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More from GammaEradon
Reposted from DA: Help arrives from an unexpected corner.
Category Story / Pokemon
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 88.5 kB
Since FA is still down, here's the next part of the Rene moving saga.
René sat alone at his kitchen table his face buried in his hands. He couldn't believe it. He had gone all out with his father, gave it his best shot....and he still couldn't get him to back down on the planned move to Johto. True, René admitted, he had won a brief reprieve—a slight delay in the move while his father made plans to 'contain' any potential embarrassment René could cause him. While the added time gave René a chance to meet Faith's parents when they came in, that's not what he was really thinking about. He had been spending his time gathering all the evidence of his father's unscrupulous business—and personal—Practices René had been secretly hoarding over the past several years together and preparing to submit it to the press if his father carried through with the moving.
He had no illusions in using this information to blackmail his father into staying. If he knew of its existence he'd just take steps to counteract it before René could use it, rendering his time and efforts worthless. No, this was a—in his mother's language—kamikaze weapon. What that would inflict no small damage to his father and his business, but there'd be no chance in hell that it would do René much good. In fact, if his father found out that he was the one who turned it in—and he would—René's lifespan could probably be measured in minutes, if he was lucky.
The knock on the door at first was small, timid...held back...it would have been surprising if anymon heard it...but then, after a moment's consultation...a louder, more confident knock came for attention at the door!
René, so focused on what he was doing, was startled at the sudden noise. “I'm coming!” He walked over to the door and opened it up. He blinked when he saw who was at the door. “Hi Faith I--” he paused at the sight of her parents. “Um...”
Faith echoed René unconsciously. “Um...” She laughed nervously as she stood there, ears half-wilted. “Hi?” Behind the girl, two Ninetales stood, side by side in matching robes similar to Faith's, both currently bowed lightly, not looking up at him yet. “They kind of...wanted to come meet you as soon as they got here...René...this is my mother and father!”
The larger male Ninetales, although thin and wiry, seemed surprisingly strong, his features carved into their shape, and his eyes upon the boy, like two gleaming shades of blue. “Would you have us in, young one?” Asked Faith's father, whose name was Lee.
René looked embarrassed and coughed as he wished that he wasn't still in his pajamas. “Sumimasen Mr. and Mrs. Sumisu, of course--please come in.” He waved them inside.
Mr. Sumisu indeed took his bow and entered, his eyes shifting over the room, almost in a manner of fashion the boy had become accustomed to watching his father look at things. Whatever the Ninetales saw, apparently, he wasn't too pleased. The second Ninetales however...
“Thank you for having us!” Su-Lin Sumisu said as she immediately took René's paws, holding them clasped in hers, a link held between both their chests as she smiled at him, her own small bow. “And you are just as Faith said you were: what a charming young womon you are!”
René blushed bright red. “Um, thank you very much ma'am! It's a...pleasure to meet you both!” He looked uncomfortable at Mr. Sumisu's piercing gaze.
Faith followed in, with a nervous grin shot to René obviously not too sure what to say to apologize first...at least she did not need her crutch any more, even if her cast still poked out from under her skirt And more curiously, there was a new ring of bandages around her forehead.
“Um Faith, what happened to you?” René asked, concerned.
The girl laughed nervously. “There were a few excited students at the new orientation...I'll be fine, you should've seen what happened to the tree that hit me!”
René just blinked at that, deciding not to ask. Then he cleared his throat as he looked back at the Sumisus. “I--I suppose Faith told you what she found out, right?”
The elder Ninetales turned, and the others were silent...if the ornamentation of his robes weren't hint enough, or his stature, the presence of him alone denoted his position in the family, as he nodded to René. “Indeed she did.” He spoke and spoke with such a clarity, a strength and slightly distant voice...yet there was some warmth to it. “We both felt it was best if we came here to meet you in person.”
René seemed to shrink that he seemed even smaller and more vulnerable than usual. “I...I....didn't mean to insert myself into your lives--”
Su-Lin Sumisu nodded to her husband, she saw the discomfort in René's position. She just smiled lightly, and stepped forward to the boy, palms folded before her, as she looked to him. “You have the wrong idea...We came to welcome you into our lives!” She warmly chuckled, holding out her arms in a gesture to hold them open for him, waiting for him to reciprocate, as Faith just smiled slowly behind her, stepping forward slightly as well.
Slowly, hesitantly, he moved closer to Mrs. Sumisu. “Y-you really want me? Even though I'm....”
“A minor detail.” Her husband dismissed immediately, a wry smirk somehow crawling onto his muzzle, as he remained formal as ever, his arms folded and hands well-dug into his sleeves.
With a choked up sob René half-ran, half-fell into Mrs. Sumisu's arms hugging her and crying. He'd soon find himself with two pairs of arms around him as Faith slowly followed, smiling up, while her mother hushed lightly, rubbing her fingers through the Vulpix's headfur. He'd also receive not much more than a pat on the back gently from behind; Lee may not have been the most forward person of affections but even he wasn't willing to go without some form of acknowledgment of René.
