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 Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:56 pm
Already A Houseguest.Trance gets a little sneaky, and karma bites him in the a**. (Con's Discovery.)
Quote: It wasn't in Trance's nature to let things go. So, when Raife said not to go up into the attic because there was something strange going on, he knew he had to go. But of course, he couldn't let Raife know that was his intent. He balked at the idea of invading her private space when she first presented the idea to him. Why would he want to go up into some musty old attic? There wasn't anything up there besides boxes of old books and comic books.
Oh, if only she knew how badly he really wanted to go up there. She'd chain him to a post outside.
There was something irresistable about the forbidden. He was human, after all. Well, as human as anyone got around here anyway.
He tilted his head up to scowl at the crooked ladder that lead up to the attic. Raife had built it herself in a fit of exuberance and handiwork, and, despite offers to replace it with something a bit sturdier and more suitable, it remained, a tribute and a mirror of Raife's often astray mind. He tested a step before he put his weight on it, oddly careful, though it would put him less than a foot off the ground. Despite the look of it, it held firm, daring and defying gravity and living up to the threat.
Despite the stability of that one step, Trance continued to test each step before he put full weight on it, until he was at the top of the ladder, both feet in the attic. Peering down the shaft below, he marvelled that he made it up. It looked unsteady from every angle, not just the one he'd had down below.
He'd been up in the attic once before. After all, he'd had a hand in building it. But he hadn't seen it as it presently was, with the large beanbag surrounded by books. It was just as how Raife had left it after her last scare, a few comic books scattered, and there...the offending one, Superman #76, tossed how she'd tossed it back up the stairs to rest after the incident. That was word around the house, anyway. He picked it up gingerly by its spine. Rumor had it one of the boys had witnessed her wrestling with a book in the living room and she hadn't been herself a while afterward. That was saying something, given what the thief had seen in her time.
He flopped over onto the beanbag with little grace, settling the book on his lap, lifting the edges of the pages with his fingertips. Seemed innocuous enough to him. Just a comic book like the stacks of so many up there. What was there to be so scared of? And why forbid this place? It wasn't particularly scary. He hadn't felt or seen a thing.
Not one to waste a quiet moment, he closed his eyes.
And woke up with a start some time later, feeling wetness under his fingers. His first thought brought him to look upwards. Was there a leak in the ceiling? But it wasn't raining to begin with. It would be easy enough to hear the patter of rain on the roof from here. But nothing came.
Then he looked down at his fingers and startled. a rainbow colored pool was streaming from the book on his lap and his fingers were sinking in it. A little bit of blue snaked around his thumb. A little green wrapped round his pinky. Wrinkling his nose, he brought his hand up out of it. It smelt and behaved like paint. But....the book itself looked dry. He lifted the edge off him. It was dry. The dripping seemed to come from nothing rational. The pages itself were dry and somehow dripping all at the same time, colors bleeding off the bright pages. Superman's cape, Lois's dress. All the colors bled and merged to drip in torrents off the pages, dripping off his body, to pool over the side of the beanbag and onto the floor.
It wasn't until he watched it continue to ooze, fascinated for a while, that he began to notice a couple of things. One was a faint giggling sound, in the back of his brain, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once in the attic, as if it was echoing off the stacks of books and inside his brain. Secondly, the book itself was starting to ooze, like the paint. The corners were turning the consistency of paint. Slowly, as he held it up from himself, the book dripped until it was liquid, spreading and sliding off him to pool with the rest of the mess on the floor. It slithered behind a sack of books, then everything was silent.
It had to have been an illusion. He was still dreaming right? He shouldn't have eaten that week old sub sandwich from the fridge before coming up there and falling asleep. He'd refused the carrots. They were too healthy, DAMMIT! Damn his stomach!
Then the stack of books started to gurgle. Gurgle? It was a pleasant sound, happy even. A happy bookstack? Levering himself up from the chair, he peered over to investigate.
The good news? The paint was certainly gone.
