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 Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:30 pm
"Ninjas! They sneak around and murder people and stuff. But mostly they look cool. Like... like..."
Matt pulled off his shirt, abruptly forgetting how scary children were. He then proceeded to wrap the shirt (light blue) in such a way around his head that he... well, looked like a very gay, very idiotic ninja.
"This!"
Stephen snickered, watching Matt take the first steps in shirt-ninja-ing.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:36 pm
Again, only every other word processed in his toddler brain, yet it was enough to get him excited. He downed the last of his root beer, letting out a loud burp. Setting down the glass so he didn't have a repeat of the last time he did this, he threw his arms up in the air.
"Make me nin-ja too!"
Heck, he wanted to sneak around all cool like that. It sounded like fun, and possibly something he could teach Osha or Haki. Surely Haki would like an army of ninjas on hand.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:39 pm
Stephen immediately took the glass and rinsed it out, stashing it away so that, hopefully, Nat would never know. Then he looked at the kid, pondering.
Matt apparently had the same idea he had. He snuck off, over dramatically, to Natalie's Room o' Fabric and took a long purple scrap, bringing it back over and wrapping it around Gavin's face. It was sloppy and fraying, yeah, but it would be a hell of a lot harder to take off the kid's shirt, what with the wings.
"There ya go."
And then the two men almost simultaneously burst into song.
"I am ninja, he is ninja, she is ninja too! I am ninja, we are ninja - UND I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE NINJA TOO!"
They ended up in a disturbing parody of the Charlie's Angels pose, minus one member, snickering.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:45 pm
Gavin clapped happily at the song. If he'd known the words he would have joined in, but fortunately for the ears of everyone within hearing distance he didn't. Haki didn't seem to like hearing him sing, but he figured that she just had messed up ears. The leader of the world couldn't be perfect, you know.
"I am nin-ja too!" he cried out, leaping to join them in their strange pose. Not exactly sure what he was doing, he ended up trying to mimic the two of them at the same time and failing miserably. In a twisted mess of arms, wings, and legs he eventually found eye contact with one of them, he couldn't tell which.
"Nin-jas do this?"
Didn't make much sense, but it was still fun.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:48 pm
"Uh. Sort of." Stephen rubbed the back of his neck, then yelped when Matt started tugging at his shirt.
"Ninja time, buddy," Matt grinned, then yanked the shirt off of him and practically tackled Stephen, forcibly shirt-ninja-ing the blonde boy.
When the dust cleared, it was quite the sight. Two full grown men, shirtless with odd colors of fabric wrapped around their faces, and a bird boy with purple scraps tied onto his head.
"Uh."
"... ready to go, Gavin-or-whatever?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:54 pm
Gavin cheered as Matt tackled Stephen and ninja-ed him up too. He'd totally have to try this with Osha the next time he was with him. The colorful boy would probably find it somewhat entertaining.
When the two men were finished, Gavin answered them with an emphatic, "Yes!"
Right now these two were his role models. He'd follow them to the ends of the earth in their shirt-ninja ways, so long as he got back before bedtime.
Scratching a particularly itchy spot through the fabric, he pointed with his other hand toward the door. "Ninjas go!"
This was going to be fun.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:58 pm
"Ninjas go!" Matt echoed, and dragged Stephen out the door, though he scrambled and fought to get free.
"Do I really have to go, Matt?"
"Bro-rape, dude. Bro-rape."
Stephen shuddered, remembering that little internet video, and held out his free arm to Gavin. "C'mon, kid. We'll get you home in no time. Ninjas go!"
And then they were tramping down the stairs, nearly falling once or twice or several times, and generally being very un-stealthy-like.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:18 pm
Gavin gladly took the free arm and followed them down the stairs. They moved a bit fast for him, so he'd been at more risk of falling. Nevertheless he'd been having too much fun to actually watch his steps, and therefore didn't notice he'd lost his footing on the third step from the bottom.
He slipped.
And crashed at the bottom with a loud thump.
Cue the waterworks. Gavin wailed loudly, thankful that he'd landed on his rump rather than his head. But now his butt hurt, his wings hurt, and his back hurt. Everything hurt! And he made it publicly known in such a way that someone on the other side of the compound could have heard him.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:31 pm
Luckily, nobody else was there.
But the two men stared at each other, aghast, both wondering if they should make a run for it. But no - even they weren't that much of an a**, even collectively.
So Matt hurried down and lifted Gavin carefully, looking at him, clearly confused.
"... Uh... uh... what do I do!?" he all but yelped, as Stephen came to stand beside the kid.
"I dunno!"
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:36 pm
Gavin's wailing decreased slightly in volume as he was picked up. Contact was always the first step, though it wasn't very comfortable. He still huuuurt! As cool as these guys were, they didn't have the first clue on how to go about the right way of making him feeling better. Therefore...
"Want Mommy!" he cried. Mommy would make things all better. These guys would be for ninja-purposes only, not make-Gavin-feel-better purposes.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:39 pm
"So much for sneakery," Stephen said, shrugging. And then proceeded to unwrap his shirt-ninja-mask and set his t-shirt back to rights.
"So says you," Matt shot back, and pointedly kept his ninja gear on. "We'll get you to your mommy, Gavin!" he said, sounding heroic and confident. Of course, tha was if he ignored the little crying bundle in his arms.
How was Natalie going to DEAL with a kid?
Matt led the way down and out of the apartment building, heading for what seemed to be the gardens. And there was an apartment building over there, wasn't there? He thought he'd seen one.
"So! What do you like to do, Gavin, when you're not getting root beer floats?"
Small talk might help, right?
Stephen followed, sulkily, half-wanting to turn back. Still, this was partially his fault...
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:46 pm
When they started moving he'd gone from shrieking hellion to sniffling toddler. He still wanted his mommy, however. These two weren't getting out of that at all. He could hardly think amongst the tears, but the small talk helped somewhat.
"Play...with Haki," he said in between sobs. He couldn't move one of his wings without it hurting pretty badly. That definitely wasn't a good sign. The other one was fine, thankfully.
When he saw his building come into view, he pointed to it.
"Up stairs! Mommy up stairs!"
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:50 pm
"Haki? Is that another kid around here?" Matt wondered what that one looked like. Horns? Scales?
He was doing his best to keep from jostling the kid, and Stephen trudged dutifully behind, making sure that if Matt somehow did drop Gavin, he'd be there to catch him.
So.
That was the building?
"What floor?" Stephen asked as they entered the building, start up the first flight of stairs.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:55 pm
Gavin nodded, though he was still sniffling. At the next question he wasn't exactly sure how to answer. Again, it wasn't like he could count. He just went up the stairs by memory. That and he would see his familiar window.
"Keep going," he pointed up. He just knew he was up a lot of stairs. Thankfully these guys were nice enough to carry him, considering he was in no shape to walk by himself.
Finally when they'd reached the fourth flight, he recognized his front door.
"That one," he pointed at the door. "Want Mommy."
Mommy would make everything better.
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:09 pm
So, the three of them were standing in front of the door. Stephen and Matt eyed each other uncomfortably.
"... We'll have to tell her what happened."
"She'll tell Natalie."
"Maybe we can buy her off?"
"You're not selling my body again."
"I didn't say I would!"
Stephen glared at Matt, then reached forward and knocked on the door for the group.
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