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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jan 12, 2008 21:10:34 GMT -5
Days. That was all they had. Two days, and it might all be over. Two days and futures could disappear; lives lost. Time lost. And there was no point in waiting to tell someone what they needed to know. Just in case.
Sitting in a bay window that overlooked the grounds, Karia surveyed the place that was soon to become a massive battlefield. She had a lot to lose there, and she didn't want to make the mistake of leaving the wrong impression.
Why do we always wait to tell people how we really feel?
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Fiach Davidson
Hietus
1st year
Rupert Teatime Hedwig
1st year[/c
Quoth the Raven: "Hey guys, what's up? :D"
Posts: 45
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Post by Fiach Davidson on Jan 12, 2008 22:15:58 GMT -5
Rupert had not been wasting his time with such paltry things as this 'introspection'. He had been training, preparing himself for the upcoming battle.
He was his father's (mother's?) son, after all, a Teatime through and through. If there was one thing he was qualified to do, it was kicking ass and taking names, except that he wasn't overly concerned with the taking names part.
"Planning something?" he asked his sister as he passed the window she was sitting in.
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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jan 12, 2008 22:31:16 GMT -5
Karia had been lost in thought in some very empty-looking daydream when her brother's voice cut through the white noise. She blinked and looked at him much more softly than usual.
Swinging her legs down so they hung almost to the floor, she sighed. "Not really. Just trying to come up with something that might spare us all the trouble of this...battle. And everything that goes along with it." She paused and looked down at her feet for second. "Can we talk?"
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Fiach Davidson
Hietus
1st year
Rupert Teatime Hedwig
1st year[/c
Quoth the Raven: "Hey guys, what's up? :D"
Posts: 45
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Post by Fiach Davidson on Jan 12, 2008 22:40:52 GMT -5
"Aren't we?" Rupert asked. "And please, don't bother. If, after all this buildup, nothing happens, I'll be quite put out. Where would all this nervous energy go? I tell you, after all this is over, there's going to be a great inflow of positive thought..."
Yes, he had been reading about things. He wasn't stupid, you know.
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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jan 12, 2008 22:52:53 GMT -5
"Well, nothing came to mind so I guess you have nothing to worry about," Karia said. This was going to be awkward. Siblings they may have been, but they hardly ever spoke to each other. She was beginning to regret that.
"Tht's not what I meant, it's just that- well we never really- never mind, there's just something that we need to... something I really need to talk to you about." She looked back at him again, devoid of any sarcsm, irritation, or anger that she often seemed to display when in his presence. "Unless you've got something more important to do...?"
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Fiach Davidson
Hietus
1st year
Rupert Teatime Hedwig
1st year[/c
Quoth the Raven: "Hey guys, what's up? :D"
Posts: 45
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Post by Fiach Davidson on Jan 12, 2008 23:03:21 GMT -5
"Oh! Good. I'd hate to be bored, all worked up over nothing." Although he tried to imbue these words with as much disdain as he could, there was a slight troubled tremor behind them.
"Nothing better to do, dear sister, nothing better to do," he said, and hopped up onto the windowsill with her. "Fire away."
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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jan 12, 2008 23:12:05 GMT -5
Karia resisted the urge to flinch from the rough and bare way her brother had chosen to deal with the impending situation, but she knew him well enough to hear what was behind the words.
How was she supposed to say this? It would be too strange to just say it right out. "Look, Rupert... the whole time you've been here... we haven't exactly gotten along... We've never really been able to just... talk." She sighed nd stared at her feet again. "And with everything that's been happening... I didn't want to leave some things unsaid."
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Fiach Davidson
Hietus
1st year
Rupert Teatime Hedwig
1st year[/c
Quoth the Raven: "Hey guys, what's up? :D"
Posts: 45
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Post by Fiach Davidson on Jan 14, 2008 21:19:55 GMT -5
"Like what?" the half-alien little boy asked, his mismatched eyes fixed firmly on his sister. "No. No, we never have gotten along. I wonder why that is." There was a slight accusatory edge to his voice as he kicked his legs on the ledge slightly.
"So tell me. What is it? What exactly is so important that you need to get off your chest?" Although he wouldn't say as much, he obviously had to let some things out, too.
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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jan 14, 2008 21:30:53 GMT -5
Karia sighed and continued stared blankly at her hands. How do you tell someone who you haven't treated well that it was just the way things worked, that she hadn't meant anything more than superficial by it?
She turned to look at her brother in the eye. "It's probably because of me. Because I was just..." Words. Words were not coming out right. Why couldn't she just say it? "Rupert, do you think I hate you because I treated you so badly?"
