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 Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 10:10 pm
'Zuba frowned. She hated shopping, and she hated crowds. And after-Christmas sales meant the worst of both mashing together into one horrid torture. Mother was busy shopping through the clearance section, though she had given her some cash and sent her to the toy aisle. She looked at the toys with minimal interest; what was the point of them? None of them seemed like they'd be entertaining for more than a few minutes. She sighed, picking up a stuffed doll of some red guy named "Elmo". She was busy inspecting it when it started shaking and making noise. Spooked, she threw it, not looking where it was headed; she was too busy trying to get the creepy thing away from her and fast!
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Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 10:53 pm
Being an old soldier, Bernard didn't exactly have tons of toys lying around the house. Nor did he know what kids liked to play with. So, when things were on sale, he gave Ennea his wallet and told her to buy whatever the boys wanted- within reason- so they wouldn't get bored. Ennea had clipped the wallet to the inside of her pants and was fighting her way through the swarms of people clogging each aisle. It was too crowded to walk in a row, so she held Zwei's hand, and he held Teyr's, and they squeezed between people to make it to the stuffed animal section.
None of the toys looked remotely interesting to Zwei. He couldn't see the point of carting around a stuffed animal. But he knew there were toy swords somewhere, and Bernard had mentioned something called a "board game" that sounded like fun.
Teyr was more enchanted by the stuffed animals, and spotted an enormous stuffed candy cane that he immediately pulled off the shelf. A cat came along with it, falling to the floor, but Teyr didn't even notice. He was too busy trying to fit the candy cane plush in his mouth when a flash of red hit him in the back of the head, and he dropped the toy in shock. "Sorry!" he cried impulsively. What had he done wrong this time?
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:32 pm
The red doll fell to the ground, still laughing obnoxiously. No wonder 'Zuba had thrown it.
'Zuba blinked, hearing the cry and turning her head towards the sound. It didn't take her long to figure she'd hit the little guy....but why'd he say sorry? She was the one who threw it. She walked over, picking the tickle-me-Elmo doll up and shoving it onto one of the shelves. "Sorry. Didn't mean to hit." she said, looking down at the younger boy, her face pretty much blank. It didn't look or sound it, but she really was sorry. "You okay?" she asked, a bit worried. She knew little kids could be fragile....lord knows every time she hit Ginger, the brat cried like she was dying.
"No sorry." she murmured, pointing to him. He had no reason to be sorry; none at all.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:12 pm
As soon as Teyr saw the girl, he ducked and put his hands over his head. He didn't mean to, it was just a reflex. "Sorry!" he repeated, but then looked up when she spoke. Was she saying not to say sorry? But then, what was he supposed to say?
Noticing the commotion, Zwei worked his way back over. Sometimes Teyr could be obnoxiously clingy, but he did feel somewhat obligated to make sure he was okay. Nothing seemed wrong- no more so than usual, at least- so he looked at 'Zuba. "Something bad?" he asked, knowing that his words weren't quite right. But hopefully she would understand.
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:15 pm
'Zuba blinked, looking confused. "Why sorry?" she asked, bending down to the younger one's level. She was then distracted, noticing his tiny wings. "Nice....pretty." she said simply, motioning to the green appendages. They reminded her of her earwing, except his were pretty. Her's wasn't. She looked up as she heard someone else. She looked up, seeing a rather interesting-looking boy. "Accidentally hit with toy. Sorry. My fault." she explained, shrugging once as she pointed to the Elmo doll that, finally, had stopped laughing.
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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:11 am
Teyr was perplexed; asking why he was sorry was like asking why the sky was blue. "Not mad?" he asks in a voice barely above a whisper. He did notice her looking at him, and his wings twitched anxiously, and he instinctively took a step back. His feelings were opposite, rather than thinking he was pretty, he thought that 'Zuba's headwing was. And her skin was all scaly like Zwei! That made her awesome in his book, if still confusing. "Why no sorry?"
Zwei couldn't recognize what the first word of her explanation was, as he'd yet to learn anything with more than two syllables. But the other three he understood clearly. She'd hit him with a toy? "Why?" he asked, eyes narrowing angrily. She'd better have a good reason!
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Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:47 pm
'Zuba shook her head. "Not mad. You didn't do wrong." she said, smiling lightly at him. He seemed nervous, and big sister Nataya had said that a smile can make people feel more comfortable. Hey, it was worth a shot. She then blinked at the anger toddler, tilting her head as she looked at him. "Accident. Didn't mean to." she explained, not sure what he was so mad about. "Elmo laughed. Scared me, so I threw. And it hit. Sorry." She held her hand out to the boy, meaning to shake his hand. "Not angry?" she asked, looking at him. Then again, if he was angry, she'd understand; she had hit the other boy with the toy, which was bad.....right?
