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Post by Lucy on Mar 1, 2015 3:03:26 GMT -8
"Darn, and here I was hoping that mist would cover the whole mansion," Simon grumbled, squinting out at the blue sky above the mansion. The tinted windows on the back seats of the limo were just enough to keep the sun from frying him, but he'd need a bit more to actually leave it. "One of these days you're going to have to figure out how to cast that spell they have on the school that makes daytime vampire-friendly," he sighed, slipping on a pair of black leather gloves and well-cut jacket. He topped it off with a pair of shades and then grabbed the black umbrella he had brought for this kind of situation. "Ah, hey... Do you think you could get out first and hold this up for me? I can't really open the it until I have the door open, but opening the door will let the sun in," he explained, holding the umbrella out to Ashe.
With the sunglasses on, he could now see that the two black shapes silhouetted in the air were a pair of children riding on... broomsticks? God, how cliche. Then again, he was dating a wizard who insisted on always wearing capes.
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Post by Alesia on Mar 1, 2015 10:55:23 GMT -8
"I was planning on asking one of teachers to show me how to do that spell, actually." Ashe replied, taking the umbrella from Simon's hands. "I don't want you having to dress like you just came back from a funeral every time we go out in the daytime." He joked. Ashe honestly didn't want to leave the car so long as his siblings were right outside, but they couldn't stay in the limousine forever. With a deep breath and an equally long exhale, he opened the car door, then the black umbrella, and covered it over the open door so that Simon could exit next.
"It is big bro! Hehe, I'd know that gaudy purple cape anywhere.." The girl snickered to herself in amusement of her brothers' odd taste in fashion, but her snickering immediately ceased after seeing someone else getting out of the limo after Ashe. "Who the heck is that?" She asked her airborne sibling as she floated near him.
"I...I think it's the target!" He replied with a wide, toothy grin. "But we can't hit her with water balloons because she's using an umbrella! She's either overly prepared or she sunburns easily..."
"Well, whatever she is, she's dead meat." The girl huffed, pushing her black rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose with her finger. She wasn't too worried about her first prank falling through, as she and her brother had many more in store for the unsuspecting 'girl'. "Enough with the chit-chat, Morton, let's go greet her!" The blonde, fluffy haired girl dove down with a quick corkscrew twist in the air.
"After you, Eunice." Morton followed after his sister, casually laying on his broomstick in a 'paint me like one of your french girls' pose.
Eunice's broomstick came to a screeching halt JUST before she ended up in a nasty collision with Ashe and Simon. Ashe was fully aware his little sister was practically adept at flying her broom by now, so he didn't even so much as flinch at Eunice's speedy incoming, and rather he rolled his eyes at her obvious attempt at trying to scare Simon. "Hello, Eunice." Ashe greeted her with a deadpan expression.
"Heyyyy! Thought I was going to hit you guys, huh?" She smirked at the two, but her eyes were mostly fixated on the overdressed visitor. "So you're the one who's seeing my big brother?" She questioned, floating just a tad bit closer to Simon. "You're pretty masculine looking for a girl." She said that last bit as an insult, but really, she couldn't tell if the 'girl' was really even a girl. Or human, for that matter. Their skin was purple and their ears...was the summer sun getting to her, or were those pointed?
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Post by Lucy on Mar 1, 2015 11:57:59 GMT -8
Simon climbed out after Ashe and took the umbrella from him, angling it carefully to keep as much sun as possible off of him. Really, he'd prefer to be wearing a burka or something so that there was no chance of burning his face if the umbrella got knocked away, but that'd seriously cramp his style. His sharp hearing let him pick out the twins saying something about water balloons. Great, so they really were the little demons Ashe always claimed they were.
He jumped back a bit as the girl came to a screeching halt not a foot away, then felt a bit silly when he realized that was exactly what she had been aiming for. He straightened up and coughed, trying to look dignified again. Eunice's words made him grimace a bit; looks like it was time to have to break the news. "That's, uh... That's because I'm not a girl," he said a bit awkwardly, tugging at his collar.
"Um, do you think we could get inside? I don't really want to be out under the sun longer than I have to."
