Intruder of a Lesser Degree

Xanyu laughed quietly when Lunie stuck out his tongue. To her, it made the young Feluis cuter with his child-like demeanor. She nodded to Larita, "That explains your outward looks..You wouldn't happen to a have beautiful singing voice, would you?" She was excited to meet a person who was half mythical creature. She actually liked the stories of the Siren, even if most ended badly.

Xanyu shook her head at Larita's question. "I didn't. My father was human and his business was pretty private. He didn't have many customers but when he did, even if I wanted to stay, he'd send me to my room. The only people I ever got to meet were his closest friends...like Mr. Narving."

Unsure of why Lunie had responded to her question in such an oblivious way, Larita simply furrowed her brow, narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to show her own confusion. She opened her mouth slightly to reply to the felius, but in that moment of her hesitation, Xanyu took her turn to speak, and Larita was immediately distracted by her response. Her look of confusion turned to one of shock. "You never met anyone besides this.. Mr. Narving?" She said the name with some distaste, and there was no real explanation for it besides the fact that the image Larita got in her head was one where Xanyu had been locked up in an attic somewhere like the hunchback of Notre Dame, or something equally sad. "He sounds like a creeper." Larita nodded, as if this statement were a fact.

Only once she had gotten her opinion in on that matter, did Larita turn back to Lunie. "Alright then," she said. "Show us how good you are. Why don't you both go hide, and I'll come to find you."

Lunie found himself nodding along with Larita's claim of Mr Narving's creepiness, even if he didn't have the slightest idea of who or what he was. It wasn't that he agreed with her - it was more like he was agreeing for the sake of agreeing with something. It was around then she finally directed her attention to him.

"Really?!" he gasped, his ears pricking up with excitement. "I so good at this yes! Okay! Okay! No looking!" He looked to Xanyu in a way that seemed to suggest that he wanted her to follow. Without hesitation, he ran towards a bed, immediately diving underneath it. The space was small, but Lunie didn't seem to mind, squeezing himself back into the furthest corner. Green, slightly glowing eyes glimmered from the dark, peering at their feet. He couldn't contain a small giggle. She'd never find him!

Xanyu shook her head. "H...He wasn't a creeper. M..Mr. Narving talked to me...even after father went...A..and he was the one who brought me here, away from father." She hoped that they would agree with her, that he wasn't a creeper, because she didn't want people to mistake him for the bad guy.

It took Xanyu by surprise when Larita told her and Lunie to go hide. "Um...really?...." She didn't really wait for an answer and Lunie definitely felt eager for the game. She looked at Lunie then shook her head slightly, trying to tell him quietly that sharing hiding spots wouldn't work very well. To look for her hiding spot she left the room. She thought that a top shelf in a closet would work nicely but using the closet in the room she was in wouldn't work. She then remembered that other people occupied.

Instead she went to the sitting room. She looked around the large room. She saw bags sitting on the floor a couch, some chairs. She decided, the best bet was to hide under the couch, there was just enough room for her. Before she hid thoug she arranged the chairs in a way that would suggest she might be hiding behind them as a decoy, then slid under the couch.

She watched as Lunie began to scramble, and made sure to close her eyes before she actually saw where he had hidden. Then she counted slowly "10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Ready or not, here I come!" Then she opened her eyes, and saw that her two companions had left. She smiled to herself, but the emotion in her eyes showed more mischievousness than actual joy. The girl stood up and stomped in a circle around the room with loud, dramatic steps. And once she was back at the bed where she had started, she smiled, shrugged and sat down again.

"Suckers," she commented quietly to herself, crossing her legs and holding her nails up in front of her face. They were filthy! She would definitely need a good bath as soon as she got the chance, but right now, she was far too tired. She lifted her legs up, and straightened them out on the bed. Then she pulled a cover over herself, and laid herself down completely. The pillow was too small and too firm, and she tried to fluff it up a few times before she finally folded it and stuck it under her head.

Her back was to the room and she faced a rather bleak looking wall. She thought of home, how this place did not even compare in way of luxuries. Her mind was somewhere on what exactly she would say when she marched into the administration office the next day, when she fell asleep.


((Sorry it took so long!))

