Eli [G.Retriever/T.Angora] - AnimeEyeshime

[AnimeEyeshime]

SEASON 4.5 [Currentish RP]

(November)
1 - PM RP - Babysitting At the Cottage
-Seth's called in to referee between Eli and Phoebe while Shimy and Mena are away for the weekend--power outages and scary monsters and the meeting of one Aikatyrine, who tells Eli more than he wanted to know about his grandmother.

2 - (journal/fic - Glutton For Punishment)
-Eli talks to Aikatyrine about Donab, Shimy's brother.

[Dec/christmas; Dacj joins the Cottage]

3 - (journal/fic - Arguments)
-Eli confronts Shimy with what he knows, and Shimy doesn't take the impudence well.

4 - Flight of the Kuppy Part I
-Eli runs away from the Cottage and to the only safe place he can think of--Seth's apartment. Finding out about Seth's engagement to his sister proves to be the straw to break the camel's back.

5 - Flight of the Kuppy Part II
-Eli has to tell his sister he's crashing in her apartment, but Elti has to say it for him.

6 - mainthread RP - Kamiko's back, and Eli's happy to see her - somehow by the end of the evening they've decided to move in together and Mena's building them a lair. Eli remains unsure as of to how it happened. XD

(January)
7 - Second Date's the Charm
-It's Bya's turn to arrange a date! Eli and Kamiko go out to a fancy restaurant, but the evening ends with an odd revelation...

8 - IM RP - Fallout
-The arrival of Kitten leads to a tense discussion of the future.

9 - IM RP - Coming Back For More
-Kitten remembers she forgot to tell Eli a very important message, and gets Seth to take her back to the apartment. Eli's still upset with her for falling on his head, among other things.

10 - PM RP - The Word Spreads
-Eli finds out about his sister's disappearance, his empathic abilities prove their disadvantage once again, and he takes Seth to the Cottage to enlist Shimy's help.

11 - Dacj's Big Adventure
-In wake of their visit to the Cottage and Dacj's aging up, Dacj decides to visit her older brother for the first time...

12 - (Flight of the Kuppy Part III) Guilt Cookies Taste the Sweetest!
-Eli tells Haevan he's crashing, they discuss Noe's rescue, and Eli's mahou shounen lifestyle.

13 - IM RP - 'If You Asked It Of Me'
-Kamiko tells Eli she'll help with Noe, they get to talking about Phanes and the Empire as well. Also fluffy cute! Bondage is discussed, as is Eli's history with mock!twincest.

14 - i'm sure I missed something... XD  

[AnimeEyeshime]

[PRP] Babysitting At The Cottage
11/10/09 - 12/26/09

Quote:

It was fairly early on a Saturday morning when Mena placed the call to Seth--she'd asked him about babysitting forever ago and the time had finally come to ask him to do so for real. Even if Eli and Phoebe had been getting on better recently, she wanted to make sure Eli wouldn't let the little jellyfish girl go play in the pool by herself or anything. Not that Phoebe was capable of drowning, but...Mena shook her head. Trivial things. A child needed supervision and she had reservations about Eli's abilities to supervise alone.

She passed on the fairly standard information--come over around 11 AM, and if it wasn't too much trouble could he stay overnight in the guest bedroom? She had to leave before then, but Eli would be able to show him where everything was.

Eleven o'clock came far too slow for Eli's wanting, though...left alone with Phoebe for almost an hour, they'd mostly sat in the living room--Eli with a leatherbound ancient looking tome, Phoebe with various dolls and stuffed animals--but what was making Eli nervous was that Phoebe was eyeing him with a certain sense of anticipation. He was so spooked that he nearly jumped half a foot when they heard the doorbell.

"Race 'ya~" Phoebe said, using her multiple tentacle-legs to gain a considerable advantage against the kuppy--unless he "cheated" and used his inhuman speed.

Seth had nearly forgotten about Mena's earlier request that he help babysit; it had been such a long time since they had that conversation after all. However, a promise was a promise, so Seth was obliged to agree. In any case, it would at least give him a chance to visit this famous "cottage" of which he had heard about so frequently.

He followed the directions given until he reached the address. Consulting the paper a few times to make sure that he had the right place, the cheetah Hyte looked at the home half in surprise and half in admiration. Is there really a giant underground lab beneath this place? Hm, they've hid it well. With a faint smile and a shake of his head, Seth approached the door and rang the door bell, waiting patiently for someone to answer.

Eli did cheat, but only a little--Phoebe was reaching for the doorknob when he stopped her with one paw and said, "We check the viewer first to make sure it's not a stranger, remember?" Phoebe nodded, pouting mostly because even on tip-tentacle she couldn't quite see out the little peephole and Eli had already ascertained the visitor was indeed Seth and opened the door before she could get in a word of protest. "Hi, Seth, come on in. Phoebe, say hi."

"Hello~" the jellyfish said, wiggling a tentacle as she waved her hand in greeting. Eli caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of his eye and did his best not to blanch.

"Long time no see, Eli," he greeted with a cheerful smile. Then to the tentacle girl he said, "Hello, Phoebe. Good to see you again." The tentacles didn't bother him much at all, and he failed to catch Eli's near-blanch. At the kuppy's invitation Seth came inside. With him he carried a small bag, as Mena had requested that he stay overnight.

"You guys have a nice home," he remarked, admiring the interior design. It looked just as nice if not nicer than the outside of the house did. "How have you guys been recently?"

"We've been well enough. Chaos as usual," Eli said with a shrug.

Phoebe wiggled excitedly. "I met other fishpeople like me! I have the coolest house though," she said, speaking in an almost-confidential voice like she was sharing some really juicy gossip (a tone picked up no doubt from eavesdropping on Missy). "Nobody else has a saltwater pool in their backyard."

"Because nobody else is as spoiled as you are," Eli said, raising an eyebrow. Phoebe stuck out her tongue. "Anyway, did you want the full tour or just the basics--guestroom, main floor...?"

"Ah, just the basics is fine," Seth assured, not wanted to put the other through any trouble. "So, a salt water pool, eh? That must be rather nice for you." Although not that the feline could really appreciate it much himself, given his dislike for water. "Do you swim in it often?"

As Eli started the tour around the house, Seth couldn't help but be impressed by how neat and orderly everything was. "I'm starting to doubt your notions of chaos," the cheetah said jokingly. "My mother's house often looked like a bomb went off in it."

"All the time!" Phoebe answered proudly. "It's heated and everything too so even when it's cold out it's nice and comfy in the water~"

"Oh, it usually looks that way," Eli said, with a smile. "Gramma Shimy seemed to think we'd lose ourselves in the mess if she didn't clean up before taking off for the weekend. And you should've seen Missy's old room, before she made us pack it up and move everything over to the second story of the garage."

"It was really messy!" Phoebe chimed in. "I always keep my room clean though," she added, though whether it was purely an afterthought or more of a boast wasn't clear.

"Ah, I see." He half wanted to ask how on earth they covered up all the damages and such, but Seth strongly suspected that there was magic involved. Besides, since moving out of the house he hadn't had to deal with any such wrecks yet (surprisingly enough), so he didn't really need to know.

The cheetah Hyte paid close attention as he was shown around, committing the general layout of the place to memory. After the tour was over, he asked, "So... did you guys have any plans for today? Or was it more just a basic stay-at-home type of thing?" Truth be told, he still wasn't entirely sure why Mena asked for his help. Eli seemed quite capable in his opinion really.

Eli looked almost embarrassed as he began, "Well--" but Phoebe chose the more illustrative option and simply jumped on Eli with the relative speed and velocity of a yaoi fangirl at a convention upon spying a cosplayer of her OTP of choice, tentacles wriggling along with her hands as she meant to embrace the kuppy and then hold on very, very tightly. She even managed to wrap a leg or two around his middle before he started sparkling in self defense, attempting to shake her off while moving about the poor cheetah at movements almost too rapid to see anything more than a shining blur and its blueish jellyfish hanger-on.

It ended rather suddenly, as sibling scuffles as wont to do, with Phoebe tossed off half across the room and skidding on her tentacle-legs to stop, leaving little wet marks on her carpet as she went. "Owowowowow," she complained, lifting several of her tentacles to check the damage. "I have rug burns now!"

"Phoebe! You know you're not supposed to do that!" Eli was half-furious at the little girl--certainly a sight that was rare. The kuppy was a little timid, easily embarrassed, and self-effacing, but...never furious. He was even shaking a bit, though even he wasn't sure whether it was from anger, or his body simply reacting to the fear of tentacles. "You didn't even say anything as a warning!"

The jellyfish girl seemed to sink lower into the floor, though in reality she was simply spreading her tentacles out flatter--taking up more space horizontally but less vertically, and it was definitely a position of submission. "I'm sorry, Eli. I forgot," Phoebe said, her entire body quivering as well--though the effect was markedly more strange looking with the gelatinous quality of her skin. "If I'd said anything then you would've known and dodged and--"

"That's exactly the point, Phoebe," Eli said, still angry though he'd stopped shaking now. "I need to be able to get away. I need that option. Even Mom agrees."

At the mention of their mother, Phoebe's eyes affixed on the carpet. "I remember now. I'll try to remember next time."

"Next time?" Eli asked, with a cynical, hollow laugh. "I'd really prefer if there wasn't one. Hugging's one thing. Jumping me is something that's completely unnecessary."

Everything happened so quickly that it took Seth by a bit of surprise. One moment the jellyfish girl was clinging onto to Eli, and the next there was a whirlwind of sparkles that ended in a sudden separation of the two. The cheetah sweatdropped a bit as he listened silently to their brief quarrel. "... So, I guess I'll be a referee then?" he asked with a faint laugh, wondering what the heck he was in for. Suddenly I get the feeling that this is going to be a looong day.

"Sorry to be so much trouble," Eli said, weary and chagrined--basically, back to normal. "But you can see why it's not a good idea for me to be her primary caregiver..."

"Missy likes me even less," the jellyfish girl said mournfully. Eli sighed.

"I like you just fine, Phoebe; I just much prefer that your tentacles stay where I can see them," the kuppy said, very cautiously approaching Phoebe before patting her gently on the head. "It's a boundary thing."

"Then your paws gotta stay where I can see 'em too!" Phoebe said, crossing her arms.

"It's a deal," Eli said, holding the appendages up in front of him as if surrendering, before looking back to Seth. "So..."

Ah yes, the tentacle phobia. Somehow Seth had nearly forgotten, but at least things made a bit more sense now. "No no, it's fine," he replied scratching the back of his head absently with a paw. "Hm. Um... well, perhaps we'd better do thing that keep paws and tentacles occupied, yes?" the cheetah suggested, smiling a bit. "I don't suppose you guys have any board games or video games?"

"We gotta whole bunch of 'em! And like every game system known to humankind!" Phoebe said proudly. She wasn't far off in her estimation--Shimy's husband was a gamer, and he took his 'collecting' seriously. "Come on, to the living room~"

They'd bypassed it earlier on the tour--this was the one room of the house that looked more lived in. The couch and loveseat and armchair were all a matched squashy green set, encircling a large entertainment center with TV and all manner of gaming systems and DVDs and games. Off in one corner sat a secretary desk with desktop computer humming in the background, a lone Gingerbyte sitting sentinel on the top of the desk above the computer. He didn't look very happy, but Gingerbytes never did. Phoebe flopped onto a beanbag on the floor near the TV, and Eli settled somewhere on the opposite side of the room for now, perching on the chair next to the computer desk.

"Let's play Smash Brothers~" Phoebe suggested, using one tentacle to retrieve a fallen Wiimote from the floor.

"You can't button mash with your extra appendages," Eli reminded her. "That's cheating." Phoebe stuck her tongue out at him again in reply.

Seth chose a seat between the two of them, mainly so that he could act as a buffer if necessary. "Smash Brothers sounds pretty fun. Haven't played that in a long time."

The three of them faced each other for quite a while. In the beginning Seth didn't fair too well simply from lack of practice, but he was able to pick it back up again fairly quickly. They all struggled to be the last one standing, but more often than not Eli was the one to win the round. Eventually Phoebe grew tired of losing, and suggested a new game for them to play that she thought she might have a better advantage in.

They continued in this way through much of the day, competitive spirits raising to an all time high and games occasionally being swapped. There were several times that Eli and Phoebe got into more squabbles, and Seth had to fight to break them up. By this point it was about dinner time. "What do you guys typically eat, anyway?" Seth asked as he looked through the fridge, trying to come up with a meal plan. Generally he wasn't much of a cook, but he could still do it well enough to get by. His one real specialty when it came to food was grilling steaks.

"Whatever we can scavenge?" Eli said, with a laugh. "A lot of times Shimy will cook but otherwise we're usually left to rummage through the pantry. Mom cooks sometimes, but...uh, it's better when Dad brings something over, let's just say that."

"Mom's cooking tends to be alive," Phoebe agreed, nodding matter-of-factly. "Gramma has to keep teleporting it away to primordial worlds 'n stuff because she says she doesn't like washing sentient beings down the drain."

"In short, never eat anything Philomena cooks," Eli said, with a shrug, as he set to looking through the dry storage pantry. "See anything you'd like to eat, Seth?"

Somehow, with all that Seth had ever heard about Philomena's experimentations, the stories of her cooking didn't come as all that surprising. Although it was still a bit disturbing to think about. At Eli's question, Seth replied, "Oh, I'm fine with most anything really. I was just trying to figure out what might be something easy to cook up." Sifting through the contents of the fridge some more, the cheetah found some fresh packaged tilapia. That could work, he thought to himself, pulling it out for further inspection. "How does fish sound to your guys?"

"Fish sounds fine to me," Eli said, with a shrug. Phoebe looked slightly more cautious.

"Only as long as it's not the same kind of fish as one of my friends," she said, arms crossed.

"Come on, Phoebs, do you think Mom or Shimy would ever stock any of your fishy friends' genetic cousins in the pantry?"

"We keep bacon and sausage around when we have Missy!" Phoebe shot back.

"That's..." Okay, so Eli couldn't explain how that was different, but Missy hardly identified with her fellow pigs other than to react with rage when Kamiko teased her, but Eli was fairly sure that had more to do with Kamiko than Missy's sensitivities to being eaten. Then again, he did occasionally catch Missy eyeing a sausage-enjoying Shimy with very ill intent... "That's different, and you know it."

"It's still a valid concern, 's all I'm saying!" Phoebe protested.

Was it truly so different? In any case, it didn't much matter really. None of them were 100% of the animals that they were mixed with after all. "Well, I don't know exactly what kind of fish your friends are, but I'm sure Eli's right about Shimy and Mena." Maybe. In any case, Seth went ahead and opened the package, beginning the dinner preparations. "Do you guys have any vegetables?"