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Post by Alesia on Mar 1, 2015 17:49:35 GMT -8
Eunice blinked a few times at Simon’s response. He admitted to not being a girl, which was pretty obvious now that she had a better look at him, but he wasn’t denying the seeing her brother part, which made her wonder.. She slowly drifted away from her brother and the weird guest while squinting her eyes at them suspiciously. “So..are you two…are the both of you—”
"—Best friends?" Morton chimed in from behind Eunice with a raised brow. He knew exactly what his sister was about to say, and he made sure to cut her off just before she made the mistake of asking such a ridiculous question and embarrassing herself. There was no way his brother was seeing this guy. Not in a million years.
"No. We’re dating and we really need to get inside the house right now, so if you’ll excuse us," Ashe answered flatly. He took Simon’s hand into his, making sure to keep their hands underneath the umbrella’s shade and began leading him towards the front door. Though Simon’s hand was already gloved, taking the extra precaution of keeping it in the shade gave made Ashe feel a lot calmer.
Meanwhile, Eunice and Morton didn’t move an inch from their position. They stared at each other for what felt like forever with their mouths hung open in disbelief, until finally they simultaneously shook their heads to bring themselves back to reality… The reality where their brother just so happened to be bi.
"Alright, past Round 1 and onto Round 2.." Ashe chuckled nervously. He already had a feeling dealing with his siblings was going to be a walk in the park, since they had literally no authority over whatever Ashe did and he couldn’t care less about what they had to say about his relationship, but his parents however were a whole different ball game. The front door looked so intimidating to the wizard since he knew who was behind it, probably anxiously waiting for his 'grand reveal'. He gulped hard as he hesitantly brought a tight fist to the door..
Before Ashe could even knock, the front door swung open suddenly. The person behind it was about 2-3 inches taller than Ashe and Simon, her hair was blonde, a strong gene that ran in the Mayflower household, and was moderately long and well kept. Her eyes were a striking amber color, and she wore a bright red lipstick that complimented her eyes nicely. “MY BABY!” The woman exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Ashe's neck and bringing him into a tight hug.
"I-it's nice to see you too, Mother-- ACK," He said weakly. Ashe tried with all of his might to be freed from his mother's pseudo-choke hold, but her love was too overpowering. Eventually he just gave up on trying to break free and let her have her way with him, even if he could barely breathe. Ashe's mom proceeded to shower him in kisses, not even noticing the bite marks on her son's neck. "Mom, I know you....missed me and all but...there's someone I'd like you to meet.." He managed to say in between gasps.
"Hm?" She finally looked up from Ashe and realized Simon had been standing there the whole time. "Oh! Sweetheart, you never told me you were bringing along other guests." She released Ashe from her hug and extended a hand to Simon with a warm smile. "It's nice to meet you! You can call me Ms.Harper. Have you known my son for long?"
Unfortunately, Ashe was too busy hacking and wheezing on the ground to do any of the introductions himself.
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Post by Lucy on Mar 1, 2015 22:07:12 GMT -8
Simon opened his mouth to reply to the twins, but before he knew it Ashe had already shut them down and was pulling him towards the door. Wow, that was... very smooth, in a no-nonsense kind of way. He hadn't known Ashe had it in him. He was grateful for the care the wizard seemed to be taking to keep from pulling him into the sun at all. The level of assertiveness and control Ashe was showing was surprising given his earlier nervousness, but it wasn't unwelcome.
The vampire couldn't help but snicker at the over-the-top display of affection Ashe's mom was putting on for him. Talk about overbearing. The laugher quickly died down when she started talking, however, and Simon cringed a bit at the way she said "other guests." What was he even supposed to say in this situation?
"Ah... Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Harper," he said with an awkwardly slapped-on smile. He reached out to shake her hand, hesitated, stopped to pull his gloves off and put them in his pocket now that they were safely in the shade of the porch, and then gave her a firm handshake. "My name's Simon Hawthorne. Ashe and I have been frie... Well, we've know each other since the very beginning of the school year," he answered, not wanting to start off with talking about the month they had wanted to kill each other.
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Post by Alesia on Mar 2, 2015 22:04:06 GMT -8
"My, what manners!" Harper said in reference to Simon removing his gloves. She quickly took hold of his hand and almost jumped in place when a cold chill shot up her arm. "O-oh, Simon, sweetie, your hands...they.." She looked away from their hands and her eyes travelled up to the vampire's face, quickly noticing his distinct features. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't quite realize you were a vampire at first, so our handshake gave me a little jolt, haha." She laughed awkwardly.
