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 Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:20 pm
The skies were gray over the rough landscape. This was not a time of glorious sunsets or beautiful nigh; this was a time of cold and harsh snows and even more brutal winds that licked at the trees clean of leaves. Tonight was a relatively good night, actually, since there was a distinct lack of any blizzard or hail. Silvery moonlight glittered off of the snow, making it look like crushed diamonds rather than frozen shards of water. Currently, Alastair was taking advantage of the respite in the weather and was acting his age. That is, his age from about twelve or so years ago.
Decked out with enough Christmas-themed clothes and bells to fill an entire department store, Alastair was having the time of his life playing in the snow. The failed attempts at capturing pokémon earlier had made him sad, but fresh snow always made him happy. It gave him a convenient excuse to act like a little kid, not that he needed an excuse. Acting like a kid was generally more fun than acting all responsible anyway. Not to mention, it was a season for fun! Technically, Hanukkah had ended on the twelfth, but… well, the family was finally getting together now. As a family, they were pretty relaxed holiday-wise and religion-wise; it was figured, more or less, that God didn’t really give a damn about WHAT day the family got together and celebrated. He ought to be happy that they were getting together at all and having a nice happy time.
But dinner wasn’t ready yet, which left Alastair with plenty of time to act like a little kid. Humming in a slightly off-tune voice, he readjusted Lum’s little menorah-themed scarf so it wouldn’t fall off before sending the little mareep off to play in the snow. What a wonderful little creature… she had been his Hanukah gift on the last night. Very lovely… sure, his family had been a little out-of-date, but that was perfectly fine with him. This was probably her first encounter with snow, and, damn, she looked like she was having fun! More fun than poor Con, anyway…
The pale houndoom growled low in his throat and shook his head, trying to dislodge the sprig of mistletoe that Alastair had tied to his horn. It was just so humiliating… he was certain that the growlithes back at the farm laughed at him, but every time he attempted to punish them for their laughter, Alastair stopped him! He growled again and tried to rub off the sprig against a tree, hoping that it would work this time. Something spherical flew across his line of vision, however, distracting him and kicking up certain instincts that commanded him to chase it.
Tail strung out behind him, he ran after the snowball only to have it crumble in his jaws. He paused for a moment, a little confused. But, as another snowball flew by his vision, he chased after that one too. Once again, it was crushed. Before long, Con was enjoying this odd game.
Smirking to himself, Alastair packed another snowball and threw it for Con.
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:57 pm
Oh, snow. So stunning beautiful. So wonderfully festive. So breathtaking in the shimmer of pale, romantic moonlight! It was truly a winter wonderland in Zatao; the hills were covered in endless, sprawling blankets of it as far as the eye could see, all shining in the dusky glow. The cheery jingle of bells rang out in the city far away, lending a resonance to the air despite its stillness... Most everyone seemed to be getting in on the holiday spirit!
Everyone, that was, except for Malice.
A rattling sneeze exploded in the stillness as she plodded along, softly cursing into a worn white scarf between sniffles that only briefly delayed her nose from running. Dressed in a burgundy windbreaker and inappropriately thin gloves (she hadn't expected it to turn THIS cold!), the redhead wasn't feeling particularly warm or toasty. In fact, what she DID feel was nothing short of ill!
Popping her nose and half an ear up from the jacket's collar, Sepia gave her trainer a worried look... though her whimpering only earned a half-hearted, obviously congested mutter of reassurance that wasn't actually reassuring in the least. Why did she insist on trudging out when there were obviously pockets of civilization nearby?! Surely, that would have been warmer than heading off on some long walk in the wilderness!
"... It's better than being at home," Mal muttered, perhaps to the Pokemon or herself. "I'd rather not... stick around for that damnable--" She paused briefly, eyeing a building that had seemed to sneak up out of the country cold without her notice... and then, in a stunned moment of recognition and HORROR, stopped dead in her tracks.
No. This just wasn't possible. Of all the hundreds-- nay-- THOUSANDS of houses she could stumble upon, this absolutely COULD NOT be. It COULDN'T. The odds were ASTRONOMICAL. IMPROBABLE! ALMOST NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE!
