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 Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:27 pm
Sylvester stalked down the same section of sidewalk he had several days ago, lost in his thoughts just as he had been then. These thoughts were not happy ones about the weather, however, as much as he wished they could be. He was confused, and he wished someone would just tell him what the hell was going on.
"Sylvester! I told you to wait!" Smerdle had never been this frustrated with her charge, not even after he had gotten band-aid-happy at the movies. She wasn't looking after Brownie today, having found a daycare center for problem children in the area, but she wasn't going to run after Sylvester. Why wasn't he listening to her, dammit! He always had and he always should.
The Tale stopped momentarily at his mother's angry tone, turning partially to wait for her to catch up. His gaze lingered on the alley just ahead. Stupid alley. He huffed out a sigh and stomped the remaining distance to the Stationery Store before pulling open the door and stepping inside, leaving Smerdle down the block.
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:49 pm
Chailyn moved down the street just slightly in front of her mother. She was going to go shopping later. She was feeling rather happy so far. She'd thought of a present for Elena, or at least she had an idea. She was still thinking about what to get Jiro and thought the stationary store would be a good place to get some inspiration. At least that's what Aislinn said, whatever inspiration meant.
She heard someone yell a name she thought sounded familiar but wasn't paying attention to those around her. Instead she continued walking noticing the door to the shop swinging closed. She blinked, curious and began to walk faster. Someone was there today and she wanted to know who.
"Chailyn, don't walk so fast," Anemone said. She frowned seeing that Chai wasn't listening. Instead the tale rushed forward and darted into the shop, only to run into Sylvester.
"Oops...hi..." she said after blinking a few times and looking up at him. It took her a moment to realize she was sitting on the floor now.
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 7:32 pm
Sylvester tripped forward as Chailyn's small body ran into him. If that was Smerdle trying to teach him a lesson, he would just... He clenched his fists and spun around, looking up at where he presumed the threat was. "Mama! I..."
Only there wasn't anyone there. He hadn't heard Chailyn's hello over his own angry retort, so he spent a fraction of a second in puzzled silence, staring at the empty air, before he looked down.
"Oh! Chai, I'm sorry," he said, lowering his hand to help her up. Well, he couldn't be mad at Chailyn, she wasn't keeping anything from him, at least that he knew of. "How've you been?" He looked down at the ground, trying to cover the fact that the hand by his side was still balled in a fist, and the other fact that he had just yelled at a nice person for no good reason.
Smerdle sped up when she saw Chailyn enter the store. She only knew the child was a Tale because she had seen her briefly at Christmas. Smerdle hated to think it, but she didn't want Sylvester causing any trouble. She smiled briefly and waved at Anemone.
"Was that yours?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:43 pm
Chailyn just giggled blushing. She took his hand gratefully oblivious that he had yelled or had his fist balled up. She got to her feet letting out a soft breath of air. She was glad to have run into him, well not literally.
"Hi Sylvester. I'm ok. How are you? I'm sorry for bumping into you. I saw the door shut and got excited to have someone to meet," she explained. She looked up at him, her eyes just shining with interest.
Anemone smiled walked over to Smerdle. "Yes, I think she got a little excited when she saw the shop door close." She knew her tale loved meeting people, though more one on one, otherwise she seemed to retreat to the outskirts just following the motions of others. Of course, this likely meant even more shopping had to be done.
She had to admit it was worth it, especially since Chailyn seemed so happy when she met others.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 6:28 pm
"That's okay," he said, relieved she hadn't seemed to have noticed his sour mood. "I've been better, but that doesn't matter now." He glared at the door before turning to Chailyn and smirking. "Would your mom be worried if... well, yeah she would. Chai, would you do something for me? When Mama comes in, tell her you haven't seen me. I'll be upstairs. If I'm not here, maybe she'll leave." He sounded like a pouty brat, but he didn't care. Without waiting for an answer, he ran for the stairs, taking them two at a time.
