Forums » General Roleplay » (1x1)Hearthwarming- A fun and casual slice-of-life

So. They had been lying on the footpath for fifteen minutes now.

Nathaniel had his head cradled in his best friend's chest, and..... wait, was he asleep?

Shandy craned his neck awkwardly and squinted. Oh. Yes, he was. Well, maybe a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.

Nathaniel hadn't been sleeping very well lately, the blonde man knew, mentally tallying Nathaniel's hours of sleep for the past week. Hmm........ five hours two days ago, on Wednesday, four on Thursday, and just two last night, when Nathaniel got so worried about moving he climbed through the window of Shandy's apartment and made himself coffee in his kitchen.

"You don't let me have a coffee machine in my apartment, and I swallowed your spare key. By accident," Nathaniel had added quickly, completely dead-pan.

Yes, I don't let you have a coffee machine, because then you'd stay up all night, making coffee in the dark, Shandy thought. Laughing a little and tugging his knife free from the wall, he had then asked, "Did you go to the doctor's to get it out yet?"

His friend had looked him right in the eye then, and with an unreadable expression, took a sip of his coffee. Then another.

They didn't speak again for the rest of the night. There really wasn't much you could say after a revelation like that.

Come to think of it, it probably would have been a good idea to go to the hospital this morning, but.... Nathaniel was so amped-up and jittery from the move already. Maybe later.

A bee bumbled over and settled in Nathaniel's mess of brown dandelion-fluff hair, buzzing softly to itself. Something tensed in Shandy's free arm. He'd have to get it off before it did anything to Nathaniel. Would it do nothing more but sprinkle pollen on him a bit? Could he flick it off fast enough without Nathaniel waking up?

However, before he could do anything about it....

Liliath had been looking to the new neighbours for hours , it was quite amusing to do. They were interesting neighbours and not so annoying as their old ones. The old ones had children and when Liliath was still a child , those kids were very annoying now Liliath was 20 years old. 20 years old! Sometimes she felt like she was hundred or still ten , who was twenty years old and still lived with her parents in one house , she! Maybe she could make friends with the new neighbours , if she dared it would make her nervous! Liliath hadn't sleep , she had been trying to watch the neighbours all night. She felt like a stalker , maybe she was? Finally she felt asleep and the next morning , she was a little bit excited . And this was because she had made the decision to say ‘hi’ to the neighbours . She smiled well she put her blue dress on and well she put her light blue dreamcatcher necklace on. The necklace she got from her granny , who had died when she was very young. She runned now downstairs , her mother looked a little irritated “Are you going to say something to the neighbours or what?” Liliath nodded “Yes i wanted to go after breakfast.” She gave her mother a kiss on her cheek , her mother chuckled . Probably because she thought it was so funny that Liliath even noticed her , they hadn’t had the best past together . And sometimes her mother would slip in her old habits , but Liliath always forgive her . Yesterday it had happen again , usually Liliath would have ignored her for 2 days , but Liliath was so excited now that she forgot to do it. Liliath took a bite from her sandwich “Bye.” she said before walking outside. Outside was the place Liliath loved even as a child she liked it there , it was always better there. She could escape there from reality , now it was just a place of memories. Good and bad memories.

What should i say to them? She thought What if they don’t like me? She thought again. She felt like she wanted to panic , but then they would think she was weird. The brunette walked to the front door and knocked 2 times on it . She said softly hello the first time , but the second time she said it a little louder. She was twenty and still wasn’t able to do this , but if she wanted to make friends she needed to do this! She started to play nervously with her hair that was a bad old habit.

Something shuffled inside, and the door opened an inch, the chain of the sliding lock keeping it from opening fully. Nathaniel peered out through the gap, blinking owlishly through his glasses. It was only half an hour ago that he woke up from his nap - he was a little disoriented still. Shandy probably wouldn't be back until later - he had said that he was going to pick up some groceries.

Shandy had told him to not open the door for anyone yet, but what if it was Shandy, and he'd forgotten his keys to the house? What if it wasn't?

Well, no harm in preparing for the worst. He had...... a wok. It was heavy. But it was too late to turn back now.

"Hello. I have a wok." he informed the visitor, his tone grave and matter-of-fact. Nathaniel's arm ached, and pausing to consider some unknown factor, he added, ".... Shandy isn't back yet - he's gone to get food. So if you're mad at him about something, I can call him. I can also help you yell at him if you want. Who are you?"

It was always good to know who someone was. Hm, that was a pretty necklace. When would Shandy be back? It was boring, and he wasn't allowed to set up the TV just yet.

When Liliath started loosing hope that someone would come and already wanted to return home , the door went open. Before Liliath could say 'hi' the male informed her he had a wok. Liliath wasn't really sure what it meant , she might ask it later. "Oh no i am not mad at him." she laughed , she didn't even knew Shandy how could she be mad at him! She did knew , that she would like the neighbours. But she would like any new neighbour anyone was better then there old ones! The house even looked better from the outside , her old neighbours didn't knew how to take care of a house. If you where there inside and she had been there a couple of times! You could see how terrible they took care of their house ; Toys everywhere , empty bottles anywhere and the cockroaches where climbing on the table! It was gross and it smelled terrible. That was one of the many reasons why Liliath was happy that there where new neighbours.


