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 Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:21 pm
a family
Doc fussed with the cabbage in his lap for what had to have been the thirtieth time, peering up through his dull gray hair at Flux every time the other young man's back was turned. Since Flux was pacing, Doc's peeking was a regular occurrence.
"You can't return it?"
"I could, I suppose. There were no rules against returning them that I could see. But..."
"But what? Return it." Flux turned his back again, clenching his fists and continuing to express his agitation by pace-pace-pacing across the kitchen floor.
"You said I was to watch a child for you."
"My child. My father's. He ordered me to raise a kid with his DNA. You know? I've got his... Forget it." Flux turned to face Doc, stomping closer to knock on the cabbage's leafy exterior with four glowing knuckles. "Is this it? Did you steal my DNA and put it in a vegetable? How helpful! You're like my fairy godmother or godfather or whatever." He rolled eyes that glowed as brightly as his knuckles and went back to pacing. "Get rid of it. Or, no, no, keep it if you like. You'll just have two kids to take care of. No big deal, right? Two little self-absorbed peons whining and demanding s**t all the time."
"Three." Doc muttered under his breath.
"What?" The grin Flux leveled at Doc wasn't at all friendly, but Doc still returned it with a genuine smile, albeit a slightly nervous one.
"N... nothing." Doc shifted his weight, but didn't rise from his seat yet. The cabbage seemed heavier than he recalled, and he had only sat down with it twenty minutes ago. Perhaps he was just exhausted. "I believe I will be keeping it then. We will not be any trouble." He inclined his head and hefted the vegetable, hurrying off to his room in an attempt to escape his roommate's contempt.
---
He still didn't really know what had possessed him to adopt a child. Sure, Flux had said he wanted - no, needed - one, but Doc knew this one wasn't the one Flux needed, and he had known that since before he had even decided to pick the cabbage up. Perhaps Doc just wanted to rebel. It wasn't that the two months living under Flux's roof had been unpleasant, Doc had simply deemed it time to ruffle a couple of feathers. Flux's feathers, in particular, needed ruffling. The android's father had been dead for nearly a year now. Grief was no longer an excuse for the way he behaved.
Doc stopped and glanced around at the walls of the hallway he currently occupied. One might think that after living here as long as he had Doc would be more adept at finding his way around. He bounced the cabbage higher on his hip to keep it from slipping and sighed. Where the hell was his room?
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:23 pm
no windows in the underground house
Most of the days Doc spent in Flux's mansion were good ones. He awoke early every morning, apparently tuned to some internal clock that mere humans, or near-human androids, couldn't access. He prepared breakfast, which usually consisted of pancakes, since that was the only breakfast food Flux knew how to cook and therefore the only one he could teach Doc to make. After the first several weeks of nothing to eat between 6am and noon but syrup-covered dough, Doc had taken it upon himself to become capable of creating a more varied menu. With the children coming, wholesome meals were now his top priority. Despite this, pancakes were still a frequent breakfast. They were Flux's favorite.
Doc was allowed a nearly unending allowance, and it was because of this that the cabbage already had many of the finer things in life, even in its current, fingerless state. The Belune had outfitted one of the six-or-so rooms inside his 'room' as a nursery, complete with crib, toy box, plush toys to go in the toy box, clothing for both known human genders, a rocking horse, a robot, a scooter, a high chair, band-aids that looked like bacon, a mini trampoline and a television with a plastic casing modeled after a character from Viva Pinata. Doc tried to avoid the television. It was a bit frightening for someone who was required to take his final form from an outside source to be around something so... pinata-like. Notably missing from the room were diapers and a changing table, two items Doc hadn't purchased yet because he hoped none of the children he was to raise would need them. Wishful thinking.
Lunch was much the same as breakfast, except pancakes were replaced by ham sandwiches. Luckily, where one bought ham there was also turkey and liverwurst and salami and bologna, so Doc hadn't had a reason to be bored yet. Next week, he was debating branching out into cheese.
The cabbage was brought out of its crib at lunchtime as well. Since the house was mostly located underground it had no windows, only evenly spaced vents near the ceiling, so once Doc was finished with his ham/turkey/liverwurst/salami/bologna sandwich, he brought the cabbage outside to sit with him in the sun. It was too heavy and Doc was too physically weak to take it anywhere interesting, so he brought the cabbage to a grassy patch up the block where he entertained it with stories of his homeworld and decorated it with tiaras made of leaves and twigs. He imagined it liked his attention, but really had no way to tell.
After their walk, Doc stood outside his shower and sprayed the cabbage down, cleaning off any dirt and grass before gingerly placing it back in its crib. He stood over it for more than a few minutes, wondering when he would be taking care of a child instead of a vegetable.
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Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 5:16 pm
baby in a jar "The clinic was in an alley?" Doc tried to coax his tone into a neutral range and succeeded only marginally. Flux's little babymaking adventure had seemed to calm the man some, and Doc didn't intend to spoil Flux's, if not good, at the very least mediocre mood. Still, the Belune was skeptical.