“I guess...” Faith took a moment, half-laughing as she held there, looking to René and holding on, considering for a moment. “-what we came to say, is welcome to the family, René!”
“T-thank you....SO much, I--I can't say how much this means to me!” René murmured. There was little words that could be said in such a scene...as he'd only receive nods from them all. They knew how he felt...and they knew that was all that mattered here, as they held for a little longer. Finally, Lee held the paw that had patted René on the back, and held it to his muzzle with a clear of his throat, nodding.
“Now then... I believe we have much to discuss?” Mr. Sumisu said finally.
René sniffed and wiped his eyes. “Wha-what do you want to discuss?”
“Well, for instance, we'd like to meet your father.” The Ninetales spoke without much hesitation, looking at the boy still, waiting to give him time to collect himself. Instantly Faith grimaced at the thought; pulling back a little.
“M-my father?” René was too stunned to think. “He's upstairs in his office. Why do you want to see HIM?”
“Yes, I can see him!” Su-Lin declared suddenly, only having just parted her hold upon the boy, her eyes lost in a sea of brilliant blue Aura, staring straight through the walls and ceilings towards that office!, René looked at her, his eyes wide; never ceasing to be amazed by that. And then, as Su-Lin turned her eyes back down to René, blinked once, and the Aura vanished. “Oh my!” The woman chuckled. “You honest to goodness do have such an effeminate Aura!”
“Um, thank you?” René said.
Lee gave no answer to René; and while Su-Lin appeared to give him a moment of distraction, the male Ninetales had suddenly apparated himself away like a spirit of the flame.
Faith was still grimacing...however...as her father left. “Um, René...could we possibly go get something for my mother to drink?...I don't want to be too close before dad starts.” She winced, it seemed as if she was feeling more sorry for Mr Vulpes!
René didn't quite understand what Faith meant but nodded out of politeness. “Of course....what would you like to drink Mrs. Sumisu?”
“Well...” The woman seemed to hold a secretive smile, as she let her own arms now hang inside her sleeves, looking back to René. “We're not very fussy creatures, whatever you may have to offer quench my thirst would be gratefully accepted.”
“I--I have some iced tea. Let me get some for you.” He bowed to her suddenly before dashing off to root through the fridge for it. Faith...quickly lead Su-Lin to the living room, remembering where it was certainly...and hoping they'd be well out of ear shot!*
Meanwhile upstairs, Lee Sumisu strode with a purpose down the upstairs hallway, fixed firmly his eyes lay through them, until finally, he stood before the office, and rapped sharply.
Robert Vulpes was sitting at his desk, scanning over some report on the Internet, unaware of the visitors in his house. And then of course...upon his door came such a sharp rapping. Frowning sharply, Robert looked up from his work. “René I've told you never to disturb my while I'm working!” Or really, ever.
“...I apologize for the intrusion, sir.” The door swept open, revealing the formidable Ninetales, his arms still inside his sleeves, his tails holding in a spectral gust, as he set his eyes upon the Vulpine, and all around him.
Robert bolted up out of his seat. “Who are you? What are you doing in my house! Get out before I call the police!”
“Such dark, stagnant Aura...” The Ninetales muttered to himself, giving the room the same look he had given everything downstairs, not liking what he saw...especially upon Robert Vulpes...if he seemed worried or at all threatened, it didn't show.
His ears flat against his head, Robert reached for the phone, his eyes suspicious. “...if my idiot son let you in, thinking you could get a donation for whatever your here for, then you're BOTH fools!”
“Forgiveness, good sir. *Lee spoke, a saccharine smile, a practiced look of unconditional happiness against any insult or outrage, much practiced at running a resort, the Ninetales suddenly stepped through the threshold. He stood before Robert Vulpes, towering over him, whilst still holding such a mask of patience and sweetness. “I was invited in by your good son: Lee Sumisu, we are related in part to your good wife, Vera.” The door suddenly slammed close without even a gust of wind, making the vulpix jump.
“What?! If you're here for some of MY money, you've got a nothing thing coming!”
“Family.” The Ninetales repeated simply, as he kept moving, aiming to take the seat before the Vulpix. “You are not familiar with the meaning of the word, sir?”
“Don't patronize me! Just what is it you want?” Robert spat.
Suddenly, the patience and sweet goodwill were gone, as he flung such a fiery and powerful glare upon the insidious, spiteful creature before and below him. “For you to stop jabbering and squabbling like a lizard pretending to be a dragon!”
Robert was unprepared for the fury before him and started shaking, revealing the craven coward that he truly is. “W-what?” The Ninetales did not stop, as his tales began flaring up behind him, making him much larger and terrifying than at first assumed, the tales reaching out in all angles, seeming to cover the office at once, as Lee stood there.
“You, sir, are Avarice.” Lee stated, ignoring Robert's stammered demands for them to get out, “My wife and I traveled many miles to meet our family...I walk into this house, and thus far, am unimpressed: you haven't even asked me of our relation, of Vera, of your fellow family: only money, and authority, things that make you feel much stronger, don't they? The lights around he room began to flicker, leaving the only light in between the spectral flame and Aura around Lee Sumisu, who glowered down.
