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Post by Dante Ricci on Feb 15, 2011 12:04:32 GMT -8
Dante walked slower than usual making sure that Ara kept the same pace as him the whole time. She was still recovering from her injury and he didn't want anything to set her back. Every three seconds he would look at her to make sure she was ok. If she knew what he was doing she'd probably be a little upset, but he was just worried about her. Dante rubbed the space just above his right knee. "I hurt my knee in class today." He said before she could question why he was walking so slow.
The seventeen year old scanned the forest as he walked, while making sure to keep watch of his sister at the same time. It was habit for him to do things like this now. "Ara what I'm going to show you is a secret ok." Even though he knew he could trust his sister with anything, he still had to make sure she understood. "You can't tell anyone about it." He stopped walking, turned to her and looked down into her pretty grey eyes which still seemed to be so upset. "Understand?" He said with a slight smirk on his face. He was thinking about how she would react when she found out where he was taking her.
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Post by Araceli Mariela Ricci on Feb 15, 2011 23:25:38 GMT -8
She was wondering a bit why Dante was walking so slow. Because she was both upset and hurt? She was fine!! Yesterday she had kinda sortta learned how to use a stake and then sparred with Natasha and won! She wasn't going to argue though a moment later an gave Dante a slightly skeptical look. She doubted he got hurt. She wouldn't argue she didn't mind going slow all that much. She thought about her sparr to try and keep her mind off her family until Dante told her where they were going was a secret. When he stopped walking and looked at her she looked back tryong not to look sad and failed miserably. She nodded and waited calmly for him to continue. She wanted to see this place.
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Post by Dante Ricci on Feb 17, 2011 6:31:26 GMT -8
Dante felt so bad for Ara. He could see the sadness in her eyes while she watched him speak. The pain that radiated around her was unbearable to him. He knew why she felt how she did, but he didn't know what else to do or say. He turned from her closed his eyes for a second and then kept walking. He made sure to maintain the same pace as before. Still he was concerned about his sisters injuries. She needed to be in top shape if she was going to do what he now thought she was ready to.
He looked down at the ground of the forest and speaking in his usual tone of voice he began to tell Ara a secret he had kept for nearly two years now. "When I first came here.." He paused for an instant thinking about that night before he lost his parents and sister Lia. Block it out. "I mean when I first became apart of the upper academy, I was the same age as you are now. I was scarred and alone." If he was going to tell her he would have to tell here everything. "I didn't know anything that I know now. I would get so angry and start fights with guys twice my size." He shook his head and held back a laugh. "You remember how little I used to be." He was getting off track. "Anyway. There were a lot of things that I just didn't understand." And there are a lot of things I still don't.
"What I'm going to share with you, was shared with me when I needed it, and I think you need it now." He smiled warmly at her hoping that she would soon feel better. "You'll understand when you see." The brown haired boy looked at his sister. They were entering the grounds of the academy. Walking slowly they left the trees behind like a trail of ginger bread crumbs.
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Post by Araceli Mariela Ricci on Feb 17, 2011 23:25:06 GMT -8
Ara smiled a bit after he spoke. He was taking her somewhere really special to him. She couldn't wait to get there and see was it was. She kept pace with him wanting to go faster. She was tempted to grab his hand and run forcing him to go faster but she didn't. She would be a good little sister and not do that this time. She looked around memorizing the way there so she could find this place on a later date if she deemed it nessissary to come here. Or she just wantes to go there. Either way. Ara was going to remember hoe to get there though. Where ever there was...
((omg fail post sorry!!!))
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Post by Dante Ricci on Feb 25, 2011 17:51:44 GMT -8
Dante glanced at his sister every few seconds as they crossed the academy grounds. There were a few people wandering about and he didn't want to stop and talk to anyone. He picked up the pace a little. He wondered if Ara would think it weird that he was going to take her to this place that normal people would not hang out in. They crossed the main administrations building and Dante turned left toward the library.
He was taking her to a place hidden above a small section of history books. The room that connected to part of an attic. The room that a kid named David had shown him after he got into what he thought was his fifth major fight in freshman year. The room held many old books. Most of them were texts on history and magic, and hidden among some of them were the memoirs of Dhampirs. One particular one Dante thought his sister would like was the one that belonged to their great grandmother Annemarie.