Xanyu's silent message didn't quite register in his head and he was almost disappointed when she left to find her own hiding place. But his attention soon turned to Larita, admiring her counting skills. Not only that, she was counting backwards. An impressive feat, he saw.

As she stomped around the room, he watched her feet excitedly. She really couldn't find him! He didn't expect weight to be suddenly pressed on the bed above him, and he looked rather surprised at the shuffling he heard. He waited expectantly for a while longer before he realised that nothing was happening. It didn't look like Larita was coming back down.

He slid out from underneath the bed, almost like some creepy ghoul from a horror movie, to pull himself up to lean by the edge of her bed. He listened carefully to her breathing, noticing that she appeared to be sleeping. Tilting his head, a half confused, half flattered smile formed on his face.

Of course! Larita had been searching so hard for him, it must've been so tiring for her. His hiding place had been too superior. The only alternative must've been to look for him in her dreams. The thought was sweet, and Lunie was fully inclined to beleive it to be true. But daytime was daytime, and sleeping didn't happen during the day.

"Wakey wakey," he tittered quietly, tickling what he thought was her arm beneath the covers. He ducked lower, half wondering if he was still meant to be hiding, before reaching a finger to nudge her again. "Not sleeping in during day please yes?"

Xanyu waited under the couch for a moment then decided it was stupid hiding under a couch at her age. She got out from under it and leaned against the back of the couch. She waited a few minutes and seeing that no one was coming to the sitting room, she sighed and stood up. No one was in the hall and it was to quiet for a game of hide and seek.

She moved out from behind the couch and stood just inside the room, looking into the hallway. She then looked behind her at the luggage on the floor. 'The fact that those are designer bags, means they might be Larita's. Why are they in the middle of the floor here, abandoned?.' She went over to the bags and tried to pick one up.

She grunted, lifting the bag only a few inches off the ground. 'These must be hers. I thougt she'd have heavy bags.' She put the bag down and looked down the hall. 'She might like it if someone brought her her bags.' She looked at the bags with an intense stare. A second later she was walking back to the bedroom with the bags floating behind her. She looked into the room. "....She fell asleep? Maybe today was abit much for her..." She stood in the doorway, keeping the bags just out of sight, "Maybe you should let her sleep..."

Not quite waking, Larita swatted at the annoyance on her arm and rolled onto her back. Her sleep was deep and dreamless, the long hike through the woods having tired her out. But when the poke came a second time, her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was the ceiling, and she couldn't remember quite where she was. Wherever she was, that ceiling was awfully drab. She closed her eyes and yawned, turning her head to the side so that when she opened her eyes again, she was face to face with a pair of huge green eyes, sparkling up at her.

Larita screamed and jolted upright. Pressing her back against the wall, she pulled the covers up to her chin as if they would somehow protect her. But her initial reaction was quickly lost when her mind cleared and she recognized the small form of Lunie.

"Lunie! Don't do that!" she scolded, relaxing her arms and letting the covers fall. "You scared me half to death!" She moved a hand up to her forehead in an attempt to stop her vision from swimming with the edge of sleep. As her sight came into focus she noticed Xanyu standing at the door, rather suspiciously, Larita thought. "Don't just stand there like that," she said, since she was already in the scolding mood. "You're creeping me out."

"Why sleeping in day? Sleep is nighty time," he assured Xanyu as he waited. The lack of appropiate response from Larita - aka, waking up - disappointed Lunie, and he was almost about to chance another poke when her eyes opened before his.

Her scream alarmed him, the fur on his spine rising as he ducked lower down. He'd managed to hold back his scream - knowing that it had apparently harmed her last time - but he still seemed to be aptly frightened, seeing as his friend of moments before shrieked for no reason in his face. His tense posture loosened when hers did, and he let out a small sigh.

A frantic apology lingered on the tip of his tongue, and he looked as if he was about to say something. After his hesitating, he moved away from the side of the bed to stand behind Xanyu, as if she were some sort of shield. "You scared me!" he snivelled, his lip quivering.

Xanyu laughed quietly. "You've never had a nap before? Many people take naps during the day if they overworked themselves." She remembered how she used to take naps, until her father went bad. Those naps never really affected sleeping at night. She stepped abit closer when Larita had turned over, to see if she had awoken. What happened next, surprised Xanyu.

