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 Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 9:41 am
"Felix?"
"Coming!" he called, making no move to leave the computer as he remained fully-focused on the screen, his blue eyes set in frustration behind his glasses.
There was a pause, followed by the sound of a pair of feet padding into the room as Ajhira approached his chair from behind, placing her hands on its back.
"You said that twenty minutes ago." she sighed.
"I know."
"And the twenty minutes before that, too." the silver-haired feline added.
"I know..."
"What's got your tail in a knot anyway?" she asked, leaning forward to peer at the screen and seeing only senseless code on a notepad. "You've been mooning over whatever that is since this afternoon."
"Its a website for a client." he explained, scrolling down to the bottom of the file and making an irritated noise at it. "Or it WILL be if I can get the damned thing to work..."
"What are you having a problem with?" she inquired, her tail swishing lazily across the backs of her legs.
"ALL of it!" he blurted in frustration, throwing his hands up. "This guy is a complete c***d, Aj! He--" he faltered and then fell quiet again, heaving a deep-chested sigh. "I--I'm sorry, Aj, I didn't mean to yell." he said in a shamed voice as her arms linked around his neck gently. "Its just that he wants all this difficult stuff and he won't take no for an answer about it. I tried to tell him that all these columns and frames are overkill and make it impossible to navigate, but he says--"
"Felix..." Ajhira sighed against one of his ears. "....honey, just put it up for awhile if its bothering you that much. It'll still be there in the morning."
"Yeah I know...and that's the problem." he muttered as her hands strayed to his shoulders to rub them, his eyes still fixated on the screen. Hell hath no fury like a geek outgeeked, after all...
"Come lay down for awhile." she purred. "It'll help get your mind off of things."
"...all right." he agreed reluctantly. "Let me check my Email and I'll be right there."
"You know, your Email will still be there in the morning too..." she teased, ruffling his hair as he smirked in spite of himself.
"I know...I just wanna see if that guy from Ebay wrote back yet or not. He's trying to scalp me on shipping." Saying so, he moved the mouse down to Outlook and clicked the icon, waiting for the program to load.
"Maybe I'll borrow the internet when you're done." Ajhira sighed, heading back for the hallway.
"Oh?" Felix asked, eyebrows shooting up as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Why?"
"To see if there's a support group for people like me. I can't be the only internet widow out there." she replied simply. Though her voice remained light, her tail betrayed her annoyance with a sharp little flick as she made her exit.
"Aw, Aj, wait." the hybrid called after her, his large ears wilting as he moved to get out of the chair. "I didn't--"
*CHIME*
His eyes obediantly went back to the screen like a well-trained dog as he absently sat down again to check the new messages that had arrived.
One of them promised that he could make thousands of dollars by working at home, another assured him that hot girls were just waiting for him to pay $9.99 to look at them, and yet another promised to grow significant parts of his anatomy to unmentionable sizes.
Hurrah for spam.
The offending messages were gone with a trio of mouseclicks and he X'ed out the program, moving his cursor to the shutdown icon after double-checking that he'd saved his coding.
He never made it that far, however...
BrendaAnn53: Good evening. Am I speaking to Mister Felix Lumbar?
Felix boggled for a moment at the instant message, trying to place the screen name. He was quite sure it was no one he had ever spoken to before...
ShaleBridge001: yes, but you caught me on the way to bed. Who's this?
He'd give them the benefit of the doubt, he decided...maybe it was an old friend trying to get in touch and being needlessly formal
BrendaAnn53: Unfortunately, this is a matter of some urgency. I need to speak with you now.
ShaleBridge001: okay...?
BrendaAnn53: I represent a confidential organization. I would like you to verify the following questions with a simple yes/no answer.
ShaleBridge001: Before we go any further, if at any point, you ask me for my bank account numbers or any of my account passwords, I'm logging this conversation and reporting it to your ISP. Capisce?
BrendaAnn53: I assure you, Mr. Lumbar, we already know everything that we need to about you.
To this, Felix blinked in puzzlement, still unsure of where this was going. If it was a prank, he hoped they'd say so soon, because this was beginning to trespass out of the realm of "funny" and into "creepy" very quickly.
BrendaAnn53: Your current residence is 5104 Topsail Drive?
ShaleBridge001: Yes.
BrendaAnn53: You reside with your wife, Mrs. Ajhira Kaye Lumbar, formerly known as Ajhira Kaye Witt?
ShaleBridge001: yes...
BrendaAnn53: The two of you currently have no children of your own due to inability to concieve?
He gave a visible jolt. He and Ajhira hadn't told anyone at all about their genetic incompatibility. Not even their immediate family and certainly not any of their friends. The news had been utterly heartbreaking to the both of them and, since then, neither of them had discussed having children again.
ShaleBridge001: All right, who the hell is this? Do you think you're being funny?
BrendaAnn53: yes or no answers, please, Mr. Lumbar.
ShaleBridge001: Not until you tell me who you are and how you knew that.
BrendaAnn53: Things will be clearer to you much more quickly if you cooperate.
ShaleBridge001: I could also put you on block and go to bed...
