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 Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 2:54 pm
Who: Anya, Claire, Lorin, and Zeke
When: February 24th, 2017; 2pm
Where: Claire and Lorin's House!
Weather: Sunny and surprisingly mild
Anya hadn't been too hard to convince after Zeke had said the name 'Claire'. The woman to whom the name belonged was a favorable sort even for an acquaintance and after getting the details for the When, Where, and Why the Black Widow had easily taken her place in the front seat of Zeke's Aston without any sort of second guess or qualm.
Zeke couldn't have been happier. On the way to the Lab he excitedly tittered about the blonde woman's Frei and just how sweet he was. The vet was convinced Anya would enjoy him, turning his smile to her more than once at several stop lights in order to gauge her own excitement. The Frei was naturally curious and the fact Zeke made mention that Lorin was quiet and polite was a draw. She did so like those sorts, even if her tastes in people had branched out to unlikelier types in recent memory.
They arrived at the Lab and soon enough were off again, this time plus one in the form of a chimera in a cardboard carrying box Zeke had "borrowed" from work. The Catsune was the reason for their little trip and would make occasional mewling noises from within in between poking its paws out of one of the holes lining the carrying box's side. When Zeke saw that in the rearview mirror he would chuckle to himself.
"Think they'll like her?"
"I don't see why they wouldn't."
If it was a bust it wasn't a big deal, Zeke had said at one light. Sometimes it took people a try or two to find that perfect family member. If that was the case, he did have a back up plan. Beside the box on the seat was a big, shiny blue paper bag with red shoelace handles. The words 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' were emblazoned on the front and back in colorful letters. What was inside Anya could not say; she hadn't been made privvy. But, she supposed, she would find out shortly as they pulled up into the driveway.
"The place looks great!" Even in the dead of winter it was clear the family who had so recently moved in the last time Anya had met them had made the house a home. Zeke parked and cut the engine, beaming all the way out of his seat and especially so as he pulled both the bag and the box out of the backseat. The latter gave a disgruntled meow and again the paw poked out, trying to cuff some skin or cloth.
"They know we're coming right?" Anya drew her scarf a little tighter around her neck. Even though the temperature was warmer than it had been all winter, it was still too chilly for her blood.
"Mmhm! I texted Claire just before I brought Little Miss Catsune here out! Ready to go?"
"Yes."
"Alrighty then! Let's not dilly-dally!"
Doors shut and the car beeped once as the vet locked it with a button press. He strode up the walk and Anya followed close behind, eying the paw with some amusement that kept poking out as the person carrying its container mounted the steps and then shifted in order to try and press the doorbell. Seeing him struggle, Anya cleared her throat and took the initiative and received a gracious and sunny look as thanks.
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:12 pm
It was incredible, how soundly the two had slept when they returned home from the bakery. Claire had just enough time that morning to text Aaron and Ivy "Rhedefre came home, he's safe, he's okay" before her own head hit the pillow. By the time she awoke a few hours later to her phone vibrating on the nightstand, she could hear Lorin stirring in his room, talking to his succulents. She reached for the phone and thumbed through the relieved replies from both husband and mother, and as she backed out, her finger landed on the text exchange she had had with Zeke a few days before.
In the hustle of the morning, she had nearly forgotten about how much good news was awaiting Lorin.
Today really was a blessing in disguise. She beamed as she sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes, dropping the phone into her pocket as she crawled out of bed and headed for the kitchen to make them an early lunch.
By the time the two o'clock hour rolled around, the temperature had certainly ticked up from the cloying morning chill, but Claire did not trust it enough to let Lorin play outside. They settled into comfortable wintertime activities as Claire picked up her nightly reading, but that was soon interrupted by the heralding noise of a car pulling up outside, distant conversation, and doors shutting. Claire could feel herself bristling with excitement as her pocket vibrated, letting her know of her expected guests. Lorin looked up from his coloring book, crayons spread around him as he lay on his front when the doorbell rang. Claire closed her book and set it on the arm of her chair as she rose. "Is it Grandma?" Lorin asked as he righted himself, floating a touch higher to peek out the window. The car parked there was not one he was familiar with, and his brow scrunched in confusion. Claire smiled lightly in response, although the way her eyes crinkled told him she probably knew more than she was letting on.
"Get your coloring stuff put up," she said, tacking on in a sing-song voice as she moved past him to the entryway, "I've got a surprise for you." His head straightened, antennae at attention. A surprise for him? His mind immediately flew to Cesc - could he be here for a visit? But no, that did not make sense - his mama would have told him upfront if that had been the case. His friend was likely still asleep, as only a few hours had elapsed since they had seen him crashed in bed. As he shoveled his crayons into the box unceremoniously, he wondered who the visitor could be, on a day of already wonderful news?
