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 Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:48 pm
Amber eyes observed the hand that pulled Adhara through the facility. Her heart throbbed fervently in his small chest, nothing she could put in her mind succeeding in quelling the strange fear that she felt being back here. Her previous home had been unpleasant, yes, but this place balanced the scale out perfectly versus her old home. She whined, a soft pout on his face as she flapped her wings much in the fashion of a trapped bird, causing a bit of an uproar as she tried to get the motion to help her get away from the man who was only pulling her deeper and deeper inside a place that she didn't want to be anywhere near. All that she accomplished was getting herself a couple inches off the ground, still tethered to the stupid person who was dragging her who-knows-where.
As they'd been doing since Adhara had been picked up, the two purple tentacles slithered upward, one of them slipping up the man's side, the other caressing his hand. As had happened before, he jumped, his hold loosened ever-so-slightly, and with that she was off, running down the hall as fast as her small legs could carry her. Of course, one of those conveniently-timed tentacles tripped her, and she nearly somersaulted across the ground, before landing flat on her stomach. Her amber eyes welled with tears as someone picked her up off the ground, her wings flapping in obvious disagreement as they continued their decent deeper into the building...
Only around three days passed since they were [finally] able to get Adhara to where she needed to go, and even then she was constantly trying to find a way to escape, not even pausing to sleep. Of course, it was only a matter of time before there were no plans she hadn't yet tried [none that were feasible, at least], and she had to keep herself busy in other ways; preening with her fingers, discarding feathers that fell with the touch of her hand, pacing, cleaning, trying to imitate the voices of various different people talking in the halls. Her most recent choice of action was to work on braiding her rather short purple bangs, and that, finally, was when someone came looking for her.
He was tired-looking, dressed in semi-formal clothing, and saying something with one of the whitecoats about getting held up because of a funeral. Adhara forced herself to sit still until someone came to get her, though it resulted in her fidgeting anxiously, nearly jumping up as soon as someone was there to take her to meet the man who'd just arrived. Of course, as soon as the two of them stood staring at each other was when the shyness set in. Not one to linger on such a feeling, however, she stuck out her small hand up toward him, and he took it and gave it a firm shake.
"I'm Adhara," she said in her soft voice, smiling at the man softly. He smiled in return, trying to be as friendly as possible.
"So I've heard," he replied with a nod, blinking in slight confusion when the strange purple ligaments stretched toward his hand, and was relieved when she let go before they'd reached. "It's nice to meet you, Adhara; I'm Noah. I'm here to take you to your new home."
Her eyes clearly brightened at that, and it wasn't any more than a moment before Noah was being pulled back toward the exit. "Hold on, Adhara!" he exclaimed with a bit of nervous laughter, easing to a stop to avoid hurting her. The girl pouted, fluttering her wings in impatience and stamping one of her feet against the ground. Noah held up a finger in a 'one moment' gesture, turning back to find the person who had brought Adhara out of her cell, but was confused when the scientist was... well, gone. Huh. Apparently there wasn't anything he needed to do after he had his new... daughter? That would be odd to get used to.
"I guess you had the right idea," Noah replied, replacing the blank look with a smile, nearly falling as the girl yanked him back toward the door.
Within moments, the little girl burst through the doors with a flap of her wings, lifting herself only a few inches off the ground, yet feeling like she could cross oceans with such a height. She bounced happily on the balls of her feet, waiting for the man she'd left behind and peering around for a car that wasn't normally there. This gave her a moment to... 'think'. Of course, she didn't have that much to think about. This place was terrible, her last home neglected her, and she hoped that where she was going would be better. See? Thinking over. She'd found that thinking was a waste of time; thinking didn't get things done, didn't win wars, nothing!
Finally, that man emerged from the depths of the institute, and Adhara turned on heel to face him, acting far more mature than she really looked. "So where's your car Noah?" She lisped slightly, barely noticeably to anyone who was untrained in the area of reading speech styles. The moment that Noah looked in the least bit sheepish, however, the smile lost a bit of it's vibrancy.
"Actually, I don't have a car. I usually have to take the bus or walk or catch a ri-"
"That's okay," she interrupted, cutting off a rant that probably would have gone on for a while. "Do you live close to here?" she questioned a moment afterward, inwardly hoping that he didn't, even if that would require either a long walk or a bus ride... she'd prefer the walk.