BrendaAnn53: Yes, there is that.
He sat for a long moment, waiting for the explanation he'd asked for and was met only with maddening silence and inactivity from the window before him. Setting his jaw, he began to type again.
ShaleBridge001: Then I think that's what I'll do. Goodnight.
Before whoever-it-was could reply, he'd reached out and punched the power button on the computer in a single spastic motion, watching as the screen was plunged into blackness and the CPU gave a single dying whine as it shut off.
Sitting in the darkness of his office, it occured to him that he was frightened. Not enough to be jumping at shadows, but frightened just the same that a complete and utter stranger would know something so intimate. How had they come by that knowledge, he wondered? He knew for absolute certain that neither he or Ajhira had told anyone. Had the clinic they'd done the tests at sold their patient records?
He didn't get a chance to ponder this question for long as the phone rang shrilly on his desktop, making him give a little cry of surprise before snatching it off of the cradle.
He immediately wished he hadn't as, for a split second, he held the reciever in his hand, looking at it as though it was a snake that might bite.
Stop it. he hissed at himself mentally. Its probably just mom...or Darcy...or Penny... His usual annoyance at Ajhira's girl-friends calling this late was replaced with hope that it was, indeed, one of them as the phone slowly approached his ear.
"Hello...?" he asked hesitantly.
"This would have been much easier online, Mister Lumbar" a voice on the other end stated flatly. It was dry, devoid of emotion, and sounded as though it was being run through a filter of some sort. It was what one might expect a computer to sound like if one taught itself to speak.
"Who is this? How did you get this number??" he hissed, sounding much more upset than he'd meant to. "Tell me right now or I'm calling the police!"
"This is an untraceable number, even for the police." the voice droned, sounding not at all concerned as though it had explained this exact thing hundreds of times. "You will find that if you simply verify the information, you will learn all you need to know."
Felix's grip on the phone tightened until the blood drained from his knuckles.
"I-If this is a joke," he managed to get out "then whoever this is had better come clean. Because its not funny." There was a pause on the other end. "I mean this is....this is enough for me to never want to talk to somebody again and I don't care HOW good of a friend you are." It was a meager threat, but it was all he had.
"You and your wife, Ajhira Kaye, are unable to concieve naturally. Yes or no?" the voice intoned, ignoring what he'd just said. It was infuriating...and suddenly Felix wanted nothing more in the world than to get this person off of his phone, even if it meant telling them what they wanted to hear.
"Yes, damn it, yes!" he snapped, beginning to tremble a bit as he feverishly paced the office. It was true that Felix was the type that terrified easily (it must have been the rabbit in him), but it was not often he could claim to be terrified in his very own house. And if they were persistant enough to call him after harrassing him online, he worried severely that they may find an even more personal way of contacting him if the phone failed. It was that thought alone that kept him from hanging up.
"Your combined annual income is 53,000 dollars. Yes or no?"
"Yes." He edged toward the blinds, parting them with his fingertips and half-expecting to see a windowless van parked across the street. Blessedly, there was nothing but a tranquil evening to be seen. That was something, at least...
"That is all. Hold please."
"Whuh?" he asked, only to be greeted with serene elevator music filtering out of the phone at him as he pulled the reciever away from his ear to stare at it in dumbfoundment. It was not enough, apparantly, to call him in the middle of the night and pepper him with question that whoever-it-was had no business knowing, but now they were going to put him on hold too...??
The entire thing was so surreal that, had he been in a lower state of panic, he might have burst out laughing.
The music ceased after only a moment and he quickly brought the phone back to his ear, succeeding also in clocking himself in the head with it.
"Hello?" a different voice -- one that sounded human -- was asking.
"I'm here." he said reluctantly.
"Good evening, Mister Lumbar." the male on the other end of the line said pleasantly. "We apologize for contacting you under these conditions--"
"As well you should." he interrupted angrily.
"--but I'm afraid we have a bit of a situation here." the voice continued without pausing. "You write and design websites, is that correct, sir?"
"Yes, but...but what does that have to do with anything?" Oh god, he just wanted them to stop talking. He wanted to hang up the phone and go and curl up in bed under the covers. With any luck he'd have forgotten all about this by morning.
"You see, our records indicate that several of your designs borrow heavily from existing websites and organizations. In fact, there are some instances where the code seems to be lifted directly."
"But--but its HTML coding!" he sputtered. "There are only so many ways to write it and if you want a website to look a certain way, you have no CHOICE but to copy and paste code portions!"
"None the less, you are aware, of course, that unauthorized use is illegal?"
"Y-Yes..." he stammered.
"The combined fines and penalties of your offenses over the past two years would amount to well over three million dollars in damages, Mister Lumbar. Are you also aware of that?"
"What??" he squeaked. "But--but you can't copyright tables and columns! You just can't! If I was using their graphics and their images and their company logo or something, that's one thing, but I'm NOT! I'm just--"
"I trust you wish to contest these fines and penalties, sir?"
"Of course I do!" Felix said, the words coming on the tail of a sob of frustration. "I--we could never afford..."
"Do you have a pencil and paper available?"
