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 Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:36 am
Natalia’s forehead all but slammed against the wooden frame of Renaissance’s room, a low (and oddly playful) growl emitted through clenched teeth as the ghoul knocked twice. Oh how lucky she was to have found the rum; such a tonic used to lift her woe. Milky white hands pressed firmly on the door when no one answered, followed by a hiccup and then a slide down the face and onto the doorknob. “Ren…” She lulled, obviously in a drunken stupor. “Ren, open up!”
But the boil did not respond, or at least she was not aware of one if it had been made. Chuckling, causing her hair to fall across her forehead and cheeks, Natalia turned the handle and stepped through the threshold.
In her hands, clenched and slightly disfigured, were two sheets of paper. The first was the homework from etiquette class, its edges worn and torn, while the other sheet...well it was crumpled up and riddled with tear stains. Coincidently, a few straggling tears still sat on the brim of her eyelids, the skin that surrounded them red and swollen. Yes, Natalia had been crying but she had done a wonderful job covering it up, at least she thought she did, upon drinking the entire bottle of rum. Chalk full of liquor and stumbling toward Renaissance’s bed, the monster strummed her finger tips over her lips once while continuing to giggle and sway. Searching the sheets, the werelemur sang.
“Oh Ren, oh Ren where have you gone…I need you now, Renny—Ren boy. Renard…Renaissance? Wake up!”
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:27 am
The night before, Ren had spent most of the evening hanging with LW, staying up much too late playing (beating her at) Scario Cart. When the time had rolled to be around four o'clock, he had debated just staying there and sleeping on her mound of pillows, but seeing as how he had not fed his minipets yet, had dragged himself up the one floor to his own room. Ren had thrown a bunch of food to the creatures inhabiting his room and then all but collapsed onto his bed, falling into a deep and dreamless sleep almost immediately.
It was only when he heard the loud pounding on his door that he was jerked abruptly from his slumber.
"Go...way..." Ren mumbled, pressing one of the pillows over his head and burying his nose into the blankets. The pounding stopped briefly, and Ren let out a sigh of relief, beginning to fall back asleep again.
Creak. The mattress shuddered as someone sat down on the bed beside him and Ren could hear a familiar voice chanting his name.
"...Talia..?" he said, cracking one eye open. "Natalia, what are you..."
Something about the were-lemur's voice sounded...off. And there was something heavy scented in the air, something...familiar.
"Talia, are you drunk?" Ren asked, sitting up a bit. He reached out, stroking back some of the hair from her face. "What's wrong? What happened?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:04 pm
Ah-ha! Surprise! She found him!
He stroked her hair while she, almost at a loss of what to do and only mimicking his motions, took one of her hands and brought it across his face gently. The ghoul had an eerily wide grin fixed to her lips while trying to keep her eyes focused on his.
"What do you mean? Nothing is up. Well, I'm up...and now you're up. Is--yeah that's what you said." Laughing still, the werelemur leaned in close to Renaissance's face and exhaled, as if she would answer his question more thoroughly by doing so.
"I've been drinking." She said at last, eyes squinting tight in that same open-mouth grin. "A lot. I feel great...I feel so great." Nuzzling into Renaissance's cheek, Natalia threw her arms around his neck and sighed.
"Let's do something Renny, lets do something fun."
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Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:12 pm
In the few weeks since he'd met the werelemur, Ren had known Natalia to be a confident, brash, flirtatious ghoul who one almost never had a dull moment around. But he had not ever seen her like this; completely and totally smashed. There were red rings around her eyes, as if she had been crying.
"Natalia," Ren started to say, but was momentarily cut off by her leaning in close, her breath fanning across his face. He winced; she had definitely been drinking.
"Natalia, wait - " Ren put an arm around her waist, pushing himself up so that he was sitting vertical, holding her face between her hands. "Good Jack, you are more drunk than my mother gets when she throws her parties."
The smile on the werelemur's face was too strange, too eerie; it almost gave Ren the chills. With a sigh, he slipped his legs over the side of the bed, grasping her hand in his.