Dinner preparations managed to pass without the house burning down (though Phoebe very calmly informed Seth that she was holding on to the regulation size fire extinguisher "just in case" while the stovetop was on), and even dinner itself was uneventful. They'd progressed back to gaming, and, when that got old, movies.

"Don't go in there! The scary guy's in there!" Phoebe said, a couple of tentacles quivering in anticipation as her hands flew up to her mouth to cover her wide open mouth.

"I'm sure they can hear you, Phoebe, just yell louder," Eli said, rolling his eyes. Phoebe stuck her tongue out at him, and then quite suddenly everything went dark.

Phoebe screamed. "Are you all right?" Eli asked, a bunch of sparkles coming to life in his open hand and providing the only light in the dark room.

"I'm...okay. Why's it dark?" Phoebe looked down at her body, which was reflecting the sparkly light in a very eye-catching way.

"I don't know, but the backup generator should've kicked on by now," Eli said, with a frown.

"Perhaps the circuit breaker blew a fuse?" the cheetah Hyte suggested, getting up to look around. The action was rather in vain though, considering the only source of light was coming from Eli's sparkles. "Not sure about the back-up generator though." The timing of the black-out with the movie was rather eerie really, but it was most certainly just a coincidence. Unless of course there was someone else about who liked to play practical jokes. "Um, which way to the panel?" Seth didn't actually know much at all about electrical work, but they could at least try flipping the switches a couple of times and hope for the best.

"If Missy overloaded the circuits again--" Eli paused. "I thought Mom wired it so that wouldn't happen to the main house again though." He made a face before sighing and pointing to the downstairs staircase. "First basement level, for the main breaker. We'll want to stop in the kitchen for the flashlights."

"What if we need to turn on the backup generator manually?" Phoebe asked.

Eli shuddered, saying quickly, "It's in Mom's lab."

"I'm sure we can just use flashlights and stuff," Phoebe said, hands and tentacles waving in an ironic (probably unintentional) mimic of Eli's typical flailing pose. "I mean, it'll be like an adventure!"

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure we can get the power back on..."

"It's... in the lab?" Seth replied somewhat uneasily. While he didn't exactly have a "tentacle" phobia like Eli, he somehow didn't much like the idea of seeing Mena's experiments first-hand. "Well, let's just hope that the breaker works."

The trio stopped by the kitchen first for the flashlights before making their way down to the main breaker. Unfortunately though, try as they might they couldn't seem to get the power back on through the breaker. "Looks like we may have to venture down to the lab after all," the cheetah remarked with a mildly grim expression, tail swishing slowly behind him. "Um, you don't think anything might have escaped with the power outage, right?" Hopefully the locked weren't electric-based.

Eli and Phoebe exchanged glances. "I don't think so," Eli said carefully, eyeing the staircase down to the lab with trepidation. "Mom's security is pretty solid, and the lab has its own circuit so unless something's really gone wrong..." He didn't finish his sentence.

"There's racks 'n racks of clothing between us and the lab so we'd hear something coming," Phoebe said reassuringly. "It's the thirteen levels of stairs we should really be scared about!"

There was a roar from below, that sounded distant. Eli gulped. "You know, besides the obvious tentacle monsters, I really don't know what else Mom keeps down there..."

"Lovely," the cheetah murmured below his breath. With a sigh, he said, "Well, I suppose we may as well start making our way down. Sounds like we have quite a way to go." After all, even if something did get out, Seth and Eli working together should be able to handle it. Unless there were a lot of escaped somethings that was... Then things could potentially get messy. Begrudgingly, the trio began their decent down to the lab...

Luckily the stairs were next to one another, so they didn't have to stumble through too many racks of clothing. Still, with every level, Eli had them stop briefly as he sent a spray of sparkles into the air, illuminating the level with light. Each level seemed themed to different fashion substyles, and the lower they got, the more...risque they seemed to become. On the tenth sub-level, when Phoebe asked what the whips were for, Eli just shook head sadly.

Still, he was almost grateful for the distraction when the roar they'd heard earlier happened again--and it was much, much louder. Phoebe squeaked and moved behind both Eli and Seth, grabbing Seth's hand while she peered out from behind him. "Are we gonna get attacked?" the jellyfish girl asked in a quivering voice.

Eli tilted his head to the side slightly, and closed his eyes as they heard the roar yet again--and then his eyes popped open. "It's not in the lab, whatever it is. We'll need to be more careful now."

Seth was beginning to wonder whether it might have been safer to leave Phoebe upstairs or not, but it was a bit too late for that now. Besides, leaving her alone in the dark didn't sound like a very safe idea either really. Rather than answer her question, he simple kept hold of her hand, ear and eyes on the alert. Slowly, the proceeded onward.

They were able to make it down the next set of stairs before the cheetah Hyte paused. A very strange scent assaulted his nose, but he couldn't quite place it with anything that he had ever encountered before. "Whatever it is, it's nearby," he murmured, the hair on the back on his neck rising a little as his eyes tried desperately to see through the darkness. "Let's all stay close."

On the eleventh...only one more level before the lab... Eli didn't know if that was a good thing or bad thing. There was something roaring--and then the lab was full of tentacle monsters and who knew what else. Was whatever was loose preferable to the beasties on the thirteenth sublevel?

There was a sound from across the room--a sort of clattering, and barely perceptible grunting...it was likely Phoebe couldn't hear it at all, though Eli and Seth's well-designed ears no doubt could. "Seth," Eli said, ears turned towards the sound. "I think you might want to take Phoebe down to the lab. I'm fairly certain...you'll be safe in there. And it sounds like there's only one..."

"We aren't gonna leave you behind!" Phoebe hissed, whole body quivering in fear and agitation, though her voice was very strong and determined.

Eli smiled ruefully. "I can take care of myself, you know." He turned back to gaze into the darkness, though even his part-cat eyes couldn't see much more than the nearest rack of--well, honestly he wasn't really sure what those pieces of clothing were supposed to be, it didn't look as if they'd cover much at all. "Phoebe's been put in the biometric database down there, all she'll need is to scan her hand. And probably the emergency code, but that's just 911." He touched one finger to the brooch on his chest--transforming would make an awfully useful distraction...

Indeed, Seth could also hear the subtle sounds from across the room, although he any normal situation he may not have noticed it. Amber orbs fixed on the kuppy as Eli told him about the locks down below. Even though he knew that the other was more than capable of taking care of himself, it felt somehow wrong to leave a friend behind. In fact, were it not for the jellyfish girl's presence with them, he wouldn't even have considered it. "Are you sure about this, Eli?" the cheetah Hyte asked in all seriousness, ears twitching lightly as the creature made another grunt across the room. "It might be easier to take care of with two of us."

"I can't go into the lab itself, so...I think this is the best course of action," Eli said, with a little shrug. "Whatever Mom has in there, the stuff in front won't be dangerous...not to you and Phoebe."

Phoebe slipped out of Seth's grip just long enough to reach forward for Eli, tugging on his shirt until he leaned over enough that she could lift herself on tip-tentacle and plant a kiss on Eli's cheek. "If you get hurt, I'm gonna kill you," she said solemnly as she pulled away, reaching for Seth's hand again.

"I won't get hurt then," Eli said, surprised by his little sister's gesture. He stared out into the room, and took a deep breath. "Okay, on three you guys start down the stairs, and I'm gonna try and be distracting enough that it won't follow." Another breath--the tension was palpable. "One...two...three! CAMELLIA CRISIS POWER!" The sparkling kuppy shot forward into the room, and his yell was answered by a roar.

On cue Seth took off for the next set of stairs with Phoebe in tow, minding his speed to make sure that she could keep up. if they could get the power back up quickly enough, then perhaps they could double back in time to help Eli out. Provided that he wouldn't already be done fighting against whatever creature was there of course.

The two of them made it through the next level without incident, and even though it was dark it didn't take too long to find the door to the lab. "I think this is the scanner here," the cheetah remarked, feeling a flat square of glass next to the door. Hopefully this thing was still working even with the power outage. "Um, go ahead and give it a try I suppose."

"Okay," Phoebe said, obediently putting her hand up on the square. The panel lit up and Phoebe squeaked, but didn't move her hand. A keypad shot out from under the panel, and this time Phoebe did jump. "Emergency code...input!" the jellyfish said as she finished typing, and the keypad slid back into the wall as the doors slid open, overhead lights flickering on. This was just the first set of doors into the lab, and as they both stepped into the area, the first set closed, and the second opened...into the lab proper.

It was, like Hytech, a very stereotypical looking setting. Most everything was white or silver, and there wasn't a bit of clutter to be seen. The sole twists on Mena's particular brand of science were evident in the large terrariums lining the walls to the left and right--those looked more like a zoo exhibit. And, true to rumor, tentacle monsters were contained within--though they didn't seem too much larger than a big dog. Phoebe went 'oooh' and her eyes went wide, but she shook off her astonishment quickly. "How do we turn the power on?" she asked Seth.

"Hm? Ah, right." The cheetah Hyte had been momentarily distracted by the rows of tentacle monsters, having never actually seen them before in person. They were certainly... interesting, to say the least. "We need to find the back-up generator. Should be around here somewhere." Quickly and carefully they searched through the front area of the lab to find the generator. When they finally found it, Seth set to work on getting it on. "Almost... got it!" Along with the hum of the generator came the fine and soft hum of life returning to all of the electronics back upstairs. "Alright, let's see if we can go help Eli now." Hopefully whatever he found was more harmless than it sounded...

"Se-se-seth!" Phoebe said, pointing at the door at the back of the lab. "There's a..." Words seemed to fail the jellyfish mer, and one could hardly blame her.

It was probably about eight or nine feet tall, though the ceilings down here were higher than standard height so it didn't have to stoop. The stalk on its head didn't need to bend either, though it swiveled in several directions before the observers could realize it was in fact an eyeball on a stalk. It was furry, vaguely resembling a bearish-humanoid sort of creature...if that bear had spent several hours on the rack, getting its limbs elongated. The face was oddly human, and it did seem to have some sort of intelligence in the two eyes on its face--though the pig snout through which it was breathing in soft grunts was a bit more distracting. It moved an arm towards them, and they could see three wicked claws covered in finger-armor. Whatever it was...it definitely looked dangerous.

And it was coming towards them.

The first thought through Seth's mind was, .... Oh ****. That thing definitely did not look very friendly. If he needed to he could probably evade an attack, but how was he going to protect both of them? "... Phoebe, stay behind me and be sure to keep your distance," the cheetah Hyte said in the calmest voice he could manage while still looking the creature over. Ok, ok, this is a lab where Mena breeds tentacle monsters for pets, so maybe this thing is friendly? That's quite a risk to gamble on though... This thing looks rather animalistic. Perhaps we could appeal to that side of it? Slowly, carefully, Seth approached the creature as well, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. He watched it's movements warily, ready to evade at a moment's notice.

It moved slowly--deliberately, as if studying the situation as much as they must be. And then it spoke.

"Tins buyl. Os luc ck'wolj cu gekc wue."

"I don't think Mom made that," Phoebe said, wide-eyed as she whispered.

Phoebe's comment didn't make Seth feel any better, but at least it wasn't attacking them. "Um, I'm sorry, I don't understand," he replied to the creature. "Do you speak English? Nihongo o hanashimasu ka? ¿Habla Español?" Hey, he had to try what he could. It would be better to keep it in a passive state and try to find out what it wants. A chilling thought passed through Seth's mind though. Is this thing what caused the power outage? Is it the only one?

"Mhoc. Os julli ronn Icgali..." it said, shaking its head. It appeared to be listening to Seth's vain attempts at common language, head tilted slightly to one side, before issuing its own attempts. "Iyaa'nolre isuu?" A pause. "πώς για το Theria?" A longer pause this time. "Ti'ama...zu?"

"I know that word," Phoebe said. She lifted her hands to her head, and seemed to be mimicking buns as she put fists to her head.

The creature copied the gesture, but left one wicked looking claw up. They weren't buns. They were horns.

"Eli might be able to understand what it's saying," Phoebe suggested. "It knows about Ti'ama, so maybe it's from that Empire place."

"Yeah, that's probably our best bet right now," Seth agreed. Although if Ti'ama were involved, would that only mean more trouble? Guess they'd find out soon enough. "Um, come this way then," he said to the creature, first attempting to mime "sparkles" and then gesturing for it to follow along. Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a long night?

The creature whuffled, and lumbered after them slowly--it clearly had to be careful not to overtake them with its much longer legs. They made it back to the eleventh level--where Eli was engaging in a very sparkly fight--with what appeared to be a second one of the creature they'd found in the lab.

"Rlutr oc upp, Gik'wk." The creature from the lab issued a command, and the one Eli was fighting backed off immediately, warily eyeing the 'friendly' creature with all three of its eyes. Eli blinked. The lab one asked, "Phanes'ici hari kasika ne?"

"Phanes--oso ii nyaroh?" Eli asked, apparently as surprised as Seth and Phoebe had been, though he had the benefit of speaking the language. The lab creature tapped its wrist gently--or would've, if the image hadn't flickered on 'contact' with itself. A hologram? It made some sort of gesture vaguely resembling a door.

"Eli! What happened?" Phoebe asked, unable to stand the suspense any longer.

"Mom has a portal in her lab," Eli said, shaking his head. "This first one came through--that's what shorted the power, the portal's connected to the main house grid."

"O'ro siya neleh? Itayari seh'i..." the lab creature continued.

"And--the hologram display is messed up, it should be able to speak our language but that doesn't seem to be...configured?" Eli finished uncertainly. "She thinks I can change the settings from here, but...I'll try," he said, addressing the creature. It nodded, striding over to the other and began to chew it out, apparently. Lots of short, sharp words, and the creature seemed to shrink into itself in submission. Eli closed his eyes, and a soft glow built around his brooch and shot down the stairwell, presumably making its way down to the portal. Several more minutes passed before his eyes opened again as he sighed. "That should do it..."

"Thank Hayan'ahari," the lab-creature said in a very female voice, turning around to face them again. "Let me guess--you're not seeing a human?"

"Um, no, not quite," Seth replied with a faint smile. It was good to be able to understand the thing at last, although the voice that the translator was using seemed almost a little disconcerting when paired with the giant furry thing. "Are we... supposed to be?" He still wasn't entirely sure of what was going on though. Why had the one that Eli was fighting even come in the first place. Was it accidental, or was it sent to tell them something? Hopefully everything would be cleared up soon.

"In my case, yes. Haryr over there is a Trikuado, and he's physically there with you." The creature Eli had been fighting with grunted and wiggled three sharp claws. "Athena must've configured the images at least..."