Felix dove for the desk, clicking on the lamp as he fumbled out a clean piece of paper and grabbed up a pen.
"Yes."
"I am going to give you directions to our corporate office, Mister Lumbar. You will be expected at no later than eleven AM tomorrow to fill out the necessary paperwork. Be sure that you drive yourself. None of the bus routes will take you anywhere remotely near where you'll need to be going. If you like, your wife may be present. You must both provide picture ID, so be sure to bring it with you."
"All right. Okay. I'll be there..." he babbled, adrenaline socking through his veins as the address was given and he shakily took it down.
"We'll see you tomorrow morning, Mister Lumbar." the voice concluded after he'd double-checked the address by reading it back to the mysterious voice on the other end of the line. "Have a good night."
With that, the connection was terminated with a click and, numbly, Felix hung up the phone. He almost expected it to start ringing again with that same dead voice on the other end, filling his head with threats of what would happen if he weren't to show up.
When nearly five minutes had ticked past with nothing but silence, he rose from the chair and padded down the hallway on watery legs, feeling utterly drained from the encounter.
He didn't care what they said, he hadn't stolen any website designs. You could NOT copyright HTML code, no matter how much they tried to convince him that you could and he promised himself that tomorrow he would not allow himself to be bullied about it.
....and WHY the hell had he needed to verify all of that personal information if all of this had been about websites??
Trying to piece it all together made his head ache as he eased open the door of the bedroom. Ajhira was already sleeping as he climbed out of his clothes and slid between the sheets, nestling himself to get comfortable before closing his eyes.
"Whowuzzit?" his wife's voice floated past his ears, heavy with sleep.
"Hmm?"
"Who was on the phone?" she yawned. For a moment, he considered telling her everything and then decided against it. It wasn't that he made a habit of being dishonest with her, but he certainly didn't want to worry her, either.
"Just mom." he lied. "I left my jacket over there last time we visited. She asked if I wanted her to leave it in the milkbox so I could pick it up while she was at work."
"Mmm..." she murmured, stretching and turning onto her side to resume her slumber.
"Aj...?" he asked.
"Mmwhat?"
"Are we doing anything tomorrow?"
"Nn-mm..." Ajhira muttered in the negative. "Why?"
"Just...need to go somewhere, that's all."
At this, they both fell silent as Ajhira nodded off once more and Felix laid awake, staring at the ceiling.
It would be a long time before he slept.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:26 am
Blue canary in the outlet by the lightswitch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
Not to put to fine a point on it
...ay.....nly.....ee in your.....onnet....
"Oh COME on..." Ajhira sighed as the car radio began to cut out before the song they'd been listening to faded into static completely.
"Sorry..." Felix muttered, offering her an apologetic little smile. He reached out to twist the knob off, leaving only the hum of the engine as they drove along the secluded canyon road they'd been following ever since getting off of the interstate.
"Where ARE we going anyway?" the feline questioned, propping her arm against the windowframe as she stared out at the nondescript scenery. "You said you just had to sign some forms, right?"
"Right." he agreed. He'd explained that he'd needed to sign some forms before they'd left the house, but he'd had yet to explain what the forms were for. Blessedly, she'd not asked, either.
"Out in the middle of the boonies like this?" she pressed. "If this road goes on much longer, hon, we're going to end up in the ocean."
"Well..." he cleared his throat. "I-Its what the directions say, Aj. I guess if we don't find anything soon, we'll just turn around and go back."
It was a comforting notion, but in his heart of hearts, Felix knew that he was nowhere near lucky enough for things to work themselves out so simply.
"Doesn't seem like very good planning to put a building all the way out here." she mused aloud. "You'd run out of gas before you got there."
"I hope not. I--"
"Look!" she interrupted, pointing ahead of them as Felix squinted at the horizon behind his glasses. In the distance, just within viewing range, a solid structure was coming into view. A stately (and tall) building that, as they drove closed to it, seemed to be emblazoned proudly with a large green letter. "D?" she asked, looking to Felix for an answer.
The hybrid's response was a distracted shrug, clearly not liking the look of the place. His foot eased off of the gas and began to inch toward the brake. They couldn't do anything to him, he assured himself. Even if he didn't sign any 'contestment' forms, they couldn't do anything. He and Ajhira could turn around right now and go back home.
But what if they can? a little nagging voice in his head wondered. They obviously know where you live, or wasn't the phone call convincing enough? Would you honestly be able to explain it to your wife if some complete strangers stormed into your house one night? It wouldn't be to offer you a chance to contest your charges, that's for damned sure.
His foot wavered and then returned to the gas pedal reluctantly. They were playing nicely so far, he decided, so there was no reason to panic just yet.
The road led them straight to a needlessly-large parking area, given how vacant it was, and Felie selected a spot near to the buliding. "What do you think...?" he asked warily, his blue eyes never leaving the building as Ajhira stepped out of the car and swept her door closed with a chunking noise.
"I think I have problems with a place that's this far in the middle of nowhere and yet inexplicably keeps a huge pen of sheep around." she stated, looking at the large enclosure off to their right where several dozen of the gray-wooled beasts were milling and bleating.
