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 Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:05 pm
"NA na na na, heeeey heeeey heeeey-"
"GOOOOODBYEEEEE!"
"Rock on!" Soloman beamed.
Harper cheered for himself, cleverly having learned the word 'goodbye' and applied it to what Eliot was quickly deciding to be the most annoying song EVER. Soloman was edging him on though, repeating the headway and leading Harper into his wail of a 'goodbye' over and over, and given Eliot's sensitive state right now wails were the last thing he wanted to hear.
You would think a rockstar would have eardrums more resistant than a water buffalo stampede, but hey, drugs can bring down the strongest of us. (and do very weird things at very weird times.. that's what experimenting gets you, folks!)
"Where are we going?" Eliot asked in a hushed, whispery voice to Soloman.
"SEE FRIEND!" Harper screamed toward Eliot's ear.
With a cry of pain and agony Eliot grabbed his ears and jumped backwards, while Soloman and Harper giggled and continued on. Harper was perched on Soloman's shoulders and was thus very, very high into the air. It was like sitting on a skyscraper. Only skyscrapers didn't have mohawks that blocked one's vision. They arrived at the infamous apartment, the one next to Bambi's and just across the courtyard.
Soloman gave a light knock, cleared his throat and stood up straight. Eliot, a couple feet back, hurried to catch up - still clinging to his ears. Upon further inspection, it would become clear that Soloman and Harper had on matching shiny blue sequence jackets!
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:33 pm
There was obviously something loud and raucous going on in apartment 208, and if people didn't know better, they'd say that the new inhabitants were party animals. It wasn't, of course, anywhere near the truth. The truth was weirder, and had a tendency to happen more frequently than even the most enthusiastic parties. The truth was also, in fact, drinking rum and singing loudly and off-key.
There was a pause between Soloman’ knock and any semblance of attention, during which could be heard a few lines of song and the repeated refrain, “Drink up me hearties, yo ho!” Then there was a brief silence, in which someone said, “Was ‘at th’door?” And then there was a loud flurry of motion from behind the door, some of which sounded like a man losing a battle with an unhappy cat.
Then the door was flung open and Melchy ran out, waving enthusiastically at Soloman and Harper and screaming at the top of his lungs, “I GOT IT!!!” Several disgruntled looking men in a wide variety of clothing and all holding bottles of what was undoubtedly rum looked curiously at the three newcomers, none daring to come anywhere near the cat-child. One man sulking near the door had a scratch under one eye.
“HARPER!” Melchy yowled, grinning widely, tail twitching furiously. He looked curiously at Eliot and then said in a rush, “This my family they all pirates come in yeah?”
“Now wait just a minute,” one man said, but a female voice cut him off.
“Melchy, what are you doing?” The pirates crowded around the door parted and Katrina walked out. She glanced at Solo and then at Eliot, then fixed her gaze on Harper. “I see.”
“Come in!” Melchy insisted, ignoring he captain for the moment.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:42 pm
"AAAH!" Somehow, it was getting worse. The closer he got the closer to the ground Eliot fell and by the time he was at the the doorway with his other two family members he was on his knees clutching his ears and begging for mercy, "my ears!" He whispered delicately again, curling into a fetal position.
Soloman had grinned happily when he saw all the others. Not the least bit intimidated, though that was due largely to his own delusions that they were all some sort of demented vagabond actors pretending to be pirates, Soloman gave a light wave. "Heya! I'm Soloman." He smiled and pulled Harper off his shoulders, plopping the boy down next to Melchy he waved at the cat boy as well. "How's the drumming go?"
Harper grinned at Melchy and went to throw his arms around the other boy and HUG him! Obviously he had yet to register the claw scratch thing, and he was in a briefly sweet baby mode. "HAI MELCHEZEEDEYK!"
"Someone shoot me." Mumbled Eliot.
"Oh, don' mind him. We were playing with some bleach and purple crystals something call and 'elf' brought over and look what happens. I guess his ears are being sensitive, SO DON'T USE LOUD VOICES OKAY?" Soloman explained with a casual shrug.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:59 pm
“HEY THAR HARPER!” Melchy answered, not put off in the least when Harper latched onto him. He squeezed back, lifting the lighter boy off his feet in an enthusiastic hug and then setting him down. Then he looked up at Soloman and smiled. “No have drums, only a piper. Not very good at that,” he said, but then his attention was back on Harper. “WHAT YOU WANNA DO?”