Claire opened the door, delighting in the familiar but long-missed sight of Zeke and Anya. "Hello!" she said brightly, leaning forward for a moment out the door before she stepped aside to let them in. Poor Anya, wrapped in her scarf. "Thank you for coming. It's been a long time, hasn't it?" She gave a tinkling laugh, before her voice lowered a touch so as not to attract the honey Frei's attention. "Lorin is putting his coloring away. Shall we go introduce you two?" This time, her gaze landed on Anya and she gave her a smile of anticipation. The pet playdate aside, the two Raevans meeting had been a long time coming. But she noticed the small paw, sticking out of the holes in the box Zeke was carrying, and she bent forward to tap it. It swatted her finger in return, and she gave a chuckle. "And you, too." With a sigh, she straightened up, dropping one hand into the other. "Can I take your coats?"
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2017 8:23 am
The door opened shortly after the bell and both Anastacia and Zeke lit up at the sight of the woman who stood there.
"Hello!"
"Hello Claire."
They spoke almost in unison which made the colorful vet titter as they walked into the abode.
"It's nice to see you again," the Widow bobbed her head in a nod when their host mentioned the length of time that had passed between then and now. "How have you been?"
Anya made pleasantries while her Guardian peeked around the foyer. The house was definitely more home-y than it had been the last time they had been here and more than that he was eager to see Lorin again even without the reason for their being here in mind.
"I'm surprised he's not your shadow," the vet's eyes crinkled at the corners when Claire mentioned what the younger Frei was doing, his voice matching Claire's in low tones so as not to draw the Leshy out too early. "And oh! Please!"
He set each gift down gently, taking his coat off and handing it to Claire with a soft but gracious thank you. Anya did the same; the house was warm enough even with the door behind her that she needn't worry about a sudden chill. Once she put her scarf in one big pocket she stripped the coat from her shoulders, passing it over and stretching her wings out wide behind her. That felt much better.
"Zeke has told me a lot about Lorin," Claire's gaze when the blonde mentioned introductions had not been missed, "and yes, I would like to meet him. Whenever you two are ready, that is."
She was not one to rush things, especially introductions. Polite hesitations aside, now that they were here and on the verge of seeing this lovely lady's Frei, Anya couldn't say she wasn't a little eager.
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:22 pm
"Well enough." It was not a lie, per se, but things had been rough on the Holmes family with Rhedefre's disappearance. But that was in the past now, Claire noted to herself. Everything on the other side of the months-long fretting felt lighter and she was more inclined to enjoy that relief. "How have you been?" She smiled sunnily, and turned to Zeke to laugh quietly at his line. "Well, he normally is, but I asked him to clean up since we have company. He loves to color but the crayons go everywhere." She opened the closet door and hung their coats on the hooks behind the door for easy access, sliding behind Anya to shut the door that was still open a crack. A slight draft crept in as she did so, and a single black paw darted out from one of the holes in the carrying case to bat it. Claire caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and her smile grew - if this little one was anything like Guy Smiley, Lorin was going to be ecstatic.
Anya's curiosity about the impending meeting tickled the woman more than she could say, and her hands met in front of her in a soft, anticipatory clap. "Perfect. Let's get you two introduced and settled before we bring in the presents." Her gaze dropped to the carrier and the case at their feet and the corners of her eyes creased delightedly. Lorin would be over the moon about everything, but she wanted to make sure every part of this planned meeting had its due time in the spotlight. She put a hand on both Zeke and Anya's arms gently and nudged them forward as she stepped ahead of them to lead the way.
Lorin set the crayon box decidedly atop his closed coloring books on the corner table, leaving the coffee table free. The lid would not quite close from how quickly he had shoveled the crayons inside, and the butt of a red crayon poked out of the corner of the box defiantly. That did not matter, as most of his attention was tuned into the murmured conversation; he could not hear much of what was going on, and he thought he recognized one of the voices but he could not place it. The third one had been a mystery to him. Who could be here to visit them - to visit him, as his mama put it?
He did not need to wait long before Claire emerged with a wide smile, two figures behind her.. and one with a very familiar hairstyle. His own smile broke through and he raced forward excitedly to throw his arms around the man's waist, much to Claire's amusement. She covered her mouth as she laughed, louder than she had allowed herself to in the entryway. "I suppose I don't need to ask if you remember Zeke, with that introduction."
"Hi, Zeke! Thanks for coming!" He propped his chin on the man's stomach to show him his beaming smile. It had been a long time since he had seen the vet, and this was certainly under less stressful circumstances.
