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Post by stratofarius on Aug 23, 2012 15:23:53 GMT -5
Zhi rolled her eyes as both Kun and Tangelo hugged her, but she smiled once the two weren't looking. "Coming, Father." she said, walking over to the table and placing both Kun and Tangelo on the two seats next to her. Once she sat down, she licked her lips at seeing the pots John was carrying.
"How come you always invent the coolest dishes, Father?" She said, getting ready to grab something with her fork, until Alicia cleared her throat, bringing the rest of the food from the kitchen.
"It's a funny story, actually." Alicia said, setting the rest of the food on the table. "Your father always had a thing for cooking- but he only got to cook for me after a long string of... problems." She smirked at John, and sat on the chair besides him. "And don't forget, Zhi, before we eat, we have to thank the spirits."
Zhi sighed, taking the hands of both Kun (who was at her right) and Rinku (who was at her left), as they all had to join hands during the prayer. "Fine, fine." she said. "They didn't do anything to warrant my thanks, anyway." she added under her breath
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Post by Krautman on Aug 24, 2012 10:41:34 GMT -5
John smiled as he took his seat, stirring the mushrooms one more time.
"Well, Zhi, I had to cook for myself a lot around your age, and I eventually got sick of noodles and simple cooked meat. So I bought a few recipe books and started learning."
He took Qiang and Alicia's hands for the prayer.
Meanwhile, Lemon sat down next to Tangelo and took his hand.
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Post by dblade26 on Aug 24, 2012 12:31:02 GMT -5
Tangelo took Lemon's hand and Kun's hand then said "Thank you spirits!" causing August to have to suppress a fit of laughter and Dollstop to smack his head into his hands with an "agh!"of irritation.
The half-demon glanced over at Dollstop with a look of sincere concern. "Why's big brother grabbing his face? Did he hurt it? Did his face come off!? Is my face gonna come off too?! I like my face!!"
"Your face isn't gonna fall off, Dummy even if it might look better that way. I just....nevermind. I'm okay and you're okay, so there."
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Post by stratofarius on Aug 24, 2012 18:10:09 GMT -5
Alicia glared at August, the same death glare she gave Rinku a few seconds ago. "I'm sorry, son, for a moment there, I thought you were disrespecting the spirits. Which is something you shouldn't do."
She smiled again. "Anyway... we thank you, Spirits, for guiding us, and for looking after the ones we love, so we could enjoy this meal together as a family. May this world always remain under your watchful eyes. Thank you."
Zhi repeated the words "thank you" under her breath and immediately retracted her hands, grabbing the fork and knife. "So, come on, let's eat!"
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Post by Falkon on Aug 25, 2012 0:17:36 GMT -5
As Sarah helped herself to the catfish salmon, Rinku piled his plate with mushrooms and rice, before releasing them to Sarah, and the rest of the group.
Once everyone had served themselves, Sarah took a bite of the fish. "This tastes wonderful," she said, "As always!"
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Post by dblade26 on Aug 26, 2012 13:49:25 GMT -5
August went suddenly pale and almost tried to back out of his chair at the glare his mother gave him.
"I...um...n-no, of course I'd never mock the spirits! Th-that's ridiculous! I would never mock the spirits! I'm like...soul-linked to one or share a brain with one, and Lemon is almost a spirit. So...I'm very grateful to them, eh-heh."
Tangelo looked teary eyed even though Dollstop had calmed him down, while Dollstop was calmly eating his own food and trying his best to ignore his brother without causing any problems that Alicia or Lemon would get mad at him for.
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Post by Krautman on Aug 26, 2012 14:32:51 GMT -5
Lemon took Tangelo's plate for a bit. The boy was still young, and his mother didn't want him cutting himself on a knife. "There you are, 'Gelo. Eat up so you can be big and strong! I mean... bigger and stronger!"
She then dug into her own plate of rice and fish, a happy look on her face.
Kun waited for John to cut her food before digging in as well, starting with her favorite- the mushrooms. "You're an awesome cook daddy!"
