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 Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:07 am
:: The Wind Beckons :: 
"Yes sir."
The woman reached to the empty side of her to a small table sitting besides the larger one they were working it. It most resembled those used by dentists or doctors to store the equipment they would be using on the patient. In fact, it probably was the same. A lot of the lab’s equipment came from clinics. Only difference was, maybe, the amount of needles sitting on the hard surface.
Gently taking one in hand, Chloe handed it to the older man on her other side. She heard a little squeal as she turned her head back to the microscope sitting in front of her. She peered through the lens, watching the tiny orgasms dancing on the slide.
As the assistant, she usually didn’t take part in the actual experimenting. Her main job was to monitor results, write reports, and look through microscopes at things. Though this wasn’t to say she didn’t get a slight promotion a few times a day to something more interesting. Not that she cared either way. She liked working on papers. When she only had herself to blame if anything went wrong. It usually didn’t.
Chloe was careful to take the slide out of the microscope without breaking it and losing the contents. Not even glancing back at the shuffling sounds from the table she left, she placed the slide in a small box on a shelf.
“Nothing of much interest, my dear?” the man at the table asked her as she settled back besides him. In one hand he held a squirming white lab mouse. Handing her the empty needle, he opened the rodent’s cage and set his hand at the opening. The mouse squirmed until the fingers clasping it unwound, than ducked back inside the comfort of its cage. It sniffed the shavings before settling under them to sleep. “You weren’t there for very long.”
The blond woman watched the mouse with little interest and tried to contain a yawn. Her jaw cracked, unfortunately. She knew the mouse wasn’t harmed. It was just medicine of some sort.
“Nothing at all,” she answered, laying the now empty needle on the small table. She yawned, again.
The man made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Pity. That one seemed otherwise.” Shrugging, he stretched his arms high above his head. “I think that is enough for today. You have been here all day, my dear.”
Yawning again, Chloe turned for the door. “It was no problem. I like being here.” Though a nap right about now would be wonderful.
After she said her goodbyes to the rest of her co-workers and had her light fall coat over her shoulders, the blond woman left the building, tucking on gloves as she did so. There wasn’t much of a wind today, but it was cold. Too cold. She looked forward to taking a quick nap besides the fire before a light supper.
It was a silent walk home. As it always was. Since she had been up early to the lab, it was a few hours to suppertime. Any children in the town would likely be at school. All she had for company was her footsteps on the sidewalk, a few pets, and the scattered person.
And the slowly growing wind.
At first, she didn’t notice it. It picked up a bit since earlier, doing nothing but swirling her blond hair around her face a bit. For a moment, she thought she heard someone calling, but a quick check on her surroundings proved nothing. Someone with their smallest kid in the yard, perhaps. Or a dog off its leash far away. Nothing more.
She had only walked a few more steps when it swirled around her once more, a little stronger than last time. It touched the hat on her head just enough to shake it.
Once again ignoring it-and the whisper-Chloe righted the hat on her head and crossed her arms over her chest. Was a storm building? No matter. She would be home, soon. By the fire. The warm fire.
But the wind wouldn’t be ignored.
Like a child trying to seek attention, it grew in strength, grazing the ends of her hat and lifting it off her blond hair. Before it could be swept away, Chloe snatched at it. Figuring the wind would just blow it off, again, she stuffed it in her coat pockets.
Follow.
The woman stopped in her tracks. This time there was no shrugging it off. She had heard a voice, whispered directly in her ear. But that was impossible. Unless she was so tired she was hearing things. Yes, that must be it.
Shrugging it off as nothing, she continued down the sidewalk. Her house was around the next corner, ten houses down from where she was.
Listen.
At once, the wind caught her, such a large gust that her hand went down to keep her skirt from blowing upwards. There had to be someone there. A whisper from nowhere? It wasn’t logical.
Listen.
Yet there it was, again. A soft word by her ear, as if the person saying it was besides her. No, wait. Not a person. As she stopped and listened to it, it didn’t really sound human. It was too soft, too gently, like a breath blowing over an open bottle will make an inhuman rhythm.
