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Post by Bella on Dec 30, 2003 14:13:10 GMT -5
The house was small, and sky blue, matching Canto's mane and tail. The front door opened to a fairly good sized living room, the kitchen off to the front left behind a counter, and a guest bedroom off to the back left. On the right was a hallway that led to three other rooms - one master bedroom for Bella and Canto, another smaller bedroom for Kailani, and one slightly larger bedroom for Comet, who still hadn't moved out.
The house was decorated sparringly, but with taste - a simple, yet elegant approch. Shades of sky blue, sea green, and white were used to decorate every room, and it used to be that the little Kailani would get lost in the colors like a chameleon when she was just a tyke.
Books adorned the walls that were free, as well as being piled up under endtables and anywhere else out of the way, and no television could be seen. In fact, the guest bedroom housed mostly books - all Canto's for the most part, many of them his own half-finished works. Comets room held the only television in the house, and with Kailani's absence the books were starting to pile over in there also. Bella often complained about their mini-library, but Canto had not the heart to give any away, being his second love next to his family.
Gardens surrounded the house, being set in the old Garden Neighborhood, which had just happened to grow up around the cottage that Bella had found back when she was still only twenty, just after the war. It had taken only five years for the other cottages to pop up around their own, but they had been able to retain just a bit of privacy with some large trees and the pond that was in the back.
Bella still acted as headpony for the neighborhood, although since Comets arrival nothing much had happened for her to be up in arms about. Still, she kept the bow and arrows that the Ghostly had given her twenty years ago, just in case - although she had the feeling that perhaps it was time to pass them down to her daughter, who would get more use from them. But you never knew in this day and age.
On this particular morning, Bella and Canto were lazing around in the living room, drinking their coffee (Bella's of course was flavored) and reading their books. Waiting for the lazy Comet to wake up, and for Karma and Koal to come over with their daughter. Technically, it was not their grandchild, but Grand and Papa treated her as much so.
(egads! Bella and Canto are grandparents @.@ And only at 40!)
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Post by Bella on Sept 13, 2004 13:50:26 GMT -5
(Jumped to Summer - open to anyone)
A midnight blue ear turned towards the window and Canto looked up from his book with concerned eyes. He was laying on the couch, reading, but he could hear a humming outside. He knew it was his wife, but she was humming the dolphin's song, something she only ever used to heal injuries. Setting the book down with the open pages down so he wouldn't loose his space, the unicorn went to the open window and poked his head outside. "What's wrong?"
Bella looked up from where she was planting flowers, her normally sea-green hooves black with dirt. "Wrong? Nothing."
"Weren't you just humming the dolphin's song?" Canto's light blue eyes studied his wife, not that he suspected her of lying to him.
"Oh, I guess I was." Bella smiled softly, "its become a favorite of mine. I didn't mean to worry you, no one is hurt." Her lavendar eyes danced in the late morning sunlight and the silver stripe in her mane glinted in the sun (although she did admit it was spreading to become not so much a stripe as purple and silver mane as she aged).
Canto gave a smile back and brought his head back in the window. He stood just inside and watched as his wife went back to work - he found her beautiful, even up to her knees in mud. Going back to the couch, he picked his book up again and continued to read.
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Post by Queen Sunrunner on Sept 13, 2004 21:11:28 GMT -5
A lavender flutter with a silver streaked mane of her own paused in her walk as she saw Bella. The mare loved nothing so much as flowers and tending to them. Being a hero and possessing an ancient artifact of great power hadn't phased old Forget-Me-Not a bit even after all these years.
"Bella," she said warmly. "Lovely flowers you have. They should do well here...the soil is good for those kind."
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Post by Bella on Sept 14, 2004 21:16:31 GMT -5
Bella looked up at the voice, smiling. "Good morning Forget-me-not."
She stood up and brushed off her dirty hooves on her thighs, only succeeding in making both rather muddy. "Thank you. I'm not a flower expert, not much of a green thumb either, but I thought a little something might look nice in the yard. Brighten it up. And I like the work."
She looked around the shaded yard she had found more than twenty years ago. It had been such a wreck then, abandoned rainbow-knows-when, and she had hoped that if she fixed it up Canto would move in with her. She now belived that the house wasn't the reason he had decided to stay.