Larita finally did wake up, but then she started screaming. Xanyu winced but resisted covering her ears. She felt sorry for Lunie for his ears were closer but not to much since she didn't know how good his ears were.

Xanyu kept quiet, waiting till Larita had settled. Yet again being surprised, when she was scolded. She wasn't doing anything wrong. She lowered her ears and walked in abit further. "I...I'm sorry..." It was when Lunie hid behind her, that the luggage followed inside as well. She looked behind her and frowned abit, upest at herself for losing concentration.

Larita flinched back at Lunie's words. "I scared you? I wasn't the one staring at you all creepy-like while you were sleeping." She would have continued, but the bags floating into the room behind Xanyu caught her attention. Larita's eyes widened in excitement and a smile replaced her earlier scowl.

"My bags!" she exclaimed, pushing aside the covers as she jumped off the bed and rushed over to where her bags floated above the floor. "Oh poor Louie, did I leave you all alone in that shabby room." she cooed, stroking the brown leather and resting her cheek near the zipper.

She turned towards Xanyu, looking more closely at the gray girl then her eyes shifted to Lunie, unsure of which one of them was responsible for getting her bags to her room. "How did these get here?" she asked. Her voice had a tinge of accusal, but it was just the result of left over emotion. She had only meant the question inquisitively and was unaware that it might sound any different.

Lunie bit his lip at Larita's retort, and his gaze dropped to the ground, immedaitely feeling rather guilty for even questioning her. After all, she was right, it had been rude to stare at her, and without permission either. "I'm sorry," he whimpered, cowering slightly. He could feel tears forming in his eyes. "I really am... I didn't m-mean..."

She seemed to be distracted from his apology, and he followed her line of sight towards the bags. At first, the bags were overlooked, before he did a double take at the fact they seemed to be floating. His jaw dropped in awe until he noticed Larita react joyfully towards them, to which he reacted by blinking a few times. A hand was raised to rub away at tears before they had the chance to fall. At the question, he gave Xanyu a peculiar sort of glance, believing it to be her doing. Then his brow furrowed.

These bags, which he'd earlier attempted to carry in, were now effortlessly brought in by this creature. He wanted so badly to claim it was because of him, but he knew he couldn't it would be a lie. And what if Larita preferred someone with magic over him anyway? He remained silent, aiming a rather pouty, jealous look at Xanyu.

Xanyu lowered her ears. She felt sorry for the Feluis. He didn't mean any harm by staring. He was just trying to wake her up. It did seem abit early for a nap anyway. She wanted to hug him and tell him it was alright, but a worse issue was forming for her.

She flicked her eyes to Larita then to the bag she hug. Xanyu lowered her ears more. She hadn't planned for Larita to sound so irritable. She cursed herself silently, feeling as if Larita was accusing her for getting something weird on her bags. Xanyu felt even worse when she saw the face Lunie gave her. Did she really do something bad from doing a good deed? Larita's accusitory tone, Lunie's jealous look. Xanyu sighed, there really was no hiding it. Lunie probably knew, and Larita had her suspicions, if she tried to lie they would quickly point out the truth.

Xanyu looked towards a wall. "Y..yeah....I thought they'd be yours....but they were to heavy for me to carry...so I....." She trailed off not wanting to meet their eyes.

Larita was oblivious to the emotions of others. She always had been, and it didn't seem like something that was going to change anytime soon. It was like she didn't even see the silent interactions between the other two beings in the room. Her entire world was focused on herself and the leather bag under her cheek.

She looked up at Xanyu when the girl admitted to bringing in the bags, and Larita's sour expression slowly changed into a large, toothy smile. "Thank you so much! Oh," she exhaled, turning back to her floating bags and putting both her palms on top of them.

She pushed down, trying to get the bags to settle on the ground so she could open them and check on her stuff. It felt like she had been separated from them for days, and she wanted to make sure that they were all still in tact after she had dragged them so harshly through the mud and rain.

When Xanyu confessed to bringing in the bags, Lunie let out a quiet disappointed sigh, his gaze retreating to the floor. The guilt from the little incident still remained fresh, and Lunie found that it took most of his effort and concentration to suppress his emotions from showing on the outside. It was difficult and unnatural, and his expression of vague disappointment turned to outright jaw-dropping mortification at the joy Larita seemed to express.

