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Sho nodded slowly, "I figured it must have been. No one can imagine strong feelings with out experiencing. Not fear, or hate, or anxiety, or love." He leaned back on his palms and drew a deep breath as he closed his eyes to the ceiling. "No, they're never what you imagine them to be at all." He leaned back forward and looked at Alice again, "I'm sorry that it was a person who hurt you after all. No one deserves that."
Then, seeing Alice yawn, he fought back a yawn of his own,"Not a yawn." he said as he yawned, hiding his gaping mouth behind a hand. "Those are terribly contagious," he said good naturedly. |
"...It's nothing for you to be sorry about...What's done is done..." He wriggled about some more, before finally settling down and becoming still. Though Alice wasn't entirely sure, he might've deserved it. He might not have. Really though it wasn't something he wanted to discuss or think about..Sometimes it was hard to not think about it.
"..If you stay...you might catch more than just yawns." Alice didn't want Sho to get sick as well, just from hanging around here and catching it from him. He was shivering again. He knew his body was hot, but he felt rather cold now. He clutched the blanket tighter against his body and curled in a bit more. |
"I'm not afraid of colds. My immune system is actually quite good. I take my vitamins." He said rather cheerfully, with a smile on his face. "Though, if you'd like to get rid of me so that you can get some rest, then I wouldn't mind leaving you be for now," He said these mostly out of politeness, for, though he wanted Alice to rest up, he was enjoying the company. It may have gotten awkward at some points, but going down to the lobby to seek out other tenants would just be a different kind of awkward. Judging by the interaction he had had with Alice so far, he was sure given the choice, Alice was probably going to ask him to leave. He waited for the answer.
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"...You can stay..if you really want..." Those words, they had come out, hesitant. Uncertain, and a little afraid. Alice wanted Sho to leave because he didn't really trust the man, but, he didn't want Sho to leave, because then he'd be sick alone. By himself. If he got worse instead of better, there would be no one around to call a doctor or ambulance. That and being alone was just lonely anyway.
Alice's brow furrowed slightly and he wondered if Sage was downstairs, enjoying himself, or maybe still looking over papers. He was probably long done with that by now. Alice closed his eyes and whimpered softly. He hated being sick. Hated the way it made him feel. |
Sho was surprised when Alice said that he could stay. It wasn't something he was expecting. "Thank you," Sho said shyly, "For letting me stay. Maybe I'll just stay until you fall asleep. Is there a chair I could sit in?" He asked. He felt a little awkward perched on the bed as he was.
When Alice whimpered, a look of concern crossed Sho's face once more. "What's wrong? You're not feeling worse are you?" That was the last thing that Sho wanted. He leaned in a little closer to get a look at Alice, looking for signs of a deeper sickness rather than just a nasty cold. |
Alice didn't have much furniture. A bed in the bedroom, a single couch in the living room, a kitchen table with chairs in the kitchen. Slowly he opened his eyes as Sho leaned closer with concern. Shaking his head slightly. Though, the way he was feeling, Alice wasn't sure it could get worse. Those eyes closed again and he mumbled softly. "...can't figure out if I'm hot or cold...." There was a slight pause, as Sho's earlier question registered with Alice's brain.
Seemed he was getting a bit drowsier. "...You can bring a chair from the kitchen to sit in.." He spoke the words a bit slowly, sneezed and then yawned. He was already starting to fall asleep. |
Roy only let go of Sage's shirt when he had lifted him up. The iguana seemed to stare up at the man while his tail flicked off to the right and curled up. His eyes closed and he tried to wiggle his way out of Sage's hold. It never did like being lifted up. Apparently, Matthias nor anyone who played with him knows that.
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With a laugh, he smiled to the iguana as it stared up at him. After a few seconds, he lightly hugged the other before setting Roy down again when he started to wriggle. “I get it I get it, you want down. No more eating my shirt though” He scolded softly with a laugh. Stretching where he sat, he peered around, wondering where Matthias would keep the lizard food.
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Sho rose very gently from the bed, careful not to stir Alice. It seemed like he was starting to drift off and Sho did not want to wake him. Sleep could be a hard thing when one was feverish. He walked into the other room and retrieved one of the dining chairs and set it quietly by the bed.