John smiled and looked over to August. "So, son, got any stories for us this week?"
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Post by stratofarius on Aug 26, 2012 17:17:58 GMT -5
"Yes!" Alicia said, cutting a piece of the fish. "Good stories. Good filtered stories."
Zhi happily munched down on everything that was on her plate, nodding.
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Post by dblade26 on Aug 27, 2012 15:12:23 GMT -5
August paused in thought for a minute, trying to think of a good story to tell.
"Well, there was one interesting job this week. So, we were in a western-style fantasy world, knights in armor, sorcerers with swishing decorated robes and feudal kingdoms of course. So, my swords and my page boy-"
he gestured to Dollstop
"-fit right in and I posed as a wandering knight. After a while of wandering from city to city and asking if there were any quests suitable for a chivalrous knight we wound up presenting ourselves before a King and he asks us to rescue his only daughter, who had been locked away in an incredibly high tower."
August paused to make sure people were still following the story before continuing.
"Now normally I don't rescue princesses anymore since I'm in a committed relationship and the Kings always want to reward you by marrying you to their daughter and making you a prince, and I told him that." He smiled at Lemon as he mentioned that part, then continued with the story.
"So imagine my surprise when the King tells me he already has a prince waiting to marry her as soon as she's rescued, but he'd be more than happy to reward me in any other way I request once I rescue her. So we went to the tower. It was an almost perfect prison. It rose up up up into the sky, surrounded by flesh-eating harpies who attacked anyone who approached, a wide moat boiling over with angry, writhing sea-serpents and the only key to the only door sealed inside the mouth of by a giant dragon statue enchanted to come alive and eat any man who tried to get the key."
He paused to let the idea of such an immense amount of dangerous countermeasures sink in.
"So, we came up with a plan. I found the biggest sea-monster in the moat and used Vampire Killer to bridle him around the mouth and ride him across the lake with Dollstop holding on. Then, as I challenged the harpies to a fight Dollstop sneaked over to steal the key from the Dragon's mouth, since as a child he didn't set off it's magic. Then after I'd defeated the harpies, we were ready to rescue the princess. But get this! Once we get all the way up there, she tells us "The tower isn't here to keep me in, it's to keep my fiancee out!"
"She didn't want to get married to him, so she locked herself in that tower instead! So, we naturally decided we had to respect her decision and leave her there, even if we didn't get paid."
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Post by Falkon on Aug 27, 2012 16:54:07 GMT -5
Rinku stared at August after the story, as if unsure of whether he should say something.
"Uhm... It's a cool story and all, but..." he began, "How did she get the flesh eating harpies and sea serpents in without getting eaten? And if there was only one key, how'd she lock the tower?"
Sarah rolled her eyes at her brothers questions. Always analyzing everything!
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Post by stratofarius on Aug 28, 2012 21:57:02 GMT -5
"Didn't the king ask what happened to the princess?" Zhi asked, still munching on the fish.
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Post by dblade26 on Aug 30, 2012 8:13:06 GMT -5
August rolled his eyes "Are you kidding? No way I'd go back there after turning down the job like that just to get my head cut off. The king probably thought I got eaten."
He turned to Rinku next "The harpies only ate knights or maybe men, didn't stop to ask them which one. The sea serpents aren't strong outside the water and the Princess had a copy of the key, the key in the dragon's mouth was just the only one on the outside. Any more questions?"
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Post by stratofarius on Aug 30, 2012 8:28:28 GMT -5
"Actually, no." Zhi said after eating another huge piece of the fish. "Just wondering how come all of your stories take place in far-away lands with kings and princesses. I think you're repeating yourself, August."
"Oh brother." Alicia commented under her breath. She sighed, smiled, and turned to Lemon. "How are things going in the resort, dear?"
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Post by dblade26 on Aug 31, 2012 7:47:12 GMT -5
August shrugged at his sister's accusation. "They're surprisingly common themes, so their are a lot more worlds involving those things than you might think." While that was true, it was also the case that a lot of August's adventures were too mature or scary to tell around Kun or Tangelo. He wouldn't even have told some of them to someone Dollstop's age if it weren't for the fact that his apprentice had witnessed them.