"Yes, yes, fun," he said gently, as if speaking to a small child. He tugged on her wrist, leading her towards the bathroom. "Come on now, Miss Lemur, let's go. You need to get cleaned up a bit and then we'll do something fun, okay?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:20 am
"What?!" Natalia exclaimed, "Invite me next time! Renny she shounds fun!" Although her thoughts were jumbled and her vision greatly impaired, the ghoul was 'there' enough to make note of their destination. The bathroom? That wasn't fun...
"Renny." Natalia groaned suddenly, tugging on the grip he had established. In this meek struggle to escape, the sheets of paper she had come along with dropped to the ground, bouncing several times before she noticed them. "Cleaning is not fun. I hate cleaning...that is not fun. Oh!" Her murmurs continued, a look of dismay taking hold of her face indefinitely.
The homework! No! Renaissance couldn't see it, he would only laugh...she was almost sure of it. Suddenly, hiding those dropped sheets of paper became a vital life or death mission. Falling to her knees, which was meant to be much more graceful than it was, Natalia scooped both up and tucked them underneath her crevet; expecting them to stay. When they fell out, she leaned over to pick them up again.
"Stupid...stupid...don't look Renny, it's dumb. Lets do the bathroom and then fun, don't look!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:53 pm
"Yes, yes, of course," Ren answered automatically, not relinquishing the grip he had on Natalia's wrist, though he could see that she was attempting to free herself. "I'll introduce you the next time I see them, like ten years from now, okay?"
He wasn't quite sure what the deal was; Natalia was a free spirit yes, someone who didn't care about what others thought. She did what she wanted to do, she took life by the reigns and lived to the fullest. But even when it was her, this slovenly, sloppy drunkenness seemed too much.
She was holding some papers. Ren tried to see what it was, but she quickly scooped them up, stuffing them into her shirt. However, leaning over again, they fell out just as fast as they had been put away, Natalia's face flushing as she giggled.
"Natalia?" he said, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. He reached for one of the papers, but the werelemur snatched them up hastily, pressing them to her chest.
"Okay, doing this the easy way now," Ren said with a sigh and bent over, sliding one arm across her back, the other going under her knees, and with a quick heave he lifted her up into his arms, carting her into the bathroom. Setting her gently down on the toilet seat, he rummaged around in his cabinets for a cloth, which he damped in the sink. Then he knelt down in front of her, dabbing lightly at her face.
"Natalia?" he said softly, pushing back some of the hair from her face. "Natalia, what happened?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:48 am
Right when the ghoul was about to respond, giving a feverish wave of her hand as an attempt to shed the boil of his own concerns, Natalia's world began to spin. Her cheeks instantly became cold and stagnant, the once fluttering eyes now sealed shut. The papers were still clutched against her chest but her grip on them had loosened considerably...and as she wrapped her arms around herself, soaking in the new environment Ren had set her in, Natalia began to breath haggardly.
His efforts to keep her cool and calm were notarized with a feint smile that lingered for but a moment, and then turned into a frown. "I--am so sorry." She began to speak again, voice low and extremely apologetic. The werelemur didn't mean to place her problems onto the gryphon, not exactly anyway. Natalia sought an outlet was all; just an outlet for her frustrations.
Perhaps she should have stayed in her dorm sipping on the other drinks until Right On would have woken her up with a kick or poke. Disoriented, Natalia let go of her torso and pressed her forehead against Renaissance's, sitting limply. Both of the papers dropped to the floor, bouncing and rolling until they were too far for Natalia to reach, but also just far enough for the ghoul to ignore. For now she seemed content where she was...or as content as a sobbing werelemur could be, tears beginning to pool in her eyes and run along her face.
Instead of explaining herself, Natalia just cried; forgetting almost completely about the homework and the letter that were now beside Renaissance.
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:21 am
"Shhh..." Ren murmured, rubbing the werelemur's back in methodical, rhythmic strokes, using his other hand to stroke damp hair back away from her face. Natalia was shivering now, her body shaking as tears slid down her cheeks, the facade she had been trying so desperately to hold onto finally beginning to break. "What are you sorry for? It's all right, Natalia."
