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 Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 7:08 pm
Work, work, work. That's what it felt like. It was a fun job, sure, and it had helped Quinn meet some cute guys that didn't mind a walk-in freezer for a few minutes, and it was a fun job, but working all the time was tiring. Better than sitting around watching T.V. all day, though, which he knew he would be doing otherwise.
He opened the door to his house, and began taking off his clothes as soon as he was in the front hall. It felt good to get out of that stuffy get up! Once he was in nothing but boxer shorts, he headed to his room to throw his clothes on his bed.
He was determined to convince his boss that his invention was worth being put up on the main menu, and he could only do that by getting lots of people to buy them at his suggestion.
He needed a way to get more people to drink them on a regular basis.
Oh, well, he'd think about that later.
"Faylen? You home?" He called, heading towards the living room and kitchen. He didn't see Faylen, yet. "Kiddo, we haven't really talked since the other night. Are you doing alright? Writ told me you talked to him about it, and you know you can talk to me about anything, right, sweetie?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:24 pm
The boy would be easily found standing in the kitchen, busy at work standing in front of the stove on tip-toes (curse being short!). He had contemplated pushing a chair over to stand on earlier on but when he tried to do so, it made him too tall. It was okay, though- tip toes worked just as well.
He felt like he was on a roll today! He had appropriated some cleaning supplies from Mother's (it really didn't seem like his house anymore) a little while ago, and today he put them to good use. The entire house smelled vaguely like lemony freshness, but it was clean. Things were organized, the carpet in the living room was closer to it's original color, the kitchen sparkled and even Quinn's room looked a bit like it had been tidied (though Fay didn't dare encroach on someone else's room too much). He'd cleaned up, studied, gone out on a walk and now he was cooking dinner.
After talking with Writ and his goddess and meeting up with Sarah as a further distraction from his initial trauma, he was feeling pretty okay. He even seemed to give off an aura of happiness, if one got too close to him.
"Jawohl! I am in here!" he called, giving the vegetables he had pilfered another stir. He had felt bad stealing but...but...Mother could always buy more food and stuff. Plus, some dark little part in the very depths of his mind thought she deserves it!
As he heard the man's voice draw nearer, he edged down the counter to manage the boiling potatoes. If there was one thing he could do right aside from cleaning, it was cooking. "Um...ja...I asked him a few zhings...I ah, did not vant to bother you." he said lamely. He wanted to avoid awkwardness was more like it. It hadn't gotten him much information, though. His next plan was to ask Mr. Vale...at least he didn't live with him. That would make things a little less awkward, anyways.
"How vas vork?" he asked, trying to steer the subject away from topics that still made his stomach twinge. They hadn't talked much lately anyways- it seemed that now that Mr. Quinn had a job, he was out and about even more than before.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 2:01 pm
Quinn stepped into the kitchen and smiled at the child, opening up a floor cabinet and pulling out a stool that he kicked over to the boy. "My mother was short, too. She used this to reach the top shelves." Quinn laughed, and sat on the opposite counter from where he was working. "You're making dinner? That's awesome, I'm starving." He was still wearing his bandana from work, and he untied it from the back with a tug, letting it fall off of his head. He ruffled it with both hands, and sighed at Faylen.
"Vale's god," he mumbled, "Cut most of my hair off. It's all short now. Vale said he liked it this way, but I don't know. Quetz said he could grow it back out, like he did when I was younger and Ralph got at it, but I'm not sure if I want to."
He pulled a piece of it down in front of his eyes. It was short.
"I feel like I've lost ten pounds. On the bright side; I beat the s**t out of his god afterwards." His eyes brightened. "I don't know how I did it, but it was awesome. It was like, my whole body charged, and then WHOOSH. It was all up in the air, and then KRAKOW, it was slamming into that stupid jaguar's face."
He shook his head, and grinned at Faylen. "Work was good! I'm still trying to convince my boss that our Espresso floats deserve to be put on the main menu, but I have to sell a lot to get him to accept it. What have you been doing these past few days?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:15 pm
Faylen accepted the stool gratefully, clambering up on it. Oh, this was much better than tiptoes. Maybe he'd get lucky and hit a growth spurt some time soon- it would be nice to be able to see over the counter and reach cabinets without tip-toeing so much. "I'm zhe only short kid in zhe family. My sisters and Mother vere tall...not like...super tall, but big enough to at least reach zhe cabinets." he sighed.
