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 Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:43 pm
(( Gus and Booker :: Oct 30 2006 ))
Gus turned back to the computer screen with a sigh. He hated computers. The light hurt his eyes, and he always felt stupid sitting in front of them. His fingers poked at the keyboard slowly, one letter at a time, until he was able to form a sentance that made sense. He wouldn't even be doing this if he hadn't been trying to get ahold of certain people and jivvins.
Sooner than later, Gus turned off the computer and leaned back in the chair, mission unaccomplished.
"Gus?"
He turned and looked down at the small Jivvin sprite beside him and smiled kindly with one side of his mouth. "What's up?"
"will you read me a story?" Booker loved to be read to. Gus was sure that Booker would read to himself if he could, but the poor kid just didn't seem smart enough....
"Yeah sure." He tipped the chair forward again and climbed out of it. "What shall we read?"
"Mickey McGuffin's Ear." Booker leapt up into Gus's Loft and started to settle himself down in the covers. Gus climbed up the ladder after him, book in hand, smile on his face.... but he also took the phone with him in case anybody called.
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Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:44 pm
(( Continued from "Fuzzy Money" Gus and Ambar :: Jan 11 2007 ))
The sienna winged drada led the way to the jivvin center at a loping pace. Her bond ran along side her, laughing in the way two year olds did when happy and excited and feeling as if they were getting away with something. Ambar yipped happily, letting the human child continue believing that they had gotten away. The young jivvin knew however that his mother was not far behind them, keeping the bonded pair in sight. Still, what Theron did not know would not hurt him.
Bounding up the steps of the center the cream female paused for Theron to catch up now that she was faster at stairs than he was. It still amazed her how slow her bond grew in comparison to her. Soon enough she would be full grown & Theron would still be a baby. For a moment she wondered how that would be.
Laughing, Theron ran to the door. Reaching up he grabbed the knob & opened it to permit entry. The jivvin's ears flicked backward in worry & she hurried to join her bond. The child's dark eyes sparkled, seeing someone sleeping on a sofa. Knowing her bond as she did, Ambar's violet eyes went wide & she interposed herself between the toddler & the sleeping jivvin. She did not usually mind when Theron decided that sleepers must awaken to play with them, but this was a jivvin! One of her elders! Ambar had met few enough of her kind as it was, and did not want that to be the meeting with this one. Or any one, for that matter. No. She thought at her bond firmly, knowing both his stubbornness & intelligence. Let him sleep, Theron. Please?
Theron made a face something like a cross between a pout & a frown. Dark eyes glanced between the two jivvins before resting on his bond. *Play later?* He asked her. Ambar grinned. If we're lucky!! Satisfied with that the child beamed, then raced away to start a game of 'catch me if you can'.
Outside, Trelweny lingered on the porch having caught up with her son & his jivvin bond. She felt certain they were safe inside, her own latent 'talent' picking up Theron's feelings & reassuring the widowed mother. As she debated entering she pondered her son's limited speaking vocabulary, worried -as mothers often are- that it was something she was not doing or doing wrong that was at fault for this slow development. He knows the words... but why can't I seem to get him to say them?
Gus hadn't been asleap... he'd been pretending to be asleap. With a sigh he cracked one eye open and watched the Jivviness and her 'charge' retreat from the room and run to go play. Play. Why was he avoiding everyone?
The blue earred jivvin anthro silently berated himself and made a promise to talk to Ranald later about treatments for depression. And then he stood, stretched and made his way towards the bookshelf in the corner.
"Thus works the ways of men." He pulled a book of fairy tales from the shelf. "How doth the ways of Jivvins go?" He flipped open the cover to see a monkey sitting in a well... "And for that matter, how doth the ways of monkeys roll out?"
He tossed the book at the couch with yet another sigh and started out into the hallway.
They had not gone far -just to another room. The young human was caught mid giggle at the sound of a voice... and of a book being opened. His dark eyes lit up eagerly & he rushed to the sound -much to the consternation of his bond who was all eager to play & whined softly to change Theron's mind.
But the stubborn boy child waved his hand to shush Ambar as he ran towards the library. "Boot!" He said clearly to the blue eared jivvin leaving there, nodding sharply to indicate the book thrown on the couch. "Reed!"
Then without any inhibitions the two year old reached up to try & grab the jivvin fourth's hand, seemingly with the intent to pull him to the couch to sit down & read to him.
Ambar cocked her head. [Oh! You're awake!] The drada wagged her tail, clearly not minding the game being put off to be with another of her kind.