“My wife is dead!” Robert gasped. “Her body simply hasn't caught on yet. And I---I have no need nor use for anything of hers!”
All at once, the room seemed to begin to shake and rumble, as all the electronics began to spark and clatter about! Lee's form twisting into something monstrous, demonic! “SILENCE!!!!!” Robert was stricken dumb with terror.
Downstairs, nursing her iced tea, Faith grimaced, looking at the shaking ceiling above. “He's started.”
René looks up. “What's started? What's going on?”
Upstairs, all at once...it stopped...as Robert Vulpes was looking at a normal Ninetales, nestled comfortably in a seat before him, the lights and electronics back to normal, as Lee sat there, solemn, eyes closed. “I confess, until now, I had known we were not related, so I share no fond memories of your wife, nor any full kinship...yet.” His eyes flung that dangerous look upon him. “Make no mistake...if I were not related to you by your wife, I would crush you where your sniveling form cowered.”
Robert's mouth opened and closed, gaping like a magikarp out of water.
The Ninetales cleared his throat, eyes closed once more, returning to the former, formal appearance he must assume as the Shrine Keeper. “I am uninterested in your money, I have came to discuss matters of family: our family, René and Vera...”
“Wha--what about them?” Robert stammered out.
“Family, is Family, good sir, we wish to be a part of their lives now that we have found them. Tell me, about René...his school, his friends, his ambitions...how is the boy doing?”
Robert regained a measure of his sneering disdain. “He's a disgrace. A pathetic girly-wretch of a mon and prone to sniveling and crying at anything and nothing. He has no friends....merely those foolish enough to pity him.”
There was silence...but as soon as the Vulpix would dare look up, he would see those eyes... set upon him in warning. Robert bristled but said nothing further.
“It occurs to me, good sir, you know nothing of your boy.” Lee said slowly.
Robert mumbled, “Nothing worth knowing...”
The Ninetales said nothing...but the dark look Robert received would warn him his senses were certainly sharp of hearing. “Tell me, instead, Vera's condition...I am hazy on details.”
“Vera. Is. Dead.” Robert bit off each word. “She was in a car crash years ago. Her higher-brain functions are gone. All she can do is breathe, lie in bed, and eat up my money.” Nothing was said that lifted Lee's look upon him...there was a pervading silence...for moments on end. “It seems, I have learned all I may of you, good sir.”
“Then get out! You are not welcome in my house!”
The Ninetales suddenly stood, sweeping out of the chair without a wasted movement, his eyes closing again. “I will have my leave of you, shortly, but before I go, I wish to know: I have heard plans of you moving with René elsewhere?”
Robert snapped sharply. “My plans are MINE alone.” As if the Vulpix needed a reminder, the eyes flung open, as the room began to shudder and shake again.
“I will respect your wishes: as you will thus respect mine.” Lee said.
“I am taking René away from here, back to my family's holdings...elsewhere. I want to get him out from the influence of people like you!” Robert exclaimed.
“People like me?” The Ninetales laughed, and suddenly, the walls around the Vulpix suddenly began to smoke, the heat rising at an incredible rate! As a vulpix, the heat does not--could not--bother Robert but the power Lee had certainly did!
The Ninetales voice became a thunderous rumble, as the room around them began to shrink and burn, erupting in flames upon all angles, as fabrics began to burn, plastics began to melt, the Ninetales eyes upon him, never leaving. “Since I walked through the threshold of your home, I felt the dark, and suffocating Aura here!” Robert said nothing, merely cringing and cowering. “Upon meeting you, and seeing your Aura first hand, I am safe to say, you are the source of the pain and misery of all in this household!”
“G-get out! I'll call the police! I swear I will!” Robert managed to exclaim, trying to sound bold. It was an idle threat as the phone had now seemingly melted.
“'People like me'?!? You, who condemn your son, have cast aside your wife and all memory of her, who hide behind a desk of titles and money!?” Lee said again as Robert cringed down low...not in shame, but in fear. “I know not much of you, sir; but from what I have seen...René should be kept away from people like YOU! I may not be welcome in your home...but know that when this empire crumbles away from you...and you are left, wandering the streets alone...you will not be welcome in mine.”
The room did not stop shaking, feeling as if it were being torn asunder from the building below, as even Robert's clothing began to burn away now too. “You pity him...for your ignorance blinds you to all the friends and lives he has touched. You, sir. Are the one I pity.” Lee finished. And in a flash, once more, it was gone... the room back to normal once more, and Lee, standing there, simply as he was before, even if his eyes hadn't left him.
Robert finally fainted dead away!
The Ninetales let out an irate growl, and a snort of flame from his muzzle, as he walked forward, and casually, taking up the pitcher of water on the desk and emptied its contents over the Vulpix there on the floor.
Robert coughed and sputtered as he came to. “Wh--what do you want from me?!”
