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 Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 12:47 am
Stop one accomplished, the tiny Godling could move onto her next stop. While technically she was closer to home, well… This was just something that she had to do.
After all, while everyone seemed to forget it at this time, there was another twin in the equation. The thing about twins was… Well, they usually come in pairs. This led her to the ol’ Carnegie offshoot apartment where the twins had carved their freedom.
Bag of household goodies held in the crook of her arm, she reached to knock upon the apartment door.
If Seamus had anything to say, the home would be swarming with sweet, hot nurses. Knowing Murphy… Well… Tepin wasn’t sure if there would be nurses or not. Each situation was equally likely.
But… Well… Seamus’ theories were influenced by drugs, after all.
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 12:58 am
An ominous crash resounded from within the small apartment; a stutter, a swear, a thud and a kick, and the swift pounding of footsteps making an uneven trail to the doorway, which swung open to reveal one mussed twin.
Murphy stared into open space, before he thought to look down; and there was Tepin!
So far down.
"Hey!" His entire face lit up in delight, because as he swore to her, she was his favorite little lady in the whole world. He said much the same to Sydni, but he hoped neither would ever tell the other. He pulled off the heavy gloves he was wearing, holding one between his teeth as the other tucked under his arm, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "'Allo there. What's a little princess like you doing around this neck of the woods, eh?"
He shuffled both gloves to his other arm, stepping back from the doorway like a gentleman and invited her inside, right proper. "C'mon in! It's a little bit of a-" He waved at the jumbled furniture, the clothes on the floor, and the curiously toasted microwave above the oven. -"Work in progress. Rearranging; making space. Sorry about the mess!"
He seemed to be on a speaking roll today, ushering her in like a babbling brook carrying a paper boat down the way, closing the door with his foot. Or trying to; his toe got caught and he hopped like a trapped bird for a minute before he pried it free, and the door clicked shut demurely.
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:14 am
She flinched as the bang hit her ears, only to slowly raise back to her original position. This did not bode well-- the poor nurses must be in danger!
Recoiling further at the hair ruffling (Why did everyone feel the need to do that?!), she ducked inside with a small smile.
“I’m just paying the visits-- I moved back in, after all.” Surely, the twins had caught wind of it. If Seamus knew about getting back together, then they had to have known about the initial breakup. “You making room for your family?”
She had heard that they were going to be staying in the twin’s apartment-- just in case something should happen.
The thought sickened her. Of course nothing would happen again-- Valeriu was not some kind of monster on the rampage.
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:24 am
"Heard about that," Murphy chimed, sing-songing, and he'd certainly heard about something else. A sofa blocked the hallway, toppled. Murphy shoved and grunted and pushed until the thing was out of the way so that Tepin could walk through to the house.
The bang just might have come from him attempting to leap over it rather than move it.
"Yeah," he wiped at his bangs, grinning. "Mum, and my sisters, and Grammama. Everyone's gonna be babyin' Seamus and worrying over every little hiccup he makes." He grinned wider. "And he'll hate every minute of it."
Priceless.
Amazing how similar their expressions could be.
"Plus-" A kick of the foot, and a bundle of clothes and empty glass bottles expertly rolled underneath a chair. "He's been nagging about more space for months."
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:34 am
“Well, that’s sweet of you,” She observed, her eyes too busy wandering over the apartment, “Too bad all it took was getting mauled.”
She was only teasing, of course, but instantly regretted her words after they had escaped her mouth. Even to her, they sounded much too harsh.
“--I didn’t… I didn’t really mean that, Murphy.”
Awkwardly, she returned to looking around. This was her first time actually being inside the apartment, but judging from the mysteriously irrational spots that everything was in, she could tell that there had been a drastic overhaul.
“They are thinking about another week, last I checked. I just dropped him off some magazines and stuff to keep him busy.”
Murphy still had an entire week to finish up, and yet he was already working so hard. It was the first time she had ever seen him so… motivated for anything that wasn’t beer or a pretty girl. Honestly, it was comforting. He was human after all; even Murphy pulled through when his loved ones were in a pinch.