"Athena?" Eli and Phoebe asked in unison.

A head tilt. "Sabra Sabina?" she guessed.

"Sabra's our grandmother."

"So you're the heir!" Realization seemed to dawn on the woman-appearing-creature. "Well, where is she? She's about a year overdue on contacting home..."

"She's not in at the moment," Phoebe said apologetically.

"You're not...Imperial...right?" Eli asked hesitantly.

She laughed. "Oh Ahari no! I'm from...well, originally the south, Theria, more recently the north, Threadina." She lifted up an arm, appearing to stare at it. "What exactly are you seeing, anyway?"

Eli shrugged. "Another...Trikuado?"

Her--well, the Trikuado display's--eyes seemed to blaze. "I am going to kill Athena. Kill her dead."

"I'm...sorry?" Eli said, nervously moving back. The display of the Trikuado shimmered, and fluctuated in almost nauseating ways until it settled into an adult woman of average height, with pale blonde hair and icy blue eyes, dressed formally in black in a dress that appeared to be vaguely of medieval or Renaissance origin.

"I am going to have a headache for that," the woman said, shaking her head, before cocking an eyebrow at the Hytes and mer before her. "I am Aikatyrine Aikcj. You are...hmm, Elias Sabina, right?"

"No one calls me Elias," Eli said mournfully. "This is Seth, and my sister Phoebe."

"Well met," Aikatyrine said, with a grin. "Shame I have to kill your grandmother. That's just like her too, to set my ID to show up as a Trikuado. Ugh."

It was only through the context of the conversation that Seth even knew they were talking about Shimy, for he had never actually heard her full name before. He stayed silent through the exchange, trying to remember all of the things that Eli had explained to him previously and tie them in to the current conversation. "It's a pleasure to meet you," the cheetah Hyte greeted after they were introduced. "Did you two come to meet Shim- um, Sabra then? Or was there another reason?"

"She still goes by Shimy? I guess she can get away with it here, doesn't have the rep she's got back home," Aikatyrine said, shaking her head. "Haryr and I noticed a flux in this connection on our side, first time we've seen one since...Shimy...left. He went through and must've blown the power on your end, so I stuck with the image display. I'm guessing that Shimy wasn't expecting anyone to come through from the Phanes-side." Haryr seemed to ask something in the language Aikatyrine had spoken earlier, and she nodded. "I don't suppose Shimy's gotten around to...ah...bringing back some old friends?"

"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean," Eli said apologetically.

"No...babies? A girl, and a boy? A phoenix and Ti'ama?"

"I think...she's been working on that. She has DNA samples she wants cloned?" Eli asked hesitantly.

"Cloning's the simplest way, yes," Aikatyrine said with a nod, before turning and telling the Trikuado something. He grunted, before lumbering down the stairs. "Ah, now he's disappointed. Still, at least she's working on it. I'm...surprised she just doesn't do it herself."

"Grandmother can clone people?" Phoebe asked, her eyes round as saucers.

"She doesn't tell you much about her past, does she?" Aikatyrine said, with a chuckle.

Seth somehow wondered if he should even be in on this conversation, given how much this all seemed to be focused on the family. Then again, he was dating Noe, but... Should he still be allowed to hear all of this? "Ah, I see," he replied (although he still didn't completely understand all of it). "Well then, I guess that may take a while to do if she's going the scientific route." How does one go about cloning a Ti'ama anyway? No, not going to go there.

Aikatyrine pursed her lips. "The funny thing is...it really shouldn't. I mean, it helps that the two are halfbreeds. But it also helps that it's Athena. She's...ah...you just have to know her reputation," she finished finally, with a shrug. She seemed to not know exactly how much to tell them. "And it's personal. I know she left the Empire because she was stripped of her Contract, but...that wasn't the only reason."

"A kristi'os died," Eli said, matter-of-factly.

"Not just any kristi'os," Aikatyrine clarified. "The wife of your grandmother's little brother. My best friends. They were murdered by the current Empress of Neo-Sovreem."

"I...didn't know that Grandmother had any siblings," Eli said, sounding shocked by the information. "A brother who was half-Ti'ama?"

"A Contractor who carried his contractee in his soul. It's...rare, but not unheard of amongst the Imperials especially. It's rare that a Ti'ama trusts a single Contractor that much."

"Why does Shimy have--why did she have a brother who had access to..."

"The contract spans across lifetimes," Aikatyrine said, an eyebrow raised.

"I knew that. I guess I just..."

"Didn't realize that this is just the latest in a string of Shimy's lives? Her brother was Praetorate to the last Empress before the old Empire fell. She and he go way, way back--thousands of years." Aikatyrine paused, seeming to consider something. Finally, she spoke again. "What makes your grandmother special is that she remembers all of her past lives."

"No human could possibly be able...to store all that information alone..." Eli sounded very much as if his reality was collapsing around him.

"What makes you so sure your grandmother is human?" Aikatyrine asked simply.

Shimy's not human? Oh geez. As fascinating as all of this was to listen to, it didn't seem to be having a very good effect on the magical boy kuppy. Not to mention that this seemed to be quite the invasion of privacy on Shimy's part. If she had wanted her grandson to know any of this, wouldn't she have just told him herself? "I think," said Seth slowly, "that if Shimy hasn't shared this information before, then it was for a reason." He gave Aikatyrine a serious look. "Perhaps it is best if we end this conversation."

"You might be right," Aikatyrine said, with something of a sad smile. "I hope you'll remember at least that while your grandmother generally has good intentions...it pays off, to be able to stand up to her. Of course she'll play petty tricks like having your holo display show up as something silly..." The woman shook her head. "Anyway, watch out for the two she's trying to bring back--that will have been why you're waiting to move, on the Imperial front. Have her call me back, or I'll kick her a**. Hmmm, that should be about it. Oh, and she really needs to make sure to have a proper power setup if she's going to allow that portal down there to accept 'calls' from Phanes."

"I'll try to remember to let her know," Eli said, looking a bit better off now that his mind had something to try and cling to.

"She's forgotten that there are others of us who have lost precious people to that Empire," Aikatyrine said. "I hope you'll remember that. There are others who want to help. Don't let yourself carry all of the burden, Elias." She reached over and patted his shoulder. "Phoebe, right? Take good care of him." She turned to Seth, looked him over, and nodded. "You've got a good head on your shoulders. You'll need it, getting involved in this...with this...I'll help Haryr boost the signal from our side, it shouldn't hurt your power again." She gave a little bow, and waved to them as she swept out of the room, down the stairs.

Phoebe watched her go with something between fear and admiration. "She was awesome!"

"She was...certainly something..." Eli said. For all that she'd said, what hit him the most was the idea that his family was just the latest in the string. That maybe the whole reason he was involved in the Empire, was because of her last family. The idea unsettled him very much.

Seth watched with an expressionless gaze as the woman made her exit before turning back to the other two. "We should probably head back upstairs now," he suggested, glancing back over at the stairs. Somehow he didn't quite feel like sticking around to see if any other strange creatures would appear. "Hopefully that's all the visits that we'll be getting tonight..."

"Agreed," Eli said wearily, waving his hands over his brooch to de-transform. "Bedtime?"

"Bedtime," Phoebe agreed, heading up the stairs first.

***

After they had put Phoebe to bed and tucked her in, Eli led Seth to the guestroom next door. "Well, here you are..."

"Yeah, thanks..." he replied, unsure of what to say after all that had happened. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment before the cheetah decided just to ask out-right. "Are you doing alright, Eli?" he asked, looking at the kuppy with mild concern. "You didn't look to good down there."

"Guess I do look as bad as I feel," Eli said, with a hollow laugh. "You know, I always did think it was weird that Gramma Shimy wouldn't ever tell me much about Phanes, other than the Empire. Elti's been asleep so she never knew much about elsewhere either. Now I have to wonder...how many people know her, back there? How many other families has she had? Has she used them in revenge schemes too? I just..." He paused, then shrugged. "I know that overthrowing the Empress is the right thing to do, because it's not just Shimy she's hurt. But if I've just been trained to do it...in place of someone else..." Eli leaned against the doorframe with a sigh. "It's not...how it works, for people to be reborn together, for the most part. If my grandmother has been reincarnating aside this brother of hers for millennia, that's...either she's found a way to set it up that way, or he had." Eli looked up at Seth with another rueful smile. "Maybe it's selfish, but it bothers me too that I'm not her favorite."

"You can't really say that for sure," Seth replied with a faint smile. "You're brand new to the family after all, so it's not as if she's had a chance to reincarnate you along with her." Although really, that was only a very small part of the tangle. "As for the other families... Well, perhaps it would be best to ask Shimy about that herself. I don't think she would use you just as a tool of revenge though." Truly she did not seem to be someone so heartless.

"I guess," he said, with a laugh that sounded a little more like regular Eli. "I dunno, I suppose the others really aren't any of my business...and it sounds like her former brother will be joining the family soon enough anyway. I'm a little...how do you ask someone that kind of thing? And I don't really want to get Miss Aikcj in trouble, even if it sounds like she enjoys butting heads with Gramma..."

He shook his head. "Ah, I'm probably overthinking this. Shimy usually tries not to tell us anything until the very last minute--though I'd Contracted with Elti I didn't know anything about the conflict with the Empress until Miri came around looking for help. I suppose it's just another example of Shimy's reluctance more than anything else."

The feline shrugged. "I suppose that's true, but perhaps she is simply trying to protect you. After all, what good does knowing everything right now do if there's nothing that can be done just yet?" Granted, being informed was always nice, but if she had really lived through so many lifetimes then she should most likely know what she was doing. Hopefully.

"You might be right," Eli conceded. "Anyway, we'll probably all be sleeping in after this. Sleep tight and all that," the kuppy said, with a slightly mocking smile and wave, as he shut the door.

 

[AnimeEyeshime]

FIC - Glutton For Punishiment

Quote:

Eli had waited for the opportune moment—it had been easy enough to find out Shimy's access codes for the portal to Phanes, when she called Aikatyrine back—but the real trouble had been procuring a portal capable of opening to Phanes, which he'd finally managed to do with a lot of help from Elti. He fed Shimy's codes in, and hoped.

“Athena?” Aikatyrine's voice was curious.

“Actually, it's Eli...uh, Elias.” He had no idea why this woman alone insisted on using his full name (heck, his own mother usually didn't remember Eli wasn't his real name), but if it made her happy...

“Elias?” She sounded surprised, but not unhappy to hear from him. “How are you?”

“I'm doing well,” he said. “I see that you made it out of your argument with Shimy alive.”

Aikatyrine laughed. “Oh, she wouldn't dare kill me. I have too many friends who'd be happy to avenge me.”

“I worry that you're serious about that statement.”

“Oh, it's probably half true. I do annoy the hell out of her, have ever since we met. We have a lot of people important to us in common, though, so we...manage to get along most of the time,” Aikatyrine said cheerfully. “Sorry about shocking you.”

“Earlier? Ah...that's kind of why I'm calling.”

“Oh really? I think that friend of yours was right; there's a lot I know of Shimy's past that isn't mine to share and I ought to shut my mouth.”

“What about...I just want to know about the more recent things.”

“Like?” Aikatyrine was curious, not rejecting.

“I want you to tell me about her brother.” The words came out in a rush, and the effect was therapeutic, getting it all out in the open in one fell swoop.

“Donab.” Aikatyrine said the name a little wistfully. “If you want his story, you'll need Hayan's too. And mine...”

“So it is your story to tell?”

“How much do you know about Threadina, its history?” Aikatyrine asked him, instead of answering his question.

“Not much at all, I'm afraid,” Eli admitted.

“We'll start there then, I think. Long ago, when the nation had just become independent of the rule of the Arbiters...with Threadina Iok as its beloved queen, there was a woman who stood at the queen's right hand. Her name was Athena Pallawn, and she had a younger brother—Donab. They were both brilliant inventors, scientists...Donab was well known for his works, but no matter how magnificent his were...Athena's always outshined them a hundredfold. He was not jealous of his sister—he worshiped her. And that, I think, was where the real trouble began...”

Eli listened for hours; it was days before Aikatyrine was even close to unveiling her entrance into the story. Athena (Shimy, his mind kept wanting to replace the unfamiliar name with) had somehow been implicated in the prophetess-queen Threadina's apparent suicide, and she'd left the court entirely. Donab had kept himself away from the busybodies, unwilling to listen to them slander his beloved sister—until the day Threadina's daughter Sabra came to claim the queenship.

Donab had courted Sabra, was one of two main suitors, but when refused...he went 'stark raving mad.'

“You have to understand, it was quite a shock for everyone. And it wasn't apparent at first, he withdrew from society again and years later emerged with an army of Trikuado ready to tear apart the country with their very long claws...”

“So the Trikuado...Donab created them?” Eli was aghast.

“Yes. He's half-Ti'ama, you know, they're all about the genetic tinkering.”

And the story grew wilder. The war had continued for years, until Donab placed Sabra's mate in an eternal slumber—and Sabra retaliated with the same, to Donab. Locked in the workroom beneath the mountains, the room built by Athena, he'd slumbered for hundreds of years—not even waking as Athena visited to alter the parameters of the spelled slumber, so that he would wake when his mind was healed.

And he'd woken only when a half-drowned little girl was carried inside the workroom by one of the few Trikuado who still believed in the myth of their benevolent Creator. He'd saved her life by binding her life essence to one of the power stones he was a master at crafting, and only later realized she was Sabra's genetic twin, despite being Sabra's great-granddaughter.

Aikatyrine fast-forwarded through most of the ensuing years, saying merely, “And then hijinks ensued, half the royal family aside from Queen Nitra figuring out Donab was awake and keeping it secret from the Queen because he was a valuable ally in the current fight against the black sheep Prince of the royal family, training Hayan, Hay dragging most of her friends into the caves to meet Donab against their vehement protests since Donab still had a bit of a rep for being a crazy murdering sort...you know, wacky growing up stories.”

And then Aikatyrine had come north to Threadina from Theria, searching for her grandmother. That was where Athena had begun to appear in the story yet again--“Though none of us realized at the time she was in another life, as Sabra Sabina, Contractor of the Empire...” Campaigning for Aikatyrine to trust Donab, which became imperative after a disastrous raid on the black sheep Prince's castle, acting on the information that Aikatyrine's grandmother was there...

And she had been, just not in a manner that any of them had expected. “So my grandmother tells me I need to kill my best friend.”

“What?”

“That was more or less my reaction,” Aikatyrine said, with a laugh. “The sad part is I took her half seriously and moped around until Ker—my childhood best friend--told me I was being a bit of an idiot and why wasn't I asking obnoxious questions like 'why'?”

