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 Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:01 pm
The beach was a place of happy memories for Ioyla Infriti. When she was little, sometimes her mother would take her to the shores of Gambino, and there, Ioyla could spend hours and hours making sand castles, chasing the waves, or flinging small balls of fire at the gulls, who would squawk and caw and flap their wings. Sometimes, they would dive-bomb to the picnic her mother had set up on the dryer sand, near the dunes, but never would they prevail; Infriti always had a nice belt of flames erupt in a circle around the picnic blanket. This always amused young Ioyla, and she would often wish to be bigger and stronger, just like her ma.
And now, years later and with a child of her own to wow and impress, Ioyla hated the christ out of the beach. It was too sandy, full of obnoxious tourists, and the awful racket the tide made! It was a wonder why this sandy pit of hell wasn't destroyed. Hell, if she could, Ioyla would probably set the entire shore on fire (excluding the tourists, don't want to get too crazy now, do we?).
Grumbling and complaining, Ioyla set up a spot near the dunes, just like her mother, complete with a huge towel spread out on the sand, a cooler filled with sandwhiches and drinks, and a pile of smaller, less sandy towels, used to dry off when Ilistala was done romping around in the ocean.
Speaking Stala, the little Shattered toddler whined with each step across the hot sand. "Mammaaaa!" she squealed, feet dancing. Her talking had improved greatly, but she still spoke in broken English and a few babble words. And, still, her favorite word was her first word: ******** arched a brow at her kid, unfolding a plastic chair. "Too hot?" Which was strange, really: Ilistala was the physical embodiment of fire, and hot sand was bothering her that bad? What a weird kid. Ilistala squealed again and dived onto the towel spread across the sand, fingers working into the soft material.
"Mamma, too hot."
Ioyla rolled her eyes, finally finished with the chair. She plopped it down into the sand, pushed until the legs worked themselves into grooves, and then plopped her own self into it. A book was laying atop the towel, and Ioyla swiped it up into her lap. "Well," she said, nodding her head toward the ocean, so big and blue, "why don'tcha go see what's goin on with the little critters down'n the water. Yeah?"
Stala, apparently pleased with that idea, lept to her feet and bolted across the sand, both wings and hair fluttering with the breeze she created. Ioyla watched her dash to the ocean, smiled, and cracked open her book. Time to relax...
Meanwhile, Ilistala reached a spot of the ocean where there were no tourists, no lifeguards, and, turning to gaze behind herself, no mamma. Whoops! Oh, well, this could be fun! She dropped to her knees and began poking her fingers in the water, intent on finding one of these critters Ma was talking about. Nothing but boring old water. Lame!
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:40 pm
"No."
"Then fine, go on. Do whatever the hell you want. I'm sick of hearing you say no right now."
Ophi watched with narrowed, golden eyes as his Mama ran her hands through her hair, black nails scraping against her scalp. Clearly, she was annoyed, yet the toddler held his ground, refusing to give in. He didn't understand why it was so important that he eat the sandwich she had just made for him. Wasn't he allowed to change his mind and no longer want it once it was done? She was being silly.
"You're being unreasonable," Rhia commented, as if she had read his mind. She picked up the sandwich and helped him down off the chair, far too much on her mind for her to sit and argue with him. "But it's okay, go on and play, one of the other kids'll eat it."
He watched her a moment longer before flapping his wings once and hurrying out of the kitchen, his Mama's pale eyes following him as he went, holding something that the boy was too young to notice, and too infuriated to care about.
Eat the sandwich, how absurd! If she had made it when he had wanted it neither of them would have gotten upset, but she took forever and by the time it was ready he was no longer hungry and didn't want it. Honestly, he couldn't figure out his mother sometimes, no matter how hard he tried.
Wandering about the new beach house was much different than the other house. For one, there weren't very many people around here, which meant it was quieter, which of course he liked. It got rather hot outside, but he could find plenty of dark spots to crawl into inside that were cool, so that wasn't a problem either. All in all, he liked this house better than the old house.
