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 Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 11:03 pm
Two more wands had found guardians, in a matter of a day. This made Ianna a very happy person. That meant there were only five more wands to be found, and then she'd be free for hopefully a very long while.
Coailiann was currently sitting at the desk, drawing on a piece of paper and Ianna was organizing a very dusty looking shelf full of books. At leat it gave her something to do, right?
While she was waiting for the other lazy guardians to pop their heads in, anyway.
Dixie Saturn didn't get out much. Her father hadn't been the overprotective sort, she had just never felt the urge to wander far from the yard she had landed in, her first glimpse of Gaia. After her stint as sole witness to a couple of criminal landings, she had begun to feel more responsible and less excited about sitting around all the time. This was her first time out alone and far away from the house and it was kind of fun.
The city was interesting enough, rather like one from her own world, minus the constant glare of light from passerby's eye sockets. She used to hate that nonsense and had been happy to see that your average Gaian didn't have glowing eyes.
A well-worn shop entered her peripheral vision, breaking her reverie. Wands? Well, that might be something to see. She pushed open the door and looked around before stepping inside and gently closing it behind her.
"Hey," she said, her ear twitching with a sudden itch. Maybe this had been a mistake.
Ianna almost fell off the step stool she was currently standing on to peek at who had walked in. Thankfully, she was able to grab at the book shelf and catch herself. Only a few books slid off the shelf, causing a cloud of dust to rise off the floor.
"Hi!" she called out cheerfully.
Coailiann looked up from her drawing, gave a nonchalant wave, and went back to the drawing. It obviously was more important.
When the familiar ping sounded, Ianna raised a brow. Her? She was so YOUNG...Ah well, to each their own, she supposed.
Dixie's eyes widened at the dust cloud. She was a bit obsessive about keeping things neat. "Wands, huh?" She couldn't help the emotionlessness of her voice - it had always been like that - but her eyes shone with interest. "Are these like, collectible?" She'd had an 'obsessed-with-home-shopping' phase, but those kind of channels never really sold things like this. An aquired taste, perhaps?
The former criminal glanced over at Coailiann's drawing. She was normally intrigued by the antics of children, but this one wasn't a criminal. Still, there was something about her...
Ianna wiped her dusty hands on her pants and went to go stand beside Coailiann, dragging out that ever so special living book and plopping on the table, "You could say that," Ianna said cryptically.
Pushing the book towards the young girl, Ianna went back to rummaging behind her desk before plopping a gnarled looking piece of wood with a bunch of grapes hanging from the tip.
"Touch the book."
A soft request.
The minute Dixie touched the book, yhe cover would fly open, an invisible wind winding through the pages and blowing them rapidly open until it landed, quite suddenly, on a well-worn page. On the page was a very life-like sketch of the wand she had just placed on the desk.
Under the picture read:"Ljeschi. Wand ID 00025. A Soul has been trapped within the confines of the wand. Congratulations, you have become the next guardian to take on the task of raising it from infancy to greatness. We, Ianna and I, have the upmost faith in you to complete your task dutifully. Best of luck,
Matilda.""A little young, but hey. Congratulations, you're a mother."
Dixie eyed the wand. She hoped this woman wasn't going to try to con her into buying that. Archie had found better sticks in the yard. She reached out her hands as prompted, intending to grab the book and leaf through, but as soon as her fingertips touched the cover, she snatched them back in shock.
She skimmed the words on the tattered page, mostly captivated by the detailed image of this woman's grape-twig. Earlier in her life, she might have argued that she wasn't young, or even female for that matter, but at this moment she really did feel like a confused teenage girl. "A mother? To a stick?"
"No, the spirit inside the wand, Dixie," Ianna murmured, picking up Coailiann and holding her in her arms, "The spirit will emerge, slowly, and solidify into a baby like this little 'un here," she smiled and nuzzled into her daughter's hair.
Coailiann rolled her eyes, "Hello!"
Dixie was being acknowledged. That was praise enough from the little girl.
"Go ahead, take the wand."
When Dixie touched it, a soft flash of light and a bubbling pulse of life could be felt before it faded away a moment later. It happened when a guardian touched their wand.
Oh. But she didn't want a baby! She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at the white-haired toddler and picked up the twig, wincing at the light and the tingly life force. "Hey." Dixie addressed Coailiann again, clearly unhappy about the whole situation. She turned her attention back to Ianna and said, "Does this happen to a lot of people? I suppose there's no way to give it back? And how did you know my name?" Was someone playing a joke?
Coailiann smiled charmingly and rested her head on her mother's chest.
"No, you cannot. It will die if you do," she sighed softly and shifted Coailiann, "You are their guardian. You are their chance at a second life. And yes, there are at least twenty others like you."
Dixie fiddled with the wand, passing it between her hands. She'd just have to take care of it then, now wouldn't she. She sighed, the beginning of her next sentence expelled on the end of her breath. "I guess that's okay then. I wouldn't want it to die." She felt connected to this place, this wand. And Coailiann didn't seem so bad. Archie could help her. After he killed her.
She looked around for somewhere to put the stick, finally settling on the long inner pocket of her light jacket, normally reserved for cell phones. "Can I come back here if I have any problems?" Her eyes found the strange book again. She didn't even know what a 'ljeschi' was.
"Yes, I'll show you the headquarters," Ianna began to move towards the door and opened it, stepping through it and into her own home. The headquarters.
As they entered the main lobby Via the portal connecting the shoppe and the headquarters, the first thing noticable was the vast...largeness...of it. The high ceilings, edged with gold, the large chandeliers dripping with crystals, the smooth white tile-floors, colorful rugs, and beautiful paintings.
To the left was a large recreational area complete with a large flat-screen television, several rows of various games, movies, video game systems and books. There was a basket of toys in the corner, full of plushies, dolls, cards and various other objects which would appeal to most ages. Included in the area were several comfy looking couches and plush chairs just made for sitting, lounging or bouncing in. It seemed to be heaven on a fluffy carpet. It even had a foos-ball table and an air-hockey table....and for the slightly more food-minded GoTP, a mini fridge always full.
To the right was a large elaborate counter, which seemed to have a force-field of some sort around it, keeping anyone who was not Ianna or Matilda from going behind it. On the counter lay a roster with the names of all the Ghostly children and their guardians, and an appointment book.
From there, it branched off into halls with rows and rows of rooms. Some were storage, some were guest rooms, some were bathrooms, and one very large and ornate door to the end of the hall led to the gardens. "Welcome to Headquarters. You're welcome here at any time. Generally, it's crawling with guardians. However, today it's reletively quiet."
It was a good thing she hadn't been into robbery on her home planet. This place had more stuff than Best Buy! "Thanks," she said softly, rubbing her feet on the rug and taking in the fancy chandeliers and electronics. "I'll be sure to come back when there are more people around." These other guardians would need checking out. Dixie wanted to make sure she hadn't just joined a cult.
A cult? Danny had thought that too. Had Ianna heard that, she probably would have burst out laughing. Oh yeah, Dixie would get along well with Danny.
"I do hope you do. Bring your father at some point. I'd like to meet the grandpa. I've...Never gotten someone as young as you."
Coailiann simply floated over the couch and plopped down. Mickey Mouse was on!
Floating babies? Dixie's hand hovered back near the wand. It had better not be able to do that when it hatched or materialized or whatever it was going to do.
"Yeah, sure," Dixie said, still watching Coailiann. "Archie would like that. And I'm older than I look, so don't worry. Long story. I've never taken care of a baby before, but I'm confident I can." And she'd have help whether her father liked it or not.
Ianna nodded her head, "Well a lot of things in gaia aren't anything like they seem," she agreed, slipping herself on the edge of the couch. She was tired, it had been a long day, and she thought it was about time to close up the shop.
"And I'm sure you'll be able to. You'll have a lot of time to prepare. The child will only begin to emerge when it feels accepted and safe. Generally it takes a month or so."
Dixie nodded in return. "Should I talk to it or something?" she asked, making her way back toward the wand shoppe's main room. How exactly did you make a wand feel accepted?
"Well, you should take it everywhere with you, and you can talk to it if you want."
She shrugged her shoulders lightly, "Everyone takes it differently, I suppose. Are you leaving?"
She noticed the girl going towards the door.
"I... I don't know," Dixie said. "Should I stay?" She looked to Coailiann again, feeling like she was disturbing some family time all of a sudden. Her whole experience in this place had certainly been more than a little strange. Not moreso than handing off babies that dropped from the sky to people, she supposed. She smiled to herself. "I kind of think I should get home and tell Archie about this before I lose my nerve."
"All right then," Ianna nodded, "That seems like a good idea. Good luck with it, and I hope you come back soon. I'd offer to let you stay and whatever, but I'm a little tired. You're the third guardian to come in today and.." she looked rather tired then. Bone-weary.
Coailiann started to gum on her hands and nuzzled into her mother, "Bye pretty girl!"
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:16 pm
Feelings (Dixie, Archie, Alek)
May 4, 2006 Dixie hurried out of the bus and down the block, mumbling to herself about becoming a hermit. Was this what happened when people left their houses around here? She pulled the wand from her pocket, feeling the faint tingling that had been present after she had touched it the first time. Resisting the urge to throw the thing on the floor and step on it a few times, she continued on to the house, stomping her feet slightly on the way.
"Archie, I'm home!" she yelled.
Silence. Dixie pulled off her lightweight jacket and scuffed her way back to her father's door. "I got a kid." She turned around and strolled back to the main room. It wasn't four seconds later that Archie came tearing out of his room and skidded to a halt behind her.
"What?!?" He pushed her to the side of the hall to get around her and held her at arms length, looking her up and down for any sign of spontaneous pregnancy.