He turned to Quinn, slowly raising his brows. Oh, his hair looked shorter now. Much shorter. Still, it didn't look entirely bad. It even looked a little more normal and closer to sensible though. The boy nodded. "It looks nice." he approved.
Then, "You saw his god?" His eyes widened as the man went on. "And you beat him up? Mein Gott..." he breathed. Mr. Quinn could beat up gods? Wow. Wow. "Toll!" he uttered, obviously impressed.
Do you think Mr. Vale's god let him win? he asked his own goddess.
'It is possible. It is also likely his god is an old one and has grown weak over the ages.'
Have you grown weak?
'A gentleman never asks and a lady never tells.' And then, before her godling could worry, 'Child, I would not worry. I feel as strong as I ever was. My people may not be as plentiful as before, but there are still those who believe. That is all a god needs to be strong.'
Faylen peered at the oven next and then resumed tending to the stovetop. Everything smelled more or less pretty good. He wasn't as good as Mother or Elissa at cooking, but through nights and nights of watching, occasionally helping and then having to make his own meals...he had gotten good enough to make edible dinner. He still wanted, some day when he had more money, to stop by the market in Little Berlin and get real German food- sausages, spargel, venison, holladaise sauce!- and make a real German meal but for now...this would do. Some day though...
"Ah, good luck Mr. Quinn. You are a smart man and I am sure zhat your boss vill be impressed in no time. Perhaps make flyers or posters? It helps people learn about new zhings." he suggested.
As for what he had been up to... he shifted a bit. "Zhis and zhat. I ran into Mr. Vrit again, got myself some clothes so I vill not haf to take so much from you. Saw another godling. She had a tail. Visited some people I knew..." he listed.
Basically, he'd read, ran into Mr. Writ and broke into his own home (and had a harrowing go of it, to top it off), ran into Sarah, visited Pavel... It hadn't been a very special last few days, and certainly nothing a Big Kid probably wanted to hear about, so Fay kept things simple to be polite. If Mr. Quinn wanted to know more, Fay would be glad to tell but he didn't want to ramble if not.
"How about you- on zhe side from vork, anyvays? I am sure your last few days haf been more interesting, ja?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 5:19 pm
"Hm. No, I've basically told you the extent of my life. Besides visiting Seamus in the hospital, obviously." He had been spending lots of time there. Lots of time. "Speaking of which, I'm supposed to go by tomorrow and have a shift with Vale. He's kind of mad at me for accidentally zapping him, though, so we'll see how that goes. Probably dull. We'll just sit around."
"My boss is a teenage brat who thinks he knows everything just because he got to work there before me. I wanna see that punk cry." He glared at the wall, thinking about his manager.
"But yes, I did beat him up. It was awesome, you should have seen it. You know how I make little lightning sparks?" To illustrate it, he held up two fingers and watched one jump in between them. "He got me really angry, and suddenly I like, unloaded a whole bunch of energy into the air." He was illustrating with his hands, and added some side effects. "It was in this big, ball, right, and then it was like KRAKOW! And it slammed down into the face of that big cat." He was so excited, he forgot that he had already explained the story.
"But, then it hit Vale a little bit. He sort of can't use one eye. But it'll heal. That jaguar's face will forever be melted!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:49 pm
He hadn't known that Mr. Quinn had been spending time at the hospital. Ah, he felt so out of the loop sometimes! Well, actually, most of the time. It was like there was some club that he wasn't it a part of. It was somewhat disheartening, but he was used to it. He should consider himself lucky people even bothered to tell him things afterward. So he nodded along.
"Seamus? I do no known zhat name. Vhat happened to him? Is he having his...appendix out?" he asked after groping mentally for the organ name, tilting his head a bit. Once, his class had made cards for a classmate that went to the hospital to have his appendix out. "Or did you accidentally zap him too?"