"I am Liliath , the neighbour." she pointed to her house "That is my house , well its my parents house. But untill i have my own house i live there." She smiled "I am very glad that i have new neighbours , the old ones where terrible , they lived in your house since i was a kid ! But i won't give you all the details about them , that would be useless." "Anyways who are you?" Liliath had spyed on them since they where here , but who they really where she didn't know.

Nathaniel hesitated. "I am... Nathaniel. And this is Mordecai."

There was a splash of water, and something gurgled. Something that sounded a little like a hello

Shandy had told him earlier not to let Mordecai wander around, but he'd been cooped up for ages already. He needed to stretch his limbs or he'd start doing pranks!

"Mordecai says hello." confirmed Nathaniel, nodding to the unseen person inside. "But of course, you cannot see him. I'm not supposed to let anyone inside. So I will come outside."

He did that just then, shutting the door quietly, quickly behind him.

There was a muffled wet thwack from inside - almost imperceptible, but it had definitely happened, and Liliath had definitely heard - her eyes had widened a fraction. Something passed over Nathaniel's face, and he quickly shifted his lanky body to block the door from Liliath.

"....so." he said awkwardly, leaning heavily on the door, "How are you?"

"Lovely name ." she looked a little curious who was Mordecai?

Liliath then heared a splash of water . Not that she cared much about the water she wanted to know who or what Mordercai was!

"I say hello to to Mordecai." why wasn't he allowed to let her in? Maybe he did live his parents , but she never had seen his parents not when spying on him and also not now. "Why aren't you allowed to let someone inside?" she asked


"I am fine , what just happend inside?"

"Why aren't you allowed to let anyone inside?" Liliath asked him, frowning a little.

"Well," he replied, pushing his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose and sniffing, "You might be the Government. And besides," Nathaniel added with no change in tone, "Shandy told me not to."

"And- and.... nothing happened inside. Boxes." he offered as an explanation, gesturing to the house. "Yes, boxes."

Mordecai had been unusually quiet for some time now. That probably wasn't good. But at least he wasn't latching onto people's heads like a pair of weird earmuffs.

Nathaniel always made sure to be optimistic, even if things were going wrong, Yes, optimism was important for a happy life. You always had to count your blessings, and Nathaniel had many blessings! Mordecai was safely contained. Yes.

Something slapped the window to the left of the door. Something belonging to Mordecai. A tentacle!

As he watched, the octopus smacked his head on the glass and pressed his eyes against it, narrowing them at the agitated inventor. Suppressing a gasp, Nathaniel took ahold of Liliath's face in his hands and turned it away from the window.

"Nothing is happening. Look at my beautiful face. Look at my eyes. Are they not wonderful?" he asked her, patting her cheek. Another slap on the glass followed. Oh dear. If Mordecai got out.....

"The goverment!"she started giggeling "Sorry but me in the goverment would be the weirdest thing on earth." "Boxes?" she looked to him , she didn't believe with him , but nodded.

She didn't heared another sound inside , maybe it didn't even happen. No it was clear that this person was hiding something from her.

Liliath noticed something slapping to the window was it a tentacle! Liliath looked amused , it was some kind of sea creature and she loved those creatures.

Then suddenly he touched her face and then things went wrong.. Liliath never liked it when people touched her , because of traumatic experiments even years of theraphy seemed not help.

When Nathaniel talked to her she felt sick , no she was twenty she couldn't start crying now. "Get off!"she pushed him off then she looked to him "Sorry i -" then she heared again a slap against the window "Maybe you should check inside what is happening cause it isn't good." then she walked away to her house

He had landed on his butt, and now sat dazedly, his glasses askew on his face. Liliath had pushed him! Why?

Nathaniel gasped loudly. "Mordecai!" he exclaimed, getting up and walking to the window where the octopus was staring after Liliath. Seeing Nathaniel advancing closer, Mordecai scrambled away and flip-flopped out of sight, the curtains swishing at his prompt departure.

Sighing at this, Nathaniel adjusted his glasses so they sat a little less askew and went back inside, shutting the door firmly behind him as he did so.

"Mordecai!" he called out, ducking his head into the living room. Huh, he wasn't there. Probably off sulking with a bag of shrimp. Oh well. He was red, and wore a life-support unit. It wouldn't be too hard to find him.

"Mordecai!" Nathaniel put his hands on his hips and frowned, rubbing his nose. "I'm telling your father when he gets home!"

Something moved on the couch - something under the soft and chunky woolen throw that Shandy had gotten at one of his fancy interior-design places. A handsome blonde head emerged from its depths.

"I'm nobody's father. And what'd poor old Mordecai do?" Shandy asked him, blowing a stray lock of hair out of his eyes.

Taken aback, Nathaniel paused, surprised by his best friend's abrupt appearance. He hadn't expected Shandy for at least fifteen more minutes! And how'd he get in, anyway? Did Shandy sneak in while Nathaniel was having that conversation with Liliath?