"No!" She shook him off. "I'm not pregnant!" The thought of such a thing made Darcy writhe in horror and Dixie feel more than a little nauseous. "Here!" She thrust the wand at him and kept walking down the hall. "That's going to become a baby at some point. If you see it around, treat it nice."
Archie fumbled with the wand for a moment before waving it around and sniffing at the grapes dangling from the end. "Boy or girl?"
That's all he could think to ask? Dixie started laughing, her first chuckles almost completely inaudible. Soon she was leaning over the kitchen counter, guffawing like a crazy person. She hadn't laughed this hard... ever really. "You're not mad?" she said breathlessly.
Archie stayed quiet while she finished laughing, poking at the grapes idly. "Do you want to start a journal about it? I make the ICRS guardians do it." He smirked, as if the guardians didn't have enough on their plates.
Dixie chuckled. "Why would you do that to them?" She liked all the guardians she'd met, but could feel little sympathy for people who had signed up to take care of known criminals. "And no, I don't want to start a journal about a stick. You can do it for me."
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:17 pm
Archie's Journal Gaia gets cooler every day, really! My kid brought home a kid today. It's just a stick right now, but Dixie says it feels like there's electricity in it. I don't feel it, but Dixie's never had a ton of imagination, so I don't think she could make something like that up. I hope she doesn't find this. If she does, well I'm sorry kid, but it's true.
Anyway, I wanted her to start a journal about this baby, or whatever it's going to be, so that when it grows up it can see what we all thought about it, but she said no. No big deal. I've still got one for her and one more won't kill me.
So, hey kid! You're a pretty nice stick! Your mother doesn't know what to make of you, but I'm all excited. Kids are cool. Hurry up and grow.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:17 pm
GotP Headquarters (Dixie, Alek, Indu, Malum, Levis, Youko, Shavri, Ianna, Lethe)
May 21, 2006 Indu sighed as she approached the familiar door in a certain wand shoppe, her twins in their familiar places in her baby carrier. Levis in the front, and Malum in the back. She'd parked her motorcycle outside, and had the helmet under one arm as she twisted the knob, walked through, and was...
... Right next to the front desk in the GotP HQ. Not immediantly spotting anyone, not that she was looking, the tall redhead set her helmet on the desk, and strolled farther in, quickly unstrapping Malum and depositing him on the floor before he could demand that she do so.
He was getting worse, the older he got. He'd gone from growling, to pushing, to biting Levis, to biting random strangers that were foolish enough to put a body part within his grip.
Levis, on the other hand, was still shy, but coming out of her shell, and was showing a bright curiousity to match her brother's more destructive one.
"Mal, don't chew the furniture."
A giggle from Levis made Indu smile, as she took her time removing the darkly aligned girl from her own holding pouch.
Dixie strolled down the street, a determined expression on her oddly-colored face. Lately she had found herself around this neighborhood a lot, and it was starting to be more than a little annoying. There it was. The Wand Shoppe. If she was going to be preoccupied with this place to the point of showing up here every time she was alone, the former criminal was going to do something about it. The little stick in her back pocket warmed slightly and she grabbed at it, bringing it around so she could address it properly. "None of that," she said, watching the tiny grapes swing with the motion of her hand.
She kept the wand in her grasp as she pushed open the door and headed inside. Empty. That woman had said she was welcome in the back, so Dixie pressed on. She seemed to recall some video games back there.
"Hello?" she called out before opening the door. She stepped into Headquarters, scooting off to one side to avoid the baby on the floor. "Hi. I didn't think anyone would be here."
It seemed that everyone was arriving. Youko had slipped into the shop as well, finally letting out the breath he'd been holding and slipped the Ziploc baggie off the end of the wand he held. Once he'd determined that the wisp was even THERE, he'd noted how it seemed to sway in the breeze. With the wind having kicked up that day, there was no WAY he'd take it out of the house with some kind of protection.
It was Raven who'd suggested the baggie. And after Youko got done protesting in horror, she'd wrapped the baggie around the wand and unceremoniously shoved him out the door. It had worked, and the wind hadn't phased the little wisp of mist at all. Then again, the baggie hadn't phased it either and it seemed perfectly content in there.
Now, however, he could leave the baggie aside and shoved it into his pocket as he moved towards the entryway to the headquarters itself. "Anyone home?" he called as he stepped through, toeing his shoes off at the entrance and leaving them aside. "Ianna?"
Ianna was fretting. Coailiann had been asleep for a good few days in her room, and she had absolutely no idea why. She'd never dealt with growths beyond toddler before, so...She had absolutely no clue what was really going on.
Walking rather quickly down the hall, Ianna stopped and looked around the headquarters. Rather full today, it was, "Well hello there," she greeted, feigning cheerfulness.
"How are all of you today?"
The silver haired woman moved to her desk, pulling herself upwards to perch on the dark wood of it, waiting for the many answers she was sure to receive.
Lethe had been all over the city looking for one tiny shop and was, needless to say, not having the luckiest of times with it. Maybe if they were at all marked clearly... How hard would it have been to have a picture of old, ancient things on the storefront? Honestly, did they expect that everyone could read? Was this young-person discrimination?
The young Fa'e peered cautiously into the Wand Shoppe, barely over the threshold. Well, it seemed like the right sort of place -- dusty and dirty with weird looking things everywhere. Noting that there was certainly no lack of activity here, Lethe decided it was safe and finally stepped inside, immediately scuffling off to one side to be partly out of the way and partly not immediately noticeable.
Odd. Everybody seemed to have a stick of some sort -- except for the person with the babies, of course (unless she was hiding her stick somewhere else.) Even the walls were lined with equally shiny and colorful sticks; was it a requirement to have one before coming in? Would anyone notice that she didn't have one?
Malum was startled by the woman entering behind him, and he didn't like the feeling. Even as the boy's green eyes narrowed, Indu spotted the change in him, and charged past Youko to grab up the baby one handed just as he tried to pounce Dixie and possibly bite her.
"Dammit, Malum! No biting the people, either! Sorry about that, miss."
The angelic looking child gave her a large, overly-innocent grin, malice glinting in his eyes as he was set back down on the large sofa. Indu, sighing once more and petting Levis' head, smiled wearily and answered Ianna's question, somewhat late.
".... Just fine... Ianna. We're doing just fine. How're you? And where's Miss Coailiann?"
At the sound of the familiar, and well liked name, Mal and Lee looked about interestedly. Was their 'friend' here, too?
Dixie backed up some more at the mention of biting babies. She held her stick out in front of her until the little angelic-looking kid was taken away. Malum, was it? She'd just stay over here.
Swapping the wand to her other hand, Dixie gave a small wave to Ianna and the new arrivals, doing a double take at the sight of another stick, this one with a pale, misty wisp sticking out of it. Would hers do that too? Being motherly toward a stick was hard enough without things poking out of it. She schooled her expression into a nicer one, not wanting to seem standoffish toward this new group of weirdos she'd been thrust into.
Youko was apparently used to children... and those that had the unenviable job of herding them. As Indu dove past him, he easily slid aside, clearing the way for her to latch onto her wayward son. Hopefully, his own new arrival would be a BIT less inclined towards gnawing on the patrons.
"Good afternoon, Ianna," he said, bowing politely to the woman. He was about to say more, but one ear dropped slightly as he tilted his head to the side. "What's wrong?" he asked, voice dropping just enough that only Ianna could hear him. "You look stressed."
Ianna's eyes locked to Indu, a small smile on her lips as she went to fetch Malum. Vaguely she wondered if a muzzle would be helpful to keep the young angelic male from turning her guardians into chew toys. Perhaps she'd suggest that.
"Coailiann is..." she took a deep breath, "She's not waking up. She's been asleep for two days..." fiddling with her sweater slightly, she sighed, "I don't know...I just...I..."
Yeah. Elegant.
Not.
"I just don't know what's going on. She's breathing okay, and she seems healthy...She just won't wake up."
When she lifted her head to look at the people filled room, she raised a brow. THERE was someone she'd not seen before, "Hello, are you lost?"
Completely forgetting the distress she was in, Ianna slid from the desk and started towards Lethe.
"Lost?" Lethe wrinkled her nose, trying to quickly determine whether this lady meant the figurative meaning of the word or if she was just really confused. "No, I am Lethe," she decided, mentally having to admit that there really were children with some strange names out there. Best not to insult her by implying otherwise, right?
"I am looking for magic things," She explained further, just in case she meant the other meaning too. She had meant to say something further about leaving if this was private, but both the mention of somebody sleeping for far too long and the fact that that baby just bit someone clearly distracted her.
"Maybe she's hibernating?" She suggested idly to the other lady (even though it was clearly none of her business), eyebrows furrowing as she observed said biting baby. Did -- did that other girl taste good or something? No one seemed surprised -- was this normal?
Levis now sitting beside her brother, shot Lethe a giant grin, full of welcome. The little girl -looked- demonic in nature, but was a definate sweetheart, and was working hard not to be shy. Besides, Lethe wasn't as big as the other people in the room, and she was pretty. In an odd way.
Malum, a bit put-out about being so far away from anyone besides Lee, crawled to the edge of the couch, and with a thump, hit soft carpet. The little boy was on the move once more, toward... His previous target. Dixie.
Indu, rolling her eyes, didn't move to intercept him, and instead turned to speak with Ianna, before realizing how rude she'd been.
"I'm sure she'll wake up soon... Oh... Forgive me."
Glancing around the room, she gave a self-concious smile, and brushed strands of hair from her face.
"I'm Indu, and those two are Malum and Levis."
