|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:51 am
The Finding Shifting the weight of her textbooks to the other hip, Raven bit back a soft sigh. Well, well, well. If the world wasn't going to hell. Not that it was anything which wasn't normal, given that this was Gaia and all, but in between her management duties and her other life raising her children, and that other life that involved the rest of her family, things were beginning to take a turn for the extraordinarily fatiguing. Good God. Not only a double life, but a triple one? No wonder she was so tired all the time.
Watching his twin move through the streets, Raeven smiled slightly. Well, well, well. She was tired-- too tired to keep her sharp eyes scanning the area like she should. The only reason Raeven didn't take advantage of the situation was that... well, he needed his twin alive. They sustained each other. And that's the reason he followed her, kept her safe-- at least, as safe as he deemed fit. She needed to grow up sometime.
"...who's there?" Raven asked without turning. That dual presence, that nagging feeling of someone-- not just someone. Why had she bothered asking? There was only one person who would be following her around in the middle of the night. "...what do you want, I suppose, would be the better question, wouldn't it?" she sighed.
"I came to bring you something. Found it-- I think I found it by accident. It wants you," Raeven shrugged slightly. "I guess we're a little too similar--"
"We're not similar. But what is it?" Raven asked as she turned to face her strange twin-like creation.
Raeven smirked slightly, holding out his hand, presenting a necklace to Raven. "This. It was looking for you. It fell down outside your window the other night while you were sleeping, and it was going to get lost in the grass at your monster of a house."
Knowing better than to ask what Raeven meant by 'looking for her', since he'd only give her a strange, mixed answer, Raven took the pendant, placing it around her neck. The red chain, the strangely crafted... it recognized her. She recognized it. She'd been through this long enough now to know when something was hers, when something was undeniably part of herself. Another child? Maybe. She'd been on Gaia long enough now not to question-- but why was it coming to her through her twin?
"Well?" Raeven asked after a moment, though he already knew the answer. "You want it, or should I take it back to where I found it?"
"Why do you ask questions when you already know the answer?" Raven sighed softly, touching the now warm, pulsing pendant.
"The same reason you do, Raven," Raeven smiled slightly. "To prove that you're right, to make the other person admit it."
"That's not why I do it. At least not most of the time-- and I don't do it for the same reasons you do, so stop it," Raven rolled her eyes. Her twin didn't frighten her anymore, not the way he had when he'd first appeared. Now she accepted his presence with something close to resignation-- she couldn't get rid of him, and she wasn't even sure if she'd want to if she could. "Now that this one's met you too though, you'll have to play babysitter if I need help."
"As if you'd let me near one of your precious children," Raeven smirked slightly. "You don't trust me, cherié."
"Don't call me that, it's obscene," Raven rolled her eyes. "Go bother someone else tonight... I have things to do." Like figure out what this warm crystal was...
Raeven smiled, disappearing into the night. He'd done what he'd come to do.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:13 am
Meeting With the Medium
The Medium The lull had been short lived and Iridae had begun falling again. The crystal in her room hadn't stopped singing all day, announcing the arrival of four more brats. Four more brats that she'd have to explain to their Spirit Keepers about. Shadows, Time, Sin and Pain. Now it was the waiting game. Medium sighed and sat herself down on her couch, staring at the door. Hopefully, those that arrived would take her explanation at face value and leave. draconianraven The pendant felt warm against her skin, almost like playing Marco Polo. She moved one way and it cooled, almost pouting, another way and it warmed, grinning at her. She was personifying her newfound pendant. Wonderful.
Raven sighed as she knocked on the door the pendant had led her to. This had better be good and not another of Raeven's tricks...
The Medium Medium had been surprised by Serenity falling and two Spirit Keepers showing up at her doorstep. She was finally relaxing after everything when the door was knocked upon. The Iridae stood up slowly and huffed to herself before making her way to the door and pulling it open. The stern woman stood there, arms crossed over her chest - the perfect picture of imposing as she stared down with hollow eyes at the woman. "Couldn't have waited a day, could you? Nevermind. I've been expecting you - inside, now." She turned and strode inside, her monotonous voice going with her. draconianraven Raven stared at the woman, unsure of what to say to the intimidating figure as she mutely entered, more than a little confused by this. What was she doing? What was she doing here?
