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 Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:11 pm
For not the first time that hour, Sparrow double checked his hair, straightened his shirt, smoothed down his coat, brushed off his pants, and made sure that he was absolutely ready for this. First impressions were essential, after all, and he was quite ready to make a good one.
He pulled out the silver-chained pocket watch from his coat, eyed the time, and then tucked it back into place, patting his breast pocket. Excitement coursed through him like a pleasant wave, and he rocked back on his heels beside the front gates of Amityville High, waiting patiently for his "little brother" to arrive.
Or, Sparrow corrected himself, his "little sister," since the name "Angeline" definitely presented to be more feminine. Either way, he was really very glad to have gotten a chance to be a part of this, not just for the helping out part, which he was most pleased to be able to do, but also for the fact that he hoped it would push forward his knowledge of the students. He still felt woefully under connected with a great deal of them; perhaps this would help.
Whatever the case, Sparrow was happy.
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:21 pm
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick....
The faint, yet very distinguishable, sound of a clock. Was it the one Sparrow had just checked for the time? It could have been. The watch would have likely been in synchronization with the ticking noise that was slowly growing louder, joined soon by a slightly off beat tapping noise.
A tapping noise that sounded slightly more horrendous when the metal pole of Angeline's scythe made very sudden and unexpected contact with the iron rods of the school gates. She made a high pitched gasping noise before grimacing, pulling the scythe and her arms immediately to her torso in a defensive manner, before she carefully reached out with one hand to touch the gate, feeling her way around it before she took a deep breath and relaxed.
The scythe rested against her shoulder, Angeline carefully smoothed down the front of her vest again, then fussed a little bit at the clockwork-and-feather hairpiece she wore. A minor physical appearance fuss complete, she then leaned against the gate and seemed to wait, not even seeming to notice that Sparrow was literally a few feet away from her.
"I'm on time..I'm on time..." she repeated quietly underneath her breath.
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:28 pm
He heard the clicking noise before he saw her, Sparrow lifting his head and glancing around curiously for the source of it. It wasn't long until he saw her, a slim figure with a scythe not quite like his moving through the fog towards him. However, it was only after there was a rather unpleasant clang of metal on metal that he realized that this must be his new charge.
"Ah," said Sparrow, reaching out and gently touching the ghoul's shoulder, smiling down at her. "Might you be Angeline? Yes, you're quite on time, don't worry. I'm Sparrow; I'm your mentor, of sorts, for the program."
He stuck out his hand to shake hers.
"Really, it's a pleasure to meet you, my dear."
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:37 pm
Had he not spoken up first, the touch on her shoulder might have actually startled her. As it was, the sound of his voice actually seemed to break her out of her stupor, looking towards him, but not making eye contact. Sparrow's question was greeted with a small smile of her own.
"That's correct, I'm Angeline." she confirmed, her fingers wrapping just a bit tighter around the base of her scythe, the gears on it grinding together in time, paced carefully in sync with the ticking noise - or perhaps the source of it.
"Ah! I see. Well, I'm sorry if I just...waltz right past you there with my lovely...umm.." she gestured towards the gate. "serenading.... I didn't realize you were standing over there waiting."
She didn't acknowledge the hand. "But it's very nice to meet you as well, Sparrow. I do hope my strange..idiosyncrasies don't bother you too much." As Angeline said this, she reached out to grab his arm and shoulder, clearly getting a literal feel for him as best as she could without just feeling him up.
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:54 pm
He caught sight of her eyes as she turned, and suddenly understood.
Quickly he shifted, moving his outstretched arm to gently take her free hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Angeline, it is lovely to make the acquaintance of someone so finely attuned to the sense of time," said Sparrow cheerfully. "And fear not; just yesterday I managed to somehow trip down a whole flight of stairs, and it was really very unpleasant."
Smiling, he patted her hand once more before he let go, letting her touch his arm and shoulder without making a move to stop her. "Idiosyncrasies make life more interesting," he said. "I feel life would be a bit dull without them, don't you think?"
After a moment of letting her figure things out, Sparrow reached for her hand again, extending his own to place it in the crook of his elbow so that he could begin walking, gently leading her along with him.