Seeking the answers had led Donab, Hayan, and Aikatyrine to the answers of Athena's past. “She was reincarnating, but arranging to download memories of her previous lives after she reached maturity in her new life—almost always overwriting the new life's personality with that of the original Athena. In the case of Sabra Sabina...I think she embraced it, those memories, just as she embraced being a Contractor. By the time she regained her memories, she was already a top candidate for the Empress' heir—that ambition, that pride...it was there from the beginning.”

Hearing about Shimy's brother was a mix of emotions, to the kuppy. It felt like intruding (though Aikatyrine assured him all of this was fairly common knowledge, and that parts that weren't were still known amongst certain circles that weren't too private, just cautious about the public at large hearing some of these stories)...and it felt a little shaming—wasn't he, hadn't he, simply blinded trusted Shimy just as Donab had trusted Athena? It was pretty clear why Shimy had chosen not to share most of her past beyond what circumstances forced her to—when would Eli have learned about the Empire if not for Miri's timely arrival?

“How did he react?”

“Donab?” Aikatyrine chuckled. “I think his first words about it were something like 'Well, this confirms my deeply rooted childhood suspicions.' You have to realize this news about Athena came at the same time as a lot of other revelations—that he'd been an Imperial Contractor, been part of the Empress Reeni's Praetorate, that he was carrying a Ti'ama soul. Frankly, Athena's was the easiest to accept out of all of it, because he was used to learning outlandish things about her. I think he was a lot more surprised to find out he'd been part of the group that had sacrificed in order to seal the Empire away from the rest of Phanes, give the other countries time to develop sufficient magic to hold their own against the Contractors. Knowing that his own personality, his own sense of justice, had been carried through the lifetimes helped him accept Athena, I think. But then we met Erika, and he realized he couldn't trust his sister to do anything more than use him for her own ends.”

Erika being one of the Vanth who had a history with both Athena and Donab in a long ago lifetime—they'd all been best friends, until both Erika and Donab had been infected by Chaos. Athena believed she could only save one of them, and chose to save Donab, leaving Erika for dead.

“Erika decides to get back at Athena, but the way she chose to accomplish this was a bit crosseyed, at least to me—Erika was the one who'd been pulling the strings behind that black sheep Threadinian prince, and my grandmother, it was Erika who'd given the order that Hayan needed to die before she awakened to her full potential. Erika was working off the facts of what she knew—in order to save Donab from the taint of Chaos, Athena had made her brother an artificial Vanth. Vanth choose their kristi'os—light calls to darkness, darkness to light and all that. Hayan was Donab's kristi'os. Erika had figured by disabling Hayan early, she'd neutralize Donab's threat to herself and at the same time piss off Athena, which was what she was really after. That was a fun couple of years, straightening all that out. In the end, Erika and Athena made what peace they could but not before Erika had almost managed to kill Sennith, which was where I got involved. Due to certain pecularities of my own history and bloodline, I was able to restore Sennith—who, by the way, isn't a real Ti'ama and is literally a collection of one thousand Contracted souls.”

Eli blinked. “But if Sennith isn't Phanes' original Ti'ama...”

“You've heard of the 'First to Shine', yeah? Well, that the original one. Phoenikeia, before she decided to become something a little more than human and a little less than a Ti'ama...according to all of them, anyway. She came back later, when she realized her leaving had half doomed the planet, and cobbled together a solution—but a thousand people had to die for it to work, and even after I reinforced it...” Aikatyrine shook her head. “That's another problem entirely.”

“So how does Nevre play into this?”

“Nevre and Athena—well, Shimy then for sure, I suppose—had always had a pretty bitter rivalry. When Shimy was trying to tell us what she could from inside the Empire, warning us about how Hayan's awakening meant the collapse of the barriers protecting us from the threat of the Imperial army—Nevre was busy herself. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but we do know this. Both Shimy and Nevre held two Contracts—very unusual. Shimy's were with Ilazki, and Sennith—Shimy was the first Imperial Contractor to ever hold a Contract with Sennith, it held a lot of clout with those in the Empire who believed the key to peace was by becoming truly native to the planet themselves, instead of coasting along on thousands-of-year-old history, pretending to still be an interstellar Empire. Nevre's were with Olwyn—one of the Imperial homeworld Ti'ama—and one of the moons of Phanes.”

“The captured one. The rogue moon.”

“Yes. All we can figure is that she got the taint from that moon—and gained a measure of prophecy because of it. Prophecy is one of those things you don't want to give a Contractor, let alone an Empress—it'll drive them mad, like it did our Threadina, who chose to die sane rather than let it lead her people to ruin. Nevre, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care. She's ruthless, and driven, and she would sacrifice those closest to her to obtain what she wanted—the seat of Empress and the downfall of her rival. In order to charge Shimy for treason, she orchestrated Donab's murder, which drove Hayan to blindless wanton destruction, which Nevre was able to say proved Shimy had been collaborating with the both of them in order to destroy the Empire. Even those in the Empire who didn't believe the story—well, their Empress had just murdered a kristi'os and a Vanth, so what was stopping her from killing the rest of them?”

“And now Shimy's trying to bring the both of them back,” Eli stated. “Why are we waiting for them? Why not wait until after the Empire has fallen to bring them back?”

“Because that's not how Shimy thinks. Above all, Nevre killed the brother she's been reincarnating at the side of for thousands of years. Where others would not dare to cross the line, Nevre bounded over. Your grandmother has something of a reputation, and Nevre's been tossing it in the mud since the moment she started getting away with this plot to take over an Empire. For the satisfaction of Sabra Sabina, she needs her brother to be there, to witness her triumph over his killer, even if he doesn't remember it. She needs to prove to herself she hasn't lost her touch, her ability to keep her loved ones safe.”

“That's...pretty twisted,” Eli said, not really knowing what else to say.

“There's a practical bent to it as well,” Aikatyrine said, shrugging. “Within their souls, Donab and Hayan are carrying pieces of a puzzle, as are a few of the Imperial Contractors. It's likely in order to ultimately triumph over Nevre, you'd need the solution to that puzzle. So in a way, waiting serves a purpose for your sake, Elias.”

“After hearing about how she 'helps' people I'm not sure I want to be part of that group.”

“For better or for worse...you're her family, and she won't ever let you forget that. There are very few whose welfare she watches for beyond maturity, and it just so happens your little hybrid family seems to have rated that concern. She won't let go, you know.”

“So if she won't let go...”

“That doesn't mean you can't feel justified to telling her to shut up when she's overstepping. Living so many lifetimes, she does have a lot of practical experience. She's also kind of a know-it-all, and there are times when you know better than she does what's right for you. You just need to be able to tell her that, and mean it. She won't take it kindly, not at first, but she'll settle into it soon enough.”
(continued?)

 

[AnimeEyeshime]

FIC - Arguments

Eli tells Shimy to STFU, brings up Erika, and then Shimy's a MAD SHIMY ARGH.  

[AnimeEyeshime]

[PM RP] Flight of the Kuppy- Part 1
12/26/09 - 1/04/10

Quote:

Stupid winter weather. It was snowing outside yet again, as it had been doing so often lately. It was only a light sprinkling at the moment, but even so the cheetah Hyte was beginning to dislike it nearly as much as the rain. It was cold and wet and thus it prevented him from going outside. Reading is fun, but this is getting ridiculous.

Neither Noelani nor Haevan were home today, and Seth had the day off. He was starting to get a bit restless from being indoors for so long. ... Maybe if I put on my coat I won't get that wet... I'm deluding myself. With a sigh, he closed the book in his hands and put it down before getting up and stretching. You know what? Screw the snow- I don't care if I get wet from it. With that decided, he grabbed his coat ad headed for the front door.

And he could hardly have been a step out the door before being bowled over by a bedraggled mass of golden hair--which upon closer examination proved to be a kuppy. Eli's normally luxurious hair was quite thick even when wet, and its length in this case meant he looked a bit more like a relative of Cousin It than a dashing magical boy. It looked as if he'd dashed off without a coat, too, and it was probably trudging through the area without a coat more than the light sprinkling that had eventually led to the soaked-through look. His eyes were a bit wild too, as he grabbed Seth by the shoulders. "Please let me in." The polite request was entirely at odds with Eli's current appearance, and it was certainly a comical sight.

It took him a moment to recognize the kuppy, for Seth had never before seen him in such a state of disarray. "Eli?!" he exclaimed, amber orbs wide in surprise. "Yes, of course, come in." Once the door was closed behind them, the cheetah turned back around to look at Eli again. "What happened? Is everything alright?" Had something happened with the empire? He couldn't imagine much that would throw the kuppy into such a frantic state.

Eli made a show of drying off--literally; he lifted his hand to the side in a grasping motion and with a little 'woosh' nearly all the water pulled out of his hair and clothing, hanging in a nebulous mass in the air until he directed it into his brooch where it siphoned in a little spiral. He patted his hair down--the quick drying method left it a bit frizzy, and then looked around the apartment with avid curiosity before turning back to Seth. "Nice place, I probably should've been sooner...Noe gets tetchy when we don't see each other often enough..." Somehow he'd happened upon babbling as a distraction.

"Eli," Seth pressed on, not distracted by the babbling, "what happened?" This was no casual visit from Noe's brother, that much was obvious. Why had he been running around in the snow with no coat on, and what had him so frantic upon his arrival?

"Uh--I sort of...uh, ran away. After Shimy and I...she found out I've been talking to Aikatyrine." The words came out breathlessly, and Eli was pacing around in a little circle now. "She wasn't very happy, and I wasn't very happy, and--I needed to get out of there."

The cheetah Hyte frowned at his explanation, still feeling that there was something he was missing. "What is so wrong with you having spoken to Aikatyrine? She came over unannounced- it was not as if it could be helped." And why would he run away over that?

"I...possibly...talked to her after that. Several times." Eli had stopped pacing and was now absently twirling strands of his very long hair around a finger. "It was very enlightening, really, and I'm not sorry I did, but--" The kuppy heaved a sigh. "I just think it's much better that maybe I start getting out from under Shimy's leash, that's all."

"Ah," Seth replied, finally understanding the issue a bit. He smirked ever so slightly in amusement and in a joking manner said, "So, in your enthusiasm to be free you forgot to grab a coat before leaving? Seems that you left in quite a hurry."

Eli twiddled his thumbs. "I...may not have told Shimy I'm leaving. Mom said she'd do it, but I'm not sure that's right, either..." He heaved a sigh, and gave Seth a little shrug as if to ask 'what else can I do?', and went back to eyeing the apartment. "I realize that this is very sudden, and will almost certainly be a bother to Noe for certain--could I stay here? Just until I can figure out a more permanent solution."

"You ran away?" the cheetah asked in mild surprise. Alrighty then... Seemed a bit drastic given the situation, but perhaps he just needed a small about of time to cool off after the fight. At the question, Seth gave a light chuckle and smiled. "Like I'd say no to family? Of course you can. Although, I do think you should talk to Shimy as well." Noe wouldn't mind having her brother over for just a few days or so, right? Maybe? And Haevan was generally pretty easy going about these sort of things as well.

Eli shrugged in response to Seth's surprise, though his ears twitched at the mention of 'family'. Sure, he probably considered Seth his best friend (next to Kamiko) but family... The kuppy's face froze as his brain whirred ahead, putting two and two together. "Seth...you and Noe..." Shock was probably an apt description of the look on Eli's face.

Seth's ears quirked slightly at the shocked expression on Eli's face. "Hm? Ah, you hadn't heard?" A clawed hand reach back to scratch the back of his head idly. "Sorry, I thought you knew. Noe and I are engaged now." He probably should have told him sooner, but with how quickly word seemed to usually spread around Hytech, he honestly thought that the kuppy knew by now. After all, he was positive that Mena knew at the very least. Guess she didn't think to share the news...

There was a vague sort of gurgle sound in the kuppy's throat, and then he closed his eyes. He knew Mom had been keeping something secret from him, and she'd seemed abnormally cheerful of late... Of course Noe getting engaged would do it. Of course his mother wouldn't tell him, because she knew he'd react...well, like he was reacting. Emotions whirled around inside of him; anger for not being told sooner, depression that it always had to be him doing the reacting (wasn't his father supposed to be taking care of this?!), a little bit of jealousy directed at Noe who'd been able to find love not only once but twice, and an overall sort of rush. "I don't know what to think anymore," the kuppy said simply, and then he sort of fell over. His brooch shimmered, and a holographic Elti stood beside Seth, cocking her head to the side and hand on her chin.

"Well, that's a bit of a pity," the Ti'ama said sadly. She leaned over and poked her kuppy Contractor. "I think you broke him. Overload of emotion. Do you have any smelling salts?" She didn't seem terribly concerned, so Eli was probably fine...

Did he seriously just faint? Seth though incredulously to himself as he blinked down at the kuppy on the floor. ... Yup, he sure did. Strangely, Elti's appearance from the brooch didn't startle Seth as much as it probably should have. He was pretty much beginning to accept the fact taht strange things would happen whenever the magical kuppy was around. "Afraid we don't," the cheetah said with a sigh, bending down to lift his friend up onto the couch. After Eli was situated, he turned his attention back to the image of the Ti'ma there beside him. "So... Long time no see, Elti. ^_^; Are things going alright over where you are?"

"Oh well, he'll come around on his own~," she said, sitting on the arm of the couch. "Poor thing, it was going to happen sooner or later. He's not very stable right now." She turned to give Seth a smile, and a shrug. "Ah, as alright as they can go, all things considered. I'm not sure if this is the best thing for him, either, but he seems very determined..." She looked back at the kuppy, and reached over to move a strand of hair behind his ears, before looking at Seth once again. "Oh, and congratulations! I'm sure you'll make a fine addition to my kuppy's family."

"Ah, thank you," he replied with a faint smile, deciding to sit down on the other arm of the couch. "What is it that he seems very determined about exactly?" Eli seemed to have a knack for getting mixed up into many things at once.

"Oh, leaving. It's--Shimy's past is complicated, and that's the just last lifetime or two. Now that Eli--well, a lot of this was new to me, too... By gaining a measure of independence, I think he hopes to clarify his true relationship with Shimy. Eli, in many ways...shares a lot of similarities with a person or two from Shimy's past, and he thinks she's projecting onto him. Thinks that if he leaves, and there is some distance, they can both find themselves..." The Ti'ama shook her head slightly, as if coming out of a reverie. "I can't see the future, so I don't know. But I hope it will work out."

"Hm, interesting theory," Seth replied, glancing down at the unconscious kuppy. "Although I still think he could have planned a little better. Does it really make as much of a difference to leave suddenly with no real plan of action versus taking a day or two to be packed and prepared?" This whole running away thing really didn't make that much sense in the cheetah's mind, even after being given the reasoning behind it. Then again, everyone's mind worked a bit differently from one another... Seth was just more of a planner in general.