Whatever it was, it wanted her attention. She could be sure of that. Might as well humour it for a bit, even if it was just her imagination. She was too tired.
It was when she did stop and listen, that she heard the rustling.
To her right was a bush, the leaves and branches on it bouncing slightly near the bottom. As if some small animal was trapped. Whatever it was had wanted her to listen. As little sense as this made, it obviously meant whatever was in that bush.
Kneeling down to the bush’s level, she used both had hands to open a window in the foliage.
A pair of dark gray wings flapped almost happily at the sight of her. Silver streaks and rainbow glitter shone in her eyes as the sun touched its surface. For a few seconds, she had to shield her eyes from the sudden light of the two things combined. When they had adjusted to it, a black and silver form materialized before her.
An egg. Sitting on a small cloud at the bottom of the bush. The wings at its side still flapping furiously at her, like it was begging her to pick it up. She’d never seen such a bizarre looking thing before. It was…colourful, to say the least. The top was covered in what looked like rainbow glitter, the streaks like three soft, silk scarves covering it. Keeping it warm, safe. She was meant to take it. She knew that.
So she did.
As she touched the almost polished looking surface, the wings finally settled, folding a little besides the shell. As she picked it up, the clouds followed suit, swirling around the bottom like the wind had around her body. Taking out her hat, she turned it upside down and cradled the egg inside before holding it close to her body for the warmth. Eggs needed warmth. Until she knew what was going on, she would treat it like a regular egg.
As she continued her walk back home, the wind picked up one last time near the bush. A small whisper was sent her way on a soft breeze. Just two words before it was still.
Thank you.
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Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:55 am
:: Music Speaks To The Soul ::
Chloe crept a little closer to the egg, bent over so she was almost eye level with it. Had it had eyes. It went against everything she knew, this tiny thing. No, it wasn’t tiny. Not for an egg, anyway. About the size of an ostrich egg. But it wasn’t an ostrich. Not with those colors and the wings. Maybe some sort of exotic Amazon bird not yet discovered by explorers. Found by someone on vacation and brought back here as a secret trophy. Then lost on the way into the house where it rolled under the bush.
Maybe. It was possible. There were still many different animals, birds, plants, and bugs left undiscovered in the rainforest. In that case, she should bring it to the head Scientist back at the lab she worked. He wouldn’t do much other than inspect it and put it in an incubator since there were no other known eggs of its kind found. It could be endangered. This single egg could be the only one left.
The woman ran a hand through her hair, a worry on her lips. She rose from the bed, her hands on the sides lifting her off the ground. At the slight tremor, the wings on the egg fluttered slightly, causing the egg to lift a little off the towels. Chloe quickly grabbed onto the side of it and pulled it back down.
“With those wings, you must be some kind of undiscovered bat,” she told it.
As if it heard what she said, the wings flapped even harder, beating against her hand still around the side.
“Alright…I’m sorry? You’re not a bat.”
Satisfied, the wings stopped and folded against the soft sides of the shell. It tilted backwards, like it was arrogantly glowing in its triumph over her.
Chloe felt weird. She was talking to an egg. Something that wasn’t going to respond back to her. It shouldn’t even know what it is she was saying, but it seemed to. That reaction earlier was too timed. Nonsense. You’re just tired and losing it. Best to take a short nap. Gathering up the towels around the egg, the blond woman lifted it carefully off the bed. The wings unfolded at the sudden movement and flapped a few times before settling back against the sides. Laying it down on the small table besides her bed, she turned her back on it to turn on the radio. A little music always did help her sleep better.
Unfolding the blanket at the foot of her bed, Chloe settled back on the pillows and closed her eyes.
As soon as she started to get comfortable, she heard a flapping in one of her ears. At first, she ignored it, thinking the egg was merely getting comfortable in the folds of the towels. Silly thing appeared to be rather temperamental. Perhaps the towels were wrapped too tight. Never mind. It would fix that itself.