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Post by Krautman on Aug 31, 2012 8:42:22 GMT -5
"Well, nothing really interesting lately," Lemon said, putting her spoon down, "Haven't had a pirate attack in months after Menchet sunk one of their ships. But I'm keeping us busy though, ever since my boss put in the coliseum there's been a lot of violence in the stands I have to help take care of."
She eventually turned to August.
"And when we finally have the wedding, we aren't doing it at the resort. I'm not wearing that dress in tropical heat and humidity, tropes about weddings be choored!"
John chuckled and turned to Alicia.
"Hey, we had to wear the wedding robes in a desert. You kids can't complain."
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Post by stratofarius on Aug 31, 2012 22:49:33 GMT -5
"Our wedding." Alicia said, holding John's hand. "Yes, it was probably the worst day to have a wedding, but, still, probably one of the best nights of my life."
"Oh, great, another romantic moment." Zhi whispered to herself (although Tangelo could hear her clearly), rolling her eyes. "Don't they get tired of those?"
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Post by dblade26 on Sept 1, 2012 12:28:31 GMT -5
"Eew, Nana and Grampa are being all lovey and mushy" Tangelo whispered to Zhi, trying his best to roll his eyes along with her before pretending to gag and dry heave at the sight to play along with his aunt's complaint.
Unfortunately the exaggerated fake gagging made him choke for real and burst into a fit of watery-eyed coughing as he struggled to catch his breath.
August decided it was best to let the subject of where to have their wedding go uncontested for now and just remain silent, while Dollstop was trying to remain above it all and just finish eating but kept sneaking concerned glances at his younger brother during his coughing fit.
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Post by Krautman on Sept 2, 2012 8:25:09 GMT -5
John had been about to kiss Alicia's cheek when Tangelo's coughing fit broke out.
Lemon, meanwhile, gasped as she scrambled to get her son some water and rubbed his back.
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Post by dblade26 on Sept 2, 2012 21:10:50 GMT -5
Tangelo grabbed at the water and gulped it to try and clear his throat. Once he had stopped coughing and calmed down he gave Lemon a hug and pressed his head against her, not noticing that his eyes were still teary.
August had been trying not to laugh at Tangelo's antics but he couldn't help but smile at the way Lemon had immediately leapt up once the boy started coughing, amused by how protective she still was around their son and how cute his reaction was.
Dollstop tried to hide his relieved sigh as his brother stopped coughing even though he had completely stopped paying attention to his food and was muttering concernedly so that Alicia and Kun could probably hear him
"Honestly, he never chews his food unless you tell him to n' then he does dumb stuff like that and acts all surprised an' scared. Gotta watch him all the time like a total baby."
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Post by Krautman on Sept 3, 2012 7:19:45 GMT -5
Lemon sighed in relief and continued rubbing Tangelo's back, resting her head on his with a gentle smile. "Gelo, sweetie, what did I tell you? You have to chew your food. I know your grandpa's food is very good, but it'll taste better if you chew it for a bit before you try and swallow it."
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Post by dblade26 on Sept 3, 2012 8:46:05 GMT -5
Tangelo was trying his best to hide the fact that the reason he had choked was because he was making fun of John and Alicia with Zhi, but he wasn't very used to lying so his face was glowing bright red.
"O-okay Mama, but it tastes so good that I wanted to be able to eat lotsa food at once...an' Auntie Zhi said something really funny, so I laughed n' stuff..."
He fidgeted nervously, not sure if he was saying the right things and glancing over at Zhi for reassurance despite being face-to-face with his mother.
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Post by stratofarius on Sept 3, 2012 19:33:30 GMT -5
"Tangelo!" both Zhi and Alicia yelled in unison. While Zhi blushed, realizing what she had just done, Alicia stood up and ran over to her grandson, placing a hand on his stomach. Once everything was alright, she let out a sigh of relief.
