Annabelle Leigh Marrok (untamed_heart) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2009-11-23 19:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | #flashback |
PLAY WITH MEEEEE!
Who: Oliver and Annabelle Marrok
When: July 11th 1995 [Oliver is 7, Annabelle 6]
Where: The Marrok residence.
Oliver was supposed to be practicing his scales. His piano teacher had long since given up on him to play the simple stuff. No Oliver at seven years old wanted to learn the hard stuff. He wanted to play. Scales were not playing. Scales were boring. To a seven year old piano prodigy, anything that was less then heart and soul was kids stuff. Bring on some Beethoven. Now there was a challenge. But at seven, defying what your piano teacher said on a sunny July afternoon was the ultimate rebellion and Oliver was doing it happily. He plunked away gracefully at his keys playing the music in the book that his grandmother had given him for Christmas. She had thought it would take him months, even years to learn how to play it, but Oliver had looked at it a few times and automatically knew just how. He had long since learned to read the music, back when he was just six. He picked it up easily and now he was playing beautiful Beethoven that was filling the house wearing his favorite red shirt, his grandmother upstairs taking a nap. Perfect!
He heard the door shut from the car outside and he groaned inwardly. His mom was home with Annabelle and Patrick and Lucas. While the twin boys were still too young to get in to Oliver's way of playing, Annabelle surely wasn't and she liked to drive him crazy by touching his piano and generally being a pain. Girls. He'd never want to marry one of them. They were always trying to touch his hair at school and kiss his cheeks and that was just not on. Apparently according to Mandy Jones he was cute, and all the girls thought that if they bugged him enough he'd come out of the library or the music room and play with them. Oliver really did not want that. Girls were just icky and as much as he knew he loved his little sister, he sometimes wished she'd go away, at least to another part of the house.
He heard the front door open and the patter of feet and he ignored them, closing his eyes and continuing to play pretending they weren't there, if they weren't there he could go on uninterrupted.
Annabelle loved her voice lessons, she got to sing pretty songs and mommy would clap in approval even when she registered notes that only dogs could hear. She wasn't always so happy when mommy brought the twins along though, they would cry and carry on and mommy would have to take them outside and then Annabelle didn't have an audience. She didn't know why she brought them along, especially since saying they seemed to be hitting the 'terrible twos' early. Annabelle had taken to calling them THE Terrible Two, since they were taking a lot of attention lately, attention that the little Marrok princess had grown quite accustom to being the center of. She did not like this, no not at all. They had done it again, in the middle of Annabelle's rendition of 'Over the Rainbow' Lucas pitched one of his usual fits, squirming and howling with Patrick starting in only moments later forcing their mother to take them out to sit in the car and wait for Anna's lesson to be over. As much as the six year old loved her little brothers, sometimes she wanted mommy and daddy to give them away like people gave away puppies in front of the grocery stores on weekends. They were cute after all.
After a trip to McDonalds to make up for the shenanigans of her twin brothers, they headed on home, Annabelle singing along with Mariah Carey on the radio, the lesson interruption now entirely forgiven and forgotten. As soon as Leanne Marrok had the minivan in park, Annabelle had the seat belt undone and a second and a half later the tiny blonde one was out of the car and came bursting through the front door making a beeline straight towards where the piano music was coming from, where there was piano music, there would have to be Oliver.
"Ollie, Ollie, Ollie, OoOooollie... we're hooooooooome!"
Oliver pressed his eyes tighter together. Oh great, it had to be Annabelle first out of the gates. He tried to ignore her holler for him and continued to play, pressing the keys harder, his little legs swinging. He couldn't quite reach the pedals yet, but it wouldn't be long before his grandmother paid to get the little feet extenders installed so that Oliver could really play his piano. He continued to play as the sound of her feet slapped closer. Oliver wondered how long it would take her to get him completely away from his piano this time. She seemed to be good at that. He counted down from ten, knowing just where Annabelle was in the house and how long it took to get from there to him. He sighed, outwardly this time. His sister was never gone long enough when it came to her singing lessons. Peace! That's all he wanted. Not too much for a seven year old to ask, was it?
Even when she reached him he kept his eyes closed continuing to play. Maybe if he ignored her for long enough she'd go away and he wouldn't have to worry about any of her own shenanigans. At least somebody was bugging her as much as she bugged him! "Go away Anna I'm practicing!" He said, not opening his eyes once.