Minutes passed. The constant sound in her ears didn’t slow or stop. They seemed to be picking up in beats per second. Sighing, the woman opened her eyes and sat up. One would think she was caring for a baby, the way it carried on.
A towel lay crumpled on the floor and another began to slowly slip from the tabletop. The wings of the egg were flapping wildly, lifting it off the now small pile of towels and dragging it around the table.
Chloe’s first instinct was to grab it, stop it from possibly knocking itself on the floor and breaking. It resisted her, continuing to flap madly to get away from her grasp. Wrapping her other arm around it protectively, she picked it up and hugged it close. It continued to beat heavily against her care.
In the struggle, Chloe backed up from the table, the weight of the egg against her causing her to go backwards. She bumped into something large and turned around, falling on her butt on the bed directly behind her. Her CD player wobbled a few times at the jerk. The song playing ended. In the few seconds of silence, she felt the egg settle down a bit more before the same song repeated. She had forgotten to take the song off repeat last time she used it.
The first verse played through with the egg still reacting wildly. As soon as the chorus kicked in, it jerked hard against Chloe’s body so fast and hard, she almost lost her grip on it. It was the song. It wasn’t up too loud, unless whatever was inside had sensitive hearing.
Trying to balance the egg in one arm and keep it from slipping to the floor, she rose from the bed with some difficulty and pressed the off button on the player. The reaction was as expected. The egg calmed down a little, allowing her to easily hold it with one arm. She stroked it with the other, her mind racing.
It was either the music or the song that was bugging it. The scientist in her urged her to find out the answer, wanting to understand everything in this world.
Skipping ahead a few songs, she pressed play. The sweet melody of Lions by Lights filled the room. The egg rocked slightly to the tune, the wings spread out on either sides, swaying softly.
The woman turned the music off, again. So it was the song. Not the music in general. In fact, it seemed to enjoy the music. Once it was turned off, it went back to sitting still on her lap, the wings curled against the sides. What was it about Saviour that had upset it so? It had just began life, there shouldn’t be anything about it that should distress it.
She made a plan to take it to her supervisor at the lab.
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:36 pm
[ G.r.o.w.t.h. xxxQ.u.e.s.t. ] Plans to take the egg into work were made, but put off day after day for various reasons not of Chloe's control. The egg itself remains silent for the most part; save for those moments where there is the odd television commercial jingle or accidental turn on of the radio or CD player, in which those little wings go wild. It is completely and utterly silent except for those sparse times...And today. It seems a neighbor of Chloe's is having an end of summer bash and has invited plenty of friends and family over to the gathering, bringing with them a lot of loud music as well as people and food. Supposedly, an Ashe egg won't hatch for a month or more after it is originally found, but with all that partying, the child inside wants out now! While the house muffles the music somewhat, the egg itself is making a racket equally as loud, but with no buffer. How does Chloe deal with the deafening noise inside her own home and what happens when Parisa finally makes her musical debut?
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Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:55 am
:: Announcing... ::
The neighbours were out for the weekend. Gone to some sort of meeting, from what Chloe had caught last she was talking to the woman. She didn’t recall for what, nor did she really care to remember. This left their two teen sons home alone. Not a good thing. Appears like they decided to end the summer with a huge party for their friends and teenage family members. Chloe had hoped to get some work done tonight for Monday, but she didn’t see that happening anytime soon. Every time these two got away with a party, it was always loud.
Yet, they never got caught. How they got passed their parents, she would never know. Either they didn’t care, the neighbours didn’t make any calls, or they were just a crafty duo. Judging by the boys, it could very well be the last option. They did seem to have a way of clearing out the mess before their parents got home. She also guessed the neighbours surrounding them never made many calls to make it stop. Unless the boys were also good at talking to the police and their parents. Obviously the two must be the pride of their parent’s eyes to not get into trouble after all these years. Wonderful.
Closing the curtains back, the woman crawled down from the back of the tub. No point in wasting her time watching the crowd. She knew it would grow. She wondered how loud it would be this time.