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Post by Araceli Mariela Ricci on Mar 14, 2011 0:53:48 GMT -8
As they continued in silence, Ara's mind wandered towards that awful awful night again. Dispite everything she did she couldn't keep from seeing someof that night. Waking up to see Lia, waking Dante up, rushing to the door and refusing to leave, their parents and Lia rushing down the stairs, the beam pinning them down killing them. Ara pulled her mind away from that and shuddered involintarily and closed her eyes for a few moments. Her eyes snapped oven that the smell of books. The Library? She let Dante lead her to the history section and then to an attic like room filled with old books. She looked around and smiled slightly. She looked hesitantly at a cluster of books not sure where to start. She walked over to a few stacks of the books and plopped onto the ground kicking up dust. She sneezed, kicking up more dust starting a chain reaction for a minute or two before she calmed down. "I take it not many come up here..." she said absent mindedly and she rubbed the dust of the spines of a stack of books so she could read the titles better.
Ara tilted her head once she deemed the books readable and read the titles from top to bottom. History books Magic books, and.... Huh? She pulled out a books and opened it and read a little bit and relized that this was a book about a Guardian's life. Wow she had to remember that. She placed the book on the top of the stack and continued reading the titles. A moment later she moved the a stack next to ot and rubbed thr dust away tjere as well. Ara repeated the title reading proccess but froze halfway down. She ran a finger over the spine of the book she had just read the title of and gently pulled it out and stared at the cover. She whispered a moment later, Guardian Annemarie Ricci... Dante!! This... This is Great Grandma Annemarie!!" She spoke louder after saying their great grandmother's name. She vagly remembered meeting her once or twice. She was really little then. Like... four.... She didn't remember much about her though.
She stared in awe and looked over at her brother. Wow... How else could she discribe that? Ara held the book to her chest and placed her other hand on a stack of books as she went to stand up. She was nearly up when the stack of books gave way and she tumbled down knocking a few other stacks over as well. The end result was Ara hiting the ground hard on her left side her ankle hitting the corner of a book causing her to yelp in pain. Also she was in an avalanch of books. She still hand hold if their great grandma's book though. She wasn't sure how her ankle looked at this point and she wasn't exactly in a position to look either. She groaned and shifted slightly but caused the corner of a different book to dig into one of her injuries and she yelped again. She closed her grey eyes and huffed in annoyance. This was stupid...
All of this was just stupid. Her running off, getting hurt by the Strigoi, getting yelled at by Dante, falling now... And most of all... The fire. She fought back the memories back trying not to think about it. "I-I'm okay?" she said hesitently more as a question than a statement. She was hoping she hadn't done more than just hit the wounds on her leg. She really didn't want there to be blood or anything at all that would be bad... Ara suddenly had another sneezing fit and she winced cause everytime she sneezed she hit her ankle again. "Ow!!!" she wailed and opened her eyes to look at Dante.
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Post by Dante Ricci on Mar 14, 2011 16:54:09 GMT -8
The tall novice studied his sister after he had led her into the hidden room. She seemed to be in a light trance. She was probably wondering why he had brought her here. When Dante was first brought to this place by David, his older Dhampir friend who had graduated the previous year and was now a fully fledged court guardian, David hadn't told him a thing either. He had just said that Dante needed to follow him because he needed to show him something, so Dante did. He trusted David for many valid reasons. But the not knowing, the not questioning it... that was part of the awe of this room, it's mysteriousness.
The secrets and richness of history hidden behind the door of this secluded attic room, were the things that made it magical. Dante wasn't really big on books, but these books were really just, well, real. They were biographies. Tales told of lives once lived by the great and honorable. Some whom were Dhampirs, that had fought with everything they had for everything they stood for. The words on the pages of almost every book he had opened in this room had inspired him. Whenever he read one of the memoirs it gave him hope, and made him change as he gained insight into what life for him would one day be like. What life as a real guardian meant. He hoped that Ara would understand why he had chosen to share this with her now, though he did plan on sharing this with her. Just not so soon.
Originally Dante had wanted to show Ara this place just before he was meant to graduate. It was going to be a special gift, a going away type thing. Something that would keep her busy so she wouldn't miss him as much as he knew she would after he left. But now felt like the right time for her to be here. To learn about their history. It would make her understand things better. She was a smart kid but what she did was really silly. Hopefully these books would snap a little sense into her. Sometimes she was a bit too brave. That trait in Ara scared her brother more than anything.
"I take it not many come up here..." Ara said while Dante watched her rub the dust from the spines of a few stacked up books. "No." He said simply from across the room near the door where he stood, still watching his younger sister with his grey curious eyes. "In fact hardly anyone comes up here." He smiled knowing Ara would like that. There wasn't a lot of privacy here at St. Josephs. "There are ground rules for being in here though. But we'll get to them later." He didn't want to ruin here first exploration of the place, though he knew he needed to let her know the rules. They were important, but could be left for a little while.