Ah well. Not the concern of the moment. Go along and listen, as apparently you were expected.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:25 am
.:Blank Papers:.In Progress Syrie Gaia. Calm and serene for brief moments during the day and night, but very rarely for long. Outside a rather quaint looking store boasting simple gold leafing on the frosted glass of the front door that read 'The Stationary Shop', a rather odd air lingered.
This place was oddly empty, but perhaps not so...it wasn't exactly the most active shop, being a store selling blank papers, but that was fine with the proprietors...neither of which were around. Also, the better part of the store was blocked off; the whole place might have been closed down save that Veloren was there, tidying up -- he figured, if he was going to be there, why not try to sell some paper?
The short, pink-haired lycanthropic creature minded the store; sweeping the front steps and cracking his gum while keeping an eye on a pretty little lavender-haired child with wings and his strange gem-necklace. draconianraven There weren't enough hours in the day, Raven decided for about the twentieth time that week, leaning against the wall. She was supposed to (at some point) meet with her sisters to discuss... well, life, work, and the problems arising from both-- and it wasn't that she was avoiding them, just that... nothing seemed to be working. They were never free at the same time.
These thoughts only came up because she'd just missed another meeting with them-- this time due to Arch being busy with Erimentha, rather than Raven's fault, for once. It put Raven in a rather foul mood, truth be told, but... ah well. She wouldn't think on it too much, wouldn't brood overly much. Or at least, she'd try not to do so.
A stationary shop! She hadn't seen one of those in a while. Something about the crisp smell of paper usually calmed her (thus the reason she had a soft spot for bookshops and the like), so she decided, impulsively, to stop and look about in--
That child. On the steps. It had a necklace. Like hers.
A hand moving to touch the pendant subconsciously, Raven glanced about before moving closer. Now she needed to investigate. She wanted to find out more about this. "Ah... hello there!" she called to the boy sweeping the steps, hoping this would be a wise decision.
Syrie Veloren hummed softly as he swept the front steps; he was worried for his family, but...he knew that things on Gaia always worked out some way or another. And honestly, Syrie was strong, he would be fine. At least, that was what the short, pink-haired lykin hoped.
When a woman called out to him, he lifted his siamese colored head and smiled broadly. "Oh, hello there! Can I help you?" The lykin was a friendly sort, and usually it was very difficult to tell his gender - he tended to wear girl's clothes; today he was in jeans and a fitted shirt that showed off his lack of breasts.
Defintely male. As was the child playing with his gem quietly. Nothing doing. Ren blinked a bit at the woman, she had moved her hand to cover a gem - was she like his father? Did she have one of those strange Iridae necklaces?
He would like to find out! It might be best to make 'friends' with more of the Iridae people...at the very least, he was going to be his usual, nice self! draconianraven As rare as it was for Raven to be without one of her many (many) kids, today because of her prior appointment, she'd left Hera and Nasir in charge of the house, knowing that between their combined intensity, they'd be able to at least keep everyone safely indoors. It was... odd, truth be told, but to have the breather did her some good.
"Ah... perhaps so?" Raven smiled, moving closer as she stroked a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear, pushing up her glasses in the same movement. "Is that child yours?" she motioned to the little purple boy with the necklace. Strange how every time she stepped out of her house she seemed to either run into someone with a child like one of her own or gain another. Ah well, no matter. Gaia was a place which fast did that to you.
