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 Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 4:07 pm
At first, staying here had been a little bit awkward. It hadn't had anything to do with the Bells. They were all really nice to Livie, maybe even nicer to her than her own family had been! Which, like, was almost part of the problem without them meaning it to be, 'cause it had brought up feelings about her past that she didn't like and didn't wanna deal with on top of the part where it felt like her whole life had been pulled out from under her in a couple of seconds even though it had technically been years. Only, then Ignacio had found her on the kitchen floor and actually talked to her about all that. Luke had kept making her food. Everyone had been trying to help her get better at Mario Kart. Time helped a lot, too. It wasn't like she didn't still miss her old life, but every day, the new one was getting easier. It was at the point now where it didn't feel weird being here anymore. It felt pretty cool, actually. She wanted to make sure the family knew how much they meant to her. The cutting board was loaded up with everything that Livie thought could possibly make a good impression. There was a vase full of sunflowers in one corner, and a thank you card in the other. She'd handmade it with cute pastel paper and lots and lots of glitter. The cookies in the middle she hadn't made herself, but at least this time she'd gotten them from a nice bakery instead of the clearance rack at the grocery store. She'd been trying to get it all set up quietly while most of the others were in the living room, and when it was done, she slipped through the door with a sheepish smile, her presentation in hand. "Hi?" she said.
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 8:09 pm
Luke was the first to look up, what with Richard's nose buried in a dime mystery novel, though Safira had looked up shortly after. "Oh, hi Livie." His chuckle was warm as he took in what she was carrying, how she was carrying herself. The smile on her face, sheepish as it was, earned an answering one from him. "What's that you've got there?" Cookies and flowers, obviously. He was pretty sure he could see a card on there, too. But that wasn't the point. There was intent there. It was a gesture of some kind, and Luke's heart warmed at seeing it. Not that she had to give any such gestures, of course, but he wasn't going to turn it down if she felt it was important enough. He folded his notebook closed. "Do you want to bring it out here, or do you want us to come in there?" He didn't want her to have to worry about spilling anything, but she might have put it on a tray for a reason! The sunflowers were an especially nice touch. "Here," he said in the next second, "actually," Luke leaned forward and scooted a couple things to the side on the coffee table. "Go ahead and put it here. It's closer than the dining room." Richard had already put the dime novel down and shifted his weight to perch on the front of the cushion. "Do you need help carrying it? Are those cookies?" His father's voice had pulled him out of his book, especially with that tone. It wasn't quite the 'talking to a skittish baby deer' tone Richard had heard before on occasion, but it did mean something more pressing than the evening news was going on. He helped Luke move a couple of the items on the coffee table, absently tucking a bookmark into his place in the dime novel before he left it down too long and lost his page. He could find it again, sure, but that wasn't the point, and this was more important anyway--
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2022 8:56 pm
Ignacio didn't do well with quiet. Whereas the other three were reading, he had hooked up wireless headphones to his portable console and was playing Mario Kart. Livie was getting good! Which was good! He needed to make sure he stayed competitive if just to give her something to strive for, and maybe the extra practice would make him more useful against Raina-- "You missed a shortcut," murmured Viatrix next to him, where she was curled up on the cat highway that was the back of the couch-- "And you hush--" "Also, pay attention." Ignacio blinked, pausing his game and glancing over his shoulder to see Livie standing at the room's entrance, with Luke and Richard already clearing up space for her to set down what she was holding. Sunflowers? A platter of cookies? A card? He was intrigued, and the game no longer seemed as vital as he wondered what his functional little sister was up to. Was she just being sweet? But the floral display seemed important-- Viatrix chirped, "Those are pretty!" as Ignacio stood up and broke the distance between the couch and Livie. "I trust you got it, but if you don't," he playfully flexed, before offering his hands, "I definitely do. Where did you get the cookies from?" "They smell good!!"
