Author: Simone, Posted: Sat Jan 2, 2021 11:30 AM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Simone’s eyes turned to a death glare towards the boy and Ezili looked mighty uncomfortable as she took her chair and scooted away. “Now, now don’t be like that Miss. You are far too pretty to be running away like that.”

“I’m taken.” Ezili puffed her face a bit and looked a tad more determined than usual.

“Nonsense… by that bookworm? How special can h–” The boy was interrupted by Simone who slammed her hands on the table and stood up. There was silence for a moment before Simone started to cough and her hand showed visible blood.

An older noble who had walked into the establishment ran over, “Mrs. Terrowin!” He was quick to help her sit back down and hand her a handkerchief for the blood. “You must really watch your health! You know that you aren’t well sometimes!” It was one of the nobles in charge of watching the progress of the island and he knew Simone very well by now.

“My apologies Lord Capell,” she started to cough into the cloth given to her. “I was feeling rather faint due to stress you see.” One of the waiters of the restaurant ran over with a pitcher of water and got her a drink.

“Stress? Is it the food here? My brother-in-law happens to own this place,” he was kneeling by Simone who held a gentle smile on her face.

“Oh, nothing like that,” she looked at the boy and frowned, “it’s just that this boy… He hasn’t left my Ezili alone and you know how her and Lucas are. Despite my husband… Oh silly me, you haven’t met my Lewis. My manners are dreadful.”

“Nonsense! You aren’t well and I’m sure your husband just wanted you to get out and about for a change while feeling weak.” He was patting her hand and gave Lewis a smile. “We can have formal introductions another time. I’ve only been trying to get you to tell us when he would be home!”

“You know how a job like his can be~” Simone patted his hand in return.

The lord stood up and his demeanor changed towards the boy, “I know you rather well.” The color had drained from the boy’s face as he stood up.

“She’s faking it! She was fine until a minute ago!” The boy accused Simone.

“Because you stressed her. You should know Mrs. Terrowin’s health is very fragile and it takes everything she has to care for her children. You should be ashamed of yourself stressing not only her but also her husband who is home from business for once! Pierre!” The lord shouted. “Remove this boy and his family from place! Please, pay for the Terrowins’ meals on my behalf. I’m so sorry that this has happened… I’m also sorry about the meeting today. I can’t imagine that helped at all.”

“Oh, it was no trouble. I’m quite used to those ruffians at this point,” it was almost as if Simone’s entire personality had changed for the situation. Her children were used to this.

“You have one hell of a wife Mr. Terrowin. She argues better than any Lord on the council, you should take pride in that,” the lord laughed a bit and said his good-byes before departing for his table.

Ezili leaned in, “Are you ok?”

“Oh, I’m fine… I used a bit of fire magic on myself to make myself cough blood,” Simone whispered and winked. “It pays to be an ailing wife you see.” She took a drink of water and sighed a bit as the family hollered about how unfair it was to treat nobles like them like this. “It’s quite noisy out here today Lewis~”

“You’ll pay for this!” The father was yelling now and Simone sighed a bit.

“Like father like son. No wonder he’s an asshole… Also, where is Rex?”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:59 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Lewis looked in disbelief as the lobster came up, and put his head in his hands as the waiter explained where it came from. Rex was glaring at it, and tightened his fist around the fork that he had been eating with. Yet again, this idiot boy was trying to woo Simone and Ezili. Again.

“Kindly return it,” Lewis said with a smile as he paid the waiter a few extra silver. “Unfortunately, we don’t really eat much seafood….they’re…friends.” It was a clear and decisive no from both Simone and Ezili, which should have been the end of it, but as per usual it never was.

Rex excused himself to the bathroom after a few moments, and disappeared. Almost the exact moment that the door closed, the bold and brash boy practically sprinted to the free seat next to Ezili, and found himself across from Lewis. The assassin was staring at him with his usual death glare, but he seemed wholly unfazed by it.

“It would seem you’ve stolen my son’s seat,” Lewis said with a dull tone. “I would ask that you remove yourself, and go back to wherever you came from before I call the guards for harassment…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:49 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Simone sighed a bit at the mess that Rex was making. They were at least having a good time and the boy never missed a meal. Ezili seemed amused with Rex’s antics and it was one of the few times she paid attention to him. Of course, Lucas wasn’t around so her attention could go elsewhere. She was head over heels in love with the poor boy.

“Yes, please before Rhenakos accuses us of child abuse,” Simone chuckled a bit and helped Ezili with her lamb chops. At least she wasn’t a messy eater like the guide who everyone had become acquainted with now.

