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 Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:01 pm
It seemed as though Casia was getting bored of the house, having explored every nook and cranny from the moment she was up 'til she fell asleep on Anna's bed, covered in dustbunnies and smelling of mothballs. Obviously, she needed to see newer, less dirty horizons! And so, it was decided that the guardian and her child would head to the mall to do a bit of exploring and shopping.
The most embarrassing part of going to the mall was a matter of shoes. Annabel had been dumb and forgot to buy her a pair before she adopted the child, so it was a mad search that morning. Unfortunately, the only pairs of shoes she could find were on an old antique doll in a glass case, pristinely clean and not a hair or frill out of place. It was eerie to the two, but at the same time, it provided Casia with shoes and Anna with a presentable child. The weather had cleared up, and thankfully the two could take a bus to the mall.
It was astounding, the mall. A giant complex system of video game stores, emo, preppy, and baby clothing stores, as well as the feeding grounds the public knew as the Food Court. Unfortunately, Anna or Casia had never been to the mall, and had no clue where anything was. So they stood in front of the large lit-up map, looking at the confusing combination of letters, numbers, and colors. "Let's see... we're inbetween B12 and B16... we want... Bab's Beauty Store, Black and White Clothing... AH! A29, The Treehouse." Casia rolled her eyes at the names of the stores; how unexciting they sounded! She wanted to go to the pretty music store across of The Treehouse! She could see the large music notes over the staircase, beckoning her to go play on them.
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:19 pm
"STUPID FREAKIN G- ELIOT! STOP IT!" A commotion seemed to have oh so 'suddenly' broken out amongst the people in said music store; though the yelling voice belonged to a ten something year old and although he seemed angry, it was hard to take him seriously. Probably because his white and yellow fauxhawk'd hair was opposing the baby pink and black tshirt so well it made him appear like a circus clown (or, as he'd of said, 'very very cool,) and the general demeanor of him and the man he'd come with was comedic. The boy (Harper, of course!) was pulling angrily on the neck of a bass guitar; the man (a guardian, Eliot!) he was with had a good hold of the larger part of it. Eventually, the brown haired Eliot simply let go, while grinning ear to ear. This sent Harper crashing backwards, breaking the bass in the process. "S'whatcha get Harper. I toldja you ain't good enough for your own yet.. Stick with your stupid keyboard, squirt." The man said, only to sigh heavily when assaulted by the cashier to pay for damages. He pulled out his wallet, hardly seeming concerned.
Meanwhile, a chipper man had stepped in behind Annabel and her daughter. "Need some help?" He gallantly offered, smiling. The man was dark skinned - african american, as most would call it, but had lovely contrasting pale blue eyes offset by a black mohawk and purple clothes. Though he looked silly, he had a 'good' aura, and seemed genuine in his offer.
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:36 pm
Anna turned around, about to reply a charming 'No, thank you', when she nearly did a double take at the man's appearance. The mohawk, the purple clothes, those bizarre eyes?!... Uh oh... rather than give off the friendly aura, the young lady found him to be a bit... shall we say, unfamiliar?.. and quickly grabbed up Casia's hand, who was absolutely enchanted by the man, stammering. "A-ah, I-I, w-we were, uh, uh... we were, um.. N-no thank you!" And with that, she sprang off into the crowd, Casia being dragged along.
It didn't take long for them to bolt upstairs and near the entrance of both the music store and the clothing store, with Anna gasping for breath, and Casia staring at the large musical notes in awe.
"Th-that... was close...wasn't it?.." Anna wheezed, before coughing and standing up. "But no matter, we're at the clothing store! So let's go buy you some adorable little outfits, alright Casia?... CASIA?!!"
It seemed the little girl had stumbled and toddled through the entrance of the music store, hand running along the smooth structures. When she stepped inside, two things stood out among the various instruments: Harper, and a rather pretty little stand that had buttons, pins, even jewelry of musical symbols, famous bands, and instruments. First, she stared at Harper shyly, hiding behind the entrance of the store. He looked scary and big, but he was certainly loud, and he had pretty hair!
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:11 pm
"Oh FINE! SO you'll pay for RUINING it but you won't pay for me to KEEP IT! I HATE YOU, ELIOT! HATE! H. A. Y. T-"
"Fail, Harper, shut up." Eliot shook his head.
Harper got up in a huff of indignant fury, a guitar string tangled around his arm. He glared at the back of Eliot's head for a moment before he moved to stomp out of the place, only to be interrupted by the entering of the little girl. Not the type to transfer 'aggro' from one person or the next, Harper looked around curiously for her mother. He rolled his eyes, then, as if playing 'good boy' was hard work. "Hey. You aint lost, are you?" He asked her, bending down.