“I tried!... helping too... earlier...” he chipped in, his initial enthusiasm deflating as the sentence carried on. Biting his lip, he looked Xanyu and Larita, trying not to let it show that he was jealous in any way, but failing at it.

He’d dug himself into his own pit with this one – he’d even suggested that Xanyu and Larita could be friends. But now it seemed he’d been replaced by the strange, skilled creature. What if Larita didn’t want to be his friend anymore? By all means, this creature had stolen her. And, as he saw, stealing was a very bad thing indeed.

Aiming another pouty look towards Xanyu, he stepped closer to where Larita was messing with the bags, reaching out a hand in offering. “I c-can help you,” struggling to maintain his usually light, airy voice. His eyes still felt wet, and a small, forced smile lay on his face.

Xanyu nodded to Larita acknowledging her gratitude but kept her eyes on Lunie. His face, so easy to read, continued to make her feel guilty. She felt mixed up because she thought everyone had it better than she did. She didn't like the emotion he showed. Jealousy, an emotion she never liked because, now that she was here, she felt it quite abit.

"I...bet you did Lunie." Xanyu spoke quietly. She watched Larita attempt to pull the bags down. It was kind of funny so she didn't let up on her telekinesis hoping Larita wouldn't catch on. She stopped silently lauging as Lunie joined in pulling the bags down. Maybe, she thought, he'd feel better if he thought he brought the bags down. She slowly lowered the luggage so she didn't jolt anything inside that might be fragile. She made sure that the bags lowered matching how Lunie pushed down.

Pouting, Larita didn't understand why her bags just wouldn't seem to lower themselves to the ground. She flipped her hand nonchalantly at the felius as he offered his help. "Sure, if you want," she said, but she didn't really expect the frail looking creature to be able to do anything about it. When the bags still wouldn't go down, Larita opened her mouth to complain to Xanyu who obviously must have some power over the situation since she carried the bags in in the first place. But as soon as Lunie touched the bags, they lowered on their own.

"Yay!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together as the bags made their way slowly to the floor. Once they had finished touching down, Larita fumbled with the zipper, eager to see the state of her very nice, expensive, designer clothes. The outside of the bag had dried, but she remembered their journey through the rain and mud only too well. While the leather exterior might be resistant, it was definitely not water-proof, and there had been a lot of water.

The first bag she opened was the duffle bag, the one that that other girl had carried back to the castle for her. The zipper pulled open, revealing a neatly piled stack of clothing which appeared undamaged. Larita exhaled and smiled, but there was still another bag to go through. This was the one that she herself had dragged through the "shortcut" in the forest.

When she opened the second bag, Larita's expression began to fall. Her brows furrowed and her mouth fell open in horror. "They're all ruined!" she shouted, her voice sobbing even though there were no tears. She began pulling the clothes and shoes furiously from the bag, throwing them into a pile on the floor behind her. The clothes were wrinkled and damp, proof that the water must have soaked up through the bottom of the bag. While they still appeared wearable, they were no longer up to Larita's standards. "UUggghhh!" she screamed, slamming her fists on the open sides of the bag. "What am I suppose to do now?"

Her eyes were wide and on the verge of tears, her clothes being the most important thing in her life. Normally, she would run to her father. He would them calm her down by promising to replace each individual piece. But without him here, she had no one else to turn to besides Lunie and Xanyu, and she looked back and forth between them now, her look was expectant as she waited for some kind of answer.

His own strength surprised him - he blinked owlishly when the bag lowered with his gentle pressing, before smiling in satisfaction. The thought hadn't come to him that it might be Xanyu's doing and not his own, but heck, she'd timed it well enough. His hands clasped together as he watched Larita search through the bag, patiently waiting for something, although he wasn't quite sure what it was. Her horrified reaction caught Lunie by surprise, and he stared in concern.

His expression marred into a wide frown as she tossed the clothes from her bag, his heart twisting in pity. All those clothes! He knew very well just how long clothing took to make, and these looked especially frivolous. The poor soul! All that wasted time! "I'm so sorry!" he whined, as if that would somehow make things up. The way she was expectantly looking at them made him anxious - he really wanted to console her but he wasn't sure how, or for that matter, if she'd even forgiven him for his horrible crime.