Faylen would make a note to watch his back. He was sure Mr. Quinn didn't mean to zap Mr. Vale but accident or not, Faylen didn't want to end up fried either. He actually flinched a bit when the older man made electricity arc between his fingers, but relaxed when it faded without incident.
"It sounds so very amazing!" he said, almost dreamily. Even if he just heard it, the story never lost impact. It was impressive, to say the least. "I do hope Mr. Vale gets better, zhough. He vas a nice man, ja. Maybe ve should invite him over? If not now, zhen some other time. But-" he said, turning around and wagging a finger. "-you two are banned from zhe couch." Sometimes joking about things made him feel less uneasy.
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 4:23 pm
"No, Valeriu accidentally hurt him trying to do something for me."
They all had such abusive relationships.
"It was amazing! You should have been there," he repeated, "And he'll probably get better soon. I will invite him over, sometime. Tonight, you're stuck with just me." He laughed at Faylen's joke. "You don't have to worry about that, little bud. He dumped me for a chick named Tepin. I think you met her." He shrugged.
"So, when's dinner ready?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:06 pm
Oh, Mr. Vale hurt him? He suddenly felt a little uneasy. The two adults he'd seen the most of and felt the most comfortable with suddenly seemed a little more dangerous. Maybe he should spend some more time with Mr. Writ. At least he didn't accidentally put people in the hospital or half-blind them. "Oh my. Vhat happened? Vill he be okay?"
As the conversation progressed, he blinked. Tepin...ah, Miss Tepin from the party? "Oh, I saw here at zhe party. She vas nice. I guessshe looked okay too. Mr. Vale seemed to get along vith her." She seemed nice, though he hadn't hung out with her much personally.
Oh, poor Mr. Quinn, being dumped. He had never had a relationship himself (girls were better for friends- less lip-to-face contact that way) but he supposed it was sort of like someone not wanting to be your friend anymore. It must have hurt.
"Oh, I am sorry to hear of zhat, Quinn. He vas nice. Perhaps you can still remain as friends?" he said delicately. He clambered off the stool and ambled over to him, giving him and awkward hug. "Perhaps it is for zhe best, zhough." he said, reaching up and patting the man on the shoulder. He ambled back to the stove. Two guys...it didn't surprise him things didn't work out. It was still such a strange situation and thanks to his upbringing, it didn't seem...right to him. "Perhaps you vill find a new person after zhis. Maybe a nice girl like Mr. Vale did? Maybe it vill vork out better zhan another guy." he said positively.
On the topic of dinner, he mounted the stool again, turning off the burners cooking the potatoes and vegetables. Those were done at least. He stepped down again, opening the stove. The chicken was almost done- just a little longer, he thought. There was also some rabbit in the microwave he had appropriated (tupperware and all) but he wasn't sure Mr. Quinn would care for it. Most people gave him weird looks when he said he enjoyed rabbit. He himself would have probably been more bothered if he knew that rabbits were essentially the same as bunnies...
"It is almost done. I vill set zhe table and zhen ve should be ready to eat." he said cheerily.
He pushed the stool around to go through the cabinets for the appropriate dishware, bustling about with setting the table. He moved in a very practiced and precise manner, tongue poking out of his mouth as he carefully aligned the plates and glasses just so.
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:26 pm
"He should be fine. Vale just freaked out and wailed on him. They're getting him healed up." Quinn followed behind Faylen, and sat down at the table. "Yeah. She's alright." He rested his elbows on the table, and massaged his forehead.
He nodded. "Yeah! We'll still be firends. It'll be fine. Maybe it is for the best." He snorted at Faylen's next comments. "Sorry if it disappoints you, Kiddo, but I'm not exactly into women. They're not my type." He shrugged, but smiled to show that he was thankful for the kid's support.
"Awesome! I'm excited. I love food," he stated, unnecesarily, "And I'm so glad you made dinner. I was just feeling like a home-made dinner would be great. Thanks so much."
He set his hands in his lap and sat expectantly, glancing around the room.
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 10:26 am
He nodded slowly. Older boys tended to fight- sometimes, just because it was a Big Kid thing and not even because they disliked each other. There was a reason that Faylen hung out around girls- they were so much nicer to talk and play with, so much cleaner and more well-behaved most of the time.
