Athelstan Wilder (whereareyoulord) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-12 03:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, brother athelstan, lilo pelekai |
Who: Athelstan and Lilo Pelekai
What: Lilo using her powers for good!
When: 9/10
Where: The front stoop of Athelstan's apartment building.
Rating: PG for weird squirrels?
Status: Complete
Athelstan still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on in the county, but the squirrel on his windowsill was definitely real, and it definitely hadn’t left in two days. He’d have thought it was dead, but then it had sneezed. It just seemed to want to look in his window. So when the woman on the net had talked about understanding animals, he’d jumped at the chance to deal with it.
He was expecting her now, waiting outside on the stoop to enter the building. Hopefully it would all work out.
Lilo showed up on her longboard, her preferred mode of transportation. She’d been in his neighborhood already, having a bubble tea, but she just held that and sipped occasionally as she skated over.
When she saw a cute young man hanging out outside the building, she waved. Lilo was wearing a pair of board shorts, hightop tennis shoes, and her bathing suit under all of that. She looked every inch the island girl she was.
Athelstan thought he recognized the woman who waved at him - a stunning black-haired lady who looked like she had some Asian descent. “Lilo?” he asked, rising. “Hello.”
“Hi, Athelstan?” She smiled, kicking the board up and catching it under her arm after a bit of struggle. “I got you some bubble tea, if you want it - it’s just black tea with cream and sugar.” She’d erred on not getting him tapioca in the bottom, just in case.
“Oh.” Athelstan blinked. “Thank you. I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that, but it’s kind of you all the same.” He smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too!” She handed over his tea. “See, it’s Korean in origin. The black things at the bottom are little balls of tapioca, and they shake it. That’s where the bubbles come from. Yeah, I don’t get it either, but it’s good? Yours doesn’t have any tapioca in it though, just tea and ice.”
“Oh,” Athelstan said again. “Interesting! I didn’t know that.” He smiled a little. She seemed very nice. “I appreciate your coming over. It seems like serendipity, that you can do this.”
“There was that week everyone could, when I found out my dog has a crush on my boyfriend’s dog, but I guess not everyone can now? And I can understand people speaking languages I don’t speak, so that’s neat too. Is that the guy?” She pointed up to a squirrel bouncing back and forth on a landing.
Athelstan craned his neck upward. “Yes, that’s him. He just appeared one night while my girlfriend was over.”
“Yeah, I think that’s why he did this.” Lilo took a small rock and lobbed it at the squirrel. “HEY. STOP IT RIGHT THERE YOU PERVERT.” The squirrel chittered at her, rocking back and forth.
Athelstan flinched when she threw the rock. “What - what is he saying? We didn’t do anything while she was there.” Well. “We just kissed a bit.” That wasn’t ... was the squirrel really just peeping?
“EW TAKE THAT BACK OR COME DOWN HERE AND SAY IT TO MY FACE, I’M NOT SCARED OF - oh crap.” Lilo flailed as the squirrel ran after her, nipping at her heels.
Athelstan’s eyes bugged wide when the squirrel jumped down onto the pavement. “Oi!” He chased after it, looking for something to throw that wouldn’t hurt the creature. “Get away from her!”
The squirrel turned its eyes on Athelstan, chasing after him for a moment. “DEMON SQUIRREL!” Lilo blinked, then found her bubble tea. “Okay, okay, truce. You want some sugarwater?”
Hesitatingly, Lilo and the squirrel both stopped and stared at each other. One could almost hear the Western Standoff music in the background.
Athelstan stopped running, too. He looked at both of them warily. “Just please don’t kill it,” he murmured to her.
She sat down, breaking away the film that covered her plastic cup with her straw. “Come’ere, I’ll feed you.” She took up a big straw filled with the fluid, smiling when the squirrel came closer. “I promise, it’s good, see?” She drank some from the straw, then refilled it. “Totally safe.”
“So was he just being a pervert, then?” Athelstan asked her, eyes still warily on the squirrel.
“He said you have a nice bottom,” Lilo shrugged. The squirrel was holding the straw, telling her when to let more out with a little EHN that didn’t need to be translated.
Oh, dear. “... thank you?” Athelstan managed, feeling somewhat violated.
Lilo smiled at him. “I think he’ll be more respectful now that he’s been spotted, huh, Icky McGross?” She stuck out her tongue at the squirrel, laughing when he yelled at her for more tea.
“Don’t be so rude,” Athelstan told the squirrel. “And don’t peep. It’s ... awkward.”
“He says he’ll try. He didn’t know you knew.” Lilo sighed, figuring the squirrel would end up someone else’s weird problem soon.
“How could I not know?” Athelstan raised an eyebrow at the animal. “I’m surprised Eli didn’t threaten to eat him.” Not that she would actually eat a squirrel, but she would threaten.
Lilo smiled. “Aww, that’s love. Eating a squirrel because it’s a perv - hey, okay, I guess you’re climbing into the cup now.” The tall girl shrugged, still sitting on the ground by the squirrel. “Hopefully he won’t bug you anymore.”
“I hope not.” That came out a bit too fervent, and Athelstan blushed. “Is there anything I can do for you, in repayment?”