"Um, no, actually," Noah replied, blinking abruptly at how quick such a young thing got straight to the point. He supposed it was a good thing, though; so far, it seemed to be. "We'll probably have to take a bus to get back... is that alright with you?"
Adhara just smiled and nodded, but was formulating a different series of events in her head. They made their way down to the bus stop, the little spawn leading the way while Noah followed as close as he could without feeling like he was invading her personal space. They had only been at the stop around two minutes before the little girl jumped off the bench with a frown and pointed down the street. "Could we go to the next stop?" she asked sweetly, and Noah complied with a slight smile back; it was a simple request, and he'd just adopted the girl, so why not give in?
This, he soon learned, was a mistake. It seemed that the girl had timed things just right so that the bus completely bypassed them for being in-between stops, just passing civilians. Yet, with a sigh, he carried on, in her tow. Of course, that wasn't the end of it. This happened again. And again. Again, again, again. It got to the point that they'd walked all the way back to Noah's apartment, Adhara practically dragging the man there now, seeming not at all tired out by such a long walk.
The stairs had been the end of it for the brunette, and as soon as the two made it inside his building, he collapsed on the first available bed-like surface, staring at the ceiling. After a while, he finally caught his breath, and sat back up.
Adhara wasn't in the living room anymore. Immediately, Noah was on his feet, scouring the house as though he was searching for a lost pet. Where could that girl have gone in such a small house?! When he finally found her, however, she'd come upon her room, and was in the process of re-arranging her furniture. He heaved a sigh of relief, gaining the amber-eyed girl's attention. She tilted her head to the side, and Noah shook his head, waving a hand dismissively. Today was a long day; he needed sleep, and she probably needed both sleep and decent food. So, he trudged to the kitchen to make up some pathetic excuse for a meal, and then collapse for the next twelve hours.
.....aside from being awoken by his new child every fifteen minutes, for one reason or the next.
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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 4:26 pm
Noah's Journal
Okay, I'll admit it...
___Maybe I'm not cut out for childcare. Or... maybe I'm not cut out for taking care of Adhara, specifically; hard to tell when you've only ever taken care of a child like her...
___The day after I picked her up, I was woken up around six in the morning with the television blasting a couple rooms off. This is keeping in mind she came to me all throughout the night with something or other that 'needed to be done', or 'she learned', or she 'didn't know where'. I guess that last one is partially my fault, though, as I probably should have shown her around when we got back home. I think there was actually a point-in-time where she was trying to get to sleep on the floor next to my bed, but I was too tired at that point to know whether or not this was true.
___'Finally dragged myself out of bed that morning to investigate the noise, and found Adhara standing on a chair, feather duster in hand, cleaning off the high-up shelves that carried a bunch of neglected video tapes, singing along with some musical or another she had playing. Aside from being impressed by the fact that she had every word down perfectly for a song I didn't care to place at the moment, worry was the first thing that took over my brain was worry. I assume that's normal for anyone watching a toddler jump and flutter from a chair to reach the top of a shelf attached to a wall that could easily break and crush my adoptee. Though it's true she hadn't yet done this, I wasn't abuot to risk it.
___As she was coming down from that height once more, just before her feet touched the ground, I caught her around the waist. For a moment, she snapped her wings in the air defiantly, before realizing that I wasn't one of the whitecoats she'd known for so long. Immediately after I put her down, she tried to climb back on the chair, so I had to take that away, then she got all misty-eyed and I had to talk to her about the dangers of my badly-constructed apartment to calm her down.
___Aside from that, things have been going... fairly smoothly. She's been forced to wear some of my friends' older dresses and stuff, and I worry about how much I'm going to get yelled at when they find out that I had to cut holes in the sides of them. But, for the better; at least they're now being useful, rather than sitting and gathering dust.
___Aside from that, we should probably get going, given I'm supposed to be taking her shopping later today, and she needs a good scrubbing before she should be outside...
-Noah
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:48 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 2:49 pm
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:37 am
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:48 pm
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:10 pm
Finally, Noah had bothered to make an appointment with a doctor who could deal with Adhara's hyperactivity without using anything that could mess up her immune system. There was just a slight problem: her appointment was immediately after he got off work that day. True, he'd never worked a day in his life, living off his parents' inheritance for quite some time, but since he had another mouth to feed [and bathe and entertain], that money could only stretch so far. It was actually his first day on the job, and he just prayed that Adhara wouldn't do anything to make a terrible first impression that morning...