Dante watched as Ara scanned over more books. She had her back to him and was running her fingers over the spines again. He knew she would find it. It was exactly where she was standing... exactly where he had left it after he had read it again for the, well he wasn't sure how many times he had read it now, but he had memorized quite a lot of it without meaning to, which had to mean that he had read it a lot. Annemarie Rici was an amazing woman. She was the grandmother of their father, and a guardian of the court in a past era. She had refused to retire and had died some years before Dante and Ara's parents and sister Lia had, at the hands of Strigoi while accompanying a family of Drozdovs to their holiday home. They had been attacked in transition. Dante had read about it in the memoirs of Guardian Andreev. Guardian Andreev, or uncle Carl as Ara and Dante's father used to call him, was there the night of the attack. He had saved one of Lord Drozdov's children and had also saved great grandma Annemarie's memoirs. He had been so inspired after reading hers, that he had to start writing of his own, Dante read so in his memoirs.
"Dante! This... This is Great Grandma Annemarie!" The boy smiled at the excitement he felt radiate from his sister. "I know. I've read it, a lot. You should read it." Like he could stop her from reading it, he bet she wouldn't put the thing down. "There are a lot of really good reads in here. Most of them I haven't even had time to read." He said making a mental note to read as many of them as he could before he had to leave the academy. Dante walked over to a stack of books that sat on top of an old style oak framed couch. He turned and bent down to look for one of the other really good female guardians memoirs that he knew Ara would like. He leaned into one of the deep crimson cushions while searching for the book... a loud crash came from behind him. Instinctively Dante jumped to his feet and turned to see the cause of the crash.
His sister sat on the floor, surrounded by a sea of books. He had only turned around for a few minutes. It was amazing to Dante what kind of trouble Ara could get into in such a small window of time. He hoped she wasn't hurt. She was still recovering from her recent Strigoi encounter. "Ara! Are you alright?" He asked while trying to get over the books that laid at his feet blocking his path to her. "I-I'm okay?" Her words sounded more like a question than an answer. God. He hoped she was ok. He was close to her now but couldn't see or estimate the amount of damage, though he prayed it was on the scale of zero - lower than low.
Just as Dante began to reach for his sister, she broke out into a fit of sneezes. It had to be from all of the dust in the room, plus there were no windows in here either so that didn't really help. Dante pulled back slightly and let her finish sneezing. Her eyes were shut and it was kinda funny but Dante didn't laugh. He knew better than to laugh at Ara when she was like that. "Ow!!!" He bent down in front of her and placed his arms around her body. She held onto Annemarie's memoirs as he easily picked her slender body up. He didn't care if she protested his help as she sometimes did lately. He was going to help her whether she wanted him to or not. No playing super girl when your wounded and supposed to be taking it easy. "Ara you really need to be more careful." He said in a tone of voice that made him sound like he was the one in pain. He just couldn't stand to see his baby sister hurt. Again Dante stepped over the books, though this time his movements were slower. He walked over to an empty space in the room, made sure it was far enough away from the stacks of books, to not let Ara knock them over and harm herself or him accidently, then placed her on the floor and began to examine her battle wound.
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Post by Araceli Mariela Ricci on Mar 14, 2011 20:22:41 GMT -8
After her sneezing fit she opened her grey eyes and looked up at Dante and clutched the book of Annemarie's life story to her chest with her right arm. As Dante wraped his arms around her and liftes her up she held onto him with her left arm. She yelped softly and winced as her left foot was pulled away from the books. She leaned aginst him and scowled. She wasn't supposed to run into more trouble... 'Ara you really need to be more careful.'
She nodded and noted how hurt he sounded. It had to be because he didn't anythin happening to her. "I'm sorry..." she whispered. "The stack looked more stable than it was..." she was set down a moment later and lopked at the five wounds on her ankle and didn't see any more damage... But it had hurt... Alot. She kept looking at her leg making sure she hadn't missed anything... It looked like one of the scabs was peeling a little bit but there wasnt any blood so that was a good thing... She sighed and opened the book in her arms and ran a finger over the words. She couldn't wait to read but she rememberes something. "Hey Dante... How bout those rules?" now was as good a time as any right?