But sure enough, there was Alastair, gaily throwing snowballs for Con to fetch. It couldn't possibly be a hallucination; oh no, her mind wasn't CAPABLE of dreaming up such horrifying Christmas outfits!
... Damn it all.
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:15 pm
“Go for it, Con! … Con? What’s wrong? Are you playing the ol’ staring at nothing trick, because that doesn’t work on m…” Alastair followed Con’s glare to a lone figure stumbling this way. A traveler? All the way out here? Well, that was a little weird… the entire reason the Tappman’s---Alastair’s family---had purchased this land was because it was far away. Lots of nice clean land for the grazing and stuff like that. Mareeps, after all, needed plenty of grazing, as did most of the other pokémon that his family raised. Scratching his head, Alastair squinted before finally recognizing the walk. Malice? Well, what were the odds of that!
“Malice! What a surprise! Just what are the odds of this, eh? Two people meeting each other over and over again, it’s like fate wants us to travel together.” He trudged through the snow. This was more difficult than it sounds because Luminitia decided it would be a great game to playfully tackle at his feet like a kitten. D’aww… that was so cute… Con trailed behind; he too recognized Malice as the owner of Kabuki. If there was one being that Con never wanted to show a ribbon to, it was Kabuki the Ninetales.
“An… wait, are you ok?” Alastair’s tone changed from cheerful to slightly worried. “How long have you been traveling? Come on inside. At least it’s warm there. Dinner’ll be ready in a few moments. You really shouldn’t have been traveling all the way out here. The mareep say there’ll be a blizzard soon.” Not that they actually ‘spoke’ or anything. It was just that, after years of watching mareep, Alastair knew what movements meant what. Currently, they were all gathered in the barn along with the ponytas for warmth. A bad sign, that. Could mean a bad blizzard. Or it could mean that they just felt like being together.
Another voice called out over the wilderness, this one coming from the house. It was a female voice that carried bags of undertone, mostly the undertone of ‘mother’. Also, some undertones of utter annoyance. “ALASTAIR TYBALT TAPPMAN!! GET INSIDE THIS INSTANT BEFORE I FEED YOUR DINNER TO THE GROWLITHES!!” Yep. Everyone knew that mothers meant business when they used full names…
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 3:44 pm
... So. This was actually happening. Despite the absolutely ridiculous, astronomical odds against it, she and Alaister had once again crossed paths. It was like a Romeo and Juliet story!... sans the whole "love" part. If only Mal had a chalice of poison to drink and end her (inevitable) suffering!
"... Alaister." It was the closest to a greeting she could muster at first, delivered in the usual deadpan tone. Only with a hard mental kick (and a discrete sniffle) was she able to continue. "I'm fine," she added reflexively, "I... didn't expect to run across you here. This is your... farm, I take it?"
She purposely avoided the subject of his little invite, still secretly torn over the whole mess. Sure, it was colder than a Glaceon's breath out here-- but the alternative meant she'd be forced to socialize not ONLY with Alaister, but his FAMILY too! God only knew what kind of twisted circus show it would take to spawn and raise someone like him!
... Still, she could feel Sepia shivering inside of her jacket; no doubt the little Eevee was cold, and staying outside much longer would only make her more uncomfortable (Malice all the while refused to acknowledge her own obvious illness as a possible reason to accept)...
A sharp sneeze was the last nail in her coffin, finally giving in with a dull groan and a nod. "T... thank you for your... hospitality. That would be... lovely..." Oh, how her pride was already screaming in agony!
The scream of what could only be Alaister's mother sent a chill up her spine, dreading her decision even more. This was going to be one helluva night-- best to obey for now, though... "I suppose we should head inside then," she mumbled, and took a ginger few steps towards the madhouse. Who knew what horrors awaited them inside.
