Author: Dusk, Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:54 AM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Deep down, Lewis was impressed that camille had managed to get one over on her brothers. If anything, this could prove that she was very capable when she put her mind to it. It was understandable that her brothers would want to get back at her, but what they had concocted was several steps too far.
Something they would learn rather quickly.
Lewis sipped on the tea that Silva had prepared. It wasn’t his usual drink, but for instances like this, it was far more appropriate than coffee. Coffee was something he used to wake up. Tea, though, was something he used when he wanted to remain calm.
“Damond, Remy…” Lewis said as he set the tea cup down. “Do you understand what you’ve done? Do you know the gravity of what nightmares can do to someone? What lack of sleep can do? It’s not a pretty thing, and even worse for someone growing up. It can hurt them a lot, and cause issues for their future…”
Remy sat forward in his chair, and sipped on his own cup of tea. It was rude not to, since Silva was always working hard for them. “It was just a prank, though…it can’t hurt that much, right?”
“Did you know that she broke down in class today?” Lewis asked.
Damond frowned, and downed his tea in a single gulp. He was rather impatient like that, as most pre-teens were. “No. We just wanted to mess with her a little…”
Lewis nodded slowly. “I see you’re feeling at least a little regret….”
Author: Simone, Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:38 AM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
“Who knew that Damond spending time with Uncle Xeik would come to bite us in the ass…” Simone put her hand to her forehead as she attempted to swim through the emotions she was feeling. As parents to Camille, they were understandably pissed about the situation. As parents to Remy and Damond, they had to temper their anger and not lash out completely at the twins.
So tea.
They set up the meeting in the small library either on the second floor or third, no one could really tell where the room was located in the castle. Simone and Lewis rather liked that feeling of surprise. The room existed where they needed it to.
The twins came in looking rather smug about the whole thing. They had terrorized their sister for days now. Her screams had been delightfully deserved in their opinion.
Simone and Lewis were sitting at one side of the table and it was Simone who motioned for them to move to the other side.
“So… Your sister…” Simone started once they had started to drink their tea. “What exactly did she do to deserve this trick of yours…”
Remy and Damond looked at each other before looking at their parents. “Whatever do you mean Mother?” They might not have had the resonance but their twin powers were on point as they spoke together.
“We know it was you two… It can’t be anyone else,” Simone was tempering her anger at the two of them as they tried to be sly to get out of it.
“It was five days ago,” Damond started.
“Five days ago Camille got her first victory over us…” Remy continued.
“Five days ago?” Simone was thinking back hard about what happened five days before. She realized she hadn’t heard about this. “What on earth did Camille do to you two?”
“She froze us to our pillows!” Damond and Remy yelled together as they finished their tea. “And as we panicked! She had buckets of water ready to dump on each of us! TRULY DIABOLICALLY.”
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 8:39 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Lewis and Silva went, and came back almost immediately. The ex-assassin took a deep breath, “One of my..trinkets is missing. Something I nicked from a festival…hell of a cursed item. Whoever holds it will be cursed with nightmares. I guess you could technically disseminate the effects into a potion if you leave it in…but the real question is, how the hell did they learn it?”
Xeik was catching on, and cleared his throat. “I can answer that one. I taught them. Of course, I didn’t know it would be used like this…but I did explain that we can draw out the potency of herbs by letting them soak in a potion brew…the process is mostly the same.”
“If I weren’t pissed, I’d be impressed by how smart they are…” Lewis replied with an annoyed tone. “Xeik, I have a request…” He explained it very quickly and precisely. Xeik nodded, noting how easy it would be to do. “Good,” Lewis replied. “Simone, dear…I think we should have an important chat…can you set it up? Silva…can you make some tea?”
Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 8:33 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
“I’m going to murder them both,” Simone spoke almost at the same time as Lewis spoke up. It was clear that the parental units now knew who was causing all of the problems. “Camille? Baby? Can you go outside the room for a moment and wait in the hall?”
Camille nodded and got off the stool. “I’ll be RIGHTTTTTT outside the door,” she hung onto the door cutely for a moment before shutting it.
Simone was seething and seeing red. “Xeik, check to see if any of YOUR things have gone missing lately.” It would be very clear to Xeik who the night phoenixes realized were the culprits once he was done.
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 8:27 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Xeik took his time going over the glass, but it was almost obvious from the start. It was laced with something; a tonic of some sort that would be barely noticeable to someone trained, and completely undetectable to a little girl. “Her drink was spiked with…what appears to be a slipshod attempt at a nightmare tonic. It’s more sweet dreams, mixed with…I don’t even know…some kind of curse.” He showed Lewis, who’s mind went into overdrive as he racked his brain for what it could possibly be.
