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thursday, september 1st, 2005
barton town, gaia

Every morning it was the same old thing. Rush, rush, rush. Chucky didn't see the point. He ambled down the sidewalk, calmly absorbing the waves of shoving and hip-checking aimed at him. There, down the street, was his pawn shop. And there, in front of his pawn shop, was... a picnic basket? He frowned slightly and sped up, worried that it might be filled with angry letters or decapitated rat bodies from a dissatisfied customer.

He stopped in front of the basket, sniffing the air above it. Hey, that was nice! He pulled open the lid. Brownies?! Well, s**t. He couldn't eat those, they could have been sitting out here all night. And who knows, they were probably pot brownies or something, and Chucky had no intention of getting high at work, even if he did own his own business. He unlocked and lifted the metal grate that protected the front of his store from crazy bums and picked up the box o' goodness, giving the suit-clad commuters one final look of disdain before heading inside.

A cheery bell jingled as he opened the door. Flinging his bag into the corner, Chucky flopped onto a stool behind the counter and set the basket at the end furthest away from him. Maybe one of the old ladies who stopped by every day would guinea pig for him.

He was just about to pull out his cell phone and play some Tetris when the bell above the door jingled again and a skinny, big-eyed girl slid in. Great. "Don't break anything," Chucky said in his best adult voice.

"Yeah," the girl said.

Chucky thought he saw an eyeroll. Was she mocking him? Bah. "What're you looking for?" he asked. The girl glanced around like she was casing the joint.

"Something for my ma," she said. "You got jewelry?"

"Sure." Chucky doubted this kid really wanted jewelry, but there was nothing out here small enough for her to steal while he went in the back and humored her. Except for those brownies. He smiled. "Wait here."

He emerged a couple of minutes later to find the girl leaning over the basket. When she noticed him, she slammed the lid closed and folded her hands behind her back.

"It's all right. Someone left them here and I'm not going to eat any. Take one."

"Nah," she said. She stepped up to the counter. "Show me."

Chucky spent the next twenty minutes or so showing the girl a pile of antique rings and weird necklaces before she shook her head and said she had to go, as he knew she would.

"Okay then. Good luck finding something for your mother." He hoped that whoever was chasing her was long gone, 'cause she seemed like a nice kid. A little dirty, but nice. He gave her a wave as she eased the door shut behind her and she waved back before disappearing past the edge of the window.

That basket hadn't made it far. Thrown in the dumpster before the man had left for the night, the evidence inside lay nestled deep in in the dark and smelly void of junk. It really, really stank. Unfortunately, it couldn't do much about it's surroundings.. shards of glass couldn't climb out of dumpsters.

Little children with the will to live, however, could.

It was lucky the top of the dumpster had remained flung open that night, otherwise the little child that reached upward from the trash after a flash of light had filled the dumpster temporarily, would have suffocated.

And no one likes dead babies.



She picked a molding piece of lettuce out of her hair, and tried to climb out of the dumpster, staring at the ground which seemed miles away.

sunday, september 4th, 2005
isle de gambino, gaia
original location

Asrafel was sitting at a desk, wearing glasses, and writing on piece of paper that all looked very official. He would have looked official as well, if not for the fact he was all but naked save for his ribbons. Beside him at the same desk was a much more formal looking woman, dressed for her job, sitting in the middle of the desk and filling out equally important looking forms.

Unfortunately, the scene wasn't as businesslike and productive as it may have appeared.

Alania was certainly doing her job, this much was certain - but the boy beside her was clearly mocking her every act. He wasn't sitting at all - he was floating effortlessly in the air with his legs furled up indian style, so that he looked as though he was sitting behind the desk with her. His writing utensils were various colored pencils, and he kept switching back and forth with him as he drew long and elaborate shapes that didn't resemble a thing, on blank pieces of paper.

Alania was doing a banner job of ignoring the boy's attempts to mimic his aunt.

She put down her pen, and stretched her arms out behind her. She snatched her glasses from Asrafel's face, and he blinked as his eyes readjusted to actually being able to see again. He looked down at what he thought were masterpieces, and quickly realized he had been drawing gross figures that looked nothing like his blurry vision had told him. He threw them all in the garbage.