"Like you said, its in the middle of nowhere...maybe its their answer to not getting to see women very often."
"Felix!" she exclaimed, followed immediately by peals of laughter. "That's terrible!" He smiled as well, though the joke had done little to alleviate his own worries. "Guess we'd better go in, then..." he ventured.
"Let's get it over with." she suggested as they headed toward the building. "The sooner you do your thing, the sooner we can head home. What kind of forms are they, anyway?"
Felix's eye twitched noticeably. "I...well, I'm not sure, exactly." he faltered as she turned to look at him, brows shooting up.
"Not sure? How can you not be sure?" she asked as he held open the glass entrance door for her and then stepped in after her.
"I didn't...really ask."
"So you're telling me that you don't know what they're for, but for some reason they were important enough to drive out into the middle of nowhere?" Ajhira challenged.
"Well..."
"Felix." she said flatly, all humor gone from her voice as he cast a guilty sidelong glance in her direction. "...stop lying to me."
He took two more steps into the building's large and stately recieving chamber before halting and heaving a deep sigh. He never HAD been good at keeping things from others.
"That phone call last night wasn't my mom." he admitted sheepishly.
"Who was it, then?"
"I don't know." He could practically feel her amber eyes drilling into him. "Aj, seriously, I don't know...! Some guy found me online and started asking me all these personal questions, and when I signed off, he called the house to keep hassling me. He said I was in trouble for copying HTML coding or something"
"He called the HOUSE??" she gasped, looking horrified. "Why did you even talk to him? Why didn't you call the police, Felix??"
"He said it was an untraceable number. I was scared, okay??" he said defensively. He didn't handle stress well at all...especially not in this big of a quantity. "He said if I didn't come down here and sign some contestment forms, we'd have to pay three million dollars in damages and--"
"Three MILLION??" Ajhira nearly shrieked, her voice reverberating off of the walls. "What the hell are you DOING, Felix?? You said you were building webpages! Not stealing them!"
"I'm NOT stealing them! Why am I suddenly the bad guy, Ajhira? Why?? A second ago, you were set to agree with me that the guy was a complete nutjob!"
"I never said you were the bad guy and stop shouting at me!"
"I'm not shouting!" he shouted.
So engrossed were they in their argument that neither of them had noticed as a labcoat-bedecked young woman had emerged from the hallway and stepped into the room, watching the two of them squabble with what seemed to be a mixture of amusement and contempt. It was nearly a full minute before she made her presense known with an audible clearing of her throat, making both Felix and Ajhira stop in mid-sentence.
"You must be the Lumbars." she said simply after allowing for the customary awkward pause. "We've been expecting you."
"Look, what's all of this about?" Ajhira demanded to know, drawing herself up to her full height as she stormed up to stand toe-to-toe with the other woman who didn't so much as flinch. "I don't know where you people get your information, but my husband is NOT a criminal!"
A small smile slowly unfurled across the other woman's lips. "Of course he isn't." she agreed, sounding nothing but agreeable to this fact. "Please follow me, and we'll discuss why you're really here." she added nonchalantly as she started back down the hallway, absently motioning at the pair to follow her.
The rage promptly deflated out of both Ajhira and Felix as they stared dumbfoundedly at her retreating back.
...really there...?
"What is this...?" Ajhira hissed through gritted teeth.
"I don't know..." he whispered back. He wasn't sure which was worse...being terrified of a crooked lawsuit or being a complete loss.
"I think we should leave..." she suggested, and then with greater fervor added "This place feels wrong, Felix, let's go. Please?"
"You WILL be required to at least have a counseltation with us before leaving." the stranger called from the hallway, as though she'd heard their conversation. "The doors will not unlock until you do."
Felix and Ajhira exchanged a look with one another and then over their shoulder at the door they'd come in through. Ajhira moved first, approaching it and trying it, only to find it stuck fast.
"Come on, now." the woman called again. "Where's your sense of adventure?" Though neither of them could see it, she sounded as though she was smiling.
After a moment of hasty mental debate, Ajhira started after her. "Let's go, Felix."
"But--" he started to protest.
"I want to know what the hell all of this is about, don't you? Besides that, they're not giving us a choice." she told him sharply, grabbing for his arm to tow him along. "Maybe if we cooperate, they'll let us go."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 8:36 am
It had taken nearly an hour of calm explanation and re-explanation on three of D-Corp's technicians' behalfs. It had also taken several cups of coffee, but eventually the young couple had calmed enough to allow themselves to be led into a small observation room that was devoid of furniture save for two chairs that were facing a large window.
On the other side of said window was what looked to be a childrens' playroom wherein an especially-rambunctious little one was romping about, tearing into this, getting into that, and generally being a headache for the two lab technicians that pursued her.
"There are some who call us unethical..." one of the D-techs was saying, watching the child with amusement. "...but they are the ones who will never see the simple beauty of a child and its parents meeting for the first time. You see, it is not our goal to create life. What we build are families."