Katrina watched with mild interest as Eliot collapsed to the ground, and then she did what any pirate would do: she walked over and poked at him with the tip of her boot. The pirates all looked at Soloman and registered their own greetings. There were only seven or so at home right now, the rest were god-knows-where doing god-knows-what. Katrina didn’t care. She listened to Solo’s explanation of Eliot’s behaviour and then looked at her crew. They were all watching Eliot like he was some unusual new species of fish that had flopped onto the deck. Eventually, one of them looked up at Solo and handed him a flask. “Care for a drink, bucko? I’d offer to yer mate, but ‘e’s…” he trailed off and shrugged. Katrina looked at Solo.
“You want I should drag him inside or should I just leave him here? Don’t mind my men. If they offer you rum, drink it.”
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 2:16 pm
Having giggled when being lifted and flailed joyfully, Harper then grinned at the other boy. His eyes quickly darted into the pirates' apartment, and with a small motion of his head he made it clear that's where he wanted to go. "You have bedroom?" He asked while letting go of Melchy and moving to dart past all the pirates through their feet and into their apartment. They should go get into stuff now, yes they should!
Eliot glared at Katrina when he was poked with a boot. The whites in his eyes were red and his pupils and brown iris had a similar glaze. "You are the devil." He told her grumpily, deciding there was no point in begging anymore. Plus he was hallucinating by then.
Soloman glanced from Harper to the flask handed to him. "Well. It ain't tequila but alright." Soloman took a swig from the flask and then blinked a couple times, "Ain't that odd!" He declared merrily a second later.
Finally he remembered his agonized friend. "If you want? I don't see the harm in leaving him out here either, not like any rabid fan girls can get ahold of 'em and tear of his fingernails like that time in engla- oh, what am I saying. Okay, fine." He rolled his eyes and walked to Eliot, kicking him lightly to get him to roll (sort of) toward the inner apartment.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 2:43 pm
Melchy followed Harper's gaze into the apartment and then nodded enthusiasticaly. He dodged after Harper, skidding around heavy boots and catching up to the other boy in record time. "Share wif Cap'n, but on'y her. Ever'one else share a lot." He shoved the door to his room open and pulled Harper inside.
It was definitely captain's quarters, and Katrina had made the place her own. A number of expensive-looking books stood neatly on a table next to a lot of mapmaking supplies, and a number of expensive crystal decanters were arranged on a shelf beside the bed. There was a hammock in one corner, and a bed in the center. Melchy pointed at the hammock. "That's mine!" he said.
Katrina laughed abrasively when Eliot called her the devil, and then grinned. "You have no idea," she said.
Soloman's reaction to the rum sent a chuckle through the pirates, and one clapped him on the back. "Good on ye, landlubber," he said. The entire crew, captain included, watched as Soloman tried to roll Eliot into the apartment. Katrina nodded at her pirates, and two men bent down and picked the man up, carrying him inside and dumping him unceremoniously onto the couch. Katrina followed, looking curiously at Soloman. "Fingernails?" she asked, wrinlking her nose.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 2:57 pm
Harper looked around in awe. His apartment was a wreck, and his mommy and Eliot had some fantastic clothes, but this room took the cake for sure. "SO COOL!" He yelled, running to Melchys hammock he gave an awkward attempt at jumping inside it. "You sleep here always?! SO LUCKY! I have crib." He scowled the last word and glared bitterly at the hammock breifly before giving a sigh. "No toys?" He asked Melchy, eying the captian's book collection maliciously.
Eliot was now quite confused. The blond demon woman was mocking him and her minions of despair had taken a hold of him and were towing him into the torture chambers - and his best friend of all was aiding! "Soloman! YOU TRAITOR!" It was then, as he yelled, he remembered his ears, and cringed in pain. "I'll remember this." He whispered in his best haunting threat voice. He was on the couch a second later and gave a rather relaxed sigh while trying to bury his face into whatever couch material was available to him.