This setback didn't stop him however. He picked up more paper and another pencil, and began anew. Subsequently, once she was done stretching Alania wordlessly did the same. She picked up her writing utensil and began to recalculate the figures of the current fiscal year. Once she'd wrote two figures down, she realized she was writing in bright pink colored pencil, and let out a frustrated sigh.

The fairy beside her giggled helplessly.

All was not going well for Chucky Fredricks. It had only been a few days since he had found the newest member of the family, in a dumpster of all places, and he was not having the easiest time being a father. Stray pets were one thing, but Brownie was an eternally pissed off child and seemed to delight in making her father miserable with her baby-pranks. He would have thrown her back in the garbage if he hadn't been afraid of the cops.

Today they were strolling along the Gambino strip, or rather Chucky was strolling and Brownie was being carried. The edges of her wings were wrapped in duct tape to spare her father's already band-aid-covered hands, and she twitched them irritably every couple of seconds. She thought the shops were boring, but when she saw the outside of The Benedict Center, something about it pleased her. She stiffened in Chucky's arms and reached out her hands toward the building, but did not cry.

"What? Whaaaat?" Chucky said, struggling to keep hold of the dead weight Brownie had made of herself. He glanced at the building. "Fine." As he approached the door, Brownie made a satisfied little baby bark and settled down.

Once inside, Chucky squinted and blinked at the change in lighting from the sunny outdoors to the normally-lit room. To the two at the table he said, "Hello? Sorry. She wanted to come in here." He gestured toward Brownie. "We'll only be a second." As his eyes adjusted, he noticed that the boy was not actually sitting at the table but floating. Okay then. None of his business.

Both Asrafel and Alania looked up as someone entered, though Alania did little more in reaction. Asrafel however sprang into action, flinging the colored pencil away (where it then fell upon Alania's head a moment later, eliciting a small growl from the woman in response) and hopping to his feet.

"Why hello! Don't be sorry at all, we love visitors! Especially little ones!" He grinned even broader the moment his eyes rested on Brownie, and he giggled softly, giving the girl a childish wave. "My name is Asrafel! Welcome to the Benedict Center! Can I get either of you something to drink? Or perhaps you just need a place to rest for a bit? Has the day been weary for you?"

Alania briefly wondered how hard she would have to throw the colored pencil she was plucking out of her hair, for it to pierce the back of the fairy's bobbing head.

Why did this place need a secretary anyway, besides all of the pointless paperwork? Asrafel was more the hostess than any secretary, especially her, could ever be. They might as well slap a skirt on him and tell him to start waiting tables.

Brownie brightened at the wave she received from the nearly naked boy and began bouncing in her father's arms. He didn't have any clothes on except ribbons! She had tried to run around naked, but The Man had scolded her.

"Hey Asrafel," Chucky said. He looked down at his bobbing child. Did she know this kid or something? "I'm good, but I think Brownie wants something. I'll be damned if I know what," he sighed. "I'm Chucky," he continued, looking around. "This is a nice place. What do you guys do here?"

Asrafel was far from surprised at Brownie's reaction; he'd seen it a couple of times already. Children of his kind were always so glad to see him, even if they didn't know why. It was adorable! He almost bounced in reaction to her bouncing, despite how silly it might look.

"Ah, we're a DayCare center! We specialize in children like Brownie as well, isn't she a dear? Special children, like her and myself. The woman at the desk behind me is Alania, she makes all of the appointments. I help look after the children, as does Lillian. She isn't here right now." This last sentence he said with a little less fervor, almost impassively if it was possible for him to do so. "But you must come when you are in need of our services, it would be an honor to watch over-Brownie, was it? What a lovely name! Here, let me give you our card so you can always call or find us if our services are ever needed."

He led the man and his child closer to the desk, and slipped a business card off of it, flicking it between his fingers and holding it out for them. Alania looked up, offering the man a polite nod; he was a potential customer, after all.

"Yeah, she kind of named herself," he said. "And she's special, all right." He edged over to the table, squeezing Brownie to him to stop that godawful bouncing. In response, she spun around and bit his shoulder. The toddler didn't have many teeth, but the ones she did have were fairly sharp. Luckily, they didn't pierce Chucky's ratty old t-shirt. He smirked at the small victory as he took the business card from Asrafel. Brownie turned back toward the winged boy too; she hadn't been trying very hard anyway.