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Post by Dante Ricci on Mar 15, 2011 21:39:43 GMT -8
"I'm sorry.." The voice of his sister whispered in a I-can't-help-it way. Dante didn't want her to think he was blaming her for always getting into some sort of trouble, cause he wasn't. He was just really worried about her the way he always was. It was his job. It was just the two of them now. She was all he had left, and she needed to be more careful because she was irreplaceable, like he had told her many times before. "Don't be sorry be more careful." "The stack looked more stable than it was..." Dante nodded. They weren't fighting and he didn't want them to start again, so he dropped it.
As he leaned over Ara making sure she was still in one piece he couldn't help but feel sick when he saw the scratches the Strigoi had left down her leg. What he would do if that thing was still walking around... well, let's just say it's damn lucky for that monster that Guardian Contrarez was there to put it out of it's misery before Dante had a chance to get his hands on it, cause he would of made it wish it had died and not came back. "It, ah, looks better, than before." Dante said moving away from just one more or the reminders why he hated Strigoi.
He was on his knees, then he shifted positions, without touching Ara, and moved into a cross legged seated position. He looked back over his shoulder at the mess he would have to clean up. He wouldn't make her do it, though he knew she would insist to help. He would send her down to her room to rest, no he would walk her back to her room to rest, that way he could make sure she didn't take any detours along the way. Then when Ara was safe back in her room he would come back and clean everything up. He hoped none of the books were damaged. Everything seemed to be ok. "Hey Dante... How bout those rules?" now was as good a time as any right?" Dante turned his head and grinned at his sister. He wanted her to know that he was being serious, but that she wasn't in trouble, so he put on the fake Russian accent that always seemed to make her laugh. "Well the first rule little one, is do not destroy the books."
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Post by Araceli Mariela Ricci on Mar 16, 2011 14:32:33 GMT -8
Oh no... Not the Russian accent!! Ara smiled slightly trying so hard not to laugh. She knew thats was the only he used it. She gave in and started laughing. She couldn't help it it was so funny to hear him talk like that. Real russian accents sounded cool but Dante wasn't Russian. They were of Italian decent... Somewhere down the line their family on their father's side was Italian. She looked over at the books she felled and shook her head. He knew she wouln't intentionally harm the books. She loved books and reading. Granted fiction what what she loved the beat she loved almost all books.
"Yea yea yea.... I know I'm sorry... You know I'm ussually careful when books are involved." she smiles and shook her head. "That's a lot of clean up... I'm going to help you clean it.. I made the mess and I have to fix it. And you aren't going to stop me you know." She smiled at him and sighed. "So... the rest of the rules?" she asked.
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Post by Dante Ricci on Mar 20, 2011 21:08:38 GMT -8
Dante smiled at his sisters laughter. He knew she just couldn't resist his fake Russian accent no matter how much she wanted to and tried. It was fail proof just like the first time he used it when they were little, and all the times he'd used it since to make her laugh.
"Yea yea yea.... I know I'm sorry... You know I'm usually careful when books are involved." Dante smiled. It was true Ara loved to read and had great respect for books. "Yeah I know. Don't worry about it. It was just an accident." Again he looked at the books that laid all over the floor. "I'll fix it all later." "That's a lot of clean up... I'm going to help you clean it.." Dante shook his head at his sister. "No you need to rest, I'll do it." "I made the mess and I have to fix it. And you aren't going to stop me you know." Dante looked from Ara to the books to Ara again. He sighed. There really was no point in arguing with her, it would only tire him out. "Fine. But all you're going to do is pass me the really lite ones." Ara smiled and sighed. They wold have to compromise like they always did.
"So... the rest of the rules?" His younger sister questioned from where she sat on the hidden rooms floor. She was always eager to jump right into things. Dante loved that about her, even though he knew it wasn't always a good thing. He switched into serious mode. This usually happened whenever he was talking about something important like Novice training related things. "Firstly, you're not allowed to bring anyone up her unless you really trust them." Dante mentally smacked himself for using the words 'you're not allowed'. Whenever Ara heard those type of commands she rarely listened. But hopefully she would take this seriously. He was only listing the rules he was given to follow as well. "These books have been up here for a long time. Most of them are originals. I don't think any of the memoirs have been duplicated." He hoped the importance of taking care not to even accidentally damage anything would register in her head. "You're not allowed to take anything out of the room either." God damn. He didn't mean to use the three words again. He'd have to just list the rules one after the other to stop himself from saying them. "None of them can be checked out of the library." He tried to explain simply. "Because they are original texts, the clerks don't really trust students with them." He shrugged. Adults always had to put restrictions on things. "No eating or drinking in here" It was a general library rule, but people still broke it. "If someone else is already in here, you have to leave no questions asked. Unless they ask you to stay." The last one seemed to be kind of a silly rule. When Dante first heard it he thought it was ridiculous. But he now understood why. Privacy was nice.
