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Post by Mr Spock on Jan 23, 2008 1:31:04 GMT
Emily Cassandra Prince was operating a secret mission. So secret, in fact, that no one knew; not even Uncle James. So secret, in fact, that even the people around her seemed to know - not one person going past her seemed to even notice or recognise her. And considering her sandy blonde hair and deep oceanic eyes, lithe frame and relatively clear complexion, she didn't exactly blend into the background. If someone knew her, they knew her well.
And, at just thirteen years old, she refused to admit she might be just slightly out of her depth, as she took a deep breath and gazed across the newsreels in front of her, wondering where she should start.
It was the kids at school that had started her almost desperate obsession, and now she was fulfilling it. The Heritage week had driven her to such curiosity, such intrigue, that even Uncle James's words of warning weren't enough to stop her carrying out her secret plan.
So today, under the alias of a detention and the cover of a tiny corner of the local library, Emily slowly began to reel through the newspapers she'd found and try and find out her own heritage. Uncle James had always told her to let the past lie. Just like Mama and Papa. And now, the curiosity had driven her to foriegn and unfamilar pastures as she flipped to the second reel.
Boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Borrr-
Emily stopped dead, creasing her brow at the headline of about a week after she'd been born. It bore no relevance to her search, but Emily was one easily distracted, especially by anything involving blood or gore or mysteries.
"Family Slaughtered By Teenage Psychopath", read the headline.
Emily stopped and scanned the article properly, draining in every word. Of course, the victims remained unnamed. Emily sighed inwardly. A mother, and a baby barely a week old. A loving aunt. A husband accused of murder and a teenage psychopath on the run. It was the kind of story Emily fell in love with, if only for the mystery and the horrible sadness it could make her feel like nothing else could. Her eyes flickered back over the name of the husband, Auron Prince, but then she let it slip. Prince was a pretty common surname, especially in New York City.
Slowly, Emily poured through the rest of the reels following that week, entirely distracted, her previous burning desire and purpose forgotten. "Teenage Psychopath still at Large" "Police Hunt for Missing Body" "Father of Murdered Baby Found Dead" "Psychopath 'Untrackable'" "Coronary Report on the Prince Family Murders"
At this point, Emily stopped and thouroughly read through the coroner's report. Heavy and jargon-based, Emily nearly gave up, until she caught the first glimpse of a name.
"Cassandra Saiyuka Prince (nee Tomiko)." Pausing then shaking her head, thinking she was pulling connections out of the air, Emily read through the rather gruesome descriptions of injuries and cause of death, then read through the next, of the Aunt, "Ariana Prince", then read through that of "Auron Prince", the last to be killed. She trailed off the end of his, and read the last paragraph, realising she'd not read about the baby.
"The body of Emily Cassandra Price was never recovered. Photographs were taken of the week-old baby's corpse but no further evidence was collected and her body was seemingly taken after the crime."
Emily just blinked at the paper, then read the date. Then read the whole article again. Then read the last paragraph. Truth be told, she felt a little woozy. Collecting up all her belongings in a rush, she left the library in a remarkable hurry, panic seeping through her veins at the idea of someone with her exact name being dead. Dead.
Pausing at the crossing, Emily pulled her cellphone out of her pocket. An expert texter, it took her just seconds to type the rather odd message she sent to her Uncle James.
"Am i namd afta ne1?" read the message that was sent, calming Emily down as she realised it HAD to be a coincidence, as SHE wasn't dead. Breathing heavily and smiling lightly at what was probably just her own stupidity, she continued down the street towards her home.
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Post by Taya on Jan 23, 2008 1:49:27 GMT
James frowned as he got the text on his phone. He knew being 13 Emily would be curious about her real parents. But he had already told her before that sh shouldn't be worried about it. So why the odd text message?
After 13 years, James had become fond and rather attached to his friend's daughter. Though this had been highly discouraged by Genny. Orginally he had wanted to raise her as his own, even wanted to change her name. Arina. But Genny had disagreed saying that the child should have her given name and that she shouldn't interfer with James' duties. But he couldn't stay away.