Gus startled as his hand was grabbed by a very small person. It wasn't hard since Gus was only 5 foot 2, and he allowed himself to be led back to the sofa. He picked up the book and allowed himself to be pulled back down into the pillows. "Um... Ok." He pulled the kid over onto his lap and opened the book.
He glanced up at the kid's jivvin and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm awake." He flipped a few pages in the book.... "Pied pipper? Little red riding hood? sleeping beauty?"
Being more accustomed to nursery rhymes than fairy tales Theron pursed his lips thoughtfully. With a decisive nod he focused on the one word he liked best of what had been said. "Red."
Grinning, Ambar pawed up to the two. The cream-colored drada hopped onto the couch beside the blue eared jivvin. Setting her paws on his lap she lay her head upon them to listen to the story too. Her small sienna wings matched the eager flick of her tail as she waited.
It had gotten awfully quiet inside, & outside on the porch the young human mother was starting to get worried. No screams... but he could have gotten into something. He's had enough "freedom" for today. Opening the door Trelweny's heart skipped seeing neither her son nor his jivvin in sight. And she still did not hear them. Stupid! Stupid! What were you thinking! She mentally chastised herself.
Gus, still a little shocked, fell into reading the story with an ease that bespoke much about his character. Books were where he felt most at home. "Little Red Riding Hood was what they called her. They called her that because she wore a red cape with a red hood and a red tie, pretty much all the time. Her mother had made it for her..."
The story continued all the way up to the intitial meeting of the Big Bad Wolf without interuption... which was good for Gus because it meant that he got to do the 'Big Bad Wolf' voice that he was so proud of. "Hello Little Girl. You must be this Little Red that I've been hearing so much about... what have you got in that basket there?"
Theron clapped with delight at the wolf's entrance. His mama did not do deep voices well. Of course, he knew what a wolf was & "howled" happily as well to show the reader that he knew. Ambar just grinned, eyes cast up at the jivvin fourth, her ears flicking softly as she listened to the story with her bond.
Theron! The young mother's head snapped at the sound, followed quickly by the rest of her. In what she had come to accept as her "panic-calm" that seemed to descend upon her most heavily like a shroud in times of emergencies -like when her spouse passed away- Trelweny walked down the hallway. As the sound of a male voice reading a familiar story grew while seeming to be from the same location as the sounds of her son Trel was uncertain what to think or feel. She turned into the library, pausing in the doorway to blink in the sight.
It certainly did not look dangerous, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Leaning against the door frame the human woman steadied her breath carefully as she silently watched & listened to the rest of the story.
Glanceing up at the woman in the doorway, Gus gave what might be considered a smile before returning his eyes to the book. He continued through giving all the proper voices, and all the proper pauses... His 'all the betters' and ' my dears' were each seeminly well practiced, and who knew? They might have been. Gus was the kind of guy who'd been reading out loud ever since he learned how... and that was years ago.
In the end, the wolf got what was comming to him, the girl got her loveing grandma, the grandma got the cookies, and the woodsman got his leave of the crazy people... Gus smiled.
"The End." A satisfying sentance, and yet somehow... disheartening.
The young human woman continued to smile. Her son -seeing her then ignoring her- looked up hopefully at the blue eared jivvin. Bringing his fingertips together with the thumb of each hand to the forefinger Theron clearly made his request. "More boot read. Pease." The toddler rubbed both hands flat across his chest. [Yes! More please!"
Sheepishly, Trelweny fully entered the room. "No Theron. He does not have to read you another book." She smiled gratefully at the jivvin. "Thank you for reading to him. I hope he didn't disturb you." Again the sheepish look. "I try to let them have a little freedom, but I suppose I don't always think everything through as I should."
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:19 pm
(( Brothers:: ))
Alexander Edward's face frowned even deeper that usual as he recognized the sports car pulling into the drive. The man who stepped out of the driver's seat glanced up at Alex, muttered a hello and then calmly walked around to the passneger seat and unbuckled two little girls. It ocured to Alexander that Jen knew him well enough not to ask for help, and on the same theme, Alexander had no intention of offering it. He sighed. The arrival of Jen and his daughters, cute as they were, meant that the house was going to be over run with two small skull monkey girls, Keppit's two youngest sons who were mid teen, and the newest bundle of joy to the house.... Amahli... Alexander snuffed his disgust and glared at Jen as the man led his daughters in through the front door. As they passed, Keera pointed at Alex and said "Alex doggy" with a grin. Alexander promptly stood and paced off into the woods. Anything was better than his mother's house today.
