25th Teddy Bear [Voice/Action][TWO DAYS]

[asobouyo]

[[Nighttime; June 23rd]]

[Elicia had had a tough week.

Shuffle, shuffle—the sound of turning blankets and small feet moving back and forth through them. She's been rolling in her sleep for a few minutes now, flipping her hidden journal into a little book tepee, while it records the buzzing air and soft incoherent murmurings of a child dreaming. They're not happy dreams, after a while, and it takes but a moment before she's wide awake and horrified and crawling under her blankets with her mouth in a shaky near-crying line. The journal. That's right.

She reaches over and opens it up all the way, unable to see anything in the dark. Her voice is watery and lined with a sort of innocent, hurt desperation when she speaks.]

[Voice]

Please tell me a story. I wanna hear stories, if anyone... wants to talk... I like them a lot. I—I promise I'll go back to sleep, but I just wanna hear one...

[Pretty, pretty please...

But despite stories, sometime in the night, she rises up from her bed and patter-pitters quickly into her parents' room. Scary, they're too scary—and they could be real. Because she's seen scary real things like it before. And the last thing she wanted was a blue-eyed woman slowly creaking out of her closet, like she kept imagining, over and over and over again...]

[[Daytime; June 24th]]


[It was a cold snap, today. Elicia wore her poofy pink jacket for the occasion. Truth be told, she's had a very tiring night of trying to sleep, and she'd failed at it fairly well. There were a mesh-up of things. Scary things. She didn't want to draw any of them, so she decided on focusing her attention to playing. By the end of her short-lived playtime outside, she's laying on her arm on the front steps of her house, the fake pink sword Law gave her still clamped in her hand.

A good nap. There was nothing scary... Just good. That was important. It's a good thing children bounce back well enough, even if only for a while, because she's got a content air about her later on in the day. Anyone who wants to visit, now's a great time to; she'll be drawing funny circles all over the ground outside with a stick. Clapping her hands and smacking them. And nothing happens. :|

But she sure as hell is pretending something's happening.]



Bam!! Now you can't stand against my dirt alchemy!! [throws dirt up with her hands at her big teddy bear >:^(

HA, screw you, teddy, you've got dirt on your head!]

You'd better give up soon, or else I'll have to use my water attack next!!

[AND THEN YOU'LL BE MUDDY!!!]

((ooc: Just make it clear which day you're replying to and all that. I have faith in you. |Db))

Comments

[shoutsgeronimo.livejournal.com]

[he clears his throat and settles back, trying to set the proper mood]

This is the story of a soldier, a good soul traveling home from twenty years of war with nothing in his pocket but a single shilling and three hard biscuits for the long journey home. The soldier had marched a thousand miles and along the way had had many adventures, for he was a man with a quick mind, and rare courage, and good humor. After spending his last shilling, the soldier whistled as he walked, and met upon his road a beggar who played a wonderful fiddle. Though the soldier's whistle was tuneless, he stopped and whistled with the poor beggar, and in doing so, began a journey that led him to tangle with Death himself.

Since the soldier had nothing else to give, he gave the beggar one of his last three dry biscuits. But the beggar was grateful and wished with all his heart that the soldier might have a better whistle as he continued his lonely journey. Though his company was brief, the soldier departed the beggar with a lighter heart, and found to his astonishment that his toneless whistle was now beautiful to hear, like you might imagine a pretty gemstone would sound if it could make a noise.

[with a quick grin at Elicia in the camera, the Doctor purses his lips and whistles a pretty melody to demonstrate.]

[asobouyo]

... [8U] That's amazing! The soldier was a real nice guy, huh? 'Cause he gave the beggar a biscuit, and whistled songs with him! I think that's a really great thing to do.

[shoutsgeronimo.livejournal.com]

Apparently the beggar thought so as well. It made the soldier's long trek more cheerful, to whistle a beautiful tune, but it wasn't long until he met a second beggar along the road. This beggar played a beat on his worn old drum; the soldier stopped to dance and whistle along in his equally worn old boots, and out of pity for the poor beggar, gave him the second of his biscuits so that he now only had one for himself. This beggar too was grateful, and wished with all his heart the soldier might have finer boots so that he would always dance so well. Still cheered, the soldier departed once more and found again that his worn old boots were now soft and new. This made the soldier's journey more comfortable, as new shoes often do. Whistling and dancing, he continued his lonely journey happily, though he was beginning to get very hungry and only had one biscuit left.

