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Post by Princess Katie on Nov 2, 2008 1:20:03 GMT -5
“Iss not ‘im, it innit. I know it’s different fur you, but fur kids loik me an’ Pete, it’s esspected of us, wot, gettin’ married an’ all,” Nellie shrugged. She wouldn’t have thought twice about it until she met Alexander.
The blush in her cheeks matched exactly the flowers in her hair as Alexander questioned her. “You know I can’t do that,” Nellie whispered. She didn’t want to make eye contact with him; the seriousness of his question made her nervous. But looking away would make her seem like a liar, and she didn’t want that either.
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 2, 2008 1:41:41 GMT -5
His shoulders drooped, but he didn't released her just yet. He didn't like being so serious either, but he also didn't like living a lie on the surface, while suffering underneath.
"I didn't ask if you could go home," he said. "I asked if you wanted to. If you had the choice."
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Post by Princess Katie on Nov 2, 2008 2:28:48 GMT -5
The look of uncertainty on Nellie’s face deepened. “I…” she paused and bit down on her bottom lip, “I would loik to go ‘ome.”
She stepped forward and rested her head on Alexander’s shoulder, “Butonlyometimes! An if I couldn’t see you I’d rather stay ’ere. Graveyard an’ no sun an’ all. I rally would, Alexander. I like it ‘ere, I just miss my…” her family, her sheep, the sunshine, the constant scent of candy in the air: what was basically her whole life. “I just miss the farm. Thass okay, roight?”
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 2, 2008 23:41:32 GMT -5
He had known it, but it still broke his heart to hear it. To say he even had a heart was a stretch of interpretation, but Nellie seemed to bring out all kinds of humane feelings he hadn't known he possessed.
He wrapped his arms around her and didn't know what to say. He could say, at least in some respects, that he knew how she felt. If the only way to see her would be to move to Dreamland, he would do it, but he would miss Chimera every day.
"Nells, I think you're giving up too much for me, and someday, you might even resent me for it. Wouldn't it be safer to go back now, since Peter's married?"
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Post by Princess Katie on Nov 3, 2008 0:52:03 GMT -5
Nellie pulled sharply away from Alexander with a near-disgusted gasp. “No! I ‘aven’t! I won’t resent you. Uh-uh,” she protested in a childlike whine. The word ‘resent’ was a little beyond her vocabulary, but she could grasp the connotation.
She pawed at her eyes, which were quickly growing teary. “I can’t go ‘ome. Wot would I say? ‘Sorry dad, mum, that note I left, the shoes in th’ river, it were all a joke. I’m okay, been sleepin’ over at a friends ‘ouse. Good one, aye?’”
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 3, 2008 1:06:09 GMT -5
She said that now. But his heart did warm a little hearing it.
"You could say you did jump, but you survived, and got amnesia," he suggested with a half-hearted grin.
He sighed. "I'm sorry, Sheep Girl. It probably doesn't help to hear me sop and whine too, but it's really killing me to see you unhappy."
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Post by Princess Katie on Nov 3, 2008 1:52:02 GMT -5
“I ‘ardly fink that would go over well, Alexander. You, of all people, know that I can’t lie. Especially to me parents’ faces!” It was just about impossible, really. Nellie was a horrid liar. And now that she was starting to get used to being around Alexander twenty-four hours a day and literally seeing him whenever she’d like, to have to wait for him to come visit—that would make her truly unhappy.
Nellie rested her head on Alexander’s shoulder once more, looping her arms around his neck. “Assides, I’m not unhappy. Not reeaallly. It’s not so bad here, an’ I loik yer family, an’ I loik Killer, an’ I loik you. There’s lot of fings that is good; most all of the time, I am not unhappy.”
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 3, 2008 2:04:58 GMT -5
"I loik you too," he said, mimicking her accent.
And he believed her, and felt a little better. Guilt did not suit him, and all this worrying about somebody else was really wearing on his natural charming disposition.
"I'm probably going to kiss you pretty soon here."
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Post by Princess Katie on Nov 4, 2008 0:36:55 GMT -5
Nellie’s nose crinkled up with her smile, “Oh yeah? Well…” she trailed off, glancing up at the ceiling through the corner of her eye, as if a little exasperated. “I guess I could live wiffat.”
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 4, 2008 20:08:54 GMT -5
"How kind of you to placate me," he said, brushing some of her blond hair off her forehead. He bent and brushed his lips over hers, relishing the petal softness of them, and then kissed her deeper. Nellie made him feel warm, a feat of Olympic proportion, since he carried an inferno inside him. But while the fire inside him blazed, spiking high with his temper, or excitement, the heat he felt when he kissed Nellie was slower, deeper, like lava, the kind that moved beneath the surface of the earth and fueled everything.
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Post by Princess Katie on Nov 5, 2008 1:19:58 GMT -5
Nellie ran her fingers through Alexander’s hair and her stomach got all fluttery, like she had just eaten a box full of living butterflies. Alexander made Nellie feel warm, too, which was not surprising. Whenever they kissed, her lips felt all tingly and warm, and she wondered if that happened to everyone or if it was only because Alexander’s body temperature was so hot. She also wondered how they had come from strangers, erring on the side of enemies, to this, living together under the same roof. Kissing. Like it was natural.
She pulled away, placing a little kiss at the corner of his lips with a little smile. “I guess that weren’t so bad.”
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 5, 2008 1:44:45 GMT -5
"If you let me keep practicing," he assured her, "Soon it might become something like pleasurable." He began to sort of examine her face with his face, nudging his nose on her nose, testing with his lips here or there, their cheeks brushed, her eyelashes tickled his skin. He would have been content to do this for awhile yet, but the sudden feeling of little kitten claws embedding in his leg made him jump and pull back.
"Ow! Damn-- Killer--" He swiped with his hand, but Killer, naturally clever having been born a cat, jumped onto his hand, scurried up as graceful as anything, and leapt to Nellie's shoulder, where instead of clawing and latching and scurrying, she purred and arched against Nellie's jaw.
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Post by Princess Katie on Nov 5, 2008 2:18:51 GMT -5
When Alexander jumped suddenly, Nellie let out a startled squeak and jumped back herself. Her shock was short-lived, however, quickly replaced with mirth. This sort of moment was why she stayed here in the first place.
“’Eyy, Lovey,” Nellie purred back, plucking killer from her shoulder and cradling the little kitten to her face before moving to cup the kitten in her hands. She was very glad that Alexander’s parents bought Killer for him. It made her miss taking care of her sheep just a little less. “Yer a lucky lad, Alexander, know why? Ya lives wiff the two cutest blue-eyed girls in the ‘ole cemetery, I’d wager.”
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 6, 2008 20:21:50 GMT -5
He gave her an affronted look, insulted that she even consider he might feel anything less than the luckiest Nightmare Prince in the Isle of Morpheus (granted that wasn't saying much, since there were only two of them).
He took Killer from her hands and rubbed a warm finger under the kitten's chin. "Yeah, but the little white, furry one is my favorite."
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Post by Princess Katie on Nov 6, 2008 21:20:44 GMT -5
Nellie frowned. “Yeah? Well, that’s only ‘cause you can win arguments ‘gainst that ‘un,” she jerked her chin in Killer’s direction, “Cause she don’t argue back.”
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