He propped his feet up against the bed frame and slouched into the chair, folding his arms across his chest and tucking his chin to his chest. "I'll just stay a little longer," He said very quietly. He was feeling a little tired himself, the weight of the traveling this morning finally catching up with him. Maybe once Alice was resting, he would head back to his own room and take a nap. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. |
After a bit of consideration and of lying down on Eroke's shirt, Claus looked up to the other man, pondering a thought. Then, after a moment or two, he leaned up and kissed his cheek, very quickly. He had a rather obvious blush stained across his face, but just after, his expression returned to a bright, cheery one.
He smiled, nuzzling the other again. "Thank you~..." |
"Your welcome,my dear..." he smiled and petted his head. He played with Claus's green hair,undoing the ribbon on his collar with a playful smirk.
"Are you sure you still don't know what to do?" |
Inside the elevator, Tai pressed the floor button that Van told him too, happily forgetting that he had a bath when he got to his new 'house'. It was exciting to see all these new people and simply cannot wait to meet all them and possible pranks he could on all them. Hugging Squishy close, Tai beamed happily, maybe there were other kids his age and he could go play with them, instead of having to play with his sister's older friends who would teased him incessantly.
But then again, Tai always did got back on them, remembering a time where he impersonated a koala and kept hugging an older boy's leg and simply wouldn't let go, no matter how many people said to or bribed him. Although in the end it was his daddy that ended up getting him off. The elevator sounded with a ding to indicate that they had made it. ------------------------------ "Tai, if you're going to play pranks on people..." Van drawled on, as he installed his son's fish bowl, although really it wasn't a bowl to begin with he just called it that since his son prefers 'bowl' than 'tank', it's filtering system and other necessities. Tai giggled but listened nonetheless, as he watched with excitement with his bagged fish in his arms as his daddy installed the medium-sized fish bowl for him. "Try to make sure the person in question isn't important-looking. We're just lucky that man didn't seemed to be affected by your antics. I know you a magnet for trouble, but try to turn it down a bit, okay?" Finishing installing the necessities, Van dusted his hands off. It had taken a few trips up and down to get the rest of their possessions but they got it done. With everything in place, Tai poured Sir Captain Scales of the Pacific into tank. The fat looking goldfish swam a bit to get use to the waters before settling himself inside a hollow rock to hide for awhile. "Yey! We're done, we're done!" Clapping his hands with joy, Tai cheered happily as he flopped onto his soft bed. Van chuckled a bit see his son flop onto his new bed, unaffected by the move other than being tired from unpacking everything. Sitting next to his miniature, Van stroked his son's head. Tai smiled lazily up at his daddy. "Tell you what, why don't you have a nap and I'll wake you when your bath is ready?" Tai pouted a little. Chuckling, Van continued, "Do you want people to see you dirty and smelly at the party?" Tai shook his head. "Well then, take your nap and I'll wake you okay?" "Okey..." With that Van tucked Tai to bed, before going to the bathroom to take a nice long bath. |
Alice grunted softly. For the most part though he seemed to sleep rather peacefully. Somehow managing to get rather comfortable, probably due to the medicine he had taken. Probably hadn't been wise to just pop some pills from someone he barely knew, he hadn't even known what kind of medicine it was. If he hadn't been feeling so..so..bleh...he most likely would have been more cautious about such things.
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The iguana happily moved off to one corner and shut its eyes. Its tail curled about too and seemed to have relaxed. It stayed where it was, unmoving.
- - - "Are those the last ones?" Matthias asked Rio as he watched him come with Johnny. Rio gave a nod and Johnny, just as he'd set the box down, rolled his arm a little with his hand on his shoulder. "All right. I'll leave the food to the both of you." One glance at the wall clock in the lobby told him that it was time to feed the iguana. He only fed it once a day, though, but there were times like these where he fed it twice so it'd stay asleep. If he didn't feed it, it'd be cranky. "Go on ahead," Johnny said with a nod as he smiled charmingly at his boss who only nodded his way. "And, Rio, hand me over the plates so we can start filling the table." Rio chuckled at the way Johnny stated it and he ripped off the tape holding the box together. Pulling the flaps aside, he gave a short, "Shall do, boss!" before he'd handed Johnny the said plates. Matthias went off towards the elevator, tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for that familiar ding of the elevator to signal that it had reached a floor. In his case, the lobby. Stepping in and pressing the fourth floor, he leaned against the elevator walls and let out a quiet sigh of relief. It looked like things were going to go smoothly. The rain sounds like it was going to stop, too, any time soon. Surely, by the time the fireworks are going to start, the heavens would stop crying for them to enjoy some colorful sights in the sky. The thought just made him smile almost childishly and he hurried off to his room, which was still unlocked to his surprise. "Sage?" he called out as he looked about his place and peeked into the room where Roy was last. Apparently, him opening the door was enough for Roy to wake up and move quickly out the room and into the living room. His first target? Under the couch. That whizzing form was enough to tell Matthias that he shouldn't have done what he had done. "That was... Roy, wasn't it?" he asked with a face and looked up to see Sage. |
It's been awhile since he got any time for himself, Van thought as he stepped into the warm waters. Sitting himself down he took his plastic saucepan* to take some of the water before pouring it over his head to wet his hair, causing the spikes to sag and become flat. Squeezing some shampoo into his hands, Van began to massage it into his scalp and hair. As he did, Van couldn't remember the last time he actually had some time to himself to actually indulge himself with a long soak and actually, meticulously take care of his body. What with the whole divorce process, dealing with his spitfire ex-wife with his equally spitfire of a teenaged daughter and their mini-dramas. Well at least that's over and all Van had to worry about now were his deadlines and Tai's mischievous antics. Sighing a bit, Van got the cheap saucepan before repeating his earlier actions of scooping water in and dunking over his head until the shampoo was washed out.