Stepping up to one of sliding glass doors, he pressed his palms against it and looked out onto the deck; strips of the waves breaking against the shore glimpsed through the slits in the wooden railing. His forked tongue flickered out for a moment and he craned his neck, rising to his tiptoes, as he spotted something just in front of the surf, something that stood out against the blue and white of the ocean and the blanched color of the sand. It looked like a person, and he had never seen anyone along this strip of beach before, so he was at once interested.
Turning his gaze from outside to in, he reached up and pushed the lock of the sliding door up and grabbed the handle with one hand. He gave it a few hard tugs before it finally slid a few inches open and he was able to slid his hands into the gap, grabbing the door and pulling it open farther. Slipping out onto the deck, he inhaled sharply and blinked a few times; the temperature already noticeably hotter out here than in the house.
Tail and wings fidgeting in the heat, he stepped over to the railing and peeked through it, again spotting the person right away. It was a girl, and she looked to be around his age, and she was... jabbing at the sand just above the tide. He wondered briefly what it was she was doing, and then decided to go see for himself.
Drawing back from the railing, he turned and hurried over to the small gate that led to the stairs, and thus, down to the beach. Rising to his tiptoes again, he reached up and pushed the latch on the gate, having a little trouble keeping the latch up and pulling the gate open at the same time. He managed, however, and was shortly down the stairs; bare feet immersed in the hot sand.
Looking a bit forlornly back up the staircase, he gently rubbed his hood, wishing he had brought a hat, but knew it was too late to go back now. Steeling himself, he began to trudge forwards towards the girl, golden eyes squinted against the bright sun until they were nothing more than two slits in his face.
He realized at that moment, as he stopped a few yards away from the girl, that he hated the sun.
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:00 am
It wasn't long before Ilistala was even aware that someone was behind her. She had only been poking around in the sand for such a short time, and already she had found special prizes: three seashells and a crab's claw. At one point, Stala stumbled across the smelly, gooey carcass of a jellyfish. She wanted to pick it up, proudly present it to Ma and perhaps even get a cookie for the effort, but upon touching it, Ilistala found the texture of the jellyfish to be too disgusting to even come close to. Way too slimey.
And so, carrying on until she was unwittingly in front of a rather cute beach house, Ilistala sat herself down in the cool sand, working her toes into the wetter parts, and her fingers into the dryer parts. The tide would wash up eveyr few seconds, churn around Stala, and then simply whisk itself away. It wasn't deep, and it wasn't that cold, either; in fact, it was just right. Spotting a pretty shell, she leaned forward and snatched it out of the foam just before it was carried out to sea. It was so pretty, too: creamy white with dark waves drawn over the ridges. The perfect size, too. Ma would love this!
And then a strange shadow descended upon Ilistala and her shell. It looked to be about her height, but shadows often stretched (or shrunk) things to bizarre proportions. He had a weird thing on his neck, kind of like that stupid Disney movie Ma showed her, about the elephant with those gigantic ears who could fly around...Ilistala suddenly turned, shell clutched in one hand, and she saw who it was: a snakeboy.
Under normal circumstances, had Ilistala, perhaps, not been the physical personification of fire, and had she not grown up in Gaia, she would have been frightened of this walking snake. His slit-eyes and slit-mouth, his hooded head and thick tail, his bloody-white wings...it really, truly, should have scared Ilistala. But it didn't. If anything, she was completely intrigued by him.
Stala pulled herself to her feet. Blinking, she wiggled her fingers for the friendly wave common among toddlers. "Hello," she said, voice husky with wonder and the steadily growing ability to form actual words.
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Posted: Wed May 03, 2006 11:21 am
Ophi studied the items the girl carried before she noticed him, finding it odd that she should seem so interested in them. This stretch of beach was privately owned by his mother, thus there were never any tourists here and seashells were quite a common thing; he didn't think anything special of them. But if the beach belonged to his mother, the shells and such must also belong to her, and so this girl must be stealing from his mother. Both the fact that the orange-haired toddler might not know she was stealing and the fact that his mother probably wouldn't care about the shells never crossed his mind.
His golden eyes flashed in the sunlight as the girl turned to look up at him, fascination brimming in her fiery eyes. As she stood, his hood opened slightly, tail coiling, and the forked tip of his dark tongue slipped out between his scaled lips; flicking in the air before disappearing again. He found her wave a bit amusing and his lips twitched into a half smile, at least, until she spoke.
