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 Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:12 am
It was night time, the stars were out and a full moon in the sky, occasionally there was a yowl of a cat somewhere or some other stranger sounds that went on in nighttime streets of Durem. Dark buildings loomed here and there with occasional dots of light offered by street lamps that were still working. It was ill advised to walk in the city at night, it is ill advised to walk almost anywhere at night now a days. Still, ill advised or not, Armel was walking along an unmarked street filled with leaf-less trees, which were supposedly still alive, with bark colored near black and said to actually bleed blood when cut. This street was a little new to Durem. It just appeared, suddenly, unnerving many of the residents until they decided to ignore it and leave it alone, it seemed the wiser course of action, considering who lived along the street.
The Vivisali family worked a nice little niche in Durem. This family had a share of witches and warlocks along with a few other odds-and-ends mixed along with it. Vivisali was a family boasting a bloodline rich in magickal heritage. The street they occupied was filled with a line of stores that were often magic related, from weapons to herbs. There was even a shop that sold rather lovely garments that boasted the ability to attract object of one’s affections.
Armel ducked his head as a bat swooped rather low over him. The ram-horned boy grumbled a bit as he made his way toward Mama Vivisali’s House of Oddities. He had met Mama and found an odd liking for her. The elder woman was vivacious even for her ancient appearance, and often spoke her mind with little hesitation, plus she had always shown him a respect and kindness. The only thing that made him uneasy is that she tended to refer to him as 'Little Mountain King' instead of using his name: Armel. He had snuck out to visit Mama Vivisali because supposedly she had something special she wanted to show him, a shipment of gemstones she was receiving.
Besides he’ll be back before morning...
He found the store with it’s oddly ancient wooden sign and fancy lettering and went in through the door which sent of a pleasant chiming sound upon his entrance.
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:57 am
"Good night, sweetheart." Eight pressed a kiss to Keaira's head as the girl bound up the stairs in her pajamas. Little did Eight know her daughter had another outfit sitting on her bed waiting for her to come in, set things up to look like she was in there, get dressed and sneak out.
Cousin Delora was surprisingly willing to help her get away with this. Maybe it was because demons liked causing trouble.
Delora was sitting on the bed waiting for Kea when the girl walked in, Delora gave her a quick glance before suddenly it was like she was looking in a mirror. Man! Delora was really good at that. Kea grinned and grabbed her dress, changing into it as quickly as possible while making as little noise as possible.
"You do realize she'll have my head if she catches on, correct?" The succubus was already getting into the bed and curling up under the covers exactly as she'd seen Kea sleep. Kea shrugged and turned the light off, grabbing her boots and holding them under her arm while she opened the window and looked down at the ground. Hooboy...this was high... "Hurry up, she's coming in to check on you."
That was all the warning Kea needed, closing her eyes and jumping feet first out the window. It wasn't that high! Plus, she'd done this a couple other times already! It was Shauna that taught her how to do this and her sister was on the same floor! Too bad her landing wasn't very graceful. With a tiny 'oof' she landed on her hands and knees in the grass. At least it wasn't a bush. She froze when she heard the window above her close.
...Crap. She'd have to fix that later.
She waited a minute or two before she put her boots on and made a break for it, slipping between the bars of the front gate and slowing down then.
It took her about an hour to reach Durem because of the subway system, and that was when she first spotted the ram horned boy. Whoa! That was cool! The succubus tale blinked her silver and purple eyes and quietly stalked after the boy, changing her hair and wings every now and then incase he checked behind him. Where was he going? He looked her age! Was he also sneaking out just to see what goes on at night?
It's also obvious how new a girl is to this when she's constantly checking around for any officers who may work with her dad and recognize her.
There was absolutely no one else on the street they were on now though. It was so...desolate...eep! Bat! Kea slapped her hands over her mouth so she wouldn't scream when it flew past her head, whimpering softly to herself and ducking behind one of the leafless trees when Armel walked into one of the shops. Huh? What was this? Kea blinked and snuck up to the storefront window and peeked in between two jars of something. She didn't really look to see what was in them. Whoooooa...this place was weird!
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 12:16 pm
Armel inhaled the scents of herbs that wafted through the air. It was a delicious scent, one that soothed the restlessness in his soul that had currently had the desire to awaken and squirm about threatening to burst out his skin. He paused looking at various shelves only slightly aware of being watched but he assumed it was Mama Vivisali for the moment and after all very few people were gutsy enough to wander along this particular street.
The boy moved to poke at something unseen in a cage and he was muttering something to it and it seemed whatever it was it rewarded him favorably for his attention for the boy pulled his hand back with a small smile.
After what seemed an eternity an elder woman with white hair and odd violet colored eyes and pale skin wandered out. The wizened woman looked as if she had been quite the beauty in her younger days and the years had kind as well as unkind to her as her posture had become vaguely bent over and her gait came at a bit of a limp and it seemed as if she had to use a old gnarled staff to help her get around easier. Mama Vivisali’s hand were surprisingly young looking and appeared quite nimble and moved easily with no sign of arthritis, contrary to her body and face, the witch had the hands of a nubile twenty-year-old.
