lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
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Post by lovely corte on Nov 26, 2013 21:20:32 GMT -8
Always believing patience is a virtue, the brief, at least to her, fifteen-to-twenty minute drive was a moment for Lena to relax. She hadn't had much time to be on her own, especially with the Dwarves hanging around her on a near constant basis.
She knew when she got back home that she'd be scrubbing her laptop clean of 'business', or at least slapping Wetfoot until he did, but she also knew that the boxes would be unpacked, everything would be tidy and that she wouldn't have to worry about it later on.
Driving directly up to the house, Lena pulled on the break before she pushed open the door. Stretching, she didn't beep her car. Who would come out here to jack her ride?
This place was mostly designed for chainsaw massacres or tree rape. Something classy. Not a car jacking.
"Maaaay~!" Lena called, rasping on the front door. She pressed herself against one of the windows to peer in. "Get your white ass out here, lady!"
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Post by Alastor on Nov 26, 2013 21:26:45 GMT -8
Lena felt a tap on her shoulder then, as May stood right behind her. How she missed the girl wasn't her concern, to be honest.
"I'm right here, you know." She said bluntly and just as tiredly, holding the bottle in hand. "Damn thing gave me hell when trying to put it in a bottle."
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 26, 2013 22:15:00 GMT -8
It was warm. It wasn't hot, exactly - but just warm enough for his body to tighten beneath the water. He liked it like this because it let him feel something, and let him collect his thoughts. For a few seconds, he sat normal, staring at the faucets, his mind clearing away all of the unneccessary items, pushing them aside and creating a clear, spotlighted platform in the middle of his head. Only then did he lean back, eyes shut, and let the waves overtake him.
It was scary at first - instincts try to take hold and one has to push past them. The water gushed into his ears and nostrils, pooled across his eyes and soaked his cheeks. He felt the force of his air rising from his lips, heard the soft blubs of bubbles rising to the surface. His hair floated lethargically around his head, each strand reaching and grasping for things above that they could not reach.
This was how he felt at peace. No thoughts, no words. Here, in this strange world, his thoughts ran together with his senses, and he drifted off into that same, elusive state that kept him awake every night - but not now.
"Grandmother Florence!"
He didn't know exactly how he got here, at first. Whatever sense of panic he'd felt briefly, however, vanished the second he realized where he was. He stood now, perfectly strong, on the cherry-wood patio of a cottage lifted straight from a fairytale, his hand poised to knock, and face brightly lit. To his right stood a man, taller than he could see at this point, and to his left stood a girl, much smaller than he remembered. He looked between them both, still happy, but now concerned.
This was the third time they'd knocked, and there was no answer.
"Maybe she's sleeping," the little girl suggested.
"She can't. She doesn't ever sleep this late," he retorted, "It's already noon."
"Well, maybe she's out," the man hesitated to say.
"She never goes anywhere. She usually has me run errands for her..."
"Does Mommy have a spare key?"
"No, Mama'd be the last person to have one."
"Is the door even locked?" The man asked, "You didn't even try the handle."
"I thought it would be impolite..."
"Ryan, if she hasn't come to the door between the time you got us and now, something could be really wrong."
The boy looked up at the man again. His heart thudded into his ears, drowning out the sounds of the birds squawking above. He slowly nodded, took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and opened the door.
It swung open in one swift move. He kept his eyes closed. His brother stayed absolutely silent next to him, while his sister gave a gasp.
"I-I'll go get Mommy!" She cried, sprinting off back through the woods, through the often-trod-on path that lay through the brush by now. He opened his eyes.
He always knew, in a way, that this day would come - after all, his grandmother was impossibly old, wasn't she? And she had seemed to have known it, lately. She'd been hurrying up their studies, and she'd been telling him - about what? The words 'others' echoed into his head. The bad ones. But even knowing that it would happen, even with the fact that his gut had dropped the second he had rushed back to get his siblings after she hadn't opened the door for him the first time - none of it could have prepared him for it.
