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 Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:05 pm
"I hate your daddy, Daddy."
"I'm finding it hard to be fond of him myself, Katty."
Ever since Darry's father had unexpectedly come to visit, life in the small duplex apartment had been...difficult. Katya, Darry and Serafine were out for the day, trying to ignore the fact that they were sleep-deprived, hungry, and smelled of an unfortunate combination of pot, cigarettes and beer.
"Make him leave," Katya said angrily as she rode piggy-back on Darry's shoulders. Serafine trotted wearily beside him, giving the occasional whine. Darry finally gave in and picked her up, carrying the Jivvin under his arm.
"It's gonna be a long day, isn't it," he sighed.
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:10 pm
"Sir..."
"C'mon, lady. Don't look at me like that. I don't beat or starve the kid." Taavi sighed, looking put out. Cal watched this nosy lady for a big before absently chewing on a fist, making a large bruise on his cheek stand out even more.
Taavi had no idea where it came from, and he was getting pretty worried by now.
"I bet he's hungry." The woman said, pressing some sort of... soft, mushy thing on a spoon at Cal. The baby looked at the spoon, looked at the lady, and then looked horrified. She was trying to poision him!
"NYEEEEEH!" He screeched, doing his best to hide in Taavi's shoulder. The merman sighed.
"Yeah, I don't usually make him do that, either." He said, ignoring the woman and walking out from the doctors office. Scratch another one off the list. It was starting to get quite discouraging.
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:14 pm
"Lemme down."
Katya jumped off Darry's shoulders before he could even respond, and subsequently landed on an innocent bystander. That happened to be holding a baby.
"Katya..." Darry said, tone tired and resigned. His infinite well of patience had been pretty much sapped by his mooch of a father, and it was beginning to show. "For crissakes."
Katya, holding on by the man's hair, let go and tumbled to the ground.
"Sir, I'm so sorry," Darry said hurriedly as Katya got up and brushed herself off indifferently. "My kid is completely dysfunctional."
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:28 pm
Taavi hissed slightly, checking Cal for damages. The baby managd to give him the best goddamn superior eyebrow he'd ever seen in his life. Well. He wasn't hurt.
"It's fine." He said, carefully rubbing his head. Ah, well. Wasn't anything worth thinking about. "She didn't hit the little one, so no harm done."
Cal watched the strange thing carefully, eyes unblinking. It'd made Taavi make a hurty noise. Tee hee.
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:57 pm
Katya ignored Taavi completely, focusing all her attention on the peculiar thing in his arms.
"Talk t'me," she demanded.
Darry just sighed, and pulled out a stick of jerky to gnaw on.
"I'm so sorry," he said again, biting into the leathery stuff with another sigh. He looked at it, then proffered a bit of it to the man. "I'm Darry."
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:03 pm
Cal slowly tipped his head to one side, as if considering her words. Interesting. However, Cal could not speak, and he did would not have chosen to if he could have. He leaned farther, eyes interested. How neat!
"Taavi." He said, taking the bit and nibbling. One didn't turn down food after all. "And don't worry about it. Kids roughhouse a lot. As long as she doesn't give the poor little one more bruises, she can't hurt me too bad."
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:16 pm
Appreciating the fact that she was getting attention, Katya stood on tiptoes and squinted at the baby's face.
"You're vurry white," she said, almost accusatory. "Where'd yer colors go?"
"She won't if she knows what's good for her," Darry said, earning a derisive snort from Katya. Serafine wiggled and yipped a bit in his arms and he put the Jivvin down, only to have her beg for attention again and leap right back.
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:22 pm
Cal opened his mouth slightly, making a tiny sort of noise. He reached out his thin fingers towards her, eyes still wide. What did she feel like? He wanted to know, but didn't touch her just yet. Sometimes, you were hurt for the touching.
"Mmm. She looks to be a little spitfire." Taavi nodded, looking down at her. He noted the baby's interested and kneeled slightly, giving Cal a whole new perception of the girl. Oh my!
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:31 pm
Katya stayed very still as the freak-baby reached out and touched her hair. Her antennae twitched in anxiety. What if it was a mutant and sucked all the pretty gray out of her skin? She didn't want to be white. That'd be icky.
Darry sighed, leaning against a convenient lamp post.
"That's putting it in the kindest terms imaginable," he said wryly. "She's....I love 'er, but sometimes...."
He just shook his head, taking a matchbook out of his pocket and sticking a match into his mouth like a toothpick.
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:39 pm
Ah, but Cal couldn't do that. He touched for a moment, a rare smile coming on his face at the texture and color, and then pulled his hand back. She had a look about her. A hitty look. Cal didn't like hitty. He rested his thin hands on Taavi's shirt and watched.
"Of course. Parents should love their children." Taavi said. "Even if they're odd or different. Especially then."
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:43 pm
Having endured being touched, Katya took a safe step back. Yuck. She hated being touched. But at least the creature hadn't sapped any of the color out of her.
She hoped.
"I'm Katya and I'm a moth 'cuz thats what Daddy calls me what's your name," she said in one breath, looking expectant.
"True," Darry said, nodding his agreement. "Even the ones you find abandoned in flowerboxes."
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Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:51 pm
"Mine got dropped off on my porch by some nutcase." Taavi sighed, floofing Cal's hair. Cal winced. Cold hands.
The baby regarded her for a moment. Hrm. She had permitted him to touch. She did not like it.
"Cal."
"...Uh...? The hell, little one?"
Cal looked up at him. Psh. No words for you.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:16 pm
"Yeah, I think his name's Cocoa or somethin'. Starts with a C," Darry said unconcernedly, toying with the matchstick.
Katya gave an approving nod.
"Cal. I'll 'member that," she said. She hesitated, giving the child a once-over. "We coul' be f'ends, Cal. But no touchin', okay?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:33 pm
Taavi sighed. "Chaco, the letter said. Going around and dropping off defenseless children bothers me." He looked down at Cal, fluffing his hair again. Cal winced.
The thin baby listened, tilted his head, and nodded. No touching. He could do that. He was terribly curious as to what those antannea felt like, but he wouldn't touch. She didn't like that.
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Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:24 pm
Looking at Cal with increasing approval, Katya scuffed the ground with a sneaker before abruptly turning and hitting Darry in the leg.
"Gimme a lolly."
"Kat, I don't have a-"
"GIMME A LOLLY."
Darry sighed, gesturing wordlessly to Taavi to please watch the moth-winged devilspawn as he went into the convenience store that had been the main destination of the trip. Katya waited impatiently, wings fluttering and beating with simmering resentment.
"Dunnint have a lolly," she said contemptuously. "HMF."
She looked back up at Taavi suspiciously.
"I bet you got lollies."
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