Could it be Alvaro back from the dead? No, that’s just stupid…besides, why would he curse a girl with bad dreams. No, this isn’t some big bad. This is more personal…someone knows that she’s young and prone to scares. Targeted…someone who has easy access…someone like…He looked at Simone as the realization hit. “But how…and why?”
Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 8:20 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Simone nodded and ran off to go get the glass. It was in its own special spot in the kitchen. After she grabbed it she brought it back and handed it over to Xeik. “She’s had the same milk glass since she was three.”
“Three and a half,” Camille sniffled up.
“Forgive me… Three and a half.” The night phoenix mother was worried about her daughter as she stroked Camille’s hair and watched Xeik at work.
“Well? What do you think of the glass?” Was there something with the glass that might be the key to figuring the whole blueberry incident out? She sure hoped so…
“Mommy…” Camille whined up at her mother.
“Yes, baby?” Simone leaned over and cleared Camille’s eyes with a handkerchief, “Blow.” She took her little nose and Camille blew as hard as she could.
“Can I have Philip?” She was obviously still shaken up so Simone went at once to retrieve the red dragon and hand it over. “Thanks, Mommy…” The little girl hugged Philip to her. “I’m glad he’s not a blueberry.”
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 8:15 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Xeik watched what happened with interest, jotting down some notes as Simone and Lewis worked to calm Camille down. Once she had settled down a little, Xeik gave her the full suite of exams, and then started to ask her simple, but revealing questions.
“Camille…when did this start happening?” Xeik asked, tapping his quill against the paper.
She sniffled, “T-three nights ago.” She held up her fingers to signify. “Blueboarding was happening….” It was an amalgamation of the words, but Xeik got the gist, and wrote what she said down.
“What else happened?” he asked. “Did you have anything to eat or drink before going to bed?”
“Just my glass of milk. I always have it before I go to bed.” She seemed to be feeling just a little better. “I even have my own special milk glass! Do you want to see it! It’s purple!”
Xeik smiled, “I actually would. Could you bring it to me?” He glanced up at Simone. “Please?”
Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 8:06 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Simone was in agreement with her husband about the whole situation. Their lack of intimacy along with what their resonance was… Was actually killing them, well not really but it could have been at this point.
Thinking about what Xeik said Simone put her hand to her chin as she thought about it. Thinking really hard she held up her hands and left for a moment. After a while, she came back and shook her head. “I even asked Silva and she said nothing had gone missing. She has one enemy at school but the girl just takes her toys on occasion… but we dealt with that situation already…. And it’s not like we’ve made any new enemies. We’re clean on that front Xeik. It’s a mystery.”
Simone was now rubbing her temples as she thought about it. “Anyway, I think about it… It’s just not making any sense.”
Camille started to sweat in her sleep before she woke up screaming. “THEY TURNED PHILIP INTO A BLUEBERRY!” She started to cry. “Daddy please tell me they can’t do that.” She scrambled for her father and Simone looked at Xeik with a fix-it-now look.
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:59 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Lewis and Simone arrived quickly when they were summoned to the school. It took Lewis several minutes to calm Camille down, and by the time they left, she was asleep in his arms, completely drained from her outburst. There wasn’t any reason to dawdle, so they took her to see Xeik immediately.
It didn’t take long for Xeik to arrive once they were in his office, and he sat down in his chair with a notebook at the ready. “All right…give me the details, and let’s see what we can do. You said Camille was having a breakdown when you arrived? Can you give me everything you remember, as well as the last few days of behavior?”
It didn’t take very long to bring Xeik up to speed on what had occurred. Lewis even pulled Xeik to the side, and cleared his throat. “Look…it is very obvious that I’m concerned for Camille…but this is also eating into what little free time I have to bang my wife…”
Xeik blinked, “Excuse me?”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t hear me,” Lewis replied with a dead stare. “Look..it’s natural to have these urges…but I can’t even get a quick one in, all right? I’d rather we take care of this so everyone can be happy…all right?” It was obvious that he was worried for Camille, but apparently the lack of intimacy with Simone was also killing him. Even Simone was giving Xeik a look, as if to say ‘For her sanity, and ours.’
Xeik let out a heavy sigh. “Right…well, I think we should run a few basic tests first. She doesn’t seem to have a fever, so we can rule that out, but it’s possible someone might be attacking her. There are powerful curses, potions, or the like that exist…as you know. Have any of those things gone missing in your household? Has she made any enemies at school? Have either of you made any enemies…uh…lately?”
Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:45 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
“I keep having really bad dreams about dying to blueberries,” Camille spoke up.
Simone did a tiny sigh and kissed her daughter’s forehead. “It’s really late Camille… Do you want some tonic and to sleep with us? You have school in the morning…”
Camille nodded as she got down to retrieve Philip from Silva who had been waiting at the door with her tonic. Simone helped her into their bed and looked over at Lewis.
I’m starting to get really worried about her… If it happens again we’ll go to Xeik. She agreed with her husband. It was no secret the little girl hated blueberries but she had never been scared of them before.
The next dayThey had received a message from the school to come get Camille. She was hysterical and wouldn’t calm down. She kept screaming and growing even more upset by the minute. When Simone and Lewis got there they found their normally sweet little girl up on a chair screaming for her life as she pointed at a blueberry. “THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL ME!”
Simone looked at Lewis immediately.
“DADDY MAKE THEM STOP TRYING TO KILL ME!”
I think we need to see Xeik…
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:38 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
It was not uncommon for children to have strange nightmares, especially when it came to their fears. Fever dreams were a possibility as well, but it was clearly evident that Camille wasn’t sick. All they could do was take care of her for the night, and hope things were better for the next day.
And the next day did come. Lewis and Simone were almost there, ready to ravage each other, when it was all interrupted once again. The fact that it was two nights in a row was rather worrying…
Lewis opened the door, and once again Camille was in his arms and sniffling. “Daddy…can you kill someone with a blueberry?”
He blinked, “Can you kill…” he trailed off, muttering to himself.
“Yeah, like..not just by eating it, but like…” She made a weird motion, as if trying to stab someone. It was likely she had seen in in a play, or something of the like.
Lewis cocked his head to the side, and started to think.
Well, it might be possible if…well, no…that won’t work. Terminal velocity of a blueberry might…” He frowned. “I don’t think so…but…” There was an itch in the back of his mind, as though he needed to know if it was possible now. Of course, he pushed that particular desire away, and shook his head. “No, but what is this sudden fascination with blueberries and violence?” There was obvious concern in his voice.
This might be something we need to see Xeik for if it keeps up. I’m worried…
Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:29 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Camille shook her head softly, “I’m having a lot of bad dreams. Someone drowned me with blueberry juice… and then someone used blueberries to interrogate me. It was horrible Daddy.” After a little bit, she finally answered him. “Can I have a sleep tonic and tea?” Camille sniffled up at her father. “And sleep in here too?”
Simone was already on it as she alerted the ever-faithful Silva. Once Camille had her tea and tonic she was curled up in their bed with Philip.
Simone put her hand on Lewis’s rubbing her thumb against his skin. They would have other times. Right now Camille came first.
The next nightSimone and Lewis wasted no time this time around. Lewis had his wife against the wall. Her legs were delicately around his waist as he held her up. They were deeply kissing moving along quite nicely as he held her up to carry her to the bed.
Frantic knocking at the door.Simone stopped and looked at Lewis. She was very obviously disappointed.
“Mommy? Daddy?” Camille’s little voice came back up.
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:22 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Once again the moment was ruined, but Lewis knew better than to direct his rage at the poor girl who was now, evidently, really struggling to sleep. Lewis was surprised at her question, and took his time to carefully construct an answer.
It was rather obvious what the answer was, even without thinking. It was easily a ‘yes.’ Blueberries could easily be laced with a painful poison, or even, yes, blueberry juice could be used for waterboarding. But telling a child that? It was a death sentence for the poor girl’s sleep. He thought rather hard how to answer the question, and went with the age old tactic.
Avoidance.
“Camille, baby, what’s all this sudden talk about interrogations?” he asked as he coddled her, walking them all over to the bed. “Is this some kind of assignment, or something one of your brothers brought up?” If it was her brothers, Lewis would have to have a stern conversation about Remy and Damond putting ideas into Camille’s head.
“Do we need to get you a sleep tonic? Or would you like tea?” he asked. “Do you want to sleep in here with us?” He had more or less given up on any other activities happening. This was far more important.
Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:15 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Once more Lewis and Simone were swooning each other. The magic was still in the air and Simone was loving every bit of it as Lewis kissed her neck. He was all hers and she was going to absolute–
Frantic knocking at the door.“Daddy? Mommy?”
It was Camille again. This time she sounded like she had been crying. Simone gave a look to Lewis concerned as she fixed her robe once more. Moving to the door Simone opened it and Camille ran into the room straight for Lewis.
Lewis picked her back up.
“Camille? What’s wrong sweetheart… This isn’t like you…” Simone stroked her hair softly.
