#housetummelt

[exiled-turk]

continued from (x)

he had had to tug on a lot of frayed strings to pull this one off - legend and knife were still deep within their cover here in lucis. not even caligo ulldor was aware that there were two turks within his ranks, though the time to pull them out was fast approaching.

he was sure his departure from the turks would soon be common knowledge to the generals placed in lucis. which meant that they were running out of time to extricate baldur.

glancing to the shut door of the hangar, veld let out a deep breath - he had minutes here, at best. knife and legend were keeping watch out side and ulldor was in lestallum. it had taken weeks of following whispers and rumours, but he'd finally managed to track down his old friend.

stopping a few metres away from the man he had once considered a brother - veld felt the leaden heat of guilt settle in his chest as he noted the hollow stare baldur squared him with; he was a man who had nothing left, or who believed he had nothing left - no wife, no sons. no past and no future ... even the one person he had managed to forge a friendship with had disappeared.

' sarah knight is alive, though she has returned to using her married name - ulric. '

@housetummelt

[meldaciomartyr]

Continued from here.

It was irony o' ironies that he was so good at readin' folks, but forgot he was such an open book for others t'read too. Keepin' secrets had never been somethin' that suited him. Course he knew of the menaces in the dungeons deep below Lucis, but that was a secret a small portion o' the hunters knew of, an' it was for the better of all people they were ignorant t'the slumberin' atrocities.

But this? How he'd kept this to himself for the past few weeks was beyond even Dave as he let out a heavy sigh. Of course Ida could tell there was somethin' goin' on; she was one o' the most intelligent people he'd ever met. Reno was a master at hidin' his emotions and she could even read him.

"I wouldn't do that to ya," he wouldn't disrespect her an' walk away from this conversation lyin' an' telling her it was all fine. It wasn't fine; word from Veld had it he was puttin' his plan into force tonight an' they'd soon know whether a former Imperial general was alive or not.

"- but yain't gonna like any o' this darlin'." Biting his lower lip, Dave slowly sat on the chair across from Ida and his shoulders felt like they'd cave in with the weight of it all. "I couldn't tell ya all along in case it all came t'nothing."

@housetummelt

[proxnotxaxfool]

@housetummelt continued from (x)

he had done a lot of stupid things in his life. he had caused scenes and tried to shuck the yoke of expectation back in gralea. he had done some pretty stupid shit when he'd first joined the turks, but he'd been a teenager, testing boundaries in a world no teenager should have been in.

settling in meldacio hadn't exactly cured his penchant for digging holes ... he'd treated dave like shit, despite the man opening his doors to them. he'd treated both his mother and dave like shit when he'd figured out that their relationship had developed into something more than cohabitation.

and then there he'd told selena the truth - not a stupid thing in the long run, but in hindsight he could have picked a better way to break the news or broach the subject.

but this? this sucked big time because it wasn't anger or exasperation painted across his mother's face - it was disappointment and reno couldn't see how he could have been handled it any better - it was shit all around and there as no easy way to have handled it because either way, it would have ended up here at this proverbial crossroads.

closing his eyes when she kissed his cheek, reno tried to ignore the twist his stomach gave. reaching out when she stepped around him and tried to pass, reno closed his fingers around his mother's wrist.

' where are you going? what am i supposed to tell loqi, kim and will? '

[littlexsisterxulric]

@housetummelt Continued from (x)

Smiling widely, Selena wrapped her arms around the woman, returning the hug and feeling a small pang of guilt for what she was going to say. She was an adult, so was Reno, and they should be able to hash things out between them, but this was different.

"I'm fine," Selena stated, nodding her head a beat later to help put Ida's concern to rest, "And so is Jake." And Reno was too - for the most part. Picking at a loose thread on the cuff of her sweater, Selena pulled a face, not feeling wholly confident in her wording, but knowing she had to say something. And maybe this would turn out to be something - maybe it was his father's birthday? Or it was coming close to a date that meant something back before he came to Meldacio? Something he didn't want to tell her about, but something Ida would know about and she could put her mind at ease?

“Reno is being quiet. I know that sounds a bit silly, Ida, but I don't know who else to talk to - he's just, elsewhere and I'm worried because he won't tell me what's going on.

[holyguardian]

“Take Aerith somewhere safe.”