Ajhira felt her ears flatten in response. You are so full of s**t, your eyes are brown is what she wanted to say. However, being a lady, she refrained.
As the little girl (she appeared to be canine) once again eluded the grasp of the two D-techs attempting to get her under control, she skidded to a halt in front of the window and began making an array of faces at them. Smiling a bit, unable to help it, Ajhira waved at the child.
"Its a two-way mirror." one of the other techs explained. "She can't see us."
"Ah." the feline said, dropping her hand to her lap.
"I still don't understand why you picked US, though..." Felix fretted, watching the child fixatedly as she ducked between the legs of one of her pursuers, leaping into a nearby toybox to scatter its contents across the floor. "...especially for THIS kid."
"You were selected, Mister Lumbar, because you hold adequate housing and income for the rearing of one of our children. In a way, I suppose you could say that your tragedy of being unable to concieve was also your blessing."
"But you can't just drop her on us! Babies are a huge responsibilty and we haven't even had time to prepare! Ajhira and I haven't even TALKED about adopting!" he squeaked, turning to his wife for support. "Have we, Aj?" he asked, recieving no answer. "....Ajhira?"
Ajhira was not listening, though. In fact, she looked to be millions of miles away as she watched the wild little girl with great interest, her smile broadening every minute and her eyes radiating with maternal love.
"....I think she's adorable." the cat smiled. Felix's eyes snapped wide and his throat worked as though to speak, but all he could make were faint noises of outrage.
"No one understands more than we do the suddenness and inconvenience of all of this." one of the other D-techs spoke up. "Its for this reason that D-Corp will happily provide you with all of the essentials you're lacking until you've prepared yourselves. As we speak, a care package of sorts is being delivered to your home."
"I--I---" Felix sputtered, drawing a deep breath and trying to collect his scattered wits. "But what'll our families think...??" he asked, clearly grasping at straws. "what'll they say if we suddenly have a daughter that doesn't look a thing like either one of us?"
"They'll say 'congratulations' if they know what's good for them." Ajhira replied in that same distracted way as she leaned forward to place a hand on the glass, still beaming at the child. "Does she have a name?"
"Sharika." was the reply. "Her middle and last names, of course, are up to you and are what will appear on her birth certificate when the adoption has been made official. She was infused with African Wild Dog DNA which, as you can see, has taken in far more ways than one. She can be a bit...challenging."
It was, of course, a gross understatement. What had once been an orderly playroom now looked as though a wayward cyclone had drifted through it. Sharika, having now been apprehended by one of the D-techs was struggling mightily, snapping an unsettling number of teeth at whatever got near enough.
"I suppose I ought to let the three of you get acquainted...after all, you will be spending much time together from now on." the tech continued, motioning the two of them to follow him out of the viewing room. "They'll be returning her to her personal chamber in a moment, and its a far more intimate environment than here, you'll find."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:39 am
If by 'intimate', the D-tech had meant 'tiny', then he would have been quite correct. Sharika's room was quite small and was carefully devoid of anything breakable. Of course, it didn't look like a lack of trying on her part as the dresser in the corner, the bedsheets, and even the metal bedframe itself was marred with scrapes and teethmarks.
For the moment, however, Sharika seemed sated as she sat passively in the middle of her mattress, gnawing on what had once been a teddy bear as a lilac-haired human woman sat across from her, holding a set of colorful flash cards.
"Say 'ball', Sharika." she encouraged, pointing at the drawing of a colorful red-and-blue rubber ball. "Can you say 'ball'?"
"Blee!" was the response around a mouthful of plush.
"Almost." she smiled. "Baaaaall."
"Blee!" Sharika said again.
"Okay..." Kat sighed a bit, doing her best not to lose heart as she flipped to the next card with a picture of a smiling brown puppy on it. "How about...'dog'? Can you say 'dog'? That's what YOU are, you know..."
"BLEE!" Sharika grinned, a bit of drool slipping out of the corner of her mouth.
"Oh, Sharika..." Kat sighed, setting the cards aside and knitting her brow. "You've got to catch up with the other kids your age, honey....or they're going to leave you in the dust."
Sharika expressed her concern by stuffing as much of the mangled plush in her mouth as would fit and shaking her head ferociously back and forth, bits of stuffing flying everywhere.
It was at this moment that the door swung open and D-Tech 509 led Ajhira and Felix into the room in mid-conversation.
"--agonsbane has been tutoring her, trying to get her to develop her speech skills since she's fallen severely behind where she ought to be at her age and--oh! Here she is now!" he smiled. "Kat, this is Felix and this is Ajhira -- Sharika's new family."
The young woman rose from the edge of the bed where she'd been sitting and offered the couple a smile. "Pleased to meet you." she told them cordially.
"I was just explaining to them how you've been working with Sharika on the side..." 509 said, inviting her to explain.
"Yes." she nodded, looking from the hybrid to the feline. "Sharika is a wonderful little girl, but her DNA has made her a bit feral. The two of you are going to need to be extremely dedicated in her studies to ensure she gets up to speed. This is a very crucial age for her."