~~~~~
Rusty shook his head at Luke. "I can't believe what you're saying to me." And he meant it. He never lied to Luke because he and his brother shared a minimal bond, making feelings stronger between them... Luke would have been able to tell if Rusty was lying. "you honestly think that you might want to move away from Lily and Calvin?" And me, his statement unfinished outloud, rang painfully in his head.
"Of course." Luke wasn't trying to hurt Rusty's feelings, he honestly thought that this was something they needed to think about... they were both adults after all, and Lily had been a loner all her life. It was good to think about striking out on thier own... kind of. "What do you think will happen when you fall in love? There's got to be a pretty jivvin out there who thinks you're the only Rusted out Green man for her." He stiffled a laugh and prepared to fend off Rusty's objections.
Rusty didn't object however, since he knew how Luke worked. Instead, he just frowned at what he considered to be the handsome pink version of himself and walked from the room. They'd be having this conversation again, later when Luke was feeling less funny.
~~~~~
Kamin grinned up at his older brother from the stool where he sat. "What happened to this stool? Wasn't it about a foot taller when I was here last?" He kicked his feet out in front of him comically as if to show the height difference.
"That's the one that broke. I told you about it two weeks ago." Fluff was a wonderful example of everlasting patience, especially when it came to Kamin, and he just kept chopping the vegetables on the counter in front of him.
"Oh" Kamin kicked his legs back and forth a few times, more because he could than for any other reason, and then he spun quickly in a circle on the stool twice before bringing his attention back to his brother. He grabbed a peice of bell pepper off the cutting board and popped it in his mouth, talking around the vegetable. "I would have thought you'd have thrown it out."
Fluff reached out and and picked up a second chunk of pepper that Kamin had knocked to the counter. "It was only one leg, and I can't see throwing out a chair if I can fix it by making it smaller." He chucked the peice of pepper into a bowl. "And you shouldn't talk with your mouth full, it won't get you many friends."
"I have all kinds of friends." Kamin grabbed at another peice of pepper but was fended away by a quick and precise hand slap from Fluff. The younger jivvin grinned at his brother... this was the way it was supposed to be. "Did you see that new recruit in Gal's ranks? She's goregeous."
Fluff just smiled.
~~~~~
Satou leaned against the railing of the arena and smiled to herself as she watched the newer members of an Uuthli rank sparring under careful watch. Gus shifted beside her and gasped as one of the larger young men dealt a particulalry harsh blow on his opponent, knocking the other male to the dirt floor. Satou grinned again, remembering her first sparring matches.
As if he could read her mind, Gus turned to her. "You actually used to do that? Stand in the arena and hit each other with dull swords?" He just couldn't wrap his head around it... he didn't even like playing with swords back when he and Jen were kids... of course, playing swords with Jen meant getting smacked in the tail alot with sticks. "It seems... harsh?"
Satou laughed and shifted her weight onto her other leg. "Would you rather they go out into the woodlands with the Ssan without having any practice at all? They'd all be eaten right off."
"I suppose..." He let the thought sink in. Of course it made sense to let them practice, make them practice even... but it still wasn't something he thought back fondly on. "You remember when Jen used to make up play swords with him?"
Satou sighed... "Jen never made me do anything. I don't think he even ever asked me to play swords with him." She didn't blame Jen of course... she'd been remarkably hateful towards both Jen and Gus when they were all little.
"You didn't miss much." Gus grinned over at his sister, and laughed when she grinned back.
~~~~~
Meiser had known the jivvin was approaching long before the other jivvin even knew he was there. He also knew from an almost maplike sense, that the other jivvin's name was Elayeth... So he was waiting quietly in the bushes.
Elayeth wasn't making an effort to hide his approach, in fact he was doing exactly the opposite, making sure to step on each and every stick as he walked. He was finding more and more lately that he had to get away from his house, and his family. He was remarkably lost in his thoughts when Meis' voice startled him.
"Elayeth, is it?" recently he had discovered that he liked being able to startle others with his knowledge. They usually seemed to think that when he knew their name he also knew everything about them. He didn't, but they almost always gave themselves away very soon after. "What brings you out here tonight?"
Elayeth frowned at the black jivvin in front of him and forced himself not to ask the obvious question. "I'm getting away from my family. Not that it's any of your business... creepy black jivvin in the dark, was it?"
Meiser smiled, and then laughed at Elayeth's face. There was somthing about this red jivvin that he liked imiediately... maybe it was his attitude. "I'm Meis." He shrugged as if that explained everything. Really though, it did explain everything... Meis kind of deffined who he was, but noting who he was not... that left a lot to choose from. "I only wish that I had an excuse like that... I don't really have any family." He said it almost wistfully... like he regreted that fact.
