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 Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:01 pm
not in the job description
It had been a little more than two months since Roxanna had found the mysteriously combusting plant in her office that had marked Sidney's arrival, and there had only been a smattering of days in which Lex hadn't seen the boy since then.
"Unca 'Lexis! Catch!" Sid demanded, throwing his worn ball toward Lex with as much force as he could, which considering the fact that he was an extremely skinny little boy, wasn't very much at all. Lex flung his arms wide before easily catching the ball, and Sid giggled and shrieked. This was Sid's favorite game: he threw a ball and Lex caught it, utilizing some of the stupidest faces and most outlandish body movements he had in his arsenal in order to do so.
"Oh good, you're here," Roxanna said as she briskly entered Lex's office. As if he would be anywhere else at this hour.
"Yes, Ms. Castle."
"I need you to pick up some things for me."
Sid hurried across the office to Lex's side and the man handed the child his ball without looking down. "Certainly. I can call a car..."
"No, Alexis. These things are not as easy to retrieve as others I've sent you after. Pack your suitcase. I've booked you a flight."
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:33 pm
the painting
"Please turn off all cellular telephones and stow them for the duration of the flight. The cabin doors are now closed."
Alexis Davis was ill. If he hadn't been sure of it this morning when he woke up with the mother of all headaches and a nose that wouldn't stop dripping, he was sure now. Surely if he had been well, it would have taken him longer than a minute and 47 seconds after he found his seat and stowed his belongings to nod off. The cabin doors were now closed and Lex was awake again. Wonderful.
He turned away from the tiny plastic window and offered a small smile to the little boy in the seat next to him, the little boy who obviously thought a window seat was far superior to the one in the center of the row, the little boy who reminded Lex of himself from twenty or so years ago, with his head of bright, curly hair and pale skin that people called 'translucent' and 'angelic' at that age, when in actuality it was just 'pasty' and 'easily sunburned.' The boy's mother sat on the aisle, pointedly ignoring her son. She reminded Lex of his boss.
"Why're you in Executive Class?" the child chirped, with as much emphasis on the special section they were in as it seemed he could muster. He pulled his legs up on the seat then kicked the right one out until it met the back of the chair in front of him. The pinched, disapproving businesswoman occupying the kicked seat turned and shot Lex a dirty look, which he returned. Wasn't his kid.
Lex slowly leaned over his own lap, sinuses screaming as he rummaged around in the bag at his feet, eventually pulling out a handkerchief and a bottle of NyQuil that was at least double the TSA's 3 oz gels-and-liquids limit. How he had gotten it past the security checkpoint was really anyone's guess. Off came the childproof cap and down went the 'Quil straight from the bottle, the warm, burning trail it blazed through Lex's throat oddly comforting.
"Are you a terr'rist?" the boy asked, eyeing the remaining green goop.
"I've got this thing with pills... Nevermind." He put the bottle away.
Lex rested his left temple against the cool wall and closed his eyes. He was asleep again before the plane left the ground.
---
Alexis Davis worked for a secret organization. It sounded silly, but it was the truth. He wasn't the leader. He was her assistant, and had learned very early on that she was a...demanding woman.
All right, fine. She was a b***h.
Most of the time, it seemed Lex's primary job function was to watch the boss's son, an odd plantish kid who liked playing catch. This week, however, he had been allowed out of the office. Ms. Castle had asked him to retrieve some important documents, as well as a trio of odd items, and Lex was more than happy to do so.
His last stop was a backwater town that took a three hour flight and a five hour drive to reach, a backwater town the likes of which city-bred Lex had never seen before. He couldn't fathom why the things he had been sent for were valuable at all, but Lex didn't ask questions when it came to his work, at least not out loud, which was why he was still employed in the first place.
---
"Please note the captain has turned off the Fasten Seatbelts sign indicating you are now free to move about the cabin. We ask that if you are seated you keep your seatbelt loosely fastened, in the unlikely event we run into some unexpected turbulence."
Alexis Davis jolted awake for the second time. He suspected it had little to do with the flight attendant's latest announcement, which he had heard the tail end of, and was instead the direct result of the small fist repeatedly punching him in the leg.
"Whas'dis?" The kid held out a Polaroid he had obviously stolen from Lex's bag, his grubby fingers trailing Cheeto-dust all over the picture's face. The aisle seat was empty. Where the hell had that woman gone to so quickly?
Lex coughed into the back of his hand. "A painting," he said. "A picture of a painting." His brain insisted that he should have been troubled by the picture's presence, but he found he was surprisingly calm.
"It's cool with da hands and da doll face and da..."
