IC Time: June 6
Location: Cullen backyard
Synopsis: Esme and Kyler have a chat
Submitted by: Esme
It has been pretty much understood that Kyler should stick to his own tree… But then, when did he ever do what he was "supposed" to? Besides, his tree is /so/ far off into the forest. In the dark. And the lonely. And it just seems a shame to be so dark and lonely when he could be dark and close to the Cullen house, where he has it on good authority that he is Family! Yay! At least, that's how Ky-logic works. And so, if Esme should come out onto the back porch to enjoy the fresh night air, or to look at the stars, or just…whatever, she would smell distinctly the smell of a Kyler. He isn't immediately visible, but there are occasional little shifting noises underneath the back porch.
Esme does walk out onto the porch, significantly calmer than hours before, when she escaped the house through her bedroom window and ran into the forest. She smells like a distinct combination of her own scent, mingled with that of her husband's, though this is nothing unusual. The woman sniffs at the air and frowns. Of course, Kyler's there. She doesn't say anything, instead she stands, stiffly, on the porch.
Kyler remains in hiding for a time, but as Esme continues to stand there, stiffly, he eventually peeks out at the end of the porch where he had crawled in. As the top half of his face becomes visible, it becomes rather pitifully clear that Kyler has /tried/ to clean up. His face has a distinctly streaky look to it, and his hair is matted and just a little damp. Which would be fine, except for the spider webs now tangled in his hair, from hiding under the porch. After a moment, he feels safe enough to come out and fold his arms over the edge of the porch, with an uncertain little grin. "Hullo, Esmemommasamma." Oh, dear. New nicknames.
Esme eyes Kyler as he peeks his head out, and almost laughs at his pitiful attempt at cleaning up. "You know, if you want /in/ the house, you're going to have to be properly cleaned up," she points out, shaking her head slightly. Otherwise, she makes no move, in fact, once she's done shaking her head she falls statue still, again.
Kyler brights a little, only to duck his head as she implies that he's not clean enough. He looks down at himself, frowning, and then back up again. "But I went to the creek and everything!" he points out, at first a bit argumentative, but then he grins uncertainly and ducks behind the edge of the porch again. "But that's okay. I'll probably be dirty always." He brightens, and says, "I'll stay in /this/ box. I don't mind so much. And it's already dirty, so no one will care if Kyler's dirty." He's talking about the small space under the porch.
Esme nods, slightly, and debates building a vamp-proof wall around the house… "Okay," she gives. She's not about to argue with the younger vampire staying /out/ of the house, actually.
Kyler peers up at Esme, uncertainly. Yeah, he senses that something is amiss. Someone is unhappy. And Kyler lives by the idea that 'when Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.' He sits for a moment, in silence, and eventually perks a little. He knows something that will cheer her up! "Did Bella talk to you?" he asks.
Esme quirks a brow, though otherwise she's statue still, arms crossed in front of her now. It's probably a good thing she got in husband time today, otherwise who knows what would happen. "Why?" she enquires, simply. "Probably not," is given after a few moments thought as she stares out into the tree's, eyes darting to the pool, hoping it's locked up securely enough.
Kyler ducks down a little when Esme fails to respond in a happy manner. "Um…well…" He hesitates, less certain now that this was the correct tactic to take. "Well, because I told Bella, I won't break anything, or make bubble messes, or kill the plants or anything. And I /definitely/ most certainly and forever will never ever never bring a human or a bunny, or a weasel, or a coyote, or a racoon, or…" Utoh, Kyler's got stuck. This is gonna take a while…
Esme swallows a growl, she knows where this is going. "Just spit it out," she states, biting her lip to refrain from scowling. She's doing everything in her power to not irritate the crazy vampire. "You promised not to bring anything unwanted into the house…"
"…A deer…or…a….gerbil…No that's not it…" He winds down to a stop as Esme snaps at him, and sinks back, nearly disappearing below the floor of the porch. "No people, anyhow," he says, just above whisper. "Or anything. Because she said I had to if I was….going to…" He trails off, uncertainly. After a long moment, he asks, this time barely above a nervous little murmur, "What'd I do?"
Esme remains statue still, save for when she speaks. "You promised Bella you wouldn't bring any humans to the house, why?" she questions, attempting to maintain a level voice. She will not annoy Kyler, since that could annoy Jasper, and they're already on very rocky ground.
Kyler is not easily annoyed. But he's easily spooked, that's for sure. At least, tonight he is. He gives an uncertain little whine. "Because…Because she said I had to promise," he replies, glancing away and then disappearing under the porch. After a moment, his voice can be heard from the darkness. "Was that the wrong thing? I know lots of humans. I could bring one if you want…" In Kyler land, when someone is irritated at you, it's because you should have said the /opposite/ of what you are saying. Because there's no other reason they could be irritated at you. Nope.
Esme let's out a low exhale of breath, though it probably sounds more like a hiss, since it's throw clenched teeth and all. "/Why/ did you promise, Kyler?" she questions, her tone maintaining it's levelness. "What did you promise this in exchange for?" Yup, she's going to drag it out of the vampire.
Kyler whimpers a little at that hiss, remaining firmly in hiding under the porch. "Be…because…" He fumbles to a stop, suddenly very uncertain. After a long silence, his tiny voice comes out of the darkness. "She said I could be family," he replies, in a particularly childish tone, even for him. "And…and…and I was happy….So I promised…" He searches desperately for something to make her stop hissing, and after a moment, he blurts out, "But I wasn't ever going to bring any anyhow. She just made me say it out loud."