It was not long until the soldier met another a beggar on the side of the road. This beggar was even thinner and more sickly than the other three, and played a game of solitaire with an old set of cards. By this point the soldier was just as hungry himself. He thought about breaking the last biscuit in half and sharing with the third beggar, but since he had given a whole biscuit to the other two, he could not bring himself to do it, and instead headed over the whole last biscuit.

"You're a good man, soldier," said the third beggar. "And you deserve better than to be on your last biscuit that you've shared with an old man like me. I don't have much to give you in return, but take these cards, and may they never lose for you." But feeling still grateful for the soldier's kindness, the third beggar pulled out a dingy sack and offered it up as well. "Don't let this sack fool you," he said. "Despite its appearance, it is a wondrous thing. It will hold anything you wish, no matter the size, so long as you give the order."

The soldier thanked him. With his pack of cards and the sack as empty as his stomach, the soldier took to the road again, with a ruby whistle and a skip in his step. After a while he came across three geese, and remembering the beggar's words, ordered them straight into his sack.

What do you think happened here, then?

[asobouyo]

They walked into the bag!!

[... maybe a bit too excited. Cut me some slack, I love story time.]

1/2

[shoutsgeronimo.livejournal.com]

They did! And so the soldier walked on--

[he stops, his mouth open to continue when he appears to get lost in thought for a moment. There's more to this story, quite a bit more, but he quirks his lips into a smile at Elicia's image in the book. He has always liked children.] --until he reached his family's home, three geese in his magic bag for them to eat. From then on, his family never wanted for food or money, and the old soldier with his cheerful dance and ruby whistle lived happily with them forever after.

[shoutsgeronimo.livejournal.com]

[he's gotten her all riled up and then cut the story in half, so he feels completely justified in offering just a bit more]

There, that was nice, wasn't it? Shall we have one more while you settle back into bed?

[asobouyo]

[NOD NOD]

You can't stop now! You tell nice stories.

[Even if she did feel bad for the ducks.]

I 'specially like ones with families in them. I liked that one a lot!

[shoutsgeronimo.livejournal.com]

[he settles back and waits for her to do the same before beginning.]

Once upon a time, far in the future, there lived a little girl in a big house with too many rooms. Every night, she would stop and ask out loud for someone to come to help her, for a monster had come and taken away her parents, and now lived in a room that the little girl couldn't see.

Now here there should have been a hero, who would come and save her from the monster and take her away from the house with too many rooms. But sometimes the hero of the story is someone you don't expect. The should-have-been hero was wizard, and wizards are often late. This wizard was late by many years, and the little Girl Who Waited for him grew up, with only a little boy to talk to. The little boy couldn't stop the monster, but made the little Girl Who Waited laugh and played games with her so she wouldn't be afraid. The two friends did this for many years, until one day the wizard finally came. He shut the monster away and took the little Girl Who Waited away from the house with too many rooms in his magic ship. Though they traveled to faraway stars and had lots of adventures, the little Girl Who Waited missed the boy who had been her friend for so many years. The wizard, being rather understanding and possessing excellent fashion sense, went back for the boy so that they could all have adventures together.

One day, after a long adventure with the stars, something terrible happened. The monster who had lived in a room the Girl Who Waited couldn't see came back, and this time he took the boy and forced the girl to forget he had existed. But he did not make the wizard forget, so that the wizard would always remember and know that the boy was gone because of him. If the wizard had taken care of the monster properly the first time, he knew, none of it would have ever happened.

Sometimes the Girl Who Waited would cry and never know why. The wizard, ashamed and sad, would never tell her. He would try to take her to beautiful places with exciting adventures, to make her forget her sadness, but it always came back...

...Until one day, they met the boy again.

[His voice is a good voice for storytelling, and he is careful to take the right tone in the right places. For the moment, he holds his dramatic pause, smiling at the camera and watching for Elicia's reaction, making sure she's still settled down under the covers]

[asobouyo]

She did? She met the boy again?

[She was starting to get a little downtrodden, there. For a moment. After all, this story wasn't turning particularly happy yet!]