"It's supposed to be haunted." If Lex had had his wits about him, he would have realized those words weren't likely to scare the boy or shut him up.
"Like a haunted house?"
"Kind of. The man who owned it said the kids came out at night and walked around."
"Like a brudder n' sister."
"I guess."
"I wanta brudder but ma says no."
"Hmm. Probably not like that one," Lex muttered.
---
Alexis Davis thought Jeff Rafferty's musty basement 'apartment' smelled like a**, but he had better manners than to say so. Hopefully, he would be done with this place quickly. Once he was gone, Lex was certainly never coming back.
He kept his hands to himself as he made his way through Jeff's mother's kitchen, past a door decorated with a sign that read "NO INTERRUPTIONS - THIS MEANS U" and down the stairs. The stairs were steep, but the banister looked horrifically unsanitary, so instead of touching it, Lex just took his time on the way down. When his line of sight eventually cleared the overhang from the flight above and he turned his focus to the room he was entering he abruptly stopped moving, one shiny-shoed foot deep in green, shaggy carpeting and the other resting tentatively on the last wooden step. He shifted his gaze away from the opposite wall long enough to check the list on his Blackberry. Onyx letter opener, sandpiper statue, monocle. No painting. He peeked back up at the canvas.
"Beautiful, ain't she?" Jeff said, pride stretched across his rough features. "I found'er on eBay." He clapped Lex on the back and the younger man jumped. He fought the urge to leave immediately. This was his job. To stay.
"Mmm hmm. Yes. About Ms. Castle's..."
"Only a grand! ********' sweet. They say the kids get out n' dance at night, but nothin's shown up on the motion sensor cammers yet. I bet..."
"Please. Mr. Rafferty." Lex was staring again. He cleared his throat and looked away. "Ms. Castle's property."
"Oh, yeah." Jeff smiled. If he was disappointed in the fact that Lex didn't want to talk about the painting anymore, he didn't show it. "Roxie told me not to let you touch 'em direct-like, which... okay, so I padded 'em up and put 'em in a briefcase. Right this way. I'll show you where..."
Lex turned his back on the painting and followed. He managed to keep his eyes off of it for the duration of his stay.
---
"Would your son like a snack, sir?"
Alexis Davis had nodded off. Why was he awake? He blinked groggily at the flight attendant, then looked down at the little boy who was now sleeping against him. The child was still clutching the Polaroid. Lex sighed. His desire to make known the fact that the kid wasn't his argued with his desire to go back to sleep. It lost.
"Maybe some chips?"
The flight attendant smiled, her massive teeth crazy-white, and placed a minuscule bag of fancy vegetable chips on the aisle seat, which was still unoccupied. The child nuzzled into Lex's side, his skin radiating an unnatural warmth. Mmm, heating pad.
---
Alexis Davis was relieved. Jeff Rafferty had shown him the items, as promised, offered him a drink, which he had politely refused, and that had been that. Now Lex was back in his motel room, sitting on the bed and squinting at the small, vaguely fuzzy television screen as it played one of many Walker Texas Medicine Warrior Princess Woman & Order episodes. In another eight hours he would be on a plane home.
The tinny ringing of Lex's cell phone interrupted his pleasant thoughts. Caller ID indicated it was Ms. Castle, so Lex answered accordingly.
"Alexis Davis."
"Do you have them?"
"Yes, Ms. Castle. Onyx letter opener, sandpiper statue, monocle."
"And you haven't touched them?"
"No, Ms. Castle."
"What are you doing? Watching porn? Don't waste my money, Alexis."
"Mediocre a**-kicking." He stood and crossed the room to turn the television off.
"What?"
Unfortunately, Lex's attention had been diverted, so he didn't get a chance to explain himself until much later. There was something on the counter next to the coffee maker, something that hadn't been there earlier. It was a photograph and it was face down, several drops of water spattered across its back. Lex flipped it over with as little of his thumb and forefinger as he could and his heart fluttered as he stopped breathing for a moment. It was the painting. Quite a nicely colored, ably centered shot for a Polaroid, the aesthetics of which Lex might have appreciated more if the whole situation hadn't been so damn creepy.
"Ms. Castle, I'm sorry. I have to go." He didn't wait for her reply before hanging up.
Jeff Rafferty must have slipped it in his bag. When Lex removed the folder with his flight information, it must have fallen out. It must have. He prodded it off of the counter into the trash and turned his attention to packing his things.
---
"We have now begun our initial descent into the Barton/Gambino area. Please return all seat backs and tray tables to their upright and locked positions and stow any carry-ons and electronic devices you may have taken out during the flight. We will be landing shortly."
Alexis Davis was confused. He had fallen asleep again.