"Oh really? You're lucky then. I have a brother who treats me like dirt, and a woman who doesn't really love me but wants me to call her mom.... oh, and a stupid little sister who hates me." Elayeth's words were bitter, and strangely cultivated.
"Oh I have brothers... they just have no idea who I am. We grew up in different families."
"Lucky you."
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Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 11:43 am
Gus frowned at his relection in a partially dirty spoon. "I don't belong here." He stuck his tongue out at the spoon and delighted in the way his reflection distorted itself in the curve. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying myself, but I really don't think that I belong here." He grinned at the spoon and then frowned at the spoon, his face in the spoon doing wonderful things. "My mother probably thinks that I'm dead... and since she thinks that Saty's dead, she'll hate us when we show up at her house next." He laughed.
Tipping his chair back on two legs, he was able to see Spawn sitting around the corner in the next room. The other jivvin was listening, Gus knew, but since Gus usually did most of the talking he didn't bother to wait for a response. Instead he returned all four legs on his chair to the floor and set the spoon on the counter in front of him. "I do like it here... sort of. I don't have to worry about anything like shopping and computers and cars and such... but I also don't really think I belong in the village society..." He laughed again suddenly. "I mean, just look at my shoes!" He tilted his chair back and glanced at Spawn again. "They're green! You've seen them." His chair dropped to the floor again with a crash as his left shoe slid off the counter edge. "Ugfph." Sigh "Now take you for example... you could live here. You look a little like a villager. A little stuffy sometimes... no offense. But you seem woodland savy. You could take care of yourself if you didn't have anyone else. Course you've got me, but I'm not really a person at all when it comes to being savy.... Ha. You should see my computer at home... it's got duck tape on the mouse thing cause I stepped on it. Stepped right on it with a green shoe. That's the kind of guy I am. I mean, I basically let that crazy jivvin majik me or whatever that was." He picked up the spoon again and returned to looking at his reflection, only this time he inspected his teeth.
"I have to admit, I really like the quiet... when they're not out in the taverns at night I mean. Uuthlis can be a noisy bunch.... I'm glad I'm not a Uuthli. I'm afraid of heights... Are you afraid of heights?" Once again Gus didn't even wait for an response because he honestly didn't expect one. "That would be terrible. To be able to fly and want to wet your pants whenever you got to a certain height... though I suppose you wouldn't be in the habit of vertigo if you could fly."
He fell silent as he rested his head on his crossed arms as he leaned across the counter. Looking out the window he smiled at the familiar sight of trees surrounding the cabin. It was several minutes before he spoke again, but when he did it was the same inner monologue let loose. "The house where I grew up was a lot like this cabin here, only bigger. Same kinds of trees really... same silence and homey atmosphere. Droomi used to have a tent in the backyard, and I used to like to go camping with him. He's my brother... sort of." Gus pulled his arms out from under his head, leaving his cheek pressed against the countertop as he stared off into space. "He's not a jivvin, he's a lizard of some kind. He moved out a while back, and I got a letter from him, so I know he's doing okay." he flipped his head over so that his other cheek was pressing against the countertop and he could see out the window once more. "He said that I could have his tent if I wanted... I might have to do that." He fell silent again as he he thought about all the fun he used to have camping with Droomi and the sprites, and then he continued to be silent as his brain forced him to think about Shade`... he tried turning his mind onto new subjects and found Satou. He thought about her for a moment and then laughed out loud. "You know, one time me and Jen invited Satou to come camping with us... camping really wasn't Jen's strongpoint, but he did enjoying... Satou gave us both a look that sent us running for our lives. She didn't used to be very nice... not really." He picked his head up off the table and sat awkwardly in his chair with his hands in his lap.
"I'm thristy." He wondered breifly how long he'd been sitting there, and realized it had been a while. He picked up the spoon again and made a face at his reflection. "I don't belong here. I don't belong in the real world... " He glanced out the window. "not that this isn't the real world, just... oh, you know what I mean." He suddenly chucked the spoon into the sink and stood. "Hey are you thirsty? I'm gonna get a drink."
((just Gus drivel... nothing that important.))
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:17 pm
(( Gus and Silthran :: Aug 02 2009))
Gus leaned back against the tree with a smile as he skimmed the book in his hands. Of course it was "the count of monte cristo", his favourite book, and he'd read it a hundred thousand times, but that didn't stop his enjoyment any. He read a particular line that amused him, in regards to the prisoners in the prison keep... and laughed out loud without looking up. He really did love books... novels about fantasy characters more than nonfiction books... mostly because the good guys almost always won in the end...