Turning lavendar eyes back to FMN, Bella smiled. "How have things been with you? Well I hope?"
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Post by Queen Sunrunner on Sept 19, 2004 18:12:05 GMT -5
"Well, really, I'm not very green either." FMN waggled lifted one lavender hoof and smiled. "I've been nursing a maple I planted just a few days ago. Didn't like the move, I'm afraid. --but I think it'll manage. I didn't think I'd have the same knack with trees as I do other plants, but it seems as if I do. Was a nice thing to find out." Her smile widened. "It's so nice to have trees around the house. Shady."
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Post by Shadow on Feb 12, 2005 15:28:32 GMT -5
A puff of spmoke appered in the corner away from Canto's sight, before an all too impossable to forget stalion lowered his head just over his, and spoke. "Heya Canto." Dark was seriously hoping to scare the poor guy seeing how he was absorbed in that book.
Smirking a bit reguardless of the scar between his eyes that remained a faint crimson, an off shoot of his curently half white half navy body. Fliping to the floor rather than fall as he always did before, he bowwed. "Sorry, but I couldn't resist such a tempting chance."
Looking round, he sighed. "The place certainly changed, Bookworm. How's Bella and Comet doing?" Utterly crushing his old feelings with will power alone, he sighed before he asked the one question he hated asking. "How's Karma these days?"
Yes, he loathed to ask, but that was because he abandoned her so long ago to do what was needed. It was the one shame he'd never redeem, and he dispised choseing duty over love. Even now he did what he could to mask his inner scars from his old friends.
Didn't do much good for the aura around him, however... His scars reached even that, and it would almost apper as if a pack of wolves managed to rip and tear at his very soul. A vast number changes had happened in the ninja over time, and none were for the better.
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Post by Bella on Feb 12, 2005 18:29:53 GMT -5
"Heya Canto."
The dark blue unicorn jumped straight out of the chair and knocked over the lamp behind him. He flattened his ears at the crash and spun around just in time to see Dark flip off the ceiling behind him. "Young bastard," Canto mumbled to himself but then smiled.
"We're all doing well. Except," he stopped. "Well, I'll let her tell you later." Not specifiying which her he meant, Canto put down his book again and made his way into the kitchen. "Tea?"
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Post by Shadow on Feb 12, 2005 18:48:36 GMT -5
Dark shook his head. "Been a while since I had a cup wiith ya, so why not?" He waited around by examineing a few titles for anything worthy of note that may help the dojo. Namely anything on self defence or weapons. When the tea arived, he sat down on the floor as was custom for him. "Thanks, Canto. And If I'm not a young basterd to you now, think of when your grandkid gets my age."
He grined at the thought before he turned serious. "There was a battle. The Champions had to fend off some old Gods, but it seems Kail held her own. She's also got a boyfriend now. I'm only asmamed that I was away and unable to prevent any carnage... Not many are dead, but a good number were hurt. I'm glad she wasn't..." He felt it nessasery to deliver such news now while he was here for Kail, since he could reach here in a instant.
"He managed to avoid the topic of his scars, before he looked up. "So who's not doing well, Canto? I hope it's not Bella, is it?"
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Post by Bella on Feb 12, 2005 19:03:46 GMT -5
There were probably plenty of books Dark would have been interested in, Canto having a fondness for history of any kind and any place known to Ponyland. He had even managed to get a history book from across the Rainbow. But most of it didn't make sense to him, still Dark might even enjoy that one - one of the places in it sounded a bit like his Cresent Moon Falls.
"Yeah, my grandfilly..." Canto trailed off. They hadn't actually seen the little filly for about six months now - her father had taken her back to Haven's Valley. Luckily, Dark changed the subject to Kail and Canto didn't have to continue on... yet.
"Of course Kail held her own, her mother taught her." Canto smiled as the tea kettle started to sound and for a moment he didn't quite catch what Dark had said next. But as he poured the tea into two cups it finally stood out in his mind.
"A boyfriend?" Canto turned around with his ears down. He didn't mind if Kail had a boyfriend, he wasn't an overly protective father or anything (it was hard to be overly protective with a child like Kailani), but it surprised him nonetheless. "She never told us." He sat the tea down and sat across from Dark with a hurt frown. Why hadn't she told them? Who could it have been? She hadn't mentioned any stallions last they had spoken (granted, it had been a few weeks). Wasn't she too busy for a boyfriend?
