IC Time: August 21
Location: Cullen Residence
Synopsis: Kyler visits the Cullens
Submitted by: Esme
Cue the ominous music. Kyler has entered the building… On the bright side, there hasn't been mass destruction of epic proportions. Yet. He hasn't even glitterified anything, which is always a good sign. In fact, he's merely invaded the kitchen. Sure, he's as dirty and smudged as he ever is, and most decidedly shoeless. Otherwise, his appearance is suspiciously unremarkable (or as unremarkable as it ever is). He sits at the kitchen table, having gathered together a variety of shiny objects from the kitchen. Random forks, a salt shaker, maybe something odd and misplaced, like a thimble. Nothing breakable, and nothing with any monetary value, for once. He's also not stealing them, which is new. He just sits there, absently sorting and rearranging them with a constant 'tic, tic, tic'. There's probably a pattern to the arrangements he's making, but nothing that can be identified by the casual observer.
Bare feet can be heard padding quietly into the house, the door closing behind the bearer of the feet. Unfortunately, that's about as quiet as it'll get as Esme's eyes settle upon Kyler and the woman prepares to kick the young vampire out of her house, again. It does, in fact, take several minutes of mental conversation (poor Edward) for the woman to talk herself out of kicking Kyler out, for Jasper and Alice's sake, and instead she stands there, watching, a frown etched across her features.
Kyler does not look up from the objects of interest as Esme enters the room, his fingers moving at normal speeds, but gradually speeding as a frown deepens on his features. In spite of supposedly superhuman hearing, he hasn't shown any evidence that he is aware of Esme's arrival. Throughout those several minutes, he just keeps working. Unfortunately, about the time she decides not to kick him out, he lifts his eyes, glaring at the empty chair across the table. "Shut up!" he states. "You don't know anything." And if the person in the chair were real, they'd probably be offended. Perhaps they are, because Kyler just gives a last glare, a sniff, and a wordless grumble before going back to his object-sorting. Poor Edward indeed.
Esme crosses her arms. She's outright scowling now, which is an uncommon sight for Esme, unless your name happens to be Kyler. "It's not nice to tell people they don't know anything," she states, her voice far too quiet for human hearing, though, so whether or not Kyler hears and responds to her, is unknown to her.
Kyler snorts faintly, "Who cares about nice? Can't be rude to invisible people. Shut up, already, I'm not talking to you, Henry." He glances up, peering at the empty chair for a moment, then glances to another corner of the kitchen for another glare. Whether or not he registers Esme's presence is unclear, as his gaze returns to the objects he shuffles. Now, he ceases to shuffle them and starts carefully building a tower of sorts. It's a design disaster, of course, and bound to tumble sooner or later. But at least nothing is breakable this time.
Esme flinches, slightly as she watches the tower, though she doesn't say much, yet. "If you insist on being in my house, you will behave and be nice," she scolds, gently…ish. She doesn't, however, say anything on the undoubtedly precarious tower. She already knows she's going to be washing the entire house, again.
Kyler rolls his eyes a little, and gives up building his tower in favor of rubbing at his face, as though he had a headache. "/God/ mom… Don't you ever shut up? You can't kick out your kids." A pause, as he considers this, still without looking at Esme. "You never tried to kick me out before. That's new." There's a spark of lucidity for a brief moment, and he actually looks up. For a moment, there's a dark, sort of haunted look as he regards her, as though he were on the edge of some horrific epiphany. A moment later, however, the look has vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced with a little smirk more suitable to a bratty teenager than an insane 40-year-old vampire. "Anyhow, you can't kick me out, I live with Tom, remember?" Another crack in the facade as he pauses, and then fiddles with a fork, flustered. "Except…you didn't ever know Tom…" Poor puzzled Kyler. Without warning, he hisses and lashes out at the tower he'd built, sending bits of metal clinking and clattering everywhere, accompanied by a thrilled giggle from Kyler.
Esme blinks as she watches and listens to Kyler, before silently thanking god, in a literal fashion, that Kyler is NOT her son, or in anyway related for her (gosh isn't she in for a good time when she finds out). The woman, however, does allow the young vampire his rant as she starts picking up the utensils and puts them in the sink so that they can be quite thoroughly washed, with bleach.
Kyler watches Esme as she starts to put up the utensils, once again with a distracted, confused sort of look. He glances toward the chair, toward the corner, then back to Esme. Something just doesn't add up…Finally, without another word, he meekly slinks from his chair to join Esme in picking up the scattered objects and putting them in the sink.