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 6:22 pm
"I got it, I got it," Livie insisted, and after she'd plopped her whole setup down on the coffee table where Luke had made space for it, she flexed herself. Under her ruffly pink blouse, her arms were actually pretty toned. Just because she wasn't six feet tall like everyone else in the house, including the aliens, didn't mean that she couldn't hold her own. Being the tiny one actually might have made her more determined, and because of that, more powerful. Not that any of that was the point, right now. "They're, uh, cookies," she said, 'cause that was the easy part to answer. "From, Pastry, uh, something? A local place? They're super good, I might have tried one already, oops." She bounced up on her toes once, but then went quiet for a second. Yeah, she'd practiced this speech over and over again in her head, but it was different with everyone looking at her and her tray like this. "You guys have been really nice to me," she said, 'cause that was true, and she didn't mind saying it. "And I know earlier on, a lot of the time I was all like, not wanting to actually call you guys my family, 'cause." She swallowed. "Yeah." The grief was weird, even now. She had to bite her lip to keep it from getting so weird that it showed through in her voice. "But, I think I'm ready now, if you guys are, too, so-" She stopped, chewing on her cheeks for a few seconds, because now that the moment was here, the what if they say no was pressing in at the edge of her mind. It felt like a big thing to ask, but on the other hand, she wanted them to know how much they meant to her, so she said it, standing as tall as she could. "Will you be my family?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2022 2:35 am
There was silence for a second. Then Luke made a noise that involved him having to take his reading glasses off and rub at his eyes as Safira patted him on the shoulder. Richard looked from his parents to Livie and back. "I think that's a yes?" "Of course it's a yes," came Luke's voice muffled behind the hand covering his face, then something else that didn't quite come out intelligibly. Safira whispered something to him. "We... we can even--" "Take your time," Safira murmured, chuckling as she patted his shoulder again. Luke grumbled and rubbed at his face. He looked up for a moment, saw the items sitting on the table and then covered his face again. Several long moments passed, wherein Richard got up and walked over to Livie. He stood a short distance away, then held out an arm. "I mean, I like hugs if you want one?" Luke raised his head, his eyes suspiciously shiny and his voice suspiciously thick as he tried again. "We... we can adopt you. If you want. Formally." Then, urgently, self-consciously, "only if you want!"
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2022 8:15 am
"Fair enough!" Ignacio would let Livie have this one, and he stepped back and put his hands up, leading immediately into a playful bowing to her flexing and prowess. Honestly, if it hadn't been for both of their long storied experience as senshi and knights, it might have been easy to forget how much power her body held. Just because she wasn't the kind of bodybuilt Ignacio was-- "Sit down you goon," Viatrix finished her way across the cat highway, coming closer to take a look at the cookies, preferably without her bonded's a** in the way of her face. They smelled really good. And she really wanted to try one. It was only Ignacio giving her a gentle pap on the paw that really stopped her from taking one as Livie spoke to them. She would have whined about it, and debated doing so, really, until she realized this was, in fact, really important. It was important enough that Livie was struggling to say it, that Ignacio's eyes had widened, that Richard was already getting up to hug her, and she was pretty sure Luke was crying. ... Definitely crying. "Livie," offered Ignacio, not wanting to break the moment between his father-in-law and his apparent new sister, "couldn't think of saying anything but yes, really." Viatrix gave a cat wink. "Look, I already have a cadre of knights, I'd love to add another!"
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 4:48 pm
After she spat out the question, there wasn't anything for Livie to do except to wait, and the waiting was so hard that she couldn't even breathe. Her cheeks were puffed out in a bubble 'cause she was holding her breath. Her nose was wrinkling cause she was that tense. She was so bad at rejection. She didn't know what she was gonna do if they said no. When Luke buried his face in his hands and started making noises that she was pretty sure was crying, it didn't help. It was only when he finally managed to talk, to say the yes out loud, and when everyone else was backing it up, that Livie finally moved again. She was sprinting over to Richard and almost tackling him into a hug, because she had so many feelings that there was no way she could keep them all inside her body. She had to move. She had to hold everyone close. Some of the feelings were coming out as her eyes misting up. Then she was making the rounds to hug everyone, to hug Ignacio, and Luke, and Safira. In between people, she was up on her tiptoes, twirling around in circles like she was dancing. "I just love you guys so much," she said, her smile lighting up the room. "I wanna make it as official as we can!" Adopted? That was more than she'd thought to ask. It felt like her chest was gonna burst.