She hoisted Ashe up from the ground by his cape and proceeded to dust him off, going through a whole preening process on her son while humming a tune. She readjusted his cape, fixed his hair and wiped the sides of his mouth with care. To finish the job, she quickly licked the tips of her thumbs, bringing them to his face in an attempt to fix his eyebrows, to which Ashe immediately drew the line and pushed her hands away before she could touch him. "So, my little fireball, where's your girlfriend?" She asked with a grin. "Is she still in the car? Why did you escort this young gentleman here and not your girlfriend? You know that's bad manners, young man. Is she shy? She is shy, isn't she? Is that why she--"
Ashe's cheeks got a shade redder with each badgering question from his Mother. He kept trying to answer her questions, but it was always drowned out by another inquiry until finally he took a deep breath and yelled out; "MOM, I'D LIKE YOU TO MEET MY BOYFRIEND," He pointed towards Simon in a flashy, yet extremely shaky pose. "SIMON HAWTHORNE."
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Post by Lucy on Mar 2, 2015 22:27:56 GMT -8
"Heh, sorry about that," Simon murmured, withdrawing his hand and shoving it in his pocket. He watched Ms. Harper fuss over her son with an increasingly amused expression, only for it to melt back into a sort of grimace when she started asking questions about Ashe's "girlfriend." God this was going to be awkward...
He cringed visibly when Ashe finally blurted out the truth, taking a small step back from the finger pointing at him. Oh boy, time to hear the verdict. He gave a small, awkward wave and a bit of a pained looking smile. "Y-yeah, that's me..."
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Post by Alesia on Mar 3, 2015 14:24:52 GMT -8
Harper fell silent as she stood in a mix of shock and pure disbelief. Her eyes shifted from Ashe, to Simon and then back to Ashe again with her grin still awkwardly plastered on her face. At first, she wanted to start laughing and hope the two boys would join in and laugh with her saying something like "Surprise! We got you! It was just a joke!", but the serious (and slightly nervous) expression Ashe was making made her realize that this was no joke. There was no punch line. Her son was dating a boy and a VAMPIRE, no less.
"ROY!!!" She suddenly called out. The volume of her voice caused some nearby birds to panic and take off in flight. "WE NEED TO HAVE A FAMILY MEETING RIGHT NOW." By this time, her grin had already faded into a clearly uncomfortable smile. "You." She pointed at Ashe and made a 'come here' motion with her finger. "Lounge room, please. Oh, and... bring our guest inside." Not feeling the need to wait for her son's reply, she vanished from the porch in a puff of shimmering gold smoke.
"Of course, Mom.." Ashe said quietly. He felt as if his stomach was tying itself in knots and his heart was pretty much beating outside of his chest, he was so nervous. Instead of congratulating them or simply being happy for him and Simon, the first thing his Mom did was call for a family meeting. It was better than her outright dismissing their relationship, he guessed. But it still did hurt.
He tugged on the sleeve of Simon's jacket with a small smile, not wanting his boyfriend to worry about his current emotional state. "Well..there's no point in sitting out here, huh?" He chuckled lightly. "Uhm, follow me."
He led Simon into a large foyer, making sure to close each of the drapes with his magic while they walked so that Simon wouldn't get caught the sunlight. He hadn't said a word to the vampire since they got inside, but honestly, what was there to say? Bring up the 'Run away to Portugal' plan before things managed to get worse?
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Post by Lucy on Mar 3, 2015 16:35:12 GMT -8
Simon waited nervously for Harper to say something, wondering if it might be better to just run back to the limo now and return to De Nuit. He cringed very visibly when she finally shouted for her husband and then disappeared.
"A-Ashe, maybe I should just..." he began to suggest his departure, but he was already being beckoned inside. With a small groan of anxiousness, he closed his umbrella and followed the wizard.
He followed Ashe through the mansion, very defensive and on-edge. He may be able to hold his own against one teenage wizard, but two adult ones... Ashe's parents could fry him to a crisp in a second if they wanted to, and even though logically he knew that wouldn't happen, his body thought that the "flight" part of fight-or-flight sounded pretty good right now. "So... Now what?" he murmured nervously to Ashe, holding his arms close to his chest.