That girl, that Coailiann? She'd been sleeping for two days? Again, not something Dixie wanted to have to deal with. Stupid sticks.
Dixie's eyes narrowed as she saw Malum advancing toward her. She crouched on the ground and lay her wand in front of her before putting her hands behind her back. Either the baby would be distracted or he'd end up biting pant leg, either of which was fine with her.
Hibernating sounded like a possibility, but Dixie didn't want to agree in case it was something more serious. She went with, "I hope Coailiann's all right," before returning Indu's introduction with one of her own. "I'm Dixie." Niceties out of the way, Dixie turned her attention back to the crawling terror.
Youko frowned, remembering the bright and cheerful little girl that he'd met when he'd received his wand. "I hope she feels better soon," he whispered, remembering how Omi had grown. "Perhaps..." he paused then, not sure if he should say that or not. Finally, he decided that he should. "My daughter, Nozomi... every time she's grown, she passes into an almost comalike state. Completely unresponsive. But she comes out of it fine on her own."
Smiling, he cradled the wand close to him. "Hopefully the same is happening to Coailiann."
Ianna raised a brow at the young girl, "Lethe. Pretty name..Reminds me of greek mythology..." she shrugged her shoulders, "Perhaps she is, but do Sidhe hibernate?"
She paused, pursing her lips a moment, "Well, there are magical things here, but unfortunately, I don't have any for sale...You may find random artifacts in the library or the gardens though..."
Upon hearing Dixie and Youko, Ianna turned from Lethe, "Thank you Dixie...And I certainly hope that's all it is, Youko...She's become precious to me, believe it or not. Brattiness and all."
Seemed she would be a busy woman today, "I think you should get a muzzle for Mal just in case Coailiann ends up waking and they get into another mess like last time...Besides, I don't think Dixie would enjoy becoming a chew toy..."
Lethe, noticing the baby-biter's apparent sister, mirrored her grin back at her. It was only then she noticed the wings -- hunh, that was strange, even non-Fa'e could manage to get wings and she couldn't? But obviously that made the baby Very Special. She began wandering over, intending to say 'Hi!', when Ianna responded.
"You know Greek?" Lethe repeated in awe, refusing to allow any other subject change. "Mythology? Can you speak it? Do you know the Underworld? ...What's a Sidhe?" Okay now she was clearly just making things up, this lady.
...And nothing for sale? Well, that could be good, right? That didn't necessarily mean there was nothing at all, just that there was nothing she had to exchange for money with to take. So maybe if she looked around hard enough...
Seeing that the lady she'd been talking to had returned to talking with some other people (hmph!) whose conversation she could barely make out, Lethe shook her head and resumed her journey over to Levis, making careful adjustment to her path to swerve widely around the baby-biter. She was sure he was good at what he did but she vastly preferred her ankles without holes.
Indu snorted at the image of Mal with a muzzle on his face, and rested a hip against the desk, grinning at the other woman.
"He'd probably just do somethin' worse than bitin' out of spite. Or he'd like it."
Dixie had discovered one of the few things Mal like to do more than hurt others, and that was to satisfy his curiousity. The boy's tiny hands closed around the pretty wand, and immediantly, he tried to find a way to separate the grapes from the wood. Maybe he was hungry.
Lee turned a pink color at having the grin redirected at her, and reached out her fingers at the older girl trying to touch her as soon as she got close enough. Levis loved to be touched and held, unlike her brother.
The wand didn't break, Dixie had dropped it several times already and it didn't have so much as a scratch, but she couldn't help being a little concerned. Still, she supposed wand manhandling was better than biting.
"So, any luck with that?" she asked the baby, fairly sure he wouldn't understand. Dixie sat fully on the ground to rest her tired legs and kept half of her attention on Lethe and Ianna. She didn't even know what Greek was, but learning was fun and all that.
Youko noted that Ianna was fairly getting swarmed, and backed away then to let the conversation continue. He took his own wand over to one of hte couches, curling up with it resting in his lap. The wisp still hung there, and if he squinted hard enough, he could see it drifting back and forth each time he exhaled. Smiling faintly, he made a mental note to ask the woman about this later, when she wasn't so busy.
Mal turned narrowed green eyes to Dixie and growled under his breath, he wasn't a -dumb- baby, and understood quite a lot. The problem with Malum was that he was a clever terror. He just couldn't do much damage as an infant. A split-second later, and the grapes were in his mouth what few teeth he had gnawing at the wand.
Indu rolled irritated maroon eyes to the babe and pushed away from the counter, letting out a frustrated noise and crouching to gently remove the wand and hand it to Dixie. Recieving a fierce bite on the hand for her efforts, she cursed quietly and lifted the boy, slipping him into his place on her baby carrier.
"Dammit, Malum! Can't I take you anywhere?"
His wicked grin seemed be a 'no'.
Sighing as she considered this visit to the headquarters a bust, she smiled slightly at Dixie.
"Sorry about that, he can be a real brat... C'mon, Lee."
Strolling over, she picked up Levis, who's attention was centered now on the wisp, whom she was making grabby hands at, then kissed her on the forehead before strapping her in.
"... Time to go. I'll get you some icecream when we get home."
Another few seconds, and she picked up her helmet, stopping to face Ianna.
"Good luck with Coailiann."
Nodding a quick goodbye, she left the center, admonishing Malum under her breath the entire time.
Ianna stifled a small chuckle, "Good to see you guys again," she called as they left, turning her attention back to Lethe, "I don't speak Greek, but I know a lot about mythology, including the underworld. I'm somewhat of a mythology nut.." she shrugged her shoulders and moved to sit beside Youko on the couch.
"Though some would argue that I'm just a plain nut...What brings you here, this day, Youko? Dixie?"
Watching the lady with the two babies leave with mild regret, Lethe went to sit on the other couch, neatly sweeping her skirts out underneath her.
A nut? She clearly looked human. (Sigh, English!) Lethe managed to keep a confused expression from crossing her face as she carefully observed the HQ -- it was a lot different from Fa'e... Hmm. "I guess you're familiar with me already then!" She beamed at this before asking curiously, "Did those children who just left come from here? Are there others like them?"
..Was that wand glimmering or -- was was it doing? Hades alive, why couldn't she (a fully breathing, walking, talking creature, nonetheless!) do the same thing?
It never crossed her mind, meanwhile, to either shut up or even to stop hijacking the conversation.
Hey. Hey! She had been okay with the kid biting her, but not her wand! Honestly, she should have expected it. Dixie made a move to take it from him, but then Indu was there taking him away and giving her the stick back. Well, that had been easier than expected.
"That's all right. Thank you," she said before smiling at the twins and their guardian.
Dixie stood before pocketing the spit-covered wand. Everyone was on the couches now, so she figured she should be too. Taking a seat on the same couch as Lethe, she turned to Ianna and said, "The wand gets warm and tingly when we pass. I figured coming by would make it happy."
Youko smiled to the woman with the wand, understanding completely. The whole wand thing was new to him, and this had been the only place he'd known to come.
"Actually, what brings me here is this..." he said, holding up the wand. If one looked REALLY closely, one could see the little violet wisp hovering just above the end of it. It almost seemed to be watching them in return, and moving back and forth each time one of them exhaled.
Ianna blinked, "Familiar with you? Don't tell me that you're the river Lethe?"
Well. She hadn't been expecting THAT should it be true...Silver eyes seemed to sparkle with curiosity. She'd definitely have to speak more with this little girl.
"Ah...Yes...Perhaps your spirit wanted you to meet other guardians, Dixie. I'm glad you listened to it...And Youko! It wisped! Wonderful!" she beamed a little bit, troubles seeming to at least be pushed to the back of her mind.
"It's one step closer to being a child...One more stage to go before it's flesh and blood."
Dixie looked at the mist again. It had 'wisped.' And Ianna didn't seem concerned. She tucked this little bit of information away, glad that she would have it to fall back on when her wand turned into a tiny sauna.
"It's a pretty... wisp," she said, watching it bob in the nearly nonexistent breezes.
She stayed out of the river conversation, not really believing that she was seated next to a body of water.
"Thank you," Youko answered, smiling softly and extending a finger so that the wisp could wrap around it like it seemed to like to do. Not that he could feel it, but it seemed to have fun with it. "One more stage, is there?" He asked, glancing to Ianna then. "Can you give me a hint as to what I'm in for? I don't know anything about this, to be honest.... I had been assuming that a baby would just come from this, so I've had the wand in a crib." He chuckled then, remembering Raven's assessment that he was obsessed.
Well... maybe he was.
Ianna gave a nod of her head, "Yours will do that too, Dixie. As for answers, Youko, I can give you what I know. The wand is a goddess. I think it was a goddess of Mercy and from where she was found, I believe it would have something to do with the Asian cultures. Though I am unsure which and what her name was."
She paused as she shifted a bit, "The next stage the wand will shrink and the wisp will grow to the size of an infant. It will solidify and it will be clinging to the wand. Be sure not to let it be seperated. It'll fall apart and...Well, it'll most likely either be very disfigured or die all together."
Dixie took out her own wand and wiped the rest of the drool off. If this thing was going to grow and move around, maybe she'd better treat it better.
"A goddess might be able to do magic, right?" she asked. "Do you think mine would? Do magic, I mean."
"Thank you," Youko said, cradling the wand close and looking to it. "It's good to know what to expect." He paused then, flicking his gaze to her with a brow lifted faintly. "Goddess of Mercy? At least it's Asian culture... I'm quite familiar with that. My family is in Japan, I can dig up a bit of information from them as well."
He got to his feet then, bowing politely to the two of them. "And I'm afraid that's all the time I have for today. I'm sorry to pester and run, but my other children will be wondering where dinner is if I don't get home soon. And if I'm not careful, they'll wind up bar-be-queing their brother."