“Can you do interrogation with blueberries?” The question left the little girl’s mouth almost all at once with hardly a space in between the words.
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:10 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Lewis should have been concerned that his daughter was asking about torture, but the fact that he was an ex-assassin seemed to overrule his parental instincts. If anything, he was merely excited to share a love of something with his kin, but Simone was right in this instance. If they wanted to learn, this was definitely not the time nor place.
“Right, let's get you back to bed,” he said as he ruffled her hair.
Simone and Lewis took her back to her room, and took their time lulling her to sleep. If there was concern from either of them, it was minor…after all, kids got curious about a lot of things. It wasn't as if Lewis and Simone hid the assassin life from them completely…
Lewis closed Camille’s door, and looked to Simone. “Well…” He took her hand, and squeezed it. The hint of excitement from earlier was still there, but it would need a little work. He led his wife back to their room, where he spun her around in a light play-dance, and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her softly, moving to her neck. His hands reached for the robe tie, tugging at it. He could feel her pulse quicken alongside his.
“Are you-”
Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:02 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Camille wrapped her arms around Lewis and looked between her mother and father. “Daddy….” The most tired of voices came from the little one as she came closer to him and rested against him. “What does torture entail?”
Lewis looked at his daughter with a surprised expression, “Well… Restraints… Waterboarding… You can get really creative with electr–”
He saw Simone out of the corner of his eye making an X with her arms as she tried to get him to stop.
“What’s waterboarding?” Camille asked up at him. “And can you do it with blueberry juice?”
Lewis looked at her, “I mean I gu–”
Again Simone was making a bunch of hand signs trying to get him to stop.
Camille had seen enough of it though as she pouted up at her father, “Okay… Can you take me back to bed now?”
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 6:55 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
The resonance was in perfect sync, and Lewis could practically taste the electricity in the air as Simone melted at his presence. All within a moment, though, it came crashing down as the sound of knocking came from the door. Concern from Simone, mixed with angst from being interrupted flooded the two, leaving both wanting, but knowing that their responsibility as parents came first.
He sighed, and nodded, giving Simone a moment to straighten herself out before he opened the door. “Yes Camille?” he asked. Despite having only been put to bed moments ago, she looked exhausted, her tired eyes staging up and her father. Instinct took over, and he reached down, picking her up to bring her to his level, letting her rest on his arm. “What’s wrong?” It wasn’t like her to struggle to fall asleep.
Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 6:47 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
Lewis and Simone were in their room. They had settled all the children for the night and personally were ready for a bit of much needed quality time. Lewis almost impatiently tugged at the belt keeping Simone's robe closed. Simone was giggling as she attempted to pull away. He pushed her hair to the side and went for her neck savagely as he pulled her back pushing the robe off her gently.
Simone would pull again but this time Lewis whipped her against the wall making sure not to hit her head. He slammed his hand next to her head and stared at her. Simone's breath hitched as the excited grew and she melted into him.
He was going in for a kiss when panicked knocking came at the door. They paused looking at each other with disappointment.
"Mommy? Daddy?"
Simone motioned with her head for Lewis the go to the door. It hasn't been that long ago they had put Camille down for bed. They had even read her favorite book to get to her to sleep easier. Philip her trusty red dragon had been besides her. What had their child so panicked this late at night.
Author: Dusk, Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2024 6:37 PM, Post Subject: The Great Blueberry Incident [p/r]
“Are you sure you're up for this?” the client asked, seemingly concerned about the state Lewis was in. “I know you're retired, but…”
Xeik, Lewis, Simone, and a client stood well outside a small village’s limits. It was a rather sunny day for an assassination, but one was to take place that day, and with the unlikeliest of weapons.
Lewis stood proud, a bushel of blueberries in his hand. “I'm fine. I really am,” the ex-assassin reiterated for what was likely not the last time. “I know I can do this.”
Xeik, who has come along out of sheer curiosity, crossed his arms. “You're insane. Absolutely insane. There's no way this is going to work. You *cannot* kill someone with blueberries. Not like this.”
The blueberry assassin turned to Xeik with a twinkle in his eyes. “That's rich coming from a researcher such as yourself. Where's your exploitative spirit? Where's your science in all of this?”
“There's no science, because it's not possible….” Xeik replied flatly. “It just won't work …”
The client cleared his throat, “Can I…interrupt? Is there a reason for this….erm
..debate?”
“Yes,” both Xeik and Lewis replied. Lewis smirked as he eyed the target. “I just have to…” he sighed as the client's panic started to set in. “Look…it's a long story. If it will clear your nerves, though, it all started when….”