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Post by Alesia on Mar 3, 2015 23:07:36 GMT -8
"We see what my parents want-- I mean, I'll see what my parents want." Ashe replied, still trying to keep his nervousness at bay. He wasn't sure what this whole conversation with his parents was going to lead to since they had a tendency to be pretty unpredictable, which over the years has taught Ashe to always be on his toes.
The two stopped at a large ornate door that the lounge room was lying behind. A maroon colored sofa was in the hallway directly across from the door with a large open window behind it that the wizard immediately got to shutting, and then pulling the drapes over. "You can sit here until I come out, I guess." Ashe said, glancing back at Simon over his shoulder while he headed towards the door. Just before he twisted the doorknob, he suddenly stopped, turned around, and gave Simon a quick kiss on the cheek. He looked a bit bashful when he turned away from the vampire again, "See you soon," He muttered before quickly rushing into the lounge, partly because he didn't want his parents to wait any longer than they already were, and partly because he was pretty embarrassed about what he just did.
"Eugh, seeing bro being all lovey-dovey makes me nauseous." A disembodied and yet familiar voice spoke with a groan.
A loud 'WHAP' was then heard ringing throughout the halls. "Idiot, we were suppose to spook him! He probably heard you!" Another voice whispered, but it sounded a bit more feminine than the other.
"OW! Sorry! Let's just do it already, he probably didn't hear us." It whispered back.
"Siiiimooooon... you must leaaaave this place immediatelyyyyyy..." The feminine voice spoke ominously with its best ghostly impression.
"Leeeave noooow or suffer our cuuuuurse..." The other chimed in.
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Post by Lucy on Mar 4, 2015 15:51:36 GMT -8
Simon touched his cheek where Ashe had kissed him as he watched the wizard leave to an unknown fate on the other side of the door. The lingering feeling left a small smile on his face... Until a remark of disgust rang out through the hall.
Ashe's siblings again. Simon snorted. Well, if their only complaint about his and Ashe's relationship was that "lovey-dovey" stuff was gross, it was a good sign.
"You know, there's a ghost at De Nuit who wouldn't be very happy to hear these impersonations," he called out. "Not to mention it's much less inspired that the water balloons I heard you talking about earlier. If these are the 'demon twins from hell' Ashe always talks about, I'm a bit disappointed."
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Post by Alesia on Mar 4, 2015 22:31:48 GMT -8
"HEY PAL, I TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN MY PRANKING IDEAS!" Eunice instantly broke out of character once she heard the vampire insult the quality of her pranks. She pushed back the hood her invisibility cloak and revealed herself to be standing right next to the sofa, not seeing any point in keeping the charade up (Not that Simon was falling for it anyhow). "So, Morton ruined our second prank. Big deal. We have way more in store for you! You'll be out of our hair sooner than later." She growled with a hand on her hip. This guy had a lot of nerve to be acting so cocky, but Eunice would be lying if she said didn't find the vampire to be a bit intimidating.
"Yoink!" Morton swiped the black umbrella out of Simon's hands before he realized what was happening. He pushed back the hood of his cloak with a smug little smirk. "Whaddaya need this for, batman?" He asked, waving the umbrella around a bit. "Is the whole 'vamps shrivel up in sunlight' deal true or are you just a huge goth?"
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On the other side of the door, Ashe was met by his parents. His father, Roy, was calmly seated on a couch just adjacent from the coffee table and second couch, whereas his mother, Harper, was restlessly pacing back and forth with a worried look on her face. Roy was about 7 inches taller than Ashe and wore black rimmed glasses similar to his. His eyes were a deep blue and his hair was short, densely curled and a dark brown color.
The walls of the lounge were a scarlet color, and the ground was a burgundy hardwood flooring. A fireplace was placed next to the seating area with a few photos sitting on the mantel and a large Mayflower family portait mounted above them.
"Harp, could you please just sit. You're scaring the boy." Roy sighed.
"I'm fine like this, thank you." Harper replied back as she continued to pace around.
"Suit yourself.." Roy sat an arm on the armrest of the couch and rested his cheek on his hand, looking over at Ashe with a small smile. "Welcome home, Son."