Ajhira nodded sagely at this. "Don't worry." she assured the woman. "One of us is always at home..we'll have plenty of time to work with her. I'm pretty sure her grandparents will as well."
Kat smiled at this and then looked to Felix who was, again, staring at the little girl as she savaged her teddy bear. My, but her teeth were sharp...he certainly hoped that she didn't do that to LIVING things...
"You might also want to wear long sleeves and pants around her until she gets to recognize you as her mommy and daddy." Kat went on, as though reading Felix's mind. "She nips a little."
To punctuate this sentiment, there was a ripping noise as one of the unfortunate teddy's ears became detached from its body and Sharika, tail wagging, grinned up at them, her mouth full of stuffing.
"You'll need to bring her back here every other day so that she can attend her classes." Kat went on. "Just think of this place as her school, except you get to be the bus."
"I don't suppose you guys offer a discount plan on gas...?" Felix inquired lamely. "I mean...it--its really a big commute to make..."
"Whatever needs to be done, I'm sure we'll be able to work something out. D-corp takes good care of our children AND their parents. I'll go and get you the remedial worksheets with the things we're currently teaching that she needs to work on. I'll be right back."
Saying so, Kat made her exit from the room, and 509 followed shortly behind her, closing the door as he went.
Well, here they were, face-to-face with their new child and alone for the very first time.
For a long time, they simply stared at one another.
"NYAH!!" Sharika was the first to break the silence as, tongue lulling out of her mouth, she dove at her new parents. While Ajhira stood her ground, Felix recoiled so hard that his ankles tangled and spilled him on his backside. The little dog child leapt at the opportunity (quite literally) and latched onto his arm with her jaws, gnawing on him.
"Get her off! Get her OFF!!" Felix wailed as Ajhira rushed forward to detach the little one from her husband.
"Felix, don't YELL at her, she's just a baby...!" Ajhira scolded, gathering the child up in her arms. "And look, she didn't even break the skin. She was just playing."
Sharika grinned toothily at her daddy and then poked out her tongue, blowing a loud wet raspberry at him.
"That's right, you were just playing with daddy, weren't you?" the feline cooed, nuzzling her daughter.
"DAY-EE!!" Sharika announced, attempting to lunge out of Ajhira's arms at Felix once more.
"Did you hear that...??" Ajhira gasped, beaming. "She said 'daddy'! Felix, you were her first word!!"
"Day-ee day-ee day-ee!" she continued to prattle, still reaching for him and still baring far too many teeth for his liking. He wasn't quite sure what he and his wife were getting themselves into, but he could tell already that he would be grateful to survive the adjustment period intact.
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Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:24 am
D-Corp Activity Log
___________________________________________________
Page 001
Please use the provided journal to document your child's progress at home for this week. Include such things as meals, television programs watched, extracurricular activities, bedtimes, and subjects studied. When complete, please return to D-Corp.
___________________________________________________
Today was my first day with Sharika on my own. Coincidentally, it was also her first day in our house and she seemed to find no shortage of things to explore, touch, taste, and test the durability of. She is a very active child and clearly very curious about the world around her.
For breakfast today, Sharika was given four orange wedges, a small bowl of cereal with milk, and a glass of orange juice. I cannot say in all honesty that she actually ate any of it as most ended up on the walls and floor.
Lunch was slightly better as she seemed to genuinely enjoy the spaghetti-O's I allowed her to sample. She ate half of them and decorated herself with the rest.
For dinner, she was given a smaller portion of the stuffed peppers my wife and I ate. When she made it abundantly clear that she did not care for peppers, Ajhira prepared hot dogs for her instead which were much more greatly appreciated.
It took a cooperative effort from both Ajhira and I to give her a bath. It doesn't seem to be the water she minds so much as the soap and shampoo.
As I write she has been in bed for the last hour or so. Addendum: She is NOW in bed. Ajhira is currently playing the part of bedside sentinel trying to get her to sleep. It is my hope that this adjustment period will go smoothly for all three of us as it is rocky so far.
--Felix
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Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:53 am
"Is she asleep...?" Felix asked quietly, looking up from the log book as Ajhira eased her way out of the once-spare-bedroom-turned-Sharika's-room. When D-Corp had said that they had sent a care package, they had not mentioned that the care package was an entire bedroom and supplies. All that had been left was to get it set up, which they had taken turns doing while one of them watched the wild little canine.
"I think so..." the feline said.
"Thank goodness." he sighed with relief, dropping the pen on the page he'd just finished writing.
"Don't be like that." she chided good-naturedly as she approached the table. "You think THIS is tough, we could have gotten a newborn. We'd be getting up every three hours."
"Yes, but I doubt very much a newborn would be capable of putting teethmarks in my x-box controller..." he pointed out.
"So we'll get you a new one." she shrugged, and then peered over his shoulder. "What did you write?"
"Just how today went." he replied truthfully, allowing her to examine it. "I was as cordial as I was able, given the circumstances. I didn't mention anything that she broke.
"Good." Ajhira nodded. "What about the worksheets?" At this, he cringed a bit.
