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 Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:02 am
After having celebrated the small Forgotten's birthday on their own, because Lysium insisted on inviting nobody, Faiga had planned to make her socialise a bit more. Probably with somebody older than she was and more able to tell her a bit about herself and life.
So he remembered the boy they had met by incident one day and called him up. Thinking about himself at that age he also offered a small payment for babysitting Lysium. It would give him some time to ride towards his tribe's small village and take care of some duties he had to fulfill.
Now they were standing in front of the house Althalus lived in. Lysium glared at Shiver as he was about to examine the garden. She wanted him to stay close, as close as possible to be precise. So she picked him up and clutched him to her chest. Faiga rang the door and golden eyes grew wide with fear. Can't...breath...LYS! The cat coughed.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:38 am
There was a pounding of feet down the staircase, and then Althalus grinned at them as he opened the door. The slightly built boy had his hair tied messily at the nape of his neck, bandana tied tightly around his head, and his dark-ringed eyes were bright as he adjusted the loose black tunic he was wearing.
"Hi there! Mr. Faiga, right? I remember. How are those big yellow birds?" Without pausing much in his speech, he crouched to look up at Lysium. "And hi there to you to, Lysium. You sure have grown...." His face was open and trusting, though there was a slightly mischievous, wary look lurking in his eyes.
There was a muttering in the mental aether, though the boy's daemon was seemingly nowhere in sight.
Tell the girl she's crushing Shiver. Being able to breathe is a good thing.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:48 am
Lysium's eyes grew wide as the door opened. She hadn't quite understood what her father had told her, but as she was greeted by Althalus she recognised him. So she eased her grip on the daemon as she noticed his unhappy state. A sorry didn't cross her lips or mind though, but she just stared at the older boy.
As she was slightly nudged by Faiga, Lysium finally responded. "Hello." Daddy had told her that he would leave and she was a bit afraid about them. She hadn't met anybody without him being around yet.
"Hi, yes, right. Thank you, Althalus, you're really doing me a favour. The birds are doing well. Lys, you will behave, right?" He smiled slightly and waited for his girl to get inside.
Shiver coughed again, ears twitching as he was partially released. There was this Althie guy, but where the hell was that colour changing one? He needed to get to know the trick! Colour changer, are you here?
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:06 pm
Althalus stood aside slightly to let Lysium come into the house. "There's only me and Ralph here today, but he's out in the back garden, I doubt you'll see much of him. So me and Lys - can I call you Lys? - can go do some painting or something, how about it?" His tone was animated, but almost already dismissive of the guardian, attention all for the other little Forgotten.
There was still no sight of Stealth, but an amused tone came in reply to Shiver's inquiry. Of course I'm here. And my name is Stealth, remember it.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:15 am
Lysium looked at Faiga for a moment before moving in with Althalus. "Bye Darling, I'll pick you up later." The father called out and then turned around. He'd never left her somewhere else, it was a bit of a strange feeling.
"You may." The toddler answered as she listened to his words. She didn't care about meeting that person named Ralph. Looking up at the older boy she nodded. Painting was indeed something she enjoyed. "I like to paint. Are you good?" She had quickly noticed that painting as all about being good, because Faiga always praised her talent. Perhaps Althalus wasn't informed about that and she needed to teach him. "I like gold."
Not many people talked to her that much and so she felt the need to say more than usual. Shiver didn't need to be reminded to talk though. I like black, because it's just like me and my fur colour. So do you like every colour, chang... - Stealth? It was a bit strange because he didn't know where to look at, so he decided to talk to the carpet. He would try to remember the lizard's name this time, it was stupid if you didn't know names.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:52 am
Althalus gave a cheery wave to the departing Faiga, and then closed the door with a satisfied bang. "There! You wanna come through to the kitchen? I used to paint there a lot when I was a little younger. I like writing more than painting, though. You like writing, Lys? And gold, huh? Gold as a colour, or the stuff? Hey, you have cool eyes, actually."
