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 Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 4:16 pm
Merci stood quietly behind the counter of Twilight Designs. The woman leaned her weight against the jewelry display and heaved a sigh. She didn't have to come in very often, which is why she called Zero when she found out she was going to have a shift. She hadn't seen her friend since the night her demons came out of her dreams. She'd asked Zero if she wouldn't have minded terribly to come down, and bring Red with her.
Dio would never say anything about it, but it was obvious he missed his best friend. The last time they had gotten to spend any time together, bad things had broken up the party early. Every now and then she would catch the fiend talking to Maili about how he hadn't gotten to do everything he wanted to do that night. Merci felt guilty about that, and had brought it upon herself to set up a meeting as a little surprise.
Since he became a teenager Merci hadn't had to find as many things to distract him, which was good. He seemed more capable of entertaining himself and staying out of trouble. Though this place was never boring for him. Athan's collections and the ceiling in the back room kept him thoroughly out of trouble. Dio was back there now actually, trying to figure out how it all worked.
Merci's green eyes were locked on the front door. Zero had thankfully agreed to come down. Now she just had to wait for her to arrive.
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Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:39 pm
Eventually, Zero did show up - and then it became evident as to exactly why it had taken so long for the cyborg to re-emerge. To be honest, this was one of her first true visits to the outside world ever since Chaos had made an attempt on her life thought the bond she shared with her adopted son, a few months ago - not so long after the demon attack, actually.
She walked slowly, with a bit of a limp - she hadn't managed to repair her cyborg legs, not completely, but at least she had gotten it to a semi-working state. Still, she hated to be seen like this. It was a pride thing, but for the fox woman, she'd managed to suck it up. She wore a scarf around her neck, in spite of it being not all -that- cold outside. "Hey..." She adventured hesitantly, well aware that she looked like hell warmed over.
And, as if that wasn't enough, there was her company. Or, perhaps bodyguard was a more accurate representation. Red Star Ruby was looming over his guardian in all possible ways of the term, and looked just like he was more than willing to bring hell to whoever even dared to look at the short woman wrong. The wounds he'd gotten during the demon attack had scarred over, and yet it looked completely natural on him, as if he was meant to bear them. Red said nothing, sliding his spear on his back after he was inside, and tapping his tail against the floor. He was leaning fully on it, much like a naga would.
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Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:06 pm
Merci blinked and she straightened up, there was so much running through her mind she didn't know what to say first. She took a few seconds to prioritize her reaction. DAMN that boy was big! She didn't remember him being so... Tall. Okay so she could probably say that later, first would be chair. Zero didn't look like walking was all that fun for her. "I am so so glad you came! You look... well... worse, I guess, then the last time I saw you. There is a story to go along with that I'm sure." She paused for a moment and rounded the counter. "We can go in the back room, there are some chairs back there. Not to mention a Dio."
She couldn't help but eyeball Red, who was so obviously overprotective at the moment. "He's been dying to see you by the way. I didn't tell him you two were coming, so he's probably going to freak out a little bit." Merci quietly prayed that Dio didn't fuss to much.
She turned and headed toward the back room before she paused and looked back over her shoulder at Zero, "Thanks for coming..." her voice was soft when she said it, it was obvious that she understood that this was a bigger concession then she thought it would be. "It'll mean a lot to him." She finished as she turned and lead the way.
Dio's back was to them when they entered the room. He was floating near the ceiling with a book perched on his left hand. He was also bigger, though the change was probably not as noticeable as it was with Red. His left arm no longer dangled by his side completely sleeved, instead it was bare, with markings like the night sky dancing on his skin. 'Merci I can't find a single thing wrong with this. It's completely accurate down to the littlest detail. It even has the changes to Cygnus which happened not to long ago.'
Merci stepped out of the doorway to let Zero and Red into the room. She seemed content to let Dio turn around whenever he was ready.
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Posted: Sat Sep 25, 2010 6:49 pm
"It's okay..." The cyborg shook her head. "I had to go outside some time, anyway, this was getting ridiculous." There was indeed a story to go with her current situation, but she would much rather wait until the boys were all too busy with each other to give a s**t as to what their guardians were doing. Which would come, probably. Right now, most of her focus was on walking - one wrong move would send her flat on her face, and she wasn't so inclined to share that with whoever decided to step into Twillight Designs.
