|
|
Post by Lucca on Mar 13, 2010 23:27:26 GMT -5
Eldy waited very patiently for the little Bat to start moving. And she waited some more. And more. Until her patience was starting to wear thin. "Vaska?" she hissed, voice no louder than a whisper lest she upset the delicate balance of his already questionable sanity. Not entirely sure if he'd heard her, Eldy resisted the urge to smack one of his large, apparently useless ears with a paw, instead just moving until she could see his face. Her ear went back in annoyance. His mind was obviously 'elsewhere'.
Right when the Feline was about to decide she'd had enough of this for one day and it might be time to take off...the Bat finally moved. Frowning, Eldy followed him, silent paws stumbling a bit to keep behind her half brother's odd gait. She was already nearly at her limit of dealing with stupidity, and when he turned and had to say -that-, in just that way, reminding her oh-so-much of her lovely little encounter with Apocalypse, Eldy puffed up, backing away from the little bat a pace or two before she realized how silly she was being.
So she merely narrowed her purple eyes at the little runt, and forced her voice level, even though part of her just wanted to scream. "Fine." She wasn't even sure what secret she was being asked to keep, in all honesty, and she forced herself to take a deep, calming breath. Soon. Soon she would leave these two--well, three--to their own devices and retreat back to her safe little corner for the night. This would teach her to offer to help babysit...
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Mar 14, 2010 16:02:41 GMT -5
It was the same as it always was. They followed Vaska through all the hoops silently. Benedict couldn't help but feel sightly bitter about the entire situation. If he had had a body of his own he wouldn't have to deal with this nonsense. He could go off and do his own thing, and not have to put up with this... this.
Falks twitched every now and again. He really didn't like the idea that their Alex was up on the roof. Mommy had been specif that they would be punished if they didn't properly take care of him. When Mommy made a threat she went through with it. So there was a good reason to be worried. What would she do if she found out?
Then again, it wasn't his fault this time. The boy nearly ran into his older sister when they came to a stop. He gave a hushed apology as he pressed against the wall.
|
|
|
|
Post by carcinoGeneticist on Apr 5, 2010 17:30:41 GMT -5
Was that enough? Vaska swallowed hard, trying to decide if he really trusted his half-sister. She was family, sure, but she seemed really mad, and he had no way of knowing for sure if she meant what she said. Part of him wanted to make her super-swear, but there was something in her expression that even the crazy little bat could recognize as a danger-sign. It was time to stop pushing the issue, before she tried to hurt him. Or Falksie got too anxious, considering he'd done something Mommy and Daddy had made him promise he wouldn't do. The little bat's mouth quivered, clearly seconds away from bursting into tears. Everyone was so mad at him! What if Alex was mad, too? Abruptly, the boy shoved the door open, then stumbled out onto the roof. As much as it might have seemed otherwise, Alex was certain he hadn't been forgotten yet. He wasn't entirely sure how long he'd been waiting, just that it had been a long while and it was starting to get cold. And boring. There was only so long he could stare down at people milling around the Court before it got really very tiring, and that point had passed long before. The bird fluffed up his feathers and sighed, glancing back at the doorway. Did he hear something? A second later, the door swung open, and the rook let out a delighted shout, stumbling forward. He couldn't make it very far with the collar around his neck, but he was going to try. " Vaska![/b]" He exclaimed, ready to ask where the boy'd been, but then he spied an unfamiliar figure and ate his words with a cough. Instead, he simply cawed. |
|
|
|
Post by Lucca on Apr 5, 2010 21:02:12 GMT -5
And now Vaska looked like he was going to cry. Wonderful. Great. JUST what Eldy thought she needed. Whatever her Mom had been drinking while carrying her crazy half brother, Eldy wanted to never even so much as taste it. Sure, stupidity wasn't catching, but why take a risk?
She bit her tongue until she could taste blood just trying to calm down. She'd thought she matured more than this in her time away, but perhaps she just hadn't dealt with enough crazies. Well, there had been Hatter, but...he was different. When the door opened, Eldy's ears twitched as she heard an unfamiliar voice. The Ace? It was speaking? Had it never been taught how to properly act or...oh. She felt its eyes on her, and heard the 'caw', and looked up to regard the pet.
