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 Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 5:52 pm
To the casual observer it might seem strange to note that a young girl from an obviously respectable background, apparently unaccompanied by an adult, had been standing in the same spot for several minutes for no apparent reason. If any such observer had taken the time to wonder about such things, they may have assumed she was waiting for her guardian. If that were the case, they must surely be impressed by how well-behaved she was, standing there so patiently. Of course, they would be wrong on all accounts.
If asked, Olivia would explain that she was, in fact, waiting. However, she was not waiting for a guardian, but a certain grimalkin. A most extraordinarily-colored feline she had once glimpsed from afar, but had not had a chance to introduce herself to as she had been in a hurry at the time. But that was neither here nor there. The grimalkin should be passing by just...now.
With a little smile and a giggle, Olivia picked up her skirts and skipped across the lane, intent on that flash of orange-striped white.
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 6:37 pm
Quite unbeknownst to Paoma, she would soon be crossing paths with another young girl cut from the same cloth as herself. That was to say, quite an extraordinary little girl, just like herself. She had no way of knowing, unlike Olivia, and might not have even if she could. Today, as on most days, she was far too preoccupied with the baskets hung from the crook of each elbow, piled high with flora of all sorts. Brilliant reds, blues, purples, oranges dazzled in the morning sunlight, while other flowers of more muted tones rested quietly beside. Most days, there might even have been a potted plant or two, but Paoma was just a little girl, after all, and she couldn't carry as much as she would have liked.
She had tried to put together a harness of sorts once for the grimalkin prancing gamely about her feet, but only once. The striped cat had stood quietly until the moment she had fastened him to the little cart loaded full of pots and plants, and then he had shot into the air with a highly characteristic yowl and sent the cart tumbling into the dirt. And that had been the end of that.
"They're dying already, Little Brother," the girl lamented to the grimalkin, eyeing the lovingly pruned and cut flowers. They had been plucked from her garden just that morning and they were still radiant and practically glowing with life and health, but Paoma knew they had already begun to fade. In a week, they would wither without their roots. It was always a bittersweet affair, but she wanted nothing so much as to share their beauty with the world, and for that to happen, a price had to be paid.
The striped grimalkin seemed to sense her distress. His pale eyes darted away from the butterfly he had decided to stalk, landing on the blonde-haired child, and he slid into place beside her, pushing his soft pink nose into the palm of her hand to nuzzle her reassuringly.
"Well, I know it's going to be okay, Little Brother," the girl replied with a laugh. "It's just sad, that's all. But you wouldn't know the meaning of the word, would you?" As far as Paoma was concerned, her companion only understood what it meant to be happy, curious, and thoroughly entertained.
The grimalkin twitched his nose in response, tickling her fingers with his long whiskers and eliciting another gentle laugh from the girl. And so they continued down the path into Palisade, so thoroughly entrenched in each other's company that neither of them noticed the other girl standing patiently on the roadside corner.
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Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 5:20 pm
With a flutter of skirts, Olivia stopped in front of grimalkin and girl. Completely disregarding the girl, she crouched down so as to be near eye-level with the feline.
"Why, hello there," she said, wiggling her fingers enticingly. "Aren't you the handsome one."
The girl tilted her head prettily, admiring the handsome boy. "I've been waiting for you," she informed him, then glanced up at the other little girl for the first time. "Although perhaps it is you I was meant to be waiting for."
It was not as though she had grand visions proclaiming the fate of the world or anything. Livy simply knew the when of it, and she had had the feeling that if she was going to meet the pretty kitty, then she needed to be here just now. As ever, her instincts proved to bear fruit. Of course, as much as she already adored the grimalkin, she doubted he was the only reason her instincts had guided here here.
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Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:03 pm
The rustle of skirts alerted Paoma to Olivia's arrival before she even managed to lay eyes on the other girl, and it took a moment before she registered what was happening. In that one brief moment, Olivia had arrived, crouched and proceeded to introduce herself to the striped grimalkin at Paoma's side.
Never one to shy away from an introduction, Little Brother promptly stuck his nose into Olivia's hand, pink tongue flashing to experimentally lick her fingers. Ahhhhhh... He regarded her with his softly glowing eyes, and one might have sworn to have seen a glimmer of recognition glowing in that oddly comprehensive stare.
She tasted like magic. He could already tell. Indeed, there was no need for Little Brother to lick Olivia to understand that. She had that... spirit about her, as all people touched by magic seemed to do, such that the very air seemed to change with her arrival. This one was special, just like his girl. A contented purr rose from the back of his throat as he took another step closer, and then rubbed up against her approvingly as if he fully understood her praises.
"Well, miss, he's taken a liking to you," Paoma observed with a shy smile. One look at Olivia's skirts, and she could tell that she was dealing with someone potentially a whole lot more important than herself. The few years of sales she had done in the city had taught Paoma that important people generally liked to be addressed importantly. "He doesn't do that too often." That wasn't to say that Little Brother failed to interact with people on a regular basis. Quite the contrary, there was rarely a moment when he wasn't mixing himself up in other people's business, but he rarely looked as satisfied as he did now. If anything, that careless sense of mischief had given way to a tamer sort of contentedness that Paoma couldn't quite fathom.