Soloman, meanwhile, looked quite bewildered. "Somethin on my face?" He had asked when the woman and girl darted off, touching his cheek self consciously. "Alllllriiiighttt then." Looking a bit put out, Solo trudged upstairs to find his companions and maybe pick up some new drum sticks. Lo and behold, same mother was up there too. He hesitated this time, but eventually decided he might as well - he walked over, a half hearted smile. "So. Uh. Need help now?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:31 pm
Casia gave a squeak, and shuffled behind the entrance even more, quite shy now. He was very pretty, for a boy, of course. Casia was about to leave, despite her desire to stay and play with all the pretty instruments, when something glinting caught her eye. Another person in the store was looking at the jewelry rack, and feeling dismayed, spun it around until it stopped. There, Casia spotted a small, gold necklace with a single eighth note symbol dangling from it. It was the last one on the hook, too. She had to have it! It was absolutely perfect for her! Scrambling past Harper with giggles and squeals of delight, she flung herself at the rack, only to find she was too short to reach it. She began jumping up and down at it, giving little huffs of anger as she tried again and again. Soon the anger turned to tears, and in only a few short minutes, she was on the floor, crying (despite her voice remaining rather melodious) and sniffling. She wanted it! No one else could take it, and if they did, she'd cry even harder and louder!
Poor Anna, meanwhile, was looking all over the place she was standing, eventually crawling underneath a bench to see if she was hiding there. Hearing the familiar voice, however, she jerked her head back-- hitting her forehead in the process--, and scrambled to her feet, dusting off her vest and shirt. "U-uh, well, I, er... Have you seen my child, a little girl? She's about this high-" She made a gesture with her hand above her knee. ", with golden hair, has a voice like a choirgirl?" Inside, she felt miserable and irresponsible. She'd lost Casia, and on their first day, too. Suppose they became separated for good? Suppose Casia had hurt herself? What if somebody kidnapped her?! The anguish and shame began to show on her face.
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:54 pm
Harper rolled his eyes. What was it exactly about him that seemed to be scaring all the little girl babies, he'd never know. Not that he thought overly much about the reasoning behind anything in the first place. He stood up straight and crossed his arms, watching the girl in her escapade before trudging after, giving the jewelry an amused grin. "Eh? Too short? Sucks, don't it?" He went to pick up what he thought she'd been going for; it was fairly easy to tell, he thought, with all the fuss, "This what you were wantin kiddo? Eh?" He dangled it tauntingly, before moving to give it to her, finding the whole cat and mouse game with babies got boring fast. "I expect ya' don't have any money on you either, but if you toddle on outta here I doubt they'd think twice. Babies ain't smart enough to shop lift after all, right? Course, there may be alarms that go off and metal detectors and the like... stupid metal detectors.." He mumbled, scratching one of his eyebrow piercings indignantly. "I'm Harper, by the way. You're lucky to meet me. Normally I'm a very busy dude. You cry kinda funny, you know? Anyone ever tell you that? Cause you do." People also told him he talked a lot. He disagreed, but whatever.
Solo blinked, looking around a few times himself. "Oh, don't sweat it dudette, I lost my kid all the time. He always poped back up sooner or later. They are like puppies, that way. 'Course, if you watch the news, kids get stuck in wells... fall down stairs, off balconies, get trapped in trash cans... Mmm, not helping, am I?" He smiled. "Where'd you loose her?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:17 pm
The baby tilted her head as she sat on the floor, watching the tall boy grab her necklace. As it dangled over her, she immediately stood up, little hands grabbing wildly. Making little 'ah' noises that got louder and louder, she jumped up and down until she had it in her hands. She immediately flopped down onto her bottom, fiddling with the necklace. It was like a liquid almost, as she poured the long chain and pendant from hand to hand. She looked up at Harper, suddenly spewing out baby-babble, thinking he'd understand. It was light-hearted and high voiced, as if she was thanking him. Oh dear, now he was talking! And about him! What was a name? Was she really lucky? Busy... wasn't that what a grown-up was? But now the conversation (albeit was one-sided) shifted to her! She shyfully bowed her head down as he commented on her voice. It was a bit funny, but it was nice. Still holding the necklace, she pushed herself up and stumbled over to where the smashed bass was. She bent over it, and plucking a still-intact string, gave a coo of delight as it produced a note. "Aaahna! Aaahna!" she called, looking around for her guardian. Look at her, she was freaking Axel Rose, whoever he was! However, the note was too low for her to sing, and she immediately ran over to an acoustic guitar near the remains, and began plucking it's strings. She didn't rip the poor things; instead, she daintily pulled on them, and when she heard the note, she'd sing out the sound in the form of an 'Ooh'.