Surprisingly enough, Adhara was soundly asleep at 5:40 that morning. That was a plus. Rather than make her wake up completely, he only had her wake up enough to get dressed and put on a jacket that his friend had cut and surged holes in, so it looked like it was custom-made to fit her wings and tentacles. By the time the two were on the bus, Adhi was snoozing again, thumb in her mouth, though her tentacles were hugging onto Noah rather tightly after he'd lifted her onto his shoulder, as though they didn't trust him not to drop her. It was astounding to see the diligence child completely exhausted, and even more astounded to see her asleep, even so early in the morning. But, he supposed, she was still only a toddler, so it made sense that she still slept at all.
After getting off the bus, it was a two-block walk in the chilly, biting weather, though neither party seemed to mind too much. Arriving at the small grocery store, he went around to the back where, surprisingly, the employee entrance was unlocked.
"Ah!" exclaimed a man sitting at a computer desk, back to the door, sounding pleased that someone was there so early. "So, you must be-" he cut himself off after turning around, spotting the sleeping child in Noah's arms, and lowered his voice to a half-whisper. "You must be Noah, am I right?"
Noah nodded in reply. "Nice to meet you, my name is Jeff, and I'm your supervisor. This morning, I'll be taking you through your basic chores and... does that child have wings?"
The girl's foster father laughed softly, wondering how he was going to explain this, and nodded once more. "Yeah, she does. And yes, they're real; it's a bit of a long story. I can explain while you're showing me what I can do to be productive."
"Well... alright then. Do you want to put her somewhere or something so she can sleep?"
"As much as I would love to take you up on that offer..." Noah started, tugging gently at one of Adhi's firmly attached tentacles. "I don't really think that's an option."
And so, Noah and a sleeping Adhara were shown around the store, and his various morning tasks were explained, as far as what happened before the store was opened completely, as well as for about an hour afterward. At around 7:30, when Noah was simply wandering the store, making himself familiar with everything, was when Adhara finally started coming into consciousness. She wiggled around a bit, and Noah moved her in his arms until he was cradling her, so she could still be involved, but not have to walk. For a while, it was only her wide, amber eyes that gave any hint to her being awake, but she finally said something when they reached the produce section.
"I'm hungry." She yawned a bit, rubbing at her eyes sleepily and looking around at all the different kinds of fruit. "Noah...? Can I have something to eat?"
"Well... I don't see why not. I think you can as long as I write it down and pay for it later... what do you want? I mean, there are apples, bananas, oranges..." with each type of fruit, he gestured toward it, but trailed off as he wondered something. "Adhi? Do you know your alphabet?"
She peered up at him with tired eyes. "Um... you mean my ABCs? Like, a, b, c, d, e, f, g?"
"That one. But do you know what the letters are for?" Adhi shook her head. "The letters make up words; like what we're saying right now. For example... 'A' makes the 'ay' or 'ah' sound, like in the beginning of 'apple'. Now, 'B' makes the 'buh' sound. Do you know anything that starts with that?"
"Umm... buh- buh... buu..." she mumbled to herself, glancing around the area before her eyes settled on a familiar yellow fruit. "Buh-nana!"
"Nice work," Noah commented, patting the head of his grinning child. "Now, what about 'c', which makes the 'cuh' or 'cah' sound?"
They did this through as many letters as started the names of various kinds of fruit. Actually, once Adhara had chosen a can of mandarin oranges as her breakfast, the game continued for the rest of the day, even while Noah was at the checkstand. As Adhara's previous parents [or siblings, perhaps] had taught her how to count, he didn't need to do that. By the day's end, he'd gotten his spawn to figure out how to spell smaller words, though it still took her quite a bit of effort.
"What about... cat?" Noah asked, walking hand-in-hand with Adhara as they went back to the bus stop.
"Umm... c-cuh-c-caaah-t-tu... Mmm... Cuh... C. A-ahh... A. T-tuh... T. C. A. T. Cat," she said, grinning happily at her recent achievements. And now, it was off to the doctor's office...