"Excuse me, miss?" He waved a hand at a passing flight attendant then covered his mouth with it as he yawned. The plane banked sharply and the woman stumbled into the row, taking the seat on the end as if she had meant to do so all along.
"Yes?"
"Where are they? The kid and the woman who were sitting here?"
"Oh. We moved them up front. The boy is very sick. If we weren't already so close to the airport we probably would have made an emergency stop!" The woman smiled. She might have been talking about how yummy cotton candy was for all the inappropriate emotion she was displaying. "Is that all?"
Lex's brow furrowed. He wanted to ask if he could see the kid or if they should all be quarantined or what the child's name was. Instead, he nodded.
The flight attendant smiled again and stood, hurrying down the aisle to check on the rest of the passengers. Resting on the seat she had just vacated was Lex's Polaroid.
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:36 pm
shopping for roxanna
Lex goes on an errand for his boss and comes back with that damn painting.the "accident"
"What is it?"
"A painting, Ms. Jalski."
Lex's lips parted in a strained smile, but the old woman didn't seem to notice his fatigue or frustration. He surely would have made it into his apartment without interruption if he hadn't let his irrational anger get the best of him, so Lex had accepted this punishment for a time, when all he really wanted to do was slam the door in his nosy neighbor's face.
"What kind of painting?"
"A repr..." Lex cocked his head and feigned a look of sudden distraction as he dragged the wrapped painting in from the stoop. "I'm sorry, Ms. Jalski. I think that's my phone and I'm expecting an important call."
"But, it's 11 o'clock at night!" Ms. Jalski argued.
"Sorry. This is really important." The door began to slam then, propelled by Lex's unconsciously anxious hands. He could hear Ms. Jalski's first wet cough as he slid the lock into place and hurried down the hall to rid himself of his coat. Better that the woman get away from him and his painting as soon as possible.
With his coat hung on its usual hook, Lex turned to face the front door again. As if it had been waiting for him to leave it alone, the painting began a rapid slide toward the horizontal. On the way down, a pair of loose staples dug into the pristine wall, trailing thin slivers of forest green paint in their wake.
Lex rushed back to the boxed painting and his newly molested paint job. "s**t ******** ******** <********>!" he shouted, his clenched fists balled at his sides. He took a deep breath. "This is ridiculous," he said, trying to regain his composure. No luck. "You're going down, you possessed piece of s**t."
With a calm deliberation usually reserved for his work, Lex strode to the back closet where he kept the few tools he, as a man who didn't know how to fix much of anything, kept around just in case. The intense hatred he felt toward a simple canvas covered in paint might have disturbed him on another day, but something about this canvas, this painting, this moment... the thing had to go down.
And go down it did.
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Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:45 pm
A strange rattling and moaning echoes from the...trash can?! Strange white smoke billows from every crack and the can rolls over, thudding to the pavement. Two bluish hands appear, quickly followed by 2 more.
It's a boy!
{ please RP your guardian finding the child and then send in the certing form for Accident > Toddler }
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:19 pm
knock knock knockin on lex's door
Lex awoke to a rhythmless knock on the front door. He sat upright without being fully awake, wondering if he was late to the office or if his apartment was on fire, or something equally dire. By the time he got out to the hall the knocking had stopped, but Lex could see two human shapes through the frosted glass on either side of the door.
"Did you throw this boy in the trash?" Ms. Jalski asked as soon as she could see Lex. There was no accusatory tone to her voice, which certainly struck Lex as odd. Why would he be throwing boys in the trash unless he was running some sort of horribly shady operation? Did Ms. Jalski think he was a child trafficker? Lex looked down from the elderly woman's wrinkled face to the boy standing beside her. Well... maybe that was his answer.
o look tbc
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:42 pm
story time
"What happened to the dog?" Liam asked in his nearly inaudible voice.
"Hmm?" Lex and his newly-hatched painting child sat out on the front stoop. Between them rested a children's book entitled "Batty Goes to the City." It was about a bat. Lex didn't recall a dog. "What dog?"
Liam's hand - the one that wasn't clutching one of Sid's teddy bears, an ice cream pop, or the tail of his father's dress shirt - reached out and flipped back through the book. He pointed at a little black dog in the corner of page seventeen.
"Oh," Lex said. "I'm sure he lived a very happy life." He smiled to himself. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.
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Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:18 pm
amnesia
It was a quiet day. Roxanna hadn't come up with any pressing errands for Lex to run, so he had decided to babysit Sid over at his apartment for a change. The boys were in Liam's room, giggling over Cooking Mama. Frankly, Lex was surprised the two of them had even figured out how to play.