Smiling nervously, he stepped towards her with his arms outstretched. "It okay..!" He reached to wrap his arms around her in a comforting hug, hoping that she wouldn't pull away. Of course, once he latched on, he would refuse to let go very easily. However, when all things seemed sweet, he'd still feel inclined to give Xanyu a challenging sort of glance, as if daring her to comfort Larita. All things considered, he was still pretty peeved at the creature for her attempted robbery.

Xanyu lowered her head just enough to hide the small smile. She was happy that she made Lunie less miffed. She also watched as Larita checked her bags. It seemed like everything was fine and dandy again. Then the second bag was opened. Larita's distraught look quickly told Xanyu that not everything was dandy yet. She stared wide-eyed as the other girl tossed her clothes into a pile. They seemed perfectly fine, just needed a good washing. Then Xanyu remembered what type of girl Larita was. It made everything abit more understandable.

Xanyu stood there, watching Lunie hug Larita. "Maybe...you could...ask the headmistress about it...She may have a way to get clothes imported to Sindri's cove and Hendry could bring them the rest of the way..." She only noticed Lunie's stare after she finished talking. She flinched and looked down. Again she might've hurt Lunie or whatever it was that she did to make him so angry..jealous?

Lunie's hug surprised her. His arms latched around her before she had the chance to object. While she didn't return the hug, she found it oddly comforting and she tentatively patted the felius once on the back of his head. Then, just as quickly, her senses returned to her and she began to try and push the creature away. "Get off me, you furball!" But it was difficult to get her hands and arms at the proper angle to use as leverage between her the smaller body and her own.

While still pushing, Larita looked over Lunie's shoulder at Xanyu. "Yeah, you're right. I can always get new clothes. I'll just go tell the headmistress what happened and --ugh" she paused to try and rearrange her arms, but her elbows just ended up sticking out at odd angles from her body. "And my dad will send me more. Anyway. You can have those if you want." She tilted her head to indicate that water-stained clothes. "I'm just gonna throw them away anyways. You can have some too if you get off me!" she said at the felius.

The discarded pile included a knee-length black and white polk-a-dot dress, a long navy dress with a large fabric flower attached at the shoulder, a red flapper-style dress with a ruffled skirt, a long silver evening gown with a low V-neck, two pairs of yellow high-heels (one open-toed, the other closed), a pair of black lacey flats, a pair of red pumps, a cream-colored pleaded skirt, a pink tube top with rind-stone edging and a light purple tight strapless dress.

Lunie was glad when Larita didn’t seem to reject the hug, and he even smiled in satisfaction at the small pat. However, his relief was short-lived when the girl attempted to suddenly pry him away, and his expression turned blatantly distraught. The ‘3 second rule’ of hugs was apparently an unknown concept to him – most of his hugs seemed to last as long as humanely possible, and this was no exception. So when her hands started shoving him, he only coiled his arms tighter, to the point where his claws even dug into the clothing at the back.

All the while, he kept an ear pointed towards Xanyu, aware of anything she might do or say. As usual, she seemed to have the perfect solution to the problem. Why couldn’t he have thought of that idea? She was so smart, and he was certain that Larita would prefer her intellectual input more than his own. Heck, Lunie was almost willing to offer crafting his own clothes for her, and the request lingered on his tongue, but the girl spoke before he did.

As the clothes were indicated towards, his eyes widened as he skimmed over them from the awkward distance. She was offering them to Xanyu? They were so valuable! And it wasn’t the lucky kind of valuable either – it was the valuable with effort, skill and persistence required to make them. His breath caught in his throat – it was a true sign of respect to grant such a gift. His jaw gaped open, seemingly frozen in his position. When Larita addressed that it also applied to him, he was about to splutter overwhelming gratitude all over her, but stopped at the last few words. ‘If you get off me!’ She wanted him to stop hugging? In his language, that seemed to translate as ‘stop loving’, which was something he wasn’t about to do ever. “B-but...” he began, still holding tightly. It was around that time he heard a tiny rrip from near where his claws were. He froze.