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:30 pm
If Alastair was a cynical sort of person, then he would have pointed out that ‘family’ basically meant ‘twisted circus freak show’. Buuuut, at the moment, he was feeling the very opposite of cynical and he couldn’t read minds. If he could, chances are he’d get slapped a lot less often. “Yes, let’s get inside. That blizzard could kick up at any moment. Come on, Con! Lum! Come here, you two… you can play more tomorrow… just to warn you, Mal, my immediate family is here. It’ll be a bit crowded. Although it ended a while ago, we’re celebrating the last night of Hanukah tonight. Better late than never, right?” As efficiently as any one of the Tappman’s prize herding growlithes, Alastair ushered his pokémon---and Malice---towards the door of the house. Such a gentleman, he even opened the door for Malice. Although, maybe he just opened it so Con and Lum could pile in.
The inside of the house was warm. Very, very warm, actually. A fire was roaring in the fireplace, and there appeared to be a massive pile of orange and black fur. If there was an actual theme here, it was ‘over-the-river-and-through-the-woods’. Nearly everything had a home-made look to it. And, if it didn’t, well, that just meant it was well-made as well as home-made. Naturally, there was a lot of fleece and wool. The bookshelf in the corner almost certainly carried riproaring titles such as, ‘One Hundred and One Things to Knit’. This was a household where things were rarely---if ever---bought. They were handmade and made so well that they were passed down from generation to generation. Speaking of generations… an entire generation of growlithes suddenly lifted their heads and glared at Mal, growling softly.
“Hey, down, girl! Saffy, be nice. You too, Blaze! Vincent… be a good boy. Oy! Mordey!! Stop trying to chew on Millie’s leg! She needs that for later!” Alastair shooed the growlithes back to the rug, where they once again began sunning themselves in the heat of the flames. Con joined them soon enough, gaining a place by pure dint of effort. And growling. And reaffirming himself as the alpha male. Lum daintily sat on top of the pile. The fireplace mantle was decorated with various holiday knickknacks, but the place of honor currently held a silver menorah.
“What’s with all the racket in there?” The woman who emerged from the kitchen---at least, the next room was lined with tiles, so it could be assumed to be a kitchen----could only be Alastair’s mother. A slender woman, she nevertheless moved like a ‘woman of a certain age’. That age could never be fully described, but this woman oozed ‘mother’ from every pore. Her dark hair matched Alastair’s, but her eyes were a deep brown rather than his green. “Alastair? You brought company! You poor, poor girl… come here, sit down on the couch.” Just like her son, the woman showed an amazing talent at herding as she urged Mal to go sit down on the rather lumpy-looking couch. “I’m Ayla. I assume my son didn’t have the common decency to introduce you to the rest of the family?”
“Mom, we only just got inside… see? The snow hasn’t even melted off of us yet…” Alastair protested weakly. “Mom, this is Malice. We met on the trip to Inhinx. Err… are the others around? Or are they all in the kitchen right now?” To Mal, he added, “Oh, my sister is Liora and my brother is Chase. Just so you know…”
“Yes, yes, Liora is helping your father look after the food and Chase is making sure that the mareep are shut in for the night. We have just a few moments…” Like mothers all over the world, Ayla loved nothing more than showing off pictures of her children. Unbeknownst to Malice, she was setting herself up for a tour of photo albums.
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:18 pm
By the time Malice's first desperate instincts of RUN THE HELL AWAY hit home it was already too late to do so, corralled into the sure deathtrap that was the Tappman House. A comfortable wave of heat washed over her the moment she stepped inside, and yet still there would be no comforting her secret horror. Surely, the place would end her before morning!
A veritable mob of Growlithes was one of the first things to greet her, all growling in a squirmy lump near the fireplace like some giant lump of teeth and fur. Sepia let out a squeak of alarm and ducked even deeper into her jacket at the sight of them.
"Y... your family... certainly has a number of Pokemon," the trainer mumbled through her scarf for lack of any better comment, sniffing to stave her runny nose. Ugh, how pathetic was she?! "... They're trained to herd, I assu--"
“What’s with all the racket in there?” And then a new character burst onto the stage-- the woman who had unmistakably spawned Alaister, if her facial features and demeanor were anything to go by. Once again Malice found herself being prodded toward the couch, and once again she gave in to that prodding without a fuss. Perhaps it was just the promise of a nice place to sit... or maybe the stuffy head drowning her rebelliousness. She would never fess up to the latter.