“My Family.” Lee spoke simply, his eyes set upon the Vulpix, forewarning him not to speak up against him again. ”If René means as little to you, as you seem to suggest, we will be taking the boy for a while under our care, until it can be best assured what is good for the boy and his future. I would dearly love, as I'm sure you would, to cut all strings of this bond that holds you connected to him...but Family is not so.” The Ninetales stood again, glaring down upon Robert Vulpes. “Remember this... that you exist in the shallow harbour of my heart...only because Vera must have seen SOMETHING in you to love...”
The furious vulpix had had enough. “'Love?' Bah! I knocked the tramp up. Then she wanted us to be married! I could hardly say no...it ruin my career if I didn't! That's the ONLY reason we got together! And do you REALLY think you can take my son from me? I have no small influence and I can make life VERY miserable for you...and besides,” His nasty gleam returns to his eyes. “I doubt you want to put René through what will be a VERY intense, very ugly legal proceeding. He'll never have a moment's peace again, I promise you!”
The Ninetales slowly crouched down again, until he and Robert could see, eye to eye, and the full fury and Fire within him was beheld. “I'll have you know...” Lee said, as suddenly the Vulpix would find a tail wrapped snake-like around his throat, cutting off his explanation as he stayed there. “...As miserable you can make my life, Robert Vulpes...I will release the fury upon you, tenfold.”
Suddenly, he held something in his palm...a crystal...a tiny, oblong gem. “Do you know what this is?” Robert gurgled and shook his head. “This is the message my daughter sent to tell me of your son, and our relation: a small crystal seed of the Bokan Flower. It does not operate through letters and figures, as perhaps your modern e-mails or letters may... but upon the feelings, and memories of the one who inscribes their message upon it.” Suddenly, all the looks he'd gave Robert were nothing compared to the new one held on his face. “Do you know...what my daughter remembered...when she thought of you?
Lee held the crystal, as a strange blue mark began to appear in his palm...and slowly...it began to float in mid-air, unleashing a bubble of Aura, that projected the images Faith had sent them back...moving vast and far through them all...to René and Faith in their slumber party...when Robert had burst through the door. The vulpix went pale as he made the connection.
Lee did not watch, as he held it towards Robert in silence watching his reaction to it while they recalled the insults, the hideous words and looks he gave the girl and René. And then... e closed his palm, vanishing the crystal up his sleeve. “Mark me.”
“Wh-what?” Robert stammered.
“Mark. My. Words.” Lee growled. “I may not have much of a true kinship to your son--albeit more than you certainly--” His fangs bared themselves for the first time in this conversation. “But I am certainly very fond, and proud, of my daughter...insult her, or hurt her again...and I will forget our family bond and show you the true consequences of your actions.”
Downstairs, René looked up at the ceiling. “Your dad's been gone a while Faith. Everything okay?” The girl sighed, and fiddled with her straw slightly, while Su-Lin looked left and right around the room.
“I guess...” she said. “Just, dad has a bit of a temper when he meets people he doesn't--”
“--Doesn't what?” René asked, not realizing she had stopped quite abruptly because Lee had showed himself at the bottom of the stairs.
“It is quite rude to talk of people behind their backs, young ones.” He said evenly.
René turned red. “Sorry sir...” The older mon shook his head, and then, as he moved forward, lay a hand upon René's shoulder.
“Pay it no mind.”
René coughed, still embarrassed nonetheless. “So, um, did you take care of what you wanted to?”
“I have had a word with your father and he felt it would be best to hold any plans of travel that would interrupt your studies.”
The young vulpix looked understandably skeptical. “...He did?”
“For the moment...” He nodded slowly. “As long as you don't mind our company for a while?”
“Not at all!” René blurted out quickly. “I'm so honored to have you here!” He went on to give a clumsily-executed bow. “Um...is there anything I can help you with?”
The mon shook his head with some small smirk again, arms folded once more. “We are light travelers, young one, simply prepare your things, and we will go elsewhere.”
“...Elsewhere?”
“Remember, my 'home', René?” Faith laughed, nervously, having perhaps not told her father the truth about what he had bought earlier for her.
Clearly, René hadn't forgotten that. “Um, Faith?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you really set up to, ah, handle us at your place?” He asked her delicately. To that, the girl grinned slightly, and nodded, before passing him a wink she HOPED her father couldn't see. “Of course!” René continued to look skeptical.
“I can help you pack, if you wish?” Su-Lin said as she suddenly swept around, looking to him with a ready smile. That made René beam. He liked Faith's mother.
“Oh, that's okay Mrs. Sumisu! I can take care of things!”
“Are you sure?” The womon asked, as she still held her smile, her palms folded once more.
“Well....if you'd like to come up and see my room...”
“Of course!” The Ninetales held a light chuckle, perhaps easy to see where Faith got her personality of smiles from...as the womon seemed to have got what she wanted in the first place! Faith snirked, and nodded.
“I'll help too!”
Nodding to the the ladies, René led them both upstairs. As he did so, Lee Sumisu simply walked over to the coffee table Faith had got her cast stuck on the other day. Reaching into the drawer, he removed the same pair of gloves Faith and René had found musing over them slowly. “There is much work to be done.” He sighed, weary from his encounter with that creature upstairs.
