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Post by Miss Jack on Dec 28, 2008 21:47:29 GMT -5
Nellie had her puzzle, so he had the afternoon free. NOT that it was his doing. He begged her to come, and she "politely" refused to be dragged everywhere with him for another day.
Well, whatever. He didn't need to spend all his time with Nellie anyway. And if she could have fun alone, so could he.
Five minutes later, bored, he knocked on Genn's door.
"Baby sister," he called in a sing-song voice. "Guess whooo."
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Post by Princess Katie on Dec 28, 2008 23:46:41 GMT -5
CLICK.
“Sit.”
CLICK.
“Lay.”
“Guess whooo.”
Genn’s face lit up at the voice beyond the door, though it was hardly recognizable when it wasn’t in teasing-form. She considered the bear currently in the middle of a clicker-training session, laying in the center of the room. She clicked the clicker once more, holding her hand out, “Stayyyyy,” she ordered firmly. The bear stayed, until she turned her back to answer the door.
“Alexander!” Genn greeted, cheerfully, throwing her arms around him and kissing his cheek. Upon disentangling herself from him, she clicked the clicker in his face, motioning for him to follow. “Come. Good boy!”
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Post by Miss Jack on Dec 28, 2008 23:54:37 GMT -5
"Mm, yes," he said dryly, "What is it about that obnoxious noise that compels me so?"
He followed her into her room and froze, mildly horrified, and then sighed. Bruno-the-Pooh (or whatever) had been brought into Genn's circle of deadly-yet-friendly animal friends.
"Does mom know you're keeping a bear in your room?" he asked, keeping his distance (animals and him never got along).
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Post by Princess Katie on Dec 29, 2008 1:05:07 GMT -5
“It’s a psychological response. You click, then give a treat, click, then give a treat. Then the click becomes a treat itself,” Genn explained, setting the clicker on her bedside table, and stooping to scratch the bear behind its ears. “Of course Mom doesn't know. She'd be so pissed. But, don’t worry about him, he’s just a sweet little baby. Aren’t you, Huxley? Goooood boy,” She cooed, kissing the bear on his nose, settling down next to him on the floor.
As if just remembering Alexander was there, she glanced back up at him.”Where’s your better half?” Genn asked with a grin, “Leave her at home with a puzzle to occupy her for a while?”
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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 7, 2009 0:55:31 GMT -5
"I didn't get a treat," he said, a bit put off. He pulled a face. Huxley? Her poor future boyfriend.
He meant to glare at her, but it came off more pout-like than anything. "Yes," he admitted. "Which is apparently more fascinating than me." He sat cross-legged next to his sister, but still within running distance of the bear.
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Post by Princess Katie on Jan 7, 2009 1:04:59 GMT -5
Genevieve looked rather embarrassed. "Oh. I was...kidding about the puzzle." It was lucky that Alexander didn't get too offended on Nellie's behalf. Someone else might have. It did come across like she was insulting her intelligence.
"And what, hanging out with your little sister and her bear is the only other means of entertaining yourself that you have? You're hardly even Alexander anymore. Do I know you?" She blinked in feigned confusion, furrowing her brow.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 7, 2009 23:51:31 GMT -5
He gave her a burdened look. Nellie tended to produce that reaction. The 'oh how funny!--wait, it's not a joke' thing.
The pout playing at his lips deepened. Not so much because he was offended, but because she was right.
"I'm mostly here to alleviate your boredom, of course. You look like you could use a little intelligent interaction."
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Post by Princess Katie on Jan 10, 2009 1:47:26 GMT -5
"If you're somehow suggesting that you are smarter than Huxley, here... well, I'd hate to jab at your delicate ego. I won't finish what I was going to say," Genevieve donned a delicate look of pity, resting a consoling hand on Alexander's elbow. "So. Am I to entertain you? Because, I don't know if you've heard, but I'm sort of a bore."