“I see you have brought a friend, Little Mountain King.” Mama said with a small cackle, without pointing to where the succubus was watching, however, if Kea would look, the jars in the window display were now staring at her. The one jar contained eyeballs and the other contained a collection of newts twined about each other. It was probably better not to dwell about the liquid that the items in the jars were floating in.
Armel blinked and shook his head, “No I didn’t,” he didn’t look toward the window display, he had no reason to. No one had followed him, he was certain of it!
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 12:33 pm
Kea squinted her eyes a little and pressed an ear against the glass. What were they saying? This boy looked so comfortable there...maybe he came here a lot! Kea frowned a little. What fun was this place? It was dark and creepy...maybe that was how he liked it. Weeeeeeird.
With a sigh Kea looked up from the ground...only to meet eyes with a jar of them. Her face grew pale at the sight and her hair became white and spikey as the girl let out a loud shriek of surprise. A jar of eyes was staring at her!
"EW EW EW EW!" She skidded back a little, stepping on one of her own tails and landing with an oof on her but in the middle of the street.
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 12:43 pm
THAT caught his attention. Armel startled and turned toward the display window in time to see a shock of could be white hair. He looked over to Mama Vivisali and blinked a little before saying, “Do ye really ‘ave to do that to people?”
The elder woman simply grinned showing her rather well maintained teeth and shrugged, “I need to get my joy where I can, child. Go check on the poor girl. I am afraid I over did it this time.” Mama chuckled softly as she shifted the shawl over her shoulders.
Armel rolled his golden eyes made his way outside with a small bit of a hurried trot. When he got outside he stared down at the girl where she landed with a small blink. He didn’t seem angry at least instead he moved over and offered a hand. “Are ye alright?” he queried. Even if he had been mad it was likely he was unable to yell at the succubus considering she was female, which was probably one of her saving graces.
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 1:02 pm
Kea's hair was short and white with bits of yellow spikes that were slightly longer than the rest of her hair. It almost looked like little sparks were coming out of her hair. Cool, huh? She was groaning and rubbing her tail and her rump when she heard the jingle of the door opening and closing. Oh no! It was one of them coming out to finish her! Her hair got so long it almost covered her entire body, going back to its natural inky black color. Hair is now a natural defense mechanism, it seems.
She was scrunched up, bracing herself for some sort of terror...that...didn't come...huh? Bright white eyes peeked up from under her hair, blinking back to the normal silver and violet they usually were. He was helping her up? Kea's hair let up a little bit, shortening to shoulder length as she reached out and took the offered hand with a nod. "Uh...uh huh." DON'T LET THE EYES GET ME!
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 1:11 pm
He grasped her hand when she offered it and pulled her up. Armel had watched her changes with undisguised interest and curiosity though, for now he said nothing about it as he looked her over to make doubly sure she was unharmed. “Are ye sure yer alright?” he asked again. “Mama Vivisali gets a li’l carried away. She sends her apologies.”
Well not exactly. It was more Armel extending them on the elder woman’s behalf, but the girl didn’t need to know that exactly, now did she?
“Were ye followin’ me about or somethin’?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 1:22 pm
"Well..." She blushed and didn't seem to notice as her hair got bright red and feathery, covering up her face as if she were shy. "One of my tails does hurt quite a bit..." She'd stepped on it and pulled it, after all. She held the throbbing tail in her hands, the tail becoming blue with frowny faces all over it. That made her giggle.
"Mama Vivisali?" That must've been the woman inside. The girl frowned again and glanced past Armel at the store, locking eyes with the jar again and quickly looking away again with a squeak. "Why does she have a jar of eyeballs in the window?"
When Armel asked if she'd been following him though the girl blushed again, her hair turning into a big pink fro on top of her head. Oh no! That's right! He hadn't known she was following him! "Um...ye-yes! No! Well...sorta! I was just curious! And um...I'm sorry! I didn't have anything else to do! I mean! Well...uh..." Oh no. Now what?! He was going to turn her in to one of Daddy's fellow officers for stalking him! She just knew it! And then she'd get in so much trouble! "Please don't take me to one of Daddy's friends!" She suddenly blurted out, covering her mouth with both hands with another bright flush. Oops! Now she looked crazy! She just knew it!
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 1:33 pm
Armel nodded a bit as she made a note of an injury and watched as she seemed to change color like a little random chameleon and couldn’t help but wonder if she could do patterns, like plaid, that would be highly amusing. He didn’t say anything about it though.
He tilted his head to one side as she began to have a small melt down as she admitted to following him about and then just grinned giving an amused laugh and a shrug, “S’fine so long as ye weren’t doin’ it to do somethin’ bad to me.” He said gently. “Why would I take ye to yer Da’s friends? I don’ even know who they are,” Armel said rationally, “’sides, tattlin’ on people is not a good way t’make friends. Ye could get me in just as much trouble as I could get you in,” he pointed out.