&&&
René sat alone at his kitchen table his face buried in his hands. He couldn't believe it. He had gone all out with his father, gave it his best shot....and he still couldn't get him to back down on the planned move to Johto. True, René admitted, he had won a brief reprieve—a slight delay in the move while his father made plans to 'contain' any potential embarrassment René could cause him. While the added time gave René a chance to meet Faith's parents when they came in, that's not what he was really thinking about. He had been spending his time gathering all the evidence of his father's unscrupulous business—and personal—Practices René had been secretly hoarding over the past several years together and preparing to submit it to the press if his father carried through with the moving.
He had no illusions in using this information to blackmail his father into staying. If he knew of its existence he'd just take steps to counteract it before René could use it, rendering his time and efforts worthless. No, this was a—in his mother's language—kamikaze weapon. What that would inflict no small damage to his father and his business, but there'd be no chance in hell that it would do René much good. In fact, if his father found out that he was the one who turned it in—and he would—René's lifespan could probably be measured in minutes, if he was lucky.
The knock on the door at first was small, timid...held back...it would have been surprising if anymon heard it...but then, after a moment's consultation...a louder, more confident knock came for attention at the door!
René, so focused on what he was doing, was startled at the sudden noise. “I'm coming!” He walked over to the door and opened it up. He blinked when he saw who was at the door. “Hi Faith I--” he paused at the sight of her parents. “Um...”
Faith echoed René unconsciously. “Um...” She laughed nervously as she stood there, ears half-wilted. “Hi?” Behind the girl, two Ninetales stood, side by side in matching robes similar to Faith's, both currently bowed lightly, not looking up at him yet. “They kind of...wanted to come meet you as soon as they got here...René...this is my mother and father!”
The larger male Ninetales, although thin and wiry, seemed surprisingly strong, his features carved into their shape, and his eyes upon the boy, like two gleaming shades of blue. “Would you have us in, young one?” Asked Faith's father, whose name was Lee.
René looked embarrassed and coughed as he wished that he wasn't still in his pajamas. “Sumimasen Mr. and Mrs. Sumisu, of course--please come in.” He waved them inside.
Mr. Sumisu indeed took his bow and entered, his eyes shifting over the room, almost in a manner of fashion the boy had become accustomed to watching his father look at things. Whatever the Ninetales saw, apparently, he wasn't too pleased. The second Ninetales however...
“Thank you for having us!” Su-Lin Sumisu said as she immediately took René's paws, holding them clasped in hers, a link held between both their chests as she smiled at him, her own small bow. “And you are just as Faith said you were: what a charming young womon you are!”
René blushed bright red. “Um, thank you very much ma'am! It's a...pleasure to meet you both!” He looked uncomfortable at Mr. Sumisu's piercing gaze.
Faith followed in, with a nervous grin shot to René obviously not too sure what to say to apologize first...at least she did not need her crutch any more, even if her cast still poked out from under her skirt And more curiously, there was a new ring of bandages around her forehead.
“Um Faith, what happened to you?” René asked, concerned.
The girl laughed nervously. “There were a few excited students at the new orientation...I'll be fine, you should've seen what happened to the tree that hit me!”
René just blinked at that, deciding not to ask. Then he cleared his throat as he looked back at the Sumisus. “I--I suppose Faith told you what she found out, right?”
The elder Ninetales turned, and the others were silent...if the ornamentation of his robes weren't hint enough, or his stature, the presence of him alone denoted his position in the family, as he nodded to René. “Indeed she did.” He spoke and spoke with such a clarity, a strength and slightly distant voice...yet there was some warmth to it. “We both felt it was best if we came here to meet you in person.”
René seemed to shrink that he seemed even smaller and more vulnerable than usual. “I...I....didn't mean to insert myself into your lives--”
Su-Lin Sumisu nodded to her husband, she saw the discomfort in René's position. She just smiled lightly, and stepped forward to the boy, palms folded before her, as she looked to him. “You have the wrong idea...We came to welcome you into our lives!” She warmly chuckled, holding out her arms in a gesture to hold them open for him, waiting for him to reciprocate, as Faith just smiled slowly behind her, stepping forward slightly as well.
Slowly, hesitantly, he moved closer to Mrs. Sumisu. “Y-you really want me? Even though I'm....”
“A minor detail.” Her husband dismissed immediately, a wry smirk somehow crawling onto his muzzle, as he remained formal as ever, his arms folded and hands well-dug into his sleeves.
With a choked up sob René half-ran, half-fell into Mrs. Sumisu's arms hugging her and crying. He'd soon find himself with two pairs of arms around him as Faith slowly followed, smiling up, while her mother hushed lightly, rubbing her fingers through the Vulpix's headfur. He'd also receive not much more than a pat on the back gently from behind; Lee may not have been the most forward person of affections but even he wasn't willing to go without some form of acknowledgment of René.
“I guess...” Faith took a moment, half-laughing as she held there, looking to René and holding on, considering for a moment. “-what we came to say, is welcome to the family, René!”