And he liked the "Count of Monte Cristo" because the lead character was like him in the begining, and then once he was arrested and tortured he became stronger and more able to deal with life. In fact, Edmond was so able to deal with life, that he overcame all his tragedies... Gus didn't particularly enjoy the ending of the book, though. In his humble opinion, Edmond made the wrong decision in the end.
Gus glanced up at the jivvin in front of him. He had handed her two small primers given to him by Satou earlier that day, and several pencils complete with a sharpener and all. He grinnned. Gus had had a lot of fun putting together the kit for 'teaching her to read'... and then he'd shown her the primers and demonstrated how to use them, then he'd set down his small stack of books of all reading levels and picked up the Count to read about Edmond a little.
It made him want to sit down and write something... seeing her with books and reading fiction again after so long.
She had greeted him with an ecstatic 'Thank you', complete with several exclamation points, with the appearance of the primers, and listened attentively with much enthusiastic nodding as he explained their purpose to her. Afterward, she had retreated to the side and plopped to the ground with her legs folded, carefully setting the little pile of books on a dry patch of earth before her. She took a brief moment to marvel over the pencil and sharpener, then opened the first of the books and commenced her studies.
Studying was hard. Words came slowly. Tracing and mimicking letters was a nice refresher and an excellent ego booster, but soon letters came in pairs and trios, and she found herself stumbling through sets under her breath. And some letters were so tricky! "C"s with the "S" or "K" sounds, or "J" and "G", which sounded as if they should be the same, or switched. And that "Sometimes Y". Oh, that awful "sometimes Y". And then duos! "SH" versus "CH" versus "CK". Her head was spinning with letters before very long.
Straightening her shoulders, she carefully placed her pencil beside the primer and her hands on her knees, peering solemnly down at the book for a long, long moment before glancing up towards Gus. "This is quite difficult."
Gus smiled knowingly over at her. "It can get that way... but I promise you, that like anything else, it gets better with practice." He closed his book and set it on his lap, unconsciously mimicing her position. "It's worth it, though... I promise you." He suddenly reached out for one of the books on the pile in between them. "To be able to pick up something as normal as a book, and have it tell you a story... to see the paper and cardboard is one thing, but to be able to see and hear what the book has to say is another." He flipped open the book and read a short passage from it, about two girls sitting in a tree, and then held out the book for her to see. There were no pictures in this one (though there were pictures in some of the other books), just the words on the page. "With enough practice it becomes second nature, and it's like being able to speak a whole different language without even opening your mouth."
She nodded slowly in halfhearted agreement, and reached to take the book from him, frowning in a pensive sort of way at the lines and lines of words along the page. So far to go... It was all quite daunting. But it wasn't as if she had other matters to attend to. Time was certainly not something she lacked, and books, especially books as he spoke of them, would make her quiet life a bit more interesting.
"I will learn," she assured him, but closed the book and passed it back to instead return to her primer. "I do appreciate this, really. Most people do not come back, much less help," she admitted, with a rather resigned smile. "It is just so much to take in. How long did it take you to learn?"
"You know... I don't really remember." He sat back against the tree again and crossed his arms behind his head. "I've been reading for a long time now it seems... I learned when I was little though, and supposedly that's easier." He pointed at the book again. "You can do it though. You're smart enough." then he laughed suddenly. "My brother, Alexander, he can read, and he's probably not as smart as you are. Bottom line? If alex can do it, you shouldn't have any problems..." It occured to him that the last 'person' he'd tried to teach to read had been a miserable failure... Booker, he just wasn't smart enough to keep the rules for written language in his head... But Gus quickly banished thoughts of Booker since the last time he'd seen the little sprite had been quite horrific.
"I used to keep a journal with all my thoughts and stuff written in it. Most of the early entries are pretty hard to read since I've never really had good handwriting."
Perhaps I should keep a journal, she thought. A journal of 'at's and 'ck's and 'th's. Wouldn't that be an interesting read? She rolled her eyes at the very thought, and began working through the combination 'or' in her primer. "Alexander. You have a large family, Gus. I have met an Alexander. He fell in the lake, and I pulled him out." She wrinkled her nose, and scrawled out an 'R' on the paper. "He was quite rude. But Elayeth was nice."
Gus looked over at her in shock for a good twenty seconds. "If you met an Elayeth with an Alexander then you've already met my brothers... sort of. They're kind of brother cousins... it's complicated." He smiled and shook his head. "I can't imagine what you must think of me having met Alexander Edward. I'm nothing like him, I hope you know that. He's... " He paused trying to find a nice word and failing... "he's not nice. That's really all there is to it. And poor Elayeth would leap off a bridge if Alex told him to... stupid kid."