"It's... uh... an honor t-to meet you, ma'am," she muttered awkwardly and unzipped her snow-covered jacket, spilling Sepia onto her lap. The little Eevee seemed content to nest there and stay quiet, chin on her paws and ears flicking back and forth with every sound in the room. "Thank you for your hospitality..."
God this was awkward. Even worse, it seemed the trainer would be meeting the rest of Alaister's family soon! It was frightful to even THINK what his siblings would be like!
"... A-ah, ma'am... would it be a proper request to let my Pokemon stretch their legs?" she added hesitantly, perhaps to dodge other subjects, "they've been largely confined due to t-the... recent cold, as it were..."
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:38 pm
Well, this was a side of Mal that Alastair had never expected to see. He would have given lots of money to see Malice all cornered and mollified and non-rebellious, but it looked like he was getting a glance at it for free! Woo! This really was a good Christmas for him.
“Hm?” Ayla stopped for a moment to process Mal’s request. “Oh, of course, dear. Go ahead and let them out. There should be plenty of room so long as you don’t have a steelix.” She then continued her search for the family albums, a search that was accomplished soon enough. “I hope you don’t mind that we’re not having ham tonight,” she apologized, making her way through the veritable sea of growlithes to sit down on the couch next to Malice. In case if Mal was wondering why the dinner would be sans-turkey, Ayla waved a hand towards the menorah on the mantle. “We’re going to have turkey. Not strictly Jewish, I know, but I can’t resist. My husband makes a wonderful maple-glazed turkey. I’m sure you’ll love it… it’s for the pokémon as well.”
“Moooom… what are you doing with that?” Alastair phrased the question carefully, using that fearful tone known to children everywhere when they’ve just recognized that their mother is getting ready to show their baby pictures to their friends. “You aren’t going to show off the pictures, are you? I’m sure she doesn’t want to see those!”
“Nonsense, Alli. I’m sure she does. Everyone always loves the pictures of you and Blaze when he was just a puppy.” Opening the dreaded album, Ayla began to introduce Malice to the family. That is, she pointed out certain pictures and would add in comments like, ‘and this is Alastair’s great-great-grandfather. Wonderful man, he’s the one who came up with the money for the farm. Bought the land for fifty back then and worked it until it was worth thousands’ or ‘and this is our poor second cousin twice removed, or perhaps it’s thrice removed… anyway, very sad girl, that is until she found her soulmate last week, just beautiful dresses on both of them’.
And that’s when she came to The Picture. It was clearly a young Alastair. No one else had those same wide green eyes and look of absolute innocence while holding a pair of clipping shears. He had the gangly look of an eight year old, all knees and elbows. Clumps of orange and black and cream fur covered the ground in the photo and several naked growlithe puppies played at young Alastair’s feet. A half-shaven adult growlithe stood nearby, glaring daggers at the young boy who seemed completely oblivious of the trouble he caused. “That puppy right there? That one’s Blaze. Can tell because of the flame-shaped birthmark. Go on, ask Alastair why he shaved them. It’s such a hilarious story…”
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:57 pm
Oh, the nerve of that Alaister! Malice could just see the amusement in that great grin of his-- no doubt musing over the insufferable PAIN of her wounded ego! Why had she come in here again? Was there any way to just sneak out the door again? Surely, that promised blizzard would be kinder to her pride!
"A-ah... thank you," she muttered, trying her best to ignore the inner pain and reaching for the quartet of filled pokeballs on her belt. With a pop and a flash, four figures materialized before the foot of the couch: the familiar Phinneas, Stellar and Kabuki... with one extra-- a Delcatty? Where had that come from?
The feline in question merely let out a growl of disappointment as he took in the surroundings, obviously expectant of something more luxurious for their room and board. Wrinkling its nose and narrowing eyes which seemed to be lined in a violet eye shadow, the thing finally strolled off to go claim its rightful place by the fire... which meant stepping over a few Growlithes in the process. Hmph!
