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Post by Administrator on Mar 19, 2009 21:20:46 GMT -5
This is the upscale home where Thera lives...
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Post by reeves on Mar 19, 2009 21:22:34 GMT -5
*New Day*
Reeves made his way down the familiar neighborhood, around fifth avenue. Twas where most of the "society" in New York lived, and where Reeves did most of his work. He worked at the Greeley Apartment store in Manhattan, as a delivery boy. This is how it worked, the rich people bought their pleasantries, fanciful clothes, and hats, and the store had a delivery boy, Reeves, to bring their purchases out to the houses, so that the rich didn't have to make an extra trip back to the store to get their things. A little bit of a strange notion, but it paid all the same so Reeves didn't object.
Not that he truly enjoyed lugging packages around the city all day. He sighed, heading towards the house he was assigned to bring the purchases to, the Nobles. You would think his job would be interesting, and it was somewhat, a nice thing to get out of the dreary streets and slums, to see nicely kept mansions and gardens instead of gray buildings. He faced much scorn though sometimes. He had to walk these streets seven times a week after all, recieving downcast, arrrogant looks from the rich. He would just shrug and do his job, though their scorn wasn't the most pleasant thing.
He sighed as he dropped a couple boxes, right in front of the gate of the house. He grimaced and mumbled under his breath, hoping the boxes wouldn't be too dirty, only a smudge, wasn't perfect, but he couldn't clean them off, it was just a box after all, wasn't it?
He knocked on the door and surveyed the house, tugging on his green vest that hung open and pushing his sleeves up to his elbows, they got in the way if they hung down. He pushed his cap up and as the door opened, he put as polite a smile on his sleek face as he could manage.
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Post by Thera Noble on Mar 19, 2009 22:34:00 GMT -5
Thera was sitting in the parlor brushing her doll's hair innocently (an insipid practice which she went through daily more for the sake of her father's view of her than for her own pleasure) when she heard a knock at the door. "Door!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. When there was no immediate response from any of the servants she yelled again "Hello! I said there was someone at the door!" When she was yet again met with silence she jumped up with huff and began to make her way to the entranceway. "honestly! why do we pay those pathetic little rats if they can't even answer a door on their own?" she muttered angrily to herself as she reached the door and unlocked it "I have to everything for myself, It's an absolute disgrace" she swung the door open only to see a dishevelled looking boy with a pile of boxes around him. A look of disgust formed on her face the moment she saw him and she took a step back from the door. It was bad enough that she had to go and open the door when they were supposed to have hired enough help to take care of those things. "What do you want?" she sneered, placing her hands on her hips. She almost felt sorry for the boy ...almost. She was already in a bad mood from tending to her stupid little dolls for hours on end (Honestly, she wasn't a little girl anymore and it was simply atrocious that she was forced to pretend that she still liked such juvinile things.) and nothing good could come of her having any human contact at this time especially with such a fithy little... thing.
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Post by reeves on Mar 20, 2009 8:01:55 GMT -5
Reeves was surprised when the door was opened by a girl, who looked around his age. Her dress was white and spotless, her soft brown curls danced at her shoulders, and a brown bow in her hair.
He watched as her eyes widened when her gaze first set on him and she backed up almost a foot, as if Reeves had some kind of contagious disease.
Then a sneer appeared on her face and she asked, ""What do you want?"
Reeves raised an eyebrow at her tone and then let a somewhat playful smirk light his face, he shrugged his shoulders and said simply, "Delivery."
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Post by Thera Noble on Mar 20, 2009 10:57:40 GMT -5
Thera rolled her eyes and turned to face the staircase. "Mother! Some revolting boy is here with that equally revolting hat you ordered!" she yelled up the stairs, her hands still placed squarely on her hips. She waited for a response and when it didn't come, she yelled again, this time for her brother. "Bertrand! Get down here!" She yelled, clearly fed up with the lack of response to her demands. "one of your filthy little street rat friends is at the door and I think it wants to be paid."
