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 Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 7:19 pm
[Reserved for RP maybe. Hehe.]
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Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 7:59 pm
Awk Nath opened his eyes, sat up, and winced. The primary reason for this reaction was the hangover that painfully flooded his senses. However, as his vision began to clear, he found to new reasons to scowl.
One of them was scowling right back at him, in a way that made the man flinch. She was sitting on the floor in the corner, knees to her chest, glaring out from under a mass of untamed dark brown hair. Her clothing was simple, sweatpants and a loose shirt, and her feet were bare. As soon as she caught Awk's gaze she looked away, instead purposefully focusing her eyes on the other "intruder."
This one was wearing a lightweight green sundress that brought out the same color in her eyes, as well as her vine-like hair. She was also wearing a purple apron that Awk recognized as his, and bearing a tray of food. Her demeanor ran counter to the other girl; she was glowing and seemed pleased to be there. When she spoke her voice was soft, but not timid. "I brought breakfast for everyone."
At this, the other girl rolled her golden eyes and turned her attention back to awk, her glare somehow implying that everything that was going on was all his fault. And to her, it was.
Awk didn't like that at all, and opened his mouth to speak. After a moment's thought he closed it, opening it again seconds later when something finally occured to him. "What're you doing here?"
"Bringing breakfast, of course. You need to keep up your strength. And Miss Kiah and I were hungry as well." The girl holding the tray wavered slightly, but tried to beam back at Awk as brightly as she could, pretending that nothing was wrong or out of place.
That was all very well and good, but what Awk was having the most trouble with was remembering who the two girls were. The identity of the girl with the tray clicked after a bit more thought, but the other one was still a mystery. Still, one was better than none. "Avani? I thought you went home."
"I-" Avani froze, her voice catching. The tray trembled in her grip. "There is no one home, Mister Awk," she said slowly, the words alien in her mouth. "The police wouldn't let me stay there, not all by myself. So they brought me back here." The girl was visibly shaken, but it was clear she was trying to keep herself together, and that it was taking a lot of effort.
Awk sighed. It figured, cops getting in his way yet again. The manager had probably sent the girl over after he'd gotten back from... wherever he was last night. A bar, probably. That still didn't explain who the other girl was, or why he couldn't remember ever meeting her. He looked her way questioningly, but she was already avoiding his gaze.
Sensing the tension, Avani chimed in. "And I was so surprised when you came home with Miss Kiah last night. It was so late too. You fell asleep right away, so we were at a loss."
Kiah, Awk presumed, was the name of the other girl. She certainly responded to it, ears perking up slightly. However the thought that he had brought her home was absurd. It wasn't that he'd never brought a female back to his humble abode, just that the ones he liked were a good bit older and more shapely. And human, Awk added as an afterthought, but that wasn't a necessary requirement. Bur for him to bring back a child was just odd, as was another thing Avani had said. "You mean she talks?"
That got a reaction. Even though she had given no evidence to the contrary, Kiah blushed hotly. "Of course I can! You're the one who-" She broke off, not wanting to pointlessly insult her host. She knew better than that. It was just that she was so upset, so unhappy, and so wanting to be home, not with some guy who didn't even remember her. Tears appeared in her eyes, dampening the coarse fur there, and she buried her head in her knees so no one would see.
"We're sort of in the same situation," Avani explained softly. "Her family couldn't take care of her anymore. I know..." Suddenly speaking became difficult for the delicate girl, but she struggled to finish nonetheless. "I know I was grateful when you found me, after... after. I was so scared, and..." Finally it became too much to bear, and she burst into her own tears, stifled sobs wracking her small frame.
This left Awk feeling like a complete a**, in more than one way. He looked at both girls, rather guiltily and helplessly. Why did it have to be girls? If they were biys he could have patted them jovially on the backs, told them to buck up, and maybe they could have all gone out to some cheezy theme restaurant for lunch. But no, it couldn't be that easy. Girls were practically an alien species. And while some could be pleasant and even entertaining, the younger ones were the most enigmatic of all. Awk wasn't a big mystery fan, but he knew he had to do something. Anything.
"I'm sorry."
That did it. Both girls were staring at him with varied expressions of shock. It was difficult for Awk to keep his suitably apologetic expression. It just went to show that girls were girls, no matter their age or body type or whatever. They could act tough, indifferent, or dissolve into tears, but getting a man to apologize would always soften their hearts and stop even the angriest of rampaging females in her tracks. Now he just had to finish with flair. "Please, forgive me. We'll have this delicious looking breakfast, and then we'll get everything worked out like adults."
"But-"
"No buts," Awk said in what he hoped was a parental tone, unaware of how prophetic that thought was. "Now, I'll just slip into something less comfortable, and then we'll eat, okay ladies?" He had slipped out of the trailer before either of the girls had time to argue, flashing a wink, and hotfoted it to the showers. Boy, did he need one.
Staring after him, Kiah shook her head. The man was a total looney. Talk like adults, sure. If she was an adult she wouldn't be stuck with the nutcase in the first place. The fact that he respected her enough to trust her "adult" judgement was quickly dismissed. He wasn't smart enough for that, and the whole thing would be a living hell.