"Shandy!" exclaimed the young man happily, who rushed to plop down beside his friend. His glasses flew off his face and landed on the floor. "When'd you get here?"

Shandy smiled and picked his glasses up, squinting through the lenses. "Oh, just a few minutes ago. I took the cheesecake out of the oven. Why, did something happen?"

Freezing in his mental tracks, Nathaniel contemplated a worrying conundrum. While it was true that he hadn't let anyone in, he realized that Shandy had told him not to partially because he didn't want people meeting Nathaniel just yet - not when Government people were out looking for him after that fiasco with the head of MI5.

To be fair, Mordecai had just wanted to meet him. He had just gotten a little over-excited, that was all. Ink was definitely not part of the equation. But it had been, and now Nathaniel was wanted for questioning for bringing his multi-legged friend along.

That was speciesism.

Surely he could have survived a questioning by a couple of agents? But Shandy had made it very clear that he wasn't to undergo it. They'd packed their bags and left for a safe-house immediately, and a few weeks later, came here, to this wonderful little house in America. Shandy had said it was because he had found a nice job as a professor at a university, but Nathaniel wasn't so sure. He had seemed pretty worried when they were packing their things.

Maybe it wasn't Mordecai. Maybe it was Nathaniel. Maybe he'd farted by accident. Maybe the Head didn't like his suit...

But..... getting back on track...... he hadn't wanted people seeing Nathaniel just yet, and had told him to "not let anyone in" because he thought it would make more sense to him. Maybe he had said it so that Nathaniel wouldn't ask as much questions.

Well, he'd be sad if he found out about Liliath. They'd have to move all over again, and Nathaniel would never get the chance to bring Mordecai over to her house to say sorry.

Nathaniel blinked and Shandy suddenly came into focus, the man plopping his glasses back on his nose with a little smile on his face.

"Who was that young lady you were talking to?" he asked Nathaniel jovially. Oh dear, he knew.

"A neighbor." he said. "I think Mordecai frightened her off."

Shandy's eyebrows went up like a pair of elegantly shaped caterpillars. "Mordecai? But he's so cute."

"You said Mordecai was a menace to society yesterday." replied Nathaniel, glancing around for the multi-legged creature.

"But he's a cute menace to society."

"Shandy." Nathaniel frowned. "Do you think it was me?

The scientist gasped suddenly, springing up. "It was me." he whispered.



Shandy had an octopus in his coat.

Mordecai was a wanted man, in a matter of speaking. Nathaniel had been practically turning over the house to find the octopus. He wanted to apologize for the accusation, he told Shandy. Well, that was all well and good. The only problem was that Mordecai didn't really understand what Shandy meant when he told him about it. Ah, well. Nathaniel couldn't get up to any trouble in the house, at least. He seemed pretty determined to find Mordecai, and Shandy knew firsthand that when he made up his mind to do something, he found a way to do it, no matter how complicated was, and how long it took.

Shandy was pretty sure he stayed behind because he was mortified. He wasn't the best with people, and Shandy knew that he'd have to somehow make good between this girl, Liliath, and his lifelong friend. After all, they would be staying in this country awhile.

"Mordecai, stop moving around down there. Those are my bits, you reprobate." Shandy hissed, gently poking at the transparent silicone shell encasing the octopus. He got a wet sort of bubbling in response, and Mordecai shuffled over his body until he was slung around Shandy's neck like a weird, living scarf.

Clearing his throat, Shandy rapped on the door in front of him - the one he saw the girl go into. The octopus shuffled nervously and turned an anxious shade of blue..

She could hear him screaming 'Mordecai' perhaps it was the seacreature its name? She sighed and opend the frontdoor. She noticed her mother sitting on the couch "Where have you been?" her mother asked clearly drunk. "Neighbours, I told you before." "Don't lie to me!" "Mom, please calm down you are drunk try to relax. We don't want things to go wrong again." she said calm. Her mother sighed and felt asleep, with the bottle still in her hands. Liliath took a deep breath and walked upstairs to her bedroom. She grabbed her phone, which layed on her desk. She had a notification called Bella , Liliath already knew that the next day wouldn't go as she wanted.

The next morning Liliath was very early downstairs, she made breakfast for her, her mother and her father. She hoped they weren't to drunk. Her father was the first one downstairs "Morning, beer." He said and commanded. "Dad, on this day no beer. You promised me it." "Beer is the only thing what will give me some joy this day." "Bella wouldn't have liked it." "Bella is dead!" "Yes she is, but still no beer." she started feeling like she was the parent in this house. "Who is the parent in this house?" "Propably me, cause I need to tell you to have some respect on the day your dautgher died. If you droink you go crazy and do disrespectful things. Bella wouldn't have liked it." She sighed and now her mother came downstairs "All this noise, stop it!" "Sorry." Liliath said and she frustrated sat down on the couch.

Before she could cry, she noticed someone. She could see a person throught the window. She walked to the frontdoor "Mom, dad please go upstairs for now." Her parents looked first very upset, but they did went upstairs. She opend the frontdoor "Hi?"