|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:39 pm
Remi carried Gavin up the three flights of stairs to Natalie's apartment. Technically he should have been able to walk up himself, but for whatever reason he decided not to make use of his legs that morning. After lots of failed scolding attempts, Remi finally gave in and carried him.
The truth was that Gavin was just plain tired of stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs. He'd climbed so many of them in the past few days, he didn't want to set foot on a single one for a while. It took a bit of manipulative whining and an iron will of perseverance, but Mommy finally gave in.
Breathing hard from having to carry a full-grown toddler up and down stairs, Remi finally reached Nat's door. Setting down her son, she knocked on the door.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:44 pm
There was a rustle, some clanging, and then Natalie opened the door, waving. She had a flowy, skirt on over a pair of jeans with a mass of pins sticking out of a few sides.
"Oh, hey! Come on in. Just gimme a moment to put this away..." Stepping back and waving them in, Natalie wiggled out of the skirt and tossed it on a chair. "Just working on a personal project."
She smiled at Gavin, holding out her hand. "You must be Gavin. I'm Natalie!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:48 pm
Remi was first confused at the mix of the skirt and the jeans, but then realized that this must not be out of the ordinary for someone who makes clothes as a hobby. She smiled politely. "Thanks again for doing this. I really appreciate it."
Gavin blinked at this new lady. She looked younger than his Mommy even. Staring at her outstretched hand, he wondered what to do. Hadn't he seen Mommy do this a few times? He paused for a moment, trying to remember. Oh yeah.
He timidly reached out and placed his much smaller hand in hers and tried his first handshake. A bit awkward, considering how much smaller his hand was, but nevertheless Remi was proud that she was raising a gentleman.
"Hi Natly!" he chirped with a toothy smile. The kind that only toddlers could produce and could make even the hardest of hearts melt of cute.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:52 pm
And melt her heart it did. Her smile widened. "You're a handsome little boy, huh? You'll need clothing to match!" She let go of his hand and grabbed up a sketch book. "A few of my ideas are in there. But obviously, I hadn't seen him yet...
"Gavin, what's your favorite color?"
A lot of the designs were loose enough that Gavin would be able to move. The holes for his wings were bigger but covered by the draping folds, and some could be made smaller using small clasps, if a better fit was desired. Still, all the ideas were very rough.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:58 pm
He puffed out his chest proudly at being called handsome. This girl praised him like Haki did. He was going to like this Natly person. Though, at her question he had to pause longer to consider. Favorite color. Hmm...that was a hard one. Giving a look back at Remi, he was only given a shrug as an answer.
"Your choice, sweety." Great, well she wasn't going to be any help.
"Uhhh..." he said to give himself more time to think. Osha had an awesome bedroom color, but that was rainbow. As far as he knew, rainbow didn't count as a color. He looked at his softies, staring at them for a while. Haki sure liked his softies, collected them even. He liked his softies too.
"That color," he pointed toward his wings, giving them a small flap to indicate what he was pointing at.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:03 pm
"Well, then. We'll just have to put that color in your clothing, huh?" A smile. Oh, but his wings were beautiful! She'd have to take that more into account with her designs.
But the boy couldn't be all orange. That'd be overwhelming. Hm... and a complimentary color - no, still too overpowering.
She'd have to either go with a neutral or a contrasting color. Hmmm...
"Do you like blue, Gavin? Like my pants?" She pointed. He might not know color names yet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:06 pm
"Blue?" he considered, staring at her pants. Well that was a pretty color. Blue. He'd have to investigate this blue color further. Ina was purple. Haki was pink and shiny. Osha was...rainbow, for lack of a colorful term. As far as he knew, he was orange. But blue was good too.
"Blue!" he threw his arms up in gleeful agreement.
Remi smiled at her child's antics. "I would have never thought of blue. That might actually be nice. Shows how much of a color coordinator I am..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:19 pm
"Well, I just didn't want him looking like he was on fire." She laughed, then pointed to the sketchbook. "See anything you like in there? Did it give you any ideas?"
And then she turned her attention back to Gavin, eyes twinkling. "Have you ever had a rootbeer float?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:27 pm
Remi smiled as she took the sketchbook and started flipping through. She blinked in amazement.
"These are amazing! You have a lot of talent."
She flipped through the pages, carefully studying each design. There were two that caught her eye specifically. The first looked to be a single piece of clothing, but nevertheless looked stylish for a toddler. A pancho type cloth was draped over it as well. Looked very comfortable for his wings and his constant movements.
Gavin blinked. Rootbeer float? What the heck was that?
