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 Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 12:24 pm
Despite resting his leg, Calder still had a contract and that meant he was back to doing laundry. He spent that day taking things easy, staying off his leg, reading and coloring in his room (he only recently discovered the wonder of crayons), and left that night to do Barth's laundry. He picked it up later that day, loading it all into a wagon (he wasn't going to carry things for a few days), and took it away. The laundry mat was becoming an ice, private place to be at night. It smelled like cleaners, which always made him sneeze every once in a while, but it was warm and quiet. It was even better now that Barth told him to dry the clothes and he learned, after many failed attempts and a few shrunken shirts, how to use them.
While he waited for one load to finish, he would sometimes rest on the pile of clothes already done, hot and warm, and take a nap. Whatever Barth owned, it was all soft, well worn, and made for an excellent pillow. When everything was done, Calder dragged his little wagon back across campus, up the steps (he tied a robe around the entire wagon to keep the clothes from falling off), and back to Barth's door. Unlike Christof, Calder didn't care about using the front door and he would NOT go on that terrifying deathtrap that was a ladder. Ladders sucked. Period.
He knocked on Barth's door, waited, and then pushed it open. Sometimes the boil was sleeping, leaving him to put the clothes away, poke around, and then go back to his dorm.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:24 pm
Barth was, instead, on the floor examining a metal something. He rotated a part with one claw, counting off and talking to himself.
"Caburator, valve thermometer, where does this..." he hesitated, without looking up, "Err, hi, Calder. Don't bother about the laundry for now. Have you seen Christof around? How much do you know about- no, never mind, you wouldn't. Anyway, there should be a swirly-looking metal thing on my work desk, would you mind getting that."
His head was resting comfortably on his arm. He seemed to be doing more thinking than assembling or disassembling.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:42 pm
He stopped his wagon, shutting the door and looking about until he spotted the demon on the ground. Laying, as usual. Tilting his head, he admired the backside a moment before perking up. "Well, they are dry this time." He pointed out, at least showing him that despite not being folded, they were at least all clean and dry if not a little smushed from a unexpected nap while watching the last drying cycle.
Stifling a yawn, he lightly trotted over to the demon, watching him fiddle with some do-hickey. It was a little insulting that he was just dismissed to not know what was being fiddled with, but considering it was true, he guessed he shouldn't take it to heart. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't seen Christof. I don't even know how his date went." Crossing his arms, he pouted at this. "You'd think he'd at least tell me after all the advice I gave him." Huffing, he turned about, going to find the thinga-mah-bobber that the demon wanted. He found …whatever it was, on the work bench and came over to hand it to him. "Whatcha doing?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:49 pm
"Just leave it there on the floor. Thank you."
Barth smiled at the yawn. Just what he liked to hear.
"Don't know yet. I'll see what you think when it's finished. Christof and I were working on it, as a method of navigating through that Creature Features maze. I for one have had enough of trying to navigate the stupid thing. There is entirely too much walking. ...And I err, haven't seen him since the dance, actually."
Which was unusual, now that he thought about it.
"You had a date too, didn't you? You took Colette?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:59 pm
Setting the metal thinger down, Calder flopped on the ground, settling and setting his leg delicately to the side before watching the other boil work. He'd never actually been around someone who worked with tools past those used for farming. Technology for his family was a ticking, wooden clock in their living room.
Settling, he tilted his head, trying to get what he was doing. "I never took that class. It has a maze?" He wondered why any class would have a maze. Then again, when did any of his classes make sense?
At the remark about the dance, he shrugged his shoulders. "It's so weird. I thought Riley was being a jerk in buying me during the auction, but she set me up with some friend of hers. Poor thing didn't even know I had no idea who she was. Seems Christof called her up and said I was her secret admirer. The girl could have had her heart crushed on the most romantic day of the year thanks to the two of them. Those two know nothing about matters of the heart." He shook his head at the pair of them setting up anyone for a dance.