"Well, we got to ONE of them..." he told her, getting up to rummage through the stack of paperwork D-Corp had sent them home with. At last, he produced the one that he and Sharika had completed earlier. "I'm not sure she got the gist of it, though."
"If I'd let her, she would have colored the entire page red." he continued. I had to pry that red crayola marker out of her hand before she'd even touch the other colors."
"I don't see what's wrong with that." Ajhira smiled, the tip of her tail flicking in amusement. "It looks like she got the basic idea, anyway."
"Yes, applying the marker to something creates color. That's what she learned today." Felix replied, rolling up one shirt sleeve to show where his white fur was still marred with faint scribbles where his newly-adopted daughter had attempted to color him as well.
Once Ajhira's laughter had died, there was silence in the living room once more. "Aj?"
"Hmm?"
"What do you think all of this is about? I mean, there's no such thing as an expensive organization who just hands out children to random wannabe parents for no reason. There's got to be more to it."
"Don't know." she shrugged. "Been wondering myself. Part of me just doesn't want to question it and see it as a second chance, you know?"
"Don't think I'm at that point yet." he said, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Not when she's only been here a day."
"You'll get used to it." she assured him. "For now, though, I think we'd better head to bed. She's got to go to class in the morning."
"Class?" What---oh, yeah...class." he muttered, really not relishing the notion of driving all the way out to D-Corp again.
"If you don't feel up to it come tomorrow, I'll take her." Ajhira offered. "I know you've got stuff to do and I don't mind the drive."
"We'll see what happens, I guess." he told her, though inwardly he was grateful as he tucked the finished number worksheet into the log book and rose from the table to tag after Aj into bed.
Once they were gone, there was the sound of a doorknob turning as a dark-faced head framed by wild brown hair poked into the hallway, its little nose quivering furiously at the air. Satisfied that Felix and Ajhira were nowhere to be seen, Sharika bounded out of her bedroom into the rest of the house, clad in her Hello Kitty pajamas.
Time to explore some more!
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Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:42 am
"Come on, Sharika honey..." Ajhira urged, resituating the worksheet in front of the little girl from where she'd swept it off of the table with a tantrumy stroke of her arm. She didn't WANT to sit at the table and color, she wanted to go back to tearing the wallpaper off of the wall in little strips and pieces. "Let's color now!" she said in as bubbly of a voice as she could manage, pressing a green marker in her adopted daughter's hand.
"AYAYAYAYAYA!!" Sharika shrieked, throwing it across the room and watching with mild satisfaction as it loudly clacked off of the sliding glass door leading to the backyard.
"Here, what's this letter?" her adopted mother urged, tapping the large uncolored "A". "Can you say 'A'? This is an 'A"."
"BYAYA!" she exclaimed in indignation, making an attempt to jump up and leave, though she was apprehended in mid-stand.
"Now look, you're not going anywhere until we finish this worksheet." Ajhira sighed, trying not to get frustrated. "Remember, you colored with daddy the other day?" Remembering what Felix had said about the red marker, she picked it up, uncapped it and offered it to the little girl. Sharika, for a moment, was not interested, and then, as though noticing its color for the first time, grabbed for it and grinned toothily.
"Okay, now this is an A..." she tried again, tapping the A on the worksheet. "You want to color the A?"
"Aayyyeeeee!" she grinned, fervently beginning to scribble on the B instead.
"Nono, that's a B. THIS is an A."
"AYE!" she insisted, coloring well-over the lines and beginning to saturate the worksheet in red ink.
"B, honey...that's a B."
"BEE!" she laughed, throwing the red marker aside and grabbing one at random -- a green- before beginning to color the A.
By the time they had finished, the A was a B, the B was an A, and the C had been dubbed a "Yrtega".
Well, anyway, it was a start...
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 10:00 pm
D-Corp Activity Log
___________________________________________________
Page 002
Please use the provided journal to document your child's progress at home for this week. Include such things as meals, television programs watched, extracurricular activities, bedtimes, and subjects studied. When complete, please return to D-Corp.
___________________________________________________
We have been working very hard with Sharika on her letters and numbers and, though its been hard, I believe we are finally making progress. From start to finish, she is now able to recite her ABC's and she is slowly catching onto the concept of regular speech.
We're hoping that, at this rate, she'll be capable of speaking coherant sentences on her own soon.
Kat, please find attached to this log page Sharika's finished worksheets. You will note, that she favors the color red. In fact, she's worn down all of her red crayons and we are currently on her third red marker.
~A.L.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 10:38 pm
A child is expected to know certain things at certain ages. In order to obtain rights to their Dragon(egg), they must prove they can meet these requirements. The following sheet is for your child to fill out, with mild help from their guardian, then sent back to D-corp. (PM ot the mule) Also any changes, even minor such as haircuts, should be reported to the D-corp to be logged and filed.
Thankyou,
The Boss.
