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 Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:20 am
Christof leaned back at his desk, glancing around the room. He really did need to clean the place, everything was getting out of hand. Well... most of the good parts Miss Amrita would need eventually had been carefully (and sneakily) tucked away in a boxes marked "TaterRots" in black marker in hopes they would be left alone or ignored. The rest... he didn't have the heart to throw away. He didn't know what it was about them, but he felt better having the place riddled with spare parts, especially ghoulish ones...
But he was running out of alibis for keeping them there.
Well. Maybe he should go check on her anyway? It would give him an excuse to get out and about. And another thing to keep his mind off of... other things. He hadn't seen her in a long while, either. There was... dim, fuzzy recollection of seeing her at the Festival but... nope. Couldn't remember. It might have been during that tricky period that had involved a knife in his skull.
Regardless, he pushed himself away from the desk, scooping up his heavily patched and refitted overcoat to hide his own... upgrades... before wobbling off. Knowing the ghoul, though, she probably wouldn't even notice he was sporting extra limbs. He didn't want to worry her, anyway.
It was a short walk to the basement before gingerly knocking on the door, and prayed Death Charm was in his cage where he belonged.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:46 am
Luckily, DC was not in the room. The little fire beast had been sent on a VERY IMPORTANT MISSION, one that involved the utmost diligence. It was sitting out front of Malodore's door, waiting for the Plague Doctor to return so the keys to the laboratories could get handed into the proper claws. That left the little Vetala in a rather Death Charm-less state, and she was celebrating by taking a nap. On the cold stone floor, surrounded by burn marks from where DC had repetitively rested.
"S'opeeeeeen~" She called out sleepily after the knocking woke her. Struggling to sit up, Amrita yawned, stretching her arms out as far as they would go before rubbing her eye, slouching forward like the exhausted child she appeared to be. A lidded gray eye lifted to observe who it was that opened her door, and a spark seemed to shoot right through her.
"Christof!" She gasped out, staring up at the hunchback. "You're bigge---err, no wait, one moment..." Fumbling and creaking, the ghoul climbed to her feet, forcing the body's muscles out of rigor and clearly favouring one hand; the one she'd thoroughly broken back at the Festival. Once back on her feet, she looked up at him again, peering very intensely. "Hmmmmmmmmm YUP Still bigger!" She informed him, fighting back another yawn and rubbing her eye again, while the broken hand rested lamely at her side.
Speaking of broken.
"How's your head? Is your head okay?" Last she'd seen, there was a knife in it.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:14 pm
As Christof slipped meekly into the room, he glanced about feeling a bit like he was intruding when he heard the sleepy tone in her voice... "Hnnn?" He managed before blinking down at her at the floor and flushing at her remark as she righted herself. Brows furrowed, his limbs shifted under their confines of his coat and he took a meek step back, flushing as he nodded.
Shouldn't be surprised people would notice his.... entirely abrupt growth spurt.
He rubbed his head anxiously. It still ached since the incident, but it came and went. Generally, he could ignore it up until someone reminded him of it.
He nodded anyway.
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:35 pm
Amrita's gray gaze flickered to the hunch on his back. Did...did it just...move? Hrmm, couldn't have, right? It wasn't like he had anything under there, like an extra limb or something! Naw, that would be silly! What a silly place for an extra limb. She was just seeing things, yes, that's what it was.
"Oh, I'm glad!" Yay, his head was better! The ghoul admired his upgrades; they were scary, he was scary, but that was good! She liked him scary; well, the scary that wasn't the hurt over being swatted, anyway. So enthralled was she in his upgrades that it took her a little while to realize that he'd come down to her room, so there was probably a reason for it. "Ah! Um, S-sorry, just..." Clearing her throat, she hooked her hands behind her back, head canting. "Um, what brings you to my room?" She asked curiously; he rarely visited on his own for no reason.
"...NO WAIT!" Before he could tell her what was going on, she scrambled suddenly to her desk, picking up one of the open books before returning back; it was the sign language book, and she was holding it open between both hands. "I've been, um, practicing but...probably not that great yet..." Amrita explained with a firm nod, before continuing. "Okay, go!"
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:05 pm
He blinked at her, not quite sure what she was talking about until the book in her hands registered. Oh! THAT! He had almost forgotten he had passed that book along to her. He had gotten used to signing with Calder and Barth, and both had had the benefit of being able to practice with him... but Amrita... he hadn't seen much of her. He was surprised, and a bit flattered that she had attempted at all.
Slowly and careful to choose easy words, his hands rose to sign, 'Want-to-see-your-parts?'
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:38 am
Amrita stared at his monsterous hands while he carefully signed to her. The corner of her lips moved and scrunched as she tried to draw from memory what he was asking her, half mouthing the words though it would do little good. Against the open book in her hands her fingers twitched, half miming him in hopes of drawing forth what he meant. She had to ask him to repeat himself once, and even then it was only for the last word.
"Want to see your..." A pause. That word, she still didn't recognize that word! "Want to see your..." What did Christof have of hers that she'd want to see? Maybe she had something of his he wanted to see? His hat, maybe? But why would he want to see his hat?! The last part didn't look like the word hat, or any other simple word she could recall from the dull haze of her mind. She didn't think there was anythi---OH. "Oooooh! Parts? Parts, right?" He had tried to show them to her once, but she refused in lieu of his odd behaviour, but now...