“T-thank you....SO much, I--I can't say how much this means to me!” René murmured. There was little words that could be said in such a scene...as he'd only receive nods from them all. They knew how he felt...and they knew that was all that mattered here, as they held for a little longer. Finally, Lee held the paw that had patted René on the back, and held it to his muzzle with a clear of his throat, nodding.
“Now then... I believe we have much to discuss?” Mr. Sumisu said finally.
René sniffed and wiped his eyes. “Wha-what do you want to discuss?”
“Well, for instance, we'd like to meet your father.” The Ninetales spoke without much hesitation, looking at the boy still, waiting to give him time to collect himself. Instantly Faith grimaced at the thought; pulling back a little.
“M-my father?” René was too stunned to think. “He's upstairs in his office. Why do you want to see HIM?”
“Yes, I can see him!” Su-Lin declared suddenly, only having just parted her hold upon the boy, her eyes lost in a sea of brilliant blue Aura, staring straight through the walls and ceilings towards that office!, René looked at her, his eyes wide; never ceasing to be amazed by that. And then, as Su-Lin turned her eyes back down to René, blinked once, and the Aura vanished. “Oh my!” The woman chuckled. “You honest to goodness do have such an effeminate Aura!”
“Um, thank you?” René said.
Lee gave no answer to René; and while Su-Lin appeared to give him a moment of distraction, the male Ninetales had suddenly apparated himself away like a spirit of the flame.
Faith was still grimacing...however...as her father left. “Um, René...could we possibly go get something for my mother to drink?...I don't want to be too close before dad starts.” She winced, it seemed as if she was feeling more sorry for Mr Vulpes!
René didn't quite understand what Faith meant but nodded out of politeness. “Of course....what would you like to drink Mrs. Sumisu?”
“Well...” The woman seemed to hold a secretive smile, as she let her own arms now hang inside her sleeves, looking back to René. “We're not very fussy creatures, whatever you may have to offer quench my thirst would be gratefully accepted.”
“I--I have some iced tea. Let me get some for you.” He bowed to her suddenly before dashing off to root through the fridge for it. Faith...quickly lead Su-Lin to the living room, remembering where it was certainly...and hoping they'd be well out of ear shot!*
Meanwhile upstairs, Lee Sumisu strode with a purpose down the upstairs hallway, fixed firmly his eyes lay through them, until finally, he stood before the office, and rapped sharply.
Robert Vulpes was sitting at his desk, scanning over some report on the Internet, unaware of the visitors in his house. And then of course...upon his door came such a sharp rapping. Frowning sharply, Robert looked up from his work. “René I've told you never to disturb my while I'm working!” Or really, ever.
“...I apologize for the intrusion, sir.” The door swept open, revealing the formidable Ninetales, his arms still inside his sleeves, his tails holding in a spectral gust, as he set his eyes upon the Vulpine, and all around him.
Robert bolted up out of his seat. “Who are you? What are you doing in my house! Get out before I call the police!”
“Such dark, stagnant Aura...” The Ninetales muttered to himself, giving the room the same look he had given everything downstairs, not liking what he saw...especially upon Robert Vulpes...if he seemed worried or at all threatened, it didn't show.
His ears flat against his head, Robert reached for the phone, his eyes suspicious. “...if my idiot son let you in, thinking you could get a donation for whatever your here for, then you're BOTH fools!”
“Forgiveness, good sir. *Lee spoke, a saccharine smile, a practiced look of unconditional happiness against any insult or outrage, much practiced at running a resort, the Ninetales suddenly stepped through the threshold. He stood before Robert Vulpes, towering over him, whilst still holding such a mask of patience and sweetness. “I was invited in by your good son: Lee Sumisu, we are related in part to your good wife, Vera.” The door suddenly slammed close without even a gust of wind, making the vulpix jump.
“What?! If you're here for some of MY money, you've got a nothing thing coming!”
“Family.” The Ninetales repeated simply, as he kept moving, aiming to take the seat before the Vulpix. “You are not familiar with the meaning of the word, sir?”
“Don't patronize me! Just what is it you want?” Robert spat.
Suddenly, the patience and sweet goodwill were gone, as he flung such a fiery and powerful glare upon the insidious, spiteful creature before and below him. “For you to stop jabbering and squabbling like a lizard pretending to be a dragon!”
Robert was unprepared for the fury before him and started shaking, revealing the craven coward that he truly is. “W-what?” The Ninetales did not stop, as his tales began flaring up behind him, making him much larger and terrifying than at first assumed, the tales reaching out in all angles, seeming to cover the office at once, as Lee stood there.
“You, sir, are Avarice.” Lee stated, ignoring Robert's stammered demands for them to get out, “My wife and I traveled many miles to meet our family...I walk into this house, and thus far, am unimpressed: you haven't even asked me of our relation, of Vera, of your fellow family: only money, and authority, things that make you feel much stronger, don't they? The lights around he room began to flicker, leaving the only light in between the spectral flame and Aura around Lee Sumisu, who glowered down.