The art student tilted her head at the 'dudette' thing, before pondering the thought of children being like puppies. An image of Casia with little floppy ears made her laugh inwardly, until she remembered her child was lost. "Oh! Well.. we were right about here when she disappeared. I assume she'd be in th-" She stopped mid-sentence, hearing a soft little 'Ooh'. It was like a bell ringing in silence, as though the loud crowds of the mall had disappeared. "Casia...?" Anna said softly, walking towards the music store. That couldn't have been her voice, could it? She was just a baby!
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:10 am
Harper scratched the side of his face, watching the kid blankly as she went over to the bass. "Bass." He informed smartly, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Thas' just a boring guitar. Go find an electric one and the real fun starts...." He trailed off (and you can surely bet he could of kept going) when she began hernote game, looking a little amused. "Guess you're a singer. Theres a cabbage kid, well, another one because I'm one too, who would make a good metal singer. He's got trippy voices, more than one... you, though? Can't exactly picture metal." He knelt down again and went to poke her wings. "Bird?" He asked suddenly, his black eyes would had lit up had they not been... well, you know, black. "I'm part bird!" He was, clearly, getting a bit sidetracked.
Eliot, meanwhile, once having payed the nice cashier for the cheap bass, turned around to see Harper and the baby girl playing with yet another easily breakable instrument. "Yo!" He began, sliding over quick-like. "Yo!" He continued, fully expecting his all encompassing 'yo' to spread his feelings of disapproval to the children.
Soloman, meanwhile, skipped along side quick after Anna, "Wussat?" He asked, harking in to the music store. "Hey sexy pants."
Eliot looked up. "Oh look, you brought a girl."
"Oh, leave her alone Eliot, she's already all scared a'me and stuff!" Solo quickly remarked.
"Told you not to wear purple. You ever listen to me? Nope. S'why I was always more famous than you. More loved." Eliot let out a sigh.
"Would y'all shut up, she's trying to sing for crying out loud!" Harper belted, frowning heavily at the now (three) adults, giving a reassuring smile back at Casia a moment later.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 6:56 am
Casia gave a chirp of surprise as he poked her wings, causing her to shyly smile and shake her head. She wasn't part bird, silly Harper! She was a siren, or at least she'd become one as she got older. "Saaah," she corrected him, before turning back to the guitar to pluck at it. She hadn't seen Anna or Eliot come in, but giggled at Harper as she heard him bellow at the adults. He definitely had good taste in music; her!
Anna, stood, meanwhile, in the entrance of the store, staring at where she saw Casia hunched over, the guitar continuing to hum and strum. She walked over to Casia, almost entranced by her singing, and slowly kneeled before her. Suddenly, the young lady shook her head, bringing herself back to reality. "Casia!" she cried happily, scooping up the child in her arms and hugging her tightly. It was like she'd reclaimed a lost part of her! The baby squirmed a bit, before realizing it was her guardian, and giggled melodiously, before leaping out of her arms and pointing to the guitar. "Gaah! Gaah!" she said excitedly. She could play the guitar! Call the papers!
Anna just chuckled, before turning to Harper. "Casia likes to sing," she informed him, before tilting her head at his hair. That definitely wasn't a natural hair color.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:36 pm
"Sah? What? Oi. Y'need to learn how to talk, dudette!" Harper's brow was furrowed in annoyance. He barely understood proper English half the time, this was pressing his limits. (Okay, fine, maybe a slight exaggeration xD)
When Anna'd come over to recollect her baby and the joyous reunion commenced, Harper shook his head and went to pull the guitar up in to his lap. Sunny's taught him how to play in it's basic sense - he wouldn't be winning any awards any time soon for it, but he could play a little 'twinkle twinkle little star' for the baby. So he did.
Eliot and Solo trotted over. "How come every time you meet a girl when we are with Harper she goes for him?" Eliot asked, a sideways glance at his bandmate.
Solo shrugged. "Dunno. How come whenever you meet a girl and they meet Harper they break up with you?"
"...Dunno."
"No, really?" Harper'd asked, a true sarcasm apparent when Anna explained to him Casia's love for singing. "I mean, are you sure? Really, really sure? Cause I was having a hard time figurin' that out! Thanks SO MUCH!"
"You're over doin it buddy." Eliot explained, shaking his head.
"Glad you found your kid, lady. This is mine, the one I said I lost a lot? Harper. Harper say hi." Soloman piped in again, chipper as ever.
"SO not his kid." Harper rolled his eyes, pouting at Casia. "You know, we were having a moment before you guys interrupted."
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:53 pm
Anna smiled sarcastically, giving him a "You're dealing with the master"-type look. "It's my pleasure," she said, bowing. She turned to Soloman, grinning. "I can see how easily you'd lose your mind, as well," she said, winking slyly. Upon hearing Harper pout, she laughed out loud, before stifling her chuckles with her hand. "Awfully sorry for ruining your musical moment.. or rather, your muse-ical moment.."