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:06 pm
It would be on a Saturday that you open your mail box (if you have one) and notice there is a rather thick envelope stuffed in there. There is no postage stamp and a very vague return address. But you recognize the font and the company's name. 'Seven of Seven Inc' scrawled in majestic font across the upper left hand corner. As you open it, you may strangely find yourself drawn to the letter, there is a mass of notes inside. They read as follows:Letter Congratulations! You have managed to succeed in raising your child. (IE: Not killing him or her or getting killed yourself. Haha we kid of course.) We would like an update from you on the following: Guardians Name: Child's Name: Sin: Virtue: Gender: Current Attitude: Likes: Dislikes: Any abnormal growths: (if any, example: Feathers molting, horns growing larger, scars ) Current hair style: Current clothing preferences: Dominant celestial trait: (The sin or virtue) Please summarize in your own words how difficult or easy it was taking care of your child. Did you manage to care for them in a kindly fashion? Or were you forced to discipline them? As well do not be alarmed if you suddenly find your child achieving a massive growth spurt in the next little while. We are finding that the children from our facility have strange growing patterns and are rather unpredictable. Although please let us know if anything unexpected occurs. Sincerely the technicians from Seven of Seven Inc. Ps. Please just leave your letter back in your mail box one you have completed it our courier will pick it up. Thank you.
(Just take the from Guardians name to Dominant Celestial trait and pm it to the mule, the summarization doesn't have to be long just have fun with it.)
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Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 4:06 pm
"Noah...? Noah? NOAH!!"
That voice was strangely unfamiliar to the sales clerk, and so he turned over in bed, pretending that he was just imagining things. That is, until he was shoved out of bed, and immediately jumped up, rubbing his eyes and then opening them to glare at the little girl who was sitting cross-legged in his bed. Well, he thought that he would be glaring; unfortunately, he was caught far too off-guard to really do anything like that.
The girl who was sitting on the bed... there was no way that was the girl he'd brought home!! Well, she looked... similar. Same amber eyes, purple hair, twin tentacles sprouting form her sides... but her wings were almost two-times the size they had been that night before, her horns were bigger, she was taller, and she was squinting at him as though he was fifty feet away.
"Umm... Adhara?" he asked warily, and she nodded, before rubbing her eyes, and then blinking at Noah again.
"Noah? I can't see you very well..." she mumbled, reaching out toward the man who was only at the end of the bed, maybe five feet away, max. Her voice was different, too. A bit lower than it used to be, and more precise sounding.
"We, uh... we might want to fix that, huh?" he questioned, and she nodded, rubbing her eyes again and pulling down a nightgown that looked like it was trying to be a shirt. Her tentacles, surprising to Noah, were being tame about this, seeming about as confused about the changes as she was at the moment. So, after helping her clean herself up and find fitting clothes, the duo headed back out to the mall. Well, first to the optometrist...
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 2:33 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 2:35 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:35 pm
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Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:36 pm
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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 7:58 pm
Adhara's Journal
Um... I don't really know what I'm supposed to put in here. Noah gave me this notebook and told me that I shuld should write down my feelings and stuff in it, but I don't really have a lot to write down, really. Life's just life, I guess...
___I've been meeting a lot of other kids who are from 7 of 7, though. Adriel and 'Zuba were my favourites, even though Adriel stammered a lot. He was still fun to hang out with. And 'Zuba and I played around in the planeterium, and that was fun, too. I liked the little alien toys, even though they were behind glass, and I got a lot of stuff that one of the store-guys told Noah that he had to buy 'cause I opened it when I wasn't supposed to. It was cool stuff, though.
___But I met them back when I was small. Now, I've met a few others, but I don't know what to think of them yet. Ebony's really nice and really affectionate, though, and she doesn't get mad at me for my tentacles being too touchy-feely like Noah and Guinevere do sometimes. Mareike's interesting, too. So's pizza. I don't know why Noah doesn't like meat, it's really yummy!
___I really hope that I can see 'Zuba and Adriel again. I'll be able to show them how much I've grown! My wings got bigger, and I had to get glasses, too, but that's okay. Noah says that 'if and when' I get even bigger, that he might let me get contacts so I don't have to wear my glasses to see, but I don't know if he really will. Maybe if I try to be good.
___My tentacles have been a lot more friendly since I met J'her, though - she was one of the 'D.N.A. donors' that helped create me. She was really strange, and I didn't really understand much of the stuff about lust. Mostly because Noah kept saying 'I'll tell you when you're older'. I hate it when he says that; I should be able to know NOW! Maybe I can just as Guinevere... she'd probably tell me...
-Adhara
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Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:23 pm
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