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Post by The Jenn on Feb 27, 2008 14:06:38 GMT -5
Femi watched him go with a bemused "Alright, love." If he wanted tea, they could have tea. She certainly didn't mind. With the children asleep, it would be a good time to enjoy another cup, and she knew that Vren liked it well enough to sit and drink it with them. She went into her doll room and carefully moved two so that she could bring in a chair for their guest to sit on, taking the bed for herself and smiling at him.
He smiled back and settled, eyes half on her and half on the children. "We can talk to him when he gets back," the man said in an agreeable tone. If he was invited for tea, that would mean they'd all have to sit and socialize. That seemed perfect to him. "In the meantime, tell me how married life is treating you and what it's like to be a mother. I've always been of half a mind to adopt a child or two to help me around the tower. Of course, I would find one substantially older."
Smiling even wider now that she knew the subject was going to be one she enjoyed, she started chattering happily until Kazifel returned.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 27, 2008 14:33:25 GMT -5
Kazifel returned with the tray in his hands. He did his best to smile as he handed the cups to Vren and Femi. He took as seat next to Femi as he looked down at his teacup. Tea always meant you had to socialize and talk. Something th Kazifel had never been trilled about, ever.
Bad memories. He closed his eyes briefly and mentally shook them off. He didn't need to think about that right now. He looked at Vren curiously, wondering what he wanted. He knew full well that this whole being a doll thing once was a big deal. He honestly didn't care. It was all behind him and he didn't want to recount the story unless someone got on their knees and begged.
He tapped his fingers on the glass uncomfortably. This was the first time in a long while he felt uncomfortable being in his human form. The man took a sip of his tea and briefly glanced at Femi. Why did her parents have to be mages?
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 27, 2008 15:15:05 GMT -5
Vren accepted his cup with a murmured word of thanks, sipping the drink politely and smiling at the taste. It was quite good tea. The man knew how to make it. What a pleasant surprise.
Femi scooted a little closer to him and took the hand that wasn't holding his cup, the one that tapped the glass. It was smooth skin in her furred hand and she tilted her head, slowly shifting into her new human form so that she would 'fit' better now that he'd decided to shift. With both of them as humans, it just worked to go into her own human form as well. She rubbed her thumb along its palm soothingly, not quite sure why he was on edge but seeing the signs clearly enough. Maybe it was because of the potion she'd inadvertently quaffed?
The mage set his tea on his lap for balance and looked up at Kazifel with intent Tulgey eyes. "I find it more than remarkable that you were able to return from an animated wooden state to one of flesh and blood. This is an absolutely revolutionary development. My clearing away of the small amount of blockage paved the way for some small amount of change, but I had no idea that something this drastic would be occurring as a result of your own work."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 27, 2008 19:24:43 GMT -5
That look really bothered Kazifel, but he didn't wince. Femi was doing her best to make him feel better. And Vren was harmless, wasn't he? Worrying for nothing, honestly.
"I know it's amazing. I don't know how it was done though. It's easy to make idle speculation about how it was possible, but I don't think there's a definite answer to anything. All I know is that... now I'm completely normal again." He shrugged before taking a long sip of his tea. Was he even saying the right things? He didn't know anymore. People were just so complicated.
"As "revolutionary" as it is, I don't think there's much to be done in the area. Well, there is another person who... is a doll like I was, but I don't think you could get a hold of her anytime soon." Kazifel shifted awkwardly. Mili. Why did he have to think of Mili?
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 27, 2008 21:14:05 GMT -5
Ah. As soon as Kazifel mentioned the other doll, Femi thought she understood. So thoughts of Mili were making him upset? She supposed she could understand that. Whenever anyone referenced his time as a living doll, they were inadvertently dredging up memories of her as well, and that couldn't make him anything but depressed, especially with how they'd parted company.