Smiling, he went to the portal then and slid his shoes on once more. "I hope to see the both of you again soon!"
Ianna smiled a bit, "Good seeing you, and glad I could help!" she called as the kitsune left, her attention once more being turned to Dixie.
"All the children are magically inclined. I'm not sure how soon they start showing their powers. Coailiann did almost right away, but then again, she's real special..."
Unfortunately, Lethe's trance was interrupted once the source of her spaciness was thus removed and left with. She frowned slightly at the doorway, invisible question marks hovering over her head, and finally remembered that Ianna had addressed something to her.
Hold on -- what was it? -- it took her a moment to flip back through a space of time largely filled with nothingness, but finally she managed to replay the other woman's words in her mind.
"Oh, yes!" She burst out suddenly with a great deal of obvious pride. "The River Lethe, un-rivered but still a River." She was doing a great job at this too, if she could say so herself. There was something about goddesses too, in her memory, and.. wisps. And...
"Magic?" She repeated Dixie's words, looking down at her couch-companion's wand. "The sticky-things can do magic?" ..And she couldn't? Clearly there was no justice in the world. Lethe, trying to convey both interest and disappointment, instead looked as if the wand might've just insulted her mother.
Dixie smiled as the fa'e responded to a question posed to her several minutes ago. Lethe reminded her of Archie suddenly, well, minus the whole river thing. She waved the wand around idly. "I don't think it does anything now except get warm and tingle. You're a river? For real?" She saw adults shoved into babies bodies all the time, but rivers? She couldn't get over it.
Ianna looked intrigued, "Mmn, nope. When they become children they can," she nodded her head then, "And I can't believe you're...How's that possible?" She raised a brow again.
Wait. How was it possible that kids came out of items?
Stupid question, Ianna.
"Nevermind. I..Uh...Should check on Coailiann though. You two can talk and Dixie if you have any questions...Feel free to stop by again," she smiled and ran down the hall.
"Yes!" Lethe nodded again, clearly enjoying the attention. To prove it, she grasped the ribbon binding her hands together in her teeth and began pulling a few loops from her arms. She remembered vaguely something about Xo and -- a mental promise not to show off but -- well, bah, wasn't like anyone was going to find out, right?
Just as the second loop was loosened, the tips of her fingers began to lose their color. The same transparency travelled to the rest of her hands. Lethe wiggled her fingers in a wave to Ianna, sending ripples through her hands, and giving them the very strong impression of water.
"So your wand's going to do the shining thing too? And then become a baby?" Already losing interest in her own abilities, Lethe refocused her attention on Dixie and the wand she was holding. That was some pretty strong magic right there. ...Certainly not all babies came from sticks, right? She knew her younger siblings, Eden and Raziel, came from Koyuki's stomach, but... Was there a stick in her stomach?
"It's a nice color," She said politely, trying to imagine the sort of child that would theoretically emerge from this. "Um... and the grapes. Does it have a name?"
"Cool!" Dixie didn't seem to need much convincing. People in Gaia were very strange and she'd learned to take the weirdness in stride. She waved goodbye to Ianna as well before turning back to Lethe.
"I guess so," she said, laying the wand on her lap. "I didn't know it would get all misty first, but I can't deny it now that I've seen it. I hope this one doesn't turn out bitey like that kid with the wings." Dixie poked at the grapes. "I don't know what to name it. I guess I could call it something... genderless. Nobody's told me if it's a boy or a girl."
Considering this carefully, Lethe redid the ties on her ribbons and settled more comfortably onto the couch. "I think the 'bitey one' was just, you know, special. My younger sister bites things too.. well, she doesn't so much bite things as she just.. shoves things into her mouth. She's a baby too."
Still staring at the grapes, Lethe took a wild guess at the gender: "Girl? It just seems..." This was much harder than it looked. "Well, I know there was a God of Grapes, but he was a bit of a... Father never talked about him, much too ashamed (well, he never really talked about anyone.) --I don't think this one will be like that, though.." A pause.
"Maybe you can just call it by a nickname?" She suggested, leaning back. "My guardian and her friend used to call the babies 'Thing One' and 'Thing Two' when they were in her stomach, but gave them different names when they came out. Maybe you'll know its name better when it comes."
"All the babies I meet don't stick around," Dixie said. "I guess a lot of them must bite stuff too."
A god of grapes that people were ashamed to talk about? She would certainly have to look that up when she got home. "Maybe it is a girl. I don't know which I'd like better really." Neither gender would be best, but she had promised herself she would give this mother thing a try, and she couldn't do that when she was bring so negative about it.
"Grapey," she said softly, smiling to herself. That would be a stupid name.
Lethe tried her best to think of better names. "Anthea?" She tried finally, "That means 'lady of flowers'. Erianthe... 'Sweet'..." Um, well, grapes.
"...Limnio, Athiri, Aidani, Muscat... Those are all grapes. ...I'm not too good at this sorry." She offered an apologetic grin. "My guardian didn't know what to name me until I was born either -- well, she didn't know I was going to be born until I was born but.. well.. still..." What was her point again?
"Those are all nice names," Dixie said, trying to be encouraging. "I'll have to think about it."
She looked around suddenly, searching for a window. Were there even any windows back here? "Do you know what time it is? I was supposed to pick some things up, but I wanted to stop by here and now I've lost track of time. My father said he would die without a Burger King shake, and I know he won't die, but still..." She stopped babbling and stood up. "It was really nice meeting you," she said, and she meant it. "I'll have to look up the river Lethe. There's so much about this planet I don't know." She almost held out her hand for the girl to shake, but stopped herself. How did you shake with your hands tied up like that? Better not to try to find out.
"It was almost sunset when I arrived," Lethe replied, obviously trying to be helpful, even when the rest of Dixie's speech confused her. 'Burger King'? 'This planet'? ...Was she an alien?
"Well, it was nice here, so I'll try to come back sometime... If you ever need someone to babysit, you can look me up, maybe?" She offered a grin and hopped to her feet. "I should probably get going too before my guardian starts worrying. It was very nice to meet you too, thank you for the talking!"
"Oh yeah, sure," Dixie agreed. She wasn't sure how she could look Lethe up, but she would certainly try.
"See you around!" Dixie pocketed the stick again and made her way out of the Wand Shoppe, turning to wave at Lethe before shutting the door behind her.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 7:19 pm
A Wisp? (Dixie, Archie, Alek)
May 21, 2006 The wand sat in a pencil cup on the television stand next to Dixie's paused game of Wind Waker. She stared at it, willing it to sprout a little burst of mist like that sparkly wand she'd seen today. Having something that could move and might answer her when she spoke to it would certainly help her along the way to becoming Guardian Extraordinaire. She turned back to her computer and leaned closer to the screen.pantheon.org Ljeschi The Ljeschi is the Slavic version of the satyr and the faun. The name of the creature is derived from ljes ("forest"). In appearance the Ljeschi is identical to the satyr and the faun, although the Ljeschi can alter his size at will. When he walks through the woods, he is as tall as the trees; when he walks on the meadows, he is not taller than the grass.
Some of them are corn-spirits as well as wood-spirits; before harvest time they have the same size as the corn stalks, while afterwards they shrink to the size of the stubble.
"Playing."
"It's been paused for like twenty minutes. I'm starting to get sick of the music."
"Sorry." She shut the television off and grabbed the wand. "It's a satyr."
"'Kay."
"I looked up the river Lethe too."
"What's that?"
"Greek stuff. Well, the stick isn't greek, but it's the same thing. And I think it's a boy."
"Hm."
"I saw a wand with stuff coming out of it today. Met some nice people at the shop I got it from too. That's why I was late with your shake."
"You weren't that late, don't feel bad," Archie said, kind of missing the point. He picked at one of his human nails, the felty fingers having a distinct lack of anything nail-related. "What kind of stuff?"
"Mist. You'll see. They told me it would happen to this one too."
"Really?" He perked up at that. "That sounds like something for the journal!"
"If I could find it, I would burn that journal."
Archie lunged forward and plucked the stick from Dixie's lax fingers. He backed up quickly until his back was pressed against the doorway before shoving the handle-end of the wand up his nose and taking off toward the front of the house.
"I wonder if we could market these as inhalers for people with colds," he said.
"You're an a**," she said, following him. "What if it remembers that?"
He opened the refridgerator and took out a can of Coke. "I'm putting it in the journal, so if it doesn't remember, I'll make it remember. Want some?"
"This kid is screwed." She reached across the counter and took Archie's Coke.
"So, what's a satyr? And why do you think the stick's a boy?" He pulled the wand out of his nose and put it on the counter in front of his daughter.
"They're goat people," Dixie answered. She pulled a paper towel off of the roll and scrubbed at the wand. "And they're all guys. I guess that might not mean anything, but if this kid is some goat-man descendant, it makes the most sense that he would be a guy too."
"You were a guy and now you're not." Archie reached back into the fridge and got a ginger ale instead. He sat across from Dixie and reached for the wand again, which Dixie relinquished.
"Cruel cosmic joke. There haven't been any more since me, right?" Well, there was that genderless virus thing that turned into a girl, but that wasn't the same thing. "If it's a girl, at least we'll have something to talk about. Anyway, satyrs like to party. I hope this one's tame."
