Sartre Castle

In which there's an Uncle

Chapter Two

In which there's an Uncle.

_{"I say moon, what do you see
When you gaze down upon your children.
Are we not like stars?
Are we not like planets?
How insignificant we must be.
Can you see us moon?
I say moon, what do you see."}

         Lucy, Mitch, and Nate all looked up with a befuddled gasp at Simon's comment. To which, the blue eyed teen grinned at them and raised his hands with fingers bent as if they were imposing claws and his grin only grew wider and far more toothy. The trio almost immediately laughed and bolted from the chairs as play ensued. Though the comment of learning an artistic talent from her dreams made the girl in the kitchen roll her eyes. What a ridiculous thing to say. As if he could snatch a childhood skill from her dreams. Memory maybe, but dreams? She watched the kids run around the purple leather couch in the warm colored living room from the kitchen as the water in the pot began to boil. The wall with the front door and window was a tannish brown, warm and cozy. As was the wall to the right of it with the olive green fireplace and the flat screen perched above it. A blu-ray player and dvd and surround sound system supported on a shelf protruding from the wall beside them. She didn't understand why her parents kept the dumb fireplace. It was a gas one, and even then it never produced any form of heat. It was assumed her parents kept it for show. However there were times she could swear a whiff of gas would pull from it for an hour or so now and then. She never trusted lighting any candles in this house.

         Caught up in her spaced-out thoughts and vague watching of the young children and her friend, she nearly didn't hear the hissing of the water boiling over onto the stove. Alice grabbed the wooden spoon and stirred the noodles in the pot, blowing lightly to calm the foam. Yet again, another disturbance. The cry of one of the children. She turned to see what was the matter and sighed at the sight of Simon being useless around kids. "Sim, why don't you stir these noodles for me okay? I'll take care of Mitch. When the timer beeps just pour the pot and noodles over the metal strainer in the sink." The girl explains, handing him the spoon when he approached. His eyes stared at it in confusion before nodding with confidence. "Sounds easy 'nuff!" Standing beside him, sometimes Alice forgot just how tall and handsome he was. Six feet even with a flawless complexion and ice blue eyes to break the hearts of any girl. For a moment, she was jealous he was so handsome compared to her beauty. She couldn't attract more than a fly with her looks. Even so, Alice watched him pop the spoon in the pot and boredly stir the contents within.

         While Alice tended to the young boy who fell and hurt his knee, the other two young ones lingered at Simons side anxiously. As if to return their wide eyed curious stare, he watches them back in a bird-like manner. Briefly he wondered how kids function and had to remind himself he was a kid a long time ago. Was he that wide eyed? He couldn't recall. So to break the odd stare he let go of the spoon, "Wanna see somethin' cool kiddies? Shh, can't tell Alice!" He spares a glance back at the girl and then to the pot. One of the many silver rings with intricate designs and set colored stones lit up with a cobalt blue. The spoon in the pot began to move on its own and when the timer started to go off he lifted his hand a little. Said kitchen ware rose from the hot stove and with a slight movement of his hand forward, it moved to the sink and tipped at an angle to smoothly pour out the water and noodles into the strainer. The duo gasped in awe. What just happened?! Their little minds couldn't handle something of that level! To their amazement the pot returned to the stove, heat lowering, and the butter began to unwrap and cut into slices. When sliced, the wax paper lifted and dumped the butter into the pot; at the same time the milk poured into a measuring cup and then into the pot as well.

         Upon Alice's return Simon was stirring in the drained noodles by hand with a devious grin. "Saved the cheese part for ya. I know ya like to do the cheese part." At his comment, her quiet and watchful eyes flicker over the two kids and then skeptically try to read into Simons expression. She carried out her silence and tended to the food.

^{>>--» ๑۩۞۩๑ «--<<}

         "See you tomorrow!" With a wave Alice watches the last of the cars drive off with Nate securely in the back seat. She shuts the door and locks it up only to around with Simon right in her face. Holy crap. With a playful push she shoves him out of the way and heads up the stairs immediately to the right of the front door. "Lemme guess, you're staying the night. Again. Right?" At this question he grins and nods enthusiastically. "Sure am! Might as well let me live here, heh." Another roll of her eyes and her hand grabs onto the banister at the stop of the stairwell. She steps around it and into the first door on the right after the closet. It's a small house. Bathroom at the top of the stairs on the left, linen closet just next to it, then her bedroom and her brothers. To the right of the bathroom is the laundry and then the master bedroom with its own bathroom.

         Her room isn't in the cleanest state and for certain it could be cleaner and has seen cleaner days. Upon entering through the door with and artistic form of her name above the frame - a bed is seen pressed with one side against the wall and a headboard behind it filled with various fantasy books, DS items, manga books, and other misc. items. A black cat statue stood in the corner of the headboard by the wall and behind it was a tall clear, slender glass vase with fake cherry blossom branches within. To the immediate left upon entering the door is the tiny closet with double sliding doors where a trunk lay within covered by a heavy blue latch box and a nineteen inch TV on top of it. The dresses inside stood upon the free space of the trunk and almost no space was spared. Not to mention the door nearest the bed was off of its hinge on the top and sat on the floor against the other door at an odd angle. The small wind chimes on the door stopper that was on the top of the door jingled and tingled pitifully to announce her entrance. Small purses hung on the door knob - not real purses more like little pouches on a long strap meant for your wallet or money purse and not much else.

