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 Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 1:10 pm
Kit was in a rather curious dilemma.
Being whatever fraction of a fish that she was, Mari had gills, so it wasn't likely that the girl would drown. Nevertheless, she was a toddler at a water park for the first time, and other than her daily baths, Mari had never had a chance to show any aptitude for swimming. Even if she was somewhat fishy, her fingers and toes weren't webbed, and there was the possibility of her getting tired. So where did that put the girl in terms of wearing floaties?
"She'll be fine, Kit," Devan chided, his grin soft as he watched the girl examine herself in the red and blue striped one-piece they'd bought the day before. "And if she's not, then Uncle Devan can save the day. It's all good."
"This said from a man who won't even take off his beanie at a water park," Kit responded bitterly as she removed her tank top to reveal her own bathing suit underneath, jean shorts remaining on for the time being. "Mari, come here, I need to do your sunblock."
The fish girl toddled over without protest, her ear fins idly flapping in the heat. She obediently allowed Kit to spray the cold lotion on her arms, legs, and back, only making time to speak once the woman was dabbing sunblock on her white face. "I like home better," she murmured, though she made a point not to whine.
Kit looked up from the area of beach chairs that they'd staked claim to, gazing out at the mass of children, splashing eachother and making all sorts of noise. Perhaps it was a bit of a jump to throw Mari in such social chaos, but Kit had been assured by a Psychology major that it was best to do things this way. Kit could only hope they were right.
"Go have some fun, okay?" Kit said kindly, doing her best to ignore the girl's apathy about the whole situation. "And if you need anything, let us know." Following Kit's instructions was a period of awkward silence, in which Mari did nothing but stare and flap her ear fins as she usually did. Kit sighed, then motioned towards the pool. "You need to have fun over there, Mari."
Being nothing if not compliant, Mari wordlessly trotted off towards the pool, wading through the water until she was about knee deep. From there, she stopped, merely observing the others as they ran about. Out of curiosity, she knelt down and used a tiny hand to splash the water. Not particularly amusing, she decided, but nevertheless she stayed her course, taking a calculated step deeper into the kiddy pool.
Devan, in the meanwhile, flopped onto his beachchair in full lounge-mode, watching Mari as one might watch a strange TV show. "What a weird kid," he remarked, and with a shrug, began instead to look out for those who looked attractive, manly, and single. If nothing else, he would accept two out of the three.
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 1:22 pm
The brothers Harte were both attractive, manly, and chronically single being committed to committment-phobia. They were also currently wrestling with a squirming bundle of pink-and-yellow swimsuit who clearly objected to be covered in suntan lotion.
"It smells like coconut, honey!" Charlie implored while Robbie distracted their wayward charge with some goofy faces. Really, his goofy faces left something to be desired but Anise was distracted nevertheless. It was easy to be distracted when there was Touda around. And Touda was currently sitting on Robbie's head making faces at her as well. Though his faces were less meant as a distraction and more of a 'hurry up so we can have fun!'
"Okay! There ya go!" Charlie said finally, releasing Anise who bolted on unsteady legs towards the kiddie pool. The mononoke followed along in her trail and she was still clutching Tok, her stuffed toy who she refused to relinquish for anything. The kiddie pool at the water park was not exactly where Charlie or Robbie wanted to be. But a dubious bargain had been struck that if Anise would just shut up and let them give her the serum 34 injection they would take her somewhere fun. Touda hadn't liked the injection part, still refusing to allow it (and being invisible and sneaky he was able to avoid it) but he did like the going somewhere fun part.
"Ah!" Anise squealed in excitement as her chubby toes touched the water. She did a complicated little dance of putting a little bit of her body in and then pulling it back out before Touda got frustrated and leapt on her, effectively bowling them both into the pool right on top of the poor, unsuspecting Mari.
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 2:23 pm
"Ooo-la-la..." It appeared that Devan had spied his eye-candy for the day, and lucky for him, he'd hit the daily double. Sure, the two were a tad old for the college near-graduate, but given Devan's past dating records, he wasn't about to be picky if they fit the requirements. Trying not to be too entirely obvious, he leaned back in his chair and donned a pair of sunglasses, so the pair wouldn't be able to tell exactly where his gaze was headed.
Kit, however, was more focused on watching Mari's antics (or rather, the lack thereof), wondering if perhaps she should wander out herself to play with the girl. Maybe if she had someone out there that she knew, she would be more comfortable and play with the other children--
--like the girl that had just toppled right onto her.
For all her attempts at being observant, Mari was surprisingly ignorant to the oncoming girl until she was literally right on top of her, causing her to flop into the shallow pool so quickly that she didn't even have the time to yelp. She squirmed free from under the weight of her would-be assailant and surfaced, shaking the water free from her hair and ear-fins with a hiss from her gills. She blinked, looking the other girl up and down. She didn't seem like a would-be assailant, but there was only one way to make sure.