Finally, she heard someone walking upstairs and after a minute or so, Bertrand appeared on the stairs. "Thera, you know what I've told you about referring to people as inanimate objects" he chided patiently as he descended the staircase.
Thera rolled her eyes again "and don't you remember what I told you about calling people whatever I like?" she retorted angrily "More importantly, why on earth did I even have to answer the door for it when that's supposed to be what the help is for" she comlained, crossing her arms over her chest like a petulant child.
"They're shopping with Mother, didn't you remember?" he asked, ruffling his little sister's immacculate hair lightly as he passed her and continued on to the door. The boy seemed nice enough, though he still wasn't surprised by what his sister's reaction had been to him. She hated almost everyone that they met and, unless they were rich, she treated them with unadulterated contempt.
"Good morning." he greeted cordially "I'm Bertrand Noble and this is my sister, Thera. I hear you have a package for my mother."
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Post by reeves on Mar 20, 2009 15:37:06 GMT -5
"Mother! Some revolting boy is here with that equally revolting hat you ordered!"
Some newsies might have gotten angry at that, but Reeves was quite used to it, his smirk just widened slightly, his blue eyes twinkling. He found her behavior somewhat amusing, it was a change to the quiet exchanges and slamming doors in faces with no tips he was used to.
She turned to call her Mother, and then her brother, who eventually showed up, descending the stairs, informing his sister that their mother was out shoving.
Reeves eyed the boxes around him, all for the Noble's wondering how often their mother went shopping. He peered into the house slightly while Thera spoke to her brother, amazed at the architecture, paintings, chandeliers, just amazed in general at the house.
Reeves watched the exchange between the two children, that small smirk still on his face, and then her older brother turned to him.
"Good morning. I'm Bertrand Noble and this is my sister, Thera. I hear you have a package for my mother."
Reeves nodded a good morning back, and kept his face straight, though Bertrand was quite the name. He knew it wasn't his place to introduce himself, his name didn't matter, he was just a delivery boy off the streets, he didn't have a place here at all.
"Yeah, I do, more than one ctually'," Reeves gestured to the packages.
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Post by Thera Noble on Mar 20, 2009 16:42:08 GMT -5
Bertrand let out an exasperated sigh though the expression on his face was one of mild amusement. "How many?" He asked, expecting the worst "all of them?" It wouldn't have been the first time that his mother had ordered so many packages that she had become the one and only stop on a delivery boy's route because of her compulsive shopping. They had the means to cover it, clearly, but regardless, it was getting a bit ridiculous.
"They are not all Mother's!" Thera insisted, storming over to the door. "She promised Daddy that she would tone it down" Bertrand dismissed his livid sister with a small shake of his head "Ther, you know as well as I do that she was lying. She always lies"
He tuned his attention back to the delivery boy "At least tell me they're not the same thing again" he asked almost pleadingly. Lately his mother had grown an affinity for buying several of the same fashion of hat in all of the different colors with at least two of each color. She claimed it was because she wanted to compare them to see which one fit better but, at least to Bertrand, seemed a bit unreasonable considering thyat none of the stores that she went to ever allowed returns.
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Post by reeves on Mar 20, 2009 16:56:11 GMT -5
"How many? all of them?"
Before Reeves could answer, Thera came storming over to the door, coming to her Mother's defense, yet not humbly, more in a livid kind of way. Reeves almost took a step back when he stormed over like that, he caught himself and smirked again. Yes, watching these two rich kids argue was quite interesting. Reeves was almost settling back for a show.
"They are not all Mother's! She promised Daddy that she would tone it down!"
"Ther, you know as well as I do that she was lying. She always lies"
"At least tell me they're not the same thing again"
Reeves smirked slightly and shrugged again. "I don't pack the purchases, I only deliver. But if yar interested in good news, they are not all hers. All of them, but one."
He grinned slightly at the humor and pushed his cap on on his head, tipping it mock politely to Thera to see what she would do.
