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 Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:36 pm
Deaths came in threes and lightning never struck twice; as stupid as those adages sounded, Smerdle could believe them. She had never heard, however, what happened with weird-a** s**t. Did it come in sixes? Did it strike twice or nine times or forty-seven ******** times in a row? Well, she'd discovered it was at least twice. This morning, she had awakened to find a giant version of her son tucked under the covers next to her (apparently suffering from the kind of bad dream that causes one to grow spontaneously), and with today's mail she had received a postcard from Chucky. Her stupid friend Chucky who had left town back in December, trusting his bladed, angry baby to her care. He had apparently written to ask her if she had been back to The Benedict Center with the little hellspawn, like Smerdle was supposed to know what that was. After a short call to information, she had found out.
Now, Smerdle and Brownie were not at The Benedict Center at all. They had stumbled upon the marketplace, and were making their way through the tangle of carts and booths at the sometimes-fast, sometimes-slow pace of a toddler.
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:02 pm
Now what was odd about this picture? Shauna was walking through the marketplace with a long red jacket on and a white dress, carrying a basket on her arm. The jacket just barely touched the ground as the fox girl walked...and it was almost like a modern version of little red riding hood! But at least she wasn't skipping and singing 'tralala' or anything, that most definitely wasn't Shauna's style, but the weather was getting somewhat nicer so she could wear cute sundresses like this as long as she had a jacket.
In the basket was brownies and cookies Pandora had made, but then her mother decided to run some errands, and then Pan needed to go grocery shopping. Shauna was fine with staying home as long as everyone else did! But then Liam said he was going to go see his girlfriend, and then everyone else slowly left the house to go play by the beach. So Shauna was left alone, and she hated being alone, and that was why she was here now! Asra had said she could visit the Benedict Center anytime she didn't want to be alone, and this was one of those times.
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:34 am
"Wha daa?" Brownie asked as they passed a stall full of ornamental swords and daggers. One shiny sword was hanging over the edge of the table nearest the toddler and she grabbed for it, fingers slipping over the flat of the blade.
Suddenly, she was scooped up into Smerdle's arms. "Don't do that," her aunt admonished.
Brownie wanted to tell her that it didn't matter, that the blade wasn't going to hurt her, but she just kept silent. She had the best knives in the place, and everyone knew it. She flexed them, feeling them catch on the straps of her tiny overalls, and her mouth opened in a toothy grin. The Shattered had decided to be nicer to her temporary guardian, at least until she could take care of herself. She found that everyone was nicer to her when she wasn't cutting them up, so for now being nice suited her.
A breeze ruffled Brownie's hair and she wiggled around to face forward in Smerdle's arms. She could make out a red-clad figure ahead of them, beyond a crowd of stupid teenagers looking for gifts to buy each other. Why didn't they just buy things for themselves? That was going to be the first thing Brownie did when she got some money. The red person had big ears on the top of her head, and she felt just like Ribbon Boy. Identifying others like herself had proven to be Brownie's only talent besides injuring people, and she wanted to see who this girl was.
She pointed and stretched her body as far as it would go, but Smerdle ignored her. "Go. Goooooo," she said, and when her aunt looked down, Brownie pointed again. "Red."
Smerdle nodded and approached the hooded figure. Anything to prevent a tantrum.
"Heyu!" Brownie said loudly. Ear Head's back was turned, but whoever it was couldn't just ignore her, right?
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:01 am
Shauna wasn't wearing a hood, it wasn't that cold, but the red jacket stood out pretty well in the crowd. There were so many voices calling out in different directions that Shauna didn't notice the call to her for a moment, but then it suddenly registered to her that...hey...there was a voice directed at her? The fox turned and looked around, spotting the little girl looking straight at her and smiling brightly.
"Why hello!" The fox called, fixing the basket on her arm and walking back to the little girl with shiny wings and the woman carrying her. Huh...were her wings metal? Interesting!
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:46 am
"Sorry to bother you," Smerdle said. "She really wanted to come over and see you, and I didn't feel like arguing." She smiled. "I'm Smerdle and this is Brownie."
Brownie stopped squirming now that they were close. She reached out a hand, palm open, in a kind of non-moving wave. "Hi," she said quickly, before pulling her arm in back toward her. She didn't really have much else to say now that they were near. Brownie wanted to touch that purple thing, but she was being good and wouldn't do it unless invited. It wouldn't hurt to point at it though. She stuck her arm out again, finger extended toward the purple pawprint.
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:01 am
"Bother me? Oh, it's no bother at all, Miss Smerdle!" Shauna smiled, red ears perked high on her head. Brownie? What an adorable name! ...She had brownies in her basket...but if she offered one to Brownie would that count as cannibalism? Pretty deep stuff for such a silly idea. Perhaps she'd just give them cookies instead? Oh well! She had a whole basket! There were plenty of things she could give these two!
She blinked a few times when a finger was pointed at her, instinctively putting a hand over the cheek that was marked. Cal had been interested in her print too! ...Hopefully this girl wouldn't lick her cheek too... "You like it? I'm Shauna, by the way. It's nice to meet you both." She leaned closer to Brownie could touch the mark if she wished to. "You remind me of a curious little sister~!" Shauna giggled, reaching into her basket to offer Brownie a brownie.