As she closed the door to the bathroom and stood in front of it. Her eyes trailed down to her bed, so the still black egg sitting in the middle of the bundle of towels she never failed to wrap around it. Though her bedroom was closer to the road than the bathroom, she wanted to avoid upsetting the little creature in case something loud filtered in through the open window. It was pretty sensitive to music for something that wasn’t supposed to move or even be completely aware of its surroundings. Though no reaction had compared to that first one.
Sitting down on the bed gently, Chloe ran a hand over the top of it. The little wings uncurled and stretched at the attention before settling back against the soft surface of the shell. What is behind your brightly colored exterior, little one?
For the most part, it was pretty silent. The woman couldn’t figure out what it was about music that seemed to set it off. It didn’t seem like it was upset most times. At least not like that first time. She was careful to not play that CD, again. But even than, there were a few tunes that would come on the radio or TV that would appear to make it a bit upset. And it was hard to play a video game with the sound up. She had to resort to either muting the entire thing or turning off the game’s music.
With a sigh of, not frustration, but a mix of mentally and physically tired, Chloe rose from the bed to get back to her work. All those records wouldn’t organize and write themselves.
She’d just stepped outside her bedroom door when the noise from outside suddenly took a turn for the worse. Before, it was just at a steady rhythm. Not too loud, not too quiet. A drum sounded hard against the woman’s ears, causing her to jump. Then a song, just as loud as the drum, picked up after it faded. She just turned around when she heard the predictable flapping sound.
With a quick dash across the room, she grabbed onto the edge of the egg just as the flapping of the wings lifted it off the bed a few inches. The wing tips beat against her wrist, causing the skin to redden from the constant action.
“Easy,” she managed to get out through her struggling to get the egg to settle back down in the towels. As it lowered slowly to the bed, she swore she heard a faint child’s voice yelling through a haze. It was muffled by something, so she couldn’t make out from where or what it was saying.
With one final ounce of strength, she pulled the egg back down to the towels. A crack sounded in her ear, than another. Looking up, she saw the top, covered in the rainbow glitter, split down four ways. Oh, no. Had her rough treatment cracked it? Whatever was inside couldn’t be ready to come out, yet. It was reacting to the sound, not preparing to hatch.
Quickly and without thinking, Chloe threw a towel over the still stressing egg, hoping to muffle out the sounds of the music. Though it didn’t work, it did stop the wings from flapping out of control and lifting the egg somewhere it could drop. The woman breathed a single sigh of relieve.
It was short lived.
A rough pulse came from inside the towel, knocking her hands off the round object for just a second. Bewildered, the woman froze as two long bumps appeared on one side of the egg under the towel, resting on the bed. The top of the egg expanded towards the ceiling. A small cough came from inside. Then all was still.
Gathering her courage, with her heart beating, Chloe lifted one edge of the towel. A pair of what looked like child’s feet greeted her, first, before whatever was inside bent down to stare out at her with big green eyes, holding the towel above its head.
“It’s too loud.”
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Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:28 am
:: Do I Call You...Daughter? ::
For a moment, the woman forgot the child’s uncomfortable behaviour over the noise outside as she gazed over the girl’s beautiful hair. It sparkled. Like fresh snow will sparkle for hours after it has drifted down from the sky. Like a frozen ice cream treat will sparkle with little specks of ice clinging to its surface. It wasn’t the strangest thing she had encountered so far since finding the egg. But it was odd, indeed. Before she realized what she was doing, her hand was reaching out to touch a lock down the girl’s back. To see if a trace of the glitter would come off on her fingers.
“Make it stop!”
Chloe jumped at the sudden loud tone of her voice. The girl’s hands came out from under her to cover her ears. Right. The noise. She had to stop the noise for the girl’s sake. Then could come figuring out what the hell was going on. Why a seemingly human child had just sprang from an egg.
Jumping up to her feet, Chloe looked around the room frantically. As if she was expecting some answer to her problem to come out of the walls or from under the bed. Exactly how was one person supposed to stop a teenage party? They weren’t exactly the most behaved lot. And she guessed their parents wouldn’t be back for a few hours, still. The outings they took lasted almost all night. It was easy to see where the boys got their love for parties and company.