Simone just had a small soup but she wasn’t much of an eater like Ezili was. She was watching Ezili demolish the food in front of her. “You must be exhausted after that lesson Ezili… I’ve never seen you eat like this.”

“I’m just really happy! I skipped all the way here so I’m more tired than normal!” Ezili took a sip of her drink to help with the food and Simone chuckled a bit.

That was when some lobster was brought over, “Miss, this is from the younger man at the table in the corner. He is wondering if you would go on a date with him. To which miss he didn’t say but he did say he likes older women just as much as the young ones.”

Oh no… Simone looked and sure enough…

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:43 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

“There’s a butcher shop that’s next to a small eatery down the road here. I hear they do deals on freshly cooked things all the time,” Lewis said. “If we’re lucky they may have lamb. We can pick up some bacon for Lucas and cook it when we get home.” He looked around for a moment. “Rex is here somewhere. I doubt he’d want to miss lunch, but he at least knows to meet us at the docks later.”

The family made their way to the eatery, and with a bit of surprise, Rex found his way in to crash the meal. It was a fun time, with Rex expositing his adventures to everyone at the table, with a dash of embellishment. When he was finished, he asked how Ezili had fared in her lessons, in which the girl proudly stated that she had been praised, and Rex gave a quick mock applause.

“Great job sis,” he said as he bit into his rather large chunk of beef without cutting it.

“Chew your food, Rex…” Lewis said as he tenderly ate the meal in front of him. “You’ll choke if you aren’t careful…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:31 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Simone was fighting with the town in general and after the years they had come to acknowledge she wasn’t really a woman to be fought with. She was gracious though and agreed to little things here or there but would also demand cuts. “Fair is fair after all.” Which would lead them to realize after they were down that she had actually lowered their taxes for the year. The woman was good with her tongue and that silver-tongued merchant wasn’t much better.

Ezili had on a cute little cloak that was keeping her warm and her dance outfit was underneath. It was short but still covered her a good bit. It was in her favorite colors blue and purple. She was so happy she was almost skipping. The teacher had said she did very, very well which made her more excited than usual as she liked praise a lot.

“He would like anything with bacon,” Ezili said with a sly smile as she put her hands together and thought. “I would like a fruit parfait though~ The big yummy ones from the food stall! Though… maybe that can be for dessert I am awfully hungry.”

Simone swooped in and threw herself on Lewis’s back. “Oh… My gods. They are brutal. They talk on and on with legal wording trying to tax us for everything. A child tax really? I got our taxes lowered by five silver they didn’t even know they got swindled until afterward. They are really going to nail us next year,” Simone chuckled a bit. She wrapped her arms around Lewis’s neck. “What are we deciding on?”

“Lunch Mama!” Ezili was super pleased with herself. “Oh! What about lamb chops for lunch!”

“Child you will eat us out of house and home,” Simone laughed a bit.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:22 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Lucas took Ezil’s hand and squeezed it as they went inside. There was a lot that had happened, and it was time to settle in for the night.

With the situation settled, days passed without incident, and soon Lewis found himself in Benin with Ezili for one of her usual dance lessons. Rex had tagged along to the main island, but had wandered off in search of his own adventure, leaving the two alone. Simone had gone into town earlier that morning, and was still probably wrapped up in town hall meetings, as usual around this time of the season. With trade being the way it was, it was always around now that they tried to increase taxes for every little reason.

The lesson went well, as usual, and Ezili was proud of her performance that day, and was happily prancing about the town with Lewis following. They had hours to kill before the next ship home, and had planned on meeting Simone soon for lunch. For the time being, though, they were wandering about the town with no real destination.

“Did you have anything you wanted in particular for lunch, Ezili?” Lewis asked. Despite her small frame, she could pack it away with the rest of the boys. She probably burned a lot of energy dancing. “And what about Lucas. What do you think he wants?” Lucas wasn’t the pickiest eater, but he was always quiet and never really said much about his favorite things.

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:10 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

The nobleman looked disappointed. Shot down for both mother and daughter who would have seen the day. Still, this mother didn’t even look old enough for half of these kids. “Fine, I’ll give up for today.” He picked up the flowers and the candy thrust them into Ezili’s arms before kissing her cheek and walking away.

Ezili’s face was bright red. “He just… He just…” She stuttering and Simone looked rather displeased. She and Lucas had stolen kisses for sure but they had always just let it happen. That was out of the blue! People did that out of the blue! “Rex!” Ezili let out a little whine with little tears in her eyes. She had never been kissed by anyone but Lucas or her parents. This was weird. It was wrong to her.