He looked her over for a split second and wondered what it would have been like to grow up without a million family members around the house... or even to not have grown up in a a house at all. "I did have a large family... we've kind of grown apart now that we've all moved out. My sister Satou and I have the same birthday and she lives in the village now... my younger brothers Alex and Elayeth live at home, and then there's sprites... " he paused briefly before soldiering on. "Booker, Rusty and Shade... though... Shade won't, um... anyway... Then there's Jen, he's older than I am, but he's also not a jivvin... and the little boys, Nate and Ravi..." He nodded. "Come to think of it, I have a ridiculously large family."
"Oh, you are nothing like Alexander," she assured him with a laugh. "I can easily see that. Though, this Elayeth... well, he was certainly no child." A mischievous grin slipped across her lips before her face dipped down towards the book once more, though one cocked ear indicated that she was still listening.
"I have seen sprites from afar, but they always flit away before I can move too near. They are uncommon in the forest, at best. I believe the Ssan prey on them." She rattled off the information in a very matter-of-fact sort of way, not at all inclined towards pity for the poor Ssan dinners. It kept the snakes from trying for larger prey. "I have one sibling. A brother. And a mother, somewhere with him, I suspect. But I have not seen them since I was very young. His name was...Mange, I believe. And mother was Aisha." She smiled, a fond, sad smile.
"Aisha" He whispered the name as he tried to remember... "She was tanish? I think... I think she was around when I was growing up... She was nice enough though I don't think I ever talked to her much. We probably played a game or two when we were younger. I have no idea where she is now... I haven't seen her in years." He sat forward. "But you know what that means... it means that you're technically a center jivvin like me... and it also means that I might know your dad or even have met your brother... or that someone in the center might know where Aisha went." He paused. "Of course that's all just information now... it has almost no bearing on who you've become, since as far as I can tell you've raised yourself."
Silthran shrugged. "I honestly cannot remember what she looked like. The name is more of an echo in my mind--I could be wrong on that as well. But if you recognize the name, it is likely, and perhaps more so if you have not seen her for some time." She penciled in another 'R', followed by a 'T'. 'RT'. Ar....t? "I assumed I must be a Center Jivvin. I do not believe the Villagers would allow me to remain alone if I was of theirs. But I do not know that I could handle the world beyond the forest." She chucked softly, and glanced up from the book. "Teevees and sub ways and tell-ee-phones. I would not know where to begin."
She held up the book, and pointed to 'RT'. "Art?"
Gus leaned in and glanced at the paper. "Art is A R T." He pointed at the R and the T individually. It made perfect sense that she would have gotten those letter already seeing as to how they were all in her name, and familiarity was a good place to start. Gus picked up a peice of paper, and in the fashion of the primer he printed out 'Aisha, Mange, Silthran, Gus, Village, Center, Jivvin and Forest'. Then he put the paper in front of her and pointed to each one as he read them for her. "Sometimes it helps to know a few full words or even to have them for refference." He picked up a peice of grass and frowned a little. "Tv's and Phones and such are all pointless for the most part. I mean, yes it's nice to be able to call for help when you're hurt, or when someone else is hurt, but I honestly don't care to know that people across the world are bombing each other, or see some redneck drop their pants on tv cause they thought it was funny." He shrugged. "I can remember Keppit, that's my mother mind you, I can remember Keppit used to try to get me to use the computer to write my journals... I didn't get my crystal for Quen until I had been an adult for quite some time, and so when I wanted to write I had to put the pencil in my mouth and steady it with my tail." Gus chuckled. "It was quite the proccess. I don't reccomend learning to write without thumbs. Anyway... the compter always bothered me. It's too much... there's no real personality behind a typed journal in my mind. I need to be able to look at it and see my handwriting, my style, maybe even the smudgemarks of my hand... ... I don't know. I guess I never really was one for technology." He turned his head back in the direction of the village. He knew that they knew exactly where he was and that he was most likely being watched right this very moment... "Of course, I don't really appreciate the village either... too many rules and hiarchys... just... too much." and as his attention faded back to Silth, he recalled suddenly her grin as she remembered Elayeth... it occured to Gus that Silth and Elayeth were about the same age, really. It wasn't unusual that she should grin as she thought about the handsome young red jivvin... so gus smiled back at her. "I bet that I could live in the woods and be happy as long as I could go visiting people, But I doubt that I'd survive long in the woodlands... I'm not very camperesque."
