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 Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:14 am
Lenore considered this solemnly for a moment.
"But, Mama walks into stuff all th' time. Just yes'erday she walked into a couple glass doors, and then she started yellin' stuff an' kicked th' door and made it crack into lots of pieces so she could see it," she said to Rabid, trying to bat away Crow's hand as her grip remained tight on the girl's nose.
Crow flushed and cleared her throat, mumbling about about the evils of newly cleaned glass sliding doors.
Lenore gave an innocent smile as she misinterpreted Crow's embarrassment, wiggling out of her grip and edging back towards Malachi. Noting the peculiar look the baby was giving her, she looked around in curiousity to see what he was so interested in.
"What?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:22 am
Rabid snerked and supressed a wave of laughter. She clapped her hand over her mouth for a moment, rolled her eyes to the sky, and then regained her composure.
"Yeah, but Mama is kinda stupid somethimes, dontcha think?" Rabid smiled and gave Crow a hug as further proof that she was just joking around.
Malachi looked up into Lenore's eyes as she asked him a question. He reached up toward the black-red stuff...
Noticing her son's hand, Rabid quickly bent down and picked Malachi up.
"Eurgh," she groaned, "Not good."
Malachi faced Crazy Hair Lady and smiled broadly, everything fading back to normal.
"Bah!"
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:32 am
Crow gave a sheepish laugh and readjusted her vise-grip on Lenore's nose, deciding not to say anything about Malachi's behavior.
"Sometimes is a bit of an understatement, really." she said easily, finally letting go of Lenore's nose and wiping away the already congealing blood, touching here and there on Len's face to make sure she hadn't cracked any bones.
Lenore looked at Malachi, slightly disconcerted. Sensing it would be better to shrug it off, Lenore brushed herself off and tried to bat Crow's hands away again.
"I'm fine, Mama," she said, slightly irritated. Glancing over at Rabid and Malachi, she cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly.
"He eats blood, don't he?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:36 am
Rabid laughed, but cringed at Lenore's question. If she told the child, would she be frightened, or would she think it was cool?
"Well," she began, and then sighed, "Yes, he does. We both do. See?" She opened her mouth and pointed to her fangs.
Malachi grinned at Len. He hadn't the slightest idea what Crazy Hair Lady was talking about, but it didn't sound good. The tone of her voice was quite far off.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:42 am
Lenore stood on tip-toe to look at Rabid's teeth nonchalantly.
"Oh, okay then. Mama's got pointy teeth too, see?"
And with that, she grabbed hold of Crow's mouth and pried it open to exhibit her mother's slightly smaller fangs, completely oblivious to Crow's flailing and garbled cries of protest. Returning Malachi's grin, she let go of Crow's jaw and wiped a bit of congealed blood off her her nose with a knuckle.
"Can we go play now?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:48 am
"Sure. Just be more careful," Rabid said absentmindedly and placed Malachi on the ground. She stood beside Crow and peered at her mouth.
"Yanno? I actually hadn't noticed before..."
Malachi squealed happily as his knees thouched the ground. Still grinning, he crawled clumsily toward Len.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:50 am
Crow hunched her shoulders a little and tried to hide her mouth under her hand.
"It's a long story that I'm sure would bore you to tears, so maybe another time," she nearly squeaked hurriedly. Looking around for a new topic to quickly shift the conversation to, she watched Lenore and Malachi toddle around.
"Just don't go into the woods, alright?"
Lenore nodded briefly, pretending to have heard what Crow said. Looking into the thick forest that bordered the playground, she felt curiosity mixed with deep forboding. She knew she wasn't supposed to go in there, and that she might get in trouble...
Turning away from temptation quickly, she pointed at the lake that made up the rest of the border, clear water sparkling in the bright sunlight.
"Let's go over there," she said, though her tone fully implied how much she would like to visit the forest.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:54 am
"I'm sure you'll tell me when you want to," Rabid patted Crow on the back and watched the mishaps move away.
"You know what scares me?" she realized suddenly, "Ike's part squirrel." She pointed toward the forbidden forest.
Malachi stared at the trees around them. He felt strangely attracted to them, but repelled at the same time.
"Bah," he nodded and began crawling toward the lake.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:02 am
Relieved to be on a new subject, she watched as the pair wandered towards the shallow shores of the lake.
"Can he climb or anything yet?" she asked, carefully watching to ensure Lenore didn't make a move to enter the water.
Lenore sat down at the very edge of the playground, inches from the clear still water. She watched the ducks swimming around and flying with envy, touching her tender nose ruefully. Glancing at Malachi, she scooted over to make room for him on the sandy ground and picked up a few small pebbles. Tossing them into the water quietly, she watched the water ripple out boredly.