She snatched the wand back from Archie and took it to her room, back to the pencil cup. Leaning over the mouse, she clicked on 'satyr' then 'Dionysus' the god of wine.pantheon.org Dionysus Dionysus, also commonly known by his Roman name Bacchus, appears to be a god who has two distinct origins. On the one hand, Dionysus was the god of wine, agriculture, and fertility of nature, who is also the patron god of the Greek stage. On the other hand, Dionysus also represents the outstanding features of mystery religions, such as those practiced at Eleusis: ecstasy, personal delivery from the daily world through physical or spiritual intoxication, and initiation into secret rites.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:41 pm
A Wisp! (Archie, Alek, Carrie)
May 23, 2006 Archie Saturn was a deep sleeper. When Dixie had been younger, she'd managed to trip over the leg of an end table, sending a fanciful glass dragon lamp crashing to the hardwood floor not three feet from her father's head. He hadn't stirred. It was therefore quite amazing that the morning when the space pod notification system's klaxon began blaring, Archie was up like a shot, rubbing his eyes and looking around for the source of the noise. His room was dark, but he could still make out a pale square of paper on the nightstand next to him. A dark slash cut across the paper. The stick.Dixie's note Archie,
I know I've kind of left you with no choice, but I need you to watch the stick.
See you later.
Archie hoped she came home with another kid. That would teach her. He pulled on some socks and stumbled his way out into the bright main room, clutching the wand in the hand he wasn't using to rub his eyes.
CRASH
CRASH
CRASH
CRASH
CRASH
The alert system was mad.
Hm. So there was a crash. But where and what? There had been no landings for a couple of weeks now, and no kids scheduled to land any time soon. Archie peered out of the large window that overlooked the giant bullseye where many an alien criminal had landed. In the center stood Carrie Harrington, annoying neighbor and creator of the currently malfunctioning pod alert system. Maybe it wasn't malfunctioning after all. Surely Carrie could be classified as some sort of horrible accident. Archie raised his hand, giving her a weak wave and a weaker smile. She started bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet and motioned him outside. Bleh.
A couple of minutes later, Archie was at her side being fawned over like a five-year-old, the wand still jutting from his fist.
"Well, aren't you just precious with your bed head and your stick!"
It took all of Archie's will to keep from rolling his eyes. "Yeah... sure... um, Carrie?"
"Yeees?" Slap. Now.
"There seems to be something wrong with the announcement thingy. It's sounding this horrible alarm and flashing the word 'crash.'" Archie stuck the stick in the pocket of his pajamas. From the way Carrie was eyeing the thing, Archie thought she might grab it and run some experiments on it before he could chase her down.
"Right now? It's going off now?" She ducked her head and looked up at the sky.
"Nothing's scheduled."
"What?"
"Don't worry. Nothing's crashing."
"Oh." She glanced at the wand again. "We'll just go inside and take a look!"
He led her inside and they stood in front of the shrieking tangle of wires and computer equipment for a couple more minutes.
"Can you..."
Carrie crouched on the ground and pulled the plug on the whole thing. "You said there were no landings coming up?"
"Nope."
"I'll fix it later then."
"Okay." Archie pulled the wand out to check if it was all right. "Can you maybe make these wires and stuff smaller?"
Carrie turned her attention back to the stick, ignoring his question. "What is that?"
"Nothing. Can I walk you back to your yard?" He reached out a hand to help her up.
"If you tell me what that is."
"A wand. I want to surprise Dixie with it when she gets home."
They were back by the fence that divided their yards before either of them spoke again. Carrie stepped over the broken section that remained after that time the sanitation department had dragged a rogue pod through it.
"So, thanks for the help," Archie said. Carrie's staring made him very uncomfortable.
"Any time. You're not going to tell me what that really is, are you."
"I told you. It's a..."
Archie's words died in his throat as the wand twitched in his fingers.
"What?"
"Nothing. I should go."
Carrie grabbed his arm and held it. The wand twitched again. "What's it doing?"
"Let go!" Archie pulled his arm away, accidentally loosening his grip. The wand went sailing across the yard, landing in the center of the bullseye, where so many shrunken criminals had preceded it. With a soft hiss, the tip of the stick began to glimmer and waver in the wind.
"What is that?"
"Oh... s**t."
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Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:04 am
The Gardens (Dixie, Alek, Neveah, Zasalamel)
June 19, 2006 It was strange that Dixie would find night in Gaia scary. On her home planet it had been dark all the time, the strange glowing eyes of her people the only light. When she had been Darcy Kofer, Dixie had mocked those who were born with eyes bright enough to have the dubious honor of lighting the streets, but now she wished she had one of those unfortunate bastards around to guide her home.
She had ended up ducking into the Wand Shoppe a couple of hours after sunset, right after some homeless woman had threatened to scalp her. The lights were on and she felt somewhat welcome even though it appeared no one was around.
A few minutes after entering the back room, headquarters Ianna had called it, and sitting on the sofa where she'd met the river Lethe, Dixie had grown quite bored and started exploring. It was certainly one of the first times the unimaginative teenager had done such a thing, but her curiosity hadn't gone unrewarded. She now sat in the gardens on the edge of a large fountain, her feet dangling in the water and her tail brushing against the grass behind her. Her wand was on her lap, the wisp wavering happily, she supposed. The huge, ornate door to this place was propped open. Dixie didn't want to be locked in.
"No...babyfingers don't belong in Mommy's nose!" Came a scolding, but strangely soft female voice, the noise followed shortly by two things; an infant's babble and the silhouette of a woman with somewhat transparant wings. In reality though, the light reflecting off her butterfly wings made it look like they were transparant.
"There, Spiderling. Happy now? I apologize for the grass not being the same at home." Apparently, the woman didn't think she had company. Neveah sat Zasalamel in the grass just out of the stream of light from the door, taking off his blindfold and his little cloak; he had a long sleeved shirt and baby jeans, after all.
"Ahhbabeeee" The little Drow went on to hum, running his little hands through the longer grass.
Noises. Dixie twisted to look over her shoulder, barely making out the shadowy shapes of a butterfly woman and a baby. She lifted her feet out of the water as quietly as possible and turned around to face them.
"Hi, I don't mean to startle you. I'm Dixie." Clutching her wand in her fists, she looked at the baby again. She guessed that if the child was even in here, he was one of these wandkids. At least this one was pleasant, unlike the bitey boy she'd met a couple of weeks ago.
"Don't eat the gra---ACK!" Neveah cut herself off when the woman suddenly started talking. Didn't mean to startle? She humbly begged to differ! However... "Oh...Ahem. Its no problem! Nice to meet you! I'm Neveah, and Zasalamel's playing in the grass." She pointed down at the obsidian skinned baby, who had turned his torso to stare at the other people in the garden with them. So far though, the butterfly couldn't make out that the other woman looked like...her eyes weren't suited for the darkness, after all!
Waaah, its a tall weird-looking female-thing! Zasalamel stared at the woman with wide purple eyes, then quickly turned back towards Neveah...and promptly fell over. He whimpered pathetically, lifting up his hands to try to get his guardian to pick him up. It worked of course, and once he was safely in Neveah's grasp, he went right back to staring at the other female and the wand she held. Oooh, the wand was a boy!
"Beeeee." He informed Neveah, then made grabbyhands for the boywand, though he refused to directly look at the wand's guardian.
"Oh...Excuse him. He's...hesitant around girls. But hey, if your wand a boy, by chance?" Obviously, she meant the soul inside it...but was just too lazy to say so. Still, the butterfly looked apologetic.
Oh hey, I used to be a guy! No, that wouldn't go over well at all. Instead Dixie looked down at the flickering wisp and shrugged. "I don't really know. If Zasalamel seems to think so, then I guess." She stepped closer and held the wand out to the baby, careful not to make any sudden movements. "I really am sorry about startling you." She smiled.
"He..." she felt so weird saying that, "... was a satyr, and they were all guys, I think. I read some stuff online, but I still don't know a lot about them."
From this distance, Dixie might as well have been a girl in every life. Zah still refused to look at her, but he did manage to grab onto the little stick with one hand, moving to pet at the little wisp with the other. He was this small once! And he liked being petted...so maybe this one liked being petted too!
"Oh its quite alright...I should've been paying more attention anyway.." Neveah chuckled softly with a small shake of her head. "A Satyr, huh? There the ones who are half goat, correct?" She queried, looking at the wand. "Zah's a Drow, both then and now." At this though, she sighed softly without really meaning to.
The wisp tried its hardest to brush against the boy's hand even though it was quite insubstantial. It liked attention, maybe a little too much, and the only one at home who seemed to understand that didn't hang out with the wisp often enough to suit it. It wriggled excitedly, trying to get its guardian's attention, but Dixie was preoccupied. Figured.
"Yes, those half goat men. I hope he's not half goat." She nearly echoed Neveah's sigh. "I'm not sure what a Drow is," Dixie admitted. Was that why the baby didn't like girls?
Zasalamel squealed in joy, leaning back and tugging the stick with him, holding it fairly close to him while he pet at the little wisp. Of course, it never occured to the baby that he shouldn't grab onto the wand but...eh.
"Maybe he'll just have...horns? Maybe a goatee?" Neveah, trying to be optimistic...? ALERT the media! "Well, for your sake I hope he's not part goat...but we won't know until he materializes, eh?" She shrugged half-heartedly. She knew Zah would look like what he did...there were only so many ways a Drow could look after all...so he was no surprise to her looks-wise...well, aside from the markings under his eyes and the unusual purple eyes. She'd always read that Drow had red eyes...oh well. "Ah...A Drow is a kind of dark elf who live underground." This time though, she left out the 'who have homocidal tendencies' bit...even she didn't believe Zah would turn out that way, considering how he was acting now.
Dixie's lax fingers lost hold of the stick as Zah tugged at it and her attention turned back toward the children for a moment. The wisp would surely be fine - she had managed to drop it more than once and it bounced back with enthusiasm - and little Zasalamel seemed happy.
