd just given up magic entirely she wouldn't have that height problem, in all likelihood. "Somebody has issues that could use an escape. If you keep it bottled up inside, you'll only hurt yourself."Rufus does not back away even as the half-fox invades his space, coming so close that he can see the minute dilations of her pupils as the sun's light is shielded by passing wisps of cloud. Fair-weather clouds, he speculates, or perhaps sirius; he finds it impossible to break her fierce stare to check; better to hold her gaze and prove his mettle than take up scientific habits again--
--something inside steels at her words.
For a long moment there is silence, broken only by the wind brushing through the glasses.
When it ends, it is as Rufus moves away. "And have you distracting Reno even more?" he asks icily, walking back toward the door of the Observatory.
"...I'll think on it.
And then the ShinRa president is gone. Minnie whines quietly as Reno tries to hush her, as though protesting his attempts. Can't he understand? Can't he understand how small she is, how little she truly can do, how highly she thought of herself and her abilities and now this crushing truth that has shattered all that she is?
...no, he can't.
The bear falls utterly silent, going limp in the Turk's arms and simply staring off into nothingness. Jessie-kat "And me," Kat whines, before her friend has even has the chance to finish. "You have large quadrapedal magic-wielding birdies to protect you if worse comes to worst and you have me. I was gonna break his head, I was, if wossface wouldn't've been all like ooouh I'm such a scary scary maaaaan~"
Never mind that she breaks the stride of her fervent ramble to mutter ruefully, "Slumber party, Turks in party hats," since there's no one to shush her.
"...Minnie?"
Although one roguishly loyal foot had ambled after Rufus, working itself out of sheer habit and the decided absence of conscious control, Reno stops himself just in time to disguise the flinching movement as nothing more than nervous tension. The entirety of his attention remains focused firmly on one little bear...
...even if he does twitch irritably at the shrill, mocking cry of a Kat.
"C'mon, Minnie-bear, yo." Although Reno can't sense the finer details of her desolation, it's hard not to see that Minnie is upset; he forces a ragged smile for her benefit, even if he rather feels like going somewhere and sitting down in a corner and crying for a while, instead. "No sense in both of us being all woesome, yo. C'mon, cheer up?"
The slightest thoughtful pause.
"Kay," Reno starts, nudging the bear with as much playfulness as he can muster -- which is, under the circumstances, fairly impressive. "What's gonna happen if I have a tie emergency in the middle of dinner, huh, yo? I'm just gonna panic. Panic 'n there'll be mayhem 'n strangulation, yo, disrupting everyone's dinner. So cheer up so you can protect me from my tie.
"...Please?" D-chan Spiro "That's very true," Dani nods agreeably. "I do have you, if worse comes to worst. Thank you for reminding me," she grins. "But I say we should get going; standing around here isn't getting any of us fed and it's not getting dinner made, either."
The half-fox turns away, moving a few steps across the grassy expanse toward the line of trees before looking over her shoulder at Kat and Reno. "Are you two coming?" she asks cheerfully, trying with all her heart and soul to boost the Turk's swamp-bottom spirits...and Minnie's; now that she looks, the little bear looks about as depressed as Reno.
And that, more than anything, is disconcerting. Minnie barely deigns to glance up to Reno as he calls her. She growl-mumbles something quiet and unintelligible before burying her small head into his arm.
But her round ears twitch at the playfulness of his voice, talking about how his tie is going to get the better of him during dinner. And though she does not lift her head to show it, she allows a small smile to scamper across her muzzle before she draws back enough to look up at the Turk.
She nods weakly.
She is not herself yet, but...
...at least she is beginning to come back around. Jessie-kat Folding her arms across her chest (and over her Bonnie), Kat huffs. "Reminding you. If worse comes to worst. Like you don't know that there's no one better fit to defend you than me."
With no further ado, the ballerina draws herself up to her full height -- which, admittedly, is not that much more intimidating than her ordinary slouch, but as long as no one points that out -- and attempts a ferocious snarl. Grr.
The ferocity dissipates immediately, of course, upon mention of food. Off Kat bolts, without attention to spare for anything but her frolicking and her glee and the occasional impatient hand-tugging of one D-chan Spiro.
"Let's go eat already! C'mon c'mon c'mon~~"
Meanwhile, that weak nod is enough.
Reno's frayed smile takes on a touch of color; he fetches out a hand from somewhere in the pocket of his trousers to lightly tap Minnie's nose, not quite laughing. "That's better, yo. That's my Minnie."
