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 Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:54 am
Chess woke up with a pounding headache, a bad taste in her mouth, and the distinct need to throw up: something that, a few minutes later, she did. Not a good way to start the morning, not at all. She didn't remember being drunk last night - in fact, she hadn't even gone anywhere where she would have had the opportunity. Huh. Strange. Maybe she'd caught something.
She brushed her teeth and then considered the next order of business: coffee. Robotically, Chess walked from her bedroom and down the stairs. There was a girl asleep on the floor in the living room. Chess grunted, blinked at her for a moment, and decided she needed caffeine before she could properly deal with this.
A moment later, she returned, coffee in hand. The girl was still there. "Astor!" yelled Chess. "You get your sorry a** down here this instant!"
She heard a crash from upstairs, and then, a moment later, Astor stumbled down the stairs, looking worse for the wear. "Yeah?" he asked.
"Who is that," said Chess pointedly, looking at the girl asleep on the floor.
"That's Zaoll," said Astor.
It did not explain everything.
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:12 pm
She had been having rather disturbing dreams of white rooms and the headquarters being taken over by that black thing, dreams about Calcifer too - he was tucked away carefully nearby, leaning against her laptop bag and hopefully not burning it. And she'd awoken, too, when Chess came down the stairs, startled enough that her eyes stayed closed though her hands clenched - one of them, she noticed, had a piece of paper in it. Instead of fussing over it, she decided to go back to sleep - better to deal with it in the morning. Later in the morning. In the afternoon.
When someone started yelling, though, she decided to try and get back to sleep even harder. Oh, she didn't want to deal with this - and then she gave up the ghost at her name, sitting up and putting on her glasses, adjusting them as she peered up at the woman who would appear to be Astor's guardian.
"I'm sorry to intrude," said Zaoll.
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:33 pm
Chess blinked at the girl for a moment and downed the rest of her coffee before deciding to confront her wayward offspring. "Who is she?" she demanded. "Where did she come from?"
"She's Zaoll," repeated Astor. "She needed a place to crash and I said she could sleep on our couch. And. Um."
"Yes?" asked Chess, eying him suspiciously.
"That's all," said Astor, not entirely understanding what she was getting at.
"Who is she?" asked Chess again.
"She's Zaoll," said Astor, and heaved a sigh. "She's my friend." He looked hopelessly at Zaoll. "This is my mother," he said. "Mom, Zaoll. Zaoll, Mom."
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:58 pm
It was hard to explain someone's presence when prior to a day ago, you'd only met them in your dreams. Zaoll knew that. And to someone who seemed to have no conception of magic at all - judging from what she knew of Astor - it'd be even harder to insinuate.
...She didn't quite understand what Chess was staring at Astor like that for. After a moment, she said all wide-eyed, "We're friends." Then she transferred her stare to Astor and said, "I need to find Elsbeth."
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:34 pm
"Okay," said Chess, narrowing her eyes at both of them. After a moment, she announced, "I need more coffee," and stalked off.
Astor watched her leave and then looked back at Zaoll. "Yeah," he nodded. "We should." He stretched and rubbed his eyes, still not fully awake and feeling a little bit grody - he'd slept in his clothes. "You think she's in Barton? Did you call her last night?"
While waiting for her reply, he fished around in his pockets, finding a couple of coins and a scrap of paper. "Oh, right," he said, pulling it out and unfolding it. "I woke up holding this. Weird."
He looked at it for again, more awake now than he had been. Brother...? It couldn't be. He hadn't heard the voice in weeks.
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:46 pm
She watched the older woman go without comment, adjusted her glasses again, and then got up off the cushions to put them back on the couch. "Maybe," said Zaoll, "I need to get a phone." It'd be weird, going outside in her nightgown, but she didn't want to bother anyone and so it seemed better to just bite the bullet. Gaia was strange like that, after all. Mutely, she held out her own note.
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:03 pm
Astor took the note, read it, and shook his head in befuddlement. "That doesn't make any sense," he said, frowning. "And the handwriting's different. Is that your handwriting?" He looked down at his note again, and thought perhaps it was a dumb question. He didn't recognize the script on either one.
"Hey Astor," called Chess from the kitchen. "Got you a present." She appeared in the doorway, holding her coffee cup in one hand and a roughly palm-sized object in the other. "Catch," she said, and lobbed it at him.
Astor caught it, showing strange fluid coordination for someone prone to tripping over his own feet. He looked at it.
"It's a cell phone," explained Chess. "You talk on it."
"I know what a phone is, Mom," said Astor, flipping it open and closed a few times.
"I pre-programmed my number," Chess added. "You guys going somewhere?"
She thankfully seemed to have let the issue of Zaoll's origins drop, although Astor suspected she would interrogate him at a later date.
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:20 pm
She shook her head and took the note back, folded it up carefully and stretched to hide it in her bag. Who would write crap like that and then go through the trouble of sneaking into Astor's house and sticking the note in her hand? Zaoll would think about it later.
"Elsbeth is lost," said Zaoll to Chess as she searched her bag. "Are you coming with me, Astor?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:32 pm
"Yeah," nodded Astor, and looked at his mother. "Yeah. We're - Something happened last night and Zaoll's not sure where her mom is. We're going to go find her." He glanced back at Zaoll.
"Have you got clothes? I'm gonna go put shoes on."
He didn't wait for a reply before heading back up the stairs.
Chess narrowed her eyes at Zaoll, clearly feeling more like a sentient being since she had caffeine in her system. "We've been planetside less than a week," she said. "How do you know my son?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:14 pm
She watched Astor go and tugged at the high neckline of her nightgown. It wasn't like there was really anything to worry about, since she was just friends - Astor was like her little brother! There was nothing Chess could ask that she'd really have to hide any information--
Well, except that. "It is a long story," said Zaoll, "but I promise to tell you once I have found Elsbeth."
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:25 pm
"You call your mother by her first name?" asked Chess, although at the same time she was making note of the woman's name for in case she ever met her. And then there was the issue of the nightgown... From Zaoll's lack of an answer, it seemed like she didn't have a change.
"Do you want to borrow some clothes?" asked Chess. She was sure she had, at the very least, a pair of sweatpants and a tee-shirt that would fit.
Astor stomped back down the stairs, newly equipped with a pair of athletic shoes. "You ready to go?" he asked.
"No," said Chess crossly. "I'm not letting Zaoll go walk around Durem in a nightgown."
This was not to say she had not seen people wearing less appropriate clothing out in Durem, just that she was not going to contribute.
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 5:48 pm
Zaoll narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular. "She is not my mother," said the marble Fa'e, her tone flat and unhappy.
"That would be appreciated," she said when Chess made it clear they were not leaving until she was dressed properly. "Grazie."
She set her bag down by her side, looking rather nonplussed. But then, Zaoll always looked nonplussed.
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:04 pm
"She picks really inconvenient times to get all parental," said Astor to Zaoll as he watched Chess stalk off up the stairs. "Where are we going after we find your Guardian?" he added, and his tone made it pretty clear that he thought she had a plan. Also, he was careful to say guardian, since Zaoll was pretty clear that the woman was not her mother. He asked because, In his experience, Zaoll always had a plan, or at least could improvise pretty well. Or at least could make you think she was. She was comforting like that.
Chess returned and tossed a set of sweats to Zaoll. "The bathroom's the door on the left right before you get to the kitchen," she instructed.
As Zaoll left, Chess looked very seriously at her son and said, "When you get back, we are going to have a very long talk, and you are going to tell me everything."
She did not need to say "or else." The "or else" was implied.
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