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 Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:17 pm
-...This is a Joke, Right...? RIGHT?-
This wasn't right. There was no conceivable way this could be right.
Leraje shuffled uneasily in place as he waited, the redhead seemingly doing the best job he could to turtle himself within his overly-large mess of a coat, as if he could simply vanish within the heavy ragged folds. Oh, how he wished he were able to vanish. it was rare for the gangling figure to be conscious of how he looked and where he was, but here and now was one of those times. And places. Certainly it was the place that had him on edge.
Too clean. Too bright. Too sterile. Ew ew ew.
And the reason for coming here. HIM? With a kid? This had to be a sick setup or joke. HAD TO BE. Everyone knew he couldn't earn enough to keep himself covered, and now THIS? Ugh. And here his vacation had been going so well, too...
"Mister Leraikha?"
The scientist's voice made him jump, green eyes snapping back to focus on reality. The scientist who had spoken to him, a petite woman whose manner of dress seemed as sterile as the rest of the place, took a small surprised step back. "oh... sorry to startle you." With a tiny cough and a moment of quiet to regain her composure, she smiled primly at him. "We have your child waiting for you. Please follow me."
She led him down a sterile hallway and past numerous small rooms, though Leraje never even bothered to peer in through the open doorways or windowed panes in the doors themselves. He honestly wasn't sure he even wanted to.
As they reached the end of the hall, the woman stopped and turned sharply, smiling at Leraje and smiling a grin that was too pristine to be real. "Here we are, Mister Leraikha" she intoned in her too-prim voice. "Your new ward Ferox is in here."
Leraje had to suppress a snort of laughter at the name. Ferox? That was never a good indicat--
WHAM.
Something small had bolted out of Ferox's room, nearly causing the redhead to stumble over. He let out a gasp of pained surprise, then looked down to see--
-- okay, what in the name of all the levels of Hell WAS that thing? At first glance, Leraje thought it to be a bizarre type of oversized cat. Why couldn't it be a bizarre oversized cat?
"Ferox," the woman said, her voice now ringing of amusement. "This man here is Leraje. He is to be your caregiver from here on out."
The little boy-cat-whattheheck thing, who after ramming into Leraje's shins had decided to pay curiously around the mans ankles, looked up. He blinked, then tilted his head in curiosity. "Is he mine?"
"Yes. All yours."
"Hey, what--"
Leraje never not to finish his sentence. The child let out a headache-inducing squeal of joy, then jumped right into Leraje's arms. Leraje had to fumble with the unexpected load of cat-kid for a moment, then looked at the woman with more than a little confusion on his face. "Uhm, mind if you fill me in on a few details?"
The woman merely smiled and handed Leraje a thin manila envelope. "The boy Ferox is a special experimental hybrid of the virtues and sins. You were lucky enough to be selected to help raise one of our experiments. The details can be found in here."
"Uh, I don't think I can do this."
"There will be payment."
Now THAT changed things. Care for this clingy twerp for some bucks? Sounded good. "How much?"
"Enough to ensure that the child will receive proper care."
Eh, not what he was hoping for, but good enough. Long as he didn't have to start to really scrape for some quick cash. "All right. Anything else I should know?"
"You're mine?"
"Shush, kid. Big adults are talking."
------
Twenty minutes later, and Leraje was walking down the street, little Ferox finally disentangled from around his throat. The child, upset by the fact that he couldn't cling to his new toy, sulked as he sidled along next to Leraje.
Leraje didn't even bother to look up as he maneuvered the streets, too busy reading over the forms handed to him in the creepy science place. Yeesh, spawn-child of Pride and Abstinence? weird combo. Oh well. Explained why the kid looked so weird in the first place.
Deciding that he had covered enough useful facts for the time being, Leraje tucked the folder into one of his numerous coat pockets, then leaned down to pick the kid up. Ah, for all that was holy, this was going to be weird if any of his fellow Hellspawn found out. weird, and not to mention possibly bad. but best not worry about that. he was getting paid for this, after all.
Ferox let out a squeal of delight as Lera picked him up. The little horror's arms and tail quickly wrapped themselves around Leraje's neck as he beamed up. "Mine!"
"No, not yours. You're mine."
This did not seem to please Ferox. His expression darkened. "What? No!"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Leraje shrugged, or at least tried to. "I'm big, you're little. I'm smart, you're dumb. I'm right, you're wrong. And there's nothing you can do about it."
Ferox, scowling, seemed to mull over the words for a bit. "Fine," he finally sighed. "Share?"
"Good enough for me."
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Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:20 am
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:34 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:41 pm
-Dinner! Oh, Wait...-
"Hm? The ******** is this thing?"
Leraje squatted on the shambled remains of his doorstep to his dinky excuse for a shack, frowning at the massive green and black egg that rested just on the edge of said doorstep. This was odd. An egg, just left here? Strange, but okay. He'd seen weirder, as exemplified by Ferox, still asleep inside the shack.
Still. An egg. On his doorstep. What the s**t?
Carefully, Leraje prodded it with one finger. As expected, it reacted like any oversize egg would. It rocked back and forth slightly, but aside from that, nothing.