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 11:27 pm
Dear Sir, Please find enclosed the form you mailed us, filled out by our daughter Sharika. As per your request, these are the noteable differences we've taken into account: Personality: Still rather wild, hyper and eccentric, kind of tomboyish. Hair: Wild and unkempt, seems to have been sunbleached a bit due to the time she spends outside. We can't get near her with a comb most days. She is often seen wearing a camo bandana that's been folded into a headband and tied around her forehead to keep her bangs out of her eyes Clothes: She is very partial to the hand-me-down camo jacket we recieved from Ajhira's sister's son which she wears open with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows She has taken a liking (much to my chagrin...) to the TV show Invader Zim and noisily demanded a red Gir T-shirt the last time we went shopping. She wears this underneath her jacket She is often seen in the same pair of bluejeans over and over again. They have holes in the knees and other various scuffs and tears, but she turns her nose up at the new pairs we've bought her, saying they're too stiff. Hopefully, she'll change her mind before the ones she has fall apart much further. For the life of us, we can't get her to wear any shoes... I hope that this helps your research. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, Felix Lumbar
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Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 3:03 am
"Hurry up, Shar." Ajhira urged as Sharika pushed the various food items around on her dinner plate, turning them into an unappetizing multicolored mash. "You've still got to have a bath yet."
"How come i have to go to bed early??" the little dog girl whined, looking reproachfully at her parents. She had, with the combined forces of her parents, DCorp, and TV, been making leaps and bounds in her development. At first glance, one would even think she was up-to-speed with other kids her age.
"Because you need to be well-rested for tomorrow." Felix informed her from the sink where he was already rinsing dishes. "We're driving up to DCorp and then--"
"I don't have class on SATURDAY!!" Sharika loudly protested, as though the very notion was an abomination to everything she stood for. "I don't wanna go! Why do I have to go??" she continued, looking on the verge of a tantrum.
"AND THEN--" Felix continued, talking over the squalling of his adopted daughter "--we're going to meet Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Darren. Won't that be fun?"
While most children would have been placated by the sudden change in subject and the fact that they had grandparents they hadn't yet met, Sharika was not most children.
"They can't make me go! I'll call the police!" she proclaimed, letting her fork clatter to her plate and standing up on her chair. "I'll go be a mongoose! With Gir!"
"Gir is a cartoon character, honey..." Ajhira said patiently, well-used to her daughter's outbursts by now. "And sit down."
"But nobody else is gonna be there on a Saturday! I'll be all alone!"
"I'm sure you won't be alone." Ajhira assured her daughter, meanwhile not knowing if that was true or not.
They had recieved a letter from DCorp a week ago, informing them that tomorrow Sharika was to be present in DCorp's front lobby no later than seven AM for reasons that were not explained. Felix and Ajhira could accompany her if they liked, it said, but their presense was certainly not required.
It was mysterious...perhaps even a bit ominous. However, the one thing that she and Felix had learned since adopting Sharika was that DCorp had very good reasons behind its eccentricity and that they were not to be questioned. They had provided Sharika's requested necessities with no questions asked, had forwarded money to buy her new clothing as she'd grown, checked in on her regularly, and seemed to be running a very capable school system within their facility...so who were they to judge?
"Are you done with your dinner?" Felix asked, gesturing at the plate of glop in front of her. Sharika grudgingly sat down on her chair again, looking from her father to her plate.
"Do I still have to take a bath if I am?" she tried.
"Yes. You haven't had one in days, and you smell like a pig." Ajhira smirked, reaching out to ruffle Sharika's greasy hair.
"Pigs get to play in the mud." Sharika put in helpfully.
"You play in the mud too, does that make YOU a pig?" Felix challenged, though there was good nature in his voice. Sharika's eloquent response to this was to oink loudly and bury her muzzle in her dinner plate as though it was a trough, making both Ajhira and Felix wince in unison. They exchanged a weary look with one another, trying desperately to ignore the spectacle the little wild dog was making of herself.
Yup...that was their daughter...
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:50 pm
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:51 pm
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:02 pm
Thankyou for all your hard work with us here at D-corp. Your child's dragon egg is near hatching, and we'd like to have you file another report on the progress of your child. Enclosed is a sheet for them to fill out, you may help them. Also please include any and all changes in your child. Even the smallest detail may become of importance later on. Sincerely
The Boss
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:38 pm
Dear Sir,
Please find enclosed the form you mailed to us, filled out by Sharika to the best of her knowledge. Please excuse her spelling, she is still learning.
I would also like to make you aware that we have taken note of the flyers posted about the school and gotten Sharika up-to-date on her vaccinations.
She recieved the following shots this weekend:
Measels/Mumps/Rhuebella, Smallpox, Tetanus, Hep B, PCV, Polio, and Rabies
Needless to say, she is none too happy with us at the moment and I doubt we'll ever get her into a doctor's office again without a Battle Royale on our hands.
As far as changes go, she still remains quite the tomboy and loves to play outdoors.
Her hair is a bit longer and she has taken to holding it back in a ponytail so that it won't get quite so ratted up when her mother brushes it for her before bed.
This is her new favorite shirt.
She wears a black baseball cap with this on it.
A sportswatch
A pair of camo sneakers
And a ratty pair of bluejean shorts that are frayed at the ends.
I hope that this helps you with your observances. If I can be of any further assistance, you know how to reach us.
--Felix Lumbar
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