"What was that for?" Mari asked in a curious way, her ear fins still flared out after being frightened in such a way. Even then, her blank eyes kept careful watch over the girl, instantly suspecting. Even if Kit said there were no such thing as Dutchmen, one could never be too careful.
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 2:33 pm
Luckily for Devan (or perhaps not) the brothers Harte were oblivious to everything except their little notebooks which appeared to contain notes and formulas. Might as well see how the blatant sunshine effected the kids, after all. Or at least the kid. And the furball. Not like the furball mattered as much since they hadn't been able to get any serum into it. They didn't even notice Touda's rough play and the subsequent effects it had.
"Oof!" Anise had exclaimed as she was shoved from behind, water rushing into her mouth. She raised herself up and coughed, then brushed her wet bangs from her eyes. There was a girl in front of her! Anise had never met another girl (Anise hadn't really met anyone except Robbie and Charlie and Touda. And Tok, of course) and she was instantly curious. The other girl appeared to be wet too and belatedly it occured to Anise that it was probably her fault. Well, not really her fault. Touda's fault! She looked around for the mononoke who was hiding behind the girl she had fallen on.
"M'sorry!" Anise told the other girl, eyes wide and innocent. "Wasn't my fault. Touda pushed me!" To illustrate her point she shook a chubby little finger at the apparently empty air behind Mari. "Naughty Touda." She added.
Touda stuck his tongue out at both the girls. "She can't see me, dummy." He informed Anise, who looked back at Mari. That was silly, of course the other girl could see Touda. He was right there!
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:11 pm
Well, if one thing was for certain, Dutchman didn't say they were sorry when they pushed people, at least she didn't think they did, so Mari could believe the girl, the distrust slipping from her face as if it had never been there. This Touda, however, had not said sorry, nor much of anything, and Mari turned, expecting to face someone else her age so she could demand an explanation. Instead, she faced...nothing? Mari was confused: she had been certain that someone had been there, but now it was only empty space.
"Did Touda run away?" She asked, her pupil-less eyes whirling as she turned back to face the girl. Perhaps Touda was the Dutchman--then, he would be able to hide in puddles and push people without saying sorry. It was just the sort of wicked thing for a Dutchman to do. Again, Mari donned her distrusting look, but she instead pointed it at a group of children nearby, who could possibly be housing the criminal. "Which one's Touda?"
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 8:23 pm
"Touda didn't run!" Anise was quick to assure the girl. She opened her mouth to continue, but her expression turned into a sort of wide-eyed slack-jawed stare of amusement mixed with horror as Touda climbed wetly onto Mari's head and twirled in a little pirouette.
"I toooldja she couldn't see me!" He informed Anise, sticking his tongue out at her.
"Giddown!" Anise shouted back, stomping her foot in the water. With a huge, theatrical sigh she mastered her facial expression and returned her gaze to Mari's face. "Touda didn't run away. He's up there." She made a vague hand gesture. "On top of your head." She glared at the top of Mari's head. "He's being a dumb-dumb." She added in a stage whisper.
"Am not!" Came the response from the top of the unwitting fish-girl's head.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 9:02 pm
...And now Mari was officially confused.
"Nothing's on my head," the fish-girl retorted, waving a hand a few inches above her wet hair to make a point. For a moment, the air seemed to freeze her hand, sending chills up her arm, but before she could take any serious note of it, she felt the warmth of the summer again, the momentary cold all but forgotten.
Letting a slow breath wheeze between her gills, she held out her hand for the girl to inspect, giving her a pitying stare. "See? Nothing on my head." Mari found herself curious as to why someone would claim something was there if it wasn't, because in all honesty there was no need to do such a thing, not in plain sight where everyone in the kiddy pool would see that you were wrong--
--unless you weren't.
It had already been established that Dutchmen could seep into puddles, so what made it so difficult to believe that they could make themselves un-seeable as well? Mari's ear-fins instantly flared out again, and she huddled close to the girl, eyes wide with something akin to both fear and excitement. Mimicking the girl's hushed tone, she murmured, "Is Touda...a Dutchman?" With as grave a look a toddler could give, Mari scanned the area, ever on alert. After all, Dutchmen were serious business, even if Kit had said they weren't real.
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:38 am
Well, Charlie and Robbie hadn't been able to see Touda at first either. They had needed special glasses for awhile and then after that they had been able to see him without the glasses. Something about the bonds of parenthood. Anise didn't really understand, nor did she care. SHE could see Touda and he was a pain. But as far as she was concerned he was HER pain and she liked him when he wasn't being a brat.
"He's not a Dutchman." She asserted, stumbling a bit over the word and cocking her head. "He's a..."
"Mononoke!" Touda supplied, sticking his tongue out. "A ghost." He added. He'd read over Robbie's shoulder while the man researched the word, and that was the best explanation they'd been able to come up with. Although Touda didn't exactly feel like a ghost.
