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 Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:45 pm
There was a strange, tense silence in the Kovak house. Which was rather unusual for a house inhabited by two kids, one teen, and a shadow. Sure, they had their silences; but none, not even those that happened when Dimitri had touched Kali's things, rivalled this silence.
Viktor sat in the parlour, broadsword across his lap and whetstone in hand. The silence was broken by the rhythmic shing of the stone sliding across the blade, a metallic ring that echoed through the house. Katia peeked down the stairs at her dad, then looked at the door.
Kali had invited Lance to dinner. She was standing outside, currently, pretending to be getting the paper. Really, everybody knew she was out there to give Lance ample warning of what he was walking into. Which was the home of a very protective, very angry uncle. Akin to a bear, you could very clearly see Viktor from outside, a hulking form on the tiny love seat he currently occupied. He was still, staring out the window and waiting for the gothic boy to appear, carefully sharpening his sword. Many people used shot guns.
He found large knives more intimidating.
"Would you knock it off?!" Kali hissed, poking her head in the door. Viktor smiled thinly at her.
"Knock what off? I'm just making sure it doesn't rust and get dull. Might as well, since we're waiting. Doesn't that boy know how to be on time?"
"He's not even supposed to be here for another half hour." She scowled at her uncle, before ducking back outside.
This, she thought, was probably a bad idea. But, they had to get it over with sometime.
Katia had been sworn to her best behaviour, much to her chagrin. She didn't need a repeat of the punishment she'd recieved from the LAST time she screwed up one of Kali's dates.
Dimitri, on the other hand, was ecstatic. Lance, one of the coolest guys he'd ever seen, was coming to their house.
Luka was in the same mindset as Dimitri, though this ws mostly because he had demanded Cain come over. He hadn't seen him in...well, he wasn't sure, but it had been far too long!
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Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 10:50 pm
Lance couldn't remember the last time that he'd been so bloody terrified. He imagined that it must've been during one of those times when he'd been with his father during one of his drunken rages. That had been years ago though, so really, this was something that he hadn't felt in quite a while. The gothic teen could only assume that this was how all boyfriends felt when they had to meet their girlfriend's family - though, Lance had an exceptionally large reason to be nervous. Viktor Kovak could SQUISH him if he wanted to.
Boyfriend - that was still a strange term to use on himself. Had he ever had a steady girlfriend before now? He suppose he had, if Catherine Rhynes from the 8th grade had counted - but that had lasted a mere two months, and it hadn't meant much. Now, with his relationship with Kali...well, it was probably the first time that he'd ever tried so hard just for one girl! The black-haired boy wasn't sure if he should be proud of himself or not...
Lance was snapped out of this thoughts as Cain began chirping wildly and he looked up in time to see the little shadow zipping off towards the Kovak house. Despite his worries, the boy couldn't help but chuckle a bit - he hoped that Cain would be able to keep from pissing anyone off tonight.
"I guess that I'm not the only one who's excited." Lance grinned at Kali as he saw her waiting for him outside. Though, excited wasn't quite the word that he would have used...anxious would have been one. Freaked out was another good phrase. "So...how long do I have until my execution?" He could see Viktor in the window - the sword in his lap did nothing to reassure the boy.
Actually, it kind of made him want to piss himself.
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Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:43 am
"You'll be fine." She whispered, smiling at him as she brushed a strand of hair from his face. "Just be yourself, okay? He's only trying to scare you. Don't let him have the satisfaction." She grinned, glad that he didn't seem very terrified. Still terrified, and rightly so, but nothing over the top.
Viktor watched, pausing in his sharpening to oversee the exchange between his niece and this boy, Lance. He had heard enough about him from Katia to be wary of this whole thing.
He didn't want his niece hurt. She was as good as a daughter to him. And everyone knew how protective he was of his own children.
"Katia. Dimitri. Come down now." He called, looking over at the stairs. Katia flew down, a flurry of pink; and, with one black shadow whizzing around his head. He wasn't allowed to zip outside to see Cain. Which totally wasn't fair. He wanted to see him!
As if to grant his wish, Cain zipped through a window, and Luka slammed into him, trilling. He wrapped his arms around his friend and snuggled him, ignoring Viktor telling Katia to calm him down.
Looking back, Kali saw the commotion in the house, and smiled. Viktor was setting the sword on the mantle, hurrying to pick up whatever mess the two shadows were making. Confident he wasn't looking, she pushed herself onto her tip toes, and kissed Lance softly.
"Come on. I promise it won't be so bad."
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Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 4:47 pm
Be himself. Somehow, Lance didn't think that would be a very good idea. This was mostly because he figured that telling Kali that her a** looked nice in those jeans in front of Viktor would probably get him kicked out faster than you could say '******** pervert'. "Heh...right. Be myself." He laughed nervously, praying to whatever higher power there was that he wasn't making a mistake by agreeing to have come.
