//------------------------------// // Everything changes // Story: Beggars can be choosers // by MurlocStalker //------------------------------// Faithful stood and watched Adagio from the living room window, quietly praying that she would make the wisest decision. He would eventually find himself disappointed as she turned away from his house and walked down the street and back to the city. He cursed himself for not being able to make his offer tempting enough for her to actually accept it. Sure, she had obviously been interested and tempted, but that was not enough for him. The fact that she left was nothing short of a failure on his part. With a sigh of defeat he went back to the stairs where the other two girls stood and stared at the door, as if they believed that Adagio would re-enter at any given moment. As soon as he stepped back into the room their attention shifted to him. He rested his hands on his hip, looked down at the floor and tried to make himself exhale all the disappointment and negativity that he felt and renew himself with happier thoughts and ideas. “I'm sorry girls, but it would seem that Adagio will not join us.” He looked up at the girls on the second floor. Aria was as stoic as ever, not letting it on for as much as a second that she was bothered with what had just transpired, if she was even bothered to begin with. Sonata too seemed to try and appear as if nothing bothered her about this but she was not quite on the same level as Aria. Sonata did well to hide it but you could still notice how her eyes would close for longer periods of time and how her breath was uneven and shaky. He sighed again. “Listen girls, I am sorry that things did not turn out as we might have hoped-” “Hah! Speak for yourself, buddy. If you ask me, she was starting to become a bit more trouble than she was worth.” Said Aria. Faithful was about to say something about her more than rude remark but he decided to let it go for now. “Yes, well-” he coughed into his clenched fist. “Despite all that has happened I think it is about time that we sat down and had a little chat about the rules.” “Rules?” The both of them half-exclaimed. “Certainly. What? Did you honestly believe that I was just going to invite you all into MY home, without setting up some base rules for you all to follow and allow you to just roam and do whatever you liked? Heh, don't count on it. Now get down here and let's talk.” Sonata quickly made her way down, not in the mood to put up any resistance against the man that had just recently given her more than she could have hoped for. Aria followed suit, but she wasn't just going to accept anything that he demanded off of her. He led them into the living room and asked them to take a seat on his yellow leather sofa. Three sofas of the same color and size surrounded a square glass table, held up by four statues that looked like this sort of weird cross between a dragon and a dog. On the wall there was a wide-screen plasma TV and beneath it a smaller table with three boxes standing on it, all with cables that connected them with the TV. To the left of the room, right next to the window stood a fireplace which seemed really out of place, as if it had not been taken into account during the actual building of this place and was rather a last minute idea thrown in without any real thought of how it would look. Other than that, there was nothing that was particularly noteworthy. It just looked like your average living room with no special flourishes. They all took theirs seats opposite of each-other, Aria looking rather annoyed with her frown and folded arms, Sonata looking giddy and excited while Faithful sat down feeling nervous, still looking confident and sure about himself. He clapped his hands to get their attention. Attention which he already had but none the less. “Alrighty then, lets get down to it. I would first of all like to say that I am very happy to have you girls here and I hope that you will enjoy your stay.” Both of the girls gave him a short nod, one more happily than the other. “Now, with that said, I think it is just about right that I enlighten you about some of the rules and limitations that there comes along with this little arrangement. First of all: As you will from this day forth live here for an unspecified amount of time, you are practically free to come and go as you wish as long as you tell me where you are going. There is a curfew up at 11:00pm though and I expect you to be back here by then. But do also remember that curfew does not equal bedtime. You are allowed to stay up for as long as you wish. Does it sound agreeable so far?” Again they nodded. “Excellent! Next, as it stands there are four doors which you are not permitted to open. Two of them are the bedrooms that belong to me and my niece. The third door is right next to the stairs and leads to the basement-” “What's down there?” Sonata asked. He chuckled a little and smiled softly. “Nothing that would interest you, I am sure. It is basically my work room. It is from there that I take care of my business. And lastly the glass door that leads to the backyard is above all, off limits. I may take you girls out there some time but as it is now, you are not allowed to go out there, especially not without me there. Understood?” Once again they gave a nod. “Wow. You girls are really accommodating. And lastly, every Sunday I will be out between 10:00 to 13:00. During these times I would prefer for you to be home here until I get back.” “What are you doing at those times?” Aria huffed, apparently displeased