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Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2023 4:05 am
When Livie tackled him, Richard laughed and spun their hug into a gentle circle before releasing her to continue her rounds around the room. Luke's hug to her was very nearly a bear hug and Safira had to offer another affectionate tap to her husband's shoulder for him to let Livie go. Safira leaned down for her own hug, ruffling Livie's hair with open and obvious affection. "I'll... I'll work on the paperwork. Uh, we can... call Connie..." Luke murmured past a tissue someone had offered him. "I think he can do this...?" "Well he does family law, so probably," mused Richard about his next-older brother's occupation as he watched Livie with a smile. "Speaking of, we should probably let everyone know there's six of us." A snort of laughter. "Tammer's gonna be thrilled that she's finally not the only daughter." "Should we have a barbecue about it?" Richard flashed a grin at his mother, earning a good-natured roll of her eyes. "Stupid question, I know."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2023 4:46 am
Viatrix's attention was torn from everything happening around her--so many hugs, so much affection, so much of everything she aimed for her bonded and everyone he knew to have--at the concept of a barbecue. Her gaze snapped from tracking Livie to Safira, and she squealed, "I love the barbecues!" before turning back to Livie and asking, so excited she barely formed her words around her lips properly, "Bell cookouts are fantastic, you'll love this!" And Tammer would probably be thrilled about no longer being the only daughter, to be honest. She had even been pretty excited about Viatrix, and Viatrix was a Mauvian. Not a sister in the more traditional sense, especially because she couldn't be cool and fancy and formally adopted to be Viatrix Bell. Not that she wanted to be. There were human requirements with that and to be honest from her observation being human kinda sucked. There were taxes for one, and who the hell wanted that-- Ignacio squeezed Livie when she came over to him, offering her a beam of a grin when she backed up. "Love you too, sis," he winked, fully embracing the soon-to-be official term. She'd be his sister-in-law in the eyes of things now, which felt ... right. His own in-law family, his own found family, had embraced her. It felt like she had always belonged here, and that was what he wanted. "Also yeah that's a silly question Mom, por supuesto que deberíamos tener una barbacoa*!" Ignacio snickered, before following that up with, "Actually, maybe I should stop by the local Mexican store..." Maybe he could introduce Livie to horchata-- "Raina might be excited to hear about a new sister-in-law too actually. Especially since it's you." Viatrix trotted over to Livie to bump her affectionately with her head. "Connie's pretty good at getting this done quick too. Kinda enlisted him for some assistance with getting people set up--" stari_maga *of course we should have a barbecue!
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Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2023 2:22 pm
Livie's attention shifted away from being on Luke so much while he took a little bit to get himself together, and she looked at all the others, who were talking about food, which was one of the best ways to get her attention. "I like barbecues!" she said, although she probably didn't even need to vouch for it for it, since it had only taken like five seconds for everyone to agree that this was happening. Although, Ignacio saying something in Spanish and talking about a Mexican store had her suck her cheeks in a little bit. That sounded exotic and also spicy, which were probably Livie's least favorite things when it came to food. "As long as there's mac and cheese. Can there be mac and cheese? I can make the mac and cheese," she said. No, she couldn't really cook. Yes, she was talking about buying the boxed stuff and making that. Although, she hesitated a little bit when they started bringing up names of people who weren't in this room. She didn't actually know all that much about Connie, or Tammer, not the way she did about the ones around her. She hadn't thought about how making it official would have them involved, too. "Do you think they'll be okay with it?" she asked. "The other siblings? I mean, I've always wanted a sister, and if she comes with a bunch of brothers, that's cool, too, but, like," she shrugged, "I don't know them as well, and they're not here to ask." Shes squinted, thoughtful. "Is there a groupchat? Maybe you could ask the groupchat if it's okay."
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Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2023 4:47 am
Luke's voice was bright when he responded," oih, absolutely!" to Livie. His daughter--daughter!--could have whatever she wanted. Boxed macaroni and cheese was no problem at all. He could even show her ways to dress if up, if she wanted, but it was more than okay if not. He just wanted her to be happy, even if that meant not eating his kids' and kids'-in-law food. At least his son-in-law was good with veggie dishes-- While her her husband ruminated, Safira was already pulling up the group chat before Livie had asked her question, and nodded quietly, agreeing that perhaps a change of question was in order. It wasn't because she thought that there was any risk of the rest of the family not accepting her. Livie was a more known presence than Dominique and Ignacio had been when they had been pulled in by their respective partners. "I'll ask, just to help you feel a bit more comfortable," she winked, "I don't see an issue, though." Safira had already decided there wouldn't be an issue. Richard eyed his mother with suspicion and wariness before sidling just a bit closer to Livie. Quieter, he added, "there's also another chat I just have with only my siblings, if you want into that one, too." Sometimes they wanted to talk about things without their parents looking! Or their significant others, sometimes! Sure enough, it only took a few moments for the first reply, a teasing, You have to ask?' from one of the more predictable sources--Tammer. She was one of the fastest introductions, after all--
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2023 11:38 pm
It was hard to miss how happy Luke was, and Viatrix liked when the man who had been the first one in the house to call her out for being more-than-a-cat was happy. It was why she liked when he brought that short lavender-haired one around as much as she wished she wasn't so aware of it. Figuring it might help him not start crying again, she ignored everyone else to take the cat highway and hop into Luke's lap, purring up a storm as he was delighted. "Please, the fam's gonna love you." Ignacio offered Livie a wide smile. "Toda la familia me amaba -- ah, sorry, the whole family loved me. And pretty quickly, too. I was pretty unaware of it at the time," that was something he hadn't mentioned much of to Livie, though perhaps it would be obvious enough in time, "but I'm told they wanted to see me more than necessarily advisable." He snorted. "Not in a bad way, but-- what are you telling her that you're hiding from me, Arra?" As he slid back into English after a brief flirtation with his other native language, his r's rolled in Richard's nickname a bit heavier than they normally did otherwise. From Luke's lap, Viatrix snickered, but she didn't say anything aloud about it. This felt nice. To be honest, the flow of the room felt just as warming as the cookies that Livie had brought them-- "I'll text Raina too. Don't really have anything over whispering about with her, but," Ignacio took out his terribly nondescript phone and went to work on texting her too, "it is only the two of us, really."