"Well, Miss Angeline, let's start with the basics. How long have you been here at Amityville, and are you enjoying it so far?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:12 pm
Oh. Oh. Seeming to realize that she'd left him hanging on the front of 'shaking hands', she squeezed his hand back sheepishly, seeming to sink into her shoulders just a bit. "Well, it's.. what I do." she confessed. "You would imagine most Clockworks would be as well timed to the world, but... I do think my mother's internal clock was always a few minutes off." she jested.
Still, once she seemed to have gotten a general idea of Sparrow's height and build (she left his face alone, fortunately. That would be a strange touch-down for some other time) Angeline stopped her pat-down, content to just rest her arm in the crook of his arm where he'd guided it.
"Well, some oddities are...worse to have than others. It is fortunate for both of us that you're not..um..." she bit her lower lip and trailed off, as if suddenly aware that what she was thinking to say would come out ill no matter which way she put it. "I have a few ticks that don't quite settle well with certain crowds. I'll leave it at that." she confessed.
Then moved on when the opportunity to do so was so willingly given. "I've been at Amityville for three weeks, six days, ten hours, ten minutes, and 59..s.... eleven minutes and 10 seconds....." she made a small gesture with her head that implied she was continuing to count on with the amount of time that was passing in her head.
"I haven't really been introduced to much. I'll confess I'm quite proud of the fact that I've only fallen down two flights of stairs and accidentally hit a mere twenty people while navigating the hallways to attempt to orient myself to the layout of the building..."
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 8:14 am
"It is true that some oddities are perhaps worse," Sparrow conceded as they walked towards the school. "However, I always just assume that we've been given them for a reason and will just have to make the best of what we have."
His expression softened a little. "Don't worry," he told her gently. "I can't say for certain that those ticks will be easy for you, but don't let others tell you how to act or what to say, all right? You just do what you do, and be damned what others think."
Angeline was quite pleasant company, Sparrow decided as they walked. His lips quirked upwards at the exact time in her head, wondering how the gears worked, curious as to whether or not she always had a literal internal clock that ticked, reminding her exactly of how much time had passed. Clockwork reapers were not something he was entirely familiar with, after all.
"It's all right," said Sparrow grandly. "I've been at school for...let's see here...probably almost two years now, and just the other day I fell over a hedgerow and wound up in some poor lad's lap. It was a trifle embarrassing, but there you have it."
"Well," he continued, glancing up at the enormous building that made up the most of Amityville's main office. "Amityville, as you've already guessed, is enormous in that we are an overnight school with dormitories, rather than a day school. I find it much easier that way, but that's just me. The Headmistress is Professor Hellma Shox, though to be quite honest I haven't met her yet. The one I'm more familiar with is the secretary, Arel. He's been on a few field trips with us, and I remember something about an artifact and snow..."
Sparrow shook his head. "At any rate," he said with a smile. "That's the basic idea of Amityville, though I'm sure it's all very mundane to you."
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:55 am
With Sparrow as a guide, Angeline released the scythe she held, the ticking that had heralded her cutting off abruptly as the weapon made a final whining noise akin to a a broken clock, turning in upon itself a sit was dismissed. She just had to trust he wouldn't walk her into a wall. "Well, I... have..a... thing I can't really control..... the undead send me into panic attacks..." she kind of felt bad admitting it, actually. But she'd at least put it out in the air.
Honesty was important for making friends.
"Well, it sounds like I need to be careful of feral hedgerows!" she laughed. "They were clearly out to get you, from the sounds of it." Angeline actually had very little idea of what a hedgerow was. She didn't even have a mental image come to mind for what it potentially was. It wa categorized in the file of 'ankle biter' for some reason, however.
As Sparrow gave her the most basic of rundowns about the school - or rather making sure she knew the basics -she looked towards his voice, rather than the building itself. It could have been behind them for all she knew. Every sentence or so she nodded.
"Well, it is a change of pace from my mother's newly-revived home for ghosts and....." she didn't even want to say the word, a shiver running through her. "So still interesting. I don't think I've proverbially seen much of the staff here."
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 6:36 pm
Briefly his gaze flickered to the disappearing scythe before landing on Angeline again. "Well," said Sparrow slowly, a thoughtful expression on his face as he tapped his free hand against his chin. "That's not exactly something to be ashamed of, though, isn't it?"