"Were you... waiting to buy some flowers, miss?" She held out one of the baskets, unable to think of any other cause this girl might have to wait for her.
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 11:52 am
Olivia giggled and beamed at the grimalkin, pleased with his enthusiastic return of her greeting. She stroked him from nose to tail, marveling at how soft his fur was. Oh, yes. He was a lovely boy.
At Paoma's choice of title, the girl wrinkled her pert little nose. "I'm Livy, not 'miss'," she said. It seemed silly to her for someone like Paoma to call her "miss". After all, they looked about the same age, and none of the street kids called her that. Only society ladies insisted upon using proper titles, and it got ever so tiresome.
"I'm glad he likes me. You are ever so lucky to have him." By then, she had proceeded to scratching him behind his ears and under his chin which, if she was not mistaken, caused him to purr all the harder.
She blinked at Paoma in bafflement. Flowers? Indeed, there were baskets of them hanging from the other girl's arms but...
"No. I'm here to meet you," she said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Had she not already said as much?
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 2:20 pm
The grimalkin could not have been more pleased for many reasons, not the least of which was the amount of affection Olivia was showering upon him. Few of the customers who came to Paoma's garden appreciated his unapologetic antics, and fewer still took the time to show him what a good boy he was - which he obviously was not, and that, too, explained why people tended to steer clear of him, especially the repeat customers who had seen him more than once.
More than that, though, he was all too pleased to sit and soak up Livy's awesome aura of awesomeness - or magic, one could say instead, though Little Brother didn't know how to comprehend it in that way. To the striped grimalkin, she was simply wonderful, for very specific wonderful reasons, and that was the end of the conversation. He didn't have the right labels to put on it like humans did.
Paoma watched the pair with that same shy smile, though it might have warmed and become less timid. Seeing her grimalkin basking in such obvious contentment was enough to make her happy, and Little Brother had lifted his head for Olivia to scratch his chin, eyes narrowed to happy slits and mouth pulled back in an expression that Paoma could only describe as a grin. And, as with all things Little Brother, quite a cheeky one at that.
"Oh, yes," the girl agreed quite readily. "I'm very lucky. I don't know what I would have done without him." The grimalkin had appeared at her door the day Paoma's parents had been found drowned in the Thrithing, and since then had become closer to her than family. His very name, after all, seemed to say as much.
"But... why?" Paoma had to say, and it was her turn to look at Livy in bewilderment. She was sure she didn't know the other girl, and... she assumed that meant Livy couldn't have known her beforehand either. Surely, Oliva was mistaken.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 10:40 am
Although he was hardly acting impertinent just then, Livy would hardly be opposed to the idea of a mischievous feline. What better way to live life than to enjoy it? She could certainly sympathize. Her station might demand a certain amount of poise and manners, but she much preferred to decide her own fate. If that occasionally got her called a wild child, then so be it. Of course, few would look at her and think her capable of such behavior, which only worked to her advantage. For the most part, she managed to keep both sides of her life separate; but no matter what, she never deviated from her true self. It was a delicate balance, perhaps, but a worthwhile one.
Olivia nodded at Paoma's statement. At least the other girl recognized her fortune. Some did not seem capable of such. However, when she asked her question, Livy could only frown.
"Well, I hardly know everything," she said as though it were perfectly normal to go out of one's way to meet someone without even knowing why. "That is what we must discover." She considered the other girl for a moment, studying her with piercing blue eyes as though trying to see into her soul. Then she blinked and the moment was gone. "What's your name?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:13 am
Magic, it appeared, had a strange way of calming the grimalkin down, though no doubt it would not last long. Little Brother was simply not used to sitting still, especially not when there were things to do, people to see, birds to chase! Paoma could see his quietly twitching tail slowly becoming more emphatic, which she knew meant that in several minutes, he would explode in a frenzy of activity and perhaps even accidentally knock one or both of them over.
As unobtrusively as she could manage, the girl turned and set the two baskets down on the ground behind her. As least then, she could act as a shield of sorts for the flowers. It would be a shame to see them trampled before she had even made it into the heart of the city. Little Brother knew that it was unacceptable to deface Paoma's plants in any way, but sometimes he forgot, and sometimes he just couldn't control himself.
"My name is Paoma," the girl replied, still feeling bewildered, both by Olivia's words and by her ability to keep the striped grimalkin preoccupied for so long. "If you don't mind my asking... well, how did you know that we had to discover something in the first place?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:52 pm
Her smile widened at the rapidly twitching tail and she scratched her short nails along Little Brother's back.
"Paoma is a pretty name," she said. At her question, however, Olivia tilted her head and stared at the girl, unable to understand their failure to communicate. It was a rather inconvenient fact that Olivia had a tendency to forget that not everyone lived in her mind and could follow what she was saying without a proper explanation.
"How does anyone know anything?" She mused. "I had a feeling, of course."
