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Post by Rivienne Volkova on Sept 18, 2010 22:43:38 GMT -5
Rivienne smiled back warmly. "Aramis, I'm not the sort of person who could bear to abandon someone in need. We're going to get you something to eat, and then I'm going to talk to your parents about this." Her smiled turned grim. "And then, if it comes to it, I'm going to call in a few favors, and we're going to get you back to Dunehelden, safe and sound."
- - -
It only took a few minutes to get to the nearby McDonalds, even moving at the slow pace of Aramis' horse. It didn't look terribly crowded from the outside, which was probably a good thing. It would make it easier to have a conversation if she didn't have to constantly watch for listening ears.
She parked her car in front of the building, then made her way over to Aramis.
"Would you rather eat inside, or would you like me to bring the food out so you can stay with your horse?" She glanced over at the beast. "Does he have a name, by the way? It seems a bit rude to keep calling him 'the horse'."
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Aramis Aldin
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Mage
Beneath the trees my heart belongs...
Posts: 541
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Post by Aramis Aldin on Sept 18, 2010 23:32:17 GMT -5
Aramis glanced at his stallion and dismounted, patting him on the nose. "I'll just tie him up here. He'll steal my food if I try to eat it out here. He'll stay anyway, and no one'd be stupid enough to try to steal him. He's got a nasty bite and I'm the only person he'll stay calm for."
He scratched the stallion's forehead. "Sûldae. His name is Sûldae. I was reading Lord of the Rings when he was foaled, and I wanted to give him an Elvish name. The grammar is probably terrible, but names often are terrible grammatically. It means 'wind shadow'. He's a lot faster than he looks, too."
Aramis smiled slightly, then loosely tied the reins to the bicycle rack and tapped his stallion on the nose. "You stay here. I won't be too long, and you'll be able to see me. If you behave, I'll get you an apple."
The stallion snorted and mouthed Aramis' hair, snuffling slightly. The blond chuckled weakly and patted the horse's nose. "He'll stay here. He always seems to understand more than you'd think he could. So long as he doesn't think I'm in danger, he'll be docile as a lamb."
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Post by Rivienne Volkova on Sept 19, 2010 0:17:30 GMT -5
"Sûldae, then." Rivienne smiled. They'd kept horses rather briefly when she was young, and she'd always been fond of them. It made her wish she could have been able to take Rudeth and Thrall riding when they were younger.
Rivienned opened the door for him and went through the line, getting a pile of hashbrowns and apple pies and whatever else Aramis wanted to eat, then found a table not too close to the employees and put down the tray.
"Dig in." She grinned over at Aramis. "You must be starving."
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Aramis Aldin
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Mage
Beneath the trees my heart belongs...
Posts: 541
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Post by Aramis Aldin on Sept 19, 2010 1:17:02 GMT -5
Aramis picked at the sausage biscuit he'd gotten. That and the patty of hashbrowns, plus a cup of orange juice, looked to him like more than he could eat. "Not particularly. I haven't been hungry for a few days. Too freaked out, I guess. I'll probably get hungry once things have settled down. It's not like I'm really thin. Mom was fairly intent on keeping me well fed until..." his voice trailed off and he forced himself to take a real bite and swallow before he continued.
"I probably have a few spare pounds anyway." He glanced out the window. The sky was clearing up, having been overcast for two days now.
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Post by Rivienne Volkova on Sept 28, 2010 20:07:27 GMT -5
Rivienne raised an eyebrow skeptically. "If you don't eat properly for too long, you'll completely destroy your metabolism," she countered, raising a cup of coffee to her lips. She wasn't particularly hungry herself, but she was tired, and the coffee helped with that. "And from where I'm sitting, Aramis, I don't think you have the weight to spare."
She was quiet for a long moment, staring wistfully into the cup. "You need to at least finish your juice. It's good for your immune system, and heaven knows you need it, after being out in the wilderness for so long."
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Aramis Aldin
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Mage
Beneath the trees my heart belongs...
Posts: 541
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Post by Aramis Aldin on Sept 28, 2010 20:21:12 GMT -5
Aramis finished the juice, though there was a hint of an impish expression on his face. "That's not wilderness. I was barely in the trees," he retorted, his voice light. It had a tone of 'I'm trying to cheer us both up, is it working?', and his expression was light but a little concerned.
He finished the sausage determinedly, swallowing more out of stubbornness than any actual hunger. The hashbrown was easier, but even then he ended up feeling like he might as well have just drank the grease used to cook the thing for all the actual nutritional value he'd gotten.
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Post by Rivienne Volkova on Sept 28, 2010 20:40:24 GMT -5
Rivienne chuckled, setting the cup back on the table. She'd been lonely over the summer, with most of her family off visiting others, and as strange as it was, she was happy to be halfway across the country helping Aramis. She was used to feeling needed, and now that Rudeth was all but grown and Yao was god knows where (and as much as she tried, she couldn't bring herself to just not care), she had far too much time to herself. She scarcely knew what to do with herself.
But now... Aramis needed her help. It gave her a strange sort of joy, having a cause to fight for again. It made her nostalgic for her days with the hunter group.
She smiled. "So tell me, Aramis, what are these parents of yours like? I like to be prepared before I go into battle."
