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 Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 11:57 am
He'd almost got used to it, now. Turning over, he buried his head into the pillow more, muscles aching pleasantly from the hunt that night. But the moon had only set an hour ago; he smelt of bracken and fern, and resisted easily the lupine instinct to curl his tail around himself wearily. But now.. he only wanted a few hours of sleep to keep him going, and it seems he was denied even that much.
He turned over and stared at the ceiling, the curtains starting to tinge pink as the rising sun crept hesitantly over the horizon. And the room echoed with a faint, haunting song, joyous at the sun's rebirth yet tinged with something melancholy. Bennu again.
Beside him Kel shifted, white hair that was fading back to red spilling across the pillow as she frowned in her sleep. Daniel knew that in reality the song was not loud, but it echoed inside his head, and no-one elses. He absently picked a small twig from his fiancee's hair, and sat up, pale eyes sleepy as he stared over at the cot in the corner.
There wasn't a room for Bennu, not yet; Kel had started planning a bigger house, but there was no way they could afford it yet. The baby ghost was laid carefully down on top of the warm red blanket that had been for all the children in the house (luckily there hadn't been two so young at once). But as the sun rose, even if it was hidden by cloud, Bennu floated up to the edge of his cot, wispy hands clinging to the bars as the song went on. Daniel was almost certain Bennu was not actually singing it; perhaps it was some mental re-echo, because while the others could hear whispery laughter and gurgling from the being they could not hear the song.
It still woke him up in the mornings though. When he had been more deeply asleep, he could sleep through the haunting flutelike sound that stole softly through the room, but not today. He laced his hands behind his head and leaned back against the wall, deep in thought and eyes fixed absently on the little baby ghost. As the sun cleared the horizon outside, Bennu settled back with a soft sigh to his blanket, and rolled onto his side. Soon the little being was completely quiet again, smokey sides moving up and down regularly in whatever was the phoenix spirit's sleep.
"He's asleep, and you should be too," a mumble sounded from the other side of the bed, and Daniel felt a tug on one elbow.
"Perhaps you're right, love, and so should you," and the man smiled gently. Perhaps he would forget going out in the morning, and just sleep til noon....
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Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 11:00 am
"You know, he's going to need his own space, now that you live here too," and Kel poked Daniel gently in the side as he laid the snoozing baby ghost in his cot. The man straightened up, stretching his arms above his head lazily before turning back to his fiancee, trying not to trip across the end of the bed.
"Are you trying to say it's a little too cramped in here?" He asked with a touch of amusement, voice quiet to avoid waking the little phoenix spirit.
"Maybe," And Kel had to reverse backwards around, a vaguely irritated smile on her face as she let him step out. Daniel looked around the room that he and Kel shared, the cot in the corner taking a large chunk of space. He looped one arm around her shoulders and walked out, closing the door softly behind them, leaving the room dark and quiet for Bennu.
In the hallway, he looked more seriously at her. "We don't really have the room, you know. Auriga is already sharing a room with Alex... and Althalus I think would throw a fit if you made him share."
Kel pointed behind her. "That room is _still_ empty. Everyone it's been reserved for never arrived safely..." she smiled a sad smile, and looked aside. Daniel caught her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"Only if you're sure you don't want to save it," he said gently. "Your house, your choice..."
"Bennu deserves a place of his own anyway, specially if you want to free him properly from that wand, didn't you say?" Kel picked his hand from his chin and returned it to his side carefully, sighing and then bringing a slightly too fake smile to her face.
"I'll help you sort it out tomorrow, I have no lectures to go to." And she pattered down the stairs, leaving Daniel with a slight frown on his face.
He looked back at the closed door of the room where Bennu lays inside, sleeping quietly. He really did owe it to the little guy, he guessed; perhaps he just wasn't happy about staying in there. Sighing, Daniel went downstairs in search of Shiroko, to go and do a search on just what he could find to make the musty, unused spare room into a place just for Ben.
-------
It was the next afternoon, and Kel seemed to have put her misgivings aside, cheerfully helping clean the room and remove some of the junk that had accumulated there. Daniel had decided not to paint the walls; they were a nice cream colour, and who knows, as he grew up Bennu might want to pick his own room decoration. Phoenixes were supposed to like beautiful surroundings, right?
Well, he wasn't the best, but he was at least trying. The 'shifter had grown up in an austere mansion-turned-castle, heavy curtains and stern stone and wood, so in a way he rather enjoyed the changes he was making.
"Can you pass me another tack?" He reached a hand down behind him, and Alexandra willingly placed one there. Daniel grunted slightly as way of thanks, reaching up to secure the last bit and then leaning back, letting go of the folds of diaphanous material. Flamecoloured cloth tumbled down the wall, making a pretty decoration to match the others; Bennu, sitting on the bed in the centre of the room, clapped his wispy hands together and whispered giggles of delight.
"Well, he seems to like it at least," Kel said tolerantly as Daniel stepped down, reaching over to sweep the giggling ghost into his arms and holding him up, twirling him round the room with a smile. There were five of the drapes, hanging brightly against the pale walls, and the bed had been shunted to the side and draped in a chocolate brown fabric, making it more a place to sit and read stories for now while the cot had been moved out of the other room and into the corner here. Shiroko had brought some cinnamon-smelling potpourri, making the room smell close to what Bennu's wand had, creating a more exotic feel than the rest of the house. A gold windchime hung from the ceiling, and the sunlight slanted in the window. Luckily the room was facing closer to the sunrise than the sunset, and Daniel wondered idly for a moment whether he'd still hear the 'morning chorus'. He cuddled the little ghost uncharacteristically for a few seconds, and then smiled.
"What do you think, baby? Will it do?"
And Bennu snuggled a little more into his arms, radiating feelings of contentment. That was all that was needed.
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Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 12:34 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:58 pm
Feathers
Bennu snatched at the falling feathers, fascinated. Bright sunshine warmed his already deeply tanned skin, the shadows of the tree and the preening bird above him not touching him as he giggled lightly.
A little way off Daniel was practising writing with Althalus again; the toddler Forgotten wouldn't sit still inside, not on a day like today, and Daniel just knew that Bennu couldn't. Ever since the phoenix-child had finally materialised, finally escaped the prison of the wand he know carried with him everywhere. the sunshine was like a catalyst for him. Almost hyperactive in the light, asleep almost the instant it got dark.... it made life a lot easier for Daniel, but sometimes, just sometimes, it could be a little annoying, having two laughing little boys unable to sit still on these hot summer days.
So Bennu was sitting in the garden, and staring up at the bird and the curling, falling wisps that danced through the sunbeams, and laughed. The shadows fell across his back, and glittered with the outline of the firey wings that sometimes appeared unbidden, transparent and insubstantial. Bennu can feel them when they're there, and he doesn't quite understand....
====
[[Bah. TBC when I have a brain that can function in this heat. x_x *wishes she was fire aligned and might be able to -cope- with this* ]]
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