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 Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 2:18 pm
It felt good to be alive again. Over the past month Coralie had been akin to a zombie, walking around Perry's house in a magically induced coma while clutching a snowglobe to her chest and talking quietly to it in reverent Japanese. Then she had found it all of it had been a lie and even in the aftermath had felt foolish. It was now Christmas morning and she was in her room glancing at two presents that hadn't quite made their way under the festive tree in the living room just yet for the simple reason that she wasn't sure how they'd be received. One was what looked to be the sort of festive envelope that would hold a calendar, and the other was a small box no larger than a 6x6 cube.
"Now or never, Alliegator." A deep breath and the knot in the blindingly red and green holiday robe she'd purchased for this specific morning was tightened with resolve. Now or never was right! Creeping into the living room the two were placed towards the back of the tree where they would be the last presents to be plucked if she was lucky.
Coralie wasn't often too lucky.
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Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 9:08 pm
As Allie carefully crept downstairs into the living room, she would notice one of two things.
The first was that, as nearly always, the house was saturated with the smell of a homemade breakfast, ready for her to to chow down on in the kitchen. Judging by the mosaic of aromas that assaulted her senses, Perry had gone all-out and cooked up some of Allie's favorite dishes to get her Christmas morning started right: among them were his terribly unhealthy "breakfast empanadas," saturated with cinnamon and butter and filled with homemade icing.
And then, along with the smell... there was sound. Guitar music. It wasn't very uncommon to hear Perry picking away at his instrument when he didn't have anything else to occupy with time with, and this definitely wasn't the first time she had woken up to the sound of it... however, this morning it was decidedly different from all those other times.
This was because he was slowly, carefully, plucking out the notes to a very familiar tune... it only took Allie's ear picking up two notes to recognize it as the song from the snowglobe.
The song from her mother's locket.
Thankfully for the sneaking little teen, the Christmas tree was behind the sofa, so Perry didn't notice that she had snuck any presents in. She crossed his line of sight soon enough, however, and he regarded her with a grin -- Lady was lying beside him, and offered a lazy wag of her tail in greeting.
"Merry Christmas, Allie," he offered. "You know, I'm not quite sure if I'm getting this right."
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Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 9:20 pm
Allie had always been in possession of one of the larger pairs of eyes that anyone she knew had ever seen. They were simply windows into her soul from which every emotion she'd ever experienced would beam out like her senshi attack would do, she was always unable to hide from anyone that looked into them. As she looked down hopelessly at Perry picking her mother's song out on his guitar several things flashed through at once: surprise, dawning awe, and a love so fierce that it would have taken a league of Beryls to defeat it. Glazing over all that was a sheen of tears that dripped down her cheeks slowly before the edge of her robe could be raised to scrub at them with a sniffle.
"No. I think it is right, it sounds very pretty...Merry Christmas." Though the food allure was rather strong, her hesitation to give the gifts that had been so meticulously picked out was running even more strongly through the tiny girl's veins. The edge of her robe still scrubbed at the joyful tears that kept springing to life, drying up as the nerves did appear as fingers touched the envelope and square.
It felt right to bounce back around the couch with an energetic smile and hold them out with the box on top. "You gave me a present, now I have to give you one. That is how it works, right?" They'd had Christmas in Japan and even in Crystal Tokyo, but in the former she had been a child and had very few presents to give of her own. In the future, they were crazy affairs where everyone simply rushed the pile and raced to see who could open everything first. Of course, no present had ever been so very serious.
The first was going to be rather confusing, a mug for his desk at work that read "#1 DAD". Sure, her English could have been blamed for the mix-up of Uncle and Father but it was the envelope that held the serious gift that proved it all wrong. Adoption papers for one Miss Coralie Williams, orphan to Dr. Perry Westerman, science teacher extraordinaire. He really would be a number-one father...if he signed them.
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Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 9:41 pm
"Hey... hey, hey, Allie," Perry started, stopping his playing and gently setting the guitar down on the coffee table, looking the girl sincerely in the eye before giving her a pat on the shoulder. "What did we both just say? It's Christmas. That's no time to start crying, Alliegator, now show me a smile."