“My wife is dead!” Robert gasped. “Her body simply hasn't caught on yet. And I---I have no need nor use for anything of hers!”
All at once, the room seemed to begin to shake and rumble, as all the electronics began to spark and clatter about! Lee's form twisting into something monstrous, demonic! “SILENCE!!!!!” Robert was stricken dumb with terror.
Downstairs, nursing her iced tea, Faith grimaced, looking at the shaking ceiling above. “He's started.”
René looks up. “What's started? What's going on?”
Upstairs, all at once...it stopped...as Robert Vulpes was looking at a normal Ninetales, nestled comfortably in a seat before him, the lights and electronics back to normal, as Lee sat there, solemn, eyes closed. “I confess, until now, I had known we were not related, so I share no fond memories of your wife, nor any full kinship...yet.” His eyes flung that dangerous look upon him. “Make no mistake...if I were not related to you by your wife, I would crush you where your sniveling form cowered.”
Robert's mouth opened and closed, gaping like a magikarp out of water.
The Ninetales cleared his throat, eyes closed once more, returning to the former, formal appearance he must assume as the Shrine Keeper. “I am uninterested in your money, I have came to discuss matters of family: our family, René and Vera...”
“Wha--what about them?” Robert stammered out.
“Family, is Family, good sir, we wish to be a part of their lives now that we have found them. Tell me, about René...his school, his friends, his ambitions...how is the boy doing?”
Robert regained a measure of his sneering disdain. “He's a disgrace. A pathetic girly-wretch of a mon and prone to sniveling and crying at anything and nothing. He has no friends....merely those foolish enough to pity him.”
There was silence...but as soon as the Vulpix would dare look up, he would see those eyes... set upon him in warning. Robert bristled but said nothing further.
“It occurs to me, good sir, you know nothing of your boy.” Lee said slowly.
Robert mumbled, “Nothing worth knowing...”
The Ninetales said nothing...but the dark look Robert received would warn him his senses were certainly sharp of hearing. “Tell me, instead, Vera's condition...I am hazy on details.”
“Vera. Is. Dead.” Robert bit off each word. “She was in a car crash years ago. Her higher-brain functions are gone. All she can do is breathe, lie in bed, and eat up my money.” Nothing was said that lifted Lee's look upon him...there was a pervading silence...for moments on end. “It seems, I have learned all I may of you, good sir.”
“Then get out! You are not welcome in my house!”
The Ninetales suddenly stood, sweeping out of the chair without a wasted movement, his eyes closing again. “I will have my leave of you, shortly, but before I go, I wish to know: I have heard plans of you moving with René elsewhere?”
Robert snapped sharply. “My plans are MINE alone.” As if the Vulpix needed a reminder, the eyes flung open, as the room began to shudder and shake again.
“I will respect your wishes: as you will thus respect mine.” Lee said.
“I am taking René away from here, back to my family's holdings...elsewhere. I want to get him out from the influence of people like you!” Robert exclaimed.
“People like me?” The Ninetales laughed, and suddenly, the walls around the Vulpix suddenly began to smoke, the heat rising at an incredible rate! As a vulpix, the heat does not--could not--bother Robert but the power Lee had certainly did!
The Ninetales voice became a thunderous rumble, as the room around them began to shrink and burn, erupting in flames upon all angles, as fabrics began to burn, plastics began to melt, the Ninetales eyes upon him, never leaving. “Since I walked through the threshold of your home, I felt the dark, and suffocating Aura here!” Robert said nothing, merely cringing and cowering. “Upon meeting you, and seeing your Aura first hand, I am safe to say, you are the source of the pain and misery of all in this household!”
“G-get out! I'll call the police! I swear I will!” Robert managed to exclaim, trying to sound bold. It was an idle threat as the phone had now seemingly melted.
“'People like me'?!? You, who condemn your son, have cast aside your wife and all memory of her, who hide behind a desk of titles and money!?” Lee said again as Robert cringed down low...not in shame, but in fear. “I know not much of you, sir; but from what I have seen...René should be kept away from people like YOU! I may not be welcome in your home...but know that when this empire crumbles away from you...and you are left, wandering the streets alone...you will not be welcome in mine.”
The room did not stop shaking, feeling as if it were being torn asunder from the building below, as even Robert's clothing began to burn away now too. “You pity him...for your ignorance blinds you to all the friends and lives he has touched. You, sir. Are the one I pity.” Lee finished. And in a flash, once more, it was gone... the room back to normal once more, and Lee, standing there, simply as he was before, even if his eyes hadn't left him.
Robert finally fainted dead away!
The Ninetales let out an irate growl, and a snort of flame from his muzzle, as he walked forward, and casually, taking up the pitcher of water on the desk and emptied its contents over the Vulpix there on the floor.
Robert coughed and sputtered as he came to. “Wh--what do you want from me?!”