Kyocho The sun was shining and just a few clouds had speckled the sky. Who could ask for anything better than this. It had been a few long... some painful months since Arranos had grown. Vin had decided to drag his charge along with him to the stationary store so they could get some supplies for Onos schooling. It was probably a good idea to start a little early. Since Arranos was a boy made of gems. It was probably a good idea to start teaching him about what they where made of and how to identify them. "Ono, we are almost there. You excited?" The elf, who was cluttered in tattoos, spoke to the toddler that had been resting against his back. A while back, Vin finally broke down and gave the boy a piggy back ride. "Yeah I am." The boy covered in gems mumbled lightly. The thought of having to be taught didn't send any thrill and excitement his way, like it was a necessary evil. The sight of the stationary shop Vin had heard about came into view. The gold design came into view and caught the elf's eyes attention fairly quickly. Although Arranos was focused on something else. There was a boy... dressed in purple, if that wasn't enough to catch his eye, then it must have been the gem he was holding. Reaching down he placed his own blue hand around his prismatic gem. "Ok, it's time to get down. I'm not carrying you into the store, you can do that yourself." The elf whispered. Setting down Arranos gently on the cement and pulled at the boys left hand and lead the blue and gem covered boy towards the shop. Syrie After the bespeckled woman asked whether Rukashel was his or not, the slight Lykin chuckled. "No miss, Ruka is my brother - adopted, of course. My father is out so I'm tending shop for a little bit while I babysit."
He smiled more being the friendly sort. "Do you have one of those strange necklaces that turn into children too?" Most didn't ask about Ruka beyond to admire the boy's beauty unless they actually knew about the Iridae.
There were voices - not too close, but coming closer. Veloren's ears swivelled to pick up a little smattering of whom and what was being said by the new people coming to the Stationary Store. He turned his torso a bit so that he could wave to the newcomer and his strangely glittering child.
How interesting! The little one had a gem-necklace as well -- coincidences happened so often on Gaia! They were practically commonplace, weren't they?
"Welcome to the Stationary Store, please come in - feel free to look around." Because really, he was supposed to be tending the shop!
Ruka was watching the woman with the necklace and then, when Arranos and Vin had arrived, the bejeweled child held his attention. draconianraven "Indeed, I think I do," Raven laughed quietly, touching it again as she glanced at the bejeweled boy coming nearer. "Not my first experience with an object that's said to turn into a child, though it feels like it'll be one of my last."
But she'd come here for a purpose, hadn't she? To calm down? ...but this was helping her focus on something less upsetting. "I wonder sometimes how common these lost souls are," Raven murmured, more to herself than to any of the individuals about.
Kyocho "VIN!" The jeweled boy shouted, but not loud enough for the whole neighborhood could hear him. "Look it's two more of those pendants. Like mine!" The elf pierced his Elvin eyes at the objects held by the people standing amongst the steps. "Ono, they could be just regular pendants found at some department store around here... but that boy is surely an Iridae." Vin nodded, "There's no doubt about it." Now it was getting out of hand. How many more of these pendants where going to fall and be found by the people of Gaia. What was going on around here...? VIN began to worry about all these gems and children that had been arriving, but he wouldn't have met Arranos if that hadn't happened. "Good afternoon and thank you." Kyo stepped closer to the shop and headed up the stairs, "Do you mind if Ono stays out here with you guys while I just pick up a few things?" Syrie Ruka looked up at the woman with the pendant, and then towards the gem-encrusted toddler speaking so loudly and coming towards them. Neither seemed the least bit strange to the lavendar-winged Iridae; he smiled a sleepy, dreamy smile and fluffed his wings a bit at them in greeting.
"There's really no telling, I suppose. I just hope no one gets hurt because of them." A slightly pained but understanding look came to the Lykin's face - his parent had suffered for the Iridae necklace; it was no wonder his thoughts were troubled as he realized there were quite a few more of Rukashel's 'kind' lurking about. "Gaia is a wonderous place, but full of curious and potentially dangerous objects - at least, that's what Syrie says."
Veloren smiled at Kyo's question and shook his head as he leaned a little more on the broom he'd been weidling against dust and dirt. "Not at all, I'm sure Ruka would love to meet him...er..." The Lykin looked a little sheepish - he couldn't tell the child's gender, but he knew that 'Ono' was an Iridae child, just like his younger sibling. "Just let me know when you're ready to check out - thank you~"
Syrie would have wanted the child to get to know his own kind. draconianraven ...well... that was an interesting newcomer, that elf-- waitasecond. Didn't she know him from some... the lab, perhaps? That... he might be the same person. Raven couldn't tell, her mind remembering only the interaction, not the figure.