He gave a small shrug, smiling, though she couldn't see it. "It just means you have something different about you. Maybe it's not something that happens to other people, but that doesn't make you any worse of a person."
A laugh escaped his throat, Sparrow chuckling good naturedly. "Yes, yes, do watch out from them. Bushes and plants tend to be quite against me - I can't quite seem to learn how to deal with them, other than tripping over them or getting stuck in them."
They had reached the main building now, and Sparrow led Angeline carefully up the steps until they were heading through the front doors. The halls inside were filled with a few students here and there, some with their noses pressed into textbooks, others talking and laughing with friends, a few chattering on skellyphones. The pair of them moved down the hall, Sparrow easily maneuvering them through the throngs of people.
"Well, I doubt the Headmistress appears that often," he said. "So you probably won't, er...proverbially see her much. I've been here as long as I have, and I still haven't seen her once. Arel is most likely who you'll be dealing with."
He slowed to a stop, but kept his grip on her arm so that she wouldn't wander away or lose him.
"I'm sure you've figured this out by now," he said. "but Amityville is home to a variety of students. Ghosts, demons, reapers - " He grinned. " - the undead, and a whole host of monsters. Each has their own separate dorms; you and I, of course, reside in the reaper dorms, and it's a rather pleasant place."
Sparrow pushed back some of his hair away from his face. "Now, Amityville does have a reputation for having some ah...more interesting field trips. They usually never end up going well, and you'll most likely find yourself going up against the hunters more likely than not."
A small pause.
"Do you know about the hunters or horsemen?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 6:56 pm
"Well, it's embarrassing...." Angeline confessed. After all, not many ran away from a conversation to find a paper bag to breathe into in case of hyperventilation." Maybe she should have tucked a paper bag into her belt or something. A pocket-check was required for Angeline to see if she was actually wearing a pair of pants with pockets - fortunately that was the case. Okay, paper bag on hand was an option.
"Well, unfortunately plant life doesn't have much of a warning sign for me. I'm good at navigating through areas that don't change too much without my scythe, but plants do whatever they want and don't make a lot of noise until I really bump into them." Which meant some wild swinging and hoping she didn't take out somebody's calves with the good ol' tick-tock.
She listened with interest as Sparrow asserted that one 'Arel' was a more common sight to see. Proverbially see. She'd keep that in mind. "What's he like, then? Arel, I mean."
The slow to the stop made her uneasy for a moment, her fingers tightening into a fist as she seemed to 'look' around the hall - perhaps because she could smell something rotting a bit too close for comfort. That was one of the misfortunes for going to a school with the undead. Perhaps if they didn't smell it wouldn't both her as badly... Rot had an interesting effect on her senses all over, however.
"Yes. Our dorm has been rather nice for navigation so far, and I'm lucky to have not accidentally walked into somebody else's room yet..." she grimaced at the idea of it. It wasn't as though she'd see them in a compromising position, but it was rather awkward to think about. "My parents helped me get settled in here my first day - my father walked me around the building a few times to get acquainted."
The tone about field trips made her eyebrows crinkle just a bit closer together, looking up towards Sparrow (or past his shoulder, alas. She was trying) with a quizzical look on her face. "Hunters?" she repeated the word. "I know the school played host to a few Horsemen and there is that new reserve outside of town, but Hunters?"
It was quite possible that Angeline came from a family who may have bought into the newspaper saying that there were no such things as Hunters.
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Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:44 pm
"Well," said Sparrow, smiling wide enough that it would most likely be heard in his voice; he hoped it would, at least. "Now, at the very least, you have a friend to lead you around those pesky bushes and plant life that get in the way. Anytime you need assistance, I am ready and willing to help."
He patted her hand in a friendly gesture and waited for some of the tension to leave her shoulders. Angeline seemed a bit on edge, stopping where they were, but Sparrow was patient, and after a moment she spoke again.
"The reaper dorms are the best, of course," he said, and added, with a hint of mischief, "Though there may or may not be some bias on my part there."