Waving aside Dark's question with a blue hoof, Canto continued to think of who it might be and why she hadn't told them already. "No, not Bella, don't worry about her. I wonder if she knows?" He was talking mostly to himself now, ignoring the stallion across from him when a drop of hot tea spilled and hit his hoof.
Shaking it off quickly, Canto seemed to come back to reality. "Well isn't that something. One daughter gets herself a boyfriend right when the other finishes a divorce..."
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Post by Shadow on Feb 12, 2005 19:28:05 GMT -5
Dark's eyes virtualy made the sound of glass breaking as one eye became larger than the other at the word divorce. Smashing his chest a few times to get the burning hot tea out of his lungs, Dark stared wide eyed at Canto. "WHAT?!!!" He had a solid hunch who it was that divorced, and it was right off the bat not Bella and Kanto. Regaining his cool, Dark shook his head. "I'm sorry to hear that, Canto. But Kail hasn't told you because from what I understand, she's only resently hooked up with a fellow known as Razz. From what I saw, they only had their first kiss just the other day, after months, I belive."
Frowning, Dark turned to the matter he feared. "Karma isn't well, is she?" Standing, Dark looked the the window to see Bella. He'd say high for sure before he returned to the dojo. "Where is Karma now, Canto? I want to at least be there for her, and make up for not being there before for her. Maybe when I get back you can help me find some books to help my dojo that I've built with a new friend that shares a common homeland. He's a samurai, just to let you know." There was no changeing his mind, or his heart; Dark still cared about Karma, even though she was married and had a foal. That didn't matter; He wanted her happy. That mattered most to the Ninja.
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Post by Bella on Feb 12, 2005 21:31:38 GMT -5
Canto looked up, still a little preoccupied, as Dark flipped out over the news. Well, he should have expected that he guessed, but he had been a little too surprised by Dark's news to let the lad know gently. Ah well, the deed was done and now Dark seemed to be back on track.
"Oh yes, Razzarroo - she told us about him. Sounded a little old for her..." and a bit like her brother, Canto finished the sentance in her mind. But this Razzarroo fellow sounded like a nice enough stallion, it just might cause problems as they got older (or in Kail's case, didn't).
"Karma isn't well, is she?"
Canto took a sip of tea as he thought of how exactally to explain it. "She isn't no... she hasn't really been the same since she saw you again. Her current... relationship... was started off badly, they found each other again badly, and I think she stuck with him more for lack of anyone else and this huge weight of guilt she felt towards him and their situation." He stopped and took another sip, "but I will let her explain that to you herself, its really not my place."
"As for where you can find her - she's usually reading out behind the pond in the little wooded cove. Kinda like when she first came here and was so shy." Canto finished off his cup, "yeah, go see her, and I will round up some books you might be interested in."
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Post by Shadow on Feb 12, 2005 21:57:04 GMT -5
"Thanks, Canto; I'll try to stop by for ya more often. You guys are the closest thing to a family I've ever trely had, and I regret for not stoping by as often as in the past; But I've got all the time I need to fix that mistake." Rushing out the door, he swiftly said hi to Bella before dashing off as a white and navy blur. In mear seconds, he was standing on the branch over Karma's head, upside down as normal when he snuck up on her. Taking a deep breath, he did the one thing possable to get that long needed elbow to the ribs. "WAZUP!!!"
He made sure to be as close as possable so he could spook her worse than Canto; Not that Canto's breaking of a lamp wasn't funny... He was grining slightly, a sure fire off shoot to that nasty scar on his face that had such a deep effect on him. fliping to the ground with the grace of a cat, he landed on his hooves rather than his skull. That alone would be a clear sign of change in him; Last she saw him, his potential was only starting to bloom, and yet he was now moving with the grace of a Master. "I thought it was time to visit you and the others, namely Comet, Bella and Kanto. At least for Kail's sake."