Genn stood with a stretch, stooped to pick up a saliva-covered stuffed animal, tossed it to Huxley (who chewed on its head with gusto), and resumed a lounging position, but this time on the bench of her bay window. "So, how are things with your little woman? Has she adjusted to cemetery life yet?" She asked, ignoring the oxymoron in there.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 10, 2009 2:25:31 GMT -5
He sighed heavily -- like a properly wounded patient would, and stretched out further on the floor. If he thought about it, this was Genn's problem. Her inability to put herself before her brothers-- one of which who was more than willing to step up and put himself before her.
"I don't know," he said mournfully. "Nightmare life... isn't for her, I don't think. But... we're happy when we're together. When it's just us, just being together, all is well, but if anything of outside life seeps in, it's like getting a face-slap to how lost we really are."
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Post by Princess Katie on Jan 10, 2009 3:34:54 GMT -5
Genevieve couldn't decide whether to look shocked or pitying. That last little bit was exceptionally deep-sounding, and surprisingly humble, coming from Alexander. Strange things were happening. She felt like hugging him, but things were weird enough already.
"It has to be a big adjustment, considering. Well... Aunt Illie did it, back when everything was really separate, but...maybe she's more adaptive than Nellie? She's not completely miserable, is she?" Genn looked, for just a second, like she was going to cry for the two of them, but she apparently blinked the notion away. "Is there anything I can do? Help with? I can get some sheep, and they can stay here, and they can be hers. Whatever I can do, tell me."
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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 10, 2009 3:51:06 GMT -5
"Yeah, but... Simon," he held up one palm, "and me," up came the other. He tipped them at an obvious scale to show the difference. It was, a bit odd for him to admit anything less than awesomeness, but feelings of failure were frequent when it came to Nellie.
He tipped his head back, half-glaring, half-rolling his eyes at his sister.
"Jeez, Genn. What family were you raised in, anyway? I think you and Finnie got swapped at birth." He arched his back and then flopped over, rising to his feet to sit across from her on the window seat. He ruffled her hair-- in a deliberately annoying way. "I'll let you know. But since I'm this newfound, humble and selfless person, how are YOU?" He grinned. "Like that? I ended a question with the word 'you' instead of 'me'."
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Post by Princess Katie on Jan 10, 2009 4:43:49 GMT -5
"Alexanderrrrrr!" She groaned, working immediately to smooth her hair back to its proper silky waves. "I can't help that I was left with all the leftover traits that the rest of the family didn't want. You have to admit, there's definitely of an excess of Compassion that had to go somewhere. We'd hate to have it build up in Mom, how weird would that be?"
Whoa.
He phrased a question so that it was about someone else.
Genevieve tried not to choke to death on the sharp intake of air. "C-could you please get me some ice water, or... a fan? Or... smelling salts? I'm going to need something, I feel a faint coming on. Was that really...aimed at me?" She smiled back and shrugged a little. "You know me," Genn answered automatically, "I'm just fine. You know I have nothing to complain about."
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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 10, 2009 20:15:19 GMT -5
He shuddered a little, and his left eye twitched at an Illie-version of his mom. Too weird.
"Ha ha," he said wryly. Nellie had threatened to faint the last time he'd admitted to the possibility of the universe not revolving around him. He was not that bad. Tch.
"Alright," he said, somewhat doubtfully. Who was he to say if she wasn't really fine? It was just hard to believe she was always fine.
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Post by Princess Katie on Jan 16, 2009 0:33:55 GMT -5
"You don't believe me," Genn half-asked, obviously bewildered. "Whatever would I have to be upset about? Things that upset other people-- I just don't have them. No significant other to complain about, no job, no want of money or leisure. I live what experts call a 'Charmed Life'."
She smiled convincingly and deftly changed the subject. "So. How about being an uncle? So weird, am I right?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 26, 2009 0:43:36 GMT -5
Whether wholly sincere or not, it was certainly convincing enough for a semi-obtuse older brother, who shrugged and accepted the reality of her 'charmed life' without qualm.
"So weird!" he burst, a little flame-based exclamation point erupting over his head. "I mean... a baby? If Armand's old enough to have kids, then I'm old enough-- but I am not old enough to have kids."
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