"And get this! That entire dance floor was evil! I couldn't even hold onto it half the time. It was crazy. It's like they glossed it. Worst place to dance at." He would have preferred just a bit of dirt or gravel for traction. Just a bit!
"You went with Sin, right? How did that go?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:19 pm
"Yes, err, I saw that. ...Christof texted her? I told him to stop bothering her," Barth said despairingly.
Even with the mark, Christof hardly listened to him. There just wasn't the appropriate amount of respect happening, but then, hardly anyone respected Barth. Sometimes Barth wished he had just a little more of a capacity for striking fear into the hearts of his associates. But once people started respecting you, they started expecting things...it was better the way it was.
"Sin's a good...she's good." Dancer, kisser, you name it, Sin was a top-notch demon, hungry for power and good at getting her way. She didn't have Riley's enthusiasm, but sometimes he thought his neighbor might be- anyway, they were interesting to compare. "I think she had a good time. I wasn't her first choice of date, but I had been meaning to spend some time with her, anyway. ...Did Colette have a good time?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:27 pm
Calder could only give a drawn out 'hmmm' as Sin was described. He had only become recently acquainted with the ghoul and thanks to a chance encounter by the lake, bore her mark. It wasn't something he was gabbing about, and he thought of what Barth might think. Did demons get jealous about other demon marks? He guessed not considering Christof seemed to make to make himself a billboard with all of his marks, already having two. Just the idea that he had just as many as the Igor made him a little uneasy, but he brushed it off. All temporary, and he certainly wasn't calling anyone master or mistress.
Reaching down, he played with one of the metal bits Barth had pulled off the whatzit he was working on. "Colette had a okay time. It was her first real dance I think. She didn't seem to know what to expect, which really helps with how far he expectations went. I don't think she was thrilled to have me so clearly I wasn't her first choice of crushes. Still, she said she had a good enough time as it was, and she didn't slap me at any point. I guess she wanted a boil who would throw her down into the closer on her way home and mash her face up real good." He smiled at the thought.
"Miss Perfect isn't really good at blind date pair-ups, but I was a gentleman, just as she asked. Want to punch her in the face for making me her secret admirer. Ghoul is going ot think that I lost interest after spending a night with her, as if she was that horrible. Sweet thing is too nice to have her heart broken." He set the metal thing down to examine another part.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:44 pm
"Sweet? I know she's good with a sword, anyway. Amazing capacity for surviving things. Very competent." And she had let him kiss her during truth or dare, so that was a mark in her favor.
He was just glad she was alright after that stranger at the end of the forbidden forest had....disapparated her. He let Calder fiddle with the parts as he liked, he mostly had them there to expand his mental map of the end product.
"It's um, good both you had a good time. In spite of the falling. And the meddling. I meant to help you up but err, you know how it is."
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:55 pm
He glanced down at the demon, smiling. "How what is? That you were tangled up with some ghoul at the dance or are lazier than a old mutt?" Either way, he hadn't needed the help.
Taking two more pieces to look at, a gear and some...springing thing, Calder leaned back and rested his head against Barth's back, using him as a pillow. After napping on the boil's clothes, he knew the demon was comfortable.
"I guess it was a good time. Thought it would be more romantic. Sort of disappointing. Guess Christof did better than all of us. Got to smack on some ghoul and take her to his bedroom." He twirled the gear around his finger, watching it spin, then paused to look at it as if was a ring, holding his hand out to imagine it.
"Didn't know what to expect with a dance like that. So many people are so uptight. Not a loose bone in their body. Nothing like most monster parties I've been to." Then again, his kind were generally more crazy and free spirited. "What about you? How do parties for demons go? Do you guys get wild and crazy?" A glance to look at Barth and imagine the guy exerting any sort of energy told him that this probably wasn't the case.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:08 pm
"A little of both," he admitted. "As for parties, depends on the demon throwing it. Some can be stuffy. Others...I'm not allowed to attend until I'm older. Although avarice demons do occasionally dabble in each other's disciplines. But we're all...what we are. In the end."