The skinny older Forgotten padded happily through to the kitchen, looking back to make sure she was following. She sure was quiet.... ah well, he was quite happy to provide the conversation.
There was movement at his shoulder, and suddenly a small head appeared out of his collar, bright black eyes glittering as Stealth smoothly shifted colour to her relaxed bronze-brown.
I don't like adults seeing me. But it's only polite to see the person you're talking to, is it not? She still sounded amused. But black is good. I like lots of colours. She raised her head a little, a flood of inky black rushing over her until her eyes were undiscernable against the darkness of her skin, and she opened her mouth in silent laugh.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:43 am
As Lysium had never been to somebody else's home she followed slowly and examined everything closely. After having finished that procedure. "Our kitchen is more small." She looked at one of the chairs and assumed that it was for her to take place. Bit insecure about stepping on her dress she turned to Althalus.
"I will learn it. I have a teacher now, but I just know how to write my name. Daddy gave me a book to write, but...what is fun about that?" Her doubts would have never been mentioned to her father, but because Althalus seemed trustworthy she wanted to rely on his experiences. She forgot about his other questions and the comments though as she recognised Stealth. Quickly she made sure that Shiver was around.
The daemon indeed had followed and had almost walked against one of the table's legs. Looking up he saw Stealth appear and sat down beside the piece of furniture. Yes, not nice. But now I can see you. What is wrong with adults? His fur brizzled in excitement as she changed a bit. Somehow it appeared quite creepy to him, but on the other hand it fascinated him quite much.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:21 am
Althalus looked back from the sink. "Our kitchen is big because we got our dining table in it." He grinned as he knelt on the counter to get a cup out of the cupboard. "Do you want a drink? And take a seat, it's fine."
He came back over to the table with a glass of orange, hand absently going to his shoulder where Stealth scampered onto it, and then was lowered to the tabletop. The gecko-daemon changed to the warm yellow of varnished oak as she came over to peer at the newcomers with interest, only her movement and and eyes making her distinguishable.
Althalus looked more thoughtful as he started pulling newspaper out of a pile and spreading it across the table.
"Well.... writing is good because it helps to communicate to other people what you want them to know. Or to make notes of things you want to do or buy in case you both forget." The box with the paints was over by the washing machine, and Althalus moved over to get them, smiling back at Lysium with dark eyes. "Of course, my favourite is making secret letters that only me or my friends can understand. But words are good, you know? You can.... write poetry, or translate from other languages to help people understand one another." He waved a hand vaguely, dropping the box back on the table.
Why not adults? Stealth sounded mischievous. Because I can hide easily, and then if they don't know I exist, it's easier to surprise them, or to never let them know I exist at all.
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:35 am
Lysium nodded at the question and looked at the orange juice. Luckily she knew what it was so she didn't have to ask. Althalus seemed to carry Stealth around a lot. Shiver was more independent or perhaps she didn't like him THAT close. She didn't like him away either.
Before she had more time to think about that matter her attention was turned to the act of painting. "I want to paint you." The girl decided and looked at him with a very slight smile.
"Secret letters?" Lysium was pretty amazed by that idea. She had never thought of that possibility before, but that was probably because she didn't know of any friends to write to. Perhaps she could ask Althalus to write secret stuff with her, when she was older and knew how to write.
Shiver didn't know what to think about Stealth anylonger. Irony and mischievious thoughts were things he just couldn't follow yet. But he liked the idea of surprising people. At night, you can only see my eyes. The daemon commented. Is changing exhausting?
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Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:09 am
Althalus winked. "Yep, secret letters. When you learn the normal ones, I might even teach you, if you like." He went to find some paint water, and a few pieces of pristine white paper which were only marred by the crumpling at the edges.
"Tell you what, I'll show you some letters, but I'll make them all cool with the paint," he decided, dropping into the chair beside her before looking across. "And trust me, you don't really want to paint me, I'm boring." He smiled again, leaning his head forward to find a paintbrush, a gold chain glittering at his neck as it caught the light, along with the earrings in his slightly pointed ears.