         At the foot of her twin bed is a worn out desk with a large flat screen pc on it, a wacom intuos six tablet about the size of a small poster, an hp printer, and still have room to spare for items on the shelves along the side. The desk sat at an angle that made the room seem less rectangular than it was and the open space in the corner was occupied by a fake potted bamboo plant that bore leaves above the desk. Also above the desk was an ornate, decorative brass colored bird cage with more fake cherry blossom branches and two fake but real looking birds within. These birds may have come from a local Michael's. One was red and the other yellow and black. To the right of the desk was a wall with a large window covered by sheer black drapes with asian dragon designs. It hung on a gold rod from which three other small wind-chimes hung and above the window sat a frame with three small clay masks in red, blue, and black.In the following corner was a tall dark wooded armoire and along that wall a dresser with a small cage containing an albino mouse.

         Alice sits down on her bed, the old spring twin mattress dipping and swaying with a tired creak and moan. She scoots onto the bed, grabbing up the shut acer laptop sitting there on sleep mode. She pops it open and ushers it to wake while Simon opens her closet to pull free a dark blue sleeping bag and unroll it on the carpet beside the bed. With a curious hand he runs his fingers beneath her bed and pulls free a small wooden box and a sketchbook. Alice's eyes, however, are glued to the computer screen lit with her online classwork. "Hey.. Simon?" Chirps the curious teen, tearing her eyes away from the loading page, "What do you mean you learned it from my dreams?" There's a bit of distracted silence minus the odd clicking and turning of gears before an answered, "Learned what?" "The firework technique - and what on earth is that clicking?" A small laugh escapes the raven haired boy and he holds up the box as the little latch pops open and the lid releases its tight close. "What the.."

         Rather baffled by this occurrence, she takes the box and opens it with curious, scavenging eyes. "How'd you get it to open?" Those brown eyes return to Simon again. "You mean your uncle never gave you a key for it?" With a shake of the girls head, Simon only shrugs his shoulders lazily and yawns. There wasn't a whole lot inside the tiny thing. In fact, other than a few odd looking coins, some folded tea stained parchment, and a rather beautiful gold pin with a porcelain creme colored lily on it - there was only one item of interest. A long and thin, but oddly durable looking silver chain with a smokey metallic shine. Hanging from it was a small dark blue vial with a sloshing material inside. A dark colored one by the looks of it. "...I don't know what these things are. Simon, whats this necklace?" She holds the item up for him to see and with a hum of thought, the teen combs his bangs out of his eyes and squints at it. "Looks familiar, but as to why I'm not sure. I can ask around tomorrow maybe?" Bird-like, she tilts her head. Ask around where? When it comes to mind she rolls her eyes sarcastically, "Oh please, you're not talking about that fairy tale land again are you? Stop playing Dungeons and Dragons Simon!"

         He actually looked rather offended for a change and mumbles bitterly below his breath about how he still doesn't know what Dungeons and Dragons is and how it applies. Stubbornly though, he crosses his arms over his chest and snubs his nose. "I still don't understand how you don't believe me when I tell you I'm a Grand Elvish Prince." The doorbell rings as he's speaking and Alice is already shaking her head again with a deep hefty sigh, "Simon, long ears and a few little magic tricks don't make you an elf." The boy groans in frustration and flops onto his back, staring at the ceiling in silence as if doing so could make the pesky dots of the bumpy surface make some sort of entertaining shape or help him explain to the stubborn girl. Said girl was travelling down the stairs again and peeking through the blinds to see a dusty old blazer parked outside. She really wished this door had a peep hole or some kind of protective chain. Unlocking the dead bolt and the lock on the door handle she cracked the door open a bit. Standing before her on the step were two men. Both of them having their own sense of handsomeness.

         Looking to be closer to her current age was a teen boy - or so she assumes - with hair in similar color to her own with a darker shade near the roots and a bit of an amber blonde on the tips. His facial features seemed to bare that strong look but easily blurred by the fine curve of his jaw and that pointed look of his dark brown eyes. Faint and fading freckles dotted the bridge of his nose and tops of his cheeks. The teen is wearing a sleeveless black vest and beneath it he wore a dark navy blue long sleeve shirt. His jeans were tattered around the hems at the feet and his black converse were scuffed and tearing some at the seams. In front of him was an older man, possible within in his mid thirties to early forties. His hair was disheveled and a loose amber and sandy blonde color with streaked remnants of a medium brown save for the traces of silver on the sides of his head. From how he looked in his tattered and torn - not to mention dirty - long coat; this man was broad shouldered and quite possibly well developed muscle wise. He wasn't as nicely dressed as the teen and his stubble pointed to him not being clean shaven. Maybe they worked around on property like her grandfather? Property work in the high desert was hard sometimes. Every day the dirt wasn't dirt or mud; more like dust. A very pollen and various other allergen filled dust. So fine that when the wind kicked up on some days it made little "dust devils" which look like tornadoes only on the scale of being the average height of a person. Normally as soon as they hit cement they vanish because there's no more dirt. "...Hello?" Asks Alice in confusion, adjusting her glasses again.

         The man grins almost in a fatherly fashion. It's warm and bright, secure. "Alice? It's been a while, last time I saw you - you must've been about oh I dunno... Three, Four? Look at you, all grown up and still living in a modern home!"


Still a work in progress! Check back later if this isn't finished!