"A goat kid wouldn't be the best thing to have around the house," Dixie said, briefly thinking of their hardwood floors and tendency to leave garbage lying around. "But horns and a goatee wouldn't be bad at all." Something to think about. This place was always filled with helpful people, it seemed.
"Underground? Oh, yeah, the blindfold. I was wondering about that actually." She had figured he was afraid of being outside from the way Neveah had taken it off when they arrived, but this garden was enough like the outdoors that she had dismissed that rather quickly. At least it wasn't to protect people from getting turned into stone or something more sinister.
Zah held the stick happily, babbling to it as if what he was saying was very interesting. To him, it most definately was!
"Geez..hoof marks everywhere, slipping on the floors...yeah, lets hope he's not like that!" Luckily, she had mostly carpet floors now and a kid who had real feet. "But...I think it'd be fun to not know how the kid'll look when he gets here...that means you can have bets to see who can most accurately guess how he'd look..." Oh yeah, that was DEFINATELY more fun!
"The Blindfold...heh..." Neveah scratched at the back of her neck. "He can't stand the light touching his skin, and his eyes are undoubtedly the most sensitive part of him...thats why I have to use the blindfold, so he won't scream like he's being murdered or something." Silly Drow and their light intolerance.
The wisp jerked upward, as if trying to separate itself from the stick. Giving up after a few half-hearted yanks and nothing to show for them, it went back to calmly waving around and listening to this other boy talk. Someday it would have a wobbly hole in its head and be able to make noise too! Well, better noise than the hissy, tinnitus ringing it could sometimes make now, at least.
Dixie grinned, feeling less frightened and more optimistic about the whole situation than she had since she had been given the stupid wand. "That's true. You've given me all my best guesses for how he might look. But my father would like that game. He's the one with the imagination."
She glanced back at the Drow baby. "Oh." She couldn't really offer any condolences without sounding insincere. Even if she hadn't been a very active child, Dixie had greatly enjoyed being out in the sun. She took some comfort in the fact that Zah would have probably ignored her pity anyway.
...and then they all lived happily ever after.
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Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2006 9:46 am
Finger... Painting (Dixie, Archie, Alek)
August 5, 2006 It was about time this kid learned some kid stuff. Archie had been lucky; his new family had provided him with an endless amount of childlike things to do, and having nearly a child's mentality himself without his Host, he had responded with enthusiasm. Dixie was different. When she had arrived, she had been a confused, 30-year-old man trapped in a tiny girl's body. Archie understood. It must have been hard to take. That didn't mean he was going to let this kid miss out.
"What are you doing?"
Archie looked up. Dixie's head was framed by the sun and he sneezed. "Finger painting."
Dixie watched the wisp as it dipped itself into a smear of blue paint and made its way over to the large piece of paper Archie had laid out on the grass. Her father was holding the wand, of course, and the wisp didn't actually pick up any paint, but they seemed to be having fun.
"What are you painting?" She dropped to the grass and sat, gathering her clumsy legs under her.
"I don't know." Archie watched intently as the wisp flailed around the paper before dipping his own finger into the paint and tracing its erratic pattern. "Very nice!" he commended.
"What is it?"
"Well, it's not done," Archie said, watching again as the wisp headed for the messy heap of yellow paint. "Don't worry, I'll put it on the fridge later so you can see."
"Right." Dixie got to her feet again and headed inside, rolling her eyes all the way.
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Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:49 pm
Cell Phone (Archie)
August 17, 2006 Archie kicked at the door with a booted foot, thankful when it swung open easily. He had forgotten his key, but it was an unspoken rule that the door stayed unlocked when someone was home. It just so happened that Dixie had also left it unlatched as well.
The main room was empty, the steady, green LCD screen from their strange monitoring system the only artificial light. Archie dropped his armfuls of packages and started down the hall.
"Dixie?"
She wasn't home. She wasn't home and she had left the door unlocked? No, wait. He heard voices. She was outside with Carrie. Archie shuddered.
Dixie had never been a very demanding sort. Sure, she'd cried a lot as a baby, but that was understandable. Not everyone could have as lovely a transition as he'd had. So when she had practically demanded a cell phone, Archie had obliged. What was a little monthly payment when they had pods of valuables dropping from the sky at regular intervals?
On the way home, he'd passed by a tidy little garage sale and picked something up for the wisp as well. Archie looked out of their large window, the focal point of the room, and saw Carrie chatting animatedly with his daughter. He'd just leave the toy in Dixie's room. That seemed like the best idea he'd had all day.
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Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2006 2:35 pm
A Park (Archie, Alek, Sara Two-moons, Too-ya-la-kekt)
August 20, 2006 It had been more than a couple of weeks since Archie had left the house for anything more than groceries, and with Dixie off doing Gaia knew what lately, the former criminal figured her strange wand could do with a little time away from the house too. The problem was, he didn't know exactly what a stick with a bit of wavery mist on the end liked to do for fun. He was currently wandering down the street toward the park, holding the wand out in front of him like a ward against evil.
The wisp just wiggled about, seemingly happy to be outside at all.
Sara Two-moons was simply enjoying the day, taking a short walk in the park near her neighborhood. As always, she clutched Too-ya-la-kekt's staff protectively to her body, ever cautious of the blue wisp that swirled and danced from the tip.
Another guardian was the last thing the woman had expected to see, but nonetheless before five minutes had passed, there came a man holding his wand out like a band-leader in a parade. She stopped in her tracks, simply watching him for a while... he wasn't one that she recognized, though the telltale wand and wisp identified him more than recognition could anyhow.
"Okay kid," Archie said to the wisp, "we're stopping." He picked out a spot near a tree and a bench, choosing to instead plop down in the grass. It was shady and fairly close to some guy selling water and a small pond, what more could they ask for by way of scenery? Archie looked around for a bit before wedging the wand between two of the slats on the bench. "There."
His eyes scanned the area, landing on a striking woman in possession of a colorful piece of wood. Archie didn't want to presume, but maybe they were Stick Buddies! His stick wasn't even his, but surely it could make friends without Dixie being around?
If the woman had wanted to hide, that time was now over. Fortunately Sara Two-moons had not, and when the man met her glance a short distance away, she saw it only fitting to introduce herself. Advancing toward the park bench, she dipped her head in a sort of greeting and a smile graced her swarthy-skinned face. When she spoke, her voice was quiet but clear and unafraid. "I couldn't help but notice your wand..." Sara said, hoping that the stranger didn't mind being approached. "I... well..."
She held out her own wand, not needing to explain it any further. "My name is Sara Two-moons... I thought I'd at least seen most of the guardians, but your face eludes me..."
The blue wisp she carried stretched and strained in the direction of the other wisp, as if trying to get a good peek at it.
"I thought that's what it was!" Archie said excitedly, a childlike wonder lighting his eyes. He had never seen another one of these wands, despite having been told by his daughter that they came in all varieties of translucent fluff and even sprouted into babies after a time. "I'm Archie. Archie Saturn," he continued. "My daughter, Dixie, she's the guardian. I think he's... new," Archie said, whispering the last part so he wouldn't somehow offend his dancing wisp. "Dixie says you can feel life in them," he said, curiosity getting the better of him. Of course, he could see life in the child now, but back when it had been a wand, his efforts to care for it had seemed sort of misplaced.
The little brown wisp lifted toward the blue one as well, hampered by its tether to the bench.
Sara chuckled at the man's reaction, though she was suprised that the wand's true guardian would let it from their grasp. She assumed that this "Dixie" he had spoken of must not be yet an adult.
"You can..." she replied to his statement before taking a seat on the park bench, careful not to disturb the small brown wisp. She slipped Too-ya's wand beside it, and watched as the blue wisp moved eagerly forward, as if to make an introduction.
"Too-ya-la-kekt seems quite intruiged by each wisp he meets..." Sara explained, so Archie didn't have cause to worry. "He is very gentle."
Archie watched as the brown wisp bobbed cautiously toward Too-ya-la-kekt. Dixie was certainly fairly careless; not only did she let the wand out of her sight often, she had also failed to give it a name, as if unwilling to believe it would someday sprout into a child. From what Archie had heard, the wisp had never met another child the same size as it before. It seemed intrigued as well, but a bit shy. Certainly a first.
"Oh," Archie said. He hadn't been concerned, but it was nice to know the blue wisp was a nice one. "What are the other guardians like? If you don't mind me asking." He wondered what kind of person it took to be bonded to one of such a strange group of children.
The wisp was indeed shy. When he had met older children, all he had needed to do was float around and get poked and prodded. Meeting another wisp made him feel as though he needed to do something entertaining. He wavered in the breeze, unsure of what to do next.
Sara brushed an errand lock of black hair from a shoulder, then glanced up from the meeting of the two wisps to look into the man's face as she answered his question. "From what I've seen, the guardians seem as different as night and day. I myself am the last person I would have thought would be picked for such a responsibility... I was a hardcore unbeliever in anything mystic or supernatural. My views have changed..." she chuckled before she continued.
"We seem to be varying degrees of age... I myself am... well, older than your daughter." she laughed, cheeks reddening slightly. "I'm a linguist working at the southcentral native college. Apart from that... there really isn't anything interesting about me."
Archie thought everyone on Gaia was interesting. He didn't know what a linguist did, but he nodded anyway. "Dixie and I run a center for unwanted children." He found that people didn't find that as bizarre as telling them flat out that otherworldly criminals were being shoved into tiny bodies in lieu of prison.
"Dixie doesn't really believe in the supernatural either. Still, even after all this..." he said, gesturing at the wisps. She could be so hard-headed most of the time.
