|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:12 am
.|.Tovar's Journal - Entry #1
3/16/06 .|. Tovar Technology really has made some interesting advances since the last time I watched television. Apparently they can grow little children in tubes now. It's quite interesting, really. I should really tell Michael about this; I'm sure he'd be interested. Right now he's sort of blustery and shell shocked though. Poor Michael. You'd think he'd never seen a kid with a horn growing out of his forehead. --Not that he'd ever admit to being surprised. I imagine in a few minutes he'll be asking for an explination. For now, though, the house is surprisingly quiet.
This boy -- Etain --, was given to me by D-Corp. Apparently they're doing some sort of...DNA...stuff... Well, I don't claim to have any scientific knowledge. Different fields of study, you know. I felt like a real idiot sitting there listening to them talk. I had no idea what on earth they were saying most of the time. Ah well. The point is, we've now a new addition to the household. He's pretty quiet. I'm waiting for him to get lost in this mess of a house.
I suppose I'll have to set up some sort of...bedroom for him. I know Michael doesn't use that old back room anymore, but the last time I was brave enough to open that door I almost got crushed with all the junk in there. Augh. Maybe I can convince Michael to clean it up himself...
Probably not.
Anyway, I need to find some decent clothes for the poor kid. He's half naked. Hopefully there's something in the hall closet that'll fit him. If not I can force Michael to shrink it in exchange for a sandwich or something.
-T.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:05 am
Cigar Smoke Michael raised one eyebrow at the child. The sorcerer -- wizard, magician; people called Michael lots of things -- was settled most comfortably in a nest of pillows that lined the low bed. In one hand balanced a cigar he'd been comfortably smoking up until a few minutes ago. He occassionally flicked the burning ash from the end, but he hadn't taken a drag from it for a good two minutes. Tovar had to wonder why he hadn't just snubbed the thing out in the small ashtray hovering near his elbow.
But he didn't ask. Michael would put on that woeful expression, sigh and shake his head, and cluck his tongue. Tovar would rather not go through all that.
The room was a spectacle. Wallpapered in magical studies as much as paintings and scrolls. There were a number of unframed portraits leaning in one corner, and there were stacks upon stacks of heavy looking books. The only way to and from the room was by a little path woven through the mess that led from the door, to the bed, to the closet and back again. Tovar had no idea how the man lived in such chaos, but Michael seemed to manage without tripping and killing himself.
"So...they just gave you this kid?" Michael finally asked, reaching over once more to tap the ash off the end of his cigar. To Tovar's relief, the sorcerer ground the end of the foul smelling piece into the ash tray and left it there.
"Exactly. So, I wanted you to know he's going to be staying here."
Michael's other eyebrow rose to meet the first as he slowly turned his attention from Tovar to the small boy clinging to his leg. Despite himself, his thin lips curled into a slow smile. "Well," he murmured, sitting up slightly and pausing to gather his loose shirt closer to his body. "Isn't that interesting..."
Tovar blinked, the young man's fingers finding their way into the little unicorn's curly blonde hair. The brush of the fingers seemed to calm the little creature's obvious nerves, but those big brown eyes continued to stare in a slightly horrified fashion in Michael's direction.
Michael shook his head, waving his hand dismissively. "Nevermind that. He's welcome here as long as he doesn't cause in trouble or ruin anything important. You can put him in one of the back rooms for now. I'm sure the house will accomodate when it realizes there's someone new."
He let his voice drift off, watching the two with a blank expression. Tovar and Etain peered back, much like two children at the zoo watching a lion, trying to decide if it was going to get up through the bars and eat them both. Michael sighed, clucked his tongue, and took up the cigar again. The end flared as it reignited.
"Is there anything else you need, Tovar?"
The younger man jumped and shook his head quickly. "No, Michael." Without wasting any more time, Tovar ushered the little silver horned boy from the upstairs bedroom.
Michael watched as the door closed behind them on it's own. Chuckling, he put the cigar between his lips and settled comfortably back into his pillows. Interesting indeed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:32 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:56 am
.|.Worksheet Assignment #1-
4/10/06 .|. "Numbers or letters?"
Etain stared blankly back at Tovar in response to the question. His mouth was hanging open slightly in an apparently very confused fashion, little hands folded in his lap as he swung, swung, swung his feet back and forth under the kitchen table.
Okay, so it looks like he didn't quite get the point. With a slow sigh, Tovar pulled out two worksheets he'd recieved from one of the D-Corp classrooms, offering both out the the little unicorn boy. He repeated the question. "Numbers," he shook the right hand sheet. "Or letters?" He shook the left hand sheet.
Etain peered thoughtfully at the two scraps of paper, and then toward the rather large box of half melted crayons Tovar had provided him with for this undertaking. He chewed his little lower lip before, crooning happily, he reached forward and retrieved the sheet baring 'A, B, C' and various cute and cuddly illustrations to add to each letter.
Tovar nodded and put the number sheet aside for the time being, carefully removing a few crayons from the box and offering them out to Etain. "Alright, time to practice."
Etain nodded, features furrowing into a rather determined expression as he awkwardly picked up one of the crayons, fisting his hand around it. "Practice," he chirped in a laughably somber tone as he set the end to the paper and began scribbling across the lines.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:57 am
.|.Tovar's Journal - Entry #2
3/16/06 .|. Tovar Note to self: It's a bad idea to leave small children unattended with crayons.
-T.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 5:29 pm
Babysitting
Meeting Simon Pukio Tovar usually would have gotten someone else to babysit but -- well, Michael wasn't really trust worthy. He'd probably temporarily put Etain into a bottle or something rather than deal with the unicorn. Usually he would have blackmailed his cousin, Pukio, into watching Etain but she was off having some sort of adventure that seemed all too common around these parts. So, he'd been forced to look elsewhere. Unfortunately, it wasn't as if he could just take Etain along with him on this sort of thing. The 'sort' of thing being, of course, something he'd really rather not disclose to anyone but Michael (who'd snickered and sputtered about it for nearly an hour after Tovar had confessed what he was doing).
So that left only one option: find someone relatively suitable elsewhere. So he'd resulted to digging around D-Corp. In the end, Tovar had sighed, picked a random name and decided 'What the hell?' They all had similar children, right? How irresponsible could any of them be?
So that's how Etain and Tovar currently found themselves sitting on the wood bench infront of Michael's house, waiting to see whoever it was that Tovar had arranged things with. Tovar had given her what he hoped were adequate directions, and he'd even assured that Michael wouldn't be bothersome so long as they stayed mostly outdoors and on the bottom floor of the house (though, the house was sort of dangerous with the level of clutter. It'd probably be better to just...stay outside...). Etain swung his legs back and forth where he sat on the bench, chewing on his fingernails. Tovar watched him numbly, finding no real excuse to scold the unicorn for the habit. He did it too. Arafel Soon enough a car was coming down the road, slowly to fit the speed limit... then suddenlly the car gave a strong jerk, a screech, and then swirved back into it's correct lane.
Inside the car Bree had happilly declayred they were here... In that instant the leviathan in the back seat decided to pop up front for a better view. The rest is self explanitory.
The car slowed, pulling into whatever nessicary parking space and stopping. Next thing anyone knew, an angry wolf-woman was bursting out of the car shouting at the little dragon that had almost made her crash. In return the dragon was following her out, hissing in it's defence.
Next, out of the passenger's side was the preteen shark boy, shouting back at the woman in his dragons defence.
"I don't care if he was curious, he needs to stay in the back seat and not in my view of driving! We could have crashed!"
"We were only going like.. five miles an hour!"
Bree opened her mouth, then abruptly stopped, peering back at the toddler she was supposed to be babysitting. She gave them an awkward smile, before turning back to her own boy. "You keep that thing under control while we're here..." she hissed, keeping her voice as low as possible while trying to sounc menacing. "I need this money for everything you two keep breaking."
She spun around, smiling brightly as she hurried over to the two on the porch "Sorry about that, I'm not late am I?" she smiled brightly.
Simon trudged up behind her, pouting a bit at the fact he'd gotten in trouble. He gave his leviathan a 'way to go' look, before glaring at the ground.
The leviathin slid after him, awkwardly flopping across the dirt. It's fins weren't exactly doing their job out here. He pouted as well. Afterall,he'd just wanted to see where they were. Pukio Tovar stared with a sort of abject horror that made it's way openly across his features. This was who he'd hired to watch Etain? Uneasily, he shot the unicorn a sidelong glance. The little blonde boy seemed perfectly unphased by his babysitter's potentially unbalanced psychosis, continuing to swing his bare feet lightly back and forth. In fact, he seemed rather interested: if not in the humanoids, at least at the dragon floundering across the ground like some sort of oversized snake, unused to walking on the sort of terrain it was now presented with.
Carefully, Tovar pushed himself up off the bench, offering his hand out to the woman for shaking and all that. "Er. No. You're on time. Etain?" Absently, he glanced back down to the young boy.
The young boy turned his shining little face up to his babysitter, still smiling faintly -- well, up until all the color drained out of his face, effectively shutting up like a fan in the woman's presence. Etain's features went decidedly blank as he stared at the woman.
Tovar grimaced, glancing back to Bree. "Sorry about that. He's, er, shy. Anyway, I shouldn't be gone long. Just have to -- well, the downstairs of the house is free for you to use. Etain knows where everything is, so don't let him tell you he doesn't. If you have a whole lot of trouble, my maste--uh--teacher is upstairs and he should be able to answer any questions you might possibly have." Arafel Bree smiled, taking the man's hand in a firm shake. "Sorry about that... Lev decided to jump into my lap, which.. made me swerve.. And well." She smiled awkwardly, hopeing that would explain for all that... She gave an awkward smile to the boy, who apaprently wasn't taking to her for whatever reason. She listened to the instructions, giving a slight nod. "Thankyou.
She was a good person, really. It was just simon and his dragon took everything out of her. She had a nicer daughter who....
Nicer daughter....
The woman choked a bit, looking back to the only two who had moved out of the car. "One second..." she hurried back to the car, opening the door to lean in side and dig out the toddler. Kizu, a little succubus girl automatically latched onto the woman. Looking timidly to the new area as she was carried out of the back seat of the car.
Bree let out a sigh of releif... Atleast simon had actually put her in the car this time. "Anyways. I'm Bree, this is Simon-"
"Jekel. Call me jekel." he cut her off with a tiny huff.