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Post by Thera Noble on Mar 20, 2009 18:09:01 GMT -5
Bertand shrugged "Well, at least there's that." he turned to Thera and gave a halfhearted smile "In other good news, I just won my bet with Essie" Thera looked up at her brother indignantly "You bet that Mother would break her promise? And even worse, you made a bet with the help?" Bertrand nodded, his smile brightening considerably "Hey, it was a sure thing. I couldn't resist. As for Essie, you have to hand it to the lady. She's quite loyal. Mother treats her even worse than you treat people and she still believes in her." Thera rolled her eyes and glanced back at the door just in time to see the delivery boy tip his cap to her with an amused look on his face. Bad choice.
Had she not been disgusted by the very thought of touching the little rat, she would've strangled him "Look, you little bastard, you had better wipe that smug look off of your face or I'll go get my father's Doberman to do it for you" she threatened, giving him an enraged look.
Bertrand sighed and put his hand on his sister's shoulder. "Thera, leave the kid alone, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it." he turned to the boy again "well, I guess we ought to bring them up to mother's room" he picked up a pile of boxes and motioned to the stairs. "come on in, it's upstairs." He added, pleasently
"You're actually going to let that little cocoroach into the house?" asked Thera, indignant. "Well, yes, unless you want to carry the rest of those boxes up the stairs" answered Bertrand with a chuckle. Thera glanced over at the boxes before answering with a huff "Fine. But keep him away from my room. Hell, keep him away from the hallway that leads to my room. It's bad enough that the stairway will be tainted" as soon as she had finished, she stormed off into the parlor and Bertrand started up the stairs with the boxes.
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Post by reeves on Mar 20, 2009 18:25:13 GMT -5
"Look, you little bastard, you had better wipe that smug look off of your face or I'll go get my father's Doberman to do it for you"
"Thera, leave the kid alone, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it."
Reeves figured he shouldn't take any more chances, he hid his smirk and looked down at the boxes, tugging on one of the buttons on his dark green vest.
"well, I guess we ought to bring them up to mother's room, "come on in, it's upstairs."
Reeves nodded, picking up a large stack of boxes, swallowing his surprise. Out of his whole month of delivering for Horace Greeley Department store, he had never been asked inside, ever.
"You're actually going to let that little cocoroach into the house?"
Reeves wanted to say he wasn't little, he was just as old as her, probably older, but he knew that would get him in more trouble, he was already on edge with Mr. Alexander, his boss.
"Well, yes, unless you want to carry the rest of those boxes up the stairs"
"Fine. But keep him away from my room. Hell, keep him away from the hallway that leads to my room. It's bad enough that the stairway will be tainted"
Reeves watched her go with a somewhat surprised smirk. Heck, he thought society had manners. He didn't even swear half as much as he. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead slightly as if to say, "Ohh do I feel bad for you..." to Bertrand.
He wiped his shoes off before stepping into the house, he truly felt like he would ruin everything just as Thera said. He felt like if he touched one figurine it would break into thousands of pieces, but he followed Bertrand up the carpeted stairs, looking at everything around him in pure amazement.
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Post by Thera Noble on Mar 20, 2009 19:45:49 GMT -5
Bertrand saw the look that the delivery boy gave him and chuckle. "Sorry about her. She can be a handful sometimes." he shrugged slightly "but...she's my baby sister and I love her." he smirked amusedly "I say it to the mirror ten times every night, ten more for my mother, ten for my father." he chuckled again. " You can't really blame Thera for how she is, though. She just acts like Mother does. You really shouldn't take it personally, they just can't stand to be around people who might actually have enough freedom to enjoy themselves once in awhile. They live in gilded cages and they'll die in gilded cages." he looked back at the boy stoically "they know that. they may be brats but they aren't stupid."