Stellar blithely followed her catty 'friend' (well, SHE thought they were friends!), scooping up Phinneas into her arms and plopping herself at the corner of the rug to groom his fur. Kabuki, however, seemed focussed on something entirely different.
"(What the hell happened to you, old man?)" he asked point blank, snorting a ring of smoke as he slipped over to get a closer look at Con's awkward adornments. "(There's a leaf stuck on your horn.)" Oh, he was a tactful one.
"..." But perhaps there would be revenge for Malice against her male companion, suddenly staring down the barrel of a gun loaded with absolutely PRICELESS humiliation fodder against dear, dear Alaister. Just the sight of that ungainly little boy, covered in orange fur and looking so innocent... Thank god she was wearing a scarf to help camouflage the smile.
"If there's a story, I'd like to hear it," she muttered softly, stroking Sepia as an evil genius might stroke their precious persian cat. Looking up to Alaister with utmost serenity (well, as much as any sick person could fake convincingly), she inclined her head towards him. "... Please, do tell, Alaister."
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:11 pm
Con groaned and attempted to cover his horns with his paws. Well, one horn anyway. The problem with this was that they still ached every now and then and he couldn’t move his paws like that either. There were very few pokémon who Con actually respected: Ryou and Kabuki. Kabs seeing him like this was like… well, if there was a way to mysteriously shrink into nothing, the pale houndoom would have done that right then.
“He happened,” he said, his voice full of venom as he glared over at Alastair. “He decided it would be cute. His sister helped…” small plumes of smoke erupted from the houndoom’s nostril, leaving no mystery of his annoyance.
Alastair sighed, wondering why he always had to repeat this story over and over again. It really was simple and his mother always changed it into something far more complicated. “I was curious and bored. And they were too little to stop me.”
“Tch! Alastair, tell the real story!” Ayla huffed and took it upon herself to tell Mal the ‘real story’, or at least what she felt the ‘real story’ was. “Well, this was the first time Dominic---Alastair’s father---showed him how to shear the mareep. Alli was so eager to help but the mareep kept running away from him! He couldn’t keep them still because they were too big for him. So, instead, he decided to shave the growlithe. Such an adorable story… I don’t know why you tell it that way, Alli.”
“Because it’s the truth, that’s why!” It was impossible to convince her of that, but he always tried anyway.
“Don’t raise your voice to me! We don’t yell in this household!”
“Yes we do! We do all the time!”
“Well… only because it’s the only way to make ourselves heard over the pokémon… but, we don’t always yell. Go set the table, Alli, and tell your father that there’s an extra place at the table tonight. Oh, and to make some extra food for Mal’s pokémon. Do they require anything special, dear?”
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:49 pm
"..." Conri was nothing short of pathetic now, Kabuki decided without even a pause, watching the houndoom try and fail repeatedly to cover his 'shame' from view. It was strange to watch, and stirred a pang of something alike like... pity in his heart, snorting indecisively as the cogs of thought slowly turned. To help, or let him suffer the degradation? It was a tougher question for Kabu than most.
"... (Hold still a minute,)" he growled, rising and taking a bold step towards the latter pokemon. Putting a paw on the back of Con's shoulder for stability, the Ninetales rose (somewhat awkwardly) into a 'begging' position and craned his head over, neatly plucking the so-called 'leaf' in one snap of the teeth. Not a moment later, of course, he recoiled and spat the vile weed onto the floor, pinning it with a sour glare as though debating whether to set the thing on fire.
"(Stupid weed,)" he groused. "(Humans are too damned strange.)"
By now Saul had managed to shove his way to the front of the writhing Growlithe horde, nestled in a comfortable spot and grooming his fur back to perfection in the warm glow. Oh, how good it was to be king! Even little Phinneas appeared tranquil, spilled gelatinously across Stellar's lap as the little Flaaffy massaged and groomed him.
"..." Once again Malice was thankful for her scarf, now desperately fighting the urge to smile at this glorious newfound source of little 'Alli's' humiliation. It was just brilliant, utterly brilliant! Perhaps this wouldn't be such a dreadful stay after all!