Huzzah! The egg was safe enough. pleased with his magnificent finding, Leraje rose, hefting the egg up with him. Oof. It was a lot heavier than it looked. That only meant one thing- more eggy goodness inside!
Hey. Food was hard to come by. This was nothing short of a goldmine for him. True, he had no idea HOW he was going to cook this ginormous egg. Bu those were details. Who needed them? This was FOOD, man. FOOD.
"Hey Fer!" he called out as he retreated back into the shack. "Fer! We got some food today."
-----
Ten minutes later and Leraje's tiny camp stove was blazing as mightily as it could, the ragged man picking through his limited assortment of pots and pans in which to cook the massive egg. It would be too big for any of his pots, but perhaps he could pour a bit into a pan and hold the rest in his 'big' pot until he used it up.
Ferox watched curiously, the demonoid quiet for once. He was probably hungry. No shock. The pair was lucky if they managed to get a full meal or two in a day. Ah, the joys of being dumped with Leraje.
Now that he'd mentally sorted out what exactly he was to do, Leraje rose the egg to break it on the pot rim, and--
CRACK.
Wait, what? He hadn't--
Criiiick. CRUCK.
The egg burst apart, forcing both Leraje and Ferox to leap back as if they'd just set off some kind of bomb. Well <********>. There went several meals' worth of food.
Suppressing a disappointed sigh as he shook a terrified Ferox off his leg, Leraje stepped forward once again to take a peek at just what the snot had popped out of the egg. Whatever it was, it as smallish. And furry. And sitting in his good frying pan.
"Hunh."
"Daaady! What is it?"
"Not daddy. Shush."
The little thing, though fresh from it's egg, was already alert, it's huge ears waggling slightly as it stared at Leraje with big too-cute-to-be-allowed eyes.
...Why was it staring? That was creepy. "Uh, hi little... thing..."
"Hi!"
OHSHITITSPOKE. WAIT. Cute furry talking thing? Ka-CHING. One less mouth to feed, and more money in which to feed himself and Ferox. Until he could ditch Ferox, that was. But for now, what do do with it?
"Sooooo." Hey, YOU try thinking of a topic when some little furball exploded out of what was a promise to be good eatin'.
Ferox seemed immensely interested in the little fuzzball, though. Curiously, he lifted himself up to stand with counter support, his little red eyes wide.
"Woooow. Can we keep him?"
s**t. "For the time being yes."
Ferox pouted up at his unwilling adoptive father. "We hafta sell him?"
"Pfft. We can't much eat with the two of us as it is. Not unless we find some way of getting more money."
Aside form getting a decent job. That thought made Leraje shudder. "but for now, he stays."
"Yay!"
"And get out of my frying pan."
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Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:14 pm
-Can We Keep It?-
"Sell?"
"Yes. Sell."
"Whazzat?"
"I trade you for money."
"Sell?"
Leraje sighed, rubbing at his temples. "Yes. Sell. You."
"We can't keep him?"
"NO, Ferox. I can barely even afford you."
"Then you'll sell me too?"
"Wish I could."
"Why?"
"AGH."
Leraje stormed out of the hovel he called home, digging in his jacket for the crumpled pack of cigarettes. He needed one. Or two. Or maybe five. This pair was driving him nuts. Finally finding the pack in question, he pulled one of the thin white sticks out as he settled down on the curb. With a casual flick the cigarette was lit. There. Better.
Letting the foul-smelling smoke drift off into the light spring breeze, Leraje began to think. What to do, what to do. More importantly, what the s**t was up with his place being a dumping ground for critters as of late? Was it some sort of bad joke from home? Maybe.He wouldn't be surprised if it was some stray underling or somewhat-friendly rival playing tricks on him.
Hn. Ferox he knew he was saddled with, like it or no. The group who had dumped the kid on him was paying him to raise said kid. No way he was giving away his single steady income source, however small it was. But what about the furry thing? It was cute and fluffy, but...
...Hey! Why not try to find a way to earn some cash of the critter? People liked cute fuzzy things. The critter in his house was cute and fuzzy and could talk. And with talking came intelligence. With intelligence came tricks.
Thaaaat was it...
A smile spread across Leraje's face as he rose, the cigarette still not quite spent. Hah! Didn't think he'd figure that out so quick. Why not train the... whatever it was for some street performance? Leraje knew the streets; he could find good spots to earn some fast cash. Plus the fuzzball would be the one doing all the work. Win-win. Critter stays, he gets money. Yes.
"Okay," he announced to the wide sets of pleading eyes as he entered. "I've figured it out. Fuzzy thing, you can stay."
"Really?" The little thing blinked, then scampered over in joy to rub along Leraje's leg. "Yay!"
"Yes yes, paragon of kindness and all that. However. To stay means you need to work."
"Oh." The things' ears drooped slightly, then perked back up almost instantly. "What do I do?"
"Know any tricks?"
"No."
"Then we're gonna have to learn. We're going to become street performers. Or at least, you are."
"Can I help?"
"Maybe," Leraje replied off-handedly. Ferox, not being cute and fluffy, would require consideration. Freak show, maybe?