She sighed, "Simon, lev is the dragon.. and this is Kizu." Pukio Tovar nodded briefly, shaking his head slightly. "It's perfectly fine. Understandable even," he assured her quickly in concern to the dramatic car swerving. At least he could bes ure she wasn't a rampaging lunatic. Well. Mostly sure. Besides, Michael would be there. The man wouldn't let anything too horrendous go on in his front yard. --Well, unless he thought it entertaining, but Tovar would rather not consider that possibility.
He offered the family, dragon and toddler included, a quick smile, nodding quickly. He nodded alot. Habit, probably. "Lovely, lovely," he chattered, edging uneasily this way and that. "In any case, I really should be going. I apologize for not taking time to show you around but -- well, it's fairly obxious. For the most part. Just watch that no one gets lost in the house. It tends to open and close doors. Nasty sense of humor. Ah, yes. Well." Tovar glanced expectantly down at Etain. "I suppose I'll be going."
Etain looked up at him, an expression of utter fear streaking across his features. The unicorn whined absently, lifting his hands up toward Tovar. "Tovar...I don't--"
"Nonsense, you'll be fine." The young man gave him a somewhat uneasy pat on the head, and Etain fell silent again, watching Bree warily as if the woman was some sort of horrendous monster that might gobble him up at any given moment. Arafel Bree shifted uncomfortably under the stare of the boy. Her ears drooped, had she really scared him that much. "Don't worry, go have fun!" She shooed the man off to whatever he had to do... He did seem eager to get going afterall.
She set the little toddler down, kneeling down to Etain's eye level. "Hey, don't be scared." She tried to reassure "I have some toys in the trunk of the car... some crafts, and story books... What do you like?"
Kizu shyed behind the woman, looking out curiously at the boy her mother was talking to.
Jekel slowly snuck up behind the little girl, giving her a swift boot along witha "Boo!"
The little girl gave a startled cry, leaping out from behind her mother, and burrowing herself int he womans arms to stare, hurt, at her older brother.
Bree, tried to stay calm so as not to startled her new responcibility any further... "Simon... Leave your sister alone." The calm barely stayed as she tried not to shout at the boy for the billionth time not to torture his sibling. Pukio Tovar nodded hastily, and then floundered off -- strangely, back into the house. Wizards. Weirdos, the lot of them. Etain watched him go with a mournful expression on his face, discomfort more than a little evident as Tovar dissapeared. Slowly, he craned his gaze back around to eye Bree. She hurt his eyes, made his skin itch like ants were on him. For whatever reason, she was confusing to him. Some part of him was telling him that he should be seeing more than just her. At least two other people should be there, maybe more, but they...weren't. It hurt his head. Made him cross-eyed. Made him want to go find Tovar and squeak and whine.
Etain began chewing on his lower lip. Apparently he had no intention of talking to thise itchy-skin-inducing, eye-hurting woman. Instead, in an attempt to tell himself she wasn't there, the little unicorn diverted his attention to the older boy: watching with a desperate sort of interest as he scared his sister.
"What'ssat?" he asked, the question very pointedly directed to Simon -- or Jekel, whatever his name was. That confused Etain, too, but not as much as the not-enough-people that he saw when he looked at Bree. At least this one wasn't itchy. Etain pointed in the direction of the dragon, finger wiggling up and down as he watched the creature. Arafel Bree blinked, cradling the poor startled girl as Etain's attention diverted from her to the older boy. She shrugged it off... As long as he stopped looking like he was going to scream and run away from her. "Well, Kizu, what do you think we should do?"
Kizu perked up a bit, still a bit startled.. but she got to chose the activity! "Read!" she bounced a bit.
Bree smiled and nodded, turning to head back to the car and dig out her collection of fairie tails.
Jekel blinked, grinning "This is lev. He's a leviathan." He patted the dragon on the head.
Lev blinked, givving a happy hiss and a wiggle. It flopped foreward to sniff at the new boy, looking curious nad completely harmless.
Other than the rows of sharp teeth.... But who cared about that?
Jekel shook his head at the flopping. "He's... alot cooler in the water." Pukio Etain edged farther away from the two females, closer to the older boy and the dragon. He was chewing on his thumb's fingernail, eyeing the 'leviathan' curiously. The dragon's breath was cold on his forehead as it came near. Etain wiggled his nose. Maybe it smelled of salt water of something like that. Strange... -- it definitely seemed faintly...
Well, out of it's element for one.
The unicorn smiled absently at the dragon, reaching out tentatively in some attempt to pet it. "C'n I?" he squeaked curiously, blinking in Jekel's direction with wide brown eyes. Self consciously, Etain glanced back to Bree and the little girl. His skin crawled momentarily, and he quickly shifted his attention back to Lev and Jekel. Ignore it, ignore it. Arafel Bree shuffled through the books, perking as she landed on one. "Unicorns!" She practically shouted the word. Etain was a unicorn, so a book on unicorns would undoubtibly give her something to share with the boy. In a way she didn't mind that he didn't want her attention. On the other hand, she didn't want Simon to influence the boy... Just what she'd need. Getting blamed for another hellspawn crawling acros sthe face of the earth. Jekel nodded giving a wave of his hand. The boy was wierd.. Most kids did lean towards his mom when she was being nice. Ah well, another person who hated that controlling evil woman... he was all for it! "Yea go ahead. The lil wuss loves being petted." He gave a playful kick-nudge to the leviathan. Lev huffed at his tamer, giving a tiny hiss and puffing his chest as if to say "i am not a wuss!" However, he dropped it for the moment in hopes of a good petting as he leaned towards the other boy. Pukio Etain crooned in a pleasant fashion at the dragon, giggling slightly at it's apparent offense at being called a 'wuss.' "I like pettin' too," the unicorn chirped happily as his little fingers reached for Lev's nose, stroking across the silky smooth green texture of the dragon's skin.
Beyond the whole 'Eek, I'm not talking to your momma' thing, it seemed the little boy was remarkably outgoing or simply generally friendly. Not every little kid, mythical animal DNA or no, would probably totter straight up to a dragon and ask to pet it.
"He yer frien'?' Etain asked, long ears flicking slightly in Jekel's direction, brown eyes turning to peer at the older boy even as his fingers continued to scritch lightly across the dragon's nose. Arafel Simon blinked, raising a brow at the question... Friend? he never really thought about it like that. He blinked as the leviathan looked back almost expectantly at him... As if hopin git would be a yes. He eyed the dragon a moment, before grinning "Ofcourse! He's onea my best." The leviathan gave a happy noise, leaning back into his petting, tail giving a tiny wag. Bree finally returned, book in hand and toddler trailing behind her. "I found a book about unicorns." she grinned, hoping to peak the boys intrest. Simon rolled his eyes "Thsoe are babybooks" Bree gave him a "shut up" glare, then continued. Flipping open the book to start reading. "Once apon a time there was a lonly princess, she sat in a tall tall tower... So tall, that it was hard for people to even come and see her. Because back in those days, no one had an elevator." there was a tiny crinkle of paper as she flipped the page "The princess got tired of being alone, and decided she'd leave the whole castle and go outside, where no one would ever have to climb any stairs to see her. She travled for nearly a day down the stairs, and then finally she made it outside!" "It was so wonderful, she met all sorts of animals, rabbits and squirrles. And soon she had followed them into the forbidden forest..." Pukio Etain seemed rather pleased with the answer himself, smiling cheerfully at both Jekel and the dragon -- an expression that faded remarkably quickly as Bree and the toddler came close. Etain made a low whine of a noise, features screwing up into a marvelously sickened expression. Unconsciously, the bow edged farther from Bree and closer to the older boy and Lev.
Augh, she made him itchy, his skin crawl like little bugs. He wanted to get away, scratch against something like how elephants rubbed on trees. It was uncomfortable. -- But Tovar said it was bad to run away from people. So instead Etain stayed as close to Jekel and the leviathan as possible, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other, chewing uncomfortably on his lower lip.
Apparently the draw of unicorn stories wasn't really enough to captivate the child. Well, not to get him off the subject of who was reading it, anyway. Arafel Bree read on, hopeing as the story progressed it might.. draw him in a bit more.
"Soon, she was lost amongst the tangled twisted forest.. Dark branches everywhere. And soon the shadows started creeping in on her."
Kizu leaned foreward, eagerly listning to the story quite opposed to the other toddler.
Simon, was mostly ignoring the story, there wasn't near enough action. He woul dhave walked off by now if the unicorn boy hadn't been so desperatly clinging behind him.
"Then.. A beautiful light came from the darkness, just before she thought she was doomed! I white horse, with a horn atop it's head... It can't be! she thought, as the Unicorn approached But unicorns never come to people, why me? The unicorn smiled simply, leaning it's beautiful head down to help the princess to her feet."
The page turned. "It's simple, he replied, because you are pure. Untouched by any man..." Bree trailed off there, voice losing it's previous perk falling into a dull monotone, then into a mutter and finally stopping. She'd heard stories aobut unicorns. Like.. one or two, it completely slipped her mind.
She peered up from the book, mouth slightly agape as she stared at the little boy. He was so uncomfortable... So then...
Oh god he knew.
The fairly tan woman went pale. A small toddler knew.... every..."Aa..."
Simon raised an eyebrow. Holy crap something just made her shut up, but hell if he could figure out what it was... And what was with that story? "What did they mean untouched by a man?" he blinked "Was it because no one could come see her?"
Bree gapped a bit "Yes. She'd.. never been hugged. How sad, right?" The words were rushed. She paused, suddenlly dropping the book. "I.. Have to go to the bathroom." She eyed the child nerviously, darting off into the house.
Simon raised a brow, watchign the woman bolt as if ... well he wasn't sure what would have scared her that way. "She's insane..." Pukio Etain stared back at her as Bree's words trailed off. He thought for a half second that perhaps she was considering eating him. Who knews what creepy crawly people like that did to little children?! Michael certainly looked like he could have whenever he wanted. Bree seemed nicer than him, generally speaking, but...--ugh. She felt weird.
It was with a heavy sigh of relief that Etain watched her scramble into the house. Slowly, the little toddler moved a few inches away from Jekel before flopping down to the grass and scratching his bared forearms and tummy. They didn't really itch anymore, but there was something remotely comforting about grating his stubby little fingernails over his skin.