Esme sighs slightly and nods. "That's what I thought," she gives as she clasps her hands firmly behind her back. "I can't say anything about that," the woman notes, shaking her head faintly as she starts pacing the length of the back porch, as such, the length of the back of the house.
Kyler stays hidden underneath the porch for awhile, but when Esme doesn't say anything, he peeks out from his hiding place to watch her pacing. Every time she passing his little hidey hole, he ducks back into the shadows, only to venture out again when she moves to the other end of the porch. Then to duck out of the way again when she heads to that end.
If Esme could wear a hole in the porch, she probably would. As she walks the clicking of her heels can be heard. Click, click, clack, click, click, clack, click, click, THUNK, click… click… clack, THUNK, and then the sound of barefeet on the wood porch, each thunk being a shoe hitting the now dented wall. Oops. "No point in hiding, I'll try not to throw you out by your ear."
Kyler gives a litle squeak as each shoe hits the wall, and stays exactly where he is. He doesn't want to have a shoe thrown at his head, even if it wouldn't exactly hurt. Her words don't exactly comfort him, given all the shoe throwing. He gives a strangled little whimper, and points out, nervously, "Bella told me all about the basement too. It's not a /real/ basement, it's just a room. So you can't lock me in." He says it as though reminding her.
Esme bites her tongue, again, leaving her shoes wherever they landed. "You know how I told you how secure this place is?" she questions with an upraised brow. "If no one can get in, imagine what we can do if we don't want anyone to get out…" oops, did she say that out loud?
Kyler whimpers a little, his eyebrows wide and slightly reflective in the dim light. He starts to shiver, but can't quite bring himself to run away. His feet are locked to the ground. She might even enjoy the silence for a moment… Until in a flash of movement, Kyler dashes at her. She might dodge of course, but the attempt is to throws his arms around her in a glomp and hide his face, all the while giving a vague little whimper. "I don't know what I broke but I'll fix it whenever you say and I'm sorryI'msorryI'msorrydon'tlockmein!" That…was quite a reaction. He doesn't seem to have any doubt that Esme would do just that.
Esme is enjoying the silence, up until she finds herself at the wrong end of Kyler-glompage. "Off," she requests, the words aren't harsh, but they leave little room for arguments, as much as she doesn't have any issues with the vampire himself, she's not overly huggy right now. "/You/ didn't do anything," she gives, which is true, it's not his fault Bella invited him into the house on a more permanent basis…
Kyler whimpers a little, but releases her without question. For a moment, he is left hanging, before he just shrinks back to the wall and sinks down, until he sits curls up there, absently tugging at his hair with his left hand, in a nervous gesture that some how makes him look even less sane than usual. Or maybe it's the cobweb decorations. He goes a bit glassy eyed with a vague desperation. "But…but…but…I must have done /something/," he says, "You can't lock me in for nothing. I can't fix nothing. I can't…can't…." Then he trails off, with a last troubled noise, and half hides his face behind his right hand, still tugging at his hair with the other. If in down, pretend you don't see trouble. If you can't see it, it can't see you!
Esme sits herself up on the porch railing, she's done pacing, she's done standing like a statue, instead she'll precariously balance her weight on this all too fragile peice of wood. "You didn't do anything, Kyler, trust me on that," she requests, arms crossed in front of her, one hand holding her shirt (AKA her husband's shirt, that she's wearing) close to her nose. "There is nothing you can 'fix' since you didn't do anything," not this time, anyway.
Slowly, cautiously, Kyler lowers his hand, reluctantly bringing his gaze to look back up at Esme. He has that same lack of comprehension in his case, and nervously continues to fidget with his hair. "The…Then why you are you going to lock me in?" he asks, in a tremulous voice. His free hand remains at the ready, to shield his face again, if needed.
Esme shakes her head, barely. "I won't, but don't think it's not possible," which is to say… unless provoked, she won't lock Ky in. "Most places are designed to lock people out, but…" she shrugs and leaves it at that, let Kyler figure out what she means from there.
Kyler shudders and ducks his head, shrinking down as though to try and hide behind his knees. "I won't do anything bad," he says, in a tiny voice. "I promise. /Promise/…" He trails off a moment, sitting there, then glances up again, uncertainly. "So…so…" He hesitates, looks away, then back to Esme with a cautiously optimistic expression. "So I can stay?" Weirdo.
Esme quirks a brow at the question, before she shrugs. "It's not up to me, Kyler. This is a decision that needs to be made by the family," and she doesn't mean Kyler, either. "We'll have to sit down with everyone and make a choice on the matter," though she already knows where Carlisle stands on the matter, and she knows where she also stands, though there's six other members of the family, and they need to make the same decision.
Kyler looks up at her, that flicker of hope draining from his face. "Bella said…" And then he just trails off, uncertainly. He continues to tug absently on his hair as his eyes drift down looking at nothing in particular. After a moment, he looks down at his hands, considering the grubby lines. "Jasper, Esmemommasamma, Mr. Person…That bully person…the pretty rose girl…Jasper's nice girl…Bella…" He trails off, considering, and then gives a kind of strangled sound. After a moment, his lips turn up into a grin, though it doesn't reach his eyes. "Right. Bella said." And suddenly, he's gone in a blur, not to hide under the porch but to return to his tree.
