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 Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 12:10 am
Nikiana's train of thought was still along the lines of 'How dare he..' until Rafferty said "Yes?". Then, with a slight blush, she turned her head. Too cowardly to confront the man about it. Which was possibly a good thing.
Luckily, he went on to ask another question, so the awkward silence did not have to last long. "Not very long. I've only had Ala here for a few months." Somehow it didn't surprise this woman that the man knew that she was with D-corp. Expect the unexpected with that group!
Alaqua glanced up from her ice cream at her name, but decided that no one was talking to her, just about her. So it was back to her ice cream. It wasn't bad, but you couldn't chew it. And it was cold. Overall, though, it was still good.
Niki decided to keep the conversation going, or at least try to keep it going. "What about you? How long have you been with D-corp?"
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 11:48 am
Rafferty was not listening to the woman for most of her reply. He already knew how long she had been taking care of Alaqua. Actually, he probably knew her blood type, birthdate, and any other very personal information that might have been in D-Corp's system files. That was part of his job. Knowing the people. It was easier to zone out a little and glance at the children. No icecream had stained a shirt yet, and as far as the man was concerned, that was some sort of miracle.
Maybe he would buy the hobbit icecream here more often. Or just add icecream to his online grocery list.
He was a bit startled out of his thoughts at Nikiana's last words. They were somewhat unexpected. "Me?"
A very short pause, in which Riley NEARLY stained his shirt, but merely spilled alittle strawberry goodness on the floor instead.
"Much too long."
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Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 10:25 pm
Nikiana had been about to eat a bit more of her wonderous cold treat when Rafferty seemed rather startled. Almost as if he were hiding something? Or just not paying attention. But his startled answer in turn started the woman and she ended up with ice cream on her nose. Stupid reflexes...
Trying not to blush, and without success, the woman grabbed a napkin to wipe the offending smear off, which gave her time to ponder the man's response. 'Much too long'? She glanced at the little elk boy again. He didn't seem to be that much older than Alaqua. Maybe a year or so at most. But, then again, Niki was horrible at approximations...
Then again, maybe a year was much too long for this man. D-corp seemed to have a habit of randomly telling people that they now have a child to care for. She supposed he was just not prepared for such a burden.
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Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 9:14 am
Really, Nikiana had half hit the nail on the head, and half thrown her hammer through a window. Of all his many talents, Rafferty was not very good at mind reading, so he really could not think to correct her. Instead he looked at all three eating their icecream and once again felt horribly out of place.
As though sensing his 'father's' frustration with himself, Riley reached up and tugged on his shirt. When he recieved the man's attention, he offered his half demolished ice cream cone pointedly upwards.
"No, really..." Rafferty said, and it really could not be said if he was disgusted or touched. He leaned down a hand tentively, patting the elk child very slightly on the head. "I'm not a fan of it."
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Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 11:50 am
Nikiana smiled sweetly as the boy offered his father the half eaten ice cream cone. How cute! Such a sweet boy.
Her smile slipped a bit at the man's awkward patting. Apparently he hadn't had much practice at it. Some parents... Niki could see how some even agreed to care for a child. But, like she'd thought before, D-corp didn't give much warning. Just a 'Here's a kid for you!' and then they were shooing you on out the door.
"Not a fan of ice cream?" Niki could hardly believe that. Who couldn't love the cold sweet treat?!
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Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 4:12 pm
"Not even a good spectator," Rafferty commented curtly in reply. Within five more seconds of general awkward behavior, he was done with the situation entirely. While he was not sure if he had 'better' things to do elsewhere, there were certainly things to do, omelettes that couldn't be made without some broken eggs, laws that needed some swindling before they could be passed. The basics of society depended on those little unimportant activities that distracted people from proper parenting. Such miniscule events and processes changed the world and got Mister Rafferty out of close conversations in icecream parlours.
As though he wished to at least appear like he knew anything about taking care of a child, the long haired man leant downwards to take the elk-hybrid's free hand. Riley looked quite surprised, but somewhat pleased at the action. Bright eyes gazed upwards at the human with a fair amount of quiet contemplation.
"It was nice to meet you," Rafferty offered as a good-bye as quite abruptly he half-dragged his charge towards the shop's sole entrance and exit. Surprisingly, he might have meant it, if only in the way one means 'I hate that food' when they have never actually tried it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:31 pm
"It was nice to meet you, too." Niki said, gathering her daughter into her lap. Ala waved as Riley was pulled away by his father.
"Byebye..." The koala girl said as she waved to the elk boy.
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