Sneezing raggedly (and startling Sepia on her lap), the trainer was rudely reminded of her ailment, muttering a soft curse just in time for the yelling game between mother and son. "O-oh, they eat a very plain diet," she responded as quickly as possible, obviously not one for turning Ayla's fury on HER. "... Anything will do, really..." Then, a brief pause.
"... Though Stellar... does have a soft spot for sweets... and biscuits... and Phin's stomach is overly sensitive, so his food needs to be easily digestable... and Kabu is partial to spice..." And bacon. But she didn't mention that. It was almost funny how she had grown so accustomed to her odd herd's odd meal preferences. "Saul... eh... refuses to eat anything that isn't fresh, and Sep..." Resting a hand on the Eevee's forehead, she heard the little creature sigh, "...Sepia prefers fruits and vegetables over meat, though she'll eat anything, really..."
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:13 am
Well, Con hadn’t expected that. He had rather expected Kabs to be his usual cynical self and just sit back and laugh at the houndoom’s humiliation. He definitely didn’t expect those warm---and oddly soft---paws on his shoulders.
“Thanks.” he said, stretching out and clearing off a little space of growlithes so that Kabuki would have a better place to sit. Of course, this jostled Saul a little bit, but Con figured that, as the dominant male of the household, he had every right to move the delcatty’s spot around a little. And if he didn’t like it… well, he’d have to deal with a large and angry houndoom, now wouldn’t he? “What were you guys doing out there? I know you were inside most of the time, but do you have any idea?”
Unfortunately, Con’s stretching also moved Luminitia’s perch a little. The mareep squeaked in surprise and stood up on the suddenly shifting pile of growlithe flesh. She bleated out her annoyance, hoping that would keep them still. It didn’t. With a sharp huff, she straightened out her scarf with her teeth. This movement happened to bring Stellar into her line of vision. All of her annoyance vanished, replaced by a flood of happiness and joy.
Scrambling over to the flaafy, Lum bleated out a happy greeting. “Hi! I’m Lumin… it… sha… umm… Lum! I’m Lum! Who are you?” there was a special sort of enthusiasm that only small children had. Lum had it.
Ayla tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully at the pokémon’s dietary needs. They certainly sounded easy enough. “Every bit of food on this table is fresh, so I think should be happy…” clearly, she didn’t know anything about the picky delcatty, which was only expected. “And as for Phin… hmm… we do have our special mix. Normally we reserve it for Millie when she gets pregnant. She gets horrible stomach problems, the poor girl… it has extra protein so he might gain a little weight, but I think he could stand that a little. Alli, go tell your father.”
Alastair, in the manner of teenagers everywhere with friends over and parents in the same room, was taking his damn sweet time. After all, he didn’t want to take the risk that his mother would share another one of those ‘adorable’ stories of hers. They weren’t cute. They weren’t… well, they were sort of funny… and he would have shared them eventually, but on his terms, damnit! “I’m going, I’m going…” the message was passed on by the simple expedient of shouting through the doorway. “Hey, Dad! We’re going to need some extra food at the table! I’ve got a friend over!”
Ahwww… isn’t that cute? He was calling Malice a friend!
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:13 am
To be perfectly honest, Kabuki himself hadn't really expected the 'soft' behavior. Where had the fierce, war-mongering Ninetales of yesteryear spirited off to? Had he honestly become so weak, so unimpressive, so utterly tame in these few short months... just because of some pathetic excuse for a trainer?! No, he was immune to Mal's comforts! Her petting was received by a cold heart! Her daily grooming couldn't sway him! Her meticulous cleaning and preparation of every cut and scratch he procured couldn't...
Dammit, he really was losing his touch, wasn't he?!
Despite this revelation of his weakness, he accepted the newly cleared spot without a fuss, even going so far as an (assumed) nod of thanks.
"(... She said something about a 'reunion',)" he offered simply, gesturing with his muzzle toward a certain girl on the couch, "(and left the city days ago. We've been wandering since then.)"
