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 Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 10:35 am
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:31 pm
home
"Hey!" Madeline kicked at the door to ICRS headquarters, the house that she had lived in since she had arrived on Gaia - minus the months spent at boarding school. The place had once been open to the public 24/7, but one too many violent encounters between various alien fists and Jack's face had necessitated locking the front door. It was sort of a shame because Madeline had forgotten her key.
"Anybody?"
The winged Thuk watched the proceedings from several feet away. He had only been in this woman's sole custody for about forty minutes, but he already had plenty to think about. This Madeline person was loud, impatient and unkempt, all things that the little boy knew he was not. It was what had intrigued him about her in the first place. He had the thinnest of hopes that this brash, opinionated woman could help him with his little... lying problem.
"Hewwo?" A childish voice sounded from the other side of the door in response to Madeline's question.
"Panda!" Madeline had paced away from the door, but she rushed back when she heard the voice. "Open the door!"
"Who dat?" this Panda person said.
"Madeline. Madi. You know who I am, Spud, c'mon." Her fingers rattled against the doorframe as quick as a drumroll. "I've got presents."
The door was yanked open so suddenly that the Thuk thought it would fly off its hinges. "PWESENTS!" Pandanokirin was shorter than the winged boy by at least half a foot and had more colors on him than a puking clown. "Where dey Madi?"
Madeline pushed past the multicolored humanoid. "I don't have any. Don't be so trusting." She extended her hand toward the Thuk. "C'mon kid. Welcome home."
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:32 pm
name
"What's his name?" Alek sat at the kitchen island, a lollipop firmly held between his teeth. The newest addition to the family sat next to him, silently watching the conversation. The boy found he had no trouble understanding these people, much as he had understood the two men from the shop, it was figuring out how their personalities changed their words' meanings and recognizing the things they didn't say that were more difficult things to comprehend.
"Do you have a name, kid?" Madeline asked, turning to look at the pair from her place on the couch.
The Thuk hesitated a moment, then nodded.
"See! That means 'no.' Who's the best dad ever, huh?"
"What?" Alek snuck a poke at one of the younger boy's fluffy white wings. It flared out and flapped, dropping a couple of feathers onto the teenager's lap.
"He can't say what he really wants to. Like, the truth." Madeline chuckled as she stood and stretched. "We found out yesterday. He sat there for hours shaking his head no no no whenever Franny asked him if he was hungry. And then he started crying!" She lightly slapped her palm against her stomach and snorted. "I found him licking the ketchup 'cause it was like the only edible stuff that wasn't in the freezer. It was the best thing I've ever seen." Madeline continued toward the kitchen where she pulled a loaf of bread out of the completely unnecessary bread box. The boy crossed his arms.
"Yeah, yeah, I see you." She waved her bread at the Thuk. "He can obviously still get across that he's pissed though."
The Thuk sighed softly. "Name?" It was one of the few words he had uttered, and the first one that had been spoken in Alek's presence.
"You can talk after all," Alek said. He hopped off of his stool. "Lemme know what name you stick him with." The satyr left the room, heading toward the back of the house.
Madeline finished preparing her sandwich before speaking again. "What should I call you?"
The Thuk shrugged. "Wylde?"
"Nah." Madeline didn't hesitate. "How 'bout Dakin?"
"Who's that?"
"No one."
Dakin watched. Dakin saw. Madeline was lying. Compared to Dakin himself, she was kind of bad at it.
"Okay."
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:47 pm
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:13 pm
math: you're doing it wrong
Dakin liked to read, if only because it was one of the few things he could do in the house without being disturbed. Madeline disapproved of the hobby, especially in such a young child, and tended to avoid her charge when he was engaged in it, as if the desire to sit down with a good book would somehow rub off on her. Francine thought anything the Thuk did that was contrary to something Madeline would do was probably a thing to encourage. Whenever she interrupted him by accident, the teenager's lips shrank into a surprised 'o' and she giggled before putting her hand up to her mouth to stifle it. Dakin often wondered if she was really a cartoon character of some sort come to life, but he hesitated to ask, fearing his ditzy aunt would somehow be offended. Alek and Panda didn't really care what he did, but they did tend to leave him alone when he was occupied. Archie and Dixie weren't home a lot, but Dakin thought they would probably react similarly.
Today's book was one of many in the Babysitter's Club collection. It had once been Francine's and Dakin understood why. There was no way in hell Madeline would have read this crap.
"Put that down," his guardian said as she swept into the room, the faint stink of cigarettes and beer wafting gently behind her. "I got you these." She upended a plastic bag on the end of his bed. Out fell three yellowed workbooks titled Mathematics for Beginners 1, 2 and 3. "Grow up to be a scientist or some s**t. Make me a millionaire."
With those words of dubious encouragement, Dakin set out to make himself as good at math as he could possibly be. There was only one problem, and it was the same problem he had every day.
1 + 1 = ?
Dakin could count all the way to twenty. He knew the answer to a stupid little one plus one. He leaned back on his bed and grabbed a pencil from the nightstand. Long fingers poised over an empty spot in the workbook, he pressed the pencil's graphite tip into the paper and...
1 + 1 = 504
The Thuk sighed, closing the book on his pencil and picking up Dawn and the Big Sleepover once again.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:14 pm
moving out
Packing all of her worldly possessions gave Madeline plenty of reasons to complain. Dakin didn't have more than a stuffed hedgehog and a couple of changes of clothing that he called his own, but his guardian apparently felt that her new life would not be complete without her entire collection of vinyl records and trench coats.
In progress...
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:16 pm
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:18 pm
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