"A mononoke." Anise supplied to Mari once Touda had finished his explanation. "He's a ghost, I guess. He's white and fluffy and has orange eyes." She added as if this would settle everything. "Whassa Dutchman?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:25 am
"Dutchmen are bad guys. Super bad guys. And they, uh...do bad guy stuff," Mari said with a nod. "But they're not white or fluffy, so they're not related to momokes, I think." That's what Touda was, right? Mari inwardly shrugged; it sounded about right to her.
"The worst thing is that they take kids and do bad stuff to 'em, like, uh..." Mari paused, realizing that for all her zealousness, she had never heard exactly what a Dutchman would do. "They make you clean your room and you don't even get any Swedish Fish afterwards and then you go to bed without a bedtime story!" She wiggled her fingers with a flourish, as if she were telling a ghost story, then wiggled her earfins to pry them free from the wet bonds of her hair.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:29 pm
Anise didn't get bedtime stories or swedish fish on a good day, and there wasn't enough stuff in her "room" for her to ever bother cleaning it. Charlie and Robbie never seemed bothered if she didn't put the covers back on her cot, she got fresh covers every week anyways. She was about to inform Mari that Dutchmen couldn't be nearly so bad when she was distracted by the flicking of ear fins. "Those are neat." She said instead, trying in vain to wiggle her own ears.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:46 pm
"Huh?" Mari blinked, pupil-less eyes whirling in curiosity as she watched the girl...well, she wasn't quite sure what the girl was doing. Was twitching one's jaw muscles some sort of sign in a different culture? Staring intently, she noticed as Anise's ears shifted up and down, ever so slightly, with the motions of her jaw.
"This?" She asked, flaring out her ear fins as far as she could. Mari didn't think there was anything neat about being able to flap one's ear fins about, but maybe it was like having a toy another kid hadn't seen before: no matter how boring it was, they always thought it was cool. Feeling somewhat brave, Mari let off a tiny smile as she pulled her ear fins back towards her head.
"I can do this, too," she sheepishly added, following her statement with a soft exhale from her gills, which served both to flare the tiny slits on her cheeks as well as create a strange wheezing noise, like someone with a runny nose. "Cool, huh?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:13 pm
Hazel brown eyes got biiig at the soft exhalation. "Wow!" She leaned a little closer and Touda, still perched on Mari's head, poked at Anise in irritation. "Thats really cool!" She added, ignoring Touda.
"You're stupid." Touda added at both girls in general, not terribly pleased at being ignored.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:20 pm
"You think so?" Mari was somewhat surprised that, for her small antics, the girl actually agreed with her. Deep down, Mari didn't think that breathing was all that cool, either, but it was better than not breathing, she guessed.
"What do you do cool?" She asked, changing the subject. Being the center of attention was giving Mari little fluttery feelings in her stomach, and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:32 pm
"Ummmmm..." The thoughtful sound was long and drawn-out as Anise tried to think of a suitable answer. "I can see Touda." That was a good start. "And I live in a science lab." She didn't know if that was cool or not. "And I have Tok!" She prodded the now damp stuffed animal that was slung over her shoulder.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:53 pm
Mari nodded intently at each of the girl's responses, most of all at the comment regarding the stuffed animal. It took her a moment to decide if the token was cute or creepy, and ultimately deciding it was the former, her eyes widened, and she smiled, staring into its beady, lifeless eyes. "Cooool," she murmured, her earfins flapping forward in approval.
"Shouldn't you girls being enjoying the waterpark instead of just chatting it up?" Devan stood before the two, just before the water's edge, smiling from under his ever-present black beanie. "I think I'm going to hit up the ice-cream stand over there, if anyone wants to join me." With that, he winked at the fish girl, his smile breaking out into a full-blown grin.
Mari blinked for a moment, processing the request, then looked back to her newfound friend, pondering. "Can Anise and Touda and Tok come too?" She grasped her hands and held them up in a pleading gesture--after all, she'd seen it work in movies.
"Hey, any friend of yours is a friend of mine, and we're spending Chloe's money, so we've got plenty to spare." He beckoned for the girls to follow with a hand, but before turning for the vendor's area, he paused, staring at a place just above Mari's head. Devan's freshman year of college, an organization called the Center Against the Discrimination of the Homeostatically-Challenged (CADHC, for short) had required all students of Barton U to take a course in basic necro-scrying, to ensure that all graduates would be able to handle all members of their future work-force, even those who had dearly departed. Devan had never been one to attend classes he deemed as useless, but he'd retained enough of the skill to see a faint outline of something (though he wasn't sure quite what) resting on Mari's hair. It didn't seem harmful, but he made sure to give it a careful lookover before deeming it safe enough for an ice-cream trip.
"Come on, kiddos, the ice cream won't be cold forever!" He said, his voice as boisterous as ever. Of the roommates tending Mari, he was the most likely to spoil the child (especially if it was another's wallet funding the venture, as it appeared to be).
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