As he looked back, he noticed that the boy had an awed and nervous look on his face. "nice, isn't it?" he asked , a undertone of bitterness to her voice. "I bet you's scared to touch anything. Me too. When I was a little kid, Mother always used to tell me 'don't break anything. It's worth more than you are.' " he gave a joyless little chuckle. "She means it less now since she can't make anymore heirs but still..." Just then they reached the top of the stairs and Bertrand directed the boy down one of three hallways. "Mother's room is at the end on the right" he said, pointing down to the darkened end of the long, opulant hallway.
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Post by reeves on Mar 20, 2009 19:55:37 GMT -5
" You can't really blame Thera for how she is, though. She just acts like Mother does. You really shouldn't take it personally, they just can't stand to be around people who might actually have enough freedom to enjoy themselves once in awhile. They live in gilded cages and they'll die in gilded cages."
Reeves nodded wordlessly, somewhat understanding. "We don't have as much freedom as you think, some people don't even want it, since freedom means being independent," He said softly, not knowing if he should be allowed to express his opinion like this with him being so much below the standards of Bertrand.
"And if freedom means having to work for one lousy loaf of bread to support yourself, having no one to depend on but yourself, then to Hell with freedom."
"I bet you's scared to touch anything. Me too. When I was a little kid, Mother always used to tell me 'don't break anything. It's worth more than you are.' "
Reeves listened to the boy's words with a surprised look on his face, he always thought the rich had everything, families, anything they wanted. So how come this boy didn't sound so satisfied. He would hate to have a mother like that. His mother had been at least caring of her children, before she left that is...
"Mother's room is at the end on the right
Reeves peered down the dark hallway and nodded, sighing slightly adn picking up the boxes, making his way.
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Post by Thera Noble on Mar 21, 2009 8:01:24 GMT -5
Bertrand shrugged "Yes, I do suppose that would be a bit of a down side, wouldn't it. Oh well, then I suppose we should both just aspire to be part of the middle class. They must have it the best. All of the freedom with none of the money worries." he was silent for a moment, his face pensive. "Maybe the people that I run with are middle class after all. They've always seemed pretty happy to me." he shrugged again. "Oh well, I suppose I'm not the best judge of social standing now am I? but you can't really blame me. The only insight either of my parents ever gave me into the matter was that if somebody wasn't at least nouveau riche, they were trash and sometimes if they were nouveau riche, they were still trash just in fancier bags." he gave a dark chuckle. "If thhey ever found out the type of person that I run with when I tell them that I'm going to the country club or the library. Well...let's just say it wouldn't be pretty. I would at least be disowned, probably worse. Thera's the only one in my family who knows and she wouldn't tell under pain of death. I know it doesn't seem like it, but she can be really loyal when she wants to be"
Finally, they reached the end of the long hallway and Bertrand turned to a door which was largely nondescript with the exception of an old portrait of a beautiful young woman with an elaborate hairstyle and now- outdated clothing. He rolled his eyes in exaspiration and turned to the boy as if to say "don't ask". He pushed the door open with his shoulder and walked into the vast room. It had a gilded ceiling and at least ten different armoires scattered about the room. The main distinguishing quality of the room, however was the fact that, lining the walls, there were at least a hundred portraits (some in paint, others in film) of the same woman whose portrait was hanging on the door. The age of the woman in the portraits ranged from infancy to middle age and in some of them she was accompanied by two children (their ages ranging from infancy to about age ten for the boy and age six for the girl) and a dignified looking man, a few years older than the woman. Bertrand let out a frustrated sigh as he placed his pile of boxes down next to the nearest armoire. "Never mind the portraits, they're just mothers instraments in the preservation and display of her ego- centrism"
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Post by reeves on Mar 21, 2009 8:56:28 GMT -5
"Yes, I do suppose that would be a bit of a down side, wouldn't it. Oh well, then I suppose we should both just aspire to be part of the middle class. They must have it the best. All of the freedom with none of the money worries." he was silent for a moment, his face pensive. "
Reeves nodded, thinking that was actually pretty accurate. The middle class had families, and good hard earned money, they had pleasantries every once in a while. Yeah, being in the middle class would probably be nice.