The bad? There was something else making a mess. Something that would continue to make messes and turn Trance's life upside down in a way he hadn't seen since he rescued a tiny baby bird-boy so long ago. Sticky, paint covered fingers reached up to the muse without any fear. Trance picked up the tiny baby boy, swaddling an attached cape tightly around him for warmth.
He should have listened to Raife. He knew better by now.
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:14 am
Park It, Mister!Con meets gravity, and the girl it's circling, at the park.
Quote: Reserved for Con/Taji RP.
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:15 am
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:16 am
Royal MessCon Makes Mischief.
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:16 am
 Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and Connor appears to be almost bigger than life, even as a baby. He may cause a lot of mischief, but it's all for the greater good... isn't it? Help Connor feel like a hero, play a game or take him out for an activity so he can " save the day". 
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:18 am
An Ordinary Boy, An Ordinary NameBut Ordinary's Just Not Good Enough Today... (Quest, Part 1 of 3)Quote: Con sucked in a breath into giggles as he rocked back on his butt, sitting on the blanket at the edge of the stream. He was small and the world was large and it was peaceful out and it was, most importantly, his world to play in and save and do what heroes did best. Even before he could decide it himself, it'd been decided for him that he would be a hero. He couldn't even form words yet, and yet, his subconsciousness was preparing him already. Look, and there was a damsel for him to save already! Not that she needed saving at the moment. Or that he'd know how if she did. Taji glowed in the dark next to him, shining brighter than any of the stars in the night sky. Of course, she was closer but have you ever tried to teach perspective to a baby? He tried to think. It wasn't going well. It was well enough that he remembered thinking beyond those urgent baby needs. Something inside him was telling him he needed to think. Something older and frustrated to be stuck in the tiny, inadequate body. It wanted to play and walk and run and help the world. The rest of him though was quite content to not think, quite content to accept that such a process was ultimately beyond his tiny mushy brain. He looked over at the damsel again and smiled, somehow having collected almost all of his teeth already, but showing how young he really was as he dribbled a bit past his chin. He shoved his arm across his jaw in an absent, instinctual gesture, slobber mixing willy-nilly with the paint on his arm, serving to do the exact opposite of what the action intended, messing him up only further. There was a trail of purple across his jaw now. He sighed and smiled, craning his head and neck backwards to look at his guardian, sitting a few feet away on the grass, watching him and the damsel. The man smiled back. Con smiled wider and babbled happily to himself. He wasn't usually for the night. Not that he didn't like to be up and going all the time, but he was built for the sparkling morning light, for sunlight and fingerpainting in the backyard, wearing an old hoodie and tattered jeans -hand-me-downs from one or another of his brothers- and happy for it, because he could teeter up onto unsteady feet and smear paint down his front without any repercussions. But he wasn't dressed for fingerpainting now. He had company, the man, Trance, had said, and he had to look nice for the little girl they'd met once at the park, they were going to hang out, wasn't that nice? Con didn't know what hanging out was, but he guessed it was this, and that it involved his one nice pair of jeans and his favorite shirt, the one he pointed at with the 'TADAH' exclamation -with gusto- and the brightly colored zippered hoodie, red and blue and his yellow cape. His favorite colors. He still had a smear of paint on the tummy of his shirt. He'd had an itch. He couldn't help it. What was he supposed to do? A flash of light from overhead caught his attention. Shiny! Craning his head back upward at the sky, his eyes sparkled with the reflection of hundreds of shooting stars flashing across the sky in an impressive shower. It looked like someone was throwing tinsel across the sky in illuminating streaks. Con had never seen anything like it in his life. He cooed and reached for it, hand stretched out, fingers reaching, wiggling at one star, then another, as each of them slipped from his grip, shooting across the night sky. Unfortunately, nature was too often look-don't-touch for Con's liking. He wanted to pull the stars down to his lap to play.