Elti pulled a face. "Sadly...yes. Shimy's as bad as a Ti'ama, if she really had thought he was going to leave...she wouldn't have let him. As it was, it took Mena to distract her--Mena doesn't need the distance, she learned to separate herself a long time ago." Elti laced her fingers in her lap. "Mena sees things very clearly. I've always wondered why she didn't become a Contractor. Perhaps she feared the entanglement."

She wouldn't have let him leave? That seemed a bit harsh. I guess this makes a little more sense now. Seth listened politely as Elti continued on, thinking over the situation in his mind. "Maybe," he said with a slight shrug. To himself he thought, Or perhaps she's just not into the whole magic thing. It doesn't necessarily suit everyone. He was about to ask Elti something, but then stopped and chuckled instead. "I was about to offer you a drink, but I keep forgetting that you're not actually here. Um, can you think of anything besides smelling salts that might bring Eli back to?"

Elti smiled winningly at the cheetah. "Hehe, well, I appreciate the thought anyway~ And he should start coming 'round on his own...ah, here we go." Deftly she slid off the couch arm and into a kneeling position beside the couch, taking Eli's hand in the image of her own as the kuppy began to stir. "Eli, you went a bit overboard..."

"Funny, my head pounding is telling me exactly the same thing..." the kuppy muttered, propping himself up with his free hand, and looking at the couch with some surprise, then up to see Seth. "I'm sorry about this..."

"Just try not to trigger a huge emotional response for the next...oh, day or so?" Elti said, shaking her head.

"Okaaaay, Mom," Eli said, rolling his eyes.

"I am your mother star, and you'd do well not to forget that," Elti said, though it seemed very good-natured scolding.

"It's alright, Eli. Things happen. I'm just sorry for not telling you the news sooner," the cheetah said apologetically. Perhaps the kuppy wouldn't have reacted as badly if Seth had shared the news under different circumstances. Still, there wasn't much that could be done about that at this point. "Are you... alright with this?"

"Ah..." Eli thought of the best way to phrase his response. "I can't think of anyone who'd be better for my sister, and you put up with the rest of the family well enough so I guess you could say it was inevitable. I am, however, going to kill my mother because I am fair certain she knew twenty minutes after it happened." He let out a gusty sigh, and shrugged. "It's less you-marrying-Noe and more Noe-getting-married, if that makes sense. Oh, and a bit of wondering if this is what it takes to bring my father and Zane back around." He touched his head gingerly, and eyed the Ti'ama beside him. "Empathic magic is not as fun as some people make it out to be."

Seth couldn't help but chuckle a little at the explanation. "I believe I can understand where you're coming from." And, knowing Mena, she probably did find out rather quickly after the fact. The Feline seemed to have a special gift for that sort of thing...

His ears perked slightly at the kuppy's last statement. "Empathic magic?" he echoed, curious as to what the other meant. The cheetah never had asked exactly what kind of magic Eli used most often. "Could that even be used for battle? Or do you practice different types?" Cause 'empathic' just dealt with emotions, right?

"Oh, empathy can be a weapon all right," the kuppy said dryly, gesturing to the couch. "The problem is I seem to be better at hurting myself with it than directing it outward." He clasped his hands in his lap as he continued. "You know how I don't have any limits in how to use Elti's power; usually my problem is focus. That's why I use my Lytes as sub-soldiers, each of them is attuned to a different kind of magic. My primary magic is empathic, which allows me to closer attune with my lytes but also offers me personal defense...or it would, if I could ever get it to work correctly. Instead I'm just known for being a bit of a crybaby," the kuppy finished with a self-deprecating smirk. "I feel things very strongly--they're not always my own emotions. I've grown pretty adept at shielding others out though--have to, living at the Cottage and all the mess at Hytech..."

"I guess you would have to," he replied with a small nod. That also explained a few things, although the Lyte "subsoldier" thing intrigued him. He vaguely wondered if all of the Lytes and Bytes back at his mother's house could also somehow be made more useful. "So, how does one go about 'training' empathic powers then? It's not very good if it keeps backfiring on you all the time..."

"A lot of meditation, a lot of trial and error. It's not a kind of magic that is particularly common even among Contractors so..." Eli shrugged. "Eventually I ought to be able to either plant emotions in people, amplify what they're feeling, and possibly trap them in mental loops. I can really only test the first two safely..."

A mental loop definitely sounded like a great weapon to use against an enemy, although he could see how it would be extremely unsafe to test out otherwise. "Interesting. Well, if you ever need assistance I would be glad to help." Even though the potential was quite nice for what the magic could do, it was definitely best not to leave untrained. Especially if it was already affecting the kuppy so strongly.

"I will probably take you up on that offer," Eli warned, settling back into the couch. Elti yawned from her perch on the arm of the couch. "Anyway, the empathic magic's a good part of why I left, and why I didn't tell Shimy I was leaving--there's nothing quite like arguing with someone and having their own feelings confirm your suspicions... Also if I was anywhere near her when she's told I'm leaving the sheer fury would probably knock me out cold, for far longer than this little incident."

"That bad, eh?" Seth replied with a quirk of his brow. His tail swished casually behind him off the side of the couch while they spoke. "If empathic magic is as rare of a branch as you say it is, what made you decide to specialize in it in the first place?" Was it a suggestion on Elti or Shimy's part, or had he just sort of stumbled across it on his own? How would one even begin to choose anyway?

"It's what the magic bent itself towards," Eli said, shrugging again. "My mother is highly perceptive to the point where I half think she's got latent magic, and my father is kind of infamous for his emotional outbursts, so...I guess you could say it was a genetic tendency." That was the best explanation the kuppy had found for himself. "Most Ti'ama and by extension their Contractors, prefer to work with magic a little more...visible? I'd say 'solid' but a lot of Empresses were known for wielding illusion magic. Which isn't too dissimilar from empathy, at least in outward effect...one Empress was particularly known for shattering minds, mind loops creating eternal sleep, that sort of thing. She ended up having to spell most of her team into endless dreams or else they'd have overthrown her and probably destroyed the Empire in the process." After Eli spoke, he seemed to realize how that really sounded, and he scratched his head self-consciously. "Fun times, Imperial history," he added dryly.

"Sounds like it." Somehow it seemed just way too wrong trying to run an Empire while having all or most of your followers bewitched. Then again, from what Seth had heard thus far of these "Imperials", they didn't seem like a very good bunch overall.

A brief glance over at the window revealed that the snowfall outside seemed to have finally stopped. The cheetah's ears perked in momentary joy that he might finally be able to go outside before he remembered that he had company. I can't exactly just leave him here, he thought to himself, but would he be willing to go out again so soon? Well, I guess only one way to find out. Turning back to the kuppy, he asked, "Hey, Eli, do you feel like going out for a walk? The snow seems to have finally stopped, and it probably couldn't hurt to get some fresh air."

Eli perked up at the idea of doing something; in spite of his lingering headache, he was full of nervous energy and talking a walk might burn some of it off. He was on edge, wondering when or if Shimy would try to contact him next, wondering idly if he'd still feel her fury when Mena told her the news even through all this distance... "That sounds great," the kuppy said honestly, standing up with stretch.

"You do that," Elti said, patting the kuppy's shoulder with a delicate hand, and then she bowed to Seth. "I'm off for now, see you later Seth~" And then she was gone.

"Farewell, Elti," Seth said with a smile, standing up as well. Ah, it would be so nice to go outside again without getting wet... Well, his feet would, but that didn't matter so much. Grabbing his coat once more, he said, "Alright, let's get going then." With that the two Hytes made their way out the door, both eager the relax their nerves in the outdoors.

 

[AnimeEyeshime]

Flight of the Kuppy Part II

Eli needs to tell Noe he's crashing in her apartment, but Elti has to say it for him.  

[AnimeEyeshime]

Kamiko's back!

Begin main thread 2950, end 2955

 

[AnimeEyeshime]

Second Date's the Charm?

Eli and Kamiko go on their second date, and things go swimmingly...until a little girl claiming to be Eli's daughter from the future interrupts the evening.  

[AnimeEyeshime]

IM RP - Fallout

Quote:

(vaguely non-canonish intro)
Kamiko: *blinks and catches girl as she bounces off eli's head*Um......hi
(Kitten introduction)
Kamiko: Your future DAUGHTER?*gonna totally do the Luna thing*
Eli: Apparently....... *sigh*
Kitten: Hehehe~ <3
Kamiko: *hands her over*Well I'm sure you have much....bonding....to do. I have to go train now*walks off*
Eli: ;_; PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE WITH HER!
Kitten: .......you suck compared to Daddy neutral *DISAPPOINTMENT*
Kamiko: *walks off without a word.....not like her normal self*

Kamiko: *sighs, pouting a little*
Eli: *has told Kitten to not wander around and for gods sake don't do anything to ruin the time-space continuum, before going after Kamiko* Kamiko-chan! Ah, there you are. Hey, what's wrong?
Kamiko: Hmm? Oh nothing. Just thinking
Eli: 'Bout what? *crosses his arms and settles back; this feels like a long haul sort of thing*
Kamiko: *shrugs but doesn't say much. Her little doggie ears turned back*
Eli: *reaches out to touch one of her ears, trying to give her a supportive smile* Hey now, don't do that. I know something's wrong. Please tell me...?
Kamiko: I just....don't feel like....I should be around you....when Kitten's there.
Eli: *raises an eyebrow* Oh, I can definitely tell her to go back to where she came from. But I don't think that's what you meant. Are you...worried, because of her?
Kamiko: *pushes the tips of her paws together*A little. I mean....just because she's from the future doesn't change the fact that.....that she's your daughter
Eli: *a little light-hearted* Does this have anything to do with your constant assertion against having kids? *serious now* Kamiko-chan, I can tell you now I'm not interested in ever leaving your side. I certainly wouldn't do it for the sake of having a child. So that probably means Kitten's both of ours...or somebody decided it would be a fun lark to mix my DNA up with something and Gen a random kid--I wouldn't put such a thing past Shimy, I've heard her go on with Saavy about possible cat slash polar bears... >.>;;;;;
Kamiko: I just....don't know any more Eli-kun. It just makes me think about things
Eli: *he's not terribly satisfied with that, but he doesn't know how to fix things either* What kind of things?
Kamiko: You say now that you would never leave my side. But we don't know what the future holds in your realm
Eli: Mmm, true enough I suppose. You're worried I'd find someone on Phanes? *ponders that* I'd be looking at crazy Contractors--they are crazy in the Empire, seriously--or people who know my grandmother. That doesn't sound like a turn off, but, believe me, it is. *pauses, decides to ask a more pertinent question* What's making you think Kitten isn't yours?
Kamiko: Well it's not like she said "hi mummy" when she fell out of the sky. She doesn't even look at me
Eli: Mmmm--she definitely is trying to hide something. Maybe she feels if she says too much about the future, she could mess something up? And she doesn't really call me 'dad' either, from what I can tell she definitely thinks of me and her father as separate people in time.
Kamiko: *nods*But I'm just not sure...I like you a lot Eli, I'm afraid of getting my heart broken
Eli: And having a kid fall out of the sky heralds heartbreak? Wouldn't it be terribly insensitive of future me to send Kitten to get you to break up with me, which is the route you seem to be meandering towards...? I'd like to think I don't become a total a** in the future... *rueful* What would you have me do, Kamiko-chan, to prove myself to you?
Kamiko: *hugs him*Its not that you have to prove anything to me Eli-kun. I just need....to get my head around this. This isn't your fault. Its my own feelings being thrown out of proportion
Eli: *hugs her back* I'm sorry, for what it's worth. And I am not opposed to trying to get real answers out of the squirt, you know. *is sort of tempted to go find her and tickle Kitten until she tells him who her mom is*
Kamiko: *smiles*I trust in your future self's judgement. If I am her mother then he has already spoken to me and knows how I will react and took that into consideration
Eli: Good call. Still, future me must also have considered my desire to go beat the stuffing out of her... *sigh* I know she's just a kid. A really annoying kid. I will have to remember to be a strict parent or something, she's a bit of a hellion, don't you think? :/
Kamiko: *grins*Maybe she gets it from her mother
Eli: *eyes her* See, I'm sure this is the real reason she won't tell us. So I can't just point at you and be 'it's all your fault.'
Kamiko: *laughs*
Eli: This reason is striking me more and more as being accurate. I'm sure it's all a big conspiracy of the womenfolk in my life neutral
Kitten: *runs up to them* I got bored :/
Eli: *dryly* Of course you did....

 

[AnimeEyeshime]

IM RP - Coming Back For More

(January 11th)

Quote:

Seth: *is napping on the couch* zzz

Mysterious!Little!Girl: *a vague sort of popping noise is heard from outside, and in wanders a little girl who couldn't be more than twelve, probably more like ten. Despite her sheer amount of frills and ribbons (and even a bell or two), she stalks stealthily through the carpeted main area on tip-toe. Though it's clear she's a Hyte, it's not clear what she is--could be cat or dog, really, with her goldenish paws and black ears*

Seth: *ears twitch slightly, but otherwise the cheetah Hyte remains sound asleep*

Mysterious!Little!Girl: *pauses in the center of the room to scope out her surroundings; it looks like it's just her and the cheetah boy on the couch. Glancing to each side one more time, she then adjusts her course as she tiptoes over to the couch, leaning over the arm and staring at the sleeping cheetah's face with a quizzical look* Hmmm...

Seth: *is mumbling lightly in his sleep, but the words are too soft and jumbled to be understood* zzz

Mysterious!Little!Girl: *puts a paw up to her chin as she considers her options. After a moment or two she nods to herself and puffs out her chest, putting one hand on her hips as the other grips the bell on the ribbon around her neck--which she rings quite daintily. The sound starts out light and tinkling as a bell of such size normally sounds, but the longer the girl shakes it, the louder it gets*

Seth: *ears twitch again, but this time the cheetah Hyte slowly starts to wake up to the sound of the bell* Hm? *stretches and sits up, looking around sleepily. He is surprised at the sight of a young and unfamiliar Hyte* Ah? =o Well, hello there, little one. ^_^; I don't believe that we've met before.

Mysterious!Little!Girl: *upon the bell's desired effect occurring, she lets go of it and tilts her head to one side as she smiles at him* Hello! My name's Kitou but everyone calls me Kitten! :3 What's your name?

Seth: *chuckles* My name is Seth. ^_^ Nice to meet you, Kitten. =) *still curious as to why he had yet to hear of this new Hyte* Where are your parents?