His face sagged, and his eyes grew disillusioned as they stared at the woman lying on the ground, pen in hand. A paper had floated down to rest a few feet away from her body. Without thinking, he went inside on a cloud to pick up the paper. It read, simply, 'To my dearest,'- and that was it.
He felt himself shake as he looked back down at her, closer now, but the rest of his body felt numb, as if it were on another plane of existence.
Somehow he ended up on his knees, with his brother's hands on his shoulders. He wasn't even sure if he was crying, but now everything was bungling together - he saw his sister and his mother come back in, saw his mother light a cigarette and go to the phone - he saw a room that was plain white, with rows of chairs and a single, ugly painting of a pink flower in a green pot, outlined with a wood frame attempting to hide the hideously chipping paint - he saw a white marble angel much taller than he was - he saw the rain pouring down from the clouds with flashes of light - he saw the dirt rising - he saw red.
His eyes burst open, the red blotting away to view the water. He felt strange, faraway sensations, small, sharp ticklings against his skin that grew heavier and heavier - and then he saw the bubbles surrounding him, coating the top thickly - he felt it burning his skin and his lungs at the same time.
He shot out of the tub, spluttering and grasping the side of the cabinet for support, his legs giving way. Sparks zipped about the edges of his vision as he looked around the room to make sure he still wasn't dreaming. The water was dying down, and steam rose both from his body and from it. Still attempting to breath, he sunk to the ground, grabbing the towel and wrapping it around himself, staring down at his legs, tinged pink, and waited to feel normal again.
It took more than five minutes, he knew that much. He let the tub run out, dried himself off, and got changed into his normal clothes for the day before leaving the bathroom, still somewhat out of it, but much less so.
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Post by JW% on Nov 27, 2013 16:28:12 GMT -8
Kyle was outside, shirtless despite the chill. A good brace of exercise would warm him up to the point that he was sweating anyway. Inside his grandmother was ignoring her bowl of cream of wheat in favor of mangling a grapefruit and swallowing whatever pills came easy to hand so that she could claim she ate something healthy. Kyle did his best to make sure that the pills she took were indeed the ones that the doctor prescribed, but that seldom worked as both grandparents were of the opinion that throwing the contents of a dozen pill bottles into a single bowl and taking a handful a few times a day was how best to keep the doctor from complaining. Kyle hadn't had breakfast yet, he'd eat when he got back in. His grandfather would fix something heavy with starch and fats. Sausage and egg over hashbrowns was the most normal event, but hashbrown sandwiches had been one breakfast, steak and sausage fried in butter another. His grandmother did her best to avoid anything his grandfather cooked, and his grandfather did his best to fix everyones meals, since he didn't trust Kyle to cook and didn't believe anything from a garden should go in your mouth. The result was usually that Kyle was stuck in the middle.
Kyle hefted the ten pound maul with a practiced ease. Split firewood, eat breakfast, take shower, go to work. That was a morning for him. He'd long since past the point where he'd realized he was never cold in the house. True, it was an old house, with no real insulation. You could practically feel the temperature outside just by holding your hand to one of the thin panes of glass in the windows(where there wasn't duct tape and cardboard covering the hole as grandmother had lost her balance and fallen through a few before Kyle had come to take care of them and nobody felt the need to buy new windows). No, there was no need for anything fancy like insulation, so long as they kept a merry fire in the fireplace. Often it was sauna warm in the house and Kyle spent the night with his window open watching the snow shrivel and melt in a nice butterfly shape as the heat made it through his closed door and out the window.
And to keep that fire going, they needed firewood to burn. Preferably small pieces, since anything over about five inches grandmother couldn't lift to put in the fire. Which meant somebody had to split it. That somebody was Kyle. Four dump truck loads of wood of various kinds and dubious quality had been purchased over the last few months, and from the sprawling pile Kyle pulled out a good looking round of hardwood.