The papers had slipped to the floor now, sliding across the tile. Ren moved his face away from Natalia's, pulling her against his shoulder, one arm wrapped around her back. He knew she probably just needed to cry, to let it all out. "Shh..." he said quietly again, gaze drifting to the papers again. Frowning a bit, he reached down, picking them up. Both were crumpled, tell-tail tear stains streaked down the flimsy paper, smearing the writing. He vaguely recognized one as Natalia's homework for...which class had it been? Etiquette, there, right at the top of the paper. Ren's eyes moved down, following the careful handwriting, his frown growing. The other paper was a letter, though Ren was not quite sure who it was from. He did not want to read it, just in case it was private, and instead reached up, setting both papers on the sink.
"Natalia?" he said softly, pulling back a bit and cupping her face in his hands to look up at her clearly. "Natalia, what happened? What's wrong? Talk to me here, Miss Lemur."
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 4:19 pm
"Everything!" Natalia groaned hastily, rolling her eyes back when his hands slid across her spine. She shifted in her place to set a cheek on Renaissance's shoulder, trying to recover by forcing the tears to stop. This, of course, only caused her body to jolt hard in protest. "I...am...such...a baby..." Her words started to spill out like the tears in her eyes, heaving each one through her sobs. Now she was beginning to feel the weight on her shoulders; the kind that would only be lifted if she spoke the words that so desperately needed to be out in the open.
It didn't matter who was listening now. Renaissance, the entire school, her family...
In his hands her face slumped, a steady stream of mucus spilling from her nose and into her ajar mouth. Hiccupping several times more, breathing heavily and still struggling to keep her gaze focused and open; Natalia began.
"They...left me! They left me to do all of this by myself! That paper," Pointing a wary finger toward the homework, the ghoul continued. "That...stupid class with it's stupid homework! I don't have a history to recount on! I don't know anything about who my people are...I don't HAVE people, I am by myself." Stuttering, Natalia bit down on her lip to hold back a cough. From the looks of it, speaking out had calmed the monster considerably...
"They wanted so much from me and I just couldn't give it to them. I am not them, and I would never be like them but she wanted perfection. And he...he didn't want anything to do with me, actually...I...I am so sick of thinking about it. About them! But I am here, at this school with all these kids who have mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers who love them and cherish them. I can't go home to anyone for breaks...I have no one to call when I get my first A in class, or when I make it on a school team..." Ears sagging slightly, the lemur pressed against Renaissance to move away from him.
"I have no one Renaissance. No one. And the more I think about it the more it kills me. I hated both of my parents...I hated our kind, I think...I--I can't even remember. That is how sad I am. I love it here, but I don't know if I can stay at this school...it threatens to bring back memories that I can't recall. It makes me think of a past I do not have and a present that is...just so...so..." Cutting herself off, Natalia rubbed her nose with the back of her hand and snorted loudly.
"Haha, I must look so stupid...and I probably sound even worse. I'm sorry for all of this..."
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Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 5:11 pm
Natalia's body was shaking violently, sobs wracking her frail body. Though she was tall, she was slender, her frame lithe and limber, though the crying was making her appear smaller, somehow younger, more unsure of herself. There was a raw vulnerability to her face, eyes rimmed with red.
"Shhhhh..." Ren murmured, hands sliding from her face to rub at her back in an attempt to get her to relax, to calm down. She was trying to suppress the sobs now, her body jerking suddenly, breath hitching in her throat. "You're not a baby. Now tell me what's wrong."
Slipping a hand from her shoulder, Ren moved to grab some toilet paper, pressing it gently to her skin to wash her face. He threw away the mess, then wiped her face clean with the damp cloth he had had earlier, pushing tangled hair away. He listened to her speak, let her get everything out before saying anything at all. If anything, the werelemur needed to talk, needed a chance to get everything off of her chest. He let her push him away, but once she was done, he stood, looking down at her.
"First of all, we need to get out of this room, since we've finished what we came here to do," Ren said, and reached down, and scooping her up in his arms again and cradling her against his chest. He slipped through the doorway to the washroom, moving back into the main part of his room. Making his way over to the enormous pile of pillows thrown haphazardly on the floor of one side of the room, Ren carefully (and slightly awkwardly, considering he was carrying someone) sat down, pushing Natalia in front of him. His back against the closet door, he pulled her towards him, legs on either side as his hands worked into her hair, tugging tangled pieces away from her tear streaked face.