"At least he vill be okay." he nodded. "Zhey should play less roughly in zhe future."
Fay peeked in the oven again and looked at the timer. Apparently satified, he opened the over and carefully fished out a pan with some slabs of cooked chicken breast on it. It smelled nice, too! Fay felt proud, hoping the food tasted as good as it looked. It had been a few weeks since he'd sat down and cooked, after all. He shifted around the potatoes and vegetables and set the pan on the remaining stove space.
"Good. I vould dislike it if ve could not see him any more because you two vere fighting." he said. "But if Mr. Vale can find a good girl, who is to say zhere is not one zhat may change your mind? But I suppose, ve all choose to like different zhings. It is vhat makes life...interesting." he concluded. "I like girls. Zhey are clean and nice and dress good and zhey do not zhink fighting and rolling in zhe mud are good pass-times." he added with a nod. Never mind that hanging out with girls was vastly different than being attracted to them...
He took the plate from in front of Mr. Quinn and headed to the stove, adding chicken, vegetables and potatoes before returning and setting it down, smiling demurely. "Zhere you go. if you do not like the veggies, you do not haf to eat zhem. I do not know vhat you like, but zhere are carrots, cau...cauliflow'vers, broccoli..." he said, indicating the various vegetation. "I did not haf zhe zhing to make gravy for the potatoes, zhough. But zhey taste good vith butter!"
He readied his own plate next before sitting down. "It is no problem. I vish I had more to cook vith, zhough. Maybe I can find a job too and help out more. But food...it is zhe least I could do to repay you for helping me out like you do..."
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 9:39 pm
Quinn nodded. "You're right. They should." He cracked his knuckles and twisted at the waist, holding onto the chair for support, to pop his back. It had been a long day at work.
He watched Faylen intently as he worked the oven. What is this strange and foreign practice you call 'cooking'?
"Yeah. And you can see him any time, regardless of my relationship with him. I don't decide what you do, Faylen. That's all your own decision." He laughed at the boy's description of women. "True. Girls can be nice. I just don't like 'em. Too complicated. Bitchy, too, a lot of the time." It occured to him, vaguely, that Faylen was a Child and Should Not Hear That Type of Language, Quinn, but told Vale to get out of his head and shut the hell up, and smiled at Faylen.
"Mm, this all looks delicious. And I'll eat everything you made. It would be impolite of me not to, wouldn't it?" Regardless of how much he loathed vegetables. He would brave the treachorous brocolli forest to make Faylen feel accomplished!
"Alright. And hey, now that I have a job, you can use my money to go grocery shopping for whatever you think we need. I'm really bad at it, so it'd be great if you would. Here," He hopped up from the table for a moment to run back to where his pants had landed, pulling a roll of bills tied together with a rubber band from one of the pockets, walking back into the kitchen and tossing it to Faylen.
"Here are my tips from the past week. It's pretty good; since we're understaffed, I get all the tips. They're looking into hiring, though, so it might not always be this much." He nodded. "So, buy whatever you need to stock us up!" He sat back down, and began digging into his food.
"Mm, it's delicious. Thank you so-Mm- much!" He liked eating. He especially liked eating when he was served and didn't have to cook any of it. "Even the vegetables don't suck! Amazing!" He was over-doing the complements in order to boost Faylen's confidence, but it was genuinely good. He enjoyed it.
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:09 pm
Cooking, much like cleaning, made Faylen feel content and at ease. It was something he could be proud of, something he did well. Oh, he could read well but when most books were in English- a language you weren't so good at- skills were hampered. Cooking and cleaning, though, didn't require an understand of language. It was something he could do well no matter what! He wanted to get a cookbook sometime too and learn to make more than just basic meals like this. He wanted to make fancy stuff, pretty stuff, stuff his sister and Mother would make on special days!
For now, though, he'd settle for baking chicken with a little Mrs. Dash and such.
He nodded slowly as he pulled some rabbit out of the microwavable he'd also set on the table. "It is hard, zhough, to be friends vith one person hen another friend dislikes zhem. It is..." He searched for the word a moment. "...awkvard."