The maul had a sledge hammer on one end for hammering things, but as Kyle lifted it above his head he aimed the axe blade at the round. Straight up, gripping the end of the handle. Aim at the ground below the round that you couldn't see. Breath in. Swing.
The maul bounced from the wouldbe stovewood. There was a knot somewhere in the wood, a branch that strengthened the grains by twisting them against one another. Another swing, another bounce, but on impact there was a distinct cracking noise that Kyle had learned to listen for. Without that cracking sound it was time to find a new way to hit the thing, or give up and find another round to work with. By the fourth swing the wood had split. He set the pieces back up and swung again, cleaving the section without that unrevealed knot easily. After all, he needed to knock this thing into sixteenths or smaller(sometimes much smaller, depending on the size of the round) before anyone but him could be expected to handle it.
From the woodpile an antennaed head poked out, watching Kyle. The beetle was easily as big as Kyles fist. But it didn't make any further moves than to watch him work for the half hour it took to get four rounds split into small enough sections and loaded onto a wheel barrow to haul back to the house where he'd stack it in the woodbox. This full wheel barrow would be enough to get them through the morning, though he'd need to do this again once he was home from work. And he'd be hearing complaints about how grandmother was cold.
He went back in to eat breakfast(buttered sausage and spam over deepfried but still runny egg this morning) and make certain that grandmother was fully dressed. He had to put her shoes and socks on her himself, as nobody else in the house could bend over far enough to reach their, or anyone elses, feet.
In all, an average morning. One that tended to blur into the next and then the next.
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Post by Adlai Stevenson on Nov 27, 2013 23:15:54 GMT -8
"Goody? Are you okay in here?" The cat, who had followed her, bounded inside to see the girl looking through a book. "She's reading a creepy book that looks like the Necronomicon. Define your value of 'okay,'" the cat, if it was possible, rolled its eyes, hopping up onto the table with some difficulty. There was a rustling behind the door to Goody's apartment, what sounded like the crashing of pots and pans against each other, and one final noise that started like a jet turbine and ended like the sheathing of a medieval sword. The doorknob jiggled from the other side, and with a groan, it was opened. Goody smiled at her old friend and her pet boyfriend. "Just dandy," she said with a bit of a huff, wiping her dark hair from her peripheral vision. "Thanks for coming so quickly, you're a doll." Goody left the door agape as she dashed off into the confines of her rented abode, assuming Liz would hopefully close it behind her. "Step in to my parlor, said the spider to the fly," she said from her kitchen. "Want anything? Breakfast? Coffee? Microwaved taquitos?"
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lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
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Post by lovely corte on Nov 28, 2013 4:27:20 GMT -8
Flinching, Lena turned to face this newest 'threat' before she realized who it was, visibly relaxing as she took a few deep breaths, eased into a comfortable position and let out a fit of anxious laughter before she cupped the girl around the shoulders, bringing her in for a tight hug and kissing her on the cheek.
"Don't scare me like that. I thought you were some fucking murderer." She said, holding the girl at arm's length. "You still could be. You have the eyes. Like you're on heroin."
Taking the bottle from the girl, Lena held it up at eye-level to a ray of sunlight peeking through the coverings, swirling the contents and inspecting it. She smiled at the girl before she walked over to her car, gently setting it in the passenger seat.
"Come on. Let me give you a tattoo." The Swedish woman began, taking May's arm and holding it up at eye level for a moment for inspection, tracing around her forearm. "Maybe something... cute. Not too masculine. A floral design. Plus, you have this stuff on tap."
"Imagine the badass shit you could do." She continued, before she let the girl go. She turned to look at the house. "Going to invite me in?"
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Post by Alastor on Nov 28, 2013 11:14:45 GMT -8
"For the last time, Lena, no." May sighed, yanking her arm away. "And yeah, if you want to, you can come in before I have to leave."
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 28, 2013 11:35:48 GMT -8
"Holy shit, microwaved taquitos sound fucking amazing right now, I've been craving them for weeks." The girl followed her into the kitchen after shutting the door, slumping down into one of the chairs. One foot rested on one of the table legs and pushed her back a bit while the other made sure she didn't fall flat on the back of her head. "So what's the sitch?"