He saw her as often as he could. Took her on outings taught her magic, though she didn't know what it was. So at sight of the text message he thought instead of anwsering he should confront her. Which is why when Emily got t her street, James was standing on the corner by the lamppost.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jan 23, 2008 1:56:57 GMT
Emily, as usual, jumped out of her skin at the sight of James and had to resist the urge to swear in her shocked state. "Don't do that!" she snapped jokingly, glaring at him. "What are you trying to do? Scare me to death? Anyone would think you could teleport, Uncle James."
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Post by Taya on Jan 23, 2008 2:02:28 GMT
"How do you know that I can't?" James smirked as he ruffled her hair. "So Ems who do you think you could be named after?" He asked cocking an eyebrow.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jan 23, 2008 2:06:11 GMT
"Oh uhm no one really..." she said, immediately trying to cover herself, and not doing very well. She never was very good at hiding her intentions or emotions. "It's just we're still doing heritage at school and they said that people might be named after other people... Like relatives or celebrities and stuff and I was just wondering.."
Emily had a habit of babbling, especially when she was nervous, and it was one even the most unempathetic person in the world could pick up on immediately.
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Post by Taya on Jan 23, 2008 2:14:29 GMT
James knew he had caught her. Babbling was a bad habit of hers. Thinking aout the past he thought to anwser her truthfully. But not here.
"Come on i'll take you out for ice cream." James said wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jan 23, 2008 2:19:13 GMT
"Ermm.. Okay!" said Emily, beaming. Slightly suspicious of her Uncle James's motives, but ice cream was a personal weakness that by some sort of blessing didn't show on her lithe figure, and she was sure James would tell her more once they were eating ice cream - it was how most people liked to tell her things, mainly because she seemed to stop caring once she had ice-cream... it definitely wouldn't be the same in this case, though. Emily was certain she was going to pay attention now.
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Post by Taya on Jan 23, 2008 2:25:44 GMT
After their ice cream was delivered James took a ddep breath.
"To tell you the truth I wanted to name you after someone." James said with a distant smile. "But I didn't get a choice in the matter. But yes you were named for your mother." He wasn't bout to tell her which name that was. He ate some of is own ice cream. and waited for the questions he was sure would come while he figure out how to dodge them.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jan 23, 2008 2:28:32 GMT
Emily frowned. She thought back to the article and frowned some more. "So, what was my mother's name, then? Emily? Cassandra? Emily Cassandra? Or am I just SORT of named after her? Like my name's sort of like hers but not really?" Emilyquestioned, eating her own ice cream and trying to make sure she didn't let her memory slip. She was getting more and more confused.
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Post by Taya on Jan 23, 2008 2:31:11 GMT
"Part of your name." James anwsered carefully. "And you have your father's surname"
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Post by Mr Spock on Jan 23, 2008 2:34:16 GMT
Emily frowned into her ice cream. "Hey James... Did I have any brothers or sisters? I would've liked a sister. An older one. Hmmm.." she frowned into her ice-cream again, as if she was thinking very hard and trying to piece all of the articles together.
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Post by Taya on Jan 23, 2008 2:36:49 GMT
"No you were an only child. Though if your parents had lived I think you would have had plenty of siblings maybe even a cousin or two. But you know, if that had happened you wouldn't be my girl." James aded lightly trying to cheer up the mood.
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Post by Mr Spock on Jan 23, 2008 2:40:13 GMT
Emily smiled slightly, but was still seemingly concentrating very hard on her ice-cream. "How old was I, James? I forget... What would the date have been?"
If there was one thing Emily could memorise, it was dates. She just, occasionally, felt the need to verify to complete her puzzle.
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Post by Taya on Jan 23, 2008 2:44:02 GMT
"You know I just don't remember" James said before taking a rather large bite. He winced as the cold numbbed his head. "Before you could walk or talk"
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Post by Mr Spock on Jan 23, 2008 2:52:27 GMT
"Oh," said Emily, taking a large scoopful of her ice cream into her mouth. She paused, and then realised she might not be able to tie James down for another Q&A section for ages, so she asked her next question quite boldly, despite its ambiguousness. "How common is the name 'Prince'?"
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