Those words had barely left the woman’s lips, when her hand fell down to the ground again. Limp and weak. She was dying… it was evident from how she looked. She had that hollow gaunt expression. There was nothing that could safe her yet. But the little girl beside her… her green eyes were full of resilient bright green.

The woman her mother had grabbed by the wrist looked at the child for a brief moment, before she knelt down and quickly searched for the healing potion in her bag… but as soon as she blinked again, she knew that the mother of the child was gone.

It was one of these very rare moments in her life, where Ida felt completely helpless. She had no control over any of this… and this child?

Little mite was still so young, right between her two son's ages, if she had to guess – and her sobs broke Ida’s heart. Carefully placing her hands on the girl’s arm and back, Ida tried to give her a little comfort, while still not tearing her away from her mother. She looked around… but there was no one close by. No father. No other family. No friends. No one cared for this little girl’s fate.

No one but Ida.

Glancing down at her – Aerith – again, Ida noticed the II on her arm. A tattoo. And in that moment her worry turned into dread. She had seen that before. That and another symbol… the child’s name, too. Aerith…

Quickly Ida undid the buttons of her coat, draping it around the girl. She could only allow her one more moment of grief for her mother, before he scooped her up. As cruel as it was, they had to hurry.

“My darling, we have to go.” @housetummelt - Ida

@housetummelt

Aerith had tried to find a doctor to make her mother all better again, which was how she had grabbed the sleeve of this woman in her white coat and tugged for her to follow, begging for help. "Please, please help my mummy, she's sick!"

Ifalna knew this was her only chance to make things right for her daughter. Aerith, stubborn as a cat, thought all she needed to do was to find someone in a white coat to help. It was a horrible feeling, to fully realise that the only world her baby knew was one where adults wore white coats.

She reached for the woman, to hold onto the same wrist that Aerith had guided closer. She could see it in her eyes, that she wanted to help in some way. "Take Aerith somewhere safe." There was so much to explain. So much left unsaid. But it was all she had left to give. It was like in knowing that her daughter wasn't going to be alone, her body finally dared to relax...

Aerith was beside herself. Bawling and clinging to her mother, she knew that her soul was slipping away. That her mother was returning to the Planet and there was nothing to hold her back — try as she might, little hands clinging as though she could hold her mother there and make her stay. They were free now! They could live in a house together! They could grow gardens and never have to see a wheelchair again!

She cried in loud, wracking sobs. Especially when the kind woman scooped her up, her hands losing grip of her mother. Her arms remained outstretched, grasping for where her mother lifelessly laid, and there was little chance of a silent getaway with how she cried her heart out. Eventually her arms slackened, and eventually her sobs calmed to sniffles, even if the tears never did seem to fully stop. They were far from the train station now. Far from the bad men. All she could do was watch over the woman's shoulder. Take in the new sights, of streets that looked... neat. Tidy. Where they had funny pretend trees and lights that lit up all of the pathway.

[meldacioxhq]

How did young Kim react to not only her mom not being around, but then a new woman living in the house and having two pretend brothers?

that was a questions she hadn't spent any time dwellin' on - it had a nasty undertone o' blame about it that had no place in their lives. she had only been a little ankle-biter when her mama had gone on a hunt and hadn't come home again.

it wasn't as if ida had just swooped in and assumed her mama's role - hell no. they'd stumbled on blindly, her grams and other hunters tryin' their best to field the little girl's repeated questioning of where her mama was or how long more her mama would be on that hunt, her miniscule view of the world not letting her wholly understand the concept of death.

ida had come way later - later than reno and loqi. and she had been hesitant in everything she'd done for that little girl, acutely aware that she didn't want to tread on another woman's memory ... the same careful steps her own pops had taken with the two boys.

' there ain't nothin' pretend 'bout loqi and reno being my brothers ... family is who you choose, not just blood. and the same goes for ida - she's been my mom for as long as i can remember, that don't mean replacing my mama, i just got lucky and got two now. '

@housetummelt

[ezma-auburnbrie]

"Tell me what to do or what to say." - Ida

Random sentence starters:

She wasn't herself, that much Ezma could tell. She didn't know what was different, not that anyone was tellin' her neither. But this had nothin' to do with the runnin' of Meldacio, and she sensed it was more t'do with private lives.