“My Family.” Lee spoke simply, his eyes set upon the Vulpix, forewarning him not to speak up against him again. ”If René means as little to you, as you seem to suggest, we will be taking the boy for a while under our care, until it can be best assured what is good for the boy and his future. I would dearly love, as I'm sure you would, to cut all strings of this bond that holds you connected to him...but Family is not so.” The Ninetales stood again, glaring down upon Robert Vulpes. “Remember this... that you exist in the shallow harbour of my heart...only because Vera must have seen SOMETHING in you to love...”
The furious vulpix had had enough. “'Love?' Bah! I knocked the tramp up. Then she wanted us to be married! I could hardly say no...it ruin my career if I didn't! That's the ONLY reason we got together! And do you REALLY think you can take my son from me? I have no small influence and I can make life VERY miserable for you...and besides,” His nasty gleam returns to his eyes. “I doubt you want to put René through what will be a VERY intense, very ugly legal proceeding. He'll never have a moment's peace again, I promise you!”
The Ninetales slowly crouched down again, until he and Robert could see, eye to eye, and the full fury and Fire within him was beheld. “I'll have you know...” Lee said, as suddenly the Vulpix would find a tail wrapped snake-like around his throat, cutting off his explanation as he stayed there. “...As miserable you can make my life, Robert Vulpes...I will release the fury upon you, tenfold.”
Suddenly, he held something in his palm...a crystal...a tiny, oblong gem. “Do you know what this is?” Robert gurgled and shook his head. “This is the message my daughter sent to tell me of your son, and our relation: a small crystal seed of the Bokan Flower. It does not operate through letters and figures, as perhaps your modern e-mails or letters may... but upon the feelings, and memories of the one who inscribes their message upon it.” Suddenly, all the looks he'd gave Robert were nothing compared to the new one held on his face. “Do you know...what my daughter remembered...when she thought of you?
Lee held the crystal, as a strange blue mark began to appear in his palm...and slowly...it began to float in mid-air, unleashing a bubble of Aura, that projected the images Faith had sent them back...moving vast and far through them all...to René and Faith in their slumber party...when Robert had burst through the door. The vulpix went pale as he made the connection.
Lee did not watch, as he held it towards Robert in silence watching his reaction to it while they recalled the insults, the hideous words and looks he gave the girl and René. And then... e closed his palm, vanishing the crystal up his sleeve. “Mark me.”
“Wh-what?” Robert stammered.
“Mark. My. Words.” Lee growled. “I may not have much of a true kinship to your son--albeit more than you certainly--” His fangs bared themselves for the first time in this conversation. “But I am certainly very fond, and proud, of my daughter...insult her, or hurt her again...and I will forget our family bond and show you the true consequences of your actions.”
Downstairs, René looked up at the ceiling. “Your dad's been gone a while Faith. Everything okay?” The girl sighed, and fiddled with her straw slightly, while Su-Lin looked left and right around the room.
“I guess...” she said. “Just, dad has a bit of a temper when he meets people he doesn't--”
“--Doesn't what?” René asked, not realizing she had stopped quite abruptly because Lee had showed himself at the bottom of the stairs.
“It is quite rude to talk of people behind their backs, young ones.” He said evenly.
René turned red. “Sorry sir...” The older mon shook his head, and then, as he moved forward, lay a hand upon René's shoulder.
“Pay it no mind.”
René coughed, still embarrassed nonetheless. “So, um, did you take care of what you wanted to?”
“I have had a word with your father and he felt it would be best to hold any plans of travel that would interrupt your studies.”
The young vulpix looked understandably skeptical. “...He did?”
“For the moment...” He nodded slowly. “As long as you don't mind our company for a while?”
“Not at all!” René blurted out quickly. “I'm so honored to have you here!” He went on to give a clumsily-executed bow. “Um...is there anything I can help you with?”
The mon shook his head with some small smirk again, arms folded once more. “We are light travelers, young one, simply prepare your things, and we will go elsewhere.”
“...Elsewhere?”
“Remember, my 'home', René?” Faith laughed, nervously, having perhaps not told her father the truth about what he had bought earlier for her.
Clearly, René hadn't forgotten that. “Um, Faith?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you really set up to, ah, handle us at your place?” He asked her delicately. To that, the girl grinned slightly, and nodded, before passing him a wink she HOPED her father couldn't see. “Of course!” René continued to look skeptical.
“I can help you pack, if you wish?” Su-Lin said as she suddenly swept around, looking to him with a ready smile. That made René beam. He liked Faith's mother.
“Oh, that's okay Mrs. Sumisu! I can take care of things!”
“Are you sure?” The womon asked, as she still held her smile, her palms folded once more.
“Well....if you'd like to come up and see my room...”
“Of course!” The Ninetales held a light chuckle, perhaps easy to see where Faith got her personality of smiles from...as the womon seemed to have got what she wanted in the first place! Faith snirked, and nodded.
“I'll help too!”
Nodding to the the ladies, René led them both upstairs. As he did so, Lee Sumisu simply walked over to the coffee table Faith had got her cast stuck on the other day. Reaching into the drawer, he removed the same pair of gloves Faith and René had found musing over them slowly. “There is much work to be done.” He sighed, weary from his encounter with that creature upstairs.
&&&
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