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 Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 8:29 pm
Sizzla had been watching over two new experiments in the lab, waiting for the perfect time. She'd been working on these for a few days now, and it was almost time. Today, she had to give away these new Furies...
But to whom?
No one had come by the house as of late, and there were very few people who came forward to be guardians just because they wanted to. Usually, the relationship between a Fury and its guardian was a bit strained. People didn't want children of Chaos. They wanted sweet little peaceful children. Definitely not little hellions!
She removed her labcoat and goggles, and when they were stable, she picked up the vials from the rack, still in gloved hands, and headed down the stairs and out the security door, leaving the lab behind her. She followed the semi-hidden trail from the lab to the house, and went in through the back door, into the kitchen. There, she set the vials on the rack in the kitchen. There they would await their new guardians.
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Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 10:57 pm
Taro checked his watch.
Sure he was a little late, when was he ever on time for things these days? Still, he didn't think he was late enough to have missed his meeting. He paused in his pacing once again to double-check his reflection. He straightened his cap and pulled on his coat. Did he look alright?
He'd been asked to come here, and he had heard a rumour regarding some of these children that needed guardians and homes. He hoped that no one had beat him here, perhaps already been chosen as their caretaker, and he'd not been informed.
He blew at a stray bang in consternation and just then, out of the corner of his eye caught sight of movement. He turned around to face the front door and smoothed his hair. With a deep breath he gave another hopeful knock on the door of the house.
Please be here, please answer, please pick me... Taro prayed silently as he nervously waited for the door to open.
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:23 am
Hearing a knock on the door, Sizzla left the vials to settle more, hoping they'd stay safe on the counter. Flora and Faun had offered to watch them--just in case. There were a few Furies around the house that liked to cause trouble, and Sizzla didn't want these vials spilled.
Sizzla pulled the door open, and saw no one she knew. Instead, there was a man standing there, dressed rather...inappropriately for the hot weather on Gambino island. Sizzla, on the other hand, was dressed in a white t-shirt and cutoff knee-length shorts and flip flops. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and there were several beads of sweat along her hairline. It was a hot day, and nothing was better than kicking back in the A/C on a day like this.
"Hey. Can I help you?" she asked, giving the man a look-over, looking a bit confused. "Aren't you hot? Geez! Come on in at least. The air conditioning is awesome here," she offered, motioning for him to follow her into the house. "I'm Elysia...or Sizzla, if you want. It's my nickname. Who're you?" she asked, once she closed the door behind him.
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 8:39 pm
Taro smiled, and for a moment had no words with which to respond. He pulled at his coat and shugged sheepishly. "What this? I'm overheated, yeah...But I had no idea what the weather was gonna be like here. I had to make a trip, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity." Taro stepped gratefully into the house and immediately felt the sweat on his skin cool. "I'm Taro." He added glancing around the room curiously. "So...uh, Sizzla, you're the one who mixes up the vials, aren't you?"
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 8:57 pm
"Yeah, it does get pretty hot on Gambino this time of year...The summer is pretty sweltering in general. I'm just glad I live by a large body of water," the silver -haired woman said with a grin. "Take your coat off. Can I get you a drink? Water or something?"
"Nice to meet you Taro," she said, sticking a hand out for a proper handshake. "And yes, I do mix up the vials...Just a little lab research is all. I'll bet I know why you're here. Follow me." Heading back toward the kitchen, she motioned for him to sit at the table.
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:28 pm
Taro smiled and tokk the coat off gratefully, folding it over one arm and followed the woman to the kitchen. He sat down and draped the coat across his knees, folding his hands on the table before him and smiled hopefully. "The island does look beautiful. A little warm for my liking." He ran a hand through his hair and then returned to twiddling his thumbs unconsciously. "An interesting hobby you've got there. I caught word of a few new concoctions...that you might be looking for a caretaker." Taro smiled hopefully. "I'm afraid I'll need a crash course though. All I've got on my side is enthusiasm."
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 6:54 am
Pouring the man a glass of water and sitting it in front of him, Sizzla wandered back over to the kitchen island, grabbing the rack with the vials on them. She walked back to the table, and set the rack in front of the man, then sat opposite him and smiled.