He momentarily forgot his fears, however, as the redheaded girl kissed him, to which he responded by returning the gesture. He chuckled as she spoke after the kiss had been broken and said, "Well, I suppose if you promise..." before following Kali into the house.
To which he was then greeted by Cain and Luka flying around, breaking things. One of those things was some poor potted plant that was no longer in a pot, some expensive looking vase, and a number of other objects. This was going SO well.
"Uh...m-my bad..." He. Was. So. DEAD.
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Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 5:58 pm
Kali grinned and lead him inside, only to find that things were already going terribly. Viktor looked like he was about to explode; but thankfully, they hadn't broken Elisa's picture. She didn't want to know what would have happened if they had done that.
Viktor shot Lance a dark look, but said nothing as he sent Dimitri for the broom. He understood that Shadows were uncontrollable; but Lance didn't need to know that. He said nothing as he took the broom from Dimitri and began to clean up the mess made by the shadows.
Kali knew it probably wasn't wise to leave Lance with her uncle, but there really wasn't much harm he could do that was legal, and Lance was too afraid to say anything truly stupid anyways. So, she slipped away from them, and up the stairs to grab two jars she had enchanted for just this purpose.
Well, mostly for Luka. But it'd work on Cain too.
Walking to the top steps, she frowned and lifted the jars for Luka to see. He shrieked, grabbed Cain, and dragged him into the cupboard under the stairs. He had BEEN in that jar before. They were evil!
And...they needed to be destroyed.
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Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:47 pm
Lance gave Viktor a sheepish look, trying not to look as intimidated as he felt by the man's glare, before moving to help with the cleanup. He, after all, partially responsible, since Cain WAS his shadow. That, and he wasn't just going to stand there and watch like a useless log - Lance wasn't the politest kid on the block, true, but he had enough sense to know when to help. He was just thankful that the look that Viktor had given him hadn't been accompanied by something that would smite him out of existence. "Sorry about that...I can pay for everything." He figured that he should, whether Viktor was ******** loaded or not.
Cain let out a squawk of surprise as Luka dragged him to a cupboard to hide in. "Vim vim!" The jar was evil? He thought that jars were supposed to be good! They held yummy cookies and snacks in them, and they were fun to hide in when Lance was looking for him!
But the jars here were evil? Well, now that just wouldn't do! They, most certainly, would definitely have to be destroyed.
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Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 8:32 pm
Kali put the jars in her room when Luka disappeared and closed the door, locking it with a flick of her fingers. She returned downstairs and finished cleaning with her Uncle, who had not yet replied to Lance's offer to pay. She scowled, glaring at him for being so childish. He stood, tossed what was left in the trash, and dusted off his hands.
"Oh. There's no need. Perhaps, instead, you could use the money to pay for birth control." He hissed in a voice that was deadly quiet, before going to the kitchen to check on their dinner.
"...you know how I said you'd be fine? I take that back." Damn Luka. That little nugget of gold was entirely his fault, for that god damned mimicry CONCERT he had preformed for Viktor.
He had better hope he stayed out of her way, or she would probably stick him in a jar forever. Her face was crimson, and she could only imagine how Lance was thinking.
This was a horrible idea. Why had she come up with iit? She must have been on drugs.
"Um...is it true, you're in a band?" Dimitri's tentative voice came from inside the living room, where he was watching them with wide eyes from the couch. Katia sat, rather unimpressed, beside him with her stuffed unicorn, playing with it in silence.
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Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 10:44 pm
"...so...why hasn't he killed me yet?" Well, Lance was quite certain that he was very close to shitting himself. That look, and the tone of voice that Viktor had just used had been more than enough to intimidate anyone, really - if you weren't ******** terrified by that man, then you were either his daughter, or just freaking crazy.
Though, he was starting to wonder if maybe it was just the latter.
Lance blinked and glanced down to the redheaded boy that was speaking to him, noticing him now for the first time. Despite that, he already knew who the boy was, and gave him a bit of a grin - despite being scared out of his pants, the gothic boy could still manage that as least. "Yeah, that's right. Me and a couple other guys." He slipped his hands into his pockets and chuckled. "You're Dimitri, right? Kali's told me about you." At the same time, he moved his gaze to Katia, giving her a smile as well, though he wasn't entirely sure if she was still currently hating him. "How've you been doing alright, Katia?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 11:08 pm
Katia looked up and gave Lance a vacant stare that would have done her father proud, before returning to her stuffed unicorn, quietly swishing it through the air and entertaining herself.
Dimitri, on the other hand, hung himself over the back of the couch.
"Cool! What instrument do you play? Kali won't let me listen to your music, but sometimes I hear it when her door's open. You guys rock!" Yes, he was gushing a little girlily, but this guy? He was well on his way to becoming Dimitri's hero, if he wasn't already there.