"Are we going to ignore the Necronomicon book thing?" The cat mumbled, nestling into the table.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kyle would find that although the early morning had seemed very routine and hazy as usual, something would very quickly tear him out of it.
There was a flash of light outside, like lightening - even with the sky as soft a blue as it was. There was no sound they could hear in the house, however. Kyle probably thought nothing of it, until a few moments later, there came an authoritative knock at the door - a knock that suggested 'If you don't answer, something very, very bad is going to happen right now, and don't think it won't.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The boy had stumbled out into the hallway, and now sat down at the couch with the TV on (and he wasn't really sure what he was even watching at this point). He was still dripping, his hair clinging to his neck and face in thick locks of curls, and his shirt soaked. His skin was still a reddish-pink, and his eyes drooped tiredly as he sat huddled up in his and his adopted sister's blankets.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Nov 28, 2013 12:03:11 GMT -8
Amrita had been plopped on the couch, and stated at Ryan as he sat down next to her,
"You don't look so good..." she said. Yet again she was feeling like a freeloader. But after the fight she had with her mother last night, she didn't feel lie returning home till later.
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lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
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Post by lovely corte on Nov 28, 2013 17:18:36 GMT -8
"You're so cute when you're angry." Lena remarked, stepping up to the front door and rasping on the door before the tattooed girl pushed it open quietly. "Hello?"
"You'll come around, May." She continued, making sure that she didn't track mud or leaves into the house. "Just need time."
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Post by Alastor on Nov 28, 2013 22:17:13 GMT -8
The British girl rolled her eyes as she sat down on the couch. She looked at Ryan then, seeing the boiled-pink skin of her boyfriend.
"Ryan, this isn't Hansel and Gretel." She remarked. "You didn't have to boil yourself for dinner."
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 28, 2013 22:29:25 GMT -8
"I made water boil."
If his face didn't convey the sheer amount of shock the boy had as he spoke to Amrita, then his voice, with hushed, reverent tones, surely did. That was when May came in with Lena, and proceeded to make it infinitely less cool.
"I-I don't even know how it happened! Pretty sure I wouldn't have, yknow... tried boiling myself alive."
He reached a hand up to his hair, pushing it up and away from his neck. The girls got a good look at a gnarly scar at his temple before he immediately pulled his bangs back over it self-consciously.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Nov 28, 2013 22:34:01 GMT -8
"Oh uhh...wow..." Amrita said, "Congrats? Well not with the boiling alive part... but you know what I mean."
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Post by JW% on Nov 29, 2013 15:39:24 GMT -8
"There's somebody at the door." Kyle said. His grandfather looked confused for a moment.
"What fell on the floor?"
"He said door." His grandmother corrected, sitting in her electric wheelchair contently having 'eaten' breakfast already. Kyle would have to clean up the bowl of cereal that was untouched since he put it in front of her, and the grapefruit that had been mangled until the juice covered the plate. At least she'd drank her tea.
"You know I can't understand you when you have your mouth full." Replied the patriarch of the house to the matriarch. Not that she had anything but false teeth in her mouth at the moment, they did gargle her speech somewhat since she tended to speak through clenched teeth in order to keep them from falling out.
"Door. Door." Kyle repeated in greater volume as he got up. His grandfather hadn't put in the hearing aid yet, and probably wouldn't all day. It was so much easier to ignore people when you couldn't hear them after all, and his grandfather seemed to have little to do with other peoples words even when they could be driven into his perceptions. "I'll get it."
"Don't worry about what's on the floor, you might want to get the door though."
Kyle focused on his breathing, still not having had his shower yet, and having just slipped on one of his favorite tshirts to eat breakfast. The runes carved into the doorframe glowed softly as he opened the door to look at who was knocking.