Soloman inspected the flask a little longer, and coulden't help but be pushed a little when he was clapped. He was quite tall but something scarcely thin; fairly easy to push around, at least physically. Of course, he was used to it. "Yup. Fingernails. Saw' the pinky nail on the internet a couple weeks over - sold for 400 bucks! We were quite famous. Of course, any true fan would have realized that meant he coulden't play bass without whining like a big baby till' the bloody things grew back, so..." Out of all his companions Solo was definitely the quickest to talk about their past. Eliot did, sometimes, but for the most part he recognized that most people wouldn't believe them when he said they used to be ridiculously famous, none the less that it would prove any point.
"So uhm. Your pirates, huh?" Solo asked a second later in his best casual tone.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 3:35 pm
Melchy laughed when Harper inspected his room, feeling very proud of the quarters in a way he didn’t when it was only him and his family. When Harper attempted to scramble into the hammock, Melchy ran up behind him and helped push him up. “Iunno what’s a crib?” he said, turning the sentence into a question halfway through. When Harper mentioned toys, Melchy looked a little bit confused. Katrina had never really supplied him with anything of the sort. “I have paints!” he said brightly, running over to Katrina’s desk and clambering up onto a chair to reach the washable paints and paper she had bought for him. “But iunno what’s toys, I think,” he remarked conversationally.
Katrina watched her men carry Eliot and hid a laugh behind her hand when the drugged man yelled at Soloman. She wondered if this sort of spectacle was enough to make her crew ignore the drugs that were so easily obtained on dry land. They were certainly laughing now, and she suspected that none of them would want to look stupid. She stole a bottle from one of her men and took a swig, looking over at Soloman and nodding.
“The entire crew of the good ship Ghost at your service, sir,” she said, taking off her hat and bowing haughtily.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 3:53 pm
Once inside the hammock, Harper squealed with newfound glee as it moved a bit, certainly more than his stupid crib did anyway. "Is like a swing!" He observed. "Oh. No crib like swing. This thin'. Crib like CAGE!" he exclaimed fiercely.
"Paints?" Harper echoed, looking at what Melchy was doing curiously. "We have crayons sometimes, good to eat." Harper informed Melchy, then glancing back at Katrina's books. "We paint on those?" He asked/suggested while trying to climb back out of the hammock and finding it was difficult than getting in.
Solo gave a snort as he walked toward Eliot and promptly sat on the other man's torso. Eliot was too half unconscious/in pain to overly care. "Entire crew at my service? Y'all make a habit of telling that to people right before you rob 'n murder him? I'm just here to drop off the kid. He's quite taken with your little kitty." Solo explained with a grin, absent mindedly drumming away on his thighs with his hands. "Why are you guys in an apartment anyway, and not out... boarding a submarine or something?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:06 pm
Melchy made a face as Harper explained his crib as a cage. He had been in a cage once, shortly after he had ‘hatched’. Katrina had put him in one after he had attacked her. “CAGE BAD!” He exclaimed violently, kicking at the chair and then going to help Harper get out of the hammock. “Needs help get in and out,” he said sagely. “Cap’n help me,” he elaborated, trying to figure out how to help out Harper without dumping him on the floor. He wasn’t sure it was going to work.
When Harper pointed at Katrina’s books, he bit his lip and looked up at them. “Not think so. Cap’n say ‘You no touch or I hang you from the ceiling by your ankles,’” he mimicked, scowling fiercely and pointing at Harper. “Have paper to use someplace,” he said, looking around. “Can use walls too.” He pointed at a blank wall in emphasis.
Katrina rose from her bow and smiled wryly at Soloman’s questions. “We try to avoid murder, believe it or not,” she said, sitting down on the arm of the couch and crossing her legs, taking another swig of rum. “And generally, no. What we usually say to people is ‘Give us all your money and we probably won’t sink your boat.’ You’d be surprised how well it often works.” A few pirates sniggered. Katrina smiled at Solo’s mention of Harper. “Mel seemed to enjoy his time with you and yours as well,” she answered.
“And as to why we’re here? He’s playing with your kid as we speak. If my cabbage hadn’t spontaneously grown a cat-boy, I wouldn’t be here right now.” She shrugged. “Life happens.”
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:14 pm
Harper hung awkwardly from the side of the hammock, flailing one of his legs trying to find ground before he gave up and just let himself go. He landed with a bit of a thud but was soon up again. "Ow!" He declared, smiling.
He glanced at the wall and then at the books. "Your mommy do that to you? My mommy yell lot but never hurt me. Sometimes Eliot say he gonna do somethin mean but mommy hit him with can and they yell and stuffs. They don't mean it." Harper said with a passive wave of his hand. Of course, he had no idea if Katrina meant it!