...ah well. The elf was going inside, and Raven was outside with this stranger who'd mentioned... "'Hurt'?" she repeated to Veloren after a moment of silence. "They hurt people?" Just what she needed. Really. Raven had enough people getting hurt... especially in her ever-growing family. "Curious and potentially dangerous though... that sounds about right..." ...great. More things to think about.
But these children-- they were such gorgeous beings, one jeweled, the other all in vibrant hues of purple. How could Raven think anything bad of them?
Kyocho Vin slowly came to a stop upon hearing the words of pain and hurting. Looking down toward the ground sheepishly. "Sometimes it does hurt, but it doesn't all the time. It's hard to explain how it feels." The elf smiled, his back towards the group, "But in the long run... it's worth it." Vin nodded as he stepped into the shop. "Thank you, I'm sure he'll be a good boy while I’m inside." Ono watched as his guardian walked away, unable to even fathom what they had been talking about. Pain... and hurting, the boy didn't even begin to understand what these words meant. Was it like when you fell down and scrapped your knee? "Whets the boy name?" Ono asked, staring up at the one wielding the powerful broom of might. Syrie "Well, yes. He's right, it's not that it's painful for everyone - I just know that my father had a hard time because of a medical condition." Veloren smiled brightly. "As for Ruka himself? He's a darling. I've never met a sweeter child." The lykin didn't want to scare the woman with the gem hanging from her neck -- that wasn't really his intent...it was just that there were dangers inherent with anything that siphoned from your life-force, and he knew it.
When the small bejeweled child asked him what Ruka's name was, he started to open his mouth but was interrupted with the child in question chirruped out first, "His name is Ru--"
"Ruka!" The boy that looked suspiciously like a girl fluttered his wings and put his hands on the ground to push up. He could stand already, but he could not walk - and his standing required that he hold onto the gem-necklace and keep his large wings out for balance.
Yes, he was a bit advanced for his age-type; the Medium herself had commented that he was most definitely not normal. Too strong even as a gem. draconianraven "I see," Raven considered after a long moment. "I'm glad to hear that you're such a good boy, Ruka," the girl smiled. It gave her hope-- in truth, Raven had enough trouble with her children that she'd already seen emerge. Between haunted kids, dna-engineered kids... weird kids... she had her hands full most of the time, but that was all right. She kind of looked forward to seeing another kid in her house. After all, there weren't any more babies anymore...
Kyocho Ono had a look of surprise on his face. Ruka was his name... that’s a name that would need to be remembered. A smile then grew on the bejeweled Childs face. "It's nice to meet you Ruka, my name is Arranos," Ono began to think... maybe that name might be a bit too difficult for the boy to say, "Well you can just call me Ono for short." Syrie The Lykin chuckled a little and shook his head; Rukashel certainly knew how to make an impression, now didn't he? "Oh, he's a dream - really..." The unintended pun tickled the candy-pink haired youth; he smiled brightly and shifted his weight from one slim hip to the other, half leaning on his broom while watching the children and listening to Raven. He had no worries that the man called 'Vin' would steal anything from the shop -- besides, Phaid was there (and believe you me, having a large panther-esque cat with human level intelligence watching the shop kept it pretty darned safe).
Ruka lifted his head to look over at Raven and gave her a beatific smile; silver-colored eyes squinching happily. He was a good boy, which was why he smiled at the woman with the necklace before returning his attention to the bejeweled child. "'Ranos?" But the word was clumsy and he didn't like saying it. Much better was the name that Ono offered him after that. "Ono!" Lavender wings fluttered and fluffed; he was pleased. "'Ren." Rukashel pointed up at the Siamese-colored Lykin with the pink hair.
"Pretty Ono." Meaning, of course, the boy's gems. He wavered and reached out for Arranos' arm to steady himself; standing was hard - not as hard as walking was, but he wasn't always stable on his feet despite his very light weight. draconianraven ...this brought an ache to Raven's chest. She wanted a young child in her life again. Granted, there were still a few of her kids who were still young, but... perhaps it was her need for something new, or the feeling within herself that there was something new coming... but she felt like she was missing out. It always felt like this when she was around others who had someone she didn't have.