“If you need any help or anything, just let Vale or I know.” After all, Murphy was attacked as well… The only difference was that Seamus actually was physically hurt, “Even if it’s just to talk…”
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:52 am
A stumble, but Murphy was back in balance in no time, and the flash of pain that had stricken him was gone with the wind. The wind of the air conditioner.
"Haha," he laughed, perhaps too forcefully, and urged her into the kitchen. If anything, more stuff was crammed in there; a bed sat agreeably pushed up against the wall, and DVDs were stacked up on top of the stove and spilling onto the floor. "I know, I know. Procrastination - only death solves it! Here, take a seat. It's pretty hot outside, and that's a long walk. Ya want anything to drink?" Rummaging through the fridge and tossing out an empty tin of chocolates, he held up several different drinks in his arms. "We've got Coke, we've got Root Beer, we've got iced tea an' Sprite -- hell, I think we have glasses around here too, but I haven't seen 'em for days."
He decided to simply toss all the bottles onto the bed for her to pick and choose from. "Yeah, another week. Of course, you can't trust a doctor these days." He clucked his tongue disdainfully, twisting open a Sprite bottle. "Seamus' goin' mad in there, he is. Absolutely bonkers. It's sweet of you to bring him things. You're a good lass." A good lass - Murphy's tone said Seamus should have a good lass of his own. "Though he sucks at crosswords, I'll tell you."
"And Puzzlers."
"And," he added, thoughtfully, "anythin' besides the Cartoons, really."
So much faith he had in his brother.
"I'm doin' fine, no worries there." He gestured to the rest of the house. "Except for the cleanin'. But I don't do cleanin', or rearrangin'. That's Seamus' holy domain." He looked uncomfortable at the suggestion, though, despite his insistence on being fine. "Think I'll have to do that for a while now, what with his wounds and all. At least I'm the super pretty one now." He grinned, albeit far more weakly.
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 12:58 pm
She dodged the bottles to plop onto the bed, carefully tugging off her shoes before sitting cross-legged like a child. All kinds of sodas before her… It was like a dream! She hadn’t had soda since… Well, since her mother’s house, but that wasn’t the point!
The root beer lid fizzed angrily under her touch when she opened it, protesting being thrown so callously onto the bed. Quickly, she covered the neck with her mouth, catching the foam before it could make any more of a mess than what was already strewn across the kitchen.
“I’ll get cartoons only from now on, then.” No need in wasting their money if Seamus wasn’t going to enjoy it anyway, right? “If it’s cleaning, I can come help with that.”
Frankly, the house looked like it needed it. Any untrained eye could tell that Murphy was simply moving things-- nothing had been actually accomplished since the attack.
Something had to be done. Whether or not Seamus came home on time… Murphy would be breaking his neck trying to get the place ready for him. If… Even if Vale and Tepin helped… She doubted he’d leave the things as they were-- he just needed… Needed to do something! Anything! Something to help! Sitting around idly as your loved ones suffered was all too horrible a feeling that Tepin understood all too well.
“Murphy!!” Her voice was abrupt and sharp, and she looked at him as if it were the most important thing in the world, “You have to come with me.”
She held her breath-- this would either work, or fail horribly.
“I have to go pick pipes up at the hardware store-- and I can’t carry them on my own.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:04 pm
He looked at her, puzzled for all of three seconds, before an excited grin spread across his face as he leapt up.
"Let's go then!" Out, out, out of the house and away from trying to make space. "I understand, little lady," he added, kindly, flexing his arm. "Pipes're heavy. Need a big, strong man - like me."
Actually, the twins were by far scrawnier than Valeriu, but working in construction had blessed them with strong figures and tough shoulders.