"Want one?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:40 am
"Nice to meet you, Shauna," Smerdle said. She watched as Brownie leaned forward, trying to prevent any bloody mishaps.
The girl's big ear head was coming toward her! That's what Brownie called service. She poked a little at the mark, but when she saw it wasn't coming off, she lost interest. Ear Head had probably just drawn it on or something. But then the other girl offered her some of the Food That Had Named Itself After Her, and she nodded greedily. Of course they were called the same name as she was. They were both awesome!
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:11 am
Shauna's ears gave a little flick when her cheek was poked, almost waiting to see if the girl would do what Cal did and lick her. ...Oh thank Halexei, she didn't! The fox grinned, looking up at Smerdle with another brownie already in hand. "Would you like one too, Miss Smerdle?" She offered, standing up straight and petting Brownie's hair for a moment. It was so pretty!
"You know I was just on my way to a daycare center called the Benedict Center! Have you heard of it?" Shauna stole a cookie from the basket for herself, her tail giving a flick under her jacket in an attempt to stay as comfortable as possible with something pressing her tail against her body the way this red jacket was. "I think she'd fit right in there!" And Asra would probably love her! Shauna paused for a moment, looking at Brownie's wings again.
"Those look really cool...are they made of metal or something?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:55 pm
"I'd better not," Smerdle said to Shauna's offer of food. "Brownie might... do something." She didn't want to take two hands off of the moody toddler, despite the fact that she was being remarkably well-behaved.
"We were headed to The Benedict Center too," she continued. Smerdle was glad this was a happy coincidence for a change instead of a strange one. "We kind of got sidetracked. Do you know the way?"
Brownie preened at the attention and moved her wings a bit when they were mentioned. Now this was someone she could get along with!
"Yes, they most certainly are," Smerdle said. She had the scars to prove it, but that might be upsetting to talk about. "I don't know what kind of metal, but it stays sharp all by itself. It would scare me if I thought about it too long."
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:13 pm
Oh that was right. Shauna smiled and nodded in understanding and putting the brownie back in the basket. Gasping happily, Shauna clasped her hands together when Smerdle told her they were already on their way to the center. "Like the back of my hand! It's like a second home to me!" She giggled, looking down at Brownie, her smile softening.
"Wow. They're pretty...can I touch them?" Or would it be too dangerous? They moved...so what if her finger was cut? The fox tentatively reached out anyway, careful to stay clear of putting her fingers in any position they could be cut up. They were so smooth! Shauna knew so many people with wings!
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:29 pm
Brownie held fairly still when Shauna made a move to touch her wings. She wouldn't want to cut her new friend, after all. The blades were slightly warm and fluttered up and down the smallest bit as Shauna touched them, the wrong way for proper flying, but the right way for horrible face-maiming! Brownie was quite proud of them.
Well, that certainly was interesting. "My friend said he brought Brownie to this Center before. They met a boy covered with ribbons." Smerdle imagined some sort of disco mummy, but now that she had seen Shauna's fox ears, she thought maybe this center was popular with less homicidal children than she thought.
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:10 pm
Shauna blinked. How odd...she couldn't fly with these wings? Well it sort of made sense, one couldn't fly too well with metal for wings. Her fingers twitched a little when they moved, almost afraid she'd get cut. You could never be too careful.
Her ears perked up when Smerdle mentioned that Brownie had already met a boy covered with ribbons, wearing the brightest smile on her face. "You met Asra already~? Isn't he just great?" It was obvious how fond Shauna was of Asra, and he was the complete opposite of a mummy! "You'll like Asra, Miss Smerdle! He's so nice and he loves little kids Brownie's age." Shauna explained happily, handing Brownie another brownie.
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:28 pm
Brownie nodded. If Asra was Ribbon Boy's name, sure she'd met him and he was pretty cool. She reached out and plucked the brownie from Shauna's hand.
"What do you say?" Smerdle said.
What did she say? How was she supposed to know? "Brownie," she mumbled as she chewed.
"She means 'thank you.'" A guy covered in ribbons who loved toddlers? Smerdle had to see this to believe it. "I'm sure I will like him," she said. "Let's go see him then," she said with a smile for the fox girl.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:03 pm
"You're welcome, Brownie." Shauna pet her hair briefly, still finding it interesting how her hair was two different colors...and naturally? Wow. The fox looked up at Smerdle and smiled when the woman said they could go see him now, nodding her head and standing back up. "I hope it's open today! If not...we can go to the beach and play along the shore? It's already starting to get warm here so it shouldn't be too bad to get a little wet, right?"
The fox turned and waited for Smerdle to follow with Brownie, nibbling on another cookie...this would be the last one she took. Didn't want to finish them all!
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:46 pm
Brownie wouldn't have known why her hair was two different colors, even if she'd been asked. All she knew was it liked to get caught in her wings and that stunk. She had tried to get Antsmerdle to cut it, but her temporary guardian was stupid and only seemed to know how to put it up in some stupider braids. It wasn't like that today, Brownie had made sure of it, but Smerdle was looking at it now like she was going to engage in some wild braiding right then and there.
Smerdle caught up to Shauna, walking beside her but letting the girl lead. "That sounds like fun. You'd like the beach, right?" she said to Brownie, boosting her into a more comfortable position. They had just managed to get the rust off of the toddler's wings after a long period of neglect, but now that she knew how to clean them, Smerdle wouldn't let that happen again.
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