Annabelle finally came skidding to a stop right beside the piano bench. She'd had enough practice doing this in her little ballet flats that she now knew exactly what point to begin the skid in order to stop her forward momentum before knocking into the bench. She paused and cocked her head to the side, looking at her big brother playing with his eyes closed, she thought it was a neat trick. "But Oooollie, I wanna plaaaay, come play with me. Please, please, please, pleeeeeeeaaaase?!?"
"I'm practicing Annabelle." He chastised her, sighing because he knew what this was going to turn in to. If he called for his grandmother, he knew that she'd tell him to just practice later. But there was never enough time later. Never enough time. He knew if he called his mother though, she'd likely tell him to play something so that his sister could sing along. He weighed his options. "Playing is for people who are not serious about being great." He mimicked his piano teacher's mantra. "I can't play, I want to be great!" Not that Annabelle even understood what that meant. Not that Oliver even knew what it meant.
"Mooooooooom Anna's bugging me I'm tryin' to practice!" He called, not stopping his fingers. His mother didn't answer and he had to assume she was still outside dealing with the twins.
"But... but, you're not People, you're Oliver... and I wanna play with yoouu. Now!" She demanded, stomping her little foot down on the hardwood floor, her wee hands on her hips much like the stance their mother took when she wanted them to know she was not playing around, she was serious. It was annoying, the little bit that he wouldn't open his eyes to see just how seriously serious she was. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" she mimicked both their parents, though she'd heard that line mostly from dad and delivered toward Morgan than anyone else in the Marrok household. "If you're not gonna come play, at least play something I can sing along to." Another demand.
"I AM NOT!" She protested, another foot stomp to indicate her unhappiness at her older brother's insistence to not to give into her perfectly reasonable demands.
He continued to play even turning his nose up a little at her. He could hear her angry voice resonating through the room and he tried to ignore her best he could. She sounded just like mom and he knew very well that he could never ignore his mother he could very well ignore Annabelle. Sure it'd make her mad, the stomping foot the tantrums, but he was sticking to his guns until he was told not to. Or provoked in to stopping. Whatever came first. "Stop bein' petu..petuchurlant." He said trying to pronounce the word that he'd heard his friend's mom call her son when he'd been acting just like Annabelle. Oliver hadn't known what to do when the boy was being such whinger about not getting his way when his mother offered them carrots rather then cookies.
"SHE IS TOO." he added after she yelled. "Annabelle go play with your star wars stuff." he said in a dismissive tone. The best he could do, sounding like a bit of a prig. Oliver loved to play with Annabelle normally but when it came to when he was practicing, he had no give or bend to it. Otherwise, he'd likely be at her whim.
"I'm not being petulant..." she retorted, she'd heard the word on more than a few occasions from the other pageant mom's, enough so that she knew how it should be pronounced, just no real clue what it actually meant but she knew it wasn't a good thing. The fact that he continued to ignore her was not going over well, oh no, Annabelle hated to be ignored, most especially by Oliver, who else was she going to play with after all? Morgan didn't really like playing the way Annabelle liked anymore, he was older and always seemed to have 'important business' to be busy with, the twins were still just little pups and they were too easy to dominate, Annabelle liked a challenge when playing. Oliver was still an easy mark, but at least he was a little more of a challenge, at least sometimes. Today seemed like it could be one of those times.
"Not!" she again protested. "I dun wanna... I wanna play with youuuuu, c'mon Ollie... play with meeee!" She honestly didn't know why he was being this way, who didn't want to play? Playing was fun after all. Annabelle sighed sadly and brought out the big guns now, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" and the added pout.
Oliver shook his head his fingers moving over the keys in memory, a song that specifically had no words for her to sing along to. He'd make sure he would not give in to her demands at least until mommy demanded him to do so. "Annabelle go away!" he said turning his face away from her. He was standing strong in his demands for her to leave him alone. Just a few more minutes, maybe a half hour. He was never going to be able to write his own music if this was how the household was going to be. He'd complain to his grandmother but he didn't want to bother her. Though with all the screaming going on it was likely she was up anyway.