"Just... find me a chair ?" Zero asked, looking quite embarrassed.
Overprotective as he was, at least Merci wasn't having Red going off, thankfully. 'It's been.' He admitted, his very voice rather different, much deeper than it used to be. The child-like quality of it was more definitively gone. He'd felt ill, then he had grown, and then he'd all but become Zero's shadow after the attack.
The irony didn't escape him.
He was the first to reach the inside of the side room, and he paused for a moment. Of course - if he'd grown, why wouldn't Dio have ? Still, he was surprised, for a moment.
And then, he took flight - letting his solidity fall off - and floated closer and closer to the dark-skinned fiend, and it was too easy to guess what Red was about to do - his tail was waggling like a cat ready for some mischief. He got closer, and closer, and closer, until, at least, he was looming right behind Black Star.
The height difference was hillarious.
'BOO~!' He was sooo going to get s**t for this, but it would so be worth it. He'd always wanted to sneak on Dio, and for this one instant, it had been too tempting.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 11:57 am
Merci cast an eye toward Red, becoming momentarily distracted by his antics. She couldn't help a small smirk, Dio was going to probably either scream at her later for not telling him they were coming, or smother her with love. Either way she would survive. She offered an arm to Zero, more for the emotional support. If Zero was anything like Cinder she probably wouldn't be able to help her move much. Merci helped guide Zero to the couch and then sat down next to her, her attention being drawn again upwards toward the fiends when Dio started to spazz.
Oh he suspected nothing. Nothing at all. He didn't even get the little prickles at the back of your neck when someone is watching you. Suddenly a voice he didn't fully recognize was saying 'Boo' Right next to him.
Dio whipped around and he dropped the book that was in his hands. His burgundy eye was round, very very round, and he let out a metal shriek that might have been a touch... girlie. The book dropped fast and slammed into the ground, luckily not hitting either of the guardians.
He didn't move, he just stared at Red for a moment and then it dawned on him that it WAS Red. His eye less round as Dio relaxed slowly, 'You scared the hell out of me!' Hell was about as vulgar as Dio ever got. He reached his hands out to touch the other fiend and he sounded happy and excited when he began to babble, 'Red! I've missed you so much, where have you been? How have you been? You're BIGGER, a lot bigger. I mean I got bigger but not nearly as... bigger as you got. What are those, are those scars? How did that happen? Are you okay?' Dio didn't have to pause for breath, but he stopped talking to allow Red to answer any or all of his questions. It was obvious that Dio was probably about to mother hen him, he looked concerned.
Merci leaned back on the couch and left the book where it landed for the moment. "Probably nice to have him distracted for a minute hmm? Red can be... intense. He's probably more so because your hurt. Are you going to be okay?" Now that the boys were somewhat entertained she felt she could talk to Zero more openly.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 1:12 pm
Red was currently too busy laughing his a** off to truly care that Dio was chaining question after question. It wasn't a mean, mocking laugh - but he was very, very deeply amused, and he couldn't help but laugh. 'Did you totally just scream like a little girl ?!' Oh my god, oh my god. Priceless. PRICELESS. Totally worth it !
He did finally manage to stop his laughing, and shook his head. Dio was being... Dio again. 'Im fine.' He answered, after he was able to short though run-on sentences in his mind. 'I just had some things to take care of.' Zero, for one.
Zero accepted the offered arm, but it was evident she wasn't putting her full weight onto Merci. They were more likely to flop face down on the floor than to accomplish anything, if they did. Eventually, trough, she was sitting on the couch, and she shook her head.
"Im gonna be fine." Well, she would. "Something tried to kill me... it's a long story. Red's been on a hair trigger ever since." Not even talking about Sei... "The attack busted my cybernetics. I was able to repair them a bit, but I lack most of the pieces to do it completely, so im stuck limping." She was annoyed. Very, very annoyed.
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 11:53 pm
Dio huffed out a sigh and folded his arms, his body moving in such a way to give the impression that he stuck out a hip. 'I didn't scream like a girl...' His tone was sullen because he HAD indeed screamed like a girl. 'Anyway you scared me! I almost didn't recognize you. Though your the only red anything I know.' He quickly unfolded his arms and then beamed at his best friend. 'I got to go into space! Rhys took me. You probably haven't met him but he's my umm.. well I guess a step brother would be a pretty good description. Oh and he has a wisp, they call it Tek.'
