Where Dreams Come True
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I own nothing.
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"You look troubled."
Priscilla managed a tired smile as she rubbed her eyes. "Yeah. I've been trying to tackle these exercises ever since I got back from school."
"And?"
"Can't make head or tails of it."
Heath gave her a sympathetic nod. "The exams are in half a year's time, right?"
"Come November." She replied distractedly. "I just don't understand how you're supposed to get this equation from this one…"
Heath's rubbed his chin for a moment, before he pointed down to paper. "See here? The X is to the power of negative half. You can convert it to 1 over the square root of X, and then you can use that to solve this half of the simultaneous equation."
Priscilla's eyes narrowed, then widened. "I've got it! Thanks!" Thus saying she began hurriedly scribbling on the paper, filling it.
Heath let out a tiny chuckle. "Glad to be of help." He said over his shoulder as he walked out of her room.
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"Eliwood."
The red-haired youth who had been dozing in the sun just a moment earlier cracked open his eye and gazed up at a familiar face.
"Ephraim? What is it?" Eliwood yawned as he sat up and turned to face his cousin. "Why are you here?"
"I merely believe that in light of upcoming events, it would be prudent for me to come inform you of them." Ephraim handed a slip of paper to Eliwood, who proceeded to read it with a raised eyebrow.
"Aureus Experentia?"
"My sister is, as you know, a violinist in this little concert band. They're hosting a performance in the amphitheatre a week from now." Ephraim shook his head. "I believe you attending would be a good idea. Don't you?"
Eliwood sighed. "You know classical music puts me to sleep, Ephraim."
"Yes, of course I do. However!" Ephraim leaned closer. "If I recall, the last time the two of you met, you parted ways on rather… frigid terms. Attending this concert might help thaw the relationship, no? You are cousins, after all."
Eliwood sighed and gazed down at the admission ticket, which detailed the time and location of the concert.
"And if you want my advice, applaud after her solo." Ephraim called over his shoulder as he walked away.
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Legault thumbed the remote, channel surfing with only one eye on the screen. Out of the corner of his eye, he was glancing at the clock mounted on the wall with increasing regularity.
Erk walked in, face buried in a book, as usual, and he glanced up in time to see Legault look at the clock again. "What's up, your girlfriend arriving soon or something?"
It had been just about a week since Erk had spent his first night in Todai Lodge, and he was fast getting accustomed to the rather offbeat nature of the lodge and it's inhabitants. Aside from the rough spot with Neimi (which had been quickly smoothed over), he was quickly fitting in with the residents.
Still no close friends, however, aside from Nino. A combination of his quiet, bookish nature and the fact that a fair amount of girl talk excluded guys almost by default, he wasn't privy to most of their expeditions or outings or work. Fine by him, though. He usually had work to do.
Legault rolled his eyes at Erk's question. "No, I'm expecting someone. She left to visit home about two weeks, ago, she should be back soon."
Before Erk could open his mouth to reply, he heard a soft, lyrical voice floating in from the entrance. "Amiko, Legault. Yantra sorafune."
Legault grinned. "Amiko, Ninian. Yandiri perkanan. Daiko sorucha?"
Through the doorway stepped a graceful, delicate female, slightly older-looking than Erk. Tall and willowy, she moved with a light grace. "Tanko icha." She smiled in reply.
Legault nodded in satisfaction. Then, gesturing towards Erk, he spoke again. "Dai chou Erk."
Ninian bowed slightly, and offered him her hand. "Amiko, Erk."
"She said hello." Legault translated.
"A-amiko, ni… ni…"
"Ninian." She spoke softly.
"She's a transfer from a continent a long way off." Legault cut in. "She doesn't speak a word of English, but I'm sure you'll manage."
Before Erk could say another word, a younger voice called from the steps outside the entrance. "Ninian! Doy yam immi shichuka!"
Ninian half-turned towards the door, a sigh and a weary smile on her face. "Trie yat shimu isitani, Nils."
A young boy, his green hair a slightly lighter colour than Ninian, stepped into view, smiling brightly. "Amiko!" He said cheerfully.
Legault raised an eyebrow. "Ninian, sindou yat himaeraiyu agat Nils?"
Ninian smiled sheepishly. "Naga ein Sara yat Nils agat hin, mashiteryu chun sam fong."
Legault shook his head. "Nandatayou! Einchu Naga ein Sara bachuti!" He gestured towards Erk. "Tara mashiteryu, andratio!"