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:18 am
Mighty Mouse!Here I Come To Save The Day! (Quest, Part 2 of 3)Quote: Connor watched Taji tumble into the water in front of him without understanding, at first, what was going on. She looked just as confused and surprised as he did and at first he smiled cheerfully. It was like a giant bath! Plunging his hands into the water, Con wiggled his fingers towards the splashing, flailing girl, paint swirling into the water from his hands, like a scattered rainbow. At first he'd wanted some of the action, but it didn't look like his friend was having much fun anymore! Every time her head surfaced, only to be swallowed again by water only seconds later, she let out a keening whale of a wail that pierced Con's ears and made him need to fix something! Maybe she was tired of her impromptu bath and wanted out? He tried to remember what Trance did when his own bath time was over. Up you go, champ. Let's get you dry.Oh! That's right! Up we go! He curled his pudgy fingers around Taji's wrists and pulled up and towards him. For a minute, he teetered, caught somewhere in between falling forward and backward, and for seconds it seemed he was suspended impossibly between the two, wobbling. For a moment, it seemed he was destined to join her in the river. With his inordinately heavy playmate in tow, and an impossible lift for such tiny arms, but with a tiny but mighty burst of strength, the two of them toppled away from the water onto the bank. Con collapsed tiredly onto his back, as if the sudden burst of energy it took to haul her up had zapped all of his hidden reserves of energy. With a slight huff, he took a moment to look back up at the sparkling stars that had started the mess before rocking back up onto his rear and flashing Taji a happy smile. He'd managed to get her out of the flowing outside bath, like a big boy! Like Trance! The man in question had stopped short, crouched only a couple of feet behind the precedings, ready to step in. He'd been about to reach in behind Con, convinced that there was no way that the small boy could handle the weight of his new friend, but then they were on the bank, and Trance smiled with curious awe. He wasn't stupid: certainly, he'd noticed the scattering of stars around Taji's head, and the paint that flowed from Con more readily than blood, but every day he was finding out more and more that Connor wasn't a normal baby. He seemed like, well, something out of a comic book. Trance shook out the picnic blanket he'd been sitting on before wrapping it warmly around Taji, worried about the cold winter air. Her guardians would be back too soon in any case, for him to bother going inside and dressing her again, but it wouldn't do for him to seem feckless. He dabbed and dried off her hair and face, rubbing it gently with the blanket with a kind smile, while Connor watched and picked at his toes, wiping wet and colorful stains onto his pants to dry his hands and feeling very self satisfied. The boy was positively beaming.
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:18 pm
What A Good BoyWhat a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy... (Quest, Part 3 of 3)Quote: Something changed in Con since that day at the river. It wasn't that he wasn't his normal cheerful self. Far from it. If anything, he was more cheerful. Proud, with a puffed out chest. He'd done a big boy thing, and he wanted everyone to know it! A week later, he's still walking on clouds. And he certainly is walking, really walking! No longer a teetering, unsteady toddle, he ran at full tilt from one side of the room to another, constantly yesterday, cape flapping behind him in an anthem to his new found feet, steady as anyone I've ever known.
That night in itself had been frightening. I'd been watching them, and when she fell into the river, well, if he hadn't been there, well, I would have gotten to her. I know it. The river wasn't very deep, or very fast, but he did get there. A toddler!....and I really don't know how he did it, or why he did it. It should have been beyond him. But there's already a lot of things I don't understand about those children, Con, Taji, and the others like them, and maybe this just is another one of them. He grows so fast. I've barely had him a time, and he's already running and learning to talk. (The talking's going a little slow, but he doesn't seem to be stupid. More a man of few words and very many grins.) He's absolutely charming. He's going to be a heartbreaker when he grows up, whether he means it or not. He also seems to genuinely like people. A relief given the kids around here. Since we take so many hurt kids into refuge, I see a lot of interesting, and sometimes painful temperments. We all have our different ways of pushing people away. Con doesn't seem to need to. I've never seen him in sour enough a mood not to want people around. He has his share of tantrums, sure, but they're few and far between and he's quick to forgive and forget. He's a good kid, really, and I think, really, some part of me knows that what we saw that night, what I saw, is a glimpse of the future, and what he's going to be.
Or maybe just a fluke accident.