His eyes flickered from her hand to her face, the smile vanishing almost before it could be seen. He wasn't supposed to talk to people he didn't know, and he was quite certain he didn't know this girl, but she was around his age, wasn't she? She had wings like him, even if they were smaller and not feathered, and she had strange designs on her skin, like he had on his hood. The differences between these things didn't really matter to one so young, the simple fact that they were similar seemed to be the only interesting thing. Besides, he liked her eyes, and she was wearing something that looked like something Mama herself would wear (albeit a more modest version), so he was sure his mother would understand.
"Hi," He finally replied, lifting his hand and giving her a wave of his own, though his fingers remained stationary.
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Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 7:53 pm
She said hello to him, he said hello to her, and the pleasent greetings were over. Now to introduce yourself! Stumbling just slightly in the sand, Ilistala would place one deep tan foot in front of the other, toes working into the gritty footing, eventually closing the small gap between herself and the Snakeboy. Stala piled all of her precious sea gifts into one hand and reached out with the other to suspend it in the air, in one of those weird hand-shakes Ma liked doing so much.
Shells and crab bits clattered against each other. Her wings tittered in the soft ocean breeze. Unsure of what to do or say next, Ilistala suddenly sank to the ground, whether or not her handshake was returned. She would gently pat the sand in front of her, inviting Snakeboy to sit with her, and spread her treasures across the sand. "Shells," she said absently, then: "sit wif me?"
Too young to understand it and too young to care, Ilistala felt some kind of connection with Snakeboy. He didn't look the same as her--although no one really did--but he seemed to have the same...same...feel. Her toddler mind failed to dig up the best word for what she was feeling, so Ilistala chalked the link between herself and the other to just one word: feel.
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Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:14 pm
The black slits in Ophi's eyes widened a margin as the girl stumbled towards him; hood expanding a bit and wing feathers ruffling themselves warily. His thick tail coiled in the air behind him as she shifted her load to one arm and extended her hand, golden eyes dropping to study her small fingers for a moment.
He wasn't about to shake her hand, and if she left it in the air like that much longer he'd scream, but she suddenly plopped down into the sand and he was able to relax a bit. His smooth brow creased for a moment, finding her a bit weird to offer him her hand and then take it away as if she didn't care. Eyeing the spot she patted through narrowed eyes, he opted to take a seat right where he stood, a small enough distance away from her to be near her, but not be "sitting next to her".
The serpent child was too interested in keeping a close eye on what she was doing to really feel any bond between the two, but subconsciously he knew they were both something special. Lightly plucking at the collar of his beige t-shirt, he pursed his scaled lips for a moment, looking over the things she had collected, before pointing to the crab claw, "Dat... fum a cab?"
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 12:04 am
Smiling as Snakeboy took the offered spot, Ilistala began arranging her shells from biggest to smallest. Then the crab claws, although she had only a few: biggest to smallest. She would work in silence, completely absorbed by her work. Strange that someone like her could have their attention captured by dead sea things.
Not until a little while did Ilistala realize her gifts were in question. Blinking, she looked up to find Snakeboy close, but not close enough to be friendly, which was slightly discouraging. Stala scooted forward, grunting, pushing her shells with her so as not to crush them. "Yes. Cab." She held one of the larger pincers up, zooming it in and out of Snakeboy's face. "Pinchy pinchy!"
She would giggle and scoot a little bit closer, a long streak of sand following, her desire to be friends with the creature like-her-but-not-like-her outweighing the obvious fact that he was uncomfortable and wary of her. Understandable, though: Ilistala was the one intruding on a private beach, stealing shells and crab bits, although ignorant of doing any kind of wrong. For Stala, these things were gifts the sea wanted to give to her. She giggled again and held out an extra pincer for Snakeboy to take, maybe play with her?
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 1:37 pm
Ophi watched as she sorted out her shells and claws, not the least bit insulted that at first she seemed to ignore his question. He was actually more comfortable in silence, but he knew there were a lot of people that liked to talk, and his silence sometimes bothered them and made them leave. Since he liked her, and they seemed to be similar, he ventured a question so there was no silence.