Quick like a rabbit, though, the girl had disappeared behind the sofa again -- but at least she'd returned with the smile he'd asked for! Along with it, she had brought a box and an envelope, both carefully wrapped. Perry regarded both of the presents with a sheepish little grin, saying, "You know you didn't have to get me anything," but... Allie had adorably insisted, and he was reaching for the box before he could even stop himself. It didn't take much effort to get it open, and with a look of thankfulness he lifted the mug and started turning it in his hands --
#1 Dad?
He set the mug down on the desk, puzzled, but making an effort not to show it. Maybe something had gotten lost in translation when she had gone shopping?
The second gift, however, made him put two and two together rather quickly: Allie had intended the first gift as a precedent for the second... Perry stared at the paperwork for what felt like a long, long time, looking for all the world like a man who had momentarily forgotten how to read.
"Allie..."
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Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 9:51 pm
Though her breathing had audibly hitched Coralie was a young woman well-versed in handling what she saw as a kind rejection of her intentions. She'd knelt on the floor in a pose that came to her with ease and grace, hands nervously twisting the ends of her robe tie together as he'd opened them with puzzlement. When Perry said her name in that kind way, the girl had figured it entirely for a lost cause and rushed in with a jumble of words. "It is okay! If you don't want to you don't have to and I will go or I will not go if that is not what you want but I..." Those eyes were going again to beam out with love and the hope that was breaking inside of her heart.
"I love you. You are so nice to me and did not have to be and...ah. You know I am Chibimoon. I got them when you met her." When he'd become Kurma and she hadn't had to worry about someone misunderstanding her intentions and thinking her a filthy terrorist. The date at the bottom adjoining her adorable scrawl with the little hearts over her i's reflected that.
Lightly, fingers touched the writing on the mug and she looked down at the carpet again. "There are more presents too. I didn't know if you would like this one so I got more. Do you want one?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:04 pm
Perry's eyes shifted slowly, ever so slowly, from the words on the paper to Coralie's pleading face. He still had that same look about him, like the world around him wasn't familiar anymore -- or, perhaps, that someone had pressed the pause button on him and the rest of the world was speeding by without him. But soon enough he caught up, as he watched the pile of frantic, nervous words tumble out of the poor girl's mouth. Fear of rejection... attempts at salvaging the situation... all of this before he was even able to muster a reply.
He tilted the paper up from the table in his hands, regarded them for another moment, and set them back down. His hands were both resting palm-down on the table on either side of the documents, one of his fingers brushing up against his guitar.
"No... no more presents, I think you've already gotten me enough."
Then he slipped down off of the sofa to kneel beside Allie on the floor. (Lady took this as a chance to stretch herself out a little more, the couch-hog.) For a couple moments more he just sat there, staring somewhat sheepishly at the carpet -- until he looked back up and said, simply, "I love you too, Allie."
He turned to face her more fully and, in a silly little affectionate gesture, reached a hand out to tuck a loose wisp of cotton-candy-colored hair back behind her ear. "It's funny," he started. "You're not my kid. I haven't known you for very long, and you're already almost all grown up..." The #1 DAD mug found its way back to him and he turned it in his hands, brushing over the printed letters with a thumb. "But I've always sort of felt like you were a daughter to me. To see that you've thought this through, and you want to make me officially your dad and everything... that's the best present I could ever ask for."
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Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 7:09 am
It was so very scary. Scarier than facing down Nehelenia with nothing other than one small attack to save herself and Helios, scarier than running through time away from Rubeus, scarier than her first day at an American high school. It was never easy for anyone to open themselves up to the potential for such horrible rejection, a teenager less so. The many unspoken years of Chibiusa's life were in her favor here in that she could do such things with the understanding that it was not the end of the world if she did not achieve the desired result. Sometimes.