Somewhere over the past decade she had come to truly like Ida an' her boys. They were part of her own family, and family was more than blood. The blond lady was a brilliant mind for the hunters to have in their repetoire, let alone a strong character she admired too.

Perhaps she saw a bit of her younger self in the lady.

Which was why Ezma bit her lip when Ida sat in her livin' room, hands cuppin' a mug of steamin' tea and eyes beseeching her for an answer she didn't have. Instead Ezma slowly lowered herself into the chair opposite Ida and shook her head slowly, hand reachin' out to pat her.

"I think I'd do ya a disservice if I even tried to tell ya what t'do." She didn't know what had happened for Ida to find refuge here, nor did she ask. But if she was anythin' like her, it was a somethin' big. "Ida, yer a strong-minded lady, and I'd do anythin' for ya ... but I reckon ya know yer own mind. I don't think ya need the opinion of an old woman like me. Ya need space an' time to think, if anything."

@housetummelt

[kunselxsoldier]

"Do I look like someone you should mess with?" - Baldur

Random Sentence Starters:

It wasn't often the higher-ups of the higher-ups came to address them, but this was one of those rare days. All summoned to the Soldier floor and of course one or two 3rd Classes were a minute or two late.

Rookie mistake that he would talk to them about later.

But Kunsel was too busy adopting a hundred-yard-stare as the older man glared at him. 'Do I look like someone you should mess with?'

No, Baldur Tummelt was certainly not someone to mess with. He held more power in the upper echelons of the Plate than most knew of. One son was a Turk, though no one knew that, and the other skilled in engineering, though he applied to join the Soldier programme. Waste of a brain. And his lady wife was so ingrained in the labs of Shinra, she was irreplaceable. But to the others in this room he was a fettered company official who was sending a Soldier a death-glare. If only this man knew how much Kunsel actually knew of him.

"Most definitely not, sir!"

@housetummelt

[meldaciomartyr]

@housetummelt

You shouldn’t have to do this on your own.

[exiled-turk]

continued from (x)

their working relationship went back a long time - back to the days when they had both been stupid kids, joining the military, but then the turks had been formed and veld had donned a different uniform, his old friend climbing the ranks of the nifen military. but they had never truly left each others lives.

veld had been present when baldur had married ida. likewise, baldur had been present for veld's wedding too, and one of the first to know about the turk's impending fatherhood.

reno was a turk now. and earmarked to be a good one. tseng had joined when he had been fifteen, and now reno too - it was a good job. a tough one, but one that came with as many benefits as it did risks; he wasn't going to become canon fodder to be dropped on lucian soil to meet the kingsglaive head-on.

loqi was earmarked for the mech program. veld might not agree with a boy so young entering military service, but it wasn't a decision for him to make.

he made no attempt to pull back from baldur's grasp, nor to remain out in the open for all to see - this was enough of a shit situation without making it worse. did he understand what baldur and ida were doing?

yes.

did he agree with it?

that was irrelevant.

' you're out of your depth, baldur. i know well what you are capable of, but you are a single man, who has now betrayed his home - you have marked yourself an enemy. they will come for the boys. '

closing a hand around baldur's wrist, veld tightened his grip and held the other man's glare with one of his own - lips pressing into a tight line at the mention of felicia. that was a low blow, a personal one, but it showed the desperation his friend was feeling. he was lashing out and trying to dig his way out of a hole.

' what i would have done doesn't matter. you know well that i can't make this disappear — i am not the only person with eyes on this dock right now. ' lifting his gaze as a foghorn blared in the darkness, warning all on the dock that the ship was about to shuck its moorings, veld tightened his grasp on baldur's wrist, shoulders tensing in anticipation of what might happen next.

' the boys are aboard ... my timing was off to retrieve them. but i won't return empty handed baldur - you're a general, you know you can't do this. '

@housetummelt

[meldaciomartyr]

"I appreciate your coming back for us. That was really brave." - Ida

Percy Jackson sentence starters:

It'd been a shaky month rollin' into a second one since those boys had turned up at his door, an' their mama was found a week or so later. Nearly two moths an' the Empire wasn't givin' up their search for the family.