"I don't have time to play with you Anna, go play with the babies!" Oliver, who was normally so quiet, definitely had a bit of piss and vinegar in him today.
Okay, now she was getting mad, it was one thing to be completely ignored, it was another to be dismissed to go play with the babies. Oh no, that was not on. "No... and I am not a baby, I dun wanna play with them, besides, momma said they need a nap!" Annabelle wanted his attention and she wanted it now. She eyed him menacingly even though he continued to look away, her six year old brain trying to decide her next move. If he wanted to play the silly old piano, then she'd just have to play it with him.
Plunk-plunk-plunk went her tiny little fingers on the keys closest to her. Now he simply couldn't ignore her cause she was doing something he wanted to, she thought this was a good plan indeed.
Oliver's eyes flew open at the off sound of notes coming from his most prized possession in the world. He stopped playing. "ANNABELLE DON'T TOUCH MY PIANO!" He said hollering at her angrily. Oliver, since birth, had always been extremely possessive over things that were his. When he was given something that he really liked he had an awful time sharing it. There were few things he got this possessive over however, his piano being the most important one to him that nobody in the house dare touched. Oliver had gone to great lengths to warn everybody not to touch it. He was very protective over the instrument.
"It's mine you can't touch it Annabelle!" He said his face frowning at her. He took her hand away from the keys. "Grandma says it's mine it's not a toy Anna!"
It most definitely did the trick of getting his attention alright, but not in a way that she really wanted, she only wanted to play with him, what was so wrong with that? But he did not play with her, he hollered, if there was anything Annabelle didn't like, it was being shouted at by her siblings, it always tended to raise her hackles, especially if the yelling was to tell her 'no' about something, Annabelle HATED being told no. Her eyes narrowed at her older brother and she shot him a death glare when he physically removed her hand from the keys, that was not okay, at all.
"You're just being stingy, Oliver Bernard, momma says you have to shaaaaare!" She shouted back at him, pulling her hand away with force, moving right back to the keys, this time plunking on the keys just that bit harder.
Oliver was mortified at the horrible noises she was making he tried to stop her but she continued to plunk on the keys. Oliver's ears didn't like the noises and soon he was loosing his temper. Clearly none of the adults in the house were going to do anything and so he once again, forcibly removed her hand, and then quickly putting the key cover down. "No touching Annabelle!" he called his face crumpled up, half angry half wanting to cry, he was getting worked up, and when Oliver got worked up he had a tendency to shift without warning. "Stop being a pest!" he called at her.
Removing her hand once had raised hackles, but doing it twice? That was begging for hurricane Anna to blow full force. "I am NOT a pest, you're a stupid stingy MEANYPANTS!" she called back at him in a shrill angry howl. He was hurting her feelings and he obviously didn't seem to care, what was so terrible about playing? Oliver didn't make sense sometimes. Annabelle put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. "Stop being mean!" And then she shoved him.
She pushed. Oliver had, had enough and Annabelle didn't know her own strength for a six year old girl. Oliver tumbled off the bench that he currently sat on, and as he fell to the ground he shifted, fully clothed and landed on all fours. Now, this was funny because, 1) Oliver was a bit of a rolly poley puppy, fluffy with a bit of a funny looking shape and 2) because he was still fully clothed, complete with shoes. He tried to kick those off and managed mostly, and then managed to wriggle out of his pants, but couldn't quite get out of his shirt.
The poor boy was stuck. He got his paws and legs through the arm holes but because the shirt was buttoned up to his neck, his little head with his big floppy ears couldn't fit through. Oliver was shaking about trying to get it off when he bumped in to Annabelle's leg near knocking the poor girl over.
Anna really didn't know her own strength, her little blue eyes widening as Oliver tumbled off the bench and hit the ground in wolf form. "Oooollie, stooooop it this instant." she stomped again, he wasn't supposed to shift, he was supposed to come to his senses and play with her. Annabelle moved around to the back of the piano bench to scold him some more, only to find he was now stuck inside his clothes and struggling to get free. It was a comical scene to her six year old eyes and Annabelle immediately began to laugh and clap at the sight. At least until he slammed his body into her leg and nearly knocked her down too, as she fell forward she shifted and landed gracefully on all four paws, quickly and effortlessly freeing herself from her little sundress and ballet slippers. Now in her wolf pup form, Annabelle playfully barked at her sibling as she scooted forward on all fours, her little wolfy nose nudging at him through the confines of his button down shirt, her goal was still as it had been five minutes ago, PLAYTIME!