"... say something funny?" Alicia said, raising an eyebrow.
"What?" Zhi asked, filling her mouth with food. "Hesh probabluh thinksh everythung Ish sayh ish funneh."
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Alicia replied with a glare.
Zhi gulped down her food, and fidgeted nervously, looking down. "Sorry, Mother."
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Post by dblade26 on Sept 4, 2012 16:16:23 GMT -5
Proving Zhi's point, Tangelo immediately started giggling when Zhi nervously stuffed food into her mouth and tried to talk around it.
"Yup! Auntie Zhi is always really funny! That's why she's my favoritest Auntie ever!" The half-demon smiled at Zhi, eyes practically sparkling with blind affection and obviously forgetting that they were lying to cover up anything.
Dollstop meanwhile was once again looking at Alicia nervously, having seen that same frightening flicker of...something pass across her soul wavelength again for a fraction of a second. He fidgeted in his seat, wondering what to do about it but terrified of both upsetting his family by ruining dinner and of making Alicia angrier.
He was obviously upset to anyone watching, squirming in his seat and glancing between John, Lemon and August to see if they'd noticed anything wrong with Alicia too.
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Post by Krautman on Sept 4, 2012 20:39:23 GMT -5
Lemon recoiled at Alicia's glare before going back to cuddling Tangelo. John raised an eyebrow as he put a hand on Alicia's shoulder.
"Honey, what did the doctors say about getting so mad?"
Qiang was eating with Sarah again now that the situation was resolved. He gave her a warm smile.
"It's always good to hear from you Sarah. You're the most awesome girl in Republic City."
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Post by stratofarius on Sept 4, 2012 22:32:03 GMT -5
Zhi looked over at Tangelo, and while some might think she would roll her eyes and get back to eating, she actually smiled, blushed, and replied in a semi-whisper. "T-thanks, Tangelo..."
"Don't worry, honey, I'm not mad... yet." Alicia replied, holding John's hand and smiling. "Now, let's get back to eating. Maybe John can tell us a story from the factory?"
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Post by Falkon on Sept 5, 2012 11:54:53 GMT -5
"Complimenting me while my dad isn't around? Now I know you're being honest!" Sarah laughed, "You're the most awesome person in Gaoling."
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Post by dblade26 on Sept 6, 2012 7:34:15 GMT -5
In response to Zhi, Tangelo just smiled before hugging his aunt and cuddling against her, completely forgetting that they were at a dinner table.
Dollstop had turned back to his food, reassured that Alicia was going to be okay. But as he picked up his knife a strange look washed over his face and lit up his eyes and he grinned with shark-like pointed teeth.
"I wanna Dissect...dissect dissect dissect!!"
But instead of attempting to dissect the people around him, he began rapidly cutting his food from different angles so that it started making different shapes.
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Post by Krautman on Sept 6, 2012 7:49:31 GMT -5
John smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, but nothing that interesting's been happening lately. We had a break-in, but Bao- the guy from Omashu? He caught the guy and suplexed him."
When Dollstop began shouting about dissection, Lemon sighed and walked over, pinching his ear.
"Young man! What have I told you about dissecting things?"
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Post by dblade26 on Sept 6, 2012 8:02:53 GMT -5
Dollstop winced and snapped out of his trance as he was grabbed.
"ow-ow-ow-ow!! B-but Lemon it's j-just food! It doesn't have feelings or brains or anything!!"
Being able to snap the young Meister out of a fit of Madness was no small feat, especially not with such a simple act. But then again, Lemon was probably one of the closest things Dollstop had to a mother and he'd been obeying both her and Anny since he was a toddler.
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Post by stratofarius on Sept 6, 2012 23:08:21 GMT -5
As Alicia returned to her seat, Zhi took a moment to hug back Tangelo, caressing the back of his head. "... alright, alright, enough with the mushy moment. Go eat your dinner... and then maybe I can show you some cool bending tricks outside. How about that?"
"Dollstop, hasn't August told you anything about manners?" Alicia said, resuming her meal.
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