As Rex started to go Simone grabbed him by the collar, “Just let him go. If he comes back or does anything else you can do whatever you want to him. Lucas, why you don’t get some hot chocolate with Ezili? I know the cook was making some for Fiori. We can go to town another day for pastries, right now I wouldn’t trust you two alone there.”

Simone was watching the figure go off in the distance. “Are you alright Ezili?” She nodded silently before running over to Lucas and hugging him.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 5:02 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Lucas, much like Ezili, had no idea how to handle these kinds of situations. The poor boy still had issues standing up to authority in general, even when he knew he was in the right, and this was no different. A lowly cabin boy and slave shouldn’t talk to a nobleman, let alone tell him off for courting.

“No,” Lewis said with a deadpan look. This was a lot easier than dealing with his infatuation with Simone. Leagues easier. “She can’t be bought, and her heart goes where it wants. And unless you’re blind, it’s clear her heart belongs with Lucas…” It was weird hearing the words come out of his mouth. While he had, to an extent, accepted that it was happening, he still watched them like hawks.

Rex was already cracking his knuckles again. “Hey Lucas…bro…can I beat the shit outta him? Ezili? He bothering you? I can knock him out and we can toss him in the water….it can even be an experiment…we can see if he floats. How many rocks does it take to sink him…you know…the science shit you like…”

“I would suggest you leave,” Lewis said as he crossed his arms. “It seems you are not welcome here…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:51 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Simone had felt the inhale of air. Lewis had been doing really good lately with handling things to do with her and she was proud of him. She made her way downstairs with Alshaya and Everett who were both fussing and pulling her hair. “Is there a problem love?”

“DA!” Alshaya yelled with a pout and a cry as she rubbed her tired little eyes.

Everett just clung to his mother and Simone sighed a bit. “I just can’t win with you two,” she chuckled a bit more and kissed Lewis on the cheek. “I’m afraid what my boys said is correct. I did say no and I meant it. I’m not into posh nobles and I certainly don’t like men who think they can buy anything they want. You’ll have to find another tree to climb~”

Perhaps she had spoken a bit too soon as Ezili was giggling with Lucas as they approached the house. The nobleman who had been brushing himself off and trying his best to appear better looked towards Ezili now.

His eyes got wide and he sucked in his breath. Ezili looked towards him and gave him a smile before she practically skipped past the man and into the house up to Lewis. “Papa, can we go to the mainland? Lucas said that there was a pastry shop that just opened up and I want to try some? It’s still really early in the day! I’m sure we could be back by nightfall!”

“If not her then WHAT ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER?!” The man pointed towards Ezili who turned and looked at him.

“What about me?” She pointed towards herself. Her long white curls were bouncing with her head tilt of confusion.

“Marry me!” The sudden outburst made Ezili blush as she looked to Lucas for help first not knowing how to handle yet another one.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:42 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

At the words that the boy had, Lewis took a moment. A deep inhale. Exhale. Another deep inhale. Exhale. It had been some time since he had been this agitated, and the boy was lucky that Lewis had taken the time to try and curb his more rash actions when it came to Simone. After all, he knew his wife could take care of herself.

At the sound of the coins, though, there was a rush of air past Lewis and Rex found himself decking the other boy. “Just so you know,” Rex said as he cracked his knuckle. “First one is on the house…second one’s gonna cost you what’s in the bag…” The teen was talking big, but there was a look of agitation on his face.

“This guy here? He’s like a father to me. And his wife? The woman you’re trying to pay for, is like a mother to me. So take your filthy noble bullshit of ‘buying’ people, and shove it up your ass.” The red head was heated, and it looked like he was going to go in for another attack, but Lewis put his hand on Rex’s shoulder, and pulled him back.

“Now, now, Rex…” Lewis said with a smirk. He was secretly a little proud of the kid. “We can’t go around beating people.” He gave the noble a glare as he held out his hand. “We’re better than this. We don’t attack defenseless people. Although,” he paused. “I do recall that she already told you no once…” He sighed. “You just have to accept the answer….and if you don’t…”

The eyes of the cold blooded assassin came back, “I must warn you that my family does not take kindly to insults. And I might not always be around to stop Rex here…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:33 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

There was toddler crying after the man asked for his sister. Most likely because Simone was now laughing her ass off up in their room. “Oh no, shhh. Shhh. Mommy didn’t mean to startle you,” she was laughing in between her words as she pulled them close and kissed them. “Mommy is just laughing at the funny man downstairs.”