Inside the house was absolute chaos. From the start, books were piled halfway to the low ceiling, lining the hallway like some dangerous centurions waiting to come crashing down on whoever passed. Knick-knacks were scattered here and there, and a little table against the wall was overflowing with papers and who-knew-what-else.
Organization apparently wasn't a reigning quality in the little house. Arafel Bree didn't even give a second glance to the wreckage of the house, her own room consisted of various artifacts and other such collections she didn't feel like having out of her sight... And with everthing she collected the concept of a floor was nonexistant.
She casually slipped through everything, magically finding a place to step without stepping on something. Another bonus to having your favorite items cluttering your floor was you made sure never to step on them. Once she made it to the promised bathroom she shut herself inside, immediatly falling against the door as if to barracade everythign else out... She wasn't ashamed of her behaviors persay... However, a toddler knowing about such a thing was a completely different story. What if he started asking questions? She might get arrested for child molestation!
Simon raised a brow at the scratching critter, he stayed silent for a moment... Gave a glance around the yard, then let out a sigh. "This is boring." He announced, rubbing the back of his head and glancing expectantly to the toddler to provide some sort of entertainment. Pukio The little unicorn turned his attention slowly back to the older boy, still itching unconsciously at his forearms. "Inside's fun," he chirped happily. "Jus' no'Michael." He frowned slightly in consideration, slowly dropping his hands away from his arms in order to peer about the yard.
"We c'n climb on stuff." Abruptly, Etain motioned to a pile of clutter that sat stashed on the side of the house. It was probably a bunch of old furniture they were trying to get rid or something to that effect. Whatever it was, Tovar had never been too keen on letting him on it. But Etain sort of wanted to see what it was...
"Sides, Lev'd knock stuff over inside. Too much stuff." Arafel Simon blinked, peering to the clutter stash. He wasn't too good at climbing... Buthell if he'd mention that, or back down from a challenge. Forget the fact that it was a toddler, and wasn't even a challenge. "Allright. Lets go." he gave a wave to Lev as well, urging him to follow. Lev blinked, knock stuff over? But he was such a slim and nimble dragon! He gave a tiny noise, almost sounding like a 'hey' before he followed Simon towards the junkpile. Pukio Etain nodded, smiling brightly as he waddled toward the junk heap. There were some cool looking things in there, like bits of wood and pieces of stuff that was probably potentially sharp, pointy and dangerous -- not that Etain noticed that sort of things. Lots of it would probably make a good house, though. A giant fortress of junk! The idea was strangely appealing...
Reaching the hill of refuse, Etain gripped what looked like an old metal pipe sticking up at an angle from the heap, hauling himself up onto a crackling sheet of wood. It really would make a good fortress.
Michael rarely ventured downstairs, but he'd gotten rather hungry and without Tovar around to snap at it seemed he was going to be stuck getting his own snacks. Unfortunately, he managed to catch a certain young woman darting to the bathroom from the corner of his eye. He would have been perfectly happy to get a few crackers and be on with his day, but...--well, he was a mage; he was entitled to a bit of innocent curiosity now and again, especially since Tovar wasn't around to witness it.
One eyebrow arching, Michael pushed his (ridiculously long) sleeves up past his elbows and wove his way along the hallway until he stood outside the bathroom. He momentarily considered standing right near the door for dramatic effect when it popped back open, but then came to the conclusion that probably wasn't a great idea. She'd probably crash into him on the way out. So, despite his hankerings otherwise, Michael put himself up against the far wall and waited. To be continued...?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:35 am
Lost: One Unicorn Horn
Meeting Anoki - Part One It had taken an ungodly amount of begging on the little unicorn's part (not to mention quite a bit of bargaining, and keeping his little room clean for a whole afternoon!), but he had eventually convinced Tovar that it was absolutely necessary they visit the park. It wasn't the question. He needed to play on the swings and go down the slide. Etain was convinced without completing at least those activities in the next 24-hours that he would wither away and die a slow, horrible death.
So Tovar had taken him to the park, at which point Etain had immediately abandoned his guardian in favor of climbing up the three short little steps to the baby slide, situating himself at the very top and peering down. He had to keep his head low, thrust slightly awkwardly forward, to keep his horn from catching on the top of the slide. Kicking his feet slightly, Etain managed to ease himself over the edge of the slide, fwooshing down, down, down...
Rather gracelessly, he plummetted into the sand, raising a giant cloud of dust and who-knew-what else around him. Etain sniffled, wrinkled his nose at the dirt climbing up his nostrils and into his shorts, and then pushed himself to his feet again.
It had taken all week for Anoki to bargain a trip to the park. Along with three hours of handwriting practice, two hours of staying still doing nothing very well, and four hours of reading books about dragons and animals. Finally, after all that, they got to go to the park.
Finally, he was REALLY going to try the swings.
The first time there was that big fight, and the second it started to rain. Not that Anoki enjoyed those meetings any less, but he hadn't gotten a good chance to go on the swings. As soon as the park was in sight, he took off for them at full speed, giggling like crazy. That is, until he ran straight into a dustcloud and started to cough like crazy.
Sighing, Raven looked for a bench to rest on. She had been doing well in her research, but had run out of stalling tactics to use on Anoki. So she was forced to leave her workroom behind. The boy had been in such a hurry she didn't even have time to select a book to bring. Her frustration was evident as she ground her heels into the ground, eyeing the dust from afar. She wasn't stepping foot near there while it was that dirty!
Etain started at the sudden intrusion of another boy into his dust cloud. The little boy stared rather blankly at the other for a few seconds, gawping like a fish. Abruptly, he lifted a hand and pointe directly at one of the boy's horns, screeching excitedly. His other hand shot up to touch his own, and Etain went momentarily cross-eyed as he tried to see the silver horn protruding from his own forehead.
Still gaping, he glanced quickly back to this strange boy. Horns! Two of them! On that person's head! Just like him almost! He hadn't seen anyone like that before. Sure, they weren't as shiny as his was, but there were two of them. That definitely made up for the lack of shininess.
"Uni'orn!" Etain squealed happily, removing his hand from his own horn and waving with both hands at the taller, older boy.
Waiting for the dust to clear was tedious, and Anoki was forced to hold his breath in order to stop coughing. Once it started to settle, however, his eyes widened and he spat out his mouthful of air, going into another brief coughing fit. There was someone there, a very pretty someone, but a someone with a horn! He'd never met anyone else with a horn before. And it was super shiny too!
"You g-got a h-horn!" Once the obvious had been stated, he frowned. Whatever the younger kid was saying didn't register, but another fact did. "Wh-where's the o-other one? D-did it f-f-fall off?"
Was there always someone in this godforsaken playground? It seemed that way, which annoyed Raven to no end. If there were other children there, then it wasn't likely she'd be able to bring Anoki home anytime soon. That child was very young though... and would probably have a guardian nearby. Idle chatter did not rank high on Raven's list of entertainment, but it would be better than twiddling her thumbs. So, where was this missing parent?
Etain blinked, a horrified expression crossing his features. He reached up with both hands, feeling around the surface of his forehead and circumference of his head. "Fall!?" He repeated in a high-pitched squeak. Maybe it had fallen off! Oh, no! Why hadn't Tovar told him when it happened!? The little blonde boy squeaked, whimpering slightly with increasing distress. He paused a second to check the pockets in his shorts, and even the one in the shirt Tovar had given him, but he didn't think it would have fit there...
"Oh no!"
Tovar was, in fact, only a few yards away: sitting on the low wall outside of the playground, nose deep in a rather heavy looking hardcover book. Luckily Etain hadn't been fast enough to get out of the house, and he'd had enough time to pick some vaguely interesting reading material before leaving the house.
He didn't even knew it fell off? How horrible! Anoki trembled at the thought; if he'd ever lost one of his own horns he would feel terrible. And rather lopsided. His horns were bigger and heavier than this other kid's. Then again, all of him looked bigger and heavier.
"I'll h-help you l-lo-look!" Maybe it fell off in the dust! Falling onto his knees, Anoki started patting the ground, feeling for irregularities with his good arm. It was difficult doing it one-handed, but like most chores he'd gotten used to working in such a fashion.
It was simple spotting him, as he was the only other adult around. Raven noticed the book somewhat begrudgingly; why did he have one? Wasn't he supposed to be watching his child? Putting her own past behavior aside, she strolled over, stopping just in front of the man.
"Would you mind if I joined you, sir?"
It seemed like a strong possibility, though Etain could have sworn if he'd had one he must have lost it before coming to the park...--but who knew! He'd found interesting stuff in the sand before. Like a shiny penny and piece of candy that Tovar had said 'Etain, so help me if you put that in you're mouth I'm going to give you to Michael!' So he hadn't.
Dropping to his hands and knees beside the other boy, Etain began shifting through the sand with both hands. Oh no, oh no; where could it have gone? What if they didn't find it? Would Tovar be mad? Chewing nervously on his bottom lip, Etain began pushing the sand at the bottom of the slide over to one side. A horn couldn't be too hard to find, could it?
Meanwhile, Tovar glanced up from his book. He blinked cluelessly at the woman for a few seconds before he actually realized what had been asked. He was always a bit slow coming up out of a book. "What? Oh, uh. Absolutely."
Absently, he glanced past her and toward the playground where it looked like Etain and another boy where raising hell (or a bunch of sand, whichever you preffered). "Is that boy yours?"
"W-we'll f-find it," Anoki said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. "It's p-probly real sh-shiny, l-like the o-other one."
Though by that reasoning, they would have found it already. Shiny things were usually easy to find, like the little bits of gold that he got from the nice teacher, and his pencils, which had shiny bits attatching the writing part to the erasing part. And the horn was probably bigger and shinier than all of that, if it was like the other one.
Maybe they were going about it the wrong way. Perhaps it wasn't there at all. "Wh-where were y-you b-before?"
It seemed she'd found another mindless parent. Hopefully he wouldn't be too dull. "Thank you," Raven said couteously, and sat. "Yes, you could say that. I take it the other is in your care, mister..."
She trailed off, waiting for the man to supply a name.
Tovar nodded absently. "Oh, Tovar. Just Tovar's fine. Yes, Etain's mine." He paused, peering thoughtfully at the two children. "...Do you...have any idea what they're doing?"
Shaking his head, he glanced back to the woman. Closing his book and setting it aside, he offered his hand out to her. "A pleasure to meet you, ah..."