Crow looked into the forest with slight apprehension, though she felt a great twinge of curiousity herself. What could be in there that Maggie and Jabir didn't want the other guardians to be mixing with?
Bringing herself back to the issue at hand, she watched Lenore pitch pebbles into the water.
"Maybe you could put him in one of those child-leash things in case he tries to escape," she said, watching the ducks glare at Lenore for interrupting the peace on their precious lake.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:09 am
"Not yet. He can barely stand," Rabid shook her head but never took her eyes off of the children, "but I fear the day when he finds out that he can."
Malachi sat contentedly beside Len. He placed his hands just of the surface of that water, but quickly pulled them back and shook them off. It was cold. He then elected to place the tip of his tail in the water and swish it around, causing strangely-shaped water-wrinkles. He smiled softly and watched the ducks.
"That's not a bad idea," Rabid agreed with Crow, but shook her head, "but I don't think he'd like it very much." Her eyes wandered around the edge of the wood. It looked completely innocent this time of day.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:14 am
Noticing where Rabid's gaze strayed, Crow shifted as another swell of curiosity took hold.
"Yeah, kids and leashes don't really mix," she said vaguely, more than ever itching to take just a quick look around.
Lenore watched Malachi play with amusement. Younger kids were so easily entertained, it was just-
"Hey! Somethin' shiny!"
Lenore scrabbled in the sand, digging up her treasure. An old, dirty marble glittered in the afternoon sunlight, the blue glass pocked with scratches and chips. Dunking it into the water, she showed her prize to Malachi.
"I found somethin' shiny!"
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:27 am
"One of these days," Rabid laughed nervously and pointed to the forest, turning away from it, "One of these days one of us is going to get killed." It had taken her quite some time to see that Crow was staring also.
Malachi's head snapped in Len's direction. Shiny? Shiny was good.
"Ooooo..." he cooed and poked the marble in Len's hand. It was shiny!
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:43 am
Crow blinked, snapping back to reality again.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Death. Bad. Yeah." She shifted uncomfortably, unable to take it any more. Taking brisk strides towards the forest, she called over her shoulder to Rabid.
"C'mon, let's just take a quick-"
BOOM.
Crow jumped back as she heard what sounded like a resonating footfall exploding from HQ. Turning and staring, she heard a distinct, machine-like howl emanating from a wide open window on the first floor. Her room.
The howl came a second time, and Crow instantly recognized it.
"Dammit, the kangaroo rats must've cranked the surround sound up as high as it would go!" she snapped at no one in particular, cursing herself for forgetting to turn off her television. Racing up to the building and past Rabid, she cursed herself doubly as the loud screams of someone being eaten alive was punctuated by more mechanical howls.
"RabidI'llberightbackwatchLen!" she said rapidly, flailing and sprinting up to the building before everyone within a five mile radius thought there was a monster on the loose, eating people very, very loudly.
Lenore didn't even turn around as she heard the howls and screams. Turning to Malachi, she held out the now mostly-clean bauble for him to look at.
"You can have it if you want, Bah. I gots lots of shiny stuff at home." she said, pressing the sapphire blue object into his hand. "I steal lots of stuff!" she added proudly, thinking fondly of her hidden stash of shiny things and small creatures.
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:52 am
Rabid took a step after Crow, and cried out in pain when she heard the roar. She clapped her hands over her ears until they got used to the noise, then bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter. She slowly made her way to the mishaps, staying far enough behind so as to not intrude.
Malachi's eyes were folded all the way back, almost completely closed off. His left eye squinched shut and he winced in pain. He took the little sphere happily, though, and carefully gave Len a hug, avoiding her sharp arms.
Rabid watched curiously. What was that blue thing?
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Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:03 pm
Standing abruptly and dusting herself off, Lenore looked around for Crow. The noise coming from the room was punctuated between quiet and explosions of sound, followed by uncomprehensible shouting from what sounded like Crow.
"Mama's fightin' with the rats again," she informed Malachi seriously, watching the windows rattle as a woman's high pitched scream echoed over the grounds.
Wandering at the water's edge, she looked towards the woods that ringed the lake shore, half-concealing a glass house at the other end of the yard. She badly wanted to go in, and now that Crow wasn't there....
The sound reached a ridiculously loud climax, setting Len's teeth on edge. Clapping her hands to her ears, she watched as the windows rattled even worse than before. As the mechanical howl came again, there was suddenly a loud, crackling POP, and the grounds fell silent.
"DAMMIT!"
Well, sort of. Lenore giggled as she listened to Crow shout obscenities before turning back to Malachi.
"Let's go see what's in the woods."
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