Stellar, perched to the other side of Kabuki, seemed more than happy to answer her fellow fluffball's question, grinning as she kneaded against Phin's back with stubby, furry fingers. "(Hiya Lum! Mah name's Stellar! Or Stell, if you wanna call me that! Mmm, do you smell that? Dinner and sweet things are coming soon, aren't they? We can eat together! Oh, Lum, would you like to?)" A bit of a space cadet, that one, but friendly none the less!
Saul all the while was bristling with utter disgruntlement, glaring daggers into Con's back and even MORE enraged by the houndoom's lack of acknowledgment. How DARE they shove HIM out of the way! How DARE they!
"A-ah... thank you for the accommodations," said Malice in a rather sheepish and unfortunately weak tone, feeling yet another sneeze and hurriedly tugging up her scarf to muffle the sound. Still, it was audible and unpleasant, jarring her to the bones. "My lot is rather... eh... nontraditional, by the standards of an average trainer..."
Then a certain word hit her ears and the girl trailed off, falling silent. Friend... wait, WHAT? FRIEND?! Sure, Alaister had latched on to her like a parasite from day one, but just hearing it spoken out loud, and so damned cheerfully...
No. Ignore it, Malice, and don't let him see you squirm. He'd never let her live that down!
Dinner was bound to be epic.
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 4:28 pm
A reunion? Didn’t most humans look forward to that? Admittedly, Con’s experience with humans was a little… outdated and selective, considering his first trainer was an old woman, the last of her line, and Alastair, but they both seemed to enjoy being around their family. Or, in the old woman’s case, people who she called her family, but wasn’t really her family. Starting to feel a little depressed, Con shoved the thought out of his mind and refocused on Kabuki. A family would be… nice one of these days. But not too soon.
“A reunion. I guess mine is going to something similar. His immediate family is here… by the way, watch out for the girl. She likes fire pokémon. And trying to dress us up.” Poor Con. Mistletoe tied to his horn was the least of the indignities that these people had tried to force on him. At least he had managed to bite his way out of the others and his growl was enough to keep the girl away. Although, he had gotten smacked on the nose for growling. And that had led to another argument amongst the family.
“I would like that!” It wasn’t only Lum’s tail that wagged, but her entire butt. Her joy was too big for just one tail to contain. “The food here is really good! Last night, we had a berry salad! I hope we have it again. It was yummy. And they’re nice people. Lots of petting and they give you table scraps, although I don’t think they’re supposed to do that…” Not that Lum really minded in this case. So long as she got lots of sweet food, she was happy to bend the rules a little.
“Non-traditional? Sweetie, this household is non-traditional. I’m sure you’ve figured that out after being with Alli for even just five minutes. Your lot is adorable, by the way. Such a cute little eevee…” like most women, Ayla had a soft spot for small and fluffy creatures, especially if they radiated helpless. Actually, Phin radiated more ‘helpless’ than Sepia, but still… the eevee was fluffier.
Crashes from the kitchen were greeted with an annoyed ‘tch’ of disapproval and a quick argument rang out through the household. Apparently everyone wanted to get a word in edgewise, in a rough combination of Hebrew and English. Yeah… yelling actually did happen a lot around here, just because it usually was the only way to communicate with someone else. Something crashed and there was silence. Someone---a male voice deeper than Alastair’s---said, “Well, we didn’t NEED that anyway…”
Just in time to join the drama, there was a knock at the door and it quickly opened to admit what was, essentially, a shorter plumper version of Alastair. “It’s colder than a Gyrados’s sa… Oh… hello…” unlike Alastair, this kid blushed. He had to be about fifteen years old and, damn, puberty was just setting in for the poor kid; his voice cracked as soon as he saw Malice. “Umm… I’m Chase.”
“Dinner’s ready!” Alastair yelled around the edge of the kitchen.
“ALLI! Be polite!”
“What?! What’s wrong with it?”
Ayla ‘tched’ once more.
As quiet a noise as it was, Alastair heard it anyway and responded. “Fine…” he edged around the doorway back into view and grinned at Mal. “Dinner is ready.”
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