"She's adorable. Were you guys headed anywhere important before she made a bee-line for the store? Actually, we should probably talk inside. Shall we?" Smerdle smiled and held the door open for Anemone if she wanted to enter.
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 4:55 am
Chailyn was a bit surprised. No one had ever asked her to lie and she wasn't sure what to think. She didn't think Sylvester sounded like a whiny brat and she didn't think he was bad for asking either. She guessed she'd have to do what he had asked.
Anemone smiled at Smerdle nodding. "We were going to do some shopping. Chai wants to get her new friends some presents," she replied. She walked inside stopping to wait for Smerdle though she saw Chailyn standing by herself.
The tale looked up at Smerdle and Anemone. "Sylvester's not here..." she said but it wasn't very convincing. She'd never lied before so it wasn't surprising that it feel flat.
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:06 pm
Smerdle glared at the stairs, where the faint sounds of little-boy-shoe-clops could still be heard. Honestly, she didn't know what to do with him. Making another kid lie? Well, he wasn't going to get rid of her that easily.
"Okay, well, he's been around this neighborhood alone by himself before. He'll come back soon, I'm sure. I'll just stay down here and wait." She hoped she didn't sound too uncaring, but she didn't want to make Chailyn feel bad about covering for Sylvester. "Should we sit down for a while?" she asked Anemone.
Upstairs, Sylvester sat in a room crowded with boxes and wondered what was going on with Mama and Chai. Just as he had been worried Chailyn's mother would have been upset if she had entered the shop to find Chailyn gone, he was also sure she wouldn't let the Tale come up here unsupervised. Sometimes, he didn't really think a thing through. He sighed, but didn't move, not yet ready to give himself up.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:42 am
"Yes, why don't we," Anemone replied picking up Chailyn. "It's nice that you want to help someone but lying is wrong," she whispered into the tale's ear. She kissed her on the cheek before sitting down. She was about to apologize to Smerdle for Chailyn's action of lying but Chailyn decided to speak instead.
"Can I go play with Sylvester upstairs?" she asked. She looked up at her mother, knowing that she wouldn't want to. She didn't have much choice though. Anemone didn't want to leave Sylvester upstairs alone and since he was avoiding his mother she had no reason to think he'd accept her presence.
"Ok...but be careful," Anemone said putting Chailyn down and watching as she ran off. She gave a light sigh hoping nothing bad would happen. Somehow she could just see the two accidently breaking something or worse. As a parent, she couldn't help worrying over all the possible things that could go wrong.
Chailyn climbed up the stairs slowly. She looked down the hallway tilting her head to the side. "Sylvester? Where are you?" she called out.
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:42 pm
"Sylvester's not usually this... troublesome," Smerdle apologized. "I think he thinks I'm keeping something from him, but I don't even know what that something could be. I'm hoping he gets over it on his own." She perched on the arm of a nearby chair. "He shouldn't have asked her to lie," she muttered, thinking out loud.
Chailyn's voice carried down the hall and into the room Sylvester was hiding in. Was she alone? He didn't want to go out there only to find his mother or someone else there too.
Montmorency clung to Sylvester's neck, her camouflaging ability discarded in favor of her natural, metallic skin. She had never ventured far from the giraffe Tale, but she understood that his current behavior was causing more problems than it was solving. The more he overreacted to this whole snowglobe thing, the more likely it would be that he would find out what he had been created to do. She knew that couldn't happen. She hopped off of Sylvester and bounced toward the door, intending to reveal his location, even if it meant her existence would be public knowledge.
"Morry, no!" Sylvester whispered.
"You are acting like an infant," she scolded, her voice cold but melodic as always. She hopped out of the door and plopped to a stop in front of Chailyn. "Hello."
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:43 pm
"No, he shouldn't have. I'm sure he's just dealing with something in his own way," Anemone tried in hopes that it would help Smerdle feeling better. Although she was feeilng rather nervous herself. She hoped the giraffe looking tale wouldn't ask Chailyn to do anything else that she shouldn't do.
