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 Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:55 pm
Lucretia drifted boredly back and forth across the kiddie room of her local ULTIMATE Laz0rTag Center, keeping half an eye on her newest little brother as her father had instructed her. Her other little brother Bhel was off inside the maze somewhere, likely enjoying himself as he blasted the other children at the Center with his toy gun.
The Raevan had wanted to go with him, but then Xiao Huo wanted to come along, too, and Lucretia's first order was to keep the little Porcelain out of trouble.
She was dressed up for Laz0rTag, with a black sheet wrapped around herself to hide her glowing rune if not her white shoulders. The hefty vest for the game usually covered her shoulders, and then she had wrapped black ribbons around her forearms, right over her usual blue ones. It did not solve the problem of her glowing face, but Bhel had told Lucretia that she looked extra-scary in the blacklight with just her face and wings and all showing, so that was alright.
She was just stuck out here in the kiddie room now with the little Porcelain toddler, trying to figure out how she could coax him into the dark loud room to go shoot at people so she could get some entertainment in for herself.
Xiao Huo was sitting at one of the low tables in the room, ignoring the blocks scattered around him in favor of his dolls. The Porcelain seemed completely lost in his own little world, half because he was so interested in the drama occurring between his three dolls, and half because he was frankly kind of frightened by all the other people in the place.
After a few moments, he glanced up at Lucretia and projected again to ask if she wanted to join him in playing.
The Ice Rose girl sighed a little in exasperation, but smiled at him anyway. "Looks like you have everything under control there, little guy."
She glanced longingly out the window of the cheerfully-painted room into the main lobby of the Laz0rTag Center, then decided it could not hurt if she bought some food for Bhel when he finished his current game. It would give her something to do and make her feel less like the poor stupid babysitter for a few minutes. She was not completely disobeying her father, just stepping out for a moment to get her mind some stimulation.
Lucretia drifted out to the little snack counter, digging out the little wallet full of change Kumoru had given her for the excursion. "Can I get a small fries and a small lemonade, please?" she asked the similarly bored-looking teenager behind the counter. "Oh, and an extra cup with just ice?" The french fries were apparently not done yet, and so she leaned against the counter and looked around while she waited for those. Even just someone to talk to would be great while her brother Bhel was out having all the fun....
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:30 am
A short woman soon approached the snack stand, gasping for breath and her faded-green-on-auburn hair plastered to her forehead. She was wearing the Laz0rTag gear as well, and, from the looks of it, must have been playing here since the place opened. Not only was she exhausted, but the little animated screen on the front of her vest occasionally displayed a score that could only have been accumulated if she had spent the past few hours in ULTIMATE Laz0rD3TH mode.
"I need..." she stopped herself for a second to get some more oxygen in her system. Then she held up a hand, flicking up a finger with each item she listed: "A large plate of nachos, medium cup of root beer, and a hot fudge sundae... please." When her soda was passed to her she drank from it with as much eagerness as if it were the elixir of life.
Dayo was hovering excitedly nearby, her very presence being something like a sugar rush combined with a caffiene buzz. If she had legs, she would have been bouncing like a hyperactive child - instead, the ribbon around her rune was stretching and snapping back like a spring. "Come on, hurry up! We have to get the high score!"
If the numbers flashing about on Mouse's screen were anything to be impressed at, the eagle girl's score was nearly double what hers was. The mechanic was constantly surprised at how ridiculously quickly her charge was improving.
Though as much fun as a few rounds of laser tag could be, she could only sigh in exasperation as she picked up her tray and scanned the area for a place to sit down. "Yeah, and if you rush me I'll puke in the game room again. You realize we're lucky they're still letting us in here after that, right?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:03 pm
Bhel soon emerged from the arena as well, his own vest boasting a modest score and perhaps one of the lowest accuracy rates the Center had ever seen. He was grinning, though, which was rare for him, as he ran up to tug at his sister's sheets.
"We lost that time, but I killed like six of their guys," he proudly reported, then grasped the edge of the counter as he looked around for whatever it was Lucretia had ordered. "You got food, right? Or just more ice cubes?" He thought the Raevan was kind of fun now, especially since they agreed upon the joys of Laz0rTag, but when it came to eating, she was still pretty boring.
"Oh, and there was another girl kinda like you on one of the other teams," Bhel added as an afterthought. "With the ribbon and stuff. I think I killed her once." Then he shrugged and leaned over the counter again, sniffing the greasy smell.
Lucretia's eyes widened at the mention of another Raevan. Then she looked around the lobby with interest until she realized the being in question was just two cash registers away along the snack counter.
She was so busy staring she did not notice when her own cashier returned to collect the money and deliver her order.
"Lu, the man wants your money," Bhel told her, tugging at her ribbons after a moment to get her attention.