"Know what kind to get? Kitten probably wrote it down, eh?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:24 pm
“Yea-- somewhere--” She fumbled, already tugging her shoes once more as she balanced holding her bag of goods and the soda. “It’s in my--…” She was digging in her jeans now, fingers groping for the tiny folded sheet of paper. “--POCKET!” With a jolt, the held the paper up above her head, grinning for the foresight to actually write it down.
In actuality, Vale had planned on getting them on his own (After all, this was something too brutish for a delicate v‘oman)… But they needed any excuse to get this poor man out of the house. Vale would understand in full, the moment that Tepin explained the situation to him.
Then again, Tepin was probably the worst person to go shopping for pipes. As she stared at the numbers and diameters and measurements and-- what the heck was a “S trap”?!
With a dejected look, she forfeited the paper to the man. He worked construction; logically speaking, he should know what to get.
“Yea-- I’m glad I nabbed you.” Trudging along, she suddenly felt much smaller, “Because I have no idea what I am doing.”
Her eyes stared down the street, beginning to recognize the area more intently.
"Oh, and we're gunna have to split up if we get to any road blocks-- so don't get concerned or anything if I gotta bolt."
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Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 1:36 pm
"No problem, Prince already told us about the blockade stuff," he reassured her agreeably, nabbing the note from her hand and looking over the list.
"Tsk tsk tsk," he clucked his tongue, "Kitty definitely should never be left around cords, wires, or plumbing, eh? Gotta kitten-proof your house," he reminded her, chastising. "Well, this is no problem; easy list, easy to find."
He grinned, tucked the list back into his own pocket, turned to her, and looked down the street.
"Wanna race? First one to the end wins at life," he declared.
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:34 pm
She looked to him, looked back to the street, and bolted without a word.
After all, Murphy was much taller, and had much longer legs; she needed whatever handicap that she could get!
The downside, of course, being that Tepin wasn’t particularly sure if the “End” meant the end of the street, or the ambiguous point that Murphy would have chosen in order to trick her into “Failing at life.”
And so, with as much gusto as she could manage, she simply kept running.
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:41 pm
"H-Hey! That's cheating!" he yelled after her, taking off after her. Nevermind the fact that he was planning to start running at the count of two rather than the count of three.
Laughing, he overtook her, giving her a playful shove to 'sabotage' her race.
"Take that! You won't win this time, Mr. Bond!" he sneered dramatically at her in an evil-villain fashion, only to turn his head back forward - and have to duck around a lightpost.
"Fook!" he cursed, danced around it, and ran to catch up again.
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:54 pm
She almost tripped up at the push, swerving to avoid any further abuse from the elder twin, before pulling ahead as Murphy avoided certain head trauma.
“Wait--” She panted out, trying to keep her pace despite talking, “Where is the end at?!”
She couldn’t keep going forever.
Then again, if it meant making Tepin Fail At Life, well, she almost thought that Murphy could circle the world.
He was just that kind of guy, after all.
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:01 pm
"I dunno!" he huffed back, reeling along behind her, and then pointing at the hardware store. "There! The doors! Dibs!"
With that, he pulled ahead again, laughing like a hyena as certain victory was within his grasp.
Stylish victory! He leapt and slid along the ground as if sliding to home base, just like those old baseball pros - and slid, slid, slid along the gravel right past the doors and into a pile of rolled up carpets with a clatter, a thump, and a cloud of dust.
"Nooo!" a cry a rose from the fallen carpets.
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:11 pm
She slowed a few meters from the doors-- if only to watch Murphy in his act of bravado be followed by Murphy in a world of pain and humiliation.
This… karma? Nahh-- Couldn’t be.
She caught up with a small trot, pushing the door open with a jingle. Tepin couldn’t help but feel that after his stunt… Well… Murphy well deserved the title of Failure at Life. Still, she waited in the door patiently, watching for any sign of life under all those carpets.
“You still in there? C’mon!” Orders now. Tepin was a winner at life, after all. “I need you to help me find those pipes!”
Secretly, she hoped he would stay in there long enough for her to at least catch her breath properly.
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