Etain worried, picking up and loosing handfuls of sand and he thought back. Where had he been, where had he been? "On th'slide?" he offered uncertainly, glancing in the direction of the aforementioned piece of park equipment. "Check there?" he asked. Etain didn't actually wait for an answer before pushing himself up from the and and toddling over toward the steps. One hand firmly gripping his horn (he didn't want to lose that one too!), he clambered awkwardly up the stairs toward the top of the slide.
"I haven't the slightest," Raven said dismissively. Did it really matter what they were doing? As long as Anoki wasn't being destructive or getting in anyone's way she didn't particularly care. "A pleasure indeed, Tovar. My name is Raven Millner." After a moment's debate she continued. "Spellcasting instructor."
The slide was a good place to check. Since the other kid was looking on top, Anoki stayed on his knees and wobbled towards the piece of playground equipment, ready to look underneath. His free hand trailed in the sand as he walked on his knees, but he didn't feel anything promising.
"An-anything up th-there?" he asked hopefully. The search was going badly. Maybe they would have to ask the grown-ups for help, but Anoki didn't want to do that unless it was absolutely necessary.
After a thorough inspection at the top of the slide, Etain had to shake his head mournfully (slightly awkward, due to the fact that he still had his remaining horn in a deathgrip). "Nothing!" he squeaked, voice tinged with a pathethic, heart broken whine. How could he have lost it? Tovar was going to be so dissapointed in him he just knew it.
Without thinking, Etain sat right down on the slide platform and began sniffling, still holding onto the silver horn sprouting from his forehead. "It's g-gone," he wailed, looking mournfully around him.
Tovar perked up visibly at that last bit. "Spellcasting?" he repeated, as if suspicious that he hadn't heard it right. "Do you really? That's -- goodness, that's an interesting coincidence. I'm an apprentice," he explained. "To a wizard Michael." So, it was a little pathetic that he was in his twenties and still an apprentice, but he blamed Michael entirely for it.
It couldn't have just vanished! Nothing just went poof, except socks in the washing machine. Not that Anoki wore socks, but Raven complained about it constantly. "It's g-got t-to b-b-be here s-somewhere!" he insisted, hoping to cheer the other boy up. Using his other hand as leverage, he stood up as quickly as possible- and hit the underside of the slide with a resounding CLANG!
Dizzily Anoki fell onto his bottom, head tilting from one side to another. It didn't really hurt thanks to his horns, but he was rather disoriented.
It was impossible not to let some amusement leak into her voice. "An- an apprentice?" Raven smirked. She had finished her apprenticeship when she was seventeen. Of course, she had gotten an early start, but it was still considered quite the feat in her hometown. That someone was still an apprentice when he was at least her age, and willing to admit it... either things were slow on Gaia, or he was rather shameless.
"I see," she said, calming down slightly. It would be bad to alienate him already, especially since for the first time she was looking at the possibility of decent conversation. "I don't believe I've heard of a wizard Michael, but then I'm rather new here. Is he a reasonable teacher? What are you working on?"
"Honestly, he's not," Tovar answered, a bit grudgingly. "I mean, he's fantastic when he actually gets around to teaching me anything, but the man's lazier than --" he hesitated, biting the inside of his cheek. It was probably a bad thing to talk so badly about Michael. After all...-- no, the man deserved at least a little bit of it. He'd been an apprentice since he was 16. Ten long years were way too long for anyone to be stuck with the man.
"Alright, he's really not all that bad. He's a brilliant spell caster; or he used to be, anyway. Before I became his apprentice, he nearly burned himself, so now he's all...hollow." There really wasn't a better word for it. "He snaps like a twig; brittle bones, bad insides. He can still work magic, but it's usually smaller things now. I honestly don't know if he can still do the big stuff..."
Tovar thought on the subject for a moment before shaking his head an shrugging. "I've been learning shapechanging recently. Nothing really huge, but learning anything is a little exciting."
Etain jumped as the CLANG! reverberted up through the platform of the side. Abruptly, he cut off with his sniffling and scrambled to the side of the platform to peer over the edge at the other boy. "Oh no!" he squeaked, moving hastily to the slide and sliding down. Thump, into the sand. Picking himself up, the little unicorn hobbled over toward where Anoki was sitting and reorienting himself. He still had one of his hands wrapped firmly around his horn.
"Alright?"
Raven listened, finding herself genuinely interested in the story. These were the sorts of things she enjoyed talking about, not who's child was learning the alphabet and whose had come down with measles. It was a bit pathetic though, since there was a clearly eager student and the teacher could not deliver.
"My apprenticeship was to a sorceress in Yaami. She had been pestered for several years by the locals; everyone blamed her for whatever chaos befell the town, or individuals residing in it. Shortly after I was apprenticed to her she moved to a secluded location. As such, she had little to do except teach me. It seems that some form of disaster falls on all the great ones, doesn't it?" She had never counted herself lucky in finding a master before- her teacher was a pitiless, strict, begrudging workaholic. But she had learned a lot. Placed in the situation this man found himself in, she might have gone insane.
Quick to change the subject, Raven leaned back, letting the bench support her. "I never enjoyed shapechanging, though it is certainly better than doing nothing. Though I always felt a bit queasy for some time after a change. Do you enjoy yourself in this path?"
"O-o-o-okaaaay..." His voice was still a bit wavery, but he nodded cheerfully enough. Other than a little dizziness, Anoki felt perfectly fine. Though he hoped he didn't scare the other one. "D-didn' hurt a-any. You o-okay?"
Looking up, he winced. The metal slide had a lovely dent in it from where he'd hit it. Hopefully no one would notice and point it out to Raven, or he'd get a lovely scolding. Probably along with a ban on dessert.
Tovar nodded. "I enjoy it well enough. I suppose it's better than what my other options would have been." If Michael ever taught him significant, anyway. At least this way he was fairly sure he had a sturdy roof over his head and somewhat steady income to rely on. How Michael got money while he was cooped up in the second floor of the house, Tovar couldn't imagine, but the wizard managed somehow. "Besides, if nothing else, I'm definitely mastered every spell remotely associated with cleaning and organization. That man's state of living his horrendous."
Tovar grinned slightly, chuckling despite himself. Not that it seemed to matter, really. He spent all day reorganizing the house, only to find it undoing the work as he went. At leas the baseboards were clean. Poor little Etain was currently living in a room that kept refusing to stay a children's room and filled itself up with unused furniture every other day. Tovar winced slightly at the thought. He really needed to talk to Michael about that again. He was worried one day he'd find the unicorn squished under a wardrobe or something...
Etain eyed him suspiciously, as if suspecting he was lying. Heck the boy had left a dent in the slide! That had to hurt, right? Then again, the horns had been in the way... Had it been him, his probably would have gone right through it.
"'M fine," he said enthusiastically, momentarily forgetting about being upside. "You putta bump in th'slide..."
"Oh, I'm sure!" Raven laughed, though she would probably deny it if asked later. "I have come to believe that it is a trait universal of people working in a magick-oriented profession. Being disorganized, that is, and rather... how to put it nicely? A slob?"
It was a personal theory of hers that the potential for magic was something only found in certain people, and that those people had to give something up in return for it. The likely something was the faculty for cleaning. She had never met a magickally oriented person, witch, wiard, sorceror, or otherwise, who was tidy.
"When one has an apprentice they can shunt the cleaning duties over to them, teaching some temporarily useful spells. Yet when the apprentice becomes a fully fledged magick user, they no longer use the spells, and live in total disarray until they in turn take an apprentice to clean. This is my experience, at least."
Of course, nothing was said of her own messy habits. Without Mahou, Raven was rather hopeless at housework, and didn't have the patience for cleaning spells, even though she did remember a few. But admitting so would be admitting a fault, so she left it at that.
So he did notice! Climbing to his feet with somewhat more care and making sure he was out from under the slide beforehand, Anoki surveyed the damage. It wasn't enough to make the slide unusable, though sliders might notice a slight bump. It was quite clearly not the slide it had been a few moments ago.
"P-please d-don' t-t-tell Mama R-ray," Anoki pleaded. If he got tattled on, then he would certainly get yelled at, and probably not get any desserts too. Or that new box of crayons he'd been eyeing. "P-please?"
It did not occur to Anoki that he was a good bit larger than Etain, and could probably arrange that his wishes would be complied with in other ways. He simply wasn't that kind of person.
Tovar grimaces significantly. "Unfortunately, I think you're right. If I ever get out from Michael, I probably won't use another cleaning spell for the rest of my life."
--Actually, no, that was probably a lie. Tovar was actually quite tidy when he got right down to it. While he could tolerate the state of Michael's house now, after so many years, he'd nearly had a minor heart attack the first time he'd stepped foot inside the house. In the very least, any house Tovar picked up after being Michael's apprentice, probably wouldn't end up in any worse shape than his master's. Not that that was saying much...
Ugh, he was doomed.
Etain shook his head quickly, looking absolutely mortified at the thought. "Won't," he assure the older boy quickly, nodding his head sharply up and down. "Won't tell."
But oh, what would happen when Tovar found out he'd lost one of his horns!? Tovar hadn't gotten mad at him very much -- well, except for when he colored on the kitchen wall... -- but...this was important! Definitely more important than a wall, Etain thought. Well, he thought so, anyway. Personally, he'd thought the wall looked quite a bit prettier with his drawings...
That was a rather hopeless face. "Unless, of course, you have to teach them to someone else. After which you'll never have to think of them again," she chuckled, "And I'm quite certain you'll never want to."
Even thinking this much about cleaning spells was rather annoying. Again, it was time for a subject change. "What is it that you're reading? Anything interesting? I usually bring history texts to read when Anoki Kenelm is playing, but I did not have adequate time to select an appropriate one today."
"Th-thanks!" There, everything was better. He wouldn't get yelled at, and he might still get those crayons, and he wasn't even dizzy anymore. One crisis averted.
Perhaps it was the knock to the noggin, or perhaps Anoki's own varying attention span, but the thoughts of the missing horn were gone. Thoroughly cheered, he pointed to the swingset. Maybe now he could get to really try them! "W-wanna swing with m-me?"
Tovar flushed, looking quickly down to the book in his lap. "Aah, it's interesting..." he said after a moment of contemplation. Uncertainly, he lifted up to book to show her the cover. Apparently the young man was a bit more keen on poetry and short stories than history. "I don't usually...but for some reason the library wouldn't let me find anything else today. It has a habit of switching around; I think it was playing a trick on me. Michael's house does that sometimes." He shrugged, shaking his head.