"And when are you gonna play with me?"
The Porcelain boy emerged from the kiddie room then, clutching two of his dolls while the third one rode on his shoulder. He headed straight for his temporary sibblings, firmly projecting the mental image of a piece of toast to everyone in the area. He is hungry, too! Did Lucretia get him a toast? >(
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 4:49 pm
The place was full of fizzy, giddy energy even outside of the game room, one of the many reasons why this had quickly become one of Dayo's favorite place. And since her guardian was stopping to eat, the Raevan figured she might as well feed while she waited - so she eagerly soaked up the excess excitement, any fatigue she might have been feeling soon replaced with fresh invigoration. A rematch with that hoof-kid's team couldn't come soon enough! She hoped that they'd be sticking around to play more.
ice cold shock
Dayo blinked. That sensation was usually reserved for when people in the game room realized they just got owned! Was a match going on in here? Did they change the rules in this place? She looked around to see if anyone else had pulled out their guns... nope, nothing unusual here. Just another Raevan.
Oh... another Raevan! Cool!
"Heyyyy!" she called out, drifting closer to the owl and bringing along her personal sphere of eager bliss. "You're new! I've never seen another Raevan here before. Which sucks, 'cause it's a lot of fun. We should team up and toast."
Whatever she had meant to say had been halted by the little telepath the other was babysitting... and she was completely oblivious to that, the grin on her face having continued to exist without interruption.
Mouse looked up from her nachos for a second, rubbing her forehead in confusion. Why did she suddenly crave toast? And didn't she see that Raevan a couple years back while she was Christmas shopping?
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:56 pm
Lucretia paid the cashier and handed the food to her brother, and curled her fingers around the cup of ice for herself. She perked up as the other Raevan saw her and recognized her, though, and drifted closer.
"Hello," she said in reply, her expression mostly blank except for a faint smile. "I come here every now and then, usually with my brother." The Ice Rose rested her fingers lightly on Bhel's shoulder.
Bhel shivered and edged away from his sister's touch, but grinned excitedly at the other Raevan. "I suck, but it's kind of fun here anyway. Lucretia's better than me."
The girl blew gently on the ice in the cup, then drank in the cold. "I would play, but I have to keep track of my newest brother, and I think he's too little to play...." She gave Xiao Huo a patient smile, then asked the cashier if he had any toast she could buy for the little one.
While she waited, Lucretia waved her fingers a little at Mouse. She looked familiar, but she could not remember from where. Still, best to be polite and say hello~
Xiao Huo toddled over to join his Chaos, giving off a satisfied feeling as he glanced between Lucretia and the other new girl. He projected a greeting to her and to Mouse and waved, too in case they did not understand.
Too young for what?
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:35 pm
The little horned kid was her... brother? Dayo paused for a moment, wiggling her fingers on one hand while she tried to recall that word. She remembered that 'brother' and 'sister' were concepts she couldn't quite understand even after Mouse had spent all of half an hour trying to explain it. Her frustration had been really sour!
Well, no matter. "It's weird I've never seen you before. We're here, like..."
"Way too much," the mechanic lazily interjected.
"All the time."
There was another punctuation of not-quite-her-feelings, a bit more subtle and refined than Dayo's power that Mouse could guess that it was coming from someone else. A glance over in the direction of the familiar ice Raevan, and... oh! That little kid was saying hi! How adorable. She waved back, offering an amused grin at the little Porcelain.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:33 am
Lucretia smiled a little, wishing she could come more often. It was a nice place to let her predatory instincts go a little crazy. But Kumoru did not want her here all the time, so she had no choice but to follow his wishes.
Then she drifted a bit closer to Mouse, looking her over as her features relaxed into more of a deadpan stare. "I remember you from somewhere, I think," she murmured. "What is your name, again?"
Though Bhel had been with Lucretia the first time they ran into the mechanic, he definitely did not remember her. He leaned back against the counter and stuffed fries into his mouth, and just watched his sister for the moment.
Then he told the woman and her Raevan, "I'm Bhel."
Xiao Huo half tried to hide behind his relatively huge brother, but still watched the new lady and her Chaos. Gaian Chaoses don't like to wear many clothes! The boy giggled a little, then glanced upwards as the smell of toasted bread reached his flat nose.
Little hands reached up to feel around on the counter where he could not see - the toast was there somewhere! When the cashier pushed it into the Porcelain's grabbing hands, and the boy immediately sat down on the carpet and started munching on it hungrily. Then he seemed to notice that everyone was exchanging introductions.
He then awkwardly tried to convey the concept of his name through his projections.
"I'm Lucretia," the Raevan told the strangers with a small bow when she was done scrutinizing the woman. Then she went to go hand the confused cashier a few coins in payment for the toast, and leaned down a little to ruffle the Porcelain's hair.