"Thanks," he said to Asrafel, nodding to Alania as well. "There are other kids like you around here?" he asked. He wanted to ask if they were all as crazy as his, but he refrained. This Asrafel kid was nice and he didn't want to cause trouble.

"Weeell.. not right now. But normally yes, here or there. It's a slow day today." He chuckled nervously, trying to make it seem like they were a respectable business. Alania merely smirked behind her hooded gaze as she looked back down to her work.

"But yes, all the same and yet all completely different - as different as Brownie and I seem to be! It's just the same with the world today, is it not? All so very different, and yet deep down all the same. It is not our appearances or our meager beginnings that lead us down the paths we follow, but our very own choices."

Asrafel paused for a moment, taking a step back and listening to the words he'd just said. At least, he thought he had just said them.. but he couldn't remember thinking them. It was odd, it almost felt like he'd heard someone else say it, and was simply repeating them mechanically.

A sudden headache fell upon him, and his brow furrowed in pain. "You'll.. have to excuse me sir. I'm suddenly not feeling very well.."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Chucky said, a little disturbed. It wasn't Asrafel's words that weirded him out, but his delivery. He looked to Alania and then back to Asrafel. Chucky really was not the comforting type. "Take care of yourself kid. We'll be back, I'm sure." He took a step toward the door and Brownie, realizing she was being removed from the presence of awesome nakedness, began to wail. She beat her wings in a violent fit, repeatedly catching Chucky's forefinger between one duct-tape-blunted wing and her back.

"s**t! Ow!" Chucky squealed, yanking his finger out of harm's way and propping open the door with his foot. "Sorry! Bye!" he yelled over Brownie's tantrum. He shut the door gently behind him and the pair and their noise were gone.

monday, september 12, 2005
outside aekea, gaia

Brownie was exploring. This place sucked, but she was still exploring. The woman who lived here sucked, and so did this stupid kid she was sitting next to. She had seen his kind in this nature magazine she had ripped up recently, and this one acted just as stupid as the rest of them looked. She fluttered her wings. Today they were covered with these ugly colorful knotted up things. The only reason she hadn't shredded them yet was because the knotted things had come from a decapitated wing store! Thousands and thousands of wings had been hanging on the walls and Brownie was a little afraid that if she shredded these wing covers, The Man would cut hers off and sell them to the Wing Man.

She poked the other kid on the leg. "Ay," she said.

He leaned over a little. He smelled like some sort of doll. Stupid plastic animal boy. "Hello," he said with an incredibly fake smile. Brownie knew all about fake smiles. It seemed like everyone just loved to direct them at her.

"Heh-oh," she answered. She patted him on the leg and quickly bit into it as hard as she could. Her jaws weren't very strong, so she didn't even break jeans, but the plastic boy jumped a bit anyway.

"Oh dear!" he said.

Suddenly, she was in the air. Well, that wasn't good. She struggled slightly, but something about the way he was holding her made it seem as though he wouldn't care if she fell. He took her back out to where The Man and Her were sitting and said something in a high-pitched voice. Then he turned her around and spewed his hippy-love in her face! That was the last straw! She squirmed like she had never squirmed before.

Brownie wanted to believe she wasn't afraid of anything, except maybe that wing-seller in the mall, but when stupid smelly animal boy dropped her, she found something else to be scared of.

"Ba-ba-ba-SUK!" Her leg hurt and she wanted as far away from this kid as possible. She was desperate enough, in fact, to make her way over to The Man and even sit nearer to him than she could normally stand.

They chattered on some more, but Brownie wasn't really listening. It was only when The Man picked her up that she started paying attention again. His fingers were really close to her wings, but she felt too dejected to try to cut him. Instead she stuck her hand in her mouth and rested her head against his shoulder.

saturday, november 12, 2005
barton town, gaia

Brownie sat on the floor in the hall, Alfonso at her feet. The Man was ignoring her in favor of the television. Annoying. She waited until a lull in the action and spoke up. "A-eee!" she shouted.

"Yeah Brownie, what?" Chucky said. He rolled over and looked at her from around the side of the sofa.

Brownie wasted no time. She stood and shuffled over to her father. Her arm shot out and she pointed at the nearest book resting on the coffee table.