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Post by Lucy on Mar 4, 2015 23:02:26 GMT -8
"Is there any particular reason you want to run me out of the house?" Simon asked, arching an eyebrow. "It seems kind of redundant since I'm only gonna be here a few days, a week tops." Then he glanced back at the door Ashe had gone through. "Or... not even a day, depending on how the talk in there is going," he added a bit more dejectedly. Unfortunately, the door seemed to be made of oak or something similar; too thick and heavy for him to be able to make out what was being said behind it, even with his unnaturally good hearing.
Distracted by the depressing thought of Ashe's parents booting him out, he didn't realize what was happening until the boy had snatched the umbrella right out of his hand. "H-hey!" he shouted in indignation. He was suddenly all too aware of the big window right behind him and the two mischievous wizards who could draw the curtains back with a flick of their wrists. "G-give that back!" he said, grabbing his umbrella again and easily yanking it away from Ashe's brother with his vampire strength. "Yes, the sunlight thing is true, and as a vampire wandering around during the day I don't really fancy being without precautions in case someone thinks it would be funny to open the curtains and turn their brother's boyfriend into flambé," he huffed, tucking the umbrella under his arm.
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Post by Alesia on Mar 5, 2015 22:50:51 GMT -8
"We want you gone because you have no place in this family!" Eunice took a domineering stance and pointed at Simon with her other hand still on her hip. "Ashe was our big brother before he was ever your boyfriend! You're trying to take him away from us so you can have him all to yourself aren't you?!"
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“Thanks, Dad.. It’s uh, good to be back.” Ashe smiled sheepishly. Realizing he was still standing next to the door, he quickly made his way over to the seating area and sat on the couch across from his Father.
The room was uncomfortably quiet, with only the grandfather clock making its occasional “tick-tock” sound and the noise of Harper anxiously pacing about filling the void. After a few more moments of increasingly awkward silence, Roy cleared his throat loudly before finally cutting to the chase, which caused Ashe to somewhat flinch. “So, Ashe, your Mother here told me you brought over someone quite… unexpected?”
“HE’S A BOY, ASHE. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE CHILDREN?!” Harper blurted out. Her eyes widened once she realized that she let her thoughts verbally slip out by mistake and she quickly got to covering her mouth with her hand, feeling incredibly embarrassed by her outburst. The ends of her golden hair had burst into flames with embers slowly trailing off as if it were fire. Similar to how Ashe’s eyes go aflame when he felt passionate, Harper’s hair caught fire when she was feeling stressed or incredibly tense.
Roy stared back at Harper with a look that simply spelled out ‘are you kidding me right now’ while Ashe refused to make eye contact with his Mother, deciding to instead keep his eyes focused on his lap. “M-Mom.. I’m 16..” Ashe said nervously. “Children are literally the last thing I need to have on my mind right now with school and everything.”
”..And when school is over? Then what? Do you see yourself settling down with him later in life?” Harper questioned him with a sour expression. “How long have you two been together?”
"Two months.. and I’d say it’s too early to set plans like that in stone, but I don’t see why not."
"And how long have you known you were… gay?" She said that last word with a slight wince. "Has it been years and you’ve just been too afraid to tell us?! HOW DID I NOT PICK UP ON THIS AS YOUR MOTHER?! I’M HORRIBLE. SIMPLY THE WORST—" Harper’s hair glowed brighter the more she continued to raise her voice. The ends of her hair moved wildly and started to make crackling noises as if it were an actual bonfire.
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Post by Lucy on Mar 8, 2015 0:32:44 GMT -8
Simon blinked at Eunice in surprise, taking a moment to process what she had just said. Then he started cracking up. "Oh man, that's what you're worried about? That's adorable," he said, wiping a tear of laughter away from his eye. "Don't worry, as much as I love him, I think I'd go nuts if I was around him 24/7. There's still plenty of time for him to be with you." He patted Eunice on the head. "I mean really, if anything you should be upset about him going to De Nuit, that's the thing that keeps him away from you for two thirds of the year."
His amusement was cut short as he caught the sound of Ashe's mother shouting about children. He groaned and sat down heavily on the couch, running a hand through his hair. "...Hey, do either of you happen to know anything about... your parents' opinions, on, um, vampires, or... not-straight relationships?" he asked nervously.
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