After all... she'd lost one child before, hadn't she? It had haunted her for months-- still haunted her in many ways. Maybe this necklace too... maybe she wasn't worthy of bringing another child into this crazy, chaotic world.
Perhaps she was musing too much. Perhaps she shouldn't pay attention to that sort of thing, perhaps she should pay attention to what was before her. "Careful now, Ruka," Raven smiled slightly, watching the kids.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 8:02 pm
The dreamscape could be the most beautiful, dangerous fractal path if you knew how to navigate your way around it. Then again, if you knew how to navigate your way around it as well as Arch did, you didn't notice the beauty, you only saw what was before you. And Arch was getting--
Holy hell, what was going-- that dream was--
Grimacing, Arch turned to face the light at the edge of her vision. "Eri, I told you not to follow me here."
~i'm sorry, Mother. It's an emergency.~
Of course it was. That explained everything, like why Eri was risking her sanity, her life to be here. "What is it? And tell me quickly." Arch wanted her daughter out and now.
~It's Jerusha. She's in pain. The scratching you told me to watch, it's gotten worse.~
...damnit. How could things... she'd only just started her nightly rounds! But she couldn't ignore her child, her angel in need. Especially not if Eri thought it was this important. Eri was a good judge of these sorts of things, which meant it was important. And yet... there was still the job to do. "Give me a few minutes. Hold down the fort for me, Eri-love. Now go," Arch added the last as a plea, waiting until she saw the glow disappear before grimacing again. The kill would have to be fast... not subtle...
When Arch finally pulled herself out of the dream world and back into her physical body, she could feel that something was different in the air. Eri' felt tense, felt worried. Cece meanwhile seemed to be horribly unhappy but carried that same tinge of worry-- probably picked up from Eri. And J...
Pain. Fear. Frustration.
"J?" Arch called as she pulled on her robe, slipping off to the angel's room. "Sweetheart, what's going on?" she asked, glancing at Eri for some attempt to get her bearing on the situation, even though she knew Eri couldn't speak mind to mind in her physical form.
"Hurts," J sighed softly, turning to show her mother her back as she had for her sister to reveal the feathers on her back. It... felt strange. It hurt. It felt... bad. She was frustrated with this because it hurt and she was getting far too much attention where this was concerned.
...normally, Cece would've been annoyed. Normally, Cece would've been upset that the spotlight was being upstaged, especially by her normally reclusive cousin. But this obviously wasn't normal because J, the child who never ever ever wanted to take Cece's light, was in trouble. Hurting. That was the reason Cece sat quietly in Eri's arms, glancing at her cousin with big, green eyes wondering at her. She wanted to help, but she couldn't, could she?
"She's been trying to reach there for a while," Eri murmured to her mother after a moment. "It was starting to bleed." Which meant that something was more than just a little wrong. Eri knew her sister, knew that J never said anything without thinking about it, without paying attention to what was going on, and... this wasn't normal. She was complaining in a sense, but not because it was justified, not meaningless.
...oh, she was so not cut out for this. Arch wasn't good at taking care of pain in children. Causing it, sure. Taking care of it in adults she could sleep with, sure. Taking care of it in terms of causing pleasure instead of pain... but with her child? No. She'd sworn to herself to keep from using her gifts on-- but J had it in her... damnit! "Oh, sweetheart," Arch smiled slightly, pulling J into a gentle hug, running her fingers along the edges of the still forming wings. "How much does it hurt? How long has it been hurting?" She needed Raven.
"...enough. A while," Jerusha answered after a moment, leaning into her mother's touch. She wanted to just make it go away, she wanted it to stop hurting. After all... it wasn't supposed to last. Pain was here and then gone again.
Tugging at Eri, Cece motioned that she'd rather be next to J right now, snuggling up to her cousin when given the opportunity. She couldn't do much except try to ease her cousin's pain, her tiny hands trying to copy Aunty Arch's, running gently along Jerusha's shoulder blades where the wings were growing. Apparently there was something wrong here, the way J tried not to tense when a sensitive point was touched
Okay. She couldn't do this on her own. "Eri-darling, take care of them for a moment. I'm going to go make some calls..." Arch gave Eri a slightly apologetic look before slipping off to grab some tea and some hot clothes. ~Raven. I need your help.~
She'd been fiddling with her pendant, considering the strange, almost tooth-like shape of the thing. Originally, she'd felt like there was a purpose to her having it, another child on its way, and... that had been only added to by her meeting with those kids, but... it had been so long she'd almost forgotten about it, almost given up thinking of the possibility of the soul inside, but... at the same time-- damn. Echoing sound in her head meant Arch was getting herself into trouble again. ~What?~ Raven grimaced slightly.