But of course, making up words while trying to teach someone to read wasn't the nicest thing in the world.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:34 pm
(( june 20 2009))
Gus sat perfectly still with the small sargtlin girl on his lap. She was sitting very still and only figiting once or twice, and Gus wondered if this was her normal personality, or if she was being especially well behaved, or if he was scaring her into quiet submission even... he thoguht about asking Satou but she was busy with the small Sargtlin boy that was clinging to her leg whining loudly. She was also trying to talk to Gus, but he couldn't hear her over the persistant "mooooommmmmm mmeeeeeee"'s and "MOMMY!"'s coming from the kid's mouth. He was cute, Gus had to admit, and he was really glad that Satou had found her family and purpose in life, and he was happy to be an uncle, but the kid could get on the nerves after a sold half hour of demands. Gus couldn't even remember what this particular whine session was all about, but he was sure it had something to do with popcicles or something of the like.
Satou turned to the child, grabed his little hands and pulled him up onto her hip. "Stop." She glared at him breifly and the kid stopped, but still managed a good pouty face at her. "I'm sorry Gus, what was the question?"
"Books." Gus shifted his own little charge on his lap so that her boney little buttbones weren't diggining into the same spot they had been. "I want a couple village primers and such. There's.... someone... someone who can't read who wants to learn, and I thought, there might be a primer or something I could have to give to her."
Satou frowned slightly. "Why are they coming to you? Why don't they just go to the schoolhouse and talk to Maeon? Or any of the other teachers?"
"She's not exactly a villager, and I'm not really sure she'd want me to talk about her... and you know... I never got her name." He'd realized that later, after he'd left Silth's company, that they may not have exchanged names at all, because he couldn't for the life of him think of a name she'd given him. "And I'm asking you, because I'm tired of explaining myself to those Uuthli spies." He huffed to himself and then grinned at the look the little boy shot him.
"Gus." Satou frowned and set Caelis on the countertop, so she could come and rescue Eilonwy from her brother. "You're not a prisoner here... The villagers just aren't used to people showing up at random in the woods, and especially not used to center jivvins bearing warnings of crazy jivvins that nobody can find or even put a name to."
"I know." He sighed. "I really do. I guess I'm just bored. And I have no idea whatsoever what goes through Kluchud's brain. He's so... " He paused a second, searching for the right word. "Thoughtful? I guess that's right. He's just an inward kind of guy really. that being said, I like him. He's got a wicked sense of humour.... I think." He frowned again. "Anyway, can you get me some primers and writing stuff like pencils and paper and whatnot? maybe even a kid's book or two?"
Satou shook her head at turned away as Caelis started up another round of 'MooOOooMMMYY!"'s .... "Of course I will. I just wish I knew that you weren't about to get yourself into a buttload of trouble."
Gus just grinned back at her quickly before Caelis stuck his little tongue out at him... then, of course, he returned the gesture.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:27 am
(( ""sweet dreaming"" :: Aug 31 09 ))
Gus sat bolt upright in his small cot-like bed and stared at the wall for no less than 5 minutes in shock. As his brain settled down and his blood stopped throbbing through him, he allowed his body to relax and admit that he was here, in the cabin... safe and sound in the village. The image of the battered and broken little pink sprite body faded from his mind, but the taste of blood was still fresh in his mouth. Putting a hand up to his lip, Gus realized that he'd bitten it during his nightmare... so he patiently rubbed his eyes and brought his feet to the floor.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Gus noticed that he needed a haircut. "And a shave and a decent meal, a good book and a good night's sleep." he nodded to himself and rinsed his mouth out with water... the last moments of Shade the sprite finally gone from his mind, he turned to room behind him. Not for the first time, he found himself wondering if Spawn really minded being stuck here in the village with a loser like Gus, and as he watched the other jivvin's blanket rise and fall with each breath Spawn took, Gus knew that the other wasn't asleep... It was a guess, but probably a pretty acurate one since Spawn was much more observant than most...
He pulled the covers back up around his chest and curled into a little ball on his cot-like bed. That demon jivvin was still out there somewhere... but as long as he was in the village he was safe. ... ... probably.