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Post by Alastor on Nov 29, 2013 23:34:36 GMT -8
" I made water boil." If his face didn't convey the sheer amount of shock the boy had as he spoke to Amrita, then his voice, with hushed, reverent tones, surely did. That was when May came in with Lena, and proceeded to make it infinitely less cool. "I-I don't even know how it happened! Pretty sure I wouldn't have, yknow... tried boiling myself alive." He reached a hand up to his hair, pushing it up and away from his neck. The girls got a good look at a gnarly scar at his temple before he immediately pulled his bangs back over it self-consciously. May's eyebrow quirked up at this mention. "That's... strange, love." She said, wincing as she saw the scar. Ghastly thing, she always thought from the brief glimpses. "What were you doing?"
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lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
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Post by lovely corte on Nov 30, 2013 0:35:58 GMT -8
"Hey, hey." Lena said, walking into the living room happily. She pulled her hair around over her shoulder, running her hands through it before she fell in between the brother and sister, throwing her arms around the two. She played casually with Ryan's hair with her fingers. "Look who has potential over here."
"What about these two May?" Lena asked, looking at the girl. "Should they get one? Maybe two? Nothing like a tramp stamp. Maybe a wrist tattoo for her. A sleeve for him."
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 30, 2013 0:44:32 GMT -8
He saw her wince, and looked towards Amrita quickly while continuing.
"Well, I... I had a nightmare. I didn't mean to fall asleep in the water, it just... kinda happened." He stared at Lena, thoroughly confused. "...But... I already have sleeves?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Standing in the doorway was a proud looking woman. She was not taller than Kyle - in fact, perhaps much shorter - but the air she gave off was that of a giant.
"I am here to see..." she paused, looking him over. "...Your grandmother."
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Post by Alastor on Nov 30, 2013 1:01:54 GMT -8
The brunette ignored Lena's suggestions as she focused on her boyfriend's explanation, nodding along deep in though.
"...We're taking you to your doctor to get you some sleeping pills." She said while shrugging, thinking of it as the only explanation. "And..."
She paused, thinking. The fact he was, effectively, a human heater was strange. While she knew his grandmother was a witch herself, being told so by her Grandma Eloise, that wasn't something that was supposed to happen. Was it latent magical ability? She wondered. She'd have to talk to her mother about it...
"...Nevermind."
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lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
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Post by lovely corte on Nov 30, 2013 3:04:01 GMT -8
"It's nothing to be worried about, Vacker Pojke." Lena said, allowing the boy some personal space as she crossed her arms over herself carefully, smiling. She turned her head to look at the newly-turned Warlock, laughing. "Maybe with some practice, you can control those things."
She clapped a hand onto his thigh, squeezing.
"This is a new beginning." She continued. "Great and wonderful things are to come from this."
"Tattoo sleeves." She corrected the boy, laughing. She pulled up her own arm, holding it next to his before dropping it into her lap. "Hey! He has the potential for magic, I could... you know, just increase his prowess."
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 30, 2013 10:05:19 GMT -8
Confused at May's sudden dropping of the subject, he looked over towards Lena's arms, taking one and looking at the designs up and down them.
"Wow. Yours are really cool! Sometimes I forget I'm old enough to have tattoos. I swear to god next year I'll just say 'Hey guys, I'm legal in most states now!'"
May would feel her pocket start to buzz and vibrate, the phone inside blasting out her ringtone.
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Post by Alastor on Nov 30, 2013 11:02:25 GMT -8
The girl pulled out her phone, seeing the number- an out of country one, in fact. She answered it, immedately knowing it was her mother.
"Hi Mom. How was the flight from London?"
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 30, 2013 11:09:00 GMT -8
"Just fine, dear," the woman's voice was pumped to the brim with tense energy, "Your grandmother left us, I'm not sure where she went, your sister's gone off with her girlfriend and your brother's just sitting he- Griffon get your ass over here!" The woman put her hand on the receiver, hissing something to her son. May caught the phrase 'you don't know this place' somewhere in there. "Anyways, it's just me, your father, and your brother, and we've been here for a while. When will you get here? Have you left yet? Did you get any sleep last night? I told you, you don't have to worry about cleaning up the whole place, your grandmother isn't actually that strict, she was completely bluffing last time, remember?"