Okay, so Raven was still mad. That didn't matter though-- Raven would never allow one of the children to be in pain. ~I need you to do that healing thing. For J. From where you are or over here. On her back. She has these... wings. They're growing in. And it's hurting her.~
If there was one thing that she couldn't turn down it was a family member, a child in need. Since J fit both of those qualities, it meant that Raven couldn't say no. "Arch, I hate you," Raven grimaced, wrapping her hand around the pendant, feeling it warm to her touch as she stood, moving to grab the picture of Jerusha before responding to the mental note. ~Fine. I'll do what I can as far as from away. When we meet this weekend, I'll take a look at it again if it hasn't gotten any better. I'll send her treatments everyday till then. You should give her your teas and your potions-- if you have any healing salve left, use that too. You know how to handle this, Arch,~ Raven reminded her sister gently.
...sanity. Thank the gods for Raven's ability to calm the situation. ~...thank you, Arch sighed softly across the link before closing it off, grabbing the teas and the potions with the last tub of salve she had. Tea. Potions. Salve. Treatments. This was handled.
Great...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 2:52 pm
Taking a deep breath, Raven tried to steady herself. Things were going to be all right. Always. Things worked out for the best. In the end, what happened, happened. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less. What goes around comes around. The law of Karma. The way of the world. Everything happened for a reason. She just had to keep repeating that to herself, and eventually the belief would follow, at least in theory. Everything had a purpose...
"Mother?" Hera murmured, breaking into Raven's thoughts. "Mother, are you all right?"
No. "Yes, dear," Raven managed after a moment, clutching the pendant around her neck with her right hand. In all honesty, she didn't know. The warmth of the pendant calmed her, the way it pulsed in time with the beating of her heart, as if it were trying to soothe her worries away with that gentle throbbing.
Liar, Hera thought to herself as she sat next to her mother. She wouldn't voice her opinion though, not with Mother so stressed and lost and scared. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Thank you, sweetheart, but no," Raven shook her head, taking a deep breath and trying to concentrate. What was going on with her? Things like this happened everyday-- why was she so upset by it? Glancing at the pendant, as if it could shed some light on the situation, Raven sighed softly to herself. There she went, expecting something from a necklace again... "Why don't you go check on your brothers and sisters for me, Hera?"
Gali chirped quietly, glancing at Hera about to argue. Not now, his eyes seemed to say, the little tone shaking his head gravely. Raven wasn't up to talking or dealing with her kids at all right now, and even if they wanted to help, they should realize that. Hera always did this from a spirit of good intention, but... sometimes there was something to be said for living and letting live.
Resisting the urge to argue, Hera rose and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, slipping out of the room to find her siblings. She didn't like this-- didn't like this at all. After all, Mother shouldn't be so... but she was soft-hearted. Trusting. Where her kids were mostly cynical, Raven was an optimist underneath her bold façade. Perhaps that was the problem.
Stopping in the hall to pick up the phone, Hera dialed her Aunt's number with as much alacrity as she could. Someone had to talk some sense into Mother. The most likely person, sadly, was also the one who'd argue with Raven the most-- but Arch had the benefit of understanding Raven more than Winter did.
"'llo~?"
"Cece?" Hera blinked, surprised for a moment. She hadn't realized the little girl was allowed to answer the phone-- not that anyone was likely to stop her, but... still. Strange. No one Cece's age had ever been allowed to answer the phone here.
"Hewa!" Cecelia grinned at the phone, laughing slightly. "Why oo cawwing?" she asked, considering her cousin's voice for a long moment. People in this family didn't usually talk on the phone. It wasn't the way things worked with this family. Other families, maybe, but not here. So why was Hera doing the weird thing with the phone and the dialing?