Etain blinked, glancing in the direction of the swings. His hand flopped away from his remaining horn as he considered the possibility. Glancing back, he nodded cheerfully. "Mkay."
With a nod, Etain quickly turned and trudged his way through the sand toward the swing sets. With a certain lack of coordination, he found one of the baby swings set ridiculously low to the ground, clambering awkwardly into the seat and poking his legs through the available holes.
"I see." Raven let a hint of disapproval slide into her voice, but otherwise refrained from comment. After all, if he wanted to fritter his time away on useless fiction, she wouldn't stop him. To each his own. The idea of the shifting library was far more interesting, and she decided to focus on that. "Often the overflow of energy from constant spellcasting can seep into a house, letting it take on new qualities. Libraries in particular have excellent magick absorption and reassimilation properties, likely due to their informational and storage nature. At home, my workroom table had the tendency to shift instruments I needed closer to me. Quite useful, it's a shame that the materials in my apartment here have yet to be that helpful."
Anoki followed cheerfully, kicking up a few small dustclouds as he scuffed his feet in the sand. Finallyfinallyfinally, he would get to try the swings for real! He selected one near the one Etail was clumsily trying to get into and sat on the flat slat of rubber, gasping a little as it sank under his weight.
And he sat, and sat, and sat for a few more moments.
"H-how d-do you m-m-make it g-go?"
Tovar nodded, frowning slightly. "Personally, I'm of the opinion that Michael made the house that way on purpose -- just to be obnoxious. It changes. Half the rooms don't even really exist on the floorplan, and the house has a tendancy to forget itself and rearrange according to how it's been for years. Etain's room keeps changing back into a storage closet ever few days or so." Not to mention that it made a habit of messing the whole place up right after he'd finished cleaning. Talk about unfulfilling work.
Etain blinked, kicking slightly at the ground. The only effect was to wobble him slightly off to one direction, and to catch his heels in the sand. A bit more squirming, and he eventually decided that, no, he definitely had no idea.
"Iunno," he squeaked, wiggling his body in some attempt to start the swing. "Maybe there'sa button t'click." He paused, looking around. Nothing in the immediate vicinity to click. There had to be some way to start up the swing. Frowning, he continued to squirm around, twisting the swing on a slight pivot. It was fun, he gussed, but he had the distinct feeling he was doing it wrong.
The more Raven heard of this wizard Michael, the less she thought of him. After all, there were some things that were acceptable, like shunting most of the housework onto an apprentice, and some things that were not, like providing insufficient tutoring or housing, or failing to correct hazardous work conditions. And this seemed a blatant example of the most unacceptable behavior.
"Is there nothing you can do about it?" It was unlike Raven to show concern for strangers, but the man seemed promising, and the wizard a horrible example for what magick users should be. "I know contracts are binding, but sometimes there are measures that can be taken."
"N-no but-t-tons." No, he'd been swinging once before, and there weren't any buttons. It was simpler than that. But for the life of him, Anoki couldn't remember the way to make the swing go. He had one idea, but they couldn't both swing at the same time that way.
Still, it was worth a try.
"W-want me t-t-to p-push you?" Anoki offered. That way at least one of them would be swinging, and he could think up the right way to do it.
Tovar blinked at her for a few seconds. Abruptly, he broke into a sharp grin and shook his head. "Really, he's not so bad. Besides, in my first two years I picked that damn contract to pieces and the only loopholes are slightly unpleasant. If nothing else, Michael knows how to write legal documents." Something told Tovar the man had practice with that sort of thing. The something also said it was probably because Michael himself wormed his way out of everything imaginable, so he probably knew how to keep other people from doing it.
"Besides," he said, tone dropping slightly. "He needs me, whether he wants to admit it or not."
Etain's long ears perked slightly in the boy's direction, head tilting slightly to the side as he wiggled himself side to side. The kid wanted to push him? That didn't seem nice.... Tovar said pushing was mean, and to never ever do it -- especially to Michael because he might break like the glass cup Tovar had dropped in the kitchen once. Etain chewed on his lower lip. Still though, the horned boy had been trustworthy thus far. So far as Etain could tell, he didn't mean any harm.
So he nodded quickly, making a small noise of agreement. "Kay."
"Needs you?" Raven chuckled, uncrossing and recrossing her legs to stretch them at the same time. "Sir, he doesn't seem to be doing you any good, nor care about the obvious infractions of courtesy. What should it matter that he needs you? He's not doing you any service, why should he deserve your attention?"
It wasn't really pushing a person, exactly. Anoki slid off his seat and crossed to the back of the swingset, looking it over as he did so. It made sense that if he pushed it at the bottom, it would work. But where? Where would work that wouldn't end up hurting either one of them?
Finally he settled on pushing the bottom of the swing. Flexing the fingers of his good hand, he rested it on the bottom and pushed.
The swing moved about an inch, then settled again.
"It's hard," Anoki commented, getting discouraged. He barely moved it at all! Determined to make it work, he backed up, hand outstretched, and ran towards the swing, slamming his whole arm into the back of the swing, and partly across Etain's lower back. It hurt, but hopefully it worked!
Tovar squirmed around, not unlike a little kid trying to think of an excuse for breaking a window (and one not involving "It was Steve!" or "I was dead at the time!"). "I don't know, but...well, he hasn't got anyone else. It's not good for people to be all alone." Tovar shrugged, turning the book in his lap awkwardly over, picking slightly at the binding with his fingernails.
"Besides, I'd rather be living in that house than somewhere else doing...--I don't even know what I'd do if I wasn't learning something. What I've got now isn't exactly much, and I've never done anything but magic before."
Squeak. Etain blinked as he wobbled forward from the push. Well, at least he was going the right direction now. He twisted around slightly, peering at the other boy. "No good," he chirped, fingers curled around the swing's chains.
The unicorn let out a faint 'oomf!' at the second push, the swing rocketing forward a few feet. Making a surprised noise, Etain wormed in the chair of the swing, kicking his legs instinctively back and forth -- or maybe it was just more flailing around in surprise. Nontheless, it did seem to do something about the way the swing went, propelling him slightly backward and forward.
It was that sort of attitude, that "I have no other choice" view of the world that people took, that really made Raven's blood boil. Those people simply didn't have what it took to make it, and they just whined about it. It was impossible not to make the shift into teacher-mode, and a lecture soon bubbled to the instructor's lips.
"Have you even researched other possibilities with the intent of acting on them? Considering does no good, even if you have done that much. You need to know your strengths and your goals, and plan accordingly based on what's possible. So you've never done anything but magic. There has to be another way to complete your training, or something you can do with the skills you have. Or can you do nothing except perform janitorial services?"
The last comment was a bit snide, but then, maybe it would make him think.
Anoki's arm was sore, but he didn't mind much. The swing was moving! And his new friend seemed to be having fun. Or falling. It was difficult to tell what all the flailing was about. "Is th-that ok-k-kay? D-don't f-f-fall!"
Much as Anoki wanted to try making his own swing work by himself, he was scared of the younger kid falling out of the swing. Falling hurt, he knew that well. And furthermore, if either of them fell, he would probably get yelled at. If anyone was ever yelled at, it involved him.
Tovar blinked and stared at her in a matter that might have easily been the epitome of 'deer in the headlights.' Clearly, he wasn't exactly used to this sort of confrontation, and by the way he seemed to be looking for a hole to hide himself in, he wasn't exactly sure what to make of it.
So he yammered instead. "N-no...I can do more than that, but -- I can do quite a bit actually, but...uh...you see--" He was making no sense and he knew it, but at the same time he wasn't exactly sure what would be the right thing to say under that relentless lecture.
In all honesty though, he had to wonder how much time he had left. Even with the erratic lesson schedule that Michael had presented him with over the course of his apprenticeship, how long could he really stretch it? Besides, he couldn't imagine Michael was just keeping him around to the clean the house. Tovar didn't think the wizard actually cared what the house looked like. It was his own simple compulsion that had made a remote mark on the house's organization level, rather than by Michael's orders.
"Not gonna," Etain squeaked, kicking his legs around in some semblance of a pattern that took the swing swooshing lightly back and forth. "Y'gotta kick," the unicorn explained faintly, frowning with concentration. At least, it seemed to be working that way. "Kick t'make it go. This way:"
In some sort of demonstration, Etain pumped his legs awkwardly back and forward, the short little limbs cutting through the air to the slight effect that it swung the swing slightly back and forth. Granted, due to the slightly off timing of the boy's legs -- he just wasn't that coordinated -- it didn't do much but it certainly did something, if only to color his cheeks a somewhat bright shade of red from the exertion and the cocentrated frowning.
Raven stared, eyebrows slowly making the climb up her forehead. Did her words really scare the man senseless? It seemed quite possible with the way he kept gibbering, to himself more than to her. A hint of a smile came to her lips. Maybe there was hope for this one yet, if she had such an effect on him.
Rather than pushing him futher into incoherency, Raven decided to keep quiet. He would probably make some sort of closing clear, and then she would continue.
Despite Etain's assurances that he was stable, Anoki was still worried. The swing was rather shaky, and the uneven pumping that the younger boy managed served to knock it off balance as much as it did to propel it.
However, the revelation about the swing was taken with excitement. Paxton had done a similar thing when they went swinging together for that brief time. "Y-yeah, that's r-r-right!"
The kid would be fine alone, Anoki figured, and practically jumped into his own swing, kicking off hard. Even though the rythem was off, the swing did move somewhat promisingly. He did it all by himself!
After a few more seconds of absolute blathering, Tovar fell silent with a complacent shrug as he chewed on the inside of his check. "Iunno," he muttered, still turning the book of prose over and over in his lap. "I guess I could look into...things." Or, in the very least, threaten Michael that he was going to leave (for real this time!) if some changes didn't happen.
Then again, knowing how stubborn the man was, Tovar wasn't sure how much that would really help...
Etain squeaked happily as his swing moved faintly backward and forward. No, it wasn't exactly monumental, and it didn't look like the kid was going to be flipping his swing over the top bar any time soon, but it was apparently good enough for the time being.
Eventually, his legs got tired and he slowly wound to a halt, at which point he staggered off the swing and flopped melodramatically into the sand. "Legs tired," the unicorn muttered, twisting himself around to dust the sand out from between his toes. After a few seconds, he popped back to his feet and dusted the sand and little rocks out from his shorts and from under his shirt, forgetting completely about the fine layer of playground dust that seemed to be covering his legs and forearms.