Well, she couldn't be subtle, so blunt was the only way to go.
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Fiach Davidson
Hietus
1st year
Rupert Teatime Hedwig
1st year[/c
Quoth the Raven: "Hey guys, what's up? :D"
Posts: 45
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Post by Fiach Davidson on Jan 23, 2008 7:50:30 GMT -5
Rupert gave her the fish eye. "Oh, please. I may be new to this whole human thing, but I know how things work. Siblings are supposed to treat each other like crap. I learned that well enough from --"
It wouldn't do to speak ill of the dead.
"But perhaps you were a little harsher than you should have been."
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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jan 23, 2008 14:53:42 GMT -5
Karia sighed and leaned back into the frame of the bay window. "Harsh. That's probably an understatement, now I think on it."
She had hardly ever been nice to him, shoving him out of the way when he nosed even the slightest bit inot her business, rejecting friendly advances, all of it. Hardly a kind word had ever escaped her mouth when she spoke to her brother. Speaking about him was a different matter entirely. Sure, he might have been annoying sometimes, but he'd never actually done anything wrong. He'd actually done a lot of things right. She just...wasn't the best with people, and he reminded her of a lot of things she didn't want to be reminded of.
"But you didn't answer my question, exactly. Do you think I hate you?" she asked firmly. "Because if you do, then you're really, really wrong."
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Fiach Davidson
Hietus
1st year
Rupert Teatime Hedwig
1st year[/c
Quoth the Raven: "Hey guys, what's up? :D"
Posts: 45
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Post by Fiach Davidson on Jan 29, 2008 17:50:29 GMT -5
"Maybe I do," he said neutrally, meeting her eyes. "And maybe I just don't know what hate is. Maybe I just don't know how family works." But it still doesn't change the fact that my Astronomy teacher has been far kinder to me than you ever have.
"Am I wrong? Prove it to me, then," he challenged her. "If I'm wrong about this, I want you to prove it. It's easy enough for you to say that you don't hate me. But actions speak louder than words, sister. And right now, your actions have said a whole lot more than your words to me ever have."
His voice had remained calm, but there was a steel behind his words now, a strength of backbone that let her know he wouldn't back down from this quarrel and this point of view.
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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jan 29, 2008 18:07:14 GMT -5
This was the problem with stubborn people; neither wanted to back down on any point of view. Karia knew it wouldn't have been that easy to tell him just that.
"I'm sure you know what it is, and no matter how dysfunctional our family is," she said, gripping the sides of the windowsill, "You still have one. And even though siblings typically butt heads...I wish we wouldn't so much... Because it's not fair, especially to you."
Okay, now that had stung, but he was right. She looked right back at him, staring deeply into his mismatched eyes. "Stay here, I'll be right back." She disappeared into her dormitory for a few seconds before returning with a very particular sword. She looked up and down the length of the sheath and the hilt, and sat back down, handing it to her younger brother.
"Here. Hold onto it. Use it. Stay alive." There was nothing else she could offer except her profoundest wish for his safety, but she wouldn't put that into words. He probably wouldn't like it anyway.
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Fiach Davidson
Hietus
1st year
Rupert Teatime Hedwig
1st year[/c
Quoth the Raven: "Hey guys, what's up? :D"
Posts: 45
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Post by Fiach Davidson on Jan 29, 2008 18:20:25 GMT -5
Rupert stared at her. She was giving him granddad's sword? And all he'd wanted was a hug. Well, fine by him - he wouldn't complain. He accepted the weapon quietly and turned away for a short while so she wouldn't see the tears threatening to bubble up in his eyes.
It wasn't fair. He had all this stuff from his mother's (father's?) side of the family, as well as Susan's - he only had a small genetic claim to the sword, certainly less than Karia's - but what had the other half of his family ever given him? Just a few stones and a message he hadn't worked up the courage to look over anyway.
Should he tell her? He'd been meaning to. He might as well, since this seemed to be the time for sharing. When he turned back, his face was perfectly blank again. Wait - not perfectly. There was still a little sadness in his eyes. "As dysfunctional as our family is," he said, "it just got a lot smaller. At least, my family did."
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Post by Karia Sto-Helit on Jan 29, 2008 18:39:53 GMT -5
Karia watched him closely. There was something going on, she could see it in his eyes. Part of her wondered vaguely what it was; and why she hadn't noticed before, but then she remembered that she'd been treating him poorly for far too long and that was probably why.
"I don't understand," she said, slightly confused. "What happened?" 'His' family could have only meant the Asgard, but what did that mean?
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