"But wall okay, if you scared you get in trouble!" Aaah, and so it begins. "What favorite color? Mine red! And yellow! And black! And orange! And blue!" Harper asked happily.
Soloman shrugged, "Oh, I see. You guys are like robin hood pirates or something." Judging by his voice and grin he was being sarcastic. "Yes I imagine it'd work." He thought about it a moment and then quickly shook his head, "Just for the record, we don't have any boats. We have a nice car though.." Soloman mused out loud.
Eliot was awake enough to catch that one. "You are such an idiot." He moaned/whispered, curling in discomfort.
Soloman grinned again and nodded, "We were here before our got ours, no life changing kid for us I guess. Yeah? Well! That's cause of me! I was teachin' him how to drum not long ago!"
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:34 pm
Melchy watched Harper and winced a little bit when he hit the ground, but since he seemed okay, Melchy didn’t make a big deal out of it. At Harper’s question, he shrugged. “Cap’n never hurt me, but say that all th’time. Sometimes get put in ‘brig’ but it’s jus’ corner.” He pointed at a small, folded towel in a corner that denoted his ‘time out’ space. When he got older, who knew? Katrina might mean it.
When Harper said the thing about getting in trouble, Melchy bristled a little bit. “You never made her mad,” he said darkly. Katrina had a temper, and though Melchizedek had never experienced the full brunt of it, he got the feeling that destroying her books would probably do it quite well.
Harper’s quick change of subject gave him the opening to drop the topic. “I like green an’ red an’ black!” he said cheerfully. He pointed at the blue sequined jacket Harper was wearing. “And blue like yer jacket,” he said and laughed. Struggling with the finger paints until he got them open, he dipped his hand into the red paint and ran over to the wall. “I’ma make a dinosaur!” he laughed. Katrina had taken him to the museum a few days ago, and Melchy hadn’t stopped talking about dinosaurs and saber-toothed tigers since.
Katrina laughed at Soloman’s comparison of her crew to Robin Hood. “Oh, yes. Steal from the rich and give to the poor, which is us after we spend whatever we stole last. But there are other upsides to avoiding murder. Dead men tell more tales than you’d think, especially in the age of forensic science.” She smiled warmly at Eliot. “Don’t worry, we don’t steal cars. I’m not sure how many of my crew can drive. None of us have licenses.” And then she went back to Solo. “That explains a lot. He’s been hitting things with sticks a lot recently.”
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 6:32 pm
Harper considered the brig for a moment, eventually giving a shrug. His parents just locked him in his room when they were really mad at him. He went to the paints and looked for a yellow. He dunked his fingers in at first but quickly decided on something better. Glancing down at the small wings on his ankles he clumsily yanked a feather out, discovering it hurt quite a bit more than when you pulled a hair out. Meh! No matter!
He dunked the feather in the yellow and ran over to Melchy showing him his artistic tool proudly. "I use feather. Maybe you use tail." He suggested, glancing at Melchy's tail.
At that, he proceeded to try and draw big gobs of gob like circles.
"Oh. Right. Because obviously if you were going to steal a car you would be concerned with following the law further and obtaining a license first." He smiled a bit and looked around. "Must be gettin' a bit of cabin fever, huh? Yeah? Well he's welcome to come over whenever he wants! Harper ain't too interested in drummin', I dunno what's wrong with that boy.." Soloman pouted briefly.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:06 pm
Melchy looked over at Harper’s discovery, and made a loud squeeing noise. “Oh, cool!” he said brightly, taking his tail in one hand and running back over to the paint. To any intelligent observer, his dinosaur looked like something small and full of blood had violently exploded on the wall, but that didn’t seem to faze Melchy in the slightest. He looked over at Harper and grinned. “What you painting?”
“Do you know how hard it is to keep the cops from tracing cars?” someone asked Solo from the back. Katrina laughed and nodded. “It’s true. About a hundred percent more important than actually following the law.” She grinned at Solo’s invitation. “Thank you in advance, the boy drives most of us out of our minds, and I’m sure I’ll be taking you up on that offer. Yours is welcome here anytime we haven’t already kicked Melchizedek out,” she added, smiling at Solo.
At some point, someone was going to have to check on the kids. Nobody seemed to intent on the task at the moment.
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