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:25 pm
At first, Teyr was taken aback. But then he grinned, and nodded. If she didn't want him to say sorry, he wouldn't. Until next time, anyway.
Zwei did not look convinced, but he eased up slightly and nodded. At least she explained herself. If she didn't mean to, he wasn't going to press the issue. Instead, he busied himself with examining the shelves behind him. There had to be something that wasn't stuffed somewhere.
Teyr, on the other hand, quickly retrieved the candy cane. After a moment's thought, he picked up another and offered it to the girl. If the red monster scared her, maybe she liked candy. Candy was never scary!
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:37 pm
'Zuba nodded back at Teyr, glad that he seemed to understand. She was the one in the wrong, not him. She smiled slightly; these two seemed really nice. Then, she realized she didn't know who they were.
"'S Zuba." she said, pointing to herself. She then motioned to them. "Names?" She blinked as a candy-cane plush was held up to her. She offered a faint smile. "Thanks. 'S nice." she said, holding the candy cane awkwardly. She had no idea what she was supposed to do with it.
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Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:10 pm
Teyr did not quite "understand" but instead felt that he had to just be on his very best behavior. Perhaps gnawing a stuffed candy cane was not the best way to do that, but he did pull it out of his mouth long enough to nod. He knew what a name was. "Name!" he chirped. "'Zuba? Teyr!"
Busy rummaging on the shelves behind them, Zwei pulled down a foam sword, sending three others like it to the floor. He brandished it at the fallen Elmo, then looked up. Even though he'd been looking away, he'd been paying attention. "Name Zwei," he said calmly. Maybe she wasn't bad after all.
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:28 pm
'Zuba nodded to the two. "Nice to meet." she said softly, her eyes still inspecting this toy. "Names sound nice; much better than mine." she said, meaning it as a compliment. She then motioned towards the two boys. "Brothers?" she asked, curious, her gaze now falling upon them. She tossed the stuffed toy from one hand to the other, giving the younger children her attention for the time being.
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:23 pm
"Nice t'meet!" Teyr parroted, sticking out his hand. He wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to accomplish, but he'd seen Bernard do it at the store when meeting people, so he assumed it was good.
Zwei was quiet for a moment, but then nodded several times. "Nice to meet." It was at least nice to talk to someone he could mostly understand. Everyone aside from Teyr and Ennea spoke quickly and with lots of words, many of them long. This girl spoke like they did, and that made Zwei feel more comfortable with her.
Brightening even more, Teyr looked from 'Zuba to Zwei and back again. "'Zuba nice name," he insisted. And brother! He knew that word, and his head bobbed up and down. "Brothers! 'Zuba brothers?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 2:21 pm
'Zuba shook the offered hand gently as it was offered; these had to be some of the most polite toddlers she'd met, well, besides Ebby. Why couldn't the twins be more like this? Well, Zemel was kinda, but Ginger....ugh.
She shook her head. "'Zuba's okay name.....but full name is Azubahiel. Yech." She made a face, showing her distaste for her full name. She then nodded, smiling faintly. "Have one brother. 'S okay, s'pose. Have two sisters, too....." It was so much easier to talk to these kids....they understood her, and she understood them. Psh, who needed all those extra words and syllables, anyways?
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 1:20 pm
On the contrary, Teyr thought Azubahiel was a beautiful name. He tried to pronounce it, but couldn't quite wrap his tongue around the complex sounds. "Azu... Azuba-heel?" he tried, then winced. That didn't sound right. He shrugged, but at the same time nodded vigorously. "Pretty," he insisted.
The subject of names bored Zwei, but he was somewhat curious about her family. "Sister like brother?" he asked. He could remember the word; Icosa had used it before, but he didn't remember what it meant.
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Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:53 pm
"Close 'nuff." 'Zuba said, offering a faint smile to the child. She shook her head, chuckling once. "'S not. But thanks." She refused to believe that something that long could be pretty. Especially if it was applied to her. That automatically made it a bad name. "Teyr and Zwei.....better names." she said, nodding once.
She then looked to Zwei, nodding once more. "Yes, like brother. Only sister is girl. Brother boy." she said, explaining it as plainly as she could. "Don't have sisters?" After all, how could he have sisters if he didn't know what they were? But, she wanted to ask before assuming.
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