Blessed Crusade (CC/DtbB RP)

[Elf]

Chrono's look grew even more sheepish; his shoulders even curved downward a bit as Ran outlined his exploits from earlier that day. "But that was the morning," he tried, "and I wasted the whole afternoon napping. Kind of silly, isn't it?"

He caught Reg's look and immediately knew what she was thinking; he raised a placating hand at her remark. "No, it's alright," he insisted gently. The last thing he wanted was to be viewed as handicapped in any way...the last thing he wanted was to be a burden on anyone, especially on the people who had been kind to him.

The elder demon nodded at Crysta, grateful for her input. "Then I have it covered," he assured her. He picked up his fork again, resuming his steady intake of steak, a tricky and subtle business when one had only a single working hand.

[Meryck]

After Dinner...

Crysta quietly finished her tea before starting to gather the plates to put them in the dishwasher. It had been incredibly sweet of Chrono to offer to clean, but the Brooklyn-born woman was still the mother of the Valentine's, and therefore her responsibility to clean up. Besides, Chrono was just getting settled in (she had the feeling he would be here a while), and it'd be rude to make him clean.

However, if he wanted to help, as she said earlier, she wouldn't mind.

Yes, definitely sweet. Not sure if that should make me thankful or screamingly suspicious. Aw, well. I'll worry about it later.

[Elf]

"Um..." Chrono let out a sigh as Crysta began to clear the plates. He said he'd do it...oh well. She was a mother, so no doubt she had that cleaning reflex deeply ingrained in her. He pushed back his chair and wordlessly made his way over to the stove, pulling the pans off the burners and setting them in the sink. A squirt of soap on each later and Chrono was scrubbing away.

He managed to complete the task with relative ease despite his lack of two proper hands. Chrono did mostly everything with his left hand, occasionally using what remained of his right to steady a pan as he towel-dried it. When it came time to put the pans away, though, he stacked them on the counter, at a loss; he had no idea which cupboards held what, or where anything went. And hell if he was going to just rummage or guess; rude didn't even began to cover that.

"Hrm..." Instead of puzzling over the proper location of the cleaned dishes, Chrono picked up a sponge from the sink and began wiping down the countertops.

[Meryck]

Crysta smiled as she loaded the dishwasher. What a sweetheart. Clicking the door close and starting the dishwasher, she promptly began putting the pans back where they were supposed to be. "You don't really have to do all this if you don't want to, Chrono."

[Elf]

Chrono turned from where he stood, scrubbing at a particularly stubborn chunk of food that had crustified on the stove, and blinked at Crysta. He offered her another sheepish smile.

"Well as long as I'm here, I may as well pull my weight," he remarked with a shrug. "I really don't mind it at all."

[Meryck]

The head detective chuckled. "You're a such a sweetheart." Putting the last of the pans up, she stood, grabbed a sponge, and began helping Chrono with the counter.

[Elf]

"Eh?" Chrono blinked, looking back up at Crysta with a rather bemused look on his face. The sponge dangled halfway out of his hand.

What did someone say to that? It was a compliment, and he'd learned in this house that it would be more wise to take a compliment than to deny it, considering the straightforward nature of the female Chi detectives here. Still...what did one say to that?

"Hrm." Chrono let out a neutral, thoughtful noise, returning to the stubborn stain on the stove. He wondered if he was blushing.

[Meryck]

((OOC: www.youtube.com/watch?v=60T6SjLcVM8&feature=channel This is what Reg starts playing, voice and all. Elf already heard this. It's a piano/female cover of Disenchanted by My Chemical Romance))

Crysta let out a light laugh, reaching over and ruffling Chrono's hair. "Sweet and adorable."

Suddenly, the sound of the living room piano slowly whispered in from the door, followed by a voice. The voice was a little nasally, as one could expect from someone who never took a lesson, but it was rawly beautiful, and definitely suited to the sad, slow, soft song.

"Well I was there on the day
They sold the cause for the queen,
And when the lights all went out
We watched our lives on the screen.
I hate the ending myself,
But it started with an alright scene.

It was the roar of the crowd
That gave me heartache to sing.
It was a lie when they smiled
And said, "you won't feel a thing"
And as we ran from the cops
We laughed so hard it would sting

Yeah yeah, oh

If I'm so wrong
How can you listen all night long?
Now will it matter after I'm gone?
Because you never learn a goddamned thing

You're just a sad song with nothing to say
About a life long wait for a hospital stay
And if you think that I'm wrong,
This never meant nothing to ya"

Crysta stopped and looked over to the door, before a smile bloomed on her face again. "Ah. Corey talked her into singing again."

[Elf]

Of all the things that had happened today that Chrono had not expected, this one was the most unexpected of all. A mother of three-slash-head of a paranormal detective agency, who was a full head shorter than him, reaching up to ruffle his hair as if he...well, as if he were child-sized.

And now he was adorable?

Seriously, what did one say to that?

Chrono gave the woman a fully bemused look. Now, he was sure he was blushing.

Thankfully, a sound emanating out of the living room distracted him from his embarrassment. Chrono moved into the entry way between the kitchen and the next room, leaning against the doorframe and watching with a tinge of wonder. His sponge was still in his hand.

And there was Reg on the piano, playing as if her fingers had known the keys since before she could walk, singing for all she was worth.

"Wow," he intoned with a tinge of surprise. "She's really good."

[Meryck]

"I spent my high school career
Spit on and shoved to agree
So I could watch all my heroes
Sell a car on tv
Bring out the old guillotine
We'll show 'em what we all mean"

Ms. Valentine chuckled. "Yeah. We have no idea where she got that talent. I taught her how to play the piano, but I can't sing to save my life. Neither could her parents, and neither can Corey."