What an attitude. Raven shrugged, not really caring either way. "It's up to you to decide what you want to do, no one's going hold your hand through it."
Whatever he ended up deciding didn't really impact her at all. The fact that he'd listened to her this much, however, was interesting. With further work, he might be quite useful to her. If nothing else, the conversation he was providing was quite amusing, and Raven no longer regretted not having a book.
Anoki almost didn't hear. Swinging by himself, for real, without parents or rain getting in the way, was wonderful. It almost felt like he was flying! Maybe if he kicked off really hard, he would be able to go into the sky! It wasn't likely- his pumping was still uneven and the swing quite wobbly- but maybe, just maybe...
Just maybe his friend was getting tired. A bit reluctantly, Anoki planted his feet in the dirt, dragging them as the swing jerked to a halt. "You k-k-kay?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:36 am
Lost: One Unicorn Horn
Meeting Anoki - Part Two Etain nodded quickly, scratching absently at his sandy scalp. "M'fine," he assured, offering the older boy a cheerful smile. "But thirsty." Thinking hard, Etain seemed to think that Tovar had brought lemonade with them -- or at least he knew his guardian had something to drink on him. Tovar was what one would call freakishly over-prepared. Give the chance, he'd probably be the living epitome of the 'Always be prepared' school of thought. Etain shot the other boy a quick glance, trying to think for a few seconds if he knew the other's name.
He decided he didn't, but -- well, they'd got this far without them. Though, Etain did feel a little bad that he'd forgotted what Tovar told him about good manners and 'introducing' himself. He chewed briefly on his lip, floundering forward a few paces through the sand. "Y'want sumfink t'drink?" he chirped back at the other horned boy.
Tovar nodded absently, continuing to turn the book over in his lap. Maybe it was time for a subject change. Unfortunately, at the moment he couldn't think of anything beyond 'So...weather's nice today...' or something equally annoying. After a few seconds grappling over topics, he finally settled for something slightly less bland that the cloud coverage.
"So, uh, you teach at D-Corp then?"
Pacing a bit to keep his legs stretched, Anoki tried not to look at the swing. It had been so much fun! But the other kid was tired, so he would stop too. If he wasn't nice, the grown-ups might bet mad. Besides, they could probably go on the swings again later, right?
"Th-thirsy?" That didn't sound right. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Thirsty?" He wasn't, not really, but his thorat was sort of dry. Maybe some water or juice would help that a little. "Yeah, a l-little."
It certainly took him long enough to snap out of his stupor. Honoring the subject change, Raven nodded. "At the very least, I was hired to. I have yet to teach a class, as the children are not quite ready to begin magic. At least D-Corp has that much sense. If they wanted the children to start any younger, I'm not sure the potential damage would be controllable."
Raven shuddered. Just the thought of arming prepubescent genetic experiments and dragons with magic was enough to give her nightmares, arming juvenile maniacs would be far worse.
Tovar shuddered slightly at the thought. "Well, that's good to know. Are they making you teach in a class room session or one on one? I can't imagine a whole cluster of magic users and their dragons." Talk about chaotic... He grimaced slightly at the thought. To be frank, the thought was just plain scary; but technically speaking, he couldn't imagine teaching that many children magic one at a time, much less in groups, not for one poor person heading it all.
"I can honestly say I wish you luck with that. You'll need it." Tovar smiled faintly up at her, shrugging with one shoulder.
Etain nodded cheerfully, staggering through the sand -- it was hard to walk in this stuff for long!-- and toward the end of the playground. Clambering off the sand and across the pavement to where Tovar sat, the little unicorn scuttled forward apparently without noticing the second guardian. With a slight thump, he chest into Tovar's knees and raised his arms into the man's lap.
"Tov'r, 'm thirsty. Lemmynade?"
"The classes will be in groups, yes." That was both a good thing and a bad thing. Tovar had a good point, handling that many rambunctions kids AND their dragons would not be a fun task. But the alternative was private lessons for each student, and that was far too time consuming. After all, she did have her own agenda.
The wish of luck brought a faint smile to Raven's lips. Yes, she would need all the luck she could muster. "Thank you, Tovar."
Anoki bobbed his head thoughtfully, then with a start clopped after Etain. The sand didn't bother him at all, and he could probably have kept playing for some time, but it was deemed breaktime. Besides, he really could use a drink.
When he neared the adults he stayed back, instead of trying to interrupt. Only when it was clear that Etain had started to speak did he step forwards, keeping his eyes down.
Tovar hadn't even realized the two children where approaching until Etain came thumping along and bumped against his knees. Blinking, he glanced around to peer at the little boy. It took some concentration to decipher the unicorn's speech, but Tovar made a faint noise of affirmation once he had it figured out.
"Oh, right. I forgot." Without delay, Tovar rummaged around through his napsack and tugged a stack of paper cups and a small canteen out. He hesitated and cast a glance to Raven and the other boy. "Either of you thirsty?"
Etain hadn't taken notice of the other guardian until Tovar adjusted his attention back to her. Biting his lip, he quirked his head to one side and eyed her thoughtfully from the corner of his big brown eyes. Chin pressed against his guardian's knee, the little boy was the picture of sugary brain-melting cuteness. He straightened up slightly and offered Raven a tentative smile.
"Hi," he squeaked, words half muffled by Tovar's knee.
Hopefully Tovar would finish and send the two on their way again soon. His child clearly needed a few lessons in manners. Interrupting an adult conversation, asking for a beverage without saying please or thank you, and now he seemed to be bumping against her leg in a plea for attention. She turned towards Etain, a harsh criticism on her lips, but it withered when she actually saw him.
"... Hello," she replied uncertainly. Something about him was unsettling, but whatever it was, Raven couldn't tell. "What is your name, child?"
Etain watched her silently for a few seconds, witholding an answer from simple curiosity. Head canted to one side, he blinked at Raven a few seconds before shrugging both narrowed little shoulders and burying his face further into Tovar's knee. "Etain," he mumbled, long white ears flicking just slightly in her direction, then down again.
Tovar smiled absently, shaking his head as he offered the paper cup of lemonade out to the little boy. Etain took it eagerly, holding the cup with both hands as he sipped awkwardly at the edge. "Yer Tovar's friend?" Etain prompted further, eyeing Raven sideways.
The man chuckled and shifted uncertainly as he stuffed the canteen and the extra cups back into his satchel. "Excuse him," he offered to Raven, casting her a quick, apologetic smile. "He's awfully talkative to the right people; can't figure out why he likes some people and not others, though..."
"Tovar, will she scratch my head?"
His attention snapped sharply back around. "Wha-- no. Uh, no."
"C'n you?"
"Uh."
Only after Etain had said his name did Anoki realize they'd never really introduced themselves. It didn't matter anymore. Etain was a pretty name, and his new friend certainly was pretty. Anoki tried to focus on that, and not on how thirsty he was getting, or how dry his throat was, or how cold and sweet the lemonade looked.
It was harder than he'd thought it would be.
"A fine name," Raven commented idly. The boy's next comment made her utter a small laugh, though there was no joy in it. "I am still getting to know your guardian, so I am not sure that you could consider this friendship. He is, however, amusing to talk with."
She ignored the rest of the conversation, as it didn't make much sense to her. Very odd people, the pair of them. Instead, she watched Anoki like a hawk, to make sure he stayed in line.
Etain nodded slightly, continuing to watch the female in a speculative, thoughtful fashion. After a time, seemingly satisfied with her answer, he turned his attentionback to Tovar, offering his cup out for a refill. "Like her," he chirped, the words mumbled against his guardian's knee. "Pretty n' tall."
Tovar blinked, biting back a laugh as he refilled the cup. "Oh, that so? You don't like many people, do you?" He handed the cup back. Etain sipped at it once more as he shook his head slightly.
"Make me itchy," the unicorn mumured before withdrawing with the cup of lemonade from Tovar's knee. "Gonna play." Offering a bright smile to the two adults, Etain picked his way back through the sand and toward the other boy. Etain nudged him slightly with his elbow, keeping the cup of lemonade carefully balanced as he moved back around to the swings.
Tovar shook his head, putting away the canteen and the cups. "He's an odd kid. I honestly have no idea how they got his DNA. I don't think even Michael knows; I asked him and he didn't tell me anything." Not that Michael told him things unless he wanted to...
Anoki followed Etain back to the swings wordlessly. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth he would ask for lemonade, and then he would be scolded. But once they were a safe distance from the parents, Anoki couldn't help inquiring about the beverage. "I-is it g-good?"
Compliments from a toddler were not exactly what Raven was looking for, but they did do something for her mood. She turned a fresh, mildly interested face at Tovar and nodded. "I was intrigued myself... it's not an imitation then, but a true unicorn? I was unsure. Some researchers are trying to alter genes, find suitable substitutes. Ghastly work in my opinion."
Etain nodded, casting a quick glance back toward the two guardians. Hastily, he hunkered down in the sand, his back in the vague direction of Tovar and his friend. He motioned to Anoki with one hand, offering the cup of lemonade out with the other. "Wan' some?" he squeaked, peering with those large, brown eyes up at the other boy. Tovar said to share with people. It didn't seem very nice that that lady wasn't letting Tovar share with this boy...
Tovar nodded in the affirmative. "As far as we -- Michael and I -- can tell, he's real." He hesitated, lips pursing into a thin line. "I really hope they didn't do anything...unsavory getting it." He didn't know how exactly they could have gotten Etain's DNA, but every suggestion came to mind was somewhat shady in nature.
So Tovar was opting not to ask. Etain was there, and that's all that mattered. It wasn't like he was going to demand they take the little boy back, even if D-corp had obtained his DNA through some twisted, black magic rites -- or something like that.
Startled by Etain's question, Anoki's voice caught before he could spit out an answer, launching the ibex into a coughing fit. Breathing all that dust, while not detrimental to his well-being, was not helping either. It took several seconds of choking on dry air before Anoki wheezed out what was not exactly an answer. "It's y-y-y-yours."
"I hope you don't harbor any fantasies of D-Corp being honorable," Raven commented dryly. From what she could tell, the organization was as crooked as they came. If they weren't willing to pay her well she would have left long ago. "After all, it deals in blackmail, self-serving sciences, and allows criminals and worse to care for children. How it aquires its raw material is the least of my worries."