"Second of all, that's not true in the slightest," Ren said as his fingers slipped through the silken strands. "You do not have 'no one.' What am I then, eh? I'm not some random guy; I'm your friend. One of your closer friends, I might add, even if that's only just me speaking."
Strand over strand, Ren carefully and easily worked Natalia's hair slowly into a long, thick braid that fell halfway down her back. "What your family did has nothing to do with you. You are who you are. So what if you don't have a past? What you have is a future, even if you can't see it. What you have is right here, right now."
His fingers stilled, finishing the braid. Ren leaned forward, sliding his hands around Natalia to cover her hands with his own, resting his chin lightly on her shoulder.
"What you have is now," he said softly, a smile touching his lips. "What you have is a chance to be who you are. And last I checked, who you were was a beautiful, feisty, confident, and somewhat brash young woman who didn't - and doesn't care what anyone else said. Whatever happened to that girl, hmm?"
"And for the record," Ren added quietly, closing his eyes briefly. "I am not one of those students who has a mother, father, or sister that love and cherish me. I hate my parents, and my sister is..." He paused momentarily, then said "...well, it's complicated. I don't go home for breaks either."
Letting go of her hands, Ren leaned back against the pillows, fingers brushing lightly against Natalia's hair. "All you can do right now," he said softy. " - is hold on to what you already have and to do your best with what you've got. Your parents, your siblings, your history, your 'kind;' they don't matter. What matters is how you handle your life. Your life, Natalia. Not theirs. Hating your past is not nearly as important as loving your present and creating your future."
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:55 pm
Natalia sat and listened, neither feeling the need to say a word nor wanting to. The way he pulled at her hair immediately relaxed the ghoul, but from time to time her body would kick from a sob.
He was right on all accounts, and for the werelemur to have assumed otherwise seemed so childish now. Her family, no matter how wayward there were, had no part in her current life and should not be affecting it as a result. And...Renaissance was a friend and did make her feel 'accompanied' through their time together in school. She wasn't alone, not while the boil was around. Just as a smile filled his face with light, so did it to Natalia's as she leaned back and against his chest, letting out a big sigh.
It was refreshing to hear, mostly because the monster could not recall a time when someone had said anything close to what Renaissance did. He cared and she felt it, and as vulnerable as she was--the ghoul felt no urge to spin around and sob into his neck or to kiss his lips and utilize his kindness to her advantage. She was hurting, sincerely, and needed what her friend was offering. Limply, Natalia nodded her head. Her long tail was lying over her legs and flopped just over one of Ren's, being brushed now by one pale hand as the other clutched the gryphon's pants. She didn't know what she wanted to say...
So she didn't say anything at all. A low moan did everything she simply could not in the moment, sounding satisfied and grateful. Her cheeks were pushed high on her face as those lips were still spread in a smile--a growing one at that. Natalia was ever so thankful and felt almost a million times better now. Lifting one of her hands to the boils face, without turning or moving any other part of her frame, the werelemur pushed it gently against her head and nuzzled into it.
Natalia wanted to leave, still feeling a bit woozy from all the drinking, but didn't want to risk ruining the moment.
Thank you...
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:23 pm
As Natalia sagged back against him, Ren let his arms slip around her shoulders, embracing her lightly. He knew Natalia well enough now to know when she wouldn't - couldn't say what she needed to, so he didn't press her to talk. Instead he sat there, arms wrapped around the werelemur and just held her, allowing her to let everything out. He wasn't one for giving that sort of advice normally, nor was he one to be so serious, but he had at least a little more knowledge than most when it came to things like this, so although he felt a hint of awkwardness, overall he was comfortable with Natalia.
Long, slender fingers touched his face, pulling his head down, and Ren pressed his face against the top of Natalia's head, nuzzling against her silky dark hair. There was no romance to his movements, no underlying desire, nothing more than an attempt to make his friend feel better, to make sure she was calm and quieted, and that she knew he was there for her - that he would always be there for her.
Though he felt that this should be said aloud, so he did, murmuring it into her hair. After a few long moments, Ren carefully maneuvered himself out from behind the werelemur, crouching down in front of her.