Kali couldn't help but giggle. Dimitri's enthusiasm definitely made up for Katia's lack of interest.
Had she known what was happening on the stairs, though, she would not have smiled.
Luka had lead Cain to the door to Kali's room, the impenetrable fortress that thrwarted him at every turn. Enchanted and defended to the nines, he hadn't yet been able to get in without her letting him in. Hopefully, having Cain around would change that.
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Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 1:12 pm
Lance wasn't really sure why Katia seemed to hate him so much. The first time they'd met, he remembered getting along with her quite well - she was a cute kid, really. Apparently, something had happened between then and now for her to dislike him for some reason. Well, whatever then.
"Guitar, mostly." Lance couldn't help but grin at Dimitri - it wasn't often that he met younger 'fans', but he had to admit that the younger boy's reaction was kind of cute. He imagined that the redheaded boy would completely deny that fact, but there were few other words that he could use to describe the gushing. "And thanks; maybe I'll play something for you sometime." The band had a few songs that he didn't think would be too bad to play for a kid his age - it would have to be another day though. He didn't exactly have his guitar on him at this point.
Cain tilted his head slightly and clicked as his friend lead him to the doorway to Kali's room. At first, he didn't understand how it was that Luka couldn't get in - he quickly realized what the other shadow meant when he tried to go through Kali's lock. He couldn't do it! Why was that??? "Vim vim!" This was so strange...
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Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:44 am
Kali frowned at Katia, casually sliding around Lance and over to the couch. She took a seat beside her small cousin, leaning over and speaking quietly, so nobody else would hear.
"I still haven't told him it was you that stole his wallet. But if you forget, again, what I told you about being nice to Lance, I might let him in on that little secret. And then he might not be so friendly to you next time he sees you." She hissed. "It is not your choice who I date, Katia. Being a spoiled brat isn't going to make me change my mind. You might have your dad wrapped around your little finger, but I'm onto you. And if I see one whif of you trying to screw this up...let's just say it will make what I do to Dimitri look pleasant."
Katia stared at her, mildly and appropriately horrified, before looking back down at her unicorn. Kali's punishments were only funny when they happened to someone else. She didn't want to suffer Dimitri's humiliation! No way!
Smiling, Kali leaned back, and looked at her other young cousin.
"That would be awesome!" Dimitri was beaming. She giggled.
"Dimitri, remember what your dad said..." She reminded him gently. He rolled his eyes.
"Dad just doesn't like him. If he listened to the music-"[/color
"I think I will. And if I don't think it's appropriate, you aren't going to listen to a single note." Viktor clapped Dimitri on the back of the head as he entered the room, nearly knocking him over. The red head yelped, and Viktor grinned at him to show the joke. Dimitri wrinkled his nose at him, but smiled anyways.
"Dinner's almost ready. Why don't you all go sit at the table?" He said calmly, gesturing at the kitchen.
Luka scowled and pointed at the cracks, and the keyhole. They were all enchanted. Locked. The entire room was sealed against Shadows. The window, the door, hell, he bet even the dumbwaiter wa-
Wait. The dumbwaiter. He hadn't tried that yet!
"Lua! Ka!" He chirped, zipping up the stairs towardv the attic. The shaft for the dumbwaiter ended there. They could go inside, fly down, and see if she had truly warded everything.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:07 am
Lance took no notice of Kali's little chat with Katia - even if he had, he wouldn't have heard, so it didn't really matter either way. More than likely, he wouldn't have been pleased if he'd found out that it had been the young girl who had stolen his wallet and caused all that bullshit during his and Kali's first date. Not that he'd beat up the kid or anything, but there still would have been some get-backing - he was terribly creative when it came to such things.
"We'll see, then." Lance grinned at Dimitri as he got up, wondering just how serious Viktor was being. He could tell that he was joking around with the kid, but he didn't doubt that Viktor WOULDN'T let Dimitri listen to it if he thought that it was inappropriate - which lead him to wonder if Kali's uncle even knew what the band's name was. He doubted that it would help at all if Viktor did.
Wow, he was knocking points off of HIMSELF. That's how bad this was.
Lance waited for Kali before heading into the kitchen, putting his hands in his pockets so as to keep himself from being too touchy-feelie with her. There wouldn't be any 'playful' gestures with her today - not with her uncle watching. That would be less than good. It was bad enough that he - somehow - knew about one of the little, ah, activities that he and Kali had participated in.
A dumbwaiter? What was a dumbwaiter? Immediately curious as to what this strange thing would be, Cain zipped up the stairs after Luka. Would it really get them into Kali's room?