Xanyu nodded as Larita spoke. She was glad to be of help even when Lunie wasn't. At the offer, Xanyu almost let a grimace cross her face. Larita's clothes were nice, but they just didn't appeal to her. Actually, it was more the fact that she probably couldn't wear them. Her body type couldn't compliment them like Larita's most likely would. Her face kept it's usual shy-ish expression. "I...I would have to decline...I bet Lunie would look so much better."

Xanyu's ears twitched. What had been that sound? When she saw Lunie froze, she let out an almost inaudible gasp. If Larita noticed, Lunie would get scolded so horribly. She kept her mouth shut, hoping Larita wouldn't notice. What to do? She went over to the pile of clothes and kneeled down as far as her legs would
allow her. She picked up the navy dress, "L...Look Lunie, M...Maybe with some t..tailoring your could have a cute pair of pants." She hoped she could get the Feluis away from Larita so they could maybe put the blame of something like the bedpost.

Larita shrugged at Xanyu's refusal of her discarded clothes. "Suit yourself, I--"

The tearing sound seemed to echo in her ears. Her eyes widened to large circles and her mouth hung open. It was the sound of her nightmares. The sound of tiny pieces of thread, which had been so expertly and expensively woven together, severing apart and, as far as Larita was concerned, that sound meant ruin.

"What was that?!" she said forcefully, her voice high pitched, volume just below a shout. She was wearing her favorite yellow dress, and even though she had traipsed through the forest on her way here, she had managed to somehow keep her dress from harm. And if that sound was what she thought it was...

She tried to reach her arm back over her shoulder to feel the back of her dress, but was blocked by Lunie's clutching arms. Her chest heaved with breaths of building panic. "I said let go NOW!" The sentence built up into a curdling shriek. The girl was teetering on the edge of a melo-dramatic panic attack. And there was little that could be done to stop it.

His eyes, widened with shock, turned to look at Xanyu. Most of her appeasing words fell on deaf ears, and although Lunie would attempt to look over the navy dress, he had bigger things to worry about.

Larita's voice made him flinch. He knew exactly what it was. And it wasn't anything he was readily about to admit to her. Despite the fear pulsating through his veins, he found himself paralysed to the spot, his arms still coiled around her. It was a strange notion - hugging the very person he knew who would be cross with him.

It was the shriek, however, that sent him almost automatically reeling backwards with fright, staring up at her with wide, distressed eyes. It wasn't until then that he realised that he hadn't been breathing, and his breath then came to him in short, ragged gasps. He trembled with the effort of not crying. "I...." It was then he laid his eyes on Xanyu, and his upset expression morphed to that of a rather sour one. He could feel the hair on his neck bristling.

It all made sense now. Larita hated him, and it was all Xanyu's fault. She'd started all this! A hand pointed accusingly in her direction, his eyes alight with an unusual fury. "Is--is her fault! She did it!" he cried, his speech disintegrating into sobs. "I-I saw her!" Turning around sharply, he immediately bolted from the room, only managing a few steps into the corridor before he stopped, dropping to his knees. Unable to contain his curiosity, he crawled back towards the door, peeking through the gap between the door and the wall where the hinges were, to observe their reactions. Of course, there was little he could see at all through his blurred eyesight, thanks to the onslaught of tears.

Xanyu's ears gradually lowered as Larita spoke. If Lunie got in trouble, he most likely wouldn't have been able to take it. She wracked her brain for something to help him, anything. While she thought, Xanyu frowned as Larita began to get a little too overdramatic. The shriek didn't bother Xanyu, she had been expecting that, but again Lunie's expression surprised Xanyu. Even more surprising, was his accusation.

Xanyu stood in shock, but soon shook it off. Of course he'd blame her, and she couldn't really get angry at him. He was like a child put under to much pressure. She looked at Larita, face as serious as the situation would allow. "What he said....is true. It was an act of carelessness." She looked down, a guilty look on
her face. "Must have happen when one of the bags caught on your dress for just a moment, and when you crouched down you must have strained the weakened fabric.. I'm very sorry, Larita, I will take any punishment given." She hoped her lie was believable, her guilty look now mixed with slight sympathy and what seemed to be a look of hope for forgiveness.