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Aramis Aldin
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Mage
Beneath the trees my heart belongs...
Posts: 541
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Post by Aramis Aldin on Sept 28, 2010 20:50:19 GMT -5
Aramis stiffened immediately, almost as though he'd been hit. He swallowed slightly. "Mother is quiet... You probably won't even see her. She avoids confrontation, and I am rather certain Father won't be pleased to hear my name. Father is... brash. He's loud, and easily angered. I've never seen him hit someone in anger, but I have seen him break a few walls, and he broke his fist once on a beam."
He looked out the window for an eternal moment, his dark eyes unfocused as he seemed to gaze as his stallion. The horse just looked back quietly and tossed its head. Closing his eyes, Aramis shook his head. "He almost hit me when I left... I'm... I want to offer to be there just to make sure he doesn't try to hit you." His voice was now a whisper, barely carrying to Rivienne's ears while he still gazed to the side. "That same part of me is terrified just to go near that house again."
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Post by Rivienne Volkova on Sept 28, 2010 21:03:34 GMT -5
Rivienne looked pensive at the description of Aramis' mother, her smile smoothing away; at the mention of the boy's father, her face went grim.
"If you're uncomfortable about him, Aramis, I won't take you," she said darkly. "Believe me, Aramis, I can handle myself. But if you want to come -- and you don't have to -- I won't let him so much as touch you. I promise you that."
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Aramis Aldin
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Mage
Beneath the trees my heart belongs...
Posts: 541
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Post by Aramis Aldin on Sept 28, 2010 21:12:03 GMT -5
"I'm more concerned about him hitting you, Professor. I know you're good at fighting, but sometimes all it takes is one blow, and he's not a warrior... but he's fast. Comes from dealing with unruly horses I guess." Aramis turned to look at her again. "I don't see why you have to go. When he's angry, there's no reasoning with Father. I can't see anything but pain coming from going to see him."
He bit his lip slightly. "Do you really have to go?" he asked, his voice small, more like a small child's than the almost adult he was.
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Post by Rivienne Volkova on Sept 28, 2010 21:34:34 GMT -5
Rivienne patted Aramis' hand and gave him a sympathetic look. "There is a right way and a wrong way to do this, Aramis. I'd like to try to do this the right way, and that means I have to do my best to reason with your parents. If they refuse to budge, as you seem to believe, I will at least rest easier knowing that I did everything I could."
Rivienne leaned back in her seat and sipped her coffee, considering her options. "There's no way we're going to make it out of this without calling in a favor or two. I'm just curious who would be best for the job." She eyed the horse through the window. "If nothing else, we're going to need a way to transport your friend out there."
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Aramis Aldin
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Mage
Beneath the trees my heart belongs...
Posts: 541
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Post by Aramis Aldin on Sept 28, 2010 21:49:30 GMT -5
Aramis' lip curled slightly. "Even if they were to welcome me back with open arms, I wouldn't go. I refuse to live with people who are even willing to say that I shouldn't exist. Even freak I might have handled, but I will not go back when they have stated they wished I'd never been born."
The anger melted immediately into a nearly heartbroken expression that he quickly turned toward the window, hoping Rivienne had missed it. "They're not my parents anymore. They can go bankrupt for all I care. Obviously he never understood why he never lost a horse to illness, or why the crops rarely failed. Animals are so much easier to heal than people... and hearts the hardest to heal..." his voice trailed off again as his hand tightened into a fist.
"I could ride Sûldae almost anywhere. So long as there is grass, he'll be fine. Unless I need to go into some town that doesn't allow horses on the roads, which are surprisingly very few, I doubt there would be much problem."
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Post by Rivienne Volkova on Oct 18, 2010 20:22:30 GMT -5
Rivienne patted Aramis' hand lightly, her heart swelling in sympathy for the boy. "You can't ride a horse to Dunehelden, dear," she said gently. Rivienne sighed. "And the nearest connection point to Dunehelden is in Seattle. Even if you could ride a horse there, it's too far to be practical. We need something that can transport a horse, and preferably some way to travel a long distance quickly and discreetly."
Rivienne thought for a moment. She took her cellphone out of her pocket and scrolled idly through the names. When only one name popped out at her, Rivienne's expression looked pained.
"Dear God in heaven, is there no one else?" she murmured, barely loud enough for Aramis to hear her, resting her forehead against her hand. She looked up after a minute and forced a smile. "Aramis," she said, her voice unnervingly calm, "I may have to ask Headmistress Poulain to give us some assistance."
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Aramis Aldin
Kitty Kat
Academy Junior: Mage
Beneath the trees my heart belongs...
Posts: 541
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Post by Aramis Aldin on Oct 18, 2010 20:34:14 GMT -5
"I know I can't just ride him to the school, I'm quiet not stupid," he retorted, then covered his eyes with a hand. "I'm sorry, Professor, I shouldn't have said that. I could ride him to Seattle, it wouldn't be hard, and he certainly could use the exercise. You wouldn't even have to come with me; I'm more than able to take care of myself, especially with Sûldae there."
He sighed, then stiffened slightly when she mentioned the headmistress. Looking at her with an almost doe-like expression, he bit his lip. "I could just go into Canada and disappear into a forest somewhere..." he suggested hopefully.
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