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 7:31 am
Livie was usually absolutely terrible at secrets, to the point that she didn't even bother trying with them, but if a sibling groupchat like that could mildly annoy Ignacio as much as it seemed to be doing? Yeah, she was a hundred percent on board. "Nothing," she said, her voice kinda sing song while she fluttered her eyelashes like a sweet and innocent angel. Maybe not the most convincing, but, hey. Secrets were hard. "He's showing me the texts. Oooh, Tammer's in on it," she said, the grin returning as one of the siblings got back to them without having to draw anything else. Although, she was very aware that there were still three more people to hear back from. "Okay, now I'm just gonna be a nervous wreck while I wait for the others. Anyone wanna stress eat some cookies with me?" The others might have been confident, but there was only so much they could do to reassure her until the rest of the siblings spoke for themselves. Without hesitation, she was already shoving another one into her mouth.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 9:25 am
Livie might not be the best at secrets, but that was okay. First of all, neither was Richard when confronted. Second, she was doing just fine with the family chat and Richard's assistance fielding the replies from the rest of the family. He flashed a wink and a lopsided grin to Ignacio, a grin that turned sly right before Richard turned his attention back to Livie. Of course his husband knew something was up, but Richard had no illusions that the in-laws had their own chat without him. It would explain the raucous laughter and smattering of snickers that erupted between Dominique, Lee, and Ignacio-- A bright, "I will!" was his response--aimed to ease her nerves--as he followed to eat some cookies with her. The next response from the family chat came as he sat down, and Richard didn't hesitate to show it to her. 'Sure!' was lit up on the screen as the most recent message, sent from Alan. It figured it was Alan, considering Tammer--his twin--had been the first to respond. She probably called Alan on her own and told him to put the books down and pay attention. "I'll take another cookie," Luke volunteered, reaching out to take a treat with one hand and petting Viatrix with the other. He knew what she was doing. He was wise to her ways. But that didn't mean it wasn't working. She was close enough to a daughter, too, as much as a talking cat could be. But it counted! It was close enough! "Garber and Constantine are probably busy. They'll respond eventually." Speak of the devil, his phone dinged with a new message. Constantine's reply, measured even in text, was a nonetheless bemused, 'I had assumed she already was?'. He didn't back-fill any more details for that, even if asked.
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Codebreaking Conversationalist
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Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2023 3:18 am
Oh, Ignacio saw that grin, and he'd have something to say about it if it weren't for exactly two factors: 1, it seemed they had more important things to focus on, and 2, his parents-in-law were there. Viatrix and Livie could deal with whatever was tempted to come out of his mouth for just a few seconds but not with the two of them there-- "I love cookies!" chirped Viatrix at the concept of eating cookies, though she did find herself between a rock and a hard place. She was very happy enjoying the presence of the happy Luke at the moment, and also enjoying his pets, but there were cookies right there. But the cookies were with Livie now, and she couldn't exactly reach... The advantage of her bonded getting in tight with some really tall people, though? "Get me one, too?" She had to get in on these group chats, damn. She knew Ignacio was in on the main family one and also the in-law one, and definitely one with Lee because they were always sending each other silly things but! She was in none of them! And she knew she was a cat and she was just reading over Ignacio's shoulder most of the time but she'd have good things to say! "So that just leaves Garber," remarked Ignacio, snacking on the cookie he snatched up before moving to another wall to lean against so he wasn't crowding his sister necessarily. "He's got two teen sons and a whole accounting job, so he's almost definitely busy. Family man though so I don't see him saying anything." He glanced down at his phone at a text from Raina-- wait, Livie is ex-Sylvite, right? followed by Which is gucci! Just checking--that he tapped out a reply to as he added, "Especially considering what Connie just said."
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