Esme offers a… matronly smile towards Kyler as he starts helping with the clean up. "Hello Kyler," she greets, politely, in a pleasant fashion, though not in a happy bright 'YAY KYLER' fashion, but it's Esme.
Kyler blinks, puzzled, as Esme says hello. He glances around the room again, then finally just drops a spoon into the sink and returns to the kitchen table. He settles into a chair, distracted, then smiles vaguely. "Esme," he says, at long last. "Esme is real. Mom is invisible. That's right?" he asks, glancing to Esme for confirmation, as though she had all the answers.
=
Esme nods and offers a bright smile this time. "That's right, Kyler. I'm real," she gives in a polite fashion as she runs some water in the sink, along with soap and some bleach, just a little bit, but this is not unusual for Esme, she is a bit of a neat freak.
Kyler brightens a little, giving a hopefully little smile. "You're real, and mom is not real, and Henry is not real, and Tom is real." He pauses. Something is wrong there, apparently. "Tom is real…" Frown. "Where's Tom?" Once again, Esme is supposed to have all the answers.
Esme moves to rest a hand upon Kyler's arm. "Tom is not here, Kyler, just me. Just Esme," she gives in a calm, gentle voice. "We are the only people here right now."
Kyler glances around the room, and eventually brings his gaze down to Esme's hand on his arm, thoughtfully. "Tom is real," he repeats, a bit more weakly. "He /was/ real." Eventually, his gaze follows back up to Esme's face, with a vaguely troubled look. "Am I scary?" he asks, back to his usual childish tones, but rather more vulnerable than usual.
Esme tilts her head before shaking it and moving towards the sink, dipping her ice cold hands into the scalding hot water. "No, you're not scary," she responds, not finding it necessary to think on that answer.
Kyler brightens just slightly at that reassurance. "Really? Some people say I'm scary." He slinks up from his chair, and follows her to the sink. Hey, soapy hot water and shiny metal trinkets. What's not to love? But he doesn't participate in the washing of the dishes. For now, he just watches, fascinated by the suds. "I like you, Esme," he says, finally, with a false off-handedness. "You're a good mom to My Jasper and My Alice." A silence, and then he suddenly throws his arms around her waist, happily resting his head against her while still watching the suds. "You're a good mom-mom, too."
Esme diligently goes about cleaning the dishes, the smell of bleach and soap invading the nostrils of anyone within the house, no doubt. "Thank you, Kyler. I love my children, very much, and try to take the best care of them that I can," she offers with a nod of her head as she speedily finishes the dishes.
Kyler watches the suds, thoughtfully. "My Alice loves me. She said so. And My Jasper does, too." One can almost hear the cogs turning. A leads to B leads to Z, skipping all the letters in between, and suddenly he looks up, a bit anxiously. "Do you love me, then?" Why he feels this need to please Esme is anyone's guess.
Esme bites her tongue for a moment, just a fraction of a moment. "I think you're a good kid, Kyler," she gives. She can't say she loves Ky, but she doesn't want to hurt the young vampire, seeing as two of her kids like him, so…
Kyler blinks at that, tilts his head as he considers her statement. "I'm not bad," he agrees, quietly. Then he glances down, and releases Esme with a sudden vague distress. "I'm all dirty." As though he's only just now noticing. "Why'm I all dirty?"
Esme shakes her head. "No, you're not bad," she responds as she dries and starts putting the dishes away. "And you were probably out playing in the dirt," she responds with a slightl smile. Perhaps Kyler reminds her, faintly, of her long dead infant son.
Kyler turns over his hands frowning faintly. "I wasn't playing in the dirt," he says, distractedly. He turns his hand over again, then looks back up at Esme, uncertainly. He waits for a long time, uncertainly, and then gives a kind of hesitant smile in return. "You're smiling. Mad people don't smile."
Esme shrugs slightly. "I guess you just remind me of someone I used to know," she answers with a faint, slightly nostalgic smile as she finishes putting the dishes away.
Kyler brightens a little, clearly cheered by the idea that he put a smile on Esme's face. Impulsively, he jumps forward, dirt and all, and lands a kiss on her cheek. "I love Mom-mom!" he declares, then grins brightly. "Bathtime!" And off he goes, darting silently toward the bathtub and, presumably, the bubble bath.
Esme crinkles her nose, but tries, very hard, not to say anything that would upset Kyler. "Just don't use too many bubbles," she gives as she finishes tidying up the kitchen, undoubtedly she'll do a more thorough job when Kyler's gone.