'I still have to enrol Tai to the local school, enrol Tai into a kid's soccer team, find new parks, buy some groceries, toiletries and what not, plan routes and work on seeing if there are any new budding artists around Greydanse and talk to Joel about it...' Sighing once again, Van got the loofah out, squirted some body wash onto before proceeding to meticulously scrub every part of his body. From the looks of things Van had a lot of work to do tomorrow. At least a good outcome from both his divorce and job is that Van managed to keep one of his work equipment such as his fax/telephone and his computer from the seize, and that his job allows him to work from home. After cleaning himself, Van just lounged in the tub, allowing himself to be coaxed by the warmth of the waters and be relaxed by it. 'Ah this is bliss...' A content smile was brought to his face, as Van sunk a little lower, completely taken. ---------------------------------------------------- All the while Tai, who was taking his nap, was surrounded with his plush friends Squishy the elephant, Taco the Octopus, Masher the Dragon and Wiggles the Tinky Winky. Tai's little face was scrunched up in an uncharacteristic scowl, as he twisted and turned in his bed, knocking Masher off the bed. Soon enough, Tai woke up in tears and cold sweat and looked to see Masher was on the ground. Getting off his bed, Tai picked up the fat, round and squishy bright blue dragon, who was almost as big as him, before Tai went off to find his daddy. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes all the while, Tai saw that there was some lights behind a door. Tai instantly ran for it. "Daaaaaaaddy!" Crying loudly and hugging MASHER tightly, the little five year old immediately heard slipping sounds, water being drained and some angry hisses before he saw his daddy. Hair wet, naked and only with a towel around his hips, eyes widened in concern. "What's wrong Tai? What happened?" Immediately kneeling in front of his crying son with his toy, Van inspected to see any injuries, seeing none. Cupping the chubby face, Van began wiping the still coming tears away. Tai looked up with teary eyes from behind Masher, comforted by his daddy's hands. "I had a bad dweam! Can I stay wif you?" Tai cried. Relaxing immediately, relieved that his son was hurt, Van smiled as he carried the little boy into the bathroom. "Tell you what. Let's give you a bath and then we can go exploring the apartment, okay?" Feeling a nod, Van took the round plushie out of the tiny arms, placing it on the closed toilet, before plugging the tub and turning the taps open to let the water out. All the while Tai was taking his clothes off and getting the bubble bath to pour onto the running water. "Okay. Do you want your rubber ducky or your toy boat?" Van asked holding both the toys up for Tai's viewing. ((OOC regarding *: I have absolutely NO idea what they are called. I think it's a saucepan since it looks like one but it's like one of those cheap ones that you can get from any Asian stores, that is not used for cooking and functions like a container or bucket. OCC: And I'll probably continue this after someone posts after me otherwise this'll be my posts to show that this I'm alive in some sense of the word.)) |
Sage was watching the iguana with a fond expression, letting out a quiet chuckle as it moved to curl up in the corner. At the sound of his name being called, he glanced up, standing to go and pick Roy up before stiffening as the door opened and the lizard shot past him out of the door. Eyes widening, Sage whirled round, blushing darkly. “I-I’m sorry Matthias! I shut the door so he couldn’t escape! I’ll try and get him” He exclaimed, looking apologetic as he hurried forwards, moving to crouch down to peer under the couch.