Sara blinked in disbelief. "Seems hard not to believe in it after all this..." The strange book, meeting the other guardians... watching the wand spring to life...
Her eyes wandered to the two wisps. Too-ya was slowly circling around the brown wisp, and Sara briefly worried that the two would become entangled. She figured he had more sense than to endanger himself, however, and let the two be. "Your job sounds interesting, though..." she said offhandedly, adding. "How old is your daughter?"
"Um... late teens?" he said, wincing slightly at the fact that he didn't really know her actual age. They had both grown up rather quickly in body, their level of reformation being the thing that aged them now. Dixie was older than he was, in actuality, but that didn't make her any more responsible. She had never cared for anything before, and seemed to lack any motherly instinct. It was fitting, considering that she had been a man. "I'm not really sure," he continued lamely.
The brown wisp perked at this new game, and held upright, spinning in place to see where the blue wisp was going next.
He wasn't a very good father... Sara Two-moons inwardly thought, and then inwardly shrugged. She supposed she wouldn't have made a great mother, if she'd had children. She decided to ignore his lack of knowledge, so as to be polite.
It was easy enough to be distracted by the wisps. They twirled about in a game that only a wisp could play, and it brought a smile to the native woman's face. Too-ya was growing more and more active with each and every day, growing into the strong little warrior that she knew he would become.
"I think they like each other..." she remarked.
"Yes." Archie smiled at the wisps. "Do you know what Too-ya-la-kekt is? I think mine's supposed to be a satyr. We looked it up," he said proudly, as if using Wikipedia was an advanced skill.
He was reminded again that the wisp was three months old and still nameless. He'd have to bring that up when they got home.
Sara nodded her head lightly. "I've been told that the artifact houses the spirit of an ancient thunderbird." She was familiar with the mythic figure of a satyr, and guessed that the brown wisp's guardians would have a hell of a time keeping track of the thing once it became a teenager and got some hormones... particularly if there were any nymph spirits about. She almost laughed to herself, but decided to explain the thunderbird, on the off-chance that the man had never heard of it before.
"I'd always grown up assuming that the tales my Grandfather told me of the mighty thuderbirds were nothing more than native american myth..." she smiled, reminiscing the stories for a brief moment before speaking. "Giant birds that brought the rains with them... they nourished the lands, and culled the herds... kept everything in balance."
Very interesting. Goat kids and balancing birds. Archie might have wondered why all of them were being given second chances, but he didn't. Such thoughts were too big for his brain. "That sounds... cool," Archie said. He had never known any myths before he came to Gaia, but the sheer number of them here seemed to make up for any lack he had previously experienced.
Moments later, the conversational lull was rudely interrupted by a muted buzzing, during which Archie almost jumped about nine feet in the air. He sprang to his feet, searching for the source of the vibrations. "Oh... um..." he muttered, reaching into the pocket of his pants and pulling out a cheap cellular phone, one of the many recent purchases Dixie had required of him. "Sorry," Archie said, flipping it open.
Sara startled as the man jumped up, then settled down somewhat as he tore a cellphone out of his pocket. Sara smiled in his direction, as if to say that no apology was needed, and then sat quietly, watching him on the phone.
"Yes... well... out," he said, rolling his eyes and running his fingers through his two-toned hair. "Yes, I have the stick. No. What? Okay." Archie snapped the phone closed, as close to slamming it as he could manage on something so small. He turned back to Sara, frown slowly melting into a smile.
"I'm sorry, we have to go," he said quietly. "Um, do you guys have a phone?" Of course, they probably did. Now he was just coming across as creepy. "I mean, for them," he said, indicating the wisps. "They seem to get along, is all."
Sara nodded in response, not really thinking anything of his request for her phone number. She reached into her purse, took out a gum wrapper and a pen, and scrawled her number on the wrapper.
"Call me anytime." she said, handing him the bit of silver foil. "It was nice meeting you."
"You too," Archie said, glad that she didn't seem put off. He found a scrap of his own paper in one pocket and a stubby mini golf pencil in another and printed his own number as neatly as he could. Home number, not this stupid cell phone, thank you very much.
He picked up the startled wand and wisp and hurried away back to the bus and his house.
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:27 pm
Archie's Journal Hey, it's been a while!
Anyway, our wisp met another wisp the other day. He seemed a little shy around this kid. I didn't ask Dixie if he'd ever seemed shy before, but from the way she talks, I don't think so. This Too-ya-la-kekt must be quite a kid! His mom was nice too, of course.
They would have hung out more, I'm sure, but I got a call from Dixie and she needed me at home right away. She came home and found a note on the door, written in Interplanetary Common. It was all about how we needed to stop coddling the criminals that land here and how we're making them into shadows of who they used to be and blah blah blah. I figure it's just some human quack who wants to stir s**t up. We're performing a service here!
I know that has nothing to do with you, kid, but if you're going to be living in this house, whenever you decide to show up, you need to know what we do here.
I did get you a toy the other day! I know you can't play with it, but from what me and Dixie read about what you used to be, you're supposed to like to play music a lot. And drink, but I couldn't find any kind of plush vodka bottles, not to mention that giving you one would be a little creepy. I can't wait until you're big enough to buy real instruments for.
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 1:30 pm
A Name (Dixie, Archie, Alek)
August 27, 2006 "You're sure it's a boy? You'll take full responsibility if it turns out to be a girl and we've named it Harold?"
"Yes, yes I do. You said that baby said it was a boy! And Too-ya-la-kekt has a name and he's a wisp too!" He stumbled over the poor thunderbird's moniker and Dixie sighed. The brown wisp wiggled at the mention of his new friend's name from his perch in a nearby pencil cup.
"Don't name him something you can't even pronounce. And the baby never said anything to me. I'm going to make a sandwich."
Archie jumped out of his chair and quickly blocked the door. "He's bonded to you and you're going to name him! Aaa!" That last exclamation had Archie balling his fists at his sides and comedically bouncing from his toes to his heels and back.
Dixie burst into laughter and didn't stop for quite a while. "Fine," she breathed when she could finally speak. She sat down in her father's vacated spot and opened her internet browser.
"Click that one," Archie said, leaning over her shoulder and pointing.
Dixie did as she was told and clicked on the first link in the list. "Alek-say?" she said, squinting her eyes at the screen. "No."
"Why not?"
"Do you actually want to give him a good name, or are you just trying to get this over with quickly?"
"Both."
Dixie scoffed.
"What? You shouldn't have mentioned sandwiches."
"Hey, how about this one?" Dixie extended a yellow finger toward the second name on the list. "Aleksandr."
The wisp perked instantly, bobbing his agreement. Dixie smiled.
"Ha ha!" Archie reached across the desk to grab the wand, but Dixie got there first. She spun the stick in careful fingers, bringing the wisp up to her face so she could talk to him directly.
"Do you like the name Aleksandr?" She felt sort of silly talking to a misty scrap of air, but Archie was the only one around and he was likely to do something sillier at any moment. The wisp brushed her face with his little... head? It was the first time she had associated any part of the stupid kid with a normal body part. She could feel his happiness through their bond, but instead of freaking her out, it kind of made her happy too. "All right, Aleksandr. Archie and I are going to make some sandwiches, but we'll be right back." She passed a finger through the wisp's newly-described head, failing to adequately pet it by a mile, and plopped the stick back into the pencil cup, leaving it in the middle of the desk in a shaft of sunlight.
Alek, alone again, suddenly decided he had had quite enough. His mother had finally been kind enough to name him, only to leave him in a cup when she went to make food? Not today. The wispy satyr strained with all his might, growing visibly longer, if anyone had been around to see. His wand shrank slightly, and he found he could lift it for a brief second before it fell back into the cup. Well, that was certainly something. Alek concentrated again, and with an audible hiss, he materialized into a hovering, misty ghost baby, complete with a miniature version of the wand he had been born from.
Yes! He could float! Alek still didn't have the best depth perception, and he smacked into the doorframe a couple of times before making it out into the hall. Now, where was she?
He stopped at the first open door he came to, but it was dark. If there was one thing he knew about his mother and Archie, it was that they couldn't make sandwiches in the dark. He continued down the hall.
"...but you were so cute with him just now!" Archie teased. "Little Dixie is all grown up!"
"Ha ha ha," Dixie deadpanned. "I wish I had known you... you know. I would have drop-kicked you into a river."
Silence.
"You don't mean that, do you?"
"Yes. I do."
Alek hovered in the doorway and began humming. It was a happy tune, one he had made up right at that moment. The Sandwich Song.
"Shhh. Do you hear something?" Archie put his mayonnaise-covered knife on top of a slice of bread and walked toward the front door, looking up at the ceiling like angels were talking to him.
Alek tried to hum louder, but it didn't work. The same breathy, happy tune was all he could manage.
"Yeah, so? It's probably just the ice cream man."
Archie spun around and looked directly at where Alek was hovering. The human-colored parts of his face became noticably paler as he raised his arm and pointed. "Is that who I think it is?" he whispered.
Alek stopped humming and slowly floated over to Dixie's side. As he came up next to her, she turned, passing her hand through the ghost's stomach. Creepy.
"Aleksandr?"
The ghost waved his wand at his parents and began humming again.
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Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 1:23 pm
A Coffee Shop (Dixie, Alek, Nephrenia, Ryvan)
September 4, 2006 It wasn't the best day to be out, that was for sure. Not when you had furry legs and no way of getting normal shoes to fit properly. Archie was on some sort of cleaning kick, so Dixie and Aleksandr had no choice - they had to get out of the house. It was too bad about the rain.
Dixie had never been in a coffee shop before. It was certainly an interesting experience. She and Alek were sitting and hovering at the counter, a cup of hot chocolate between them.