The man thought for a moment before he got a disappointed look on his face, “There’s no way. How could she be interested in a person like you… She wouldn’t even look at me. Oh, I know! You obviously paid for her from her family! Such a common silly thing.” He dropped what was in his hands and fiddled around with a sack of coin. “So…?”

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:25 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Lewis answered the door with Rex behind him, and was immediately met with the suitor. He sighed, readying himself for the inevitable question, but was thrown off when he asked for Lewis’ sister. Rex had a visible look of confusion on his face, and then it dawned on him.

“Oh shit,” Rex said aloud. “Did you ju-”

Lewis held up his hand, and Rex went quiet. “I’m sorry…I think you must be mistaken,” the assassin said with a pleasant, fake voice. “I don’t have a sister. My wife, however, is upstairs with our children. I think you must be mistaken about where this lady you speak of went.” The silence filled the air momentarily.

“Hey, can I punch him if he doesn’t leave?” Rex asked, finally breaking the silence.

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 4:11 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Ezili was snuggled up into Lucas and listening to every word he said. She was sitting in his lap and he was looking over her shoulder reading the book. It was easy because she was smaller than he was. This was her safe and happy spot. He didn’t fuss too much when it was just them.

Simone pulled herself from Lewis’s lap with the kids who were napping now. “Really? Again? She has more suitors than I do and she’s only fourteen. Poor Lucas,” she chuckled. “I’ll keep the kids in here so they keep sleeping. They finally tuckered themselves out.” She kissed his cheek back. “Good luck you two.”

Once they were down in the parlor there was a knock at the door. Once Lewis opened it the man appeared nervous. He really wasn’t that much older than Lucas. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie, “Good evening I’m looking for a young lady who came to this island. She didn’t give me a chance to get her to change her mind… Is your sister here?” Clearly, it had to be his sister. "If I could just convince her for a moment of her time. I brought gifts."

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 3:56 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

While the adults were having their time with the toddlers, Rex found himself exploring the island like he usually did. Lucas and Ezili had gone out to the smaller set of docks, and were messing about in the water, or something. He didn’t really care about what kind of saltwater fish they could catch, or what species of rock existed on the island. It was all above his head anyway, and he’d much rather spend his time elsewhere.

And so he found himself climbing the vines on the exterior of the house, trying to get to the roof. It didn’t take him long, although he did almost fall a few different times. But when he got to the top, he could see far off into and off the island. First, he spotted Lucas and Ezili. Lucas had a book open and was reading something aloud, and the girl was just absolutely entranced by whatever he was saying.

Typical.

What was different, though, was at the pier there was a smaller vessel that he didn’t immediately recognize. It had a Benin flag on it, but the person coming off of it couldn’t have been but a few years older than he was, around Lucas’ age.

“Weird,” he said to himself. What was more confusing was that the kid was making a beeline to the house. “Are those….flowers? And chocolate? Oh gods…Ezili has another one…” He frowned. They were always so insistent. He had to punch one of them out cause he threatened Lucas and Ezili. They were weird, but they were family.

“I’ll have to head him off…” The boy started to scramble down the side of the house, and noticed he was at Lewis’ and Simone’s window. With a quick courteous knock, he tumbled in.

“Hey…we got another boy coming up. You wanna answer the door, or should I?”

Lewis was not shocked at Rex’s entrance, but was a little surprised at the tact the boy was showing when it came to fending off potentials for his daughter. “I guess I can handle it…I can talk them down better than you can…”

Rex shrugged, “Never said anything about talkin’, but you do you pops.” The teen hadn’t decided on whether or not to call Lewis his father, but every so often he let tiny things like this slip.

Lewis sighed, and looked to Simone, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before he slipped off the bed. “Let’s get this over with…”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 3:43 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Thanks to the resonance she wasn’t really away from the kids so missing them wasn’t a problem. She did miss hugging them but she spent most of the day with them so missing three hours wouldn’t kill her. Only it did. They were her precious babies and she enjoyed all the time with them she could soak up. They were just little hellions sometimes. Not so much Alshaya but every once in a while Everett would egg her on.

“Yes, all gone,” she blew raspberries on Everett’s belly to cause a fit of laughter.

“All the time~” She smirked a bit. “There’s this silver-haired man named Lewis Terrowin,” she chuckled at him. “He makes passes all the time. You should hear him.” She casually flirted with her husband while playing with Everett. “He’s too young for me anyway. He looks younger than you did when you found me.” She looked down at Alshaya in Lewis’s arms. “You can barely handle Ezili and Lucas… how are you going to handle Alshaya?”