Avani simply shrugged lightly and set the breakfast tray down on the table. Whatever happened, happened, and it wouldn't do any good to worry about it. At least things couldn't get any worse. She glanced at Kiah, then at the tray. "Are you hungry?"
"Mmmh. Yeah," Kiah admitted, eyeing the tray herself. There was a fruit salad, a couple of muffins and a danish, and some eggs and sausage that were probably meant for Awk. Too bad for him, since it was first come, first served.
"Wait!" Stumbling up the steps, Awk opened the door, tripped over the doorstep, and fell face first into the tray of food. Bits splattered everywhere, and when the man looked up, egg was covering his face, and he was chewing a muffin. Once he swallowed, he grinned sheepishly. "How about we go out for pancakes?" And then they would straighten things out, once and for all.
Kiah rolled her eyes, glancing sideways at Avani, and knowing that they were thinking the same thing. They would straighten things out. It was straightening out Awk that would be the most difficult problem of all.
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Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:15 pm
For a while it was easy enough to deal with the girls. With Kiah, it was a piece of cake- she ignored him, he ignored her, and all was good. With Avani, as long as she was praised every so often, she was fine. And Awk got used to this, maintaining his lax behavior and trusting the pair to fend for themselves. After all, they got food and clothing from the company, were tutored with the other children, and watched practices in their spare time. Leaving Awk free to friddle his time away however he saw fit.
The first call came about a month after the girls had arrived. It surprised Awk in several ways. For one, he didn't even know he had a phone until it rang, startling him out of a rather fun daydream about a blonde he met in a bar the night before, and nearly making him choke on his toast. Looking at the device as if it were alien technology- and to him, it might as well have been- he finally picked it up warily. "... hello?"
The voice on the other line was very polite, one of the scene builders, who explained calmly and politely that while Awk may have been foolish enough to give permission, children weren't allowed to operate the heavy machinery that the scene shop used. And that it might be wise for Awk to have a talk with Kiah, so that they didn't have any further misunderstandings.
"Yeah, I'll do that," Awk muttered grumpily, letting the phone drop. He could hear the door opening behind him, that oh so sly creak that meant it was Kiah, since Avani entered much more honestly. Awk had come to recognize that creak, and the questions that followed it- about how she wanted to have ice cream for breakfast, or help take care of the elephants, or needed three cans of red paint, and only needed his permission. That last request had doomed Awk to two nights sleeping outside, and a bright red room when the fumes had finally dispersed. He just considered himself lucky that he liked red. But this was too much.
"Hey, Awk?" Kiah crept inside, holding a set of keys in one hand. She jangled them nervously, but her head was held high, defiant. It wasn't like the guy was going to say no. He never had, and whether it was a lack of brains or nerve she didn't know, nor did she care. It meant that she could do what she liked, and that suited her just fine.
Still, something unnerved her as she approached, just enough to make her hesitate before asking "Hey, can I have your permission to help out in the scenery shop?"
Awk turned, slowly, to face the girl. He had to admit to himself, he was amused. She was a lot like him as a kid. "By which you mean you wanna operate the crane. That's the word on the street, so I hear."
That Awk knew this plan ahead of time surprised Kiah, but she didn't deny it. "Something like that," she mumbled. "Yeah. So, can I go already?"
"No, Kiah." Saying no felt surprisingly good, to the point that Awk decided to say it again, for emphasis. "No. You can't operate the crane. You can't go yet. And you can't keep going on doing what you're doing the way you're, uh, doing it." Wow, look at him! He was taking charge!
Kiah scowled. Why was he being so bossy all of a sudden? She liked him better when he just left her alone, doing whatever the hell Awks did when they didn't have kids to worry about. The attitude change was annoying.
"Listen." This time his voice was softer, but held just as much authority as it did before- which wasn't much, but an ample amount for Awk. "I've been leaving you alone too much, I guess. But if you keep all this up, you're gonna get into trouble. And I'd kinda rather that not happen."
"Right," Kiah snorted. "More like you don't want to get in trouble yourself, for letting me have my way."
Awk considered this and nodded. "Sure, I can't say that's not true. But also, I kind of like you. You're a weird kid. Well, so was I. My parents kept me in line until I ran away to join the circus, and while I'm hardly father of the year, I'm gonna keep you in line too. At least until you're old enough to operate a crane."
Most of the speech was predictable, and Kiah scoffed and harrumphed at the appropriate points. The end, however, was cute, and she actually grinned just a little. She coughed and made a straight face immediately after she realized her smile. "Yeah, yeah. What makes you the boss?"
"I'm not," Awk said innocently. "Think of me as a supervisor. Now Charlie, he's the boss. And he'll want those keys back, I think, unless you really want to hijack a crane."
Kiah shook her head. "No way. I'm not you," she retorted, hopping out of the trailer and slamming the door behind her. So he denied one of her requests. It wasn't like anything had actually changed.
Well, look at him. He actually got her to listen, if only a little. Giving himself a pat on the back- not hard, for a trained acrobat- Awk looked around for the toast he had been eating. He finally found it on the floor, picked it up, and examined it carefully. "Eh, it's not dirty," he mumbled, cramming the whole slice into his mouth. "Mmmm."
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