“Drink your tea.” Lilo grinned, pointing at the cup he’d been holding but not drinking from. “Seriously, it’s hot out, you lolo!”
Athelstan had honestly forgotten about the tea. “Oh.” He laughed a little, looking down. “I was caught up in the thrill of the chase.”
“Squirrels do make mighty adversaries,” Lilo agreed. “It should still be nice and cold.”
“Thanks.” Athelstan smiled, sipping it, pleased when she was right. “That’s lovely.” He was curious. “Miss Lilo, I wondered. Does your family know you can do this? This talking to animals?”
Lilo shook her head. “I never could before today, really. I mean, there was that week when they all talked to us, so I sorta just got used to it then.” She smiled sadly. “There’s just my sister now, and she’s hard to get a hold of. Island time’s different.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Athelstan blushed, feeling like an idiot. “I had no idea ... I’ve been a bit ... closeted. I have a job and school, but school’s only just begun again and my job is a bit off given my employer just had a baby. I didn’t know anything was amiss in the county.”
“Oh my gosh, congratulations to your boss! Yeah, some people have some shenanigans going on. If you don’t, I think you’ll be okay? I mean, I don’t think it’s communicable.” She’d just gone surfing, wiped out and almost skinned her knee on a shiny rock. She’d collected it and was using it as a paperweight. Nothing had seemed weird about the day until Daisy said that she liked her bathing suit. “Did you just move here for school?”
“I don’t appear to have anything going on.” He hoped. “And yes, I’m doing a year abroad. I’m doing religious studies at UCLA. It’s rather fun, in truth.” He managed not to speak about religion at all; he didn’t want to incommode this kind woman with what would likely be a dull subject for her.
“Oh, neat! Comparative religious studies or just one intensively? I like reading about things like that. Whatever gives people comfort, you know?” She’d always found herself a little partial to voodoo herself.
“Comparative. I was raised strictly Christian, but I dislike the implication that there’s only one true way.” Athelstan was surprised at how easy he found to say so.
Lilo smiled. “It’s good to hear people say that, especially when they’re raised strictly. I was raised secular, so I kind of came to my faith on my own.”
“I had some experiences that opened my eyes.” Athelstan was finding it easier to be honest about everything. “I fell in love with a boy at my boarding school, and met a few other people who helped me see the world beyond my parents’ house.” He smiled. “I consider it a blessing.”
That just made the tall girl smile. “Love’s important, no matter where it comes from. Puppies, plants, people - wherever.” It was what made the world a decent place to live, according to Lilo.
“We parted amicably.” Athelstan chuckled. “I couldn’t ask for more.” They had simply grown apart, and those breakups were a part of life.
That made Lilo smile. “If my boyfriend now and I ever have to break up, which I hope we don’t, that’d be the best way. I want him to always be my friend.” She really enjoyed being with Will in any way.
Athelstan smiled, but he hesitated before asking. “Would you be offended if I said I would pray for you?” Not everyone appreciated it, but he liked this lady, and he was sure that any man she favored would be a good sort.
If grins could get wider, it would likely start to hurt. “Not at all! I’ll do the same! We should have lunch sometime, I haven’t lived here too long myself, and it’d be nice to have more friends.” Her voice was quiet, almost sheepish.
“I would be delighted. I’d just have to warn my girlfriend.” Athelstan chuckled, teasing. “She might get a bit cross if I was seen with a pretty woman.”
“Oh, I can tell her, I’m not for you!” Lilo laughed. “I hope she trusts you, you seem really nice.”
“She seems to, I’m lucky.” He just wanted to be as open with Eli as he possibly could. It seemed like a mark of respect.
“So’s she.” Lilo stood up, blinking when the squirrel told her goodbye before running off. “I think you’re okay.”
“It appears so. I’m grateful, really.” Athelstan smiled. “It’s kind of you, Miss Lilo.”
“Hey, you’re a good person and I can help, right?” Lilo shrugged. “I like helping when I can.”
“Well, you’ve certainly helped.” Athelstan smiled again. “Maybe you can contact me via the board with a lunch day that might be good for you?”
“I’ll do that! Maybe I can bring my dog, she likes meeting new people. ... she told me so.” Also went on at length about how Winston’s tail was the cutest tail ever.
Athelstan furrowed his brow for a moment before remembering that Lilo was special. “That’s rather endearing. What sort of dog is she?” He liked them, even though he’d never been allowed to have one.
“She’s a mastiff!” Lilo stood up and motioned to her waist. “She’s that high, but she’s a gentle giant. She just lays down in front of kids because she knows she comes off as a little scary. She’s in love with my boyfriend’s dog, it’s the cutest.”
“That’s rather sweet. I’d like to meet her. If I could.” Athelstan chuckled. “Perhaps I’ll get one one day.”
“She’d like that. Well, I’m going to go get her, take her running. I’ll see you around?” She gave him a wave, excited that she had new friends.
“Yes, of course. I appreciate your time.” Athelstan waved back, turning to go inside. “It was lovely to meet you!”
“You too,” Lilo beamed, waving goodbye as she got onto her board and scooted away.