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Post by Alastor on Nov 30, 2013 11:20:24 GMT -8
"I thought Carrie and her were in France still, and he was still in Princeton." May replied trying to keep up with her mother's energy, "And no, I haven't even left, you were supposed to call when you got off the plane, and I got plenty of sleep, Mom. And you know Grandmother will lie and say she was joking!"
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 30, 2013 11:23:18 GMT -8
"Well, start coming, we haven't got all day. And even if so, May, it's rude to say she lies." She paused, and from her tone May could tell she was grinning. "Are we gonna see all your new friends here, Maybee?"
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Post by Alastor on Nov 30, 2013 11:30:28 GMT -8
May sighed then, "Yes'm, Mum." She replied. "I'll be there in an hour, I have to buy groceries real quick. Love you."
The brunette hung up the phone then, running off to grab her car keys from the counter. "Ryan, I'll be back in a bit."
She ran to the door then, going outside before poking her head back in. "And Ami, make sure Lena doesn't do anything crazy. I can't trust Ryan with that."
She darted back out, slamming the door behind her as she ran to her car.
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Post by JW% on Nov 30, 2013 15:26:15 GMT -8
Standing in the doorway was a proud looking woman. She was not taller than Kyle - in fact, perhaps much shorter - but the air she gave off was that of a giant. "I am here to see..." she paused, looking him over. "...Your grandmother." Kyle showed no sign of surprise or other reaction to the woman who looked rather full of herself. Not that seeing anyone in the area wasn't a surprise in itself, it's just that when somebody did show up they tended to do it without warning, and nobody ever wanted to see him. This didn't look like someone in the towns politics, so it wasn't for his grandfather, meaning of course they were here to see his grandmother. The lightshow earlier wasn't entirely unnoticed after all. No more than the sound of a car pulling up the hillside driveway. "She's eating breakfast." Kyle responded, offering no invitation but neither directly barring her from entering on her own. The wards wouldn't stop that which was invited, just like a firewall wouldn't stop intrusion when you opened the ports. His grandparents never locked their doors, his grandfather didn't even lock his car door or take the keys out, but that didn't mean that just anything could come in. There was a judgement on those who entered with out invitation after all. "May I ask who wants to see her?" He stepped aside, to deliver whatever message this new arrival had.
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 30, 2013 23:05:00 GMT -8
"I thought we were going? Oh, yeah, siblings, I get it-hey!" The boy looked at least marginally offended by the jab, and pouted for a moment after she left before looking to the others. "So... what sort of magic do you guys have?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The woman paused, continuing to stare him straight in the eye.
"Tell Kate that Eloise is here to see her."
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Nov 30, 2013 23:08:35 GMT -8
Amrita's response was to simply blow a gust of air into Ryan's face, messing his hair up.
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lovely corte
Persistent Member
Lindsey Looseflaps
HE LOOKED AT ME! HE LOOKED RIGHT AT ME!
Posts: 1,402
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Post by lovely corte on Nov 30, 2013 23:23:06 GMT -8
"Hey, since your girlfriend over there supplies me, you come into my store when It's finished and you can get a tattoo for free." Lena said, pulling her arm away and smiling at the boy. "No matter how large the piece or where. On the house."
"I'm not going to do anything." She defended herself, before she stood up, stretching. "I'm just hungry."
Making her way over into the kitchen, Lena began to rummage as if it were her own home.
"I-uuh... you guys got anything?" She called out. "I control nature and shit... I also have Dwarves, but... they're at home."
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Post by JW% on Nov 30, 2013 23:23:55 GMT -8
Kyle shrugged and headed back into the kitchen. "I assume you heard." He told his grandmother, who simply nodded, and her chair lurched as she moved to see what was going on.
In the meantime, Kyle had a shower to take and a job to get ready for.
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