He swirled a screw loose, with one long finger, then tight again.
"Do you think that's what happened? He err- with Morrigan? This entire time? It's really unusual for him not to at least stop by."
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:14 pm
Done admiring his gear ring, e tried to shake it off and noticed it was stuck. Great. Reaching over, he tried tugging the gear off, frowning as he did so. "How do I know? Christof only sees me when we have a lesson to give. Aside from that, well, he never comes to see me. I bet if I was his master, he'd at least call. So much for being friends. I even saw Morrigan walking around campus so it's not like they are just cuddling together somewhere." He yanked the gear off before it shot out of his hand and flew off to land on the couch. Since it made no noise, Calder slowly set the spring thing down and just set his hands on his chest. Yup. He didn't do a thing.
"You're his master. Does he come and hang around you a lot? Even when you don't have work for him? Does he ever.....just talk to you and have a little bit of fun aside from doing chores?" He wasn't sure if Christof was a friend to him in the long run, and it was really bothering him. Like now. Having such a big date, wouldn't the boil want to come over and talk about it or did he just think that Calder wasn't worth the time.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:22 pm
"I'm not his err...real master. We've just got a contract. Temporarily." A contract that Barth was going to try to extend for as long as possible. "And oh, sure. I encourage slacking. Builds the right sort of character. It's almost a struggle getting Christof to relax. It's all business with him. He's warmed up to fighting video games, though. I was surprised at that much, most igors veer towards the workaholic."
He pronounced workaholic like he was using a particularly graphic profanity.
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:29 pm
He remembered the conversation Barth had with Christof when he got the Igor to use his new mouth to yell at his temporary master. The Sloth Demon was very familiar with Igors and new a thing or two with how they normally acted. "Hmm. Chirstof is the first Igor I ever met. Then again, everyone is the first something I've ever met most of the time. He's so hard to understand. No past times or hobbies. You'd think he'd go crazy. Doesn't seem right. Being dull like that or living a shred of life or ...undead life as you went along. He has youth. He should be more spunky." Then again, did the undead have youth? Despite looking around Calder's age, who knew how old the guy was when you could exchange parts. He could be a hundred years old!
He huffed as he scratched his head, thinking, before dropping his hand back down and looking at the ceiling. Quiet a moment, eh sighed. "I like Christof, I just don't know if he sees me as a friend. He called me Master once before the dance. I didn't like that - uh, no offense." The 'master' part upset him. He didn't want Christof to see him that way. He'd rather be called a dum, hick pony than that, but most of all, he wanted to just be called 'Calder' or 'friend' or 'buddy'.
Maybe he was thinking too much about it. "What's a video game?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:42 pm
"I think you've been having an interesting effect on him, at any rate," Barth said.
"None taken. ...Never played one?" He was constantly surprised by the number of students that hadn't. "Turn on the console, over there. You just press the button. That one, on the side. Don't know if you're the fighting game sort, though. What err, sort of games do you like?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 7:37 am
He perked at Barth's opinion. "You think? Don't know if that's good or not now. All he seems to want to do it beat me into the ground. Not much of a hugger." He huffed, thinking that maybe he was doing more harm, or being more harmed, than good. How did you know you were best friends with an Igor when they didn't really seem to care one way or another if you were around? It was like Christof was a very fickle cat, though without the independence and with plenty of attitude. That and a dog, who was loyal and independent only to it's owners - and Calder was never much of a dog person.
At the mention of playing with a button, the kelpie bolted up and looked about. Woot! He got to play with one of Barth's weird things. Looking about, he spotted the contraption the demon mentioned and crawled over to push the button on it's side. The big box above it bursted into color and he jerked back, ears down. Did he break it?
Looking to Barth, he noticed he wasn't upset. Guess not. " I don't know. I never played any of these games before. We don't even have stuff like this were we come from. When my mother told me to play, I just went outside." It was, a little embarrassing to show how little in comparison he had to all these rich demons with their newest technology. More than half of this stuff he didn't even recognize.
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