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Post by The Jenn on Jan 29, 2008 18:48:23 GMT -5
Chai shrugged her shoulders and followed him down his rabbit hole under the tree - or, if he insisted, the hill. The fear she'd felt initially at his sudden appearance had begun to wear down, partly because she followed his fluffy ass for a hour through the forest and partly because he was being so very, very polite to her. If he was treating her with any sort of manners, chances were that he wasn't planning anything more sinister. Right? That was how things seemed to work a lot of the time, from what she'd seen in the Capital. Sleazy people lived in the 'wrong' side of town and violent, powerful people tended to gravitate more towards the Courts. As she'd seen it.
His home was pretty nice, especially for something underground. The wallpaper was pretty enough and looked well-maintained, the carpets were clean despite the dirt from the Wood that was doubtless tracked inside with some regularity, and... his walls were covered with pictures.
She stared at some of the faces, paying more attention to what they were rather than what their expression were, until her eyes landed on one of the terrified individuals. Her eyebrows raised skeptically. Kind of weird, that one, but the others weren't exactly 'normal' either just because there were so many of them.
"Tea's okay, thanks," she said with a nod, though whether or not it was gracious was hard to tell. "Your house is pretty neat, I've got to admit. I've never seen somebody living underground before. And you, uh. Have a lot of pictures down here. Friends?" She couldn't stop looking around, taking in the different people. It struck her that more than a few of them were Rabbits, but there were Cards in there as well.
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Post by Kiki on Jan 30, 2008 17:41:48 GMT -5
Jenn and Nat receive 1 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe.
This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe.
Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 5, 2008 22:23:37 GMT -5
"Tea it is then..."
The Jack murmured, moving over to the kettle and placing two small brown bags into the pot, he then moved out into the hallway and called down the corridor.
"Ellen! Ellen, dear. Could you join us for a moment, please?"
He then turned back into the room, smiling genteelly and listening to the kitten's next question.
"Glad to hear that you like the decor, it's a bit difficult to keep up with sometimes, but...the price you pay to have a home that's a bit hard to find..."
His ears perked visibly at her next inquiry.
"Friends? in a way, I suppose they are. They are all characters of mine...fictional characters. I am a writer of sorts...and these are the characters I've...grown attached to."
His smile grew more fond, as he gazed around the walls, trailing back to the pictures on his desk. The sound of soft thumps in the hallway distracted him and he turned slightly in his chair.
Another rabbit hopped in, a Doe. Sitting up on her hind legs so that she could gesticulate with her forepaws, the older Villa gave a polite incline of the head and a motherly sort of cluck.
"I was wondering where you had gotten to, sir. Getting a bit worried I was, so I made a little extra for your tea, good thing I did too, nice little friend you've brought back."
Turning to the kitten she gave another soft nod and an affectionate grin to the cute little thing.
"Give me a few seconds to wheel the cart in and I'll be out of your fur, I'll send Fravell by later to pick everything up."
"Ellen..."
The White Rabbit crooned fondly, standing again and coming around the desk to assist her. Standing and sitting so often that he looked as though he were constantly distracted. Unable to simply leave things be while in his home. A few moments later, and he was pulling a silver tray off of a cart and the Doe had hopped over to the fire and, biting down on a hot pad, pulled the kettle off with as much deftness as any Biped, and was pouring the steaming tea into two china cups.
"There you are sir. I've got to go and attend to the kitchen, hand me that towel and I'll be around if you need me."
The White Rabbit swept the towel up and placed it over her back, bending to give her cheek a gentle kiss and her forepaw a light stroke. The Doe giggled and blushed as she maneuvered the cart back out the entrance.
"Thank you, Ellen. Sending Fravell will be fine, you can feel free to take a break for awhile, I shan't need a thing until dinner."
"Oh, sir you dreadful charmer!"
The older Doe chuckled with delight, waving him off playfully as she hopped away behind the cart.