"What say we get you back to your room, hmm?" he said lightly, and took both of her hands in his, pulling her unsteadily to her feet before he lifted her up in his arms again, holding her against his chest as he walked towards the door. He kicked it open with his foot, carrying Natalia out into the hallway.
"Just for the record," Ren said, eye twinkling as he looked down at the werelemur. "I'm glad you decided to sit next to me at the Truth or Dare party."
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:55 pm
Feeling him shift away from her made the ghoul lean forward, hands pressed against the floor until they were lifted again by the coaxing gryphon. Something about fun and a good time rang bells in her head, but as she crept down the hallway with Renaissance wrapping his arms around her, all that mattered was her bed and her room, and of course her friend being there, if not for a little while.
...her bed. It occurred to her then just how tired she felt, eyes heavy from all the salty tears shed and the booze swallowed. Natalia almost missed his comment completely, taking several seconds to respond with a "Hmm...". It's upward inflection noted her agreement, but was followed up soon after with words of confirmation indefinitely.
"I am glad you kissed me back." For her, those words were not about passion in the least, and knowing Renaissance, he would take them as nothing but friendly teasing. Without another thought the ghoul curled her fingers around the handle of her door and swung it open for the two to enter. Right On was passed out in the corner, perhaps having gotten into the liquor she left behind, and did not budge.
For the most part her room was a disaster. Paper balls were everywhere, pens and pencils broken in half, some of them even marking up the floors...her bed was probably the worse off, stained a dark grey from a pool of tears and pen ink that had spilled before her departure. Detaching herself from the boil and rummaging around for the extra comforter set, Natalia began the process of changing out her bed sheets--moving slowly and with extra caution. "Hey..." She murmured while fingers splayed and smoothed out the creases. "Will you stay a while? Until I go to sleep...I'm feeling really--...all of a sudden..."
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:59 am
Ren let out a soft snort of laughter. "I said sit, not kiss, ya silly ghoul," he murmured, shaking his head. "But I'm glad you kissed me too. Who knew it would be the start of a beautiful friendship?"
And it was true; he hadn't really given any thought to going to the Truth or Dare night. In fact, he had considered it to be a waste of time at first, having only come because he had a small desire to see if anything interesting was going on. He had wound up meeting two people that night, LW and Natalia, forming an attachment to them almost immediately. It was strange for him; he did not like being attached, but he was grateful this time.
He nearly tripped over a small black bag on entering Natalia's room. The place was in shambles, torn, ripped scraps of paper littering the entire floor, along with pens, pencils, shirts, pants, and other various articles of clothing. There was a large, dark stain on her bed, like something had spilled, and Ren stepped towards it, but Natalia slipped from his arms, moving to change the sheets herself.
His expression softened. "Of course, darling," he said, and stepped across the room towards her. Gently he took the sheets from her hands and finished fixing the bed, pulling the blanket from its crumpled place on the floor and spreading it neatly across the sheets. He pulled them down, nudging Natalia into the bed before pulling them back, tucking her in like a parent would a child. Then he crawled up onto the bed next to her, on top of the bedspread, and put his arm around her, pulling the werelemur to rest against him.
"Shall I sing you to sleep?" he whispered playfully, moving his hand in slow, soothing movements against her back.
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:50 pm
Natalia could feel herself drifting off to sleep, wrapped carefully in those fresh blankets with her friend oh so very warm beside her.... "You can sing?" She murmured in protest, mostly to the fatigue, but also seemed to be teasing the boil in her semi coma.
The lemur repeated her statement twice more before her orange eyes, fluttering rapidly only moments before, sealed themselves shut indefinitely. Although quieted now and very still, Natalia was still somewhat aware of her surroundings and mumbled something that sounded a lot like:
"Let's hear it..."
She would say it eventually, perhaps the following morning or afternoon or really whenever she saw him next, that having Renaissance around as more than just a 'sunshine friend' made the ghoul feel on top of the world; But for now, she would rest her troubled head in his welcoming embrace, listening to the lulling tone of a gryphon well versed in the art of singing.
Which...wait he could sing? Jack Renaissance was almost perfect. If only she was into monogamy.
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