Kitten: Nice to meet you too, Seth! *at the question of her parents, she tilts her head to the other side* Ummm...back home~ ^____^;

Seth: *smiles faintly* Snuck out, eh? They're probably worried about you then.

Kitten: Ehehe...Daddy knows where to find me, so it's okay~ Hmmm...*twirls around slowly, trailing ribbon from her various clothing pieces, her eyes going wide to take in all around her* So this is Hytech, huh? It's my first time here!

Seth: *surprised* Really? Where did you spend your time as a baby then? *is used to most of the young ones hanging around hytech*

Kitten: *puts a finger to her mouth; she's considering how best to word her answer* Mostly at home, I guess. We went out sometimes though, to lakes or parks or that kind of thing~

Seth: Ah. *is growing rather curious about this mystery Hyte* So, who are your parents exactly? I didn't know anyone else besides Femi and Gable had Gen recently.

Kitten: *a little light of mischief mixed with a bit of fear sneaks into her expression--she definitely doesn't want to answer the question directly* Who do you think my parents are~? *is what she opts for instead, deciding it'll be interesting to see what Seth says and possibly distract him*

Seth: *looks Kitten over thoughtfully for a moment* Well, I know a couple of Hytes that you look like you are the daughter of, but I know they defnitely haven't had any kids. So other than that, I have no idea.

Kitten: *clasps her hands behind her back as she flutters her eyelashes at him* What if I'm yours? :3

Seth: *blinks* Um... what? *shakes head* No, I'm pretty sure I have not done gen either. ^_^; Plus you have not been at home with me and bare no resemblance. *chuckles* Just what game are you playing, Kitten? =)

Kitten: What if I told you I was a time traveler? :3

Seth: ... Somehow I might not be surprised. *chuckles* Let me guess: blond hair, frilly clothing, special powers... Eli's kid, right? *is starting to think he's still asleep*

Kitten: *pouts* I knew this was too much! I told Daddy but he said I had to make a good impression... *gusty sigh*

Seth: *arches brow* Oh? And just what has brought back to this time period, exactly?

Kitten: *freezes* I can't say. neutral

Seth: Because...?

Kitten: *pause*...Because! I could RUIN THE FUTURE. neutral And then Daddy would be very mad at me *pauses again, then grudgingly allows* But paaaart of the reason I'm here is to tell Eli something.

Seth: *tilts head* Don't you run the risk of doing that just by being here in the first place? =o *looks about* Um, I don't think Eli is here at the moment unfortunately. ^_^;

Kitten: *matter of factly* Magical laws allow for a bit of fuzziness in the time space continuum, especially around Contractors. *gusty sigh again* I saw and figured as much but this is the only place I know where to find him... :/

Seth: Well, he may perhaps be back at the apartment still. *shrugs* Would you like me to take you there?

Kitten: That would probably be best... *looks determined now*

Seth: *chuckles* Alright then. *stands up and stretches briefly*

~Time Skip to arriving at the apartment~

Seth: *walks in with Kitten in tow* Eli, are you home?

Eli: Yeah, yeah, just a--*walks into the front room, does a double take, and hisses* KITTEN!

Kitten: *waves merrily* Hi Eli! ^_______^

Seth: *smiles faintly* I guess you've met her before then.

Eli: *dryly* You could say that. You could also say SHE FELL ON MY HEAD. sad

Kitten: It was an accident, promise!

Seth: *quirks brow* She fell on your head? *that had to hurt*

Eli: Yes. Yes, she did. And she didn't even apologize. neutral

Kitten: I said it was an /accident/! That's all that needed to be said, right? Right?

Seth: *shakes his head at the two, starting to believe the "future daughter" story a bit more now* Um, well, anyway, I believe she said she has a message for you...?

Kitten: *clears her throat* I forgot to tell you last time. I--*sniffles*...*tiny voice* I don't think I can say it...

Eli: *arms are crossed and he taps his foot impatiently*

Seth: *waits patiently*

Kitten: *sniffles some more* I...I...*takes a deep breath before letting it all go in a single gush* I'M ALLERGIC TO SPARKLES crying

Eli: *foot stops tapping, and a polite vaguely quizzical look is on his face now* Beg pardon?

Seth: *sweatdrops* You're allergic... to the starseeds? *finds this entirely too ironic*

Kitten: Not /starseeds/ cuze we all got 'em, but...specifically sparkles they produce, yeah. *sniffles* I'm a terrible magical girl, I know... emo

Eli: ...............

Seth: Ah... ._.; Um, being allergic doesn't make you a terrible magical girl though. You can't help your body's reaction... ^_^; *wonders why Eli isn't saying anything to his "daughter"* >.>;

Eli: *eyebrow raised* I'm guessing you get it from your mom...

Kitten: *thwaps him* I can't tell you that! neutral

Seth: Well, I don't think you CAN have gotten it from your dad... >_>;

Kitten: *back to her srs matter-of-fact face* It's more like a food allergy, it's possible to get it after stimulation. *and an immediate switch back to the morose face* Using 'em all regular-like, and suddenly you're deathly allergic...

Eli: ....I'm still wondering why future me thought sending you was the best way to convey this message

Seth: ._.; *is wondering the same, but has kind of given up on questions by this point*

Kitten: Oh, it wasn't Daddy's idea, about the message. That was Auntie Dacj's idea! :3

Eli: ........................................

Seth: *snorts* Of course it was... *is amused*

Eli: Auntie Dacj realizes I haven't even /met/ her yet, right?

Kitten: *blinks* ... *pulls out a small notebook that appears to be a pocket calendar, and scans it. A faint blush creeps over her face* ....ehehe. Right you are....

Seth: *chuckles* You actually should go meet her sometime, Eli. She's quite cute. ^_^ I could keep her out of grabbing range if that would help...

Eli: After this, I'm not sure I want to... >.>;;

Kitten: *flails* Nonono! You gotta meet her! Or else the time-space continuum will explode or somethin'!

Seth: >_>; Um, yes, that would probably be bad...

Eli: It wouldn't /explode/...you just might cease to exist... >.>;

Kitten: *gets the tsundere angry-gonna-kill-you face/fist waggling/vein popping* THAT'S JUST AS BAD!

Seth: Um, I don't think you have to worry about that, Kitten. ^_^; Unless Dacj were your mother (which I entirely doubt), his delayed meeting of her most likely wouldn't erase your existnace...

Kitten: Stepping on butterflies! Hurricanes in China! *flailing some more*

Eli: That's a pretty weak excuse, Kitten...

Seth: ... ._.;

Kitten: *coughs delicately* Well anyway I told you and you need to stop being so reliant on sparklies or else you'll kill me neutral

Eli: *does a double-take* lolwhut?

Kitten: I can't believe you actually said 'lolwhut'. Mena would be so ashamed...

Seth: So... you're proposing that he goes on a "sparkle diet" then? XD *is trying but failing to hide amusement*

Kitten: Mmm, more or less I suppose~

Eli: Did you forget about the part where I still have to overthrow an evil Empress?

Kitten: Your magic takes more form than just sparkles~

Seth: *decides to stay quiet and simply listen to the banter for now, tail swishing lightly behind him*

Eli: Okay, okay. Message delivered. Go back to the future.

Kitten: Daddy said you should try and spend time with me.

Eli: *facepalms*

Seth: Well, right now he technically hasn't had you yet... ^_^; Um, perhaps you can spend some more time with future Eli?

Kitten: No, Daddy was very specific. Part training, part learning to compensate for my allergy~

Eli: Future me has a sick sense of humor, apparently. neutral

Seth: Are you sure these weren't Dacj's instructions? *trying not to laugh*

Kitten: Daddy's /much/ nicer than Eli...

Eli: If you at this age wasn't the first thing I'd met I'm sure I'd be nicer to you, too.

Seth: *clears throat* Well, um, I don't suppose that your father gave you any specific ideas for bonding activities?

Kitten: Daddy said Eli should have some ideas :3 He also said, 'think of it as an exercise in diplomacy.'

Eli: ........ *mutters something about wondering about the probability of killing one's future self*

Seth: *smiles faintly* Diplomacy, eh? Sounds like quite the excercise. *would almost like to meet future Eli, as he seems to have an interesting sense of humor*

Eli: Clearly, you are amused, Seth. I'm so happy for you *looks at Kitten with a sigh* Bonding, huh...what kinds of things do you like, squirt?

Kitten: *sticks her tongue out at him* All kinds of stuff!

Seth: *shrugs and scratches the back of his head* Sorry. ^_^; To be fair though it is slightly amusing. *cough* Anyway, hm... Well, you two could read or watch anime together perhaps?

Eli: Yes, well, if your future child ever shows up... *seems to realize how ineffectual a threat that really is, and shakes his head sadly*

Kitten: If I wanted to do those things, I'd have stayed in the future. neutral *hard to please, clearly*

Seth: Ok... Hm. Um, you could go swimming? ^_^; *is not very good at such things either*

Kitten: In the middle of winter?

Eli: Hytech /does/ have heated pools, but... *shrugs*

Seth: *shrugs* Well, I don't have very many ideas of things that could be done now versus the future. Your turn for some ideas, Eli.

Eli: *eyes Kitten, knowing she'll probably go for it but also dreading the implications* Twenty-first century candy?

Kitten: *grins* Now we're talkin', Eli.

Seth: *must not laugh, must not laugh, must.. not.. laugh* Ah, I think we may just have some in our room. Be right back. *disappears into bedroom*

Eli: .... *kind of wants to ask why Seth has a candy stash in his and Noe's room, but also really doesn't want to know the answer*

Kitten: *bouncing on her heels, humming to herself*

Seth: *was actually just leaving the room to keep from laughing, but now is in the predicament of trying to find something sweet* =/ *grabs one out of Noe's stash of melon pan, hoping that she won't notice and returns to the living room* Ah, seems I was wrong about the candy. Here's some melon bread though if you'd like to try it. =)

Kitten: *slightly disappointed but mollified by the offer of melon bread* Sure~ *takes the proferred bread, eyeing it before taking a huge bite, which she chews with an expression that says she's deciding whether or not she likes it*

Eli: *wonders if Kitten's this much of a menance in front of her beloved Daddy or if she actually is well behaved*

Seth: Well? ^_^;

Kitten: *swallows and gives Seth a thumbs up* Yummy~!

Eli: >.>;;

Seth: *relieved* Glad you like it. =) *is not really one for sweets himself*

Kitten: *gobbles down the rest of the bread in a just-barely-more-than-savage manner, and then tugs on Eli's shirt* Your turn~

Eli: I'm beginning to doubt the wisdom of offering you sugar, squirt.

Seth: *wonders how this qualifies as a "bonding" experience anyway... Unless he's planning revenge on his future self by sending her back all hyper-active*

Kitten: But Eliiiiiiii... *turns on the puppy dog eyes*

Eli: *twitches, but they're pretty much his weakness, and Kitten's really good at it* ....Kitten...

Kitten: *amps up the puppy-dog-eye 'voltage'*

Eli: *feels...himself...falling prey to those cute big eyes* ;_;

Kitten: *positions herself to best advantage by adding begging-kitty-fists*

Eli: .......ice cream?

Kitten: *throws her arms around his neck* Yay~!

Seth: *chose to watch the transaction safely from the sidelines* Well, that certainly sounds like a good idea. It'll give you two more time together on the way there as well. ^_^

Kitten: Eli's staying here, right? May I sleep over too~?

Eli: *too busy facepalming in shame to notice Kitten's request*

Seth: Ah, I think it might be best if you perhaps return home this evening. Your parents will probaly be worried if you are gone too long, and Eli and I have some training that we need to do. Right, Eli? *trying to help the kuppy out*

Eli: Huh--oh. Yeah. Training. Mmmhmm.

Kitten: *clearly disappointed* Maybe some other time, then~

Seth: Perhaps. ^_^; In any case, it was very nice meeting you, Kitten. =) I look forward to seeing you in the future.

Kitten: *does a little curtsy-bow combination* Nice to meet you too, Seth~ Come on, Eli~ *grabs the kuppy's hand and starts dragging him out the door*

Eli: I'll be back in a few hours, I guess... *is dragged out by Kitten*

Seth: See ya later then. *waves the two off*

 

[AnimeEyeshime]

[PM RP] The Word Spreads
1/14/10 - 1/15/10

Quote:

The cheetah Hyte was out for several days before finally returning to the apartment. He hadn't really taken anything with him on the impromptu journey, but frankly he didn't care. It didn't matter if he didn't stop for anything to eat or only slept for brief periods in his car at night the past few days. Who cared about such trivial things? The only thing that matter at the moment was his search for Noe. Which had turned up empty. It had taken Seth a good part of the day to decide to finally return home for a bit, but he wouldn't be staying very long if it could be helped. He wasn't about to stop looking for her so easily.

Once inside, he only cast a brief glance around the living room before padding off in the direction of his own room. If he was lucky then he would be able to just slip in and out again without being noticed. Then again, luck didn't quite seem to be on his side lately...

Eli had been mildly alarmed when first Noe, then Seth had disappeared from the apartment. Still, he figured as long as he kept things tidy and bought his own food they wouldn't kill him or anything, so he hadn't thought too much about it. He'd had a bit of a headache all day and was in the kitchen fixing some hot tea when he heard the key in the door, and then emotion--or, rather, a curious mix of utter misery and a blank, numb, buzzing sort of feeling--hit the kuppy like a ton of bricks. He hissed as he managed to scorch his fingers, hot water somewhat missing the cup, and reached for a towel to quickly mop up the moisture before hurrying out to the living room, just in time to catch Seth's back retreating towards the bedroom. It was hard to tell from the back, but the cheetah looked as if he hadn't taken care of himself in days.

"Kekasmai'pha," Eli swore, one hand placed to his temple as his mind struggled to deal with the source of the headache coming closer, and his other hand reaching out for Seth's shoulder to stop him. "You look like hell, Seth. What happened?"

Seth paused at the hand on the shoulder, barely even registering the other's presence. What happened? Well, everything really. "... Noe is missing," he replied quietly, voice and expression blank as he stood in place, not even bothering to turn around and face the magical boy. "She's been kidnapped."

Noe--kidnapped? "By whom?!" Eli asked, though he didn't really expect an answer. If there had been some sort of ransom request...well, Seth would've probably told him sooner as opposed to just going out around looking for her, which is what his eyes told him had happened. Surely if Seth himself had been given any leads, he would've let at least Noe's siblings, Noe's mother know... "Come sit on the couch. You're at least getting real food if I have anything to say about it." Eli had the suspicion as long as he was bullheaded enough about it, he could probably manage to bully Seth into doing what he said. And it wasn't entirely altruistic, the kuppy had to admit to himself--Seth was giving him the beginnings of a migraine.