"Oh well, I suppose I'm not the best judge of social standing now am I? but you can't really blame me. The only insight either of my parents ever gave me into the matter was that if somebody wasn't at least nouveau riche, they were trash and sometimes if they were nouveau riche, they were still trash just in fancier bags."
Reeves listened to Bertrand's rambling and sighed slightly, not annoyed with him, just at the fact that people unfairly call other people trash. As for the fancy terms for the rich sounded completely foreign to him.
"If they ever found out the type of person that I run with when I tell them that I'm going to the country club or the library. Well...let's just say it wouldn't be pretty. I would at least be disowned, probably worse. Thera's the only one in my family who knows and she wouldn't tell under pain of death. I know it doesn't seem like it, but she can be really loyal when she wants to be"
Reeves nodded, knowing exactly what he meant at the end. He had the same thing with his older sister, Alice. They fought endlessly sometimes. His sister was stressed from collage, she got in on a small scholarship and she was working her way to being a teacher. Reeves was often sore both physically and emotionally. When he came home from a long stressful day, he just wanted to be alone, do what he wanted to do, take a nap even, but his sister always butted in. But they were all each other had left, Alice was important to Reeves as Reeves was important to Alice. They were a family...somewhat.
"Never mind the portraits, they're just mothers instraments in the preservation and display of her ego- centrism"
Reeves set down his boxes with a sigh, relieved to be done with them. It was just a tiring day, kinda dreary for him. He nodded at the pictures and smirked.
"Wow, 's that yar family?" He asked looking at all the portraits with a half amused half aw smirk. He pushed his white sleeves up to his elbows again and fingered a loose button on his vest. He couldn't help but sideglance at Bertrand's clothes. No, he wasn't envious. Everything here was just so....different.
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Post by Thera Noble on Mar 21, 2009 22:12:59 GMT -5
Bertrand nodded, a wry smile on his face. "sure is." He ran a hand through his hair and gave a slight chuckle "Well, actually, most of the pictures are just mother but, yes, the recent ones with kids in them are of my family." His eyes romed around the room and finally landed on the nearest photo which contained the entire family in it. Thera had only been a few months old when it was taken. He had been about four and a half and thrilled to be allowed to hold his baby sister when the picture was taken. Mothe rhadn't wanted too because she didn't want her new dress to be mussed up if Thera were to have spit up or something like that. father didn't want to hold her because it wouldn't have been a proper thing for a wealthy patriarch to do and neither of them would even begin to consider letting the wet nurse into the picture so Bertrand was allowed to hold her. He indicated the portrait to the boy who was standing next to him. "this one's my favorite I think. It was the only one that I can remember being taken before Thera learned to talk" He chuckled lightly "good times those were, good times."
At about that time, Thera appeared in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest and an angry pout on her face. "I heard that" she complained loudly. Initially, she looked as if she was about to storm over and confront her brother as she had at the door but she froze as soon as she realized where she was. Bertrand rolled his eyes in exaspiration. "Thera, It's just Mother's room. It's not hallowed ground, I promise." he assured her, his voice filled with gentle sarcasm. "and as for my previous comment, I uphold what I said. If you don't think you can be obnoxious when you talk, then you've obviously never met yourself."
Thera gave her brother a dirty look and took a tenative step into her mother's room as if to prove that she had no qualms about it. Her attempt was less that fruitful, however, as, the moment her feet touched the floor, she took a hurried step back as if she had been burned. "Whatever you say dear brother" she replied scathingly, "I just came here to make sure that he doesn't touch anything that he doesn't have to " she sneered, indicating the boy. "And , joy of joys, it seems that he's served his purpose. So...why isn't he gone" she asked angrily.
"He's not gone because I'm having a conversation with him, Thera." answered Bertrand in an even tone. "Believe it or not. Most people find it odd when they walk into a room which the resident has practically lined with pictures of herself." Thera looked as if she was about to protest but she seemed to decide against it "Fine" she replied snippily "Just make sure he doesn't touch any of them and keep him away from my room." she added before storming off.
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