Hearing that she had not heard of the hunters, however, was slightly problematic. One could not get through Amityville without at least having a basic understanding of their foe. Sparrow glanced around for somewhere to sit, and then carefully led Angeline over to a nearby bench, guiding her to sit first before he joined her.
"Hunters are our enemies," he said, by way of beginning. "They're a group of humans dead set on, well...making us dead. Or making us into their weapons. It's difficult to explain - I'm not entirely certain of the process - but somehow they have a way to turn us - Halloween creatures, that is - into weapons that they can communicate with. It's called weaponization, and believe me, my dear, you do not want to be involved with that in any way."demon_pachabel CRAPPY LATE NIGHT TAG BUT LOOK A TAG
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:40 am
Oh dear, it sounded like it was story time. Angeline, ever so compliant to follow her 'big brother's' lead, seemed to grow ever more confused as they took a seat together. Almost nervously Angeline traced one hand over the bench itself to get a feel for the grain, how many pieces it was made out of, how big were the boards......
"Enemy? You're saying there are humans who can....." she bit her lower lip for a moment, "see us?" Her father had always taught her that humans were just as blind to them as she now was to them (and everything else), and for a brief moment she actually realized she couldn't recall what humans looked like. Like reapers, right? Kind of? Maybe? Huh...had she ever seen a human...? The more she thought the more confused her face became. Even more so with the continued explanation about humans with weapons made of...
Her confusion turned to horror. "They what?" She didn't actually need Sparrow to clarify, but Angeline visibly shuddered at the concept. Being attacked with weapons of their own kind? "But why would they do that?" she asked, her voice suddenly much quieter and sounding much more nervous.
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 9:41 pm
Sparrow nodded gravely, though Angeline couldn't see it.
"These are humans that have been trained against us," he said. "They're not friendly; one or two might be a little less trigger happy than another, but for the most part they're not people that you want to stumble across on a daily basis."
He pushed his hair back off of his shoulder, turning slightly so that he was facing her, one leg crossed over the other. "They do it to get control over us," said Sparrow, a note of sadness in his voice. "They've got this odd notion that we're the enemy somehow, that we're all out to kill them, and they're basically launching preemptive strikes against us - killing us before we kill them. Using us as weapons allows them the upper hand, a way of threatening us into submission. At least, that's how I see it."
He sighed. "I know this isn't very pleasant to hear when first arriving at Amityville, but unfortunately having run-ins with the hunters happens fairly often, so you need to know in order to prepare yourself and prevent being caught off guard."
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Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:41 am
He was very nice to answer her questions, especially with this new information throwing a rock into her gut and making her feel like a pit of nerves. "Humans kill enough of their own kind, though. With their own stunts and bravado... why would we wantonly kill an important resource?" it was more a question for the universe than Sparrow, as she tried to wrap her head around that way of thinking.
Angeline's voice remained quiet. "How do you....tell the difference?" she asked. The unspoken question was a bit more obvious - how was she to tell the difference? If the thing that denoted 'Hunters' was their coats and their weapons, Angeline could see neither. "I mean, are they just kind of...obvious...from the way they talk or...." she began to wring her hands anxiously, shifting where she sat.
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Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:27 pm
"Humans are a sad sort of bunch," said Sparrow with a sigh, fiddling with the dark blue ribbon tied neatly around his neck. He straightened it, brushed it off, and said, "It's really very sad how low they've sunk, how far they've let themselves go. You would think after all this time they would understand that we don't die nearly as easily as they think we do, and yet they still keep coming at us."
Sparrow stopped fiddling with his necktie and looked at Angeline. He hadn't realized the potential danger of not having sight; all of the hunters were clearly recognizable with their weapons and their white coats, but for someone like Angeline, who could not see either one of those things, how was she to prepare herself for them, distinguish them from regular citizens of Halloween?
"That...that's something you'll have to look out for, I'm afraid," he said quietly. "And I don't mean look, I mean...you'll have to be very cautious of your surroundings. Try not to go anywhere near the Haunted House on your own, though unfortunately most people stumble across that place without trying to. Ask questions to gauge their answers - hunters know a lot about us, but they don't know everything. They can't yet."
Sparrow reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder before dropping his hand back into his lap again. "I know it's a lot to take in," he said. "But I think you'll be just fine."
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