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Post by Mirage on Jan 22, 2012 1:46:18 GMT -5
Month 6, Week 3, Day 5, private. A penthouse apartment in New York.
Addison Payne leans his head against his apartment door and takes several deep breathes. If he hears one more person say how easy" a job he has because all he has to do is "stand there" he might grow violent. Never mind that his sleep has been less than restorative of late due to his worry over Lynn. He loves his little sister dearly, but she's been more out of sorts than usually lately.
There's also this niggling feeling that he's missing something, someone... he remembers....
Addison shakes his head, shakes away the mental cobwebs and opens the door.
"Lynn, love," he calls out immediately, before the door is even closed, "Are you all right? Mrs. Pennington called me-" and quit in a rage, but he doesn't mention that. Lynn has been through enough governesses to probably guess that this one won't be coming back.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jan 22, 2012 19:38:32 GMT -5
Lynn doesn't care if the governess never comes back. The governess was weak, she thinks, which is an odd sort of thing for a pre-teen girl to think, but she is an odd girl in many ways.
She plays with the yellow feathers she's tied in her hair today and shrugs in a non-committal fashion. She looks around. Just her brother here? Oh, good. She doesn't speak around outsiders.
Lynn asks, "Me Lynn not interrupt anything?" Let's see if she can shift the subject to her brother's career instead.
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Post by Mirage on Jan 23, 2012 0:47:22 GMT -5
"We were wrapping this assignment when she called, so not really, no. I was planning on making the arrangements for our trip to Detroit next week, but I can catch up with Lila later." Lila being his agent.
Addison pours himself a glass of wine from the always-set up decanter. He also pours a smaller amount into a glass for Lynn. Addison has his family's European notions in regards to allowing children wine. He carries the two glasses of the deep red, dry wine to the couch, sets them on a the coffee table, and then flops gracefully onto the cushy leather seat.
Taking up his drink, Addison takes a rather substantial sip before sighing and looking over at Lynn.
"Dear, you really have to stop being so hard on them. If I can find no one to teach you, I'll not be able to keep you with so much."
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jan 23, 2012 0:55:09 GMT -5
Lynn takes the little glass and cups it in both hands, before sitting down, too. She sniffs at it intently, eyes closing, before taking a thoughtful little sip. Then she lowers the glass and snorts, "Me Lynn take online classes. Them fine."
Because she never has to speak in online classes. She can just write, and at writing, she's just fine.
Lynn tilts her head to one side and asks, "Australian? Hnn. Me Lynn guess me really hungry lately. Maybe bit snappish."
This is an understatement.
"Not quite... feel right around moon."
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Post by Mirage on Jan 23, 2012 1:50:08 GMT -5
Addison's lips quirk up in a smile, "Yes, Australian, but can you pinpoint the region?" He tastes his wine again as Lynn grumbles about online classes.
"Yes, love, I know, and you do very, very well with them, but there are rules and laws about schooling for children. You are required to have an adult of appropriate qualifications to oversee your work, and verify that it meets the curriculum requirements. If we don't adhere to the rules, they might force you to attend a school with other children." Addison sounds just a bit weary, and the words sound rote, like he's recited them many times before. The truth is, no suitable charm school would take Lynn, even if he was inclined to give up her company- which he is not.
He reaches out to try and ruffle her hair, "I'll look for a fill in for when we are in Detroit. Just promise me you'll give her more than a week this time."
"Hungry and snappish?" His head cocks to one side as Addison considers her complaints. His eyes widen as something occurs to him.
"Oh! Um, well."
This is possibly one of the very few times Lynn has seen her brother look embarrassed.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jan 23, 2012 9:06:11 GMT -5
"Ugh. Not understand what fascination Americans have with monitoring them children at all times. It literal nanny state. So Orwellian," Lynn says, scowling, though she allows her hair to be ruffled. "Just get one that watch teevee all day and leave me Lynn alone."
She takes college-level classes online, anyway, and she has her GED. It's just that she is twelve, and it seems to bother people for a twelve year old to have liberty during daylight. It offends some social more that children ought to be shackled to desks, instead of out seeing the world, as if there is some virtue derived from reading about the Great Pyramids instead of visiting them in person. Still, if she must abide, a negligent governess is about the best she can hope for, she feels.
Lynn takes another tiny sip and tilts her head back, rolling it around in her mouth. "Tamar Valley. Them known for they pinot noir."
She looks absolutely fascinated when Addison looks embarrassed. It is a new thing. How strange!
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Post by Mirage on Jan 23, 2012 10:58:21 GMT -5
So discomfited is Addison that his only answer to Lynn's correct guess of the wine's origins is distracted wave and nod. He takes a very long drink from his glass, notes that it is nearly empty now, and rises to refill it.