"What? What do you want with this?" he said. He leaned forward to pick it up, noting that it was one of Helen's romance craps, probably left there as some sort of heavy-handed hint. Amateur. Chucky hoped Brownie wasn't gleaning any lessons in subtlety from her mother. "It's too old for you," he said, throwing it back on the table.

"N n n!" Brownie said. She dropped her hand to Chucky's leg and reached over him for the book.

"Fine." He scooped her up, mindful of her wings, and sat her on his lap, somehow grabbing the book on the way. Maybe he didn't suck at this father thing as much as he thought. He flipped open to the middle of the book and started reading.

"Jessica shivered with pleasure as Wolfe's hands kneaded down her back to her waist, lingered, then eased upward again with a combination of gentleness and strength that was magic on her aching body.

'That feels so good.' She sighed and unconsciously arched against his touch."

"Taa fee suu goo," Brownie echoed.

"Yeah, no no no no," Chucky said, fighting back nearly hysterical laughter as he closed the book. "You shouldn't be reading that for a long time. Go play with Al."

He lowered her to the floor, but just before she got there, she scissored her wings, cutting gouges in at least two of his fingers and rewarding her with his yelp of pain. That would teach him to laugh at her.

monday, december 5th, 2005
outside aekea, gaia

"Here're the cookies she likes," Chucky said, dropping a half-filled duffle bag at Smerdle's feet. "Don't try to feed her yourself... you know, just give her the cookie to eat. Her teeth are sharp." He scoffed a bit at that, but it sounded forced. "Oh, and him." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a slightly ruffled Alfonso, handing him to Sylvester before the Tale could protest. He shoved his hands into jacket pockets and sank in on himself, casting a guilty look at Brownie, who peered at the group from the front seat of his tiny rental car.

Smerdle reached out unconsciously and brushed her hand across his dirty sleeve. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"

He knew she asked because she cared, but it stung. How long can you saddle me with your responsibilities? This is more than a best friend signs on for, you know.

"Whatever you're thinking, I don't agree," she muttered.

"I don't know how long," he said quickly. If he didn't hear her, he would have reason enough to prolong his pity party. "I have to get my marriage annulled and that's not gonna help with the shop. They'll probably foreclose while I'm gone." He looked up at the sky. "Weeks, months, I don't know."

She stayed quiet for a long time, finally breaking the uncomfortable by stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him. "Just don't bring back any chicks you don't love," she said. "Or maybe none at all."

When she let him go he nodded and turned away before she could get a good look at him. It was time to go. He lifted Brownie out of the car and placed her on the ground next to the duffle bag.

"Bye," he said. And then he was gone.

monday, december 12th, 2005
outside aekea, gaia

"Brownie?" Smerdle pushed open the door to the little girl's attic room, only to find her sitting on a tiny beanbag chair, staring out of the low window on the side of the house. "Look here," Smerdle said. "I've got a package for you. See? 'Brownie Fredricks.'" She pointed to the girl's name even though she wasn't even facing the door.

Brownie sighed. She knew her own name, for pete's sake. She raised an arm and pointed to the floor nearest her chair. Smerdle interpreted her silent command correctly, crossing the room to Brownie's side and kneeling on the floor. The box was sturdy and covered with an obscene amount of tape. Every few inches, a small hole had been punched around the top and when Smerdle set it down, something scuttled around inside. Brownie leaned over the side of her chair.

"Whada opin," she said, reaching for the box herself.

"I'll open it," Smerdle said, sliding her finger between the lid and the box. It popped open, revealing another tiny Idle Thought. Across the room, Alfonso chirped and bobbed his head at the box, not really able to see its occupant from his vantage point. The new Thought chirped a response, poking his own red and white head up over the edge.

Brownie smiled, something that had been happening less and less these days, and pointed at the new arrival. "Talk'n! HA!" she screeched before flopping back into her chair.

Smerdle lifted the Thought out of the box and put him on the floor. "I'll just leave him here then," she said. There was a note still in the bottom and Smerdle sat on the floor to read it.

Quote:

Hey,

I got Brownie another Thought for Christmas kind of. I've been calling him Cuaron and he doesn't seem to mind. Take care of yourself and tell Sylvester I said hi.

Chucky

Smerdle refolded the paper and followed Brownie's gaze to the window. At least he was still alive. Even if she didn't recognize the postmark.