"Not an alley," Flux said as he scooped scrambled eggs into his mouth, his eyes fixed on the glass jam jar that swirled sickeningly in front of him. Inside was Flux's child, a boy as his father had insisted, or at least that's what the weird androgynous being who had given it to him had said. "It's Sunday. I'm sure the place just looked deserted because everyone was at home."
Doc nodded, but Flux didn't see him do so. "Should I take the jar now? To care for it?" He didn't quite know what to do with a container full of gassy supposed baby, but Doc figured it would look nice enough in the crib with his cabbage. At the very least, the thing would make a decent nightlight.
Flux shook his head and pushed his plate away distractedly. "Nah," he said. "I think I'll watch him for a while."
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:41 am
neighbor
"Mister? 'Scuse me? Oh, sorry!"
Doc abruptly stopped braiding the plant bits in his lap and looked up at the child who had cast a shadow over his work. Today, the bits being plaited were from a fern, and Doc had learned the hard way that the slightest break in attention often resulted in his delicate fern braids falling apart. The boy blocking the sun seemed interesting enough to trade for perfect braids, however, at least for the time being. Parts of the boy looked like Flux, except those parts looked happy, an emotion Flux had not quite mastered.
"Yes?" Doc smiled. He was pleased that this child had thought of him as male even though Doc wasn't really anything at all, at least not yet. Flux had insisted Doc's chosen hairstyle reeked of girl, but this boy's hair was stranger by far. Doc would have to ask him about it when they had become better acquainted.
"I see you out here all the time," the child said. He didn't seem nervous or hesitant - both emotions Doc was feeling - but he also didn't appear to know quite what to say. "I'm Shye."
Doc chuckled. "I think I am the shy one."
"No, Shye. With an E. S-H-Y-E. My name." His smile widened, helping to display a slightly crooked pair of front teeth.
"Oh." Doc remained seated, but held a hand out to shake. "Well. My name is Doc but I am not a doctor." There. Better acquainted. "What do you call your hair?"
Shye took a seat on the grass, running his hand through his scraggly locks. "Mohawk." Shye's gaze lingered on the fern-braid in Doc's lap. "What're you doing?"
"I am making a wreath for my child." The Belune reached out a slender hand and lightly tapped the cabbage at his side. "There is a child inside."
Mouth puckering in a little 'o,' Shye leaned forward, pressing his hands to the curly cabbage leaves before Doc could stop him. "Really? That's awesome! I..."
"Shye! Lunch!"
Doc could barely make out the tiny figure of a woman down the road. The next house was quite far away, but the Belune could hear the woman as if she stood much closer.
"Oh! That's Marian! I've got to go." Shye jumped to his feet and broke into a sprint, turning around to wave at Doc as he ran, wings fluttering behind him. "See you later!"
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:43 am
screamIt was warm for a March morning. The bathroom window was open, but the thing functioned more like a vent than a window in that no sunlight streamed through it into the underground house.
"I shall be back in a moment," Doc told the cabbage that rested in the tub. He had forgotten the vitamin spray in the kitchen and it was Monday - Vitamin Spray Day.
The lack of natural light didn't bother the creature living in the cabbage. Her guardian took her outside in the sun every day, after all, and she had never known a home that wasn't chilly or slightly damp all the time. She liked it, and she was beginning to think it was time she saw it in person, instead of through a leafy skin. Yes. In person. Without a second thought, the creature stabbed her arm out straight, slamming it against the squishy interior of her vegetable. It cracked a bit, but really began to break apart when she gave it a solid kick. Freeeeeedommmmmmmmm!
Doc reentered the bathroom, spray bottle in hand, several minutes later. Flux had been waiting in the kitchen for him and when Doc had finally shown up, the android had demanded lemonade. The world was now one pitcher of citrusy goodness richer, and the Belune had returned. He stopped just past the doorway. In the tub sat a small creature, surrounded by shredded pieces of mechanical cabbage. Its back was to Doc, and he could clearly see that it was hairless, dark-skinned, spiky, and possessed a strong tail it was trying, unsuccessfully, to drag into its lap.
"Owd wady!" the child said, fidgeting and rocking in place. Doc noticed it had a voice on the... higher end of the spectrum. He wondered if it was, in fact, a girl. Approaching cautiously, so he didn't startle it, Doc leaned over the edge of the bathtub and tapped the toddler on the shoulder.
"Hay!" The little thing rocked some more. It didn't appear to realize where the tapping had come from. Against someone else's better judgment, someone not Doc, the Belune reached into the tub, past the child's clawed hands and feet, and lifted it into the air. It shrieked, the ear-piercing sound ending in a gleeful giggle as Doc turned it in his arms and tucked it into the crook of his left elbow.
"What in the ******** martian hell is going on in here!" Flux burst into the bathroom, a whirlwind of lemonade and orange light.
"Oooo," the creature said, reaching for him.
"My child has hatched." Doc beamed at the little creature as it turned from Flux to face him again.
The toddler's eyes squeezed shut, as if it was trying to gather as much energy as possible inside its tiny body. Several moments later it screamed, then dissolved into helpless laughter.
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:51 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:52 pm
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:34 pm
honk if you love babies - solo coming soon
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Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:35 pm
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