~~~~~~
Satou leapt through the window of the burning building and landed on her left arm with a thud, causing a sickening cracking noise. As soon as she turned to look at her arm though, she realized that the noise had come from the building she'd just left... the house was burning from the top to bottom, engulfed in purple and green flames. The Ssan were closing in behind her, keeping her away from her family and the rest of the village... she began to feel a little panicy in her heart as she pulled herself to her feet. As she did so, pain shot through her mid section, and she realized that she had a sword wound in her abdomen... it was a familiar sort of wound, and as she looked up she saw Jack and Lysius locked in a sword fight, the latter a much younger version of her husband and lifemate... she tried to call out to them both to stop, but her voice couldn't be heard over the cracking of the flames and the calls of the Ssan. Just when she thought that she couldn't take it anymore, a large group of Sargtlins came around from behind the house, driving back the Ssan and pulling Lysius and Jack apart... As she knealt in the grass, watching the Ssan retreat, a ridiculously pretty young jivviness walked over to her with a smile. The young woman looked very familiar with a smile on her face, and as she helped Satou to her feet Saty realized who it was. She smiled back at the girl, the sword wound suddenly gone, and took the jivvin's hands in her own. "You look so much like your father."
"It's okay Mommy." Came the reply. "Kin I sleep with you?"
Satou opened her eyes and saw the top of Cael's blonde head over the side of the blanket. She blinnked twice and then lifted her own head to try and get her bearings. She was in her house, curled tightly into the arms of a sound asleep Lysius, cradleing Eilonwy to her chest as the girl slept peacefully. "Kin I sleep with you mommy?" Came the question again.
"C'mon sweetheart." She shifted to let her son join them in the bed, and smiled.
~~~~~~~
Roddik's head rapped smartly against the wall as he dosed, bringing him into a sudden sharp focus. He glared wide-eyed around the room, trying to remember what he had been dreaming about, but all he could get were snippets of a ship and blurry images of snow covered houses. Oh well. Dreams weren't what was important, it was the here and now that mattered.
With a sigh he heaved his tired old body up onto it's feet and padded over to the bed. If he was going to dose, then he would do it in a place where his head wouldn't hit the wall again.
~~~~~~~
Meis rolled over and grinned at the jivvin in front of him. The other looked just like him, all black with deep blue eyes, only this one was bigger and stronger... taller and just that much better looking. Meis knew that this other jivvin had to be his father. "I've heard so much about you." Meis took a step forward, closing the gap between the other jivvin and himself. As he did so, the male in front of him changed from his markings to Tihr's markings... and then from Tihr's colours to blue and then green. Meis frowned, suddenly wondering if this were his father at all. After completeing a round of neutral colours, the larger jivvin suddenly returned to the original image, of tall and solid black. Meis took a step back. "I thought.... I thought you were my father, but now...."
"I am your father." Came the reply. It was subconsicious apparently, since the other never even opened his mouth to speak, yet Meis heard his words very clearly.
"Then why... why did you change so many colours?"
"I do whatever I want." The larger male grinned an almost evil grin as the words arrived in Meis' head.
"Oh." He frowned. "Should I?"
~~~~~~~~
Rusty kicked out in his sleep and Luke came awake with a yelp. Calvin had been laying across the room on a sofa, and her eyes fluttered open with Luke's yip. "What are you crying about now?" she yawned and blinked. "Rusty step on you?"
Luke frowned at the room in general. The television had lapsed into some kind of paid advertising for vacuum cleaners and was casting an eerie blue tint around the room. "Why don't you come over here and try it. I imagine you'd cry out too." Rusty had a great metal paw, and even with Luke's own interior metal structure it was still painful to be struck at all with any part of the green jivvin.
"Aw, I'm not a baby like you." Calvin grinned evilly at her older brother. "I'm strong and tough and... stuff like that." She yawned again and flopped to the floor. "I'm going to bed. You can have my spot."
~~~~~~~
Baylohved grabbed the other jivvin by the front of the shirt in one hand and by the neck in the other. With a grin of pure evil enjoyment he lifted the other male off the ground and held him in the air in front of him. The other male was much thicker than Bay, but shorter. He had no doubt that the prone jivvin would beg for his life if he could, but that was far from Bay's mind as he crushed the windpipe of the other. "Just because." Bay whispered at his captive, and then he stopped the other jivvin's heart and dropped the lifeless man onto the forest floor. He growled his triumph to the sky and then knealt to take a peice of the dead man... but the other jivvin was gone. vanished into the night like he'd never been there to begin with. Bay's stomach growled and he turned...
Opening his eyes he pulled himself to an almost painful sitting postition. He relished the feeling as he glanced around him. Bay didn't really want to admit it, but he was getting weaker the longer he stayed here in the woods... he had to do something soon. He didn't really want to get any closer to either the village or the town, since he wasn't ready to risk losing himself to the white witch's clutches again... "Never again." he whispered. But his hunger was deeper than physical... he was hungry on the valz side of his being... and for that he needed to feast on jivvin flesh. "So hungry." He whimpered and curled into a tight ball on the forest floor.
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