He could remember meetin' Baldur Tummult, through awful circumstances down by the slough. He'd struck him as an important man; but caught 'tween a rock and a hard place with his little son bein' a soldier too. But Dave was startin' to realise that the family were higher-up in the Empire than what he'd thought.

Wiz had heard it from travellers that the Empire were lookin' for a Nifen woman an' her two sons, an' that they intended to travel to all outposts. Meldacio was to the north-west, but it was still on a main road. A word with Ezma an' her blessin' had them here; an old abandoned lighthouse in Caem with a hidden dock. Down in the cavern that hid the dock would be safer, but Dave was mindful of the water down there an' how Ida an' her family had escaped the empire an' lost Baldur. So the old house would do for now; it was hidden from the roadside by trees, set well back an' gave them enough time t'get to the lighthouse an' the hidden dock to hide if needed.

'I appreciate your coming back for us. That was really brave.' Sittin' on the worn couch, Dave blinked when Ida spoke and placed a mug of coffee on the table in front of him. He'd been out on a hunt when Wiz called t'warn him, so he'd returned to Meldacio an' spirited Ida and her boys away.

"Ain't nothin' brave about it. I gave my word to Reno I'd protect 'em, and I promised you too. Not a feller who goes back on his word." If he was bein' rational, then hidin' the Tummelts protected Meldacio as a whole, but his bleedin' heart didn't wanna see a family split up again. Wringin' his hands together and eyin' the radio left standing on the coffee table, Dave leveled Ida with a look.

"But this has t'work both ways. The Empire's looking for y'all for a reason, not jus' cause yer husband was a general or Loqi a soldier." At that his voice dropped to a whisper and Dave glanced at the closed door upstairs, where the boys were sleepin'. "Yer gonna have t'level with me here Ida, I need the full picture to ensure yer safety an' the safety o' the hunters."

"So you talk an' I'll listen."

[proxnotxaxfool]

he could have done this earlier, but he’d made the excuse that his mama had been working in the store then, and that place probably wasn’t the best place to have a private conversation - anyone could have walked in or walked by the door and overheard what he was saying.

and maybe a part of him had been trying to put this off too? 

either way, he couldn’t avoid it forever, and there were no more excuses to fall back onto; the store was closed. loqi and kim were in bed. dave was still busy doing final preparations for a hunt that would take place the next day.

sucking in a breath as he entered the kitchen, reno braced his hands on the back of one of the wooden chairs at the table, watching his mother busy herself washing dishes before he dipped his head and bit the proverbial bullet.

‘ selena’s not speaking to me, i’m not sure whether she ever will again. i told her the truth - where we are from and why we came here. ’

@housetummelt​

[meldaciomartyr]

@housetummelt

[holyguardian]

Ida did not know what had happened to this girl. Not fully, yet. But from her own research into scientific documents, it had been a hell few could imagine. Most of these documents were classified, though. Or outright didn't... exist.

It had awoken a cold wrath within Ida - though she would not let Aerith know. To have found this little mite at the train station in time was all that mattered. And giving her a better life now. When Aerith was ready to talk, she would listen. And do all it needed.

Combing gently through the long brunette curls, Ida braided Aerith's hair with the hum of a child's song on her lips.

"What pin do you want me to put into your hair, elskede?", she asked with smile, looking over the girl's shoulder into the mirror, "A butterfly? A star? A heart? A flower? Or a bow?"

- @housetummelt Ida

@housetummelt

It had been a week of new-normal. That was what Ida had called it, and Aerith had for the most part hit the ground running. She had a dozen questions to fire off at any given moment, almost overstimulated by how different this world was.

Her lips had been sealed shut about her memories of the lab. Those were her mother's wishes... to not speak about Shinra, or Professor Hojo. They had to keep their heads down. Her first day in the Tummelt household had been a little awkward, where she took her mother's instructions too literally and had stared at her feet the entire morning.

"Uhhhhh." Aerith indecisively swayed her head this way then that, no doubt making the task of brushing out her curls all the more active. Her eyes met with Ida's in the mirror and a smile blossomed on her lips. She could see what adorned her blonde hair. "A bow." Then they could match.