He wasn't expecting her to scoot closer though, nor was he expecting her to shove the crab claw near his face repeatedly. His hood fully opened as the girl started the thrusting of the crab claw into his face, a soft hiss springing from his throat as his mouth opened; needle like fangs flexing. He knew she didn't mean anything by it, it was just a game, but still, he didn't like people trying to propel things into his face like that. His tail swayed back and forth behind him, creating a long groove in the warm sand, golden eyes narrowed warily.
"Don' do dat." He said quietly, lips pursed into a thin line as he hesitated a touch before accepting the claw she handed to him. He took a moment to study the claw, turning it over and over in his scaled hands. He had never actually picked one of these up before, though he had seen them along the beach many times. There were a few times where he had collected some seashells, but he tended to stick with them alone; avoiding the crustacean body parts and rotting seaweed. He gently pulled the pincers apart and then closed them, repeating this once more before holding the claw up and lightly pinching the one that his new friend held. "I got you."
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 7:46 am
At first, Ilistala was a tad disheartened by Snakeboy's first reaction to the crab claw--it was only a joke! But when he took his own claw and began peeling back the pincers, Stala couldn't help but giggle. "Yes," she said in a very slight toddler-lisp, "got me!" She would fold her legs over each other Indian-style and quietly sit there, sometimes bobbing her head to a beat only she could hear.
After a little while of silence, Stala suddenly pulled herself to her feet. It was difficult feat to pull off, being tiny a chubby and therefor off-balance, but she managed it all the same, and when both feet were firmly planted on the sand, Ilistala would hold out a hand for Snakeboy to help himself up with, too. "Stala," she stated, using her other hand to tap her chest. "Snakeboy?" She paused, wiped a gritty arm over her forehead and effectively speckled it with sand, and hiccuped. "Go chase fishies?"
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Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 11:10 pm
Ophi's slitted eyes fluttered over the girl as she giggled, watching silently as she crossed her legs. He withdrew the claw for a moment, again studying her wings, her hair, and especially her eyes. A tiny smile appeared on his scaled lips as she bobbed her head up and down, nothing more than a twitch at the corner's of his lips, but if you knew the boy you would know it was a smile. This girl was the first toddler he had spent any time with alone, aside from Chey and Lin, but they were alot older now, so he didn't really count them anymore. She seemed nice, if a bit strange, but then who was he - a walking, winged snake - to judge the strangeness of others?
His eyes followed her as she stood, narrowing a bit against the brilliant glare of the sun so he could better see her. His posture straightened a bit when she offered her hand to him, not exactly sure what she wanted. Slowly, he rose to his feet on his own, listening absently as she introduced herself and smeared sand across her forehead. His golden eyes flashed at her invitation to join the fish in the water, and his wing feathers fluffed themselves uneasily.
"No, no wadda." He replied quietly, tail curling in the air behind him as he looked passed her and at the waves breaking against the sand. Turning his attention back to her gritty face, he pointed back to the house he had come from without turning to look at it. "You come p'ay? Come p'ay... p'ay..." He screwed his face up a bit for a moment as he thought, face brightening a bit as he found the words and started again, "Come p'ay wit' me? Not hot intide."
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 6:39 am
Ilistala pouted slightly when Snakeboy declined her offer of going in the water. True, now that the opportunity arose for her to do bigger and better things with her new friend, playing in the ocean with a child made of fire and a child made of scales and feathers seemed like a pretty bad idea.
Hiccuping again, Ilistala suddenly dropped her armload of treasure; the soft thump each shell and claw made against the sand soothed her just a bit. She stooped low to pick through the pile, choosing the shiniest shell and sharpest claw, then returned to her original standing position with a quiet grunt, pulling the front of her bathing suit open and dropping both shell and claw down below.
"Kay," she said after wiggling the gifts into a more comfortable spot: the small of her back. "We go side." She stuck out her hand for Snakeboy to hold, flailing her fingers impatiently if there was a pause from the other end.
"Choklemono," Stala murmured, something her mother would always say when she wanted to hold the Shattered's hand...although Ilistala ended up mangling the real word.