"His name is Xiao Huo, but I have no idea how anyone knows that because he doesn't actually talk."
-Top secret code name! scream
Bhel laughed and shoved the tiny boy playfully, tipping him over onto the carpet.
Then he put his hands on his hips and studied the fallen Porcelain. "Is he really too small to play Laz0rTag with us? Can't you just stick him in a corner somewhere and you can play anyway?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:49 pm
"I, uh, I'm Mouse," the mechanic replied, wiping a spot of cheese off of her hand and running the same one through her hair. "And that's Dayo-" she jerked her head in the direction of the somewhat ditzy, hyperactive eagle girl-- "and I think she was still being made in the Lab when I saw you. At the mall around Christmas, right? He was smaller, too." She could figure without asking that Bhel was one of those types of kids who gets randomly dumped on you one day only to grow to adulthood over the span of a couple of years. They seemed to be all over the place.
The blonde Frei fluttered and ruffled her wings a bit before widening her smile and saying, "Everyone calls me Dayo." Her mood had wound down to her typical state of lethargic bliss. It was obvious that she didn't notice her guardian had introduced her already... and now her presence was coating the atmosphere in a downy-soft euphoria. The cashier nearby slipped into droopy eyelids and a loose smile that mirrored those of the empathic Frei.
She blinked slowly - in surprise, but still slowly - at the tiny Porcelain's projections, wobbling a bit in the air as if she were a jellyfish hit by a sudden wave. How weird... she'd never had someone push at her like that before. How did he do that?
"If he's too little to play, we could, like..." there was a brief pause and there was an awkward quirk in her smile as she searched for the words, "Well, like... Mouse could watch him. She's, uh, like... gonna take forever to eat, anyway."
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:17 pm
"Nice to meet you, Dayo," Lucretia replied with a bow. "And yes, I think it was around Christmas or something like that. I remember it being cold out...." The girl trailed off, apparently pleased at the memory as the air grew a bit chillier around her.
Bhel bowed to both of them as well because that was what Kumoru had taught him to do, then edged a bit closer to Mouse. "Do you want to watch the little Porcelain kid while Lu plays with us if you'll be eating? Please? Kumoru stuck my sister with him, but he's kind of boring." He glanced at Xiao Huo, regarding the littler boy with a look that was not quite resentful, but definitely demonstrated what he thought of the Porcelain monopolizing his sister's attention.
Xiao Huo bobbed quickly to the lady and her Chaos too, to be polite, and plopped down on the floor under the counter before starting to demolish his toast. If he caught Dayo's confusion, he gave no sign of it.
He seemed to get wind of Bhel's idea of foisting him off on the lady he had just met, though, and responded to this with a quiet stream of thoughts implying that he would be fine without Bhel being a jerk and pushing him over and stuff. Maybe he did not like Bhel much anyway :<
The Porcelain also gave off a feeling of curiosity regarding Dayo as well, too, though this was directed more at Mouse than at the Raevan herself.
Lucretia did not want to be impolite and just shove her little brother off on this stranger, but... she really did want to play some Laz0rTag.... It would really suck to have to go home without having done a single game. She fiddled a little with her cup of ice and drifted from side to side, brow furrowed slightly as she pondered whether or not to echo Bhel's question.
"Would that be okay?" she finally asked, glancing between Dayo and her guardian. "Just for one game?" An unhappy feeling welled up inside her at the thought of defying her father's order to keep an eye on the Porcelain boy, but Lucretia worked to assure herself that he would still be well-cared for if Mouse agreed. It was not like she had never met the woman before or something.
"For the most part, he pretty much takes care of himself."
"Plays with dolls," Bhel interjected, like it should be clear to everyone that the Porcelain boy's habits were stupid.
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Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 4:25 pm
Mouse considered the request for a few moments, rolling her gaze between the young Porcelain, the laser tag center, and the three pairs of pleading eyes nearby. She swallowed a mouthful of nacho and deposited a spoonful of fudge-slathered ice cream in its place. A long swig of root beer and a mangled napkin later, she was giving a sleepy-eyed smile and nodding at the proposition. How could she say no to an excuse to extend her break?
"Okay, sure. Go ahead and play two games if you want, even... I don't mind. Is it okay for him to have ice cream?"
Immediately Dayo's mood fizzed into excitement again, tickling at the air like the sodas seen around the snack area were. "See, I knew she would!" she cheered. Her wings fluttered in anticipation at the upcoming game. Maybe she'd even break the record today! "We could, like... team up! I think I saw some people around here who're looking for someone to play against."
Whoever it was... they could totally beat them.
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Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:24 pm
Xiao Huo climbed to his feet again and ineffectually shoved Bhel before toddling over to examine Mouse more closely. He gave off feelings of hunger even though he finished his toast, and sniffed at the air as he tried to see what Mouse was eating.