Nephrenia had escaped the house by mere inches, the wisp and wand clinging close to her had escaped with her. Technically she knew that she should feel bad for leaving umbra with the rest of the children alone, but she couldn’t bring herself to. School was starting soon for most of the children in there house. Tomorrow to be precise, and if she had thought the excitement over creating Ryvan’s room had been bad then she had no idea what she was in for with school. The screaming alone had been enough to drive Neph half mad and so she came to the coffee shop, wandlet along with her, seeking calm and quiet, and maybe even adult conversation. Oh and coffee, a white chocolate mochachino to be precise. And so she dropped into a plush chair at a table, closing her eyes. Never again. She was never helping get them ready for school again.
Dixie heard the soft chimes of the door and looked up from her porcelain cup to see an extremely flustered woman closely trailed by another misty kid. Normally, the former criminal wouldn't have bothered talking to anyone, but they obviously had a connection. Alek was curious about this other child as well, she could feel it through their bond. It wouldn't do to make him sad. The last time she had denied him just one last YouTube video before bed, the wispy child had hummed the most mournful songs all night. She hadn't realized how hard it was to sleep when you were bonded to such a drama queen.
She stood up from her stool and slowly approached the woman and her booth. Alek followed along behind, keeping close to his mother. "Are you okay? I don't want to seem nosy, but I just saw that you had one too," as she said this she pointed back at the child hovering near her shoulder. "I don't think he'd leave me alone if I didn't let him say hello."
Neph glanced up and smiled as she saw another woman with one of the little wandlets. "I'm fine, just flustered, please sit down." It could never hurt to let her little one interact with another. And then remembering her manners Neph spoke again "My name is Nephrenia, thank you for your concern, its just my house seems to have turned into a zoo with the impending back to school rush." Ryvan floated over to the other wisp and one could swear they heard a coo come from the little wisp.
Dixie smiled back and slid opposite Nephrenia. Alek was certainly forcing her to meet lots of new people. "That sounds... kind of horrible," Dixie said. "I've only got Alek at home, and he doesn't eat or anything." She was actually dreading the day that the satyr would turn into a real baby. Taking care of a ghost was much easier than taking care of a wisp had been, and she could only imagine an actual flesh and blood child would be torture. "How many kids do you have?"
Alek brightened considerably at the other child's coo and answered it with a soft one of his own. Ryvan was the only other baby he had met since he had grown into this new form, and he wanted to make the most of it. He reached out a little misty fist and tried to poke the other child's arm, but to his dismay it sunk right through, just like everything else.
Neph laughed and appeared to be counting something in her head, "including Ryvan we have… six, children, plus an assorted amount of kittens gerbils and the like. And the sad part is I still want more, I love them all so much, just.. at times they can be a bit much." And it was true; Neph had been contemplating adopting yet another child, or perhaps finally caving and carrying one herself. But then again adoption was so much less painful. Neph looked up at the other woman "I don't think I could stand to just have one. Though you are lucky that means you get to spend more time just with him, its not really as hard as everyone makes it out to be, really."
Ryvan noticed the other child's reaction to not being able to touch her and ran her own misty hand through his, hoping that it would reassure him. They were in the same place after all, and even though she was too young to realize it, many teens would liken the idea of passing through each other in such a manner to kissing, or sex. But then she was young and the only motive she had at the moment was to comfort the other.
"Six? Really?" Dixie could barely keep track of one... and her father. "And all of those pets? I thought about getting a pet once. A cat maybe." She knew there were all kinds of sparkly, winged things here on Gaia, but a normal Earth pet was more her speed.
Alek would have giggled if he could have, but all that came out was another nearly silent cooing sound. He supposed if she didn't have a problem with being misty, neither did he. He hugged his wand to his body and then pointed at the counter with it, at a covered apple pie in particular. It was shiny.
Neph laughed, it did seem a lot, but to her it was never really quite enough, she always wanted more, more people she could call her family. "I guess it seems like a lot, but growing up I never really had much of a family so I guess I take every chance I can get to make my own version of one. I can't ever imagine it being just me. I would go insane. But then here I am running away from them because its too loud" She laughed again a smile spread across her face.
Ryvan cooed back an air of laughter filling the air around her, not an actual sound but more the feeling of the sound. Clutching the definitely more solid wand she spun around in the air, the fire flickering off of everything, especially the glass covered pie. She did hope that it would make the other happy.
Back home, Dixie had been alone for most of her life. It had taken quite a bit of getting used to, being raised again by an exuberant weirdo. "Still, I think I'll just stick with the one," she said, looking over at Alek and the other child. What were they doing?
The baby satyr was mesmerized. He waved his own wand but nothing happened. It was so pretty! He wiggled around happily, laughing quietly as well.
Neph laughed "yes, that is what most people do."
Ryvan waved her wand again moving it to hopefully pass through the satyr, she thought the other was very pretty all swirly and nice.
Dixie smiled back. "So, are you feeling better?" She picked up her hot chocolate and took a sip. "People on Myspace are always talking about coffee houses, so I figured I should see why everyone cares about them so much. This is kind of nice, actually."
Alek began to hum a simple tune. It seemed like the thing to do when your innards were exploding with light. It was the Glowy Girl Song! He poked at her wand with his hand as it came out the other side of his stomach, trailing a thin bit of wisp with it.
Neph nodded almost inhaling her drink "They are cozy aren't they? So where are you from? Are you from Gaia or..?" She trailed off hoping that the woman didn't find her question offensive, I mean they had barely met and she was asking questions that could be sore spots.
Ryvan giggled and swirled around the boy before giving him a kind of hug, her little arms passing through him, she liked this one. He was fun and pretty. And now she was pouting at her inability to touch. She wanted a real hug!
"Nope, I'm not from around here at all," Dixie said. It had never been that big of a deal for her to admit before. Most people just found it interesting. "I was born and raised somewhere else entirely, but then I got in trouble and was sent here. I ended up much smaller than I started out." She left out the part about how she used to be a guy. That part was left out unless someone asked directly, which they never thought to. As cool as most people found being an alien, she doubted they would embrace gender swapping with the same fervor.
Alek tried to hug Ryvan back, but his arms went through her as well. Oh well. There would be plenty of time for that later. Dixie had said he would be a real baby someday.
"What was your original form like if you don't mind me asking?" Neph couldn't find it in her heart to be shocked about anything anymore. For all she knew the woman would confess she was originally a purple squid that committed the crime of tentacle sodomy. "Did you know squids have a separate tentacle just for sex?" Or maybe she had been like a sock puppet or something. Wait... had she said part of that aloud?
Ryvan continued playing with her wand with the baby cooing each time her wand touched the other wandlet.
Dixie's eyes widened. Well, Neph was the one who had asked. And what was that about squid sex? The former criminal thought it was probably better not to address that part. "Um... well, I was tall, and my eyes glowed, but otherwise I looked a lot like people here." She picked up her cup again. "And, also, I was a guy."
Alek continued humming his quiet song, a bit overwhelmed by the excitement of the day.
Neph nodded "doesn't sound too bad, is it horridly different being a girl?"
Ryvan floated down next to the other listening to the song, she was getting sleepy!
"Not really," Dixie answered. "Despite the obvious differences, and the fact that people expect me to giggle and wear makeup. Dresses are kind of fun though." She smiled slightly to herself and shook her head, feeling kind of silly.
Alek suddenly stopped humming when his wand hit the squeaky plastic seat next to Dixie's leg. He hadn't noticed he was sinking so fast! He pulled himself up out of the bench and tried to look alert.
"Tired, eh?" Dixie poked at the hand clutching Alek's wand. She'd never seen him zone out before.
Neph laughed "One of my sons thinks dresses are fun too, well two of them really, but those two moved out long ago."
Ryvan snapped to attention as well, she had been almost falling asleep with the boy and Neph laughed "Perhaps we should get these two to bed they seem to have worn each other out today. But I had fun talking, we should get together some time. hm?"
"Yeah, definitely. I'm glad we ran into you two." Dixie smiled and rummaged around for a piece of paper to write her number on. Hmm. A dollar, some change, aha! She whipped one of her father's business cards out of her pocket and held it out to Nephrenia. It wasn't like she didn't already know Dixie's origins. "Don't be weirded out by the whole business thing. We live there too."
She motioned for Alek to follow her as she stood up. He did, but reluctantly, waving his wand at the other ghost girl.
Neph smiled and waved at the woman, Ryvan waving to the boy as well.
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:26 pm
Alek's Room (Dixie, Alek)
September 6, 2006 The room was like a cave. It was dark, the shades were drawn, and on top of it all, there were boxes piled in front of nearly all of the windows. Dixie pulled the assembled crib through the door and across the carpeted floor, Alek following closely behind. She pushed it into the corner, then set the plush guitar that had been riding inside upright against one of the bars.
"There. Nice, right?"
Alek didn't know if he agreed, but he nodded anyway. He kind of liked hanging out in Dixie's room while she slept. She had some interesting dreams, and he didn't make that much noise, did he?
"You're a big b... wisp now. You deserve your own room." She smiled, but it looked kind of forced. "And we're right down the hall. You know where our rooms are, right?"
The ghost nodded again. He swooped over from his perch on the Aa-Bir encyclopedia and began humming the Don't Leave Me In This Room By Myself Song.
"It won't be so bad. One day you'll be begging me to leave you alone."
Alek shook his head.
"At least try it tonight? For me?"
Dixie motioned toward the door as Alek stopped humming and nodded one last time. "Cheer up. It's not even night yet. Let's go watch some Michael Jackson videos. Early Michael Jackson videos."
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