“So I don’t tattle on you an’ ye don’t tattle on me, deal?”
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 1:40 pm
Kea blinked and seemed to calm down when Armel laughed. So...he was okay with it? Her hair took the hint and fell down in waves of orange and teal curls, holding the still blue tail with the utmost care. It obviously still hurt. "My daddy's a police officer so..." She frowned a little. Maybe a police officer's daughter sneaking off at night was a horrible idea. Oh well, too late to turn back now. The succubus smiled brightly when the boy explained she could tattle on him just the same as him tattling on her...in fact him tattling on her would get him in trouble because he had to be with her to know she was out and about past curfew!
Perfectly logical.
She nodded in response to the deal and smiled again. "Uh huh!" She was blantantly ignoring the feeling of being stared at by the things in the window. Creepy. Suddenly her hair became bright yellow and spikey. "Oh! I forgot!" She did a quick little curtsey. "My name's Keaira! It's nice to meet you!"
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 2:02 pm
He nodded in approval the deal is struck and he watched her as she introduced herself with some bit of amusement, “I’m Armel, pleased t’meet ye.”
Still there was a question from earlier kind of pecking at his mind before he finally recalled it, “Oh, an’ about the jar o' eyes, I ‘ave no clue. She says I am too young to know.” He shrugged dismissively and stared toward her tail for a long moment before holding out a hand, “May I see?” the ram-horned boy asked politely instead of just reaching out and grabbing it, which would probably be viewed as highly inappropriate.
Armel’s other hand dug about in the pocket of his coat pulling out a scrap of cloth with the color of flame-orange like his braids which stood out rather nicely against his dark hair.
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 1:30 pm
Kea smiled brightly and pulled at a teal curl as the rest of her hair settled back to its natural black state, the teal curl changing back to a long purple strip of hair. "Armel? That's a cool name!"
She didn't bother to look back at the eyes when they were brought up again, instead she blinked and furrowed her brow a little. Really? Weird...but so was this street. Oh well. The succubus was a tiny bit surprised when he asked to see her tail for a minute, nodding and turning a little so the boy could hold it much easier. What did he want with it? The tail revealed her curiosity by turning white with little black question marks. It seemed her tails were the only things she could give cool patterns to.
"Whatcha doin'?" Kea asked with genuine curiosity, watching him dig around in his coat for a piece of bright orange paper. Huh?
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 12:16 pm
“Eh? Thank ye. Keaira is a very pretty name, by the way.” He was good at giving and receiving compliments on most days. The ram-horned by took the wounded tail in hand after making sure the cloth was clean and began to wind it around the tail gently.
“Making it better,” he said simply. Certainly the tail’s hurt was fading away as suddenly it had come but the gesture means more than the thought to the boy. It showed that he cared even if the girl before him was practically a stranger with an odd way of changing colors in her hair and her tails. It was intriguing either way.
After he secured the makeshift bandage he released the tail and smiled a bit, “Wanna come inside wi’ me? Mama Vivisali is prolly thinkin’ we are gonna stay out ‘ere all night.” He wiped a hand against a pant leg and then offered it to her wordlessly.
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:55 pm
"Thank you! It was on the book that my mom found with me! So that's my name." Keaira explained with a bright smile. She knew that wasn't how normal children were born, but come on...they were on a creepy street with weird stuff in it. The Tale felt she was far from odd in a place like this.
Her tail really didn't hurt anymore, in fact the throbbing was beginning to die down. But it was the thought that counted. The frowns on the faces were slowly fading into smiles, the tail going from blue to yellow. "Oh! Okay! Thank you again, Armel!" She let her tail drop when Armel was finished wrapping it up, glancing down at the bandage for a moment before she looked back up at him after his offer.
Go in there? There? The place with the creepy eyeballs and the old lady and and...it probably had other creepy stuff too! Kea's eyes got wide for a moment. Was he out of his mind?! ...Well...he didn't seem the type to let her get hurt or anything. Kea smiled softly and tentatively accepted the offered hand. "Um...okay~"
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:05 pm
“Ye are most welcome.” He said in a content tone after he had finished. Armel waited for the girl to take his hand to lead her inside. The ram-horned youth could understand her unease about wishing to enter such a store. Armel also had his doubts but had now established somewhat of a friendship with the lady that seemed to be the leader of this peculiar community.
“Nothin’ ‘ere will hurt ye, Mama Vivisali makes sure of that it don’t.” he said with confidence as he took her hand and began to lead Kea into the strange building.
The inside of the structure actually smelt pleasant and had a few odd things here and there as well as things of stunning beauty. Of course there were things that weren’t as pretty and better left not described. The beautiful things far outnumbered much of the other mixture of items in the shop. Mama Vivisali apparently liked to surround herself with beautiful things...
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