I'll help shield, you help him, Elti's voice came as a whisper in the back of his mind. The aura of an impending migraine was somewhat lessened, and Eli thanked his mother star fervently.

Eli came back to the living room with a fresh cup of tea and pressed it on the cheetah. "It's hot," he warned, "but you look as if you could use it. Now, tell me from the beginning. When did you find out? What exactly were you told?"

Initially the cheetah didn't make any replies, simply sitting on the couch as was requested. He was rather too numb at the moment to bother arguing back. When the tea was pressed into his hands, he simply stared blankly at it, the only sign of him having heard or registered Eli's words being a light twitch of his ears. After a brief moment of silence Seth spoke, though still in the same dead monotone from before. "A few days ago Noe's boss came to the apartment. She had been on an independent mission when she disappeared. They've been searching for her, but... have found nothing. The only clue they received was a lock of her hair." He still had the lock of hair with him actually. In his coat pocket. It was want he had been using in his desperate attempt to find and follow a scent trail these past few days. (Not that he needed a reminder of her scent, but it was the only link he had at the moment.) "They think she might have been taken to another world."

"And I don't suppose they have any details on this independent mission," Eli said regretfully, though he filed away the knowledge to drop by Noe's workplace at some point and chew them out on the matter. "Another world. It can't have been Phanes or else Aikatyrine would've told me; she's monitoring all the worldgates there..." He supposed it might have been Nevre, but...it didn't quite seem the Empress' style. Kidnappings and hostages, sure, but Nevre was also very open about whom she was holding captive--flashy, really. He supposed it came with the territory of being an Empress. And he didn't think the Empress would necessarily have even bothered with his sister if she was going for that route... "Unless Noe's been doing a lot more worldhopping than I'm aware of--" (and as far as he knew, it'd only been the one time to Dyre's homeworld) "--I can't help but feel this has something to do with Contractors. Still, it seems an awful roundabout way..." To what? Get to him? He still couldn't quite buy it. Had Noe's quarry been offworld? Why hadn't she ever bothered to ask him about those lessons they'd half jokingly proposed, her weapons skills versus his magic...

"Seth, if she's offworld, she could be...anywhere," Eli said finally, for lack of a better term. "You can't do this to yourself. I have friends--Shimy know people--we'll find her, Seth, but you have to take care of yourself, too!" The kuppy was quite emphatic. "What kind of help will it be if you're half dead when we know where she is?"

His ears twitched again at the kuppy's words, although this time in a slightly more agitated manner. "I won't be half dead," he said flatly. "I just... had to make sure. I tried to follow her trail, but... it just disappears. Completely." Seth had to stop talking at that point, feeling his numbness shell cracking a bit as he spoke. The cheetah Hyte continued to stare at his tea for a few more seconds without really seeing it before he spoke again. "... I need to go shower."

"You could've said something before haring off, Seth. She's my sister, I care about her too." Eli could feel the stronger pain threatening to break through even the shields Elti had thrown up, and he sighed. "Don't drown or anything. I'll talk to some people, get the ball rolling." Though he was really just saying that; Eli suspected he wasn't going to be able to speak to anyone for the next few hours. He knew Seth didn't realize it, wrapped up as he rightfully was in his own sorrow, but it wasn't going to be a piece of cake or anything for the empath while the cheetah had a good cry or whatever. Eli could maybe leave, get far enough out of range, but--he shook his head. No way was he leaving Seth alone, not like this. He did his best to project some kind of comfort, but he suspected it wasn't very effective. "Go, do what you need to do."

The cheetah's ears dropped a bit at the reminder of his unintentional secrecy. "I'm sorry, Eli," he said, genuinely sorry for having left without at least telling her family anything. They deserved to know about Noe even more than he did really. Standing back up to head to his room, he said, "I just need to get cleaned up. I'll be out in a bit." It was true, he had for the time being forgotten about Eli's particular brand of magic. He would certainly be regretting that later, but for now his head was still in a numb fog as he set down the tea and returned to his room.

There had always been an odd sort of "love/hate" relationship with the shower, for while the cheetah needed it for staying clean, he still hated the water just as much as anywhere else. Yet, this time was different. The water was still just as cruel, wet, and unforgiving as ever, but Seth couldn't find it in himself to care. No, instead he found himself with a bigger problem of his numbness shield breaking away. Alone in the steady echo of water on tile, there was nothing to distract him or keep his mind occupied. The search for Noe had turned up empty, and as much as he wanted to keep searching he knew it would be utterly useless. He couldn't travel between worlds himself, and until he found some way to do so he was pretty much just stuck here. But what about Noe? How was she doing? What was her captive doing to her? The thought made him sick, and the shield that had been in his mind since he first heard the news finally shattered. The shower would be lasting a lot longer than he originally planned...

Feeling a twinge of guilt as Seth responded to Eli's intended jab, the kuppy watched the cheetah go with another sigh. He wondered how to make himself useful--cooking dinner, perhaps?--and reached for the untouched cup of tea to take back to the kitchen. He made it as far as the sink before a tsunami of pain hit his shields, and Eli dropped to the floor, back sliding against the lower cabinetry, head in his hands. He couldn't focus right, couldn't rise above the choking waves, and he wasn't even aware of his own body shaking until he felt Elti's cool hands on his face, tilting him carefully to the side--like a child held in his mother's arms. He rode out the pain as best as could--nearly all of it Seth's, though his own fears and worries had managed to mix in and make it all much worse--Elti holding him all the while, occasionally brushing his hair to one side. It felt like ages, years certainly, before the pain had receded enough he was able to think again. Elti brushed away the remnants of tear trails from his cheeks, and offered him a helpless, sad look.

"I'm sorry," Eli said, his voice raspy. So much for being able to hide this from Seth.

"For what? For feeling?" the Ti'ama simulacrum asked pointedly.

"If I'd trained more dilligently--"

"Bah! I couldn't even hold your shields, that had nothing to do with your power," Elti said, flicking his nearest ear. "All the same, yes, I think refining your empathy is in order. If you could project, I think it would help Seth." She paused, then hugged him quite fiercely. "All the same, I'd take a crybaby over someone callous any day."

"Good thing, too, since the Contract spans lifetimes," Eli said, with as much of a laugh as he could muster.

That... was rather something. Well, at the very least the cheetah Hyte was clean now, and had fortunately managed to reign his thoughts and feelings back in to more manageable levels. Still, it hurt to come out of the bathroom and be faced with the now Noe-less bedroom. There must be some other way to go about finding her. If we work together then I'm sure we'll find a way. "We" being him and Noe's family that was. They were all in this together.

Seth got dressed and padded out of his room quietly, heading first to the living room in search of the magical kuppy. He needed to apologize more properly for his serious neglect before in telling him about Noe. Hm, he's not here. Perhaps in the kitchen then?

Indeed, when he entered the kitchen it turned out that Eli was there, along with Elti. "Hey, Eli, I just wanted to sa- are you alright?"

Eli sniffled and turned to face Seth. "Does it look like I'm all right?" the kuppy asked, tears pouring down his face.

"I told him to light a candle next to the cutting board," the Ti'ama said, utterly amused. "Isn't that supposed to help?"

Eli brandished the knife he was using to cut the onions--the source of his tears--at her. "If you want to complain--" (sniffle) "--you can just make dinner yourself!"

Elti giggled. "You act like world dragons know how to cook!" She danced over to Seth in a show of scooting away from Eli, and put a hand on the cheetah's shoulder. "Are you doing okay, Seth?"

The cheetah had never seen such a display of tears from onion cutting before, but then again he hadn't really cooked that many times with the root himself. At Elti's question he gave a small nod. "I'll be fine," he replied, forcing a faint smile before turning back to Eli. "Um, in any case, I'm terribly sorry about before. It was wrong of me to just run off without telling you guys anything." Amber orbs locked thoughtfully on the onions as he watched them being chopped up. His ear flicked as he put two and two together before saying, "Elti's not here to just give you cooking advice, is she." How could he have been so slow as to forget Eli's abilities?

"I'm very good at giving cooking advice!" Elti said defensively, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's okay, Elti," Eli said, finishing off the onions and placing the knife to the side of the cutting board before grabbing a paper towel or two to wipe away the tears--which, at this point, really were the onions' fault. "Anyway, it's not me you need to worry about. Mom's going to go ballistic." He moved to the sink to wash his hands, before finally meeting Seth's eyes and giving a little shrug as if to say 'well, what can you do?' Then the kuppy groaned, looking back in the sink. "Well, damn. I hope nobody cared about that mug I was using for tea..."

Ah yes, Mena. She and Shimy would need to be informed. "I should probably head over to the Cottage right now," the cheetah Hyte remarked mostly to himself, completely not noticing Eli's comment on the mug. After all, this wasn't the kind of news that could be simply shared over the telephone or anything. "Everyone should probably be home about this time of day, right?"

"Yeah--I'll come with you." Eli knew his mother was going to throw a fit before her pragmatism kicked in. He could maybe distract the kids--and then he remembered there was a tiny squid involved and amended the thought to 'Elti can distract the kids'. Surely Shimy would be...cognizant of how very bad taste it would be to throw a hissy fit of her own about Eli moving out, in wake of learning of Noe's kidnapping. "Let me just throw this stuff in the fridge."

The cheetah's ears perked in mild surprise at the kuppy's declaration. As far as he was aware, Eli hadn't gone back there since he had initially run away. Had he? "Is that... safe?" he wondered aloud, unsure of how Shimy might react. "Have you guys even spoken yet?"

"It's perfectly safe...I think," Eli said, unintentionally ruining the surety of the first statement. "No, we haven't spoken, but I think Shimy has enough life experience--" (you could call it that, he guessed, all those lifetimes) "--that she'll realize there are things more important than petty squabbles." Besides, if he was really lucky, she'd throw herself into the fervor of figuring out which world Noe went--if she could be possessive as to overthrow an Empress in revenge for a brother's death, surely Noe's kidnapping would inspire some of that same passion. "And she has much better connections than I do, probably on every world near enough for single-portal travel." He didn't add that if they'd taken Noe through more than one it was going to take substantially longer.

It was undeniable that they would be needing Shimy's help in this search, so the cheetah made no more remarks on the matter. "If you're sure then." The real question he was currently wondering was how exactly Noe's family would take the news. "Let's get going."

******

The drive over to the Cottage was fairly quite and uneventful. A small portion of the numbness had returned by now, but it was mostly just as an after effect from earlier. Right now the cheetah was mostly just tired. Still, they needed to do this, so there wasn't any time for such things as sleep just yet. Hesitating only briefly, he rang the doorbell and waited patiently.

Mena answered the door, took one look at the both of them, and shouted over her shoulder, "Phoebe, take Dacj and go play in the backyard, please."

"But Moooooom," came the refrain.

"I'll let you play with Ellery and Tirren in the lab later," Mena shot back.

"Done! Come on, Dacj~," was Phoebe's reply, and it was quiet enough that all could hear Phoebe squelch all the way to the back door. Mena turned back to the boys, and waved them in, leading them to the library in the front of the house.

Eli'd described it before as a 'steampunk library' and that seemed to be the best descriptor--arranged like a classical 19th century study, the walls lined with bookcases so tall they needed ladders. Weaponry hung around as decoration (fandom weaponry, most of it, including replicas of various wands used by Sailor Moon), along with the odd tapestry. A bookcart or two was visible, as was a curio table in the middle that held a replica of some kind of city inside. There were a few comfortable looking burgundy couches, with a stack or two of older looking books piled on side cushions. To one side of the room was a bay window, inset with a seat, heavy curtains drawn almost shut. Next to it was a bit of golden gadgetry that did who knew what, and then a large, stately desk--behind which Sabra Sabina sat, flanked by the tiny Txori whose golden eyes flickered over the new arrivals.

"I don't believe I've ever met the boy with the fetching spots~" Txori said, bouncing out from behind the desk to offer her hand to Seth.

"Ilazki," Eli said, not sure whether he was introducing her or scolding her.

"We know," Shimy said, twining her fingers in front of her on the desk. "Though I appreciate you having the nerve to come in person." Ostensibly she spoke to both of them, but Eli could tell her words were intended towards him alone.

"Gaia's been told to tell us if any Hyte goes offworld," Txori explained, flashing a quick smile. "And I'm familiar with your DNA so I could tell it was a kuppy."

"Mother had just gotten around to telling me," Mena said, flopping on the nearest couch. Eli could tell Mena wasn't happy about that fact either.

"It was inconclusive that she'd been taken by force," was all Shimy replied. Until a moment later, when she added wryly, "You try talking to Ti'ama sometime, it's like prying a tooth out of a Trikuado."

"Threading a lamiak through a needle's eye," Txori offered.

Eli gave Seth a helpless little look, as if to say 'see, this is what I have to deal with.'

"All the same..." Mena said, crossing her arms, "having taken this long...it'll make the trail cold, won't it?"

"It depends entirely on what we're dealing with," Shimy said, shrugging.

A knot of guilt formed in the cheetah's stomach at the course of the conversation. How could he have been so foolish as to just go out on his own without asking for their help any sooner? He obviously hadn't been thinking straight (which was still a bit of a struggle even now admittedly), but that was no excuse. "... Is it possible to find out who or what went with her?" he asked, gaze serious. "If it was possible for Noe's DNA to be recognized, could the one who captured her have been noted too?" After all, they'd have had to have left at the same time, right? And most likely together.

Txori exchanged a look with Shimy. "I can tell if it's human or something else, I think--much more than that and we might need to call in some favors."

"It's not Nevre," Eli said, almost defensively.

Shimy shrugged. "I don't think it's her either, but it's possible Nevre could've put an open bounty out on anyone related to you or I--so we'd be dealing with an independent 'contractor'...so to speak." Shimy looked at her hands, then met Eli's eyes squarely. "If that's the case, this won't be easy. If it's someone else entirely--I'd guess they weren't very well informed when they entered into this."

Because they didn't know you bite back when something you've deemed yours is taken away from you? Still, he couldn't help but continue to hope that his own activities hadn't lead to his sister getting kidnapped...because if it was because of him...

He didn't want to keep thinking down that line.

As usual, Seth didn't understand about half of the conversation; however, he still understood enough to catch the meaning of what they were saying. "So you think it might be because one of the Imperials then?" he asked, wanting to clarify a bit. If that were the case... wouldn't that be worse than just a regular bounty? Well, maybe not. At least these guys could be tracked, the cheetah Hyte amended to himself. He felt so utterly useless in this current situation, not having any ability to help track her himself. Then again, perhaps he could help somehow. "Do you think it might be easier to track her down if other contacts had a sample of her DNA?" He still had that lock of hair with him after all. There were enough strands that they could easily be divided and distributed among many others.