In any case, I'm glad he seemed to make a new friend. It's good for him to have a friend, someone who can commiserate with him, and someone who can maybe understand those parts of him that are a mystery to me. Most importantly, since he grows so quickly, someone to grow with him. She gave him a piece of herself, one of the stars on orbit around her head. It took us a bit to figure out what to do with it, but with a little fishing line and a little creativity, it bobbles unsteadily, floating side-along with his ankle, tied sturdily so it can't get away. It pleases him, I think, not only as a toy, but a reminder that he has friends.
Trance.
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:08 am
Come on Eileen!COME ON EILEEEEENNN. I just like saying that, okay.(Meeting Lana, 1/3)Quote: "Come on, squirt." "YAH, POP." "M'not your da." The scruffy, orange haired man and the paint smeared little boy made a weird pair strolling down the not-so-mean streets of Gaia's shopping district. They both walked with some sort of shuffling gait, awkward on both their parts, but especially for the little boy, who was only doing it because his 'pop' was doing it and he wanted to be everything ever like his daddy and a superhero and wasn't it lucky pop was a superhero, except he wasn't really, but he made the best mac n' cheese ever and in Con's mind, that qualified. He shifted from foot to foot, doing a little dance as he shifted his big boy underwear out of the crack of his butt. Uncomfortable, and he couldn't pee in them, but he was AWESOME in them. Since he was out on the town, pop'd dressed him, which was usually okay, but he liked dressing himself. He slipped out of the shuffling gait up to a steady trot, since he was having trouble keeping up with Trance's longer strides. "Where we goin'?" Connor started to stick his thumb in his mouth, but thought the better of it. Only babies did that. He was a big boy, so he was reminded every time he looked over to where the changing table in his room had been, or when he stood on the footstool to brush his teeth in the morning. Trance grunted and shoved his hands in his pockets. He seemed out of character. Grumpy. Mean. And other words that Connor didn't know. "Lana's." Con didn't know who or what Lanas was, but it seemed to be putting his pop in an awful mood. He smiled cheerfully. "We don't haffa go there, if you don't wanna." It seemed like a great solution. Why go anywhere where pop didn't wanna go? Adults didn't have to do anything they didn't wanna do, as far as he could tell. Trance looked down at him for a moment, frowning still, then chuckled and smiled a bit, reaching down with a hand to grab Con's arm and haul him up bodily onto his back. "Yeah, unfortunately, Con, we do." He shifted to let Con cling like a monkey. "It won't be for too long. Just a couple of weeks. She'll like you. Lana, I mean." "I likker." Con beamed down at Trance from inbetween the man's bangs. Trance chuckled. "You've never even met her. But, I haven't met a one you don't like yet, so I suppose there's a hearty chance you will. Ah. Here we are." The brownstone converted into apartments shadowed their steps as Trance leant over to press the front doorbell. An unfamiliar, slightly smoky, definitely female voice answered. "Hello?" Trance sighed uncomfortably. He was frowning again. Connor hated it when he frowned. He patted Trance's head reassuringly. "S'me, Lana. Lemme up." Con leant in and practically pressed his face against the intercom. "UP, UP, LANA. UP." The intercom was silent for a moment, before the door quietly buzzed open.