"And," Claire segued as her hand lowered to the other, the fingers tenting as she stepped aside to give the honey Frei a better view of Anya. "He brought his Raevan. She's been wanting to meet you." Lorin's arms slid from Zeke to address the newcomer with a bright smile that shifted into an expression of awe as he took in her features. Everything about her looked sharp, from her spider leg crown and wings, to the several sets of eyes, to the rough edges of her ribbon. Her clothing looked very put together, much like he had seen his mama dress during the holidays. She carried herself in a way that made her seem so much taller than Lorin that he felt a touch of shyness around her. His own fingers clutched together as he downcast his gaze, then lifted it once more to the widow Raevan. Amidst all the sharpness about her, his eyes zeroed in on the delicate lacing on her wings. It reminded him of crawling in the garden with his mama and grandma and finding spiders between the planters, crafting their delicate homes. "Lorin, this is Anastacia." Even her name felt tall, he thought, and he swayed with a shy smile, fingers fidgeting.
"Hi, Anastacia," he replied with coloring cheeks, trying to follow his mother's pronunciation as smoothly as he could. "Didja really want to meet me?" For someone who seemed so different from him on the outside, he felt a blooming pleasure in his chest that she had wanted to meet him, of all people. But with all the apparent differences from them, he focused on the spider web lacing - maybe they both had things in common that they would like. His smile grew.
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Friendly Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 5:37 pm
"Better now that I know winter's almost at an end and spring is around the corner." For Anya it was the whole truth in that statement. February was four days away from its end and that meant the "official" start of spring was roughly a month away now. Sure it didn't really mean anything with that whole 'in like a lion' thing but at least Anya had something to look forward to. Rain was much preferable to snow.
The corners of the vet's eyes crinkled more as he smiled and he winked to show he understood what the blonde woman said about her Frei and his unintentionally messy hobby. Claire had a little artist on her hands; that was rather cute when he could just picture Lorin scribbling and scrawling away in a coloring book.
Their coats were taken and Claire mentioned and motioned for them to come with. Anya ticked her eyes to the hand that lighted on her arm only briefly, considering it before letting the motion roll like water off a duck's back. She liked Claire and nothing about the woman had ever given her the idea that she could have dirty hands. Besides, Anya was wearing long sleeves. Before they made the turn into the living room Zeke paused to set the presents aside and then hold a finger up to his lips as he looked at his ward. A wink was passed as well to which the Widow simply rolled her eyes but she nodded all the same. The secret was safe with her.
First thing Anya noticed was how home-y the room felt now that it was fully furnished and decorated, a stark contrast to the last time she had been here. Gone were the last few moving boxes and instead there was plenty to see and comment on. She could have started easily if not for the sudden blur that shot out and hit Zeke, who made an appropriate 'oof!' sound before laughing.
"Well look at you!!" Lorin was wrapped up and given a squeeze. Zeke beamed down at the face peering up from his stomach. "Have you gotten taller since the last time I saw you? I think you were about here last year!" He hunched down to put his hand level with his knee, noting how animated and vocal the Leshy was. Goodness! It felt like only yesterday and oh was Zeke oh so close to just scooping the child Frei up and lifting him over his head! Unfortunately (or luckily depending on how one looked at it) his mama was making introductions and that stopped Zeke from doing that for now. He was eager to see how each one took to the other.
When Zeke finally stopped being a better door than a window, Anya was surprised to find her gaze going down, down, down, until her eyes landed upon the smallest Frei she had ever seen. Zeke had mentioned Lorin was a young-looking one but he had neglected to mention just how young. This of course meant the Widow had a degree of surprise on her face when confronted with the facts, a stark contrast to her other's shy, humble mannerisms.
"Hello Lorin," Anya came back to herself when the other Frei greeted her and worked on pronouncing her name. His smile, originally shy, worked into something bigger and brighter as he asked a question of her. Anya suddenly felt a little on the spot, aware of Zeke and Claire watching their initial introduction. Truth be told, Anya felt as though she should be at this Frei's height when speaking to him; as if being at her own and talking down would be rude. She didn't want to come off as such so she fixed herself accordingly, floating down with her wings trailing just a little behind her descent in order to meet the blond boy eye to eye.
"Oh yes, any Frei of Claire's I've wanted to meet for a long time." At his level her ribbon curled beneath her in a spiral of sharp spines, sharper edges, and spider silk. She steadied herself with her fingertips against the floor and the barest re-positioning of her large wings now and again. "Zeke's told me a lot about you already and he even said your first birthday was coming up soon. I'm sorry it took us this long to meet."
Had she not been so focused and intent on taking every aspect of this Raevan in she would have used that moment to smack Zeke in the legs for the transgression. Then again, she would have hit him squarely at the back of the knees with her wing and sending him sprawling would not have been for the best. She didn't want to make a bad first impression herself!
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