"That would be very helpful indeed," Txori said, clapping her hands together. "I imagine I'll be the courier, then, Sabra?"

"Yes, I'll talk to Gaia and whomever else in this quadrant of space I've got something on," Shimy said, standing up. "Eli, you might as well contact Aikatyrine. She has people in Nevre's court, they should be able to hear rumors if this indeed has anything to do with her."

"I've your permission to speak with her now, then?" Eli said, not able to resist the cynical jab.

"The damage is done," Shimy said with a little shrug. "It doesn't change the situation at hand, and you're aware now more than ever I don't like it when people think they can harm my family. That's really what this comes down to, doesn't it?"

Eli shrugged back. "As long as you consider them 'family.'"

Shimy gave Eli a withering look. "Oh, don't you start on that. It's bad enough to have Erika harp on me about past mistakes, you don't have to harp for her."

"If it came down to it, me or him, which would you choose, Grandmother?"

Shimy raised an eyebrow. "Keep acting like that and you well know the answer. Now go, do something useful."

Seth pulled the lock of hair out of his pocket and handed it over to Txori. While a small part of him didn't want to part with it, if there was any chance at all of it helping to find Noe then it was definitely worth it. "Thank you, Ilazki."

He listened silently to the terse exchange between Eli and Shimy, and the woman's ending remark brought about a small flare in his temper. Given the circumstances though, he had no choice but to remain silent. This was a fight between Eli and Shimy herself, and the woman had just after all agreed to help search the universe for Noe. Not to mention the fact that there was some part of her that wasn't entirely human and he had no idea what kind of magical powers she possessed. "Thank you for your help, Shimy," he said with a polite nod. Before they left though, he turned to Mena with an apologetic expression. "And I'm sorry for not informing you myself any sooner. I went searching for her on my own, but.. that obviously didn't turn out too well."

"Thank you for trying. If it had been possible to find her on this world, I'm sure you would have," Mena said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Take care of yourself, Seth. I'll let you know myself as soon as we have anything."

--
It was a quiet trip home, and the first thing Eli did was flop on the couch. "Argh," was what he seemed to say, though it was a bit muffled on account of his head being pushed against a decorative pillow.

While Eli went and flopped on the couch, Seth locked the door behind them quietly. The fact that Noe wasn't there at the moment wasn't entirely unusual in of itself, except for the fact that they now knew this time she wouldn't be coming home this evening. How long would it be? How long would it take to find one lost kuppy in the great expanse that was the universe? "Thank you for coming, Eli," he said, trying to distract himself from his current train of thought. He had to keep reminding himself that Eli was an empath, and so he couldn't let himself feel too strongly of anything. At least not while the kuppy was around anyway.

"No problem," came the muffly voice. Eli's ears twitched, and he moved his head to speak more clearly as he eyed the cheetah. "Just because I can tell what you're feeling doesn't mean you need to try and be numb. Any time you feel inclined towards blind rage, or a total breakdown--eh, some warning would be nice."

Seth gave a slightly pained smile, but shook his head. "That's not fair to you though," he countered, plopping down in a nearby seat, laying his head back casually and closing his eyes. Ah, big mistake; he had forgot just how little sleep he had had recently and now the fatigue was nearly overwhelming. Still, he pressed on. "... you shouldn't have to be subjected to anyone else's feelings but your own. It would be cruel of me to add to it if it can be helped."

"Oh, trust me, usually it's my own emotions echoing back on me," Eli said dryly. "Feeling someone else's is like a bit of a vacation." He paused, and laughed, facepalming. "It's really depressing but it's also true. Sometimes I really wish I was normal, just saying."

A small "hm" was the only response that Eli received from Seth as the cheetah quickly started to fade. Within only a few seconds he was out like a light, his body finally having succumb to his exhaustion.

Eli chuckled, then got up to go fetch a blanket from Seth's room, tucking the slumped cheetah in on the chair as best he could. I'll wake him in an hour or so, at least to get him to move, he decided. The last thing the cheetah needed was a sore neck from sleeping in an odd position. With one final glance towards the door, the kuppy headed back into the kitchen to finish the dinner he'd started on earlier.

 

[AnimeEyeshime]

Dacj's Big Adventure!

Upon becoming a child, Dacj decides to go find her older brother...  

[AnimeEyeshime]

Flight of the Kuppy Part III - Guilt Cookies Taste the Sweetest!

Eli bakes Haevan cookies, and they discuss living situations, Noe's rescue party, and what it's like to be a magical boy.  

[AnimeEyeshime]

IM RP - If You Asked It Of Me...

Quote:

Kamiko: I wish to help Noe!

(Shimy: We'll put her on the list XD (who knows when the actual rescue rp's going down...) )

(byagane319: Yush but Eli should know Kamiko would want to help! After all she is a super hero!)

Eli: *flails* I know I know sorry for not getting on that sooner... >.>;; *been really tired with all the nonstop draaaaamu or so it feels*

Kamiko: *hugs*Aww, Eli don't worry. I am always here for you

Eli: Thank you ^___^

Kamiko: *touches his arm*What can I do to help? I am not a magical person like your family or even that trash digger

Eli: *has to snicker just a little at her description of Hunter* You're more than capable, Kamiko-chan. Between all of us mounting the rescue party, we should be a well-rounded skillset. We still don't know what we're facing--if it's magic or not, or what their motives were...

Kamiko: What do we know so far?*curls up on the couch with him*

Eli: *puts an arm around her, enjoying the close contact* Not very much, I'm afraid. She's offworld, she was taken while doing her bounty-hunting thing...and they sent her boss a lock of her hair, but no demands for ransom or anything... *sigh* Shimy's working from one end to figure out where she is, Hunter may have a more immediate way of getting to her--he's got ties to Noe that mean something, from the magical standpoint, so I'm willing to believe his way might prove the easiest to get to the world she's on. Other than that... *the kuppy shrugs*

Kamiko: *begins to think*Hmm, well if we follow Shimmy-sama can follow or try to find connections with her own research. To see how they are intertwined and maybe also revealing the culprits

Eli: Shimy's research will really only prove useful if the culprits are magical or associated with the Empire in some way--she's going through the Ti'ama. Though she has a lot of offworld connections in general...it's possible they could turn up something relevant to, say, a crime ring or something unmagical. I really think we'll end up having to go in quite blind and try not to muck it up--hmm...*an idea strikes him* depending on where we end up, Shimy might be able to get us a local guide....

Kamiko: That is a good idea. But will it reveal our pretense to those that took Noe if we hire a local?

Eli: If it's coming from Shimy's connections, it's not likely. The woman's sneakier than snake, and whoever she can contact likely knows her reputation. Shimy doesn't take being crossed very nicely. *thinks that's probably the understatement of the century* Even if we do have to make contact on our own...it might be worth the risk. It'll depend if it's something more like Gaia--a sort of worldgate planet, in which case we won't stick out at all--or if it's more rural, in which case we will need the help, absolutely.

Kamiko: *nods*Well it will be easier to hide our animal appendages that it will for Hunter. Even I can cover my mask with make up should I need too.

Eli: Mmm, depending on the planet we might not have to. Phanes--that world the Empire's on--has humanoid-animal hybrids similar to Hytes. The Mau'vri are cats, the Arrouna are dogs, among the others...

Kamiko: *giggles*What about kuppies?*tickles his chin*

Eli: *wiggles in response to the tickling* I haven't asked--unlike us, they don't have to reproduce in test tubes--but I imagine it's quite possible they have something like a kuppy, yes.

Kamiko: So what would our cover be there? A traveling couple?*grins*

Eli: *grins back* We'd be quite convincing~

Kamiko: *giggles*

Eli: They also have griffins. And unicorns. And all manner of exciting magical creatures, or so I am told.

Kamiko: Ah but sightseeing will have to be reserved until after we find Noe

Eli: Of course...I really doubt Noe's on Phanes, though; it wouldn't have gotten by Aikatyrine. *realizes he hasn't told Kamiko about her* Ah, she's sort of one of the main people in charge outside of the Empire on Phanes. Apparently she and Shimy go way back. Any sightseeing on Phanes would have to wait until after the Empire stops trying to kill me, really... >.<;

Kamiko: *sighs*Why do they hate you so much Eli? You've never really explained all this to me*strokes his ears*

Eli: *leans into the pet, with a small sigh of his own* It has very much less to do with me and very much more to do with Shimy. Long, long ago, Shimy, Sabra Sabina, whatever name you'd like to use...she was one of the top candidates for the seat of Empress. The other was the woman who's now the Empress, Nevre. Nevre and Sabra were pretty bitter rivals, but they kept their fights within permitted bounds, so no one worried about it. But then one day...

Kamiko: *nods*

Eli: *realizes he needs to back up a bit* Well, going back a bit further--you know that Contractors reincarnate, they live many lives. Usually they don't remember anything, but they almost always Contract with the same Ti'ama, over and over again. Sabra's...different. She has a system; she lives each life oblivious until she comes of age, at which point she arranges to download all the memories of all her previous lives. One such life was outside the Empire, on Phanes, in a country called Threadina. From that lifetime, she had a brother--Donab.

Kamiko: Shimmy-sama had a brother?

Eli: *sad smile* Yes, she did.

Eli: *deep breath* So it comes to this--Donab and his wife come visit the Empire on a diplomatic mission from Threadina. For some reason--Nevre murders Donab, Donab's wife--a kristi'os level Contractor--manages to fry about half the continent in revenge before the Praetorate kills her, and Sabra vows revenge. Unfortunately, Nevre manages to get Sabra accused on charges of treason while simultaneously avoiding accountability for murder, and Sabra was stripped of one of her Contracts, and exiled to Gaia. And then she finds Hytech, and then I come into it. That's more or less the story; it all comes back to Nevre and Shimy in the end.

Kamiko: So where do you fit into all of this?

Eli: I'm Sabra's heir. Without her Contract to Sennith--the Ti'ama of Phanes--she's pretty much unable to confront the Empress on equal terms. So her revenge falls on me to carry out--but more important than revenge, Nevre's infected by Chaos and she's tainting every Contractor in the Empire. When I became a Contractor, defeating Nevre was part of the Contract I swore. And even if they hate her--and I've no doubt many of the Contractors under Nevre do--they're still bound to serve her. She does keep hostages, too.

Kamiko: *frowns*That is very cruel.*puts her hand on his*If you asked it of me, I would help you do whatever is necessary to complete your contract

Eli: *simply* Yes, it is. *he gives her a soft, sad smile* I know, Kamiko-chan. Is it terrible of me to want to try to spare you from this mess?

Kamiko: *smiles and nuzzles him*No, it means you are a good boyfriend. Besides, you know you couldn't stop me from helping even if you chained me a to the Hytech building

Eli: I know, I know. *teases* Hmmm, now I'm tempted to try that and see how long it takes you to break out of them...

Kamiko: *grins*Just remember Eli, fair is fair when it comes to that

Eli: Whaaat? You'd tie me up? Kamiko-chan...I don't think I've ever seen this side of you... *can't help but laugh*

Kamiko: *laughs*Well it's not like we've ever...well.....talked about stuff like that...*blushes a little*

Eli: *is blushing a little himself at his own boldness, but he likes the mood and so keeps going; he raises an eyebrow* Are there any fetishes I need to be aware of, Kamiko-chan?

Kamiko: *giggles*I don't know of any Eli. I've never even kissed a boy before. What about you? From what I've heard you have SOME experience....even if its your brother

Eli: *goes bright red* Oh my god where did you hear about that...nevermind. I knew it would come back to haunt me someday... >.>;;;;;;;;; I was young and impressionable? Crazy yaoi fangirls were egging us on? My brother's an attention whore? All true, yet still lame excuses...

Kamiko: *just laughs*I was just teasing your Eli-chan. Besides, mother showed me the anime of Ouran High School Host Club so I understand what you two were doing

Eli: That doesn't mean it was ever a good idea though... >.>;;;;; In case you have ever wondered, the worst that happened was my brother chewed on my ear a lot, which happened without the mock twincest, so rather unremarkable on the whole, really. *is sort of simultaneously relieved that this is in the open and dealt with and also vaguely wanting to crawl into a hole somewhere*

Kamiko: *grins*Well at least you had fun. Mother once suggested I flirt with everyone, male or female, to keep people guessing about my normal persona and my super hero persona

Eli: *is kind of wondering about Kamiko's mom now, lol* Flirt with everyone in both personas, or just in the super hero one while actually normally as yourself?

Kamiko: Well I suppose mother was always obsessed with those superheros who seemed somewhat moral corrupt yet their real life was one of prudishness.

Eli: Aaah...well, that's one way to look at it, I guess. The idea that a disguise frees you from judgement of your peers, or lets you be more hedonistic--whereas your regular life might have more restrictions on behavior, more accountability to society. *pauses* I'm really glad you didn't follow her advice...? ^^;

Kamiko: *grins*I couldn't do it. I mean I can't be all.....like.....well like your sister and then just go back to being me.

Eli: *laughs* Noe's something else, that's for sure...if she hadn't ended up with Seth she might've made good on her threats to use me as bait. When she was younger...she was very scary about her pursuit of whatever it was she was considering her ideal male at the moment. *ruffles Kamiko's short hair* I like you the way you are. :3

Kamiko: *grins*Thank you Eli-san. *hugs him and just enjoys the closeness, wanting to give him some comfort despite a kidnapped sister and constant assassination attempts*

Eli: *snuggles her back, though he can't help but point out* Oh, hey, what's with this sudden formality?

Kamiko: Hmm? What do you mean?

Eli: When did I become -san again?

Kamiko: *grins*Did I ever tell you mother never taught me the meaning of those ends?

Eli: *gasps* Terrible! And you call yourself part of the Japanese batch--I suppose it /is/ the Japanese /Tourismboard/ batch though... *pokes her on the nose*

Kamiko: *grins*Yeah well I'm not exactly the most Japanese one of us all. Thats Kaede and Kisu-chan

Eli: Okay, okay. Name endings are very important though! *waggles finger at her* For example, when I call you Kamiko-chan, it's because -chan is used basically for something cute, young kids, or a girl you are close to. You could use it with me, even, though it'd be a bit odd to call me 'Eli-chan' in the company of others. -kun is usually what you use for boys.

Kamiko: *grins*Alright

Eli: -san is like calling me Mr. Eli all the time blaugh

Kamiko: *giggles*

Eli: Or I could just call you Miss Kamiko as revenge blaugh

Kamiko: *laughs*You are silly~

Eli: *grins* You're laughing, so I guess that means I'm good with humor! *winks*
(end)

 

[AnimeEyeshime]

(wayne RP goes up in there somewhere... XD )