The smaller fiend hesitated for a moment and then his voice got a sheepish note to it, 'I missed you... A lot...' Probably a huge understatement.
Merci nodded a little bit, "I assumed something pretty bad happened. You know, Cinder has some mechanical parts. I don't know that she has to maintain them the same way you do but I wonder if some of the parts wouldn't be similar enough for you to use. If you don't mind I'll give her your number and you two could talk about it?" She had no idea if it would work. The fox woman knew a little about machines, I mean she could program the time on her own DVD player. Cybernetics were probably just a touch more complicated then that though.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:47 pm
'You totally did.' He wouldn't back down on that. Dio had totally just screamed like a little girl, and he was very likely to treasure the moment forever.
'What's space like ? Sounds like you had a much better time than I did. Trust me, that's a good thing.' He have one irritated tailflick.
"That's probably a good idea..." Probably the best option she had, really. Save going to Xirian for parts, and she was not going to Xirian while essentially being a god damn cripple. She'd be dead before she had turned a street corner.
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Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:54 pm
Dio cocked his head to the side and thought for a moment before he answered, 'Space was dark. It was exciting and vast. It was full of stars. Merci and Cinder however made us come back before I really got to do anything. The last part of that was definitely a pout. 'It's alright cause I'm going to make them take me again. Maybe when we go you guys could come too! I think it would be exciting to have you there.' The smaller fiend reached out with his hand and took a hold of one of Red's. 'I'm sorry you had a bad time. Things will get better.'
Merci grinned and nodded, "Of course, I'll talk to her when I get home. I think you'll like Cinder, she's a lot of fun and she's settling down quite a bit." The woman stretched her legs out and looked up toward the fiends, "Hey Dio, go keep an eye on the counter and let me know if anyone comes in okay?"
She WAS supposed to be working, but right now it felt good to have some time with a friend. Merci didn't have many people she counted in that category. "Oh and don't be worried if when you guys meet up you see a strange creature with four arms. It's Peeps, he's really a magnificent mechanic. He might be able to modify the spare parts we have."
Dio sighed and still holding onto Red he floated toward the store front. 'Come with me?' He glanced back at Red as he said it, but he was already trying to drag him along anyway.
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Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:28 pm
'Oh, things will get better.' They would, indeed.
Once he found this "Chaos" and maimed it as brutally as possible before leaving it to bleed out and agonize slowly. Now that was an interesting idea, and the snake-like fiend seemed appraised by the mere thoughts as to what he'd put the near-murderer of his guardian through, if he was only given the chance.
'And, hm, maybe ? It might make Zero sick, through. Alot of things make Zero sick.'
Zero, for her part, cleared her throat. "Portals make Zero sick, thank you very much." The whole shop probably knew about it anyway.
'Fine.' he did relent, and allowed himself to be dragged to the front room - or more accurately, allowing himself to be dragged back into the front room.
The cyborg couldn't help but watch in some sort of wonder, shaking her head a bit. Red hadn't really put up well with being touched lately, but Dio didn't seem to irritate him in the least.
"Honestly, there's not much that still startles me, these days." She muttered, a bit of bitterness sliding in her voice. "To think, I came to Gaia in hope that things would actually stop actively trying to kill me."
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Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 7:24 pm
Merci leaned back and glanced at Zero with a rueful smile. "I'm sorry it seems you've had such a hard time. If you need help you know that Dio and I would come if you called." She felt it was important to remind her that they didn't have to handle everything alone. "To change the subject, I was going to ask you if you thought it was nice that you can get some time away from Red now that he's a bit older. I kinda get the feeling though that you haven't really had the chance." She was trying to make light of the situation to make her friend a bit more comfortable. "I'm assuming that Red hasn't left your side?"
Dio floated over behind the register and didn't let go of Red. 'I'm sorry to hear that, maybe if she gets fixed things won't make her sick anymore?' He really did hope that Zero got better soon. He could feel his own guardian's worry through the bond they shared. 'I kinda got into trouble when I did go though, cause Rhys and I stole the ship.' He sounded a bit sheepish when he said it. 'Merci was really mad at me.'