Chailyn peered at Montmorency and giving a smile kneeling down. She put her hand out to let the creature get her scent if she wanted. "Hi. Do you live here? Have you seen Sylvester?" her questions blurred together slightly as she barely paused in between.
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:48 pm
Well, at least Anemone was being nice about it. "Yeah, 'his own way' seems to be really annoying right now." She sighed. "So... this probably wasn't the best way for us to be introduced. I'm Smerdle," she said, holding out her hand. "And, that was Sylvester. I think he and Chailyn met over Christmas. There were so many kids there, I could hardly keep track. But, he did mention her. Something about having a cool name." She smiled.
Oh, this was convenient. Maybe she could just pretend to be some shop oddity and not connect herself with Sylvester at all. Morry touched her cold nose to the girl's hand in a gesture of greeting, even though she couldn't really smell anything in the conventional way. "You are Chailyn, correct? Sylvester is here. Follow me." With that, she turned and hopped back to the room he was hiding in.
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:41 pm
"Perhaps he'd talk to Chailyn or someone about what's bothering him. I know she saw him at Christmas and has been quite curious about him ever since," she said with a smile. It seemed impossible for Chailyn not to be curious though. She always seemed to jump at the chance to meet new tales, though she would probably jump at the chance to meet almost anyone. "It's nice to meet you Smerdle." She smiled as well taking Smerdle's hand in her own.
Chailyn giggled at Morry's gesture. A shiver ran down her spine and she shook lightly from the cold before shaking it off. "Mm-hmm, I'm Chailyn." She watched Morry turn and followed the hopping creature. She wondered who owned her, thinking Morry seemed like a nice pet.
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:57 pm
"I hope so," Smerdle said, shaking Anemone's hand. "Anyway, how long has Chailyn been with you? From the little I've seen of her, she seems like a real sweetheart." She dropped onto the actual sofa cushion and took off her coat, settling it around herself.
Montmorency entered the box-filled room and bowed slightly. "Here," she said to Chailyn. She wanted to scold Sylvester again for his attitude, but she stopped herself.
The giraffe stood, his head hung lower than usual. "Sorry Chai," he said. "I shouldn't have asked you to lie. It's just... Mama's lying to me. I know she knows something." He didn't even begin to clarify what the hell he was talking about, but he stood up straighter and smiled at Chailyn, as if coming to the conclusion that his behavior was justified. Morry, again, stayed silent.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:04 pm
"Chailyn's been with me for about six months. It almost seems like yesterday. She tends to be so cute and sweet," she replied giving a smile. She moved to sit in a chair beside the couch having forgot she was even wearing her coat. She shrugged the coat off letting fall back.
"It's ok Sylvester. I didn't mind. I'm sorry they didn't believe me though," the tale started. She smiled brightly before her smile turned to confusion. "Mom's shouldn't lie. It's not nice that she's lying to you." She seemed to scowl at the thought but it vanished when she replaced it with a softer look. She wondered if they could get Smerdle to tell the giraffe what she knew, though she also wondered if maybe she should wait and ask her mother to do it.
"Why don't we go ask her to tell us?" she asked catching Sylvester's hand and turning like she was going to pull him out of the room. She gave him an encouraging look having forgot about Morry for the time being.
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:19 pm
If Mama had been keeping things from him all this time, he didn't see why she would suddenly tell him what he wanted to know just because he asked again. But Chai looked so sure that this was the right thing to do. He held on to her hand and started out the door.
"Sylvester, wait." The Tale stopped in his tracks at the sound of the soothing voice.
"Oh, sorry Morry. Come on." He held his hand out for her to jump onto, finally acknowledging that she wasn't just some creation of the shop.
"No. Your mother doesn't know the things you want her to tell you. I know what you did to the man with the snowglobe that made him so happy to see you again. And I'm not going to tell you. It is not the right time for you to know these things."
Sylvester narrowed his eyes at his 'pet,' his anger rekindled.
Smerdle nodded. "Time does fly. It seems like yesterday for me too. I just came by to get some invitations and I came out with a kid. That's something I never thought would happen to me." She chuckled.
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