Lucretia grinned with excitement, and thanked Dayo's guardian. As for the ice cream.... She shrugged a little. "I guess it's okay. I've only ever seen him eat toast and bananas, I think, but his brother Jilan eats all kinds of things."
Then she turned to Dayo, catching a bit of her mood as she clenched her fists. "Ready to go now?"
"I'm ready!" Bhel bounced and clutched at his sister's hand.
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:21 pm
Mouse gave a soft smile in reply to the Porcelain, unwrapping a spoon and using it to scoop up a small lump of the fudge and nut-covered frozen treat. "Here, want to give it a try?" she asked, leaning down so she could hold the spoon closer to him.
The eagle girl gave another excited cheer and rushed her form over to the entrance to the game area without giving her new teammates much of a second thought. They'd be along soon enough... the match was about to start! Above the doors there a massive LED display that showed the high score, best accuracy ratings and a countdown to the next match.
48 seconds to go... Dayo's winged fluttered with impatience, gold eyes transfixed on the timer.
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Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:30 pm
"Have fun and take care of him!" Lucretia called to mouse, bowing quickly to her in thanks and then rushing off to pay for a ticket into the upcoming game.
Bhel grasped her ribbons as soon as the ticket was in the Raevan's hand, and hauled her off to the Mission Briefing Room just in time before the doors shut.
Grinning excitedly as she caught her breath, the Ice Rose glanced towards Dayo; the other Raevan's mood seemed to be catching. And she just loved her Laz0rTag.
"Want to make sure we get on the same team?" she whispered to her newfound friend. She had heard the rules guy give his spiel a hundred times anyway.No running, no shoving, blah blah.
***
Xiao Huo watched his sister rush off, and then returned his attention to Mouse. He gave off a thought decidedly shaped like a question indicating that he wanted to know what they all were doing. This whole place, really, what was it for?
As the stranger- no, wait, her name was Mouse, so she was not a stranger - offered him the ice cream, the tiny boy hugged his dolls to his chest with one hand, and reached for the little spoon with the other. Whatever the stuff ways, it smelled like neither banana nor toast, nor like anything his mother had cooked for him.
Then Xiao Huo glanced between the spoon and Mouse suspiciously. Would this make his tummy angry?
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:31 pm
Dayo rushed into the Briefing Room just as quickly, and only stopped moving when she realized that Lucretia had asked her a question. "Oh, right! Teams!" She couldn't fight back the impulse of another giddy flutter from her wings. Teaming up with another Raevan was going to be so much fun!
Her eagle eyes flicked over the little team stations in the room for a moment until landing on one that was open. "Team Silver Snake doesn't have anyone on it yet," she grinned, jabbing in its direction with her gun. Not to mention it was her favorite team...
***
Mouse continued to smile calmly at the young boy, deciding it would be better to get off of her chair and lower herself onto the floor so she could make better eye contact with him.
place-what-why?
The question-thought took her a little by surprise - again by how similar and yet how different the telepathy was from her own powers. "Oh, this place is for a game called Laser Tag. You basically run around and fire pretend guns at each other," she tried to explain. Hopefully she wasn't poisoning his poor innocent mind with violence or anything of the sort...
She brought her sundae down with her from the table and, as a second thought, zipped over to the condiment stand to grab another spoon. If the kid wanted to share her ice cream with her, he was welcome to it.
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Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:53 am
"Silver Snakes is stupid," Bhel exclaimed, flicking his tail back and forth. "We've been Red Jaguars all afternoon, too. Come on, Lu, don't be a traitor! Red Jaguars!"
Lucretia giggled, glancing between Bhel and Dayo. "Come on, Bhel, just one game as the Silver Snakes? It doesn't really matter anyway because we can still shoot people, right?"
"... Stupid girls." The Fa'e turned away and glanced back over his shoulder at them, grinning playfully. "I'll be a Red Jaguar anyway, and kick your butts." Then he ran for the red door, hooves clomping loudly.
The Raevan glanced back at her newfound friend, and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I think we can take him," she told Dayo with a grin.
***
Pretend guns. Uh.... Xiao Huo smiled and nodded, giving off a badly-faked feeling of understanding. He got that it was a game, at least, and supposed that was enough for now.
He took the spoon from Mouse then and licked the ice cream from it a bit clumsily, getting a few drips down his chin. It was really good. Clutching the spoon in one hand, Xiao Huo climbed up into the other chair at the table and invited himself to another scoop while Miss Mouse was gone.
... As he swallowed his second scoop, though, the tiny boy began to project a feeling that there was something very wrong. He peered at the ice cream, still holding onto the spoon, but did not start to take more just yet.
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