Casia wanted to smack Anna over the head. Ever since this morning, she kept making puns, and while she didn't understand them, they were still quite annoying. However, when Harper began strumming on the guitar, she suddenly stood up, hands clasped together. She began singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in a small, yet delicate voice, swaying along in time to the rhythm. With the line "Like a diamond in the sky", she made a little diamond above her head with her hands, before continuing to sing. By now, Anna had stopped cracking jokes left and right, and was busy watching the siren baby in awe.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:20 pm
Her pun blew straight over the three boys who were now staring rather blankly in Anna's direction. Thankfully, the attention swooped back to Casia shortly.
Harper kept playing, but looked slightly confused, if impressed as well. "How come she can't say much but she can sing all of that?" He asked Anna, but ended up directing the question more to the girl midway through. "Are babies supposed to be able to sing that well?"
"Nooot unless her throat was infused with a churchbell and a thousand choir boys." Eliot blinked, smirking. "Lets tell Ashley about this when we get home. She's already PMS'in, this'll add a cherry to the cake. 'Hey Ash, today we met a one year old who can sing better than any of your voices-'"
Solo slammed an elbow in Eliot's side. "Shut it! You're interruptin the little' angel!" He said, bending down, smiling happily at Casia. "Look at you, dudette! Rock on baby~!"
When the song ended, Harper wasn't sure what he could play after that. "So. Uhm. If you aren't part bird.." He looked more than a little disappointed at that notion, "What are you?" Clearly, not catching the 'siren' thought from earlier.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:37 pm
Both Anna and Casia seemed to glow with pride; she could sing like a canary, and Anna was her guardian! Of course, the baby was a bit more bashful at all the attention she was getting, and waddled over to hide behind Anna's legs.
The 21 year-old smiled, stroking the baby's head. "Casia's a siren," she informed them, before scooping up the baby. Anna was no longer weary of having a baby that seemed "different". In fact, she was proud of it! "She and I have been together since yesterday. Oh! By the way, have any of you heard of a place called the Liberty Center?" Hopefully, if Anna knew some information about the place, perhaps she could enroll Casia in preferred classes as soon as she was older; for now, it would be daycare. "I got a flyer about it when I adopted her, but I, er, I'm not exactly familiar with the place." She gave a sheepish smile.
Casia, meanwhile, fiddled with the necklace, listening to the grown-ups (and Harper) talk to each other. She shyly waved at the boy, before continuing to play with the pretty object. After a few seconds, though, she stuffed it away in a pocket, and squirmed around in Anna's arms, wanting to be let go. "Alright, you little songbird, go play with your new friend," the guardian chuckled, and set the girl down. Once she did so, Casia stumbled to Harper, and sat in front of him, smiling rather innocently. Could he play another song, pleeeeeeease?
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 5:42 pm
"S'where Harper goes." Solo said, face brightening.
"Yep. Cabbage collective... she a cabbage kid, too? Dude, they must have a tracking device on us!" Eliot exclaimed, grinning at Soloman.
"A siren? Like the things on cop cars?" Harper asked, confused again. He shook his head and gave a heavy sigh. "If you say so."
Eliot and Solo weren't exactly pros on human mythology, either. They came from 'somewhere else,' after all. "Uh. Care to elaborate hunny?" Eliot asked, an eyebrow arched.
Solo, though, thought he remembered a bit about it. "Some kinda harpy, right! Yikes, Harper, don't touch her!"
Harper, of course, ignored his guardians completely. He grinned at Casia and thought of another thing he could play. "Uhhh... Lets see.. Row your boat? We really needa teach you something good, nursery rhymes get real old real quick." He explained expertly, before strumming away to row row row your boat, gently down the stream.
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 6:02 pm
Shaking her head, Anna smiled reassuringly to Soloman. "She's harmless.. I, uh, I think," she said, hands on her hips. "Sirens were a mythological beast, said to be a beautiful woman with wings or the lower half of a fish. They lured sailors to them with their beautiful singing, lulling them to sleep. Then when the cats--er, sorry, men, were asleep, they'd climb on board and kill them." After this rather morbid explanation, she gave a cheerful smile. "She's pretty far out for a baby."
Casia sat and watched Harper with awe; he knew songs that she didn't! He must've been some sort of musical god, and she clapped her hands in time, giggling and squealing at the music. Forget buying clothes, she could spend all day here! Unfortunately, time was pressed for them, as Anna kneeled down to the two, setting a hand on their heads.
"I'm afraid we'll have to wrap it up soon, Cassy and I have to go shopping for clothes and be sure to catch the bus home," she said to Harper, loud enough so he could hear it, but soft enough it wouldn't be heard over the guitar.
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