His old personality was suddenly swallowed by the gloom that lingered about him as of late. "Canto... Told me the news. I'm sorry to hear that, Karma. If there is anything I can do to cheer you up, anything at all, just ask. I may have failed you before by choiseing duty over my feelings for you, but I at the least want you to be happy. That's the only true thing I can never turn my back on. Your happiness, no mtter who it is with, is my greatest wish for you, Karma. Bah, I must sound like a stupid fool once more..."
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Post by Bella on Feb 12, 2005 23:09:36 GMT -5
Canto smiled and shrugged off Dark's thanks. Him and his wife seemed to collect family - any family would do. The fact that their real daughter had begun a nursery had not really surprised him, what with the family's past of taking in "strays".
He walked over to the window as Dark ran out and past a thuroughly confused Bella. She looked back at him in concern and Canto smiled, "Kail's got herself a boyfriend."
~~~~~~~
The little area behind the pond had once been Karma's refuge, when she had first run to Dream Valley from the Haven. She had always felt better after raiding Canto's bookshelfs and hiding herself back there in private, away from the annoyance of Comet and away from the always worried glances of the pegasus. But lately, even loosing herself in a book in her secret spot wasn't helping.
The mostly black mare had fallen asleep reading her latest book, of which she couldn't even say the title because she hadn't been paying any attention. There were little spots of blotted ink where tears had fallen, and her hair had fallen down into her face, hiding her from the rest of the world.
"WAZUP!!!"
Karma jumped up from what had been an already unpleasant dream and the book went flying into the pond. Because Dark was so close, she knocked her head on his when she jumped and immediately fell back on her flank and grabbed the top of her head with a hoof. But she recognized the feeling of his aura, and she wasn't angry.
Not able to see the scar (but the aura over top of it quite brightly gave away the large gash), Karma noticed first Dark's smooth transition from the branch to the ground. She was about to ask what happened to him, and then Kail once he brought her up, but Dark hadn't mentioned that she was hurt (and Karma was quite convinced after That Day that Kail could not be hurt), and he had quickly moved on to Koal.
"No, you don't sound like a fool," she finally said, rather quietly. Dark now had more confidence in himself, but Karma had reverted back to the shy, quiet creature she had come to DV as originally. "I haven't been happy in years, a divorce doesn't change anything accept the amount of time I get to see my daughter."
And she was never really my daughter anyways. She was always my debt to Koal, Karma thought to herself.
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Post by Shadow on Feb 12, 2005 23:29:55 GMT -5
"Your... Not that upset over the act?" Dark almost seemed to split into two as a blur image of himself snatched her book out of the water, cleaned it up, and fused back to the solid self, book now in his hoof. "Guess I scared you worse than Canto." He smirked a bit, happy to just be near her once more. "Kail is fine, and has a boyfriend now, to get that out of the way. The was a fight, but I sadly missed it. Not surprizeingly, she handled the whole thing herself. I'd expect no less from your sister."
Things got quite at that point, Dark unsure what to say. He still cared about her, and the Trial of Blood had scarred him deeply... As much as he wish he could, he was at a total loss of words. "I resently encounted someone from my homeland. He's named Kenshin, and he's a Samurai bonded with the Rainbow of the Sun, brother of my own Moon Rainbow. You'd like his company, he's a real honorable fellow, save he's got a few problems dealing with modern day things. He's gone from angry with me to my best friend." That was it for modern news... But now he had nothing left to say.
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Post by Bella on Feb 12, 2005 23:45:52 GMT -5
"Not terribly upset no," Karma smiled weakly. She was quite content to listen to Dark talk about Kail and about his new friend and not say anything herself. Explaining what had happened when he was gone was going to be long, and it was going to require explaining some things that happened before she met him that she had never told him, and that quite frankly she was very ashamed about. Better to let him talk.
"And you are staying in Ponyville then?" She didn't really expect him to come running back to her. She hadn't waited, she hadn't told him the truth when he was here before, she certainly didn't look all that great anymore (her coat had lost much of its silvery shimmer and the visible aura had nearly waned away to nothing by this point), not to mention he now looked nearly half her age.
Time had not been good to Karma - the rule of three had been especially bad, but there was no one she could blame but herself. And maybe Chakra. But she could only blame him up until she got to Haven's Valley. Everything from then on out had been her doing, and she hadn't done it very well.
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