"Why do the parks have pretend trees?" her first question of the morning. "Do I have to 'home school' again today?" The concept was still a foreign one, and she didn't like how stupid it made her feel. It wasn't like she had ever been taught properly. "Why can't I follow Reno to his school school?" Perhaps the question could be dodged artfully, given how quickly she chased it up with another. "What about Loqi? He doesn't school, he becomes a dinosaur."

[kunselxsoldier]

sit .   gesture  for  my  muse  to  sit  down . - Ida Tummelt

Loud & Deafening (non verbal) Starters:

She was a lady he had seen only a handful of times; a researcher if the rumours he'd heard were true. But she rarely ever appeared on the Soldier floor, let alone in the office that had been Director Lazard's.

She was from one of the Plate's most lauded families, the Tummelts. He knew that much, and offered a small nod as she pointed to the empty chair he guessed was for him.

"Good afternoon ma'am." Sitting on the edge of the chair, Kunsel tried to wrangle his thoughts into one line of questioning; what the hell did she want with him?

"How can I be of assistance?"

[meldaciomartyr]

"Which is why we gotta look out for each other, we're one people when everythin' else is stripped away." Neither the King or the Empire gave a crap, so that meant folks had t'care about each other instead. He meant that; it was a belief he would hold regardless of politics or war.

The icy coldness of Ida's words made Dave bow his head a little more; he felt guilty for givin' life to the thoughts he'd had swirlin' for a while now. The nightmare that came back again an' again that the Crown City was gearin' itself up t'be a massive target. He was a simple hunter, at the opposite side o' the continent to Insomnia ... he hunted daemons and varmints, not guessed at military moves.

"I didn't mean t'talk outta turn." It was an honest admission; somehow he'd made this conversation worse. As if it wasn't bad enough hidin' out here in Caem, tryin' to hide an imperial lady an' her two renegade sons. But he bit his lip as Ida continued her speech, an' for the first time he realised that maybe she didn't truly understand Lucis.

There wasn't enough folks across the mainland for the Empire to use like she said; they were livin' in small outposts dotted around miles an' miles of hostile lands inhabited by beasts an' daemons. But it was the threat o' usin' folks against each other. He guessed she had seen that happen in the Empire time an' time again ... and maybe he was naive, but Dave doubted the people around him would cede to that. The hunters had spent nearly a hundred years workin' on this network of hunters, tipsters an' contacts connectin' every outpost. The empire was the threat that drove them to look out for one another.

Y'gotta an outlook I'll never have, an' I'm sorry yer life's led to that." That she's been put through such a wringer to have that cold and clinical view. She was entitled to have it; it was a defense mechanism. "There ain't no right answer, no better option for you or yer boys ... an' I'm not gonna sit here an' patronise ya by tryin' to tell you what to choose, Ida."

He turned the mug in his hands again, eyes finding hers. "- if ya wanna go t'the city, I can get y'all inside the wall but it'll take a couple of weeks t'get my contact t'create paperwork that'll pass the city guards. There's other options too; Lestallum is a medium-sized city with a power-plant an' Altissia too. I got folks in every outpost; whatever you feel is best for yer boys, I'll help."

What the head hunter feared was a reasonable worry. But Ida did not understand why he thought it was better to stay outside the Crowncity over this all.

Leaning back, she creased her brows a little.

"So you think it would be better to stay in the territories the king can potentially hand over to the Empire? If that happens, we will be found within days. They will take Reno and Loqi away from me. And probably tell me to stand in front of a wall and remain still before they shoot me."

Her words were non-chalant. Cold. But she felt like Dave did not understand. The crowncity probably was their only reasonable chance, where else did they have to go to?

"Dave, if the Empire gets all the lands outside of Insomnia handed over... I fear you don't understand. If that happens, they will comb the lands. Nothing will be like you know it. They will make you work for them. You will be stripped of all your life. They will look through your people and decide who will fit which work. Most will go into industries that fuel the war or companies loyal to the Emperor. Those who can fight will be turned to the military. The young ones especially, your daughter's generation. Deserters like me will be killed. Reno... maybe, too. Maybe they pressure him with Loqi. Loqi goes back to the military to be brainwashed. You? They will use all your knowledge to weaken Lucis further. If you deny them, they take your daughter."

"I have no illusions about king Regis handing me and my boys back over... but you shouldn't have any illusions about the Empire either. Neither the emperor, nor the king would pay a second thought to any of us."