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Post by Araceli Mariela Ricci on Mar 20, 2011 21:59:17 GMT -8
Ara rolled her eyes when her brother said she could only hand him light books. As if she would agree... Well.. She could for a little. She the listened attentibly to the rules and nodded after each one. The 'not allowed to...' sounded tempting to break but the books... She had to protect them. No one and she meant NO ONE was going to damage the books. Not on her watch. She could follow the rules. She wasn't a rule breaker all the time. She looked over at the books and sighed. "Okay. Yea. Don't break the rules. I can do that!" she told him. She moved back over to the books and looked back at her brother. "Alright let's clean my mess up."
As she startes cleaning she kept a close eye on Dante and when he wasn't looking she would put a heavier book away even when she wasn't supposed to. But she wasn't hurt badly. She could still walk and pick up heavy objects. Jeesh she wasn't a little girl any more. She could do more on her own. But deep down she loved howuch Dante cared. How much he went out of his way to protect her even when it was annoying. She knew he would always be there for her when she needed him. And Ara would be there for him because even older siblings need help sometimes.
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Post by Dante Ricci on Mar 21, 2011 4:42:50 GMT -8
"Okay. Yea. Don't break the rules. I can do that!" Dante couldn't help but let out a bit of laughter. That was something he never expected his sister to say. She was a natural born rule breaker. It was just something she couldn't resist doing. It was like it was programed into her genes or something. Ara was always the one getting told not to do things when they were little kids. She just had an adventurous soul. It was both a blessing and a curse, like most great things are.
"Alright let's clean my mess up." Dante watched Ara for a few moments before getting up and helping put the books back in place. He was sort of on an angle, but he was watching her out of the corner of his eye. He did this so often that he had become a bit of a pro at it. He didn't think she could even tell when he was doing it anymore. Her injured little body lifted a much heavier book than he would of liked. Yep. She couldn't tell. Or she could but was just doing it anyway. Dante wasn't sure, but he wasn't going to argue with her about it. They had only just made up earlier, and he really didn't want to start a stupid fight over nothing.
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Post by Araceli Mariela Ricci on Mar 21, 2011 17:01:13 GMT -8
Ara rolled her eyes at Dante when he laughed after she said she could follow the rules. She was only going to listen because if she didn't she ran the rick on not being allowed in here and she would die. She wasnted to read everything in here and she couldn't do that if she was kicked out of the place. He joined her and helped with the books a moment or to after she started and she began to hand him the lighter books.
As she kept placing the heavy books on the shelves she added more wieght each time. She glanced over at Dante getting one of those 'Someone ins watching me' feelings and mentally groaned. She had been getting those when she was around Dante for years now and she knew he had to be watching her. She grabbed to heavier books and three lighter ones and shifted so she could reached the shelf even thought she knew she was putting her self in Dante's line of vision. She knew he was probably going to see her and maybe scold her. But she just wanted to prove to him that she wasn't a little girl any more. That she was capable of cleaning her messes up. That she was stronger than she used to be. That she could take care of her self and was able to help out when she could. If Dante did scold her or make a mention of her doing what he said not to then that was what she would tell him. She liked him being there for her, she really did, but she wasn't hurt terribly and she couls still help and he needed to see that. She moved back and grabbed a lighter book and handed it to Dante.
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Post by Dante Ricci on Mar 21, 2011 20:37:19 GMT -8
Ara handed Dante lite books every now and then, but he still noticed her moving heavier ones back to where they had been before she had accidentally knocked them down. He wanted to tell her off but there really was no point. It would only lead to an argument. And neither of them needed that. There daily life was all about fighting, they really didn't need to fight with each other. He really shouldn't of been to worried about what Ara's body could handle anyway. She, like him, was a Dhampir. They were genetically programmed to endure things that others weren't. But on the other hand Ara strong as she may be, wasn't as strong as Dante or any Strigoi. He just couldn't help but stress when it came to the issue of her safety.
"Are you hungry?" Dante asked while continuing to stack books. "I'm starting to get hungry." He said even though he could pretty much always eat a good meal. "We should go get something to eat." It would be nice to eat with Ara again. He had missed her a lot when they weren't speaking. Eating together was one of things they got to spend the most time together, because they had classes all day and extra sessions on weekends. It was sort of a bonding period. Not that they needed to bond. They were naturally just close.
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