There was a chuckle from Simone as she held Everett in her arms. He just wanted to snuggle now that he found her. “Ma! Loves!” He squealed up at her.

“I love you too,” she pet his hair and kissed the top of his head. “Did you have fun running amuck in the castle? Were you looking for me?” Everett nodded to her and hugged himself to her. “I’m always going to come back to you.” She chuckled a bit.

“Izzy has to find someone to put up with her first,” Simone reassured Lewis. “It happened by pure chance for Rhenakos.”

Simone came over and took Alshaya before laying back in Lewis’s arms with both of the kids. Alshaya grumped a bit but she seemed a bit more pleased when she saw Simone’s smile up at her father. “Sorry, kiddo but I need your Da just as much as you do.” Simone chuckled down at the little girl. Alshaya did a light pout before she and Everett started to babble at each other happily.

Author: Dusk, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 3:28 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

The time that Simone was away was…different to say the least. Lewis had a hold on taking care of Everett and Alshaya for the most part, but as they got older and more curious with the world, they got harder and harder to keep up with. Alshaya was less of a problem than Everett, as the little boy found himself wandering the halls of the castle. For a toddler, he was fast…faster than even Lewis could believe.

“There you are,” Lewis said as he swooped in and picked up a giggling Everett. “Where do you think you’re going, you little monster?” he said with a smile, putting his nose to Everett’s.

The silver hair child giggled, “Ma! Where Ma?” He strained against Lewis and tried to look around.

The assassin smiled, and merely held Everett close, walking back down the hall to his and Simone’ room where Alshaya was playing on the bed. “Momma went to town to have some ‘me time’. Even she needs a break from you little deviants…” He placed Everett on the bed with Alshaya, and smiled as the two started to play.

Lewis came in, and started to tickle the two of them, causing giggling fits that lasted for ages, and while they were distracted, time passed and soon Simone was home. The moment Simone was home, she came in and immediately went to her babies, who were excited to have their mother back, though Alshaya was back in Lewis’ arms in record time.

“Welcome back,” he said as he cradled Alshaya. “Simone had a great trip, didn’t she? All that icky stress is gone…” He bumped his nose to Shaya’s, and looked to his wife. “Isn’t it?’ He hardly had to ask, but it was more for playful banter than anything. The kids loved it.

“You often get offers?” Lewis asked, smirking. “Poor kid didn’t know what to do when you said no…” It was hard not to know what went down. As they were so well connected, it was impossible. “Just think…soon it won’t be you. It’ll be Ezili and Alshaya….” He blanked out for a moment. “And….Izzy….”

Author: Simone, Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 3:10 PM, Post Subject: An Admirer [P/R]

Simone was out in town doing a bit of light shopping. It was one of the few rare times that she had ‘alone’ time. Following behind her was a house helper that Lewis had asked to go with Simone. It was a pain but ever since the incident those many years ago now he wasn’t comfortable with her being by herself.

“And some candy for Fiori,” Simone put it all into her shopping bags which were a ton by now as she looked at the poor man who was helping her. “We’re almost done I swear.”

“No problem Missus really. You look less stressed than you have in a while.”

She smiled a bit and continued on for a good few steps before someone took her wrist. “Excuse me, Miss?”

“Unhand the Missus!”

Simone waved her hand a bit and calmed down the house help. He was really taking Lewis’s words to heart. She took her wrist with a yank and tilted her head, “Can I help you?”

“I was just wondering if a lovely lady like yourself would go on a date with me?” It was okay looking but he was obviously just a very plain nobleman. Also, he looked younger than Lewis which… was saying something.

“I decline.” Simone didn’t wait for him as she saw his shocked face. “Come on Gerald.” The boat ride home was easy enough and she helped poor Gerald with all the bags. “I’m home you little monsters,” Simone swooped down as she picked both Alshaya and Everett up. Both of them were a ball of laughter as she kissed them.

“Ma where go?!” Everett yelled at her. He was getting so big at three now. Alshaya was quietly nodding and hugged her.

“I went to the storeeee to go shoppingg,” she kissed them both. Alshaya was a year younger than Everett but she was so much smaller than he was.

“DA!” Alshaya looked over to Lewis and yelled for him.

“OHHH so you are only okay with me for like five seconds before you need Daddy I see,” she gave over and offered Alshaya to Lewis. “Were they good for you?”