And then the Turk lifts his head and waves to Dani, trotting to catch up with her and the scampering ballerina. (He spares an offhandedly derisive glance for the latter, who cheerfully returns it with a rude, wild gesture of her own devising.) "We're coming, yo~ sorry."
...Finally, as he falls into an easy, loping stride, Reno gets down to what's really important here...
"What's for dinner, yo?"
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Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 5:37 pm
Friday, May 05th, 2006 So this is where the journal went: under the bed. I never would have thought to look here...
...granted, I never would have expected Kamin to stow it here, either. How can she brave the dustbunnies? I could barely see it among the little tribal flufflings.
Where to begin? Minnie and I are home now and life is settling into something of a routine again. In the morning Minnie wakes me up when the alarm doesn't at about eight...we both make ourselves presentable, then she supervises my cooking and makes sure there's no trouble afoot...or a-paw.
...ignore me.
When the cooking's done, we settle down for breakfast, then I leave Minnie to the house and go to work. I come back after putting in my time and find the house in spotless order, which continually amazes me, as it somehow winds up cleaner than when I left it.
I almost think I'm going crazy. How Minnie can rally the house to the common cause of cleaning is just beyond me, because most of them have some measure of affection for her...so I doubt that she makes threats.
This would be so much easier if I could just talk to her normally. Sadly, I'm not able to communicate that well...there's some connection between us, and vague messages get across, but it's not quite substantial enough. I'll have to wait until she's a bit older...and a bit more prone to speaking English.
The family is growing little by little. We have a new troublemaker, a Flissie by the name of Kamin; and another little sparieh roving the house named Chiisai Raimei. Kaen has another little chick to call his daughter, which just makes him happy as a clam, despite the fact that he's now positively drowning in estrogen. Eventually I'll get him another guy for a friend to make up for the four girls...
...but for now, making him writhe is too much fun. ( xd )
I mention the because of Minnie. The little bear can't STAND Kamin the Flissie; something about her just rubs Minnie the wrong way. She's wild and a bit prone to "raving," though it's not quite coherent yet...
...and she shows absolutely no respect for the little bear. Which might be part of the problem. She doesn't fear Minnie at all, not even when she tries her intimidation tactics, something that astounds anyone who's seen her with her angry mother face on. Kamin almost finds it comical, it seems...
...and that does not go over well at all with Minnie.
As for Sai? Minnie has taken the little sparieh under her wing, figuratively speaking. The Kaen miniature spends about half the time with her father, watching him; and the other half following Minnie about. They're about the same size, Minnie and Chevy and Sai, so it's somewhat endearing to watch the little threesome go parading about the house on their rounds.
Chevy seems to be working hard to pick up some of Minnie's habits, something that surprises me. He doesn't quite have her motherly charisma, but he seems to want to help out. So by this point, like the mother she is, she's beginning to relegate certain tasks to the winged kitsune. Mostly little things, like getting snacks for some of the more helpless-seeming residents (like Sherbert, who is just hopeless on her own; and little Sai, who can't fly; and Kaen, who can't fit that well in the house; makes me think about moving again, just to make it easier on the spariehs).
Minnie, despite her strong front, seems to be pining. I think she misses Reno, personally...I "held him hostage" for a while, and then let him go, and we haven't seen hide nor hair of him in more than a month. She puts up a strong front, as any "good" mother would in the face of her children, but...
...one of these days I think we need to drag Rufus back here and ask him where he sent Reno. I hate hearing Minnie sigh like that...like she's lost some little piece of her heart to that hitman with a bleeding heart.
I hate to admit that I miss him, too.
Maybe tomorrow when Minnie and I head out to get some groceries, we'll check the Observatory again and see if Rufus knows where Reno is. If nothing else, she can intimidate it out of him...and if THAT doesn't work, I'll bet that embarrassing him will. He certainly went very pale when I dragged him out by the ear last time. ( xd )
I like it when it's quiet. Hopefully things will brighten up soon, though; it's getting warmer, the cherry trees have already flowered and lost their blooms, and I'm getting restless again. This is the longest I've been in any place...I want to go find someplace new. By the sea; Kaen was happy there, and so was I. Most of the others don't know the sea...so it might be a good idea.
Maybe I'll bring Kat.
Until there is more to tell,
Yours Truly,
~D-chan Spiro
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