Ok, now that I know you're ok, Nicky, I'll try to crack the 10000 character limit until you're back
<--- Twilight
*awakes*
*tries to find a better sleeping position but fails*
*throws every single pillow down to the floor und she finally lies flat on the sofa, out of breath*
*turns to lie on her belly and give her back some rest*
*soon falls back asleep, entangled in her own hair*
<--- Podarge
*awakes*
*feels slightly disoriented*
Where am I? *looks around and eventually remembers*
*sighs, gets up and dresses*
*goes to make some breakfast*
*enters the small chamber to check the girl* What the hell - ? *looks at the sleeping child and sighs*
At least she's getting stronger.
*collects the pillows and puts them aside*
*decides to let the girl sleep and makes herself some breakfast*
*then sits down in the chamber and grabs her laptop*
*opens a graphic program, writes some words into it and moves the parts around, trying to get new ideas*
*suddenly, the screen goes black* What now?! *checks it and burns her fingers* Ouch! *puts her fingers into her mouth to cool them down, swearing* Damm! Damm! Damm!
(Yeah, I know, beaver
) *cautiously puts the laptop onto the table*
*stares at it for a while, wondering if it's completely broken now*
*then goes and grabs a stack of paper and some pens and attempts to continue her work by hand*
*the paperbin gets filled quite fast ... *
<--- Twilight
*awakes*
*watches Podarge crumbling a piece of paper and throwing it onto the floor*
*looks at the floor that's already covered with crumbled paper*
*grabs one and rolls onto her back*
*attempts to straight the paper out*
<--- Podarge
*watches the girl silently*
<--- Twilight
*turns the paper around in her hands, just feeling it, until she finds some colored lines on it*
*runs her fingers over them to find out if these lines feel different than the rest*
*grabs another piece of paper to find out if that one is the same*
<--- Podarge
*smiles*
*puts a fresh piece of paper onto the table, gets a pen and draws a line*
<--- Twilight
*sits up*
*watches, fascinated*
<--- Podarge
*gets a pen of another color and draws another line*
*then moves pens and paper over to the girl* Now you! Just try! *smiles*
<--- Twilight
*stares at Podarge, then grabs the blue pen and examines it*
*notices some weird blue dots on her hands*
*confused*
*then remembers the paper and manages to draw some lines*
*excited*
*tries the other pens, too, and soon discovers the connection between the color of the pen and the color of the line it produces*
<--- Podarge
*watches amused* You can do more with that! Look!
*sits down next to the girl and draws a pic of the table* See? I'm not that good in these things, but you do recognize what it is, don't you?
<--- Twilight
*nods in amazement*
<--- Podarge
*gives Twilight the paper and pens* Now you! Look at something and draw it! *smiles*
<--- Twilight
*cautiously moves the pens over the paper, constantly looking at the table, then at the paper and back at the table*
<--- Podarge
*shocked as she watches the picture developing* Wow! I wouldn't believe you just started drawing if I hadn't watched you all the time! *gets and idea* Here! *hands the girl more paper and pens* Just draw everything you want! You can draw what you see, and you can draw what you remember! Just try it! *smiles*
<--- Twilight
*stares at Podarge, then at the paper*
*slowly starts to draw*
<--- Podarge
*sits back down in the chair and watches the girl for a while*
*eventually takes herself some piece of paper and continues to work*
*after a while, looks up and sees lots of pictures lying around on the floor*
*picks one up*
After all, just child art. What a chaos! *stares at the chaos of red, blue and yellow*
*sinks into it, and everything goes black*
.
.
.
*awakes from a scream*
*finds herself on the floor, the girl lying next to her, unconscious*
*notices the floor and her head being sticky with blood*
Did I collapse? *examines her head but doesn't find any wound*
The girl? *examines the girl and finds a laceration on the girl's forehead, slowly healing*
*gently puts her back onto the sofa*
*wonders what just happened and looks around*
*picks another pic up*
Squirrels? *smiles*
That - that looks so vivid! Better than any photo! *grabs another pic*
The pond - I haven't been there for ages! *smiles to self as she remembers*
<--- Twilight
*slowly awakes, whimpering*
<--- Podarge
*quickly sits down next to the girl* It's okay, just lay still! *cautiously strokes the girl's head, wiping some blood away* It's almost healed. *smiles* Thank you!