Oliver's ears were just too big for his body, and they had been since he was born. The collared shirt was causing far too many problems and as much as he tried he couldn't get it over his head. He pulled and pulled but nothing worked and then...
Annabelle had shifted in to a puppy. Darn it! That would only mean she could push him around even more! He whined at her, pawing at the shirt that was stuffed over his wolfy head. He pawed at it again and whined wriggling. Even if he wanted to play he couldn't. He was stuck. His little paws slipped and slid over the hard wood floor, unable to get his footing he tried to go find his mother but instead he fell down, all four paws going straight out to the sides. If it were anybody else it would have been funny, but not for poor Oliver.
He was whining, Annabelle thought that Ollie sure did an awful lot of that for a boy, that and he still wasn't playing! She hopped about on her little puppy legs, crouching every few hops to bark at him to no avail. He just kept slipping and sliding and whining like a big ol' baby. It was funny, but Annabelle still wanted to play and since that darned shirt seemed to be standing in the way of Annabelle getting what she wanted, she decided to be helpful. Surely if she helped him out of that bothersome predicament he would have to show gratefulness and play with her then, right? Annabelle raced over to the spot where he lay and gripped the end of the shirt with her sharp little wolfy teeth and began to tug at it as she moved backward in an attempt to free her sibling, letting out a wee growl as she did so.
Oliver was attempting to get back on his feet when suddenly the world turned red. Or at least, that's how it looked with his shirt pulled over his head. He whined and barked when he felt his sister tugging on the material finding himself stumbling again, and then falling once more, as she continued to pull. He tugged back once he got up, thinking that perhaps if they both pulled enough it would eventually come off, but nope, the the shirt held steadfast and Oliver fell once again. Oliver never thought that he'd be in such a silly position, but when Anna's tugging had him stumbling all over the place he began to think that this very well may not have been a good idea.. He couldn't see a thing, and his ears were currently being held flat with the fabric pressing down on them...something he hated.
Trying to get up was useless as Annablle continued to pull her older brother off his feet! Oliver felt himself beginning to slide around on the wood floor, his furry paws no match to stop her on the waxed surface and as hard as he tried he just couldn't get up. She was dragging him about as if he were on a leash!
Try as she may, Annabelle just couldn't seem to get that darned shirt to slip over her brothers wolfy noggin, and she was trying awfully hard for how much space of the floor they had already covered and it still wasn't working. Frustrated, Annabelle let go for a moment and let out an annoyed bark before diving back at it, getting an even tighter grip on the mouth full of the cotton-poly blend, shaking her head side to side in an attempt to tear the darned thing off if needbe as she began to back up again, dragging him around like a little dry mop across the hardwood floor back the direction from which they'd just came.
Oliver let out a small puppy sigh when he let her go and stopped tugging. His ears could perk up now that the material wasn't being pulled flat, but the relief was too soon appreciated. Soon he found her pulling even harder at the shirt, this time, without any warning, causing Oliver to sprawl once again. He literally was being tugged to and fro by his little sister. He let out a few yelps, which, in hindsight likely just egged her on. Back and forth, Oliver was dragged, using his belly as a duster for the floor, all the while attempting to try and get his footing so he could pull back, but the little girl wolf was running rampant, and like all things it seemed in life, Oliver was once again being used (intentionally or not) for Annabelle's amusement.
It would be amusing were it not so darned FRUSTRATING! Annabelle honestly was trying to be helpful, really, really, it just wasn't working out so very well. She tugged and she shook her head with yet more force, Oliver's little puppy body being flung back and forth. He wasn't even trying! Annabelle only tried harder yet, growling determinedly as she continued to drag him about the room, randomly knocking him into various pieces of furniture in the room as she did so, accidentally of course, but still, he was such a big whiner she was sure he would think she was doing it on purpose and tell on her later... not that she'd get in trouble, but still.