The first vial was a strange-looking Erlenmeyer flask, the liquid inside undulated and changed, and seemed to be striped with red, the fluid itself a blue color. The vial emanated a violet glow, and though it seemed to look strange, Sizzla knew that this vial was special.
The second vial was a test tube, and inside of it, there was a swirling blue and silver liquid. This vial glowed silvery-white, and bubbled a little, as if it were still settling.
"Well, with these creatures, you'll need a LOT of enthusiasm. In these vials are creatures called Furies. They are children of Chaos. It's kind of a long story, but I was one of the first people to find one. Mine started out as a stone, and grew into a lovely little child. I took on the job of caretaker of these creatures, and eventually, I began to do some work on them, altering their DNA slightly in my lab. I came up with a more powerful creature...and I now have male Furies as well. Originally, they were all female, but some slight tweaking took care of that." She gave him a smile.
"And so, I find good homes for the Furies, leading them to guardians who don't seem to mind their mischevious nature." She paused. "Don't get me wrong--this will not be easy--most likely. Furies have the ability to create Chaos, so be careful."
The flask let out a gurgle, and the silver and blue test tube continued bubbling. It was almost done.
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 7:28 am
Taro accepted the glass of water with a smile and an appreciative nod. He listened carefully, his eyes wide and shining, giving him the appearance of a little boy on christmas morning. When she had explained a little of the nature of the creatures mixing in those glass vessels he stared at them in awe. A few words ran through his head, Chaos, Furies... At the thought of Furies he pictured fierce women of Greek Legend that had wings and claws of brass and tore men apart at the command of the gods the men had displeased. Taro swallowed.
These were not those creatures, these were made. They did not punish...but they would be a handful. Taro made a point to put away a few of his more expensive belongings when he got back home so that he would have any damages from these little creatures.
Taro leaned forward over the table. "May I have a closer look at them?" He asked, peering through the glass at their contents. The flask cast a rippling violet glow over Taro's face, making his bright green eyes appear more of a hazel. The test tube bubbled fiercly for a moment and made him jump, startled. When he turned his eyes on the tube it went back to simmering, with no sign of another outburst. Taro glanced up at Sizzla. "What do I need to do to care for these creatures? What do they eat? How do the sleep? Do I take them for walks? What will they look like?" He could have asked more questions, but he felt as if he might annoy the lady with his childish queries.
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 7:55 am
Sizzla smiled with a hint of mischeviousness in her eyes. "Sure, go ahead and look at them as closely as you'd like. My guardians tend to have a lot of questions about them, but most don't actually ask them! It's good to hear that you care about their well-being," she said with a nod. Everyone else just came and picked them up--it was always an in and out affair, a quick pick-up.
"Well, the violet and red one has already settled. It'll just gurgle every now and then, but that's nothing to worry about. The tube should settle down here in a few minutes. I just finished him before you got here." She nodded, and pointed to the vials.
"Basically, they're pretty easy to care for. Once the liquid in the vial is ready, it will congeal together into an egg. Then, the vial will crack open, revealing the little Fury inside. At first, it'll be an egg with little wings. It'll be able to fly about 100 feet at once, and it will be able to speak to you through telepathy. But don't expect anything spectactular. It's just a little kid at the egg stage, so you'll probably hear a lot of baby and toddler talk.
"Eventually, when they're ready, the eggs will crack open, and a little Fury will be in it's place. It'll be fully grown at that point, and it can use telepathy constantly. They look like little fairies really, but they can grow to be around 3 feet tall. It will also be able to speak aloud, but many times, the Furies prefer telepathy. It will also be able to fly continuously--of course, this does require practice." She paused, almost forgetting to tell him the most important part. "In the egg and grown stages, they have a power called Create Lesser Chaos and Create Chaos. This is where the fun comes in. I'll just have to let you find out what'll happen. Some Furies are less trouble than others. It just depends on how you raise them."
She continued, trying to answer all of the man's questions. He certainly was a responsible guy, she thought, laughing to herself. "Just treat them as if they were normal children. They won't need to eat anything until they become fully grown. Before that, they live off of their own energy. I'm not really sure how it works, but they manage."