The White Rabbit turned back to the cups of tea and lifted a small container of cream.
"Milk? And how much sugar do you take, Mistress Chai?"
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 5, 2008 22:36:20 GMT -5
The first thing to go through Chai's mind as she watched all of this happen, all the hustle and bustle over a dumb cup of tea, the cooing that she absolutely hated from old women and the fondness between two people that made her want to wrinkle her nose in distaste and faux-barf... which she did a little bit... was 'Geez, Mr. "my house is hidden", the only women you've got are old and all of your friends are imaginary. Way to go. No wonder you're a hermit who wanders around in this creepy place.'
Out loud, she just said, "Uh, lots of milk and no sugar. Thanks. She's, uh. A nice lady, huh? Pretty good at pouring tea without hands." She'd always been crap at maneuvering things that hot and spillable with her mouth or anything else so she could spout that compliment without a snide touch to it.
Then she just turned to stare at the people on the wall again. Really, she couldn't help herself. There were a lot of them and they were all so different. "Your head must be pretty crazy if all those people hatched in there. I've only known a few writers before and most of them were run-down bums. You must do a lot better for yourself. The, uh, the tea smells good."
She was getting a lot more comfortable in the bizarre surroundings, perfectly comfortable with herself now if he was serving something as poncey as tea, which was all the rage in the Courts and had been for forever. Obviously from the way he spoke and acted he was some sort of Rabbit noble. Or just an idiot with delusions of grandeur, but a polite and well-housed idiot. She didn't know. If he was a writer, that probably meant more idiot that not. People couldn't honestly expect to make a living from writing things down, could they?
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 5, 2008 23:16:38 GMT -5
Ignoring how quickly the child spoke and glossing over her grudging sense of manners for the time being, the White Rabbit nodded to her statements and poured the additives to her tea, setting the cup down in front of her in a saucer.
"Yes, she is rather amazing, isn't she? A better maid one could never have than Ellen."
He sat himself back down with his own cup of tea...as she let out her next sentence.
"Crazy? No, I should think not...I've dealt with crazy before and it isn't nearly as organized."
He took a sip of his tea and scanned the pictures on the wall again, his red eyes sliding over each face as memories nibbled at the edges of his thoughts.
"I do rather well for myself and my two servants, yes. It really isn't that hard, characters just seem to...come to me... Glad to hear that you like the tea, it's a good blend, light on the caffeine."
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 5, 2008 23:23:53 GMT -5
Chai dipped her head down to take a lap or two of the tea, not quite able to hide another wrinkling of her nose. Really, she didn't usually like the stuff. She was just trying to be polite. She thought it was kind of like drinking a plant sometimes, and why would anyone want to do that? Especially if it was light on the caffeine!
Her eyes skipped over to his desk and she hesitated on taking another sip, one eyebrow raising slightly. "Organized? Um, Mister White Rabbit, if messy equals crazy then you and I must both be nuts. My room usually looks like a tornado hit and your papers and stuff look about the same."
She watched him watch his pictures briefly before turning her eyes to them again. People came to her sometimes too, but usually they were just asking for money and she told them to suck it up and get a job. For all she knew, maybe some of them were starving writers. At least he was good enough not to starve, right? Or so she guessed, if he had servants. Even if they were old women.
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 5, 2008 23:52:59 GMT -5
The White Rabbit stared at her for a few seconds. Who did this girl think she was? She was no jack, not even an adult, what did she take him for? Few ever managed to use that tone with him for long.
"I'll thank you, Mistress Chai, to be more polite in my presence. It's unbecoming of a young lady to act in such a manner to hosts and superiors."
He sipped his tea again, his papers were not a mess, persay...just in an organized disarray. He knew where everything was and the piles all meant something...what an incredibly impudent child...were she a Rabbit he knew most jacks would have slapped her stupid by now.