"Well, here he is, just like you said he would be, Vaska. Now let's get him back inside, hm?" Eldy said as gently as she could, though some of her anger was already fading. She looked the Ace over. It wasn't nearly as cute as Fluffy. She did have to wonder, though, why it couldn't just fly down from the roof? Maybe it had been ordered not to. Or maybe its wings had been clipped? She'd heard of some Cards doing that to their pets to prevent them from flying away and getting lost.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Apr 5, 2010 21:46:58 GMT -5
Benedict craned his head over his sister's shoulder to see if the Ace really was stuck up on the roof. Why the heck would Vaska do that? It was on the top of the list of things that mother had told him not to do, and it was kind of cruel. Suits only knew how long someone could stay on the roof without getting bored out of their skulls.
He mentally snickered at the bad pun.
"Hey, Sis, would you be willing to keep a secret from, you know... the rest of the adults in the palace?" Benedict suddenly said from over his sister's shoulder. He turned back, "Falks, seriously. Stop clinging to the wall like that. Lightning isn't going to strike you down because Mom told you not to come up here."
Falks jerked out of his cascading thoughts of what horrible things could have been happening to his mother at being addressed. He hadn't even thought about Mom being upset about him being up here when he wasn't supposed to. "But... we should get down right away. She could be watching right now."
|
|
|
|
Post by carcinoGeneticist on Apr 6, 2010 17:45:07 GMT -5
At the shouted sound of his name, Vaska's ears twitched rather violently. When he was alone with the Ace, he encourage it to speak to him, just because that helped to verify that he really wasn't alone. But he knew they could get in trouble, if anyone else knew. He wanted to scream at Alex to shut up, but luckily for the Avian, he masked his words with another harsh-sounding caw.
Harsh as it was, it was music to the little Bat's ears. He scampered forward, moving with the odd skipping gait of a Bat on the ground and then pausing beside the Villa. "See? I told you I'd be back. I didn't forget you." He said in a quiet half-whisper, bobbing his head eagerly as he set about unwrapping the Ace's leash. He shot a quick glance back at his siblings, body twitching strangely as he did. "Don't say anything, ok? They'll suspect you if you do." His half-sister was at least as scary as Miss Xiven, if not more so. She was a quiet kind of scary. She was a strangle you in the night or string piano wire across your door scary.
Vaska didn't like that. He led his way back to the group slowly, continuing to eye Eldy warily. He didn't really feel like crying anymore, but he was still completely on-edge. "This is Alex. He's our pet. Daddy got him for us." It didn't matter that he'd said that all already, he was trying to keep his rampaging paranoia quiet.
For Alex's part, he kept quiet, hopping along obediently behind Vaska. When he reached Falk's side, he let out another caw and bumped his face against the boy. He knew well how he was supposed to behave, and he knew his masters. Falks was getting very obviously overwhelmed, and he needed calming. Then he glanced back to the older woman. She was at least his age, maybe a little older. She would almost certainly recognize the glimmer of intelligence in the Rook's eye. "Caw,[/b]" he said, blinking placidly at the Cat.
"Can we go back to my room now?" Vaska said with a plaintive whimper.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lucca on Apr 7, 2010 19:59:05 GMT -5
Being asked to keep more secrets was....well, no, that wasn't quite right. The idea of more Cards demanding that she keep secrets made Eldy want to scream. But she mastered her anger, pushed it underneath the surface, knowing she could deal with it later when she was alone. It wouldn't be fair, however, to blame these kids: Ben, and even poor, insane little Vaska, for something that was really his fault in the first place. She'd never cared about keeping secrets before, in fact she'd reveled in it. Cursing out the Weapon-turned-Card in her head, she turned calmly to the talking skull that was her half brother.
"I can," she said, nodding tiredly. "I kept my own existence a secret from almost the entire palace for years, believe it or not." Of course, she'd slipped up once or twice, but they didn't need to know that. She'd been younger then, more foolish, and with little idea of what was truly at stake, even though she thought she knew. She was about to ask -what- she needed to keep secret, but she could almost hear her mother's scolding voice in the back of her head. Think! You can figure it out. That Alex was on the roof was her first thought; it seemed to be something Vaska had been warned about previously. Or was it...something else...