"Well, um... dear. You're twelve. Which is roughly the right age, ah... certainly some might be earlier or later but twelve is average and, well..."
"You're likely just maturing, sweetheart," he finishes quickly, nearly draining his newly-refilled glass right after.
He loves his sister. She is a wonderful, unique treasure. The thought of seeing her through young womanhood, however, apparently scares the hell out of Addison.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jan 23, 2012 11:10:54 GMT -5
This is the downside of Dead Parents back-stories that is usually not mentioned: what the older brother inevitably gets stuck explaining to the younger sister.
Lynn watches as Addison refills his wine glass, eyes wide. He is uncomfortable. This is really, really odd. She has the urge to poke him.
But she's bright, and she gets his meaning, but... she tilts her head to one side, "Me Lynn no think it that. Chocolate still not interesting."
Oh, well, that explains it all.
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Post by Mirage on Jan 24, 2012 20:41:13 GMT -5
Addison eyes his glass for a moment before sighing and placing it on a side tray. The help will collect it for washing later. He sits back down next to his sister.
"Chocolate isn't the only craving. As I hear, some desire salt or items rich in iron." He shakes his head, then continues, "I'm sorry, Lynn, this isn't something on which I'm well-equipped to advise. I could talk to Lila, she might...." Addison spreads his hands. He knows Lynn tends to avoid dealing with other people.
"Where would you like to go for dinner? I understand there is a new restaurant specializing in charcuterie open in the Village that is supposed to be fantastic. We've not had a decent black pudding in ages."
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jan 24, 2012 23:50:43 GMT -5
Lynn's glass is still mostly full. She can and probably will nurse this all evening.
"Like meat," Lynn agrees enthusiastically, setting her glass down to clap her hands together. "That sound good. You Addison always know what is what."
She still is not convinced that this is what Addison thinks it is, though. Lynn reads. It's hard to explain it, but what she reads just does not quite match what she's feeling...
Cutscene?
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Post by Mirage on Jan 25, 2012 0:01:37 GMT -5
Cutscene! We now skip to a posh hotel suite in Detroit, and skip ahead a week on the timeline to Month 4 Week 4, Day 5
Addison walks into a room that appears to have been attacked by a really angry chicken. There are red, gold, and grey feathers scattered around, and there's blood splattered around and clawmarks in weird places. Also, there is a roomservice bill for ten orders of prime rib. Which mostly seem to have ended up on the ceiling.
The moon is full, and it can be seen out the window.
His first reaction is worry and panic, but Addison rushes further into the suite, looking for his sister.
"Lynn! Lynn, please God are you here? Are you okay? Lynn!"
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jan 25, 2012 0:14:13 GMT -5
Out of nowhere, an animal that died before Jesus came tries to drop down on Addison's head.
It is a little less than a meter long and weighs about two kilograms.
Lynn's books say it is a Bambiraptor feinbergi, though they admit that it might be a juvenile Saurornitholestes.
In a way, it is an answer to Addison's question.
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Post by Mirage on Jan 25, 2012 22:49:59 GMT -5
Addison Payne, playboy and model, should be flailing in a very undignified fashion at the creature upon his head, quite probably while yelling about his mussed up hair. Instead, Addison reacts by snatching the creature off him and tossing it across the room. As he does so, he drops and rolls behind the shredded remains of a couch.
His head and hands show over the couch in the position they would be were he holding a large, powered rifle. Addison blinks, stares at his hands, and then stares in the creature. Something clicks in his head, a memory....
"Bambi...?"
manhandling of the bambiraptor with player permission
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jan 25, 2012 22:53:40 GMT -5
The animal hits the wall with a shriek like the cry of a wounded eagle and digs its talons into the wall, holding on there and quivering. It is mostly grey, with gold and red accents, but it turns a pair of brilliantly blue hurt and betrayed eyes on Addison, staring at him with wordless incomprehension.
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Post by Mirage on Jan 25, 2012 23:34:21 GMT -5
There is something very... human in the animal's expression. Human and yet alien at the same time, and also hauntingly familiar.
Addison remembers a transforming robot that looked like this creature, looked at him like that. Addison remembers being a transforming robot, a marksman. A hunter.
It's insane and impossible, but he knows it to be truth, knows it as surely as he knows that the creature across the room is not a creature at all. Humans can have special powers, here.
Cautiously, he stands and moves toward the bambiraptor. Slowly, he extends his hand, not touching, but as a perch.
"Bambi?," he asks again. A moment and he adds, "Lynn?"
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