The little shadow was awed when they finally came to the top of the shaft and peered down. It was like the elevator in the apartment building! "Vim vim!" Cain nodded to his best friend before zipping down the entrance, wondering if they really would be able to get into Kali's room on the other side.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:03 am
Viktor saw Lance's hands in his pockets, and gave him a look that could almost have had a hint of approval in it.
Almost.
Katia slid into her seat, mouth firmly closed. She did not speak; however, she didn't insult Lance or glare at him either. She was quite friendly, through her silence. Dimitri more than made up for it anyways.
Kali slipped into a chair beside Lance, squeezing his knee reassuringly under the table as she watched her Uncle turn to take the covered dishes from where they'd been warming on the stove, and place them on the table. Cabbage rolls, perogies, and sweet and sour meatballs were uncovered, and Dimitri and Katia eagerly began to eat. All of it was home made.
Kali didn't bother to attempt small talk, looking up cautiously at her Uncle as he dished himself a plate.
"So." He finally said, fixing one icy blue eye on Lance. "What do you do, Lance?"
Luka poked his head through doors as they passed them, checking to see which rooms they were. Finally, he reached one that he couldn't open. It seemed to be stuck.
This one had to be Kali's room.
Chirupping at Cain, he gripped one of the small sliding doors, and heaved back. It ground, refusing to budge; but after a moment, and a groan, it inched open ever so slightly.
"Lu!!" It was working! Now, if Cain pulled, Luka was SURE they would get the door open!
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Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:07 am
Apparently, having his hands in his pockets had been a good thing. Lance made a mental note of that as he headed into the kitchen with the rest of Kali's family.
Alright, so things weren't going as great as Lance would've liked, but at least this visit wasn't going horribly. Everything would be fine, so long as he kept himself from getting into anymore s**t than he was in already with Viktor. The black-haired boy looked to Kali as he felt her squeeze his knee and gave her a small smile, calming slightly. He doubted that he'd be able to get on Viktor's good side, but he could handle this so long as he didn't make things any worse.
Lance was so surprised when Viktor finally spoke that he almost didn't know what to say in response. He gathered himself quickly however, and said, "I work the cinema in Barton, along with playing in my band." There weren't really many GOOD jobs that he could get at his age, and he couldn't rightly afford college - it just wasn't an option for him, and he doubted that it ever would be. The band was doing well though, so that was an upside at least. It paid the rent and got him and Charlie groceries, so hey, it worked.
"Vim, vim!" Cain quickly set to work at helping Luka with the door upon hearing the initial groan. It was slow work, as the door appeared to be quite the stubborn thing, but it was working! Soon, they would be in Kali's room, and the two of them could vanquish the evil jars! "Vi, vim!"
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Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 10:57 am
Finally, the door burst open, and Luka stared excitedly at...
At what seemed to be the back of a dresser, or something.
Frowning, he squeezed his malleable form down, around the large structure and into the room. It seemed that the bookshelf was in front of the dumbwaiter; which would explain why the dumbwaiter hadn't been blocked.
They were in!
Finally!!
He spun around, searching for the jars, but he couldn't spot them. Chirping, he called Cain into the room, fluttering up to the ceiling. Where were those nasty, evil things?
He scowled.
It truly was going to be a feat to find anything in here.
She had a number of odd knick knacks, and most of them were piled haphazardly on a desk in the corner. Clothes were strewn around a hamper, more on the floor than inside of it, and books and papers were strewn about the room.
And yet, no jars.
"Lu...?" He turned and looked at Cain. Could he see them? Where were those jars?
Viktor raised an eyebrow when Lance told him his jobs, rolling a meatball through the sauce on his plate. "No school? Shouldn't a boy your age be in college?" He gestured at Kali. "My niece studies her magic. What do you do?" Clearly, working at a cinema and playing in a band wasn't enough for Viktor; not in his current mood.
He couldn't believe this boy. Behind his back, he had...he didn't want to think of it. He had lied, snuck around, and taken Kali. Quite literally, though the thought made the meatball taste sour in his mouth.
"Don't you have any plans for your future?" Yes, he was nit picking. He was being a hypocrite. Lance was just a kid; and Viktor had chased his share of skirts and wooed more than his share of women when he was his age. But this was different. This was his niece; she might as well have been his daughter. And he would be damned if he let any boy hurther, in any way. Whether he broke her heart, her hands, or her future; he would kill him as soon as look at him.
Kali stared at her Uncle with pure and barely bridled fury. She knew where this was headed. But he wouldn't dare. No. No. Even he wasn't that much of an a*****e.
"Uncle Viktor-" She hissed, but stopped. What was that thud?
Viktor paid her no attention, watching Lance expectantly.
Upstairs, Luka hovered above the statuette that had fallen from the shelf. Thank god, it had landed in a pile of clothes and hadn't broken, but it had certainly made a noise. He waited, with bated breath for Kali to come and crucify them. There was nothing, though, and he sighed with relief.
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