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Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 11:51 am
"It's not nothing either of you can really help with..." And neither could she truly help herself, either - it was odd and extremely frustrating at the same time. "It was... Someone attacked me though my bond. With Sei." Zero couldn't remember if Merci had ever met her son or not. "It nearly killed me. It killed many other with similar bonds. Happened to everyone."
Carefully, the cyborg took off her scarf. It was only here and now, with Dio out of the backroom, that she actually felt comfortable with doing so - and Merci would likely see them eventually, at any rate - it wasn't like she could wear a scarf all the time. There were many scars, littered in a ring along her throat. "All of these... Each one felt like claws trying to sink and tear my throat off. But there was nothing there, not really. So I couldn't defend myself. Red couldn't defend me."
She shook her head, and sighed. "It did hit him hard, more that he'll let on. He feels pretty helpless, I can tell. He doesn't like feeling helpless. Being overprotective is Red's way to say I care about you."
And as long as she was remotely vulnerable, there was no way she'd get true alone time.
'It happened before that, too, so I don't think so.' Red didn't seem too comfortable trying to talk about it. '...You stole the ship ? Seriously ?' Okay, now he was laughing againm. 's**t, that's amazing !'
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Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:12 pm
Merci's brows furrowed and she grimaced a little bit, she didn't want to make her feel too self conscious about them. "That definitely looks like it hurt my dear. Do you know how these things are finding you? Maybe Athan or umm.. I met another wizard named Algie. Maybe they would know something that could be used to protect you? I don't know what else to say, I'm unfortunately not much help. I pretty much know how to shoot things, play some poker, and work the internet. Though there are times I wish my specialties ran to the metaphysical."
Merci stretched her legs out and glanced toward the storefront where they boys had disappeared. "Not to change the subject or anything, but I'm seriously glad they got to see each other. Dio has a huge soft spot for Red."
Dio nodded and his eyes crinkled, giving the impression of a grin. 'It was over the festivals, Rhys and I took the ship while Merci and Cinder were out getting presents. Couldn't be gone very long because of the bond, but I got to see the stars. Oooh and the song has been easier to hear. Like they know that I'm trying or something.' The smaller fiend floated closer and snuggled up to Red, giving him a hug. 'I've missed you, you can't stay away so long next time!'
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Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:23 pm
"Im not sure if it's help, since it was through a bond." She put the scarf back on again, before anyone else might possibly come in the backroom. "And since it wasn't though Red, I don't know if Athan can do anything..." He might offer advice, though, and she filled that back in her mind for the next time she saw the man.
"Hey, I can't shoot the broad side of a farm." Zero smirked, more like the Zero would know with the expression on. "Red has been trying to get me to rejoin the Real World for awhile... probably because of Dio, really. I feel bad about it, but..." She sighed. "I don't like feeling so vulnerable."
Had anyone else walked all over his personal space like that, Red would have liked punted them though the wall. But he let Dio do as he wanted - even sliding one arm against his back. 'Im certainly proud of you for that one.' He couldn't really pull a similar stunt - Zero only had a motorcycle, and these were not designed with tails in mind. 'Zero's been... Difficult.' He muttered, irritated. 'If Merci hadn't called, she'd still be holed up in her room in misery. I think she forgot there were people in the outside world that actually give a s**t about her.'
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Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:49 pm
Merci was honestly surprised. She'd honestly thought that Zero would have been pretty proficient with a handgun. "You can't shoot a gun? Seriously? Dear lords girl we'll have to fix that. I know it doesn't help with like, nightmare creatures and attacks you can't see. It makes me a bit more confident. I'll have to drag you over to the house sometime and set up some cans. It's ghetto target practice." She couldn't help the grin. It was fun shooting soda cans that were shaken up and still had the soda inside. They exploded like, everywhere.
Not so deep down inside Merci was still a little kid.
Dio didn't let go right away cause it just felt good to be near Red again. 'I think Merci didn't wanna call her right away because she was embarrassed about last time. The thing came out of her head somehow and she's still sensitive about it. She doesn't like that she almost hurt her friends.'
Dio finally let go of Red and he leaned his head back to look up at him. 'When did you get so big? I grew up around Christmas. Still getting used to things though. Oh have you seen Mystic? Or heard from him or Auntie Reyna? I haven't seen them in awhile.' The smaller fiend was going to ask more, but he remembered what Hawk said about overwhelming people and he was able to control himself. One question at a time.
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