"Yeah yeah, oh

If I'm so wrong
How can you listen all night long?
Now will it matter long after I'm gone?
Because you never learn a goddamned thing"

The Brooklyn-born woman finished of the stain Chrono had been working on. "She refused to ever take any lessons for it, too. A little bit of a waste, but honestly, singing lessons wouldn't have helped much. Obviously."

"You're just a sad song with nothing to say
About a life long wait for a hospital stay
And if you think that I'm wrong,
This never meant nothing to ya"

The graying strawberry-blonde smiled as she glanced over her shoulder at Chrono. "By the way, I think carrying around a sponge is a bad idea."

[Elf]

Chrono glanced over at Crysta as she explained, but his gaze soon wandered back to Reg's face. "Hm," he intoned affirmatively. Well, that explained how she seemed as if she'd been born playing piano--she practically had. Most kids learned piano from a young age, Chrono knew.

As he listened, he began to pick out certain lines of the lyrics that almost seemed directed at him...or rather, certain lines of the lyrics seemed to drift his way, whispering underlying meanings in his ear. Chrono's expression softened as he felt his heart thoroughly swept up by the tone of the ballad.

Now will it matter long after I'm gone?
Because you never learn a goddamned thing...

Chrono swallowed. Mary...Rosette...He couldn't help but think of them, hearing those lines. Did he ever really learn?

Crysta spoke to him again, snapping him out of his trance; the demon gave a start as if jolted. He whirled towards her, blinking bemusedly.

"Eh?" Chrono looked down to find that indeed, he was still carrying around a sponge. "Oh! Eh...heh." He hurried over to the sink and set it on the center divide between its two halves.

"Um..." His crimson eye scanned the kitchen area, noticing that Crysta was just finishing up on that stubborn stain. "We're done, aren't we?"

[Meryck]

Crysta smiled, putting her own sponge up and ruffling Chrono's hair again. Too damn cute. "Yup. We're done." She promptly walked out of the kitchen, into the living room, and leaned on the wall, watching her adopted daughter with a smile.

"So go, go away, just go, run away.
But where did you run to? And where did you hide?
Go find another way, price you pay

Woah~"

Ran was on the couch, eyes closed, blush and occasional twitch of the eyebrow being the only outward thing betraying how hard he was trying not to jump Reg.

Corey sat next to his sister on the piano bench, smiling softly as he listened to his sister sing.

"You're just a sad song with nothing to say
About a life long wait for a hospital stay
And if you think that I'm wrong,
This never meant nothing to ya, come on"

Reg's face was the definition of calm as she sang. Her green eyes were half lidded, barely looking at the keys- perhaps even looking through them. She was thoroughly invested in singing, not seeming to notice anything around her but the piano under her fingers. A small quip of the lips that might have translated into a tranquil, yet sad smile was the only thing as a hint to her not channeling some higher singing spirit.

The only hint this was all Reggae Alastor.


"You're just a sad song with nothing to say
About a life long wait for a hospital stay
And if you think that I'm wrong,
This never meant nothing to ya

At all, at all, at all, at all"

[Elf]

The demon's shoulders scrunched as the detective ruffled his hair again; he let out a low, unhappy noise, but gave no more protest than that. He fought down his blush, dearly hoping that his being petted like an overgrown puppydog wouldn't become a regular thing among the members of the household.

Chrono followed Crysta out of the kitchen, taking up his own place against the wall to watch her sing. His eye glanced over Ran, blinking at his blush and at the way his eyebrows twitched; that was kind of an odd reaction to such a tranquil, melancholy tune, he thought. Of course, maybe it wasn't the song, but the singer, that was eliciting such a reaction...Chrono hid a chuckle behind his hand.

His attention shifted to Reg's face again, and he felt himself once more sucked into the mood of the song. He noted the half-closed eyes, the half-smile, and it brought a soft smile to his own face. He remembered watching Azmaria sing, how she'd let the song flow with the same passion, the same complete devotion to the music...

All too soon, Reg's fingers danced over the closing phrases of the song. Chrono's smile widened, taking on a distinct hint of nostalgia.

[Meryck]

Reg sat back, looked over at her brother, and smirked. "There. Happy, you little brat?"

"Yes. Very muchly so." The smirk widened.

"Good." She promptly executed a flop-hug and hair ruffle on Corey. The dirty-blonde squeaked in false dismay before laughing. Ran looked over, blush slowly starting to fade, face between sadness, longing, and amusement.

Twelve more months, reminded his throbbing Mark.

"...You." Suddenly, the girl had let go of her brother, walked over to her demon, and executed a flop-hug on him. "Quit moping." Ran sputtered, blushed, and managed a small noise of a dismayed-argumentative nature before giving up. Sighing, he wrapped his arms gently around Reg and returned the hug.

Crysta hid her laughs and grin in her hand.

[Elf]

Chrono no longer bothered to hide his chuckle behind his hand. He instead hooked his thumb in the top of his pocket and chuckled aloud.

Yep, it was official--he'd never tire of watching these two. They were, for lack of a term other than Crysta's, adorable.

The elder demon watched carefully as Ran returned the hug; despite everything, he was still curious about the boy and his feelings towards Reg...but he was rewarded with the sight of the exiled prince holding the human girl in a gentle embrace.

Lust demon or not, he really cares for her, Chrono decided. It was written all over the boy. I think, from now on, I need to have a little more faith.