Vren took a sip of his tea and regarded the pair of them with a slightly less intense gaze. It seemed to be making the man quite uncomfortable. But... this was just too interesting. "So more than one person was turned into a doll when you yourself had it happen? That is most interesting. I wish you had mentioned that to me earlier. So the process is repeatable... not that I would, mind. Not to a person, at any rate. But if it were possible to attached wooden limbs to individuals and have them animate as if they were natural to the body... that would be quite the development. Not my area of study, but promising nonetheless."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 27, 2008 21:28:38 GMT -5
"Mili was the first," Kazifel said looking down into his tea. He had been in that basement, and he had looked at all of his sisters notes. Memorized them. The original concepts and the forgotten ones. He could probably recite what was possible and what wasn't. That was the one thing Kazifel didn't want to do.
"Successful one that is, and actually, we thought she was dead. I didn't know the transfer had been successful until my return to Corvistowne with Femi. She couldn't even move properly," Kazifel seemed to be choking on his words. He needed to calm down and think this through. "I'm pretty sure the research couldn't be applied to connecting flesh and wood, magically or otherwise. Anyway, it would be easier to connect nerves and such to a mechanical device with electrical impulses rather than using magic. Plus, my sisters research is too dangerous, I assure you."
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 27, 2008 21:38:28 GMT -5
Vren listened to him speak with a face of concentration and consideration. He wasn't going to discount a warning like that, especially from someone who presumably knew much more about the process than he did and had firsthand experience with its results. Turning people into dolls was something he found quite distasteful - it was taking something away from them that no one had any right to take away, consciously or unconsciously.
"Alright, I won't pester you for any more details. I appreciate your talking for me at all. This is obviously quite a sensitive topic." From the way the man was choking up on his words, the tone of his voice and his expression, it obviously wouldn't be wise to press much further if he wanted any sort of cooperation in the future.
Femi didn't like that tone at all and put her tea down on the floor so she could wrap her arms around him and lean in. She wasn't in the least bit hesitant about shows of affection while they were in their home, whether they had visitors or not. It was just her way. "It's alright, love. Nobody else can do what she did. Nobody else will be turned into a doll like that."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 27, 2008 21:51:02 GMT -5
"No it's..." he began, and then Femi wrapped her arms around him. She was there. He was safe. But what if? What if something happened and someone was able to do what Cassiel did? He hadn't been able to destroy all the research, since he didn't know where everything was. He took a sharp inhale to snap himself out of this horrible state. They still had company. He couldn't break down just yet.
"It's all right. I suppose I had to talk about it sometime. It's just... not something to be taken lightly. My sister was insane. She killed quite a few people to find the answers to her research. She got three varying degrees of successfulness. Mili was a failure, I was a failure, and there was the person after me. She was the closet thing to successful. And she was destroyed rather early on." He closed his eyes. He couldn't talk about it anymore with crying. "I suppose the rest of it can wait until I can keep my act together."
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 27, 2008 22:03:18 GMT -5
Vren slowly nodded his head and set his cup and saucer down on the floor, standing and offering them both a short, polite bow. "Thank you both for the tea. I greatly appreciate your hosting me on such short notice. I don't wish to make a burden of myself, as I seem to be doing, especially not when the two of you have just finished with your honeymoon. I apologize if I've caused any distress. It was not my intent." He really didn't wish to upset Femi's household at the moment. He was just so... curious...
Smiling at him, though still looking worried, Femi offered him a short bob of her head, still wrapped around her husband. "Thank you for stopping by, Vren. I'm always happy to see you and I hope you'd consider doing it again sometime." The man smiled at her words and took his leave, giving one glance chance to their gaggle of adorably mutated children.
Once he'd left the room, Femi changed back into a squirrel and practically pulled Kazifel into her lap, hugging him tightly.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 27, 2008 22:09:46 GMT -5
Kazifel didn't reply to Vren, he simply looked at the tea in his hands. He couldn't look up. He was going to break down. The man just needed to go. He bit his lip until he heard the door close. By the time Femi pulled him down into her lap his lip was bleeding.
He burst into tears. Mili. Cassiel. The Heart girl that he had broken--no murdered. Everything in his past was horrible. He had done horrible things. And all the people he cared about were gone. He had Femi now though, so why was he crying?
It still hurt. He could feel the pain. He didn't want to lose her like everything else. It was all his fault that everyone was gone. It was his fault that Mili was broken and couldn't be fixed. It was his fault that Cassiel did what she did.
It was all his fault.
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