"Hooray!" Ferox cheered, oblivious.
"Oh yeah, fuzzball. You need a name still."
"I do?"
"Yeah. Unless you like being called fuzzball."
The little creature fell quite for a moment as he thought. "Sell!"
"...Cel?"
"Yeah!"
Kinda stupid, but whatever. It was happy. "Good enough for me."
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Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:33 pm
-Literacy-
"Hey dad?"
"Leraje. I ain't dad."
"Um..."
"What is it?"
Ferox held up a box of cereal, salvaged from who-knows-where. "What's this say?"
Leraje glanced at the brightly-colored box. "Lucky Charms."
"Oh..." Ferox toyed with the book. "Is that it?"
"Yep." A thought crossed Leraje's mind. "Can't you read?"
"No."
This statement caused Leraje to frown, Of course. As if that creepshow science place would teach him. They didn't give him any CLOTHES... why would they teach him to read? Annoying, but not surprising.
Bleh. Guess that meant he had to play teacher, unless he wanted to have to read every bit of print Ferox scrounged up.
"All right," Leraje sighed. "Time to learn to read. Fer, go find me to sticks. Solid ones, and oh, about this big." he held out his his hands to offer a size. "Make sure it's none of that soggy s**t, and not too thick."
"Can Cel help?"
"Yeah, sure."
---------
About half an hour later, Ferox and Cel had managed to find a pair of appropriate sticks. Leraje approved of them, then proceeded to lead the pair down the street to an abandoned lot, marked by a crumbling cement wall.
"Okay, here we go. Fer and Cel, you sit there."
Leraje took position by the wall as the little demonoid and Jivvin both settled down in the dirt a few feet away. "Got your stick?"
"Yep."
"Cool." With the slightest exertion of his will, Cel set the tip of his stick alight with hellfire, letting it burn only a few moments until he blew it out. Then with the blackened end, he used the tip to scratch an 'A' onto the wall. "Mmkay. This is the letter A. Copy it into the dirt."
Ferox complied. Leraje watched and nodded. "Good. Now this one's B..."
And so it went, Leraje scribbling the letters out onto the wall with his burnt stick, Ferox dutifully copying them into the dirt. Cel, armed with paws instead of hands, simply sat and watched curiously, his dark fluffy tail flicking contentedly as he watched.
Surprisingly, it went well. Leraje managed to trick Ferox up a couple times when he went back to review previous letters, but the dark-haired boy was a quick learner. Leraje would never admit it aloud, but he was fairly impressed.
"Nice," was his simple comment as he finally finished. "Anything else while we're out here?"
"What else do people read?"
"Numbers. Wanna cover those? They're easy."
"Yeah!"
"Mmkay. This one here is zero. It's the real start, but everyone starts with one..."
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:49 pm
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:31 pm
-Log-
Report:
Still maintaining low profile. Have found little opportunity to instigate a mass conflict; will continue to lay low until the need arises. Presence still fails to raise any sort of suspicion. Must remember to keep this method for future disguises in the mortal plane-- five years and no notice from either the mortals or celestials.
Interesting note-- it seems that some mortals have gotten their hands on both human and celestial DNA and are synthesizing 'children' from it. The extent of their experimentation is unknown, but four have been confirmed for the time being. Have acquired one into my own care-- little monstrosity by the name of Ferox. Will proceed to investigate further if so desired. These things my be useful in the future.
Have also acquired a jivvin into my care. Curious, as such creatures were thought to be wiped out centuries ago. Will assume that these creatures are rare and will not personally delve further into the matter.
Awaiting orders in regards to half-breeds. Will dispose of them if necessary. One under personal care as already become emotionally attached. May be of future use, though unsure of in what capacity. Will be useful for infiltrating lab in which he was synthesized, at the very least.
Ever vigilant,
Leraje
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Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:14 am
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.
You would notice the letter seems overly friendly...strange since the scientist were so ...cold before.
(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: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:11 pm
-O Hay, a Package-
Hnn, what was this now?
Nudging the packet expertly with the worn sole of his sneaker, Leraje carefully studied this newfound present left on his door step. This wasn't orders from the big boss man. He'd only sent his report out the other day. Far too soon for a reply.
Yet whatever it was, it was safe enough. No pipe bomb in there, no siree! The redhead bent, picking the package up. The vague address was only given the briefest of glances before he tore into the package, revealing... money! Dang, he'd been lucky in funds this past week. The wad of cash was cooly tucked into one of his numerous coat pockets, to be counted later.
Oh hey, there was something else in here, too. Boring notes, boring notes... Ew. Something to fill out. This meant putting forth effort. Bleh.
Ah well. Best get the thing done before... uh. Just get it over with. Green eyes scanning it, Leraje retreated back inside, to deal with this in some semblance of privacy. He didn't want Ferox or Cel clamoring all over him. Huh. Were to return it, though. Ah. That'd be figured out later.
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Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:17 pm
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Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:49 am
You notice as of late the your child is taking a more T-Rex approach when it comes to walking or running. Concerned about him developing back problems, you feel the desire to contact the facility and see if this is naturally something your child does.
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:43 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:46 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:21 pm
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