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Sho shook is head, realizing that he had begun drowsing. He dropped his feet to the floor and dropped his face into his hands to rub at his eyes and wake himself up. After inhaling deeply he looked over to Alice who seemed to be resting peacefully for now. "Guess I should go now," he thought to himself, and rose to his feet in one swift movement, stretching his arms out to the ceiling, and moving onto the balls of his toes in an exaggerated stretch before relaxing again. He picked up the chair he had brought into the room a few minutes before and moved out of the bedroom.
There he stepped on something soft piled up on the floor. Further investigation revealed that it was his coat, unceremoniously dropped onto the flood. "Oh!" He said in surprise, but still managing to be quiet. He put down the chair and picked up his coat. He was about to shake out his coat when he thought about the noise it would make, and he turned back to close Alice's door, leaving only a crack open. That being done, he carried chair and coat over to the dining room. With the chair back in place, and Sho standing a more reasonable distance from the bedroom, he shook out the lengthy coat. It was fine really, the thick material kept it from getting wrinkled and helped it hold its shape. Reaching into his pocket, he found that he had a missed call, probably from his mother, no doubt wanting to know if he had arrived okay. He also found his notebook and pen in the other pocket. Sho could be a bit absent-minded sometimes, and he didn't want to forget to call his mother, something that he would probably do if he went back to his room and started unpacking. Reminding himself to be quiet, he hit the speed-dial for his mother's phone. While he waited for her to pick up, he ripped out a page from the journal and wrote on it "Sho 683-4586. Call me if you need anything," He would leave that on that little side table by Alice's bed once he was done with the call. He was probably most likely to find it there by the medicine and the glass he had gotten out earlier. By that time his mother had picked up , "Guess who." He said. He was greeted by the happy call of his mother. As he listened to her, anyone who might have seen him would have noted the look of tenderness that spread across his face, as if he was looking upon the one thing he truly cherished in the world. "Well, I'm actually not unpacked yet. There's a Christmas party tonight, and I was helping with the set-up." He wandered the room as he talked, looking at the paintings that Alice has scattered around the room, and also once, peering outside the blinds where it seemed the rain was finally starting to die down. "Yes. I'll be sure to do that. I've met a few of them already and they seem to be nice." Done with his wondering he sat down on the couch, "Well I'm taking care of one who's taken ill. I know, I know." He said with a laugh. "I'm about to leave now, he seems to be doing a bit better. Yes. I'll call you tomorrow. Have a Merry Christmas yourself. I love you, good bye." He hung up the phone. A look of contentment on his face. ((Whoops, that turned out a lot longer than I meant it to be. o.o;;;)) |
Claus nodded again, tilting his head a little as he looked up, confused a bit. "Uh huh...you keep askin' that, though." He laughed, smiling. "Silly, it's only been a few seconds~"
He yawned, a cat like smile forming on his lips as he again nuzzled up to the other. "Comfy~" he said, a little bit of red stained across his cheeks. |
Alice continued to sleep. Undisturbed by Sho leaving the room, or closing the door. He did toss and turn a few times before once again settling in a deep, restful sleep. The kind of sleep a sick body needed for healing and what not. Alice's fever seemed to be breaking, just a little though. His skin would still be rather warm to the touch, but not quite as warm as it had been earlier.
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Sage's reply told Matthias that it was indeed Roy. When he'd seen the man go and trouble himself, he gave a quiet sigh and chuckled. "That's fine," he told Sage with a smile, "There's a way to catch him." Winking at him, he motioned for him to come on over and not continue what he was doing. That would only make Roy go and find a place to go off elsewhere.
Moving into the kitchen and opening the fridge, he pulled out a few vegetables. Matthias took the cutting board and knife as well to cut them into smaller pieces before he'd put them in a bowl. Putting the vegetables he'd gotten back into the fridge, he went to spray the vegetables with some water from the kitchen sink and took the said bowl. He handed this to Sage and grinned. "Get in the room and wait for him to come to you. I'll lay out some of these vegetables to lead him to the room and shut the door once he does get in." "Could you put him in his tank after he eats?" It should be simple for Sage to do. |
Having finished his call, Sho crept into Alice's room and left the sheet with his phone number by the bedside. As he snuck back out he hoped that Alice would use it if he needed it.