"Nope," he said, shaking his head. Before he could get another word out, Remi bent over to Natalie, pointing at the first design.
"This one's really nice. And I also really liked--"
She flipped a few pages until she found it.
"--that one."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:35 pm
"I hope I do - I'm majoring in fashion and costume design." Natalie stuck out her tongue. "I have to at least be passably good, if I want to graduate."
She looked at the two. "Oh, okay. Actually, on the first one - I was thinking of doing a bit of dye work and putting a pattern in. Orange with a yellow pattern sound good? And the pants can be blue.
"On the second one - can he fly yet? Because I think the vest will constrict his movements, if he can."
Glancing over at Gavin, she ruffled his hair a little. "It's a soda with a scoop of ice cream on top. If your mother says it's okay, I could make some for us!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:41 pm
"Orange and yellow works fine," Remi considered, trying to visualize the colors on the cloth. She didn't seem to have a very good visual imagination. Maybe that's why her imagery writing needed a lot of work.
"I hope he can't fly yet," Remi laughed nervously. Gavin just smiled up at her mischievously, which could mean anything. Gavin flying would mean lots of trouble for her and anyone who happened to meet him. "Rootbeer floats are fine. Better than the dog food he tried to eat at another guardian's apartment."
Ever since that meeting at Tristan's, Gavin had been raving about dog food. Out of sheer insistance on some form of decency she refused to buy the stuff to indulge him. Little did she know he had a small can tucked under his bed that he regularly stole a bite from every night. Disgusting...to her at least.
"So you're majoring in fashion?" Remi asked curiously. "That must be fun. Sounds a lot more interesting than what I did in college."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:45 pm
"... dog... food?" Blink. Blink. Stare.
Okay, yes, rootbeer floats were much better. She went over to the kitchen and got three cups out - two large, one small. The small was from a set she'd bought for her future kid. Well, they'd get broken in early, it seemed!
While she was pouring soda and adding ice cream, she listened to Remi. "It is. But it's a lot of work, and it's expensive. I work a ton of odd jobs to help pay for fabric.
"What did you major in?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:50 pm
Remi and Gavin followed Nat into the kitchen. She never realized that going into fashion could be expensive, but when Natalie explained it made sense. Remi made a mental note to never try fashion design due to lack of funding.
"I majored in creative writing of all things," she scratched the back of her head. "It was the only thing I could major in and still hope to pass with semi-decent grades. I'm trying to make a living as a writer, but I'm finding that's not really possible."
She had been seriously considering that waitress job over at the diner where she had dessert with Stephan a few weeks ago. Writing was one of her passions, but she just didn't seem to be all that good at it.
Gavin tried to listen to the conversation, but once they started using too many words he decided to explore. The couch seemed to be a good place to start...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:55 pm
"Ever thought about going into journalism?" she suggested. "You could write opinion columns, or something."
She brought the glasses out, handing one to Remi. Then she looked around, wondering where Gavin had gone off to.
"And Dacian needs help gardening, if you're interested..."
Ponder. Ponder. "I'm indecisive, myself. I can't decide whether to keep going with design - I doubt I'll be able to really break into the business - or switch to acting or to something more requested, like business. Or something.
"Eh, who knows. I'll probably end up working as a maid at a hotel or something." She laughed. "And my education will go to waste, and my family will get mad at me. That'd be interesting.
"Now. Where'd Gavin go off to? I don't want his ice cream to melt..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:03 pm
"Well, part of the reason I liked the idea of writing novels was that I could work at my own pace," Remi explained with a sheepish smile. Translation: she was lazy and didn't like to rush her so-called 'muse.' Hence the reason it took months and months for her to write anything that could possibly be called a book. "Journalists...that just seems too stressful for me. Gardening? Now that's something I could probably do. I'll have to talk to Dacian."
She didn't have much experience with gardens, other than a vegetable garden back at her parents' home. They had started it, but she ended up tending it. Not the most glorious garden in the neighborhood, but it produced edible food that didn't taste as if it were poisoned.
"There's a diner nearby that I'm thinking about applying for work at," she said. "My parents already got mad at me, so it's okay if I continue to waste my education. Rents free here, so I don't have too much to worry about."
At Nat's question as to Gavin's whereabouts, Remi tensed and frantically looked around the room. Had he gotten away already? She didn't need him breaking anything. Finally her eyes fell on him standing on Natalie's couch.
"Gavin, don't stand on the furniture," Remi scolded with a motherly tone. Though, to not make him cry she added with a wink, "You're rootbeer float's ready."
Didn't have to tell him twice. Within seconds he was off the couch and reaching up for his own float.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