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:17 pm
Jack and DianeHold on to 16 as long as you can...(Meeting Lana, 2/3)Quote: "What the heck is this?" Connor got his first glimpse of his guardian's polar opposite: a slim, willowy tall woman with black hair and a slight frown. Maybe it was the marked shift in Trance's easy demeanor to something more tense but something made Connor feel uneasy. He'd been ready to slip into Lana's arms and pepper her with the sloppy hugs and kisses he gave new friends, but instead, he curled a little into Trance, feeling insecure for one of the first times in his short life. He felt cold. And rightly so. Where Trance was sunlight, Lana was shadow in nature, and quite cold. Trance grinned, a kind of smile that Connor hadn't seen before. It wasn't a real smile. It was uncomfortable, the whole situation was uncomfortable, and he wanted to go home, but he bit his lip in stubbornness. Heroes didn't run away. "Lana, this is Connor. He's mine." Lana's eyes widened. Then she grimaced. Then frowned. Connor wondered if she ever made happy faces. He tried to smile helpfully. Maybe she hadn't seen one before. The woman didn't seem impressed. She was kind of pale. "You mean...ours?....I mean...how can he be ours? David, I'd have known if I'd given birth. And you can't...can you? ...David...." With that, a softness came over Lana's face that immediately endeared Connor to her. He KNEW that look. A damsel! This was just maybe a particularly tough one. He loosened his arms from Trance's neck and reached out to her. With the ease of long aquaintance, he slipped from Trance to Lana wordlessly, and the woman settled him on her hip. She was softer than she seemed, and she smelt like peaches. "No, I can't." Trance smiled genuinely, a bit of twinkle in his eyes. "I didn't...I couldn't. There is no other, Lana. I...found him, I suppose is the best way to say it. You know, like Mikhael. Except I'm keeping this one. Raife has her hands full enough with the three lads." "Four including you." "You should..." "No, David. I'm not coming home. Least of all to take care of my irresponsible other half." She rubbed her thumb over her ring finger, and absent gesture that only ever returned around Trance, and shifted Connor as to hold him better. Connor rested his head on her shoulder and she craned her neck to spare him a sidelong glance. "He's welcome though...if you ever needed someone to babysit. If...he isn't too messy or noisy, I guess." Lana trailed off, uncertainly. Connor pet her hair a bit, streaking it with green, yellow and orange. Trance chuckled. "Too late. Wrong on both counts. He's a mess. And he's noisy when he gets going. Takes direction well, mostly, though. Not big on thinking though, if he doesn't have to. Got alotta heart." "Sounds like someone I know." "Maybe." Trance smiled. "Listen, I just wanted to stop by to ask if you could watch him next week for a couple of days. I gotta....I gotta get out, and I can't take him andddd...." "I don't need excuses. They don't work on me. I'll take him either way. Just a couple days though, right? Last time it was the puppy, and it was here for two months." "No, I...I'm not that bad anymore. Promise." Lana shrugged. "Well, either way. If you don't come back, he can be my new boyfriend." Trance flashed a small grin. "Does that make me your old one?" Lana's lips dropped a notch as she drew in a slight breath then shut tightly. "Stupid. God, I don't know what I ever saw in you." It was silent for a moment. Connor wiggled down to get other things covered in paint, smearing paint on the front of Lana's shirt as he made his way down until his sturdy sneakered feet hit the ground and took off at a dash. "Fate." Trance said softly. "Your future." Lana's eyes met his for a moment before darting to her shirt, distracted by the flash of color against black cotton. "Christ! What is this? Poster paint? Where did he??!! David Allington, you better FIND him before he gets anything else covered!"
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:42 pm
Goodbye, StrangerHope you find your paradise...(Meeting Lana, 3/3)Quote: "She's something, isn't she, Con?" Trance chuckled a bit, peeking back at the pink cheeked little boy clinging to his back like a monkey. "Yap. When's eats, pop?" "You liked her, didn't you? S'good, I guess...I mean...we won't go around much but..." "EATTTTSSSSSS." It's not that Con wouldn't have cared if he'd known that Trance was having a moment, the kind of moment he always had after visiting Lana, but rather, he didn't know what a moment was, or that you could have one. His meager thinking process was focused on the fact that his tummy was grumbling and it was time for eats and if he didn't get anything in his tummy, he was likely to SPLODE of hungry. Trance laughed and nodded. "Okay, I get it. We'll talk over lunch, champ. What's your pick?" "Mmmm, pizzataco." He loved pizza AND tacos, so how could they totally not be better put together? Trance laughed, and reached back to ruffle his hair. "Yeah, you can invent that when you grow up, buddy. Or maybe when we get home. For now, let's go the premade route. How does McDonalds sound?" How did MCDONALDS sound?? Why that was practically Connor's favorite word! McDonalds meant hamburgers! Hamburgers meant YESSSSFEEDMENOW. "YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH." Con clapped his hands together enthusiastically, nearly falling backwards off Trance. Trance wobbled forward, steadying the boy on his shoulders and off they went.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:32 am
ParklifeOpen RP with Taji and Yu and etc. <3
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