When Perry looked up at her and said four words everything melted inside of her all at once. The heart in Coralie's eyes filled and spilled over in the form of giant tears that ran slowly down her face as her new father spoke and before he'd even truly finished the tiny girl was throwing her arms around him. This made Lady startle and bark as she sobbed happily into Perry's robe and brokenly rambled in Japanese before making an effort to stop and switch over. Her arms however, did not move from where they'd latched themselves around his neck. She could do stuff like that now!
"I am not grown up yet." Physically. "I am only...ah...fifteen." Give or take nine hundred years. "But I still want a dad. I think I heard a thing once that you do not stop being a dad even if your kids are grown up?" It was one of the many things that she had asked the lawyer that she'd hired to draw up the paperwork, a matronly woman just touching the top of the hill in age who'd been more than touched by this young lady's quiet will. "I very much want you to be my dad. You grounded me. That is for a dad, not an uncle." Sniffling a bit Allie made a foray at humor, wiping at her face again before hiccuping and grinning just a little wider.
"And there are more presents still, even if you do not want them." When the nerves and the initial tears of happy reaction had passed it left even more energy than her little body usually possessed behind. The result was a teenager all but vibrating with excitement at the fact that it was Christmas, and she had somewhere to belong again. She had a family again. "I cannot wait to to tell grandmother!"
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:12 pm
Lady settled back down quickly enough -- there was no imminent danger, except perhaps for the fact she was about to be officially replaced as Perry's favorite in the household. She didn't seem to notice or mind, however, instead opting to stretch out on the sofa a bit more up until she reached the point where she had taken over the whole thing. This normally would have resulted in her either getting a pat on the belly or being told to either make room or get down, but her owner was currently sort of busy enjoying the best Christmas of his life.
It took a couple of disbelieving seconds for him to piece together why there was a sudden weight around his neck and incomprehensible Japanese sobbing going straight into his ear. He caught on though, and then cemented the reality of all of it further for them both by the simple act of putting the mug back aside and pulling Allie further in with an encouraging embrace.
This was sort of awe-inspiring, in a way that had caught him completely off-guard. The view from higher up in the Andes Mountains, or watching the ocean breathe from the shores of the Galapagos, failed to even light a candle to a concept that was so simple in comparison it could be summed up in a single, short sentence. He was a father. It wasn't in the conventional way by any stretch of the imagination -- hell, she had more or less time-travelled onto his doorstep from an alternative-future Tokyo that technically shouldn't exist anymore -- but if asked about any aspect of that, he would be able to proudly say he did not give a damn.
No matter how she had entered his life, she was his daughter. And now he had the privilege of being able to comfort her through her tears like a father would. Granted, at this point in time they were tears of joy, but he was anyway.
"We'll get those papers filed away first thing on Monday. And then we can go shopping for some paint or wallpaper for your room." The cheerful matter-of-factness with which Perry was saying these things was a bit surprising, even to himself. "For now, though... I think breakfast is starting to get cold, kiddo."
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Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:05 am
Food was being wasted. That was a problem for anyone with even an iota of female Tsukino blood and oh did she have that in spades. Scrubbing at her eyes again to try and clear them of all the mess of tears, a napkin was snatched from near one of the plates for a truly inspiring blowing of her nose. "Sorry sorry." Suddenly full of energy, Coralie ran to wash her hands and was back in under a full minute, steaming and ready to enjoy her Christmas.
This agitated Lady a bit more so her head had to be patted and then with great ceremony the newly-adopted daughter of the house sat down and dug into her breakfast. She was, in fact, so very exuberant that for the first time in weeks she cried out the traditional itadakimasu before digging in. The first empanada vanished without little urging on her part and then there was a pause. "Dad..." A flush touched her cheeks.
It felt good to call him that.
"Paint? Pink paint?" She loved the color and maybe it was fairly typical of her but there was something about the cheerful shades of pink that made everything in the world better. It was what she was and it was anything but boring. Anyone that was near Coralie and bored obviously had no idea what they were after.
"And there is still more present!" Could not forget that!
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