With his coat flung over his arm he walked to the door. He didn't want to leave it unlocked, so he locked it on his way out and headed to the elevator. There he wondered how the food preparation was going. Then he remembered that Rio was probably setting up the food by himself. "Perhaps I'll go down and see if I can be of any help." That meant holding off on the unpacking, but honestly, that was a relief. "Unpacking is a pain," he said to himself. The elevator dinged for his floor, so Sho stepped out and walked back to his room to deposit his coat. Having done that, he locked the door and it was onto the elevator once again, this time headed to the lobby. When the doors opened he noticed that the lobby was populated by several people that he had not yet seen before. Upon stepping out he realized that he had come out the mistletoe elevator. He quickly side-stepped out of the way and went in search of Rio. |
Sage glanced up at Matthias when he heard the other speaking. With a light blush, he slowly stood up, walking towards the other when he saw the man’s motion towards him. “Really? What is it?” He murmured, following Matthias into the kitchen and peering over the other’s shoulder curiously. With a slight tilt of his head, he took the bowl from the other’s hands before slowly turning.
Quickly he headed back into the other room. Leaning down, he sat cross legged on the floor, laying some of the vegetable pieces on the floor to help entice the Iguana towards him. “Of course! I’m sorry again Matthias, I didn’t mean to let him get out of the room” He apologised with a faint, sheepish smile, running his fingers through his hair before glancing around, looking for Roy to show himself again. |
Eroke smiled,and passionately kissed Claus..."I see...how silly of me..."
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Rio, at the sight of Sho, waved towards him and grinned brightly. "'ey!" Patting Johnny's back and leaving the rest of the details to him, he came over to the man and raised his eyebrows a bit. "So, ya pu' him in bed?" he asked as he glanced at Johnny who called out to him and asked about the utensils and plates.
"Oh. Yeah. I'll go get 'em." Nodding towards his way and then turning to look at Sho, he uttered a short, "Ya wanna tag 'long or help ou' with the crank?" while thumbing at where Johnny was. Johnny would've had only smiled at Rio if he'd heard what he'd called him. An eerie smile, that is. He never really was friendly with people who made fun of him but he made it always appear, well, subtle. People like him always were scary when one doesn't know what he's thinking about. - - - Matthias blinked and chuckled. "It's fine, it's fine. It was mostly my fault for opening the door without knocking." He rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "I didn't think you'd put him out of his tank but... he's rather amusing out than in, isn't he?" As he asked this question, Roy seemed to have peeked out from under the couch, his head turning from right to left. The owner of the complex stopped and watched as the iguana headed out, it's tail moving from side-to-side with its body before he poked at the food, pushed it with the tip of his mouth. Taking the small piece of vegetable into his mouth, he ate the food, stopping every minute to relish in the said fibrous meal and followed it into the room. It wasn't long 'til the lizard came to Sage to tap at the bowl with its head. |
After giving Tai a bath and dressing both Tai and himself, Van took Tai out of their room to explore the apartment complex. Getting into the elevator, the small family decided to explore the whole complex from the first floor and up and maybe talk to some of their possible neighbours. Waiting for the elevator to indicate that they were on the floor they wanted to be on, the elevator stopping a few times to let people in, the two Vietnamese males decided to play a quiet game of 'I spy'.
Once on the first floor, Van placed Tai on his shoulders for a piggyback ride and walked out and with a cheerful Tai who had placed his round plushie on his daddy's head. Tai and Van had explored much of the first floor, and were surprised to see that there were many facilities for them to be entertained in. But both settled to go to the small coffee shop for a little bit of a snack. Seating themselves in pretty wooden chairs, Van ordered himself a milk coffee whilst ordering Tai some cookies and hot chocolate. "Ne, Daddy. May I have another Squishy?" Tai asked holding up, Masher to cover himself as his Daddy came back with the treats. Van chuckled a bit as he seated him across Tai, ruffling the little runt's hair in mirth. "No. I already bought you Masher and I think it'll be awhile before I buy you another one. Let alone a big one like him." Poking the fat soft Dragon's belly to prove his point, which resulted in Tai giggling before Tai dig into his cookies and hot chocolate. Smiling widely, Van sipped his hot coffee occasionally, masking the fact that he actually did bought another Squishable for his son for Christmas. Watching some of the people busy with the preparations for the Christmas arty that Matthias was talking about beforehand. Tai all the while was enjoying his cookies and drink, evident by some of the cookie crumbs on his face and plushie friend and the chocolate moustache. Van occasionally leaning over to wipe the food off his recently clean son. |
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