Stealth came over onto the paper, the colour fading out of her until she was pure white, and looked at the small black cat-daemon appraisingly. Hiding at night is useful. And well.... when I was your age, I only could change colour to what is around me. I don't have to think about it, see? My skin is just changy, like your fur is fluffy. She sounded happier for a moment, more than her usual sarcastic self. But now if I make an effort I can change to the colour we think about, you know?
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:10 am
Lysium was about to say that she would really like to learn that, but was distracted by the paper and the paint. Following his attempts to find a paintbrush she leaned forward on the chair to see something.
In the process she noticed his jewelry. "Not pretty." She said it in an almost disgusted tone which was pretty serious at the same time. The comment after all wasn't meant to insult the older boy, but to protect him from wearing strange stuff. "You need different earrings." She continued.
Oooooh.... A simple noise of astonishment followed Stealth's actions. Shiver was pretty amazed by her now. Fluffy and changy, now I get it! In fact he didn't, because he still thought about being able to change one day. Stealth was older than he was - or at least she seemed to be more experiences - and so it was just a matter of time, Shiver assumed. "Can we do a game? You change and I say what you're thinking of ?
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:10 am
Althalus blinked, pausing in his process of opening the paintpots. "Wha? And... wait, what's wrong with my earrings?" He almost scowled for a moment, being slightly touchy about it after Kel had been so disapproving, but then he remembered he was trying to be a people person, so he just looked aimiable instead, and held out a paintbrush for her.
Stealth by this point was thoroughly amused, which was unusual for her. Normally the little gecko-daemon was sulky and sharp-tongued in opposition to her other half, but the admiration and curiousity of the cat-daemon made her smile mentally, her face unsuited to doing so.
Sure. She scampered out into the middle of the table, and tilted her head, turning bright orange, except for her head, which shifted to a deep green. Okay, what'm I thinking of?
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:04 pm
Picking the paintbrush Lysium examined it closely and then pushed it into the paintpot Althalus had just opened. It was a nice red. "They make you look hard. But you're nice. You should wear red and black coloured ones. Shiny."
Shiver was so happy that he finally had made a point Stealth seemed to like. He stretched his paws slowly and then eyed the gecko. She became orange. Orange..orange...what did he know? Fish! Goldfish! No no...her head is green...think Shiver, think...
She's an orange, Shiver. Lysium's voice echoed in his head. She didn't look at him though but slowly dripped some colour on the blank page in front of her. The daemon meowed happily. She's an orange! I mean...you, Stealth, you're an orange!
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:13 pm
Althalus blinked a few more times, and then smiled pleasantly. "I'll give it a try, just for you, how about it?" He went to reach for the red paint, but then shrugged, passing over the blue and green to pick up the yellow. He didn't like blue or green, they seemed so cold. Colours should be soft and warm and light and dark, he thought absently, starting to scrawl wide arcs vertically down the side of the paper.
Stealth opened her mouth in a silent laugh, or a huff. Close, but not quite. I'm a carrot, cause I'm long and thin, see? If I was an orange I would do this, And she curled herself round into a ring shape, the green fading and her head touching her tailtip.
Althalus looked up to watch his daemon for a moment, and then laughed. "You're being funny today, Stealth dear."
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:47 pm
Lysium didn't smile often, but as he accepted her 'offer' her lips parted slightly. "Oh yes, Al-?" She hadn't managed to remember his complete name. Looking at his paper she wondered what kind of letter that was.
Still a little bit shakey with the brush she started to paint Althalus' face. It looked quite friendly. "What do you show me now?"
Shiver pouted a bit. But then he realised that Lysium wasn't as intelligent as she thought and his pout turned into a grin. O carrot. You're long, not round. It made quite a lot of sense to him. My turn now? What am I?
The cat daemon tried to get on his feet and straightened his body. The two upper paws in the air. Nervously he started to flap them. Then he squealed a bit. It looked strangely ridiculous and even Lysium turned to look at him.
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