With that, she sat back in her hair, folding her hands behind her head. "Anything else? I'm surprised you asked so many questions! Looks like you'll be an excellent guardian."
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 5:57 pm
Taro listened attently, green eyes snapping between the vials as she talked about them and occassionally to the woman's face. When she finished, Taro sat back and looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he began to think out loud to himself, making sure he understood everything.
"I see..." He started. "So, they won't need any food for now... It is amazing that that liquid with form an egg by itself...I don't need a heat lamp or anything do I? And then, more amazing that a small egg like that could have telepathy! I'll be curious to hear what sorts of thoughts they'll have...even if it's toddler babble. It doesn't hurt, does it? Receiving the telepathy, I mean? I don't think I can use it myself. Should I just speak to them normally, or will the entrance of their thoughts into my mind begin to teach me how to use Telepathy too? Or will they just read my mind when I'm thinking to or about them?" Taro rubbed his chin thoughtfully and watched the silver and blue liquid settle down. It looked as if it were cooling and turning into liquid mercury...
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 6:23 pm
Sizzla just listened to the man work things out in his head, occasionally adding something here and there, just to clarify.
"Nope, no heat lamp. It really is amazing how the liquid becomes an egg...It was a random discovery that I had in the lab. Originally, the eggs came out of strange gems, and that was even more random I thought," she said, letting him continue.
"The telepathy shouldn't hurt you at all, and though it may be a bit awkward at first, you'll be able to communicate both ways with your Fury through your mind alone. Your bond with them allows them to speak to you, and you to speak to them fairly easily."
Already, the vial was settling. Soon it would only gurgle and bubble every now and then, just to show that it was still, in fact, alive.
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 10:22 pm
Taro nodded and grinned happily. "Thank you for being so patient with all my questions." He looked at the vials again and then asked slowly. "Is there anything else I should know? Any last warnings you want to give me, anything I should be aware of?" Taro ruffled his wispy bangs and shook his head, laughing at himself. "I don't mean to sound paranoid...but with my luck, there'll be one random thing...like...." He thought for a moment. "Like they erupt into flames if put in too close a proximity with an overripe banana, or something else equally weird that I'd never think of to worry about. There's nothing like that I should know to avoid or be sure to do, is there?" Taro took a drink of the water she'd gotten him. He'd been so excited that he'd forgotten it. From all the questions and all the enthusiasm his mouth was dry as a desert. He took another long drink.
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Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 6:57 am
"Oh, no problem!" She waved it off. "It's my job to answer questions...they're just not as hard to take care of as everyone thinks. They just like to cause trouble every now and then. Just treat them as you would any normal child. They may be smaller, but in every other way, they're just like little kids."
"My only recommendation to you would be to keep those vials safe. Don't knock them over, or drop anything into them. They need the air to form, otherwise I'd put caps on them... But if anything goes wrong in the vial stage, they can be deformed later on..."
She paused, and gave him a serious look. "That's the only REALLY important thing you need to know."
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Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 2:42 pm
Taro nodded solemnly. "No contamination, got it." he said and smiled, more than a little nervously. He stood up and wiped the palms of his hands on his pants. "I think I understand now, what it feels like to become a father." He stared at the vials as he said it, and then turned to Sizzla and smiled. "Thank you for all your help, for your hospitality and for answering all my questions. What comes next?" Taro reached out slowly to the vials, giving the woman time to stop him if this were incredibly bad taste. Was he to just pick them up, say "thanks very much" and just walk out? Just go home, carrying some vials?
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Posted: Sun May 28, 2006 4:41 pm
"You really think so?" Sizzla asked him, grinning. "Just wait until they're born--that's when you'll really know what it's like to be a father." She stood up and let him take the vials, nodding. "Please, let me know if you have any problems whatsoever. I never mind a phone call from a guardian," she assured him with a nod. Taking a business card out of her pocket, she slipped it into his front jacket pocket. After all, how would he take it from her when he was carrying the vials?
She gave him a sly smile, and a wink. "I think that should be all. Remember, don't heistate to call if you need anything." She stopped, and thought twice about it. "Here," she grabbed the rack from the counter and held it out for Taro. "Put them in here. It'll be easier to get around with them if you have them on the rack."
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