"Okay! Please? If...you don't mind!" Which was a silly question, seeing as he came to her room.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:32 pm
He relaxed a bit once she got it, giving a sigh of relief that it had worked. It was the best loophole he had ever discovered, sign language, but only useful when someone else knew it. Nodding, and glad the subject had been changed, he gave her a tentative smile before motioning for her to follow him as he backed towards the door.
Hopefully he hadn't been interrupting anything... she looked exhausted. Or maybe that was just her current corpse falling apart. Regardless, he felt awkward, but at least she seemed willing.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:57 pm
Amrita, being the good little ghoul she was, followed without complaint. Not that she would have complained anyway! She liked Christof a lot, he was nice to her...except that one time. But she tried really hard to not remember that one time. Book still held in both hands, she trailed after him in silence, save for the occasional squeak as she either stumbled over her own feet or on something that did not belong to her. It wasn't a long walk to his room, but it was long enough, and she eventually started talking anyway.
"Sooooooooo...How've you been?" She questioned stupidly, really not sure what else to say at this point. "No wait!" Wait, she actually did have a question! ...Oh but, he should probably answer one at a time, right?! Right. "Oh, no, nevermind. How've you been?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:22 am
He scratched the back of his head again as they climbed the stairs, before turning so she could see his hands as he signed, "Keeping-Busy". It was true at least, although it didn't quite scratch the surface of how he'd been, exactly.
But there was no need to unnecessarily worry the ghoul, nor vent his personal problems on her.
As they made their way down the hall, though, he passed by his room, heading towards the front door to the dorm that lead outside.
After some debate, he turned back to her to add, "Growing-pains." Simple enough an explanation, right? Right.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:10 pm
Whenever Christof signed to her, she stopped walking entirely and just stared. Very rarely could she pull off doing two things at once, and she really didn't want to break this body anymore than it already was; old wounds, old stitched up wounds, new-ish wounds, new-ish stitched up wounds...and a still broken hand from the festival.
"Oooh...Busy is good, I like busy sometimes." She tapped her chin, almost missing his next signing while she was lost in her own musings. ...Okay, that one she had to look in the book for. Standing in that one spot, she scrunched up her face and scrutinized the book until she figured it out, and went skipping off to catch up again, looking rather worried.
"...Growing hurts...?" She seemed sincerely concerned, considering very soon? She was technically going to be growing up.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:18 pm
He paused to wait for her, watching her struggle with the book before sighing. Maybe with a less-rotting brain she would pick it up a bit easier? Maybe. As she caught up, he had pulled out his notebook anyway, using the pause to write out for her instead:
Figure of speech.
Still getting used to my
upgrades. Bigger, yes.
Awkward.
Handing the little notebook to her before gently guiding her forward, towards the path that lead from the Undead Dorms towards the cafeteria.
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 11:48 pm
The little ghoul looked disappointed when she noticed the notebook; she was trying so hard, and yet she was getting nowhere! That's how it seemed to her, despite how great of a feat it was for her to have even picked up what little she did. She was learning sign language for Christof, and he still had to write it out because she couldn't remember it! If she had expressive ears, they would have drooped. With a metaphorically heavy heart she read what he'd written in the notebook he had given her, moving like a good little sheep when he guided her to do so.
"Oh...okay...I imagine I'll feel that, too." She was still nervous about that part, but at least she knew it wouldn't hurt hurt, probably. Hugging the notebook to her chest, she finally took notice of where they were, and subsequently turned a curious eye back to her large friend. "...The Cafeteria...? I thought you said parts...?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:03 am
He nodded, before attempting sign language once more- considering she was still holding his notebook, "preservation." She would probably have to look it up, but no matter. He held the door open for her before creeping in, glancing about to make sure the place was empty. It was off-hours, and thankfully no one had stopped in for snacks. hopefully the kitchens would be empty too... he did not particularly want to explain to the lovely Miss Ginger what they were doing sneaking into the freezer.
Regardless, he gingerly took Amrita's free hand to lead her behind him as they snuck forward, glancing about to make sure the coast was clear before hauling the heavy insulated door open and gestured for her to head inside.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:09 am
Yes she did have to look it up, yes it took forever and no, she still didn't understand what he had signed to her. Instead she just pretended to have figured it out and nodded as if it made sense, though she still looked too confused to be convincing. Both Christof's notebook and the sign language book was held tightly against her chest, terrified of losing them, while her other hand suddenly had a purpose.
She gripped his hand tightly; she might not have understood what he signed to her, but she did understand that they'd likely needed to be careful, quiet and ninja-like, considering the way he was looking around. She doubted people looked around like that if they weren't sneaking.
Unsure of where they were going exactly, she resolved to stay close to him...but not so close as to get in his way. It was a balancing act, and she wasn't sure how well she was doing.
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:27 pm
He held a clawed finger up to his stitched lips to make sure she stayed quiet as he guided her into the icy air of the freezer, his own breath little clouds about his nose as he shut the door behind them. Before she could ask what he was doing, he hurried down the rows of frozen goods, pushed past the meat hooks (as any good Halloween Freezer came equipped with), to a stack of what appeared to be ancient and frost-bitten Jolly Meals dating back to possibly when their parents had attended the school, if they had had parents that were alumni. Suffice to say, even Jollymeals should have sell-by dates.
When he dragged a few boxes from the back out, though, it wasn't ancient and icy food inside, but a series of dark-skinned body parts. Smile on his face, he motioned to it, with a 'tada!' sort of hum as he gestured to it.
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