that she had another limit to the “come and go” rule. “Nothing interesting, so I won't bother you with the details. But as long as all of this is okay with you then I think we will have little trouble living with each other. So, any questions before I go shopping for dinner?” Sonata raised her arm high in the air. “When are we going to get new clothes?” “Well… I suppose that we could get some by tomorrow, but I only know of one place that is open on a Sunday around these parts… Very well, I'll cancel my appointment and we'll go and get some clothes.” “Yay! What's the name of the shop?” “Carousel boutique. A bit expensive at times, but I can easily afford it, especially for you girls.” “What sort of entertainment is there around here?” Faithful raised his hand and pointed towards the three boxes on the table. “I have TV with a couple of good channels on it, two gaming consoles, an Xbox and a Playstation and all relevant games can be found in one of the drawers right there. And I would imagine that there is some fun stuff to do in the city as well. I wouldn't know what, but you are free to discover that for yourself.” A subtle smile started to spread on Aria's features but was quick to realize it and made sure to eliminate her sign of satisfaction. “Sounds good, I guess.” “Well then, anything else?” Faithful asked and looked to and from the two girls. When neither of them had anything else to say, he clapped his hands together and rose up from his seat. “Well then, since all seems to be in order, I think it is about time that I go and buy the stuff we need for dinner. Does chicken and curry sound nice to you girls?” Aria's mouth was watering at the mere thought, but she did a fair enough job in hiding it. Sonata on the other hand could barely contain herself. “Heh, I'll take that as a yes. Well then, take care and I'll see you soon.” Sonata and Aria remained sitting casually on the couch, giving him a friendly wave off as he exited the door and went into the city. With big curious eyes and a happy/mischievous grin Sonata turned to look at Aria. “Wanna go check out what's in the basement?” Aria grinned in return. “Let's.” Adagio was still on the road back to her “home”. Her walk was slow and her mind was in a state of chaos. Not a fragmented piece of her decision to walk away had made any sense. There was a man back there, offering them food, drink, clothes, warmth and a roof over their heads. So why had she turned away from such an irresistible offer? “Because he might be a creep that wants to hurt us, that's why. How would it have been sensible to stay?” She spoke out to herself, though still keeping her voice down. It still didn't avoid the attention of those walking past her. But if he really is dangerous, is it more sensible to leave our sisters alone with him? She thought in return. “They are grown up. They can fend for themselves.” Even though they have never been able to handle anything without magic before and have never been without my leadership. She was now back in her old alley, again feeling the emptiness of it all. She was just about to go forward to slump down on the old couch when she saw something stir in the dark. Two figures rose up from said couch and approached her. She got herself ready to run. “Who are you?” The two figures turned out to be men in about their middle thirties. The one on the left was a rather intimidating looking man, very muscular, unusually tall, short shaven yellow hair and deep blue eyes. The man on the right was very similar to the other man when it came to body shape but was about one and a half head shorter and had brown hair as supposed to yellow and instead of blue eyes, they were gray. “Hello there, sweetcakes. We have been waiting for you.” Adagio eyed them with suspicion. “Waiting? What for?” “Well you see, darling, we have been waiting for a while now to find some entertainment in this town. Sure, there are bars and a couple of events here and there, but that is just not enough for us.” The other man grunted his agreement. “And what do you want me to do about it?” The two men looked at each other with surprise. Then they simply chuckled and returned their gaze towards Adagio. “Come on now. I'm sure that you are a clever girl. What could we possibly want from you if not your womanly features.” “My featu-… You two would do well in leaving right at this moment before I'll have the police hounding you down.” “Whoa whoa whoa there lady. We are not doing anything wring here. We are just looking for some fun. We'll make it worth your while. Fifty bucks for five minutes or less.” “I'm gonna need more than five.” Said the bigger one. “I swear, if the two of you do not get away from here, right this instant, I will start running and screaming.” The shorter man raised his hands in the air in defeat. “Very well, very well, we're going. Come on, Heavy. We'll be back though, just so you know. Eventually, all street girls turn to the realm of entertainment.” “I'd love to see that statistic.” Adagio said before she moved out of their way as they left. Growling, she walked up to the couch and slumped down on it, slowly drifting off to sleep. The loss of her sisters and the rejection of such an offer had taken a surprisingly heavy toll on her. That or she knew that at this point there was nothing else she could do than sleep. And just as she was about to fall asleep there was one thought that came to her mind. It was not Faithful Servant, it was not even her sisters. It was the seven school girls that had foiled their plans. “Damn them. Damn them all.”