Ninian glanced towards Erk and bit her lip. "Na – namakandyou? Tandaro… amkan?"
Legault scratched his head a moment before turning to Erk. "Say…you mind making a deal for a lower rent?"
"And that would be?"
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"Okay, your bags go over there, Nils." Erk pointed to a relatively uncluttered corner of the room.
The young boy nodded and began dragging a bulky knapsack of his belongings over.
From the doorway, Legault stood with folded arms. "Sorry about this, Erk. It'll just be for a couple of weeks, until Nils finds accommodation."
"Mm." Erk settled for a nod and continued shifting some of his stuff out of the way. A few minutes later, he felt a soft tap on his shoulder.
Nils was staring at him, a smile on his face. As Erk raised an eyebrow, the young boy placed his palms together in front of him and bowed. "Thank you." He said in an accented voice.
"You know English?" Erk asked, somewhat surprised.
"I learn." Nils grinned. "I speak… gooder than sister."
"Oh." Erk smiled in return. "Well, good for you. Make yourself at home."
"Make… home? This not home."
"Oh, uh…" Erk scratched his head. "Nevermind."
Just then Legault cleared his throat. "By the way, Erk. You're making dinner tonight."
"…What?"
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As soon as Franz stepped through the door, he heard a disgruntled snort. "You're late."
Franz nodded. "Sorry. The taxi I booked didn't show up."
Kyle shook his head. "I'll let it go this once. Just get to the cash register. Lucky for you it's summer. Slow days all around."
Franz let out a chuckle as he shrugged off his jacket. "How many sales did you make before I got here?"
"Couple of kids. Got Cars and one of them asked what Kingdom Hearts was all about." Kyle shrugged. "Legault dropped by too to confirm his pre-order for Castlevania and Final Fantasy III."
"Got it." Franz settled behind the counter. "Records entered?"
"Done. Have fun with work." Kyle said as he walked off into the backroom.
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This is Franz. Quiet, honest, hardworking and respectable.
Currently employed as a sales representative (AKA cashier) of an independent videogame store, he's currently playing a video game in order to stave off the long hours of boredom that comes with running aforementioned videogame store in the middle of summer. It's not the most prosperous establishment, but it makes enough for it to keep going, and to net the employees a decent paycheck each month.
Franz barely registered the ding! sound that signaled a new customer walking in through the main door. He did glance up, noting it was young kid who looked about ten years of age.
The boy made straight for the counter, and twisting his head, he tried to look at the game that Franz was playing. "What's that?"
"Hm? Oh, it's called 'Shadow of the Colossus.'" Franz replied distractedly.
"What do you do in it?" Franz decided the kid was probably looking for a game suggestion. Oh well.
"Well, see, right now I'm battling this giant enemy lizard. You have to go through a rather complicated process that involves flipping it onto its back. And then you can run up and stab its weak point for massive damage."
Franz paused the game and frowned slightly as if he were thinking.
Then he shook his head. "Nah. It's not funny anymore."
"What are you talking about?"
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"What do you mean I'm cooking dinner?"
"What? How on earth do you think I keep such low rates? We all pull in our fair share of the work around this place."
"You should have told me this earlier! I've got studying to do!"
"You spend too much time with your books, anyways." Legault smirked. "Don't tell me you're going to let those poor girls go to bed hungry tonight?"
"We both know they have more than enough money to buy a takeout or something!"
"We 'know'. Tsk. I would have expected a college student to be a bit more precise in his language. You may say you 'expect'. You may say you 'believe'. But 'know'? Come, come, are you privy to the financial situation of those fine lad-"
"Argh, FINE! I'll cook, if only to shut you up!"
Legault whistled a jaunty tune to himself as he strolled up the steps to the lodge. Behind him, Amelia and Neimi were busy welcoming Ninian back.
"Erk's on dinner duty today?" Rebecca asked with raised eyebrows.
"According to Uncle Legault, yup." Nino replied breezily. "Just… don't expect too much."
"Why? How bad could it-" Rebecca was cut off as the girls entered the dining room – to be greeted by the sight of 9 packets of cup noodles, steam wafting gently from their opened tops. At the far end of the room was Erk, another cup noodle packet clutched in his hand, and a textbook under his arm.
"Enjoy." He called back as he vanished up the stairs into his room.
"Clever little sneak." Legault mumbled. Then, in a louder voice. "I call dibs on the curry chicken."
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Thanks for reading, please review.