Not that she worried. It wasn't worry that caused her expression to soften, or that prompted further comment. It was simply manipulation, she told herself. Giving the man what he wanted to hear.
"But now that he's in your care, it's up to you what becomes of him. And from what I can tell..." Raven hesitated. "As far as I can tell, he seems to be coming along well so far."
The boy tipped his head briefly to the side, clearly a bit puzzled by the other boy's rejection. Most people he knew didn't say no when he offered them things. Like when he'd offered to share picking up his room with Tovar. His guardian hadn't said no then, and that wasn't even fun! Absently, Etain swirled around the lemonade in his cup, blinking thoughtfully at the older boy. "Y'sure?" he piped, nibbling briefly at the edge of the cup. It tasted like cardboard.
Tovar sniffed absently, settling back where he sat as he peered after the two boys. "Well, I suppose," he muttered, snapping the bag shut and placing it behind him. "That's as much as anyone can reasonably hope for. Er..."
The young man hesitated, casting Raven a swift sidelong glance as if totally unsure what to say in order to continue the conversation. He was fairly certain he didn't want to cary on speaking in the same vein of topic they had been previously, but... -- well, sitting and reading did get a little tiresome on occassion. Right?
Was he sure? It was like Etain wanted to make it hard for Anoki to refuse the drink. Of course he wasn't sure, but he didn't want Mama Ray to get mad. Still, he was so thirsty, and now his throat was even dustier. And It WAS offered to him. It would be rude not to have a little. And if he would get yelled at either way, Anoki would rather have a wet whistle.
"J-just a l-little," he whispered, eyes darting from the cup to the bench where the adults were sitting, and back again. Maybe no one would notice.
"Indeed," Raven said boredly. It seemed the man was running out of juice- literally, at the rate the unicorn boy was drinking. Perhaps he only had it in him for so much polite conversation. Not that she could blame him, there wasn't much more she could add to the table either. At least, not much she thought Tovar would understand, or be willing to converse about.
So she let the chatter fall off. After all, Raven Millner was not the sort of woman who had the need to constantly hear the sound of her own voice, or to gossip.
"How did the child come into your care?" It wasn't gossip, just simple information gathering. After all, a teacher had to be well informed.
Etain honestly looked utterly pleased that his ploy had worked - or that Anoki wanted to share his drink, one of the two. "Okay," he piped up, pitching his voice low as if he'd been perceptive enough to determine that the other boy was nervous about something and didn't want them to be seen.
Conversely, rather than handing Anoki the cup, Etain picked his way awkwardly through the sand apparently expecting the other boy to follow. Almost immediately, he took refuge under one of the large climbing structures of the park, tucking himself carefully out of sight of the two adults. A bit of lemonade sloshed over the edge of the cup in the process. "Kay, here." Cheerfully, he offered the cup out.
Tovar blinked. Apparently he hadn't been quite so ready to start up talking again, or in the very least he'd expected a different topic or... But he supposed Raven was a teacher; she'd need to keep up to date with all her prospective students, wouldn't she?
"A...they sent a letter." It hadn't even been addressed to him, but the end result... "I'm not even sure what it said - it was addressed to Michael. From what I can tell now it was probably some sort of information he'd rather keep quiet, so in exchange he took Etain off their hands. Or rather, had me take him off their hands."
Tovar paused a moment, lips compressed into a thin line. He glanced across the park, watching thoughtfully as Etain crawled under some playground structure and dissapeared from sight. "At a risk of sounding sappy and parental, I'm fairly glad he did." Nevermind the fact that Etain tended to avoid Michael like the plague, which probably would have resulted in some interesting parenting techniques if the older man hadn't given responsibility to Tovar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:37 am
.|.Worksheet Assignment #2/3/4-
6/20/06 .|. "Tovar," Etain whined slightly, wiggling around in his chair. He wanted to go outside - it looked like such a nice day and now... "Tovar, now?"
Peering archly down toward the unicorn, Tovar considered. He followed Etain's gaze to the window, lips pursing and a slight grimace splashing over his features. "Yes, now." If he let Etain outdoors now, he'd never get his brain back in check to get some work done. "You don't want to get left behind all your other friends, do you?" Nevermind that Etain's other friends were all older than him already...
But it seemed to do the trick. Making a slight face, Etain took up his crayons and set to work. Tovar ruffled his hair briefly, and then moved across the kitchen to start making lunch.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:38 am
"Huwhaa--!?" "Tovar, we're going to Tamra's house tomorrow."
Across the kitchen, a bit of water slashed over the edge of the sink as Tovar dropped the plate back into the sudsy water. Frowning, he glanced over his shoulder to where Michael sat at the kitchen table, across (and as far away as he could manage) from the little unicorn. Etain was, naturally, oblivious to whatever the two were chatting about; he was currently, by the looks of it, coloring in more of those worksheets Tovar had brought home for him the other day. The boy's pink tongue poked out at the corner of his mouth.
"What for?"
The older man shrugged, eyes sliding closed a moment as his fingers combed lazily through his hair. "How am I supposed to know? Tamra is Tamra; she sent a note through the disk."
Grunting, Tovar set aside the scrub brush and dried his hands off with the dish towel. "You're one to talk."
Michael opened one eye, peering at his apprentice in a thoughtful manner before a sly grin broke across his features. "Ah well; crazy is as crazy does, I suppose. -See what you have to look forward to once you finish your apprenticeship? Speaking of, when we get back remind me to sit down and make you do something useful around here. Cleaning and cooking isn't going to make you a sorcerer any faster than running in circles will."
"Huwhaa--!? Michael, you're the one-!"
"In anycase, I suggest you find something to do with your unicorn. He can't come, and he wouldn't like Tamra even if he could." With Tovar's rant sucessfully diverted and the general message of his intentions delivered, Michael carefully eased himself to his feet. "I'll be upstairs."
Watching him go with a heavy frown on his features, it was a long while before Tovar turned away completely from the sink and picked his way to the kitchen table and Etain. He ruffled the boy's hair.
Glancing around, Etain offered him a cheerful smile. "Tovar, Tamra. T."
Tovar smiled dully, chuckling. "That's right; they both start with T, don't they? Those worksheets helping you?"
"Ya-ya-ya-yes. Y," Etain responded, testing out the way the sound rolled off the tongue, giggling faintly and pressing his fingers over his mouth when Tovar's smile widened into a pleased grin.
"What a good boy," he murmured, smoothing back Etain's hair. "Now then, I have a surprise for you." The little boy shifted, squirming slightly in his chair and twisting to look to Tovar with a straighter angle.
"You're going to go visit your auntie while Michael and I are gone."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:06 am
.|.Worksheet Assignment #5-
6/23/06 .|. Huwhaa--!? Etain was, naturally, oblivious to whatever the two were chatting about; he was currently, by the looks of it, coloring in more of those worksheets Tovar had brought home for him the other day. The boy's pink tongue poked out at the corner of his mouth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 9:37 am
To Grandmoth--Auntie's house we go!
Meeting Harper Pukio poked the unicorn in the middle of the forehead -- or as close to it as she could manage. It was a little difficult what with Etain's horn taking up all the prime real estate there. She frowned slightly.
He blinked back at her, going slightly cross-eyed as he tried to look at where her finger was poking him.
"Man," Pukio muttered, straightening. "You're sure...sparkly. Don't know how Tovar stands to take care of you."
"Tovar scratches my head."
"Well, there won't be any of that in this house, got it kiddo? I don't give head rubs, so you're just gonna have to go without since your daddy's out of town. --Why aren't you staying with that low life slacker Michael, anyway?"
"Makes me itchy."
"Yeah, me too. What a weirdo."
"..."
"Whatever. Let's get you inside and introduce you to The Clan. Cover your ears."
Shouldering Etain's little pink suitcase (What the hell was Tovar doing with this kid? He was just asking to turn the kid gay.), Pukio led him toward Noyama's house, shouldering open the door. The little blonde haired, brown eyed boy moved quickly after her, glancing around the entry way of the hall somewhat warily.
"Stay here," Pukio instructed plainly. "I'm gonna go find somewhere to stuff your stuff."
"'kay," Etain squeaked, scratching absently under his chin, watching as his guardian's cousin took his little suitcase off down the hall into another room. He fiddled with the edge of his shirt.
"I know you said the yellow wire. I just forgot, okay? I told you I was book smart, not...mecha smart. Yeah. ...Okay. Yeah."
Harper rounded the corner with the cellphone held up to her ear. Judging by it's odd appearence, it was a creation of Karoko's. Between Pukio and Noyama's families, Noharu had expanded the house to be quite large. There were plenty of naive, clueless men who willingly worked for free.
But because the house was so big, yelling from the garage no longer reached Harper. And Karoko so rarely left said garage, she just built a phone for the sake of communicating. It was like socializing face-to-face, but not.
The hawk caught sight of the stranger and froze. "I'll call you back," she told her best friend and cousin, then hung up the phone and turned slightly to the right. "YAMA! THERE'S A BIG WHITE RAT IN THE HOUSE!"
....
"YAMA!"
.... Damn. Where the hell had she gone?
With a cold look in her eyes, Harper turned back towards the toddler. "Who brought you here, whitey?"
Etain watched the girl round the corner with mild alarm at first. Was she talking to herself? Maybe that thing in her hand was her friend or something... Etain had to wonder briefly if it talked back, and was almost going to ask when the stranger turned her attention on him.
He lapsed quickly into silence, and started to fiddle more pointedly with the hem of his shirt. Tovar didn't like him to run around 'half nekkid' (his words), but Etain didn't really like being forced to wear a shirt. It was sort scratchy on his tummy. He pulled uncomfortably at the fabric.
"'m not a rat," he protested, lower lip poking out dejectedly. Rats didn't have horns! Well, not the rats he'd seen...Maybe he was missing something.
"Pukio brought me. Fr'm Tovar's." Fiddle, fiddle. He gnawed on his lower lip and watched the girl uncertainly.
"Ew. God, it talks," the girl sneered, still glaring at him.
The situation would surely lead an observer to assume things. But Harper really wasn't such a mean girl. She didn't even hate unicorns, and was well aware they weren't any sort of rodent.
Maybe Akilah was to blame. The negative reaction of having another bird had perhaps formed a similar feeling in Harper to having another kid from D-Corp in general.
It wasn't just that. She didn't like that Karoko was always asking Noyama if he was coming, because she was just sooo excited to see something so adorable (how would she even know beforehand?!).