<--- Twilight
You - collapsed -
<--- Podarge
*blushes* Yeah - I wonder why - *suddenly notices how hungry she is* Well - *gets an idea* I'll be right back!
*quickly gets up and into the kitchen*
*soon returns with a tray full of plates full of food* Okay, now look. *puts everything onto the table* Just a little experiment!
*points at a table* I want you to draw this! Then you eat a portion of the same stuff, and after that you draw this again! *smiles* Just a test! And after that, you can eat the second portion, too, if you want!
<--- Twilight
*shrugs*
*slowly sits up and gets pens and paper*
*quickly draws a picture of the plate and gives it to Podarge*
*then grabs the other plate and eats*
<--- Podarge
*looks at the picture and smiles* Yeah, this is almost like a photo!
<--- Twilight
*doesn't know what a photo might be*
*eats up silently and grabs pens and paper again*
*draws the second picture, gives it to Podarge and eats the second portion*
<--- Podarge
*smiles* Wow! That's it! You can almost taste what it shows!
Girl, you'll be my lifesaver! From now on, you'll always get two portions or more if you want, and you'll always draw a picture of the second portion after you ate the first one! With pictures like this, people will want to eat this stuff! Your pictures are magic! *smiles brightly*
*doesn't even realize she's about to use the girl again*
<--- Twilight
*stares at the floor with all her pictures*
<--- Podarge
*just happy*
*gets more and more news ideas* You know what? I'll invite a few old friends - the doctor, Miss Cunningham, you know, she suffers from coeliac disease, and I know a lot of recipes for her, but her mother didn't allow her to come here anymore after that damn incident here. I just hope she's a bit more independant now - *sighs* - but I think those pictures will make her want to eat my meals again! And the Johnson family - they all have the same problem, they can't consume any milk product. What that called - wait - *walks up and down, thinking* - something with lactose or something like that. Anyway, Most of my recipes are without milk or milk products, especially now that I can't afford to buy any, so they can eat here, too! I hope they can come - they'll appreciate a free meal! Then - *walks up and down in the small room, thinking and mumbling names of people she plans to invite*
- and this one day, the whole party won't cost them anything! They can eat as much as they want, that doesn't hurt me, I can harvets everything in garden and forest, and I still have enough spices left. Then when they leave and tell around about my food, hopefully new guests will come!
*picks up some pictures* And those pics will be part of the invitation card! And I'll use some more as handouts - I'll put the address and the name on it - I guess Podarge's place is as good as anything else - and then everyone will want to eat where this is coming from! *laughs* That's it! *euphoric* Oh girl, this is great! *jumps at the girl and hugs it tightly* You'll save my restaurant!
<--- Twilight
*completely surprised*
*doesn't know what to think of all this*
*just discovers that she likes to be hugged*
*puts her arms around Podarge's waist, closes eyes and relaxes*
<--- Podarge
*surprised by the girl's reaction*
*keeps hugging her* Yes, that's what we do. You'll draw pictures, I cook, and I'll put some of the money aside for you for future use. I only hope that guy doesn't come and take you away. *blushes as she realizes her selfishness* Well - maybe he could - could live here, too. *thinks*
But first he has to find her! *doesn't even dare to lead that incredible thought to its end - yet*
*thinks a while, still holding the girl, thinking of things that could possibly happen*
*stares at the window*
*some faint thought in her backhead starts to wonder if she should put some iron bars in front of it once she can afford that*
*snaps back to reality, shocked by herself*
I can't do that - that isn't right! *stares thoughtfully at the girl's long hair, her mind getting more and more confused*
But all that time nobody came and asked for her! Nobody has the right to take my future away! *holds the girl even tighter*
<--- Twilight
*feels squeezed too much*
Please - need breathe!
<--- Podarge
*didn't listen* Don't worry - nobody will be able to steal you - and I'll take care for you!
<--- Twilight
*tries to get herself free from Podarge's clasp*
<--- Podarge
*snaps back to reality* Oh! I'm sorry! *releases the girl* I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention!
<--- Twilight
*falls backwards onto the sofa*
*gasps for breath, eyes closed*
<--- Podarge
*strokes the girl's hair, already thinking of ways to make her house more secure, just in case*
*thoughtfully collects all the pics from the floor without really looking at them and puts them onto the table* I'll be right back!
*leaves the room and locks the door behind herself*
*runs down into the basement*