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 12:06 am
Ophi's lips quirked slightly as she dropped the items she had been holding, tail flicking as he watched her pick through them and choose a claw and a shell to bring along. His lips quirked further when he watched her drop them into her bathing suit, finding the thought of them there slightly gross and extremely uncomfortable.
Stepping over to the things she had dropped, he squatted down and began picking them up one by one; wings unfurling and opening up to help him keep his balance. Once he had everything in his arms, he proceeded to shove the contents into the pockets of his pants; having forgotten he had originally thought the girl was stealing, he would get his mother to put them in something so the girl would be able to carry them easier.
The boy blinked at the hand she offered him, smooth brows arching a bit as his wings nestled in against his back. At first he didn't exactly know what she was offering, but when it dawned on him he frowned; the forked tip of his dark tongue appearing and flicking back and forth in the air. He studied her solemnly, eyes narrowed a touch, "You... ho'd han'?"
His feet stayed rooted to the floor a moment longer, but it was only a second or two before he reluctantly held out his scaled hand. He didn't really like being touched by people he didn't know, but it was apparent that if he didn't willingly give her his hand, she would very likely chase him down and clamp onto it anyway. Lightly curling his fingers around her hand, he started trudging through the sand back to the house.
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 2:00 pm
Ilistala gave a solemn nod when Snakeboy asked his question. It was very important to hold hands all the time, like crossing the street. Or, sometimes, even when you're just browsing along the beach with a new friend. As his hand slid into her own, Stala giggled, squeezing his palm when he closed his grip.
The trip to the beach house couldn't exactly have been a long one, but two toddlers trying to walk through sand? That was sure to take a little bit longer than expected. "Wings is pretty," Stala commented, twisting her spine around to touch said wings with her other free hand. Her fingers twitched over the feathers, marveling over how soft and white they were, unlike her own, which were rough and leathery and dark.
Suddenly, Ilistala halted in her journey to the beach house. She finally seemed to notice the blood speckled all over Snakeboy's wings, which was weird, really, since they were practically drenched in it. "Booboo on them!" Stala whined, jumping in front of Snakeboy and waving her arms. "Booboo! Hurt? Kiss it'n make it feel better?"
The house was close; Ilistala could see it out of the corner of her eye. Perhaps there was a bandaid in there, or maybe a mommy (preferably her own) to, indeed, kiss the booboo and make it feel better.
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Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:32 pm
Ophi's lips stretched into a thin line across his face as the girl clamped onto his hand, his own fingers wriggling slightly before taking up their previous position of lightly holding hers. He squinted against the harsh sun, turning his golden eyes further up the beach to look at his mother's house. He really wanted to get back inside, to where it was shady and cool; he very much hated the sun right now.
He looked to her and blinked as she complimented his wings, unconsciously shifting them on his back. He had never been told his wings were pretty before, and he didn't really know what to say to it, so he intended on just letting it go, that is, until she stopped, and through their linked hands forced him to stop as well.
His slitted eyes widened a bit as she jumped in front of him, her distress being transmitted to him and causing his hood to flare out. He had no idea what she was talking about - he wasn't injured! - and his wariness of her sporadic movements was clear on his mossy-hued face. When he realized she wasn't going to do anything to him, he also realized what she had said (them), and he opened his wings a bit; bi-colored feathers ruffling.
"No... no kiss." He said quietly, still watching her carefully and leaning his upper body away from her a bit. "I not have owie."
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:51 am
No owie? No owie?! This kid's wings were covered in blood! Ignoring Ophi's disapproval of being touched, Stala retreated to behind the snakeboy, gently fingering his wings and awaiting any wails of pain. But, upon further inspection, Ilistala failed to find any open wound at all. She blinked, scratched her head, and toddled back up to Ophi.
"No booboo?" She paused to wipe an arm under her nose, something her mother did alot, then shrugged and beamed a big happy smile. "Kay! Go side now!"
Stealing his hand once more, Ilistala began pumping her legs harder against the thick sand, giggling and screaming nonsense words with each step. She wanted to go inside, most definately, but she also wanted to show ma her new friend.
...speaking of ma, where the heck was she? The toddler cast several searching glances around the strip of beach, failed to find her mother, then simply threw that interest away with a squeeze of her fingers against Ophi's palm. "Close! Close!" she squealed, giggling again.
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