He picked at the rabbit, listening to the older man's perspective on women. They were complicated some times! They seemed to get upset if you said the wrong thing or did the wrong things...ah, they were hard to understand, even if he did get along with them better.
"Zhat is not a nice vord, you know." he said reflexively. He really would make someone a nice man-housewife thing some day. If he lived that long, anyways. "Ah, zhey are...complicated." he nodded.
He smiled at Quinn's determination to finish the food he was given. He liked that- it was better than people who wasted food, anyways. Those people...they didn't know what it was like to be hungry, really hungry. They should be grateful for having meals! Who knew when the next one wouldn't come...? Still, "Eat as much as you can. I vant you to be happy." he said.
He happily ate his vegetables (he wasn't a very picky child). Oh, it felt so good to have a solid meal like this! He coughed and sputtered a bit when Quinn tossed down his money, though. That...that looked like a good amount of cash! He was giving it to him? He was trusting him with all that money? He was used to Mother pinning money up with a grocery list but she knew she could trust him. He was a good boy- or he tried to be a good boy anyways. But Mr Quinn...they only had known each other a few weeks!
"Y-you do not haf to, Mr. Quinn!" he squeaked. "I...I am very honored but zhat is your money..." If he did have that money, though, he could get a cookbook and some special food in Little Berlin's market and some snacks...! But he didn't feel right taking the man's money so readily.
He went from blushing a bit to being very red as the man continued the train of flattery by commenting on his food. He wiggled in his seat, looking down at the potatoes. "I...danke, Mr. Quinn. I...ah, it's just chicken and stuff."
Fay ate rapidly, reaching out for his glass of milk. Suddenly, the reverb of knocking against the front door cut the silence that had started to settle over the house. The boy lifted his head and looked out to the hall. Oh, they were having dinner right now! Was it Mr. Vale, maybe? Or another one of Mr. Quinn's friends? A brief thought occurred that it might be Blacksuits that had followed him back but he quickly dismissed that notion.
"Ah, zhe door..."
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:23 pm
Quinn shrugged. "It's your money, too. I'll be eating the food you make, so it's the same thing as me buying it for myself." He nodded, and grinned.
His other trains of thought were cut off suddenly at the knock on the door. His brow furrowed. Who would be knocking? Maybe Vale.
He pushed his chair back. "I'll get it." He crossed over to his door, and Cracked it open a little bit.
"Hello?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:43 pm
Standing outside was a girl. Blond hair, blue eyes...pretty thing. She looked to be in her late teens and there was something...oddly familiar about her. Something in the face. She smiled nervously and waved a little when the door was cracked open, shifting from foot to foot as she tried to figure out what to say. Well, at least the homeowner had opened the door. Next challenge: keep him from slamming the door in her face long enough to ask her question.
"Good evening, sir. If I could haf a little of your time?" she opened. She had a German accent to her voice- which Quinn might notice if only because it was similar to the way his young housemate spoke (though it was considerably less thick than Faylen's was, likely by virtue of having had a longer amount of time to master the English tongue than the boy). "It von't take long, I promise. I'm just looking for someone that I vas sure I saw around here recently..."
Fay prodded at his food a bit before creeping over a little to see who it was (though not before draping covers over their food so it wouldn't go cold- the food never tasted as good when you had to microwave it, as the rabbit was proving). Huh, that voice...it was familiar. Maybe it was just the accent? Oh, he was intrigued on the ground of meeting another strange-talking person alone! At any rate, he couldn't see who was on the other side of the door from where he was standing...
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:48 pm
Quinn nodded. "Sure, kid. What do you need?" He leaned against the door frame, supporting himself on one foot with one hand. The other foot tapped against the floor lightly.
"Hm, what someone?" This girl had an accent like Faylen's. Interesting. He knew it wasn't unheard of for the kids to leave their families, but he hadn't heard of a family looking for the kid after they'd left.
Was this a relative of his kiddo?
"Come on in, if you'd like. We're having dinner right now, and I'm sure we have plenty to share. My...roomie's a good cook." He gestured back into the house, stepping away from the door.
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