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A knock rattled on Aphismet's apartment door.

Standing outside, shivering, Isi tried knocking again. He didn't expect anyone to answer the door immediately (it was, after all, midnight around the time he finally made it to the city and found his way around), but he couldn't help but knock eagerly at the door. There was a small fear in his mind that Maasi might've followed after him after she broke out of her room. Isi knew that it was highly unlikely, but he still thought about it nonetheless. His cheek still hurt from where his adopted grandmother had backhanded him. Not only that but his legs were very tired from not using his crutches all day and being forced around the house on his knees to do chore work.

Shifting his crutches underneath his arms once more, Isi hugged himself slightly against the cold and knocked even louder, hoping that Aphismet or Rivener would hear him.

"Yes, please," Isi said tiredly, "Who...Who are you looking f...Oh, that's right. Beauregard. He followed me, but now he's tired, so I stuck him in my backpack. He should be waking up soon after his nap...I, um...Had a rough time at my own home and I ran away before it could get worse. I was hopg I could stay here until it was safe to go back home."

The cripple boy was very happy that someone had been awake to answer his pleas at the door. Even if Aphismet wasn't home yet, Isi was glad for Rivener being there.

Watching as Rivener floated about the house, Isi couldn't help but express interest. However, when he started treating him like the savior and protector, Isi couldn't help but watch with trained interest and curiosity. What was he going to do next? Rivener was always surprising him! ...Maybe that was because Isi was just so interested in raevans since he was expecting one.

Slipping his backpack off his shoulder and letting it slide to his hands, Isi reached insideand he removed Beauregard from its depths. The red whale was still sleeping, but Isi jostled him awake and he rose softly into the air, shaking its bleary head. As soon as the whale was out, Isi set the backpack down by the door and he hobbled into the living room where he recieved the glass of milk. He leaned on his crutches and sipped at glass, "Thank you very much, Riv," Isi replied. Then the question, Isi mused his mouth and he considered the answer. He dn't know if he should tell Riv or not, but...Who else was there for him to tell? There was nothing that could harm him, right?

Taking a sigh, Isi said dejectedly, "I think my grandma's wacko friends came over to the house while I was gone and they got Old Maasi drunk and left. So she woke me up in the morning and forced me, military style, to do the chores without my crutches. It was late in the evening when I couldn't do it anymore and I tried to stand up against her and get the baton away from her, but she..." Isi paused, and reached up with his free hand to rub his cheek, glancing away from Rivener, "She hurt me. So I locked her in her room and ran away..." Then out of pure curiosit, Isi asked, "What do you eat, Rivener?"

Isi shrugged while he balanced precriously on his crutches, sipping all the meanwhile at the milk he was given and nibbling on the cookies. The boy seemed as if he were trying to to care and treat the situation as if it were a normal everyday happening.

"She's...She's different. She lost her marbles a long time ago, so now she changes like the TV changes channels. One moment she's Indiana Jones, the next moment she's the Last Roman Emperor. It's different and it's a hassle, but Old Maasi can be sweet some times. She's the one who got me the raevan...Well, I don't have much of a bloody choice, you see. She adopted me from the children's home. Old Maasi's the only one I have left." The crippled boy spoke of this all in a relaxed sarcastic tone, but Rivener could hear the hurt underneath his voice. The pain from his cheek wouldn't disappear so quickly.

Isi was amazed at Rivener's responses and everything, he was completley amazed at his ability to learn and...Well everything. Isi was astounded.

"She adopted me when I was 7. I'm 14 now. She lost her marbles right after she adopted me, she was sane then." Isi was saying as he sat down in the couch and hugged his crutches to him right before the door jiggled and jingled. Turning to the door as it opened, Isi lifted his brows with anticipation and straightened his back. His bated breath was released when Isi watched with relief as Aphismet stepped in from the midnight chill.

Beauregard looked longingly at the door as it opened and it looked like he was going to brace himself for the escape, but then Aphismet closed it. Slumping a bit in the air, the whale retired to the next best thing: Rivener. Floating happily around the raevan's head, Beauregard crooned in delight.

"Halloa, Aphismet, I hope I'm not intruding. I haven't been here long, I only just sat down. Rivener's been hosting me, you taught him well." Isi had no idea if Aphismet taught him to do that or not, but he hoped it was a compliment either way.

Delighted by the invitation, the red whale rubbed itself into the raevan's hands and narrated Rivener's actions as he walked away and called him to the chair.

"His eyes glittered with expectation and amusement, as the red whale drew near."

Beauregard drifted down into Rivener's lap and began to sing a love ballad.

"I'm bloody fine!" Exclaimed the boy, frightened by Aphismet's sudden burst of worry. He hadn't looked at his face once, so Isi really didn't know what damage had bee done. By Aphismet's reaction, apparently it was something horrible and that scared the boy. The bruise actually spanned from his temple to his jaw bone and along his cheek bone in a weird 'E' looking design (never had an old lady's hand hurt him so, but then again the metal plated gloves she was wearing from the suit of armor in the living room could've done the trick).

"I'm serious, I've been through crap like this before-" The boy was stuttering, "It was only my grandma, you don't need to-" Then the towel wrapped icepack was pushed into his hands. There was no denying it now, Isi thought in silent frustration. In the back of his mind, though, there was that little thought that sighed with relief and looked at the ice pack with gratefulness. Placing it up to the left side of his face, Isi let out a shuddering breath as the cold battled with the dull throbbing fire of the bruise. "Thanks..."

"Yeah, she did, but she was freaking drunk since her bloody friends probably dropped by while I was gone. She plays pranks on me often, but I'm sure it's no problem...She woke me up and forced me around the house to do chores while she was in her freaking military costume and armored gloves."

Isi actually looked kind of surprised at the alternatives, Aphismet offered him. Cops? Report her? What would happen if they did that? Where would he go? Would he be taken back to the home to be shuffled about in families again? He wasn't old enough yet to be left to his own devices and besides, he really liked the house...Old Maasi was, though, getting more and more screwed up every day. "I...I don't know. She strung me up in trees, hid my crutches, and whatnot...This is only the second time she's hurt me. I'm sure we'll be alright...?"

Beauregard, moved up onto Rivern's chest since there was hardly a lap for him to lay on and he sang the ballad in his deep rumbling base voice. Every so often, he'd insert Rivener's action into the midle of the lyrics he was singing.

"Billie Jean is not my Riv leaned back in contentment lover!
She's just a girl, she The raevan placed his arm behind the chair thinks I am the one...