Eldy gave the Rook a shrewd look, calculating, even as she nodded absently to Vaska. He was being unhooked from a leash...a leash. That's what had been keeping him on the roof. How had she not even noticed it before? She must be losing it. Too long in the company of Vaska and she'd become as crazy as he was. "Hello, Alex," she said pleasantly, the way one might address an animal, all cheerful and higher pitched than her normal voice. After all, he was an Ace, and you shouldn't address them like a normal Card.
Even if they were as smart as one.
She didn't look at those intelligent eyes for long; there was something almost chilling about it. He held himself...differently than Fluffy did. She didn't know how else to really describe it. Turning away from the Ace, she looked instead at Vaska and forced a patient smile. "Yes, I think that's a good idea. Come along, kids, Ben...and Alex." This time, Eldy took the lead, since she knew the way back to the room, though she paused just inside of the hall way to make sure they were all following.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Apr 10, 2010 22:38:35 GMT -5
Benedict would have stared more so than he already was if he had facial expressions. He had heard a different story from his mother about Eldy. She had slipped up more than once living in the palace, and Mom had to do quite a bit to cover it all up. But he would keep his mouth shut and hope that his sister was trust worthy. "I'll take your word for it," he said cheerfully enough to sound like he was smiling.
Falks made a mildly happy sound when the Ace gave him attention. Part of him still wanted to hyperventilate, but he would be the first to admit that Alex made him feel better. Though really he wished he had use of his arms so he could hug him or something. That would definitely make things better.
Either way the boys went down the stairs as well. There was no point in lingering.
|
|
|
|
Post by carcinoGeneticist on Apr 11, 2010 3:15:11 GMT -5
Keeping secrets? Vaska was sure that Eldy could - and would! - keep secrets. From all of them, mom included. She probably wouldn't even flinch about keeping one that was so little. And for now, at least, that was for the best. They'd get back to their room, with Alex safely in tow, and nothing bad would happen from here on. At least... for now.
The future was another question. Vaska held the Rook's leash in his beak, which both kept it secure and managed to keep the boy quiet. That was almost better, since he knew that Alex wasn't about to try and escape. What he was worried about, however, was that his big mouth would get ahead of him in this case. If Eldy was captured and tortured, the secrets she held were sure to spill out. Would it be safe for one person to contain so much classified information? He was sure it couldn't be. He saw his half-sister as a kind of balloon, slowly filling up with more and more secrets until, one day, someone would poke her ever so lightly and she would pop.
He shivered lightly at the thought, squeezing his eyes closed and stumbling, Alex letting out a soft squawk when he bumped into the boy. The Ace wanted to say something to the boy, but he didn't trust the Torque woman just yet. A lot of people reacted badly to his intelligence, and he knew he really had no place speaking with them. Only with his boys. They needed him, and they reacted best when he spoke with them. As soon as they were alone, he'd try to make up a story. Lightly, he nudged Vaska's face with his beak, encouraging the boy on.
And then they were back at the room. Vaska slipped into the door once it was opened, glancing back at Eldy with a mistrusting glint in his eye. "...thanks."
|
|
|
|
Post by Lucca on Apr 11, 2010 10:31:43 GMT -5
It was probably a good thing that Ben didn't have any readable facial expressions, since if Eldryia had been able to tell he mistrusted her abilities based on the actions of the foolish young girl she'd once been, on top of everything else that day, she probably would have bristled and lost her temper. And that wasn't at all what she wanted to do. Instead, she nodded at him tiredly. "You can trust me," she assured him, before leading them back to the room.
The walk in silence helped to further calm the Feline's nerves, and by the time she pawed open the door, she was almost peaceful again. She was home, after all, home after all these months...the thought made her feel kinda funny, so she pushed it aside for later, along with everything else she couldn't yet deal with.
Eldy sat down on the floor, nodding to Vaska. She even managed a smile, ignoring the suspicious look in the Bat's eyes. "Of course. What are sisters for, after all? Now..." She glanced around at all three - four, she'd almost forgotten about the Ace until her eyes caught that bright purple again - of the others in the room, knowing she should think of something else to distract them. How long had it been? Please let Mom get back soon, she begged silently.
"Would you all like to play a game?"
|
|