He watched her drink her tea without enthusiasm and began to reflect...she hadn't been that interesting thus far. She had been slightly spoiled and a bit of a twit...he would give her one more chance at becoming more. Then he would have to see about what to do with her.
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 6, 2008 0:02:25 GMT -5
Chai looked down at her tea while he stared at her, not noticing and eying the stuff before taking another tentative lap. No caffeine just gave her even less impetus to drink it. With a half-hearted sigh, she looked up at him, then raised another sardonic eyebrow. It was a favored expression of hers, as it was to many teens her age and gender.
"Um, wow. Okay. I'm not a 'young lady', but whatever you want to think, okay Mister Rabbit. I'm sorry I called your desk messy. I, uh, didn't mean it." Of course she did, or she wouldn't have said it in the first place. She hated having to backtrack when adults called her rude. She thought it was just the stupidest thing. And backtracking was what she automatically assumed that she wanted, because that's what all adults seemed to want out of 'unbecoming' young people. Was that what she was? Pfft.
She turned her gaze back to his wall and eyed it some more. The pictures were really some of the most interesting things in the room besides the giant Rabbit sitting near her, in a suit and talking, and he was starting to get kind of boring already, just like a lot of adults did. She'd honestly expected more out of a Rabbit. Weren't they supposed to be untouchable and mysterious as well as not real?
Then something struck her and her eyes flicked across the wall again, scrolling along more quickly. "Looks like your head didn't come up with any Morganberries," she said in a tone that was half disappointed and half disapproving. All of her family was either Highland or Highland-mix. Only she and her mother were pure Morganberries, and it annoyed her to no end. Just because they had such strong Highland blood, her three highest ranked siblings were allowed to live in the Palace of Hearts. That really got her peeved whenever she thought about it.
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 10, 2008 19:37:41 GMT -5
The White Rabbit just stared at her over his teacup, unable to form coherent words. Had the child really just said that? Was she really that stupid to use such words around her elders? Around a male?
She was pretending to apologize? To him!? The White Rabbit wasn't sure what to say at first, simply sitting there and watching her, his fingers tightening around the handle of his teacup.
It was no longer what she was saying, he no longer cared, but how she was saying it...
"No...I don't suppose any Morganberries came to me...until now..."
Came the low whisper as he glanced at her, his red eyes glinting in the fire light. He looked at her face, pondering...
She was unsightly and a bit stupid, her face didn't reveal anything to him and she wasn't interesting enough to keep his attention any longer. He had lost interest...in her existence.
"You are a rather horrid little child, aren't you? I must wonder, what might have happened if you were an attractive and interesting individual..? Sadly, you will never grace my wall."
So saying he stood, replacing his cup gently on the table and giving her a small smile, eyes half closed.
Then he pulled out his pocket watch. Flipping open the top he stared down at it for a few seconds.
"Let's go back to a time before you were such a brat, shall we?
There was a sudden flash of light.
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 10, 2008 19:49:52 GMT -5
Turning back as the Rabbit flipped open his watch, Chai's expression turned stormy and she opened her mouth to respond-
-and abruptly found herself in the body of an infant. No, not an infant... her as an infant. This was her mother's home when she was a child and she glanced around her in panic, eyes flicking to her brother, Tristian... also an infant and sharing the nest of blankets they all used to sleep in when they were especially small.
She tried not to panic, tried to convince herself that whatever this was, it was okay, nothing was going to happen... since she obviously wasn't a baby if she could remember the things she could, growing up and watching everyone else around her grow up too. Tristian certainly wasn't a baby anymore.
Struggling for a moment, she rolled until she could toddle-crawl out of the furs and across the floor. Was anyone else here? No... this seemed to be a day when everyone was away. Her mother... her other siblings... all of them were out. But she could still smell all of them in the nest of furs. How far back was this? Was it the day they'd all been taken away? Was her mother at the palace? This was before her conscious memory before, though apparently for some reason she was remembering it now. Was living it. Sort of? Maybe?
What was going on?!
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