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 Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 9:19 pm
Walking for Calder was nothing. Neither was running or sprinting. Every day, he would either swim, take a run, or do both. For him, being fit meant survival, but it also got ride of energy. A short walk to the mailroom was nothing, but for Barth, well, Calder was more than surprised. In fact, aside from class, Calder wondered if the boil ever left his room. It was strange to see him moving, if not so slowly, but seeing as they were both going to the same place, he managed to ease up beside the boil and walked alongside him. It probably was a miracle that Barth didn't ask to be carried though it probably would have been faster than the snail's pace they were going. It took a lot not to just leave the boil behind to continue the easy trot Calder usually went along.
Packages given and signed for, Calder followed Bath to his dorm, having nothing else on the agenda aside a mound of reading that he was avoiding at all cost. His eyes hurt just thinking about it.
Up the steps that Calder was sure would kill the demon, they went inside. Just as they passed the threshold and Calder closed the door, he asked what was on his mind. "So who sent you a package?"
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 10:03 pm
"A warehouse, somewhere, I expect." Barth said, dropping onto his sofa.
"Thank you for carrying it, by the way." Christof normally did his mail runs but, well. There were multiple reasons he wasn't doing this one."What about yours?"
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 10:12 pm
Calder set Barth's rather light package on the table, and then set his beside it before sitting down. Side by the side, the packages were very different in comparison. While Barth's was factory shipped and wrapped in a plain bow with a crisp, printed label. Calder's package was made of wicker, a series of dried, weaved plants making a sort of contained basket with twine to keep it closed. A tag was tied to it for shipping, which then had to have another tag printed on the side by the mail office during some time during it's trip to Amityville.
"Parents." He stated, working to pluck off the twine. It was really tied on and he had to bite on one end before it tore off. The package had the faint smell of rain and crisp grass. Luckily for Bath's table, it was very dry.
As Calder set the twine aside, he looked over at Barth's package, a little more than curious what a demon would get. "What do you get from a warehouse?" He asked, glancing at Barth. Calder had never ordered anything online before aside from the one time he and Christof sat down and ordered his clothes to be shipped to a store. Even then, Christof seemed more familiar with the internet though they both worked slowly through the buying and checkout process.
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 10:21 pm
"Ah. I get scare packages from my mother, occasionally. Mine is, err, a gift, actually." Barth said. "...For Christof. A um, coat. Laboratory equipment. I still have to wrap it, I suppose. ...Don't I?"
He was looking at the box uneasily. He hadn't thought about wrapping it until just now. How much effort was this going to cost him? He wasn't even under Contract!
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 10:28 pm
Calder was moving off the lid to his package as he paused to look at the plain box. "A coat? Does it rain or get cold in a lab? I thought this was your lab?" Calder gestured around Barth's room. For the few times he had seen Christof and Barth work, it had always been here. "So is it like your coats? I bet it's soft."
Calder scooted over to lift up Barth's box and examine it before setting it back down. How did anyone buy a coat from a warehouse or was it like those online deals that were sent to a store. Did seamstresses now work in warehouses?
"If it's a gift, you should wrap it. That's how you know it's a present. It makes it exciting." Calder smiled at the idea of Barth giving Christof a gift. With the way things were going, Christof was going to get a full wardrobe from his friends.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:16 am
"It's less fashion statement and more to keep stains out of his clothes. The trouble," Barth said, "is that I ordered it prior to the club meeting. ...His intentions were good, I'm sure, but Lilith was...less than appreciative. And things had been going so well with her lately."
It infuriated Barth just thinking about it.
Why did the coat have to come now?
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:23 am
Calder had smiled up at Barth as he pried open the lid to his basket and set it aside. "Ohh, so Lilith was her name. She seemed to find you very comfortable." He grinned in a rather mischievous way, showing off a pearly white line of tombstone teeth before he looked down to inspect his package.
The basket was lined with plastered green leaves that lines the inside to keep the contents inside from drying out or from spilling if anything should break. Inside was one small book, rather tattered, that Calder frowned at without looking and set aside. What was most appealing were the various preserve jars filled with various things either salted, smoked, or pickled all ranging from small minnows to mushrooms. Moving around to see what was inside, he pulled out a rather beat-up tin that he pried open to show off plenty of tea leaves. he breathed in the contents, a rich aroma of mingling dried plants that gave a floral aroma.
"Soooo, do you llliiikkkeee her?" He said, looking up from the tea tin to look at the demon.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:27 am
"Of course I like her. She's my err, ex-ghoulfriend. But lately..." Barth drummed his claws on the arm of the couch, watching Calder unpack his scare package.