"Uncl'Lex?" Sid bounded into the living room, a giant black top hat engulfing his head. Sid's new favorite thing was magic, and it meant he was almost never seen without the thing. Lex was sure this phase would pass quickly, but until then... at least Sid was young enough to get away with it.
"Yeah?"
"Can you come do the Sal'sberry Steak?"
Lex chuckled. "Sure. Let me just get..."
There was an odd scratchy knock at the door.
"Who's there?" Sid chirped loudly, bouncing in place.
Lex held out a hand in an attempt to retroactively silence the child. "Stay here." He got up and tiptoed to the front door, unlocking it quietly and pulling it open with surprising force. A pale, shaking young man fell inside, dropping heavily to the floor and letting out a startled yelp.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Lex said, his clipped tone broadcasting his unease.
"I don't know! Please don't hurt me." The man held his hands up in front of his face. Lex sighed.
"I'm not going to do anything to you," he said. "You're the one who was... all... creepily knocking in the first place." Lex cleared his throat and spoke slowly, as if to a child. "Now. How may I help you?" He didn't really want to do anything helpful, but the guy looked so pathetic...
"Can I come in? I mean... farther than this?" The man held out a hand behind him. "I need to get away from... that." Sitting at the base of the stairs was a filthy little animal that kind of looked like a dog. If Lex hadn't known better, he might have said the thing seemed sad.
"Puppy!" Sid exclaimed, suddenly at Lex's side. So much for following instructions. "Can Liam keep it?"
"No!" The strange man sat up ramrod straight on the stoop, finally sparing a glance for the sad dog-thing. "No one wants it, believe me."
"Just... shut up. You can both come in," Lex grumbled, looking around to make sure no one was aware of the scene they were making. He moved out of the way as the young man stumbled inside and followed Sid into the kitchen. The fuzzy little animal padded up the steps and bowed to Lex before it continued past.
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Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:20 pm
meeting madoc
Durem Hill Mall had the smelliest bathrooms in all of Gaia, in Sid's opinion. He had plenty of time to contemplate this fact as he stood outside of them, waiting for his uncle and cousin to finish doing whatever it was they were doing. The boy was bored. All day he had been on his best behavior while they had paraded into and out of stores trying on what Lex had said Roxanna called "presentable clothing." Sid's mother wanted the children in her life to look less like backwater slobs, and even though Liam and Lex didn't seem to mind a day filled with soul-crushing amounts of shopping, Sid certainly did.
Moodily, he kicked at the molding running along the base of the hall. Where were they? He jumped forward, kicking his legs out into the wall and falling back to his feet with a bounce. Sid giggled and did it again. The third time he attempted the Super-Sid Wall Bounce, it ended abruptly and somewhat painfully as his back slammed into a mysterious obstacle.
"Hey, hey, watch out kid," a soft voice said. Sid might have been scared he was about to get scolded, but for all the voice's gruffness, its tone was kind. He felt hands on his shoulders turning him around and when he looked up, it was into a grizzled face. "That looks like fun," the strange man said with a grin. "Just be careful you don't get hurt."
Sid nodded. "Yah," he said. "Sorry." His gaze strayed as Lex and Liam emerged from the restroom. Sid smiled at his cousin. "New clothes!"
Liam nodded, returning the flytrap's grin. "Do they look cool?" he asked quietly, knowing full well that they did.
"Totally cool!" Sid gently disengaged himself from the new man's grasp before jogging over to stand at Lex's feet. His uncle was wearing a crisp new suit, complete with vest and tie, and it was obvious that, for the moment, Lex felt a great deal more self-assured than he usually did as a result.
"Who's your friend, Sid?" The smile on Lex's face was pleasant enough, but posed an open challenge to the other man if he meant the plant boy harm.
"Madoc." The man extended his hand. Lex grasped it and shook. Madoc chuckled. "Interesting." His tone was no longer quite as friendly as it had been.
"What do you mean by that?" Handshake over, Lex's fist slipped into his pocket, helping to dampen his sudden urge to throw a punch. When had he become so impatient, so hot-headed? Lex took a deep and slightly unsteady breath and glanced down, making sure the kids were nearby. They watched the adults, Liam with wide eyes and Sid with invisible ones.
"I know what you are." Madoc's voice was pitched low, but the taunt in it was unmistakable. He didn't seem to care that Lex hadn't offered his name in return.
"I..." This man couldn't know what Lex was. He didn't even know himself. "Liam. Sid. Let's go." Lex shielded the children with his body as he pushed them forward, picking up the bags at his feet and casting one last angry look at Madoc as he hurried away.
Sid broke away from his uncle's guiding hand and turned back to face the big man. "Seeya, Madoc!" He waved.
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