She couldn’t go over there. That would be pointless. They would just laugh at her. And she had no authorities personality against the rebellious attitudes of teenagers. Oh, adults she could handle better. Teenagers? That was another story. So what to do? Think, think….think…..
Chloe stopped in her tracks as the seemingly only good answer popped into her head. But did she dare? Looking down at the little girl now curled into a ball, completely hidden beneath the towel, she decided she did. Crossing the room to the cordless phone besides her bed, she dialled the number for the police.
It was a hasty move, one she didn’t like to take. They wouldn’t make an assumption of who had called. The neighbourhood wasn’t exactly…that friendly with each other. Mostly keeping to themselves in their own yards, not even the kids really interacted much. Though this could be based on the age differences between them all. Either way, they would never know. And she would never have to endure that embarrassing confrontation with either the boys, the parents, or both.
Once the call was made and done with, it didn’t take the police long to arrive. There was much yelling and sirens going for a good half hour before the noise finally started to calm down. By than, the little girl on the bed had resorted to hiding under the bed. The woman made a guess all that sudden and new noise was too much for the little girl after having some of it muffled by that thick eggshell.
Bending down besides the bed, Chloe lifted an edge and peered under. It was a good thing the underside of her bed was spacious. “The noise is gone,” she tried to reassure the child. “Will you come out?”
Large green eyes regarded her for a moment before she nodded her head slightly. Taking the hand offered to her, the girl crawled out and sat on her knees in front of Chloe. Without hesitation, the woman grabbed a towel from the bed to wrap the girl’s nakedness with. Looking at her, so many questions bubbled up to the surface. She could not believe this girl had literally developed inside that egg. That was too farfetched. But than, even if it wasn’t true, how did she get inside such a perfectly shaped and closed off egg? There had been no marks or cracks along the surface. It was as smooth as a well eroded rock. And that still didn’t explain the wings or smoke.
Her eyes trailed across the bed. Pieces of the egg lay scattered around the towels, making an indent in the bed where the child had been sitting. Some of the egg had been crushed by her weight and lay in an almost powder in the middle of the towels. The two wings that had once been so active now lay motionless in amongst the mess. This made it clear to the woman that the child indeed had been controlling them while inside the shell. How…she couldn’t figure out. This went against everything she had studied in school and believed in. This was…almost magical.
A movement brought her out of her thoughts. The child had stood up and was walking around the room, her dark locks trailing down her back and over her shoulders. Chloe realized she had been staring at her. Dumbfounded by all this and nervous about her questions. Perhaps even a little shy at the sudden appearance of another human being. If she was human.
“Um…” the woman started, getting up to sit on the bed. The child turned from the bathroom doorway to look at her. Her eyes were a little unfocused, as if she was daydreaming while she walked. How should she put this?
“Who are you?”
The girl continued looking at her for a good minute before opening her mouth to speak. “I…don’t know.”
Amnesia?
“Do you…remember anything?” It was possible she was put inside that egg. Of course. It had to be.
Once again, the child looked at her, as if she was thinking about her response. “No. Just voices, sounds, music…and blackness. Lots of blackness.”
Well, this was going nowhere. The child seemed to know about as much as Chloe did.
“Do you have a name, at least?” A simple shake of the head was her only response. Not even a name? This was just getting stranger and stranger. Her head started to hurt from all the mixed up facts of this. A child from an egg. A child who couldn’t remember anything aside from being inside that egg, not even her own name. A child with hair that glittered unnaturally on its own. Glittered…like the dust from a pixie.
“How about we just call you Parisa, for now?”
Without a trace of emotion on her face, the child merely nodded and continued her walk into the bathroom, shedding the towel as she went. As Chloe watched, fascinated, she turned the taps on the tub. Like she knew what to do without actually knowing what it was she was doing. Shaking her head, Chloe went into the bathroom with the girl to help her with her bath.
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:36 am
:: April Showers Bring May Flowers ::
Read about this here.
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