Oliver did feel a bit like a rag doll that his sister was taking out her frustrations on, being tossed here and there, being flung in to chair and table legs and then later even a lamp base. He whined every time she smacked him in to something. He was surprised his mother hadn't come in to investigate all that ruckus, but she must have been tending to the twins. He knew Annabelle was the type that she wouldn't give up until she got what she wanted, and she wanted him to have this shirt off...He was going to be a bit bruised up as she flung him particularly hard in to the side of the china cabinet, causing the glasses inside to ting together. That was something that happened when you walked to heavy footed by it, but Oliver was pretty sure his little body wasn't going to knock it down. He hoped anyway. He let out a yelp and a growl, trying to get his footing. He managed it tugging back on the shirt finally making it so that Annabelle couldn't fling him any more.
When Oliver finally got his footing it did not stop his little sister from continuing her task of tearing at that darned shirt. Annabelle was nothing if not a determined little bit, when she wanted something she went for it and there was no half way with Anna, all the way or bust. With Ollie up on his feet there was finally enough resistance that the fabric began to give and soon there was the sound of slow ripping filling the silences between the growls and whimpers. That sound only spurred Anna on all the more, her little tail wagged wildly as she snapped her head from side to side, each movement the fabric giving just that little bit more to her delight. After a few more jerks of her head there was a long loud ripping sound and then suddenly there was no resistance from the other end as Anna's body skidded backwards just a little, Oliver's however sliding back under the piano bench, with most of the shirt still inhibiting him from being able to run and play.
Annabelle cocked her head and looked back over at her brother once again sprawled out on the floor rather helplessly, she hopped around a bit barking excitedly, the scrap of torn shirt falling to the ground as she did so. Once again, Annabelle got into a little crouch, her little puppy bottom wiggling excitedly, then just like a little bullet she launched herself forward toward Oliver, grabbing the other bit of fabric hanging loose and once again began backing up, her head tossed side to side wildly as she dragged poor Oliver around like a little chew toy across the hardwood floor. She would not relent!
Oliver went flying back in to the leg of the piano bench and he let out a wee yelp. Where was his mother? She had to have heard the yelps and barks and she wasn't coming to aide him! Then again, she was likely used to her two puppies playing and would often catch them mucking about in their wolf forms. Oliver was glad though that it seemed to be over. His shirt was torn...oh no! It was his favorite red shirt! He let out a long whine when he felt the material being tugged again. Oh no....she was at it again! He growled at her hoping she'd get the hint, but Annabelle never was one to get a subtle hint. You had to generally give her a good tug in the direction you wanted her to go in. He felt himself being pulled and resigned himself to being tugged all over the place...again.
Annabelle truly was one relentless puppy, she ripped and tore and flung her older brother back and forth across the length of the room a few more times in her steady determination, the fabric making tiny tearing noises as she went, Oliver making pathetic whimpering noises right along which of course only made Anna work all the harder to free her poor brother from the evil of the shirt not thinking for a moment she was possibly doing more harm than good at this point. Tear, tear, tear TEAR... and finally the shirt gave again, a large scrap coming free in her little puppy teeth as she skidded backwards, Oliver flying sideways into the wall with a rather loud slam that finally got the attention of their mother, who had apparently entered through the front door and made her way upstairs with the the twins before the wolfy shenanigans had begun.
"Oh good gracious! What are you two doing roughhousing inside for?" Leanne barked quietly at the pair, "I just got your brothers down for their naps and I will not have you two bringing down the house and waking them up..." she continued glowering down at the two puppies, Annabelle looking up with a piece of red fabric still in her mouth before looking over at Oliver who was now, for the most part free from the shirt... well, all but the collar. "What am I going to do with you two?" she asked, picking Oliver up by the scruff of his neck, removing the last bit of his favorite red shirt before setting him back down. "Now, outside, both of you." she finished, opening up the back sliding glass door. </font>
Oliver looked up pitifully at his mother when she started to scold her too children. He wasn't accustomed to being scolded. That was usually Annabelle's thing. Or Morgan's. Oliver was just too quiet to ever really say much to get himself in to trouble. When Leanne picked him up by the scruff of the neck to remove the shirt collar, he whimpered at her wiggling his legs mid air. He didn't like being picked up like that, much like being picked up by overall straps when you were wearing clothes. He let out a whine when she put him down and then when she opened the door so they could head out he scampered after his sister. He was free from his confines. She wanted to play, he would play! But she would pay first!