Plus, she'd heard the runt was a freak. Got all squirmy around some people. When she'd brought it up with Noharu, she'd laughed and left the room. Huh...
"Whatever," Harper added curtly. Pukio had brought him? "What's your name, Snowflake?"
Etain blinked at her, apparently perfectly oblivious to the fact that the girl didn't particularly like him. --Or rather, he felt somewhat awkward and useless around her, but he wasn't quite sure why, much less what some of the condescending things she was saying actually meant. Her tone of voice was a little disheartening and made him sort of want to waddle of Pukio and maybe hide in his own suitcase, but...
"Etain," he squeaked out, tug tug tugging on the hem of his shirt. He was squirming now, and rather desperately wanted Pukio to come back and show him where she'd put his stuff, and maybe ask for a snack because this girl was making his tummy feel all hungry -- but in that way that he might throw whatever he ate right back up.
She didn't make him itchy, but he wasn't sure he really liked her either.
"Oh, how lovely. I'll call you Snowflake."
It was good for Harper that Karoko did stay in the garage, and wasn't with her. Because she'd undoubtedly be cooing over this white fluffball, and get mad at her for being so mean.
... 'Vicious' might have been a more suitable word.
Speaking of vicious, the most violent, feared member of the family entered the room with her sword held at her side. Akilah never went anywhere without out these days.
Feeling around for a (braille) book she'd placed on one of the chairs, she smirked upon it's discovery and plopped down. "Get the hell out of here before I take your ******** heads off."
Harper glared at her, snatching 'Snowflake's' hand and dragging him into the other room.
He'd have definately wanted to get away from her, anyway...
Etain could feel the itchiness coming. He took the stranger (but not itchy-inducing) girl's hand and thankfully allowed himself to be led away. Without the older girl's guidance, he probably would have stood there and fidgetted and itched until Pukio came back and saved him -- becuas Pukio had said to stay. Right. There.
But if this girl was dragging him off, he didn't really see the problem. He was even considering allowed her to call him Snowflake or whatever, so long as she took him far, far away from that other girl.
"Where're we goin'?" he asked, trotting along behind her. Her grip on his hand sorta hurt...
Harper's answer came in a strict, "Shut up."
The room led to a hall, which led to many doors leading to many other rooms. One such room had a single table, chairs, and then a shelves of books.
Harper led the toddler to one chair, forced him to sit it in, then threw some random children's book infront of him. She snatched a large, brown-covered one for herself and sat as far from him as she could. "Read until Pukio gets back."
Etain scuttled out of the way of the flying books -- or at least threw up his arms and made sure they didn't catch him in the face or anything like that. Once he was sure he wasn't going to get scarred up by the pointy corners, he pulled the topmost book to him and opened it up. Pictures! He liked pictures. But...
Uncertainly, Etain chewed on his lip as he peered in the girl's direction. "I don't read," he said uncertainly, turning the pages of the book somewhat carelessly, his little fingers crinkling the pages slightly.
Tovar would have had a fit if he'd seen the unicorn treating books that way.
Harper stared at the words below her and didn't actually read them. This was a book she almost knew by heart, both because she had an amazing memory with text and because she'd read the entire thing five times before.
Ugh, hadn't she told him to shut up? "I told you not to tal--" The sentence died out earlier and the girl didn't so much as blink for a solid ten seconds. When she did move, her eyes narrowed on the unicorn like he was the most evil thing on the planet.
"What do you mean you don't read?"
Etain stared back at her. Uh oh. Maybe he had said something bad? His hands immediately stopped crinkling the pages of the book, quickly endeavoring to smooth them back out. "Um..."
He closed the book. Maybe she wouldn't notice the crinkly pages then.
"Can't?" he supplied uncertainly, watching the girl warily. She was sort of scary...
He wondered if Pukio was going to come rescue him soon.
Harper's dark look lightened a noticeable amount. Oh, can't. Can't and don't were two very different things in her book. She seriously did keep a book. It contained the names of anyone she met, including family members, information about them and feelings toward them.
The hawk kept up with 'the word'. On everyone.
"Oh," she said. "How old are you? I guess you wouldn't be old enough to read. Unless you were some super-intelligent being like myself." Or Karoko. "You better learn. It's important."
Etain lifted up two fisted hands, thinking hard for a moment or two before he uncrooked four fingers and frowned heavily at them. "This many," he responded seriously in answer to her question. That's what Tovar said, anyway. He thought. Sometimes it was hard to remember everything Tovar told him. 'Don't run in the house, because you might trip and break your neck,' or 'Don't touch Michael because it's dangerous.'
Etain didn't want to touch Michael anyway. The frowning man made him itchy, and it was easier to look and run away than want to get anyway near him, much less touch him.
"Tovar's teachin' me; sorta. Lettters n' stuff."
"Oh. Well, good," Harper said approvingly. She hated him slightly less now. Which, of course, still didn't mean she wanted him here. What was taking Pukio so long? "You must get a lot of attention, hm? Being a unicorn and all. That's a relatively special animal."
The little boy shrugged, squirming slightly where he stood. Despite himself, his gaze wandered back over his shoulder toward the place they'd come from. He hoped Pukio wouldn't be mad for him wandering off... What if she couldn't find him again? He turned his attention warily back to the older girl and grimaced slightly. He'd be stuck with her, that's what. Etain nibbled on his lower lip slightly.
"Iunno," he squeaked, shrugging quickly. He hestitated further a moment, looking the girl over with a sort of reserved curiosity. "What're...--are you?"To Be Continued
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 8:17 pm
Home Sweet Home! "Thanks for watching him, Pukio. He wasn't too much trouble, I hope?" Tovar smiled faintly, ruffling Etain's hair affectionately from where the boy stood, one cheek plastered to the side of Tovar's jeans, the boy's little fingers caught in the edge of his guardian's sweater.
Pukio, clad in a dull orange sweater and jeans - looking shockingly normal beside the eyepatch and the pilot's helmet and goggles - grinned sharply. The expression showed too many teeth as was probably an insight to the young woman's level of sanity, but... that was Pukio for you. "No trouble at all on his end, though I can't say about the rest of the clan here." She made a faint, backwards wave to the house, shrugging with one shoulder. "You know how kids are. Always pokin' at other ones an' stuff like that."
Tovar glanced compulsively down to Etain where the little boy stood. Come to think of it, the unicorn did look a little frightened and traumatized as he stood, clutching his little pink suitcase possessively in one hand. Ugh; how long would it take the assure Etain that Pukio (and Noyama. And Noharu's) children really were an alright bunch and whatever they'd done to him was probably meant in fun? More so, would explaining it even help?
"Ah, don't worry Tovar," Pukio said suddenly, peering at the older man with one eyebrow raised slyly. "Kids recover real fast, an' he likes you an' Michael alot. Once you get home, he'll be fine, isn't that right Etain?" The woman's smile lapsed suddenly, resembling for a moment a slightly more sane xpression as she leaned down to pat the little bow lightly on the cheek. "Eh? You're a good boy, Etain. Give Michael hell for me, alright?"
"Pukio!"
"'lright," Etain chirped, large brown eyes watching Pukio with a shocking amount of cheer - considering - as the woman straightened up and away.
Grimacing slightly, Tovar offered his cousin a last smile. "Thanks again, Pukio. I'll talk to you later."
"Byyyye, little Etain! See you, Tovar." Waving them off, it was only a few seconds before Pukio had retreated back into the house and left Tovar and Etain to face the slight drizzle of the weather and the road ahead between where they stood now and Michael's house a few miles away.
"Come on, Etain. Let's go," Tovar murmured, hoisting the little boy off the ground in one arm, holding the umbrella in the other. "Time to go home."
Etain buried his face into the collar of the man's shirt, still gripping his stuicase tightly. "Yes please," he squeaked.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 8:30 pm
In the Garden Fingers in his mouth, squat in the middle of the side garden, Etain watched with rapt interest as Tovar pulled up the weeds. They'd been out there for a few hours already (with a lemonade break every now and then, natureally!), and the little boy had long since become bored with coloring. Tovar had to give him kudos though; form what he'd seen, Etain had colored at least three or four pages of his school assignments. Over the past few hours, Tovar and skept the front step, repainted the mailbox and the address number on the it, watered the garden, picked some of the ripe fruit, and was now intent on pulling up the weeds that had sprung up since the last rain.
"Tovar, why pickin' stuff?" Etain asked suddenly from around his fingers.
"Etain, take your hands out of your mouth, and then ask the question," Tovar instructed absently, habitually, as he tugged up another weed and set it into the growing pile at his knee.
Etain obeyed, puckering his lower lip slightly in dismay for a moment before repeating the question.
"Because," Tovar answered. "If the weeds keep growing in here at this rate, the good plants will get choked off and not make fruit. These plants," he said, holding up a weed for Etain's examination. "Aren't good for the garden. You want your strawberries, right?"
Etain nodded enthustiatically, features drawn and brow creased with determination. Oh, he definately wanted those strawberries; a whole lot, by the looks of it.
Chuckling, Tovar plunked the weed into the pile and continued on. "They come up after the rain during the summer mostly, but sometimes you'll get them in the spring and fall too. -Do you want to help me?"
"'lright," Etain murmured, plopping down onto his knees in a rough approximation of Tovar's own stance, beginning to pull up plants that looked remotely like the ones Tovar was.
"Ack, not that one!" Hastily, Tovar reburied the tomato plant. "These, here. And the grass, alright?" Nodding, Etain cheerfully set to weeding the garden beside Tovar.
An hour later, the garden properly weeded and the refuse dumping out behind the back wall into something Tovar called a 'compost' (it smelled funny), they were tomping back into the house. Etain had his crayons and worksheets clutched in both hands, retreating immediately to the kitchen table as Tovar went to wash his hands and make lunch.
"Tovar!" Etain called, twisting in his booster seat and he laid out his papers. "Tovar, two left."
Blinking, the young man moved away from the sink and to the table where Etain sat. Spread out across the large wooden surface were all the the boy's worksheets, only two left uncolored. Despite himself, he smiled faintly and scritched the unicorn behind the long, pale ears. "Good job," he muttered absently, glancing over the papers.
"C'n I do'm now?"
He laughed, hand dropping away from little Etain's head. "Go for it - do you want rosemary on your sandwhich?"
The little boy nodded swiftly up and down before returning his attention to scribbling across the papers with his crayons.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