"Ah, Cece, is Aunty Arch there?" Hera shook her head after a moment, drawing herself back to the point at hand, rather than focusing on the strange fact of the little girl answering the phone.
"Aun'y iz'n hea. She wen' too take J some'ere," Cece explained after a moment, smiling sweetly even though she knew Hera couldn't see her. Hera was the voice in the phone. Not out here. But smiling was good, smiling meant happy and happy was good. Happy showed up in voices too. Which meant Hera could hear the smile, even if she wasn't seeing it.
"Oh..." Hera thought about this for a moment. Well... she couldn't very well leave the message with Cece, could she? The little girl was bound to forget or mix it up with something else-- that's just the way she was, no fault of her own. But then... this was important. "Is your Mom around?" It felt weird to call Eri a mom, but... that's who she was to Cece, wasn't she?
"Mommy sleepin'," Cece shrugged before remembering that Hera was only the voice in the phone, not here. "Not 'wake," she clarified a little. "Wan' me tell somefin?" Because Cece wanted to help! Helping was good. It made people happy when you helped them.
"No... that's all right, Cece," Hera decided after a moment. She'd have to take care of it on her own. "Just tell your Mom I called and that I'm looking forward to dinner this weekend, 'kay?"
"'Kay!" Cece grinned before hanging up the phone, watching it clatter to the floor before toddling off to see if her Mommy was still asleep.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 11:05 pm
Raven clutched the pendent to her tightly, feeling the red point dig into her palm. She wished it would pierce, she could see blood pooling from the pale moon of her flesh, watch it well up and disappear. She kept failing. She would fail again. She'd failed so many times in the past.
"Don't leave me," she whispered to the crystal, feeling it warm in her hand, comforting. "I can't be alone again."
But she was alone, wasn't she? Winter wanted no one, so she didn't count. Arch had Jerusha and Eri-- strange that the flighty sister was so much better cut out for this than the supposedly motherly one. How was it fair?
"I'm sorry," she murmured softly, feeling the weight of the pendant in her palm. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Whatever happened before, whatever's happening now, I want you to remember that I care about you. I want this, whatever you're going to bring to my life. I promise I'll try harder this time. I'll try--"
"Mother?" Jett asked quietly, stepping into the room. His mother had been emotional, strangely so for the past few days, ever since they'd dropped in to see Aunt Arch and the cousins. He didn't like it, the way she wouldn't look at him, the way she seemed to be hiding from everyone.
"Jett!" Raven started, turning towards the door. "I didn't-- I thought you were asleep," she explained lamely. She should've been aware-- it was things like this that made her unfit to be a mother, she supposed. Raven knew she wasn't the sort of person to pay attention to the details though. That was her fault.
"I was," Jett answered easily, one hand sneaking out to tangle with Raven's free one. "I woke up." It was simple-- he had been sleeping, now he wasn't. He'd wanted his Mother to talk to, and so he'd found her.
"I see," Raven nodded slowly, squeezing Jett's hand as she fingered the pendant in the other. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" she asked, studying his face slowly for a hint, a clue that would give her insight into her complex little boy.
"I want to go see my dragon," he answered, moving to sit next to her on the bed. "Can we go?"
"Not tonight, love," Raven shook her head gently, giving him a kiss on the top of his head. "We can go another day if you want, but not tonight-- it's already so late. You should be sleeping still."
"I had a dream about my dragon. It was hatching," Jett explained after a moment. "I wanted to see it happen."
"We'll go look tomorrow maybe, darling. I'm sure they'll let us know when your dragon hatches."
Jett nodded reluctantly, "All right, Mother. I'll go to bed again then." He wasn't pleased, but he'd listen. Mother knew best, after all. Tomorrow would be soon enough, he supposed.
Nodding, Raven led her little spider back to his room, tucking him into bed with a kiss. "Rest, Jett. Tomorrow we'll go see your dragon, and we'll make sure everything's all right," she promised. "Tomorrow."
Perhaps she wasn't so alone after all, she decided, glancing from the pendant to her little boy before fastening the red strap around her neck again and heading back to her room. Perhaps she wasn't alone indeed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
