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 Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:57 pm
It was good to be home for the first time. Seraphie stared up at the large building with wide eyes and clutched her pet tight. Her heart raced as her newly adopted mother fumbled with a ring of gold keys until she found the right one and opened the heavy wooden door. The little girl hurried inside and grinned wide, bouncing up and down as she raced through the maze of tables up to the bar. "Home! Home home home!" she shouted excitedly, relinquishing her hold on her mana wyrm long enough to clumsily climb onto a low barstool. "Home!"
Gail entered the familiar place slowly, grinning at the child's anticipation. "Yeah...home. Welcome to it, kiddo. You and your brother'll like it here. I hope." The last words were muttered as she made way for her brother and plopped down at the bar. "Well, now what? I didn't really plan this far."
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:17 pm
James yawned and sighed as he walked into his bar, and lifted the boy he'd named Corwin up onto the counter, and brushed him off a bit. His eyes scanned over his new son, and he offered a quiet smile to his sister as he went over to close the door.
"This is home." he said, looking at the kids. "This is home, and there ARE some ground rules. No bringing friends home without my permission. WE create the meals. And snacks will be served sparingly. Candy is a No, other than on special occasions, and family comes first. Do I make myself clear?"
Corwin looked up at his father, completely confused about the rules. Rules? What rules? Rules? He didn't know about rules, and had never HAD rules... well, he had, but if there had been any more, he would have been able to walk around the Labs so freely.
"Why rule?" he asked, looking over toward his sister and the other nice lady. "Why rule?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:27 pm
"Speaking of..." Gail glanced at the confused little girl that was soaking all of this in. "One more rule. Do not - I mean DO NOT get into my charms. They are not toys. One day I'll show them to you, but for now, let's work on basic stuff."
Seraphie, feeling the last rule was pointedly applied to her, wiggled a little uncomfortably and slid down off of the stool. "No. Rule? Ruuuule...room?" The last word came out in vocal thought, and took root quickly. "Room! ROOM!"
"Oh yeah, James, do we even have rooms open? I think we were using them for storage..." the rooms she referred to had indeed been devoted to storage, some time ago. The woman winced at the thought of the dusty crates and potential things skittering in the shadows upstairs. "I call not it on moving the boxes."
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:38 pm
"The Zombie crew I have working for me is going to take care of moving the boxes tomorrow.... They can sleep with us in the back rooms tonight... and I can have someone come and make some beds by tomorrow afternoon. Right now..."
He sighed, and poured himself a stiff drink of vodka-and-soda, sliding Gail a glass of wine. "Mmmm... We have some things to discuss, sister mine. Mostly about how things are going to work, now that we have kids."
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:43 pm
Gail nodded and took the glass, slowly swirling the wine before sliding it back. "Yeah, yeah. But shouldn't we, you know, be watching them instead?" The woman made the observation as a flash of blond rainbow went streaking by and up the stairs that had been mentioned. The laughter of the small girl followed shortly.
Seraphie had not been content to watch the grownups talk. Grabbing her pet she had hauled up the stairs as fast as her little feet could carry her. Most of the doors were closed, or just had a doorknob too high for her, but the girl was persistent. Pushing on every door she found an open one and raced inside, marveling at all the weird stuff the adults had shoved inside. "MINE!" she proclaimed loudly, tiny hands gripping the edge of a box, pulling herself up to stand on it. "MINE!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:49 pm
James was perplexed why the girl scrambled off so quickly. Her brother was actually behaving, curled up with his sugar dragon, and generally sleepy. So why...? He sighed, and set down his glass.
"... We should go fetch her." he said, looking up the stairs. "I elect you as the main candidate for this mission."
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:53 pm
Gail was having none of it. Grabbing her brother's shoulders she began pushing him up the stairs, steering him as best she could. "Oh no you don't. You need practice, now march."
Seraphie was having a blast. She had never had a whole room before and this one was hers! Sure, it was full of boxes - but boxes usually had stuff, like pet eggs or cookies or even presents! Truthfully, she hadn't had many of those either and wasn't about to let any fussy adults get in the way. Instead, she was gonna make her own little palace with all these big boxes! That is, if she could move them. The girl set her feet firm and grabbed onto a higher box stacked just so. It would make a great tower, if it were only over in another corner. She pulled it hard and grunted with all her little might, whimpering as she struggled. "Mooooove!"
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:59 pm
James walked into the only open room, and saw Sera shoving and pulling on his box of priceless Egyptian artifacts. He felt the invisible hackles that every were had lift off the back of his neck. Just a kid... she was just a kid... but his... his stuff!
"... Seraphie." his voice left no room for argument. Hard and disciplined. "Seraphie, you will remove yourself from that box, go downstairs, and wait with your brother until your mother and I have come to a consensus. Do you understand?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:10 pm
The little girl did not understand. This was her room now! Sera stomped her foot a bit and frowned, but let go of the box. "Mine." she tried to reason, "My room!" After all, she was the one who had found it! And she really wasn't asking much. Really, she could have been asking for a pony or something, not a room! "Mine..?"
Gail didn't bother trying to treat the child like an equal yet. No, the girl was a girl and she was her mother. Walking over, she plucked the toddler off the box and tucked her under her arm firmly. "No. Not your room and not your stuff. Not yet. Once we clean out all the dusty boxes of boring things, we'll get you some toys and a big girl bed. Kay?"
Big girl bed? That sounded good. Better than sleeping on some boxes anyway. Sera looked around at all the clutter and stacks of heavy crates and sighed, swishing her tail. "Mine...later. Still mine!"
"Yeah yeah...still yous. Now downstairs," the woman mused, grabbing James as she made her way out. "Both of you."
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:16 pm
While James did NOT like being manhandled, he had to admit that his sister had certain sway over him. That sway being most of the reason she could boss him around like they were still children. She had this THING about her that made him love her dearly, and fear her terribly when she was in a bad mood.
He pretty much went along with her... because she generally DID know better. After being marched downstairs, he went back to the counter, and knocked the drink back in one gulp. He was going to need it.
"Beds. And room assignments. We need to figure those out."
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Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2011 12:47 pm
Gail was not long behind her brother. The woman set her daughter down beside her own sibling before turning to James and arching a brow. "Well, she already picked a room - so that can be hers, once we clear it out. There's an adjacent room on the other side of the attic that we can set up for Corwin. But that isn't going to happen by tonight, so I propose the kids sleep with us. Sera with me, Corwin with you. In the meantime..." Gail turned to the children and placed her hands on her hips loosely, expression betraying she didn't exactly know what to do. "Well..."
Sera mimicked her mother, placing hands upon hips and standing tall. If her mother didn't know what they should do than it was only fair that she and her brother got a say! Turning to Corwin she chirped up loudly, nudging him hard. "WELL! Play?"
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