"Is that a book?"
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:33 am
Calder glanced at the book in question. "Yeah. It's nothing." He said, feeling a tad guilty for calling a book on his clan's history as 'nothing', but really not in the mood. He had plenty of reading material that seeing more only bothered him and made the large task of memorizing all of it that more overwhelming.
Setting the tin on the table, he fished out a small envelope that was from his parents before taking note of a small, wooden box. The carving of various Bluebells decorated the box. Reaching over, he opened it and frowned at a metal arrangement of green leaves with a skull as it's blossom. Calder shut the box and leaned back, opening the envelope with a set frown.
"Ex-ghoulfriend? You two still seem friendly. You didn't break up in a bad way?" Looking at his own ex, he couldn't stand the boil even being near him, let along sitting on his lap. He wondered how Barth even broke up with anyone.
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:42 am
"Oh, no, I just err, that is, she didn't think I was very suitable- my living arrangements were um, probably not as...uncluttered as the current ones, and I-" Barth hesitated. "Was probably neglect in certain- well, all of my daterly obligations.
Barth smiled a very little.
"She's giving me another chance. But it's on a trial basis, so this is sort of um, a crucial period."
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Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 10:55 am
"Are you doing anything to impress her? If this is a vital time, you should be showing her that you've changed for the better. Whatever made her angry, you should fix that or at least show you're making some progress." He looked around. With Christof no longer around to tidy up, Barth's room was starting to get a lot more cluttered. "...maybe tidy up your own room would be a good start." Considering Barth had a lot of nice things and also worked here to invent, there was a lot of stuff in his room.
Calder opened the envelope to reveal two letters from both parents. It wasn't a separation thing, but probably just them both wanting to share a little chat. One, from his father, was in normal writing. The King's English as it was, and the other was in kelpie. His mother was far better at writing in the old language than his father, who frowned that all the kelpie books were not translated again in proper English. Since it was the easiest to read, Calder started to read his father's letter first and started to frown more and more.
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 8:17 am
"Tidy my room? Myself?" Barth repeated, sounding horrified and sinking deeply into the couch. "I can't." What did the universe have against him? Buying gifts, filling out paperwork, and now cleaning? He couldn't handle it. It seemed like a kick while he was down that after all that trouble he was expected to wrap the coat too.
"Err, say, you've err, wrapped gifts before, haven't you?"
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:33 am
It wasn't terribly hard to figure out Barth and his intentions. When he asked about a task in that slow, cautious way of his, that meant he was hoping that you'd help. Help meaning you did the entire thing. Calder was really starting to wonder what Barth actually did or felt needed to be done personally. "I'm surprised Christof doesn't live here or you don't have ...um...." Calder snapped his fingers. "....starts with a 'm'.......maid! Those."
He reached over, taking the box that had the coat in it and looking it over. "Cause you don't do much." He turned the box over and set it back down, reaching into his own package to open a jar of smoked mushrooms and popping one in his mouth. The taste was spiced, almost nutty with the deep taste of smoke. "I've wrapped stuff before. Usually not with paper. We tend to use long leaves since it keeps stuff from getting wet." Wrapping paper just wasn't a smart product for kelpie gifts. "...but I've wrapped in paper a few times. Are you going to just wrap it in the box it's in?" He said, swallowing down the first mushroom and fishing for another. He glanced at Barth for a moment. "Want one?"
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 11:44 am
"Thank you," Barth said at the you don't do much. "I'm sort of in a transitional, studenty period of my life, and Christof has...other obligations, but back home we have servants."
He looked at the mushroom Calder was offering him. He wasn't usually a vegetarian, per say, but his fridge had been out and his food-acquiring abilities had lingered back to scavenging.
"I'll try one," he said. "Should you wrap it in the box?"
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 11:49 am
Calder looked at Barth a moment then sighed. He slid his package over to Barth's side of the table, set the jar of Smoked Mushrooms in the middle so it was in reach, and then took the box with Chrsitof's coat in front of him. "My elders would have nipped you to death with how little you do." He turned the box upright before reaching for another mushroom.
"Do you have any wrapping paper.....sticky stuff - tape. Yeah. tape....and some scissors? Or even a knife would work." Things like scissors and tape were only things he knew from having school supplies and recently using them. Before, he just used some adhesive tree paste, twine, and a knife to cut whatever he was wrapping with into strips.
"If you don't like mushrooms, there are other things in the jars. Feel free." He gestured. His parents knew how to cook after all, especially his father.
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