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 2:00 pm
"Oh, well... thank you," Paoma managed to say. She would have liked to ask more questions, to inquire has to... how Olivia had known it was her specifically, or why, or even what she meant exactly when she said she had a feeling. But perhaps that would all soon become more apparent. It didn't seem like her questions had gotten her many answers in the first place.
So instead, she asked, "What's your name?" All the while, she wondered what the other girl was thinking. How did anyone know anything? Paoma thought that perhaps it just took time, that you had to learn things in order to know them. She wasn't sure how feelings worked into all of that.
But she just chalked that up to something that the immediate future might answer as well, and fell to silence watching as the other girl hit what must have been an itchy spot on the grimalkin's back. The cat purred and arched his back with that same look of bliss on his face. He was practically radiating happiness, and Paoma could feel the warm pulses of calm coming at her from the grimalkin.
And then, suddenly, something caught his attention. Soft blue eyes snapped open and ears rushed forward to fixated on a butterfly that had come too close and entered the danger zone. The purring stopped abruptly as the grimalkin honed in on the hapless insect, watching in absolute stillness as the butterfly's wings brought it lazily in front of Paoma, then lower, then higher again.
"Oh, just be caref--" She had hardly enough time to warn Olivia before Little Brother rocketed out of his standstill and launched himself toward the butterfly with a highly characteristic yowl. He flew into the air, twisting in a desperate attempt to claw the poor insect out of the air, hissed as he sailed right by the butterfly, and landed behind Paoma with a light thump.
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 2:32 pm
As luck would have it, Olivia had chosen that exact moment to stand up, thus avoiding being barreled over by the suddenly frisky grimalkin. "Olivia Chandler," she said with a polite little curtsy. "But you can call me Livy."
The girl watched with amusement as his attack on the butterfly failed miserably. Unfortunately, the baskets sitting in supposed safety behind Paoma did not fare as well as the elusive insect. Livy winced as one of the baskets teetered and threatened to fall over.
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 2:46 pm
She didn't have quite enough time to congratulate Olivia on her good timing. "LITTLE BROTHER!" Paoma's voice rang out in alarm as she turned around just in time to see the basket start to fall. Knowing that the flowers could easily be ruined, the girl reached to seize the handle, but missed by an inch. The basket toppled over, spilling the cut flowers across the ground.
To the grimalkin's credit, the girl's sharp call had temporarily stopped him, and his ears went back in a look that came close to sheepishness. The striped cat could feel the girl's angry stare boring into the back of his head, and he seemed to pointedly avoid looking her way, turning his head in any direction but Paoma's.
Some of the flowers had lost petals or leaves in the fall. Some had even snapped in the frenzy of action, and Paoma shook her head, knowing that the life was draining even more quickly out of these plants now that they had been damaged. They certainly deserved more than that. She knelt to gather up the fallen flowers that were still intact, laying them back carefully into the basket.
"Well... that's what happens sometimes," she managed to say with a wry smile, looking over at Livy. "It's nice to meet you."
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 4:39 pm
It came as a bit of a surprise to hear such a motherly tone of disapproval coming out of someone her own age, but Olivia supposed that she could hardly blame the other girl. It might be amusing from her perspective, but it must be quite different from Paoma's perspective. Like being in charge of a hyperactive four-year-old: lovable, but sometimes so very frustrating.
"Nice to meet you, too," she said at last. "Little Brother? Is that his name? He seems very frisky."
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Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:58 pm
Paoma nodded, placing the last few flowers back into place and setting the two baskets down next to each other. "Yes, I didn't really know what to call him," she replied. "And he is a little like a small child, so I suppose the name just stuck."
She glanced down the the grimalkin, who was still being extraordinarily careful in every movement he made, as he usually was right after he got himself into a spot of trouble, and was currently pretending to groom himself very thoroughly with his back to the baskets. As if that would make them all forget what had transpired moments ago. "He just... likes to have fun, I suppose," the girl said finally with a smile that suggested she had made her peace with it long ago. It wouldn't do either of them any good to try to change him, after all.
"He does help me quite a lot, though. He helps make my flowers grow, and all the other plants in the garden," Paoma added happily. There were moments when Little Brother understood the need to be serious, and attending to the plants was one of those times. Most days, he would quietly follow her down row after row of flora, rubbing up against the flowers when it was necessary, or helping to add that extra little spark to Paoma's lightly hummed songs.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 4:25 pm
Olivia beamed at the pair of them. A true family, they were. Sometimes, she wondered what it would be like to have a younger sibling, but she supposed that it would not be so different from some of the younger street kids. In all, she was not curious enough to ask her parents for one. But it sure would be nice to have a friend like Little Brother. Perhaps some day she would find one, too. Until then, she could at least feel happy for pairs like Paoma and her Little Brother.
"Your flowers?" she asked, surprised. Sharp eyes flicked to the now-righted buckets in consideration. Even rumpled, they did look a fair bit better than most: their colors were brighter and their scent sweeter, they even seems a bit bigger than most. She had thought nothing of it before, but could there be something more to it?
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